64 vs. The Underground

Chapters

Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
64 vs. Marcus
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
64 vs. Discord Part 1
64 vs. Discord Part 2
64 vs. Discord Part 3
64 vs. Discord Finale
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
64 vs. The Slava's Part 1
64 vs. The Slava's Part 2
64 vs. The Slava's Part 3
64 vs. The Slava's Part 4
64 vs. The Slava's Finale
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
64 vs. Nightmare Night Part 1
64 vs. Nightmare Night Part 2
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
64 vs. Aurum
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
64 vs. The Finale Part 2
64 vs. The Finale Part 3
64 vs. The Finale... Finale... Finally
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 13
Chapter 24
Chapter 41
64 vs. The Finale Part 1

Chapter 3

3rd Person POV

64 felt his entire body lurch to the left, getting tackled to the ground. He was tackled by a Changeling Soldier drone, who wasted no time in attacking his enemy.

“YOU KILLED OUR QUEEN! I NO LONGER FEEL HER PRESENCE!” He yelled, charging his horn with a sickly green magic. 64 sent his right fist into the Changelings face, wincing as the injuries to his knuckles protested. The Changeling was flung off of 64 as he quickly got up to see 3 other Changelings along with the first.

“YOU WILL PAY YOU BLIGHT!” They yelled in unison as they all geared for battle, with two of the Changelings morphing into Manticores, and the other two simply charging combative spells. 64 quickly brandished two Tomahawks, duel wielding them to try and make sure he didn’t have a blind spot.

Both parties rushed forward at each other, as 64 slid underneath the legs of one of the Manticores, and then leapt over the other, hacking downwards to create a large gash in its head. The unmorphed Changelings quickly fired their spells at 64, who dodged the first volley, but was caught in the second. He was caught in his left shoulder, as the Tomahawk in his left hand dispelled due to the disruption in his magic.

64 winced as he tried to shake away the pain as he rushed at the unmorphed Changelings, swiping at the first. The Changeling ducked under the swing before he tried to impale 64 on his sharpened horn, but was caught off balance as 64 grabbed the horn with his left hand, pulling him forward before planting a knee into his gut.

64 quickly spun around with the Changeling still in his grasp to throw him at the advancing Manticore, who was trying to sneak up behind him. They slammed into each other as the Manticore was knocked onto his back, before the other Manticore rushed at 64. He slashed at 64 with his enormous claws, who was forced to jump backwards to get out of the range of the attacks. Unfortunately 64 didn’t notice the other unmorphed Changeling, who quickly leapt at 64 from behind, stabbing his horn straight into his right lower thigh.

“AHH! YOU FUCKING FUCK!” 64 yelled as he brought the Tomahawk in his right hand down onto the Changeling’s neck, instantly cutting through its chitin and through its skin, clean decapitating it. Its body fell in a dead heap, but its head still stayed impaled in 64’s right thigh. He pulled it out as he saw the blood start to seep out.

“Shit… that’s gonna put a hamper on things…” 64 thought as he looked at his 3 remaining combatants, 2 of which had the power of fully grown Manticores. “I can’t move quickly enough to attack right at them…”

The injured Manticore roared at 64, before rushing right at him. Using his very amateur magic skills, 64 charged a repulsion spell in his left hand, and sent it towards the Manticore rushing at him. With the incredibly destructive power behind 64’s new magic, the left arm of the Manticore was ripped from its body when the bolt of magic collided with it, sending green blood splattering from the wound.

The Changeling quickly morphed back into its true form, squealing in pain at his lost left foreleg. 64 wasted no time in forming a Javelin in his hand, and threw it with complete accuracy into the downed Changeling, impaling it through its body to the ground, killing it instantly.

“2 down… 2 to go….” 64 panted, his leg injury getting the better of him.

The 2 remaining opponents circled 64, one standing in front of him, one standing behind him. The Manticore opponent morphed back into a Changeling, fangs bared and wings buzzing. Both of their horns glowed a menacing green, ready to strike down 64 at a moment’s notice. 64 once again constructed his duel Tomahawks, ready to fight these things.

“Give it up! Even with a bum leg I can still kill the both of you!” 64 taunted, knowing he still could fight.

“THE BLIGHT STILL THINKS WE WILL SIMPLY TURN TAIL AND FLEE?! WE HAVE NOTHING LEFT TO LOSE WITH OUR QUEEN GONE! AND WE WILL AVENGE HER DEATH!” The Changelings yelled in unison, their minds connected with the last shreds of hivemind they had. They charged at 64 at the same time, each connected to the other to work together.

64 tensed for them both and quickly spun on his left leg, extending the blades out to keep the Changelings at bay. They instead slid underneath the swings and swiftly bit into 64’s ankles, causing him to yell in pain. He swung downwards at the offending Changelings, but they quickly teleported away, before they each charged a spell with their horns. 64 used the short lull in battle to create another Javelin in his right hand, and launched it at one of the Changelings who had its eyes closed.

As the Javelin neared its target the Changeling dodged left, surprising 64 because his eyes were closed.

“How the hell?!” 64 thought, as both Changelings smirked at his confusion.

“WE ARE CONNECTED AS ONE! WE ARE ONE!” They both said, as they fired their large repulsion spells, both aimed for 64. Thinking quickly, 64 put up a weak shield spell, blocking the spells but launching him backwards. 64 skidded against the rocky floor as he neared the edge of the cliffs, unable to get up due to the injury to his right leg, and when he tried to move his left, he felt it stiffen up and become unresponsive.

“Shit… paralyzing agents were laced in their bites to my ankles.” 64 grunted, pushing himself onto his elbows. They could see through each other’s eyes, giving them almost perfect 360 degree vision, a major disadvantage in 64’s favor. He needed an endgame here, to finish the fight in one fell swoop, or else things were going to look bad for him.

The Changelings advanced on him, ready to end the life of the monster known as the Bipedal Blight, a monster which was feared by many across Equestria, a monster which parents would tell their children stories of to prevent them from disobeying. They would take his head as a trophy for the naysayers who wouldn’t believe their tale, and mount it on a bloody pike outside of their next hive. It would truly be their crowning moment in life, and they would rule with absolute power of the Changeling race.

64’s mind was racing a mile a minute, trying to think of anything that would get him out of this mess. A spell, a maneuver, a weapon, nothing was coming to mind. As 64 backed up on his elbows he suddenly felt the ground leave him as one of his arms slipped off of the cliff behind him, startling him as he struggled to regain his balance. His eyes suddenly shot wide open as he thought of a quick plan, and readied his arms.

“YOUR HEAD IS MINE!” The Changelings yelled as the both lunged at 64, who shot his arms forward and gripped their necks as they gnawed and bit at him, holding them back as strongly as he could. He could feel himself being pushed backwards on his back, edging closer and closer to the edge of the cliff. At this point half of his back was now off of the cliff, his numb waist being the only thing preventing him from falling.

As 64 tried his damndest to hold his grip on their necks, he felt it start to weaken, the numbing agent now starting to nip at his arms. He was now near completely falling off of the cliff, his legs only partly still on the edge. His back was being bent off of the cliff, now parallel with the plateau, as the Changelings attempted to completely throw him off of the Cliffside. 64 held on with everything he had, trying not to fall to his death at the hand of these Changelings, but his grip weakened, and he felt himself start to fall off of the cliff.

“Shit! Fucking Changelings!” 64 yelled as he finally lost his grip, and slipped down the cliff. Down he fell as his body went numb, only able to move his neck and head. Unable to move at all 64 started to list the possible outcomes at the end of this fall.

“Ok, so I’ll either die upon impact, or live upon impact. Ok, so about 50/50?” 64 thought as he saw the ground approaching quickly. He shut his eyes tightly and awaited the inevitable impact, knowing that this was gonna be a really bad fall.

A weak force suddenly pushed on 64’s back, trying to push him upwards. Turning his neck as far as possible, he saw a pair of buzzing wings pushing him up, but not doing a very good job at it. The force continued to buzz and buzz, but 64 continued to fall at an alarming rate. 64 finally hit the ground, hitting hard but definitely not as hard as he would have.

64 laid on the ground as he tried to take in breath, feeling the wind being knocked out of him with the impact. In his mind 64 had to see what had helped him, so he attempted to move his slowly numbing neck to the left where he heard an intense panting close by.

Next to 64 was the same Changeling he had encountered in the caves. The small Changelings laid on its side panting, obviously exhausted from slowing the fall of the 200 pound Biped. 64 looked at this Changeling in confusion, wondering why in the hell he would save him.

Unfortunately the numbing agent finally reached the entirety of his body, causing nearly immediate unconsciousness.

------------------------------------------4 Hours Later--------------------------------------------------

64 POV

When I realized I was awake I shot up from the floor, flames in both of my hands ready to take on whatever the hell was out there. Unfortunately there wasn’t anything to be seen. One of those reason was that it was pitch black, save for the moonlight and small light emanating for my hands. I looked around for the Changeling that had saved me, wondering what he did after I was knocked out.

I was now at the bottom of the mountain, but I remember that the Changeling had set me down at about the halfway point down, which means he had moved me even further down the mountain.

“Hello? Anything out there? Little Changeling?” I spoke out, wondering if I would get a response. Silence followed my call, and nothing echoed off of my voice indicating anything nearby. All that was around me was the small patch of dead grass I was just laying on, and a few sticks lying around it. Feeling some cold start to set in, I pulled the dead grass form the ground and bundled up the sticks to create a small campfire, knowing that I wouldn’t be moving anywhere for a while.

“Where the hell did that little bug go? Did he go back to that hive?” I thought, wondering about the Changeling that managed to save me from serious injury. “Hello?! You out there little guy?!”

Once again I heard no response, so I decided not to bother with it anymore. I would need to go back up there tomorrow to destroy the hive, and I needed some rest.

“H-Hello?” I heard behind me, causing me to jump from my sitting position, and turn around with a Sword conjured, prepared to defend myself from the startling voice. I found the voice belonged to the Changeling I was just calling out for, who now looked much worse than when I first saw him within the Hive.

His chitin where it was once cracked and split was now nearly gone and broken, green blood oozing from every cut and injury he had. I swore I could see bone through the more severe injuries, and knew that without some immediate medical attention he would die.

“Y-You… You saved me back there?” I said, not really sure if he did or not. The Changeling nodded, blood dripping from a laceration on his forehead.

“I…I had to save you… You helped me l…leave…” He grunted, shaking as if he had trouble standing. It turned out he did, because shortly after he said that he fell onto his side, taking deep breaths.

I didn’t have time to wonder what that sentence meant; I needed to make an incredibly difficult choice. This Changeling saved my life, and my damn morality wouldn’t let me just leave him here to die. But with him being a Changeling I had a job to eliminate every single one of his kind I found in these Badlands.

“D…Did I get all of the venom out?” The little Changeling asked, pointing to my ankles. I rolled up my black combat pants and saw large bruising on the area I had gotten bit by the two other Changelings, indicating that the venom was sucked out of my system.

Well… that answered my question. I had to help this little guy and fast. I didn’t have any medical equipment on me that would be sufficient enough to treat the severity of his wounds, and my Destructive Magic was incapable of healing wounds. I had only one option, get this little guy back to Canterlot, and quick. I would deal with Celestia’s bitching later, this Changeling had to live.

“I’m gonna get you help, just hang on tight. This might be a bit intense.” I said, cradling the Changeling in my arms as I slightly cringed at the neon green blood being dripped onto me. He nodded as he tried to make himself a bit smaller and easier to carry.
I shook my legs a bit as I got them ready, knowing that by train the Badlands were about 5 hours away from Canterlot. With my speed being faster than a train I knew that I would get there quicker, but every second was counting for the Changeling dying in my arms.

“Alright… focus energy to legs to reinforce muscles and bones… focus energy to repel the ground from my person… focus energy to reduce wind resistance… all checks completed…” I whispered to myself, mimicking Shining Armor’s checklist so I didn’t rip my legs apart doing this.

“Alright little guy… hang on tight…”

Red Magic leaked out of my legs as I felt the heat of Super Nova’s magic travel through me, fueling me with malicious thoughts and an incredible power wanting to be used. I obliged as I shot forward at incredible speeds, every step leaving a cracked footprint on the ground the size of a frying pan.

I was heading in the direction of the train tracks, knowing that if I followed them all the way to Canterlot I wouldn’t have to run up and down the Macintosh Hills, making a much quicker route. Through the adrenaline rush I was able to feel the Changeling in my arms shivering in fear, scared out of its mind as we traveled at such high speeds.

“JUST HOLD ON TIGHT! HOPEFULLY WE’LL BE THERE SOON!” I yelled, running through the Badland Desert as the train tracks came into view, a train on its way towards Macintosh Hills. I sped up, running as fast as I could get ahead of the train before it went into a tunnel, knowing that if it went into the tunnel first, it would slow me down tremendously. I raced alongside the train as I saw the amazed looks from passengers inside, Ponies and Foals alike gawking and pointing at me as I ran faster than the train.

We closed in on the tunnel I slipped in front of the train, going in first so I would be able to speed ahead of the train. Letting go of the Changeling with one arm and gripping him tighter with the other, I reached into the front of my shirt and pulled out a small necklace with a gem on the end, surging magic through it as I gained a connection with Celestia.

“PRINCESS! I’M COMING BACK TO CANTERLOT, THERE’S BEEN A COMPLICATION!” I screamed, knowing I just probably scared the shit out of Celestia wherever she was.

“Goodness 64, could maybe not scream out of nowhere while I’m eating? I nearly choked on some corn! What is the situation?” Princess Celestia asked, clearing her throat a bit.

“I HAVE A WOUNDED INDIVIDUAL IN MY ARMS RIGHT NOW WITH NO NEAR MEDICAL CENTER! THE ONE IN DODGE JUNCTION ISN’T EQUIPPED ENOUGH FOR THIS JOB, SO I’M HEADING STRAIGHT FOR CANTERLOT! ETA 10 MINUTES, GET A MEDICAL ROOM FOR CHANGELING SPECIES READY!” I yelled once again, trying to be heard over the rushing winds I was running against.

There was no response for a few seconds, and I saw the city of Dodge Junction coming into view. Finally Celestia responded, and I heard her voice fill my head.

“Can you repeat that last remark? What should we get the medical center ready for?”

“CHANGELING! YES I KNOW WHAT I WAS SUPPOSED TO DO, BUT THIS ONE IS DIFFERENT! I’LL TAKE THE HEAT FOR THIS LATER WE JUST GOTTA MAKE SURE THIS ONE DOESN’T DIE! FOR FUCK’S SAKE CELESTIA CAN YOU JUST TAKE THE STICK OUT OF YOUR ASS FOR ONE DAY AND HELP TREAT THIS GUY?!”

There was once again no response as I finally broke the limits of Dodge Junction, seeing the surprised faces of ponies that were seeing a red blur zoom by the city going near the speed of sound. Seeing Cherry Jubilee’s farm I nearly wanted to smash straight through it, but there wasn’t any time for that. Soon after passing Dodge Junction I would pass Rambling Rock Ridge, and that would mark the halfway point of my journey.

“There will be a room in the Palace ready for the Changeling patient. Heavy security will surround the patient at all times, and you must not be anywhere near him during the procedures, do I make myself clear?” Celestia said taking on a harsh tone, obviously pissed at what I was bringing home. I didn’t care at the moment though; I just had to get this little thing help.

After about 2 more minutes I saw Rambling Rock Ridge come into view, but I knew I couldn’t just run around of the mountainous area. Surrounding it were Quarray Eels, and running in front of them meant more danger, and running on top of the hills would slow my progress. The only option to quickly get across was definitely my favorite, even though Celestia has said it would soon lead me to my demise.

As I crossed the river indicating the Ridge’s border, I saw the rock wall which held the Quarray Eels’ homes, and ran towards it. Holding onto the Changeling tight I leapt onto the wall, and kept my speed up as I started to run on the actual wall. I used magic to stay connected to the wall as I ran alongside it, quickly cutting left and right to maneuver around the holes in the walls which held the Eels, I made it across Rambling Rock Ridge unharmed.

I saw Canterlot on the side of its mountain, and immediately shot towards it. Knowing it was slower to take the secret tunnel Celestia made for me to sneak out of the city undetected, I decided to take the less subtle approach and ran up the mountain face, up the cliff where I had taken the leap of faith which gained me my freedom.

“Celestia, I’m here, where to?” I asked, reaching the top of the cliff and stopping, cracking my neck and making sure the Changeling in my arms was still breathing.

“Considering I heard your stomping footsteps from my Throne room, I see you’re at the back entrance. Just come to the Throne Room, I have a team here which will quietly escort him to where it will be treated.” Celestia said as I held the Changeling in one arm, putting my other hand onto a small pad next to a large Steel door. I sent my magic through the sensor and the door opened wide, revealing a small hall to a door hidden behind Celestia’s throne.

I opened the door and saw both Princesses ready with lit horns, prepared to take cautionary measures against the Changeling. Next to them I saw 4 Guards, including Captain Shining Armor, alongside with 5 medical ponies and a large stretcher.

“64, you will be explaining this to me later. For now, release the Changeling into medical custody.” Celestia said, before she snatched the Changeling out of my arms and put it onto the stretcher, and the medical ponies wheeled it out of the room, 3 of the guards following. Shining Armor stayed behind with the Princesses, and I knew it was time to explain myself.

“Ok look, you sent me to clear out a Changeling Hive out in the Badlands. I stayed out there for a week waiting until I had the chance to get Queen Clovercloud by herself, but a complication occurred. She was making 4 Soldier Drones fight to the death for some strange reason, and when the last two competitors were left standing, they apparently decided enough was enough and tried blowing the place up.” I explained, before Celestia cut me off.

“Wait does any of that have to do with why there is now a Changeling in Canterlot Palace, being cared for?!” She snapped, as I put a hand up.

“Let me finish please. As chunks of debris began to fall a falling Stalactite caught Clovercloud in the head pretty much killing her on the spot, and when I got stuck trying to get out of the Hive, that Changeling helped me escape. And when I ran into a few Changelings which gave me some problems he helped me when I was pretty much finished. I wasn’t about to let the little guy die out there. Shining c’mon you have to see some logic behind this!”

Shining looked a bit pensive at my statement, but ended up nodding.

“I can’t see a reason to not help him, there have been cases before of malicious creature suddenly gaining affection and assisting ponies in times of need. Why can’t that happen to Changelings?” He asked, as Celestia turned on him too.

“Because being deceitful is part of the process they need to survive! That’s how they work! They wiggle their way into your trust, and when the time is right they will turn around and stab you in the back to feed, and won’t stop until there isn’t anypony around for them to feed on! You have just let a great threat into our walls Project 64, I would think you would understand this.”

“Oh, a defenseless Changeling PUP is a great threat?! He was about the size of my forearm! He’s malnourished, obviously incredibly injured, and saved me twice. So how the hell is he a great threat!?” I screamed back at her, getting in her face to try and drive her back.

Luna got between the two of us and pushed us away, trying to defuse the situation.

“Calm down both of you. 64, while it is obvious your heart is in the right place you have to understand what could become of this. Changelings are known to deceive the very ponies they wish to feed from by appearing to be their allies. We must see if this Changeling is indeed as trustworthy as you say he is. And Sister, without his help 64 might have not come back from this mission alive, and seeing its harmed state 64 only thought he needed to repay the favor. We mustn’t lose sight of what needs to be done.” Luna said, successfully bringing both me and Celestia down from our arguing.

We looked at each other as Celestia sighed, using her magic to close the secret entrance behind her Throne, and pushed it back against the wall. She took a seat and flared her wings, her usual exercise for calming herself down.

“I can see where 64’s heart is, but I must think of my subject’s safety first. We will need to keep that Changeling under lock and key until we can deem it safe. Until then, let us all retire for tonight. 64’s sudden wakeup call wasn’t very subtle.” Princess Celestia said, walking off of her Throne and allowing Luna to sit upon hers, signifying it was now Luna’s Court for the night. Celestia walked out of the Throne room unceremoniously, leaving only me, Shining Armor, and Princess Luna in the room.

The clock on the wall struck 11PM and I sat on the floor, rubbing the bridge of my nose with my thumb and index finger.

“What did I just do Shining…” I asked with a huff, wondering what would become of the Changeling I saved.
Shining put a hoof to my shoulder and shook it encouragingly.

“I think you just did what you thought was right.”

---------------------------FLASHBACK END--------------------------------

I was shaken out of my day dream by Ghost stirring in his slumber, his horn poking me in the arm. I settled him a bit better on my stomach, with me lying down on my bed trying to rest a bit. It was still pretty late in the night, but I didn’t feel as if I could sleep. I needed to get this whole thing with Ghost settled.

I gently picked Ghost off of me and placed him on the bed, before heading out of the room and walking to one of my favorite areas in the entire Palace.

The Training Area.

It was a place where I could blow off a bit of steam when I needed to clear my head, or I could just go there to work out a bit. I went through the barracks of the Equestrian Guard and saw the various sleeping ponies on their bunks, managing to sleep despite the dim lights illuminating the room.

I had stopped feeling nervous around the Guards about a week after I was pardoned by Princess Celestia. I remember the first day after coming back from my job of taking down Sunmoon Gaze I was tackled by about 5 Guards who thought I was still at large. Apparently even after I was injured enough by their assault to be admitted into the Hospital for a few days they were still let off scot free, so I was pissed about that for a while.

I entered the dark room which was the Training Floor and walked out onto the blue mat on the ground. I liked training in the darkness better because the Red light from my magic calmed me in a way, so I very rarely trained when it was light out where some of the sunlight outside could seep into the room.

I closed my eyes and rolled my shoulders, working out any kinks from the bed I was laying on earlier. I rolled my neck a bit before letting out a deep breath, feeling the smoke from my magic blow out of my mouth.

Focusing with as much as I had I opened my eyes and drew all of my magic to them, watching as my vision began to gain a red tint. The darkness of the Training Room began to glow red for me, giving me a form of night vision. Once I had perfect vision in the darkness, I also started to gather my magic in the palms of my hands, causing two small flames to sprout up and illuminate the room.

“Activate Target Practice, Level Intermediate.” I announced, causing the voice sensors in the room to read my voice. Small target rings made their way out of the ceiling and floor, slowly spinning in two opposite directions around the circular mat.

They all had small LED lights attached to them, all glowing red for the moment. I took a stance and began to look around, waiting for the right moment to strike. Quickly 3 of the lights blinked green as I focused on one of them, using my heightened vision to zoom in at it and shoot a fiery bolt of magic at it.

The target retracted as the magic hit, and I repeated the process with the other two targets. 4 more targets lit up as they were quickly taken care of, followed by 5, then 6, and finally the last 7. I decided to switch it up a bit and focus a stream of magic between both of my hands, sending it towards the first of the last targets.

I willed it to shoot from one target to the next, making it look as if it was bouncing from target to target in a rapid succession. Finally the last target was hit, as an automated voice rang out through the room.

“Targets Eliminated. Time: 23 seconds. Accuracy: 100%.”

I sighed as I let the magic in my eyes recede, throwing me back into darkness again. I quickly went into my physical exercises as I walked over to the bench press, racking up 200lbs onto the weights. I wanted to push myself a bit more than I normally would today, so I added about 20 more from my average.

I proceeded with my usual routine, making up of benching, squats, and deadlifts. With each exercise I felt my head becoming clearer, making more rational decisions about what I would tell Ghost the next morning.

I began to grab a jacket I had stashed in one of the lockers in the corner so I could go for a nice 3AM run, when all of a sudden all of the lights in the Training Room flickered on, nearly blinding me due to the sudden change in light.

“Look who had the same idea I did.” A voice said as I rubbed my eyes, trying to get the specs of black splotches out.

“Hey, I was here 30 minutes ago Shining, if anything you had the same idea I did.” I quipped, regaining my vision as I saw Shining Armor standing at the entrance. He usually woke up around this time for a quick work out session, and on occasion I joined him.

“Where are you going so early in the morning? Matter of fact, why are you up so early in the morning?” He asked, a curious look painting his face.

I decided to keep the jacket on the rack, and walked over to Shining.

“Eh, I gotta think about something. I just couldn’t sleep so I decided to come here for a while.”

Shining all of a sudden smirked, a look I knew all too well. He walked over to one end of the large training mat, cracked his neck, and stomped his hoof twice onto the floor. I chuckled and walked over to the other side of the mat, cracking my knuckles and rolling my neck.

“Ground rules?” I asked, wanting to know how far we could take this.

“Non-Lethal Magic, stay within the mat, fight till the other submits. Winner by KO or Submission. Want to count us down?” Shining said, charging his horn with what I could guess was a repulsion spell.

I smirked at his cocky attitude, knowing this was going to be a fun fight.

“Alright. You asked for this. 3……2……1…”

Go.

Author's Note

Shedding some light on the Orgins of Ghost! Things will continue to progress from that flashback, but next we will see 64 vs. Shining Armor! Stay tuned for the next installment of 64 vs. the Underground!

Chapter 4

3rd Person POV

The two rushed forward at each other with top speed, each charging magic for their attacks. Shining Armor launched a Repulsion Spell at 64, who slid onto his knees and managed to dodge the attack successfully. Rising to his feet 64 sent a fist charged with flaming magic at Shining Armor’s exposed muzzle, but as soon as the fist collided 64 was sent flying backwards, repelled by a shield Shining Armor put up as soon as he shot his first distraction spell.

“Gotta watch your opponent at all times! You never know when your magic will prove ineffective!” Shining said, his voice laced with a tone a sensei would give to his student.

64 immediately recovered from being launched backwards and rolled back onto his feet, ready to launch another attack at the Royal Captain. Focusing his magic into his hands 64 punched his hands into the ground, sending a line of red magic through the ground towards Shining Armor. He saw this and jumped to the left, as the ground he was just standing on suddenly erupted with Red Magic.

“Hey, nothing lethal!” Shining yelled as he look towards 64, but saw that he was no longer standing where he was, but instead coming in from above with a magic infused kick. 64 connected with Shining Armor’s muzzle, but Shining used the momentum of the kick to spin around and plant a hard buck onto 64’s chest, launching him onto his back.

“That wasn’t a lethal spell, it was just gonna freeze you in a ball of magic!” 64 said as he conjured a large staff, ready to defend himself from Shining’s next attack. Shining’s horn lit up as he teleported just to the left of 64, tackling him to the ground as soon as he made the trip.

64 backwards as soon as his back hit the ground, in turn pinning Shining Armor to the ground. Shining teleported out from under him, moving across the mat while charging his horn with another spell.

“Get ready for this one 64!” He yelled, as magic began to swirl around his body at an incredible pace, looking as if Shining had a ring of magic around him. 64 lifted his staff and ran forward, ready for whatever Shining was doing.

The ring of magic surrounding Shining Armor suddenly started to launch small discs of magic at 64, forcing him to leap left and right as he still moved forward, ready to put a stop to whatever this spell was doing.

Shining’s focus began to intensify, sweat dripping off of his forehead as he kept up the barrage of magic. 64 began deflecting the discs with his staff, unable to move forward due to the sheer amount of them flying towards him.

“Shining is going to tire out if he keeps up this spell; all I gotta do is not get hit until he does.” 64 thought as he quickly spun the staff in front of his to keep up with the assaulting magic. Shining suddenly realized how quickly this was draining him, so he stopped the flow of magic to his horn and rushed at 64 while he was immobile.

64 saw this move and swung his staff at Shining Armor, who caught the weapon and pulled, trying to rip it from 64’s hands. 64 used this pull to send himself towards Shining Armor, colliding his fist with his face.

Shining Armor was knocked onto his side from the blow but quickly got up, once again lunging towards 64. He managed to grip 64’s arm and swept his feet out from under him, sending him onto his back as the staff in his hands dispelled. Shining but his fore hooves on 64’s chest as his horn lit up, sending a spell into 64’s stomach.

It felt as if 64 was suddenly being electrocuted, all while being held down. He writhed in pain as flashbacks began to flash through 64’s mind, being held down and tortured for experiment under the hooves of Celestia and Knight. Feeling himself losing it 64’s irises suddenly glowed red as he began to expel Red Magic through every pore he had in his skin, feeling himself becoming more powerful and able to escape from his captor.

Shining Armor noticed this and realized what he was doing, stopping immediately and back off of 64’s now glowing red body. 64 shot up onto his feet and saw Shining Armor standing there, but wasn’t able to distinguish him from friend or foe.

“C’MERE YOU! YOU'LL PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID TO ME!” 64 yelled as he rushed at Shining Armor with incredible speeds, making Shining Armor suddenly go wide eyed. He put up a defensive barrier around himself as 64 collided with it, launching him backwards into a wall. He pulled himself from the drywall and rushed once again, this time charging more magic into his hand than the rest of his body. When he reached the shield Shining Armor had put around himself he punched it for all he had, sending ripples through the magical barrier.

It began to crack and break down, forcing Shining Armor to dispel the barrier as he tackled 64 to the ground, then suddenly yelled in pain, feeling to intense burn 64’s magic was beginning to give off. 64 sent a fist into Shining Armor’s face, dazing him before grabbing him by the throat and lifting him up.

“I’M GONNA MAKE YOU PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID TO ME!” 64 growled as he slowly tightened his grip on Shining Armor’s neck, causing the Captain to gasp and choke for air.

“don’t do this… please forgive them…” a figure said, blue invading 64’s vision. 64 let go with one of his hands and tried to wipe away the intrusion to his eyes, but the blue figure remained there.

“fight it 64… shining isn’t the enemy…” the figure said once again, digging its way into 64 mind. He suddenly let go of Shining Armor as he fell to the ground, gasping and wheezing for air. 64 gripped his temples as his fell to the ground in pain, seeing the figure in blue slowly become clearer in his vision.

It spoke softly, slowly, and clearly. 64 screamed at it to go away.

“calm down 64… don’t let it corrupt you as it did me…” the voice said, finally breaking through to 64’s head, allowing him to now clearly speak to Shining Armor.

“SHINING! HELP!” 64 yelled as he banged his temples with his palms, begging the pain in his head to go away. Shining Armor got to his hooves and made his way to 64, who was still shaking and spasming with his hands covering his head.

Pinning him to the ground Shining Armor sat on his shoulders, forcing 64’s arms to his sides. He brought his two front hooves up, before he muttered at 64.

“Sorry buddy.”

Shining Armor brought his hooves down onto 64’s head, promptly silencing him.

64 POV

I felt myself wake up before I opened my eyes. A splitting headache was shooting through me when consciousness came back, nearly making me throw up in my bed. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and looked around the small medical room I was in, a heart rate monitor and IV drip stuck into my wrist.

No nurse was in the room at the moment, so I undid the IV drip and sat upright on the bed I was lying on.

“What the hell happened to me?” I groaned, feeling blood suddenly rush to my head as I felt a bit dizzy. I had vague memories of me and Shining Armor sparring, but when PTSD kicked in I couldn’t remember anything after that.

I stood up and saw I was still in my training apparel, and not in those horribly awful robes that were too small for me, which was strange because if I was taken in by medical personnel, I would have been stripped of my clothing.

“Hello? Anypony out there?” I asked, walking over to the door of the room. I opened it and saw Shining Armor standing there with his hoof reaching out towards the doorknob, obviously about to answer my question.

“Oh, I was just coming to see you. I kinda need to you be quiet for a bit, technically you aren’t supposed to be here.” Shining Armor said, motioning for me to follow him out of the room. I complied, wondering what he meant by that.

“What do you mean I’m not supposed to be here? Didn’t the medical personnel check me in?” I questioned, as Shining Armor nodded his head no.

“I brought you here after you went kind of bonkers. I’m not sure what would happen if Princess Celestia caught wind of your little episode, so I snuck you in here so you could cool down for a little while, literally. Luckily, you’ve only been out for about 3 hours, so the ponies around here are just starting to wake up.”

I suddenly remember seeing flashes of Vi telling me to calm down while I was freaking out, and instantly felt bad about it.

“I didn’t hurt anyone right?” I asked worried for the ponies in the palace’s safety.

“No, you managed to calm yourself down before you did any real damage. Luckily I was there to stop you when I did. I’m sorry about using the stun spell on you like that, I forgot how powerful it could be.”

I waved my hand to disregard the subject, “It’s alright, all that matters is that nopony was hurt. We’re in the medical wing of the palace, right?” I asked, to which Shining Armor nodded.

“Yeah, 5 floor, why?” He asked, seeing the small grin I had on my face.

“You go on ahead; I can sneak out of here quicker by myself. I just need to find the tower…”

I looked down the hallway we were in and saw a stairway to the Memorial Tower, where the Elements of Harmony were held.

“Alright, remember to inform Ghost of the job he needs to decide about. Oh, and Princess Celestia wants to meet you at noon to give you information about the Grand Galloping Gala tomorrow.” Shining Armor told me as he walked away, heading back towards the Barracks.

I chuckled as I proceeded down the hallway towards Memorial Tower, climbing the stairs to reach the Room I was looking for. The memorial I was looking for was dedicated to a mare named Snowdrop, whose room had a perfect perch for a jump into the bushes of flowers decorating the ground below. I felt a little bad using her memorial to get to ground level quicker from up here, but I figured no real harm was being done.

I passed many memorials on my way to Snowdrop’s. The most notable of them all would be Starswirl the Bearded’s room. It was massive, complete with paintings, magic theories and forbidden spells, one of them being a resurrection spell which was written in some illegible language. I often found scholar ponies studying the artifacts found inside, but I had never really gone in myself.

I climbed up to Snowdrop’s memorial, feeling its magical aura permeate throughout the room. It always felt naturally cooler in this room, even when the temperatures outside were in the triple digits. I walked to the balcony window and open it, feeling the rush of cold air hit me as the air pressure in the room changed.

I looked over the edge and saw the bushes of flowers decorating the Court Yard, forming beautiful patterns with their colors and shapes. I wasted no time of choosing a spot I was going to aim for and jumping off of the balcony, making a much quicker way downstairs than any elevator.

I landed in a thick bed of Rhododendron’s, perfect for cushioning my fall as I managed to carefully pull myself out of the bed of flowers. I looked to a large clock on the side of the Memorial Tower and saw it was only 7AM, nowhere close to noon. Seeing that Celestia wouldn’t need me for about 5 hours, I went to go talk to Ghost, know I would need to tell him about the job Celestia wanted him to do.

I made my way back to my room, seeing guards and attendants alike waking up for their days in the Canterlot Palace. Many attendants waved happily to me, some of them being ponies I saved in rescue situations.

A light blue coated unicorn mare with a brown bowl cut mane happily walked up to me, hugging me as her horn lit up happily.

“How are you doing Blusa? Feeling good this morning?” I asked her, as her horn lit up with a bright green light.

“That’s good, are you making sure to take it easy? It’s only been about 2 months since we got back from south of the border.”
She nodded yes to me, nuzzling me affectionately before she waved to me, walking away to start her work. She was such a strong mare, especially if she had the strength to continue her life after all she had been through.

I managed to bring her back from the southern Country of Tuvalu, where she was being auctioned off as a slave to a very sleazy politician. She was abused on a daily basis, both physically and emotionally as she was forced to do the most demeaning of tasks for her “master”. I can still remember how many tears she shed when we escaped, but she didn’t cry.

Her vocal cords had been damaged beyond repair when the stallion who had bought her punched her in the throat for speaking out of turn, causing her to become incapable of communication. Upon returning to Equestria she saw no other option in life but to become an attendant in Canterlot, where she made many friends and eventually learned magical sign language.

She had mentioned to me once that she had a brother out in Manehatten who I went to go find, and found that he was a very skilled fellow, able to craft the some of the finest metal trinkets in Equestria. He had a shop where he sold the trinkets, but I quickly found that he was incredibly laid back and very blunt, causing many patrons who entered to leave immediately.

He was happy to hear that he still had a relative who was still alive, and wanted to meet her for a while now. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to get Blusa over to him yet, but I planned on doing that when Celestia let me off the leash a little bit.

I made my way to my chambers and opened the door, seeing that Ghost was still curled up on the bed where I had left him, moaning at the light which was seeping through the now open door.

“Why does my head hurt?” He groaned as he woke up, buzzing his wings a bit and rubbing his eyes.

“Ghost, you and I need to have a talk.” I said seriously, making him look down at the floor.

“Is…Is it about when I ate?”

I shook my head no, knowing that he just couldn’t help his hunger.

“No, I can see why you did that Ghost. All you need to learn from that is self-control will prevent accidents like that happening again. Celestia has something she needs you to do. It’s really important that you listen to what I’m going to say, so pay attention.” I spoke, walking over to a bookshelf I had on the wall and pulling out a small folder, labeled with the title “Clovercloud”.

“Celestia needs you to do something important, but it’s your choice whether or not you are going to take the job. Ghost, you need to learn how to be a Changeling.”

-----------------------5 Hours Later--------------------------

Ghost had taken the news about what he would need to do overseas if he decided to take the job well. He didn’t freak out about like I had predicted, in fact, he seemed a bit excited about learning new skills involving deception. I had told him the terms of the job and what he would need to do, and he excitedly accepted the job on the spot.

I would need to tell Celestia about his decision, so I quickened my pace to the Throne Room. Celestia also said she needed to see me, so I left Ghost with my report of the Badlands job and went to go see what she wanted, curious of what I would need to do.

The doors opened as I approached, the Unicorn guards detecting me coming near. I saw Princess Celestia sitting on her Throne, a small grin on her face as she and Luna sat in silence.

“Princess, Shining Armor told me you had wanted to see me?” I asked, seeing her turn her head a bit in confusion.

“Yes, but I’ve had trouble locating you all morning. Where have you been?” Celestia asked as she walked forward to me.

“I was informing Ghost about the job Luna had told me about, and he actually was more than happy to accept. And before that I was walking around the Palace early in the morning.” I explained, my explanation being accepted by Celestia.

“Well that explains it. The reason I have called you today is to inform you of a small journey I need you to make before the Grand Galloping Gala tomorrow. I ask you to travel Ponyville and make sure that my student and her friends receive their tickets for the event. I also suggest that you acquire a suit from the Element of Generosity, who is a well-known tailor. I know for a fact all that you have in that closet of yours is Black and Brown Cloaks and a bunch of combat pants, so acquire something suitable.”

I looked down to what I was wearing and saw that all I had wear a pair of black combat pants and a black long sleeve.

“What’s wrong with what I have on right now? I’m just going to be working security; I don’t see a reason to dress up for the occasion.” I countered, as Luna walked down.

“64, there’s nothing wrong with dressing up for a special occasion. So pick up a nice suit while you’re in Ponyville, or I and my sister are going to make you pay.” Luna said in a mock anger way, causing me to chuckle.

“Alright, fine. I’ll be back tomorrow in time for the Grand Galloping Gala, til then, take care of Ghost. Speaking of which, when will he be leaving?” I asked, to which Celestia answered.

“We have plans to send him to the ship ports in Baltimare, and then have him travel to Ethaxial sometime within the next 3 days. Until then, he will be traveling to Baltimare with a small guard squad.”

64 nodded, understanding what would happen during the next few days.

“Alright, so how will I be getting to Ponyville? Running there?” I asked, as Celestia shook her head no.

“We would rather have you get there in a way which wouldn’t incite a city wide panic. We’re going to send you by Chariot, a much more pleasant arrival. You can leave now if you want, unless you want to say goodbye to Ghost?”

“No, Ghost and I have a saying about goodbyes. If you never say goodbye, you aren't really gone. I’ll be on my way to Ponyville. You got the Chariot ready?” I asked as Luna nodded.

“Yes, I can escort you there at once. Please follow me.” Luna said, walking towards Celestia’s Throne and tilting the small candle on the wall, revealing the secret passageway to the back cliff of Canterlot Palace. Princess Luna wasn’t lying about already having a Chariot at the ready. 4 Pegasi Guards were attached to the chariot as they were ready for takeoff.

Luna pulled out a small purple envelope containing the tickets and handed them to me, and then immediately turned around and walked back into the Palace.

“Well I did tell her I wasn’t too fond of goodbyes. Alright soldiers! I’m ready to fly.”

Author's Note

This Chapter was written very hastily to get it out on time, but hopefully in later chapters I won't be swamped with my Sophomore year in high school.

Chapter 5

Ghost POV

I read happily as I felt myself jitter in excitement for my upcoming mission. I would learn how to feed like a real Changeling would! It was so exciting I felt like I was going to burst at any moment, but the only thing that would make it a bit better is if 64 was there to see me off.

We had this little agreement where we would never say goodbye, but sometimes I really wish he could see me go on my own adventures. Even though he wasn’t a pony or a Changeling, I felt as if he was the closest thing to any kind of family I had. He saved me from Clovercloud’s Hive, kept Princess Celestia from hurting me when he brought me back to Canterlot, and then gave me a new way I could help other ponies.

When he first brought me back I felt as if he was trying to repay me for saving him when we met, but after time passed I felt as if he took me under his “wing”, teaching me so many things I thought I would never ever learn in my life!

“Young Ghost, Princess Celestia has summoned you to the Throne Room. She requests you at your earliest convenience.” An attendant said, sticking his head into the door of the room.

“Oh, yeah I’ll be there right now.” I said, closing the manila folder which held all of the information about Changelings 64 was able to gather. I hopped off of the bed I was lying on and shook myself a bit, fluttering my wings in nervousness.

The job 64 had described to me sounded very serious, as Crystal Dust was often used in magical hexes and malicious potions. If the trade continued to go through into Equestria, a lot of bad things could happen to innocent ponies.

Before I was able to exit the room, another attendant blocked my path, but I was delighted to see that it was Blusa who was going to check up on me.

“Blusa! I haven’t seen you in a month!” I said happily as I went to hug her, with her gladly returning the hug.

My horn lit up as I signaled I was ready to use telepathy to communicate with her, as her horn glowed as well.

“Oh my goodness Ghost! Did you molt in your time away? You look so much bigger!” She piped, making me blush.

“Oh no, I haven’t molted since 2 months ago. It might just be because 64 fed me last night. What about you? Has the throat been any better?” I asked concerned, as she rubbed it with one of her hooves.

“Oh Ghost, you already know what my answer will be. I’m afraid my voice might never come back, which is a shame regarding my cutie mark…”
I looked to her flank and saw the microphone with 5 little stars surrounding it, telling anypony who saw it that she was able to magically enhance her voice. Apparently she had been a successful singer in Las Pegasus before she was kidnapped and taken to Tuvalu.

“I’m sorry I brought it up Blusa, I didn’t mean to make you feel bad.” I said looking down, as Blusa gave me a warm smile and patted me on the head, making me purr affectionately.

“Don’t worry about that Ghost. I actually came to talk to you about why Princess Celestia called you., 64 has gone to Ponyville already, I was just wondering why you didn’t go with him.”

“Oh! Celestia is giving me a job overseas! I’m so excited!” I buzzed, jumping up and down happily.

Blusa’s face suddenly went into a shocked expression as if I had told her something wrong.

“I’m sorry Ghost, but did you just say you were going to go overseas? As in leave Equestria?!” She said with worried voice.

“Yeah! I’m gonna learn how to be a real Changeling and feed off of other bad ponies. Then I have to find where a gang of Diamond Dogs are selling magical Dust and then 64 will come and then capture them! It’s going to be really hard, but I’m ready for it!”

Blusa stood there for a few moments before I saw her put on a smile, but I could tell she wanted to say something to me.

“Well, I just hope you stay safe Ghost. It would be terrible if something were to happen to you, but I know that you always find your way out of all sorts of situations. I hope you come back safe.” Blusa said as she patted me on the head once again before she turned around and left the room in a hurry, making me wonder where she was going.

I shrugged and continued off to the Throne Room, the butterflies of nervousness once again fluttering through my stomach. It would only be a quick hour chariot ride to Baltimare, then a day’s boat travel to Ethaxial, a Griffin Territory.

Griffins were often very brash and rude, so I needed to make sure to remember this while making contact with the Diamond Dogs. I needed to impersonate any one of their contacts, meaning had to observe any and all business regarding the magical Dust, and eventually that will lead me straight towards the culprits. Once I found them 64 would come in and make the arrests, and it would be smooth sailing.

“I hope I show 64 that I’m not just a little Changeling…” I whispered, realizing that I was standing in front of Throne Room doors. I pushed them open with magic, and saw both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna sitting in their respective thrones, each giving me serious gazes. I approached the two and bowed down, knowing that although I was loyal to 64, I was still one of their subjects.

“Rise Young Ghost, the time for your departure has arrived, and we must not waste any time in getting you overseas. Do you understand what you must do once you are hooves down in Ethaxial?” Princess Celestia asked, to which I nodded.

“Yes your majesty, I understand completely. I will do my best.” I said politely, rising up and adjusting my saddlebag, containing 64’s Clovercloud file, a Daring Doo book, a notepad, and a charm only to be used in emergencies which would allow me to contact Celestia.

“You seem under equipped; wouldn’t you pack a bit more essential items such as a sleeping bag or maybe a few extra bits?” Princess Luna asked as I shook my head no.

“I haven’t the need for warmth, so sleeping in outdoor areas won’t have much effect on me, and as for bits…” I said, using magic to open a back pocket of my saddlebag and take out a small pouch, showing it to the Princesses.
“That hardly looks like it contains the amount of bits which you will need for your adventure, allow us to—“

“No need Princess, look.”

I undid the small string on the end of the pouch and opened the pouch, revealing a Rose Ruby in all its shimmering glory. Princess Celestia remembered what kind of species I was going to deal with on my adventure and nodded.

“I also have a lot of little gems in other pockets, perfect for bribing and bartering my way to get close to the Diamond Dogs. I feel as if I am perfectly equipped Princess.”

The Princesses nodded at each other, as Princess Luna walked forward to Ghost.

“Very well, come with me. The chariot awaits us in the center of the Canterlot Hedge maze.” Luna said, as I followed out of the Throne Room and outside of the Palace. As we walked I noticed the frightened gazes of many passerby’s, seeing my “grotesque” appearance compared to their pompous, high and mighty looks.

I briefly considered changing my form, but I decided against it. I wanted to win them over by showing them I wasn’t a monster, so they were just going to have to see the real me.

We reached the Hedge Maze and began to traverse its leafy walls, making left and right turns at different intervals. When we reached the center of the maze, I took a second to appreciate all of the statues which were decorating the small field.

One stood out to me the most however. 64’s statue where he defeated Super Nova was standing there proudly, her snarling face yelling at 64’s cocky grin while she was pinned on top of him. I almost didn’t believe 64’s story until I came to see the statue with him, but when we got there I almost couldn’t believe it.

He knelt by the statue for a long time without saying anything, and I could swear that I saw some tears start to form in his eyes. After we had observed the statue 64 went on this long speech about what he went through before I met him, and how that no matter how hard the difficulties in front of you seem, there will be a rainbow to guide you in the end.

I still don’t get what he meant by that, but I feel that maybe when I was a bit older I would figure out what it meant.

The Chariot waiting for me had 2 Pegasi attached, both standing at attention due to Princess Luna’s presences. She turned to me before I got onto the Chariot, a worried look in her eyes.

“Young Ghost, although I am aware of your skills in combat, I urge you to avoid as much unneeded confrontation as you can. If you can learn something by simply eavesdropping then please do so, don’t put yourself in immediate danger by asking the questions yourself.” She said, kneeling down and nuzzling my cheek.

I nodded and saluted to her, “Don’t worry Princess, I’ll do my very best!” I said, hopping onto the Chariot. I stamped my hoof twice onto the floor as the Pegasi received the signal, taking off and soaring to the sky towards Balitmare.

“I’ll do my best, I’ll make you proud 64.”

64 POV

The ride was coming to an end, and I could see Ponyville in the distance. It was only about a 10 minute trip, but I wanted to get out of this damn Chariot. I had asked if I could jump from the Chariot like I had done before, but the Pegasi were very strict about wanting to make a peaceful entrance, and not making the citizens of Ponyville frantic.

I guess that kind of made sense, but I didn’t like being up in the air for too long. It’s because I like to have an immediate choice in what goes on around me, but while being dragged through the air by these 4 Pegasi I felt pretty vulnerable. All I could do was look at the approaching city as we began to make our descent.

Even from here I could see the ponies in the town looking up towards the Royal Chariot, excited for whoever was going to be visiting their quaint town. They were probably going to be a bit shocked at what was really coming to town, but I paid it no mind, I had something to do.

The Chariot eventually hit the ground and the ponies were able to see me, some becoming scared at my strange appearance, and some going as far to scream and run away. Others stood there in curiosity, and some actually recognized me from 6 months earlier.

A Blonde maned and grey coated mare was the first to point out this fact.

“Hey! Aren’t you that thing that fought that fiery pony a few months ago?” She asked, walking up to the chariots and putting her hooves up onto the side, standing on her rear hooves to get a better look at me.

“Yeah, that was me. But right now I gotta find Twilight Sparkle, do you have any idea where I could find her?” I asked, as the mare brought her hoof to her chin. Her eyes lit up as a happy grin donned her face.

“Oh yea! She was over at the Carousel Boutique with a few of her friends! You could check there!”

I nodded to her and said my thanks as I stepped off of the Chariot, ponies surround me stepping out of the way so I could get to the Carousel Boutique. Luckily I knew what building she was talking about, because I only knew one building in town that resembled a Carousel in anyway.

Luckily the crowd of ponies that were watching me eventually dispersed as I walked away, not really caring and proceeding with their normal business.

I heard a loud ringing noise and turned to the Clock Tower, seeing it ring as the time struck 12:30. Memories of events past started to bubble their way to the surface, the smallest tinge of blue invading my vision. I shook my head to try and clear it, but they still kept coming to the fore front of my mind.

The ringing got more intense in my head as I felt myself becoming a bit dizzy, having to kneel down onto one knee to try and catch my breath.

“Fuck, I do not want to have an episode in a public area…” I muttered as I will myself to stand up and keep walking, the noise still permeating in my head. I could see the Carousel Boutique in the distance, next to a few other shops which sold miscellaneous items.

When I approached the door I suddenly remembered something before knocking, and reached into my small satchel pocket. I pulled out something I owed Rarity, but luckily never got rid of.

With that I pulled the hood of my black Cloak over my head, going onto all fours to not surprise them too much when somepony opened the door. I knock twice and waited, hearing the quick pitter-patter of hooves on wood as they approached the door.

Light blue magic enveloped the door as it was opened by a small filly, the same one who almost caught me sneaking in her so long ago.

“Hello, how can I help you?” She asked.

“Is Ms. Twilight Sparkle here at the moment? I have something I need to give to her.” I said, pulling out the envelope with my hand before putting it in my mouth, making it look like how an earth pony would grab it.

“Yeah, she’s in here with Rarity putting the final touches onto her dress for tomorrow night! Want me to call her for you?” The little filly asked as I shook my head no.

“No I can get her, can you just point the way?”

The filly stepped aside and pointed into one of the backrooms of the boutique, covered by a curtain. I made my way through the room and saw that the chest I had broken into 6 months ago was now locked with a magical padlock, needing both a combination and a magical signature.

I chuckled a bit, knowing that I could still break into the chest very easily. I moved aside the curtain and saw a sight that I had to struggle to not laugh at. Rarity was pulling and tugging with all her might to tighten a corset around Twilight’s abdomen, whereas Twilight looked as if her eyeballs were about to pop out of their sockets.

Upon seeing me Rarity gasped, in turn releasing Twilight’s corset from her teeth, sending the both of them flying in opposite directions. I let out a quick snort of laughter, unable to hold it in much longer.

After composing herself as best as she could, Rarity stood up and tried to make an attempt of swinging her hair attractively. Unfortunately for her, her hair looked absolutely horrendous, so any effect it would have on a stallion was immediately deadened.

“Umm, excuse me, I am in the middle of helping somepony prepare themselves for a very important event tomorrow night, so I’m afraid I must ask you to sit in the waiting area of the Boutique. I promise that I will be with you once I am done with this mare.” Rarity said, trying to turn me away in the most polite way possible.

“Oh, yes of course. But I’m afraid I have something for your client. Ms. Twilight Sparkle?” I asked, still disguised.

“Huh? Something for me?” Twilight asked, still a bit a dazed from her crash.

“Yes. From Princess Celestia herself. I believe you will be needing these for entry into the event you will be attending tomorrow?”
I stood up and held out the tickets with my hand, scaring the hooves off of the mares in front of me. Twilight’s fight or flight reaction apparently was fight because upon seeing me she immediately sent a small bolt of magic at me, forcing me to duck to the ground and pull my hood down, waving my hands in the air.

“Woah! Woah! It’s me! 64! Twilight it’s just me!” I said, not wanting to get hit by a bolt of one odf the strongest magic users in Equestria.

Twilight’s eyes suddenly lit up as she realized her mistake, the magic in her horn fading.

“Oh my gosh! 64?! What in Celestia’s name gave you the idea to scare us like that?!” Twilight yelled at me, as I grinned stupidly and rubbed the back of my neck.

“I thought it would be too much to simply walk up to the door and tell that little filly over there what I was, so I got by her using my Cloak. I thought you would remember the guy who help the Elements of Harmony defeat Super Nova 6 months ago.” I said crossing my arms at that last part, as Twilight gave me a sheepish grin.

“Well when you just suddenly stand straight up like that it sorta startles anypony who suddnely sees your height! And what are you doing with those tickets for the Grand Galloping Gala? Princess Celestia was supposed to send those through Spike!” Twilight said angrily as she began to remember what happened 5 months prior.

----------------5 MONTHS AGO----------------

I stood with my Cloak over my prone by Princess Luna, as we both had smug grins adorning our faces. In front of Princess Luna was a large jar slowly being filled to the brim in bits, as the vegetable cart next to me was slowly being empty of the various food products inside of it. I had decided to bring my idea to Luna’s attention when I had thought it up, and due to her still slight anger at her sister she instantly jumped onto the idea.

It was only a plus that Twilight Sparkle was coming to visit today for her monthly visit.

“WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE ALL DOING TO PRINCESS CELESTIA!?” She yelled, trying to cover Princess Celestia who was being pelted with various food, ranging from tomatoes to eggplants. She was locked into a Pillory stand, and a small ring was placed on her horn which negated all magical powers she could use. A ball gag was wrapped around her neck and mouth, preventing all sounds from leaving Celestia's mouth.

Twilight was now in the crossfire as ponies from Ponyville to Dodge Junction stood in the Canterlot Palace Courtyard and threw the vegetables mercilessly, this being the most “lenient” form of punishment we could perform without any suspicious towards me.

Ponies were buying the various foods at 2 bits a throw, and we were quickly running out of stock. This event was advertised across Equestria, and we even got Shining Armor to get the guards to turn a blind eye to this little stunt.

“PRINCESS LUNA YOU HAVE TO STOP THEM!” Twilight said as I stepped backwards and blended into the shadows, not wanting to let Twilight see and recognize me. She was wiping away the various pieces of food that were now staining her coat and yelling frantically to Luna, who was having trouble keeping in her boom laughter.

“Twilight, you must simply let these ponies enjoy themselves for a short while. Look at all of these bits we are going to be donating to the Canterlot Hospital, they will simply be ecstatic!” Luna said nonchalantly, as if her sister just didn’t get slugged by an apricot.

Twilight turned around to yell at the crowds, who simply turned on her as they began pelting her with the foods as well. I felt slightly bad about allowing this to happen, so I stepped out and stood next to Luna, pulling down my hood slightly so Twilight could see my face.

“64?! WHAT IN EQUESTRIA IS GOING ON?”

“Payback.”

-------------FLASHBACK OVER-------------

“Ah… Good times…” I muttered, both me and Twilight remembering the embarrassing event for Celestia. That event continued for 3 days, making it one of the most financially profitable moments in farming history. The total amount of bits earned for Canterlot Hospital that day was about 2000 bits, meaning there was about 1000 pieces of food thrown at Princess Celestia in those 3 days.

“Can you please forget about that? That incident made Princess Celestia a total laughing stock!” Twilight said as her face reddened. I simply laughed and handed the tickets to her as she snatched them out of my hands, glowering at me.

“There are 7 tickets in there from Princess Celestia, for you, your friends, and Spike. I’m gonna be there as well, and that brings me to my second reason for being here,” I said, turning to Rarity who had come back after her scare, and was now listening to me and Twilight, ” I’m gonna need a better suit…”

Rarity’s eyes light up like a candle as she realized what that meant, a large smile splitting her face in two.

“OHH! I NEED TO GET MY MEASURING TAPE!” Rarity yelled running upstairs, as Twilight yelled after her.

“Rarity! What about my… dress…” Twilight muttered at the end, once again turning back to me and glowering.

I shrugged my shoulders and waited for Rarity to come back with her tape, wondering what a suit on someone of my stature would look like. I had seen plenty of ponies wearing suits to simply walk around in Canterlot, but they were all quadruped, so they wore clothes much differently than I did.

Rarity came running back in as she held her tape in her magical grip, quickly running in front of me and using her magic to hold me still. I suddenly saw another flash of blue and felt the tingling sensation of an episode at the back of my head, as I yelled out suddenly.

“PLEASE! Ahem, Rarity… can you please… umm… let me go… I can stand still…” I said through clenched teeth as she let me go, allowing me to crumple back onto my hands and knees.

I could feel the two mare’s gazes burrow at the back of my head, each of them wondering why I just acted the way I did.

“Why 64, what’s wrong? Are you feeling sick?” Rarity asked me, oblivious to my condition.

“Yea, just a little… Look, I can stand perfectly still… just let me take off this damn Cloak.” I said, untying it from my neck and tossing it to the side, revealing a black longsleeve I had underneath.

“Well Rarity, if you are so occupied with our visitor here, I’ll leave you to your business. I wanted to have a word with Sweetie Belle regarding her magic tutoring.” Twilight said walking out of the room with the tickets, making sure to hold onto them for tomorrow night.

“Very well Twilight, be sure to come back tomorrow to let me do your makeup for the Gala!”

Rarity turned back to me as I spread my arms out wide, allowing her to get all of the measurements she needed.

“Oh 64, you are going to look simply dashing tomorrow night. Might I ask who you are attending with?” She asked me, trying to make small talk.

“I’m not going to be going with anyone. I’m gonna be working as security for the Gala all night. I’m not gonna have time for any mare.” I said sarcastically as Rarity chuckled.

“Oh I do suppose you’re right… besides, I’m not exactly sure how you will be able to dance with a mare with your height. Maybe if the mare would stand on her hind legs?”

“Maybe.”

Chapter 6

64 POV

About an hour later Rarity had gotten all of her necessary measurements, so I rolled my shoulders and tried to undo the knots I made, to which Rarity scolded me for not letting her hold me still for me. I thought that the slight discomfort I had to go through was much better than the assured panic attack I would have if I had let her hold onto me for too long.

“Well since we’re done here I’m gonna go over and see Twilight. I heard her walk out the door when she was done talking to that little filly. When will my suit be done?” I asked, walking out of the room and heading towards the door.

“I’ll get it done as soon as tomorrow afternoon! Then you can be a gentlecolt and escort us all to the Gala!” Rarity called back, already pulling pieces of black fabrics off of the walls and sewing them together on her sewing machines.

“Actually, I won’t be able to escort you there. I gotta get there earlier so I can take my post in security, you might need to get somepony else to escort you!” I called back, opening the door to walk out of the Boutique. I made sure to place the Rose Ruby I had stolen from Rarity onto a counter top she could see when she would walk out of the room.

“Oh, well no matter Darling! I’m sure my little Spikey-Wikey will be more than enough to get us there safely!”

I chuckled at that. Leaving the 3 foot lizard to escort you to Canterlot on the night of the Grand Galloping Gala? Good luck. I stepped outside and pulled my Cloak back around my shoulders, feeling the slight chill an incoming breeze.

As I made my way through town to the Golden Oaks Library, I got a significantly lower amount of strange gawks, and an increased amount of happy grins and waves. A small Unicorn filly with blonde hair and a purplish coat walked up to me and tapped my shin, waving her hoof towards herself to signal she wanted me to come closer.

I kneeled down to her level and listened to what she had to say, as she came closer to me to whisper.

“Are you what mommy is telling everypony in town about? She says you’re the thingy that saved everypony from a fire pony.” The little filly asked as I smiled and patted her on the head, a small blush lighting up her cheeks.

“Well yea, about 6 months ago though. But it was Twilight Sparkle and her friends that really stopped the fire pony, I don’t deserve all of the credit.” I said, rising up to my feet as I continued walking to Twilight’s library, wondering how fast one mare was able to announce my arrival.

I reached the Golden Oaks Library and knocked on the door three times, waiting for Twilight or Spike to answer the door. I heard a series of loud banging before hoofsteps came to the door, a magenta glow surrounding the door before it swung open.

“Hey Twilight, I just… need to… make…… sure?” I trailed off, seeing an obscene amount of apple remnants littering the floor of the library. Twilight wasn’t even standing at the door; she was in the center of the mess while pulling another apple out of the 20 something crates stacked against a wall.

“64, what do you want I’m really busy trying to perfect a spell I’ll need for tomorrow, and I’d like it if I could have as little distractions as possible.” Twilight said, sweating as the apple suddenly lit up with a purple light, before it completely fizzled out and dropped to the ground like the many before it.

“Umm, I was coming to see if there was anything you needed me to do around here. I don’t know if you know this but I’m not used to just sitting in one spot as others are actually doing things.” I said as I stuffed my hands into my pockets.

Twilight looked as if she was going to simply disregard me and continue with her practice, but she then grew a contemplative face.

“Actually, there might be something you can do for me. I need a few field mice for the second part of this spell, so I need you to go ask Fluttershy for three of them. I’m gonna stay here and reread the spellbook I found this dang spell in…”

I nodded and started to walk in the directions of Fluttershy’s house, before a voice stopped me.

“Wait! Twilight!” A younger voice said as I heard the pitter patter of small feet hitting the floor as the sound quickly approached, and soon a small purple and green dragon stood next to Twilight.

“Twilight, I still need to get my tuxedo tailored today but I overslept so I wasn’t able to go with you and now I need to go to Rarity’s right now so I can get the suit done and make sure to find out when I need to take you girls to the Grand Galloping—“

Spike suddenly saw me standing there in the doorway, his quick bantering being cut short.

“Uh, hey there. Remember me?” I asked, with us only meeting once in a bad situation. He stood there in a frozen daze, mouth open and knees shaking as I saw his eyes start to water up.

“Twilight you mind explaining things to him?” I asked, not wanting to deal with a weepy little Dragon right now. Dragons could really get under my skin whenever I had to make contact with them, trying to make me perform dangerous acts to gain their trust. It was all about who was stronger, who was bigger, who was “more like a Dragon”.

I guess I could say that I didn’t really trust Dragons, no matter how small. I saw Twilight take Spike to the side and whisper a few things in his ears, with Spike looking over his shoulders at me a few times during the explanation he was receiving. I guess it’s also kind of my fault he was acting this way, I mean we didn’t exactly meet in the most optimal situation, but I can’t help but feel that he might be overreacting just a bit.

When Twilight was done with her short explanation, Spike turned around to me and stood, with a look on his face as if he was trying to gain the courage to speak.

“U-Umm… T-Twilight thinks… thinks we need to… like… reintroduce ourselves… why don’t you go first?” Spike said, slowly gaining confidence with every word spoken.

“Sure, my name is Project 64. What’s your name?” I asked, kneeling down and reaching my hand out. I already knew his name due to Princess Celestia’s explanations, but I only felt that if I told him I knew his name he would freak out a bit more.

“My name’s Spike, I’m Twilight’s assistant here in Ponyville. I’m also the strongest Dragon within a 50 mile radius!” Spike said, now gloating as we finally gained a common ground. I felt he was still a bit egotistical as all Dragons were, but with him being raised around Ponies it seemed as if he was much tamer.

“Yeah, because you are the only Dragon within a 50 mile radius…” I muttered, not loud enough for the other two to hear. “Well, Spike, how about this? I need to go to Fluttershy’s cabin to get some field mice for Twilight, and you need to go get your suit tailored. How about you tag along with me to get the mice, I’ll take you to get your suit tailored?”

Spike suddenly look happier at the mention of his suit going to get tailored, and immediately ran upstairs to go and grab it.

“Well he seems happier. Any idea why? Getting a suit tailored isn’t all that exciting.” I asked to Twilight who seemed to be giggling.

“You’ll see when you get there; just make sure you don’t scare Spike as much as you did last time. He was absolutely traumatized by you.” Twilight told me, making me shrug my shoulders.

“I promise not to sneak into the Library posed as a pony and grab him by the mouth telling him to shut the fuck up.” I smirked to which Twilight punched me in the shoulder.

Spike came running down the stairs with his little suit on a clothes hanger, eager to get going.

“All right Twilight, we’ll be back soon, hopefully.” I said, walking out of the door with the baby Dragon in tow.

3rd Person POV

64 walked the dirt roads of Ponyville with Spike alongside him, the baby Dragon asking question after question regarding 64’s new life after the defeat of Super Nova.

“So like, you go and hunt the bad ponies and kill them?! That sounds cool!” Spike exclaimed, eyes wide as 64 explained what his job was.

“Not exactly. Although I do go to hunt down the ‘bad ponies’ as you put it, I try not to kill them. I always aim for an incapacitation and capture, that way we can find out any more information regarding anything else they’ve been doing. A lot of the ponies I go for are drug runners, pony traffickers, slavers, and dirty politicians, so it’s always in Princess Celestia’s interests to capture and interrogate. I never really liked adding to the rising death toll of every day.” 64 clarified, as Spike nodded in understanding.

“So, you take in the bad ponies to find out other bad things they’ve been doing?”

“Exactly. Sometimes we find out that they have smaller rings of crime hidden under the mask of larger crimes. It’s a really long process, but I think Ghost and I are doing really good.”

Spike suddenly grew confused.

“Wait, who’s Ghost? Is he like your partner?” Spike asked.

“Well yeah, but I also see him as part of my family. He’s been with me through the thick and thin. I wouldn’t have gone through so much trouble to save him if I didn’t see something really special in him…” 64 said, trailing off as slightly more pleasant memories of the past bean to surface.

---------------FLASHBACK 4 MONTHS---------------

64 POV

“What do you mean I can’t see him!?” I yelled to the Royal Pegasus Guard in front of me, blocking my path to see the Changeling that saved me.

“The prisoner is currently being question by both Captain Shining Armor and Princess Celestia. If it is deemed clear you will be admitted to see him in the detention center. Now please leave until the interrogation is over.” The guard said, his voice trying to be intimidating yet had no effect on me.

I decided to use a bit of intimidation as well, fronting the guard as my nose hit his muzzle. I stared deep into his eyes as mine started to flicker red, causing his demeanor to slightly falter. I blew a puff of thick black smoke out of my nose as I saw it rise past our eyes, further breaking the guard’s defenses.

“Now listen here… If you do not let me in to see the Changeling, I will not hesitate to force my arm up your asshole and pull your intestines out so I can choke you with them, so I think it’s in your best interest to allow me passage, got it?” I growled, allowing Super Nova’s voice to leak out.

I had finally broken the guard who stepped aside and unlocked the door, letting me push the doors open to see Princess Celestia and Shining Armor both pressing the Changeling hard, but they were unable to see me through the one way mirror. I was hearing their words and decided it wasn’t a good time to intervene, waiting for a moment when they acted overly violent.

“Listen, I don’t care what you did for my agent; your species is still guilty of many crimes. If you know something that you aren’t telling use right now I will not hesitate to use force to get it out of you…” Celestia said, bearing down on the Changeling menacingly.

Shining Armor stepped in and put his hoof on Celestia’s shoulder, telling he to lay off a bit.

“Look, I know you’re young, but you aren’t stupid. Living in that hive you had to have heard something through the Hivemind that Clovercloud was communicating through. Anything regarding any attacks, invasions or anything malicious would be helping Equestria become a safer place for all of us.” Shining said, obviously playing good cop in their little charade.

The changeling continued to say nothing as he let a few tears drop, but no sound emitted from his mouth. Celestia apparently thought that was the last straw, because she proceeded to grab the changeling with her magic and bring him to her eye level.

“You forced my hand in this little one…” She said, as I knew that was enough. I smashed through the locked door and grabbed Celestia horn, cutting off her flow of magic to the changeling as he fell to the ground.

“Ok Celestia, time for you to lay the fuck off of him. It obvious that he doesn’t know anything and you’re scaring the hell out of him. How about you start out slow and try asking him his name?” I growled, letting go of her horn as the changeling scurried to get behind my legs, peering around them to meet Celestia’s intense gaze.

“That’s a good idea Princess, we don’t even know his name yet. Maybe if we act a bit friendlier we can get through this predicament a bit quicker?” Shining Armor suggested, as Celestia’s gaze fixed to me.

“You will leave this interrogation at once as Captain Shining Armor and I continue. I will not hesitate to detain you if necessary.” Celestia said as I kneeled down to gently pick up the changeling, and placed him back onto his chair.

“Look, just answer any questions that you can, then they’ll let you out of here. Ok?” I assured, as the changeling nodded.

I turned around to Celestia and pointed a finger to her.

“No threats.”

I stepped over the broken pieces of the door as I walked out, passing the Guard who was now curled up in a ball on the floor.

-------------FLASHBACK OVER-----------------

3rd Person POV

“64!”

64 suddenly snapped out of his memories as Spike yelled in his ear, causing 64 to suddenly trip over. After picking himself up and dusting himself off, 64 glared at the Dragon.

“What was that for?!” 64 yelled.

“You had this weird look on your face and then stopped talking! I didn’t know what to do so I climbed up your leg, up to your shoulder, then screamed in your ear! We’re also right outside Fluttershy’s Cabin.” Spike explained, as 64 looked in front of him.

Spike was telling the truth apparently, because Fluttershy’s Cabin was just ahead. 64 shook his head and continued walking with Spike right behind him, wanting to hurry up and get this day over with. Reaching the front door 64 knocked then instantly put his hood up, going down onto all fours.

Spike was amazed how much like a pony 64 looked like while he was like that, so amazed that he didn’t realize that the door had opened.

“Oh, h-hello there. Is there anything I can help you with?” Fluttershy said, sounding more like a whisper.

“Fluttershy, it’s me, 64. Remember me?” 64 asked as he pulled down his hood, as Fluttershy immediately recognized him.

“Oh! 64! It’s so good to see you after all this time. What are you doing in Ponyville?” She asked as 64 shrugged, standing up to his full height.

“I just have a few things to do here, but right now Twilight asked me to grab a few field mice from you for her. Apparently she’s trying to pull off a spell or something, and she needs them for experiments I guess.”

Fluttershy’s suddenly shot wide open as she heard the word ‘experiment’, making 64 realize what he just said.

“Wait! I didn’t mean that, I just mean she needs them for something. I don’t know what that something is though.”
Fluttershy let out a small sigh at that, her wings fluttering just a bit.

“Oh that’s good. I wouldn’t want any of the little critters to get hurt by Twilight. Did she say how many she needed?”

“Yeah, she said three. I can go ahead and bring them back after she’s done with them.” 64 said as he stepped into Fluttershy’s home. Almost immediately 64’s and Angel Bunny’s eyes locked onto each other, as Angel Bunny leapt up onto his face and started to claw the hell out of him.

“AHHH! GET THIS LITTLE FUCKING ASSHOLE OFF OF ME! AHH SHIT HE’S CLAWING MY FUCKING EYES!” 64 yelled as he stumbled backwards into a wall and knocked over a painting, before tripping on Spike and falling to the floor. 64 finally was able to rip the offending animal off of his face and held him outwards, as Angel began to claw at his hands.

“No use little fuck! Those things are calloused 3 times over!” 64 said as he got back up to his feet, as Fluttershy flew up and grabbed Angel.

“Angel! How dare you attack 64 out of nowhere like that! You better apologize right now before I bring out the cage!” Fluttershy threatened, as her eyes suddenly opened at bit wider, causing Angel to freeze in place.

64 wiped some blood off of his face and fur out of his mouth, causing Spike to wince slightly at the wounds. They were incredibly small compared to some of 64’s other endeavors, but due to Spike being scaled he had never experienced a cut before, making ever paper cut look like a gash to him.

“Eh, I’m alright Fluttershy. I’ll just take those mice and get them back to Twilight.” 64 said, glaring at the bunny that was now in Fluttershy’s clutches. She nodded and grabbed a prepared cage with 3 mice on the inside, all happily sleeping.

“Get them to Twilight quickly before they wake up, they don’t really like being in the cage.” Fluttershy informed me. 64 nodded and took the cage into his hands, making sure to do it gently.

“Thanks Fluttershy, I’ll get them to Twilight as quickly as I can.” 64 said as he walked out of the door, Spike following close behind him.

“Wow! I’ve never seen Angel Bunny that violent before! What do you think set him off?!” Spike yelled as we walked away. 64 didn’t really know the answer to that question either. He knew they had met before when he spent the night in Fluttershy’s Cabin, but he didn’t really do anything to piss him off, except maybe threatening to eat him a few dozen times.

“I’m not very good with animals…” 64 said, making a quick excuse for himself. Spike seemed to accept this and continued walking back to Twilight’s Library.

“Wait out here, I’ll just drop these off then we’ll head to Rarity’s Boutique.” 64 said as he went inside of the Library to see Twilight reading her book furiously, unaware of all of the fruit flies which were now zipping around.

“Umm, Twilight? I got the field mice you wanted.” 64 said, snapping Twilight out of her stupor.

“Huh, what? Ah! Why are there so many flies!?” Twilight yelled, her horn shooting out a bunch of little sparks as flies began to drop. After the pests were taken care of Twilight began to sweep up the destroyed apples littering the floor, trying to get rid of what the flies were attracted to.

“Ugh, I forgot to clean up before I read… You said you got the mice 64?”

“Yeah, right here.” 64 said, putting them onto the table she was reading on. “I’m gonna go with Spike to get his suit tailored. I think he’s a bit too eager to get to the Boutique.”

Twilight nodded and continued to sweep up the apples, not really paying attention to what 64 was saying.

“Okaay… see ya. C’mon Spike! Let’s go see Rarity!”

“Alright!”

“Little weirdo…”

Chapter 7

64 POV

Little weirdo didn’t even began to describe Spike right now. He was borderline OBSESSED with trying to impress Rarity. He was bragging about how much stronger he had gotten since he had last seen her, which had been about two days. Little shit even started to brag behind my back that he was probably strong enough to take me in a fight.

“Oh Spike, you mustn’t distract me while I’m resizing your suit! You have gotten bigger, but I’m afraid not in the way you have hoped… I’ve had to widen your shirt and jacket quite a bit.” Rarity said, as I tried my best not to chuckle.

“Yeah, well, Twilight says I have to keep eating so I can grow to big a bigger Dragon!” Spike said, trying to puff out his chest to look more muscular. That didn’t sound right to me, because I knew what was really needed for Dragon growth.

“Spike, are you telling me you don’t know what you need to grow bigger?” I asked, breaking my silence as I sat on a table playing Solitaire.

“Yeah, eating like a pony has too. I’ve seen what Big Mac eats and he’s huge!”

I didn’t know who Big Mac was, but based on his name I had to guess he wasn’t small. I shook my head at his answer though.

“No, No, Dragons are fed by a mixture of both Greed and Gems. The bigger their hoard is the bigger they become. It has something to do with your body feeding on the enjoyment of your possessions, which goes back to the instinct you have to hoard valuables. I’m surprised Twilight doesn’t know more about this.” I said, going back to my game on the table.

Spike looked at me with a look of confusion, and promptly sat down in the seat across from, spouting more questions about Dragons. Rarity silently thanked me for getting Spike’s attention away from her and continued to work on both our suits, while I continued to explain what I could to Spike.

If I had my case notes then I probably give a finer explanation, but I did alright on the facts. Dragons were driven by a primal instinct to gather and hoard. The reason for this is that the bigger their hoards are, the bigger they will become. So in reality, Dragons didn’t have a desire to hoard, they had a desire to grow.

Spike’s eyes widened at this, as did Rarity’s.

“Wait, but I’ve never wanted to go and take things for myself! Why haven’t I felt anything yet?!” Spike asked, overreacting to his situation. I chuckled and continued my explanation.

“Well no doubt you haven’t reached maturity yet. So it’s only a matter of time until you start to feel more primal urges. Damn, why do I feel I’ve had this conversation with Ghost?” I asked myself, remember what I explained to Ghost about him maturing.

“Oh, I guess that makes sense…” Spike said, rubbing the spines on his head. I nodded and continued my game of Solitaire, trying to find a Red 8 I could put on a Black 9. Rarity continued stitching and sewing away while Spike seemed to be questioning his own existence.

The hours slipped away as I heard a ringing outside signifying that is was now 7PM, and I was now on my 4th game.

“Damn, it’s getting late…” I muttered.

“Won’t you be needing to get back to Canterlot tonight?” Rarity asked, her hair becoming messier and messier as time droned on.

“No I can stay in Ponyville for the night, I’ll just stay at an Inn or something.” I said, putting the deck of cards away and standing up. Spike was asleep on a couch set against a wall, and kicking in his sleep much like a dog would.

“I think I gotta get this little guy home… Twilight will have my head if he doesn’t get home somehow.” I muttered, picking up Spike and cradling him.

“Oh thank you Darling, he seems to be a bit clingy whenever I take him home.” Rarity said, dragging a comb through her hair a few times to try and tame it, “Do be safe!”

“I will, goodnight Rarity” I said, walking out of her workshop area and heading towards the front door. I noticed that the Rose Ruby I had left her was still sitting in the same spot it was when I left it.

“Holy crap did she not leave that sewing machine at all today?” I thought as I walked out the front door, feeling the chill of the night’s air.

I walked through town as polite waves were directed towards me, as I tried to respond to them with a smile.

I was feeling hungry right now, knowing I hadn’t eaten since I had come back from Trottingham. I knew there wouldn’t be any meat to eat in this pony filled town, but there was always the Whitefire Woods nearby.

I silently pushed open the door to Twilight’s Library and was introduced to one of the strangest sights I had come across in my life, and that was saying something.

“Twilight, why is there an overgrown apple in the middle of the library?” I asked, looking at enormous apple in the room. Looking closer I saw that it was actually hollowed out, looking as if it would serve as a carriage for a group of ponies.

Twilight’s head peeked around the apple as she came out holding a book in her magical grasp.

“Oh! 64, I was wondering when you were going to get home. This is the spell I’ve been working on for tomorrow night, and I was finally able to get it just right!” She said with a large smile, before noticing who had in my arms. “Oh, did Spike fall asleep?”

“Yea, it seems that lusting after one mare for 6 hours in a row can tire a Drake out.” I said with a bit of sarcasm.

Twilight chuckled at my tone. “Well you can head upstairs and set him down in his bed. It’s the small basket with the blue blankey in it.”

I stopped in my tracks when she said that. I had the strongest urge to laugh so loudly I would need to drop Spike. The little gut acted all tough for Rarity, but still slept with a blankey!? Damn I would need to use that against him later.

“Alright thanks for that.” I said with a stupid grin, walking up the stairs and opening their bedroom door. True to Twilight’s word there was a small basket on the side of Twilight’s bed, complete with blue blankey. Again forcing the urge to laugh down I set him in the basket, covering him with the sheet.

“I know he seems a bit old for a blankey but—“ I cut off Twilight before she could continue.

“No, I know. Even for a dragon he’s still a baby. Put how old is he in pony years?” I asked, wondering if Spike was the dragon which I heard about when I was still in the labs.

“In pony years he is still very young, only 6 years old, but Dragons minds mature very rapidly, don’t they? So I feel he needs time to remain a child than grow to be like some of the meaner Dragons out there.” Twilight said, walking back down the stairs with me following.

My stomach quietly growled as I hesitated to ask my next question.

“Hey, uh, Twilight. I was wondering, do you have anything to eat around town? You know, more… omnivorous...?” I asked, waiting for Twilight’s response. She turned around quickly to look at me, a confused look on her face.

I opened my mouth to show her my teeth, more specifically the canines. She flinched when she saw the intimidating teeth, knowing what animals used them for.

“64, you’re carnivorous?!” Twilight questioned, backing away slowly.

“Of course not… I’m an omnivore! I remember nearly dropping dead when all they fed me in the labs was half a carrot every two days! I nearly went insane! After looking at my biology with… her… I discovered that a human needed a lot more than a pony needed to survive, and that led me to the perfect source of nutrition, meat.”

Twilight nearly fainted when I said that last word, obviously not wanting to know that grisly part of my anatomy.

“Look, I can tell this sounds really weird, so I’ll leave you to it. I’ll go see if I can find an Inn to stay at tonight, okay?” I said, walking towards the door.

Twilight nodded as she started to release the tension she had been building up. “Ok 64, but there aren’t any… meat… vendors around town. Ponies are primarily vegetarian. You might find some luck in things like beans, which a mare named Squeaky Bean is famous for here in Ponyville.”

I thought of that. Beans were a good substitute for meat for a while, but I was feeling adventurous tonight.

“Ok, I’ll ask around. Thanks for that Twilight, have a good evening!” I said, walking out the door as I heard Twilight reply a ‘Good Night’ of her own.

Truth was I wasn’t heading for an Inn. I was headed straight for the Everfree Forest, where I knew there were plenty of wild animals for a good hunt. Manticore was often very good, and when their venomous stingers are chopped of and burnt, it often tasted very sweet.

I walked past Sweet Apple Acres and Fluttershy’s Cabin, straight to the entrance of the Everfree. Night had fallen, and all of the animals could be heard skittering about through the tall grasses. I closed and channeled magic towards my eyes, giving them a red glow and allowing me to see in the incredibly dark place.

There were snakes slithering through the tall grass next to me, which I quickly leapt for and captured. I identified it as a harmless Garden Snake, and quickly deprived it of its head, stuffing it into a small cloth pouch I had.

I walked along the trail scouring the ground for any prey I could find, which ended up being frogs, rabbits, snakes, and squirrels. I decided that it was a good enough dinner and started to make a small fire, gathering up dry tinder from the ground and pulling large branches from trees.

Making a small knife I peeled and skinned all of the animals I had captured, prepping them for my meal. They were all relatively easy to skin, but finding a river to wash them was terrible. I ended up finding a small stream near the forest entrance, but it was a pain in the ass to walk all the way back to the small fire place I made.

“Heh, I wonder what Fluttershy would do if she saw me with this food. She’d probably fly me up to the atmosphere then drop me.” I chuckled, finally arriving to the pile of wood. I lit the flame with my magic and stabbed the pieces of meat onto a small spit I made, placing them into the flame and waiting for them to cook.

I dispelled the magic in my eyes, knowing it was no longer necessary with the fire lighting up the immediate area. I wanted to lie on my back to stare up at the stars in the sky, but the canopy of trees above me blocked Luna’s creations from my vision. I sighed loudly, knowing that Luna often sat in her Court alone while Celestia got a flurry of visitors each and every day.

It made me feel really bad at times, especially if I wasn’t able to watch the stars at night like I had promised her I would. I always tried to watch the stars at night, because whenever I was really far away from Canterlot for a job, Luna would often leave little messages hidden in the stars for me, something I found incredibly awesome.

I heard the crackling sound of meat beginning to become well done, and pulled the small skewers of meat off of the flames. Munching lazily on the various sticks of meat, I laid back down onto my back, ready to fall asleep for the night. Some ponies might say that sleeping in the Everfree Forest was a bad idea, but I’ve slept in a pool of Changeling blood before, so I think a forest will do me just fine.

After a few minutes later the skewers of meat were done, and my stomach was left satisfied. I dozed off after a while, taking in the pleasant sounds of crickets chirping and water running.

3rd Person POV

64 awoke with a few pleasant streaks of sunlight hitting him in the face, rousing him out of his slumber. He was surprised that Luna hadn’t contacted him during the dream he had about skydiving, before realizing he was afraid of heights.

He stood up and cracked his back a few times, knowing that the rocky ground wasn’t the most comfortable thing to sleep on. Rarity said she would be finishing his tux today, so he would need to pick that up today.

“I hope she didn’t literally spend all night working on it. And I pray she didn’t bedazzle the shit out of it…” 64 muttered, covering up the fire by kicking dirt all over it. He made the quick walk back into Ponyville, taking in the scenery he wasn’t offered while working. Hell, even in Canterlot he had to stay hidden within the Palace Walls.

“HEY! IT’S YOU!” A mare’s voice said, as 64 turned towards the direction of the voice. He saw an Orange Mare with a Stetson hat running towards him, along with a smaller yellow coated and red maned filly riding on her back.

“64! It been ages! ‘Ah haven’t seen ya since you rode off with Princess Celestia on that chariot! Ah nearly thought she did you in when ya took off!” Applejack said, as the filly on her back looked part confused and part terrified.

“Uh, Applejack? Your passenger?” 64 said, pointing to Applebloom. Applejack looked slightly confused for a second, before remembering.

“Oh! This here’s mah sister Applebloom! Say Hi Bloom.” Applejack said, putting her on the floor and pushing her towards 64. All Applebloom had seen was a strange creature had come out of the Everfree forest towards Ponyville, and then her sister had ran full speed at it, only to greet it. So her natural reaction was expected.

“Uh… H-Hi? I’m… uh… Applebloom?” She said, slowly backing away. Applejack put her hoof onto Applebloom’s rear, pushing her back forward towards 64.

“Now Applebloom, jus’ because he looks a bit different doesn’t mean ya can just back away from him. Get to know him first before you’re terrified of him.” Applejack said.

“Wow, are you sure you’re not the Element of Harsh Truth?” 64 asked sarcastically, as Applejack waved a hoof at him.

“Ah had heard you were in town, but I hadn’t seen ya till now. What brings ya?”

“I came in to deliver the tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala, and to get a nice suit made by Rarity. I don’t have much formal wear, so I decided it was best to get it done by the up and coming Fashionista of Equestria.” 64 said, adding a fake posh accent at the end of the sentence.

Applejack laughed as did Applebloom, now warming up to the strange creature that was so casually conversing with her sister.

“Well, if you’re headin’ to Rarity’s right now, mind if ah tag along? She wanted the girls to head on over to do our makeup or somthin’…” Applejack said, kicking her hoof in the dirt.

“Oh c’mon, can’t be that bad… I hate getting gussied up for these stupid meeting that Celestia always has with clients. It’s always strange to see a stallion all dressed up in a suit asking for a hit out on somepony…” 64 said, looking upwards, muttering that last part to not worry the girls.

“Well, if you say so. Let’s go an’ see her, I just hope we’re not too late…”

“Why would we be late? What time is it? Like 9?”

Applejack shook her head no.

“No, it’s about ta be 11, and Rarity wanted me there by 11:15 for whatever she does…” Applejack said, waving her hoof over to 64 as the two began to walk to town. Applebloom tapped her sister’s leg as they walked.

“Hey sis? Ah’m gonna head back home ok?”

“Ok, make sure to tell Big Mac that the apple’s in the east orchard need buckin’! We missed some of ‘em last Harvest Season!”

Applejack yelled as Applebloom began running home. 64 suddenly remembered that name as one that Spike told him about.

“Big Mac? Who’s that?” 64 said, not wanting to try and make a guess.

“Oh, he’s mah big brother. Strongest stallion in all of Ponyville!” Applejack boasted.

“Well it’s too bad I’m not a stallion then, because I can bet bits to berries that I’m stronger than him.” 64 said with a smug grin on his face.

“Yeah, Yeah, whatever keeps your ego afloat…”

The two continued their walk to the Carousel Boutique, each going back in forth in conversation.

“HEY! YOU!” A voice said, as a blue and Rainbow blur suddenly swept over 64 as he ducked, narrowly avoiding it. 64 looked up at the assailant as it began to make a turn around, and decided to try out a technique Shining Armor had taught him.

Charging his hands with red magic he steadied himself on the ground, ready to parry a projectile. It continued at him as he put his hands straight out, and gripped the Pegasus’s wing He pivoted on his right foot and swung the Pegasus around before slamming it into the ground, as dust kicked up everywhere.

“Hey! Let go of me!” The voice yelled as 64 was able to identify it.

“Listen Rainbow, I can’t have you attacking me in a public place like this, so let’s call a truce for whatever this is huh?” 64 asked, releasing his grip from Rainbow Dash and standing back up. She stood up as well and shook all of the dirt off of her, scowling at 64.

“The reason I did that is because Twilight told us all about what you did to Princess Celestia! That was horrible!” Rainbow Dash yelled, sending a punch into 64’s unprotected stomach. He simply rubbed the pain away and smiled, pissing Rainbow dash off even more.

Applejack was using her hat to try and muffle her laughs, as Rainbow Dash turned on her as well.

“What AJ? You try punching him then!”

Applejack stopped laughing as she waved her hood. “Ah’m not laughin’ at your punch Rainbow. Ah’m laughin’ at that story! That thing was priceless!” Applejack said, seeing the story as hilarious as 64 did.

“What?! He embarrassed Princess Celestia in front of the entire population of Canterlot! How are you not mad at him?!”

“Because, compared to what Celestia has done to him in his past, ah think that was nothing. If anything it could ‘ave been a lot worse.”

The two began to scowl at each other as Fluttershy made herself apparent.

“Um… girls? We’re supposed to get to Rarity’s, I can see Pinkie Pie and Twilight are already there…” Fluttershy whispered, stopping the arguments.

“Rainbow, could I make it up to you if I get you a pass to the VIP section? The Wonderbolts are gonna be there, and I know three of them personally.” 64 said, as Rainbow Dash shot up from her stare down with Applejack and zoomed to him, flying up to his eye level.

“What?! You know the Wonderbolts?!” she screamed. 64 wiped his face of her spit, and continued.

“Yeah, they aren’t just an Aerial Performance group, they’re part of the Equestrian Military. Whenever I was on a job and needed some equipment I didn’t have, they would drop supply crates to my location. Sometimes they would provide aerial support and tell me what was up ahead. Spitfire, Fleetfoot, and Soarin all helped me in some way, so I’m pretty sure I can ask one more favor and get you inside.” 64 said.

Rainbow squealed in excitement and flew upwards, obviously over excited.

“Alright, Fluttershy’s right we gotta get going.” 64 said as the group continued, walking towards the Boutique.

Rarity could be seen scolding Pinkie Pie, and Twilight was still studying the book she was reading last night.

“Where are the others? It's getting late.” Rarity said, as Applejack spoke up.

“Hold your horses, girl. We're here.”

“Perfect! I’m ready!” Twilight said, slamming her book shut and standing up. Spike placed an apple onto the ground and backed away, as the rest of the company decided to do the same.

64 nudged Rarity as Twilight prepared and spoke, “Hey Rarity, is my suit ready?”

“Yes 64, I do hope you’ll like it. I had a feeling you wouldn’t particularly like the usual designs I give my clothing, so I went for a more plain look. It’s a simple Jet Black 3 piece, so I hope you’ll like it. Oh! And thank you so much for that lovely Rose Ruby! I remember losing one 6 months ago, and I haven’t been able to find one ever since!” Rarity said, as we both saw the apple on the ground suddenly expand into a grand Carriage, complete with reigns and driver’s seat.

“It was no trouble. Mind if I grab the suit?”

“Not at all, do be careful for Sweetie Belle in there. She has a problem with overreacting anything strange.”

“Got it.”

64 turned away from the group and entered the Carousel Boutique, seeing his suit ready on a rack. Looking at the suit he saw it also came along with a Red Undershirt, his favorite color.

“Damn Rarity, this is awesome…” 64 muttered, taking the coat off of the rack and carefully folding it over his arm. He did the same with the pants that came along with it, and walked out of the Boutique, seeing Rarity flirting with two stallions, most likely to get them to pull the carriage for the ladies.

“Well girls, now that I’ve delivered the tickets and gotten my suit, I do believe it’s high time for me to head back to Canterlot. I still gotta help set up for the Gala tonight.” 64 said, as Pinkie tackled him to the ground. Luckily the clothing he had was covered in plastic.

“WHAT?! You can’t do that! Aren’t you going to come with us!?” Pinkie yelled, as Twilight puller her off of him.

“No Pinkie, he’s working security at the Grand Galloping Gala and he needs to get there a bit earlier. Don’t worry, we’ll probably see him later anyway. Right 64?” Twilight said, as all of the girls looked expectantly.

64 nodded his head, “Oh yea, you’ll probably see me walking around, but don’t get too exciting about being able to talk, I gotta be paying attention to everything. I’ll see you all later!” 64 said, standing up and waving to all of the mares, walking away. He reached for the necklace charm and held it in his palm, channeling magic into it.

“This is Biped ready for pick up.” He said into it, looking up in the sky. 4 Pegasi came into view with a Chariot behind them, as 64 gripped the clothing under his arms a bit tighter. They landed onto the ground but continued running, rolling up to 64. He ran alongside them before hopping onto the Chariot, whistling to give the signal for takeoff.

They were back in the air as the mares on the ground looked up in awe, wondering how 64 managed to do that.

“Alright, now all I gotta do I get back and get ready. I hope these clothes actually fit…” 64 said, sitting down and looking at the dirty plastic wrapping surrounding the clothing.

64 POV

After arriving in Canterlot the first thing I did was check to see if the suit fit, and as I expected it fit perfectly. It wasn’t too tight that it restricted my movements, but it wasn’t too loose that it would feel a bit saggy.

It was nearly time for the Gala opening, and the festivities were starting up. Tables were being set up, dance floors were being laid out, and the Equestria Symphony Orchestra, were tuning their instruments.

I knew this was going to be a suit and tie thing, but I never thought it would be this boring! All of the stuffy prissy ponies were waiting outside for the doors to open, and just by listening to their conversations they each had an ulterior motive for attending. Some wanted to get closer to the Canterlot elites, some eligible bachelors came to find the daughters of rich dignitaries, and others came to simply see who was richer than the other.

I was the one who was going to open the doors for everypony, and I could already see some of the looks of disgust I was receiving. Some recognized me from the Courtroom 6 months ago, so they happily smiled and waved at me.

Shining Armor walked up to me clad in his battle armor, which struck me as odd.

“Hey Shining, what’s with the get up? I thought you were bringing Cadence to this thing?” I asked, as he sighed.

“I was, but Princess Celestia wanted me to guard the border of Canterlot along with a few other Squads. I had the whole date planned out too…” Shining said dejectedly. My wristwatch suddenly started to buzz, ringing 5PM.

“Well I gotta open these doors. I hope you have a good time guarding the place. See ya.” I said to Shining Armor, who walked away with 4 other Royal Guards. The ponies in the crowd looked at me with anger, no longer wanting to wait any longer.

I sighed, “This better be worth my time, and these ponies better behave themselves.”

I opened the large Palace doors, and instantly regretted it.

Author's Note

Well The Grand Galloping Gala is on! From here things will only being to heat up, so get ready!

Chapter 8

64 POV

They absolute torrent of ponies rushing into the Palace to be the first to be greeted by Princess Celestia was crazy. The mares that looked as if they wouldn’t even want to hear the word dirt were pushing, shoving, and kicking to get to the front, while the stallions did the same to each other. I managed to break up a few of the fights and get people to proceed in an orderly fashion, but a few decided to ignore the “ugly monster” and continue with their scuffles.

I ordered a few of the guards to break up those fights, and another few to keep watch by the front door. I walked into the Palace and stood next to Princess Celestia, watching as ponies continued to push and shove each other. Luckily we put barriers on the edges of the of the wooden drawbridge so nopony was getting soaked.

“I didn’t think it would be this hectic right off the bat…” I said, making sure to keep an eye on all of the ponies walking up to be greeted by Princess Celestia.

“Yes well— Oh, Good evening, things usually— Good evening, welcome to the Gala, start to die down by— Welcome to the Gala, the 3 hour mark.” Celestia said, continually getting interrupted. A white stallion with a slick powder blue mane walked up to Princess Celestia, and accepted her greeting, but began to talk.

“Ah, hello there Princess, how are you this fine evening?” The stallion said, as I immediately knew I had to step in before he tried to start up a conversation.

“Excuse me, but can you continue along? We have a lot of ponies here wanting to meet the Princess tonight.” I said in a slightly rude tone wanting to get my message across.

The stallion suddenly reared back as if I had spit on him, and immediately putting his hoof to his chest.

“How dare you! Don’t you know who I am?” He asked, but I already knew a very extensive answer, and planned to freak him out a bit.

“Yes, Fancy J. Pants, born September 23, 1973. Blood type AB+, with a cutie mark representing your talent in lording over various ponies, thus it being three crowns. I know you very, very, well. Now if you’ll please excuse yourself you are starting to create a hold-up.” I said, keeping a straight face the entire time.

Fancy Pants eyes suddenly shot open, the monocle in his right eye falling out. He quickly shuffled out of the way, as the pony behind him sighed in relief, walking up to Celestia and receiving her greeting. This continued for quite a while, with only one or two ponies causing problems in the line. Some ponies were more middle class and were actually grateful they got to attend the biggest gathering of the year, unlike some others who were able to come by birth right. An asshole couple by the name of Jet Set and Upper Crust not only insulted what I was, which I can deal with, they had the nerve to insult Rarity’s perfect suit, saying it was ‘a perfect mess’.

I nearly wanted to light their incredibly oiled hair on fire, but I knew my place right now and if I did that, there would be trouble. I simply gave a sickly grin and made it seemed like my eyes were on fire, making them both back off before I did something I would regret.

An hour had passed of this nonsense, and I suddenly thought of something.

“Hey, Twilight and her friends haven’t shown up. Any idea when they are coming?” I asked, turning to Celestia as a lull in her greeting’s came.

“Wait for it…” She said with a grin.

“Wait for what?”

Suddenly music started to play out of nowhere, and choirs began to sing out. I looked around to try and find the choir, but I couldn’t find them anywhere.

“What the hell?” I asked, to which Celestia chuckled.

“My guess this is the first time you have experienced magical music?” Celestia asked. I quickly wondered about it and thought of one instance.

“Does playing music while destroying a bar with another pony’s body count?”

Celestia suddenly looked at me as I shrugged, going back to try and figure out where the hell the music was coming from.

“Trust me; it’s just in the air. It’s an oddity even I can’t explain. Ponies in the immediate area of exposure to musical magic will instantaneously burst into song, instantly knowing the lyrics to the melody being played in the air.” Celestia explained.

“I really hope I don’t experience that anytime soon, I don’t think my singing voice is all that great.” I chuckled, as I suddenly saw the ponies I had just asked about march in an orderly fashion onto the drawbridge, singing the words, “At the Gala!” over and over.

Spike suddenly looked incredibly excited as he jumped out from behind the girls, only to be left hanging in the dust as they all shot off in different directions. Twilight instantly came running up to us with a huge grin on her face, stopping just in front of Celestia.

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight said with a smile.

“Twilight! It is so lovely to see my star student.” Celestia said as the two nuzzled each other.

“Oh, I'm so excited to be here! We have so much to catch up on. Oh, I’m sorry 64, it’s nice to see you too! You look wonderful tonight.”

I chuckled and nodded to her, “Thanks, you look awesome too, did Rarity do all of your makeup?”

Twilight nodded, “She did! Just right after you left she did all of ours. Maybe you could have gotten a small touch up too. I’m sorry, but that scar on your eye isn’t the most pleasant thing to look at.”

I brought my pointer and middle finger on my right hand to my right eye and touched the burn scar I had, feeling slightly insecure about it.

“Yeah, maybe… Maybe it’s one of the reasons I keep getting strange stares.” I said, as Twilight suddenly brought her hoof to her mouth.

“Oh no did I make you feel bad about it?” She asked me.

“No, No, it’s just that I got this through a series of unfortunate events I don’t really like to remember. Don’t worry; it’s not your fault.”
Twilight looked down and rubbed her left leg with her other hoof, as Celestia brought her attention back.

“Well Twilight, I want you right by my side the entire evening, so we'll have plenty of time together. Does that sound good?” Celestia asked, as Twilight’s downtrodden demeanor immediately perked up.

“That's just what I was hoping you'd say!” Twilight said, zooming to Celestia’s left side. I laughed at her sudden attitude change, before going back to observe the ponies walking up to greet the Princess and the ones simply walking around the main lobby.

I saw Rainbow Dash storm up the steps towards me and fall onto her stomach, her eyes looking as if she had been crying.

“Rainbow what’s wrong? Is someone giving you problems?” I said, kneeling down as Twilight and Celstia looked down worried.

“64! Please tell me you got the VIP passes! The Wonderbolts actually offered for me to come into the VIP section but the stupid Guard working the rope won’t let me in!” Rainbow said, as I suddenly remembered what I had in my coat pocket.

I reached into my jacket and pulled out the small laminated card, a seal from both Princesses stamped on the front. Rainbow Dash’s eyes suddenly lit up as she saw the pass, flying up to snatch it out of my hands squealing in joy.

“OH THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!” Rainbow Dash shouted, flying up to give me a hug. I returned it a chuckled a bit.

“It’s nothing Rainbow, now get going. I think the Wonderbolts are waiting for you.” I said as Rainbow nodded, flying away to go meet her idols. Celestia, Twilight and I watched as Rainbow Dash head to the VIP section with a large smile on her face.

“That was a very generous thing to do for her 64. Did you pay for that VIP pass yourself?” Princess Celestia asked me as I shook my head no.

“Nah, I swiped that one off of that Fancy Pants when he came up. I saw it sticking out of his coat pocket and remembered I needed one.” I said, as Celestia laughed and Twilight elbowed me.

A voice brought our attention back to the stairs, where a stallion wearing a fedora hat and Black trench coat stood there.

“What a lovely display of affection…” the stallion said, his voice instantly recognizable. Marescow. “Hello Princess Celestia, I can’t tell you how happy I am to be in attendance today.”

“The pleasure is all mine, enjoy yourself Marcus.” Celestia said, as the stallion continued to walk. I looked at him as he walked into the ballroom, leaving my line of sight.

“Marcus? Who the fuck was that?” I asked, already suspicious. Celestia glared at me as she explained.

“Marcus is Maxis Slava’s son. He is unaffiliated with the Slava’s and comes to visit his father in the Underground Prison every few months. I invited him tonight to enjoy some of the festivities, so don’t make a scene.” Celestia told me.

I didn’t like any of this. 2 days after I get back from imprisoning 4 members of the Slava drug ring the son of their Ex-Leader comes to the biggest event in Canterlot? This was too much to be a simple coincidence, and I needed to get to the bottom of this.

“I won’t make a scene. I’m just going to tail him for a bit to see if he does anything suspicious.” I said, walking in the same direction he did. A hoof grabbed my right sleeve to stop me, and I saw it was Twilight.

“Wait, just how are you going to tail one pony while you’re taller than almost everyone here?” She asked, to which I smirked.

“I’m going to take a position next to the Orchestra. From there I can see the entire Ballroom, and I’ll be able to keep an eye on him.”

Twilight slowly let go of my sleeve, taking her position next to Celestia.

“Be careful Project 64, if anything happens it will be at your own risk. I will not be held accountable.” Celestia warned me.

“I understand Princess. Don’t worry; I won’t do anything unless he acts first.”

I followed Marcus into the Ballroom, ready for anything.

3rd Person POV

The Ballroom was full of ponies conversing and some actually dancing, if you could call it that. It was simply taking one step forward then one step backwards while each pony rested their heads on each other’s shoulders. The orchestra was playing what could only be described as the average “rich pony” song, Luigi Boccherini’s Minuetto, but they didn’t look too excited about it.

Pinkie Pie could be seen hopping back and forth throughout the crowds, but often interrupted the ponies she tried to make friends with. As she bounced along 64 grabbed her dress and pulled her back onto the ground, as she giggled.

“Aww, what’s wrong 64? Does having to stand there all night and not being able to dance make you all grouchy?” Pinkie said, to which 64 had no choice but to smile to.

“Not exactly Pinkie. Look, this isn’t like most parties you are used to going to. This is what I like to call a frilly gathering. Ponies just hang around trying to make it seem like they’re more successful than everypony else. No real “partying” happens. I’ve had to go to more than one of these before while on other jobs, so just try to keep to yourself and some other friends, okay?” 64 said, kneeling down to Pinkie’s height.

“Ohhhh… I get it! So it’s like a showing off party! Well don’t worry 64! I’ll be the most showingest off pony in the Gala!” Pinkie screamed, zooming off before 64 was able to grab her.

“Wait, Pinkie no! Fuck…”

Turning back to everypony else in the room, 64 scanned for any sign of Marcus. He had checked the coat room to find he had hung up his Trench coat and Fedora, which meant he must have had a different set of clothing or something.

Marcus had a red coat with black mane, did up to look a bit bigger than it really was. He was the spitting image of his brother, whose mane was just a bit shorter, and coat a shade darker. It was almost as if they were twins, but Marcus was usually much more calm and collected, not lashing out to the smallest insults directed towards him.

“Where could he be?” 64 asked himself, his eyes peering throughout the crowd as he tried to locate his target. 64 could send a pulse of magic out to get a more widespread view of the entire Ballroom, but that would cause every Unicorn in the building to probably shit themselves at the sheer malicious intent of his magic.

A tinge of red caught 64’s eye as he saw a pony grabbing themselves some Whiskey, the ponies description perfectly matching what 64 had seen in the Main Hall. Marcus now wore a grey suit, and looked as if he was bored o the entire event already.

64 decided that his was the perfect point for him to do some eavesdropping. He nodded to a guard across the way and held his hand up in a fist, giving a signal. He then mimicked the act of drinking from a glass then gave up a 3 fingered symbol for red.

The guard nodded and drew his attention to the beverage table, seeing the red Unicorn Stallion to which 64 was giving notice about. He moved closer to the stallion and took position just behind him, making sure to listen closely for anything the pony might say.

64 grinned at the Guards actions, glad that he was able to understand with the quick briefing he had in silent symbols.

“Good, now we just gotta make sure that he doesn’t do anything funny.” 64 muttered to himself turning away from Marcus and doing a quick sweep over the rest of the ponies, making sure everything was alright.

“AHH!” A voice yelled, as 64 turned towards the source. The Guard 64 had just assigned to watch over Marcus was now doubled over on the ground, tears flowing from his eyes and body shaking furiously. 64 quickly made his way to the incapacitated Guard and grabbed him, trying to calm him down.

“CALM DOWN! Where did Marcus go?” 64 asked, as the Guard continued to shiver and quake.

“T-They… t-they w-were all… d-d-dead… I-I-I couldn’t… c-c-couldn’t help…” The guard whispered, as other guards gathered around and tried backing the onlookers away. 64 held the guard down to keep him from thrashing and looked around for Marcus, who seemed to disappear the second he heard the scream.

“I knew that son of a bitch was up to something, I gotta find him and stop him before he does anything else…” 64 thought, before grabbing the nearest Guard.

“You! Get me this guard’s service report. Now!” 64 yelled, as the guard he grabbed ran off. 64 wanted to check if this guard had any history of anything that would make him act like this. If Marcus was able to do this to him and disappear in a matter of 2 seconds then there would be a serious problem on 64’s hands.

The guard came back running a minute later, holding a small folder in his mouth. 64 snatched it out and began to look at his medical records. A few problems with breathing, broken foreleg, concussion...

“Maybe, but I’ve gotten plenty of concussions before and they aren’t the reason I freak out sometimes…” 64 muttered, standing up and pointing to two guards. “You two, get this guy to the medic station. I’m gonna find out how this happened.”

The guards picked up their incapacitated brother and hauled him to the medic station, as ponies surrounding the commotion began to disperse back into the crowd. 64 saw one who was still staring, and pointed to him.

“You, did you see a Red Stallion wearing a Grey tuxedo here before this happened?”

The White stallion nodded, his blonde hair bouncing up and down. “Yes, the ruffian was muttering something under his breath before the guard began to convulse on the floor. After that there was a small flash and the stallion in question was gone! I was petrified to see that he had spilled some of his drink on my fabulous suit!”

64 saw this stallion as incredibly strange, wondering why he would worry so much about the suit he was wearing.

“Umm… ok… thanks for the tip Mr….”

“Oh, Blueblood. Prince Blueblood. And it must have been a pleasure to have me assist you in this.” Blueblood said in a cocky tone, to which 64 had to restrain himself for sending a jab into his jaw.

“Yea, whatever…” 64 said, before seeing Rarity walk up to him.

“My word 64, what was that terrible commotion? I could hear it from all the way across the Ballroom.” Rarity asked.

“I think we may have a dangerous party crasher. I gotta find him before he does anything else. I’ll be seeing you Rarity.” 64 said, standing up and walking back to the main halls. He briefly saw Blueblood start to flirt with Rarity, but disregarded it and left her to deal with the egotistical ‘Prince’.

Walking back to Celestia and Twilight, he saw that they were once again getting swarmed by visitors wanting a greeting. Stepping in front of the wanting ponies he spoke loudly.

“I apologize but I must have a word with Princess Celestia in private. It will only be a moment so don’t get your knickers in a bunch.” 64 said, as a chorus of groans made themselves heard. Not bothering with them 64 pulling Princess Celestia both the hoof aside and brought her close, annoying the Sun Goddess.

“64, what is the meaning of this? Why are you pulling me away from my subjects?” Celestia asked, to which 64 grunted.

“Look, a guard was just attacked by what I believe is a Nightmare Spell, and Marcus was seen quickly leaving the scene the second the Guard made himself heard. If that doesn’t scream suspicious then I don’t know what will. We have to find Marcus and find out what he’s up to.” 64 answered.

That made Celestia curious. “What do you mean by Nightmare Spell? Do you mean spells similar to the designs of King Sombra?”

“Yes, I don’t see any reason why the guard would suddenly lash out like that. He had no history of mental health issues, nor any signs of PTSD. Once again, there is no way Marcus isn’t the culprit here.”

Celestia looked down pensively, before looking back up and nodding. “You may seek out Marcus, but unless you see him actually doing anything malicious, do not engage him in combat. You may speak to him if you wish though.”

64 sighed and nodded. “Yes Ma’am. I’m gonna look around the Underground first. If this might be a prison break that’s where he would go.”

Walking away, many of the rude ponies still waiting for their Princess yelled obscenities at 64, to which he just flipped them off and continued walking away.

“Alright, if I’m gonna be sneaking around I don’t think this tux is gonna cut it, I gotta change first…” 64 said, making his way to his room to change into his stealth clothing. It was a simple camouflage jumpsuit which had a chameleon spell on it, able to blend in to any background. It was perfect for any kind of Recon mission, and this technically counted as one.

Reaching his room, 64 shed the suit and carefully hung it up, not wanting to ruin such a nice outfit. Pulling out the white jumpsuit next to it, 64 slipped it on quickly and channeled a bit of magic through it, making him partially transparent.

“This was damn worth going through the black market to get this.” 64 said, pulling the hood over his head and the mask over his mouth and nose. It was light enough to move quickly in, and sturdy enough to take a few hits thanks to the built in chain mail.

“Alright, gotta find the final Slava Son. Let’s just hope things don’t escalate any higher than they need to…”

Author's Note

Yay! Conflict!

64 vs. Marcus

Chapter 9

Ghost POV

Loud music blared through the Night Club I was in, a steady bass beating throughout everyone in the dance floor. Now hooves down in Griffon Kingdom, my first order of business was to find a lead on the Crystal Dust runners. I was disguised as a Griffon by the name of Fonix, who after being heavily inebriated revealed to me that he was on vacation from Equestria. I stole his identity and put him onto a shipping freighter headed back to Equestria, that way family back home would know he was still alive, and anyone he made contact in Ethaxial wouldn’t question his disappearance.

The Black feathers on my head and Brown feathers on my body were slightly uncomfortable at first, but after a good while of dancing in this Club, they felt natural. I was told by one of the Bouncers that the Griffons I was looking for often frequented this club, so all I had to do was wait and see if they would show tonight. Once I found them, they would lead me to the Diamond Dogs who were running the actual Dust into Equestria, and it would only be a matter of how long before 64 could pound them into the ground after that.

Seeing two Griffons making out in one of the booths made me chuckle, seeing how Princess Luna often discouraged me from coming into places like this to prevent me from seeing things like that. She said that I was still a “colt”, so I needed to spend my time still being one.

In reality Changelings minds often matured way faster than their bodies, so I already knew what procreating entailed. 64 was afraid that I might need to feed using those techniques while here, and not the ones we usually used. I didn’t see myself using them either, but I would if I needed to.

“Hey good lookin, you gonna sit there all day, or are you gonna but this gal a drink?” A raspy feminine voice said from behind me. I turned to see White and Brown feathered Griffon giving me a lustful gaze, as I felt the raw, unadulterated emotion she was giving me.

This mare obviously wanted something, and I wasn’t sure that I wanted to give anything up.

“Sorry, but I’m not here to hook up with some mare. I’m here to meet a friend. How about this? You tell me anything you can about Crystal Dust, and I’ll go ahead and buy you that drink.” I offered, to which the Griffon instantly perked up.

“Oh… you want the stuff right? I know a dealer who can get you any kind you want cheap… Ice Breath, Red Raze, Terror Frenzy? No one in Ethaxial uses it for that namby bamby pony bullshit. Us Griffons know how to really party with it… How about I go show you where the fun really is?”

Jackpot. Find the dealer, move up from there.

“Alright babe, lead the way…”

64 POV

I made my way into the Underground Prison, formally the Underground Labs. My freak-out flashes stopped after a few times of coming down here to interrogate the inmates, but I still had a tingling feeling at the base of my neck. Thankfully the flashes of Blue I began to see subsided shortly after I started to go down the steps, making my way all the way to the G-Floor.

The entire Slava family was all being held on this floor of the Prison, so if Marcus was really planning a jailbreak then he would have to come here. After reaching the correct floor I looked at the designated cells, making sure none of them were compromised. All cells assigned to the Slava Gang were still locked tight, and all prisoners were accounted for.

“Hey fuckface.” A voice coming from the cells said. I turned to look into the cell and saw Dust Charmer through the window, glaring at me.

“Yeah? What do you want?” I asked, not really caring.

“I know why you’re here. You wouldn’t just come and visit little old me. You want something, or rather somepony, right?” Dust said, sneering at me. I squinted at him, suspicious to how he knew.

“How do you know that?”

“Hehe, that little asshole Marcus. He came down here a few minutes before your sorry as showed up. He tried picking the locks to the fucking doors but they wouldn’t budge, so ran off saying he was going to grab some amulet that would help him out or some shit. Something about reversing the gravity so we could bust out through the vents on these tall ass roofs.”

There were ventilation ducts on the roofs of all the cells, mainly because the doors were sealed so tight that air wouldn’t be able to get in. They were set so high that nopony but a Pegasi would be able to get to them, and in that case we had specialized cells with much smaller ducts, too small for a grown pony to fit through.

“Why are you telling me this?” I growled, knowing there was something up.

“I hate that little asshole. Before your ass came into the picture he ratted nearly the entire family out to your pretty fucking princess, telling them what we were up to. I’m guessing that’s when you caught wind of us. The only reason he came here was to bust out his brother, and when Duplex said it was either all of us or no one, Marcus ran off to go get that fucking amulet. I would like to get out of the joint, but I’d rather rot in here rather than have him bust us out.” Dust explained, growling every time he said Marcus’s name.
I had no choice but to believe what he had to say. If Marcus was going to try and get what I think was going to get, then I knew exactly where to go.

“For fucks sake…” I grumbled, running to where I needed to go.

“FLY YOU FUCK FLY!” Dust yelled, cackling loudly as I began to hop over the railings of the stairs.

Celestia took all artifacts that I recovered and put them into a specialized room, made to withhold the magical energy radiating off of the artifacts at all times. A unicorn had to wear a specialized suit in order to not feel frenzied the second they stepped into the room, so even if Marcus managed to get into the Treasury he wouldn’t get very far.

Making my way out of the dungeon looked to the nearest window that could be opened, and saw one next to one of the many stain glass windows adorning all of the walls. I opened it pulled myself outside, seeing the 2 story drop below me. I sent a surge of magic into the suit I was wearing, making me nearly invisible to somepony that wasn’t looking really hard.

In this surge of magic I also activated the charm hanging around my neck, and heard Celestia voice from the other side.

“Yes 64? You needed to contact me?” She asked, obviously a bit hushed.

“Yeah, I just talked to Dust Charmer in the Underground Prison. He says Marcus went down there to try and bust out his brother, but he couldn’t break open the Cell. He’s going to try and get the Reverse Gravity Amulet from the Treasury, so I’m en route to intercept him. Have guards on full watch around the Dungeon exits, and a few stick by the Elements of Harmony. With them here I would rather be safe than sorry.” I replied, scaling the walls of the Palace heading up to the Treasury room.

“That would be wise. I’ll send a few more Guards to the Underground Prison, and have a few keep an eye on Twilight and her friends.”

“What was that Princess?” Twilight said, hearing Celestia say her name.

“Oh nothing Twilight. You were saying about the Dragon leaving the cave?” Celestia covered up, as Twilight began to explain. I cut my connection to Celestia as I scaled the wall upwards to the top floor, where the Treasury was located.

I could already feel the vibrations of magic buzzing through the air, so once I opened the window I would need to get in as quick as I can to make sure that Marcus hadn’t already weaseled his way in there.

“Ah Shit… this is gonna suck…” I said, finally reaching the window which would open into the Treasury. I undid the latch and opened the window wide, feeling the sudden rush of magic emanating from the room.

Luckily all it felt like to me was a bit of nausea, and maybe some dizziness, thanks to Super Nova’s magic not being entirely benign. To other unicorns it would burn like a fire in the pit of their stomachs, and the only cure was to have the magic flushed out of the body by extremely advanced medical spells. I wasn’t able to perform regular medical spells, but due to the fact it was a magic which flushed out other kinds of magic, all I would need to do is retract my magic when the spell was done.

A bit complicated but effective nonetheless.

I swung myself into the room and swiveled my head around, and was shocked to see what was standing before me. Marcus stood in front of the deposit box which held the Reverse Gravity Amulet, with no protective clothing on. He stood steadily on his 4 hooves, unwavering as he opened the deposit box and pulled out the Reverse Gravity Amulet, its Blue Downward Arrow shimmering brightly.

“I knew you were going to come for me… Like you did for my entire family…” Marcus whispered, his back still turned to me.

I didn’t answer, knowing I had to get that Amulet out of his hoof.

“Barrier Shield.” I muttered, closing the window and releasing a large pulse of magic, not allowing him to escape or use the full effects of the Amulet.

“Look, you can go down easy. You haven’t done anything seriously wrong here. I can escort you out of this Palace, and the out of Canterlot, and then let you go. You wouldn’t be in any trouble. Or you can do the exact opposite, and get locked up with the rest of the Slava gang. Your choice.” I said, wanting to see what he would do.

Neither of us moved, so I decided to make the first move. I lunged forward at him, but before I even made it halfway, he did a backflip into the air, and activated the Amulet. It went from a Blue Downward Arrow to an Orange Upward Arrow, and I felt everything suddenly go upside down, literally.

I was pulled from my feet and started flying towards the ceiling head first, colliding with it and falling onto my back. I quickly tried to pull myself onto my feet, but the vertigo I was undergoing got the best of me, and I only got up to my hands and knees.

“The Slava family has kept this Amulet for over 5 decades. It’s passed from Leader to Leader. Although I chose not to become the new Figurehead of the Slava’s, this was our family heirloom, and I won’t let some disgusting 2 legged creature ruin my family.” Marcus said, kicking me in the side as I struggled to get up.

Now regaining my sense of balance I pushed myself up back onto my hands and knees, now moving on getting up.
I saw Marcus’s punching come at me and reached out to catch it, blocking it and pulling it towards me. I brought my forehead forward and collided it with his, causing him to stumble backwards and shake his head. I stood up and quickly looked around the room, seeing the deposit boxes and desks which were neatly organized now scattered everywhere due to the change in gravity.

Marcus sent a bolt of lightning at me, and I quickly conjured a Longsword to deflect it. I rushed at him with the sword, taking swings at him as he jumped back and started to dodge. Eventually he ran out of space to move and growled, pulling out the Amulet once again and diving at my feet. My first reaction was to jump up and slash downwards at my feet, but the Amulet’s magic once again filled the room and I was sent flying upwards, once again crashing into the ceiling as the many deposit boxes fell around me.
Marcus landed gracefully on the floor, obviously having experience in using the Amulet.

“Allow me to leave peacefully and I promise I will make your death a bit less painless.” Marcus spat, as I quickly regained my footing and dispelled the sword in my hand. Instead I channeled magic to my eyes and focused on Marcus, trying to replicate his movements next time he tried to activate the amulet.

“Like hell I would just let you walk out of here. The only way you are going get out of here is in a body bag!” I yelled, throwing a bolt of fiery magic at Marcus who ducked down to dodge. Marcus then decided to go on the offensive and charged at me with a dagger in his mouth, making me wonder why he wasn’t using magic to levitate it.

Instead of thinking any longer I charged as well, sliding last second underneath Marcus who sliced down at me. As the blade grazed my cheek, I planted my feet onto Marcus’s stomach, launching him upwards towards the ceiling.

He and the ceiling collided, and I quickly reacted as he began his descent. I rolled out of the way of his falling body, and quickly roundhouse kicked him while he was in midair, causing his body to go sailing towards the wall.

“You’re not much of a fighter are you? You seem to be more of a mage. How the hell would you know Alicorn Magic spells?” I asked him as he lay on the floor, groaning at his new set of broken ribs.

“Those Nightmare Spells… were nothing…” He wheezed out, holding his side. “I learned those as a mere colt, learning under my bastard of my father with my brother… I was more adept in Alicorn Magic, mimicking its properties perfectly, while my brother failed to understand the mere concepts.”

I had enough of his monologue, only wanting to know who taught him. I made my way to him with a dagger brandished in my hand, ready to kill him while he was down.

Marcus had other ideas though, activating the Amulet and sending the both of us rocketing towards the ceiling. Seeing him flip in mid-air I did the same, landing on one knee with one fist hitting the ground. I felt a hard buck kick me square in the jaw, sending me onto my back. I rolled backwards as quickly as I could, seeing a relatively unhurt Marcus now rushing at me with the same Dagger in his mouth, now shimmering with purple magic.

Forming 3 knives in my right hand I threw them at his hooves, 2 hitting their marks and stabbing cleanly into the legs, and the last slicing the outside skin. He stumbled but didn’t fall like I wanted him to, grunting as he jumped up towards me. I brandished a sword and blocked his incoming strike, sweeping his hooves from underneath him with a quick kick of his two front hooves. I stabbed down at his prone body but he rolled away quickly, jumping to his hooves.

I saw the injuries to his front hooves start to slowly close up, making me growl at his abilities.

We stood on the ceiling apart from each other, wait for one of us to make a move. It was obvious any injury I would inflict on him would just heal, and if I was about to make the mortal strike he would just use the Amulet to throw me off balance and send us in the opposite direction.

I saw the Amulet light up as I turned around and ran towards the wall, running down as Gravity shifted to its normal state. I continued running once I hit the floor to see Marcus gracefully land, before I launched myself at him with two Tomahawks in both hands.

He saw me lunging at him as he once again activated the Amulet, jumping in the air towards the ceiling. I felt myself now launching towards the wall, going upwards to towards the ceiling. I flipped midair so my back hit the wall and I slid ‘up’ towards the ceiling, once again shooting to my feet and running at Marcus.

He could now see that the sudden shifts in Gravity no longer fazed me, and was starting to become worried. His eyes steeled as he entered my range for attack, and I saw the dark purple charge of Alicorn Magic ignite in his horn.

He sent a bolt towards me, but I sidestepped and swung a Tomahawk into his face, getting a clean slice across his right eye and cheek. He screamed out in pain as he pushed a hoof into his new injury, causing blood to stain his appendage.

I smirked knowing it would take a while before he would be able to weasel out of that injury, so I decided it was time to end him.
“Alright Marcus, time for you to go to sleep.” I said, bringing the Tomahawks over my head as I prepared to bring them down onto his head.

“YOU WILL NOT!” Marcus yelled, his eyes being filled with the Dark Alicorn Magic and turning to me, blood dripping down his face and neck. I was paralyzed by the gaze that was digging into my very core, freezing me in my tracks as the weapons in my hands dispelled, and a flash of blue filled my vision.

I stumbled backwards as I felt Marcus buck me in the stomach, sending me to the wall. I cleared my eyes and saw he had thrown his dagger at me, narrowly missing as I moved my head last second. I wasn’t about to let this bitch take off running.

“Magical Barrier’s all have time limits. All I have to do is wait out the timer and I’ll be out of here.” Marcus said, growling as blood dripped down his chin from his destroyed eye. I got up and shook the pain of his kick to my stomach off, ready to use his new blind spot to my advantage.

“You aren’t gonna be alive long enough to do that.” I said, seeing something glint in the corner of my eye. A sword by that name of Chaos, said to be forged by Discord himself, laid on the floor next to me, obviously tossed around due to the random shifts in Gravity.

I picked it up and felt its weight, feeling comfortable in my hand. The constant stream of magic in this room was starting to fuck with my magic due to prolonged exposure, and I would need a weapon for now.

“What, that little butter knife is supposed to do something to me?” Marcus taunted. I grinned and held the sword out.

“Yeah, it’s gonna put you 6 feet under!” I yelled, charging at Marcus who took a few steps backwards. I felt myself leave the ground as Gravity once again shifted, sending the two of us back towards the ground.

I was still charging at him and we collided in mid-air, me landing on top of him. I brought Chaos up to chop down onto his head, but once again we left the ground, sailing up towards the ceiling.

“For fucks sake! Enough with that shit!” I yelled as I gripped the Amulet around Marcus’s neck, who brought his head up to try and impale me with his horn. I pulled the Amulet as hard as I could, but Marcus was continuously channeling magic through it, sending us up and down while we were still midair.

I began to get incredibly dizzy as I began to send my fist into Marcus’s stomach over and over, dropping Chaos sometime while crazily flipping through the air. The Amulet just wouldn’t budge, no matter how hard I pulled and tugged at it. Having enough of this shit of randomly flipping through the air, I pushed Marcus away from me, hearing him land with a thud on the ceiling.

I followed shortly after, landing with Chaos next to me.

Due to my incredible dizziness and Marcus’s inability to move yet, we both stayed laying on the ceiling, groaning and trying our hardest not to puke.

“I… I don’t get it… the spell I placed you under was supposed to make you relive your greatest nightmare… why didn’t it work...” Marcus said, still groaning and laying down. I didn’t have to think.

She saved me there… I would have been dead if it wasn’t for her…

“I don’t have to think about it…” I groaned, standing up and shakily and making my way to Marcus’s incapacitated body. I kicked him in the side of the head to make sure he would stay down, though it wasn’t enough to knock him out.

“I believe this is supposed to be in the possession of The Canterlot Royal Family, not with the son of the Slava gang…” I said, grabbing Chaos and using it to pry The Reverse Gravity Amulet off of Marcus. He made a feeble attempt to try and take it from my hands, but I brought my fist to his horn, snapping it in two.

“AHH! YOU SON OF A BITCH!” Marcus yelled.

“I don’t know… Shura had a pretty damn loud mouth. I would say the real son of a bitch is you.” I said, walking backwards with the Amulet in one hand, and Chaos in the other. I saw something that made me choke down a laugh.

Marcus was attempting his best to try and crawl his way to me. I looked behind him and saw that the red glow indicating that the Magic Barrier was still up was beginning to flicker, and next to the flickering was the window that I used to climb into the Treasury.
I chuckled as the opportunity presented itself with shimmering colors, and I decided to send Marcus out with a bang. I lifted the Amulet to look at the Orange upwards arrow, and charged a small amount of magic into it. I felt the gravity in the room begin to let up, and cut off the magic flow.

“Alright Marcus, I hope you have a nice flight.” I said, to which Marcus looked confused. I overcharged the Amulet with magic and threw Chaos overhanded, sending it spinning forward. The shift in gravity sent everything towards the ground, including Marcus. Chaos was flying so fast that the change in gravity didn’t affect him, as he and Marcus met in midair.

Chaos impaled Marcus through the stomach, sending him flying in the same direction as Chaos was headed. The Barrier shield dispelled as Marcus was sent flying out the window, sending pieces of glass and one dead pony towards the ground below.

I sighed as I heard a loud scream and dead body hit the ground, no doubt making quite a mess. I reached for the charm around my neck, channeling magic into it as I laid on the ground from also sailing to the floor.

“Yo, Celestia. You might get word of this in a few minutes, but Marcus is dead.” I said, sighing as I rubbed the bridge of my nose.

“64! Something is going on in the Underground Prison! I’ve lost contact with all Guards currently assigned to the Prison! Something big is going on but I can’t make a scene!” Celestia yelled through the connection.

My eyes shot open and I forced myself onto my feet already heading out the same window I just sent Marcus through. I grabbed the edge and flung myself over, quickly climbing down the side of the Palace with incredible speed. I had to see what the fuck was going on.

3rd Person POV

A bladed wing feather picked the lock to Shura Slava’s magic negating cell, successfully managing to break it open. She stepped out with a confident smile, looking at the figure that had successfully killed and disposed of every Royal Guard guarding the specialized cells.

“Ah, finally. Free from this idiotic prison. Thank you for your assistance Red Wing.” Shura told the Pegasus known as Red Wing, who did nothing but nod. He proceeded to break open Dust’s, Duplex’s, and Deimos’s cells, but as he was about to open the last one, Shura put her hoof out.

“Leave that scoundrel in his cell. He wants to cross me like that? Leave him to rot in this prison.” Shura said, glaring at the Cell placard.

“Leaving the matriarch of the Slava’s to be locked up? Admirable.” Red Wing growled. “The escape chariot awaits. Follow me.”
Red Wing flapped his large bladed wings as he began to spin at impossible speeds. Everypony else’s horns in the room glowed, ready to perform a teleporting spell. Red Wing finally reached his highest speed and actually managed to teleport along with the Slava’s channeling Pegasi Magic.

They arrived at the edge of Canterlot, just behind the Canterlot Train station. Red Wing hurried to attach himself to the front of the Chariot, being more than capable of transporting the 4 ponies now standing on the large Chariot.

“Hey, you best be thanking me for the help! I managed to get that big lummox to go after that idiot Marcus. He woulda stayed at the Prison and waited for your ass.” Dust said, earning him a smack in the head from Duplex.

“He is not an idiot. He is my brother.” Duplex said with a growl, as Red Wing took off from the ground.

Shining Armor saw the chariot take off, eyes looking through binoculars and seeing who was onboard.

“PEGASI! ATTACK THAT CHARIOT WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE!” Shining Armor yelled, charging his horn and preparing to launch a shield spell. The Chariot exploded in a flash of light, though it wasn’t from it being attacked.

“For fucks sake… 64’s gonna go on a fucking killing spree.”

Author's Note

Hello there! You might notice that the Chapter name is a bit different then usual. Every time there is a plot driving fight the title name will be "64 vs. X". I've been wanting to do this for awhile, so I thought "fuck it".

If you were wondering:

Deimos
Duplex
Dust
Marcus
Shura

Chapter 10

3rd Person POV

64 reached the Underground Prison G-Floor, and saw the aftermath. The Guards who had been defending the Slava Gang’s cells had been nearly cut to pieces, some of the bodies hanging together by small pieces of muscle and tendons. As brutal as the image was, 64 noticed something about the mortal wounds.

The cuts were incredibly clean, slicing through and through every part of the body. There was no sign of the blade that was used had any trouble in cutting through both the heavy armor and the actual bodies.

“Fuck… Fuck… FUCK!” 64 screamed, sending his fist into the side of one of the cells. With the Gala still continuing upstairs, 64 wouldn’t be able to alert Celestia of anything. All he could do was wait, and that was something he absolutely hated to do.

“Where the fuck could they have gone? There was only about 3 minutes between me getting here and them escaping, so how the fuck did they manage to leave?” 64 asked himself. The only way he could think of was teleporting, but they wouldn’t have been able to teleport out of Canterlot, Shining Armor had set a much larger Magical Barrier around the city.

64, unable to do anything from where he was, raced back up to the Palace, needing to get out of the Camouflage suit so he could get around the Gala.

“I gotta talk to Celestia. Hopefully things haven’t gone to shit since I had to leave.” 64 muttered to himself, quickly reaching his Quarters and changing into his Gala outfit. Once again suited and ready, 64 made his way to the Main Ballroom, and couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

There were animals running amok, Fluttershy yelling and screaming her head off which 64 thought was terrifying, Rarity was now covered in what looked like cake and yelling at Prince Blueblood, who looked like he was about to start crying. Rainbow Dash stood in the middle of it all with the now destroyed pieces of the Marble Columns sitting around her, including a Alicorn Statue which took 64 nearly a week to buy. Pinkie Pie was dancing, Applejack looked around in shock just as 64 was, and it looked as if Fluttershy was now trying to eat a squirrel.

“Eh, I’ve been in stranger situations.” 64 shrugged.

Twilight stood next to Princess Celestia who bent down to whisper something into her ear, before turning around and running from the ballroom. Twilight whistled as her friends quickly followed after her, not wanting to be around when things got worse.

64 had a quick thought to follow them out the door, but thought better of it. He walked out into the middle of the chaotic ballroom, almost basking in all of the disorder happening all around him, then put his hand straight into the air. He charged magic into it, making sure it was just the right amount so it didn’t kill everypony.

“Earth moves to quake and shake, now flip onto their backs to stop in their tracks!” 64 yelled, slamming his hand into the ground, causing tremors to shake the entire Palace. The Ponies and animals alike running around were and suddenly now all on their backs, disoriented and dazed.

“Alright! Enough screaming and running around! All ponies in the Main Ballroom please proceed to the Main Lobby while the attendants and I proceed to clean up the mess! The Gala will continue shortly!” 64 yelled, as all ponies now listened to the new authority figure in the room. They filed out of the Ballroom as Attendants quickly came and started to clean up the mess, gently taking the animals and throwing them out the windows to the main gardens.

Other worked on repairing the decorative Marble Columns, along with the Alicorn statue.

“Ugh… I was gone for 30 minutes and this shit happens?” 64 said, rubbing the bridge of his nose once again. He was still aching all over from being in the Treasury for too long, and the last quake spell he had performed had him pretty drained.

Blusa was one of the attendants who was sweeping up and saw 64 leaning against the wall, and walked up to him with her horn lit up a bright green.

64 perked up a bit when he saw her, know that she was someone he could “talk” to when he needed moral support.

“Hey the Blu, some Gala huh?” 64 said, to which Blusa nodded. Her horn blinked red a few times, with her scowling at 64.

“What? You mad about me not being able to keep things together here? This is my first time trying to do security for anything, ever!” 64 said, to which Blusa shook her head no. Her horn lit black then green, meaning ‘Ghost’.

“Oh… you’re mad about me letting him take the mission overseas?”

Blusa nodded intensely.

“Look, it wasn’t my decision to make for him. If he wanted to go, then I have no right to hold him back from that. I know you see him like a son, but he’s big enough to look after himself. We should get word within 2 weeks of how he doing, ok? Now I gotta go find Princess Celestia. Get one of the attendants to signal everypony outside when it’s alright to come back in here.” 64 said, still angry about losing the Slava’s.

Blusa watched 64 walk away while undoing his bowtie, and saw that he had something else on his mind. Not wanting to bother him any further she continued to sweep up the many piece of broken glass littering the floor, not wanting a pony to step on something and getting a piece stabbed into their hoof.

64 on the other hand wanted to smash something made of glass, shoving Ponies aside as he made his way out of the Palace. He needed to find Princess Celestia and talk to her, and for some reason she wasn’t receiving any messages form the charm around his neck.

He knew where to find her, because she had an incredibly disturbing obsession involving frosted treats.

“For fucks sake. She know that 4 fugitives escape from the Underground Prison and all she can do is get a fucking pastry!?” 64 yelled to no one in particular, turning a corner in the road to see Donut Joe’s Donut Shop down the street.

He attempted to calm himself down so he wouldn’t make a fool out of himself by barging in and chewing her out, but deep down that’s all he wanted to do.

He pushed open the door to see Princess Celestia with Twilight and her friends, all laughing.

“I assume you all had an enjoyable evening?” 64 asked leaning against the wall as everypony in the room smiled at him.

“Oh, 64. I’m glad you’re here. I would like to talk to you first thing tomorrow morning. Unfortunately with the recent, ‘events’, which have transpired tonight I feel it need to wait.” Princess Celestia told 64, stressing the word events to get her point across.

“Yes ma’am, but I feel the quicker this is sorted out, the quicker I’ll be happy.” 64 said.

Twilight spoke up at this. “Are you disappointed because we sorta ruined the Grand Galloping Gala? We can go back to fix things up if it would make you happy.”

64 shook his head. “No, No, it’s alright. Before I left I ordered a few of the attendants to clean up the mess then resume activities. They’ll have everything cleaned up within the hour if you do wanted to head back.

“No thanks. I think we’ve all done enough damage tonight.” Rainbow Dash joked, making everyone in the room but 64 laugh.
He walked up to Joe who was working the counter and pulled out 4 Bits.

“Hey, I’ll take 3 Chocolate Sprinkled and 1 Coffee, 3 creamers 2 sugars.” 64 ordered, taking a seat on the incredibly small stool set on the counter. He wanted to start screaming and find the bastards who helped spring the Slava Gang.

“64, you feelin’ okay partner? Seems like ya got somethin’ on yer mind that ain’t coming out.” Applejack asked, making 64 chuckle.

“It’s nothing you need to worry about. It’ll be settled within a few days, hopefully…” 64 said, muttering that last part under his breath. Tomorrow he would scan the Prison for any clues, and hopefully talk to both Luna and Celestia about the situation.

“Well Twilight, you and your friends are welcome to stay in the Palace for tonight. You can stay in your old quarters with your friends.” Celestia said, subtly nodding her head towards 64 to go outside. 64 caught it and followed the order, walking outside with his coffee and donuts.

“Excuse me, but I have a few things to discuss with Project 64. I’ll be right back.”

Celestia followed 64 outside and saw him chugging the still burning coffee down, throwing the cup onto the ground once it was empty.

“This coffee bullshit isn't working for me right now. I’ll tell you what I need, Bourbon.” 64 growled, taking small bites of the donuts in his hand. “Marcus was the fucking diversion. Whoever set the Slava’s loose planned on him going in there to try and break the gang out.”

“That is what I figured. Marcus betrayed my trust, and for that I take full responsibility. All we can do now is keep an eye out for the Slava’s and wait for their next move.” Celestia said, making 64 scowl at her.

“And why the fuck do we have to wait!? Why don’t we take the fight to them and kick ‘em while their down!?” 64 yelled, as Celestia also raised a scowl.

“Unfortunately we have no idea where the Slava’s could have gone. Reports from Shining Armor report they used a Longshot Teleportation Spell to flee once they escape the Barrier, and they could have gone a dozen miles in any direction. As I said, all we can do is wait for their next move and prepare for it.”

64 clenched his fists, breaking skin as he continued to scowl at Celestia.

“How can you just tell me that? We just let them run off and not do anything!? What the fuck kind of plan is that!?”

“It’s the only option we have! And I will not stand for your disobedience any longer 64. We must first think logically, and in order to do that, you must calm down.”

“You want to see fucking calm!? I’ll show you!” 64 screamed, before backing up and expelling magic in all directions around him, making it look like he was shooting fire out of every pore in his body. It eventually died down and 64 stood there growling and panting, magic still igniting his hands.

“Do I need any more proof you need to calm down?” Celestia deadpanned, causing 64 to sigh. “With your recent job in Trottingham and the recent events of tonight, I feel that you need a vacation 64.”

64 was about to yell and scream at Celestia once again, but realized he would be playing right into her hooves. He simply shook his head.

“I can’t take a vacation, I need to help investigate where the Slava’s might have gone.” 64 said, realizing the donut he used to have in his hands was burnt to a crisp.

“I have the Investigative Guards working on that right now as we speak. If we find anything informative, then I will allow you to start your search. For now, I officially order you to take a week’s leave vacation. Things have been hectic lately, and I feel if you continue any longer you will fall where you stand.” Celestia said, surprisingly thinking of 64’s well being.

64 decided he had nothing else to do, and the idea of a vacation, although boring, sounded incredibly relaxing.

“Ok… Ok fine I’ll take the stupid vacation. I don’t see you giving me any other alternative anytime soon. And I can already guess where you want me to spend my weeks’ vacation. Ponyville right?” 64 asked, causing Princess Celestia to laugh.

“I was going to suggest to Crystal Tundra’s to the North, but the choice is completely yours.”

64 thought about it for a bit, wondering what he should do. The solitude of the Tundra’s sounded good, but he was really more of a person who enjoyed scorching weather to freezing.

“Fuck it, Ponyville. It’ll be nice to stay for a visit rather than stay for one afternoon. I’ll go and pack my shit for tomorrow when we head back to the Palace.” 64 said, rubbing his eyes and finally feeling the fatigue beginning to affect him. He walked back inside and took his seat once again, ordering one more donut to make up for the one he turned to ash outside.

Twilight walked up next to him and looked at him curiously. “We... all heard yelling outside. Is everything alright 64?”

64 rubbed his eyes and sighed. “There’s just been a few problems lately. Hopefully everything will get sorted out soon, but for now there isn’t anything I can do about it, Celestia is sending me on a vacation to Ponyville for now.”

“You’re coming to Ponyville!?” Pinkie Pie yelled, suddenly appearing from behind the counter 64 was sitting at.

“HOLY SHIT!” 64 yelled before falling backwards on the stool, scared half to death at Pinkie’s sudden appearance.

“Oh! I’m sorry 64, but is it true you’re coming to Ponyville on a vacation?”

“Yeah, a week to be specific.” 64 said, getting up off of the floor and dusting himself off. Rainbow Dash flew over and hovered at 64’s eye level.

“So we’re gonna have that hoof wrestling contest you promised me?” She asked making 64 chuckle.

“Maybe, all I want to do tonight is lie in a bed, and close my eyes for a few hours. That sound good to anypony?”

Everypony in the room agreed, as 64 finished up the donut in his hand. “I’m gonna head back to the Palace with Celestia. I gotta help finish up cleaning, and make sure that there isn’t anypony thinking about hiding in the Palace once the Gala is over. Shining Armor might be coming back soon so I want to meet up with him when he gets there.”

“Ok, well we’ll be seeing you tomorrow in Ponyville then?” Twilight asked, to which 64 nodded. “Ok, bye 64, see you tomorrow.”
64 walked out of the Donut Shop and headed for the Palace, wanting to get all of his responsibilities out of the way so he could finally fall asleep.

64 POV

I woke up in my bed after the long night, still angry at the events passed. I just couldn’t believe that the Slava’s escaped, and that Celestia wouldn’t let me help the investigative team. Although I wasn’t really one for finding evidence and more of a stab first ask questions later kind of guy, I feel I could help them in their efforts.

Looking at the watch on my nightstand I saw it was 8AM, and I knew I was gonna get going to Ponyville at Noon. I decided it was time to get up and get ready, so mustering all the willpower I had in my body, I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and pushed myself up onto my feet. I had to pack up and talk to Luna to see if she knew anything about the Slava’s. She was on lookout from the Observatory, so it isn’t likely that she missed them.

I nearly called to Ghost before realizing that he wasn’t there, and I shook my head to try and clear it a bit.

“Damn, I’m already missing him.” I muttered, rubbing the back of my neck as I walked to my drawers to pack up. I opened the first shelve and saw all of my Combat Pants sitting inside, all neatly folded and ironed already.

I took an old Duffel bag out of my closet and stuffed the clothing I was gonna take to Ponyville in it, the contents consisting of black long sleeves, black cargo pants, undergarments, and an extra pair of boots. After feeling I was optimally packed and ready to go, I made my way to the Royal Guards mess hall, where I knew I would find Shining armor there getting breakfast.

My predictions were correct as I walked into the Mess Hall, but what shocked me was that Shining Armor wasn’t alone in there. Sitting across from him was his marefriend, Princess Mi Amore Candenza. She was Princess Celestia niece apparently, but for that to be true Luna would have needed to have a daughter, and I don’t see a stallion anywhere in Luna’s life. Maybe it was just niece by title?

I decided that I didn’t want to interrupt anything they were talking about, so I casually made my way over to the serving area, and got myself a nice helping of scrambled eggs and refried beans.

“Oh! 64 why don’t you come over and sit over here with us? Shiny has told me so much about you!” Princess Cadenza called, waving me over with her hoof. I grabbed a few tortillas that were on a heating plate and walked over, setting my tray down and taking a seat.

“Hello Princess Cadenza, pleasure to meet you.” I said, trying to be courteous to the Alicorn Princess. She giggled at my introduction, while I tore a few pieces of the tortilla to scoop up the eggs and beans.

“Oh, no need to be so formal, you can call me Cadence. I never did like when addressed like that by friends.” ‘Cadence’ said, making me chuckle.

“You think of me as a friend? How kind.” I said sarcastically, making Shining Armor laugh.

“Don’t worry; I painted you in a good light. She knows all about 6 months ago and what went down. Luckily she wasn’t here for those three days, she was down in Las Pegasus for one of her other friends birthday parties. Apparently the party must have been crazy if she was gone for 5 days.” Shining Armor joked, inciting a kick from Cadence.

“Well I wish I could have attended the Gala last night, but with Shining Armor’s assignment last night and my unusual fatigue I stayed the night with Aunty Luna in the observatory. Speaking of which there was a moment later in the night which had Luna acting very strange. Did anything serious happen last night?” Cadence asked, making me and Shining Armor look at each other for a second.

Both our eyes read the same thing, “What the fuck do we tell her?”

"Well... There were a few fights down in the Ballroom. A few ponies were injured and I had to knock out a few ponies so my guess is Luna thought I was being too violent." I said, quickly making up a lie and rolling with it. Cadence seemed to accept it and continued to eat her bowl of oatmeal, with Shining Armor doing the same.

I seriously wanted to enjoy the vacation Princess Celestia was going to send me on, but with the Slava's on the loose I couldn't shake the feeling I would be on high alert all week.

Damn Celestia was right. I do need a vacation.

Chapter 11

64 POV

Cadence went back to her guest room when she forgot something she wanted to show Celestia. If had to guess I would say it was something she found in the Crystal Tundra, but my guess was a good as anypony else’s.

“So… How are you feeling?” Shining asked me, as I finished the remainder of my breakfast. I honestly didn’t know how I was feeling. I was angry that the Slava’s had managed to escape, but I was also semi-pissed that Celestia was arranging this vacation for me. Another part of me was actually excited that I was going to get a break, finally being able to kick my feet up and tell anybody who tried to order me around to fuck off.

“I’m feeling… tired… Marcus was the diversion in everything and I chased him like a mouse would chase cheese. He had fucking Alicorn Magic, that’s why he was immune to the Treasury. I woke up today and I felt like my hands were on fire, not because I was casting a magic spell, but because the magic nerve endings in my hands were fried to hell after all the exposure to that harmful magic. I pray for the ponies that have to clean up the mess I left in the Treasury.” I said, grabbing the glass of milk I had and taking a gulp.

Shining Armor nodded and brought a piece of toast to his mouth taking a bite. “Well from what I heard, you ought to be excited for that vacation Princess Celestia is sending you on. Finally gives you time to stretch your legs and relax for a while, right? With all the running around you’ve been doing lately I think you deserve it.”

I smirked and stood up. “Thanks Shining. I’m gonna go see what I can go do about the Treasury. I threw Chaos out the window when I killed off Marcus. I think the body was disposed of last night by a few guards, but I want to make sure I didn’t cause any serious damage to the sword. Celestia would have me by the neck if I destroyed that artifact.”

I threw my plate and cup into the sinks and walked up to the Treasury, this time opting for the stairs rather than climbing up the side of the Palace. I saw several ponies in radiation suits, but I knew the magic wouldn’t be too harmful to me unless I was continuously using magic and had prolonged exposure. A few of the ponies walking in and out of the Treasury were giving me harsh glares, but that was to be expected for wrecking the entire place and destroying weeks of organization. I walked inside and saw an attendant holding a clipboard and pen, picking up artifacts one by one with her magic, then writing a serial number down so they could identify it later.

“Umm, excuse me. I was wondering what I could help with.” I said, trying not to sound too much like an asshole. She looked up at me and sighed, obviously a bit peeved at my unexpected appearance.

“If you want to try and make up for all of this destruction, you can help by levitating some of the heavier debris up off the ground. The unicorn instruction entail not using large amounts of magic at one time, yet you seem strangely unaffected by the magical radiation in this room. Please make yourself useful won’t you?” the Mare asked, to which I slowly started to rub the back of my head.

Umm… I’m not sure how to put this… but I can’t levitate objects…” I said sheepishly, a bit embarrassed at the confession. The attendant did a double take and stared at me, nearly slamming her hoof into her forehead.

“How in the name of Celestia are you unable to perform one of the most basic magical spells known to ponykind? I’ve seen you set the entire kitchen on fire with a single spell, and then put it out a few seconds later. So how are you not able to perform levitation?” The attendant asked, making me shrug.

“I never got around to perfecting it. Whenever I did try I could never focus enough to keep the magic constantly flowing. It feels as if there’s some sort of blockage in me whenever I try finer spells like levitation or teleportation, so eventually I decided to drop those spells when they became too troublesome to learn.” I answered making the attendant sigh once again.

“Well can you just lift the damn thing then? Do something than just stand there and take up space.”

I grunted and walked over to one of the overturned desks in the room, grabbing the sides and lifting it up with ease, allowing a few other attendants to look underneath and retrieve any hidden artifacts. I heard the *clink clink* of something falling out from underneath the desk.

“Hey boss, we got this stupid Arrow Amulet. This is what caused all of the mess up here isn’t it?” a stallion’s voice asked, making me set the desk down and take a look at what they were talking about. Sure enough, the stallion was holding the Reverse Gravity Amulet; it’s arrow a deep blue and pointing down.

“Yes it is. Give it here.” The attendant in charge said, her horn glowing for a second as she made to grab it out of the air. I quickly jumped forward and swiped it from the stallions hoof before she could get any magic into it.

“Hey! Give that back before you do anything stupid!” The mare yelled, making me glare at her.

“Are you daft?! Channel any magic into this thing and you’re gonna make everything go upside down again!” I yelled back, making her back off a bit. She walked up to me and swiped it out of my hand with her hoof, scowling at me as she went to look at another part of the Treasury. I decided that my services weren’t really needed after that little spat, so I decided to walk out of there and went to go meet up with Celestia.

As I walked to the Throne Room, I started to see a lot of trash still strewn around from the Gala, and I wondered why they still hadn’t cleaned up. I’ve seen as little as one unicorn attendant clean entire hallways in a matter of seconds.

I saw one of the attendants running by, and I quickly flagged them down really quick.

“Hey, not trying to sound rude or anything, but why is there still a bunch of trash everywhere?” I asked, to which the attendant yawned.

“Whoever’s not working up in the Treasury was given the day off to recover from the Gala. Got to say, I love it.” The stallion said, yawning at the end of his sentence.

“Ok I guess…”

The stallion continued down the hallway, turning a corner and leaving my sight. I looked towards some of the discarded napkins in the corner and held out my hand towards them. I focused on creating the beam of invisible magic on the napkins, then tried to connect that beam to my hand. I saw a thin sheen of red magic surround the napkins, and I eagerly lifted up my arm to lift it up.

As soon as my arm moved, my connection to the napkins was lost, and they fell unceremoniously to the ground.

“For fucks sake…” I muttered, disregarding the trash on the ground and making my way to Celestia. I wanted to talk about taking Blusa with me on my little vacation. I wanted to take her to Manehatten so she could see her brother Grey Streak, but I needed to clear it with her first.

I pushed the doors to the Throne Room open, stepping inside to see Celestia and Luna sitting in their respective thrones.

“Princesses.” I said, bowing my head a bit respectively. “I came here to talk about another term of my vacation.”

“And what term would this be 64?” Celestia asked me, making me grin a bit.

“I want to take Blusa with me for a small detour to Manehatten so she could see her brother. I might even want to take Applejack there for as well to see if she wants to visit her cousin’s grave.”

Princess Luna smiled at suggestion, and Princess Celestia nodded.

“Very well, I will inform Ms. Blusa Streak to meet you at the Train Station at Noon. She will accompany you to Ponyville to see if the Element of Honesty would like to join you on your detour to Manehatten.”

I nodded back at the princess. “All right, sounds like a plan. I’ll be seeing you.”

They waved back, but Princess Luna came down from her Throne to walk up to me.

“We may receive word from Ghost at the end of your vacation. Hopefully he will be making progress in tracking down the Crystal Dust and you will be able to assist in the assault on the smugglers.” Luna said, to which I gave a thumbs up.

“Perfect. I hope he’s not having too much trouble over there. He’s a tough little Changeling, but I can’t help but feel a bit worried.” I said back. I turned on my heel and left the Throne Room, planning on making some last second preparations before leaving for Ponyville.

3rd Person POV

64 arrived at the Train Station exactly at Noon, and saw Blusa already standing at the platform, bouncing up and down, barely able to hold her excitement. She saw 64 and immediately jumped at him to glomp him, wrapping her legs around his shoulders and flashing her horn green over and over.

“Glad to know you’re happy Blu. I just wanted to make up for my shortness with you last night. There were a few complications that are gonna make my job a lot harder now, and I really want to get them out of the way sooner than later.” 64 said, as Blusa let go of 64.

Blusa nodded and waved her hoof, telling 64 that she understood. Her horn blinked a few times in Morse, spelling out the word ‘brother’.
“You’re excited to see him again huh. I heard Grey is doing pretty well for himself last time I checked. He gets a lot of higher class ponies up there in Manehatten to commission him for things like metal sculptures and some blacksmith jobs for decorative weapons. He should be really surprised when I show up with you at the doorstep.”

Blusa quickly nodded yes, holding her hoof to her mouth to simulate if she were giggling. The two both heard the sound of a horn incoming and looked in the distance, seeing the train quickly make its way into the station. Blusa jumped in the air in excitement, biting 64’s sleeve and telling him to hurry up and get on the train.

“Ok! Ok! Let me grab my duffel.” 64 said, grabbing his bag and slinging over his back. The two stepped onto the train and showed their tickets to the conductor. He gave a split second look at 64, but shook it off, letting the passenger onto the train.
Blusa made her way to the first class cabin Celestia had arranged for her and 64, immediately leaping up and taking the top bunk of the beds.

“Hey, I wanted top bunk.” 64 said, playfully scolding Blusa who just kicked at him and rolled over into the pillow, obviously wanting to skip past the train ride by sleeping. 64 didn’t see this as a bad idea, but knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep due to his nervousness.
The Slava’s were still nipping at the back of his head, their escape still baffling him. Their voices taunting him, saying that he could try over and over again, but he’d never find them. 64 lay in the lower bunk shaking his head, trying not to think too hard about the problems he had.

He had Ghost overseas, the Slava’s escaping from their prison, and to top it all off, now he was feeling insecure about him not being able to perform the most elementary of spells. That last one was a bit insignificant, but it still bothered 64 nonetheless.
He found himself finding the vibrations of the train leaving the station incredibly relaxing, and began to forget about all of those problems. All he had to do right now was get to Ponyville, see if Applejack wanted to go to Manehatten with him and Blusa, then it was another long train ride there. 64 wanted to run there, knowing with his speed augmentation would get him there faster than this train, but he didn’t want to scare the ever-loving hell out of Blusa.

He remembered Ghost’s reaction to the super speed, saying it nearly made him pass out.

-------------FLASHBACK 4 MONTHS-----------------

Celestia had finally left the interrogation room, both her and 64 exchanging glares as they passed each other. 64 had waited for Celestia and Shining Armor to finish interrogating the Changeling, wanting to talk to him afterward.

Shining Armor stepped out of the room next, and saw the guard that was standing post slightly shaking as he looked at 64, having trouble keeping his composure.

“You guys done in there?” 64 asked, leaning back against a wall nonchalantly. Shining Armor nodded.

“Yeah, after you barged in there I told Celestia to let me do the talking, and things stated to go a bit smoother. Apparently he was the runt of the Hive, still affected by the hive mind of Clovercloud, who you said was dead, right?” Shining asked.

“Yep. Crushed by a falling stalactite. And with her dead, the effects of the hive mind should slowly wear off, right?”
“Should be right. We have reports of many Changelings unable to feed themselves after the death of a Queen, the lack of leadership killing them off slowly. When we asked the name of the Changeling, he said he was never assigned one. Apparently they had tags, not names. No close relatives, no friends, left to die. Sad to say this, but I don’t think this Changeling was meant to live.

64 looked down contemplatively, wondering what kind of life he lived day to day.

“I want to talk to him a bit.” 64 said, not waiting for permission from Shining Armor. He walked back inside and saw through the two way mirror that the Changeling had his head on the table, and was crying softly. He grabbed his stomach and rocked back and forward, obviously suffering from starvation.

64 walked into the small room quietly, noticing the perfectly repaired door that now stood.

“Hey there.”

The Changeling suddenly looked up, icy blue eyes widened at the new voice. 64 took a seat across from the Changeling, giving a small smile to show that he wasn’t going to try and hurt him.

“The large one gave me that smile too.” He said, making 64 drop his smile.

“Then I’m sorry she tricked you like that. Did she hurt you?” 64 asked, making the Changeling shake his head no.

“No… not after you came in… She just said a lot of mean things… but I heard a lot of those things from the caves…”. 64 saw his icy blue eyes being to flutter open and close, obviously close to exhaustion.

“I’m sorry if I scared you from how fast I was going. I just wanted to get here as fast as I could.” 64 said sheepishly, making the Changeling laugh a bit. As he laughed he suddenly lurched forward, making an awful coughing and wheezing sound. He fell from his chair and landed hard on the floor, making 64 get up and rush to the Changeling’s side.

“What’s going on? What’s wrong?” 64 asked frantically, noticing the Changeling was now hacking up his neon green blood. The Changeling frantically pointed to his stomach, telling 64 that he was now dying from starvation, his body now running out of sustenance to continue to function.

64 thought frantically, wondering how in the hell he would be able to save this small Changeling pup. There was only one way he knew, and if Celestia found out, he would be dead.

“Feed then. Feed!” 64 yelled, bringing the happiest emotions he had to the surface of his mind. The Changeling’s horn began to glow green, and a torrent of red mist started to flow from 64’s body.

“Argh!” 64 grunted loudly, nearly collapsing at the new sensation shooting through his body. The Changeling continued to keep feeding, and 64 began to get angry.

“That’s enough!” He yelled, scaring the Changeling enough to stop feeding. The Changeling looked up at 64, his big blue eyes having small tears at the edges. He started to cry and sent himself into 64’s chest, wrapping him in hug as 64 still had trouble regaining his breath.

“T-Thank you…” The Changeling said, still crying tears of joy.

“Don’t… Don’t mention it… you saved me… why can’t I return the favor?” 64 asked, making the Changeling’s wings flutter a bit.

“I feel full now! I feel I could fly around the world!”

“Yeah, let’s not push it…”

64 thought about something really quick, and kind wanted to see it.

“Hey, back at the caves… You changed into me. Mind doing it again?” 64 asked, now giving the Changeling permission to do so. The reason he was so unnerved by the Changeling last time was because he had just seen a vision of her.

The Changeling nodded his head really fast and hopped onto the table, concentrating on 64’s form to imitate it. Green flames surrounded the Changeling as he suddenly turned into an exact replica of Project 64, making the original 64 give a small grin.

“Didn’t you say you didn’t have a name?”

The Changeling nodded slowly once again.

“Hmm… I think I have the perfect one…”

----------------FLASHBACK OVER-------------------

After that, 64 proposed that the newly named Ghost would assist him in his more stealthy missions, where being inconspicuous was the way to find the target. At first Celestia had tried sending Ghost on what could only be described as suicide missions, but luckily with 64’s help, the two of them would get out relatively unscathed.

64 trained Ghost in the art of combat, all the way from assassination to demolition. Due to 64 not having any ability to fly, Ghost developed his own techniques, learning how to use his ability of flight to launch himself towards the enemy.

“Ah… good memories…” 64 chuckled to himself, before a small voice on an intercom rang throughout the cabin he and Blusa were in.

“Ponyville station ahead. All passengers prepare to station.”

“Damn… how long was I reminiscing? Whatever. Blusa! C’mon wake up! First stop to Manehatten.”

Chapter 12

3rd Person POV

64 and Blusa both stepped off of the train, with 64 having his duffel bag around his shoulder. Blusa had her saddlebags full of clothing needed for her week in Manehatten, along with more than enough bits for spending. All they needed to do here was drop off 64’s stuff, and see if Applejack wanted to come. The train headed for Manehatten wouldn’t come until 1:30, and it was only 12:25.

“C’mon Blu, we can stop off here and grab a bite to eat. Then we’ll get on the 1:30 to Manehatten, deal?” 64 asked, making Blusa flash her horn green once. The two continued through town, 64 getting some friendly nods here and there. He still needed to find out where he was going to stay for his week in Ponyville, so he would need to ask around to see if the Inn in town had any vacancies.

“Alright, let’s go ahead and make our stop at Sweet Apple Acres. I wonder if Applejack is actually up for a visit to Manehatten, I mean her relatives there weren’t the most welcoming people when I met them.” 64 said, making Blusa shrug her shoulders.

The pair eventually made it to Sweet Apple Acres, and 64 began to sweep the area for Applejack. He saw no sign of her, so he went to the front door of the country home and knocked on the door twice, standing back and awaiting an answer.

The answer he received was the sound of incredibly heavy hoof steps heading towards the door, eventually stopping right in front of it. The door swung open and a red stallion nearly reaching 64’s neck in height appeared, his eyes widening at the sight of the large creature in front of him. 64 saw the look in this stallions eyes and knew it very well.

It was the look of some who’s Flight or Fight reaction was fight.

64 immediately tossed his bag to the side while pushing Blusa out of the way, as the stallion immediately tackled him. The two went tumbling backwards as Blusa internally screamed, looking around to see if there was anypony to help. She saw an orange mare wearing a Stetson hat coming out of the nearby Apple Orchard, and she immediately ran to try and grab her.

Applejack saw Blusa rushing towards her and immediately tensed up.

“Woah nelly! What’s got you in such a bunch girl?” Applejack asked as Blusa furiously tugged at her leg and pointed to the scuffle that was happening outside of the house. Applejack’s eyes widened as 64 sent a fist into her brothers cheek, knocking him off of his body. Big Mac was nearly unfazed by it as he got back up to once again rush 64.

Applejack immediately ran towards the two and tackled Big Macintosh onto the ground, preventing him from getting back up.
“WHAT IN TARNATION ARE YA THINKING BIG MAC!? A’VE TOLD YA BOUT 64 BEFORE! DO YA GOT JUNEBUGS JUMPIN IN YER HEAD ‘ER SOMETHING?” Applejack yelled, as 64 got to his feet, dusting himself off.

“Hey, lay off him. What would your reaction be if you suddenly saw me standing at your front door? You wouldn’t act calm either. Don’t worry; he didn’t even do anything to me.” 64 said, playfully harming Big Mac’s ego. Big Mac scowled at 64, getting up and dusting himself off.

Applejack saw the tension beginning to bubble up, and immediately went to diffuse it. “Well it seems like the two of ya jus’ got off to a bad start. How about ya learn each other’s names first? Big Mac, 64. 64, Big Mac.”

The two gave each other a brief nod, acknowledging each other. Blusa looked glad that the fighting was over, and went to 64’s side.

“Yo.”

“Eeyup.”

The brief exchange over, 64 turned to Applejack.

“Well AJ, me and Blusa here are just making a stop here in Ponyville to drop off my stuff and get a bit to eat. We’re heading up to Manehatten, and I was wondering if you or your family wanted to come with us. I mean, I was planning on visiting Orange Grove’s grave, so I thought it would only be right to ask if you wanted to come along.” 64 explained, surprising Applejack.

“Well, that’s mighty kind of you 64… I guess I can go. Jus’ let me pack a few things up. It’s been awhile since I up an’ visited my Aunt and Uncle Orange anyway.” Applejack accepted as she walked back into her family’s home.

64 went to pick up his luggage, but when he reached out to get it, it was already being picked up by Big Macintosh. He handed it to 64, a sheepish grin growing on his face.

“Ah’m sorry for the way ah overreacted. I shouldn’t have tried beatin’ ya up like that.” Big Mac apologized, as 64 patted his shoulder.

“It alright. Like I said, no real harm was done. I understand what stallions like you do when they see something that might threaten their loved ones. I’ve certainly gone off the handle a few times when someone has threatened my friends.” 64 explained, both Big Mac and him agreeing on something.

After a few moments of waiting, Applejack finally came out of the house, her saddlebags all packed and ready.

“Alright, it’s just gonna be an overnight trip for me and you AJ, Blusa here is gonna stay the week with her brother. C’mon, lets grab something to-go over at Sugarcube Corner before we head out. My sweet tooth is aching.” 64 said as the newly formed trio began to walk down the road, heading towards the confectionary restaurant.

“So, you meetin’ up with your brother huh? I got family up there too. What’s the occasion?” Applejack asked, but 64 stepped in.

“Uh, AJ? Blusa here is mute, she can’t talk.” 64 explained, making Applejack’s cheeks go red.

“Oh! Uh, sorry there Blu. I didn’t know.”

Blusa simply shrugged her shoulders and did a mock giggle. AJ’s embarrassment didn’t last much longer than that, and the trio finally made it to Sugarcube Corner. 64 had to duck down a bit to enter, and as soon as he entered, the sudden wall of scented sweets made him gag a bit.

“I know, kind of a rush every time a new customer walks in here. Welcome to the Sugarcube Corner! Pinkie Pie has told me so much about you!” A Pink maned, blue coated mare told 64 as he walked in, Blusa and Applejack following behind him.

“Yeah, I have a really acute sense of smell. Not that hard to get used to though.” 64 said, taking a nice big inhale through his nose. The scent of frosting, sugar, and preservatives was thick in the air, and it nearly sent 64 to his knees once again, but he held tight.

“Well aren’t ya gonna order somethin’ 64?” Applejack asked, as 64 reached into his duffel bag to pull out a large sack of bits.

“Yeah, I’ll take 1 Chocolate chip cookie1 and 1 muffin, blueberry if you have it.” 64 said, as Blusa blinked her order in at 64. “And she’ll take 2 Red Velvet Cupcakes.”

“Hey, ah thought you said she couldn’t talk. And ah didn’t see her point to anything.”

“She can’t. She uses a mixture of sign language and magic to communicate. She can talk telepathically with other Unicorns, but to others she has small signs you need to carefully read. Go ahead and place your order.”

Applejack just accepted the answer for what it was and placed an order for 2 apple fritters. The snacks came out very quickly, with 64 paying the appropriate amounts of bits for the order. Applejack eyed the money carefully, a thought invading her mind at the sight of it. She decided to hold that thought until she and 64 had a more private setting, not wanting to bring the matter up in public.
Now with their snacks in small baggies, the trio continued towards the train station. It was only 1:10, so there wasn’t any need to rush.

64 pulled out his cookie and muffin and began to munch on them both, relishing the incredibly sweet taste they had. Blusa easily inhaled her Red Velvet Cupcakes, and Applejack went ahead and munched on her apple fritters.

“Say, Blusa. Feel free to not answer, but were ya born without yer voice?” Applejack asked, making 64 slightly flinch. Blusa shook her head no, pointing to her hoof and making a punching motion with it.

“Oh, took a bad hit huh? From what? A baseball or something?”

64 wanted to stop the conversation before Blusa started to get uncomfortable, but she made no sign that she was uncomfortable in anyway. Blusa horn flashed a few times, signing that she wanted 64 to tell her what happened.

“You sure Blu? It only happened about 2 month ago.” 64 asked, to which Blusa nodded. 64 decided to just go with it and told the story about his job in Tuvalu, toning down a few of the more gruesome details, especially the ones about what he did to the stallion who bought Blusa. Let’s just say that not even DNA testing would be able to identify him.

By the end of the recollection Applejack’s eyes were widened to near impossible levels, stunned that such events occurred without any word getting out.

“How in tha’ name of Celestia did somethin’ like that never be found out?! By what you said Blusa here was a famous singer in Canterlot! There no way in Equestria that something’ like that jus’ be covered up!” Applejack questioned, making 64 grin.

“That’s why I go in. If something small happens, Princess Celestia sends in the Royal Guards to diffuse it. Something a bit more extreme happens? Send in the Equestrian Knights. Something really, really bad happens and you don’t want the public eye to find out? That’s when I go in. I go in, take care of business, make sure no one knows Princess Celestia ordered it, and get out. I’ve taken the moniker ‘Bipedal Blight’ to make it seem like I’m doing things of my own accord, and it’s worked for a long time. I’m a story book legend, helping the meek and helpless by destroying the evil and strong.” 64 said, trying to make himself seem like a bigger deal than he really was.

Applejack just shook her head, the question she had been wanting to ask 64 bubbling back the surface. They had reached the Train station with minutes to spare, and shortly after a horn began to ringing through the air.

“Here we go…” 64 muttered, cracking his neck a few times and pulling out the bits to purchase Applejack’s ticket. As he walked to the ticket booth to buy it, Applejack nudged Blusa a bit.

“Hey um, Blusa? Does 64 seem a bit… off to you?” Applejack asked, making Blusa shake her head no.

“Well… ah mean… he works for the Princess now, but 6 months ago they had nearly killed each other. Ah mean did Celestia do anythin’ to 64 to make ‘im like this?”

Blusa shrugged her shoulders at the strange question, making Applejack a bit frustrated.

“If only you could talk this conversation would be much easier….”

“Alight AJ, here’s your ticket. Let’s get aboard.” 64 said interrupting Applejack’s literal one sided conversation.

The group walked inside and took their seats inside another one of the first class booths, but Applejack noticed that 64 still had his bag with him.

“Hey 64, ah thought you were gonna drop off your bag? Ya still got it in yer hand.” Applejack said, making 64’s eyes widen.

“Ahh shit… wait up, I got an idea.” 64 said, looking up towards the emergency hatch at the roof of the cabin. He attached himself to the wall and scaled up to the hatch, but nearly fell off when the Train started to move. He popped open the hatch and climbed to the top of the train, the entire things still gradually gaining speed.

He scanned Ponyville and found his target, the newly repaired Clock Tower. He tightened grip on the duffel bag strap and geared his arm back, quickly using the incredibly fast mathematical skills he gained from her and calculated how much power he needed to make the throw. Perfectly calculating it 64 launched the duffel bag in his hand towards the Clock Tower, nearly hitting a few Pegasi in its flight.

He had no idea if the bag actually made it or not, but 64 decided that when he got back he would just search in that general area for it.

“Alright, dropped it off.” 64 said casually, dropping back into the cabin as the roof hatch closed. Applejack and Blusa simply stared at him with deadpan looks, both wondering if all that was really necessary.

The train began to pick up speed, now on its way to Manehatten. 64 decided to take the time he had and laid back on one of the lower bunks, relaxing and simply trying to wait the hours away. Applejack looked like she was trying to do the same thing, taking off her hat and laying down on her stomach on the bunk above 64.

Blusa’s horn began to flash in Morse again, spell out the word ‘food’.

“Didn’t we just get something at the Sugarcube Corner?” 64 asked. Blusa simply shrugged and blushed, think that it wasn’t enough.

"Alright, I think the food cart is still near the Engine, so you might need to make the trip over there.” 64 said as Blusa nodded, hoping that a Unicorn was there to take her order. She left the cabin and proceeded to the food cart.

Applejack saw this alone time as the perfect opportunity to ask 64 those questions she had, and didn’t want to miss it.

“Huh… 64? Can ah ask ya… well… ah mean if you don’t want to answer ‘em ah understand, but… can ya answer a few questions fer me?” Applejack asked from her bunk, making 64 shrug his shoulders.

“Sure, ask away.”

“Ok then… I was jus’ wonderin’… you and Princess Celestia are on uh… good… terms, now right?”

64’s face scrunched into one of deep thought. “Well… yeah, I guess you could say that. I mean… sometimes we argue and stuff, but it’s not like before were she wanted me dead. I guess we have a sort of strange relationship. I took the job so I wouldn’t have to be scared anymore. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life running, watching my back for every little thing, or making sure I wasn’t seen by the public. But right now I feel as if she and I are kind of not seeing eye to eye on a certain subject.” 64 explained, remembering what was going on with the Slava’s right now.

“Thas’ another thing ah wanted to ask ya. 6 months ago you and her were at each other’s throats like a pair of two of the wiliest pit bulls in all of Equestria, but now you two are all in kahoots now. I jus’ thought it was mighty strange that you were able to forgive her for all she’s done to ya.”

64 tensed at that last part, and a small chuckle escaped his mouth.

“You think I forgive her?”

It was Applejack’s turn to tense up.

“No, I don’t forgive her. All I can do right now is suck it up and try to be big about it. She made 20 years of my life hell, but in the end I know that it was Knight that pulled the strings. I can’t be mad forever. She taught me something, ‘The more you stay mad at something, The more it controls you’. I’m not mad at Celestia anymore, but I don’t forgive her.”

Applejack was visibly stunned by 64’s answer, and although she still had one more question to ask, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to ask it.

“Ah… Ah have one more question…”

“Shoot.”

“How can ya do what you do?”

64 was confused at the question and poked his head over to Applejack’s bunk. “What do you mean?”

Applejack wanted to choose her next words carefully, still slightly frightened at 64’s nonchalant answer.

“Ah mean, how can you kill? You seem almost remorseless of what ya’ve done. All them bits in yer pockets were paid for by killin’ somepony. How can ya be so calm about the entire deal?” Applejack asked, making 64 give her a grin.

“Well I prefer to capture, not to kill. But when I have to kill, I always remember something. The ponies I killed have all brought misery and suffering to others in one way or another. If killing them is the best way to get their ugly mugs off of the face of Equestria, then by all means I am happy to do it.”

Applejack simply shivered and decided to stop talking, unnerved by 64’s casual demeanor. It was at this point Blusa walked back into the cabin, a large daisy sandwich held in her magical grip. She was munching happily as she sat back in her bunk, blissfully unaware of the conversation which had just taken place.

3rd Person POV (Ghost)

Ghost was in a tight situation. It wasn’t anything serious, but if things continued the way they were, he would have serious trouble later. Still disguised as a Griffon, he took one more look at his surroundings. To his side there was the same Griffon chick who had offered him the Crystal Dust, but instead of her normally flirtatious nature, she was now writhing on the floor with her beak foaming.

She had taken a very large dose of a special strain of Dust, Fern’s Love. Its properties included hallucinations, loss of motor skills, loss of speech, sensory overload, and prolonged paralysis. She had taken a very large dose, and if Ghost’s medical diagnosis was correct, she was experiencing an overdose.

To his other side, two Diamond Dogs were now freaking out with knives drawn at each other, one pissed off at the other for calling the local police. They were on the verge of starting something, and if they continued, there would be a lot of blood.

Behind him two griffons were stuffing duffel bags full of Silver Bars into the back of a large van which was being driven by a masked earth pony. The griffons were yelling obscenities at each other, telling the other to hurry up and stop freaking out. The driver was getting impatient and was yelling something about threatening to drive off, and when police sirens started to sound nearer, he actually did, bags flying out of the still open trunk. The Griffons flew after him with large knives now held in their mouths, obviously ready to kill him if the need arose.

The diamond dogs finally began to start slicing at each other, the flurry of fur and blood starting to stain the floor of the large warehouse they were all standing in. There was still a large amount of Crystal Dust of all varieties littering the floor, much of it from the freak out the female Griffon was now going through. She eventually stopped thrashing around, and a last gurgle signified her last breath.

The Diamond Dogs also finally stopped fighting when one realized he had clearly killed the other, a clean slice making itself apparent across his friends neck. The victor started to yell and scream incoherently, dropping the knife and running out the same garage door the van had driven out of.

“Well, at least I found the dealer.” Ghost said to himself as he quickly pulled out his Royal Equestrian Badge out of a pouch he had made for himself in his feathers, needing it for when the police kicked in the door. The sirens eventually reached the outside of the door, and Ghost prepared himself for what was to come.

The front Garage doors of the warehouse were bucked open, the Police Officers holding out Taser Guns in their hooves.

“Relax. Agent 65 from Equestria here.”

Author's Note

I'M STILL ALIVE! Hey readers. Sorry that this damn chapter took so goddamn long to get out. My Super Bowl weekend totally fucked up my schedule. I lost a $1 bet on the Broncos, but if I would won, I would have been $45 Dollar richer!

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

“………”

“I…I don’t know what… what to say…”

“Then don’t say anythin’… Ah mean, you don’t need too…”

“But… I mean… look at them…”

“I wouldn’t have gone any different either way. You didn’t have anythin’ to do with it.”

“………”

“Thanks…”

“Don’t mention it sugarcube…”

64 POV

Applejack and I were now at the grave of Orange Grove, whose death was once blamed on me by Celestia. Now the truth was clear, and Orange family was now grieving openly at the massive grave. The size of the tombstone was a bit more than average, and instead of it being a placard in the ground, it was protruding upwards, a portrait excellently capturing the dead filly on its surface.

An inscription read, “Although Her Body Is Gone, Her Flame Will Live On”. She was a very bright filly, and often radiated happiness to all who knew her. She died at the age of 12, and all who knew her felt as if a part of them had been taken along with them. I didn’t even know her very well, yet I felt as if a part of me had died that day too. I had witnessed my first real death up close that day, and all I wanted to do was scrub it from my memory.

All I wanted to do was cry and cry and try to tell the crying family in front of me that it was all my fault, but Applejack was holding me back from doing so. She had known her while she lived in Manehatten for that short week, and when word of her death got to Ponyville a few weeks later, she nearly ran all the way back.

“She always wanted to do mah mane up in a bunch of little frilly curls. Ah remember when ah was jus’ a filly after hearing about this, that’s all ah wanted to let her do. Ah never let her, but gosh darn it now ah wished ah let her.” Applejack cried quietly. This was hard on everypony here, and I started to let some of the guilt get to me. Years had passed, yet the pain of her family was still burning hot.

The Orange’s crying began to die down, unable to continue like they were.

“I… I…I want to thank you from coming out with us today 64.” Aunt Orange told me, making give her a sad smile. “I…I wish we could have met on better terms, but I’m glad you brought our daughter back to us. We might have never found her.”

“I understand. I also know this… is more of a family matter, and a lot of unwanted memories are being resurfaced. I’ll leave your family to grieve today. I’ll find somewhere in the city to hole up for the night, and tomorrow morning I’ll come by to pick up Applejack from the train station. Have a good evening Mrs. Orange.” I said, nodding respectfully.

“Thank you, and a good evening as well.” She replied before turning back to her husband and leaning on his affectionately.

This was one part of life I wished didn’t have to exist, but it’s a heavy truth. Death was necessary evil, needed to allow the new to replace the old. But when a young life is forcibly ripped out of somepony’s hands, that’s when the horrible truth sets in. Death could happen to anyone at any age, no matter how skilled, no matter how brave. All it took was one wrong decision, one wrong turn in life to send you 6 feet under.

I walked away from the grave to leave the families grieve in privacy; they had no need for another bystander. I pulled up my hood and decided to go somewhere I hadn’t gone for a long time, my Outpost at the top of Vanderhoof Tower. It had been a long time since I had seen that place, with me not having to go there for rest or repose it had probably gathered a good amount of dust buildup.

I made my way down the busy streets, now lit up by the lights of the evening. Unlike my last visit I had no need to cover myself up or hide. I could walk right through the town with only strange glares sent my way, and not the yelping and screaming for guards.

The old warehouse where the entrance has hidden still stood, now even more worn down and dilapidated than I had remembered. I stepped inside and looked around, seeing all of the destroyed wooden pallets littering the place. I saw the rusted door which led to the maintenance stairs of the Vanderhoof building and walked towards it, opening it to see that they hadn’t changed since I was last here.

“Ah…… memories……” I whispered to myself, making the long ascent to the rooftops. After a short long while, I had finally reached the top floor, with me only breaking a light sweat. The store room door was still closed, rust and oxidation clearly apparent on it. It swung open with a light creak, and what I saw made me chuckle.

I still had various notes written all over the walls thinking of ways to kill Celestia once I got my hands on her, and reading them again now made me wonder what a younger version of me would think of me right now. Part of him would be confused and angry, but the other part of him would probably be relieved that I was still alive and no longer living from day to day.

I looked at all of the equipment I still had lying around here, varying from some unused gunpowder, to some old rusty throwing blades. A quiver of a few dozen arrows was still lying there without a bow to use them, and a few schematics of survival gear were written out on a desk in the far corner.

“Hey… I remember some of these…” I whispered, looking down at the crude drawings of the improvised tools I could have used. A poison dart for a makeshift blowpipe, using the berries of the Nightshade Plant to form a toxin which wouldn’t kill right away, but make friends look like foes for a short amount of time. A wing suit for falling from high altitudes and survive, a wrist mechanism… which looked incredibly salvageable…

“Hey… I could still use this…”

I rolled up the large paper and stuffed it into the small satchel pocket attached to my pants, saving it for later. It looked really good, and I would need time to improve the designs to work out any flaws. I quickly rummaged through all of the other stuff, but couldn’t find anything of use besides a few bottles of whiskey that were still good. Drinking wasn’t really my thing, but sometimes after a hard job it was the perfect way to unwind.

I looked out of the window which had an overlook of nearly the entire city, and took a deep breath. I looked down to the alley way underneath me and saw the now empty dumpster. I would usually jump from all the way up here and drop all the way to the filled dumpsters, surviving with only a bump or bruise to show for it.

I really wished I had gone and made that wing suit right now; it would have been so cool to glide all the way to the ground. I could probably have one made by a tailor in Canterlot, but where would the fun be in paying somepony to make it?

I opened the window and took a seat on the edge, feeling the cool rush of the night wind hit my face and clear my mind. I had to agree with Celestia, I shouldn’t be too worried about the Slava gang. Wherever they were, they would show their mugs again someday, there was no way they could just slink back to the shadows.

When they once again reemerged, I would be ready for them, and they wouldn’t stand a chance…

3rd Person POV

Celestia’s sun rose from the horizon, its warmth glowing and awakening the many ponies throughout Equestria. The rays of light rose of Manehatten, and Applejack was rousing from her night’s sleep. Her eyes fluttered open and she blinked away the sleep in them, getting up and stretching a bit.

“Well, it was sure nice of 64 lettin’ me tag along, it was kinda nice to see ta’ family again.” She whispered to herself, looking at the vanity mirror in the spare room she was in. she gripped a brush in her hoof and did a quick run through her hair and placed her hat back onto her head, grabbing her saddle bags to make sure she still had the photos which she had gotten from her Aunt and Uncle.

Applejack sighed, “Ah jus’ wish the trip wasn’t so emotionally taxin’, ah could barely stand in front of that tombstone without breakin’ into tears…”

She closed her bag and walked out of her room to the main kitchen, and saw her Aunt already standing there making breakfast.

“Oh hello Applejack, isn’t it mighty early for you to be up and about?” Aunt Orange asked, making Applejack chuckle a bit.

“Oh shucks, ah always get up around this to get the chores done on the farm. Heck, sometimes ah even get up a bit earlier.”

The two had a nice laugh while Applejack started to help make breakfast, breaking up a few eggs to scramble them. She suddenly started to remember something, or more specifically the lack of something yesterday.

“Hey, Aunty? Didja see where 64 went off too yesterday at the cemetery? Ah know he showed up there with us, but ah couldn’t find ‘im anywhere after we left.” Applejack asked, hoping not to get a negative response for bringing up the events of yesterday.

“Oh dear, he walked off after telling me that it was a private family matter. I guess he felt really guilty for everything. Poor dear, I don’t want him to be thinking that any of this was his fault. If anything I should be thanking him for bringing her back nonetheless, but when I did he just walked off. He probably needs some time to cool down before he thinks about it too hard.” Aunt Orange explained, slightly quelling Applejack’s curiosity.

“Did he come back here? Ah didn’t see ‘im asleep anywhere.”

“I don’t think so; I haven’t seen him since the cemetery.”

Applejack shook her head and sighed, “Where does he get off too?”

64 was actually asleep in his Outpost, sleeping on the dusty cot which was placed in there. He stayed up late staring up into Luna’s night sky, laughing at the drawings she was making with the stars. She at first had done very crude drawings of Celestia, and then threw a pie into her face, which she then proceeded to eat. After that there were drawings of him fighting various things, such as Manticores and Giant Spiders, and then there were others like Ghost changing into various ponies.

He finally fell asleep at around 2AM, staving off nightmares of the past which threatened to haunt him. The rays of sunshine were starting to leak into the small room through the window, awakening the sleeping human within.

“God dammit, Celestia… couldn’t have waited 5 more fucking minutes?” 64 grumbled, sitting up on the cot and rubbing his eyes. He realized he had to pick up Applejack and get back to Ponyville later that day, so he got to his feet and made sure he still had the stuff in his Satchel pocket.

“I’d better check on Blusa before we go. She has her train ticket for the end of the week, but I want to make sure she doesn’t need anything else…” 64 said to himself, making the slow journey down the maintenance stairs.

He wanted to talk to Grey Streak one last time too, just to make sure if he was up for letting Blusa stay with him. He was getting pretty emotional last night, a far cry from what he had seen him 2 months ago, so he might have not meant everything he said.

Back onto the chilly streets 64 sent magic throughout his body, make a faux heater. The cold never really bothered him, it just felt so different to what he was now used to feeling all the time. His magic was the pure power of Super Nova, who took power from the sun, so it was only natural that he had a constant warm feeling in him, so whenever he had to deal with the cold early morning air, it hit him like a ton of bricks.

“I shoulda bundled a bit more…” 64 muttered, rubbing his heated hands up and down his arms. He eventually reached Grey Streak’s Creations and opened the door, seeing Grey knocked out on the counter with small cage looking creation on the counter. 64 delicately grabbed the small trinket and looked closer.

He saw that there was a small bird crafted within the cage, perched on a small bar within the cage. 64 looked down to the sleeping Grey and looked at the wings on his sides, but also noticed something else which was wrong.

He had no cutie mark. Grey Streak, the 24 year old stallion, had no cutie mark. 64 wasn’t one for staring at some stallion’s ass, but for some reason this confused the hell out of him. The oldest he had ever heard of somepony gaining a cutie mark was 17, and that was after a mare realized she could kick the shit out of the assholes who were bullying he in school for so long.

“What the hell?” 64 muttered to himself, wanting to wake up Grey so he could ask him about his strange predicament.

“If you are gonna keep starin’ at my ass then you better get the fuck outta my shop…” Grey Streak muttered, looking up a 64. Not even fazed, 64 blurted out his next words.

“How in the fuck do you not have a cutie mark? Look at this cage you’ve made! It’s magnificent! How do you not have a cutie mark in craftsponyship are something?” 64 asked, making Grey roll his eyes.

“It’s like I said, I don’t gotta like what I do. Plus what if this gig ain’t my special calling? What if I’m just super fucking good at it but the universe wants me to do something else? The way I see it, I can choose what I want to do in life, I don’t need no cutie mark to tell me what I’m destined to be.”

That sentence made absolutely no sense to 64. Even though he was physically incapable of receiving a cutie mark, he understood the science, or magic, behind them. They were physical representation of what your calling in life is. Everypony gained one sometime in their lives. It was unheard of for a pony to die of old age without a cutie mark.

“Whatever man. I just came here to tell Blu that I’m leaving today and see if she needed anything else. I also wanted to ask you, are you really up to let Blusa stay here a week?” 64 asked, making Grey wave his hoof.

“I got this. You think I can’t care of myself? I’ll be fine, but go ahead; she’s in the guest room in the back. Make a left at the first hallways and it’s the 2 door on the left.”

64 nodded and walked behind the counter, seing the workshop Grey Streak had. He was in the process of building what looked like a mini chariot, complete with metal figurines of Celestia and 4 Royal Pegasi guards.

64 followed Grey Streaks directions and saw that the door he had described was ajar, and he could see Blusa sleeping soundly. He really didn’t want to bother her, so he decided to wait awhile and see when she woke up.

He turned to go back to the shop area, but noticed a door which had a magical lock. Instead of it just being a standard magical lock, which 64 could easily just overload, it was powered by a Sound Stone. These set off alarms which signaled if they were being tampered with. Nopony used these unless they had something big to hide, and 64 was suddenly determined to find out what was behind the door.

He turned his head down the hallway and saw Grey was nowhere in sight, so he went to pick the lock. He sent magic into the tips of his fingers and started to deactivate the Sound Stone. He had to find the small rune symbols covering the stone and overload them in a specific pattern. As he looked at the runes trying to find a pattern, he saw that it was musical notes.

64 saw the pattern and got to work, using his magic to overload the first 16th note symbol. He continued to overload the symbols rising in time, moving to the 8th note, quarter note, half, dotted half, full, and finally dotted full note.

The Sound Stone deactivated with a low whirr, its small glow darkening. 64 then proceeded to simply overload the remaining lock and quickly went inside, glad to find that Grey Streak hadn’t seen him. He looked inside and saw it was a simple storage room, containing the many tools that Grey used to make his masterpieces.

“Well that was a waste of a lock out there… if anything the special one arouses more suspicion…”

64 scanned the area to see if could find anything, and his eyes eventually fell onto a small chest in the back corner of the room. It had a simply tumbler lock, which 64 had no trouble picking. He lifted the lid of the chest to find a small bag inside, no bigger that 64’s fist.

“What the…?” 64 muttered to himself, grabbing the bag and tossing it up and down in his hand. It had a small tie at the top of the bag, and after undoing it, 64’s eyes widened. It was a Purified Rhyolite Stone, 200 times more potent than it’s unrefined predecessor. This was on a Search and Capture list that Celestia had issued shortly after 64’s employ, and here it was in the possession of a craftspony in Manehatten.

64 quickly stuffed it into his Satchel bag and looked around some more, seeing more and more of these small chests in the room. Each of them were filled with a large amounts of bits, much more than an average craftspony was supposed to be making. 64’s mind was racing at this, wondering what the fuck was going on.

“What the fuck are you doing in here?” Grey Streak said, now standing behind 64. 64 quickly spun around and saw Grey standing there, the door wide open.

“What the fuck is all this?! Why the fuck are you in the possession of a Purified Rhyolite Stone!? And what the fuck is with all of these Bits?” 64 swore, making Grey turn around and quickly shut the door. He and 64 had a long stare down, wondering who was gonna make the first move.

“I’ll tell you… but I swear if you say a damn word about it I will drag to you the pits of Tartarus myself…” Grey threatened, not wavering 64 in the slightest.

“Fine, now answer my question.”

Grey Streak grunted and put his head down.

“Remember what I said about me not being the universes bitch? How I am more than capable of deciding my own destiny?”

64 nodded slowly, still tense.

“I used… I’m stressing the word used… USED, to work in the Equestrian Black Markets… It was way before Blusa got kidnapped… and I was the reason for it…”

64 continued to listen to the story, now even more suspicious.

“I work on making weapons, swords, maces, vehicles, anything needed to do bad in this world… once I began to get cold feet about everything, I told my boss that I was leaving… for good… He told me that wasn’t going to be possible, but I did anyway… 2 days later, Blu was kidnapped from Las Pegasus by ponies hired by my boss, and sold into slavery…”

64 was now a less bit tense, but had a question. “So that’s how you got the Purified Rhyolite, your work in the Black Markets?”

Grey nodded slowly.

“The reason I got cold feet was because one night I had a vision. It was me getting my cutie mark the next day. It was gonna be a skull and crossbones, but with a hammer and wrench as the crossbones. I knew that I would become the universes bitch unless I got of there, so I did. I nearly killed myself when Blusa had gotten kidnapped all those years ago, but I knew that she was a fighter, so I did the same. And when you came here 2 months ago… it was like my fucking world had gotten its light back. I kept the Rhyolite Stone here just in case my old boss decided to come knocking, so I could level the entire place with the both of us in it.”

64 looked down at his Satchel and pulled out the Rhyolite Stone, gripping it in his hand. He wondered what would happen if he let Grey Streak keep the stone. Celestia wanted it back so it could be rightfully laced in the Treasury, but Grey needed it for a last resort against the ponies who were hunting him.

“Do what you want with it, I won’t stop you.”

64 looked down at the Stone.

Author's Note

YAY CLIFFHANGER! Sup pony people. More back story for Grey Streak, who BTW, was the OC suggested by Phoenix Archangel for winning the Title Contest.

Here is Grey Streak

And here is Blusa

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

64 POV

“Blu… Hey Blu…” I whispered, lightly rousing her from her sleep. She woke up with a small yawn, rubbing her eyes and looking up bleary at me.

“Hey, Applejack and I are leaving at 10, so I was wondering if you needed anything else before we go.”
She shook her head no and gave me a small smile, thanking me for checking up on her.

“Alright Blu, make sure to hold onto that ticket and get back to Canterlot next Friday. By then Ghost will probably make contact with us, so I’ll make sure to tell you what he’s up to.”

She nodded again and snuggled back into her pillow, obviously trying to soak up the last little amount of sleep she could get. I chuckled and brought her blanket up a little more, giving her a little bit more warmth. I patted her on the head and walked out of the door, Grey standing right outside.

“Ya know after you left she was talkin’ bout how you got her outta there. She said the deserts are a fucking killer.” Grey said, making me nod a bit.

“Yeah, it gets really dry really quick out there. I swear the water in my canteen was evaporating…” I replied, as an awkward silence settled over us. I simply walked down the hallway back to the front of the shop, stepping in front of the counter as Grey took his spot back behind it. Neither of us said a word for a while, until I spoke up.

“I can see why you did what you did, but all that matters is that she’s alive, and you aren’t messing around in the Undergrounds anymore.” I said, with Grey giving me a look of confusion.

“Uh… Underground?” He asked.

“Yeah, Underground. It’s where the criminal world does its dirty work. It’s just a nickname I gave it. Rapists, Thieves, Murderers, Extortionists, Smugglers, Dirty Politicians, yadda yadda…… they all do their dirty work in one place, The Underground. It’s my job to flush them out and bring them to justice. It’s never gonna be totally wiped out, but I try my best to keep it clean as I can.”

“Sounds kinda strange, I don’t see why some…one… like you would go outta their way to hunt those guys down. Why not jus’ leave ‘em be? You said it yourself they ain’t gonna ever leave.”

I shook my head and crossed my arms. “They will never leave, but for now I can try and stop them from doing any more bad than they already doing.”

We had another round of silence, neither of us saying a word as we simply began to think.

‘How the hell does somepony try and not get their cutie mark? I still don’t get this guy…’ I thought. I knew that it was a pivotal moment in a lot of young pony’s lives, but this guy didn’t want one. He thought it would make him a bitch to the universe, a phrase I still didn’t understand, but I knew there wasn’t anything I could do to try and change his mind.

“Well I hope that whatever you decide to do with your life, you stay happy.” I said, holding out my hand. He stuck his hoof out as we shook, giving him a smile he returned.

“And I hope that you never talk of this day ever again.” Grey joked, making me laugh as I walked out. Grey Streak was a good pony who just dabbled in the wrong crowd, and luckily he got smart and left before anything bad happened to him. Although he had 2 years more life experience than me, I still felt he could learn a bit from me.

“Now all I gotta do is get Applejack and head home… and then find some way to enjoy my ‘vacation’…” I grumbled, still not having a clue of what I could do for the next 6 days. I took a deep breath and sighed loudly as I walked down the now busy streets, breathing out a large cloud of smoke.

“Damn, with all this smoke I could breathe why the fuck can’t I breathe fire?”

That question sparked something in my head. With all the fiery magic flowing through me, why couldn’t I breathe fire? It sorta sounded weird to think, but I wanted to learn how to breathe fire, and the only one I knew who could breathe fire was… Spike…

“Well I know what I’m doing this week!” I said happily, now with the thought of breathing fire spiraling through my head.

I reached the home of the Orange’s and looked up at the building, seeing the balcony of the Orange’s State Apartment.

“Fuck it…”

I began to scale up the wall using the windows and balconies for grip, making sure to not scare anypony who happened to be looking out their window that exact second. Luckily I managed to make it all the way to the top without incident, pulling myself up the balcony and seeing its door closed and the blinds shut.

I walked up to the door and knocked twice, making sure to try and catch the attention of somepony inside. I heard the faint sound of hoofsteps on soft carpet inside, before the blinds were quickly pulled. I saw Uncle Orange standing there with a surprised look on his face, before opening the door and motioning me in.

“You know, we do have a front door…” He explained, making me laugh a bit.

“Yeah, but where is the fun in that? Anyway, the train for Ponyville leaves in about an hour. So I came by to make sure Applejack is ready for our return.” I said politely, remembering the Oranges were a bit ‘frilly’.

“Oh yes, I think she is in the guest room packing the last of her things. I would like to say 64, it was a pleasure having you come and visit, and I’m glad that even after all these years you still didn’t forget about my little Orange Grove.” Uncle Orange said with a smile, making me give one in return.

“Of course, and I’m sure that Applejack was glad to be back and see her family up here. She said she hadn’t seen you guys since she left back to Ponyville.”

“Oh that… She gave us the biggest scare after she left! Thankfully Granny Smith sent us a letter shortly afterwards explaining the situation. We nearly sent out the bloodhounds in search for her!”
We both had a laugh at his recollection, and Applejack walked out of the room.

“64! Where the hay have ya been? We didn’t see ya come in last night.” AJ said.

“Don’t worry, I’ve been safe. Remember when I was on the run I told you about some of those ‘outposts’ I had? I have one of them here, so I holed up there for the night.” I explained, chuckling slightly at how worried she looked.

“Well then ya shoulda told us! Who know where ya run off to in the dead of night!” Applejack grunted, turning around and throwing her saddlebags over her back. “Well ah’m ready to go, all jus’ say the word and we’ll vamoose.”

I nodded, “Alright, Mr. Orange? It’s been a pleasure.” I said, sticking my hand out for a shake. He accepted it with a grin and I waved for Applejack, who was giving her Uncle a goodbye. We walked out the door and made our way down the stairs, heading back to the train station where we would head back for Ponyville.

3rd Person POV

64 and Applejack were back on the 10:00 for Ponyville and sitting quietly in their cabin, both lying across each other from in their bunks. Both simply enjoyed the light vibrations of the Train moving at top speed, which wasn’t nearly as fast as 64 wanted it to be.

“Ugh… can’t I just run to Ponyville? I can get there 3 times as fast as this big clunker!” 64 complained, making Applejack scowl.

“64, can’t ya jus’ relax for a bit and enjoy yerself? If ah had ta guess then this is the first yer first vacation!” Applejack joked, making 64 simply stare blankly at her. She noticed his stare and stopped chuckling; realizing that what she had said was truth. “Oh… never mind then…”

64 grinned and waved off the statement. “Nah, it’s alright. I’ve never had time to simply relax, so this is a nice change in pace. I was always running or fighting, so sitting around and doing nothing for a while sounds like heaven…”

Applejack still had another question she didn’t want to ask the day before, due to her nerves getting the best of her, but now she wanted to ask.

“64, ah know ya already explained about how Celestia and you aren’t at each other’s hides anymore, but it seemed like that wasn’t tha whole story. Was there anythin’ else ya had to say?” Applejack asked. 64 cracked his neck and sighed a bit.

“There was a bit more… but it really doesn’t stack up to what she told me. I guess it helped, I mean… he helped a lot… I mean Ghost, he helped a lot…” 64 explained, as he slightly shifted on his back. “He… he was like the thing between us that prevented the friction from me and Celestia from building up into an inferno, which is possible with my powers…”

64 sat upright and rested his elbows onto his knees, facing towards Applejack’s bunk.

“He was the thing that finally pulled out the wedge between me and Celestia…”

FLASHBACK 3 MONTHS

64 POV

I was covered in soot and ash, stomping through the hallways of the Canterlot Palace. Ghost was in the same condition, and I knew that this was the finally straw; Celestia had gone too fucking far with this. I reached the doors to the Throne Room and saw two Pegasi Guards acting sentry, their spears crossed in an X.

“STOP. No one is to see the Princesses for the remainder of the day.” The guard on the left ordered, causing me to check him with a right hook and throw his body into the other Guard. I kicked the doors open and saw Celestia standing there, scowling down at me.

“64! Why do intrude us? I’ve ordered no one may enter—“

“I don’t give a fuck what you’ve ordered! Why the fuck didn’t you tell us about the damn Dragon Raiders hiding out in that city!? You told us it was a few break ins, and when we arrive, 10 adolescent dragons are razing that place to the ground! You knew from the fucking start and you sent us in there without a damn clue! You’ve been doing this ever since Ghost came into the picture, deliberately trying to get him killed. Don’t even try to lie to me!” I screamed, every breath I was taking causing a cloud of smoke to plume out of my mouth.

Celestia growled and stood up from her Throne, advancing towards me as Princess Luna watched with a frightened face. She finally walked all the way up to me, our foreheads nearly butting.

“You dare question my actions?! I sent you with the confidence that you would be able to handle anything that was thrown at you, and by your obviously less than harmed state, I can say I was right. I am NOT deliberately trying to kill Ghost, I am seeing what he is capable of!”

“BULLSHIT! If you wanted to see what he was capable of you would’ve put him through the same testing course you make the Equestrian Knights go through! You are just sending him so he could—“

“ENOUGH!”

A small voice broke mine and Celestia’s attention of our arguing, and both our heads were turned towards Ghost, who’s horn was glowing in anger.

“64! I don’t care why she’s doing it, all I care about is the bad guys get taken care of! If it’s too hard for me, you’ll be there to back me up! Celestia has given me a new purpose in life, and she gave you one too! So I don’t think you should be so mean to her.” Ghost yelled, making both of the fires in our eyes dim a little bit.

“I think if she is really trying to do what you are saying, then let’s prove her wrong and accomplish those missions, and if she really isn’t then we should just do the jobs because they are our responsibilities. We shouldn’t hold it over her head if things go wrong during our missions, because she might not know any better.”

I was shocked to hear Ghost’s explanation of what he thought was going on. I thought he was going to be just as mad as I was at Celestia, but here he was defending her. I didn’t understand why in the name of Equestria he would be defending her, especially since I knew for a fact Celestia had been trying to kill him, but here he was.

I didn’t want to push things further. I knew that Ghost could handle himself, but I just wanted him to stay sheltered and make sure he wasn’t growing up too fast, but it was obvious that I had failed in that department. Still, he looked ready…

I turned back to Celestia, who was still standing there with a scowl on her face. I dropped my sneer towards her and nodded.

“Alright Celestia, I believe you… But… but please take into account Ghost’s young age. I prefer if her didn’t go on such high risk jobs so early in his career, ok?” I asked, Celestia slowly dropping her glare. She looked a bit pensive at my request, but eventually nodded.

“Very well… I will assign Agent 65 onto lower risk jobs when he must perform on his own, but he will still accompany you when the time for High Class Missions occur, understood?”

“Understood.” Ghost and I said in Unison, nodding slightly at the Princess.

“You are dismissed.”

Ghost and I both turned around and started walking away, and although I was still incredibly pissed, I knew that Ghost’s way of thinking was better. Just suck it up and do the job anyway…

FLASHBACK END

3rd Person POV

“Ever since then I tried looking at things through Celestia’s eyes. Could she have really known about those Dragons? Was she really out for Ghost’s blood? I don’t really know, I just felt really protective of Ghost and felt he needed to be protected, but that obviously wasn’t the case.” 64 finished explaining, as Applejack looked at his with wide eyes.

“Wow, that’s some story…”

“Want another? I got hundreds… like the time I had to cauterize myself with the tip of a spear head?”

“No! No thank ya… Ah’m not sure ah need another one…”

The two passengers finally fell into a state of comfortable silence, simply letting its prescience wash through the room. 64 yawned and decided to catch up on the sleep that he had missed out on when the sun shined in his face that morning.

Applejack saw him dozing off and decided that she should do the same, even though she really wasn’t that tired. She was thinking about 64’s story and wondered about his Changeling companion. She had heard about how they needed to feed on love to survive, and they often used trickery and deceit to get it.

“Ah wonder…”

She dozed off shortly after, letting the Train’s gentle vibrations lull her to sleep.

64 POV

I woke up to the sound of the Train’s horn suddenly blowing, waking me up from my nap. I looked at my wristwatch and saw that it was 12 noon, meaning the Train ride here was a bit shorter than the ride there.

“Hey AJ, wake up we’re here…” I groaned, getting up from my bed and shaking Applejack.

“Hmm… 5 more minutes…” She grumbled cutely, trying to snuggle back into her pillow.

“Hey, 5 more minutes and you’ll be on your way to Tall Tail, now get up.”

“Fine…”

After our wakeup we both stepped off of the Train and were back on the platform, and I was surprised to see Twilight and all her friends were waiting at the Train Platform for us. Of course Pinkie Pie was the first one to come leaping over the group and tackled me to the ground.

“Oh my gosh! We heard you went to Manehatten with Applejack from Big Macintosh but we didn’t know when you were getting back and we’ve been here since 8 because that’s when the first Train from Manehatten came in an— MMPH MPHHMH MHPHM MMPH MMPH!“

Pinkie Pie wasn’t able to finish her ranting because Twilight had now magically zipped her mouth shut, allowing me to get up from my position on the ground and dust myself off.

“Sorry about that. Big Mac told us how you and Applejack went on a trip to Manehatten to visit her family, but he didn’t know when you were coming back.” Twilight explained in a less frantic tone which was much easier to hear.

“Sorry about that, it’s just we both had business up there. For me it was reuniting a brother and sister, but for AJ here it was to visit the Orange’s after what happened when she moved over there for a little bit.” I explained.

“Well now that you’re here, does that mean you’re gonna stay here for your vacation?” Rainbow Dash asked me, making me nod.

“Until Celestia calls me back, or something big happens, but this seems like a pretty quiet town. I’m sure I’ll be able to have a pleasant week of peace in this place.”

For some reason, the girls around me began to laugh crazily, making me wonder what was so funny.

“Uhh, can I get an explanation here?”

“64. You’ll learn pretty quickly, nothing in this town is peaceful. Something is always going on no matter what.” Rarity said, making me laugh a bit.

“Don’t worry, anything that can happen here, I’ve probably tangled with worse.”

I didn’t know I could be so wrong…

Author's Note

Yes, the red text is there for a reason...

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

3rd Person POV

64 was now resting in the cot he had set up in the Clock Tower, and was quite surprised that the bag he had thrown had actually made it through the small window. He was lying on his back while throwing a small dagger up and down, catching it by the tip of the blade every time. He literally had nothing to do, and Spike was sick from something he had eaten at Pony Joe’s 2 days ago.

He was also continuously blowing smoke out of his mouth, trying to see if there was any way he could breathe fire. He channeled magic into his lungs and blew out, creating yet another stream of black smoke cascading out.

“For fucks sake…” 64 muttered, waving the clouds of smoke in the small room out of the window. He was getting pretty tired of just lying in bed, so he decided he would go walking around town for a bit. He thought about visiting Twilight’s Library and seeing if there were any books he might be interested in, then heading over to Sweet Apple Acre’s to see if there was anything he could do. Anything but just sitting there.

He leapt out of the window and slid down the side of the Clock Tower, pushing himself off once he neared the ground. He rolled when he hit the ground and dusted himself off, walking towards the Golden Oaks Library.

Once he arrived, he knocked on the door twice. Even though the building was a Public Library, it was still Twilight’s home, so it felt natural. He wait until a purple Aura surrounded the door and swung it open, showing Twilight going through an incredibly large book. It looked like it didn’t have an actual story, but rather a very long list of names.

“Yo, Twilight. What’s that?” 64 said curiously, tilting his head to try and read the words upside down.

“Oh, 64 it’s you. This is simply an archive of all of the books that have been checked out of the Library and their respective return dates, but while I was re-shelving I noticed that there are a few that haven’t been returned. They we’re checked out by Cup Cake and Vinyl Scratch, and they were both due last week. I’m sure they must’ve just forgotten, but I was gonna go make sure. Ugh, but I still have half of the Library to re-shelve…” Twilight groaned, causing a light bulb to go off in 64’s head.

“Hey, I’ll go and get those books. Shouldn’t be too hard, and it certainly can’t be like collecting from the tax dodgers in Canterlot right?”

“Uh… Tax Dodgers?”

“Yeah, ponies who try and skip out on paying their taxes. Usually when it’s only a few dozen bits Celestia would just send them a letter, and then they would usually pay soon after that. But when somepony doesn’t pay up a really serious amount like a few hundred, or even a thousand, I’m usually banging down the doors. Sometimes they try threatening by calling the Royal Guard, but I just show them my badge and they shut up.”

64 pulled the badge which was in an inner pocket of his Black Long sleeve, and showed it to Twilight. It was a Purple 6 pointed Star, much like Twilight’s Cutie Mark.

“My cutie mark…” She mumbled, making 64 chuckle.

“Yup, that’s what I said about them. Anyway, these prove my affiliation with the Royal Family, but whenever I do a mission which requires that… Canterlot’s security… isn’t compromised, I go in saying that I work for nobody. It makes Canterlot look innocent.”

Twilight looked like she was about to question what he meant, but 64 was already standing up and making for the door.

“I’ll be back to explain more when I get back from getting those books! I’ll just ask around for Vinyl Scratch’s house!” 64 exclaimed while walking out the door, making Twilight grumble. She continued to re-shelve all of the remaining books, now wondering about 64’s line of work.

64 made his way towards Sugarcube Corner, wanting to get the first book from Mrs. Cake. He arrived and walked into the establishment through the double doors, seeing Pinkie Pie running the cash register. She gasped and waved happily, bouncing up and down.

“Oh! Oh! 64! I was wondering when you were going to show up! So what’ll you have?” Pinkie Pie said, pulling out a pen and paper out of her hair and ready to take 64’s order. 64 looked at her and decided to not worry about it and have nightmares later, wanting to get the book.

“It’s alright Pinks, I didn’t come to eat. I came get an overdue book from Mrs. Cake. Is she in right now? It says on this small list I stole from Twilight that she still hasn’t returned… what the… A Sensual Night on Lake Libido 4? What the fuck?” 64 reeled back, making sure he was reading that right. Why the hell did a public library have that?

“Oh I’ve seen her reading that. She hides it in her nightstand and reads it when Mr. Cake is out to make a delivery. I can ask for it back!” Pinkie exclaimed, bouncing into the kitchen and up the stairs. 64 followed her and watched her knock three times on what 64 could only assume was Mrs. Cake’s bedroom door.

“Yes? Oh, yes Pinkie? Did you need help in the kitchen?” Mrs. Cake said, not realizing I was standing there.

“Oh no! It’s just 64 came here saying he’s here to pick up an overdue library book. Do you still have it in your nightstand?” Pinkie said casually, making Mrs. Cake’s cheeks suddenly go red.

“um… well… uhh… I… do… but…” Mrs. Cake stuttered, as 64 understood why she hasn’t returned it.

“It’s ok Pinkie, I can take it from here.” 64 whispered, making Pinkie Pie shrug and bounce away. Once she was gone, 64 turned to Mrs. Cake who was still incredibly red in the face.

“I understand why you didn’t want to return it. I would be pretty embarrassed too I guess, but it still needs to be returned. I’ll be more than happy to take it over to the library for you.” 64 offered, making Mrs. Cake sigh in relief.

"Oh thank you. I understand it’s a dirty thing to have, but I wouldn’t be able to face Twilight again if I showed up with that book in my possession. I just love that series and didn’t have chance to return the newest edition.” Mrs. Cake said, grabbing the book out of her nightstand shelve and hoofing it over to 64.

He gladly took the book and put it into his Satchel Pocket, keeping it away from prying eyes.

When the next book comes out, just ask me to bring you a copy and I’ll be right over. Now I gotta get over to Vinyl Scratch’s house and get a book she still hasn’t returned. You have any idea where she lives?”

“I’m afraid I don’t dear. But I do know that Pinkie Pie often contacts her for the music for her parties, so you might have luck asking her.”

64 thanked her and walked back down the stairs to see Pinkie Pie serving a young filly a box off cookies, who balanced it on her back and walked out of the shop.

“Hey Pinkie, do you know where Vinyl Scratch lives? I have to pick up an overdue book from her.” 64 asked, making Pinkie Pie start to laugh crazily. “Was it something I said?”

“No! HAHAHA! I-I-It’s just because she is like the best mare to go to whenever my parties need a bit of those beats to keep delivering! Of course I know where she lives. C’mon! I’ll walk you there myself!” Pinkie said, leaping over the counter and walking towards the door.

“Uh, don’t you need to take orders down here?” 64 asked, making Pinkie Pie suddenly stop in her tracks. She brought a hoof to her chin and hummed thoughtfully, before gasping and pulling a ballon out of her hair. She inflated it and started to shape it in a way that 64 couldn’t see, and when she revealed it, it revealed a life sized balloon sculpture of herself.

“There we go! No one will notice!” Pinkie cheered, before bouncing out the door. 64 stared at the crude creation for a few seconds before sighing, and simply walking after the Pink menace. They continued through the Market District, where the vendors were peddling their wares. 64 saw that due to the day being right after all of the ponies got off from work, it was hustling and bustling with business. The ordeal looked a bit strange to 64, due to his much larger height than most of the ponies who barely stood up to his elbow.

Pinkie led him to a small one story house with a double eighth note painted on the door, with two records as the note heads. 64 was about to knock on the door, when Pinkie just all of a sudden opened the door and continued to bounce in. He just shook his head and followed, all of a sudden feeling a pulsing beat shake through his feet.

“What the heck is this?” 64 thought as he continued through the house, feeling the vibrations continue to shoot up through his legs.

“It’s just Vinyl, she’s probably working right now!” Pinkie shouted, making 64 try to shush her.

“Pinkie, we’re in someponies house. You don’t yell.” 64 said, recalling that he usually felt the urge to not make a sound when he entered somepony else’s house because he usually had to sneak into them.

“Oh don’t worry! There’s no way that Vinyl is going to hear us. The feeling in your legs is just the vibrations from her super loud speakers she has in her basement!”

“Speakers? Feels like a damn earthquake simulators…”

The pair continued through the small house until they reached the basement stairs, descending towards the incredibly strong vibrations. Once they reached the basement, they both saw a white mare with an incredibly bright mane of two mixture of blue. She was inside a small studio, her eyes behind goggles and her head bouncing up and down to the incredibly heavy beat.

Surprisingly 64 didn’t hear anything, but only felt the bass throughout his body.

“When is she gonna finish up?” 64 asked, and saw Pinkie Pie was by the door already, pressing her hoof down on a big red button. The bass all of a sudden stopped as Vinyl looked up and saw 64 and Pinkie Pie standing outside of her studio, pulling her goggles up to show her magenta eyes.

“YEAH? WHAT DID YA NEED!?” Vinyl shouted, obviously still a bit hard of hearing after playing music that loud.

“Vinyl Scratch right? Well I’m here to pick up an—“

“WHAT?! CAN YOU SPEAK UP A BIT?”

“Um, sure?! You have an overdue library book! I’m here to get it for Twilight Sparkle?!”

“Oh! Yeah, I remember that one. One With The Beat Right?”

64 nodded and noticed she was suddenly talking completely normal, and shortly wondered if he was getting played. Vinyl walked back inside of her studio and grabbed the book off of the table, hoofing it over to 64 who took it and stuffed it into his Satchel pocket along with Mrs. Cake’s book.

“Hey, that was cool! The book is like way bigger than that little pocket attached to those pants things! How’d you do that to the book?” Vinyl asked, making 64 open it slightly so she could look inside.

“It’s an illusionary spell cast by Princess Celestia. It made my old Satchel which was too big to carry around look smaller, but still have the capacity to hold the same amount of things. Still kinda weirds me out from time to time.” 64 explained, making Vinyl nod her head in acceptance.

64 turned and walked out of the basement as Pinkie started to chat away with Vinyl, starting to talk about some party.

“Got the books… now all I gotta do is get back to Twilight.” 64 whispered to himself, walking out of Vinyl’s house and heading back to Golden Oaks Library.

64 POV

I made it back to Twilight and gave her the books back, and she actually paid me a bit for my troubles. I wanted to refuse, but she literally just shoved them down my pants pockets.

“Is there anything else Twi? I’m going crazy having nothing to do…” I complained, walking upside down on the roof to try and alleviate my boredom. Twilight grabbed me with her magic and pulled me down, making me land headfirst into one of the couches.

“No, but I’d like it if you didn’t leave footprints on my ceiling. I’m all done re-shelving, I already got the medicine for Spike’s stomach ache, and I’m 3 days ahead on my to-do list, so right now I have nothing to do.” Twilight said, looking a bit sad.

“I think the concept of down time is funny. Sometimes we hate to have it, and then we want them when we don’t have it. So right now we should just enjoy what we have got going for us. I’m gonna head back to the Clock Tower and take a look at some schematics that I—“

A heavy buzzing sound stopped me in my tracks when I felt it on my chest, along with a Pink glow.

“GHOST!” I said happily, knowing my messenger charm was going off. I channeled my magic through it and heard a static interference, but after a short moment I heard Ghost’s voice.

“Hello? 64? You there?” Ghost whispered.

“Yeah, how you doing Ghost? Have you found anything?” I said quietly, not sure if he was in an area of danger. Twilight looked at me strangely as she listened on to our conversation.

“You bet I have! Right now I’m staying at some back alley hotel posing as a Gryphon who was here on vacation, but I sent him back to Equestria so there wouldn’t be any duplicates here. I haven’t had to feed yet, but there are a good amount of really lonely Gryphons here that are trying to pick up some tail.”

“Ghost, you remember the female training right? You can feed off males without even getting them in an extracting situation. If you need to resort to that just remember your training.”

“Got it 64. Right now I’m organizing a sting to get the Dealer over here, but I kinda enlisted some help.”

“Woah, woah. Help? Who’s helping you?”

“I sorta… got mixed up with the… local… police… force…”

“Dammit… are they aware that you’re a Changeling?”

“No, I’m keeping up the Gryphon look while they are around, but I drop it when they aren’t. Don’t worry 64, we have a really good plan, and it won’t be long before the trade is stopped. I’ll be fine.”

“I hope you are telling the truth Ghost. Remember, if you are ever in a jam don’t try to be brave, ok? Just run and get out alive ok?”

“Ok 64. I promise.”

“Bye kiddo, make sure to contact Celestia alright?” ‘

“Alright bye!”

The magical connection finally dropped, and I gave a deep sigh. Twilight continued to look at me with a tilted head, and finally spoke up.

“So that was Ghost?” She asked, and I nodded my head.

“Yup, my partner in crime. He’s over in Gryphon Kingdom, and I can’t help but worry about him. He’s… ugh… he’s like a son to me. But he’s proven that he can take care of himself 10 times over. Celestia isn’t too fond of him, but she’s turning around.” 64 responded, looking out the window.

“It’s naturally I guess. Like how I see Spike as a little brother?”

“You mean besides the fact that you practically gave birth to him?”

Twilight turned bright red in the face as I had a good laugh at her expense. She did in a way give birth to Spike, accelerating his growth inside of his egg and allowing him to hatch.

“W-Well, you could probably word it better than that!” Twilight glowered; making me put my hands up in surrender.

“Alright, alright… all that matters to me is that Ghost is safe and succeeding in Ethaxial. As I was saying, I’m gonna go ahead and head back to the Clock Tower. The sun is about to set and I wanna get something to eat. Speaking of that, you wanna come along? You said you didn’t have anything to do.” I offered, making Twilight nod happily.

“Sure, where did you have in mind?”

“There’s that outdoor restaurant on the corner of Mane and Rainy Street, I saw it had food that I was capable of eating.”

I led Twilight out the door and into the town, the sun slowly starting to set into its twilight state. I looked around and saw that Applejack was still at her stall in the market, but it looked like she was just about to pack up for the day. I waved at her as she saw me and Twilight walking, and she waved us over.

“Hey AJ, you set up the stall after we got back?” I asked, making her nod proudly.

“Eyup! Had to, Big Mac isn’t exactly a talker, so he can’t bring in the customers like ah can. And Applebloom is stayin’ overnight at some field trip her and her classmates took over to Canterlot, so she couldn’t run it. Ah guess ah’m the only one in this family who can actually do somethin’ about sellin’ the crop we bring in.” Applejack said, a little annoyed.

“You shouldn’t feel too bad. You are the pater familias, so of course you would be in charge of making sure the Bits keep rolling in.”
“Uhh… pater whatius?”

“Pater familias. Head of the household. Old Equestrian Language.”

“Oh, uh, if you say so. Where are you two headin’ at this time of day? It’s almost quittin’ time!”

Twilight stepped in for this answer, not wanting to keep Applejack waiting. “We’re just about to go and get some dinner. 64 offered so I thought it would only be polite if I accepted.”

“Ok then. Enjoy your supper! Ah gotta get home. See ya tomorrow!” Applejack said over her shoulder, done with the conversation and now walking away. With her gone Twilight and I continued down the street towards the restaurant, and I began to simply stare up at the sky.

“You mentioned earlier, something about Canterlot’s innocence. What did you mean by that?” Twilight asked me, causing my focus to return to Twilight.

“Well, I’m basically a contract killer, no use in sugar coating it. So what would happen if somepony learned that Princess Celestia was sending me to do the dirty work, or more specifically, she was condoning the work of an Assassin? I doubt she would be would be very popular for long. Whenever I have to go on a job, I always try my best to keep my work with Celestia on the down low, and try to make it look like I was working of my own accord, but lately that's harder than usual." I explained.

“But why is that? Can’t you just stay in the shadows for a while until they forget?” Twilight asked naively.

“If I do that, then who will stop the bad guys?”

There was a moment of silence between us as we continued making our way through the now emptier streets of Ponyville. I went back to staring back up at the now darker sky, but something caught my eye.

“Hey, does that cloud look pink to you?”

Author's Note

Eeyup.

64 vs. Discord Part 1

64 vs. Discord Part 1

64 POV

Blood… Blood… Blood…

Is… is it mine…?

I… where… he…?

I smelled smoke… heard the flames… saw destruction… Ponyville…

“dis…cord…”

“discord…”

“Discord…

“DISCORD!!”

10 Hours Earlier

I woke up in my cot in the Clock Tower and looked around a bit with bleary eyes, remembering that dinner had kinda sucked. Spaghetti was pretty good, but without meatballs it wasn’t anything to love. I pushed myself up off of my bed and remembered that I had decided to go shirtless to bed, due to the fact I had been wearing the same shirt for 2 days.

I looked through my Duffel Bag and pulled out another hooded long sleeve, slipping it on. I twisted my back a few times to work out a few kinks, and then realized something smelled really, really sugary. I wasn’t near the Sugarcube Corner, and I obviously wasn’t carrying any sweets on me or else they would already be devoured.

“What the fuck?” I whispered, blowing my nose on a small rag to make sure there wasn’t anything stuck up it. I heard the pattering of rain outside, and looked towards the windows covered by blinds. I pulled them down and saw the rain falling, and I immediately noticed something was wrong. Instead of the crystal clear rain along with darkened skies, it was still crystal clear skies, but with pink clouds floating in the air, and brown water falling from them.

I pulled my hood over my head and leapt out the window, channeling magic into my eyes to try and find Rainbow Dash among the clouds of pink. I saw her zooming around Sweet Apple Acres, chasing dozens of the pink clouds around in an effort to try and stomp them out.

I saw a few flying towards me and I dove out of the way, rolling and channeling magic to my hands. They once again rushed me as I did the same to them, only sliding underneath them as they came over me, punching them into nothing but pink dust as my fists connected with them.

I got up and looked around to see the residents of Ponyville all running around in chaos, and I knew they needed something that would get them to calm down. Chaos begets Chaos.

I knew using the same spell I did at the Grand Galloping Gala wouldn’t really do anything here, due to the fact that with all of these ponies running around it would require too much focus that I wouldn’t be able to give. I immediately started to climb back up the Clock Tower, knowing what to do.

I conjured a large hammer into my hands and swung at the Bell, its loud ringing catching the attention of the ponies running around mad.

“PONIES OF PONYVILLE! GATHER AT THE CLOCK TOWER! GATHER AT THE CLOCK TOWER!” I yelled as loudly as I could with a voice amplification spell, causing the ponies to flock to the Clock Tower and see what was going on.

As I was about to speak, a large purple flash of light illuminated in the distance, and a wave of purple magic blasted past the entire city. The town’s ponies, shortly after the harmless blast passed them, once again immediately started to panic and run around, causing me to groan.

I knew that wouldn’t be able to grab their attention again, so I decided that I needed to find Twilight and find out just what the fuck was going on. I jumped down from the Clock Tower and landed on the ground, splashing in a puddle of what smelled like Chocolate Milk. More clouds began to dive bomb me, forcing me to quickly sidestep and duck under a consecutive torrent of the pink masses.
I conjured 2 Maces to beat the clouds into dust, causing them to explode in masses of Chocolate Milk. I looked around to find that other ponies were also running from clouds, but they seemed less violent than the ones targeting me.

I finally caught a small break and was able to flee from the clouds by leaping into an empty barrel and closing the lid, giving me a minute to think.

“Dammit, looks like my vacation is gonna be cut short. I gotta get to Sweet Apple Acres.” I whispered, peeking from the barrel and making sure the coast was clear. I hopped out and snuck along the walls of buildings until reached the open road which would lead to Sweet Apple Acres, and I knew that it would be an incredibly mad dash for me to get there.

I saw the pink clouds patrolling through the streets, and I knew that the second I exposed myself, I would be spotted.

“Fuck it…”

I ran as fast as my legs would naturally take me, and immediately saw the clouds give chase. I continued down the road and saw the cornfields which Applejack had were exploding into large mountains of popcorn, and the Apples on the trees had grown into gargantuan sizes.

I needed to go a bit faster, so I augmented my legs enough to where the clouds weren’t nipping at my heels to closely. I saw Rainbow Dash gathering a large abundance of the clouds into compact form, and it was apparent that the group of mares ahead didn’t see me coming in hot. I had to get rid of the clouds at my tail, and I saw the perfect little dragon to help me.

“HEY SPIKE!” I yelled loudly causing him to turn around. When he did, I used his head as a foothold to vault myself into the air, flipping to see the clouds chasing me while I was upside down. I threw 4 blasts of magic to dissipate the attacking clouds, and landed gracefully on the ground. Spike was now on the ground with a large shoeprint on his face, obviously dazed from my sudden jump.

“64! You’re just in time. We just figured out a way to keep the clouds from attacking anymore.” Twilight said proudly, as looked over to a large bundled up cloud tied with rope being munched on by a disproportionate group of animals.

“Twilight, no offence, but I don’t think that’s gonna hold for very long.” I said honestly, making her scowl.

“Well I don’t see anypony else doing anything about the cotton candy clouds. And if what Rainbow Dash said is true then the entirety of Equestria is experiencing strange weather patterns, so we have to think of a permanent solution before this escalates into something we can’t handle.” Twilight said worriedly, causing me to sigh.

“Alright, Celestia has to know something about what’s going on. This seems like a bunch of disturbances in the natural magical order of things, so it can be detected and put down. All it will take is time.” I said, as I heard a choking sound behind me.

Spike suddenly sat up and burped out a scroll with Celestia’s crest on it, which Twilight immediately took and opened. She read it fervently for a few seconds before suddenly gasping and looking up at us.

“C’mon! Princess Celestia wants to see us all in Canterlot immediately!” Twilight yelled, as I immediately knew what to do. I pulled out the Messenger Charm from my shirt and channeled magic into it.

“This is Biped ready for pick-up, 6 passengers, immediate evac.” I said into the charm.

“Copy Biped, ETA 2 minutes.” The voice of the Pegasi Guard replied, as the glow from my charm dissipated.

“Why 2 minutes? Last time you did that they came almost instantly!” Rainbow Dash asked me.

“That’s because they didn’t have to account for passengers that time. Spike, listen. You head back to the Library and stay put alright? We don’t know what could happen and we don’t need you getting hurt, alright?” I explained, making Spike scowl.

“And why can’t I go? I can help!” Spike argued.

“I know, there can be plenty of ways you can help, but right now we can’t have anything—“

A large roar stopped my sentence and startled me into making two Tomahawks in my hands, and turning towards the monster. The girls slowly back away from what they saw, and Spike immediately zoomed off to the library, heeding my advice.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me…” I groaned, seeing that the bundled up mass of Cotton Candy clouds that Twilight had bound together was now a 16 foot behemoth made of Cotton candy. I looked down at my watch and saw that I only had to hold this thing off for a minute and a half, but I would rather kill it so it couldn't attack Ponyville next.

“Alright girls, stay behind me! I’ll handle this!” I yelled, rushing toward the monster. He swung his massive fist at me, causing me to roll under it. I shot back up and jumped up to his face level, taking a swing at his large glowing green eyes.

He roared in pain as I was able to destroy his right eye, the remnants simply dripping down in green goop. He smashed down at the ground in an attempt to try and smash me, but I jumped to the left at the last minute. I decided I needed a smashing weapon, so I dispelled the Tomahawks and formed a large two handed War Hammer in my hands, ready to destroy this thing.

I once again charged at the behemoth, as he once again smashed at the ground with his two enormous fists. I sidestepped them as I ran towards him, sliding last second underneath his legs. As I turned around to smash him in the back, I was met by the backhand of the monster, sending me skidding against the ground.

“Argh! Motherfucker!” I yelled as I brought the War Hammer over my shoulder, augmenting my eyes so I could see the weak points on the monster. I saw the Cotton Candy on his neck was very fragile, compared to the rock hard compacted candy of the rest of his body.

I augmented my legs and dashed over to the monster, using my large hammer to swing at his leg as I ran past. He roared and swung at his leg with his large fist, destroying it himself. I turned around and dashed at his back, leaping for the back of his neck.

The behemoth turned around and swung his large fist at me again, only this time I swung the hammer in my hands at his fist, causing it to explode in Chocolate milk. I continued to zoom towards the monsters face, dispelling the hammer in favor of simply augmenting my fists with magic. I gripped the monsters face when I collided with it, holding on with my left hand and feet while I pummeled at his using my right fist.

With his other fist he grabbed me and threw me towards the girls, who moved out of the way to avoid me crashing into them. I landed harshly and used the momentum of the throw to roll onto my feet, shooting up quickly to charge once again.

“64! Look!” Twilight yelled, as I looked up to see the Pegasi Chariot coming in.

“Dammit! Gotta end this quick!” I yelled, as my eyes glowed red with anger. I looked towards the monster who was slowly limping his way towards us, his left leg and right hand destroyed. I stepped forward and gather as much magic as I could into my right shoulder as I could. I looked to Twilight who was shivering with fear, and I knew the next question I was about to ask her could freak her out.

“How well can you reattach an arm!?” I yelled, making her jump back.

“I-I-I have some healing experience, but nothing with dismemberment!” She yelled frightened, as I growled.

“Then you better learn quick!” I roared, making a Long sword in my left hand. I continued to build up magic in my right shoulder as the monster finally came close enough. I stuck out my right arm in front of me, as I looked back at Twilight.

“YOU BETTER FIGURE OUT HOW TO STOP THE BLOOD FLOW!”

I brought the blade of the Long Sword down at my elbow, slicing clean through my arm as my forearm fell to the ground. All of the magic I had built up in my shoulder suddenly shot out, forming a Red Glowing Arm. I ran forward while screaming in pain, leaping up to the chest of the behemoth and sending the magical fist into it.

He roared in pain as he exploded in a mass of Chocolate Milk, the entirety of his body disappearing. I landed less that gracefully into the ground, feeling the rush of magic through my body slowly diminishing.

The magical arm I had suddenly faded away as I started to bleed profusely from my severed limb, forcing me to rip the fabric on my fallen forearm off and hold it to the stump.

“FUCK THIS HURTS!” I yelled as the adrenaline rush faded away, nearly causing me to pass out. The Pegasi landed and quickly undid themselves from their harnesses to drag me on board, along with the now unconscious Fluttershy who must’ve passed out when she saw me take my own arm off. I saw the trail of blood from my arm as they pulled me on board, and tried increasing pressure to my arm.

The girls quickly boarded as well, as we took off from the ground and started towards Canterlot. I felt myself starting to black out, and Twilight’s horn started glowing. She nearly vomited when she took my dismembered forearm in her magical grip, and put it to its respective place.

She was grunting in focus, and I felt numbness in my arm. She was now sweating profusely as the rest of us looked on, as she was finally able to fuse my arm back to me.

"T-There… I had to reattach and repair the destroyed nerves, torn muscles, and the sliced bone, so it may feel a bit numb. Try flexing your arm.” Twilight panted, as I did as she told me. I winced as I was able to close my right hand into a fist, but it took a bit of effort.

“Thanks Twilight, I’m sorry I yelled at you back there. I get like that when I use too much magic at one time.” I apologized, as she waved a hoof.

“No, thank you for stopping that thing. My magic doesn’t seem to work against whatever is going on, but you were able to destroy those clouds using your magic. It’s probably because your magic is from an Alicorn, and mine isn’t.”

“Maybe…”

I sighed in relaxation as I laid my head back on the chariot, continuously flexing my arm to get feeling back into it. I noticed that Rainbow Dash suddenly stood over me, and she poked at my right arm.

“How did you do that!? You sliced off your own arm!” She screamed, obviously still freaked out.

“Hell, I’m not even sure… it just… came to me… kinda regretting thinking of it now though…” I groaned, feeling a bit dizzy. We were quickly approaching Canterlot, and my arm had started to get some feeling back into it. Fluttershy woke up to see that I had my arm reattached and wondered for a moment if it was all just a dream.

Then she saw the blood in the Chariot and realized it actually happened.

“Oh! 64! Are you ok?! Is your arm feeling alright? Does is feel as if the bone is misplaced or the muscles not working right!?” Fluttershy yelled, suddenly going into her ‘medic’ mode for animals. I simply shook my arm and nodded.

“I feel fine Flutters, just ruined one of my shirts is all…” I chuckled.

We finally came down into the Canterlot Hedge Garden, and the girls shot off towards the Palace, but I immediate knew something was horribly wrong.

A statue was gone.

As a person with their own statue in the Garden, I had spent some time here. But one of the statues was missing. I couldn’t remember which one it was, but I knew for a fact that one of them was missing.

“Fuck, there’s no time to investigate a theft…” I whispered, following the girls into the Palace. I entered and found Twilight trying to ask Princess Celestia a flurry of questions.

“Is this about the weather? And the animals' weird behavior? What's happening out there? Why isn't my magic working? Is there–“

“Follow me. You too 64, I feel you may be of assistance as well.” Celestia said, making me angry.

“Oh… I may be of assistance… yeah right…” I muttered, following begrudgingly. We began walking to a place I knew very well, Canterlot Tower. It was where I fought Super Nova, and Shining Armor respectively, along with Snowdrop’s memorial being a few floors above.

“I've called you here for a matter of great importance. It seems an old foe of mine, someone I thought I had defeated long ago, has returned. His name... is Discord.” Celestia explained, as I heard Fluttershy give a small shriek behind me.

“Discord is the mischievous spirit of disharmony. Before my sister and I stood up to him, he ruled Equestria in an eternal state of unrest and unhappiness. Luna and I saw how miserable life was for Earth ponies, Pegasi, and Unicorns alike, so after discovering the Elements of Harmony, we combined our powers and rose up against him, turning him to stone!”.

“I thought the spell we cast would keep him contained forever, but since Luna and I are no longer connected to the Elements, the spell has been broken.”

“No longer connected?” Twilight asked, although I had already put it together in my head.

“It means that Celestia doesn’t control the elements of Harmony anymore, you do. You all do.” I said, making Celestia nod her head.

“64 is correct. Now that you and your friends now control the Elements of Harmony, my sister and I have no power over them. It will be your job to defeat Discord…” Celestia said, almost frightened.

Twilight suddenly understood the responsibility which was being put onto her and her friend’s shoulders. She looked down contemplatively for a short time, before looking up with bravery.

“Princess Celestia, you can count on–“

Twilight was cut short as Pinkie Pie suddenly interrupted her.

“Hold on a second! Eternal chaos comes with chocolate rain, you guys. Chocolate rain!”

Twilight simply disregarded her and nodded towards the Princess, who stepped over to the door which protected the Elements of Harmony. She inserted her horn into the small keyhole, and allowed a large blue light to illuminate the room.

“Déjà vu…” I whispered, remembering the experiences I had with that door. Within the door, the gem encrusted case sat, shimmering with all colors of the rainbow.

“Ooh. You can keep the Elements. I'll take that case!” Rarity exclaimed, making me think, hadn’t she already seen the case before?
“Have no fear, ponies. I have total confidence that you will be able to defeat Discord with these!” Princess Celestia exclaimed, opening up the case to reveal……

Nothing.

Everyone in the room gasped, including me, but then I remembered that I had broken into the room before, so it probably wasn’t beyond a spirt of Chaos’ abilities to bust into it.

“Oh, well. If anyone needs me, I'll be outside in the chocolate puddles with a giant swirly straw.” Pinkie said, making me grab her by the hair and pulling her back.

“No Pinks, we gotta work together and find out what’s going on. Celestia, do you know anypony else who is capable of opening this door besides me?” I asked, making Celestia shake her head no.

“That chamber is protected by a powerful spell that only I can break! This doesn't make sense!” Celestia explained, as a deep, throaty chuckle rang throughout the room. Everyone looked around for the source, but none was found.

“Make sense? What fun is there in making sense?” The voice taunted, making my blood boil in anger for some reason.

“Discord... Show yourself!” Princess Celestia called, but of course the voice disobeyed.

“Did you miss me, Celestia? I missed you.” The figure in the stained glass window suddenly started to move, moving from window to window. “It's quite lonely being encased in stone, but you wouldn't know that, would you, because I don't turn ponies into stone.”

That struck a nerve with me, knowing that I was saved from an eternity of stone prison by her…

“Enough! What have you done with the Elements of Harmony?” Celestia yelled angrily.

“Oh, I just borrowed them for a teensy little while.” Discord said, snapping his fingers to make the elements in the stain glass window disappear.

“Permission to destroy all the windows to shut his trap!?” I growled, making Celestia put a hoof on my shoulder.

“Not yet… You never get away with this Discord!”

“Oh, I'd forgotten how grim you can be, Celestia. It's really quite boring.” Discord said lazily, reclining on one of the paintings.

“Hey! Nopony insults the Princess!” Rainbow Dash yelled, zooming towards Discord. He teleported last minute out of the window, causing Rainbow Dash to crash harshly into the window. A moment after she was able to pull herself off of the window, Discord reappeared.

“Oh, you must be Rainbow Dash, famed for her loyalty, the Element of Harmony you represent.” Discord snickered.

“That's right! I'll always be loyal to the Princess!” Rainbow Dash replied, causing Discord to chuckle.

“We’ll see about that…”

“I can’t believe we're wasting our time talking to a tacky window.” Rarity scoffed, making me laugh a little bit.

“The beautiful Rarity, representing the element of generosity, if I'm not mistaken?” Discord questioned, making Applejack step forward.

“So you know who we are, big deal.”

“Oh, I know much more than that, honest Applejack.” Discord responded, growing to fill up the enormous window he was standing in.

“You seem to know our strengths too.” Twilight perceived. Discord shrunk and laid on his stomach, resting on the small picture of Fluttershy.

“Yes, Twilight Sparkle, and yours is the most powerful and elusive element, magic. Fluttershy's is kindness and Pinkie Pie's is a personal favorite of mine - laughter.”

Pinkie Pie looked as if she was holding in a heavy laughter, before suddenly bursting out laughing.

“He’s… He's standing on your head! Hahaha!” Pinkie Pie chortled.
Discord suddenly cast his eyes on me, and once again growing to the enormous heights.

“And then… there is you… The Variable. The Jack of All Trades. Yet, you are chaotic… Anger… Cruelty… Dishonesty… You and I are very alike…” Discord chuckled, as I growled.

“You and I are nothing alike…” I whispered, gathering magic in my hands and eyes to shut the window up.

“Stop stalling, Discord! What have you done with the Elements of Harmony?” Princess Celestia stepped in, making me glad for the distraction from this prick.

“Oh, so boring, Celestia. Really? Fine, I'll tell you, but I'll only tell you my way. To retrieve your missing Elements, just make sense of this change of events. Twists and turns are my master plan. Then find the Elements back where you began.” Discord said, slowly fading back into a simple stained glass portrait.

I sighed as I let go of the pent of anger slowly building up inside me.

“What the fuck was that guys deal? He just showed up and left us with a shitty riddle?” I yelled out, before getting shushed by Celestia.

“64, now is not the time to get angry. We must discover what he meant by his riddle, and find the Elements of Harmony.”

I shook my head and sighed, sitting down on the floor to catch my breath. I saw Twilight talk to Applejack a little bit, before she started to pace back and forth muttering to herself.

“Twists and turns... twists and turns...” Twilight said to herself, walking by a window which showed a view of the Canterlot Hedge Maze. A light suddenly clicked in her eyes, and she jumped back. “Twists and turns! Discord must’ve hid the Elements of Harmony in the Palace Labyrinth!”

I stood up and went over to look out the same window as Twilight just did, but I noticed something was happening. The maze looked 10 times bigger, and the paths were shifting right before my eyes.

“Shit… that’s gonna be easier said than done guys. It looks like Discord is changing the outlay of the maze as we speak. Putting your hand to the right wall and going forward isn’t gonna work here.” I said, as Princess Celestia and the girls came to see what was happening.

They all saw the layout of maze shifting and changing, so I pushed myself away from the window and sighed.

“We gotta get to the middle of that maze, and quick. Who knows what Discord is doing in there.” I said, making Celestia nod. She walked over to Twilight, and placed her horn on her shoulders.

“Good luck, my little ponies. The fate of Equestria is in your hooves.” Celestia told the ponies in the room, but I spoke up.

“Whoa whoa whoa, what the hell are you gonna do? The least you can do is help us navigate through the maze!”

Celestia shook her head in my direction, speaking sternly.

“I’m afraid I cannot be of assistance. Discord’s magic is too powerful, even for me. The energy in his magic is derived from pure Chaos, and nopony else in Equestria wields his magic. The only tools that can stop him are the Elements of Harmony, so to him, I’m no more of a threat than the weakest of Earth Ponies.” Celestia explained, making me understand.

“Alright then… C’mon girls! We gotta get through that maze!” I said, running towards the window and smashing through it. I fell and rolled when I landed, looking back up to see if anypony else followed me. Celestia was glaring daggers at me for destroying the stain glass window I just smashed through, and Rainbow Dash was the only one to follow me down.

“You know?! We’ll just take the stairs!” Twilight yelled down to me, making me nod.

“We’ll take down Discord like it’s nothing! All we gotta do is make sure that we don’t fall for anything of his stupid tricks!” Rainbow Dash said confidently, borderline cocky.

“No Rainbow, this is gonna be harder than any of us thinks it’s going to be. There’s no way Discord’s gonna make it as simple as navigating a maze, there has to be something behind all of this…” I said, whispering the last part to myself.

I saw the rest of the girls running towards us, I waved my arm towards myself as I too began running towards the main tourist entrance. We all stopped in front of the entrance, taking in the situation at hand.

“We…We have to go in there?” Fluttershy quivered, taking in the now intimidating entrance.

“Nope! Dopey Discord forgot about these babies! I'll just do a quick flyover and we'll have the Elements in no time.” Rainbow Dash said, already zooming over the hedges.

“RAINBOW NO!” I yelled out, before she suddenly stopped flying, and came plummeting to the ground. I ran up to her to tell her about the enchantment in the Labyrinth, but saw that she stopped flying for a totally different reason.

“My wings!” Rainbow Dash yelled, terrified. I heard three more magical bursts as Fluttershy, Rarity, and Twilight all started to yell in horror. I saw that all of their appendages that gave them their special abilities were now gone, and they were now all Earth Ponies.

As they all began to freak out, a large green ball of light began to form in front of us. It grew larger and larger until it exploded out in a soft blast, and a loud roar bellowed. In front of us, was a mass of mismatched body parts, ranging from bat wings to lion paws.

I only uttered one word.

“Discord…”

Author's Note

BUM BUM BUM!!! Early update to make up for what I am about to say. Sadly I WILL NOT be able to update until next week Monday. Why you ask? I will be in Las Vegas, Nevada for a Cheerleading Competition, and I am the oil boy for the High School All Star Team.

Ok I wish, but I'm really going becasue I'm one of the stunt coordinators for my sisters team, and I need to go along. With me only being 15, it's probably going to be pretty boring, so I'm gonna bring my 3DS and watch some TwitchPlaysPokemon.

ALL PRAISE THE HELIX FOSSIL!

64 vs. Discord Part 2

Chapter 18

3rd Person POV

“You–You should see the looks on your faces. Priceless!” Discord laughed, making the entire group scowl. 64 felt his anger rising and felt magic surging through him, before he quickly suppressed it. He realized that even though Twilight and Rarity had lost their horns, he still had his magic. He just had to wait for the right time…

“Give us our wings and horns back!” Twilight demanded, although the order fell on deaf ears.

“You'll get them back in good time. I simply took them to ensure there's no cheating. You see, this is the first rule of our game: no flying, and no magic.” Discord said, swooping between each of the girls and getting bit too close for comfort with Twilight.

“First Rule?” Rainbow Dash asked, as Discord began to explain.

“The second rule is, everypony has to play, or I win…” Discord chuckled, tapping his fingers together calculatingly. “Good Luck everypony!”

Discord then poofed out of existence, leaving the entire group confused. 64 stepped forward and looked at the space which once held Discord, before turning around and facing the girls.

“Don’t let him get in your head. Remember, when we go in there, we’ll all be together, so stay calm.” 64 said, encouraging the girls.

“Yeah, c’mon girls! We have each other!” Twilight added.

“Yeah! Like Twilight said, there's nothing we can't overcome if we all stick together!” Rainbow Dash ended, as we all gained a large confidence boost.

“All right girls! Let’s do this! Together!”

The group all stepped in together, only to have 64 repelled from the entrance, and 5 walls made of Hedges grew in between the girls who were able to step inside.

“AAHH! TWILIGHT!? RAINBOW DASH!? APPLEJACK!?” Fluttershy screamed out, obviously scared out of her mind. 64 pressed up against the hedge wall that grew in front of the entrance, and called out to Fluttershy.

“Fluttershy! Don’t be afraid! You’ll have all your friends really soon! You just have to get to the center of the Maze! Remember, don’t fall for any of Discord’s tricks, and keep moving!” 64 yelled out to all of the girls that were stuck inside.

“64’s right! Stay calm, girls! Everypony head to the middle as fast as you can, and we'll regroup there!” Twilight yelled out, as the responses of all of the other girls came back.

“6-64?!” Fluttershy cried, obviously scared out of her wits.

“Fluttershy, just keeping moving. If you stop moving, then you aren’t moving towards your friends, ok?”

64 heard the sounds of sobbing trying to be suppressed, as sniffles and hiccups filled the air.

“O-Ok… I’ll go.”

64 heard hoofsteps going away from him and sighed, before looking around for another entrance. When he tried to set foot inside, it was like a force field held him back, and he needed to find its weak spot.

64 ran along the side of the maze as he tried to find a low enough hedge that he could climb over, but had no luck. 64 turned the corner of the maze, but found he was back at the front, when he should have been at the western side.

He looked behind him to find that the entrance was there as well, before shaking his head to try and clear it.

“Ok… don’t let him pull you into his mind games…” 64 told himself, as he heard a low chuckle from behind him. He quickly turned around with a long sword in his right hand, and magic charged in the other, to find that nothing was there.

He quickly dispelled the magic in his hands and looked around him, only to find himself back in front of the entrance to the maze. 64 smacked himself in the head to try and get his senses back, knowing he had to stay focused.

“This is just his tricks… use the logical absurdities to find his illusions…” 64 whispered to himself.

“Oh, whoever needs logic?”

64 gasped and quickly turned around, finding himself face to face with Discord. Discord quickly spun around and whipped 64 in the chest with his tail, sending him flying backwards onto the ground. 64 got up and charged his hands with magic, looking around for the Spirit of Chaos who was nowhere to be seen.

“So I was right… you do possess magic… unfortunately for me the only way to get rid of it is to completely obliterate your body, but now that I think about it, you aren’t really a threat to me anyways…” Discord taunted, causing 64 to growl.

He was never considered ‘not a threat’ before. He was always a threat to someone. And now there was this Spirit of Chaos floating around, saying he wasn’t a threat!?

“Show yourself then! Why are you scared of me?!” 64 yelled out angrily, as Discord obliged. He appeared flying as if he was sitting back on a chair.

“Oh, I know for a fact, that you are the one who is scared here, not me. And as I said before… who needs logic?” Discord said, as he conjured a bouquet of flowers, before tossing them at 64’s feet. They instantly exploded in a large ball of light, causing 64 to shield his eyes. When the light disappeared, so did Discord, as 64 began to search the area once again.

“Logic is a pony word, not needed by the likes of you and me. The reason you were not allowed to enter, because the rules clearly stated, ‘everypony has to play’, and you are clearly not a pony. You would simply get in their way, and we can’t have that can we?”

“I don’t find myself any better or inferior to ponies! It is not just a pony word!” 64 taunted back, as Discord once again showed himself, reclining back onto a Cotton Candy Cloud.

“Oh please. If anything you should see yourself as inferior. I mean, they did create you… that Knight character you so horribly mutilated was the one who created you, and that was how you repaid him? I am above such senseless violence…”

64 gritted his teeth together and growled softly, the red in his hands glowing brightly. Discord saw this and laughed.

“Oh that’s good. You think your little fireballs can cook me? Oh that is rich!” Discord laughed, as 64 finally lost it. He started to launch magical blasts at Discord, who simply created a dozen little shields of yellow magic to block them.

64 didn’t let up as he slowly made his way forward, charging magic in his right fist as he continued blasting magic with his left. Discord sat there as he continued to smirk at 64, who continued making his way forwards towards the Chaos incarnate.

Discord snaked a small tendril of magic under his shields, towards 64’s leg, and allowed to constrict his ankle. 64 looked down to see that he was now immobilized, as Discord lifted him up and hung him upside down.

Discord dropped his shields as he walked over to the hanging human, smirking as he did so.

“And you thought I should see you as a threat?” Discord told 64, who growled louder and continued to charge magic in his right fist. “You’re still trying with that? You can’t hurt me with your puny magic!”

64 shook and pulled with his left hand to try and get the tendril of magic to release his right ankle, as Discord pulled out a large paddle and began to hit him back and forth, like a paddleball. Discord was enjoying watching the human squirm immensely, seeing something with such a strong will to try and fight against an unstoppable force.

“That’s enough!” 64 yelled, rearing his magically charged fist back and sending it towards Discord’s face. Discord smirked and put up a shield in front of his face, knowing the human wouldn’t be able to destroy it.

64’s fist collided with the shield, and it cracked.

Discord looked at the shield he had put up, and saw that it had actually cracked. He stared at it in disbelief, before smirking and slowly starting to laugh. His laughing eventually grew into a booming cackle, as the Tendril of magic holding 64 threw him back, sending him crashing along the ground.

64 looked up to see Discord laughing maniacally, wiping tears out of his eyes and gasping for breath.

“I-I CAN’T BELIEVE—HAHAHA! SHE-SHE ACTUALLY TURNED?! BWAHAHAHA!” Discord cackled, making 64 wonder just what the hell was going on. Discord’s laughing continued, until he finally disappeared in a flash of light.

64 got up to his feet and massaged his stinging ankle, checking all around him to make sure that he wasn’t trying to sneak around.
He looked towards the entrance and saw it flash a bright yellow, indicating the shield was now down.

64 gasped and immediately ran to it, as Discord’s words repeated in his head.

“Everypony has to play, and you are clearly not a pony.”

64 stopped one step before entering the Maze. What would happen if he broke the rules of Discord’s Game? Reluctantly, 64 took a few steps back, and didn’t enter.

“What’s the matter little guy? Too scared to come inside and save your precious pony friends?” Discord said, suddenly reappearing behind 64, but keeping his distance. 64 noticed this, but didn’t spend too long wondering about it.

“You want me to step inside… I’m not falling for it.” 64 growled, feeling the hatred start to bubble up inside him.
Discord made him angry. Angrier that he had been on a long time. He had no reason to hate Discord before this, but now he felt as if taking his head clean off was the best way to go. He felt his magic start to leak out of his arms, but it felt as if it was acting on its own.

“Looks like you still haven’t fully developed. I should have guessed when you were unable to fully shatter my shield.” Discord said, filing his nails.

“It isn’t my magic… of course I haven’t developed.” 64 replied, simply letting the magic pour out of his arms and gather together, making it look like 64 had two large sleeves made of magic.

“Well it’s also obvious that you don’t know the extent of the power in your magic… observe…”

Discord conjured a large wave of the cotton candy clouds to attack 64, whose eyes widened at the display. Discord sent the wave at 64 who spun around the first assailant, before bring the back of his fist to the next.

He channeled magic into his eyes and started to take out the clouds one by one, dodging and bending backwards to avoid the attacks. At last 64 managed to destroy the last cloud, and was now covered from head to toe in chocolate milk. He was panting heavily and glared at Discord, who at some point managed to conjure a bucket of popcorn and a lawn chair. He dispelled them both and began to clap slowly, but with each clap, golems made of dirt began to form from the ground, each wielding a wooden club.

The 5 Earth Golems rushed at 64, swinging wildly to try and hit him. 64 backed up with each swing bobbing and weaving underneath each of the attacks. 64 reached out and grabbed the club of a swinging Golem, and pulled it towards him, causing the Golem to get pulled with it. 64 used its body to block other attacks coming from its comrades, until the golem in his arms feel back into a pile of earth.

64 sent out a massive right towards a golem who was rearing his club backwards, causing it to explode back into earth. He then was caught in the back of the head with the wooden club, causing him to quickly turn around and block another one of the oncoming attacks.

Discord was enjoying watching the human fight his cronies, watching as he fought so hard to try and survive. Discord saw something in 64, something he could possibly use in the future.

64 was working on dispatching the last of the Golems, grabbing it in a headlock in an attempt to rip its head off. 64 felt magic gathering behind him, and immediately spun around with the Golem still in his arms, using it to block the blast of magic Discord had sent at 64’s back.

The Earth Golem fell into a pile of dirt, as 64 felt Discord’s eyes boring into him.

“C’mon! Stop sending your lackeys and come at me yourself!” 64 challenged, making Discord laugh.

“Oh you truly do possess the power of Chaos! You challenge me, the Spirit of Disharmony itself, and expect to win!? Oh you are just as priceless as the ponies stumbling through my labyrinth!” Discord bellowed, making 64 growl.

“What the fuck are you talking about?!”

“Oh, it’s nothing. If you’ll excuse me, I have some Chaos to wreak on those little ponies you call friends. Oh but don’t worry, I’ll let you sleep until this is all over!”

“Wait, what?!” 64 yelled, as a flash of light illuminated his vision. He suddenly felt incredibly dizzy, and fell to his knees. He realized he was falling unconscious, and fought hard to keep his eyes open. He felt himself vomit onto the ground, before his vision finally failed him. He felt himself fall onto his side, as consciousness finally left him. The last thing he saw was Discord waving nonchalantly behind him as he flew away.

64 POV

Where…where am I?

Discord… where did he go?

I opened my eyes blearily, only seeing one large blotch of blur. I brought my arms up and tried to push myself up, but I felt my head suddenly incredibly fuzzy and I fell back onto the ground, panting heavily. I felt my head fall back onto the floor, but felt liquid instead on top of solid ground.

I opened my eyes slowly and tried to blink away the blurriness, until I was able to see clearly. I saw the color red, and slowly brought my head up off of the ground again. It was a puddle of liquid redness, and its smell and consistency immediately told me what it was.

I shot up to my arms and legs at the sight of blood, as another wave of nausea swept over me. I looked up and looked around me, now smelling thick putrid smoke in the air. There were thick clouds of smoke through the air, fogging my vision farther than a few feet.

“Discord……” I growled, stumbling up back onto my feet. From what I could see, it was obvious that I wasn’t in Canterlot anymore. Instead of the concrete floor I was on before losing consciousness, I was now on a dirt road.

I stumbled forward at a slow rate, feeling weak in my entire body. The thick smoke in the air filled my lungs with every breath, making me wheeze and cough while I moved forward. It was burning my eyes when I blinked, making me use one of my hands to shield them.

“HELLO!? ANYPONY OUT THERE!?” I yelled out, praying to get a response. I still didn’t know where I was, but I needed to find out soon. The blood I had been laying in wasn’t mine, so there had to be somepony out here who was injured, or worse.

As I walked, I felt myself start to step over splintered wood, as if it had come from a tree which had exploded. I walked toward the wreckage, and began to break into a run. I got nervous as I came across paper strewn all over the place, and I knew where I had to be.

I began to sprint as I found hardcovers to books littering the area, not caring that the smoke was burning my lungs and eyes.

The wreckage of the Golden Oaks Library laid before me, a smoldering pile of char was all that was left. Embers still burned brightly in the large pit, so it was obviously a recent explosion. In a fit of panic I slid down the hole, desperate to find out what happened.

“ANYPONY?! PLEASE ANSWER ME! HELLO!?” I screamed, terrified. What did Discord do? How long was I out? WHERE THE FUCK WAS DISCORD!?

I flung around the smoldering ashes in the pit, praying to find anything. The search was in vain, and I immediately climbed out of the pit.

“TWILIGHT!? SPIKE?!” I called out, yielding no response from anywhere. I began a sprint in the direction towards Town Square, wanting to find out what the fuck was going on. As I ran through the thick smoke, I saw a form ahead, lying flat on its side.

Once I was next to it, I nearly vomited.

The body of Mayor Mare was lying in front of me, charred and burnt. The only way I could identify it was through the ruffled collar on her neck, which was still partially intact.

“Mother of Celestia… DISCORD!!” I screamed, backing away from the corpse and backpedaling a little bit. As I stepped backwards, I tripped over something, landed on my back with a grunt. I moved my legs and looked underneath me, to find another burnt corpse of a pony.

I didn’t have time to identify this one, because I was already backing away on the ground. I backed up onto another obstruction, and saw a pony’s decapitated, charred head right next to mine. I screamed and scrambled up to my feet, to find a massacre of deceased ponies.

Their bodies were all burnt and scorched, some still burning.

Blood stained the floor around me, and the world began to start spinning. The smell that invaded my nostrils was now identified as ponies being burned, so I immediately expelled the contents of my stomach. Bile and blood combined on the floor in a grotesque stew, as I fought to stay on my feet and turn around.

I walked a few feet before falling to my knees, splashing in the small puddles of blood underneath me…

Blood… Blood… Blood…

Is… is it mine…?

No… no it’s not…

I… where… he…?

I smelled the smoke… heard the flames… saw destruction… Ponyville…

“dis…cord…”

“discord…”

“Discord…"

“DISCORD!!”

I felt my anger and rage bubbling to the surface, but didn’t feel the magic surge through me. I didn’t acknowledge it, so I simply stayed on my knees, yelling at the sky for Discord. I was going to make him pay for this. I was going to burn him alive like he did to these innocent ponies.

“Ah… breath it all in…” A voice said behind me. I stood and turned towards the voice, but the figure standing there was not who I expected.

“Burning, smoldering, and fire… All the great things…” She said, towering over me. I backed away from the figure, not wanting to acknowledge its existence. She was accompanied by another, who stood shorter to her, my size.

“Y-you… aren’t supposed to be alive…” I whispered to the figure standing next to her, shaking in fear at her appearance.

Vi stood behind me, smoking tears of lava streaking down her face. Her burning hair glowed with the brightness of 100 suns, and she wore flames throughout her body. She looked like she wanted to say something, but couldn't. Next to her, Super Nova stood, an evil grin plastered all over her face.

“LOOKS LIKE YOU HAVE FINALLY CALLED THE NEED FOR MY POWER! I THOUGHT I WOULD NEVER SEE THE DAY, WHAT WITH YOUR NOBILITY AND DIGNITY! BUT IT SEEMS THE NEED FOR THE DEFEAT OF A FOE HAS OUTWEIGHED YOUR MORALS!” Super Nova screamed at me, as tried to not quake in fear.

She wasn’t supposed to be here, neither of them were. Vi was dead. She sacrificed herself to get me out of the Stone Imprisonment.

“What do you mean…” I whispered, stuck to the ground where I stood.

“DISCORD HAS FINALLY RETURNED! YOU AND THE MOCKERY YOU CALL MY POWER WILL NOT BE ENOUGH TO STOP HIM FROM HURTING THOSE WRETCHED PONIES WHO IMPRISONED ME IN STONE! THE LAST LIVING PIECE OF ME AND PROJECT 1 LIVE WITHIN YOU THROUGH MY MAGIC, AND I WILL NOT ALLOW US TO DIE!” Super Nova explained, making me a bit less frightened.

We were in my mind? She was here to help? I had no time to reevaluate my morals, I needed it now.

“What do I need to do?” I asked, fear slowly leaving my body.

Vi walked forward, tears still streaming down her cheeks. She held out her hand towards me, flames burning off of it.

“IF YOU CAN REMEMBER, PART OF MY MAGIC WAS IMPLEMENTED INTO PROJECT 1. USE THIS MAGIC TO UNLOCK THE ABILITIES YOUR BODY ONCE WAS UNABLE TO USE!”

I looked at the burning arm of Vi, her eyes closed and her head turned away from me.

“Vi… please look at me.”

She did, and I looked into the burning orbs which were her eyes. I gave her a gentle smile.

“It was nice to see you again. I’m glad knowing that you are still alive in me somewhere.” I whispered. She smiled back at me, and threw her arms around my shoulders. I returned the hug and allowed tears to flow down my face, feeling happy.

I felt Vi finally fade away, making me frightened and scream at Super Nova.

“Where did she go!?” I yelled, as Super Nova merely chuckled.

“DO NOT WORRY, YOUR PRECIOUS COMPANION STILL LIVES WITHIN YOU, FOR AS LONG AS YOU HAVE MAGIC, SHE WILL EXIST. NOW, USE YOUR MAGIC. AND WE WILL BEGIN YOUR TRAINING.”

I allowed magic to flow into my arms, but this time it felt like there were no barriers I needed to break through to use it, no blockage. A red glow shined over my arms, and I formed two Swords into my hands.

“WITH THE FULL EXTENT OF MY MAGIC FLOWING THROUGH YOU, YOU WILL NOW HAVE THE ABILITY TO ACTUALLY STAND THE SLIGHTEST CHANCE AGAINST DISCORD! WE HAVE LITTLE TIME, SO I WILL TRAIN YOU IN TWO OF MY MOST USEFUL TECHNIQUES, THE MOLTEN ARMOR, AND THE FLAME SPEW.” Super Nova instructed, as power like I had never felt before coursed through me.

“NOW, LET US BEGIN.”

Author's Note

Yup, went there too.

64 vs. Discord Part 3

Chapter 19

64 POV

I woke up once again, in the same place where I had been knocked unconscious by Discord. I looked at my wristwatch and saw that it was only 5 minutes after I was knocked out, and it was obvious Discord wanted me to wake up this soon.

I pushed myself up onto my feet and looked around, seeing that the sun was setting for some reason. I tapped my watch a few times to try and see if it was malfunctioning, but it was working just fine. I swore under my breath and channeled magic into my hands, making sure that the training I had undergone with Super Nova was still working.

I felt the magic flow like the smoothest river through me, instead of the raging rapids that used to surge throughout.

“Now I just gotta find Discord… shouldn’t be too hard.” I whispered to myself, starting into a light jog around the hedge maze. I noticed that there were still large cotton candy clouds still floating around, so I made sure to try and stay out of their line of sight while I made my way back to the Palace. I had to get back to Celestia to try and form some sort of plan to take Discord down.

I made my way through the Palace doors and ran towards the Throne Room, still a bit shaken up from the visions I saw in my head. I burst through the doors and saw Princess Celestia and Luna both looking out the window towards the Hedge Labyrinth, obviously worried.

“Celestia!” I called, going over to her side.

“64? What are you doing here!? You are supposed to be assisting Twilight in finding the Elements of Harmony!” Celestia yelled, making me explain.

“It’s Discord! He prevented me from entering the maze, and he knocked me out… I… I’m not exactly sure, but I think he wanted me to find what was in my head…”

“And what would that be?” Luna asked. I sighed before replying.

“Super Nova. I saw her in my head, and she said it was because she didn’t want the last part of her that was still alive dying, so she taught me how to use her magic properly… look.”

I turned my attention to a Halberd which was leaning up against the wall, and lifted my arm towards it. I focused as a red light began to envelope my hand, and soon after, the Halberd. I lifted it up and slowly brought it towards me, before gripping it in my hand. I looked towards Celestia who looked at me with anger still evident on her face.

“And how will the ability of telekinesis be enough to stop the Spirit of Chaos!?” Celestia yelled at me, as I once again sighed and slapped my forehead.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you…” I muttered, before gathering a large amount of magic and focusing. I formed it around me, Celestia, Luna, and spread it out to the entire palace. Grunting, I lifted my hands up; as I felt the floor slowly rise in the same direction.
Celestia and Luna both looked out of the window to see the entirety of the Canterlot Palace being lifted from its foundation in the ground, and float into the air. I was struggling to keep my focus, and immediately dropping the Palace back one the ground.

I gasped and fell onto my hands and knees, over exerted from lifting such a large object. Celestia’s mouth was wide open at my display; even though I was sure she could lift about 40 palaces without breaking a sweat.

“Still seem useless…?” I sighed, stumbling back onto my feet. Celestia grunted and shook her head, while Luna had a look of amazement.

“64, how in Equestria were you able to hold up the Canterlot Palace!?” she exclaimed, making me chuckle.

“I’m not even sure. But the real reason I came up here is because I need some help. I need a plan where we can corner Discord and hit him with the Elements of Harmony when the girls come back with them. There’s no way he’s just going to sit there and take the blast.” I said, making Celestia and Luna nod.

“Ok, first we should take into consideration of Discord’s—“

Celestia was unable to finish the sentence due to an earthquake making itself apparent, and storm clouds forming in the sky. I looked outside towards the Hedge Gardens and saw that the walls were sinking into the ground, and Twilight and her friends were now standing within a large dirt pit with a large boulder next to them.

“Shit, no time for this! I’ll just make up a plan as I go along, it worked last time!” I yelled, smashing through the window I was looking through and dashing towards Twilight.

“THAT WAS THE SECOND WINDOW PROJECT 64!” Celestia yelled behind me, but I paid no attention. I approached Twilight as she looked around and saw me.

“64! You’re ok! You haven’t become meaner or angrier or greedier have you?!” Twilight cried, making me confused.

“No I’m alright, just a bit banged up from fighting Discord…” I admitted, as a chuckling sound rumbled through the air.

“That was a slaughter! A fight means there was a chance for both sides to win…” Discord said, invisible to us.

“Discord! Show yourself!” I screamed out looking all around me. Through the dust and dirt in the air, Discord floated through.

“Well, well, well. Somepony broke the ‘no wings, no magic’ rule.” Discord said, before snapping his fingers and giving everypony their attributes back. Twilight looked relieved for a second to have her horn back, but immediately once again looked worried. “Game's over, my little ponies. You didn't find your precious elements. Looks like we might be due for a big old storm of chaos!”

Discord brought out a stupid inside out umbrella and began cackling at the sky, which began to strike Thunder and Lightning down at us.

“And what are you laughing at!?” Pinkie Pie yelled at Discord, as I noticed she looked a bit greyer than usual.

“Oh, you ponies are just the most fun I've had in eons.” Discord said while wiping a tear from his eye. Pinkie ran up to him and got in his face.

“Well you better think twice before you laugh at the Pink…ie Pie!” She said, taking a quick look at her greying fur.

“Oh, yeah? Well ha, ha.” Fluttershy said mockingly, as if she was purposefully trying to spur a reaction out of Pinkie.

“Quit it!”

“No. Ha, ha.”

“Quit it!”

“No. Ha ha-ha ha ha.”

This argument had my head reeling. Fluttershy was the kindest creature I had ever known, never even saying a word to somepony if she thought that it would hurt them, and Pinkie Pie didn’t give a flying fuck whether you laughed at her or not.

As this conversation played out, I saw Applejack and Rarity talking over what looked like the humongous boulder that sat in the middle of the dirt.

“Uh... Rarity? This here diamond of yours? Twilight said we should split it six ways since we, uh, found it together.” Applejack said, dragging her hoof over the ‘diamond’. Rarity surprised me by delivering a perfect flying roundhouse at Applejack, settling into a Kung-Fu pose.

“Try it, punk. He's mine. All mine!” Rarity screamed, before continuing to attack Applejack. I looked upon all of them and saw their greyer tones and changed personalities, and looked towards the one creature I knew was responsible for this.

“Girls stop! Why are you all acting like this!?” Twilight questioned, making me speak up.

“Isn’t it obvious!? Discord the Dumbass had something to do with this! You guys are acting opposite of what your Element of Harmony is supposed to be!” I yelled out, gathering magic for a spell.

“Oh… such senseless hurtful words… you wound me Project 64.” Discord said in a mocking tone , as Twilight stepped forward.

“Stop it Discord! You aren’t playing fair.”

“I'm not playing fair? Perhaps we haven't met. I'm Discord, spirit of chaos and disharmony. Hello?” Discord said as if it was supposed to mean something.

“How are we supposed to find the Elements of Harmony when you took away the labyrinth before we could get to the end?”

“Oh, wait, did you...?” Discord chuckled before breaking out into a full blown cackle. “How funny! You thought the Elements were in the labyrinth? Perhaps you should have listened to my riddle a bit better! Twists and turns are my master plan. Then find the Elements back where you began. I never said they were in the Labyrinth.”

“but… but…” Twilight muttered, before Discord cut her off.

“Keep trying, Twilight Sparkle. Maybe the magic of friendship can help you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some chaos to wreak.”

Discord poofed away as the Cotton Candy cloud layer once again formed over us, raining down chocolate milk. It soaked through my clothes as it set a sort of strange melancholic feeling through me, as if Discord was going to win. I quickly shook off that feeling and turned to Twilight.

“C’mon, that can’t be it… Discord toys with his prey before he goes in for kill, he will always give us a small chance to win. Think about the riddle really hard Twilight, forget the twists and turns part. Find the Elements where you began…” I urged, not wanting for Discord to get too far ahead of us.

“Chocolate Milk?! I hate Chocolate milk!” Pinkie yelled up at the sky, as Rarity and Fluttershy argued about what constituted as ‘touching the gem’.

“Grr… I can’t think with all their arguing… I want to go home… home… home? Home! That’s it!” Twilight exclaimed, a fire back in her eyes. “Back where you began! Discord must’ve hid the Elements of Harmony in Ponyville!”

“Then what the hell are we waiting for, c’mon, I can Longshot us there.” I said, “Girls! Get over here we’re teleporting back to Ponyville!

“Oh, the big baby can’t fly back? Oh that’s right… no wings…” Fluttershy taunted, hurting me slightly because I never expected the phrase from her. Looked around, but realized something.

“Wait where’s Dash?” I asked as Twilight looked down at the floor.

“Apparently she got her wings back, and flew out of the Hedge Maze. We’re not sure where she went, but she caused Discord to bring it all down on us because she broke the rules…” Twilight said, obviously terrified of what was happening to her friends. To see the friends who’ve built relationships with suddenly change this drastically, it must have been horrible.

“Twilight, listen to me.” I said, kneeling down to her level. She looked up at me with tears dripping down her cheeks, and the chocolate milk rain staining her hair. “Discord is gonna pay for what he’s doing here. It’s sick. Changing who a pony is for some personal game. We’re gonna put a stop to him, together alright?”

Twilight gave me a sad smile and nodded, throwing her hooves around my shoulders in a hug. I returned it and then stood up, as the rest of the girls gathered.

“That was the most horrible thing ah have ever seen.” Applejack said, looking around with a nervous face after that statement.

“C’mon, no time for this. Let’s get back to Ponyville!” I said confidently, as red magic began to envelope us all. It circled for a bit before a flash of light nearly blinded all of us, but when we did regain our vision, we were near the outskirts of Ponyville.

“WHAT THE FUCK!?” I yelled as a herd of oversized legged rabbits began to stampede at us, forcing me to grip all of the ponies in the group with magic and throw us all out of the way.

I got up to my feet and dusted myself off, looking at what once used to be Ponyville. There were buildings floating upside down, trees pulled from their roots and spinning through the air. Chocolate rain and cotton candy clouds everywhere. The ground now had a purple checkered pattern, and it smelled of sugar.

“Dammit Discord…” I muttered as I looked upon the chaos strewn about by him. The ground underneath us suddenly turned into a slick substance, but sending magic into my feet evaporated the substance under me.

The Sun suddenly switched places with the moon as pitch black filled my vision.

“Woah… ah can see so much better now…” Applejack said sarcastically, as she began to slide towards me at a high speed. She bowled over Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie, before I was finally able to cradle her. She shook her head and looked at me.

“Ah meant ta do that, an’ ah didn’t need your help.” Applejack said, punching me in this chest to make me drop her.

The sun suddenly came back as I quickly shielded my eyes to cover up the blinding light.

“Beautiful, isn't it? This is the new and improved Ponyville, and these are only my first of changes.” Discord said, sliding past me as he motioned towards Ponyville. “Picture it, the Chaos Capital of the world…”

The sun once again switched places with the moon, as I replied to Discord.

“Too fucking dark to see anything.” I whispered. Twilight walked up next to me and looked at her home, nearly in tears. She suddenly grew a determined demeanor and stared at Discord.

“Ponyville, the chaos capital of the world? Not if I have anything to say about it.” She said confidently, before Fluttershy came skating by on the ice.

“Don’t worry, you won’t. Hahaha.” She said mockingly, making Twilight groan. We decided to ignore the comment as we made our way towards the Golden Oaks Library. As we walked through we noticed a large assortment of strangeness. Buffalo’s in ballerina uniforms prancing about in a synchronized form, and butterflies the size of pizzas.

We arrived and Twilight groaned again obvious tired beyond belief after what she just went through.

“Okay, we're here. Everyone please, please, please just go inside, please?” She asked exhausted, as Applejack marched forward.

“Ah absolutely refuse!”

Fluttershy was next. “With pleasure.” She said, stomping on a flower bush just outside the door.

“I hate libraries!” Pinkie yelled as she stepped inside. Twilight slumped to the floor and sighed, not wanting to deal with what was left of her friends. I walked over and knelt by her again.

“Listen, this is all Discord’s plan alright? He want sto tire you out so much that you will stop fighting, so we can’t let him win, right? So c’mon, you said it yourself, the Elements of Harmony should be here in Ponyville, so let’s take a breather, then go out and kick Discord’s mismatched ass.” I said encouragingly, hold out my hand to pick up Twilight.

She smiled and took my hand, lifting herself up and nodding her head.

“You’re right… We can’t stop here. We’re at the home stretch!” Twilight said marching inside of the library. I was about to step inside when I heard the grunting over Rarity still trying to push the humongous boulder that she was still lugging around.

“Rarity, c’mon we’ve got to get a move on.” I called out, making Rarity take a defensive stance in front of the rock.

“Forget it human, I know what you’re up to. The second I go in, you use those filthy little hands of yours to take Tom!”

“Little?” I said, feeling the most hurt by that statement. I disregarded it and grunted. I gripped the rock now known as Tom in a magical grasp and carried it into the library, smashing through the wall the front door once stood.

Twilight was glaring at Rarity who followed me through the door, and Fluttershy was flying over Spike who was now dripping wet.

“Careful 64! You’ll ruin his beautiful finish!” Rarity scolded me, as I set Tom down unceremoniously.

“Twilight? What’s going on? What does everypony look so… grey?” Spike asked, shaking himself dry. Twilight rubbed her temple with a hoof and sighed.

“Don't ask. I need you to help me find something.” Twilight instructed as she was tapped by Fluttershy on the shoulder.

“Hey, Twilight, what's soaking wet and clueless?” She asked mockingly.

“Fluttershy, we don’t have time for—“

Twilight was cut off by a bucket of water being dumped on her head, and growled even more.

“Your face!”

Spike walked up next to the soaking Twilight with a frightened expression. “What's happened to everypony?”

“Ah guess ya just bring out the worst in us Spike.” Applejack said, as Spike reared back at the insult. I understood Spike was a bit of an ass, but damn that was harsh.

“Ugh. No time to explain. We've got to find the reference guide to the Elements of Harmony before somepony does something she'll regret!” Twilight exclaimed. I saw she was getting a bit heated, so I walked over to her.

“Twilight, you just gotta try and block them out for a while. Just take a deep breath and find that book.” I assured her. Spike called out and we both turned to him.

“I found the book!” He called from the top of his ladder, holding the book out. Fluttershy swooped by and threw an unused scroll at Spike, who dropped the book into her hands. My eyes widened as I realized what was about to go down, so I knew I had to put a lid on it.

I dove for Fluttershy and swiped for the book, who threw it over to Applejack. Twilight quickly gripped the book in her magical grasp and set in on the floor, before Rarity ran by and grabbed it in her magical grasp.

The stupid game of keep away started as Twilight attempted to intercept it. I saw Pinkie toss it to Fluttershy, and immediately grabbed Spike and threw him at her. Spike tackled Fluttershy out of the air as Twilight was able to retrieve the flying book.

Rarity once again ran by and got the book, as the entire group of friends dog piled into a massive brawl.

“For fucks sake… EVERYPONY CALM DOWN!” I yelled, using my magic to try and grab all of the ponies currently trying to attack Twilight. Once I had them all in my grasp, Twilight got up and dusted herself off.

“Thank you 64, these ponies are absolutely bonkers!” Twilight shouted angrily, obviously enraged. Twilight set down the book as I set all of the ponies down, standing in front of Twilight in a protective manner.

Twilight flipped open the book and looked through it, gasping at what she found.

“The Elements!” She said, as I turned around to find them sitting in cut out pages of the book. Spike came running over and looked into the book.

“Perfect! Now you guys can beat Discord and turn everything back to normal!” He said confidently.

“See girls? We did it! We found the Elements of Harmony! Together!”

The girls obviously didn’t give a damn about finding the Elements, as they all stayed in the exact same spot. Twilight deadpanned at them and sighed.

“You don't even care, do you?”

“NO!” They all replied in unison. Twilight looked down crestfallen, whispering to herself.

“I never thought it would happen. My friends...” Twilight looked up after this, a flame in her eyes, “have turned into complete JERKS! Necklace! Necklace! Necklace! Necklace! And... big crown thingy! Come on, everypony, let's go.” Twilight slapped on the Elements of Harmony on their respective bearers, but I noticed something important.

“Twilight, you’re missing somepony.” I said as a matter of factly. Twilight groaned and gave me a glare.

“No we aren’t. We've got the liar, the grump, the hoarder, and the brute. That just about covers it.”

“What about the deserter?”

Twilight looked around until her eyes laid on Spike. She took the Element of Loyalty and slapped it onto his neck.

“Congratulations Spike, you’re the new Rainbow Dash. Now let’s go!” Twilight said as she rushed forward.

“Me? B-b-but what if she finds out I've been impersonating her? That won't end well.” Spike said, scared for some reason. I pushed him with my foot towards the door.

“Don’t worry Spike, if anything she’ll be flattered.” I explained.

“Too bad Spike, you're Rainbow Dash. Now let's go defeat Discord so we don't ever have to talk to each other again!” Twilight said, shocking me. She had to realize that her friends were not themselves!

I wasn’t able to stop her as she and the rest of her ‘friends’ stormed outside, with the exception of Rarity pushing “Tom” out the door.

“For fucks sake…” I grumbled.

3rd Person POV

64 was able to get Tom out of the door with ease, pushing him out the hole he had made earlier.

“Dammit Rarity, this this isn’t a diamond! We don’t need it to defeat Discord!” I yelled out as Rarity continued to stroke the rock.

“Oh you couldn’t understand… he’ll never understand Tom…” Rarity whispered. Twilight was looking towards town square, looking for the target she was looking for.

“Discord! Get out here! We’ve beaten your game! We found the Elements of Harmony!” Twilight called out, as a yellow light began to build in front of the group. 64 moved behind Twilight and her friends, knowing better than to get in the path of the blast of the Elements.

Discord appeared in front of the Elements minus one and smirked, leaning back in the air. “Well, well, well, I see you've found the Elements of Harmony. How terrifying!”

“Discord! I've figured out your lame riddle. You're in for it now!” Twilight yelled out, glaring at the Spirit of Harmony.

“I certainly am. You've clearly out-dueled me, and now it's time to meet my fate. I'm prepared to be defeated now, ladies. Fire when ready.” Discord said, forming a crude target out of nowhere.

64 was taken aback by the willingness of Discord to be hit by the Elements of Harmony, and immediately knew something was up. Twilight paid no heed to the strange action and immediately got into position.

“Formation, now! ‘Rainbow Dash’, get over here!” Twilight called out, making Spike come forward in a frightened manner. Now in position, Twilight began to channel magic into her Element of Harmony, as she began to slowly float in the air. She and the rest of the Elements slowly rose up, all being engulfed in an ethereal light.

For 64, this phenomenon of magic was jaw dropping, this time not being on the receiving end of the magical blast. He looked towards the rising ponies and saw that Spike wasn’t rising along with them, as Discord smirked at the display happening before him.

As the blinding light reached near blinding levels, it fizzled out in midair, causing Twilight and all of her friends to fall back to the ground. Twilight looked around in confusion, wondering just what was going on.

“What's going on?” Twilight asked befuddled.

“Mine's workin'. There must be somethin' wrong with yours.” Applejack accused, pointing towards Twilight.

“I HATE the Elements of Harmony!” Pinkie Pie complained, as Fluttershy grunted and tossed her Element aside and onto the ground. Of course Rarity ran by and snatched it up, as an act of greed once again washing over her.

Spike quickly made his way back upstairs to hide once again, making an excuse saying that he was going to clean up the library. Discord came forward skating on his soap roads, clapping sarcastically. Of course with every clap a different sound played, ranging from pig oinks to camera flashes.

“Bravo, ponies, bravo! Harmony in Equestria is officially dead. Discord rules, Celestia drools.” Discord mocked before soap skating away making 64 yell out in anger.

“HEY! NO ONE INSULTS THE PRINCESS EXCEPT ME!” 64 screamed, although Discord was well out of hearing range. 64 turned back towards Twilight, who was sitting on the ground in shock. Pinkie was standing next to her, before yelling out.

“It's your fault it didn't work!” Pinkie accused to what looked like nopony.

“Who are you talking to?” Twilight asked.

“Any of you! ALL OF YOU! I'm outta here!” Pinkie yelled, before bouncing off to wherever she goes.

“Ah better go, too. ah've got new better friends waiting for me at the farm.” Applejack said with her head held in almost a snobbish way, marching off towards Sweet Apple Acres. Rarity began to push Tom towards the town, but 64 decided that he wasn’t going to help her this time.

"Yeah! I'm sick of you losers.” Fluttershy said as she swooped away, flying off into the sky. At this point, Twilight almost looked broken, seeing all of her friends abandon her for their own reasons. She decided that enough was enough and looked up towards them.

“FINE! Leave! See if I care! I don't need you guys either! With friends like you, who needs...” Twilight eyes widened as she finally realized just what she was saying, “enemies…”.

Twilight finally looked down toward the ground, as a cold breath left her throat. The grey color of Discord finally overwhelmed Twilight, covering her from head to toe. 64 stared with wide eyes as the last of the Elements of Harmony was defeated by Discord, a tear falling from her eye as it hit the ground.

He watched as she walked away with a Cotton Candy Cloud of despair raining down on her head, out of view. 64 stood there as he looked where Twilight was just standing, and saw the heart shaped tear stain which was split in two.

“We… this… this can’t be it… We can’t just lose like this…” He muttered, feeling a wave of despair wash over him.

“Let it go 64…… give in……” a voice in his head said. He looked down and saw he legs slowly turning grey. He growled and pushed the despair out of his heart, instead replacing it with blind fury. He held his cool long enough to form a plan in his head. All he needed was a bit of harmony and then Twilight would see that everything isn’t over, there was still hope.

“I gotta get to Spike…” 64 said, turning around and running through the Tom shaped hold in the wall. He ran upstairs and kicked in the door to Twilight’s room, where Spike was hiding behind the bed.

“Spike! Get ready to send a letter!” 64 screamed, pulling out a scroll and quill out of a desk drawer and slamming them onto the table. Spike came out of his hiding as 64 began to write a letter at incredible speeds before rolling it up and tossing over to the dragon.

“Send that to Celestia. I’m sorry but when you send that, you are going to be in pain for a while.” 64 said to Spike, before walking back downstairs out towards Ponyville Square. Spike looked down at the letter before grunting and burning it with his magic fire, sending it to Celestia.

“What’s the worst that can happen by me sending a letter?” Spike said uncaring. A few moments later, a letter popped out of his mouth. He looked into it, and saw it was something he had written before.

“Twilight’s first friendship report?”

Author's Note

Hello there! Yes an early update! But this time there isn't a horrible delay after! This is to make up for the lost time. Comment if you want to tell me I'm doing awesome! Comment if I'm doing shitty! Comment if you think you can make a story 1000x better than the horseshit I spew every few days!

64 vs. Discord Finale

Chapter 20

3rd Person POV

64 walked down the purple checkered road in the same direction as Twilight, hoping to catch up to her. His head was reeling, knowing that in order for his plan to work, he would have to do something drastic. While turning a corner, 64 noticed that a group of 3 cross dressing buffalo was tailing him, so 64 back tracked to try and lose them.

When they wouldn’t give, 64 turned to face them, and they immediately rushed to try and gore 64. He put his hands out to make a barrier spell, and the Buffalo collided into it, dazed. 64 took their confusion to his advantage and made for the buffalo in the center, slugging him across the face with a magic charged punch. He quickly spun and delivered a left elbow to the one standing at the buffalos left, before turning around and dropkicking the last buffalo.

When the three stalkers were taken care of, 64 turned to see another Cotton Candy Golem lumbering towards him slowly on the Main Road.

“Aww c’mon! I already killed one of you!” 64 yelled, remembering using the dismemberment technique on himself. He sighed and overcharged his fists, ready to fight yet another obstacle in his path. The Golem roared, sending sickly sweet breath towards 64 who ran forward, jumping up at the monster to deliver an uppercut to its jaw.

The monster stumbled back and recovered, using both of his fists to smash down at the ground where 64 was standing. He managed to roll to the side and conjure a Katana Blade, charging forward at the monster to slice its leg off.

The monster saw this and moved his right leg out of the way as 64 took a swing at it, causing him to miss. The monster brought his leg back and swung it forward, making it collide into 64 with immense force. 64 was nearly sent flying, instead gripping the monsters leg as it collided with his body. He quickly climbed up the leg towards the monsters head, avoid the large fists coming down at the monsters own body.

“Stay still you candy covered motherfucker!” 64 swore, having trouble keeping his grip on the fluffy substance coating the monster. He reached the monsters neck and held on tight as the monster began to whip his head in an attempt to try and buck 64 off. 64 noticed that the monster was shaking his head in the same pattern every time, and noticed he whipped his head up violently with every swing.

64 quickly made his way to the Cotton Candy Monsters head and waited for the right moment, making sure to hold on tight. The monster reared his head forward as it prepared to whip its head backwards, causing 64 to plant his feet onto the top of the monsters head and crouch.

As the monster threw his backwards, 64 jumped, causing him to go flying high into the air. As 64 reached the apex of his jump, he formed a Two Handed Warhammer into his hands and raised it over his head. He sailed downwards at incredibly speeds, as the Monster looked straight up at him. 64 roared as he brought the hammer down onto the monsters head, causing his entire body to quickly be crushed before exploding in a mass of Chocolate Milk.

64 hit the ground with a loud crash, down on one knee in a puddle of what just used to be one of Discord’s dumbass demon, with the Warhammer creating large crack into the ground it collided with. At this point, 64 was sick and tired of being drenched with Chocolate milk, which dried and turned sticky.

“I need bath after this…” 64 grumbled, wiping his face and hair with his hands. He continued walking down the road, hoping not to be attacked by anymore monsters, when he heard a voice ahead.

“Oh, my stomach! Twilight, you've got to see what I just did.” Discord said, as 64 dove for cover. Across the road, Discord and Twilight were observing a giant pepper shaker being used on a mare, who was sneezing like crazy. Twilight looked unamused and tried to continue walking. Discord saw this and caught up with her.

“Come now, Twilight Sparkle. You've got to get into the spirit of things! After all, this is your new home.”
Twilight looked around herself, seeing all of the Chaos and Disharmony being caused. She hung her head in defeat, another tear dripped down onto the floor.

“Not anymore she whispered…” as she continued walking, heading towards the Golden Oaks Library and hopefully to receive the messages Spike was receiving. Discord watched her go before laughing triumphantly and doing a stupid dance, making 64’s blood boil. He revealed himself and walked towards Discord, a Broadsword slung over his shoulder.

“Discord!” 64 yelled, making Discord stop his dancing and look towards the human.

“Ah, the little pest who thinks he can still go toe to toe with me. Tell me, did you find what was in that stupid little head of yours? Little Celestia’s alter ego? I still can’t believe she was actually pushed far enough to turn like that! You must have done something terrible…” Discord said, floating in midair as if he was lying on his stomach.

“I didn’t do anything… and yes, I found them.”

“So then you now know how to channel your magic effectively! Perfect! Now you can join me without being a thorn in my side!” Discord said with sickening glee, making 64’s face contort in confusion.

“Join you?! Why the fuck would I join you?! You’ve caused nothing but headaches and chaos ever since you came back! I’d rather die than join you!” 64 responded, making Discord shake his head.

“Oh Poor 64… is this how you get without your little companion?”

64 growled as smoke began to billow out of his mouth. “DON’T YOU DARE SAY A WORD ABOUT GHOST!”

Discord chuckled. “64, you may not realize this, but without a companion, you are nothing but a nervous wreck! You first had that little AI bug floating around you, and after she kicked the bucket, you got your little changeling friend. I can guarantee you, the cycle will continue. Ghost will fall in the Gryphon Kingdom, and you will once again be without a companion.” Discord explained in a mocking tone, nearly making 64 foam at the mouth.

“But… if you join me… you will never be without a companion again! Our Chaotic Magics combined; we can be rulers of the Universe! Spreading chaos far and wide across galaxies, sounds fun doesn’t it? Oh what am I saying, of course it does.”

64 was getting angrier by the second, but he curiosity was piqued by Discord’s statement.

“Wait, what did you say?” 64 said, making Discord’s eyes widen in confusion.

“Wait, you are actually considering it? What with your nobility and honor about helping protect Equestria I thought you would have a few more arguments, but I guess the quicker route in this case is the easiest.” Discord said, making 64 growl.

“I didn’t mean your stupid fucking offer, which I refuse! I meant the thing about our chaotic magics. What are you saying?”

“Well you don’t realize? You should have noticed it when you were able to crack the shield that I put in front of my face when you viciously tried to assault me.” Discord said, making a fake pouty face. “Your magic is chaotic, such as my own. Observe.”

Discord snapped his fingers and 4 Cotton Candy Clouds appeared, as they all made to attack 64. He back flipped to dodge the charging clouds, before channel magic into his hands to create 2 maces. He spun once with his maces held out, successfully demolishing 2 of the 4 clouds. He then threw his maces at the remaining clouds, making the explode into chocolate milk.
Discord clapped in sarcasm, holding up a stupid #1 Foam Finger.

“Bravo 64! Now, let’s see the same results with, a regular unicorn!”

Discord snapped, and a unicorn mare which was curled up in the fetal position while crying appeared before the two of them. 64 rushed forward to try and help her, but Discord pushed him back using his magic.

“Hello ma’am! You are the lucky winner for the position of Discord’s Lab Rat!” Discord said proudly, as the unicorn mare looked up in horror.

“Discord! Please! Please let me have my little filly back! Please turn her back to the way she was, I’m begging you! Please!” The mother yelled frantically, tears streaming down her face and into her hooves.

“Oh… sure… but you have to do one thing for me…” Discord said, snapping his fingers and making 1 Cotton Candy Cloud appear. “Simply blast this cloud with your magic and destroy it, easy as pie!”

The mare nodded desperately and turned her horn towards the cloud, blasting it with her magic. It knocked the cloud back, but didn’t make it disperse. She tried again and again, but the cloud didn’t explode or disperse.

“Oh… so sorry, but you failed to destroy the cloud! I’m afraid I can’t change your daughter back.” Discord said in mock sympathy, making the mother’s eyes widen.

“NO! PLEASE DISCORD I BEG OF YOU! NO!” The mare yelled desperately, before Discord snapped his fingers, making the mare disappear. 64 stared where the mare once was, before turning towards Discord.

“You’re a fucking monster! How the fuck can you take pleasure in ruining that poor mare’s life?!” 64 yelled, as Discord shrugged.

“It’s not my problem how ponies take my chaos, it’s my problem to dish it out, that’s it.”

That did it, that was the final straw that broke the camel’s back.

64’s eyes started to glow as he began to gather a large amount of magic, growling as he did so. Discord watched bored at the display, taking out a pair of sunglasses and yawning. 64 continued to gather magic and channel it to his entire body, a red glow of magic slowly shimmering through his entire body.

“MOLTEN ARMOR!” 64 yelled out, as his magic exploded into the ground and molten rock flew up into the air. It stayed suspended in the air for a short amount of time before attaching itself to 64, as a layer of burning rocks created a flaming set of armor around 64’s entire body. The only part of his body that wasn’t covered in burning rocks were his eyes, which were glowing a bright orange.

Discord saw his transformation and lowered his shades a bit, a bit surprised. “Well that is different. Don’t you think it may get a bit heated in there for you?”

64 simply screamed and leapt into the air, aiming to bring his molten fist down on Discord’s head. Discord simply teleported away as 64 brought his fist into the ground, creating an enormous crack in the checkered floor. 64 turned to where Discord had teleported to and threw a blast of magic at him, making Discord set up a shield to absorb it.

The magical shield which Discord put up cracked immensely, leaving it incredibly vulnerable for attack. Discord released the shield and saw 64 charging at him, large blades in both hands. 64 took a swing at Discord, causing the Spirit of Chaos to fly upwards into the air.

“So now you decided to get serious? Well this may be a bit more interesting than I thought! How about I get serious as well…?” Discord threatened, a yellow light enveloping his mismatched hands. The large pieces of the city which were floating in the air were now enveloped in the yellow magic, and sailed towards 64.

He leapt towards the huge rocks and ran across them, leaping from one piece of land to the next, going upwards towards Discord. After running across the last piece 64 jumped towards Discord with his two blades held high over his head, ready to attack.

Discord smirked as he simply zoomed out of 64’s path, but was shocked to see that a tendril of magic with 64 shot out caught on his tail, causing 64 to be pulled with him.

“GET BACK HERE!” 64 yelled as he pulled on his tendril of magic, preventing Discord from flying away. Discord was getting annoyed and shot a blast of magic at 64, who sliced the blast with a swing of the conjured blade in his hand.

64 looked down to see that a piece of a house which Discord had thrown at him was still partially intact, and gripped it in his telekinetic hold. He brought it upwards to act as a platform for the dangling 64, who used both hands to tug at the tendril still holding the Spirit of Chaos. Discord was pulled down to the platform, as 64 rushed at him with a flaming fist.

Discord grabbed 64 oncoming fist and pulled him up off of the ground, before slamming him back onto the platform that 64 was still holding up, causing it to smash into pieces. Discord then used his magic to send 64 launching towards the ground, causing a long larger crater upon impact.

“Grr… I’M GONNA TAKE YOU DOWN DISCORD!” 64 yelled as he got up out of the crater he was in, relatively unscathed thanks to the molten armor he had on. Discord simply chuckled at 64’s enthusiasm, snapping his fingers to create a recliner in midair.

“Oh yeah yeah, you’ll get out of that dirt pit, say a few things about knowing a way how to defeat me, try it, it doesn’t work, then there’s a huge deux ex machina at the end of our battle, eventually saving you from near death and defeating me… I know how this whole song and dance goes. Or we can simply cut to the chase and you can stand still to let me finish you off.” Discord said smugly, taking a drink from a large pitcher of lemonade.

“Or you can simply FUCK OFF!” 64 yelled, augmenting his legs to leap up to Discord. He smashed through the recliner Discord was sitting on and attempted to tackle Discord, who poofed away last second.

Discord appeared next to 64 and whipped him with his tail, sending him sailing in the opposite direction. He then teleported to where 64 was sailing, catching him with an oversized baseball mitt.

“Oh 64, you must learn that a direct approach to anything might not always work… You have to try and pull the sheets over your opponents eyes, then strike when they least expect it.” Discord explained, before throwing 64 toward the ground.

64 used magic to slow his descent, flipping backwards to land on his feet. “C’mon Discord! Why are you hiding in the sky?! Come down here and fight me with some honor!”

Discord chuckled at the challenge and decided to humor him. “Alright Project 64… I will adhere to your complaining. How about we even the odds a bit…”

Discord floated down to the ground, then snapped his fingers. Discord’s wings disappeared, leaving him flightless. “Those things are tiring anyway, and it’s been a millennium since someone was able to give me a good fight. So 64, I ask you,” Discord said, all of a sudden wearing a suit and tie “Do you feel lucky?”

64 growled and looked towards his opponent, gathering magic underneath his molten armor.

“You bet your ass I do.”

Twilight Sparkle POV

I didn’t know what to do anymore…

Friendship was what was able to keep me happy, and now that it was gone, it was like going through the worst withdrawal in history. After Discord had told me about my new “home”, I knew I had to go anywhere but here. I wasn’t going to stay around while Ponyville became the Chaos capital of the world…

I made my way back to the library, and walked upstairs to find Spike. “Pack your things, Spike, we're leaving. Don't ask where we're going, 'cause I don't know yet. Just not here.”

I packed some books and some other necessities, before realizing I was still wearing the Element of Magic on my head. I stared at it for a good long while, before scoffing and throwing into a nearby trash can. Friendship wasn’t going to help anypony now…

“Spike, hurry and pack your things.” I scolded, seeing as Spike was still laying on the ground moaning.

“Can't...move. The princess...has been sending these...since… 64… sent a… letter…” Spike groaned out, before belching yet another letter onto the growing pile. “Make it stop!”

I ignored Spike and grabbed one of the letters, unraveling it and read through it. The letters seem vaguely familiar, as if I had read them before. I then looked to the signature at the bottom.

“Sincerely yours, Twilight Sparkle…” I whispered, seeing the reports of friendship that I had sent to Celestia in the past. I read through them at a feverous pace, remembering all of the good memories that I was able to create to make with my friends.

I felt warmer all of a sudden, thinking of all of my friends who were still out there, knowing that somewhere inside their Discorded minds that they were still in there, waiting to be released.

“Spike! Spike, it's all so clear! Can't you see? Discord's trying to distract us from what's important. He knows how powerful our friendships are, and he's trying to keep us from seeing it. Do you remember what I said the first day we arrived in Ponyville?” I asked, making Spike groan and roll over onto his back.

“I told you that the future of Equestria didn't rest on me making friends. But the opposite is true! The friendships I've made since I've been here are what saved Equestria from Nightmare Moon. And now they need to save it from Discord!”

Spike continued to moan and roll around on the ground, as yet another letter came soaring out of his mouth.

“Oh, right… why don't you just stay here and rest? I'll take care of the whole fighting for friendship thing myself.” I said, picking up Spike and placing him into his bed. He simply moaned and burped out another letter, as I turned around and made for the only place I could think to find my friends.

I made my way of the library and started to run to Sweet Apple Acres, where I knew I could find Applejack. As I ran I noticed that there were a large amount of flame scars all over the ground, along with large craters in the floor.

As I inspected them I remembered something incredibly shocking.

“Oh my goodness… where’s 64!?” I said horrified, knowing how unstable he could get if angered. As if to answer my question, I heard a loud explosion not too far off in the direction I was already running, and went to investigate.

I saw something which made my jaw drop, and immediately make me stop in my tracks. From what I could tell at first glance, 64 had covered himself from head to toe in molten rocks, acting as some sort of armor, and was now pulling himself out of another crater in the ground.

Discord stood across from him, actually scowling and sweating just a little bit. In front of him, a large crater from an explosion stood, no doubt being the reason 64 was blasted back in the first place. 64 then created a large display of magical tendrils which lashed out at Discord, who put his hands out and allowed magic to steadily stave of the magical tendrils which were coming to attack him.

“My word…” I muttered, turning away and continuing to run towards Sweet Apple Acres. I knew 64 would be able to handle himself, but wouldn’t be able to for long. I had to free the girls from Discord’s grasp and help him before he got killed.

Sweet Apple Acres came into view, as many of the trees were now dead and floating around. I saw Applejack relaxing against her barn, and Granny Smith doing some sort of dance with a cane. I ran through the gates and called out.

“Applejack, I'm here to fight for our friendship!” I said proudly, as Big Macintosh came out of the ground like a dog, and licked me across the cheek. I could blush about it and be embarrassed later, I had to focus.

“Oh, now ya want to fight. Where ya went when ah was battlin' Discord?” Applejack said, standing on her two rearhoofs and getting into a boxing stance. I leapt forward and tackled her, knowing what I had to do.

“Snap out of it. This isn't you! You're not a liar!” I yelled in her face, putting my horn to Applejack’s forehead. I channeled memories into her mind, showing her what we had gone through as friends. By the end of it, Applejack looked dazed on the floor, color slowly returning to her body.

“Wh-what happened? Twilight! I saw a vision of us feudin' and fightin'. I couldn't face the truth, so I started tellin' lies. Can you ever forgive me?” Applejack explained, putting her hat over her mouth in shame. I smiled and put my hoof onto her shoulder.

“I already have. Come on! We have to hurry! We don’t have much time!” I yelled already running out of the farm and towards Fluttershy’s cabin. Applejack grabbed my tail before I could get too far.

“Woah there girl! Ah know we gotta hurry, but it sounds like somethin’ else is goin’ on. What’s happenin’?” Applejack asked.

“It’s 64! He’s fighting Discord! He’s distracting Discord so we could gather the Elements and put a stop to this! We have to hurry! I don’t know how longs he’s gonna last!”

This time when I started running, Applejack did the same, nearly leaving me in the dust due to her athleticism. We made our way towards Fluttershy’s Cabin, running along the outskirts of Ponyville. A large rumbling caught both our attentions, as we turned towards the disturbance.

A large flame spout was appearing near the area I last saw 64, and feared the worst.

“Is that who ah think it is!?” Applejack asked, making me nod.

“C’mon! We’ve got to get to Fluttershy!” I screamed, as we continued towards the Cabin in thewoods.

64 POV

A dance of flames is what I was, forcing Discord back into the sky. He was once again flying left and right, using his magic to try and get a clean shot at me. I was shooting pure flames out of my arms, using more power than I had ever done before.

Streams of Flames were being shot at Discord, who was bobbing and weaving in the air. Although it was quite obvious that I was keeping him on his toes, I was slowly losing, feeling myself lose strength with every passing minute. The only think that would allow me to win would be my pure, unadulterated rage.

“STAY STILL YOU CURR!” I roared, spewing flames out of my mouth with pinpoint accuracy towards Discord, who zipping in and out of the way, narrowly dodging my attacks while firing his own. I sidestepped a few explosive spells and allowed my armor to take the impact of a few, knocking me back little bit. I didn’t let up as I continued to fire at the Spirit of Chaos, who was looking a bit singed, on some parts of his body.

I could tell he was getting mad, so I had to end this quick before something bad happened.

“You are nothing compared to me you little human! You stand no match!” Discord roared as the ground underneath me glowed a bright yellow. I dove out of the way before the ground exploded out from under me, kicking up all sorts of stone debris. Discord took this debris and created a large spear out of the molten shards, launching towards me at lightning speeds.

I tried to jump out of the way, but the Javelin managed to slice me across my right side, piercing my armor all the way throught.

“AHH! MOTHERFUCKER!” I yelled, gripping the Javelin which was still embedded in me. I pulled it out with as much force as I could, as blood poured out of the wound. I quickly did something incredibly painful and cauterized the wound by putting a hand covered in fire over it, attempting to stop any bleeding.

I looked up towards where Discord was, and saw something out of the corner of my eye. Twilight’s hot air balloon was being pulled by Fluttershy, who was hauling ass to catch up with an escaping Rainbow Dash.

I saw that Twilight was looking down at me with a scared expression, so I tried my best to get to my feet. I pushed myself up with a heavy wince, holding onto my side. The molten armor I had slowly crumbled around me, leaving me exposed.

I felt the anger and rage slowly start to fade away, though I still held my confidence and cockiness.

“C’mon Discord! I’m right here waiting for you! Finish me off!” I yelled, my right arm outwards, using my left hand to hold onto my side. Discord was panting softly, and held a smirk as he came down to the ground.

“But where would the fun be in that? No, I want you to feel everything. I’m going to keep you alive, so you can see the precious world you sought out to protect crumble at your feet, with you powerless to stop it…” Discord growled menacingly, angered that I was able to hold my own against him for so long.

I conjured a Rapier in my right hand, gripping it tightly.

“I’m not going to go quietly then! I’ll keep fighting until I’m dead!” I taunted, holding my sword in a fencing stance. Although I was usual a very heavy fisted fighter, I knew when grace and precision was needed.

Discord smirked and made his own Rapier, as the ground around us suddenly turned into a metal piste, the usual fencing mat.

“I never expected you to be a graceful fighter 64, but I suppose we all have our secrets...” Discord muttered, getting into his own fencing stance. “Sabre Style, everything above the legs.”

I nodded at the terms of the match, knowing it was only fair. I knew Discord would still have something up his sleeve, so I prepared for anything. I immediately went on the offensive and thrust my blade towards Discord’s stomach, who swatted my blade out of the way with his own.

He attempted to get me in the neck by slashing downwards at me, but I blocked last minute and used my foot to kick him backwards. I once again went on the offensive by striking at Discord over and over, with him simply yawning and continuing to block and parry my attacks.

He swung out at my unprotected left side and managed to give me a shallow slice, causing me to back off and wince. I backed away and allowed myself to get a few breaths of air, already feeling winded so early into our fight.

“Well 64? I’m waiting…” Discord mocked, causing me to go at him once again. I struck at his neck, causing him to block and strike back at my chest. I parried as we locked blades, pressing against each other.

Discord stood a good 3 feet over me, nearly 10 feet tall. I grunted as I pushed the Spirit of Chaos away, feeling a bit faint. I shook my head to try and wake myself up a little bit, but it helped very little.

“Oh, what’s wrong 64? Feeling a bit tired? Don’t worry, you’ll have plenty of time to sleep once you become my Chaotic Slave.”

I growled as I readied myself to stab him, but Discord reached out with his free hand, grabbing my arm and pulling me forward. I felt a hot white pain shoot through my chest, followed by a warm sensation. Discord grinned evilly as he stepped away from me, and I noticed he was no longer holding his Rapier in his hand.

I looked down to see the handle of the blade against my chest, with the entire length of the blade going through my chest and out my back. My vision began to swim as I fell to my knees, feeling blood drip down my chest.

“Don’t worry… it’s not a fatal wound, I made sure of that… we wouldn’t want to dying on me would we?” Discord said, sitting backwards onto a strange throne which he conjured. I felt myself coughing up blood as I fell onto my arms as well, trying to breath properly.

“Y-You… son of… a bitch…” I whispered, as the Rapier which was lodged in my chest disappeared.

“64!” a group of voices said from behind me, although I already knew who they were.

“Oh, would you look at this! Looks like we have a happy little reunion!” Discord said with glee, as the girls all gathered around me in an attempt to help me. Fluttershy turned me onto my back and tore off the remaining pieces of the Long sleeve I had on to get to my chest.

She saw the wounds to my torso from the fight with Discord, along with an unsightly amount of blood.

“Girls! Get ready!” Twilight yelled, knowing she wanted to use the Elements to stop Discord. Fluttershy was busy tearing strips of cloth out of my shirt, and pressed them to the more prominent wound on my chest.

I was fading in and out of consciousness, but I knew I had to do something to keep Discord in one place to hit him with the Elements. I pushed over onto my stomach as I saw Discord looking over to the Elements of Harmony, his hand hidden from them. He was gathering up magic to detonate the ground underneath them, preparing to kill them.

“no…” I whispered, trying to gather enough magic in my hand for a stun spell. I felt my magic being disrupted by my injuries, and knew I wouldn’t be unable to charge the amount of magic needed in time.

Time slowed as I looked around myself, seeing what was happening.

Twilight’s horn was glowing, charging all of the other Elements to attack Discord.

Discord’s hand was charging magic, and managed to finally to build up enough to cast the spell.

“64… let me help…” She said, as I was suddenly filled with burning heat. It was hotter than any other flame in Equestria, nearly burning me from the inside out. My eyes were filled with bright white light, and my arms turned into pure flames.

I pushed myself onto my feet and aimed my hands at Discord, blasting a Javelin of Flames at him. Discord saw my bolt of fire heading towards him and instead aimed his detonation spell at me, as I saw the ground around me glow a bright yellow.

“Fuck…” I muttered, as the world around me went black.

3rd Person POV

Twilight saw 64 being engulfed in the explosion, and cried out in panic. She then heard Discord scream out in pain, as she looked back at him. Impaling him to his throne was a javelin made of what looked like fire, as he bled profusely.

She knew that now was the time to hit Discord, with him incapacitated. With her already charging the Elements, she and all of her friends began to slowly rise into the air, aiming at Discord.

“NO! I WON’T LET THIS HAPPEN AGAIN!” Discord roared as he tried frantically to pull out the Javelin lodged in his body. Apparently it was disrupting his flow of magic, because his hands were flickering with a yellow glow, trying to teleport.

“It’s over Discord!” Twilight yelled, as a blast of Rainbow Magic shot out of the Elements like mortar fire, shooting upwards towards the sky. It arched as it reached the apex of its rise, now soaring downwards towards Discord.

“NO! NOOO!” Discord bellowed as the blast collided with him, destroying the javelin of magic impaled in him and slowly turning him to stone. He writhed and squirmed to try and get away from the magic, but it was simply too much, and he eventually was completely turned to stone. The arch of Rainbow Magic split in two, creating a dome of magic around Ponyville, before exploding out in a blast of Harmonious Magic.

Twilight and her friends all descended down from the air, as Discord toppled over onto the ground, a husk of what he used to be. Although he was defeated, the battle was far from over.

“64!” Twilight yelled out, running to where she last saw 64 taking the explosive blast. He was nowhere to be seen, except for the large crater which now was apparent.

“Wait where did 64 go? Wasn’t he just there?” Rainbow Dash asked, flying higher into the air to try and see if he might have been sent anywhere. She saw something crawling a good distance away, and the figure was obviously very injured. “Girls! Over there!”

Twilight looked up at Rainbow Dash and immediately started in a gallop towards the direction she was pointing in, wanting to help 64. The girls followed, and near the outskirts of Ponyville, 64 was found, bloody, beaten, and barely conscious.

They all ran to him and looked over his body, seeing wounds which would be fatal if he didn’t get help soon.

“discord… discord…” 64 whispered, coughing up blood as he did so. Applejack looked behind 64 to see a long blood trail from when he had tried crawling back, amazed he had covered such distance in the state he was in.

“64 calm down, we did it, Discord is gone. You can relax now.” Twilight said, obviously trying not to panic. Fluttershy was having a harder time and was now crying profusely, worrying for her friend.

“We gotta get ‘im to the hospital!”Applejack yelled out, Twilight shook her head.

“There’s going to be too many ponies there getting treatment for what just happened! We need to—“

Twilight was talking as she noticed something around 64’s neck. It was a small green charm, and she recognized it. She pulled it off and immediately channeled magic into it.

“Twilight what on earth are you doing?” Rarity asked.

“This charm! It’s a communication conduit! 64 used it to contact Celestia! I could do the same once I get past the interference spell!” Twilight explained, sweating as she continued to channel magic into the charm.

“destroy… runes…” 64 whispered, as Fluttershy tried to prevent him from speaking. Twilight eyes widened as she saw what 64 was talking about. There were interference runes disguised as amplifying runes to increase the range 64 could communicate with Canterlot, so Twilight had to overload them with magic to destroy them.

Once the runes were down, she yelled frantically into the charm.

“Hello!? Princess Celestia!?” She screamed, as the Princess on the other side was startled.

“Twilight? What are you doing on 64’s communication channel? Well I guess that’s beside the matter, I can see that Discord’s short reign has come to an end. Congratulations Twilight!” Celestia said gladly, making Twilight annoyed.

“Princess we can’t celebrate yet! 64 is really hurt and needs help! Is there any way for us to get to Canterlot for help?!” Twilight said frantically as no response came from the other end. She waited for Celestia to respond, but all she heard was a faint buzzing sound.

“Princess?!”

“64 is down?” Celestia said, sounding as if she didn’t believe it.

“Yes! We need help now!”

A few moments later, a bright yellow magic blast appeared in the field, and Princess Celestia stood there in the same field as the dying 64 and Twilight Sparkle. She looked towards 64 and saw Fluttershy trying to stabilize him, and stopped her.

“Princess what are you doing?” Fluttershy asked, as Celestia raised her hoof.

“Allow me to do this…” She whispered, putting her horn to 64’s forehead. She analyzed his memories, seeing him battle against Discord, and buy Twilight enough time to gather the Elements of Harmony. She pulled back and looked down upon 64, who was looking back up.

“well princess… did I earn another chance…?” 64 whispered, a slight scowl on his face. Celestia simply nodded and put her horn onto 64’s stomach, sending a spell into him.

“ARGHH!!” 64 screamed out, writhing in pain at the magic coursing through him. Slowly his wounds closed, leaving disfigured scars and blood stains all over his body. He fell into unconsciousness shortly after, leaving Celestia simply staring down at him.

“He’s gone into a coma…” She said simply, making the group around her gasp in horror.

“But you healed him! How could he have gone into a coma!?” Twilight yelled, as Celestia shook her head.

“His human body couldn’t withstand the amount of punishment which was dealt to him, especially with the severe concussion he had received in the explosion. The coma itself won't be too devastating, but might last a short number of weeks. We can take him to the Medical Center in the Palace, so let us proceed.”

Celestia levitated 64’s body and placed it onto her back, laying him as if he was asleep on his stomach, with his arms and legs hanging off the side. The girls looked upon him, seeing that the powerful being which was capable of going head to head with Discord now looked so vulnerable.

Celestia’s horn glowed for a short moment, as the group which was just standing in the outskirts of Ponyville, was then teleported to Canterlot. The only evidence of their presence there a few seconds ago was the trail of blood leading toward the town, then stopping.

Chapter 21

Chapter 21

3rd Person POV

2 days after what was now known as the ‘Chaos Incident’, the Elements of Harmony were publicly congratulated for their actions, and the window which once held the depiction of Celestia’s and Luna’s victory against Discord was replaced by the new defeat of Discord, depicting the Elements of Harmony using their power to defeat him.

When Twilight first saw the new window, she immediately saw the problem with it. It omitted 64’s involvement whatsoever. After the celebration was over and the rest of her friends had gone to sleep in their guest rooms, she walked over to Celestia, the question on her mind.

“Excuse me, Princess?” Twilight asked sheepishly, not wanting to anger Celestia.

“Yes Twilight? Did you need something?” Celestia asked, making Twilight shake her head no.

“That’s not it. I… I was just wondering… why… why wasn’t 64 put into the window? He had just as much, if not more responsibility for defeating Discord.”

Celestia looked at Twilight for a while, thinking about her response to that question. She lowered her head a bit, sighing as she looked back at Twilight. “I felt… that even though he was a big reason Discord was defeated, you and your friends were the ones who were able to deliver the final blow.”

Twilight looked unconvinced, knowing there was a bigger reason. “Princess, I know you are lying to me. Please be honest… I know there is a lot of mystery and lies behind 64’s life, but can you please be honest? If not with Equestria, then can you please be honest with me?” Twilight begged, wanting to know.

Celestia sighed and looked behind her shoulders a few times, before looking down at Twilight with a serious tone to her face.

“Twilight, would you like to see where 64 was born?” Celestia asked, making Twilight’s eyes widen.

“W-what do you mean? He’s told us where he was born before.”

“I have no doubt he did, but I feel it would be best explained there.”

Twilight looked a bit doubtful about traveling into the Undergrounds of Canterlot, knowing its dark past, but looked up and nodded at her mentor. Celestia sighed once again and started walking down one of the many hallways in the Palace, with Twilight following close behind.

They found the triple bolted and locked metal door of the Dungeon, made to hold the less dangerous criminals of Equestria. Twilight looked apprehensive about entering, but walked in after a wave from Celestia.

“Do not let their heckling get to you, just keep your head forward and keep walking.” Celestia said seriously, obviously not showing any signs of leniency toward some of the conscious criminals in their cells. Twilight wondered what she meant by that, until one of the prisoners spoke up.

“Well hullo there little lady! How about you get me outta these chains an’ I’ll let you show me a good time!”

Twilight reared back at the stallions disgusting advance, quickly scurrying closer to Celestia.

“Hey there good looking, how about you tell the Princess to let me outta these chains and I can make it worth your while…” Another stallion said, a suave look on his face and a stare which almost made Twilight agree to the offer.

“Leave her alone this instant!” Celestia snapped, scaring the lecherous captive back and startling Twilight as well. The two continued walking without incident through the dungeon, before coming across Two Royal Guards standing in front of a lift. They bowed at Celestia’s presence, her aura simply demanding respect.

“At ease… we would like to descend to the S Floor please.” Celestia asked, stepping onto the large lift with Twilight. The two Unicorn Guards nodded, their horns glowing Purple. The lift began to descend at a quick pace, scaring Twilight a bit.

They eventually stopped after 17 floors of falling, coming to a boarded up one door entrance. Twilight looked at the dusty door, seeing the signs of death and decay all over it.

“Princess, it looks like nopony has been down here in ages… what is this place?” Twilight asked naively, Celestia not saying a word. She simply walked to the door and put a hoof up to it, feeling its rough surface.

“I never thought I would see this place again…” She said, before frowning at the door. She quickly turned around, and with a yell she bucked the door with all her might, shattering it into a pile of splinters and dust.

Twilight was shocked at the display of anger, but followed Celestia after she walked through the opening. It was pitch black, with the only light illuminating the room being from Celestia’s horn.

“Over a thousand years ago… Nightmare Moon first appeared in Equestria, born from Luna’s jealousy and hatred. This you already know. After the events of her banishment, I slumped into a deep depression, not knowing what to do anymore. Without my leadership, Equestria fell into a state of turmoil.” Celestia explained, walking through the dark hallways. Twilight listened with rapt attention, not saying a word.

“Soon after I finally came out of my stupor, I found myself becoming angrier at myself, not realizing what was happening to my sister right before my eyes. I focused on making sure that an event like this would ever affect Equestria again, so my Royal Advisor at the time, Penmen Hunt, suggested something drastic. We began to enforce more stressful training regimen for the Royal Guards, resulting in 13 deaths within a year.” Celestia said regretfully, making Twilight gasp in shock.

“They died!?” Twilight asked, making Celestia nod her head.

“Yes… 5 dead from training related accidents, such as mortally wounding each other during training, and the other 8 from suicide. They were simply unable to take it, and took their own life after a few short months. When I realized that their deaths would hinder morale, I went back to a slightly more lenient training regimen. Penmen’s plan after that was simple, find ways to improve the guard genetically. This was a time before Starswirl the Bearded, when spells such as temporary augmentation weren’t available. This is when I first started taking in… students…” Celestia said slowly, opening another boarded up door, gentler this time.

Twilight was nearly in tears, knowing that she was nearly turned into one of the test subjects. Celestia didn’t looked back at her, as they finally reached a room with a large vat standing in the middle. It wasn’t filled with anything, but to Celestia, all she could see was the being who would in the end save her from herself.

“In here, was where 64 grew. We kept him until the age of 10, before releasing him. From there, the rest is history… He is the only remaining survivor of a dark time for Equestria, which is one of the reason I didn’t implement him into the window. He isn’t supposed to be exposed to the public like a shining idol, but a reminder that I have committed crimes so horrible, that sometimes I feel as if that I shouldn’t be alive.” Celestia whispered, staring at the empty vat.

Memories of the experiments undergone in these labs were making her tremble slightly, with one tear streaming down her cheek.

“It’s in the past… right?” Twilight asked, honestly scared of the answer her mentor might give her. Celestia nodded and turned around to face Twilight, her eyes red and puffy.

“Yes Twilight… this is all in the past… hopefully this is the last time I ever have to come down here.”

Twilight nuzzled her mentor affectionately, as Celestia returned the gesture. Celestia understood what she did was horrible, and no matter what she did, nothing would absolve her of her crimes. She had no right to be mad at 64 for holding a grudge against her. She deserved it tenfold.

“Do you understand now Twilight? Why 64 couldn’t be on the window?” Celestia asked. Twilight looked up at her mentor and nodded.

“Yes Princess, can we get out of here now? It’s starting to give me the creeps.” Twilight joked, trying to lighten the depressing mood. Celestia chuckled and nodded, as the two made their way out of the Underground Labs.

2 WEEKS LATER

Times had been rough ever since 64 had gone into his coma, especially with Celestia racking her brain with her newfound revelation. Twilight and her friends had begun to help rebuild after what had happened to Ponyville after Discord’s short reign, mostly offering mental support in regards to the traumatic experiences which many ponies were still having nightmares about.

64 was also having these nightmares in his comatose state, imagining what if he wasn’t able to distract Discord from killing the Elements. He could see their burnt and charred bodies on the ground next to him, dead from him not being there to react quickly enough, or Discord being able to fully invade his mind and make him a husk of a being.

He felt a tingling in his fingers as he head suddenly exploded in a fit of pain, but he was unable to move. His eyes slowly fluttered open, seeing a pitch black room. There was a door on the other side of the room with light leaking through the bottom of it, but the blinds to the windows were drawn shut, not allowing 64 to see anything.

“urgh…” 64 groaned nearly inaudibly. He felt a cool liquid flowing through his arm, going up his shoulder until the sensation stopped, and knew it was an IV drip. He tried closing his fists, but found that his body was unresponsive. Even with his eyes open, he couldn’t find the will to blink.

His eyes began darting around, trying to think of something that would get him out of this claustrophobic setting. He could already feel the tingling in the back of his neck, the first indicator that he was about to have an episode.

He tried harder to move his arms, but they felt as if they were tied down with barbed wire.

“FUCK FUCK FUCK!” 64 yelled in his head, already freaking out. As he struggled against the nonexistence restraints, he heard steps within the room. He stopped all attempted movement, and began to scan the room as best as he could in the pitch black.
He heard the footsteps get closer, and his thoughts came to a full stop.

“Footsteps?!” 64 screamed out in his head, as two imaginary hands came down onto his shoulders, pinning him to the bed. The figure put its legs over 64, straddling him in the bed and moving its face closer to his, as he felt its breath on his face.

“we’ll always be in here 64… and when you crack… I’ll be waiting for you…” the voice said, as a small flicker of fire illuminated the room. For a split second, 64 saw Vi’s bloodied and disfigured face hovering over his own, as he felt his entire body tense up.

64 felt himself sit up while screaming his head off, gripping both sides of his temples as he threw the vision of Vi off of his body, making her disappear. 64 rolled off of the bed, pulling down the IV stand down with him, making the bag burst and spill its contents everywhere.

A few nurses burst through the door, letting the light of the outside shine blindingly into 64’s face. For not having his eyelids open for 2 weeks, then letting light flood into his eyes, it only made his situation worse.

“Project 64! You need to calm down and allow us to get you back into bed!” One of the stronger male nurses said, gripping 64 by the shoulders and attempting to hoist him up. 64 saw these ponies as ponies who were trying to recapture him, and immediately lashed out at them.

He grabbed the stallion and threw towards the wall, making the two other mares in the room shriek in horror. Nearly blind and covered up by an ill-fitting hospital gown, 64 came stumbling out of the hospital room, yelling and screaming his head off.

“DISCORD!? WHERE THE FUCK IS HE!?” 64 yelled, thinking that Discord was still there trying to attack him. Royal Guards immediately saw 64 freaking out and called for backup, knowing how strong 64 was. Two Unicorn Stallions both entangled 64 in combined grips of 64’s legs, causing him to fall onto his stomach, all while clawing at the floor trying to get away.

“YOU THINK I’LL GO BACK?! I’LL NEVER LET YOU TAKE ME BACK! YOU MONSTERS!”

More guards came flooding into the hallway 64 was currently being detained, all either using magic or physical restraint against him. 64 continued to fight against all of the restraint which was being put against him, but to no avail.

Eventually, 64 finally began to tire out, and fell back into unconsciousness.

64 POV

“uh… what the fuck… is going on…” I groaned, feeling another spike of pain shoot through the front of my head. When I moved around on my bed, I heard a voice talk.

“64, are you alright?” Princess Celestia asked me, making me open my bleary eyes. I was laying on a medical bed, with small restraints on my wrists and ankles. I noticed that Twilight and her friends were also in the room, looking down at me with worried faces.

“I… I feel really weak… like I can barely curl my fingers.” I groaned, as Celestia chuckled.

“Well after being in a comatose state for 2 weeks, I wouldn’t expect any less.”

My eyes shot open at that statement.

“2 WEEKS? I’ve been in a coma for 2 weeks?!” I exclaimed, making Celestia nod her head. “What he hell happened to me? I can remember up to the moment where I shot a bolt of magic a t Discord, and then everything went kind of explosiony. Then I can remember waking up for a little bit before, but nothing after that.”

“You suffered from a severe concussion due to the explosion, but other than that, you’ve suffered no permanent injuries. And you did wake up for a brief moment, but it was in a fit of rage and confusion. Luckily you were restrained before anything bad happened, but it seems that you might have suffered from psychological damage as well. You were yelling a great deal about Discord.”

64 took in this information and thought about it, not remembering any of that.

“Damn… I’m sorry about that. Why the hell are my arms tied down?” I asked, tugging at them a bit. They were cut by Celestia’s magic shortly after, allowing me to bring my arms up to my face and rub my wrists. “Thanks, help me up.”

I held my hand out towards Celestia, who held out her hoof as well. I was pulled up to be in a sitting position, groaning as my stiff body was being moved.

“How are you feeling 64? We found you in a pretty rough shape after we defeated Discord.” Twilight said, worried about me.

“I’ll be fine… head trauma never slowed me down before. When’s the soonest I can get out of here?” I asked, straining to swing my legs over the bedside. I curled toes and rolled my ankles a few times before stretching out my back.

“Well, that depends. If you pass a quick physical exam I have planned, then you can be discharged within a few hours within passing it, but if you don’t, it might be a few days. For now, take it easy and we’ll get you examined.” Celestia explained, her voice softer than I’ve ever heard her speak to me. I nodded and continued to stretch myself out a bit, working out kinks that I gained for lying in bed for 14 days straight.

“Sounds fair, just don’t keep me waiting.”

I laid back in the bed, sighing as I did so. Applejack came to the side and spoke.

“64, ah just want ya to know that we really appreciate ya helping us with Discord. Spike told all about the letter ya sent to Celestia, and we all saw firsthoof what ya were doing to keep Discord distracted.” Applejack said sincerely. The other girls all exclaimed their thanks together, Rainbow Dash reenacting my fight with Discord with a bunch of goofy sound effects. I chuckled and made sure that I accepted their thanks, before a nurse walked into the room and announced visiting times were over.

Everypony in the room walked out, making me sigh in boredom. I scratched the bottom of my neck when I realized that I didn’t have my Communicator Charm on, looking around for it on a table anywhere.

When I couldn’t find it, I groaned and fell back into my bed, wanting to make sure I had it on me at all times. I always made sure Ghost had his on, because you never know when you might need it.

His name rang a bell in my head, making me shoot up from my bed and go to the door. I looked out and saw Celestia still hadn’t left my field of vision, before yelling out at her.

“Celestia! Wait! One last question!” I called, making her turn around and come back.

“Yes 64? What is it?” She asked.

“Has there been word from Ghost? Is he alright?”

Celestia laughed and made a small red charm appear, placing it in my open palm. “Crush this gem in your hand and toss the dust into the air. He left you a message after I informed him of what happened.”

Celestia turned and walked away after that, with me going back to the hospital bed. I made myself comfortable as I crushed the gem into both of my hands, blowing the dust which formed into the air. It floated stagnantly for a few moments, before swirling into the image of Ghost standing there in a hotel room.

“Hey 64! Princess Celestia told me all about what happened in Equestria A few days ago! When I asked around, it seemed like it hadn’t hit Ethaxial, so maybe Discord wasn’t as all powerful as he thought he was huh? Well I’m doing alright over here. Like I told you before, the police force over here is helping me gather some evidence before we allow you to come over here all Kung-Fu-y and take him back to Equestria. Captain Fawkes has been really cool about it too, not worrying about me stepping all over the case like a lot of the other cops.”

“Now don’t get scared of me saying this, but I did have to feed. It was some cheating wife trying to find a quickie to get back at her husband for not treating her well enough, and she decided that I looked like a good enough Gryphon to do it with. Luckily she was really drunk so I didn’t actually have to do anything to her, because she was spewing love everywhere. Oh and chunks, she was also spewing chunks.”

“Celestia told me what you did to Discord, and I got really scared when I found out about you being in a coma. But I know you won’t be stopped by a little point blank explosion, so you’ll be fine. Next time there’s a really big bad guy we have to fight, make sure I’m there with you, so we can split the glory alright?! Well I have to go, we’re planning a sting operation later tonight, with me posing as a high end buyer for the dust. Bye 64! Hope you’re feeling better!”

The message ended after that, making me grin. Little guy always knew how to put me in a good mood. From what he kept sending me in his reports, he must have been doing alright.

“Hello, Project 64? I’m here to conduct your physical exam. Don’t worry there’s nothing serious or anything, just a few stretching tests, a blood sample, and a urine sample.” A stallion said, walking in with a stethoscope around his neck, and a bandage cutie mark.

“Alright Doc, just make it quick.” I said.

The doctor pulled out a small flashlight with his magic and shined them in my eyes, before writing a few things down on a clipboard.

“Ok Project 64, this may sting a bit.” He said, a small syringe in his magical grasp. I looked up at the needle and then to the doctor, making me freeze in my seat and my blood run cold. Standing there was Dr. Silent Knight, blood running down his face and a large blade instead of a syringe.

“LET’S GET THIS OVER WITH!” He screamed in a blood curdling voice.

“NO!” I yelled, leaping backwards in the bed and closing my eyes.

“64?! Is something wrong? Are you afraid of needles?” A much quieter voice said, as the doctor who was conducting the tests was once again standing there, an empty syringe in his grasp. I shook my head a bit and held my arm out.

“No… no of course not. Just… uh… a bad memory.”

Author's Note

Aww Yeah! Sleep Paralysis FTW! First signs of 64's mind slowly starting to deteriorate! Dis gon b gud...

Chapter 22

Chapter 22

64 POV

The examination was done pretty fast after my mini episode, with the doctor jokingly snapping on a glove to his hoof and asking me to bend over. Luckily he said it was a joke before he was hanging out of the window by his coat.

Some spare clothing of mine was left in a drawer next to the bed, along with my communicator charm. The clothing looked as if it was brand new, and upon inspection of the tag, I saw Rarity had made me some new threads while I was out.

“Damn, I have to thank her later.” I said, pulling the new White Hooded Long sleeve over my head. I found in one of the pockets a note was left, and I chuckled upon reading it.

“You really do wear too much Black 64, you must learn to invert your colors to put a bit of flair into your fashion.”

I could easily tell it was also written by Rarity, so I put it back into the pocket. The pants felt as if they were made up Kevlar, which was incredibly hard to come by these days. It was Colored Dark Grey, making a sort of outfit with the Long sleeve, but I thought about the practicality of the clothing. They were very light colors, and I often liked to stick to the shadows.

“Not all of my jobs are stealthy I guess…” I muttered, getting a feel for the new clothing. I walked out of the hospital room and proceeded to the front desk, checking myself out with the Doctor’s permission. The light still stung my eyes a bit, but that was a given for being unconscious for 2 weeks.

“So 64, if you continue to feel dizziness, migraines, or any other sign of head trauma, don’t hesitate to come back.” The nurse at the desk told me as I checked myself out as a patient.

“Don’t worry, I’m made of thicker stuff than it looks like.” I joked, turning around and walking out of the front doors. I was apparently checked into the Canterlot Medical Center instead of the Ponyville one, throwing me off a little bit.

"I thought I was in Ponyville…”

I shook off the feeling of slight confusion and continued towards the Palace, which I could easily see in the distance. With Discord gone, everything looked like it was back to normal, with the Canterlot Hedge Maze fully regrown, and not a single pink cloud in sight. If I ever saw the bastard again, it would be too soon.

I eventually made it to the Palace Bridge, walking over the moat and into the actual Palace itself. The first thing I did was head towards the Barracks, where I wanted to speak with the Royal Military Police, who were in charge of tracking down the Slava family. Even though I had been out the past 2 weeks, doesn’t mean I forgot about them.

I found the Chief Investigative Officer, Crossroad, sitting at her desk rummaging through papers. She was still wearing her battle armor, and her red mane was down from her usual pony tail, cascading down her white coat.

“Yo.” I said lazily, walking into the office.

“Project 64… I had heard something had happened to you. Something about assisting in the defeat of Discord. I’ll tell ya, only you are stupid enough to rush at the Spirit of Chaos head first.” Cross scolded, with me wiping away the remark with a wave.

“I survived, albeit barely, in the end. Anyway, before any of that happened, there was a case in progress regarding the escape of a gang from the Underground Prison. The Slava family. I need to know if any progress has been made.” I said sternly, not caring if Celestia told me not to pry.

Crossroad leaned forward onto the desk, rubbing her temples. “I’ll tell ya, we’ve searched high and low for them all over Equestria. We’ve found 3 secret hideouts and raided them, but we found absolutely nothing. They were all cleared out with surgical precision, not leaving anything behind. And after a while, more cases built up, needing to be dealt with. Unfortunately, we are at a dead end with the Slava’s.”

I groaned, this being exactly what I was afraid of. There had to be something that we could have found, maybe I could go back and do a more thorough search.

“I see that look in your eye 64, and I’ll tell ya right now it’s no dice. We had the finest sweepers search those hideouts, and absolutely nothing came of it. So all we can do is wait for something to pop up, then we’ll hit with all we got.” Crossroad said, making me slump into a chair and rub the bridge of my nose.

“I can’t just sit on my ass and do nothing about it. They are a dangerous family who experiments in Alicorn Magic, we can’t just ‘wait for something to pop up’.” I argued, making Crossroad scowl at me.

“Listen 64. We don’t have the time to pursue just one case. We need to focus on all of the other case we get. Now get, I’m working on a Missing Foals Case.”

I complied and got up from the chair, walking out of the room. I couldn’t change how to MP’s worked, all I could do was help if something came up. I proceeded back to my quarters, mulling over how I could at least try and do something. I could ask Celestia if I could be assigned to the case, but then that would probably piss of the officers already working on the job.

I opened my room to find that it had been cleaned and dusted in the time I had been hospitalized, making me remember something.

“Holy shit Blu!” I gasped, wondering if she was okay after what happened. Manehatten had gotten hit by a spaghetti twister, much more violent than all of the other occurrences in Equestria. I was about to go rushing to the Throne Room to ask Celestia if she had returned, when I found myself face to face with the pony in question.

“Oh thank goodness Blu… I thought something bad happened.” I sighed, as she shook her head no. Blusa signed to me that everything in Manehatten had gone back to normal after a day, and the only thing that was severely damaged were a few of the shipyards.

“Well as long as your safe… let me guess, you also heard of what happened between me and Discord?” I said deadpanned, as she nodded angrily. “Ok, Ok… I get it. I was reckless, but I don’t regret a second of it.”

She simply rolled her eyes at me and flashed the words ‘brother’ and ‘fine’.

“So Grey wasn’t hurt either?” I asked, making Blusa shake her head no again. I was just glad that Blu wasn’t hurt. I didn’t want me being the reason she was hurt because she just happened to be in Manehatten because I asked her.

We said our goodbyes as I turned back into my room and sighed, looking around at how empty it fel without Ghost. I decided I needed to occupy myself, so I opened one of the desk drawers to reveal unfinished schematics that I had brought home from Manehatten. I pulled one of them out and started to make a few more notes in the designs, with this one needing some sort of gauntlet which would keep it strapped to my forearm.

“Hey, I heard you were discharged from the hospital today.” A voice said, as I turned in the chair I was sitting in. Shining Armor was standing there in his Battle Armor, minus the helmet. “You really put a scare into some of the other guards. Based on your records, a lot of them think you’re invincible.”

“I’m just thick skinned and hard to kill, but not invincible. I guess the one thing that can beat me now is a Spirit of Chaos and maybe Celestia.” I joked, returning to my notes. ‘So what do I have the pleasure Captain, need me to do something?”

“Maybe. With you gone, all of the quick jobs which can be completed in a day started to pile up for the MP’s, and they are all having trouble completing them. We may need you to jump right back into the game and getting working again.”

I sighed a bit, but I realized that my vacation was officially over, so I had nothing to complain about.

“Alright, but I’ll take on the bigger stuff first. What’s the case you’re having the most problems with right now?” I asked, seeing a flaw in the spring mechanism of my gauntlet.

“It’s a Missing Foals Case, as in multiple cases across Equestria. They’re too close together in a time frame for them to be a coincidence. We have multiple reports from all over Equestria talking about foals all of a sudden disappearing all within 1 hour of each other, with no sign of why they disappeared. I of course wouldn’t be able to assign you the job right away, but I could put in a recommendation to Princess Celestia.”

That sounded like a tough one. I wasn’t a detective of any kind, and this case sounded like something Police teams would work together and try to catch the group doing this. I already knew it couldn’t be more than one pony, due to the time frames being so close together.

“Alright then, go ahead. I’ll look over the details if I get assigned.” I said, kicking my feet up onto the table lazily, finishing up the blueprint for the Gauntlet. I really didn’t have a need for it, due to the fact that I would be able to conjure one with magic, but maybe if I wanted to I could build it and give it to Shining or something.

“Now don’t go finding something else to fight while I’m gone.” Shining joked as he walked out of the room, making me chuckle a bit. I felt tired all of a sudden, bring my right hand to my face to rub my eyes. I pulled my hand back and nearly jumped up when I saw it was now completely covered in blood, going all the way down to the middle of my forearm.

“what the fuck…?” I muttered to myself, shaking as I went to the bathroom to look at myself in the mirror. Where my eyes should have been were two burning orbs of fire, and tears of blood running down my face.

My immediate reaction was to open the faucets and try to get water onto my face, but when I turned on the spigot, viscous red liquid began to seep out of the sink. I turned into the toilet and vomited bile into the bowl, feeling light headed all of a sudden.

I closed my eyes and shook my head a little bit, looking back towards the mirror. My face was back to normal, and the faucet was now running clean water. I sighed and sat down with my back to the wall, taking in deep breaths to try and calm myself down.

“It was just from being out for two weeks… I haven’t even eaten yet…” I muttered to myself, getting up off of the ground and heading straight for the Mess Hall. They were serving lunch at the moment, and I was glad to see that nopony else was inside at the moment, it would give me some time to think quietly.

I had already had three freak-outs already, one I couldn’t even remember. I just sat down with a bowl of vegetable soup in front of me, taking a few bites. I ate slowly, my mind still wracking itself on how I acted out so strangely.

“Probably just stressed out about what happened with Discord… that was the closest I had ever come to actually dying…” I told myself, knowing that I felt more death while fighting Discord than I did fighting Super Nova.

I continued to slowly eat the hot soup in front of me, although I found it to be really bland. I was already feeling calmer, which had to be some sort of good sign.

“Ugh… who the fuck am I trying to fool…” I grunted, burying my face in my hands with my elbows resting on the table. I sat there for a good long while, trying to clear my head of the images I had seen today. The disfigured face of Vi was still fresh in my mind, and all I wanted was to scoop it out with a spoon.

Knight was even scarier, with me being nearly defenseless in that moment. After a few moments of deep breath, I cleared my head by remembering that I was the one who killed him, I was the one who chopped off his head and threw it a Super Nova.

I took the spoon in my hand and took another bite of the soup, nearly spitting it out at the cold vegetable water. I looked at it confused, seeing it was no longer steaming like it was just moments ago.

“Hey buddy, it’s almost closin’ time. You gonna get outta here? Or are you just gonna keep sittin’ there?” The stallion standing behind the cafeteria line yelled out, making look at him in bewilderment. I looked at my watch and s wait was now 11PM. I had sat there in my seat for over 8 hours.

“Uh yea, I’m… I’m gonna go…” I said, getting up out of the seat and making my way towards my room, wondering what the hell was going on with me…

Ghost POV

I sat at the same table I was seated at the last time I came to this sleazy club, watching the bar. It was Now late into the evening, nearly 1AM, and there hadn’t been a sign of the dealer in 2 weeks. After the near bust which I attended before, the dealer completely stopped coming to the club, waiting for the heat to die down.

Across the room I saw Reggie, who was nursing a Soft Apple Cider. He kept them same look upon his face as every single undercover cop did in the club, one of intense concentration and focus. We scanned for the dealer, who was a Red furred Diamond Dog, who wore a Golden Spike collar and a Black vest.

“Dammit 65… there hasn’t been hide nor hair of the damn guy for two weeks. I’m thinking you are leading us for a wild goose chase!” Reggie said in my communicator, making me roll my eyes.

“Wrath was telling the truth about the dealer… he was one of the dog’s transporters. Plus I had a lie detector spell which my mentor taught me, and Wrath passed. There’s no way the guy was lying.” I said quietly through my communicator, as I took a sip of the Cola I had.

“I still have the authority to lock you up for Obstruction of Justice Agent 65, if this doesn’t pay off within the next few days, I’m gonna make sure you rot.”

“Don’t worry, it won’t. Let’s pack up for the night, and then I can do some digging tomorrow morning. I’ll find out where the dealer is hanging.” I replied back to Reggie, who got up and walked up out of the club. All of the undercover cops all left in a specific order, leaving in different directions to not arouse suspicions of anyone who might be watching. I thought that they were being extra paranoid, but I guess it was better safe than sorry.

As always, I was last to leave, walking out and heading towards the Hotel Room I was staying at. I dropped my Fonix disguise and sighed, rubbing my horn at all of the energy which it used up in prolonged periods.

“Ugh… let’s just get to bed! I wish I was back at the Palace, they always served the most delicious snacks for breakfast.” I said happily, licking my lips at the memories of the tasty treats I always I had back home. Due to me being a Changeling, any food I ate was simply disintegrated in my stomach, not providing any nutrition of any kind. It was all for pleasure, which is why I always loved to binge on the cupcakes which I always ordered to my room.

I made it back to the hotel and changed back into my Gryphon disguise, walking towards the front desk to extend my stay. The Gryphoness currently working at the desk had her face in her talons, messing up the white feather on her head.

“Umm, excuse me?” I called out, apparently shaking the Gryphoness out of her stupor.

“Yeah, what do you want? It’s not even today anymore! It’s tomorrow!” She scolded me, making me confused. I shook away her remark and continued.

“Well I’d like to extend my stay. I believe this should cover it.” I said, pulling out a bag of bits I had at the ready. I wasn’t even close to running out of the cash 64 gave me, but I didn’t want to be spending too much of his money.

“Well alright then… Fonix Duce, I can give you a 2 week extension.” The worker said, writing something into a book she had on the desk. I nodded in thanks and looked towards her name tag.

“Why thank you… Gilda.” I said turning away, as I heard her huff in exasperation. I made my way to my room and threw myself onto the bed, ditching the disguise and rolling myself up into a burrito with the blankets.

I sighed happily as I felt the warmth around me, grinning with contentment. I hoped 64 was alright after what I heard happened, knowing the damage which could have happened in Equestria. Discord was THE God of Chaos, and 64 just ran in head first to fight him.

That was a mentor I was proud to have.

I knew 64 would be alright… there wasn’t anything that could stop him.

Anything.

Author's Note

Little Late, but I was crashing a party. Their toilet will not work for days now... XD

What Crossroads looks like here.

Chapter 23

Chapter 23

3rd Person POV

The next morning, 64 slowly got up from his bed and rubbed his eyes, groggy after a dreamless night. Looking at his watch, he saw it was 8:20.

“Might as well go see if Celestia needs anything done around here…” 64 muttered, hating these periods of time where he had nothing to do. Dressing in the new clothes that Rarity made for him, 64 made his way towards the Throne Room, feeling better about yesterday’s events. Opening the door with his magic, 64 saw Celestia and Luna both sitting in their respective thrones.

“Hey there Princesses. How have thing been since I was out?” 64 asked.

“Well besides from everything being peaceful for a change, almost nothing.” Luna joked, making 64 chuckle. “But apart from that, there has been a slight buildup of available jobs which have been requested. Shining Armor came to us yesterday and spoke of your interest in once again performing Royal Duties. He told of the case of Foalnappings across Equestria, and recommended you for the position. Of course whether you want to accept this job is completely up to you.”

“Yeah, I remember him telling me a few things about that… But that’s an Investigation, I’m not sure my skill set is exactly optimal for that situation.” 64 admitted, shrugging his shoulders. “Then again, the Slava Case is an Investigation, so I’ll need some experience in that field. I accept.”

Celestia looked down at 64 and narrowed her eyes a bit, before realizing what she was doing. She breathed in and out slowly, before speaking. “Crossroads told me of the request you came to her for, and I will say this. If you are able to accomplish this mission, I will consider allowing your involvement in tracking down the Slava Family.”

64 smiled and nodded in excitement. “Understood Princess.”

“Now then, allow me to give you this.” Celestia said, floating a Manila Folder over to 64. He grabbed it from the air and opened it, as several photos fell out. He picked them up and grimaced slightly at the first one, seeing a photo of a Black Maned, Purple Coated filly.

As he picked them up one by one, he saw the same kind of picture over and over, with a Foal’s face staring back at him.

“These are the missing victims. 2 days before Discord’s return, the first foals were taken. The two foals lived in the exact same city, Las Pegasus. After that, many other cases began to spring up, with the circumstances being exactly the same. Two Foals, same city. The major towns that have been affected are Las Pegasus, Appaloosa, Baltimare, and lastly, Canterlot.” Celestia explained, grim features outlining her face when speaking of the last city.

“Any outstanding traits about the victims?” 64 asked, not letting an anger bubbling up inside of him flow out.

“None whatsoever. There is no pattern in color, gender, race, or cutie mark. The only thing to go by, are that the victims have been foals above the age of 8, and under the age of 14.”

64 lips set into a firm line, looking at all of the descriptions and trying to find something to go off by. His eyes narrowed at the discovery, and a grim thought entered his head.

“What did you find 64?” Luna asked, seeing 64’s demeanor.

“There have been 20 foalnappings in total… with 10 being Earth Ponies, 7 being Pegasi, and 3 being Unicorns.” 64 explained, as the sisters waited for him to continue. “If I had to guess, I would say manual labor.”

Princess Celestia’s eyes widened slightly at the assumption, although it wasn’t entirely impossible. “You think the above average amount of Earth Ponies and the below average amount of Unicorns results in slavery?” she asked, not really wanting to know the answer.

“Yep. Unicorns, although are resistant to magic, are not very resistant to physical trauma. They also are on average weaker than the two other races. And due to the ages of the Unicorns in question, 8, 10, and 13, it could mean that their skills in magic are not very honed yet. Earth Ponies on the other hand, can be just as strong as a mature Unicorn Stallion at the age of 10, making them perfect targets for manual labor.” 64 explained further, not taking his eyes off of the papers in front of him.

Both of the Princesses thought about it, and 64’s explanation came up perfectly clear.

“Your skill in Perception is very keen 64, perhaps you won’t be as ill-fitted as you think you are.” Princess Celestia congratulated, making 64 smile.

“Maybe. When will I be leaving for Las Pegasus?” He asked, closing the folder in his hands and putting it into his Satchel Pocket.

“In the evening, when the arrangements for a Pegasi transport have been made. Until then, I believe Shining Armor asked me to direct you to the Training Area at your earliest convenience.” Celestia informed 64.

He nodded and bade the Princesses farewell, noticing that Celestia had a strange look in her eye before he left. It wasn’t a look of hatred or carefulness, but instead it looked like regret. He didn’t think too much of it as he walked out the door, heading towards the Guards Barracks.

Meanwhile, Shining Armor was currently putting a group of new recruits through the ringer, trying to find out who would crack first.

“C’MON! ARE YOU GONNA SIT THERE AND TELL ME YOU CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE!? YOU ARE GOING TO KEEP RUNNING UNTIL THE HOOVE ON THE ENDS OF YOUR LEGS ARE CRACKED, BLEEDING, AND BROKEN! DON’T LET ME CATCH YOU SLACKING YOU BOTTOM FEEDERS!” He yelled to the exhausted initiates, who all had tears running down their faces.

They were running around an indoor track at top speed with a Large Sphere rolling after them, courtesy of Shining Armor.

“Well, the rolling ball is new…” 64 said, walking into the training area and seeing what was going on.

“Well I was wondering when you were gonna show. Now c’mon, you’ve been in bed 2 weeks, you gotta get back in shape. Start running recruit!” Shining Armor yelled, half joking half serious.

“Hey, you can’t call me that. I’m technically not one of your soldiers.” 64 said in a mock hurt tone.

“The hell I can’t. Remember 6 months ago when I gave you the honorary Royal Guard Badge? Technically those things never wear off, so get running!”

64 complied and started to run when the large sphere was about to roll by, jumping in front of it and taking off.

“ALRIGHT YOU MAGGOTS! GET OFF OF THE TRACK! TAKE A BREATHER! LET’S SEE HOW FAST THIS ONE CAN GO!” Shining Armor yelled, as the group of crying, exhausted stallions all ran to the side, falling over as soon as they got there. Shining’s horn glowed as the ‘Sphere of Encouragement’ began to roll faster and faster, making 64 pick up the pace a little bit.

As of right now, 64 wasn’t using his magic to help himself run, but he knew that if it came to that, he would. 64 was in a full sprint at this point, with the rolling ball of magic nipping on his heels

“STARTING THE COUNTDOWN TIMER! BAIL WHEN IT BECOMES TOO MUCH 64!” Shining yelled to the human, who gave a thumbs up as he continued running. 64 could already feel the effects of being immobile for 2 weeks, feeling his legs already start to ache after a few minutes of running top speed.

“PICK UP THE PACE 64! YOU’RE GETTING A BIT SLOW!” Shining yelled, as he increased the speed of the ball of magic. 64 noticed this and began to kick in the afterburners in his legs, having flashbacks of running through a collapsing tunnel while using magic to augment himself.

“64! HOLD OUT AS LONG AS YOU CAN WITHOUT MAGIC! YOU’LL FEEL A STATIC SENSATION IN YOUR LEGS WHEN THE BALL IS ABOUT TO HIT YOU! USE IT TO YOUR ADVANTAGE!”

64 indeed was feeling a static in his legs, and decided it time to activate his magic. Only accessing a portion of it, 64’s legs began to glow a deep red color, speeding him up enough that he would outrun the ball for just a moment longer. The ball continued to speed up, forcing 64 to do the same.

Eventually, 64 and the rolling sphere behind him were simply blurs zooming by, as Shining Armor kept up his concentration, trying to not get his friend killed.

64 felt the fatigue of accelerating to high speeds starting to affect him, so he called out.

“BAILING!” He shouted out, before his body was thrown from the track and ended up colliding with the wall, leaving a 64 shaped hole in the wall. 64 was on the ground right outside of the wall, rubbing his head as he felt dizzy.

“Ugh… how long did I last?” He said groggily, as Shining Armor walked over to him to pick him up and showed him the stopwatch. He saw the blinking 5:27 and smiled cracking his back a few times. “Well that thing certainly helps with motivation. I probably would have lasted half as that long without it.”

“Well we aren’t done yet, that was just a test to see how much you have cut out for you. Excuse me for a second. ALRIGHT LADS! GET INTO HOOF TO HOOF COMBAT FORMATIONS! I WANT YOU TO TRAIN WITH INTENT TO GET YOUR OPPONENT TO SUBMIT!” Shining yelled out, as the trainees all paired up and stood in front of each other. “BEGIN!”

They all began individual grappling matches, as 64 watched with interest. Shining saw him and walked up beside him, before hitting him in the side with his elbow.

“Heh, don’t worry, you’ll get yours soon enough. We still gotta get you warmed up. Let’s get you go through a few more training exercises and then well have you start with the fighting training. You have seriously got to make a new fighting style; your heavy fisted fighting will only get you so far.” Shining explained as 64 thought about it.

“I guess that makes sense. The only reason I was able to stand a chance against Discord was because I was using a few new skills that Super Nova was able to teach me.” 64 said, not realizing how crazy it sounded.

“Wait, you’re telling me that Super Nova decided to go ahead and help you?!” Shining said, unbelieving.

“Yup, she didn’t want me dying just yet. I die, she’s not far behind me. Look at this.”

64 held out his hand and cupped it under his mouth, before shoot out a small stream of lava into his hand, making Shining Armor rear back.

“Woah! What the hell?! Doesn’t that hurt you?!” He shouted quietly, staring at the bubbling liquid in 64’s hand.

“A little, it burns like hell, but it’s bearable. It nothing to get worked over about.” 64 said, absorbing the molten liquid back into his body. “There’s another one where I cover myself with Molten Rocks, but that one involves destroying the ground around me, so I don’t think it’s a good idea to do it in here.”

Shining agreed as the two began the training, working on getting 64 back into shape.

Minutes slowly turned into hours, with the both of them working on 64’s new fighting technique.

“Look, I say I don’t fix what isn’t broken, so I should make a style which is similar to my heavy hand technique!” 64 argued, making Shining Armor roll his eyes.

“And I say that brute force will only get you so far, so despite what you think, quicker more accurate attacks are more efficient than your big hits.” Shining Armor rebutted, making 64 scowl. They had been going back and forth on fighting styles which would suit 64, mainly ones which required standing on two legs.

“Look, whenever I land a hit on somepony, there’s going to be some serious damage. So I think making them weaker will only make it harder for me to take someone down!”

“But if your opponent can read and react to what your fighting style is, then they can easily start to dodge your attacks and counter!”
They were about to continue arguing, when 64’s Communicator began to glow.

“64, your transport is ready. Please come to the Throne Room.” Celestia’s voice said clearly, making the tow of the guys sigh.

“Well it seems like working on your fighting technique will have to wait then. Please try and do something differently if you end up fighting something, we don’t want any of this training to go to waste.” Shining instructed, with 64 nodding and walking away.

“I’ll be back before the week is up! So get ready for when I get back!” 64 called over his shoulder, making Shining Armor chuckle.

64 POV

I walked to the Throne Room and saw that the passageway behind Princess Luna’s Throne was open, with the Princess of the Night waiting for me.

“So how long will it take me to get to Las Pegasus?” I asked, wondering if I had some time to look through the Mission File before diving headfirst.

“Well, it will be an overnight trip with my Lunar Guards. You should arrive in Las Pegasus by 6AM tomorrow morning.” Luna explained to me as we walked through the passageway to the back of the Canterlot Palace.

“Seems like a slow trip, but this one I won’t mind. It seems like I’ll have to make a few more stops after Las Pegasus, there 2 families to talk to. I’ll talk to the families here in Canterlot last, they’ve been the most recent.” I said, thumbing through the folder I had in my hands.

Luna nodded as we emerged from the passageway, seeing the 4 Lunar Pegasi all ready for takeoff. I stepped onto the Chariot behind them and sat down onto the bench, waving over to Luna. She waved back with her hoof as I looked forward at the Pegasi.

“Cleared for takeoff!” I shouted, as their wings all flapped open, before running towards the edge of the cliff, and soaring into the air. I watched as Canterlot Palace got smaller and smaller, before it was simply a building on the side of the mountain.

“Alright, let’s see what we have here…” I said, opening the first profile and looking through it. It was the same Black maned, Purple Coated filly I had seen the first time, but this time she had a anme next to the photo. “Cardinal Berry. Age 9, Race Earth Pony…”
She was smiling in the photo, and looking at her school record, she was on a fast track to straight A’s. Family had history of violence, and no enemies whatsoever. No debts, house was paid off, no arrests ever.

“Not much to go by…” I muttered, flipping to the next picture. It was another filly, with a Black mane, but with red tips at the ends. Her coat was an eggshell color, and her eyes where a bright grey. She didn’t have a cutie mark either.

“Crescent Rose…” I muttered, looking at her profile. This one had subpar grades, and lived at home with her dad. There was a newspaper clipping about a mare being mauled to death by a Timberwolf, apparently do it to save her daughter. My mind connected the dots, and I felt sorry for the filly.

The dad on the other hand had 3 arrests on his record, all for drunken misconduct. The death of his wife probably hit him hard.

“So two fillies, both earth ponies… But there isn’t a pattern with the rest of these…” I grunted, seeing that the rest of the foals in the folder were all mixed in some way, with nothing tying them together besides their ages. “Looks like I’ll just have to ask around when I get there…”

I shivered at the cold air, with Rarity’s Jacket doing its best to keep me warm. It was a stark contrast to the dark sky, nearly shining like a star in the sky. I decided to go ahead and take a bit of a rest, knowing it would be awhile before I landed.

I closed my eyes and laid down on the bench, letting myself fall into a deep sleep.

Princess Luna POV

I felt 64 fall asleep an hour after he took off from Canterlot, and decided to go ahead and visit him in his dreams. It had been awhile since I had seen his dreams, remembering that the first time I had done it, I nearly froze to death.

I entered the Dream Realm and searched for his dream, seeing the thousands of dreams which I was responsible for every night. There weren’t any nightmares to be seen, so I continued flying through the realm, seeing the thousands of windows to another realm. There were many of love, hatred, and yearning, and all I could do was give them a few moments of experiencing what they longed for.

I eventually found 64’s dream, but it looked grey, as if it was a very dark dream. I entered and found myself in Ponyville, although it seemed as if there was some sort of fire burning, due to a dense cloud of smoke hanging in the air.

“What in the world?” I asked myself, flying through the thick smoke. I heard yelling, and immediately identified it as 64. I flew over to the sound of distress, to find the source of the scream.

Discord was standing in front of 64, who was bloody, beaten, and broken. Although he looked like this, he was still standing up, defying the smug looking Discord.

“Oh what’s the matter… feeling a bit under the weather? Or are you just going to let Ponyville continue to be destroyed?” Discord mocked, as 64 stood there with a glare on his face.

“I… will always fight…” He whispered, obviously in no condition to make a claim like that.

“Oh, well aren’t you the noble one… Very well then, fight me. Slay me like the hero you are.” Discord said, making a target on his chest, and putting a bow and arrow into 64’s hands. He shakily notched the arrow, pulling back the bowstring to aim it at Discord.
He barely had any strength to pull it back all the way, but he pulled it back as far as he could, and let the arrow fly. As it soared, the image of Discord began to waver and fade, being replaced by an image of 64. The arrow struck the image in the chest, before it fell backwards into a dead heap.

64 looked at the image of his dead body, and dropped the bow in his hands in shock. He suddenly looked down to see that blood was now rushing down his chest, before his face grew pale as snow, and fell backwards into the dirt.
As he gasped for air through the blood rush leaking out of his mouth, Discord appeared in front of him, with a malicious grin plastering his face.

“Game over little one…” He said, before snapping his fingers.

I was forcibly ejected from the dream, as I felt sweat dripping down my face where I sat. I quickly wiped away the sweat, before trying to figure out what in blazes 64’s dream was trying to say.

“What is going on in your head Project 64?”

Chapter 25

64 POV

I walked what I thought was the quickest route towards Hoofer Elementary, which consisted of back alleys and hidden routes, perfect for anypony to sneak up and nab somepony else. I looked around for any evidence along the way, but there was so much junk and debris that it would have been tough to see anything incriminating.

I looked around to see if there were any hiding spaces or hidden areas where a pony could jump out in broad daylight and manage to make off with a filly.

“Could it have been a unicorn? And they just teleported out of here?” I questioned myself, wondering if Magic Detectors would have been able to pick up anything from 2 weeks in the future. I knew that wouldn’t be the case, so I continued through the alley, searching for anything.

The efforts to find anything were in vain, so I knew that my only lead I had rested in Lucky Guess. I continued towards Hoofer Elementary, seeing that it was a simple school building just like in Ponyville, a stark difference to what I thought was going to be there.

“Lucky Guess… you better have something for me…”

I walked into the school room and saw the class paying rapt attention to the teacher, who was a green coated and yellow maned mare. She saw me and froze up for a bit, before I motioned for her to continue. She did and eventually announced that there was going to be a short recess, as the children flooded out of their seats and ran out the door towards the small playground right next to the building.

“You know, I would think that most of the parents would be a bit apprehensive about still allowing the kids to go out for recess, especially with what’s been going on.” I said, resting against the wall.

“My cousin Cheerilee sent me a newspaper clipping with you in it, a few actually.” The mare said, pulling out a drawer in her desk and pulling out a few pieces of newspaper. The first was of me when I had first revealed myself in Ponyville, with me running towards the Town Hall. It was blurry, but it perfectly captured my figure running towards the blaze.

The second one was of me going toe to toe with Super Nova the first time a week later, with me narrowly avoiding a stream of lave headed straight for me. Next was me being forced to my knees in my mock trial right after I had helped defeat Super Nova, with my shirt off and bandages covering the entirety of my torso.

“You’ve been really busy lately… I got a new one a few days ago, and I have to say that this one if definitely my favorite.” She said, as she hoofed the clipping over to me. It was me in a hospital bed, with bandages covering nearly every part of my body. I was unconscious, and the headline read, ‘TWO LEGGED HERO GOES FACE TO FACE WITH DISCORD, AND NARROWLY ESCAPES WITH HIS LIFE’.

“After I saw this, I asked her to send over the entire article. I have to say, it paints you in a really good light.”

“Damn, I never guessed I would have a fan.” I said cheekily, making the mare giggle.

“My name is Chrysanthemum, but you can just call me Chrys.” She said, holding out her hoof for a shake. I gladly took it as a more serious demeanor washed over my face.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, but I’m afraid I’m here on a more serious matter. As you probably already knew, Crescent Rose has been missing for about 2 weeks now. I’m here to investigate the nationwide foalnappings happening in Equestria, and this was the first city hit. Is there anything you can tell me about her that might be able to help?” I asked, pulling out my notepad.

“Not really, you can guess how shocked I was to hear that Crescent was the one foalnapped. I’m still so worried for her, as if things weren’t already bad enough for her.” Chrys explained, as I looked up at her.

“Can you elaborate on that?”

“Her father… is a bit of…”

“A deadbeat drunk ever since his wife died?”

Her face lit up with surprise, glasses nearly falling off of her face. “How did you know?”

“I visited the parents of the victims before coming here, and Crescent’s dad told me where she went to school. He also told me she was good friends with a colt who goes by the name of Lucky Guess, is he here today? I want to ask him some questions.”

Chrys looked at her class roster and nodded at me. “Yes, yes he is. Would you like me to call him in?”

“If you can.”

She stepped outside for a moment, giving me a moment to look around. I saw the class photos on the wall and inspected them a bit, looking at the filly in question. Crescent was standing with a big smile on her face 2 years ago, but after the jump from 4th to 5th grade, her smile is gone completely, replaced by a slight scowl.

“Must’ve been hard…” I muttered, remembering the newspaper clipping about the Timberwolves.

“Hello?” A new voice called out, making me look towards the door. It was a brown colt with a black mane which was combed to the side, with two white dice for his cutie mark. “I… I was told my Miss Chrysanthemum to come and talk to you? About Rosey going missing?”

He obviously looked very nervous, which was normal for a colt his age being asked to speak with a strange looking creature regarding one of his friends going missing.

“Yes, take a seat.” I said, to which he sat down in one of the desk in the front row. “My name is Project 64, and I’m gonna help and find Crescent Rose and bring her back. You have to tell me, is there anything you might know about this?”

He shuffled in his seat uncomfortably for a little, before nearly whispering out. “I… I usually walk with her to school every day, but I remember that she didn’t come to our special meeting space one day, even though I was late that day.”

“What do you mean late? For school that day?”

“No, me and Crescent Rose always met at a special place every day before school at 7AM, but I remember that one day I was really late, but she wasn’t there. When I went to school later, I noticed that she wasn’t there either.”

“Can you tell me about this special place? Was it like on a specific street, in front of a candy shop or something like that?”

He looked down at the desk for a second, as if he was contemplating if I would actually keep it a secret

“How about this?” I asked, putting away my notepad and crossing my arms. “You take me to this special meet up place where I can search for clues, and I won’t say where it is, does that sound ok?”

The colt nodded his head and got up out of his seat. “C’mon then, we have to hurry and get back before recess ends!” He called out, running out the door. I quickly followed, as Chrys tried stopping Lucky from running.

“Hey it’s ok, he’s going to show me where he and Crescent Rose met every morning. He says she didn’t show up one day, and I want to start looking there for clues.” I assured, as she very slowly let him go.

“Alright… but please bring him back before school is over. His parents are already mad about his cutie mark and have started picking him up, so I don’t want any other problems.” Chrys asked, making me nod. I think I knew why parents would be mad about their son getting a cutie mark about gambling.

“I’ll bring him back, don’t worry about that. C’mon little guy, let’s get going.” I called out, as Lucky led me down the road, surprisingly back to one of the alleys that I walked through to get to the school. After a few of the same twists and turns I took this morning, I began to doubt if I would end up finding anything.

“Alright, we’re here. We always met right here every morning.” He said proudly, stamping his hoof down on the ground. I looked around to see that there was nothing significant about the area around me, until it dawned on me.

There weren’t any windows around me, meaning no witnesses unless they had specifically taken the route that Lucky and I had taken. There was trash littering the floor around me, meaning that I would need to clean up a bit before investigating to see if there was anything I could find in the debris.

“So you both meet here, then walk to school?” I asked, as lucky nodded to me.

“Yep, every day. But ever since she’s disappeared, I haven’t been here. The police tried looked everywhere, but they never came here! I tried tell them about it, they just shrugged me off and told me I was just a ‘stupid kid’.” He grunted, kicking a few pieces of garbage on the floor.

When he did, I noticed something underneath him.

“Hey, wait up. What’s that underneath you?” I asked moving him aside gently. I cleared off the trash and looked down at what I saw, and smirked, knowing I was onto something. It was a Sewer Cover, and it was recently pulled off.

I could tell due to the weld that the Sewer workers have to make to prevent kids from opening them up and jumping down had been recently cut and not sealed back up, meaning that the Foalnapper could have easily opened it and taken Crescent Rose while she was waiting for Lucky to arrive.

“Lucky, I think I just figured out how Crescent Rose got kidnapped.” I said proudly, lifting off the sewer cover and putting it off to the side. It got dark really quickly down there, so I dropped a small fireball down the hole, seeing how far it went down. It wasn’t that far, but I knew I couldn't just go down headfirst like nothing.

“So you’re gonna go down there and look for Rosey?” Lucky asked me, as I nodded at him.

“Yep, but I can’t just leave you here. I have to take you back to the school before your teacher gets pissed at me.” I said, covering up the entrance to the sewer.

“Aww… why can’t I go down there with you? Rosey’s my best friend, so I think I should help look for her!”

I looked down at the colt and was nearly swayed by his pleading look, but I knew better. I picked him up onto my shoulder and placed him there, allowing him to balance himself.

“Sorry, I can’t let you follow. Don’t worry, I assure you that I’ll find your precious Rosey, ok? Maybe then you can try and get her to be your special somepony.” I said teasingly, as his face suddenly lit up in redness.

Hit the nail on the head.

3rd Person POV

After 64 dropped lucky back off at the school, he immediately returned to the Sewer Cover, using magic to enhance his eyesight in the dark tunnels. The first thing that hit him was the unimaginable smell of all of the filth Las Pegasus had to offer. All that 64 was in right now was a tunnel headed straight for the main sewer line, so from there the Foalnapper could have went anywhere in the immense sewer system.

64 began to scan the floor, trying to set apart the filth that was down here, from the pony DNA. Lots of it was found, but sadly none of it was the kind 64 was trying to look for. 64 stopped scanning the floor and sighed, knowing that it would have been a lost cause to check any further.

He put his back to the wall and cracked his neck, looking the floor over one more time to try and see if he missed anything the first time. He came across nothing but trash, clumps of hair, and discarded food. Looking a bit closer, he saw one last thing, a string of red hair.

“Please let this be what I think it is.” 64 grunted, lightly grabbing the red hair and bringing it up to his eyes. He rubbed the hair gently to check if it was red dye, to find that it flaked off and became black.

“Ah shit…” he said, nearly throwing the hair away, before realizing that dye wouldn’t flake off, it would smear. The ‘dye’ on this hair was blood. He brought his other hand up towards the hair and scanned it, hoping to find more blood in the immediate area so he could track it.

Using a glimmer spell, 64 saw that there was also blood on the wall that he was just lying back on, ad saw that there were bits of hair stuck in the blood. They were all the same color, meaning that Crescent had in fact been down here, and had been injured.

“The kidnapper probably slammed Crescent’s head into the wall to get her to stop struggling…” 64 whispered, as he saw that drops of blood continued on into the sewer. He followed as he covered his nose, trying in vain to block out the putrid smell invading his nose.

The blood continued to drip all the way to the main sewer line, before it slowly started to subside. 64 followed it as best as he could, until it eventually stopped heading east, going into a smaller sewer, heading back towards the surface.

He followed the route he would have expected the foalnappers to take, heading past the first exit he found and continuing on deeper into the sewer. It once again split into a multitude of different routes, with 64 being clueless on which one the foalnapper might have gone.

“Son of a bitch…” 64 muttered, looking in every direction the he had at his disposal. He turned around to go through the exit he had seen just before reaching the split, when he saw a cloaked pony standing behind him, their legs up and ready to buck 64 in the chest.

The legs came shooting out at 64 who was hit in the chest and was sent flying into the torrent of putrid water, arms and legs flailing to get out.

“HEY! GET BACK HERE!” 64 yelled, seeing the pony start running away, he saw that they had dark red fur. He continued to be thrashed by the rapids which were the Las Pegasus sewer system, losing his sense of up while underwater.

He held his breath for as long as he could, trying his best to break the water’s surface and get back onto land. Eventually the rapids seized, allowing 64 to pull himself back onto the solid ground on the sides of the rivers of garbage.

He spat out whatever had managed to wriggle its way into his mouth and immediately vomit, not being able to handle the stench invading his mouth. The only upside to the situation was that his Satchel Pocket was waterproof, and everything he had collected and found had been safely preserved.

“Ugh… fucking disgusting… Rarity is going to be pissed at me for ruining the clothing she had made me…” 64 grunted, standing up and seeing there was a ladder escape next to where he was standing. He sluggishly climbed up and out of it, before looking at his surroundings.

He was currently in the middle of the Las Pegasus Strip, with about 300 hundred curious eyes staring at him.

“Woah… did you just come out of a sewer? Or am I having another bad trip?” A spaced out pony said, his eyes red and puffy.

64 shook his head. “I’ve just had a really bad day…” He muttered, ignoring the onlookers and simply walking sluggishly through the most heavily populated part of the city. Many ponies kept their distance due to the horrible smell 64 was giving off, and that was just fine for him.

His first order of business was getting clean, then he would find out who the fuck kicked him into the shit rapids of Las Pegasus. He pulled out the charm around his neck and tuned it to channel 17, before charging magic into it.

“Hello? This is Biped requesting pickup, sending coordinate beacon now.”

“Copy Biped, Nightlight on our way.”

All 64 did was wait, before seeing a Chariot of Bat Pegasi heading into the strip. He started running in the opposite direction as they began to catch up, until they were sailing right above him. He jumped up and climbed aboard, as they began to gain altitude.

“Location sir?!” One of the Pegasi asked, as 64 looked down at his notepad.

“Appaloosa, but first see if you can stop by any lakes on the way, I need a bath.” 64 said, writing down a few things that he had found in Las Pegasus.

64 POV

Well I learned something new today, shit stains were a pain in the ass to scrub out of heavy clothing. I sat at the edge of a lake in my underwear, using a bit of steel wool to scrub stains of foulness out of my clothing.

I laid out everything I had cleaned to dry, as I dove into the water and tried to clean myself to the best of my ability. I had done this countless times before, so it obviously wasn’t very difficult. What was wracking my brain right now was the question, who the hell had bucked me into the sewers? All I had was that they had dark red fur, and I think I caught a glimpse of a black tail?

“Ugh… hopefully I can find more clues in Appaloosa. Trail’s gone pretty cold in Las Pegasus, but it’s only been a week since the foalnappings in Appaloosa, there’s bound to be something…” I said to myself encouragingly, scrubbing my face a bit with my hands.

After I cleansed myself I once again dressed up and got back onto the chariot, before we once again went flying off into the air. I looked through my notebook and saw what I had been drawing into a blank page.

Ever since she had given me her magic, I had developed near photographic memory, allowing me to remember nearly everything I see. It was a drawing of what I saw right before getting bucked in the chest, with the two rear legs wound up and ready to strike me. It was a Red Stallion from what I could remember, with a long black tail. It was straightened, a very strange thing to do.

“Fuck he seems familiar...”

Author's Note

More OC's! Here's Lucky Guess.

Chapter 26

Chapter 26

64 POV

It was nighttime by the time I arrived in Appaloosa, so everypony was obviously asleep. We landed among the Apple grove and I was simply looking at the case file for Appaloosa. In this city, it was a Pegasus filly and an earth pony colt that were kidnapped, with the parents of both still being alive.

I needed to find out if there could be any clues here to tell me who the hell wanted to make sure I didn’t leave that sewer. There was no reason for anypony else to be in that sewer, meaning that they had to be connected to the foalnappings somehow.
I decided that I needed to rest before I ended up running my mind ragged and burning out before I even got started.

“Hey, wake me up at Celestia’s first crack of dawn, I’m gonna get some rest.” I ordered to the Lunar Pegasi, who nodded and stood at attention. I laid back in the chariot and sighed, closing my eyes and allowing myself to travel into my dreams.

Princess Luna POV

I felt 64 once again fall asleep, and I was scared to take a look and see what was lying in the dark recesses of his mind. The last dream was so surreal that it ended up expelling my forcibly, something that only ponies with years of practice in the art of the Dream could manage. He obviously still harbored fear about the Discord incident, and was having trouble dealing with it.

“Luna… now is not the time for us to be scared of your domain… you are in charge of the dream realm.” I assured myself, before sitting down in my throne and allowing myself to enter the Dream Realm. All around me, bubbles with pictures within them surrounded me, creating the portals to so many different dreams.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find the missing children in my realm, as if they were being blocked off from magical signals. I easily found 64’s dream, because its image looked red and distorted. I found myself incredibly nervous to enter, not wanting to experience another extreme nightmare like last time.

“This is your domain…” I whispered to myself, before entering the dream. Unlike last time, this dream held no foul stench, no horrible images. I saw nothing but a bright green forest, with smoke rising from a small camp in the distance. I flew to the camp and looked around, seeing nopony around. There was a small sleeping bag and a still burning campfire, but no one around.

“Hello? Project 64? Are you there?” I called out, looking around. No one answered, so I sighed in frustration. I looked to the fire and knew it would be a hazard to the forest around me, even though that all this was only a dream.

I moved to stamp out the fire with the dirt surrounding it, but recoiled when the fire seemed to snap out at me. I glared at it before enveloping it in my magic, before cutting off all of the oxygen to the flame. It began to flicker and burn away, until it was finally gone. I nodded and turned away, wanting to find where 64 was.

“YOU CAN’T SMOTHER THE SUN!!” A voice yelled from behind me, before I felt my entire right side being burned.

“AHH!” I yelled out, jumping away from my attacker and turning towards them, my eyes widened at the assailant. Super Nova was standing where the flame that I smothered was just burning, her eyes burning with a murderous fire.

“LEAVE THIS PLACE NOW LUNA! 64 WILL BE OURS! HE WILL SUCCUMB TO THE FLAMES!” Super Nova yelled, firing a bolt of magic at me. I blocked it using a shield spell and fired back, before jumping up into the air and taking off into the sky. It was difficult with the feathers on my right side being burned, but I managed to soar into the air above the campsite.

Super Nova followed closely as our dogfight began, with me being forced to flee from Super Nova’s flame attacks. I tried to change the landscape around me using my dream magic, but only managed to turn the light of day into pitch black darkness, allowing me to camouflage in the night sky.

I looked behind me and saw that Super Nova was indeed having trouble locating me, growling and searching the skies blindly. I had to find 64 and wake him up before he got hurt in here, if not physically then mentally.

“ENOUGH OF THESE GAMES!” Super Nova yelled, before exploding in a large flash of blinding light. It illuminated the sky and revealed my location to Super Nova, who came rocketing towards me at an unbelievable speed. I knew I wouldn’t have enough time to turn, so I closed my eyes and awaited the impact.

“Luna!” I heard a male voice yell, before I felt a tendril of magic wrap around my leg and pull back down to the Earth. When I reopened my eyes, I saw Project 64 standing in front of me, the scar on his left eye looking as if he had just gotten it a few hours ago. “What the fuck are you doing here!? Get out of my dreams!”

I recoiled at his harsh tone, but didn’t have enough time to respond. Super Nova came dive bombing towards us, with 64 pushing me out of the way of danger. He then stood up and focused his magic, as I saw something amazing happen.

Two burning wings with burning feathers of flames came out of his back, before he turned around and glared at me.

“Get out of my dream before something else happens! She’s been doing this since I’ve been in the damn coma! I can handle this!” He yelled before shooting off into the sky, a large blade in his hands as he began to attack the flame monstrosity that was Super Nova.

I wanted to stay and see what was going to happen, but I felt compelled to obey 64 and exit the dream. I closed my eyes and focused on returning back to my physical body, before I slowly began to feel sick and dizzy. I fell onto my stomach with my eyes shut tightly, my head hurting too much to open them.

“Princess Luna? Do you feel well?” A monotone voice to my right said. I opened my eyes to see that it was one of my Lunar Stallions who was guarding my court, and I nodded to show that I was fine.

“Yes I’m alright, thank you for your consideration.” I replied authoritatively, making the Guard go back to his post. I shook my right wing to get the phantom pains of the fire out, but it did nothing. 64 had that thing running around inside of his head and he acted so normally around us? What possible reason could he have for doing that?

64 POV

I opened my eyes slowly after I felt Luna leave my dream. Luckily Super Nova decided that I had had enough torment for one night and let me wake up, not letting me slip into another coma. I didn’t say anything last time I felt Luna enter my dream because I was fighting against another one of Nova’s creations, an image of Discord.

My time in the coma was filled with dreams like that, all courtesy of Super Nova now that I realized it. I should’ve known when she used that image of Vi to wake me up the day I came out of the coma, what with her foreboding message and everything.

“Sir, it seems you have awakened without our assistance, we will wait here amongst the Trees until you require us again.” The lead Guard said, before performing the same strange act of covering his entire body with his wings like a cocoon. The other guards followed along leaving me confused. I got out of the carriage and stretched out a bit, popping a few tight joints.

I flipped my notepad open to a blank page and labeled it Appaloosa, before walking through the apple tree towards the small Western Town. It resembled Dodge Junction in a lot of ways especially with the friendly town’s people. I remember the first time I had come here they welcomed me with open hooves, but a few altercations in the Salt Block Saloon painted me in a bad light after the Sheriff started prattling off that I was a wanted criminal on the run from Celestia.

After that I left without argument, knowing that it was best for everyone that I left before something happened. I was excited to see how the town had been doing since then.

I emerged from the tree line and saw the bustling city, with ponies and buffalo alike walking around the town. After Twilight and her friends successfully bonded the two feuding populaces, a few of the buffalo decided to make the city their home.

The Sheriff apparently already had his posse looking around for clues, but I think they needed a bit more perception if they were going to find anything, rather than going out looking for trouble with gunpowder weapons.

I walked through the town and saw the faces of a few ponies that recognized me, waving at me happily. I waved back and continued through the town, before I felt a shivering sensation at the back of my neck, telling me I was in danger.

My vision turned red as I turned to see a Caplock Revolver being aimed at the back of my head, before I reached out the grabed the hoof holding it. I pushed it into the air and heard a loud bang as the ponies in the scrambled for cover, before I wrenched the Revolver out of the hoof of the attacker. I brought my free fist down onto the attacker’s muzzle, knocking him out.

“Who the hell do you think you… are?” I whispered, seeing the Sheriff now unconscious at my feet. Many ponies began to peek out of their hiding places, with a walking up to me.

“Did tha’ Sheriff try ta’ attack ya?” A stallion asked, walking up to me.

“Yeah, but do you have any idea why?” I asked, taking the bullets out of the Revolver and pocketing them.

“Well ah remember ya from yer last time here! Sheriff was awfully sore ‘bout ya ‘deceiving’ us like that. Don’t worry ‘bout it none, nopony else here think any less of ya fer not tellin’ us. Welcome back to Appaloosa! Remember me from last time?” The stallion asked, as I smirked.

“Yes, Braeburn. I remember you. Please don’t give me an over exaggerated introduction of the city like last time.” I said, shaking his hoof. I remembered why I was here and looked down towards the Sheriff. I lifted him onto my shoulder and looked to Braeburn.

“I’m here to investigate the foalnappings that happened here about a week and a half ago, and I would like it if the Sheriff didn’t open fire at me.” I told Braeburn who nodded and scowled.

“He insisted on gettin’ a few of those things about a few months ago, but ah thought they were nothin’ but trouble. Bring weapons here, then ponies will only want those weapons to do bad things.” Braeburn replied, as we began our walk to the sheriff’s office.

Firearms began to spring up about 3 months ago, being a new weapon for earth ponies who managed to get their hooves on them. I personally didn’t like them, they weren’t very stealthy. I remember when I was younger I always thought how the hell ponies were able to hold things without appendages to grip, but I soon after found out that all ponies had an inherent magic within themselves, allowing them to create a near vacuum in the space between their hoof and the object and ‘grip’ them.

Ponies simply manipulated this vacuum grip and were able to pull the trigger, allowing for the projectile to shoot out of the gun. Of course with my hands and fingers it would be a perfect weapon to have, but I didn’t see a need for a pistol, unless it was a life or death situation.

“So are ya gonna talk ta the parents of tha’ foals yet? Ah’m mean ya should talk ta them before ya do anythin’.” Braeburn suggested, as I shook my head no.

“Not just yet. I need to find out what the Sheriff has gathered before I start looking for anything myself. Hopefully there’s something good that they’ve found, and I won’t have to look hard for anything else.” I told him, as he nodded in understanding.

We made it to the Sheriff’s office and I threw him onto his chair unceremoniously, as he slowly began to come to. I decided to try something and placed the Revolver onto the desk, just to see what he did.

“Hey, Sheriff. Up and at ‘em, I’m here to help investigate the recent foalnappings.” I called out, as his eyes widened.

“YOU!” He shouted, reaching for the gun and aiming it at me. He fired multiple times, but all that was heard was an unsatisfying clicking sound. He looked at his gun before growling at me, as I pulled the .44 bullets out of my pocket.

“I think you need these… I’m not here to try and do anything bad like you think I am. Look last time I was on the wrong side of the law, this time I’m working for Celestia, and she sent me to help this town personally. Now I’m going to set on of these things on the table, and I’ll let you make your choice. Let me help you in finding these foals, or you can try and kill me. Your choice.” I explained, set 3 of the 6 bullets I had taken from him on the table between us.

He looked down at the bullets before looking up at me, before growling and taking the bullets.

“You mind giving me the other 3...?” He asked harshly, obvious mad at my ultimatum. I grinned and set the rest of the rounds onto the table, as he slowly loaded them back into the chamber of his gun. “I think we have everything down here under control, there’s no need for some freak of nature to show up and take everything over.”

I dusted his insult off of my shoulder and crossed my arms, bringing out my notebook. “What have you found so far?” I asked, ready to write anything new notes down.

Sheriff looked at me with a scowl before huffing a bit, and pulling a few things out of his desk. A bag with a small tuft of dark red fur, a small knife that was stained with blood, and a map with a trail marked in red.

“This is what we got so far. This fur was found stuck to a cactus which was on this trail, along with signs of a struggle. Seems the two foals decided to fight back, and knocked him into the prickly thing.” He said, walking over to another larger map on the wall.

“Two foals? They were taken at the same time?” I asked, making him nod.

“Eyup, both disappeared after they were playing together in one of the apple groves. There are hoof prints that lead Northeast, along with magic residue all being used to teleport a few times. The trail ends about 3 miles from the city limit, and these items were found all within a mile within of each other. There was a blood trail leading from the same cactus that we found the tuft of hair on, but we haven’t found out if it belongs to the kids or the foalnapper.”

I wrote down all of the extra information I was gathering, and was glad that there was some actual evidence here.

“Alright… I need to make a quick call… give me a moment…” I said, grabbing my charm necklace and channeling magic into it.

“Celestia, I need a forensics’ spell book, think you can spot me?” I asked nonchalantly, as a large book suddenly teleported in front of me.

“Please take care of this, lest Twilight catch wind that you allowed a book from the royal Archive be harmed.” Celestia warned me, as I rolled my eyes.

“Don’t worry, It’ll be fine. Hopefully Appaloosa had a bit more clues than Las Pegasus did, trail’s gone cold there.”

“I have faith that you will bring the children home safely. Good luck 64.”

Celestia signed off after that, leaving me with the Forensics’ spell book. I flipped to a page with the blood scanning spell, while Braeburn walked up to my side.

“Watcha got there partner?” He asked curiously, as I lowered the book a bit to let him see what was on the pages.

“I’m going to try and find out if the blood on the knife is from the fillies, or from the suspect. Let me see that tuft of hair and the knife.” I said, studying the runes to do the spell correctly. Sheriff reluctantly took the evidence and hoofed it over to me, as I studied the book a little bit more.

“sanguine gentis aetatis…” I muttered, as a glow of red flowed out of my hand. The blood on the knife glowed a bright green color for a few seconds, as I cast the same spell onto the tuft of hair. It didn’t glow green.

“Sorry to say this… but it looks like that blood is the foals blood…” I said grimly, as Braeburn’s face suddenly contorted into shock.

“Lily Wing coulda gotten hurt by that son of a bitch?!” He yelled loudly, obviously enraged.

“It might have been Stomper, we all know that the colt and filly were a s thick as thieves before they got kidnapped. He might have tried protecting Lily and gotten cut in the process.” Sheriff suggested, trying to calm Braeburn.

“The blood stains on the knife suggest that it was a slice instead of a stab, due to the amount of blood on the blade. I suggest that that I take the trail that you’ve scoped out and extend my search a few miles outwards, to try and see if there’s anything else out there.” I said, getting up and walking towards the door.

“Woah there, where in the sam hell do you think you’re going?” The sheriff called out, as I saw his hoof go towards his holstered Revolver. “If you are gonna go pickin’ at the desert, then I’m goin’ with you. I‘ll be damned if you are running around out there by yourself.”

He got up and donned a poncho onto his body, to help with the sweltering heats which would come from the desert sun later. It was still fairly early in the morning so the temperature was a bit cool, but when the sun started shining, it would probably become blistering hot.

Wonderful.

3rd Person POV

Sheriff and 64 were walking through the harsh environment that was the Appalosian Desert, with the sun leaving heat waves across the surface of the earth. Sheriff was walking behind 64 as the human used his enhanced eyes sight to try and locate anything that could be classified as a clue.

After a few hours of patient searching through the desert, the search had brought up nothing for the two, with 64 scowling as they walked along.

“Shit… there’s gotta be something out here…” 64 muttered to himself, scanning the floor to try and find anything from a hoofprint to a drop of blood, which no doubt would have already dried up on the desert floor.

“I’m tellin’ ya, there’s nothin’ out here that we already didn’t find. This was a Unicorn doin’ these things, using their freaky magic to teleport away. I’ve heard stories of unicorns goin’ from one end of the world to the other using magic, so this Unicorn could probably go pretty far with two kids.” Sheriff suggested, using his ignorance of magic to try and discourage 64. Although the Longshot Teleportation Spell could go pretty far, there was no record of a Unicorn going across the globe in one go.

“That’s pretty unlikely. If what you said about finding magical residue out here is true, then we know that it was definitely a unicorn. But that’s all we know…”

64 kicked his foot once and growled, feeling helpless. He was chasing ghosts who had been leaving plenty of evidence, but without somepony to pin it to, it was all worthless. Sheriff saw him in his downtrodden state and grunted, not really caring about 64.

“Well looks like there’s nothing’ out here for us then. Maybe… we should head back…” Sheriff said, looking at the opportunity he had. Out in the desert, with 64’s back turned, with his Revolver cocked and loaded. He had an uneasy feeling about 64, and anyone who he felt was a threat to his town, was something that needed to be put down.

“One shot…” Sheriff whispered to himself, reaching for the gun on his side slowly with his right hoof. He grabbed it and was about to unholster it, before a quaking sensation was felt in the ground. He looked up to see that Chief Thunderhooves was running full speed at him and 64, before they jumped out of the way of danger.

“YOU DARE TAKE THE BLESSED FOALS OF THIS LA— Oh, Sheriff, it’s only you… and… your companion...” Thunderhooves said, looking at 64 with curiosity.

“We aren’t the foalnappers… we’re looking for them, but the trail has gone cold. We were just about to head back before we burst into flames for just standing here.” 64 said sarcastically, as Chief Thunderhooves laughed.

“We are doing the same things tall one, searching for the ones known as Stomper and Lily Wing.” Thunderhooves boomed, “We have found a small tunnel at the edge of the Appalosian Gorge, and were about to investigate. Perhaps you would like to join us?”

64 smirked and nodded, putting his hand out.

“You got a deal partner.”

Author's Note

And yes, 64 knew the Sheriff was going for his gun.

Although a lot of people are a bit sore when it comes to the idea of guns in Equestria, I say that there is no way that firearms don't exist. There's already DJ booths, Strobe Lights, Arcade's and fucking skyscrapers in Manehatten, so why wouldn't technology advance to gunpowder weapons?

Chapter 27

Chapter 27

3rd Person POV

64 was holding out a small flame in his hand to illuminate the dark tunnel he and his company were walking through, looking out for absolutely anything they could find about the criminals.

“So Chief Thunderhooves, how did you end up helping Sheriff in trying to find the foalnappers?” 64 said, trying to start some light conversation.

“We received word two days after the children went missing, and immediately started to help in the search. Unfortunately our efforts have been fruitless, and when I saw a strange figure walking in the desert a fair distance away from me, I took action. My apologies for trying to trample you once again.” He apologized, with 64 just waving it off.

“No worries trust me. Rushing me isn’t the worst thing to happen to me whenever I reveal myself.”

“Hush up you two, keep your eyes peeled and look out for anything that might be important.” Sheriff scolded, making 64 scowl back. He knew better than to say anything, but Sheriff had a real long stick up his ass for some reason.

“At the end of these tunnels used to be a vast deposit of minerals and gemstones. Unfortunately, after years of being hidden from prying eyes, Diamond Dog raiders overtook the mines a few months ago and took absolutely everything. After the valuables were gone, so were the dogs, only leaving the remnants of their old home.” Thunderhooves explained to 64, who nodded at the story.

“So you think that the foalnappers might have used this place as a hideout? Or even an escape route?” 64 asked, making Thunderhooves nod.

“Hold it!” Sheriff yelled, as the group all came to a full stop. In front of them was a small trip wire, nearly invisible to the naked eye. The only reason Sheriff was able to spot it was because the light coming off of 64’s flames reflected off of it and caused a glint.

“Nice catch Sheriff, looks like you were right about this place Thunderhooves.”

“I had my doubts, let us proceed.”

The group all carefully stepped over the trip wire and investigated to see what it was attached to. It was a small Flame Rune attached to the wall, and once it was disturbed in anyway, it would explode in a massive fireball. The group continued more carefully, looking out for anything else that might have been ahead.

After they safely traversed the long narrow cavern, they finally came across an enormous cave, with remnants of old mining equipment.

“I thought Diamond Dogs dug out jewels with their claws. Why would they need things like Jackhammers and Pickaxes?” 64 asked, picking up one of the Picks and examining it.

“It doesn’t look like they were mining any old gems… take a look at this here mining log.” Sheriff grumbled, tossing it over to 64’s feet. 64 scowled before picking it up, thumbing through it a bit and reading the shoddy penmanship.

‘day:14. gems are very good today. the large magic gem was glowing blue today, but it stopped after a few minutes. we must get it out before something else happens that is bad.’

‘day:24. gem now all out, and we’ve got the buyer who will buy them for high price. the buyer needs us to send it across water, and then we get bits. we don’t know what to do after that, maybe go north. legends of crystal cities are very pleasing...’

‘day 35. we all done. we are going to send gems to boat now, then we get money. other dogs talking about setting down, getting bitch for family. i no like that idea, too cozy. i gonna go north like I heard. maybe get another score.’

64 set the book down onto a table and looked up at the wall, shining his flame a bit brighter to get a better look. There was an enormous hole in the wall, as if something was there, but then moved.

“Fuck that must have been a huge gem…” 64 muttered to himself, as Thunderhooves nodded.

“According to their entries, the gem had magical properties. Based on their description it wasn’t a volatile gem, but simply a gem with magical properties, such as Orthoclase. My guess is that the gem was going to be used to be made into Crystal Dust and sold for a higher value.” Thunderhooves said, making 64 look up curiously.

“Dust? Crystal Dust?”

64 looked back at the entries in the book and saw that they mentioned shipping overseas, where his best friend was.

“Fuck… these were the guys who started the Dust case…”

“HOLY SHIT WE’VE GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE!” Sheriff shrieked loudly, as 64 and Thunderhooves looked in his direction. There were a multitude of Flame Runes lining the wall in front of him, and they were all blinking brightly, indicating they were activated.

64 and Thunderhooves immediately turned on their heel and started running out of the cavern, as a loud explosion blasted out towards the running group. The cavern immediately started to quake and rumble, sending large pieces of rock and dust down towards the group.

“IT’S NOT THE FLAMES I’M WORRIED ABOUT! I CAN HANDLE THOSE! I DON’T THINK I CAN SURVIVE BEIGN CRUSHED BY 3 TON BOULDERS!” 64 yelled out, all of a sudden remembering that there was a Flame Rune ahead.

64 saw it and leapt up and over, continuing to run. Thunderhooves followed closely behind, but Sheriff was falling behind a bit. He was so focused on trying to outrun the collapsing cave and the flames behind him that he forgot about the tripwire in the cave, causing him to fall onto his stomach and activate the Flame Rune in the walls.

64 was looking back when he saw Sheriff fall, and immediately started running back.

“SHERIFF STAY DOWN!” 64 yelled at the stallion who was trying to get up, as 64 looked at the incoming wall of flames from the multitude of runes.

64 slid and threw himself over the Sheriff, as the flames consumed them both.

Chief Thunderhooves POV

I witnessed in horror as the one numbered 64 tried in vain to protect the Sheriff from the flames, only to be consumed by the sheer force of the heat. I knew now was no time to stop and honor 64’s valiant efforts, I had to escape with my own life before anything. What good would it be for Little Strongheart if I didn’t return home today?

I ran as fast as my hooves could carry me, weaving left and right to try and avoid falling pieces of rock and debris. I saw that the exit was starting to be blocked by the falling rocks, so I puffed air out of my nose and charged with all of my might.

I smashed through the blockage in a burst of rage, as dust and flame spewed out of the Cavern’s Exit. I looked at it with shock, knowing that two innocent souls were lost in there.

“I must get help…” I grunted, turning around to head towards my settlement.

“No need for that.” A voice said behind me, revealing the human along with the Sherriff

“Ya know I could have gotten outta there myself, I just tripped is all.” The sheriff said, trying to save his pride. Project 64 chuckled and shook his head, but that was when I noticed that the white clothing he was currently wearing was glowing a light blue.

“Your garments 64, they are glowing. Do you have an explanation?” I asked curiously, as he looked down towards his clothing. His face contorted in confusion before it turned into a smile, with 64 laughing.

“Damn Rarity, you do think of everything. You notice that I have a fire affinity right?” He said, holding a small ball of fire in his hand. I nodded and waited for him to continue. “Well apparently the mare who made me these clothes thought that I should wear something a bit more fire proof. This is a flame retardant spell, which is why they didn’t burn up when I covered up Sheriff. The only reason I’m not cooked a golden brown is because I’m flame resistant.”

“And just how did you escape? I saw the cave collapse.”

“Well when the flames were about to reach Sheriff I threw myself over him so he wouldn’t get burned, and when the flames passed I teleported the both of us out of there. Luckily I timed it right, or else we would have been barbecued.”

The Sheriff looked as if he was getting angrier and angrier the second, until he pulled out his gun and tackled 64.

“That’s it you son of a bitch!” Sheriff yelled as he and 64 hit the ground, as 64 reached out and grabbed the hoof that was currently holding the Revolver. Two shots fired into the air as I moved to push Sheriff off of 64, shoving him off to the side. He got up and aimed his gun at the both of us, as 64 slowly put his hands into the air.

“I’ve had it with you, you pest! For all I know, you’re the one nappin’ these foals in the first place, and you are the one leading us on a wild goose chase! I’m gonna end it right here!” He yelled, pulling back the hammer in his gun.

“Wait Sheriff! Think of the repercussions of this!” I intervened, stepping in front of 64. “How could he be the one leading us astray if he risked his life to save you in the cavern!? Why did he come all this with us to investigate? He could have easily killed us at any moment, yet he didn’t! Use your head Sheriff, and make the right choice!”

“Yeah, make it. Cause if you don’t let’s just say the result is going to be a little explosive.” 64 said, as I noticed the ground under the Sheriff began to glow red. The Sheriff noticed too as he started to sweat a little bit, before lowering his gun slowly.

“Fine… but when we get back to the city, I don’t want to see hide nor hair of you anywhere.”

“Maybe, I still have to ask the parents of the foals a few questions, then study my case notes overnight before I make my next move to the city.”

The Sheriff nodded his head a bit annoyed, before turning around and walking away towards the city. I saw 64 look to me and shake his head a bit.

“I have no idea what crawled up his ass and died, but he needs to get it taken care of. I’ve been meaning to ask, is there anything else you might know about the foalnappers? Absolutely anything would be better than nothing at this point.” 64 asked me, as I shook my head no.

“My apologies my friend, but it seems like the foalnappers are far from here now, and await their next target. I pray for the poor filly or colt that get taken.” I said morosely, nodding my head down. 64’s face suddenly grew a look as if he had an idea, before he scowled and grunted, discarding it.

“Well I guess I better head back with Sheriff to Appaloosa. I found a connection to another case while inside of that cavern and want to see if it can give me any more clues.” 64 said to me before raising his strange hoof for a shake, to which I obliged.

“I shall see you at a later time Project 64, may your journeys be safe and prosperous.” I addressed before walking back towards my settlement, as 64 began to catch up to the sheriff. I laughed a bit and shook my head, wondering how long those two were going to last before one of them kills the other.

64 POV

While walking back I made sure to stay behind Sheriff, not wanting him to get any funny ideas about attacking me. I was hoping that Thunderhooves would have something else about the case, but it was starting to look like Appaloosa was also a bust. I looked through the mining logs a bit further and found that another pack of Diamond Dogs were the ones who were going to buy the magic gems, and that it was going to be shipped piece by piece overseas.

After the dog that was keeping the logs started talking about getting more work, but was offered a job as a security guard, but for what it didn’t say. This thing was only useful in telling me that the Diamond Dogs here were incredibly shitty at grammar, so I stuffed it back into my Pocket. I pulled out my case files and looked at the names of the parents.

“Ok, parents of Lily Wing… Heavy Hoof and Trist Wing.” I read as we made it back to town, with a huge gathering of ponies waiting for us. They all flocked around Sheriff asking all sorts of questions, luckily disregarding me so I could try and look for the parents in the crowd. Surprisingly I didn’t find them in the chaos, so my guess was that they were still at home.

The houses weren’t addressed, instead marked with the owners of the house on the front porch. I searched for the home for a bit before I found it next to the local store, with the Heavy hoof pacing around his front porch.

“Excuse me, is this the home of Heavy Hoof an Trist Wing?” I asked politely.

“Not for long it ain’t! What’s it to ya!?” Heavy yelled at me, as I put my hands up to show that I wasn’t a threat.

“Woah there, take it easy. My name is Project 64, and I’m here to help investigate your daughters’ kidnapping. I just want to ask a few questions.”

Heavy Hoof was pretty much the size of Big Macintosh, but had a more a color than him. He was obviously harboring some rage in him that he planned to dish out on me, so I knew I needed to do this carefully.

“Feh, damn Sheriff can barely do anythin’ to find my daughter, what makes ya think that a two legged hairless freak is gonna do anythin’?” He argued.

“Where was your family the day before Lily was taken?” I asked, ignoring his comment. He huffed and scowled at me before answering.

“Mah family was getting’ ready fer tha’ Nightmare Night celebration, an’ we were out collectin’ feathers to make a pair of fake wings so we could be a family of Pegasi. We didn’t collect much, so we promised that we would go an’ look fer some later. Early tha next day Trist wanted me to help her cook somethin’ fer the Celebration, so we couldn’t go with Lily to collect the feathers.”

He paused bit before continuing, gathering himself.

“She was really down for not bein’ able to go and collect tha feathers, so she locked herself in her room in tha morning. The colt tha’ lived next door came knockin’ askin’ fer her, so ah tol’ him she wasn’t feelin’ well. Apparently she heard ‘im because the next thin’ ah know she’s boltin’ down tha stairs and standin’ at the door. They decided to go an’ collect feathers themselves that morning around 9, and that was the last we heard of her since then.”

I wrote down what I could find out from his explanation, seeing a pattern in the foalnappings. They always happened earlier in the morning before noon, but after 7. That meant there was a 5 hour gap when the foalnappings could take place.

“What about your wife? Can I talk to her?” I asked, as his face suddenly contorted into one of rage.

“Ah bet ya can! But she’s in there actin’ as if everything is alright! Swear she’s lost her damn mind in there!” Heavy yelled, as he held his front door open. “But by all means, go ahead, see if ya can get through her thick skull.”

I stepped through the door as I looked around the home, hearing the sounds of somepony in the kitchen. I made my way there and saw a Pegasus Mare with hat much like Applejack’s, with a Dark Orange coat and a neon pink mane. She was sweating a lot, but she wasn’t moving very fast, and it was only 80 degrees in here.

“Um… Excuse me? Trist Wing?” I asked, as she turned to me.

“Oh hey there! It’s so nice to have a visitor once in a while! Oh go ahead and make yerself comfortable as ah get ya some refreshments!” She said moving to her refrigerator, pulling out a pitcher of lemonade.

“Oh that’s quite alright ma’am, I just need you to answer some questions about your daughter’s foalnapping. Now what were—“

“Oh little Lily? Why she’s upstairs right now playing with her toys! Oh she gets so adorable when she digs into her little toy chest and starts to play house with them!”

I looked at the mare with a confused looked and saw her eyes twitching a bit, and I immediately knew what was going on.

“Miss Trist… listen to me carefully… I know your torn up inside about your daughter, but if you don’t answer my questions then I may never be able to find her… now please… answer my—“

I was cut off as I saw the glint of metal in the sun slice in my direction as I jumped back, seeing now that Trist had armed herself with a large kitchen knife and now had a crazed look in her eyes.

“My… little girl… is safe… and sound… now leave my house… before you get into a little…accident….” She growled, as I slowly backed away from her.

“Trist… you need to calm down and drop that knife right now! Don’t make me hurt you!” I pleaded, not really wanting to hurt the mare.

“GET OUT NOW!” Trist yelled as she threw the knife, making me put my hand out and grab the blade between my fingertips and snapping it, rendering it useless. Trist ran upstairs in a hurry as I pursued her, seeing that she locked herself into a room.

I heard a whispering sound from the other side of the door and put my ear onto it to eavesdrop. It was Trist, but it sounded as if she was sobbing quietly.

“It’s gonna be okay dear… I’m not gonna let the bad thing get you…” She whispered madly, as I backed away from the door.

“Trist! I’m giving you one chance to come out quietly to answer my questions! Please do not make this any harder than it needs to be” I begged, as I loud crashing noise responded, sounding like a lamp had just fallen.

“GET AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER!”

I sighed and reared my right foot back, before kicking the lock on the door with all my might, sending it off the hinges. I stepped inside and saw a .32 Revolver pointed at me, quickly putting up a magnetic barrier to repel the shots that she fired at me. After 6 shots rang out I dropped the shield and wrenched the Pistol out of her hooves, before she began to sob wildly into her hooves.

I saw the bed she was crying on had something under the covers, as I made my way over to it. I pulled them back and scowled at what I saw.

It was a poorly sewn together filly sized plush of Lily Wing.

Author's Note

Lily Wing
Heavy Hoof
Trist Wing

Chapter 28

Chapter 28

64 POV

I looked at the doll and back at Trist, who was still sobbing into her hooves. I grabbed the doll and knelt down in front of Trist, who saw the doll in my hands.

“Give her back to me! I won’t let you take her!” She yelled out, reaching for it. I held her back from the doll until she stopped fighting for it, still not saying a word to her. I looked at the doll and gripped it in both hands, holding it in front of Trist’s face.

With a tug I ripped the doll in two, sending the cotton stuffing and cloth all over the room. Trist stared at me in shock as she sat there for a moment, before leaping to her hooves trying to grab all of the stuffing around the room.

“NO!! LILY NO! It’s gonna be ok! You’re gonna be alright!” She sobbed frantically, stumbling around the room with tears staining her face. I grabbed her by the shoulders and swatted the cotton out of her hooves, before shouting.

“Listen to me! This thing isn’t your daughter! This thing isn’t the filly that is probably scared out of her mind right now, wanting her mother to come and make everything ok! Your real daughter is somewhere out there scared and alone! And here you are trying to convince yourself that everything is ok when they obviously aren’t! You need to come back to reality before I can help you get her back!” I screamed in Trist’s face, before glaring into her eyes.

I really didn’t want to yell at her like this, but she needed a jump start on her sanity if she was going to be of any help to me.

She stared at me with tears streaming down her face, but her face wasn’t one of sadness, but one of clarity, as if she had just had an important truth revealed to her.

I heard hoofsteps stomping up the stairs before the door burst open, revealing Heavy Hoof standing there with a frightened look on his face.

“What’s goin’ on?! I heard gunshots!” He yelled, as Trist looked up at him. She slowly got to her hooves and slowly started take steps towards him, going painfully slow. “What’s the matter honey? Are ya ok?”

She simply wrapped her two forelegs around his neck and began to silently sob, as he stood there in shock for a few minutes. He then reciprocated the hug and started to cry along with her, as a sad smile came to my face.

I let them have their moment as Trist looked back to me, wiping her eyes and sniffling a little bit.

“Thank you… thank you so much… I just… I couldn’t deal with the pain of losing her.” She said quietly as I nodded in understanding.

“I get it, don’t worry about it. Look I won’t stay long, but I really need a few questions answered. Do you think you can do that for me?” I asked softly, as she nodded back at me. I flipped to the page that I had written Heavy’s statements in and asked my first question. “Alright, so Heavy already told me that your family was collecting feathers to try and make him a costume set of wings for Nightmare Night, so there’s no need to ask that. Is there a specific area where you might have been gather feathers?”

Trist looked thoughtful for a moment before shaking her head. “No, we walked up and down the roads looking for Black Feathers from the circling vultures overhead. We didn’t go anywhere outside of the city limits, but we were planning to. I was honestly feeling a bit nervous for some reason.”

I wrote down a few things before looking back up. “Could there be a reason for the nervousness you were feeling? Did it feel like a pair of eyes staring at you from behind?”

“It… felt like two pairs of eyes…”

I looked at her with my eyes squinted a bit, confused.

“Like two ponies staring at you from two different directions?”

Trist nodded and continued. “But… it was the strangest feeling. It was like the same pony looking at me from two different places at once. I just felt this feeling of I was being watched… but it was the same feeling from both directions…”

I wrote down the explanation and thought about her response, trying to think about anything about the strange feeling she said she was getting. I couldn’t think of anything at the moment that would cause a feeling like that, so I wrote it down and made sure that I would get back to it.

“Alright… Heavy said a colt came by and asked for Lily, was this colt Stomper?”

Heavy nodded. “Yup, comes by every now an’ then askin’ for her. He’s a sharp kid, but a bit reckless. They went out together to go find some feathers, but you know what happens after that…”

I wrote down the final statements and closed my notebook.

“Alright… now I’m gonna go have a word with Stomper’s parents. You said they lived next door right?” I asked, as Trist nodded.

I walked out the door and headed for the Leaf house, hoping that they would have something useful for me to go off of.

Ghost POV

I still don’t get Reggie. He’s always threatening me with pulling out of the investigation due to the lack of the suspect appearing at the scene of capture, but he always comes back the next day anyway, taking his seat across the Nightclub and looking out for any Diamond Dogs walking into the joint.

It had been a few days after he had threatened me with throwing me in jail, but nothing had come of it. After I had told him that the Dealer had actually holed up in his Cavern for a bit until the heat died down, Reggie suggested that we look for the cave and attack with all we had. After I explained to him that it was an incredibly bad idea, he swept me off like I was talking nonsense. The next day, who do you think is sitting across from me at the Nightclub?

I sighed as I was starting to become a bit restless too. The dealer was waiting us out until we gave up, and I wasn’t going to, but it was getting harder to play his game. I sipped at the Cola in front of me lazily, dozing off into space.

I had gotten word that 64 was awake now, and I was really happy about it, but I was hoping to have this job done before then. If he were here he would probably have the dealer in cuffs by now and halfway into Equestria.

“Agent 65… look alive…” I heard Reggie call out to me, as I looked up. There he was… Emerald Graves…

The Red Diamond Dog was standing at the front door with two Gryphon bodyguards at his sides, both sporting Sunglasses and Black Neckties. Emerald had a Golden spiked collar around his neck along with a black vest around his torso, his most prominent traits.

I saw Reggie getting antsy in his seat as if he was ready to pounce, but I knew now wasn’t the time.

“Calm down there Reggie… we can’t just go at him like this… I have to find out some things before we are able to book him.” I whispered, cracking my neck a few times casually as Emerald walked by my table.

“Are you fucking kidding me? He literally have our guy standing right in front of us, and you want to let him slip by? No fucking way.” He growled as I shot him a glare.

“Don’t be stupid. Have you ever been fishing before?”

“What the fuck does that have to do with anything right now?!”

“When you snag a fish… you have to give it a little slack. When it thinks it’s going to get away… that’s when you yank on the line and reel it in… Let Emerald get into a false sense of security before we act. It will only be a matter of time before he feel safe enough to where he won’t be on guard like he is now.”

Reggie looked at Emerald and saw what I was talking about. His shoulders were tensed as if he was watching everyone in the room, there was a sheen of sweat dripping on his forehead, and his fists were clenched tightly.

“Grr… Fine then… we’ll wait him out. I’ll give him 3 days… that’s it. Then we pounce.” Reggie growled, as I nodded and sighed, relaxing a bit. We finally had the bastard, and I was going to drab him back to Equestria by the feathers on his head.

“Don’t worry Reggie, we’ll get him.” I said encouragingly, to which he simply growled. His hoof grabbed the mug of Ale on his table as he chugged it angrily, before calling over the waitress and ordering another one.

Don’t worry 64, Emerald Grave is as good as captured.

64 POV

I walked out of the house and looked at the one neighboring it, seeing the sign ‘Leaf House’. Willow and Katrina Leaf were the mother and father of Stomper, who was last seen with Lily Wing. If they got foalnapped together, then it would make it a bit easier to track them down.

I walked onto the front porch and knocked on the door, as a male voice sounded from the other side.

“Yes, who is it?” The stallion said, not really having a ‘Appalosian’ accent.

“Hello? My name is Project 64, and I’m with the Equestrian Special Forces, I’m here to investigate the foalnapping of your son Stomper, can I come in?” I asked, as a few locks and switches were heard on the other side being undone.

The door opened to reveal a green coated stallion with a blonde mane, who had bags under his eyes. “You… you’re that human thing… aren’t you?” He asked me, to which I nodded.

“Yeah, all I need is for you to answer some questions and give me anything else I can use to help find your son.”
He sighed and rubbed his eyes with a hoof, turning around to what looked like the living room area. “Kat! We have a visitor!”

From the room came a brown coated mare with an olive colored mane, who eyes had also seen better days.
“He says he’s here to help find Stomper. So he probably needs both of us to answer some questions.”

“Oh… ok. Hello there… by name is Katrina Leaf, but you can just call me Kat for short.”

I nodded to both of them as I pulled out my notebook, ready to write their responses on a new page. “Alright… first question. What were you and your family doing the day before Stomper went missing?”

Kat looked down at the ground for a few seconds before looking up at me. “We were helping make decorations for the Nightmare Night celebration in town square. I was in charge of making Cardboard bats to hand around the town, and Willow here was making fake spider webs.”

“We did that from dawn till dusk that day, and Stomper was off trying to find that filly he seems so fond of. I swear those two were inseparable.” Willow added, as I wrote their responses.

“So you were both in Town Square?”. They nodded. “Did you see anypony suspicious walking around? Like they didn’t belong there?”

Kat looked down at her hooves for a second in thought before shaking her head.

“No. And even if we did we couldn’t tell. With Nightmare Night coming soon everypony was in town trying on their costumes, so we couldn’t tell who was who.” Kat answered. I sighed at the answer and wrote it down.

“So what about the day Stomper went missing, what happened that morning?”

“The boy was always excitable. The first thing he did when he woke up was run next door to ask Lily if he could help her collect the feathers for her dad’s costume. When they didn’t show up later that night we went to the Sheriff and found out that Lily had gone missing too. Posse was rounded up and we all went searching. Nothing came of it though…” Willow said glumly.

I stared irritably at my notepad, realizing that I was getting nowhere near finding who stole these foals. I slapped it shut and sighed, placing it into my Satchel.

“Thank you for your time, I’ll let you know if anything pops up…” I said tiredly, failing to mask it up when I wanted to. I felt a hoof grab my sleeve and turned to see that Katrina had grabbed by me and had a soft smile on her face.

“Please sir, I can tell you’re tired. Come inside for a Cider or something, I think you need a little break.” She offered, as I grinned and shook my head.

“Thank you ma’am, but I really need to get going.”

“Ah… come on… a little break won’t kill you. Just set down for a spell in the kitchen and I’ll serve you something up real quick.”

I knew there was no getting out for Western Hospitality, so I sighed and nodded. “Alright then… just for a little bit though. I have places to go.”

Kat led me to the small kitchen where a round table sat, allowing me to sit down onto a small pillow on the floor. She went to another part of the kitchen which was out of sight, allowing me to relax a little bit.

“I can already tell Stomper is gonna come home.” Willow said, now sitting across from me a the table. He had a small grin on his face as he threw a newspaper at me, the same one that Chrysanthemum showed me in Las Pegasus. It was me unconscious on a hospital bed after I fought Discord.

“Any guy that is stupid or crazy enough to go face to face with the same thing that caused it to snow Ice Cream here, is definitely going to be able to find a few foals that have gone missing.” He encouraged me.

“Thanks… but I’m not anything special. I’m just doing what I think is right.” I replied.

“You’d be surprised how special that makes you in this world.”

The words hit me pretty hard as Willow just stared at me with a smile. I could see in his eyes that by looking at me and knowing that I was looking for his son, that everything was going to be ok. I never realized how much of an impact I made in this world, no matter how major or minor it was.

“I guess you’re right then…” I said with a smile. It was at this point that Kat had come back into the room and set down 3 mugs of Cider. I took mine with a grin and took a big swig, feeling the Apple and Cinnamon flavors go down my gullet.

“Ah… that hits the spot.” I sighed happily. I looked up at the walls and saw that there were photos of Willow standing next to a sign which read ‘Leaf’s Extermination Company’. I saw in the foreground of this photo there were skyscrapers and many other big buildings. Apparently he saw me eyeing this photo and grinned.

“I used to be a pest exterminator. Anything from Roaches to Parasprites wasn’t too big of a mess for me.” He said proudly, a little more boastful than an Exterminator should.

“Where are you from Willow? This picture was taken in Manehatten.”

“From the Big Apple itself. Worked there until Willow here got pregnant with Stomper, so we decided to move down here to Appaloosa to get away from the big city. I never really thought Manehatten was the right place to grow up.”

Willow looked as if he wanted to say something else but was holding it back.
“What happened Willow? I can tell something is eating you.” I said as a matter of factly. He fought with it for a little more before sighing and looking up at me.

“Look, I know there’s a huge difference between bugs and a wanted criminal… but do you think you can set a trap?” He asked pleadingly.

“What do you mean a trap?”

“…… Like…… you know… setting up…… you know… bait…?” He said nervously as if he was scared on how I was going to react. I took the suggestion to mind and looked up at the ceiling, trying to see how that would work. Apparently Willow was beating me to it.

“Because... whenever there was a rodent that needed clearing out I always used the same tactic, and it always worked.” He spoke quickly, pulling out a pen and paper if front of me. “There’s always one reason why a Rodent moves into someone’s home, it has something there it likes. Whether that thing is food, warmth, or anything else, I always did the same thing. Put the thing it wants into a perfect situation to be taken, then when it’s going in for it, I snatch that sucker up.”

He drew a situation where there was a small circular area with a bit of cheese in the middle, and a hole where the Rodent would come out of. There was a drawing of him standing behind a corner with a net, with arrows pointing to where he would go.

“All you have to do is cut off the escape routes…” He drew a small tripwire and wall which would close the mouse hole in the wall as the rodent stepped out.

“Confuse the target…” Lights above the cheese which strobed quickly.

“Capture.” Net over the Rodent.

“Easy as 1,2, and 3.”

I looked at the plan drawn out before me and was shocked to see how much real-world application could be applied to it. Using barrier spells I could block off all exits so the target couldn't escape, and illusionary spells to confuse and distract the target if they tried to make a run for it!

“Holy shit Willow… Holy shit! This could actually work! There’s so many ways I can change up this plan so it could be used to capture the Foalnapper, and they would both be completely discreet!” I exclaimed, actually seeing glimmer of hope for the missing foals. The location of the trap would need to be set in a place where the Foalnapper hadn’t already targeted yet, so they would definitely show up eventually.

But as soon as my hopes were raised, a single thought dashed everything.

“Wait… everything here makes sense… but what the fuck am I going to do about bait?”

Author's Note

Stomper Leaf
Katrina Leaf
Willow Leaf

Chapter 29

Chapter 29

64 POV

“Absolutely not.” Luna said, marching away from me. I gawked at her refusal and caught up to her.

“Wait! What do you mean no?! You are the only pony who can do this!” I pleaded, referring to her apparition magic. I wanted her to create a solid image of a filly I could use for bait in the trap I was planning to set, but for some reason her reply was opposite to what I thought she was going say.

“Look… Not only will this plan not work… I am literally unable to help you. The spell you plan to use to keep the criminal in the immediate area negates any and all illusionary spells from being used, including my Image Spell. I’m afraid I will be unable to help you in your endeavor.” Luna clarified for me, making me sigh and run my hand through my hair.

“Well then what the fuck are we going to do for bait?”

Luna looked down at her hooves thoughtfully, as I looked around the Throne Room. I saw the window with the Elements of Harmony defeating Discord, acknowledging that I was nowhere on it. Honestly I really didn’t give a fuck, it was them who finished him off, and I doubt I would look good near dead and bleeding out on the ground.

“I have a solution to the question you ask.” Luna spoke up, as I looked at her hopefully.

“Well don’t leave me hanging, what is it?” I questioned.

“Tis simply really, use an Earth Pony foal.”

What!?

“WHAT!?” I exclaimed angrily, wondering why the fuck Luna would even bring that suggestion up. “First of all! You know how fucking dangerous that would be? To put a live foal into a situation like that would be catastrophic, especially if the guy decides to retaliate. Secondly! Who in their right mind as a parent would allow their foal to be put into a situation like that!?”

Luna simply stared at me unaffected as if what I just told her completely passed over her head. I waited for her response, but none came.

“Hello?! Human to Lunar Princess?!”

“I heard you the first time. I was simply waiting for you to realize that unless you want to catch this perpetrator, then you must do what is deemed necessary.” She said simply, before walking out of the Throne Room. I stood there staring at the door after she left, my face displaying the utter disbelief I was feeling.

“As much as I hate to admit it… she’s right…” A voice said behind me. I turned to the strange voice and immediately reeled back, nearly falling onto my ass. Vi was standing next to me, her molten features glowing in the dim Throne Room. I backed away from the figure posing as Vi as far as I could, before my back hit a wall.

“Who the fuck are you!?” I screamed, charging my right fist with magic. The figure standing next to me put her hand up as it glowed blue, before I felt the magic leave my hand… and eventually my body. I fell to my knees from the shock of the sensation, feeling all signs of magic leave me. My vision blured and my stomach was fighting to the surface, but luckily I held my last meal down. The figure walked forward to me and kicked me over onto my back, planting her foot onto my neck.

Vi’s face was staring down at me as I gasped for air, feeling the pressure on my neck increase.

“Listen to me 64… sometimes you must take drastic measures to get the results you’re looking for. And in this case… you will have to trust Princess Luna. The criminal will know the difference between a decoy and a real target, so you must use the former. Do not disappoint us 64… you haven’t done so yet…” The figure said before stepping off of my neck, allowing me to take in a gasp of air. Her hand glowed red for a moment before she walked away, as I felt the magic return to my body.

I rolled over onto my hands and knees slowly, taking in raspy gasps of breaths.

“W-wait… Wait…” I choked out, looking up at the Throne Room for any sign of Vi. She had completely disappeared from view. I pushed myself up onto my feet and swore at the area around me, think about she had said. “Fucking hell…”

I shook my head a bit and walked out of the Throne Room, heading to the Guard Barracks. Shining Armor wouldn’t be able to help me due to the trap I was setting needed to be indiscreet, and I doubt having a group of royal guards hanging around the area would be discreet.

Once I arrived I saw Shining in his office, going over the final preparations of the trap. I saw him write a few things down onto my layout, before leaning back into his chair.

“Yo, Shining… how does it look?” I asked, leaning argainst the doorway. He looked up at me and sighed, rubbing his eyes.

“Dammit 64… you know you are going to be the death of me!? I spent all night after you got back from Appaloosa looking over this thing, and I missed a night with Cadence. She strolls in here wearing nothing but leg length socks and her mane flowing down her face, and I’m sitting here rock hard and can’t do shit about it!” Shining yelled at me, his eye twitching angrily.

“I think you need some rest…”

“Yeah me too…” Shining groaned, flipping the switch from fuming with rage to groggy.

“How about you just go ahead and get some rest and I’ll look over the notes you’ve made onto the plan, okay?” I said caringly, acting as if he was a little foal.

"But maa……?” He droned half asleep. I patted his head as he began to fall asleep on his desk, pulling off the large design out from under him. I looked over it and saw that he listed 3 cites which had the most optimal locations to spring a trap, with both natural barricades and areas capable of setting up more traps.

Ponyville, Trottingham, and Dodge Junction.

The first two had thick forests; the last had a mountainous terrain surrounding it, making it inaccessible to non-Pegasi unless they were able to hop a train.

In my head I was debating which one would be best, then I looked to possible locations of the latest foalnapping. It was 5 days ago, and in Canterlot. The nearest city was Ponyville. I made my decision right there.

“Ponyville… perfect… Everfree Forest has lots of areas that are ideal for an ambush, and if the perp ends up being a Pegasi they can’t fly through the thick trees. A few Shock Runes here and there… some Gravity Seals… yeah… this could work.” I muttered, sitting down in a chair and pulling out a pen.

I had to mark a few areas I could hide out while the bait is getting picked at… but I still had no idea what to do about bait...

“Fuck…there’s no way I can just ask a parent to let their foal go into danger like this… but it’s looking like the only option…” I muttered angrily, wondering who would even consider it. The foal would have to be fast enough to where they could run away once I interfered, and strong enough to fight off the attacker if they got their hooves on them. They would obviously need to be and Earth Pony, and maybe have a bit brighter colors than most foals for visibility.

I rubbed my eyes in frustration. I got it.

“Ugh… I know who to ask… so I better wear some protection before I go and ask her…”

3rd Person POV

Sounds of wood breaking, glass shattering, and yells of anger were coming from the home 64 had just walked into. Obscenities were being yelled as 64 took them in stride, trying to get the mare inside of the home to calm down. The Stallion in the room was also trying to get a few hits in on 64, but luckily he was slow enough to where dodging him wasn’t really a big problem.

The mare on the other hand was much quicker, and 64 was already getting a bit banged up from trying to dodge and not retaliate. He wanted to use a binding spell on them which would hold them still for a bit, but they might hurt themselves in the process.

“AH SAID NO!” Applejack screamed as she managed to land a good buck onto 64’s chest, sending him smashing through the door and onto the ground outside. He was wearing a ridiculous suit made of pillows on his torso and a helmet for Hoofball on his head. He stumbled onto his feet and discarded the protection, before turning to Applejack.

“Listen! I understand that this is going to be dangerous, but I can’t do this without her helping!” 64 pleaded, as Applejack just walked out the door fuming in rage. Her pupils were the size of pinpoints and her face flush with red.

“AH DON’T GIVE A FLYING DONKEY PILE TO WHAT YA NEED! NOW GET THA HELL OF’A MAH PROPERTY BEFORE AH SKEWER YA ONTO A PITCHFORK!” Applejack threatened; as 64 stared at her knowing that she wouldn’t do that.

“AJ, be reasonable. I get that this is a dangerous situation. That’s why I’m going to be tailing her the entire way. Plus she isn’t as fragile as you think she is, she was holding you back in there when you were trying to cut my head off with that Carving Knife.”

A pitchfork went sailing over 64’s head as he hit the dirt.

“Sis calm down!” Applebloom yelled, pulling back on the tail of her enraged sister.

“Applebloom! Go back up to yer room while I deal with this varmint!” Applejack shouted, readying another Pitchfork to throw at 64.

“But ah can help him sis! Ah wanna help catch the guy who’s been doin’ all these bad things!”

“Do ya know how dangerous that would be Applebloom!? Ah’m not gonna let ya go and throw yerself in dangers way!”

“But she’s not going to be thrown in dangers way!” 64 interfered. “All she has to do is walk into the Everfree Forest then run out. There’s a route I’ll map out for her where she can travel while I follow close behind, and then all she has to do is run back here when things get hairy. Piece of cake.”

Applejack continued to fume angrily at 64 and was about to march over ther and give him a piece of her hoof, but was stopped by an iron Four legged walker.

“Now wait there yung’n. Ya woke me up with all that darn racket ya were makin’ down here, and ah’ve been listenin’ in on all yer yellin’.” Granny Smith drawled, as Applejack turned to her.

“Granny! Will ya please tell this varmint to get out here before ah’m forced ta do somethin’ drastic!?” She asked, as Granny shook her head.

“Now ah know what yer thinking Applejack, but I don’t see now reason why little Applebloom shouldn’t do this.”
Applejack and 64 both stared at Granny Smith with wide eyes.

“Well think about it. Ain’t this the feller that help drive out that good fer nothin’ Discord outa’ town?” Granny Smith asked.

“Well yes but—“

“And ain’t he also the one that help git rid of that monster that took control o’ Princess Celestia all them months ago?”

“Granny that ain’t the poin—“

“Then what makes ya think he can’t protect our little Applebloom while she takes a little stroll?”

Applejack looked shocked that her own Grandmother was being more accepting of this than she was, before shaking her head.

“Granny, ah know that 64 here is more than capable of protectin’ her. But why would we jus’ let her do somethin’ like this? What if somethin’ goes wrong?!” Applejack tried to persuade. Granny looked at her granddaughter and gave a small smile.

“Well then ya will jus’ have to hope that ev’rythin’ will go as planned.” She said in a sagely manner. 64 grinned at Granny, happy that the matriarch of the family was actually approving of the idea.

“And everything will. I’ve planned every single variable of escape that this guy will think of. Anything from trying to teleport away to climbing through the trees, this guy is gonna go down. Applebloom will be wearing protective gear, and I’ll be watching her like a hawk the entire way. Applejack, I need her.” 64 said imploringly.

Applejack looked behind her and saw that Big Mac had been listening the entire time. He sighed and nodded his head once.

“Eeyup.”

She sighed exasperatedly, “Looks like ah’m outnumbered on this one…”

“Ah can do it sis! All ah have to do is walk through the Everfree and wait for this guy to show up! Then ah just run back here easy!” Applebloom said excitedly, obviously not being able to grasp the seriousness in the situation.

“Ah know it sounds easy, but ah’m worried for ya. Who knows what this foalnapper is doin’… ah just don’t want ya to go meddiln’ into things like this when it’s obviously work for a grown pony, not a little filly.” Applejack said, grabbing Applebloom and hugging her tightly. Applebloom returned the hug and smiled, not really minding that she was called a little filly.

Big Mac walked out of the house and began to walk towards 64, who was nearly tempted to take a few steps back. He eventually was right in front of him and was staring menacingly into 64 eyes.

“When is this here plan of yers goin’ ta take place?” He asked quietly.

“Hopefully 2 days. The Everfree Forest is going to take a while to scope out, and once I find a suitable area I’m going to have to set up all of the traps and design a protective suit for Applebloom to wear. It going to be like hoody, but with Magic Negators built into it to protect her from any spells this guy might try to use.” 64 explained to Big Mac, who wasn’t letting up with his gaze.

“Listen here… Ah love my family more than life itself, and ah won’t let anythin’ happen to them if ah can help it. So listen here. Ya are gonna do this little plan of yers, then Applebloom is gonna come right back to this house safe and sound. Anythin’ other than that, yer head is mine… got it?”

64 wasn’t one to be intimidated, and he knew that Big Mac wouldn’t be able to best him in a fight, but if you put something between a stallion and his family, he will go through the 9 gates of Tartarus to get them back. 64 knew that Big Mac wasn’t making a threat. He was making a promise.

“I swear that Applebloom will get home safe and sound once this is all over. She gonna come back home in time for supper, and will go to bed for school the next day. You up for this Applebloom?” 64 called out, as the filly in question jumped onto his shoulder.

“You bet!” She cried happily, as Applejack gave a glare to 64, pretty much threatening him just like Big Mac did. He gently set her down and knelt.

“Alright, I’m gonna go set up a bit before we actually do this. I’m going to come back tomorrow and give you something you’re gonna have to wear so you stay safe, then the next day we are going to go and catch this guy, alright?”

Applebloom nodded and gave a quick salute. “Yes sir! I’ll be ready! Oh! I’m gonna go tell my friends about this!” She said ecstatically, beginning to run off towards the city. 64’s eyes went wide and grabbed onto her tail before she got too far, pulling her back.

“Wait Bloom, it’s not a good idea to talk too much about this. We need to keep it a secret just in case the foalnappers is listening… got it?” 64 lied, as Applebloom’s eyes widened in understanding. She nodded quickly before shooting up to her room, as 64 stood up and chuckled.

“Now why didja tell her that for? I could see through that lie like nothin’.” Applejack said, as 64 chuckled a bit.

“Well basing it off of your reaction, what would you think if the rest of the town found out I was doing something like this? I have to try and keep this whole situation on the down low before it explodes into something bigger. Just make sure Applebloom is ready in 2 days, got it?” 64 asked, as Applejack nodded.

“Although as still don’t trust ya with this… it is your best shot on catchin’ this guy. Good luck 64.”

The rest of the family walked back inside of the house, as 64 stood outside and sighed quietly, happy to at least have Applebloom if the plan. Now he could go and set up the trap in the Everfree before night fell.

Applejack POV

Ah waited for 64 to walk towards the Everfree Forest before ah walked back outside, heading towards Twilight’s Library. After the whole ‘Want It, Need It’ business a few days ago she had been a bit on edge, but ah really needed to talk to her.

Ah walked through Town Square and saw all of the shops still up, includin’ ours, but ours had a closed sign hangin’ from it. A lot of ponies were hangin’ up decorations for Nightmare Night in a few days, but right now all ah could think of was Applebloom’s safety.

Ah walked up to the library door and gave it a few knocks, waitin’ for Twilight’s answer. She opened it with a ridiculous beard lookin’ thing on, makin’ it hard to ask the serious question ah had.

“Oh, hello Applejack. Did you need something?” Twilight asked me, as ah nodded mah head yes.

“Ah jus’ need advice more than anythin’ right now…” Ah said glumly, as Twilight ushered me inside. Ah laid on mah stomach on one of the couches she had, as she sat on the once across from me.

“What advice do you need? Is something wrong?”

Ah hesitated before ah straight out asked the questions ah wanted, so ah asked another one instead. “Ya know about them foalnappings that have been goin’ around right?” Ah asked quietly, as her eyes suddenly shot open.

“Oh my goodness Applejack, did Applebloom—“

“No! Fer Celestia’s sake Twi… Ah would be much more vocal of somethin’ like that happened… but it has somethin’ to do with them foalnappings.” Ah sighed before continuin’. “64 has been tryin’ to find who’s been doin’ them an’ he’s plannin’ to set up a trap in the Everfree Forest to catch the napper.”

“Really? I had heard that he was now investigating, but I didn’t know he would come here. What kind of trap is he setting?” Twilight asked me curiously.

“The kind with bait.”

Twilight’s eyes shot open.

64 POV

It was now very late into the night, nearing about 1 in the morning. I had just set up the last Gravity Seal onto the ground and was now sweating profusely, not used to setting up so many trap seals into the ground at one time. Some of the spells would incapacitate, some would actually kill, so I needed to be triple sure that nothing would accidentally walk over those.

I was about to call it a night and find a nice tree to crash in, when I heard a rustling in the trees behind me. I turned and conjured a Gladius into my right hand, ready to attack anything that might try to attack me in the thick forest.

“No need to brandish that weapon child, I assure you I am not a creature of the wild.” A strange voice said through the thick brush. I wondered for a moment if this was another one of Super Nova’s mind games, but I decided to comply and dispel the blade in my hand.

“Who are you?” I asked cautiously, as I saw an outline of a pony through the thicket. It stepped forward as I finally got a good look at her, seeing the strange figure. She was obviously a zebra, with the traditional tribal accessories. Her hair was styled into a Mohawk design, and she had many gold rings all over her body.

“My name on your tongue is known as Zecora. I hail from the west of Equestria, where many are scared to roam. Which brings me to my question, why are you here on your own?” She asked me, as I relaxed a little bit.

“I’m setting up an ambush for a criminal who has been stealing foals, and hopefully his capture will come of it. But why are you out here?”

“I reside in a small hut southwest of here, but is it true that the little ones have begun to disappear?”

I sighed as I kicked the dirt a bit, “Yup. The families I have talked to have been so broken up about it. Hopefully this thing works.”

I pulled out a small blanket out of my Satchel and looked up at a good tree, getting read to climb up. “Well it’s been nice talking to you Zecora, but unfortunately I’m feeling tired. I’m gonna hit the hay and prepare a bit more.”

She looked up at what I was doing, and tilted her head a bit. “You do not expect me to believe that you will spend the night in a bed of leaves. By doing that in this area, it makes you quite naïve.”

“What do you mean?”

She looked towards the bark and pointed to a small arachnid on it’s surface. “A star spider… incredibly toxic. Get bitten of this creature, and the results will be chaotic.”

I looked at the Spider she was pointing at and sighed. “Alright then, I’ll just find a ditch or something.”

“Nonsense child. I will be happy to allow you into my hut this once, but please do not interfere with my work, do not be a nuisance.”

I decided to take Zecora up on her offer.

Author's Note

I suck at rhyming! So Zecora isn't very well written. I use a rhyming website and try to make the best half rhymes I could,

Chapter 30

Chapter 30

64 POV

I awoke to a faint bubbling sound, and felt a heat on my cheek. My eyes fluttered open to find Zecora standing over the cauldron in the center of her hut, with her throwing in a few items of suspicion, more specifically, Crystal Dust…

I decided to feign sleep for a little bit longer, to see if I could learn just what the heck she was making. I heard her begin to mutter something, so I channeled magic into my ears to hear it.

“chuma kutafakari ngao…”

Iron… Reflect… Shield?

Some kind of shield potion? She continued to throw ingredients into the boiling mix as she continued to mutter unintelligible words I was unable to translate. She took a large ladle into her hoof and took a large scoop of it out, before pouring the contents into a triangular bottle. She corked the top and set it on a table. The first thing I noticed about the bottle was that it began to glow a bright yellow, and it gave off a buzzing sound.

She looked at the contents and then looked towards me, as I regulated my breathing and shut my eyes. I felt the soft hoofsteps walk to my bedside, and the sound of a cork unscrewing. I opened my eyes wide as I saw Zecora about to pour the contents of the bottle into my open mouth, before I reached out and grabbed her hoof.

“Woah woah! What the fuck do you think you are doing!?” I yelled out, wrenching the bottle from her hooves. She looked startled at my sudden outburst, before regain her calm demeanor.

“I wished for you to be asleep before I administered the potion, for it requires a complete lack of motion. I assure you its effects are benign, yet the aftermath will show the true power of my design.” She explained to me cryptically.

“Just explain what the hell you were trying to pour down my throat!” I shouted, getting a bit angry.

“In layman’s terms it was to create a shield, which would require little to no effort to wield. Reflecting and blocking would be its job, preventing anything from causing you to drop.”

I looked at the strange liquid in my hands and sighed, looking at Zecora. “You’re saying this thing will protect me?”

Zecora nodded. “Yes. With your goal to capture the criminal, I would think you would want the risk to be minimal. I suggest giving this potion to your accomplice as well, if you want to give them another day to tell.”

I looked at Zecora surprised that she knew I was going to have Applebloom help me. “To have a good trap that succeeds, you must have something the culprit needs. But my questions to you, is who?”

“Well I doubt you know her. It’s the Element of Honesty’s little sister, Applebloom.”

Zecora nodded thoughtfully at the mention of the filly’s name. “I have heard of her, yet I do not know her as a friend. Perhaps I must put that to an end?”

“Maybe… now let’s just get the whole shield business over with.”

I laid onto the small cot Zecora had laid out for me and handed over the potion. “Alright... I gotta stay still for this right?” I asked a bit nervous, not knowing how good of a potion make this Zebra was.

“Correct. Now please try and remain rigid, for once you drink the potion the temperature will become quite frigid.” Zecora clarified. I nodded and opened my mouth a bit, allowing Zecora to aim the bottle. I held my breath as the first gulps of the metallic liquid began to flow down my throat. It tasted as if it was liquid iron, which was incredibly unpleasant to the palate.

“The chill will come soon, so prepare yourself, for it will make you near immune.” Zecora warned,as it suddenly felt as if the temperature dropped to freezing. I swear I could see my breath condense in the air.

“It will begin to subside in a moment, then it will be time to see if the potion was potent.”

The rush of adrenaline in my body finally went away, as I finally was allowed movement once again. I looked at my hands and noticed a yellowish glow in them, as if they were covered in a sheet of cracked yellow glass. It went away after a few seconds, yet the shock of the whole experience was still fresh in my mind.

“What the fuck was that…?” I whispered, sitting up on the cot, still staring at my hands. I looked up at Zecora for an explanation and noticed that she was now holding a large staff above her head, before bringing it down towards my head.

I brought my arms over my head to cushion the blow, and felt the staff connect. Instead of the pain of a blunt object I felt a different sensation, as if I had a layer of myself that shattered. I brought my arms back into view and saw that they were once again covered in the same glass like pattern, with the cracks being more prominent in the areas where the staff had struck. The cracks eventually repaired themselves, with no evidence of their existence.

“What the hell was that?!” I said frightened, not really understanding what the hell was going on.

“You’ll find that handy in a pinch… the difference between life and death...” Zecora said puzzlingly, before picking up another blunt stick and striking me in the cheek. Although I recoiled at the blunt force of the stick, I felt no pain.

“Surprising…” She said.

“Surprising that it worked?” I asked.

“Surprising that it didn’t kill you.”

I’m getting the fuck out of here.

3rd Person POV

64 left Zecora’s hut with a small vial of the Shield potion, although he was apprehensive about giving it to Applebloom. It would probably be best to give it to her while she was still asleep. He pulled out a small notepad, one different than the one with his case notes, and flipped to the page where the magic negating jacket was.

“Serial Number F-081598. Size Foal Medium.” 64 muttered, grabbing his communicator charm. He channeled it to the Cloudsdale Channel, more specifically, the Wonderbolts Channel.

“Burnout this is Biped, do you copy?”

“Copy Biped this is Burnout, waiting for command.”

“Requesting drop Number F-081598 to city Ponyville, sending coordinates as we speak. Ready for pickup.”

“Roger that Biped, Burnout, out.”

64 looked up at the sky in the direction of Cloudsdale and waited, knowing it would only be a matter of seconds before he saw something. An orange streak began to soar in the sky from the west, heading straight for 64.

It zoomed overhead before pulling a U-Turn and heading back to Cloudsdale, as a small package with a parachute began to make its descent. When it finally landed onto the ground, 64 walked over to it and kicked off the lock.

He popped it open and looked inside, seeing a black hoody for a filly neatly folded up.

“Perfect. Looks about Applebloom’s size.” 64 examined, as he heard the flapping of wings coming from behind. He turned to see Rainbow Dash there looking at the sky, as if she was trying to find something. “Yo Dash, what’s up?”

“Not now! I think I just saw Spitfire fly overhead!” She said excitedly, a wide grin on her face. 64 chuckled and neatly packed the hoody into his Satchel Pocket.

“That’s because she did, I requested a package drop here and she delivered it. I told you she does stuff like this for me.”
Rainbow Dash’s eyes suddenly widened at the small wooden crates sitting in the grass, and quickly flew up to 64’s eye level.

“What was in it!? Some cool secret weapon?! A gem with the power to stop time?!” She asked eagerly, as 64 gave her a grin.

“A hoody.”

Her smile faltered and turned into a frown, sitting on the grass deadpanned. “A hoody?”

“Yup, nothing but a hoody.” 64 answered. Rainbow Dash looked at his clothing and tilted her head.

“But, you’re already wear the hoody that Rarity made you, why would you need another one?”

64 looked around to see if there was anypony else in the area, before kneeling down. “I’m sure you’ve heard what’s been going on with foals being stolen across Equestria right?”

“Yeah, the school here is starting to make parent pickups mandatory now, and isn’t letting any of the kids walk home alone anymore. Why?”

“I’ll tell you later, but for now I want you to go gather the rest of your friends and meet up at Twilight’s Library. If I know Applejack she’s probably already told Twilight about what I’m planning to do. Just tell them to get there as quick as they can and I’ll head there in about half an hour, alright? I gotta stop by the school house and give the hoody to Applebloom.” 64 explained before walking off, leaving a very confused Rainbow Dash.

“What in the hay was that all about?” She asked herself, before flying off to Sweet Apple Acres. Upon arriving she saw that Applejack was busying bucking tree free of their apples, but it looked as if she was angry at something. “Hey Applejack!”

Applejack looked up to see that Rainbow Dash was approaching her, and wiped the sweat off of her brow. “What is it Dash? Ah already got problems ta deal with right now, so ah don’t need anymore.” Applejack grumbled.

“Well 64 asked me to gather up our friends and head to Twilight’s but I have no idea why. I think he said something about you knowing, care to explain?”

Applejack looked down before sighing. “Ah really don’t feel like explainin’ the same thing 4 more times, so it’s gonan have to wait until we’re all there, alright?”

Rainbow Dash understood and nodded, before once again flying off to Fluttershy’s cabin.

64 POV

I walked to the schoolhouse and saw that it was recess, but there were a few stallions wearing bright orange vests standing nearby. One of them saw me and put his hoof out.

“I’m sorry sir, but nopony is permitted to be near the school during recess hour. If you wish to speak to Ms. Cheerilee, then it will have to wait until after school hours.” The stallion said, putting his blue hoof to my chest. I was about to tell this guy off, but I noticed Big Macintosh was walking over, also dressed in the bright vest.

“Let ‘im through Noteworthy, ah told Cheerilee he was comin’.” Big Mac said, as Noteworthy looked away sheepishly. He walked away leaving me Big Mac to our own devices.

“So what’s with the get up?” I asked, already having an idea for what they could possibly be for.

“Because of you.”

I tilted my head at the answer, obviously not expecting that. “What do you mean by that? Are ponies around here scared of me?”

Big Mac shook his head, slightly scowling at me, “Ponies aren’t scared of what ya are, they’re scared of what ya bring. Especially now. Ya are leading the pony who has been snatching up foals left an’ right across Equestria, right to us, on purpose. Words gotten out all over Ponyville. Some parents ‘round here aren’t lettin’ their foals come to school until they see you slap the hoof cuffs on, so ya better do what ya came here ta do.”

He began to turn to walk away, but I grabbed his shoulder before he could.

“Woah what the fuck do you mean ‘words gotten out’? Are you saying ponies around here know what’s going to happen?”

“Eyup. Mayor made an announcement early this mornin’. Sayin’ what was goin’ to happen, and warn the town jus’ in case somethin’ got outta hoof. Ah’m here to help protect the foals that were able to come school today.”

This time when he began to walk away I didn’t stop him. I just shook my head for a second, realizing that although my intentions are good, I often brought a trail of chaos wherever I went.

“and don’t you forget it…”

My heart began to race at the playful tone of the voice, as my instincts began to kick in. My breath began to become ragged and I could feel my pupils dilate. I looked down at my hands and saw that I was beginning to conjure a weapon, more specifically a Dagger.

“Calm… down…” I muttered, to myself, feeling the fire in the pit of my stomach begin to subside. I shook of the rest of the tingling sensation I got and huffed, stepping into the schoolhouse. Right now Cheerilee had her elbows on the table and her hooves covering her face, the remnants of tears staining her face.

“Ms. Cheerilee?” I asked, making her aware of my presence. She looked up at me and scowled, throwing the first thing she could grab, also known as a stapler. I ducked as she went for a pencil sharpener, but I grabbed her hoof before she could lift it up.

“I don’t want to see you right now! How dare you put Applebloom in harm’s way like this!?” She yelled at me, as I released her hoof. She reeled back and caught me with a smack, but luckily the shield Zecora had made me caught the blow.

“Look, right now I don’t want to hear anything. Getting Applebloom in on this was the only option I had left, and I’m making every single precaution that she will be safe. Right now I’m delivering some armor she’s going to be wearing, so can you please call her in?” I asked, trying my best to not provoke her any more.

“Fine. But you better make sure nothing happens to her, or I’m going to make you wish that you were never born.”

I wanted to tell her that I technically wasn’t born, but I kept my mouth shut. After she stepped outside for a bit, Applebloom came in walking behind her, her bow shooting up at the sight of my.

“Howdy 64! You said there was gonna be somethin’ for me to wear?” Applebloom said happily, as I reached into my Satchel Pocket and pulled out the black hoody.

“Yep, got it right here. Look this thing won’t protect you from physical harm, but it will prevent magic from affecting you for a short time. You need to wear this for tomorrow, so make sure you don’t get it dirty or anything.” I said, as she slipped the hoody on. The black contrasted with her tan fur, but her red hair was more than enough to create a beacon in the dark I needed in the Everfree.

“Feels warm, but it feels like there is something buzzing inside.” She said, playing with the two drawstrings for the hood. I grinned and charged an incredibly small amount of magic in my hand, shooting it at her.

“AH!” She yelled, hitting the deck and covering her head with her two forelegs. She looked up and realized that the ball of magic was floating harmlessly above her, suspended in midair. She poked at it and recoiled when she saw it poofed into nothingness, smiling at the results.

“Wow! How did I do that?” she said excitedly, as I pointed to the hoody.

“The hoody you are wearing has special spells implemented into it to negate nearly all destructive magical spells, so nothing should be able to land a hit on you. You are gonna do great tomorrow, so don’t worry about anything. All you have to do is walk, then run.”
Applebloom smiled at me then nodded, suddenly looking down in doubt.

“But… what if ah mess it up? What if tha reason ya can’t catch the bad guys is because ah mess up somehow?” Applebloom said dejectedly, as I put my hands onto her shoulders for encouragement .

“Look, then that will be my fault. It’s my job to direct you through the forest, then for me to stop the bad stallion from getting you. All you have to do is run back using a safe route I’m going to map out, and that’s that. You won’t mess something that simple up.” I explained.

Applebloom looked 10 times better after that, a ball of energy replacing the glum filly that was standing there a few moments ago. “That’s right ah won’t! Ah’m gonna run as fast as I can!” She yelled enthusiastically.

“Alright AB, you can head back out to recess now.”

The filly ran out the door with her new hoody, one I would probably let her keep afterwards. After that was done, I sat back onto the desktop of one of the many table is the room, crossing my arms a bit. “So Cheerilee, how exactly did you end up hearing about this?” I asked.

“Well the mayor addressed that matter with nervousness, and for good reason. News like this would only come from Canterlot, so I would guess it was Twilight Sparkle that told the Mayor. You’re leading one of the most wanted criminals in Equestria straight to our home, and we’re supposed to be okay with it? I understand it’s all to catch this terrible stallion, but was there seriously no other options?” She asked pleadingly, probably not being able to bear think of putting one of her students into that situation.

I shook my head slowly. “If there was, I would take it in a heartbeat. Sadly it doesn’t seem that way. I’m taking every precaution necessary to keep Applebloom safe, and I have another safety precaution to give her later tonight.” I answered, pulling out the small vial of the Shield Potion.

“I still don’t like any of this 64. After this is all over, I think you owe a serious apology to Ponyville.”

I nodded in understanding and stood up, knowing that I had overstayed my welcome. I walked out the door without another word, beginning my walk to Twilight’s Library. I had to confront them about this.

3rd Person POV

Rainbow Dash had gather all of her friends at Twilight’s Library like 64 asked, and they were now waiting patiently for the human in question.

“Where in the hay is he? He told me he was only going to be half an hour!” Rainbow Dash complained, throwing herself onto the couch in a bored manner, right onto Rarity’s lap.

“Please Rainbow Dash, must you act so uncouth? Simply wait like the rest of us!” Rarity asked, making Rainbow Dash roll her eyes.

“Ah think that now that we’re all here anyway, ah should tell ya what this is probably all about.” Applejack confessed, as everypony in the room except for Twilight looked towards her.

“Oh! Oh! Is it a surprise party?! I’ll help with everything!” Pinkie Pie said in her same excited manner as always, making Applejack slap herself in the forehead with her hoof.

“It’s not that Pinkie… it’s a bit more serious than that.” Everypony in the room hushed up at Applejack’s serious tone all looking towards her in waiting. “Ugh… Ya know about all them foalnappin’s that have been all over tha new lately?”

They all gave signs of acknowledgement, knowing what she was talking about. “Well… 64’s been apparently tryin’ to find and git the varmint that’s been doin’ it, and he says he come to a dead end in his case. So… he… he…”

Applejack was cut off by the human falling from the ceiling and landing in the center of the mares, who all recoiled in shock.

“I need to set a trap here in the Everfree Forest so I can catch this guy. So with Applebloom’s help, I’m setting up an ambush for tomorrow morning.” 64 explained quickly, allowing the news to sink in.

“Woah, woah, woah. Are you saying that Applebloom is going to help you catch a criminal, who is foalnapping children!?” Rainbow Dash yelled, as 64 nodded.

“Yup. She’s the bait in waiting, and I’m setting up the trap. With a few barrier spells the criminal isn’t going to be able to teleport, fly away, or use illusions to confuse me. I’m am going to tail Applebloom to the target area, then when the perp appears, boom. I got him.”

The mares in the room all had their mouths widened in shock, expect for Fluttershy, who was giving him a face of inexpressiveness. She got up from the position she was laying in, and slowly walked towards 64. Each step was more and more scary to 64, not being used to this side of Fluttershy. She kept eye contact with him the entire time, and as much as he tried to fight it, he couldn’t look away. He felt himself falling to his knees as Fluttershy was finally in front of him, gazing into his soul.

“64.” She said flatly.

“Y-yes?” 64 stuttered, feeling his courage slowly leave his body.

“You will take Applebloom tomorrow, catch this pony, then take her safely home. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. Do you understand me?”

64 at this point couldn’t speak, and simply nodded quickly.

“Good.” Fluttershy said with a sickly sweet smile, trotting out of Twilight’s Library like nothing had happened.

No one in the room moved for a good long while, simply trying to let what just happened sink in.

“The fuck just happened!?”

Author's Note

Free Internet Cookie if you find the hidden reference!

Chapter 31

Chapter 31

64 POV

After I regained mobility in my body, I took a look at the stares I was receiving from the rest of the mares. Rainbow was simply staring at me with a look of disbelief, as was Rarity and Pinkie Pie. Surprising she was managing to stay still for a bit.

“I simply cannot believe that you are acting so casual about this! Do you not feel any seriousness in this situation!?” Rarity demanded, as I felt myself starting to get tired of this shit. I stood up and sighed, looking in her direction.

“Of course I feel serious about all of this! I’m tired of everypony in town trying to give me a lecture about how what I’m doing is ‘so terrible’.” I retorted in a mocking tone. “I get it! This is dangerous, but it’s what I do! I do this shit on a near daily basis!”

Rarity recoiled at my sudden outburst, but I felt it needed to be said. I do stuff like this all of the time, I knew what I was doing.

“We realize that 64, but it’s—“ Twilight began, before I cut her off.

“And you, you went and told the mayor about the ambush!? What were you thinking!? What if the perp got wind of what was going to happen and decides to not take the bait!? I wanted to have this entire thing under wraps with only you guys and Fluttershy knowing, but now the entire town knows! Do you realize how bad this can end up?”

She also sank back into her seat and said nothing, as I turned to Applejack. “Tomorrow morning… 7AM. That’s when Applebloom will head into the Everfree Forest. I need to give her something before she wakes up though, so I’ll get there at about 4. Make sure she gets a good night’s rest that night, she’s going to need it.”

Applejack nodded and tipped her hat a little bit, as I suddenly felt something quick move in the room. Rainbow Dash was heading straight for me as I rolled onto my back, throwing my foot up to catch her on the stomach. She went sailing off course as she crashed into the ceiling, her lower half sticking out of the wood.

“Yes Dash?” I asked unamused at her attack. She pulled herself out as she shook off the wood chips she had gotten in her mane.

“I’m not letting you take Applebloom on this totally unsafe mission by yourself. I’m going with you into the Everfree Forest and that’s final!” Rainbow Dash said, flying in my face.

“Nope.” I answered simply. She scowled at me and poked me in the shoulder.

“I don’t think you heard me, I’m going with you.”

“Nope. I heard you the first time.”

“64, I’m not letting you leave and that’s—“

She was probably going to say ‘final’ when I pinched her neck once and she fell unconscious, falling into my arms as I laid her down onto the couch. The rest of the mares all gaped at my sudden use of force against Dash, but I knew enough was enough.

“64 why did you do that? All she was doing was trying to help you!” Twilight yelled at me, as I rolled my eyes.

“Her intentions might have been good, but I doubt she would be able to do any good. The foalnapper can’t have any idea of what’s about to happen, and I’ve already got one breach in security of this plan, the last thing I need is another.”

I might have been overreacting about this just a bit, but I didn’t care at this point.

The girls all became quiet as I sighed and began for the door. “I’m gonna go map out a route for Applebloom to take tomorrow. By then this whole ordeal will be over and I’ll get out of your mane’s, ok?”

I waited a second but didn’t turn around, before I stepped out and headed for the Everfree Forest. I felt the need to not let myself be seen by anypony.

3rd Person POV

64 was holding a map in his hands and was slowly making markings on it, indicating landmarks that Applebloom would need to follow to avoid getting caught in the traps he had set all over the place. His head was reeling from all of the backlash he was receiving from the town, mostly regarding that a fill Applebloom’s age shouldn’t be getting wrapped up in the business of catching criminals, but compromises had to be made to get results.

The sun was starting to set for 64, who had been out in the Everfree Forest for nearly the entire day. He had to reset some traps that were tripped by the local wildlife, but for him that was good. Manticore was pretty good eating.

“What time is it…?” 64 muttered, losing track of time and looking at his watch. It read 8:30, as he took a small break and sat at the base of a tree, sighing as he looked through a small opening in the thick tree line, staring up at the stars. “Celestia help me…”

“you never were one for prayer…” A voice next to 64 whispered, as he turned his head towards the voice calmly. It had only been yesterday when he had seen her last, and he felt it was going to become a recurring event.

“What do you want…?” He said sadly, not really wanting her to just show up and then leave once more.

“I wanted to see how you were doing. I can tell you’re a bit stressed about this ordeal.” Vi said, her burning glow illuminating the dark forest.

“I really don’t want to talk about that. I just want a few seconds of rest before I have to do something else. Can I please have that?”

Vi looked at 64 with a smug grin, before her hand glowed blue for a split second. 64 felt the effects and groaned, falling over onto his side in exhaustion.

“Why… the fuck… do you… keep doing that?” He wheezed, feeling the massive amount of energy he lost.

“Because I feel that you are letting those ponies push you around. Here you are mulling over what they are saying, when you should assert yourself and show them who’s boss? Project 64… human who evades Celestia’s grasp for 6 years, defeats Super Nova, and is equally matched against Discord, is being pushed around by the ponies of a single town who don’t realize what is needed to get something done. I’ll tell you this; the 64 I knew wouldn’t have done that. Being all chummy with these ponies has made you soft!” Vi scolded, as 64 fought to regain his breath.

He was thinking about what Vi had been telling him, but didn’t want to believe it. He might have gotten a bit softer, but that was because not everypony was made of tougher will than he was. He could take and roll with the punches directed his way, but he wasn’t sure if others could as well.

“I can’t just act all authoritative around my friends Vi…I need to realize that sometimes I do push the boundaries with his stuff, but I’m careful about it. If I order around my friends, soon enough I won’t have any…”

“Friends… you never needed friends before. Don’t tell me that you’ve become immersed in that whole ‘magic of friendship’ nonsense—“

“IT’S NOT NONSENSE!” 64 cried out, standing onto his feet in a burst of rage, not allowing anyone, no matter who it was, to say that. “It has saved me on 3 occasions already… and I feel it’s saved me from myself. Without friends like Ghost, Shining Armor, Princess Luna… I would have probably got a gun and put it down my throat. So say what you want about the Magic of Friendship, it’s a real force.”

Vi glowered at 64 and marched forward, grabbing him by the throat and forcing him against the tree he was just sitting against.

“I tried to take the friendly route of getting inside that pretty little head of yours… but I guess I’ll just have to go back to MY idea… I already knew taking this form wouldn’t work…” A different voice said, before the image of Vi shimmered away and revealed Super Nova standing there, her horn glowing the same color that the aura around 64’s neck was glowing.

64 tried to reach out against Super Nova, but she was just out of his reach.

“YOU…BITCH!” He growled against the lack of oxygen he was experiencing, trying to get out from the grasp around his neck. He looked around him to try and find anything he could use; only seeing branches above him too far out of reach.

“I WILL HAVE THAT HEAD YOU PUNY LITTLE—“

A heavy buzzing sound suddenly surprised 64, feeling it on his chest. Suddenly the image of super Nova flashed away and he fell forward onto his hands and knees, gasping for breath at his sudden lack of oxygen.

“Ugh… what the… what the hell…?” 64 gasped out, looking at his hands in front of him. He saw that they were glowing red, despite having no recollection of casting anything. He suddenly realized something, feeling a sort of constricted feeling still around his neck. Super Nova was never physically manifested in front of him. He had been choking himself.

Another heavy buzz shook 64 out of his sudden realization, seeing the glow of his communication charm within his white longsleeve.

“Ghost!” 64 said gladly, happy to receive word from his Changeling companion. He fished the green gem out of his shirt and activated it, hearing Ghost’s voice on the other end.

“Hello? You there 64?” Ghost asked, sounding impatient.

"Hey little guy! How are things going over there? Been awhile.” 64 said, concerned for the amount of time Ghost had been overseas.

“Going great. Tomorrow is finally the day I’m gonna bag this guy, so I’m gonna come home soon!”

“Woah, what? I thought the plan was that once you identified the dealer I would be sent in. why are you confronting him?”

There was a few short seconds of nervous laughing on Ghost’s end, before a response came through. “Well… remember what I said about the Police helping me? They’re getting antsy about getting this guy, so they refuse to wait anymore. I tried to get them to wait until you could be sent over, but they won’t hear any of it.” Ghost said sadly, before the tone changed to chipperness. “But don’t worry! This guy doesn’t know a thing about fighting! He uses his muscle to deal with his problems, and with all of the cops that are going to be there, there isn’t a chance of this guy getting away. I’ll have him in cuffs and shipped back to Equestria before you know it!”

64 sighed at the news, knowing how high and mighty some of the Uniforms in smaller cities act sometimes.

“Alright, alright… I get it. I know you will Ghost. Look, remember what I told you about tough situations right?”

“Remember to turn tail when the heat burns too much. Better to get burned in the ass than to have it scar your face.” Ghost recited, with 64 making sure it was hammered into his head.

“Good boy. Make sure to get home safe Ghost, that’s all I ask. And make sure to see if you have an opportunity to feed before starting anything, it’s best to be at full strength before getting into a rumble.”

“Got it 64! If I wanna do that, I better get going. Then plan is set once the sun sets!”

64 grew a face of confusion and looked towards the dark sky before realizing the time zones were different, with it nearly being a 12 hour time difference.

“Alright Ghost… stay… stay safe alright?” 64 asked, worrying for his companion.

“Alright 64. I promise. See you soon.”

“See ya.”

The line disconnected after that.

Ghost POV

After the line cut, I got up off of the hotel bed I was laying on. I was feeling a little bit hungry… but this was all gonna be over soon enough! I could wait until 64 got here. The clock on the wall read 2PM, meaning it was about 2 where 64 was. I was glad to hear that he was okay, but it sounded as if he were pained to hear me go. I knew that he and I are really close, but did he care that much for me?

I sighed and took the form of Fonix, getting ready to go over to the Police Station and see the plan Reggie was making. He had told me to let him worry about setting up the ambush, which I had no problem with. He had more experience in these kinds of things, and it would be best to let him take the reins.

I packed my saddlebags with everything I brought, knowing that I wouldn’t need another night here. I made the bed and cleaned up everything else I had made dirty in the room, not wanting the housekeepers to have to do any excessive work.

I placed a large bag of bits onto the bed for the housekeeper that was bound to stumble upon it, just to show that I appreciated them. I didn’t bother to check out of the hotel, knowing that I was paid off for the rest of the week.

I closed my eyes and focused on teleporting to the Police Station, making sure that I appeared in an area away from prying eyes. Who knows how bizarre it would be to see a Gryphon teleport. Green Magic enveloped my body as I teleported to a back alley behind the police station, looking around to make sure that no one spotted me.

“Whew… good.” I muttered, seeing that it was devoid of any one walking around. I walked around the building to see Reggie waiting impatiently for me, stamping his hoof on the ground so much I could see the indentations in the ground.

“Hey Reggie, I’m here. Now let’s see this ‘fantastic’ plan of yours.” I said mockingly, knowing how easy it was to get underneath his skin.

“Now don’t go bullshitting this close to something this important. There’s too much riding on this bust. Now c’mon, I got the whole thing laid out in the conference room.” Reggie said, turning around and walking into the building. I followed accordingly, realizing that this was serious business we were getting into.

“You’re the boss Reggie… you’re the boss…”

64 POV

After my confrontation with myself in the forest, and my conversation with Ghost, it was already late into the evening, nearing 4AM. I made my way to the Apple Family Farm, seeing a light on in a room on the 2nd floor. I climbed up to it and knocked onto the window, seeing Applejack pace back and forth in her room.

She looked over to me with a scowl and opened the window, biting the collar of my long sleeve and pulling me inside.

“There ya are! Do ya have any idea how worried sick ah am about this whole thing? Ah haven’t got a wink of sleep all night…” She scolded me, as I patted her head in solace.

“It’s gonna be alright Applejack. Now where’s Applebloom’s room? I need to give her one last thing while she’s still asleep.”

“Across the hall… but… please 64… Ah’m still not sure about this… ah know ya’ve done these things before, and ya know how ta fight.. but…”

I put a finger to her lips before she could continue any further, giving her a soft smile. “That’s good that you are worried. It means you’re a responsible caretaker. Look… I can say this. Plans like these always have some sort of twist in side, one that could be good, or bad. All I can say is that I will do my best to bring Applebloom home unscathed.”

She looked down with a small grin, before nodding. “alright… Alright. Go ahead and do what ya need to do.”

I nodded and quietly made my way to the room across the hall, seeing the little bundle of filly wrapped up in the sheets. I snuck up to the side of the bed and pulled out the small vial of Zecora’s strange potion, afraid that it’s yellow glow would wake up the filly. Luckily all she did was turn a bit in the sheets, which was good because her mouth was now facing upwards.

I softly pinched her nose and waited, knowing I would need to time it just right. As soon as I saw her mouth open to take a breath, I popped the cap off of the vial and gently poured it down her throat, seeing a glow of yellow slowly form around Applebloom. It eventually disappeared, indicating that it worked.

“Perfect.” I whispered, slowly making my way out of the room and back to Applejack. I nodded, telling her I did what I need to do.

“What didja need ta give her? Some sort of armor?” Applejack asked me, as I nodded a bit.

“Sort of. Not one you can wear, but something that Zecora gave me. She tried it out on me and it gave me some sort of shield… go ahead, give me a buck in the gut.” I offered, as Applejack wasted no time turning and rearing her legs back.

The buck connected with my stomach as the yellow shield around my body shattered completely, sending me back into the wall. I felt no pain beside the force of the blow, which I expressed by giving her a thumbs up and a smile.

“Wow, and ta believe I was scared outta my mind about that zebra before.” Applejack whispered, rubbing her eyes to make sure that she wasn’t seeing things.

“I gave Applebloom the same potion Zecora gave me for this, so if something does end up going a bit haywire, she’ll be ok.”
Applejack smiled at my extra precaution, as my eyes strayed to the open window. The sun was rising as the time for action came close.

“Alright… here we go…”

Ghost POV

I sat inside the Nightclub as the bass resonated throughout the entire building. Undercover cops were hidden all over the place to await the capture of Emerald Graves. He entered the building with two muscular Gryphons flanking him, as my eyes narrowed.

“Alright… here we go…”

Author's Note

Alright... Here we go...

Chapter 32

Chapter 32

3rd Person POV

In the Apple home Applebloom was putting on her Magic Resistant Hoody. Applejack was biting her hat nervously. Big Mac was trying his hardest to grab Applebloom and keep her as far away from the human across from him. Granny Smith was asleep.

64 laid out the large map of the Everfree Forest onto the table, with red and blue markings forming a long path for Applebloom to follow.

“Alright… Here’s the layout. Applebloom, you are going to enter the Everfree by the Eastern Trail.” 64 said strongly, pointing to a red marker on the map. Applebloom nodded fervently as she continued to listen with rapt attention, not wanting to miss anything. “These red markers on the map indicate ribbons I have tied to trees along the trail. The knots in the ribbon point in the direction you will head until you reach the next ribbon, and then you will follow that one.”

“But what’s with tha different colored ribbons?” Applebloom asked curiously, pointing to a blue marker.

“Let me get to that. This trail leads to a large clearing where I can confront the foalnapper.” 64 explained, pointing to an area where there were no trees. “Your job, Applebloom, is to get to this clearing. This is the optimal area for a snatch and grab style that the foalnapper has been using, so… this is the most probable area of contact.”

Applejack looked at 64 nervously as she realized what that meant.

“So… yer sayin’ that this is where Applebloom will need ta run?” Applejack asked, making 64 shrug.

“Honestly, it can happen at any other time. But this is the safest area. I can set up the Magical Barrier without having to worry about there being anything getting in the way, and it will be the safest area for me just in case the foalnapper decides to retaliate. This is where the Blue ribbons come into play for you Applebloom.”

Applebloom looked up excitedly as 64 continued.

“When the foalnapper appears, I need you to turn around, and run in the exact some direction you came from. The first Blue Ribbon you find will be in the same place as the last Red ribbon you found, but will point in a different direction. This second route will take you out of the Everfree through the Northeastern Entrance, and by that point, your job will be done.”

“But what about you? How close are ya gonna follow after ah leave?” Applebloom asked.

“Depends on how much of a fight this guy is going to try to put up. But when he sees the circumstances he’s going to be in, there’s not that much of a chance that he will try to fight back. 30 minutes tops.”

Everything was set in place, and the time for action came closer. 64 looked at his watch and saw that it was 7:10, and they would have to leave in 20 minutes.

“Alright guys… Let’s getting going. Let me change really quick…” 64 muttered, pulling out a roll of white cloth. He unrolled it to reveal that it was the same Camouflage Suit he had used at the Grand Galloping Gala, before stepping into the jumpsuit and sipping it all the way up to his neck.

“What’s with the fancy get-up 64?” Applejack asked, making 64 smirk and snap his fingers. Everything but his head disappeared, and when he put up the hood to the jumpsuit, his head disappeared as well.

“This is what I’m going to use to sneak through the Everfree. Light reflects around the specialized material so it appears I’m invisible, and there’s padding on the soles of the feet so my footsteps are silent. Got it from the Saddle Arabian Black Market.” 64 explained, moving throughout the room while throwing his voice to make him undetectable through sound.

He stopped the flow of magic to the suit and appeared in the middle of the living room, ready to get the show on the road.

“Alright, that’s enough explaining. Time to move out. Applebloom, I do need you for this, but you can back out now if you don’t feel up to this. I can always try something else.”

“No! Ah’m ready to do this! We’re gonna nab this guy!” Applebloom cheered, the hood on her jacket flapping up and down as she bounced in joy.

“Alright then… let’s go.”

The pair walked out the front door as the rest of the Apple family watched them go, the brother and sister both praying to Celestia that their baby sister would be ok.

Switch To Ethaxial

Ghost was watching as the Diamond Dog leader known as Emerald Graves sat at a private booth across from him as many Gryphonesses began to try and get to the infamous dealer, trying to get their quick fixes of Crystal Dust.

The muscle Emerald had brought with him began to shove them away, yelling over the blasting music to scare them off. Many of the girls decided to not listen and got a talon to the face from the bodyguards, as they stumbled away with their faces dripping with blood and tears.

Reggie was at the bar awaiting for Emerald to approach the bar, but that wouldn’t happen until his favorite song was playing. In a few moments it would be Ghost’s cue to request the song at the DJ booth, with a substantial bribe to play it as the next song.

“Alright 65…… whenever you’re ready… Let’s bag this son of a bitch…” Reggie whispered, a pistol hidden underneath the barstool he was sitting on. Ghost nodded softly as he returned to his drink, ready to act.

Ghost got away from the booth he was sitting in and looked towards the DJ stallion, whose black mane was spiked forward, along with large purple sunglasses donning his face. He approached slowly and pulled out a small bag of gems, placing it onto the Turntable. The DJ glanced at it and grinned, looking towards Ghost.

“What’ll it be my good Gryphon?” He said coolly, as Ghost whispered the name of the Lunar Princess into his ear. “Alright... good choice… just let this track finish up, then we’ll get her rolling!”

Ghost nodded and turned back to his seat, feeling the 9mm taped underneath the table. He didn’t know why Reggie had placed it there, but he said something about it being an extra precaution. Ghost wasn’t gonna use it though… for some reason it felt unfair to him to use it…

“ALRIGHT! Looks like a good crowd! Who’s havin’ a good time!” The DJ screamed into the Mic, receiving a large applause. “Alright! Straight from Eurobeat Studios, let’s spin this shit!”

The beat started off with a small piano medley, but slowly began to increase in volume, before it began to pulse with a loud bass. The Piano was replaced by an Electronic Medley, causing all of the Gryphons and ponies on the dance floor to start dancing wildly, some good, others not so good.

Ghost was staring at Emerald who was smiling contently at the sound of the song, before signaling to his muscle to get out of the booth and make way for him. He then got up and dusted himself off, adjusting the Black Vest he had on.

Ghost watched as he made his way through the crowd of dancing Club Patrons, a smile on his face the entire time.

“If only he knew…” Ghost thought, a smirk on his feathered face. Reggie was awaiting at the Bar with the only open seat right next to him, waiting for the Diamond Dog to sit down before doing anything.

“Yes… I would like a Sidebar please, no strainer please…” Emerald asked, sitting next to Reggie.

Reggie was slowly reaching for the pistol underneath the bar stool…

Emerald’s bodyguards saw something was about to happen…

The police in the room began to frenzy…

Ghost made his move…

“EVERYBODY GET DOWN!”

64 POV

Applebloom just walked into the Everfree Forest, and I already noticed she was feeling a bit tense. This was good, because if the foalnapper was already watching her, then he would see her as weaker than she actually was.

I was following slowly, remaining a good safe distance away from Applebloom. I was an invisible force to be reckoned with while I was in my suit, making sure that nothing would even look at Applebloom the wrong way.

She reached the first ribbon, and was looking at it curiously. “Follow… the… knot…” I whispered in my head, hoping that she would pick it up. She smiled and went in the right direction, as I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding.

Applebloom had a small basket in her mouth, which I told her to fill with any flowers she found on the way. It would look strange to see a filly just waltzing through the Everfree Forest for no good reason. She was doing everything perfectly, looking interested in small flowers she found along the path, then picking them and throwing the petals into her basket.

“Alright… about quarter of a mile until she hits the clearing…”

I heard a loud zapping sound and turned to the noise, recognizing it as one of my Shock Seal Traps going off. I zoomed off towards the noise as quickly as I could, and saw a dead Cockatrice lying on the ground, small sparks coming off of its body.

“Son of a bitch…” I muttered, running back to Applebloom. She was still walking through the trees, her basket now filled with small flowers. Only a little bit more and she would be at the clearing…

I heard twig snap. My ears twitched as I tried to pick up where it came from, but suddenly I felt something buzzing at the back of my head. By looking at Applebloom I could see that she was feeling it too, as she suddenly began to start stumbling around a little bit.

I smelled chamomile in the air, but it was so strong it was throwing me off. My eyes shot open as I realized that this was how the foalnappers were able to get the drop on his victims! A sleep spell!

“Shit… gotta counteract it…” I murmured, feeling myself grow tired. I charged magic into my palms and released the energy, but not any of the actual magic. The wave of energy disrupted the sleep spell in the air, as I felt myself grow more alert and focused.

Applebloom started to look around nervously, and I could see in her eyes that she wanted me to help her. I sighed quietly, knowing that if I revealed my position now, I wouldn’t be able to get the perp. He was here… He already gave himself away.

Applebloom began to walk a bit faster as I followed, glad that she was realizing that she was being hunted. At the next ribbon she took a right turn, heading straight towards the clearing I needed her to get to.

“Almost there… c’mon…” I whispered, hearing another twig snap in the thicket of trees. I turned to it and saw the quick flash of a black hood hiding. He was tailing her now, I got him…

Applebloom finally reached the clearing and walked into the middle of it, looking around hopefully. The black hood suddenly emerged from the thick trees and began zooming towards Applebloom, as her eyes widened in fear.

“NOW!” I yelled out, dropping the invisibility spell and teleporting in front of Applebloom, throwing my fist out towards the cloaked figure. “Run Applebloom! That way!”

I pointed in the direction she had come from and she immediately zoomed off, but as the foalnapper got back onto his hooves, he pulled out a dagger with his magic and threw it towards Applebloom, catching the hood of her jacket.

She eventually disappeared in the tree line, as I looked back at the foalnapper. I made quick work of throwing up the Magical Barrier around the clearing, causing a dark red barrier to shoot up from the ground and surround the both of us, not allowing him to escape.

“I finally got you. This is the end of the line for you! Drop the hood and show yourself!” I ordered to the foalnapper, who had his back turned to me. “I said show yourself!”

“why don’t you find out for yourself…” A distorted voice answered me. The foalnapper turned around and showed that in his grasp he now held a Crooked Dagger, waving it threateningly in his telekinetic hold.

“Wrong move…”

I rushed towards the cloaked pony and conjured a Gladius into my hand, aiming at the knot around the pony’s neck holding his cloak up. Predicting my movements he jumped back while holding his cloak together, not allowing me to see his coat.

This time he was on the attack, launching a small burst of magic in my direction, then following it with a smoke screen. I simply sliced the malicious projectile and spun in a circle quickly, releasing magic as I did to create a gust of wind. The smoke cleared to reveal the foalnapper charging a large amount of magic underneath him, the black color of his magic darkening his fur.

A beam shot up towards the sky as I followed it, guessing that it was a signal for somepony else.

“Who did you just—“

I stopped as I looked down and thought I was seeing things again, but rubbing my eyes proved futile. Two were now standing in front of me… One wearing the original black cloak, and the other wearing a white cloak.

“What the fuck kind of game is this!?” I yelled, demanding an answer. None came as the two of them came rushing at me, as I charged the ground in front of me to explode. I jumped back as I primed the spell, causing it to explode in a burst of flames.

The doppelgangers were undeterred as they simply jumped through the wall of flames, their cloaks not singeing in the slightest. Two balls of magic were shot towards me as I quickly leaned backwards with my hand to support my weight, before I was forced to roll to the side to avoid getting stomped on.

I shot to my feet to see the foalnappers charging a spell together, but I knew I couldn’t allow them to finish. I conjured to Javelins in both of my hands and tossed them with expert precision, forcing them to separate and cancel the spell.

“Drop the hoods now!” I screamed, to the both of them as they circled me slowly, forcing me to switch my view back and forth between them. Of course they refused, but instead both shot towards me ready to attack.

I felt Shining Armor’s words tug at the back of my mind. “Please try and do something differently if you end up fighting something…”

Light and lithe…

I bent backwards as they bucked at my body simultaneously, one aiming for my head and the other aiming for my kneecaps. I shot my foot out and caught the black cloaked attacker in the jaw, sending him towards the ground. I then grabbed the forelegs of the white cloaked one and swung him around, throwing him into the wall of the magical barrier.

He stumbled for a bit after getting up, but fell to the floor in an unconscious heap. I turned back to the black cloaked one and saw he once again had his crooked dagger out, stabbing out towards my neck. I swatted the blade away and twisted the hoof holding it, forcing him to drop it into the dirt and grass below us. I stomped onto the blade and kicked the remnants away, not wanting him to get any ideas.

I then sent my fist into the face of the hooded criminal, forcing him into the dirt as well. I made sure he was still conscious as I stood over him, planting my foot onto his cover neck.

“So are you going to drop that hood yourself?! Or am I going to have it rip it off!?” I threatened, giving this guy to come lean one last time. He stared up at me before turning his head and spitting blood onto the ground, panting heavily.

“this will not deter me… only fuel my plan…” the voice whispered, still distorted by a spell and my foot. I applied more pressure to his neck and spoke again.

“I wondered what you’re fueling yourself with, must be pretty shitty if getting beat makes it stronger.”

He chuckled. “How was your little ride in the sewer drain… I was hoping that it would have taken you downstream to the ocean…”

“Take. Off. The hood. Now.”
He stared up at me before sighing, put his hooves up to the fabric of his hood, undoing the zipped which discouraged me from seeing him and waited a bit longer, before throwing his hood back.

My eyes widened at the sight of the criminal. His red fur. Sharp Horn. Slicked back black mane. Piercing black eyes. Cutie Mark of a mirror.

“Duplex… Slava…” I muttered, seeing the bruised and bloodied face of the wanted criminal staring back at me. The son of Shura Slava… was the Mysterious Foalnapper. He put his forehooves up in surrender.

“Well… ya got me…” He said clearly, the voice distorter no longer active. I grinned menacingly as I grabbed him by the collar of the cloak he was wearing, lifing him up to my eye level.

“Look at this… Looks like I’m gonna kill two birds with one stone here!” I reared my fist back to knock him, before he sighed and shook his head no.

“Try again human…” He whispered, before he poofed away into dust. I looked at the now empty space in front of me and gasped, quickly turning around and looking for the other one. I saw him slowly getting up and trying to get away, but I quickly ran over to him and tackled him back to the ground, ripping off the hood on his head.

Duplex’s face was once again staring back at me, his lip bloodied and eye swollen.

“oh… so close…” He whispered, before he too disappeared into dust.

No…

NO!

“No! No! I WILL NOT LET HIM GET AWAY!” I screamed at the sky, dropping the magical barrier around me. I was about go rushing into the forest to go and find him, but I felt the charm around my neck start to buzz violently. I pulled it out and saw that it was glowing a dark red, signaling that there was an emergency signal coming in.

I crushed the gem in my hand and blew it into the air, as the dust began to create an image in front of me.

“Ghost! GHOST! What’s going on!?” I yelled, the dust finally settling into a clear image. My eyes widened at the image in front of me.

There were ponies, Gryphons, and Diamond Dogs alike walking in the nightclub I saw, and it was obvious that a fight had just happened, a large fight. But none of this mattered to me. No. It was what I saw that truly worried me.

Ghost.

Ghost was undisguised, his changeling form revealed to all of the equines walking through the nightclub. Above him were two Gryphons, both pointing Pistols at his head.

“Be careful what demons you stir up son…” The orange stallion growled, walking over and standing over Ghost. I recognized him immediately, Dust Charmer. He turned towards me and grinned wickedly rolling his eyes.

“Well-o Well-o Well… Look who decided to come and butt his muzzle where it doesn’t belong… It truly has been a terrible pleasure having to deal with you Blight.” Dust growled at me.

“64! Reggie set me—“

Ghost was about to keep talking before another pony came forward and sent his hoof into his cheek, sending green blood dripping onto the floor.

“LET HIM GO!” I screamed out, as Dust laughed.

“Let him go? Fuck no! He’s gonna join the rest of the catch in our little operation, but don’t worry… we’ll treat him just fine!”

“Hey… Dust. Let talk about my pay…” the pony who stuck Ghost asked, as the image began to flicker.

“Yeah yeah… cut the shit…”

The image finally poofed away as I began to see red, magic seeping out of body in rage. I couldn’t do anything about it now though…I had to get back. I shot through the trees as quick as I could, rushing back to Sweet Apple Acres.

I made sure to dispel the traps I had set as I ran past, not wanting some unsuspecting pony to be burnt to a crisp or be electrocuted. I burst out of the forest and looked to the farm in front of me, seeing Applejack standing at the front door shaking.

“64! There ya are! Where’s Applebloom!?” She screamed frantically.

Oh shit…

Author's Note

Oh shit son!

64 vs. The Slava's Part 1

64 vs. Slava’s Part 1

3rd Person POV

Applejack’s legs connected with 64’s chest, sending him into the trunk of an apple tree, causing an apple to dropdown onto 64’s head. The yellow shield around 64 exploded out, as Applejack bore into him with a murderous glare.

“AH’M GONNA KILL YA! YA BASTARD!” Applejack screamed, stomping towards the human. He put his hands out and stopped Applejack’s next attack, pushing her away from him. He got up with a scowl of his own, standing back up.

“You can do that later! If they got her then they still might be nearby!” 64 retorted, already running back into the forest. Applejack followed, but not to look for Applebloom. She wanted his blood.

“GET BACK HERE YA MOTHERLESS SON OF A BITCH!”

“That phrase is contradicting!”

The 64 continued to run through the forest at a breakneck speed, scanning everything he could see for any sign of Duplex getting away. He was able to make clones because they weren’t a form of imagery magic, they were actual physical copies capable of independent thought.

“Dammit… if I had just been assigned the Slava case this wouldn’t have been a problem!” 64 yelled angrily, searching the trail Applebloom would have taken to get back to the farm. He noticed signs of a struggle, the bark on a blackened tree having the marks of two small hooves smashed into it. There weren’t any animal tracking’s on the dirt, so it meant that she wasn’t made a meal out of.

“WHERE ARE YA!? YA’RE DEAD MEAT IF I FIND YA!” Applejack yelled a good distance away, obviously enraged beyond logical thought.

“Son of a bitch… words gonna get out soon…” 64 muttered to himself, remembering how quickly the idea of this plan taking place spread throughout Ponyville. Big Mac was still at the farm, meaning he would probably go and round up a search party.

64 did notice dragging mark onto the dirt heading into the dense forest, and immediately shot in that direction. If there was any hope of finding Applebloom quickly, he would have to move fast. Slashing away the brush 64 found a sleeping body of a Giant Spider, and the faint smell of Chamomile in the air…

“He came here…”

“Hey buddy…” Duplex’s voice called out, as he stepped out of the brush, Applebloom being carried on his back. “You looking for her?” He motioned towards the filly on his back. “You’re gonna have to come and get her…”

He immediately shot off into the forest, with 64 already in pursuit. He couldn’t throw a spell with the risk of it hitting Applebloom, so he needed to snatch her as Duplex was running. They were racing towards the Castle of the Two Sisters, so 64 planned to cut them off at the rickety rope bridge.

“GIVE IT UP DUPLEX! YOU JUST MADE THE MISTAKE OF SHOWING YOURSELF!” 64 yelled as the bridge came into view. As Duplex started to run across, 64 leapt into the ravine under the bridge, latching onto the rope and flipping the bridge upside down. Duplex’s first reaction was to teleport away onto the other side, but Applebloom stayed behind due to her hoodie preventing magic from affecting her.

“I gotcha!” 64 shouted, grabbing the unconscious filly in his arm and hold her close. He glared up to Duplex who was smirking.

“Fool me once shame one you…” He whispered, before poofing away into dust. I looked down at the unconscious Applebloom and gasped when I felt her too disappear.

“SHIT!” He screamed, pulling himself onto the rope bridge. He immediate went to turn back to the unconscious Giant Spider where he got lead astray, but realized that Duplex could be anywhere by now. He sighed and hung his head, crouching down onto his ankles.

“fuck… Fuck… FUCK!”

He swung his fist at a decaying tree, causing it to turn to shrapnel and splinter apart. The walk back to Sweet Apple Acres was a quiet one.

64 POV

Dammit… ok? That was all I could say at this point. I was fooled twice… by the same fucking trick. Duplex got away, and Applebloom was with him. What the fuck else could I say?! I only hoped that I would figure out more to say before I got back. I had to face the fire and confront the Apple Family.

My first glance at the farm showed me exactly what I was afraid of… a giant fucking crowd. In the barn ponies were all gathered, as I heard faint shouts and chatter. I needed to face up to what I had caused… but right now I didn’t have the heart. I couldn’t look the family in the eye without something to show that I was going to fix this.

I looked down and noticed I still had my Camouflage Suit on, so I activated it and pulled the hood up, slowly making my way towards the barn. The door was blocked by a multitude of ponies who were still trying to get into the overcrowded barn, so I needed to get in through a window.

I looked up and saw that most of the windows were also occupied by Pegasi, which meant no way up that way. I decided the only way I would get a good looked would be to climb to the room and pull a board out, so applying magic to my feet I walked up to the roof and pulled out a board, looking in at the angry crowd.

The first thing I noticed was Applejack and all of her friends standing on a small makeshift podium made of hay, and it looked like Twilight was trying to get everyponies attention.

“Ponies! Please calm down! We need to do this in a calm and orderly fashion!” She yelled out, which no one paid attention to. I knew that they were all out for revenge.

“We shouldn’t have trusted that thing!”

“We need to go and find Applebloom!”

“Protect the rest of the foals from that thing!”

With every yell of hate and disgust I knew that I had something to make up for, but it was something I had to do from the shadows. With everything that was happening at the moment it wouldn’t be good to reveal myself just yet.

I looked up towards the mountain to the north which held Canterlot along its cliff, and knew I had to move quickly. The longer this problem simmered, the more volatile it would become. I had one card in my deck I could use at this point, and it was all I had.

“We should go and try to find 64 so he can explain himself! There has to be a problem bigger than himself for him to allow this to happen! We can’t go convicting him without knowing what happened!” Twilight called out, trying to calm the situation down.

“AH’LL TEL YA WHAT HAPPENED! THAT SON OF A BITCH LET MAH SISTER GET NABBED BY SOME MONSTER OUT THERE WHO’S DOIN’ WHO KNOWS WHAT WITH HER!” Applejack screamed angrily into Twilight’s face, shooting down the idea of allowing me to explain myself. I wasn’t planning to do so, so it didn’t matter anyway.

I needed to get back to Canterlot as fast as possible, and without the help of a Pegasus Transport, I had to stick with teleporting. I closed my eyes and focused on breaking down my physical body, moving each individual molecule of myself towards Canterlot at the speed of light.

When I reopened my eyes, I saw that I was now standing at the top spire of Canterlot Palace, looking down at Equestria. I had a wrong to right, and I had to do it fast.

If their operation hasn’t changed yet, the Slava’s were foalnapping across Equestria, using Duplex to do the dirty work. They needed Crystal Dust from the Appalosian Desert Mines, so they sent the gems overseas to Ethaxial, where they had a kingpin known as Emerald Graves convert them into the Dust. They then shipped back the Dust and… that was all I had. Ghost was lucky enough to correspond the last of that information to me before he got captured.

“But why steal foals then?” I whispered to myself, climbing down the spire and dropping into a Balcony below. I looked up and saw Princess Luna staring down at me, a non-expressive look on her face.

“Perhaps that is something you must find out post haste.” She said, not changing her glance at all. I crossed my arms in front of me defensively, glaring at her.

“So has word gotten back yet? Twilight write to Princess Celestia?” I asked, already knowing the answer. Luna solemnly nodded back. I looked around and saw that I had dropped into her room, what with all of the Lunar decorations.

“Sister has not taken the news well… She has sent out search parties in search of you, with malicious force authorized if you retaliate. I’m afraid that avoiding her for now would be the best course of action.”

I looked down at my feet and felt the scar on my right eye burning up, as if reminding of the past, and how history seemed to be repeating itself. I was once again a fugitive running from Celestia.

“All I need to do is have a word with Maxis Slava. He’s in the Underground Prison and he has the last piece of information I need to fix all of this.” I asked, knowing that he was under lock and key times 10 right now.

Luna nodded and opened a small chest at the side of the room, pulling out a key with a Crescent Moon at the end. She levitated it over to me, as I plucked it from the air.

“This is a Skeleton Key of a sorts. It will open the Cell. Stay safe Project 64.”

I nodded and pulled up my hood, now knowing that I would need to keep my head down until I talked to Maxis. Slowly opening the door to the hallway, I peered left and right to make sure the coast was clear. I had to get all the way to the Underground Prison, and I was at the very top of the Palace.

“Perfect…” I groaned, moving towards the staircase. Two Solar Guards were stationed at both sides of the stairs, meaning I had four obstacles in my way. I thought back to my old way of causing distractions, and decided that I had no other options. Focusing an incredibly small amount of magic, I sent a small ember towards the tail of the closest guard to me, causing it to light aflame.

“You smell something burning?” One of them asked, turning to one another.

“Is Freda back on kitchen duty again?”

“Nah… it smells like… HAIR! WHAT THE HECK!?” The flaming guard yelled, finally realizing that his tail was on fire. They began to frantically try and put out the flames by patting it out, which gave me time to slip by and head downstairs.

Now at the main level of the Palace, I had more guards that I had to try and avoid. It was just like back in the old days, where I had to go and sneak through the home of the pony who was trying to kill me, except this time maybe she was just a bit pissed at me.

I knew that Celestia wouldn’t actually try to send ponies out to try and kill me; she just wanted me back at the Palace to explain what had happened to Applebloom. Still, if she found me doing what I was planning, she would never let me go through with it.

I saw a lone guard in my path for the Underground Prison, which made it incredibly easy to rush him and knock him out without alerting anypony else. I made sure he was out of sight before continuing through the Palace hallways. I was passing the Throne Room when my eyes twitched at the sound of a voice.

“Make sure to bring Project 64 to me for debriefing at once… I’ve received a distress signal from Agent 65 and wish to address it at once…” Celestia’s voice said solemnly, obviously a hint of worry lacing her voice.

“Perimeter Checks are in place at the moment, and we’ll soon see if he shows up anywhere. I’m willing to bet Bits that he’s actually in the Palace already.” Shining said flatly, as if it wasn’t even that surprising anymore.

“Well I’d like to know for sure…”

I crept by silently and continued down towards the Underground Prison. More Guards were station in front of the door, 4 of them in total. I levitated a banner off of the wall and draped it over the guards, before quickly tying it around their necks. When they tried to run in different directions, it caused them to all fall onto their backs in surprise, giving me a split second to zoom past them.

“Alright… hard part’s over…” I whispered, turning and heading down the stairs as quickly as I could. I reached the Slava holding cells, and slowly walked into the room. Crossroads was standing in front of Maxis’ cell, looking inside.

“All we want is the location of any other of your hideouts. You give us that, we’ll cut you a deal to shorten your sentence. Work with me here!” she yelled angrily, as I walked up and put and hand on her shoulder. She recoiled at the sensation of my warm palm on her fur, looking up at me.

“Ya know we have orders to report any sighting of you and bring you in to Celestia right?” She said seriously.

“Yup, but I know you won’t do that. Go on… leave me with this guy.” I ordered, making Crossroad shake her head at me. She walked out of the room, leaving me with a large map on a table next to the door. I examined it and saw that there were large X’s marking various locations, indicating that these places had been searched for any sign of the Slava’s.

“Are you here to ‘interrogate’ me as well…?” A thick Marescow asked me through the Cell in front of me. Maxis Slava laid behind the thick see through door, his Dark Orange fur and Black mane stained with dirt and grime. His eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep, and his horn was filed down to a non-threatening blunt tip. There was an inhibitor ring was around it as well, blocking all forms of magic from leaving his horn. “Because these ponies have done a terrible job at it…”

“Seems like they are closing to breaking you. You look like shit right now. Even more than when I arrested your ass while you were as high as a kite on Amphetamines.” I commented, pulling up a chair that was nearby.

“I will not break… you will not get me to speak…”

“I hear your EX-Wife is going to be shacking up with some new money. Looks like after she sold you out she found somepony else to show her a good time.”

“Let her… she serves me no interest anymore!” Maxis growled, now glaring at me dangerously.

“What about your old Mistress? Siren Song? She ended up with another stallion within 2 weeks of your arrest. Looks like flashing all of that money only gets you so far with a mare.”

Maxis finally reacted, lunging towards the door and banging his hooves onto the barrier.

“HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO ME THAT WAY!” He growled at me, as I simply leaned back in my chair nonchalantly.

“Look… help me… help you. Your family has been swept up in the foalnapping business recently… and they are holding one of my best friends. Right now they are somewhere on this map.” I whispered, pointing towards the map of Equestria in front of me. “I need you to point them out to me. The quicker you do that… the quicker you’ll be out of this hole.”

He glared at me before spitting onto the clear door, effectively killing any chance of an agreement.

“You are even worse than the other ponies who tried to get something out of me…” Maxis growled, turning away from me. I grinned and leaned forward in the chair, knowing that I had one ace in the hole.

“Shura.” I said simply, catching Maxis’ attention.

“What does she have to do with anything?”

“Shura Slava is the current matriarch of your family gang. And your current Ex-Wife. She’s the reason you are now locked up in a cell 15 stories below sea level. You help me out… and I will personally make sure she suffers.” I said menacingly, letting a bit of red magic leak out of my body for effect.

I honestly had no qualms about stomping on her neck, and stabbing her in the head, because that’s how I roll. Fuck with my friends, you won’t be alive very long after.

Maxis stared wide eyed at my deadly demeanor. “I had you pegged as a righteous hero who was set on wiping evil from Equestria.”

“I don’t see myself as a good person. I see myself as a person who passes judgment on those who have wronged others. I’m trying to right a wrong I made on somepony, and I need your help. If you help, I will make sure that Shura suffers beyond comprehension.”

Maxis looked at the map in contemplation, as if he was battling himself in his head.

“If I give you an answer… then I want to be the one to pass the punishment onto Shura.” He negotiated, as I thought about it for a few seconds.

“I’ll bite. You have a deal.” I said, placing my fist onto the door separating us. He looked at my fist before smirking and placing his hoof onto the glass opposite of my fist.

“I think we have a good thing going on here.”

Author's Note

Maxis Slava

64 vs. The Slava's Part 2

64 vs. The Slava’s Part 2

3rd Person POV

64 unlocked and entered Maxis’ cell, making sure to lock the door tightly after entering. Laying the map on the floor, 64 pointed at one of the black X’s over Trottingham.

“This is where I managed to capture Shura and her cronies last time, exactly 3 weeks ago. Their hideout was searched and scanned from top to bottom, but nothing was found. 2 other hideouts have been found in Fillydelphia and Mounty Carlo, but there wasn’t any sign of the Slava’s. Is there anywhere else that they could be staying?” 64 questioned, handing a marker over to Maxis.

“There are others… but they hold no chance of housing my family.” Maxis said carefully, knowing that holding back information wouldn’t help him much.

“Anything at this point would be better than what we have right now. Work with me Maxis.”

“I mean they are literally inaccessible without me. Only I know the keycodes needed to enter, and I feel they aren’t needed for this situation.”

64 nodded at the answer, not really needing to know about those. Without Maxis, they were useless.

“Alright then, is there anywhere that would be accessible to them? Any hideouts which aren’t on the map?” 64 asked. Maxis nodded, pointing to Smokey Mountain. 64 circled the point on the map and thought about it for a few seconds. “Wait… isn’t this where the Dragon was recently evicted from? Because he was spewing too much smoke in his sleep?”

Maxis nodded once again. “My family, we have been in the practice of establishing illegal mines for the sake of converting Enchanted Crystals into Crystal Dust. We can then sell the Crystal Dust for much more than what the actual Gem will go for. We used to use a slow and careful conversion method, which might have been slower, but always produced more potent Dust…” Maxis explained. He paused before continuing.

“My Ex-Wife Shura, was always about doing things quicker…whenever we had a situation to solve, she never thought of what would happen in the long run, she always thought about what results would yield right that moment. She had always this idea of selling Enchanted Crystals to a middle man to produce Crystal Dust quicker, but I always shot down the idea… with my incarceration, I can only guess that she went ahead with the idea and did it.”

“But this doesn’t explain why she would pick a Dragon’s den to mine for the Crystals. The Dragon took his entire hoard with him when he left.” 64 questioned, wondering where Maxis was going with this.

“She did not pick it… I did. When our first mining job was complete, and the resources in our cave were depleted, our workforces decided to go their separate ways, leaving us without a crew.”

“The Diamond Dog crew, the Desert Cave in the Appalosian Desert…”

“Precisely… Now Shura and I were arguing about finding a new workforce, along with the methods for Dust Creation. She wanted a slave force, using cheap labor for maximum efficiency, but I knew the correct way was to hire workers who would be loyal to us. There would be a lesser chance of one of them escaping and ratting us out, plus the work would probably be done with a little more care.”

“Let me guess… this is around the time where you needed the comfort of somepony else besides your wife?”

Maxis growled and shot 64 a dirty look before sighing and nodding. “Yes… a few days later, I found Siren Song… Shura decided to use my affair as a reason to sell me out to the Royal Guard, and a few days later, you were breaking down my door.”

“So Shura decided to use her own methods to sell The Enchanted Crystals to Ethaxial, and use Foal Labor to mine the Crystals out of the Dragon’s Den?”

“It seems so…”

64 looked down at the map and smirked, cracking his neck a few times. “Well it looks like I know where I know where I am headed. Don’t worry Maxis, when I find Shura, I’ll bring her here and shut the blinders. I haven’t forgotten out deal.”

“There is one more thing you must know.” Maxis warned before continuing, “In our renovation of the Dragon’s den, I designed a failsafe… In order to make sure that nopony would try and come snooping around, the Den is rigged to blow if any form of magic is used. This includes Pegasi Flight and Unicorn Manipulation. I know you use Magic somehow… so be wary of this.”

64 paused and turned back to Maxis, pondering what he had just told him. “So you’re saying… no magic then.”

Maxis nodded slowly and stood. “Enter through the base of the mountain… there is a secret path which would be used for an escape route, but I feel you can put it to good use. Make sure to blow the place when you leave… The Slava reign is over…”

Maxis then laid onto his stomach and closed his eyes, slowly breathing in and out, and shutting out the outside world. 64 stared at the prone Kingpin, before sighing and walking out of the door. When your family abandons you, some ponies just can’t take it.

64 left the Underground quickly, heading straight towards the Throne Room. Now with the information he needed, there wasn’t anything that Celestia could do to stop him. Opening the door with a soft kick, he strolled inside towards the wide-eyed Solar Princess and Captain of the Royal Guard, before throwing the map open and tossing it onto the ground.

“Smokey Mountain, that’s where they are.” He said seriously, pointing to the circled area on the map. “Security measures are in place, with explosives that are rigged to blow the place if any sort of magic is used within the mountain. Maxis wants it blown up.”

Celestia walked over to the map flabbergasted at the sudden outburst of the human, before regaining her composure.

“You spoke with Maxis Slava unauthorized?” She said authoritatively, to which 64 scoffed.

“Really? I just discovered the location of the Missing Foals, and all you can complain about it whether or not I had permission!?”
Shining Armor moved forward to intervene, but 64 was already speaking.

“And before you ask, I had a Lie Detection Charm on his Inhibitor Ring. Nothing he said was untrustworthy. Plus, what reason does he have to lie? His Ex-Wife sold him out, is going back on everything he worked for in his empire, and is using incredibly immoral tactics in a once proud family. He wants her dead as much as I do.”

Celestia kept quiet through 64’s statement, but Shining Armor still had a question. “Alright, so let’s say that this is where the foals are being kept, how are we going to pull off an extraction?” Shining questioned.

64 stood up straight and sighed, pointing to the base of the mountain on the map. “Look, apparently there’s an old mine entrance at the base of the mountain, and it head upwards towards the mining operations. It’s an escape tunnel, so we’re going to have to keep it open while I head inside and extract the children quickly and quietly. Shura Slava is most likely going to be there, she’s the Overseer of the entire operation.”

“So we know about the Explosives in place, but what about Enemy Personnel? What kind of opposition are we facing here?”

“As far as I know, Diamond Dogs, and maybe a few grunts in the Slava Gang. Nothing I can’t take care of quickly and quietly.”
Celestia stepped forward and voiced her opinion, “Let us prepare the plan for a Sweep and Clear Shining Armor. Project 64, you gather any materials you deem necessary for the Operation. Pack as lightly as you can...”. She had trouble getting her next sentence out. “Ghost… he was captured wasn’t he?”

64 nodded slowly, not wanting to be reminded. He was with the rest of the foals that were captured, so he was up in Smokey Mountain. The Slava’s had control of the Longshot Teleportation Spell and Alicorn Magic, so it would be a surprise if they were capable of Teleporting Across the entire Eastern Sea.

“He’s with the rest of the foals… we just have to get him out before he needs to feed again. I told him to feed before he went and got himself captured… but he might’ve not had a lot.” 64 said worriedly, cracking his knuckles with his thumbs.

Shining Armor reached and put a hoof onto 64’s shoulder, grinning confidently. “He’s gone through worse than this. You’ll see, he’ll be alright.”

“That’s what I said before I let him go on that job…”

Ghost POV

I felt shackles around my hooves, and my head felt as if I was just put through a blender on the liquefy setting. All I remember was a flash of light and the chains being snapped onto my hooves and horn, but I couldn’t tell where I was at the moment.

“Look at what we got here, looks like some weird bug. Should we just squash it right now?” A gravelly voice said, as a hoof pushed the side of my head roughly to the right.

“Shura says no damaging the good too badly… so make sure he at least arrives at his station…” Another voice said, before a bag was suddenly put over my head. I felt a punch crack the chitin on the side of my head painfully as I was sent to the rocky ground, yelling in pain.

“Shut it bug!”

More and more blows came to my body as I felt my chitin cracking and shattering. Green blood started to ooze out my shell with every blow, before they eventually stopped.

“There, his legs aren’t busted so he can walk. Get up!” A female voice said as the bag was pulled off of my head. I saw a mare standing in front of me, but it was too dark for me to see her just yet. “You are going to be assigned to cavern A1-13, so you better get moving before I have my boys lay into you again.”

She stepped forward as her face finally became visible. Shura Slava was staring at me with a malicious grin, before she put her hoof onto my chin and made me put my head up.

“You came so close to figuring out what happened… too bad I have the entire Police Force of Ethaxial under my hoof… The second you stepped foot onto Gryphon Kingdom I knew you were there. Every step you took, every Bit you spent… all recorded. Better luck next time Bug…”

She slapped me in the cheek before walking away… causing me to spit out a small amount of green blood from my mouth. She was walking away, but I needed to say something.

“He’s coming you know!” I called out defiantly, making her stop in her tracks. The two stallions at my sides grabbed me and were about to drag me away, but Shura put her hoof up to stop them. She turned and started walking back, scowling at me.

“That monster… will come. I know this for a fact… that is why I will be leaving him a little surprise for when he does. I know that pig of and Ex-Husband still in Prison will no doubt disclose our location, but what does it matter? When this mountain is nothing but a pile of rubble, I’ll have enough money to hold the entire Gryphon Kingdom under my hoof! They’ve been itching for a takeover of Equestria for a long time now… why not give it to them?”

I gasped at her explanation, more so about collapsing the mountain. “You can’t destroy the mountain! You’ll be killing everypony in here!” I pleaded, but she just laughed in my face.

“Oh, believe me when I say my team and I will be quite uninjured after the detonation… the lot of children on the other hand…”

She cackled and turned to leave, walking down the large dark tunnel. I yelled out at her, but no response came. “GET BACK HERE! I’M GONNA STOP YOU! YOU WON’T GET AWAY WITH THIS!”

I felt a punch at the back of my head… and the entire world went black once again.

64 POV

I was taking a Chariot to Manehatten, with a Blueprint in my Satchel Pocket. I knew the only pony capable of building my Gauntlet was going to be Grey Streak, so I was going to pay him a visit. The design was complete, outfitted with retractable blades on both the top and bottom of my right fist. I felt bringing a sword would be too cumbersome for a stealth mission like this, and if I brought something small like dagger, then it would still take up my entire right hand.

It was raining pretty badly right now, with large black clouds overhead in the sky. Even if it wasn’t raining buckets, the dark sky would still be black due to the now lack of sun. I looked down at the city below and barely made out the shape of Grey Streak’s Creations, as I gave the down signal to the Lunar Pegasi.

“Hover down! I’ll drop!” I ordered. They did as I told them and drop a bit, allowing me to drop a rope down. I slid down the rope and landed onto the hard concrete below, before giving the Pegasi thumbs up. They flew off into the rainy night sky, as I looked at Grey Streaks shop down the street. “Hope he’s home…”

I walked to the front door and pulled my black hood down, not wanting to come off as even scarier than I already was. I knocked on the door a few times and waited for the answer.

“Jus’ come in! I’m workin’ on somethin’ in here!” A Manehatten accent called from the inside. I allowed myself in and whistled at what was being made in front of me. A large mirror with an intricate metal frame was standing in front of me, with Grey Streak wearing a Welder’s Mask and a blowtorch. “Yea? What do you want? Kinda busy right now!”

“A word!” I called out, causing him to turn to me and lift his mask.

“Oh wow, didn’t think I would see you again so soon. Last I heard you were in the hospital after fightin’ that crazy dragon thing.” He said, putting down the blowtorch and Welder Mask onto the front counter. I nodded at him and sat onto one of the chairs in the waiting area, pulling out the blueprint for the Gauntlet.

“Well I was, now I’m here. It might be short notice, but I need you to build something for me, a blade.” I explained, holding up the rolled up plan in my hand.

He looked at me with his widened a bit, but grabbed the plan in his mouth. He took it over to the counter and unrolled it, before eyeing it carefully.

“It’s a bladed Gauntlet, with a retractable blade. I measured the dimensions of the gauntlet so it would fit over my right arm, and it would be activated by my left hand pressing a button on the lower forearm. Twin Blades for an increased chance of vital injury, and—“

“This is bullshit.” Grey said simply, ripping up the plan with his front hooves. I gaped at his actions, before pushing him away from the counter.

“Dude! What the fuck! You know how long I spent designing that?” I cried out, looking at the ripped pieces of paper on the ground.

“From what I saw, I would say about maybe a few minutes? But seriously, that thing was so poorly made, if I was to make it for you, it would somehow burst into flames. Tell ya what, you just tell me what you want, and I’ll make it for you. Got it?” Grey asked, as I grumbled and nodded. Not my fault I wasn’t very good at designing weapons.

“Fine. It has to be compact, retractable, and able to fit on my wrist. How’s that sound?”

Grey pulled out a clipboard with a piece of paper on it, along with a pencil in his mouth. He wrote down all of the preferences and took my right wrist into his fore hooves, poking at it and tugging it. I didn’t object because I knew he had to make sure it would fit over my wrist.

“Alright, I can do this. In fact, fuck the idea with two blades on one wrist, I’m gonna make you one blade for each wrist.” Grey said simply, walking back to the clipboard on the counter and writing some stuff down.

“Woah, I don’t want both of my hands taken up by these things.” I informed, as Grey waved my objection aside.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen. Look, I can literally do this overnight, so go ahead and take the guest room Blusa took last time. I’ll have it ready before the sun comes up tomorrow.”

I nodded and walked down the hall towards the guest room. It was a room with one bed and a small closet, pretty much hall somepony needed to spend the night. I say somepony because the bed was way too small for someone of my size.

I sighed and pulled a sleeping bag out of my Satchel Pocket, laying it onto the floor of the room. As I went to lay down, my mind began to wander back to Ghost and the predicament he was in. He and Applebloom were both captured by the Slava’s, and it was only a matter of time before something bad happened.

“Yo, quick question, how long do you want the blades?” Grey asked, poking his head into the room. I thought about it and answered.

“Make it 8 inches, longer if it doesn’t look long enough.”

Grey nodded and once again closed the door. I sighed at how quiet it suddenly got, hating these moments of nothingness. I just began to silently pray to whatever was out there that Ghost and all of the other foals stuck inside Smokey Mountain were ok, before closing my eyes, and going to sleep.

64 vs. The Slava's Part 3

64 vs. The Slava’s Part 3

3rd Person POV (Smokey Mountain Caverns)

Ghost awoke slowly, feeling the aches and pains of the injuries he received from Shura’s thugs. He rubbed his hoof on the back of his head and felt the large cracks in his chitin, now plugged up with dried blood.

“You’re awake, which means you can work… Take this and start breaking the boulders. You even think about turning on us, you’ll be dead before you can take the swing.” A muscular stallion said, throwing a hammer at Ghost’s hooves. “Get to work.”

Ghost tried picking up the hammer with his magic so he could bash his face in, but for some reason he couldn’t channel any magic. Feeling up to his horn fearing the worst, he was slightly relieved to discover that he had an Inhibitor Ring around his jagged horn.

“No magic, can’t risk one of you little shits trying to escape. Use your mouth.”

Ghost scowled at the thug and did as he was told, knowing that if he didn’t comply then thing would only get worse. He swung the hammer at the rocks in front of him, and saw that with every swing, he could see sparkling pieces of Enchanted Gems encrusted in the stone.

“Collect those in these buckets, at the end of the day, we’ll come and collect. Don’t even think about trying to sneak any by us.”

“Wasn’t planning to…” Ghost muttered back, as he felt the thud of a whip hitting his armored side. He feigned pain so the guard wouldn’t have any ideas about hitting him again.

“You will not talk back to me!” The thug growled, motioning to the boulders in front of Ghost. Ghost growled back and picked up the Hammer he had dropped, continuing to hit the rocks in front of him. Whenever a shiny piece of rock was dropped, he carefully picked it up in his mouth and dropped it into the bucket next to him.

“Hey! Gene! We need ya over here! Small collapse we need ta clear out!” Another male voice called out, as the thug standing over Ghost slowly turned and walked into the dark tunnels. Ghost began to look around him to try and see if there was any form of escape he could use, but along with the pristine shackles around his hooves, he could find anything that would help him escape.
Ghost dropped the hammer and began to pull and tug at the chains, but felt them give no leeway.

“Dang it… c’mon Ghost… think. What would 64 do?” Ghost mutter to himself, tapping himself a few times in the head.

“64?” A voice next to him said. He quickly turned in fear of another Overseer being behind him, but instead he found a pair of Amber eyes staring back at him. It was a yellow earth pony filly with a brilliant red mane, and a torn up red bow on her head. “You know 64?” She asked.

“Yeah... he’s my mentor… how do you know him?” Ghost questioned.

“We… we were tryin’ ta catch the pony behind all this stuff...but ah got caught by him tryin’ to run away. Ah remember wakin’ up here an’ jus’ tryin’ to not get hit by them like they do the other kids...” The filly explained.

Ghost noticed that her shackles weren’t nearly as well kept as his own, and the gears in his head immediately started to spin.

“What’s your name?” He asked slowly, as the filly gave him a smile back.

“Applebloom, mah name is Applebloom.”

“Nice to meet you Applebloom, I’m Ghost.”

She looked at Ghost strangely, her eyes trailing up and down his body. “Ya… aren’t a regular colt are ya? Yer one of them… Changelings…we learned about in school.” She said, tilting her head in curiosity.

Ghost nodded slowly and rubbed his leg with his hoof, feeling a bit embarrassed for some reason. “Yeah, but I don’t live with a hive. I train under 64 as his apprentice, so I know a few things that should help us get out of here.”

64 POV

“Hey! Wake up, I need you for something!” Grey yelled, shocking me out of my slumber. I groggily rubbed my eyes and looked out of the small window in the room, seeing that Luna’s Moon wasn’t even down yet. Looking at the clock, I saw it was only 3AM.

“Damn… what the fuck do you need? Another question about the Blades?” I asked annoyed, wondering what the hell he needed to wake me up for.

“Not really, they’re actually done, I must need to fit them onto you.” He explained, as I blinked in surprise.

“Done already? I thought you were bluffing about the whole ‘done before the sun comes up’ thing.”

“Hey, when I say something I do it. Now hurry up, quicker we do this the quicker you can go do whatever it is you need to do.”

I obliged and pushed myself off of the floor, making sure to roll up my sleeping bad before I left the room. Grey led me towards door revealing a small staircase, which led to a small workspace underneath the shop.

“Alright… when you told me compact… I’m really took that to mind. I wanted this to be a weapon you can carry with you at all times and not even have anypony suspect. To do this, I designed these…” Grey enlightened, motioning to a worktable with some sort of small contraption on it.

I could see where the blade would pop up, which was a small box that contained the 8-Inch Blades I requested. Connected to this box was a small metal mechanism which splayed out into 5 parts, which looked like a skeletal hand. On the fingertips of this metal skeleton hand were round pads, which I could only identify as the trigger mechanism for the blades.

“Alright, here’s the lowdown. This thing is what I like to call the Skeletal Blade, mainly for the shape of the design. Hope you don’t mind, but in your sleep I examined your hands a bit more to see how your bones worked.” Grey said, making me stare at him in slight discomfort.

“Ok… why would you need to do that?” I asked, take one step away from him.

“Ok, I’m not gonna sugar coat this. I’m gonna need to cut open your hands to get these things in there.”
My eyes widened as a sudden image of Silent Knight flashed in front of me, holding large butcher shears. I lept back away from the Metal Worker defensively and conjured a Gladius in my hand.

“You are getting nowhere near me with a blade!” I shouted, my hands shaking a bit in fear. Grey sighed and looked at me with a pathetic stare, before reaching for something on the desk behind him. It was a small metal tube, which he quickly put to his lips and shot a small needle at me. It struck me in the right arm, which caused the shield I had to crack around that area. When it healed back up, I saw the needle had still dug far enough to pierce skin.

“Don’t worry, it’s just a mild sedative. I have experience in digging things out of ponies who got injured, what’s stopping me from putting something like this in?” Grey asked casually, shrugging his shoulders and putting the blowpipe down.

“What the fuck are you talking about!?” I yelled, all of a sudden feeling really groggy. “you… dumbass…” I felt myself fall to my knees and gasp, all of a sudden losing the ability to breathe.

“Oh don’t worry about the no breathing part, the way the drug acts is it cuts off oxygen to the brain long enough for the target to fall unconscious, but wears off after a few minutes. Nothing fatal. Don’t worry, all I need to do was get you down here so I could implant the Skeleton Blades, then by the time you wake up, they’ll be all set!”

I gawked at Grey who was starting to become fuzzier, as the corners of my vision began to blacken. I was out before I hit the ground.

Ghost POV

I was using a piece of stone I bashed from boulder I made into the shape of a small spike, and was preparing to force open the locks on Applebloom’s shackles. The guards were alternating once again, and this meant I had a good 5 minutes to pull it off.

“How do ya know how to do this?” Applebloom whispered, cautiously looking over my shoulder for any incoming thugs.

“I learned from 64, but we always used proper tools. Kinda hard to do this with a makeshift Pick.” I answered, as the first shackle came off of her right forehoof. “Got it, but now we have to wait for the next shift. Wrap the chain around your hoof for now, and pretend that it’s still locked.”

She nodded and did as I told her, picking up the hammer in her mouth and continuing to work. These gems were in such large quantities, I couldn’t imagine what Shura was planning to do with all of these. I had been hearing talks of something called a Megaspell… but I haven’t heard enough to understand what they were talking about.

“Hey, time for a Gem Count, step away from the Buckets you two.” A new thug said, his coat masked by a thick jacket. I looked towards Applebloom who had a nervous look on her face, and I immediately knew why. The chain I had asked her to wrap around her hood had begun to slide off, and if she took a step back, it would come off completely.

I had to act quick… “How about you just take the buckets away for a few seconds?! We don’t have to move from here you know!” I argued, trying to force his attention towards me. It worked, because I felt the harsh blow of a Police Baton come down at the top of my head.

“How about you talk back again, and I bash your skull in!? Move back!” He screamed at me. I slowly got to my hooves and looked up at him, before spitting into his face. He yelled and began to lay into me with the Baton, striking me in the head and legs repeatedly.

“You like this huh!? You want me to keep going?!”

I just brought my hooves over my face and tried to block the hits, but whenever they landed I felt new cracks in my shell beginning to crack. My body was constantly repairing these injuries using my love reserves, which meant all of the food I was storing up was being used up.

“Stop it! Please stop!” I heard Applebloom yell, as the blows to my body suddenly stopped. I slowly turned my aching head to see the Thug now standing over Applebloom, his Baton raised threateningly.

“You want some of this too!?” He yelled, bringing the Baton down. I looked away in terror, not wanting to see her being hit. Instead I heard a sound as if glass was being shattered, and saw that there was a glow of Yellow over Applebloom. The Police Baton that the thug had in his hoof was now broken in two, with one piece on the ground, and the other still in the thugs hoof.

“What the fuck?” the Thug said recoiling, as I saw my chance while he was focused on Applebloom. I gripped the loose chains on the ground with both my hooves and leapt up towards the stallion, throwing the chain around his neck and pulling with all of my might. He gasped in shock, but no oxygen entered his lungs as I focused on constricting his air as quickly as possible.

He tried to grab a hold on me, but I made sure I stayed behind him until he finally passed out, and collapsed on the ground. Applebloom stared wide eyed at my act of violence, putting a hoof to her mouth in shock

“Whadya do that for?” She whispered, as I ignored her for a moment. I rewrapped Applebloom’s leg with the chain and the picked up the Thug’s body on my back, walking as far away as I could with the shackle on my leg. I could feel Applebloom’s wide eyed stare at the back of my head, surprised that I would be able to carry the stallion’s large body.

I tossed the stallion off on my back and walked back to my station.

“Hey! Guards! Your guy fell asleep on the job!” I yelled out, picking up the hammer in my mouth before I got in trouble for not doing the work. Applebloom did the same as another masked stallion walked into the cave, growling at the unconscious thug on the ground.

“HEY! DUMBASS!” He screamed, as the Unmasked Thug groaned in response. “You wanna knock off during your shift?! Shura’s gonna have a fuckin’ field day with you!” The masked stallion grabbed the unconscious Thug by the collar of his jacket, before pulling him out of the cave.

“Ok... that gives us a bit more time…” I whispered, picking up the makeshift pick and continuing to work on Applebloom’s other shackles.

“Why didja call another guard? We could have bought more time if ya left him there.” Applebloom asked, as I shook my head no.

“If I did leave him, when wouldn’t know when he would’ve come to. If he woke up while I was doing this, then he would kill us. I had to get him out of here, and by calling another guard, we’re eliminating him from the picture for good.”

Another chain unlocked on her shackles, as I wrapped her leg in the chain.

“What are we gonna do once ya get all of the chains off? Are we gonna sneak out of here?” Applebloom whispered, as I sighed.

“No… we have to wait for the right moment. Plus what about all of the other foals in the mountain? We have to find a way to try and bust them out too. The only reason I’m breaking you out is so you can run away if things get too dangerous. “

Applebloom sighed and nodded, picking up the hammer in her mouth and continuing to smash away at the rocks. I did the same as a new guard came in, scowling at us. I looked towards Applebloom and nodded encouragingly, not wanting her to lose her resolve. She nodded back as we both worked at the rocks.

I suddenly felt a painful rumbling feeling in my stomach.

64 POV

I woke up in a daze, not exactly remembering where I was. My arms felt numb, but there was a cold sensation in my right arm. I slowly turned my head to see that there was a Blood Pack attached to a needle in my shoulder, and my hand had bandages around them.

Looking at my other hand, I saw that there were also Bandages wrapping it, as I slowly realized that Grey had in fact implanted the Skeleton Blades. I tried calling out to him, but my throat felt too dry to speak. I looked to my feet and saw that there was a metal tray on a small table, so I kicked it off, making it clatter to the ground in a noisy heap.

A few moments later, Grey Streak came in through a door to my left, his hooves wet with water, as if he had just watched them.

“Whoa! Good thing I finished when I did, you might have woken up durin’ the surgery.” Grey explained, poking at my left hand with his hoof. Even though my arms were numb, I felt a small sting with each poke. “Hmm… still sensitive. More healing salve it is then.” He opened a small chest at the side of the room, pulling out a jar of green goo. Using a small spoon, he scooped out a glob and smeared onto my left hand, covering the bandages in the green goo. He repeated the process with my right hand, as I felt the cool slime start to work its magic.

“Alright, that stuff is gonna accelerate the healing process of your stiches so you can test out those bad boys quicker. The metal in your hands is made of titanium, meaning it isn’t magnetic, but it will definitely block a blade. Not exactly bulletproof though, so don’t go stickin’ your fingers into the barrel of a gun.”

I nodded slowly, trying to indicate that I was in fact conscious and understanding.

“Good! You aren’t dead. Alrighty, let’s take a look at how they healed…” Grey muttered, pulling back the bandages around my left hand. He nodded happily and continued to pull off the rest of the bandages. “Looking good, let’s get them off and wake the rest of you up.”

Once the bandages were off, Grey took out a small syringe and injected it into my palm, as I gained movement back in my hand. Doing the same for my other hand, I was helped by Grey in sitting up on the edge of the hospital bed I was on, groaning painfully.
“water…” I gasped, still not being able to talk properly. Grey nodded and went to a cooler at next to the door. I caught a brief glimpse of dozens of blood packs as he reached in for a bottle of water, tossing it over to me.

I caught it and twisted off the cap, greedily chugging down the liquid. Once I was done and caught my breathe, I pointed back at the cooler.

“Why the fuck do you have so much blood?” I questioned, staring at him perplexed. He chuckled and walked over to me.

“When I left the Black Markets, Bits aren’t the only thing I took with me.” He said smugly, holding out his hoof. “Lemme see your hands, let’s see if we can get those puppies up and stabbing.”

I put my hands forward and let him poke at them, before he took my pinkie finger and cleared his throat.

“Alright, this is how you activate them. I don’t want these things shooting out every time you grab something, so I made a sort of combination lock to prevent that from happening.” He pushed my pinkie fingertip and pressed it into my palm. “Hold that there.” I did so as he continued, going my fingers as he pressed their tips to my palm. He got to my index finger and looked up at me.

“Alright, moment of truth.” He said, as he slowly pressed my index fingertip to my palm. The instant it made contact, I felt a small pop in my wrist, and feared the worst. “Excellent, all set. Don’t worry, the actual blades aren’t even attached. I made them so you can take them off and put ‘em back on so they aren’t in your way all the time.”

“Then where are they?” I asked, calming down a bit. Grey pointed to another tray next to me, showing two small grey boxes with leather straps attached to its sides.

“The straps are just for a bit extra hold, the boxes connect using small spikes which attach to the mechanism inside of your hand.” Grey took a Blade and attached it to my right wrist, tying it tightly to my arm. “Well go ahead, try it out.”

I looked at the Blade and recalled the mechanism for unsheathing it, pressing my fingertips to my palm slowly. When I got to my index finger, the blade shot out of the box and nearly caught me in the face, causing me to jump back in surprise.

“Holy fuck! This is cool!” I exclaimed, examining the blade carefully. It was nothing more than a punch blade for stabbing, but it was all I needed.

“Have to say, this has gotta be one of the best combat designs I have ever made. Might make myself some later.” Grey commented, as he carefully put the other Blade onto my left wrist. Making sure to bend my hand backward and point it away from anything, I repeated the action needed to sheathe the blade.

Experimenting, I struck the two blades two blade together, seeing sparks fly. “Awesome… and let me guess… to sheathe the blades…” I muttered, reversing the order in which I touch my fingertips to my palm. The blades shot down and retracted, as I took them off and put them into my Satchel Pocket.

“How much do I owe you?” I asked, reaching for a bag of bits.

“Dude, you’ve saved my sister from slavery, and probably saved Equestria from that Discord guy. So that’ll be 78 Bits.” Grey said, as I tossed a small bag in his direction, containing roughly 100 Bits.

“Keep the change. What time is it?”

Grey looked at a small alarm clock on a desk, and called out, “It’s 11AM. Need to get somewhere?”

I stood up and nodded, rubbing my hands together. “Yup… back to Canterlot. Gonna raid a Foal Kidnapping ring soon, so I gotta get ready. Say… that reminds me…” I explained, turning back to Grey. “Can I borrow that Blowpipe?”

“30 Bits.”

64 vs. The Slava's Part 4

64 vs. The Slava’s Part 4

Ghost POV

I winced as I felt another pang of stomach pain came through, gripping my stomach lightly. I was trying to not divert attention to myself, but I could see Applebloom giving me sideways glances here and there. I just grinned at her and continued to bash away at the rocks, filling up the bucket next to me with a considerable amount of Gems.

“Alright… step aside, Gem Count.” A gruff Female voice said from behind me, a Gryphoness stepping forward towards my haul. I complied as did Applebloom, knowing that the way I wrapped the chains, they wouldn’t become undone just by taking a few steps. The Gryphoness nodded and took my bucket into her talon, before walking away to deposit it. Quickly taking out my makeshift lock pick, I started to work on Applebloom’s remaining shackle.

“Why do ya keep wincin’ and shiftin’?Are ya hungry?” She asked, obviously oblivious to my predicament. I shook my head no and focused on picking the lock, almost getting it. “Well then what’s wrong? Do the bruises the guards gave ya hurtin’?”

“I’m fine… got it…” I whispered, as another shackle came loose. I quickly wrapped the chain around her hoof and stepped back, signaling to get back to work. Applebloom nodded and continued to start bashing at the rock, crushing sizable chunks off with every swing. The guard came in a few moments later, as I made sure to put my lock pick on the ground next to all of the other rocks so it wouldn’t be seen.

“Alright ya little twerps, lunch. Enjoy.” The Gryphoness said, walking back into the dark cave. She threw two bruised apples at our hooves, before crossing her front legs and lying onto her stomach. I looked at the Apple and knew that it wouldn’t give me any nutrition whatsoever, so picked it up and pushed it in Applebloom’s direction.

“Take it… it won’t do me any good.” I whispered, as she looked wide eyed at me.

“Ghost, ah can’t take your apple! Eat it!” Applebloom commanded, but I just shook my head no.

“I won’t be able to digest it. I’m a changeling, so I can’t eat regular food like ponies do…”

Applebloom looked at me with a surprised face. She looked down and rubbed her leg with her hoof, realizing that I was unable to eat anything at the moment. I was slowly dying of starvation, so I had to get out of here so I could feed from 64.

“Take it Applebloom.” I ordered, not taking no for an answer. At my stern look, Applebloom realized that it wouldn’t do any good for the apple to not be eaten, so she bashfully took the apple and put it next to her other one.

“Thank ya Ghost.” She said, blushing a little bit. I smiled and nodded at her, looking over at the Gryphoness staring at us. She snickered and shook her head at my act of kindness.

“You want to starve? None of my business. Just make sure you don’t let up on your work.” She chuckled, obviously gaining enjoyment from our suffering. I scowled, squinting my bright neon eyes at her, before I saw something around her neck. It was a small key, with only 1 tooth on its end. I took a quick glance at my shackles and back up at the key, hoping that there was some sort of connection.

The gears in my head began to start turning, as a plan began to start forming.

‘Step 1… secure the keys…’

64 POV

I dropped at the Canterlot Palace Courtyard, giving a thumbs up at the Pegasi Chariot overhead. They sped off towards wherever the hell they go, leaving me alone with my thoughts. I cracked my knuckles as I felt the shifting of metal inside my hands, feeling the new weapons I had.

Without the use of magic, I would need to rely on the blades and my newly acquired blowpipe for eliminating enemies, which wasn’t really that different from before I got my magic.

The first thing I wanted to do was to talk to Shining Armor, to see if there was anything I could do on helping him plan for an attack on Smokey Mountain. Walking into the Palace I noticed that there were staffers running everywhere, putting up decorations and the like for the upcoming Nightmare Night Celebration. I knew that even though I had an important job to do, other ponies still had lives.
I found Shining Armor and Princess Cadence together in his office, but not wanting to interrupt them, I waited outside of the door, listening in on the conversation.

“Look, I know you wanted to get ready, but with this rescue operation happening tomorrow, I can’t go with you.” Shining apologized, sounding incredibly sincere.

“It’s okay Shining, I understand…” Cadence said, sounding less than happy but understanding. “I mean, over 20 foals stolen? That’s much more important than getting suited for our costumes.

“You don’t have to pretend to be happy for me. I want to treat you like the princess you are, but… sometimes my work gets in the way.”

“I-I… I know but… I just feel that…”

I felt that now was the time to intervene, knowing that the conversation would get worse before it got better. “Hey, I’m prepped and ready to move out. When are we heading out?” I interfered, acting oblivious to the conversation I had heard.

Shining’s face displayed a sigh of relief, one he immediately tried to cover up when his marefriend saw him. “Uh… how about we talk later honey? I need to have a word with 64.” Shining said nervously, trying to escape Cadence’s glare. She just walked out of the room in a huff, leaving an awkward air in the room.

I coughed and clear my throat. “Well… uh… what was that about?”

Shining groaned and slammed his face onto his desk, tossing some papers onto the ground. One of them was a rolled up map which was labeled ‘EXTRACTION’, which immediately caught my eye. I picked it up and unraveled it, looking at its design. It was a bird’s eye view, showing the topography of the area. Contour lines were magical drawn, giving me a near perfect view.

“Alright… so here’s what you’re looking at.” Shining explained, taking the map from my hands and placing it onto the table. “There are literally zero places to hide an assaulting Royal Guard Company, so once we leave, there’s no going back. You on the other hand are going to sneak in while we provide the distraction. Once inside, you will need to make sure of two things. 1, You find a way to extract all of the Foals out of the mountain. 2, do not let Shura Slava escape. Whatever the cost, do not let her leave the mountain. The second she is a safe distance away from the mountain, she will blow the sucker sky high.”

“Alright, sounds good so far. I’m guessing the first order of the frontal attack will be Ballistas?” I asked, seeing them drawn surrounding the mountain. Shining Armor nodded but waved a hoof at me.

"Yeah, but don’t worry about any of that. Your job is to get inside, and get out with every single one of those foals. Speaking of getting inside, this is where your entrance will be.” Shining pointed with his hoof to a small black arrow on the left side of the mountain, showing mineshaft entrance which was covered in rubble. “You’ll have to blast your way in with small explosives. Don’t worry, they aren’t magical in anyway, so they won’t set the rest of the mountain off.”

“Alright… and once I’m inside… I’m on my own?” I asked, not taking my eyes off of the map. Shining leaned back in his chair and nodded, running a hoof through his mane.

“That’s the idea. You’ve done way worse solo jobs than this… you’ll be fine.”

“Yup… that’s my motto…”

3rd Person POV

Ghost was picking up gems with his mouth and spitting them out into the bucket, trying to ignore the now constant pain in his stomach. Groaning softly as he did so, he looked over at the Gryphoness who was still glaring daggers into his back.

“What you want kid? Get back to work!” She yelled, cracking the whip in her talons threateningly. Ghost growled back and looked over at Applebloom. She had a pleading looked, not wanting him to provoke their overseer any farther than needed. He closed his eyes and sighed, opening his mouth.

“You know what? FUCK OFF!” Ghost yelled purposefully, knowing what would happen next. The Gryphoness stared wide eyed at Ghost for a moment, registering that she had just been yelled at by a Changeling colt.

“Why you little motherfucker!” She yelled, charging at Ghost. He quickly swiveled his head and looked to Applebloom, giving her a stare which read ‘Don’t interfere’. The Gryphoness tackled Ghost into the rocky boulders in front of him, crushing some of the chitin on his back. She began to relentlessly beat him, using her talons to try and claw and dig into his armored shell, but to no avail.

Applebloom stared in horror at the assault on her companion, wanting to take the hammer in her mouth and use it to bash the Gryphonesses face in, but Ghost had signaled her to stay out of this. Ghost continued to try and block her relentless attacks with his forelegs, but it did little for the cracks he was beginning to develop in his chitin.

All of a sudden, he suddenly found himself unable to breath. Not due to any injury he had, but to a sudden piercing pain throughout his head and chest. He spasmed twice before he coughed and spat out an unhealthy of green blood onto the Gryphon, who recoiled in disgust.

“Ugh! What the fuck is this?!” The Gryphoness said, backing up. She looked towards Ghost who was now collapsed onto the floor, coughing and gasping for breath. She briefly considered calling medical personnel, but then she would be canned from the job and not receive her cut in the end. “Heh, serves you right you bug…”

She walked out of the cavern, leaving Ghost and Applebloom in the room. The filly went to Ghost’s side and tried to find out what was wrong, but couldn’t see anything besides the cracks and blows which the Changeling had sustained.

“What’s wrong Ghost!? What’s wrong?!” She pleaded, trying to hush her yelling to not call attention to herself.

“St-st-starving…… no… food…” Ghost gasped out, realizing that by receiving all of the blows his body would try and repair itself as quickly as it could, depleting all of his love reserves.

“Ah knew ah should’ve let ya eat that apple!”

Ghost shook his head and coughed once again, blood dripping out of his mouth. “No… solids… something else…”

“Then tell me! Ah can call the guards for it!”

“They… they have none…”

Applebloom continued to give him her pleading eyes, trying to figure out what she could do to help the Changeling. She made her feel safer, and without him she wasn’t sure if she could survive her predicament.

“Then what do ya eat?!” She cried out, as Ghost opened his mouth to try and say his next words. He felt his throat move, but he couldn’t form words. “Tell me!”

“L-lo…” Ghost gasped, trying his hardest to speak.

“Ah can’t understand!”

“L-Lov… L-love… Changelings… a-absorb… l-love…” Ghost managed to choke out, as Applebloom’s eyes widened. She remembered learning that Changeling could actually eat a pony’s emotions, but love was the most nutritious. Seeing the way that her friend was now shaking and bleeding on the ground, she tried to think of a way she could get something like that to a changeling.

“Ah… ah don’t know how to get that! Let me call a guard!” Applebloom said frantically, taking in a large gasp of breathe to call a guard. Ghost put a hoof up and grabbed Applebloom’s leg, stopping her from calling out. He had a thought, but banished it to the back of his mind immediately, knowing that he would never be able to live with himself afterwards. He couldn’t bring himself to ask Applebloom to give up some of her love.

“I’m… I’m done… here…” He gasped, getting weaker. He held up his hoof to show something to Applebloom, who gasped at the sight of it. It was a small key, which Ghost guessed was the key to the shackles around his hooves.In the scuffle with the guard, he managed to swipe it off her neck. “Take this… get out of here…”

“Ah… ah can’t! There has ta be another way!” Applebloom begged, racking her mind with every idea she could possibly try to come up with. As she thought frantically, she suddenly had a small thought. If Ghost ate a pony’s emotions… then… could she give her own? “Ghost! Ah think ah know way!”

Ghost looked at her and shook his head, knowing that this was it for him. He could already see the edges of his vision begin to blacken, and everything begin to go numb. He wouldn’t die right away, but he would after a few minutes of unconsciousness.

“Ghost! Take mah emotions!”

That one phrase caused Ghost’s eyes to widen, and his already hindered breathing to hitch. He coughed once again, expelling a spew of blood. He had always made sure that whenever he fed in Ethaxial, that his victim would have no recollection of it the next day. But now that Applebloom was consenting for him to feed, he felt conflicted.

“Love is the best thing right? Then ah’ll start ta think of things that I really love!” Applebloom exclaimed, closing her eyes and thinking really hard. “Mah sister Applejack… Big Macintosh… Granny Smith… Sweet Apple Acres…”

Applebloom continued to list of things that she loved, and in Ghost’s vision, he began to see the red mist of Love begin to see out of her body. It was so pure… so untainted… and so enticing for the young Changeling.

He began to feed on the love being presented to him, taking in the sweet essence of the savory emotion. He opened his eyes to see that Applebloom was wincing in discomfort, not used to the feeling of emotion being drained out. Ghost realized that he was going too fast, and due to the filly’s small size, she would be drain quicker.

With an enormous amount of effort, Ghost managed to pull himself away from Applebloom’s love, and began to gasp and choke at the sudden rush of adrenaline he felt. All of the injuries he had sustained over the course of two days had now vanished, leaving him feeling refreshed and energized.

Applebloom on the other hoof now looked exhausted, feeling the aftermath of a literal emotionally draining moment. She went to speak, but her eyes shut closed and she fell forward, barely giving Ghost enough time to lunge forward and grab her.

“Woah, can’t have you falling like that.” Ghost whispered, laying her down onto the ground. She groaned and shifted a bit, now sound asleep. Ghost looked at her slumbering form and smiled, nuzzling her thankfully. “Thank you Applebloom.”

64 POV

Everything was set. The Company of the Equestrian Knights and Pegasi was now set with large transports and medical aid for the foals, and I had reattached the Skeleton Blades to my hands. The Blowpipe I bought from Grey now had a leather strap on the end and was now strung across my shoulder, ready at a moment’s notice. Strapped to his thigh were 3 charges of Explosive Gel, ready to blow a path into the mountain.

Shining was standing next to me in his Combat Armor, the purple and gold knights armor providing a menacing demeanor. We were currently standing behind the Palace on a large flat of land for takeoff, making last minute preparations for the mission.

“Alright, everything’s all set. What are we waiting for?” I asked, standing on the Chariot waiting for some sort of go.

“Just getting myself ready for this. The Slava’s may be just a family gang, but they have something that my soldiers don’t, and that’s Alicorn Magic. We just gotta be careful.” Shining sighed, taking a few deep breathes. I was as nervous as he was about this. With one of my plans already failing miserably, who’s to say that this one wouldn’t either?

“We just and to have faith that this will work. Between your planning and my fighting skills, then we have nothing to be worried about. I’m gonna go in there, fuck some shit up, get the children out, and blow the mother down. After that’s said and done, I’m gonna drag your ass down to princess Cadence so you can go and get your fucking costumes fitted for Nightmare Night.” 64 said confidently, trying to calm his nerves.

It worked for Shining, who was able to crack a smile and laugh a bit. “Ha, nice one tough guy. Alright that’s enough stalling… KNIGHTS! PREP FOR TAKEOFF!”

The flightless guards immediately piled onto the chariots of the Pegasi guards, making sure to pack as many as they could onto each one. Other Chariots held much larger objects such as Ballistas and Catapults for the distraction assault, but the chariot Shining Armor and I were on held nothing but a line of rope for my descent, and 1 large Revolver in a special case.

Shining Armor insisted that I take it into the Mountain, but I didn’t want to. Guns would lead to nothing but trouble.

“READY! PEGASI! GO!” Shining called out, as every Pegasi’s wings sprung up and began to run towards the cliff. After a few seconds of a drop, every single Chariot being transported to Smokey Mountain was in the air, going as fast as physically possible.

I looked over the edge of the Chariot and saw Ponyville slowly coming into view, remembering the events prior to this mission. I had to get to Smokey Mountain for 4 reasons.

1, I had to find Ghost and get him back.

2, I had to save Applebloom and get her back to Applejack.

3, I had to save every single foal in Smokey Mountain.

4, The Slava family had to die.

64 vs. The Slava's Finale

Author's Note

Sorry for putting this out a day late! I just wanted to make sure it was a finale worthy of your eyes!

64 vs. The Slava's Finale

64 vs. The Slava’s Finale

3rd Person POV

Ghost was now free from his shackles, ready to continue with his plan. He was now waiting for the arrival of another guard, ready to do what needed to be done to escape. Applebloom was still unconscious, but was now groaning a bit in her slumber.

Ghost prepared himself by taking his hammer and using the chains from his shackles to create a sort of blunt whip, holding it in his hoof tightly. He gave a glance at Applebloom and sighed, hoping that she wouldn’t hate him for this.

“Hey! Somepony help! Someone here fainted!” Ghost yelled, hiding around the corner of the door. He heard the patter of footsteps getting nearer, before he closed his eyes and prayed to Celestia for strength.

“What the fuck is going on in here?” a Diamond Dog growled, walking into the cavern and seeing Applebloom unconscious on the floor. As he went to investigate, Ghost swung the hammer with everything he had at the back of the Diamond Dogs head, connecting with the base of his neck.

The Dog fell forward onto the floor and spasmed twice, before going limp. Ghost went to make sure that the Dog was out of the fight, and when feeling for a pulse, he could feel the sure signs of a broken neck.

“Celestia have mercy…” Ghost muttered, knowing that the loss of a life was a very serious matter. Searching the dog’s corpse, he found an entire ring of keys, and a rolled up paper mapping out the entire Mountain he was in. “Looks like we found the foreman of this section.”

Continuing his search of the corpse, he found that the dog was wielding a very rusty machete which would be completely useless to him unless he could repair it.

“Yo! Grisly?! What’s going on over there!?” A stallion’s voice called from outside of the cavern. Ghost looked up quickly and realized that his call might attract more than one guard. He looked towards the Machete and realized that it might not be as useless as he thought.

64 and Shining Armor were now in view of Smokey Mountain, so it was now time for 64 to drop.

“Alright! Time for me to go! Good luck Shining!” 64 called out, dropping the rope down to the rocky hills below.

“To you too! Get those kids out of there safely!” Shining Armor called out, as 64 lowered himself and rode along with the flying Chariot. When he felt he was a good distance away from the mountain, he let go of the rope and fell to the ground below. He steadied himself and looked up to the chariots slowly flying away, as two of them launched giant flaming boulders at the mountainside.

“Time to get going.” He muttered, running towards the mountain. West of the mountain was an entrance to an abandoned mine, but with Shura Slava’s mining operations, it had a good chance of being active again. 64 found this entrance while making sure to hide behind a large boulder, and saw that there were two Gryphons stationed as sentries. He began to look around to see if there were any other hostiles to take care of before entering, but found none.

Pulling the blowpipe on his back over his shoulder, he loaded a dart into the tube and quickly took aim. With a quick burst of air the dart was sent zipping towards the Gryphon and planted itself into his neck, causing him to wince painfully.

“What’s wrong?” The other Gryphon asked, as he saw the dart implanted in his partner’s neck. “What is that?!” Another gust of air and a painful wince later, both of the Gryphons were unconscious and on the ground.

64 stepped out and checked the Gryphon’s for anything he might need, and found a small oil lamp. He remembered he wouldn’t be able to use his magic to enhance his vision, so he grabbed it and attached the strap to his hip.

Staring into the dark path which led into the Mountain, 64 took a deep breath and walked into its gaping maw.

Ghost now stood over the dead body of a Brown stallion, a machete lodged into his forehead. He threw it when he saw the stallion turn the corner, and he managed to get a lucky hit. Blood now was starting to pool on the floor, making Ghost cover his nose.

“I was hoping to make this a bit cleaner…” Ghost whispered, looking towards Applebloom. She was now starting to wake up, groaning as she did so.

“Wha… what happened…?” She asked, opening her eyes blearily and getting onto her hooves. She froze in shock as she saw the image in front of her. A bloodied stallion with a large machete protruding from his forehead, a dead Diamond Dog with his neck bent at a strange angle, and ghost standing between the both of them.

Ghost’s eyes widened as he saw what she was about to do, and quickly lunged over and covered her mouth. She screamed into his hoof and began to punch at him to get him away, some actually hurting a bit.

“Applebloom! Hush up! They were the bad guys, we have to get our hooves a little dirty if we have to try and get out of here!” Ghost harshly whispered, but Applebloom just continued to yell and scream into his hoof. She bit down onto his shell, trying to pull herself free form the Changeling’s grasp. “Applebloom! Please calm down!”

Applebloom hushed up as she felt a tremor in the mountain, and a large commotion outside. Stallions were yelling something about Royal Guards, and Ghost’s ears perked up.

“64 found us! We have to get all of the others out of here so we can get out of this mountain!” Ghost said, tossing the Ring of Keys over to Applebloom who caught them in her mouth. “C’mon, we have to get moving.”

Ghost laid out the map for the mountain onto the floor and took a quick look, remembering where the cavern he was assigned was. “A1-13… alright, we have 2 other caves on this floor, let’s go!”

Applebloom and Ghost both began to run out of the cavern and through the walkways of the mountain. Wrapping the makeshift around his leg, Ghost saw thugs running up and down the caverns ahead him, each of them carrying saddlebags full of gems.

“We got to get all of these gems out of here before Shura tans our hides!”

“Are ya crazy?! There’s a shit ton of Royal Guards out there! They aren’t gonna let us out without a fight!”

“Ah didn’t sign up for any of this!”

The pair of foals both hid behind a rock and peeked around its corner, trying to see the positions of the thugs.

The Changeling saw a Revolver in the holster of one of the thugs and knew it wouldn’t be a wise idea to confront them, but to their side was the entrance to Cavern B2-14, where more foals were being held. He looked towards Applebloom and sighed once, looking hopeful towards her.

“Alright… I’m going to sneak a bit closer to them. When I give you the signal, you have to yell as loudly as possible. I’m gonna try and knock the one with the gun out first, then we’ll free the others in the cavern. Got it?” Ghost whispered, making Applebloom nod.

“Ok… what’s the signal gonna be?”

Ghost looked on the ground and found two small rocks, striking them together and causing a small spark.

“Oh you’ll know.”

64 continued to run through the caverns but found no sign of anypony, guessing that they were corralling the children in one part of the mountain to ensure that none of them escaped in the confusion.

“Dammit! Where the hell could they be?” 64 grunted, running through nothing but empty hallways and deserted mines. As he was running, he heard the crunch of broken glass under his shoes. “What the?” 64 moved his foot and found that he had stepped onto a photo frame. He slowly bent down to pick it up, and saw that it was actually a family photo of the Slavas.

The two sons looked much younger, nearly 10. They were all sporting very genuine smiles, with Shura and Maxis in a loving embrace.

“How the hell can a mare this batshit crazy?” 64 asked himself, as he heard faint hoofsteps in front of him. He pocketed the photo and looked up, seeing the faint outline of a stallion’s body ahead of him. Wings were spread to indicate that the stallion was a Pegasus.

“You! Hold it right there!” 64 yelled, unsheathing his Skeleton Blades and marching forward towards the Pegasus. When approached, the Pegasus turned tail and began to run further into the caves, with 64 hot on his hooves.

Ghost used his natural camouflage to blend into the darkness of the cave, and slowly approached the three panicking stallions.

“Alright! Get them out of there! We gotta deliver them to Deimos so he can get in their minds. Guards outside aren’t gonna have a choice but to kill them after they go batshit crazy.”

Ghost gasped at the exclamation, remembering what Deimos was capable of. He twisted minds to be malicious, unforgiving killing machines. If those colts and fillies got affected by him, then they would be as good as dead.

Ghost’s face grew a look of determination as he continued to sneak past the stallions and into the cavern, where two fillies were busy cowering from the voices outside.

“Crescent? A-Are we gonna be okay?!” one of them said, crying into the shoulder of the other filly in the mine.

“Cardinal it’s gonna be okay, just keep your eyes shut.” The other filly said, identifying herself as Crescent.

“Psst… hey you guys!” Ghost called out quietly, as Crescent’s eyes darted over to the bright icy blue ones of Ghost’s. She gripped Cardinal tightly as she scowled at Ghost, feebly trying to scare him off.

“Wha-What do you want?” She whispered, as Ghost pointed to the wooden bucket next to them.

“Just let me see that and I can bust you guys out!”

Crescent nodded and pushed the bucket closer to Ghost, who took it and moved back towards the cavern entrance while the Stallions were still panicking. He set it onto the floor and quickly struck the two rocks in his hooves together, causing bright flames to dance out of the bucket. He took it and jumped up towards the armed stallion, slamming the bucket over his head and blinding him while burning him.

“AHH! WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING!” The stallion yelled, as the two other stallion’s turned towards Ghost. A piercing scream from Applebloom caused them to lose concentration for a split second, giving Ghost enough time to unholster the stallion’s Revolver and fire 2 shots towards the other thugs, sending them to the floor. The Revolver then turned towards the burning and blind stallion, sending a bullet straight through the bucket and into his brain, causing blood to go spilling onto the floor.

“D-done…” Ghost gasped nervously, never feeling the power of a firearm in his hooves before. He turned towards the fillies in the cave and saw their horrified reactions towards the dead bodies, especially at the changeling who was able to kill them.

“You’re… you’re a Changeling! My momma told me about your kind!” Cardinal screamed, obviously scared out of her mind. “You snatch away babies and sacrifice them to your Queen!”

Ghost sighed and dropped the Revolver, waving over at Applebloom to bring the keys over to him. She was slightly shaking at the extreme act of violence the he had just performed, but came over nonetheless. He took the keys from her and started on the shackles of the terrified fillies, who were trying to back away.

Ghost sighed, “I’m not here to hurt you, and I’m not like most Changelings. Just stay still and I can unlock your chains.” Ghost explained, calming the two fillies enough where they didn’t cower in fear. Once they were unlocked, Ghost began to take another look at his map.

“Alright, we just gotta head up. We’re actually underneath the mountain itself, so if we head up then we can get to this exit right here.” Ghost whispered, pointing to an old mineshaft exit on the West end of the mountain.

“But won’t that be where all of the ponies in here will be evacuatin’? Ah mean it’s the closest exit ta us.” Applebloom thought, but Ghost shook his head.

“Guards like this will probably head to where the head honcho is to protect them. If the head dies, then they won’t get paid. They’ll be heading towards the top exits.”

“how… how do you know all of this stuff?” Cardinal asked, as Ghost simply smirked at her.

“I have a good teacher.”

64 POV

I kept on chasing this Pegasus down, but every time I came close to catching up with him he made a turn and I lost him for a bit. By the time I did end up finding him he was way ahead of me, and the chase began again.

I could feel that he was leading me upwards, because we were running at an incline. As we ran I looked left and right at the caverns, finding more and more empty caves. I hadn’t seen a single foal here yet, and it was starting to make me anxious.

“You continue to chase although you have no chance!” The Pegasus mocked me, as we both entered a very large cavern. Once the Pegasus reached the other side of the cave, he turned towards me and gave a glare with his piercing yellow eyes. “Persist no longer!”

He bucked the cave wall as a heavy tremor began to quake, causing rocks and boulders to come crashing down towards me. I dove out of the way and looked towards the exit where the Pegasus had ran, but saw that it was now blocked of by 3 ton boulders.

“Son of a bitch… no magic…” I muttered, walking up to the boulders and placing my hand on them. The few explosives I had weren’t going to be enough to blow through it, meaning I was stuck here unless I doubled back.

“Feeling lost are ya buddy?” A voice said behind me. I turned with my Skeleton blades extended and saw Dust Charmer standing behind me, barely illuminated by the Oil Lamp on my hip. “This place is a maze with no end unless you know how to navigate it with a map. So unless you want to run around like a chicken without its head, I would find a map.”

I wasted no time in rushing towards him, as he pulled a Sabre out of a sheathe on his side. I swung my Wrist at him as if I was swinging a right hook, causing him to jump back and plant himself firmly to the ground.

He sped forward as a sickly green magic wrapped around his horn. My eyes widened at his use of magic, as I closed my eyes and waited for the blast to bring the mountain to the ground. Instead of explosions riddling the mountain to pieces, I felt two hooves smash into my chest and send me towards the rocky wall.

I exploded in yellow shards of magic as my shield collapsed around me, allowing me to get up onto my feet without pain.

“Organic Shield huh? Smart move. Anything magical woulda sent this tub of gems onto your head.” Dust commented, as I pointed an accusatory finger at him.

“You just used magic to speed yourself up though, what’s going on here?!” I accused, as Dsut simply scoffed and shook his head.

“Alicorn Magic is much more different than Harmonious Magic now isn’t it?”

His horn continued to glow a demented green color, sending 4 blasts of Kinetic Magic towards me. Slicing at them with the Skeleton Blades, I sent them splitting in half, causing them to duplicate and smashing into the wall behind me.

I rushed forward to try and catch Dust off guard, but he brought his sword up and began to block both of my blades with an incredible speed. I dropped to the ground and swept his hooves from underneath him, pinning him to the ground by his neck.

“Where are you keeping all of the foals!? Talk dammit!” I interrogated, holding my right blade at his neck menacingly. He simply chuckled as he tried to catch me on the stomach with his sword, but using my right hand and grabbed the blade and crushed it, casing his eyes to widen. “Stubbornite Weapons may be sharp, but they are incredibly brittle in anything that isn’t armor. You better start talking before I give you a tracheotomy for free.”

“I’d rather swallow my own tongue before I tell you… so you better try harder than that…” Dust whispered, as I saw one of his teeth come off when he brought his tongue over it. I then heard a crunching noise as hit bit down on something, and my eyes widened when I realized what it was. “You’ll never stop her… she’s fucking mad…”

Dust’s mouth began to foam as the cyanide pill he had taken began to take effect, causing him to spasm and shake uncontrollably. I got off of him as I stared with a wretched fascination, never actually seeing somepony devoted to their cause that they would commit suicide like at.

Eventually he stopped spasming and shaking, leaving nothing but a now cold corpse on the rocky ground. I sighed and shook my head, looking towards the blocked off exit to the cavern. Guess I had to go back the way I came…

Ghost POV

After freeing Cardinal and Crescent Rose, our group began to make our way towards the Western Mineshaft Entrance. They were still silent at my acts of violence, obviously being sheltered from most of the horrors that the world had to offer. They often stumbled and tripped over rocks and other debris as we made our way through the dark tunnels, not having the near night vision abilities I had from living in a cave for most of my life. We came across a small table with many broken mining tools, including a broken oil lamp. I picked it up and tried shaking it, feeling some oil still in the lamp.

“We need to find a source of light so we can move quicker… do you two have any sort of cloth or something?” I asked, seeing the handle from a broken hammer on the ground and picking it up. Neither Cardinal nor Crescent said anything, so I sighed and was going to drop the handle.

“Ah… ah still have some of mah bow left.” Applebloom confessed, feeling for the piece of red cloth on her head. “It won’t do me any good to keep wearin’ it in here.”

I blinked and nodded, stepping closer to her and undoing the bow with one pull of cloth with my mouth. When I looked back at her face, I saw that there were tinges of crimson staining her tan cheeks.

“Thanks Applebloom…” I replied, quickly wrapping the piece of cloth around the top of the handle and grabbing the oil lamp. I opened the fuel line and drenched the old bow in the oil, before using the same tactic of striking two rocks together to light the makeshift torch. “Alright… now you guys can see!”

“What’s making all of the commotion outside? There’s a lot of rumbling!” Crescent commented, as we felt the vibrations of the mountain trembling beneath out hooves.

“It must be the Royal Guards trying to break in through the mountain from outside. If we move quickly we can give them this map so they can move quicker through the mountain to save the rest of the foals.”

Crescent nodded at my explanation as we continued to walk, nearing the exit quicker than I thought we would.

“Move quick! Shura says we gotta sweep up for stragglers!” A gruff voice said ahead of us, as we all stopped in our tracks. I looked around to see if there were any hiding places for the fillies, when I saw a few empty barrels on the side of the tunnels used for holding the Enchanted Gems we mined.

“Hide in there! There’s only enough room for the 3 of you!” I ordered in a hushed tone, making Crescent and Cardinal follow my command without question. Applebloom on the other hoof stayed rooted to the ground with a scared look on her face. “What are you doing? Move!”

She grew a panicked look on her face, but did as I asked of her, diving into one of the 3 barrels there. I held the torch and waited for whoever came, before my eyes widened and an idea formed in my head. I poked my head into the barrel that Applebloom had dived into, before tossing in the map inside.

“What are ya doin’? This is yers!” She whispered, but I shook my head.

“I’m gonna lead them away from you guys! Just follow this tunnel until you find the exit! Easy as pie! Good luck!”

“Ghost no!”

I planted the torch in a crack in the wall, before calling out. “HEY GUYS! COME AND GET ME! LITTLE CHANGELING CREATURE THAT YOU MISSED OVER HERE!”

“What the fuck? Let’s go!”

The pounding of hoofsteps became apparent as they began to rush in our direction, so I turned tail and began to run down the tunnel in the opposite direction. I gave one last look behind me as I ran, and the last thing I saw was Applebloom peeking out of her barrel, giving me a worried look.

64 POV

“Get ‘im! Don’t let him get to Shura!” A Gryphon yelled out before I plunged my Skeleton Blade into his neck. Shura was apparently sending her goons after me now, with dozens of them suddenly starting to flood the tunnels.

I felt a stallion trying to get a lucky hit in at the back of my head, so I turned around and grabbed the club he was holding out of his mouth, before bring it smashing onto his head. I grabbed his unconscious body and flung it around, sending it towards a group wielding bows that had their sights trained on me. Bows were great for ranged combat, but in a closed quarters fight like this, they were a death wish.

Using their confusion for a moment, I pulled out my blowpipe and shot 4 darts into their necks, rendering them unconscious in a matter of seconds.

“Wasting my time with this… I have to go up!” I yelled, running down the tunnels in the direction the goons were coming from. Still no signs of the foals, and I was starting to become worried that we might have had the wrong location.

“Still running are we? I thought I told you, persisting will only yield terrible results!” The Pegasus yelled, all of a sudden running alongside me. The momentary shock of his voice was enough to make me trip and stumble, but as he began to run ahead I got back up and chased him down again.

“GET BACK HERE! WHERE ARE THE FOALS!?” I cried out, not expecting an actual reply.

“Many of them are accounted for at the cavern at the top of the mountain! Only 4 managed to escape through the tunnels!”

I didn’t stop chasing him down as I began to think. What were they going to do at the top of the mountain?

“Why did you tell me that?” I called out, my instincts telling me that it was obviously a trap.

“Because, you will not make it there!”

A sudden blast of magic caused me to go smashing through a rock wall and into a large cavern, my shield shattering around me.

“You nearly caught up to him! Very impressive 64. But as we learned in the Everfree Forest, you have a nasty habit of getting sidetracked when chasing somepony.” A new voice said, but I recognized it immediately. I grabbed a large rock in my hand and launched it towards Duplex, but he just puffed into smoke when it connected. “Try harder 64! Nearly had me that time!”

A cacophony of voices reverberated through the cave, as a dozen Duplex’s stepped out of the shadows, surrounding 64 on all sides.

“Looks like I’ll just have to take pleasure in killing you a dozen times over!” I yelled, already launching myself towards the first of the clones.

Connecting with a right hook, the doppelganger burst into a cloud of smoke, but the others all came rushing at me with fury, all carrying Crooked Daggers. Using my now armored palms, I began to grab and pull away blades, before throwing them at other aggressors.

Puff after puff of smoke clouded my vision, and it seemed like for every clone I disintegrated, 3 more took its place. I began to feel small knicks and cuts from their attacks, and I realized that I was now being closed in on. A clone tackled me to the ground as other piled on top of him, pinning me to the ground with the sheer amount of weight on my back.

“Well if it isn’t the Bipedal Blight of Equestria… you know the night that you tricked us into going to meet Shura at that shady bar we were going to establish what city I would target to foalnap a child. Thankfully… Red Wing was there to break us out of prison…” the Real Duplex said, revealing himself to me finally, coming of out the shadows.

“Who the fuck is Red Wing? That Pegasus out there?” I questioned, still not stopping my struggling.
“Correct. He came into the picture a few weeks before father got himself arrested. He quickly became one of our most trusted mercenaries, what with his incredible skill in using his Wing Blades.”

I was able to wring one of my arms loose as I brought it out in front of me, retracting the blade to hide it from Duplex. I quickly got to work trying to bring my other arm forward as well.

“So he busted you out? Sounds pretty skilled, I might want to put my skills to the test then.” I grunted, still fighting off the weight on my back.

“Oh, I’m afraid you won’t get that chance…” Duplex growled sinisterly, pulling out his own Crooked Dagger. He began to advance towards me menacingly, as I increased my efforts tenfold. “I will put this blade through your eyesockets… then I will I will put it through your temple. I’m afraid this will be your last fight…”

Duplex was now standing over me, the blade wrapped in the same sickly green magic that Dust was using.

I finally wrenched my left arm free and quickly reached for the Skeleton Blade on my right arm, pulling it out and throwing it at Duplex. His eyes widened at the advancing blade, before they went devoid of life. The 8 inch blade was now embedded in Duplex’s forehead, and his horn faintly flashed with light before it fizzled, dropping the Dagger and dispelling every single clone off of me.

I slowly got to my feet and sighed, cracking my neck a few times and walking over to Duplex’s now dead body. I pulled my Skeleton Blade from his forehead and reattached it to my arm, retracting it back into its case.

“That’s 2 son’s down… where’s Deimos?”

Ghost POV

My chest was beginning to burn as 2 Stallions and a Diamond Dog began to catch up to me, the Diamond Dog having an easier time navigating the dark tunnels and caverns. In my mouth I held the makeshift whip I made, which I had an urge to use.

“C’mon y-you bug! G-Give it up!” A stallion yelled, sounding more tired than I was. I was trying my best to try and find a way to go back towards the Western Exit, but without a map, this place became a huge maze with no end.

It was at times like this I would ask myself ‘what would 64 do?’, but then I would remember that he would burn them alive, and that wasn’t really an option I had right now. I decided I was going to set a trap, which would hopefully slow them down enough where I could catch my breath.

Acting quickly I took the hammer end of my whip and struck the claw end into the rocky wall, pulling on it to make sure it would hold. When I was sure it was ok, I went to the other side of the tunnel and held the chain taut, making a trip wire trap.

“Over here! He went over here!” The growling voice of the Diamond Dog said, getting closer. I held the chain tight as I felt him approaching, and eventually felt something trip over the chain. The Diamond Dog was on the ground, dazed from the tumble he had taken, so I took the advantage of his colleagues being farther down the tunnel and wrapped the chain around his neck.

“Argh! Grr!” The Dog choked as I continued to pull on the chain, trying to choke the life out of him. I felt hoofsteps coming from behind me, and quickly turned around to see the 2 other stallions rushing at me. I released the chain and jumped over the Diamond Dog, as the stallions both tripped over it.

The resulting crash caused a large tremor to shake throughout the tunnel, and the ground beneath the group of thugs began to crack and break.

“Oh shit!” Was all the stallions on the ground had to say before the ground completely opened up, sending them crashing toward the ground below. 2 cracks signaled the end of another 2 stallion’s lives. The Diamond Dog on the other hoof still had the chain wrapped around his neck, and was hung over the edge of the hole, his neck bent at an awkward angle.

I stared down at the dead stallions, briefly muttering a prayer to Celestia. Now with the large hole standing between me and the way back, there was no way I was going to be able to get to the Western Exit with Applebloom. I had to go forward to go back, so I had to start pressing on.

Even with a semi full stomach of love I was still feeling the fatigue of trying to escape, so I decided to just take a breath and close my eyes. I wish 64 was here.

64 POV

I really wish I wasn’t here right now.

I was nearing the top of the mountain, and the only way I knew was because I began to feel cold air seep into the caverns. Deimos was my next target, with Shura being last on the list. It had been about an hour since the assault started, and I was wondering how long Shining Armor would be able to hold his position.

The reason I didn’t want to be here was because of how cold it was getting at the top of this mountain. I was really conflicted about the feeling of being cold. Sometimes it felt good because sometimes I need to cool down, especially if I had just been a good fight and the magic inside of me began to boil. Other times it felt terrible on my skin, conflicting terribly with the warm feeling of magic inside of me.

I still hadn’t seen the Pegasus known as Red Wing since Duplex kicked the bucket, so I was walking slowly to try and see if I could hear him walking through the tunnels. He wouldn’t be able to fly considering that if he did the Mountain would blow, but any other Unicorn that I encountered would be able to use Dark Magic against me.

“You continue to persist… foolish… yet honorable… I’m guessing Duplex Slava will now be depriving us of his company?” Red Wing asked, his voice reverberating off of the walls. I couldn’t see him, but I knew if he wanted to try and kill me he would have made a move already.

“You would be correct in your guess. But don’t worry, you’ll be joining him very soon.” I threatened, continuing to walk through the tunnels with my guard up.

“I see your confidence hasn’t wavered in the slightest. This reminds me of a passage in a very eye opening book I read. ‘Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil’. Even in a territory where you have no advantage against your enemy except your brute strength, you still hold the illusion of optimism. Allow us to see if you truly are worthy of leaving this mountain alive…”

All of a sudden the mountain suddenly illuminated, Enchanted Gems on the ceiling suddenly lighting up with bright lights to guide me through the dark caves.

“Follow the light Project 64… meet your maker…”

“Sorry, I’ve already met her and she’s kind of a bitch.”

3rd Person POV

Applebloom and her group managed to find the Western Exit, and were incredibly relieved to find that it was unguarded by any of the Thugs.

“Alright, let’s go and see if we can find any Royal Guards outside! We can give them the map and they can go in and save Ghost!” Applebloom said happily, as the fillies began to run as fast as they could towards the large tunnel of sunlight.

As they finally ran out of the cave and were showered in the warm rays of sunlight, Crescent Rose and Cardinal Berry began to sob into each other fur, joyful that they were finally free from the nightmare.

Or so they thought.

2 unconscious Gryphons were just coming to, each of them plucking a dart out of their feathers. “Hey! What the fuck are you 3 doing out here?!” A dark brown Gryphon screamed, pulling out a dagger from a sheathe on his hip. The other followed suit as they bore down menacingly on the fillies, who began to back away into the cave again.

Applebloom’s eyes widened as she tried to remember what Ghost would do it a situation like this, her eyes scanning the two Gryphons in front of her. The dark brown Gryphon had a bigger blade and was closer to them, meaning that she was a bigger threat than the black Gryphon with a smaller dagger.

She would be able to take one hit before it actually taking any damage, meaning if she used that time wisely, she could at least try and hit the Gryphon once and getting a lucky hit in. She charged forward and ducked under the swipe the dark brown Gryphon gave with his dagger, before bucking his left leg with all she had.

It bent backwards with a sickly crack, making the Gryphon drop the dagger and cry out in pain. “ARGH! I’M GONNA KILL YOU!” He yelled, swiping at Applebloom with his good leg. Applebloom only had time to run underneath his legs and pick up the knife in her mouth, before turning around and closing her eyes.

She lunged forward to try and tackle the Gryphon down, but when she felt something warm and wet in her mouth, she slowly opened her eyes. The blade in her mouth was now plunged to the hilt in the Gryphon’s side, and blood was rushing out at an alarming rate.

She slowly backed up at the sight of the gore, her eyes slowly widening as she realized what she had just done. The Gryphon’s eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell with a thud onto the ground, blood continuing to pool around his body.

The other Gryphon began to shake and stare at Applebloom, who with the bloody muzzle looked as if she had taken a chomp out of his friend’s side. “HOLY SHIT YOU’RE CRAZY! I’M OUT OF HERE!” The black Gryphon yelled, flying away from the group of fillies as fast as he could.

Applebloom simply stood there and began to silently cry as tears rolled down her cheeks, but her expression remained unchanged, a horrified stare on her face.

“HELP! HELP US! HELP!” Applebloom began to cry frantically, looking around with a terrified look on her face. “HELP US PLEASE!”

Two Pegasi guards swooped down to the Cave exit and saw the scene, both of them wide eyed at the bloody filly and Gryphon in front of them.

“Get a Code 3 Medical Team over here, Psych Treatment necessary.”

Ghost POV

The sudden change of light in the tunnels nearly blinded me, sending me tumbling to the ground in a fit of pain.

“Argh… who turned on the lights?” I groaned, squinting to try and adjust my eyes. When the stinging pain became bearable, I noticed that not all of the lights tunnels were illuminated. As I studied the lights further, I realized that they created a sort of path, as if telling me where to go. “Why do I get the feeling 64 has something to do with this?”

I began to run faster following the path of light, wanting to catch up to whatever was causing the light’s to change. I came across a cavern that had a dead Unicorn on the ground, and when I got closer, I realized that it was actually Dust Charmer. His mouth was foaming, and his lips had begun to turn blue.

“Cyanide poisoning? But… why? Unless…” I looked towards the neck of Dust and saw a very small knick along his neck, as if somepony was holding a knife to his neck. “He took the easy way out… 64 was here…” I whispered, running out of the cavern and continuing to run faster following the illuminated path.

I was a bit faster than 64 when navigating narrow tunnels like this, meaning that if he wasn’t too far ahead, I would be able to catch up to him.

64 POV

I began to feel gusts of wind through the tunnels, and the smallest rays of sunlight began to crack through the caves. I was getting closer, which meant I was closer to destroying the Slava family. I finally saw a large cavern with an huge opening to the outside, and looking out of it, I saw I was at the top of the mountain.

“Look who showed up!” A female voice said, as I saw 3 flashes of Kinetic blasts head in my direction. I rolled out of the way to see Deimos Slava standing across from me, his white fur shining in the sunlight.

“I will end you 64! For killing my brothers!” He screamed, as I looked towards the cages on the side of the cave, and saw dozens of scared colts and fillies.

“Get him Mr. Human! He’s not that tough!” A colt yelled, who I recognized as Stomper Leaf.

I looked around and saw that there were also dozens of Goons armed with weapons blunt and sharp alike, all ready to attack me. Deimos’s magic shot out towards every single one of the goons, who all grew crazed grins and bloodshot eyes.

“KILL HIM! I WANT HIS BLOOD SPLATTERED ONTO THE GROUND!” Deimos screamed, as I was rushed by the crazed goons. I jumped back as a few of them tried to tackle me to the ground, before unsheathing my Skeleton Blades and stabbing an Earth Pony mare who had tried to bash me over the head with a nail board.

I sent her body flying towards another cluster of goons who simply trampled over her, dead set on getting to me. I gave a roundhouse to a unicorn trying to stab me with a piece of a metal bar, breaking his horn and sending him to the ground. Another group of goons started to throw sharpened pieces of glass at me, which ricocheted off of my shield and broke on the ground harmlessly.

I rushed them and spun around giving one of the stallions my right elbow, grabbing his head and throwing him over my shoulder by his neck. The others tried to stab me with sharpened pikes of wood, so I grabbed them in my hands and crushed them, throwing the pieces of splintered wood into their eyes. When they were blinded, I grabbed the back of their heads and smashed their head together, knocking them both out.

I looked back up to the rest of my aggressors, and saw I was nowhere near done. Deimos himself was now under the effects of his spell, his mane now more shaggier and his eyes bloodshot.

“KILL HIM! KILL HIM NOW!” He screamed, as an absolute wave of crazed goons rushed towards me. I planted my feet in the ground and prepared to take them on, when all of a sudden, they just stopped. All of them had just stopped in their tracks, all wearing expressions of shock and pain.

I relaxed a little bit and looked around in confusion, wondering what the hell had just happened. An earth pony stallion that was near me took a final gasp, when all of a sudden his head just slid off of his neck, a clean cut severing it.

All of the other followed suit, pieces of their heads just sliding off of their bodies in a bloody pile. When they were all dead, Deimos stood there, his face showing the same expression as all others.

“gr…uh… wha…” Was all he had to say, before the right side of his head slowly slid off the rest of his body, and he fell to the ground in a heap, his fur now stained a crimson red.

I stared in shock at the gore in front of me, wondering what the hell had just done it.

“Deimos… I told you… he will die by my own hooves…” Red Wing said, dropping from the ceiling. His wings were covered in blood, before he flapped them twice to wipe a bit of the blood off. “Poor fool never followed my orders…”

“You would kill your own allies, just to get to me?” I said in disbelief. “Who the fuck are you?!”

“I. Am Red Wing. And you will fear me…”

“64… did you think that Maxis was the only one fooling around behind the curtains? I was honored to have the comfort of Red Wing shortly before Maxis’ affair became news to me, which gave me all more reason to get him out of the way. Red Wing is a much better lover than he ever was…” Shura said seductively, walking over to Red Wing and draping her foreleg over his shoulder.

“So you were fooling around too? Why am I not surprised?” I said sarcastically, making Shura growl. I looked over to all of the foals still locked in their cages, ad wondered how the hell I would be able to get them all out and fight Red Wing at the same time.

“So 64… why don’t you lie down onto your belly and allow me to end you quickly…” Red Wing growled, getting into a combat stance.

“Not a chance in Tartarus…”

“64!” A familiar voice yelled, nearly breaking my concentration. I knew who it was and was incredibly relieved to hear that Ghost wasn’t trapped in the cages, but was actually free and trying to escape the mountain. I was pissed at him now because I was about to face down an incredibly dangerous opponent.

“Ghost! Stay out of the way! Get the foals free and take this! Light it on the cliff of the cavern, it’ll alert the Guards to advance to the caves!” I yelled, throwing a Red Flare and a lockpick over to Ghost’s voice. He ran over to the cages and got to work, as I continued with my stare down against Red Wing.

“Time to end this!” Red Wing yelled, rushing over to me with incredible speeds. His wings were spread horizontally try to cleave me in half, but I rolled underneath the bladed wings and spun around to slice Red Wing in his right Rearleg, causing him wince in pain and turn around to me. He whipped his wings at me and sent bladed feathers in my direction, causing a few to smash against my shield and actually shatter it.

I made it a point to start dodging the feathers as they came towards me, ducking and sidestepping to avoid getting sliced. I charged towards Red Wing and started to exchange blows, with me blocking his Bladed Wings with my hands and him blocking my Skeleton Blades. When sending a wing to try and cleave my arm from my shoulder, I grabbed the wing and spun around, launching Red Wing towards the wall.

He smashed against it and took a moment to get up, before looking at me and growling. He flicked his wings once and caused more blades to come out of them, making me gulp nervously. He spun around quickly and sent whole blades shooting towards me, causing me to deflect them out of the air as he charged towards me.

His right wing sliced against my chest and caused my shield to explode, sending me towards the wall and causing a few stalactites on the roof to come down and nearly impale me. I grabbed the javelin like rock and sent it hurtling towards Red Wing, who put his nearly completely metal wings in front of him, giving him a shield.

I used the momentary loss of sight to my advantage, lunging forward and stabbing my blades at his wings. When the Skeleton Blades connected with the metallic wings, I felt them simply reflect off, not doing a bit of damage. I stared wide eyed as Red Wing grinned, before spinning around and bucking me in my unprotected chest.

“Your little Ice Picks are no match for my Wings! Prepare to die 64!” Red wing screamed, lunging towards me. I quickly reached into my Satchel Pocket and pulled out the Explosive Charges I had, getting up and sidestepping Red Wing’s attack.

I wrapped the strap of charges around Red Wings neck, making sure to clip it shut and lock it before jumping backwards onto my back. I reached into my Pocket again and pressed the Detonator button, as a red beeping light ignited on the charges.

Red wing realized what I had done and started to struggle to get the Charges off, but it was far too late for him.

“Say hello to Shura’s sons when you get there!” I taunted, as the charges exploded in a burst of blood and gore, removing Red Wing’s head from his body. I took in a few deep breaths and got up, feeling a sharp pain in my chest. I felt around and felt a few ribs broken, but I could get those fixed easily.

“Ghost, almost done there?” I asked, turning around and seeing Shura with knife to Ghost’s neck, but all of the cages were opened and the foals were all cowering against the wall. Ghost had a deadpanned look as if he was bored, and I realized that he totally had this covered.

“Y-You stay back! Or the bug gets his throat sliced!” Shura weakly threatened, as Ghost grabbed the hoof hold the knife and twisted it out of Shura’s grip, causing it to clatter harmlessly onto the ground. He twisted her forelegs behind her back and looked up towards me, as I threw him a pair of hoofcuffs.

“Shura Slava, you are under arrest for so many charges I don’t even want to list them. Let’s go nice and easy now.” Ghost said, throwing her body over his back and winking at me. I looked at the foals and counted them, noticing that out of the 21 that were stolen not including Ghost, 3 were missing.

“Wait, where’s Applebloom, Crescent Rose and Cardinal Berry?” I asked, doing a recount and making sure I didn’t count wrong.

“I managed to get them to the Western entrance, so they were able to escape. They might already be in Royal Guard custody.” Ghost explained, handing the flare back over to me. I took it and walked outside of the cave, light it and holding it in the air.

We had won this day.

Chapter 38

3rd Person POV

Specialized Earth Pony Guards were sent into the caves, sweeping for anything that might have been missed. During their sweep, the foals were all evacuated from the caves, and messengers were already on their way to inform their Guardians of their rescue.

64 was in front of the mountain, sitting on the edge of a medical bed while a medic started to place his ribs back where they belonged. “Damn, easy there. This doesn’t exactly feel great.” 64 complained, the Unicorn medic pointing her horn at his chest.

“You think repairing bones is supposed to feel good? Just suck it up you baby.” The medic scolded, placing the remaining few of the fractured ribs back into place. “Alright, there you go, just take it easy. You did a great thing today.”

64 smiled and put his shirt back on, standing up off of the table and heading towards the Medical tent which was currently housing a few of the injured children. When he poked his head inside, he saw Stomper Leaf and Lily Wing lying on beds next to each other, with Stomper now sporting a large cast on his right foreleg. Both of them were asleep, obviously exhausted from the ordeal they had just gone through.

On another bed was Cardinal Berry, who was silently brushing her tail with a sad look on her face. 64 slowly walked up to her and leaned on the wall.

“Hey, you ok? You know you’re pretty brave for getting out of the tunnels with your group.” 64 congratulated, but she remained silent. “Look… I know that you might have seen a few things in there. Bad things. But those were really bad ponies, and now that they are gone, they aren’t going to do bad things anymore. We’re gonna get you back home to your mom and dad, and you’re gonna see Big Heart again, ok?”

Cardinal slowly looked up at the mention of her favorite plush Donkey, before giving 64 a small smile.

“There we go. Don’t worry, in a few hours we’re gonna get you back home and you’re gonna be safe and sound. Now go ahead and rest up a bit. It’s been a rough journey for you.”

Cardinal nodded and stopped brushing her tail, putting the comb down and curling up in the bed. 64 stood back up and saw all of the other fillies and colts, some of them recalling how the ‘awesome human’ came in and rescued them.

64 swept the area looking for Applebloom and Ghost, but couldn’t find either of them. He saw Crossroads wearing her Combat Armor, ordering around a few Privates.

“Hey Cross, where did Ghost go? He’s not in the medical bay.” 64 asked, as Crossroad took off her helmet and turned towards 64.

“Yea he wasn’t injured so we cut him loose. He ran off somewhere to find some doll named Applebloom. You might wanna ask some of the other medical personnel.” Crossroad explained, turning back to the recruits and barking a bit more.

64 went to ask around, but every time he asked where Ghost was he received a different answer. He followed the trail of answers until he heard that Ghost was last seen heading towards the Psych Tent, reserved for PTSD victims.

When 64 arrived at the tent, he opened it to see an unconscious Applebloom lying on the table with a gas mask on her mouth, with Ghost standing at the bedside.

“What happened to her? Why is she in here?” 64 asked, taking the clipboard at the end of the bed and looking at the diagnosis. It read that she was experiencing ‘PTSD’ like symptoms, but didn’t explain any further.

“I was able to lead her and two others to the Western Exit, but when guards came down the tunnel I distracted them so Applebloom could get away. Apparently when she got out she ran into some Gryphons and ended up stabbing one of them with their own knife, but she freaked out afterwards. The other Gryphon ran off with their tails between their legs.” Ghost explained, as 64 noticed the red bloodstains on the filly’s cheeks.

“Dammit… looks like Applejack is going to have a reason to be pissed at me for a long time…”

Ghost shook his head and looked up at 64, his icy blue eyes saddened. “It’s not your fault, I… I should have tried to find another way to distract those guards… maybe she wouldn’t have had to do it…” He tried to explain.

“Look, let’s not play the blame game just yet. We have to get everything settled first, then we’ll see what happens. Come on, you must be starving after all this. Let’s get some love in you.” 64 said, walking out of the tent. When he noticed that Ghost wasn’t following him, he called out. “Ghost, you coming?”

Ghost shook his head and looked back towards Applebloom, resting his head on the side of the bed. “She let me feed off of her…” Ghost whispered, 64 not being able to hear it clearly.

“She what?” He asked, stepping closer.

“She… she let me feed on her! Alright?! I…I can’t just leave her sitting here like this! This is all my fault!”

64’s eyes widened at the sudden outburst, taking a moment to realize what had just heard. “Ghost… were you starving?” 64 asked slowly, wondering what how dire circumstances could have been for Ghost to feed off of a filly.

“I…I was dying. I kept on regenerating after the thugs in there kept beating me, and…and I started to run low on love. When I finally ran out and was starting to starve to death, Applebloom… she… she gave me her love willingly.”

64 listened to the story and waited for him to continue.

“I didn’t pressure her into doing it though! She told me to take it after she saw me dying! You have to believe me!” Ghost pleaded, not wanting to look like all of the other Changelings. 64 sighed and knelt down to Ghost’s level, patting him on the head.

“I believe you. I’m just wondering though… how did you two meet up in there?” 64 asked, looking back at the red haired filly. He noticed that she didn’t have her signature Red Bow on.

“I was assigned to a mine that she was in, and I had to protect her from the guards a few times. She may have seen me do a few things… so … I wouldn’t be surprised if she hates me now…”

“And since when did you care what Applebloom thought of you?” 64 said smugly, grinning at the now blushing Changeling. Ghost’s eyes widened and ran out of the tent, leaving a chuckling 64 with a new tool to embarrass his companion.

A medical examiner walked in, light combat armor covering up his medical cutie. 64 visibly shuddered at the thought of a cutie mark like that, remembering certain Doctor with the exact cutie mark. “Ah, 64. Checking up on the youngest PTSD patient to date?” The medic said, making 64 sigh.

“Can it Sawbones. How is she?” 64 questioned, fiddling with his Skeleton blades a bit.

“Well… besides a case of walking nightmares, being incredibly jumpy, and slight hallucinations, she should be just fine. There’s some medications that she can take to negate the effects of her ordeal, so I’ll be prescribing those as soon as we get her to an official medical center. Now if you’ll excuse me… I regrettably have to perform an amputation on a young colt…”

64’s eyes widened at the sentence, but the medic was already walking out of the tent. Looking back at Applebloom for the last time, 64 walked out and went to look for Shining Armor. He found him ordering a few Privates to start packing up, meaning that they were going to be getting out of there soon.

“Shining, what’s the word on that sweep team?” 64 asked. Shining turned and levitated a book over to 64, who gently took it out of the air.

“It is a very, good, thing… that we found this place now…” Shining said solemnly, turning away without giving 64 another word. The human looked down at the leather-bound book and the weathered pages, wondering what could actually be so terrible.

He thumbed the book open to the first page and began to read it, discovering that they were was official reports from Shura Slava herself.

‘Our buyers have been very interested in our work lately, and are offering a very substantial payment for the transfer of our Crystal Dust to the Zebra Homeland. Now I don’t trust those black and white striped mongrels, but Bits are Bits in the end, and I’ll gladly sell to those who will buy.’

‘I learned what the Dust was going to be used for today… and I like it very, very much… The Zebras and the Gryphons have actual formed a little alliance… and are using the dust to create new weapons for their militaries. Who knows… I may not have to completely buy out the Ethaxial Monarchy to set my plan in motion…’

‘The plans regarding Equestria have been put on hold for now. A complication was just found while scanning Ethaxial for spies. A changeling has been spotted on the coast city of Hamus today, and I need to confirm that this isn’t an insurgent from the Changeling Kingdom of Mutarus before moving on.’

‘Ha… I had absolutely nothing to worry about… The ‘spy’ I had found ended up being one of Celestia’s little pets. My good friend Reggie Fawkes down in the Police Force informed me of his presences and asked me if I wanted him exterminated… but I kind of want to see how far he can get.’

‘Too close for my liking… he had nearly killed Emerald Graves today, my best contact in converting the Crystals into Dust. Luckily the changeling didn’t get a good shot at the Diamond Dog, with Reggie shooting the gun out of his talon last second. Even better news though… apparently this Changeling had connections to my good friendProject 64… I’ve sent Dust Charmer to go and clean up the mess.’

The entries ended there, and 64 nearly dropped the book in shock. The alliance between Ethaxial and Capras, the Zebra Kingdom, was something of monumental importance. This had to be settled immediately… or Equestria may have the First major war in history…

“All clear sir! Nothing left to report!” A guard said, saddlebags full of evidence and confiscated items from the mines.

“Good work. Start packing up, we’re heading out.” Shining ordered, walking back to 64. “The honor’s yours… hop onto a chariot and get a safe distance away.”

64 nodded and saw the chariot that Shining was motioning to, climbing onboard and turning around. He saw the last of the tents taken down and the last of the foals loaded up onto medical transports, along with Applebloom who was now resting on a stretcher.

Ghost climbed onto the same chariot as 64, who wrapped his arm around the Changeling and brought him close. Ghost embraced 64 who gave a small grin, looking back towards the mountain.

“KNIGHTS! PREPARE FOR TAKEOFF!” Shining yelled from his own chariot, as all of the Pegasi extended their wings out and waited. “READY! PEGASI! GO!”

One by one all of the Pegasi took off at full speed, running on the ground before shooting off towards the sky. 64 gave a look towards Shining Armor who simply nodded back at him, and started to charge magic into his right hand. Once he felt that the magic was satisfactory, he focused his eyes on shooting for the open cavern at the top of the mountain, making sure to compensate for wind speed and power.

“Here you go Maxis… just like you wanted…” 64 muttered, lobbing the orb of magic into the air towards the mountain. It sailed through the sky, followed by a red glow of Chaotic Magic. The resulting explosion which followed among impact sent a shockwave through the air, causing all of the chariots to slight shake in midair. Smoke and dust erupted in all directions, with a large fire exploding shortly after it.

“Wow! That’s amazing!” Ghost yelled, amazed by the show of pyrotechnics the mountain was rigged with. 64 grinned down at his changeling companion. No matter how mature he might have seemed at times, he was still a colt.

64 POV

We were now on our way back to Canterlot, and Ghost was napping on my stomach as I laid down in the Chariot. My mind was still reeling at the contents of the book Shura had written in, wondering what the fuck Celestia was going to do about it.

As the monarch of Equestria she could actually take this news a declaration of war and retaliate, but knowing her she would try and find a diplomatic way to talk this out. But when Ethaxial and Capras find out that their hidden alliance was found out, they might act immediately and attack Equestria.

I felt myself to become dizzy with the mere thought of an invasion… thinking about looking on the horizon and seeing rows upon rows of enemies in the sky, each and every one of them ready to kill you. I turned my head to look at Shining Armor’s chariot, and saw that he was staring off into the distance, no doubt contemplating what he had read in the book as well.

I looked at the side of the Chariot and saw that he still hadn’t pulled up the rope on the side that I dropped from, and I decided that I needed to have a word with him. I gently picked Ghost up and put him to my side, allowing me to stand up and ready myself.

I lept at the hanging rope and grabbed onto it, swinging under the chariot with the momentum I had. I quickly pulled myself up and into the chariot, and saw that Shining Armor still had a look of deep thought.

“What are your thoughts Shining?” I asked quietly, allowing the wind to whip past my head, sending the longer strands of hair I had flying backwards. The stallion simply said nothing, only sighing a bit before turning to me.

“Honestly… I have no idea… War? I could never imagine something like that happening in Equestria in 1000 years…” Shining whispered, looking down at his hooves. “Celestia is going to have a way to fix all of this. She’s going to have a word with the leaders of Ethaxial and Capras and get to the bottom of all of this.”

I shook my head at the optimistic view of Shining Armor, knowing that would probably not be the best course of action. “You should prepare a proper military first… not just a Royal Guard. Knights who would be ready to fight on front lines and defend their country with honor. Who knows what’s going to happen now… it’s probably best to be prepared first…”

Shining remained silent at my suggestion, rubbing his eyes with his right hoof. He looked up to me with eyes that were slightly red, possibly from tears threatening to escape his ducts. “I have been Royal guard for 3 years now… I’m too inexperience to lead an entire army. I can barely handle the Royal Guard. Maybe….. I could find a place for your somewhere in the CO positions.” Shining offered, as I thought about it for a few moments.

I really didn’t have a say in that matter, knowing that I would be needed anyway. “That would be just fine to me. Let’s just hope Celestia can actually pull this thing off diplomatically. She’ll probably send Twilight as an ambassador though, and maybe you as an escort.” I said, taking a seat on the small bench in the Chariot.

“I pray it comes down to a simply sit down. I… I don’t think I can handle a war…”

I had never seen Shining like this before, save for the first time we met in the burning down wing of Celestia’s Academy for Gifted Unicorns. He was often the spitting image of confidence in the face of danger, but now… he was turning into a shaking mess at the thought of War.

“Shining look at me.” I ordered, making him turn around to me and look into my eyes. He now had tears streaming down his face, and his eyes were red and swollen. “You can handle it if it comes down to it. Wanna know why?”

Shining shook his head no, but I explained it to him anyway. “Because you will do anything to protect your home. You have stared down Super Nova not once, but twice. Both of those times who fought knowing that each passing second could have been your last one, but you still kept fighting. You would do anything to protect your special somepony, your Princesses, and your sister. Look at you cutie mark Shining. You once told me what it means.”

Shining looked down at his flank, seeing a shield emblazoned with a 6 pointed star, and 3 stars above it.

“You said it means that you will defend every and all ponies that you care for, and you’ve done that for all of your life. Why the fuck would you stop all of that for nothing?”

My little speech done, I simply stared at Shining to try and see what was going on in his head. At first his eyes darted up and down at me to see if I was done, then stared blankly as he comprehended what I had told him.

His eyes squinted in determination and his lips pressed together in a hard line, nodding at me once. “You’re right 64… you’re abso-fucking-lutely right.”

“Fucking A.”

We both looked down to see that we were approaching Canterlot at a quick rate, and a very large crowd in the Palace Courtyard. I could easily see Applejack’s signature Stetson.

Chapter 39

64 POV

The first few minutes after we touched down were the most hectic, with happy relatives overjoyed to see their sons, daughters, brothers, and sisters again. Unfortunately some still needed serious medical support, so we had to sort those out and get them to the Infirmary quickly.

Katrina and Willow Leaf were ecstatic when they saw their son Stomper coming for them, but they were horrified to see that he had a cast on him. Trist and Heavy Hoof shared a happy reunion with their daughter, who flew into their arms and started crying tears of joy.

I saw Wilt Rose standing in the crowd, searching for his daughter frantically in the crowd. I pointed him out to Crescent Rose and saw her eyes widen, before she went bolting towards him. When his eyes met hers he started weeping in joy, embracing her with his eyes widened.

All over the courtyard there were joyful reunions, but to the few unlucky parents, they had to watch their foals being wheeled to the Infirmary for things such as amputations and surgeries. Applejack saw the state Applebloom was in and simply stared with a horrified expression, as if she wasn’t believing what she was seeing.

I walked up to her and watched as Applebloom was wheeled into the Palace on a stretcher, disappearing from sight.

“She’s not hurt physically… she just couldn’t handle something that she had to do.” I answered honestly, looking down at Applejack. “She may need to stay here for a while. I think she’s gonna need some expert help to help her forget.”

Applejack simply said nothing and allowed tears to stream down her face, before she brought her hat down to her face and sobbed into it. I didn’t know what to do, so I just kneeled down and wrapped my arms around her neck to bring her into a hug. She reciprocated the hug and wept into my shoulder, and it sounded as if she was trying to say something through her tears.

“A-Ah… j-jus’ wanted ta s-say… thank ya… thank ya so much for bringin’ her home…” Applejack sobbed into my shoulder, causing my shirt to become damp. I just nodded and allowed her to release her pent up emotion, obviously distressed from not knowing where her little sister was for the past 2 and a half days.

“It was nothing… I had to make up for a bad fuck up on my part. Luckily she wasn’t too seriously hurt… when she comes to and sees you hopefully she’ll realize that her ordeal is over and she can just forget about it.” I consoled, not really having much experience in that department.

Applejack took a step back and wiped her tears, putting her hat back on her head. “Ah… Ah acted like such a fool when ya first lost her. Ah nearly had Ponyville up in arms to find ya… then ah get some Pegasus knockin’ at mah door sayin’ that ya just busted through a mountain ta try and get Applebloom back… then when ah got ta Canterlot ah saw jus’ how many others ya were tryin’ ta save.” Applejack sniffled, obviously feeling regret for her actions.

At this point in my life… apologies didn’t mean anything to me. I had gotten an apology from Celestia. I had gotten an apology from Vi. I had gotten an apology from Applejack. Every apology weighed on me like a ton of bricks, and every one of them made me feel like they owed me something. I didn’t want anyone to feel that way about me, I just wanted to do the right thing.

“I’m just doing my job. I can guarantee that any one of these Royal Guards would have done the same if they were put into my shoes.” I tried to explain, not liking the fact that many saw me as some sort of hero.

“Maybe… but ya did try ta make up for it with actions instead of tryin’ ta apologize ta me, and that’s worth a lot more than ya think ta me.” Applejack replied, giving me a small smile before a frown came upon her face. “Can ya tell me what happened to her 64? Please?”

I knew that I shouldn’t but I just couldn’t keep it under wraps for her to find out. “She… had a traumatic experience. She was actually able to escape with my companion Ghost’s help. Maybe he can explain it to you better… Ghost! Come over here will ya?” I called, seeing Ghost talking to Cardinal Berry and her parents, Marion and Red. They looked much happier than when I saw them a while ago.

Ghost walked over and saw Applejack, not knowing who she was. “Ghost, this is Applejack, Applebloom’s sister. I think you should explain what happened in there to her.”

Ghost looked down at his hooves and rub his leg nervously, before looking up at the mare. “I was able to her help her escape by stealing the keys off of a guard, and when we helped a few others escape, I had to lead guards away from them. Apparently when I left… Applebloom and the group made it outside…”

“What happened that was so terrible then?” Applejack asked slowly, waiting for Ghost to continue.

“There were a few Gryphons trying to keep anypony from escaping, and Applebloom managed to get hold of a knife… She had to kill one of the Gryphons, and after that she went into a state of shock… and after that I don’t know anything else. I’m really sorry! I-I didn’t mean for anything bad to happen!” Ghost pleaded, a few tears streaming down his chitin cheeks.

Applejack covered her mouth in shock at the mention of Applebloom killing a Gryphon, a few tears gathering in her eyes. Loss of innocence was an experience that nopony liked, but for it to be ripped away from a filly like that so suddenly… it was something I couldn’t even imagine.

“Applejack, we’re going to make sure that she gets the best possible treatment here. You don’t have to worry about her anymore, she’ll be safe here.” I said softly, putting my hand on her shoulder. She sniffled and nodded, wiping her eyes free of tears.

“Ah… Ah don’t know what ta say…” Applejack sobbed with her head down.

“Then don’t say anything… Wait right here.” I said, standing up and looking for Sawbones. I found him looking over a colt that had a bloody bandage around what used to be his right hindleg, making me wince in pain. “Sawbones, where did they take Applebloom?”

“B34. Why, family here?” He asked, not taking his eyes off of the injured colt.

“Yup, thanks.”

I walked over and gave the room number to Applejack, who silently nodded and walked into the Palace. Ghost went with her, wanting to see how his friend was. Honestly I was glad that Ghost now had somepony his age to interact with. No changeling colt needs to be surrounded by the amount of violence in our line of work.

“64… a word.” Shining Armor called from his Chariot, waving a hoof at me. I went over and crossed my arms.

“Yes?”

“We’re going to go see Princess Celestia with this book. I need you to promise me something. No matter what she asks, please do not argue.”

I nodded slowly at the one order, which would be easy. I already did things that would make the most hardened stallions run away in fear. “Lead the way Captain.”

We entered the Palace and looked around, seeing a plethora of decorations for Nightmare Night. “Shit, that’s in two days huh?” I asked, making Shining nod. “Huh, maybe I’ll get a costume.” Shining didn’t respond, obviously focused on the threat on the horizon.

We entered the Throne Room and saw Princess Celestia and Luna sitting in their respective Thrones, each with small grin.

“Captain, Project 64. We received word of a Mission Success, well done. This had been an incredible victory against the unjust today. Are there any prisoners?” Celestia asked us, with Shining Armor nodding in response.

“We have Shura Slava in custody. Unfortunately all of her other close accomplices have been disposed of.” Shining replied, giving me a look of acknowledgment.

“Very good. We would like to find out if there is anything else she might have been up to. We will obviously be keeping her under tighter security this time around.”

“Actually Celestia, there’s something of a bit more importance right now… Show her Shining.” I spoke up, not wanting to drag this on any longer than it needed to be. Shining nodded and pulled the journal out of his Saddlebags, levitating it over to the 2 Princesses. Celestia and Luna held it between themselves and each began to read it, their eyes slowly widening slowly.

All was silent as they continued to read, as Shining Armor and I simply stood still and awaited a response. We gave each other a nervous glance. If they reacted badly to this, it could spark something both of us weren’t ready for.

“Shining Armor… what is this?” Luna asked us, braking away from the book for a moment.

“It’s a journal kept by Shura Slava. Those reports are dated as recent a few days ago.” Shining answered, standing straight.

“Project 64, Shining Armor. Report to the War Room in 10 minutes…” Celestia whispered, not taking her eyes off of the book.
Shining and I turned to each other slowly, both of our eyes widening.

3rd Person POV

The War Room. It was a room about the size of the Throne Room, but was a bit more furnished. Not furnished in the decorative sense, but furnished with a large map of the World on the wall, another on a large table in the center of the room, and large chairs surrounding the center table.

64 and Shining Armor both entered the large room, both nervous of what was to come. When the human walked to the center table, he noticed a very large layer of dust covering it.

“My guess is this room hasn’t been very well used?” He asked, dragging his finger over the table to see what he accumulated.

“Never actually… created under command of Penman Scribe, one of Celestia’s first Royal Advisors. Actually… I recall Super Nova using this room when she was here. One of Silent Knight’s journal entries describes him being dragged down here to plan an assault to find you.” Shining answered, making 64 roll his eyes.

“Well I’m glad that I was able to give this room a bit of use. Looks creepy as hell, couldn’t at least paint the cement on the walls different color?”

The walls were a solid grey color, contrasting with the bright colors of the Palace hallways outside.

“Hey, when you start to talk about interior decorating, that’s when I start to tune out.” Shining Armor joked, making 64 chuckle. The Captain walked over to the center table and used a spell to eliminate the dust from the surface, sending it who knows where. “I never thought that I might see an actual war in my lifetime… I always thought that we were better than that…”

64 shook his head, sitting in one of the large chairs. “If we were, then I wouldn’t have a job.”

The doors burst open with a yellow glow, revealing Princess Celestia standing there with a scowl on her face. 64 and Shining Armor both stood straight at attention, wondering what she would do. She stomped over and showed that she was still levitating Shura’s journal in her magic, before slamming it onto the Center table.

“Hostile takeover… that’s what the nations of Ethaxial and Capras are planning. They are currently awaiting confirmation from Mutarus to join them. Changelings… Gryphons… and Zebras… joining together to take over Equestria.” Celestia said slowly, growling with nearly every word.

“Princess… what will be our next course of action?” Shining asked carefully, already starting to see smoke starting to rise from her mane. It seemed that Celestia herself didn’t know the answer to that question, because she took a few moments to catch her breath and think about it.

When she finally did calm herself, she took a seat at the Center Table. Taking this as a sign, 64 and Shining Armor both sat as well.

“I have confirmed this from Shura Slava herself, who without her outfit of thugs assisting her is very easy to break. Fortunately, the plans of this invasion are in its early stages, meaning we have time to either retaliate, or prepare to defend ourselves…” Celestia said, laying out the two choices. 64 had a thought, a Plan C if you would.

“What about any kind of diplomatic approach, laying down terms for a truce?” 64 offered, hoping that nations wouldn’t have to clash.

“Although that might work… I will not risk sending a diplomat in any of the opposing countries. If it is revealed that we have learned of their plans, they might decide to act violently towards the diplomat.”

64 smirked and raised his hand. “I’ve never tried talking things out before. Maybe I could try?”

Shining Armor had to stifle a chuckle, before realizing that Celestia was actually considering it. “Wait, you’re serious?”

“Yeah. I can talk out the terms for a Peace Treaty between the countries involved, and if all goes well, then I won’t need to fight my way out.”

Celestia had her eyes closed, a frown on her face as she contemplated silently. “It is a sound plan… but I have one better. I apologize 64… but your skills in diplomacy are about as good as a snail’s skill in Track and Field.”

“Well then? What’s your plan?” 64 asked, leaning forward and placing his elbows on the table.

“A diplomat will be sent… with a Guard Escort with him or her at all times. They will attempt to write out a treaty with the Ambassadors from the other nations. This is where you come in…” Celestia whispered slowly. “You will be infiltrating the nation selected for the signing of the Treaty, and search for any other malicious plans. We must find out what they have against us.”

64 leaned back in the chair and looked up towards the ceiling, blowing smoke out of his mouth. “No rest for the wicked I guess…”

“I will begin arranging the signing of the Treaty… Shining, you will begin building a formidable army.” Celestia ordered, turning to Shining Armor, whose eyes widened.

“Wait! I thought we were going to do this diplomatically! Why do we need to build an army!?” Shining yelled nervously; obviously still hold some qualms about fighting a war.

“We must be prepared for anything Shining. Meanwhile… enjoy these upcoming days. Nightmare Night is around the corner, and if the rumors are correct then my sister will be attending the celebration in Ponyville this year.” Celestia said with a smile, changing the tone of our very serious conversation.

“That’s like telling us to enjoy our last moments because the guillotine suddenly broke and needs repairs. But I guess it’s not unwelcome, I seriously need a few days to unwind after everything that has happened…” 64 said, slumping a bit in his chair.

“I hear you… Well Princess, I can’t say that I’m entirely sure about this plan, but if you say it will work, then I’ll follow through with it.” Shining spoke, saluting with his hoof. “I’ll get to work on building up an army right away.”

“Thank you Shining Armor. You are both dismissed.” Celestia said, closing her eyes and taking a breath in. 64 and Shining Armor stood from their seats and gave a small bow towards the Princess, before turning and walking out of the War Room. 64 glanced over his shoulder and saw Celestia place a multitude of different colored flags on the table, labeling the map.

She moved Equestria’s flags forward in all directions.

64 POV

After the ordeal in the War Room, I decided that I would go check up on Applebloom and see if she had woken up yet. The poor filly must be scared to death just waking up in Canterlot out of nowhere. I made my way up to the room B34 of the infirmary, flashing my badge to get clearance into Applebloom’s hospital room.

I knocked softly on the door, wanting to make sure I wasn’t interrupting anything.

“Come in.” Ghost’s voice sounded out, sounding a bit more chipper than it was than the last I had heard it. I opened the door and stepped in to see a conscious Applebloom lying on the bed with a small smile on her face, and Applejack standing next to the bed.

“Hey there. How are you doing Applebloom?” I asked, leaning back against the door.

“Ah’m… ah’m alright ah suppose. Ah don’t feel too good in my stomach though…” Applebloom confessed, rubbing her stomach a bit. “Ah’m jus’ glad that it’s all over.”

“So am I. Just take it easy for the next few days and you’ll be okay.” I said, before turning to Applejack. “Can I talk to you outside? Privately?”

Applejack looked a bit surprised by my question, but nodded nonetheless. We both stepped outside and closed the door behind us.

“What’s this about 64?” Applejack asked, making me sigh a bit.

“She’s gonna need a caretaker. I don’t mean like a babysitter or somepony to just watch over her, but a specialized caretaker who can deal with PTSD victims. Applebloom is gonna be prone to walking nightmares and hallucination for a while, and it would definitely be best to get help for her.”

“Gosh… ah… ah didn’t realize who serious this was. Ah thought she would jus’ be gettin’ some therapy or somethin’…” Applejack whispered, looking down at her hooves.

“If she were a bit older that’s all she would need, but she’s at a really vulnerable age, and anything that she sees will be soaked up like a sponge.”

We were both interrupted by a blood curdling scream coming from inside the room, causing me to overreact a bit and kick the door down to see what was going on. Applebloom was now on the floor shaking and crying into Ghost’s chest, who was trying his best to try and calm her down.

“GET IT OUT! GET IT OUT GET IT OUT GET IT OUT!” Applebloom screamed, obviously referring to the image she was seeing in her head. Applejack was about to take her out of Ghost’s grip and try to do something. But I held her back by the tail.

“What in the name of Celestia do ya think yer doin?! Let me go!” Applejack yelled, but I just pulled her to my side.

“She needs what made her feel safe in the Mines… watch…” I whispered, pointing to Ghost.

“Calm down Applebloom, you aren’t in danger anymore… the bad ponies are all gone… you’re safe here…” Ghost whispered consolingly, slowly but surely bringing Applebloom down from her episode. It wasn’t long before she was simply crying into his chitin chest, as he slowly rocked her back and forth comfortingly.

“And that’s how it’s done.” I said, grinning at my companion.

“How in the hay did he do that?” Applejack asked astonished, wondering what she had just seen.

“When the mind starts to deteriorate and relive a traumatic experience, it reacts best to what made them feel safe and secure in that situation. Apparently in this case, the thing that made Applebloom feel the safest, was Ghost.”

I looked down at the changeling who was rocking Applebloom back to sleep, before I slowly levitated her back into the bed. She now looked peaceful, as if she was simply asleep without nightmares plaguing her mind.

“Applejack, I think I know who the perfect Caretaker for Applebloom will be.” I said smugly, grinning down at Ghost.

His cheeks flared red.

Chapter 40

3rd Person POV

64 awoke from his slumber and rubbed his eyes, seeing Celestia’s sunshine beaming through his window and straight into his eyes.

“Dammit Celestia… couldn’t it have waited a few more minutes?” 64 groaned, cracking his neck a bit. He looked around for Ghost, but remembered that he had stayed in Applebloom’s room along with Applejack. Instead of finding Ghost, he found a note on his nightstand.

“64. Come to Maxis’ Cell when you wake up.”

He nodded and tossed a shirt onto himself, walking towards the Dungeons. He had a clue what this might be about, but didn’t want to make assumptions until he saw what was going on. 64 opted for the stairs instead of the Elevator, not keen on being trapped inside of a slow descending claustrophobic box.

When he did arrive, he saw Shining Armor waiting in front of Maxis’ cell. “Hey. What’s this about?” 64 asked, walking up to Shining.

“Remember that deal you made with Maxis?” He asked 64, as he remembered that Maxis wanted some ‘alone time’ with Shura. AKA beat her to a bloody pulp time.

“Yep, I wanted to wait until she got a sentencing before we did that. We won’t have to worry some legal bullshit getting into the fray.”

“Well we’re doing it now. Unlock her cell.”

64 gave a confused look to Shining Armor, wondering what brought on this sudden aggression. “You ok Shining? What’s eating you?”

Shining sighed and shook his head, rubbing his mane. “Look… I’m just tense from what I’m going to have to do. I need to regain my ‘Psychotic Captain’ façade for the military, and I thought I should start practicing. I wanted to do this now, that way we won’t have to worry about her any longer. She was purposefully trying to send Equestria into a state of war, and I won’t have anypony threatening my home.”

64 grinned at Shining’s confidence, that same protective attitude coming back. Using the key that Luna gave him, 64 unlocked the Cell adjacent to Maxis’, swinging it open to find Shura cowering in the corner.

“Get out here Shura, or I’m going to drag you out.” 64 growled, but Shura didn’t comply. She tried to push herself deeper into the wall, but 64 grabbed her neck with his magic and pulled her out, tossing her to the ground in front of Maxis’ cell.

“Y-You wouldn’t do this to me!” Shura called out, her horn sparking uselessly thanks to the inhibitor ring around it.

“You fuck with me, I fuck with you, badly. Shining open the cell.” 64 ordered, and soon after it swung open. Maxis was standing at the back of the cell menacingly, a scowl on his face. Shura was pushed into the cell and the door slammed behind her effectively trapping her in with her Ex-Husband.

She turned around and tried to buck the Glass Door down, but it held with an impenetrable force. “M-Maxis! You don’t want to do this! Think rationally!” She pleaded, as Maxis slowly started to approach her.

The cell wasn’t very big to begin with, meaning that Shura eventually was cornered by the large stallion. She cowered onto the ground and covered her head with her two forelegs, waiting for the onslaught.

“Look. At. Me. NOW!” Maxis screamed into Shura’s ear, causing her to look up with tear filled eyes. She whimpered a bit as Maxis brought a hoof under her chin and lift her head up a bit, making her stare into his eyes.

“Don’t even try to make yourself look like the victim… masking your true appearance maybe your special talent, but it doesn’t work on me anymore, not when you are married for over 2 decades.” Maxis scolded.

“W-what do you want from me…” Shura sobbed, still curled up in a ball defensively. Maxis smashed his hoof into the wall right next to Shura’s head, causing the first layer of concrete to crack slightly. 64 made a mental note to repair it.

“I WANT 2 THINGS FROM YOU SHURA! TWO SIMPLE THINGS WHICH CANNOT BE GIVEN TO ME!” Maxis bellowed, still yelling into her ear. “1! I want my empire, the thing I built up from dirt, to be returned to its rightful glory. It is not to be feared, but respected, but you have spit all over that.”

“I tried to make things better! You can’t blame me for—“

Maxis shut her up by grabbing her by the neck and smashing the back over her head into the wall, causing her to yell out in pain.

“YOU ALONE CAUSED MY EMPIRE TO CRUMBLE INTO DUST! YEARS OF WORK DESTROYED IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE! ALL BECAUSE YOU WANTED PRODUCTION TO SPEED UP!” Maxis took a second to calm himself. “You… I knew of the affair with Red Wing…”

Shura, through her tear filled eyes, gasped in horror.

“I tried to be a better husband to you… but when I knew that all of my efforts were for naught, I decided to get even. Unfortunately for me, you felt as if you were in the right and decided to sell me out, even though you were doing the exact same thing behind my back…”

Maxis dropped Shura back onto the ground and turned around, walking to the back of the cell, far away from Shura.

“I have learned to forgive what you did to me… but I have not forgiven you for what you did to my empire, my sons, and what you put all of those parents through. Unfortunately for me… I cannot play Judge, Jury, and Executioner here. Just know... that for all you did to me… I forgive you…”

Maxis turned around and began walking back towards Shura, who proceeded to ty and cower into the wall.

“And the second thing I want… which has to be the 1 thing that will never happen in your lifetime… is nothing but an apology…” Maxis whispered, glaring at Shura. Her eyes widened as she threw herself at Maxis, wrapping her hooves around one of his forelegs.

“I-I’m sorry Maxis! I’m sorry I did all of those terrible things to you! I swear I’ll make it up to you!” Shura pleaded, but Maxis brought his hoof up and struck her violently across the face, causing a cut to form over her left eyebrow.

“A SINCERE APOLOGY! ALL YOU ARE DOING IS BEGGING! I want you to feel the regret! The pain and suffering of knowing that you backstabbed the only stallion in Equestria that will ever love you! And that… will never happen in this lifetime…”

Maxis looked up at 64 and brought his hoof across Shura’s cheek one last time. “Get her out of my face…”

64 opened the cell and grabbed Shura by her mane, pulling her out and dragging her back to her cell as she was reduced to a sobbing mess. The human was actually surprised at how tame Maxis acted, thinking that he was going to ask for a closed curtain encounter involving tools.

“He made a smart move… long lasting psychological torture rather than short lived physical torture. Never thought he would actually go easy on her.” Shining Armor commented, making sure to shut Maxis’ cell tight.

64 shoved Shura back into her cell and locked the door, leaving the sobbing mare to her own devices. He looked over to Maxis and grinned. “Was that all you wanted?”

“Yes… now if you’ll excuse me… I think I have a long time left in here.” Maxis sighed, lying onto his stomach and closing his eyes. 64 shook his head and started for the staircase, waving Shining Armor to follow him.

“C’mon, you still have that army to build.” 64 reminded, as the two ascended to the Palace.

64 POV

After the… strange… to say the least encounter with Maxis and Shura, Shining Armor began to teach me the basics of leading a large army, which was 10x harder than I thought it was going to be.

“Ok… so Commander Hurricane ordered the retreat, but flanked around the Gryphons to completely surround them?” I asked, looking at a large map in the War Room marked with red and blue flags, Red signifying Commander Hurricane’s troops, Blue signifying Governor Talon’s troops.

“Yes. When Commander Hurricane ordered the retreat, Talon’s gryphons advanced thinking that they had the Pegasi on the run. Unfortunately for them, hubris was their mortal enemy. Eventually the Gryphons were surrounded on all side by the Pegasi, and were slowly picked off.”

I stared baffled at the map, wondering how that was possible. “But, this strategy seems a bit too basic to trick someone as battlefield hardened as Governor Talon. I know that military tactics weren’t very advanced over 2000 years ago, but c’mon.” I sighed, leaning back in a chair.

“Talon’s troops outnumbered Hurricane’s by over 30,000, yet they were defeated. The numbers don’t lie 64, this strategy works.” Shining said, enclosing the Blue flags with the Red ones.

I was still trying to wrap my head around how something like this could be used today. “Alright, but now with Pegasi, Earth Ponies, and Unicorns no longer locked in a territorial dispute, how can we modify this tactic for modern use?” I asked, resetting the board.

“Hmm… Gryphons have the advantage of flight, but not much else. Earth Ponies and Pegasi would hold the line in front of the Gryphons, while the Unicorns teleport behind the Gryphon army to flank them. Pegasi would also need to create a canopy over the Gryphons so none of them would be able to escape, just like Commander Hurricane did. That answer your question?” Shining taught, causing me to nod thoughtfully.

“Shit, now that you put it that way it sounds really smart. Surround the enemy, cause confusion, attack from all sides. Perfect strategy against more brutal fighters like the Gryphons.”

The board was once again wiped clean, with Shining Armor resetting the flags into starting positions. “Ok, let’s review…”

After the cramming of military tactics, I felt that I had a fairly amateurish amount of knowledge, knowing that even becoming the most novice of Military tacticians took years of training.

“Alright, same time tomorrow. And make sure to bring a pencil and paper this time!” Shining scolded.

“C’mon Shining, its Nightmare Night tomorrow! Plus I’m already planning to escort Luna to Ponyville anyway, so I can’t study.” I explained, stuffing my hands into my pockets.

“Oh… damn I forgot! Cadence wanted to go fit our costumes! I gotta get to her Quarters before she gelds me!”

Shining ran off in a panic, leaving me laughing my ass off. “Good luck Shining! Haha!” I started the walk back to my quarters still laughing, wondering how much trouble Shining was going to be in. I knew Ghost was still at Applebloom’s room, because she was going to be released today at about 2. It was only about 11, meaning that I still had time to get a costume together.

I remember that I had drawn something up and that the Royal Tailors already had all of the materials, meaning I could just go down there and borrow them then give them back.

“Hey mister! Come over and say hi to my dad!” Crescent Rose said happily, coming around a corner and dragging her dad along. Wilt honestly looked better than the last time I saw him. He no longer smelled like he had soaked in sour alcohol for hours, he now had a haircut and a shave, and actually looked presentable.

“Crescent honey, we’ve already met. He came to our house after you got kidnapped, and that’s why daddy looks different now.” Wilt said, happily grinning at his little filly. She looked up at me and smiled, running over to me and wrapping her hooves around my legs

“Thank you Mister! It was so scary in there!” Crescent cried in mock fear, making me chuckle.

“Hey, my friend Ghost is the one that got you out. If you should be thanking anyone it should be him.” I explained, messing up the little filly’s hair.

“He was really nice to us, but he looks kind of scary with those eyes.”

It’s true that Ghost’s eyes probably made a lot of ponies uneasy, what with them being a shade of icy blue. With his morphing abilities he could literally change into any form he wants, but he often decided to use his actual form rather than hide behind a disguise.

“Well he can’t help it if those are the way his eyes look. But they helped him see in the darkness of the cave, so they can’t be that bad can they?” I pointed out, as Crescent brought her hoof to her chin thoughtfully.

“I guess when you put it that way… Alright mister! Thanks for making my daddy take a bath!” Crescent joked, skipping down the hall happily. Wilt and I followed her a t a slow pace, allowing her to skip and bound around happily.

“Ya know she’s masking her true feelings with all of the happiness right?” I pointed out, seeing a still terrified filly behind her silver eyes.

“Yep… I… I don’t know what I can do to help… I’ve already cleaned up my cesspool of an apartment for her. Got myself checked into a free rehab clinic for the alcoholism. Hell, even got another job… but I still don’t know what to do about Crescent…” Wilt confessed, as my eyes slowly widened. He had managed to do all of that in a week!?

“Well that’s terrific Wilt. Once you start to improve your quality of life, Crescent’s will improve as well. And as for Crescent?” I said, looking over at the filly who was admiring some artwork on the wall, “Just make sure that she feels safe. Tuck her in a night, read her a bedtime story. Do what makes her feel safe.”

Wilt nodded at my suggestions, a smile growing on his face. “What do you know about raising foals Project 64? I doubt you have any children.” Wilt chuckled.

“Nope, I just take a look at my childhood, then I do the exact opposite.”

3rd Person POV

64 was in his room sewing his costume together, making sure to take a look every now and then to see if he was getting his measurements right.

Ghost on the other hand was in Applebloom’s room, the both of them drawing in a few coloring books. “Why are we doin’ this thing again?” Applebloom asked, looking at her picture of Princess Celestia.

“Because this infirmary usually doesn’t have children staying here, so they don’t have many things for them to do. I’ve have to stay here a few times before, and whenever I did I usually had 64 bring me comic books or something. Maybe I can go find a board game or something.” Ghost answered, getting off of the bed and starting to walk towards the door.

“Wait no! Ah-ah mean… i-it’s alright just doin’ this. Ya don’t have to get anythin’ else.” Applebloom called after him, blushing a bit after she felt she called out too quickly. Ghost stopped in his tracks and simply shrugged, turning back to Applebloom.

Applejack watched the exchange with a smirk, barely able to stifle a chuckle. “Well aren’t you two the most gosh darn cutest thing ah’ve ever seen.” Applejack joked, causing the pair of foals to blush, Applebloom more than Ghost.

“Sis! Don’t be talkin’ like that!” Applebloom cried out, making Applejack burst out laughing,

“Alright! Haha! Alright.”

Applebloom turned back to the coloring book still blushing, before she thought of something to say. “G-Ghost? Ya said somethin’ about bein’ in the hospital before? What for?” Applebloom asked, making Ghost’s wings buzz thoughtfully.

“Well… when 64 first brought me back to Canterlot, my wings were really, really weak. I know they look like nothing but a few flaps of skin, but they actually can lift more than most Pegasi’s can. I had to go through Physical Therapy for a few weeks to get them back into shape, and when they were, 64 started to teach me to fight.” Ghost explained, letting Applebloom feel his wings.

As Ghost described them, they looked nothing more than a few flaps of skin, but to the touch they felt like strips of leather bound together tightly.

“Wow! They feel so cool! But how can ya fly with them? They have a bunch of holes in them.” Applebloom asked, poking at the wings.

“Those don’t matter when I create lift by flapping them. The holes actually make me a bit faster in the air. Creates less drag!” Ghost said happily, buzzing the wings.

The two foals laughed and continued to talk, as Applejack watched with fascination at the Changeling. Changelings had never been that much of a problem before, but there were a few cases of Changeling attacks on smaller cities. Applejack had always heard horror stories of killer Changelings that pillage and destroy, and have no emotional connections to anything.

The small Changeling in front of her was solid evidence that none of that was true. He was laughing and giggling with her sister, who she swore to protect on her mother’s deathbed, and he was the one who helped protect her in the end.

“I’m gonna go see if 64 needs help with anything. I’ll be back before you guys leave back for Ponyville!” Ghost called out, jumping off of the bed, and walking towards the door. “Bye Applebloom! Bye Applejack!”

“Bye Ghost, see ya later!” Applebloom called out from her bed, putting the coloring books aside onto the nightstand. Once Ghost left the room and closed the door, Applebloom failed to stifle a small sigh that left her lips, before she blushed at Applejack’s smirk. “W-What are ya lookin’ at?!”

Applejack laughed and put her hat onto Applebloom’s head, covering her entire head. “Aww… my little sis is growin’ up! Now, ah think it’s about time that we had a little talk. Ya ever hear of the story of tha birds and tha bees?”

Applebloom’s eyes widened as she gulped.

Chapter 42

64 POV

Ghost and I were setting up the guest room where he would be staying for an indefinite amount of time, and I had just finished putting together his bed when he pulled something out of one of his saddlebags, but made an explicit effort to try and hide it.

“What do you have there Ghost?” I asked curiously, wondering why he would be trying so hard to hide it.

“N-Nothing! It’s nothing!” Ghost stammered out, hiding whatever he had behind him with his magic. I put my right hand and quickly snatched what he had from behind him, pulling it towards me. “Wait no don’t!”

I saw that what I was holding was a picture frame, and in it held a picture with me and Ghost. It was a picture after we had gone on our first joint Job together, to clear out a gang that was terrorizing a small town on the western edge of Equestria. There ended up being nearly a dozen adolescent Dragons burning the place to the ground, and 10 dead adolescent dragons later, they were both covered in ash and soot.

A local newspaper managed to snap a photo of me and Ghost standing over the bodies, high fiving each other with Ghost flying in the air to reach my height. The photo in the frame was graciously cropped a bit to it didn’t show the dead dragons around us, and it was shaded in black and white.

“Ghost… you never told me you had this. Why did you want to try and hide it?” I asked, looking up from the photo in my hands.
Ghost looked down bashfully and spoke. “Well, you never kept photos of anything… and ever since I found out about taking pictures… I’ve just always loved that a moment in time could be captured to treasure forever. That was the first time I ever did anything of worth in front of you 64…” Ghost admitted, taking the photo back and placing it onto the desk in the room.

“Ghost, you don’t have to worry about me thinking if you do or don’t have self-worth. You proved yourself to me when you saved me from falling to my death the first time we met. You will never have to worry about proving yourself ever again.”

Ghost smiled and put his saddlebags off to the side, now completely empty. “I’m gonna go tell Applebloom that we’re gonna start her Therapy the day after Nightmare Night. I already have everything planned out.”

“Good luck with that… Are you gonna be okay here? In Ponyville I mean. We can make arrangements so you can still stay in Canterlot and you can make weekly visits or something…” I opted, nervous about Ghost being away again. I know he could handle himself just fine… but after we had just gone through, I really didn’t want to let him out of my sight.

Ghost nodded happily and shook his head. “There isn’t anything in Ponyville that I can’t take care of. This is familiar territory and I can easily call for help at any time. The scariest thing I might run into is Nightmare Night…” Ghost chuckled, jumping onto his bed and bouncing a few times. “Now c’mon! Applebloom’s welcome back party is tonight in the Apple family barn! You should get ready too! Get out of that long sleeve and put something presentable on!”

With that Ghost hopped off of the bed and ran out of the room, leaving me alone in the guest room. I looked down at myself and decided that Ghost might’ve been right about changing, so I dug through my Satchel Pocket to see if I had anything in there suitable for the party. Something that didn’t say, ‘I’m a danger to the entire community’.

All I had was a pair of black slacks and a Red collared shirt, but upon further inspection the Red collared shirt was a bit too dirty for a public outing. “Well… only one place to go now…” I muttered, closing up the pocket and hopping out of the open window.

3rd Person POV

64 stood in front of Rarity who was taking some more measurements, after she had made a remark about him looking a bit taller.

“Dear why do you continue to grow! We already get so many aches in our necks from having to look up at you all the time!” Rarity commented, extending the measuring tape about 1 inch more than she did last time.

“Hey, it’s not my fault. I don’t know why I’m getting taller, maybe it’s just from eating right and regular exercise!” 64 joked, causing Rarity to chuckle loudly before sighing.

“Oh 64… I simply cannot thank you enough for bringing back Applebloom. Sweetie Belle was absolutely terrified when she heard that her friend was foalnapped.”

“Hell… It was mostly my companion that was able to get her out. Ghost was the one that was in the mountain with her aiding in her escape.”

Rarity nodded, “Well nonetheless, you did manage to rescue 20 foals that were also missing. I’m sure their parents don’t see this a just some small act of kindness.”

“Hm, tell that to the ponies out there that swear that I’m cursed…” 64 muttered, before wincing a bit as Rarity poked him with a pin in the thigh. “Ow, hey easy there.”

“Oh I’m terribly sorry 64, but I just couldn’t believe how all of the town’s ponies reacted to your return. Albeit we didn’t expect you to be on the Chariot back to Ponyville, we should at least provide you with some sort of reward for your good deeds!”

64 waved his hand and received a scowl from Rarity for moving, but returned to his previous position. “No need for any of that. I’m just glad to be doing the right thing… I just wished the reactions were a bit different.”

“You deserve all that and more 64.”

Once Rarity was done getting her extra measurements and hemming the slacks 64 had brought, he was able to leave the Carousel Boutique with a new buttonless black suit jacket and Red undershirt, perfect for a small gathering.

He neatly folded them and stuffed it down his bottomless Satchel Pocket, making sure to attach it back to his belt.

While 64 was getting ready to go to the party, Ghost was in the Apple Family barn actually getting the party ready along with Pinkie Pie. He was levitating red streamers along the ceiling and setting up the drink table at the same time, something that a colt his age shouldn’t be able to do yet.

“Wow! You’re really good with magic! Do you have a teacher?” Pinkie Pie asked, giggling as Ghost lost concentration for a second and a roll of streamers came down onto his head.

“Well 64 has taught me a lot of stuff, and he’s a really good teacher.” Ghost replied, picking up the unraveled streamers and continuing to put them up. “But he didn’t have levitation until a while ago, so he had to teach me from like books and stuff. He took what was in the book and simplified it so I could understand it easier.”

“That sounds really fun! I wish I could use magic like that!” Pinkie said, all while using her hair to inflate and tie up balloons before releasing them towards the ceiling. Ghost looked at her with a raised eyebrow, wondering if she was serious.

Applejack walked into the barn hauling a wagon full of crates of Soft Apple Cider, setting it off to the side. “Hey young’n Applebloom’s outside with the rest of her friends. Why don’cha just let me an’ Pinkie here set the rest of the barn up.” Applejack offered, seeing Ghost put up the last of the streamers.

“Are you sure? I can keep helping.” Ghost offered, but Applejack shook her head no.

“It’s alright. Go an’ have some fun!”

Ghost smiled and nodded before running outside to the Apple Orchard, seeing a large field where Applebloom and two other fillies were playing catch with a ball. Applebloom now had another bow in her hair, causing Ghost to blush a bit considering that he had destroyed her last one.

She apparently saw the changeling colt coming, because she held onto the ball when it was passed to her and waved him over. The 2 other fillies looked to see who she was waving at and saw Ghost standing there, who all of a sudden felt nervous.

“Ghost! Come over here an’ met mah friends!” Applebloom called, still waving her hoof. Ghost went towards them and barely caught the ball that was launched towards him with his magic, causing Applebloom to laugh.

“That wasn’t very nice.” Ghost joked, smiling at Applebloom then at the 2 other standing with her. “Who are your friends Applebloom?”

“I’m Sweetie Belle!” the white unicorn introduced, stepping next Applebloom.

“And I’m Scootaloo! The 2nd most awesome Pegasus in Equestria!” The tangerine colored pegasus filly called out, hopping in the air for a bit and buzzing her wings.

Ghost looked at her strangely. “2nd most awesome? Shouldn’t you strive to be the 1st most awesome?” He asked, rubbing the back of his head.

“But nopony is more awesome than Rainbow Dash! I can’t compete with her!”

Ghost chuckled and shook his head, looking towards Applebloom. “You have strange friends Applebloom.”

“Ah know.” Applebloom joked, receiving a playful punch on the shoulder from Scootaloo. “But we gotta stick together! We ain’t gonna find our cutie marks if we don’t!”

“Yeah, because we’re…!” Sweetie Belle shouted, as all 3 fillies jumped into a pyramid formation, with Scootaloo being on top, “THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!” They all yelled in unison, nearly knocking Ghost onto his rear.

“The cutie mark what now?”

“The Cutie Mark Crusaders! We spend each and every day working together to find out who we are, and what we're supposed to be!” Scootaloo shouted, trying her best to balance her hooves on the backs of Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, but not doing it very well. “Hold still!” She cried as Sweetie Belle began to shake.

“Sorry! You’re kinda heavy!” Sweetie Belle apologized, starting to buckle underneath the weight. Due to her being a unicorn, her body wasn’t as well fit to hold up Scootaloo like Applebloom was. Sweetie Belle tried to lower herself down gently, but Scootaloo took a tumble down towards the ground, taking an especially bad fall onto a jagged piece of rock lying on the ground.

“AH! Ow that hurt!” Scootaloo yelped, sitting up and holding her side. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom both went to Scootaloo’s side to see what had happened, to see that she had received a shallow cut just below her wing that was slightly bleeding.

“Oh it isn’t that bad Scootaloo, we just need a bandage. Applebloom, do you have any—“ Sweetie Belle was about to ask if they had any bandages in the farmhouse, but Applebloom looked pale as a ghost. “Applebloom what’s wrong?”

“Ah… G-get away! GET AWAY!” She screamed, swatting Sweetie Belle away and taking a few steps backwards. “AH DIDN’T MEAN TA HURT HIM! AH SWEAR!”

Ghost ran up to her and tried to reach out to her, but instead she turned around and delivered a hard buck to his face, sending him to the ground.

“Applebloom!? What’s gotten into you?!” Scootaloo cried out, but Ghost put out his hoof to stop her, red blood running down his left eye.

“No, she’s experiencing an episode and needs to be dealt with delicately. Don’t worry, I’ve taken bigger hits than that.” Ghost explained, standing up on his hooves and walking back towards Applebloom.

“Please get away! Ah don’t want ta hurt anypony else!” Applebloom screamed, her eyes darting back and forth towards invisible foes. She saw the ponies standing in front of her as the Gryphon she had attacked in front of Smokey Mountain shortly after her escape.

“Applebloom, calm down… it’s me, Ghost. You aren’t in any danger right now… you don’t need to be scared…” Ghost said soothingly, slowly making his way towards Applebloom.

In her vision, she saw a Gryphon advancing towards her menacingly, but as Ghost spoke, the form flashed between Ghost and the Gryphon. Now confused to what was really happening, she tried to close her eyes and shut everything out, but she felt a pair of legs wrap around her and bring her into a hug. She slowly opened her eyes to see that Ghost had brought her into a hug and was trying to keep her from thrashing about, but something else caught her attention.

“G-Ghost? What happened to your eye?” She asked, pushing him away lightly to get a better look. When she put her hoof up to touch it, she noticed that the bruise that was starting to form was the exact size of her hoof. “Did… did ah…?”

“It’s alright Applebloom, you just had a bit of a moment there. These things are gonna happen and that’s why I’m here.” Ghost assured, poking at his bruised eye like it was nothing.

"Umm, hello?! Can somepony explain what in the hay just happened? Applebloom just bucked that colt in the eye so hard that he's bleeding! Speaking of which, who are you?" Scootaloo asked, stepping forward and pushing the two foals apart.

Ghost stood up straight and waved. "My name is Ghost, and I'm gonna be Applebloom's caretaker for a while." Ghost explained, introducing himself.

"Caretaker? Like a babysitter?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Ghost shook his head. "Not like that. It's just that... Applebloom do you mind if I tell them?" Ghost asked. Applebloom looked down at her hooves and got closer to Ghost, whispering in his ear.

"D-Don't tell 'em everythin'..." She quaked, still a bit shaken up at her episode.

"Well, she experienced something scary when she was foalnapped, and she might have more moments like that in the future. So I'm here to make sure that hey don't happen too often." Ghost finished explaining, sating the 2 curious fillies minds.

"But why did you have to hug her like that?" Scootaloo asked, causing both Applebloom and Ghost to blush.

Ghost was able to recover first and answer the question. "W-Well... Ponies react better when there is intimate contact coming from an outside source... So it was easier to make her calm down..." Ghost answered nervously, feeling the heat on his cheeks.

Scootaloo smirked and saw right through his excuse. “Yeah… that makes a lot of sense…”

“Can it Scootaloo, we don’t need to make fun of Applebloom’s new friend.” Sweetie Belle scolded, walking up to Ghost and extending her hoof. “It’s nice to meet you Ghost!”

Ghost took the hoof and shook it, glad for the distraction. “It’s nice to meet you both, and don’t worry about the eye, it’ll heal up quick.” Although Ghost was waving off his injury, Applebloom thought it looked serious.

“Oh mah gosh! I’m sorry ‘bout that Ghost!” Applebloom cried, scared that she had hurt her friend worse than she had thought.

“Don’t worry about it Applebloom, it’ll…... remember what I can do when I get hurt?” Ghost said, whispering that part to just Applebloom. Right before her eyes, the bruising underneath Ghost’s eye disappeared, and the cut that had developed had vanished completely. "Thanks by the way."

Applebloom blushed at the reminder of what she did in the caves, and in doing so saving Ghost's life. "Don't mention it..." She said bashfully, all of a sudden interested in the dirt beneath her.

All of a sudden, a rubber ball came flying towards Ghost's head, knocking him onto the ground painfully.

"Hello?! We're still here!" Scootaloo called out, scowling that Applebloom and Ghost kept disregarding them.

"Oh, right. Let's get you a bandage Scootaloo" Ghost answered, walking towards the Farm house with the rest of the fillies.

64 POV

I changed into my 'casual' attire and was making my way towards Sweet Apple Acres. I hoped that tonight would yield better results than my arrival, but knowing how paranoid some of these ponies were I was having my doubts.

I saw a rainbow trail zoom overhead towards the same place I was headed, so I flagged it down.

"Yo Rainbow! Wait up!" I yelled, as the trail of light made a U-Turn and headed straight towards me.

I stood my ground and waited to see if she would crash into me, and as I suspected she zoomed as close as possible to me and stopped in her tracks, hovering right in front of me.

"Hey 64, you heading towards Applebloom's welcome back party?" Rainbow Dash asked me, doing slow loops around me.

"Yup, I'm just hoping that I don't get torn into like when I showed up in the first place." I muttered, slowly turning in circles while walking to keep my eyes on Rainbow.

“What was the big deal about all that in the first place? Mistakes happen; I of all ponies should know that.”

I shrugged and shook my head, “I’m not sure Rainbow. All I know is that I can’t do anything about it, because once I retaliate I’m going to be proving those ponies right. So all I can do is keep my head low and not try to ruffle anymore feathers.” I admitted, continuing to walk down the road, still receiving some glares.

Rainbow dash saw a few stallions giving me a harsh glare, so she flew over to them. “What the hay do you think you’re looking at?! Don’t you have anything better to do?!” She yelled, scaring them enough to make them start walking in the other direction.

I gave Rainbow Dash as small smile. “Thanks for that, but stares I’m cool with. You think a 6’2 Biped won’t get stares? I’ve been dealing with them all my life, so don’t go scaring ponies who don’t have the stomach to come up to me and say something.” I said, making Rainbow Dash cross her arms.

“But you’ve done all these awesome things for Equestria and they are still treating you like that! I can’t stand to leave one of my friends hanging like that!” Rainbow yelled exasperated. I grinned at her admission.

“So I’m your friend huh?”

Rainbow nodded and did a few loops in the air. “Duh! Anyone who’s awesome enough to fight things like Super Nova and Discord and come out of them alive is definitely a friend in my book!”

I smiled and held out a fist which Rainbow Dash bumped with her hoof, causing me to chuckle. “Thanks Rainbow.”

“No problem… Now let’s get going!”

Chapter 43

3rd Person POV

64 arrived along with Rainbow Dash at the party, and saw Pinkie Pie literally bounding off of the walls serving every pony in the room a plastic cup of Red Punch.

"Everypony drink up! Applebloom is gonna have the best welcome back party ever!" Pinkie yelled, placing a cup into 64's hand. He brought the liquid up to his nose and took a sniff, not smelling alcohol.

"Damn, really feel like I'll need a drink tonight..." 64 muttered, reaching into a pocket on the inside of of jacket and pulling out a small flash he kept on himself for emergencies.

As he undid the cap and was about to top off his drink, a purple magic wrapped his hand and forced the flask out of it.

"Hey give that back!" 64 scolded, seeing Twilight giving him a stern glare. She gave the flask a sniff and recoiled at the strong smell of Whiskey, before teleporting the flask into nothingness.

"64! This is a children's party! You don't need to bring alcohol, even if it is just for you!" Twilight scolded, before take a sip of her punch.

"Aw come on Twilight... I know something regarding me is going to go down at this thing, I just want something to take off the edge a bit." 64 implored, taking a drink of his fruit punch. "Damn that's not bad."

64 looked around and saw that not many ponies had arrived yet, but looking at his watch the party started over 30 minutes ago. Of course this didn't deter Pinkie who was prepping for Applebloom entrance.

She seemed to be focusing more on the drinks than anything for some reason.

"Oh! She's gonna be here any moment! I can't wait to give her the best welcome back party ever!" Pinkie yelled, all ponies in the barn turning in here direction

"Pinkie dearest, I'm sure that we're all excited that Applebloom was returned back to Ponyville safely, but I fear you are a bit... Overexcited... If that's even possible..." Rarity said, trying to calm down the over active party pony.

"Rarity, this is the first EVER foalnapping in Ponyville! We have to make sure that Applebloom is ok after what happened." Pinkie assured, catching 64's ears.

"Oh I don't think we'll have to worry about that." 64 said, seeing the pony known as Vinyl Scratch walk into the barn hauling her large sound system.

"What do you mean?" Rarity asked him, grinning as she saw that he was wearing the clothes that she made him.

"You were there when I arrived in the Chariot with Applejack and Applebloom, did you see who else was only the chariot?"

Rarity thought about for a bit, seeing more ponies walk into the barn excitedly, with Pinkie bouncing to them to give them drinks.

"Well, there was a colt... A green colt with black hair. He was a quiet little one wasn't he?"

"Yup, he doesn't say much unless he knows you. Anyway, he's here to help Applebloom with any psychological problems she might have developed during her ordeal, so I think she's going to be fine.

As if on cue, Ghost and the Cutie Mark Crusaders walked into the barn wide eyed, seeing the now less capacious barn filled with ponies.

Many cheered and clopped their hooves onto the ground in applause at Applebloom's appearance, making her blush at the sudden praise. Applejack went up to her and hugged Applebloom, before grabbing her and tossing her onto her bac to carry her.

"All right everypony! Looks like the filly of honor has just arrived! Why don't we buck this thing up a notch!" Vinyl Scratch yelled through her mic, her signature shades now obscuring her eyes.

A pulsing bass started to reverberate through the air, shaking the tables and decorations. When the music got to a dancing speed, 64 made his way off of the dance floor, not wanting to be caught in there if things started to heat up.

Rainbow was currently dancing to the music along with some of her co-workers on the Weather Team when she noticed that 64 had purposely moved off of the dance floor. She zoomed over to him and crossed her forelegs.

"C'mon 64! Everypony is dancing! Look over there! Even Applebloom is dancing with...... Who is that colt?" Rainbow Dash asked, seeing Applebloom start to dancing with Ghost.

64 looked over at them curiously, seeing that Applebloom was in fact dancing alongside Ghost. The two were giggling and simply enjoying each other's company as many ponies came and gave their congratulations to Applebloom for staying strong in a tough situation like that.

64 then noticed one of the mares that was giving him particularly bad stares went up to Applebloom and said something to her, causing her to tilt her head in confusion. The stares of confusion quickly turned to stares of disgust.

Ghost and Applebloom were dancing happily with each other, with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo both off getting something to eat.

"It's so wonderful that you're back Applebloom!" Noteworthy commented as he walked by, a cup of punch in his hoof.

“Thank ya Mister! I’m glad to be back!” Applebloom replied, not really paying attention.

“Welcome back Applebloom! Don’t worry about any of the schoolwork you might have missed while you were gone, I’m sure under these extreme circumstances that I can forgive a few missing assignments.” Cheerilee said walking by, carrying a cup of punch like almost everypony else in the room.

“Great…” Applebloom moaned, not really wanting to think about school work at the moment.

“Oh hello Applebloom! I’m so glad that you’re back in Ponyville!” a mare carrying a cup said to Applebloom, whose names escaped her at the moment.

“Oh… thank you Miss… Umm…”

“Oh dearie, my name is Roma! I work the Tomato Stand in the Ponyville Marketplace!”

Applebloom wanted nothing to do with tomatoes unless they were on a pizza, so she tried to shrug off the mare. “Oh… uh, thank ya ma’am… Do ya mind? I’m tryin’ ta dance with my friend.”

“Of course. But do you feel comfortable with that thing attending your party?”

Ghost’s eyes immediately darted over to the mare and narrowed in suspicion, wondering why she would say that.

“Can… can ya clarify that miss?” Applebloom asked, tilting her head in confusion. “What thing?”

Roma pointed her hood over to 64 who was giving her a suspicious look, seeing how she was doing something that was making Applebloom uncomfortable.

“Why that thing of course! That was the thing that got you foalnapped in the first place, aren’t you scared that it might cause something terrible to happen again?” Roma said in a hushed tone, but not even bothering to hide the disgusted tone when regarding to 64.

“Are ya calling 64 a ‘thing’?!” Applebloom said shocked, never hearing someone being talked about like that.

“Well…it obviously isn’t a pony…”

“Excuse me is there a problem here?” 64 called out, walking up to the group and crossing his arms. Rome turned with her cup and scowled.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t recall asking you to enter this private conversation. Why don’t you shove off before you cause somepony else to go missing!?” Roma yelled in 64’s face, causing him to scowl in anger.

“Oh, so it’s going to be like that with you? I make one mistake, AND make up for it, and I still receive all of the hate as if I just sat by and let it happen?” 64 yelled back, seeing that someponies were now turning towards the commotion.

“The way I see it, it’s best if you just leave!” Roma said, about to toss her cup of red punch at 64. He quickly countered the mare by hitting the bottom of the plastic cup and sending it back into her face, causing her to become drenched in the sweet smelling fruit punch.

Roma stood there in shock for a few seconds before growling and shoving 64 with her front hooves, trying in vain to push him back.

“How dare you do this to me!” She screamed, getting angrier by the fact she couldn’t push 64 back.

“Well you tried to do the same to me, so the way I see it you deserve it!” 64 shouted back, trying to not let his anger get the better of him.

“You were saying all those bad things about him too! You definitely deserve more than just this!” Ghost yelled, trying to stick up for his mentor.

"Woah there ya two. If ya're gonna have a problem then talk it out in private outside. There's no need ta draw this out in front of everypony." Applejack called out, breaking through the crowd and stepping between 64 and Roma.

"Send this miscreant out then! He's gonna get another foal taken away before we even realize it!" Roma shouted, creating an even bigger scene.

"Hey, if you say even one more word about my friend, you're going to be the one getting kicked out onto the curb." Rainbow Dash said stepping forward.

"So you are on this things side?! Unbelievable! I can't believe that you are actually condoning--"

*SMASH!!!*

From behind Roma, a now broken punch bowl floated in the air wrapped in a green magical glow, along with Ghost's horn glowing.

"She was starting to get on my nerves." Ghost said angrily, picking up the shards of glass and making sure to levitate them into a trash can.

64 grinned at Ghost, who winked back at him. "Everypony ok?" 64 called out, as a murmur of yups and eeyups came out if the crowd. "Then let's forget about this one and get the party back on!"

The music kicked back on and the ponies went back to dancing, pretty much forgetting what had just happened.

64 of course had to set Roma off to the side so she wouldn't get trampled, so he picked her up and set her onto a bale of hay.

"Well that's was something..." 64 muttered, seeing Applebloom and Ghost walk up to him.

"Why was that lady so mean ta ya?" Applebloom asked, oblivious to the idea of prejudice.

"It could be she's scared of me and doesn't want me around, or that she thinks I'm a danger to the community." Either way, that’s no way to act at a public affair like this, especially at your Welcome Back Party.”

Applebloom nodded and turned back to the dance floor. “C’mon Ghost! Let’s keep dancin’!” The filly shouted, grabbing Ghost’s hoof and dragging him back into the crowd. 64 swore that he saw a dusting of a blush on Ghost’s cheeks.

64 felt a heat start to rise in the room, starting in his feet and slowly making its way to his body. He tried to ignore it for a bit, but once it reached his stomach, he felt that he needed to take a step outside to air out.

“‘Scuse me, pardon me…” He said walking through the crowd, not wanting to step on anyponies hooves.

“64? Where are you going? Pinkie is about to bring out the cake for Applebloom. Don’t you like cake?” Twilight asked, tilting her head a bit. She didn’t know that 64 had a particularly bad streak when it came to sweets, especially cake, but right now the burning sensation in his gut was moretha enough to warrant a step outside.

“Sorry Twi, but I’m not feeling to good for some reason… I’m just gonna take a breather outside.” 64 said, causing Twilight to hum curiously. She stood up on her hindlegs and used one of her forelegs to balance herself on 64’s chest, using her other hoof to put onto 64’s forehead to check for temperature.

She immediately winced in pain and recoiled at the touch, hearing a sizzling sound in both of the hooves that were touching 64. “64! You’re literally burning up!” Twilight yelled shocked, seeing steam start to come off of the top of his head.

“I know, that’s why I’m trying to get outside.”

“No I mean literally burning up!” Twilight shouted, taking the cup of punch she had and tossing it onto 64. When the liquid made contact with 64, it immediately started to hiss and evaporate into the air, leaving no trace of Punch.

64’s eyes widened as he saw what happened, so he quickly ran around Twilight and zoomed outside into the night, heading for the swimming not too far away from the Barn. Shedding his Jacket and Shirt as quickly as possible as he ran, he started to feel himself start to burn from the inside out, with sweat starting to pour off of his body at a quick rate. With a not so graceful dive, 64 went headfirst into the swimming hole, causing a loud plume of steam to shoot into the air where he dived into.

When he emerged, he could feel himself start to cool off, but his mind was still reeling at what had just happened. “What the fuck was that all about!?” He shouted to no one in particular.

Once he felt the burning sensation in his stomach fade and the water stopped steaming, 64 pulled himself out of the water and allowed himself to sit on the edge of the pool, ready if the burning came back once again.

“I see we are experiencing the first stage…” An all too aggravating voice spoke behind 64, who slowly stood up and turned. He looked Super Nova in the eye and scowled.

“Of course you are the one causing this… Can’t you just leave me the fuck alone!?” He screamed, turning back towards toward the pond and sitting at the edge. Super Nova just smirked and walked around him, standing on the waters surface. Where she stood plumes of steam started to flare up, causing a smoke screen effect to her molten body.

“Although you have learned a few tricks to aid you in battle, like the ones you used against Discord, you still have much, much more to learn…” She said wickedly, a malicious grin spreading across her face.

64 scowled at the idea of learning more from Super Nova. “You’ve already taught me out to pull up molten rock from the ground to use as armor, and spew lava from my lips like nothing. I’m sure I don’t need much else.”

Super Nova’s grin faded and was replaced by a sarcastic frown, her bottom lip pouting out. “Aww, and here I thought with the threat of an impending war that you might need more ways to defend yourself…”

“Nope, I think i’m just fine with what I have now.” 64 said, not even wanting to acknowledge the Alicorn vision behind him.

“Well too bad, it’s only a matter of time before Celestia decides to use you as her game-changer in the event of battle, might as well learn to use it correctly.”

64’s shot wide open as he suddenly felt something stab into his back and cause him to stiffen up. He slowly looked down to see a beam of magic going straight through his chest, but along with the pain came flashes of spell runes, quickly instructing him how to perform multiple spells, but they were written in an old language, meaning he couldn’t understand them.

When the flashes of runes stopped, the beam of magic retracted from 64’s chest causing him to groan and slump over onto his side, barely being able to hold onto consciousness. Super Nova then walked over him and brought her muzzle close to his face, an evil grin plastered on her face.

“It’s better to receive the gift now and prepare for what’s ahead, then to slowly slip into madness trying to conquer what it truly inside you…” Super Nova said mysteriously, walking away from 64. She was still in his line of sight, so he held out his hand in desperation.

“W-Wait… what’s ahead!?” He called out weakly, but Super Nova still heard him. She looked over her shoulder at 64 and smirked, her eye squinting dangerously.

“Madness… and I am going to love every second of it…”

64 fell unconscious shortly after, moonlight showering over him.

64 POV

“Hey! 64 wake up!” I heard Ghost yell in my ear, causing my eyes to shoot open and me to sit up as fast as I could. I was still in my soaking wet pants sitting at the edge of the swimming hole, with my clothing now bundled up at my side.

I groaned as a splitting headache made itself apparent, my blood rushing too quickly to my head. “H-Hey Ghost… fuck what time is it?” I groaned, seeing that the sun was now up.

“It’s like 11 right now, c’mon we’re setting everything up for Nightmare Night tonight!” Ghost said, his hair shaking a bit with the light breeze. I honestly liked his disguise, it was exactly what I would expect him to look like if he was a pony.

“Alright… let me get my costume… Oh shit my costume!” I yelled, quickly opening the clasp of the Satchel Pocket attached to my belt. Opening it I found that my worries had actually come true, with everything inside being absolutely soaked. “For fucks sake!”

I pulled out the robes of my costume and groaned, seeing the dyes of all of the fabrics now meshed into a horrible puke looking color.

“What were you gonna be 64?” Ghost asked, seeing my ruined costume.

“Well they were human versions of robes that ancient pony assassins wore before the colonization of Equestria, but now it looks like I did all that work for nothing…” I muttered, tossing the robes aside.

“Aww c’mon 64. You can totally find a costume in time for the celebration... tonight…” Ghost said slowly, realizing how stupid that sounded. “Never mind you are screwed.”

I sighed. I really wanted to attend the celebration so I could just forget with everything that was going to be happening soon. Plus I was still pissed about Super Nova being all mysterious and shit so I really didn’t want to deal with anything else…

"What happened after I left? I had an... Unexpected visitor last night..." I muttered, standing up and trying to walk uncomfortably in my wet pants.

"Well after that mare Roma relieved us of her company, things started to die down a bit. Ponies wanted to get a good night sleep so they could get up early to set up the Nightmare Night celebration in the morning. It's not everyday that Princess Luna comes to visit." Ghost said, rubbing the back of his head. "I woke up early and went to look for you, and just followed the trail if clothing. What happened to you last night anyway?"

I mulled over that question in my mind for a bit, wondering if it was a good idea to tell Ghost that I had seen Super Nova again.

"Just felt a bit too heated last night." I said simply, starting to walk towards the Everfree. "Well all of my clothes are ruined, so I need to fashion something quick for Nightmare Night. I have a feeling that Rarity wouldn't be too happy about me going back. Wanna go hunting Ghost?"

Ghost happily started to follow along as we made our way towards the Everfree, with me fishing out my sewing equipment out of my Satchel Pocket. The spools of thread were relatively unharmed, and the needle hadn't sustained any damage.

"What animal are we looking for 64?" Ghost asked me as we reached the entrance to the Everfree.

"Manticore hopefully."

We walked and kept quiet, listening to see if we could hear any stray sounds in the Forest. A snapped twig caused both Ghost and I to swivel our heads in the direction it came from, looking for what might have caused the noise.

I signaled to Ghost to wait up as I slowly walked towards the sound, pushing away branches and bushes as I did. The large figure bolted away as I came near, so I shot out a tendril of magic to ensnare his leg.

I pulled with all of my might to try and the beast back, seeing the telltale stinger tail that all Manticore’s had. Jackpot.

“Kill it quick Ghost! I got this thing!” I called out, seeing Ghost quickly run past me and leap onto the Manticores back. Using it’s primary means of defense, the Manticore attempted to sting the colt on its back with its stinger, but the stinger just bounced harmlessly off of his Chitin.

Using the failed attack to his advantage, Ghost gripped the Stinger with his magic and started to pull with all of his might, the Manticore thrashing around in pain and annoyance.

“Al...most… got it!” Ghost yelled, as the Manticore’s stinger was completely rended from its tail. The Manticore let out a pained bellow as blood started to spew out of its tail in short spurts, painting the ground underneath it a crimson red. Ghost used his magic to bring the stinger up above the Manticore’s head, before bringing it down into the Manticore’s eye, destroying the brain and killing it instantly.

The beast fell forward with a thud, with the contents of it’s brain and skull pouring out of the now gaping hole. I sighed happily and dispelled the tendril attached to its leg, before conjuring a knife and making a few slices across its fur.

“What are you gonna make with this 64? Some clothes?” Ghost asked, pulling the stinger out of the Manticore’s eye socket.

“Some new clothes, I’ve been looking for some and a Manticore fur hoody would do just fine for winter assignments.” I explained, turning over the Manticore onto its back so I could get to the fur on its belly.

That’s when the idea hit me, and a grin split my face.

“Ya know what? Scratch that… I’ve have another idea…” I said giddily, continuing to skin the dead beast.

This was gonna be the best Nightmare Night ever.

Author's Note

Yea, I originally wanted 64 to wear Edward Kenway robes, but then i thought that would be cliche as shit.

Chapter 44

Princess Luna POV

I awaited in my chamber as my sister's sun rose over the horizon, disappating the darkness which my night possessed. I closed my eyes and sighed, remembering what day it was.

A celebration regarding the monstrosity which possessed me 1000 years ago... condemning me to an imprisonment on the moon.

When I had first heard of the celebration, I thought it was a terrible jest from my sister, who wished to antagonize me once more. When she assured me that it was in fact a reality, I nearly attacked her in rage, never wanting to remember a thing from my imprisonment.

I opened my eyes and once again gazed up at My Moon, seeing it still in the sky although the time for it to go down was past. Every morning, I let My Moon remain in the sky for a few moments longer, a small part of me wishing that my night was equal, if not superior than the day.

This is why the moon remains in the sky shortly after the sun rises.

“Your Majesty Luna, your appearance in Ponyville has been scheduled for 10PM tonight.” Nightingale, one of my Lunar guards, informed me, walking into my chamber and bowing low. I scowled at the reminder, remembering the horrid celebration.

“Thanketh thou sentry, we will surely remember. Now, please leave us at once.” I said commandingly, speaking with the ‘royal we’. It was customary to speak in the dialect when talking to subordinates or common ponies, which is why I often spoke to 64 in a manner more familiar with friends and family.

“Of course your highness.” Nightingale said, backing out of my chambers still in his bowing form. Once he was gone, I glanced back out of the window and remembered the strange human I had the pleasure of being acquainted with.

Since the unfortunate discovery I had made in 64’s mind, I had not entered his dreams or subconscious. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to help him of course, but I felt frightened to do so. Super Nova, the manifestation of Celestia’s hatred and malice with the power of the sun was invading his mind, slowly eating away at him. If he didn’t receive any kind of aid he will surely perish, but… I was still afraid…

After once again being sent back to the moon by the evil being, the emotions of soul crushing solitary confinement once again came rushing back, rendering me nothing less of a frightened filly who was afraid of the dark… and the ironic thing was… I’m deathly afraid of the dark.

“Sister?” Celestia voice said, causing me to gasp and my eyes to widen. I turned towards my elder sister, her eyes containing a look of concern. “Are you alright?” She asked, obviously already knowing the answer.

“If you are asking do I feel well, then the answer is yes. If you are asking if I feel well in my state of mind… then the answer is no.” I responded, not breaking the gaze with my sister.

“Luna… I already told you… this night was not in anyway to further antagonize you, it was a night created to-”

“A night to what sister?! A night to further implement the association of the fear Nightmare Moon generated and myself!? A night to show that no matter how I try to integrate myself into this new way of equality between Civilian and Royal status, I will always be known as Nightmare?! Tell me sister! What was this most disgraceful of nights crated for!?” I screamed out in the Royal Canterlot voice, wings flaring up in anger and hooves stomping into the ground.

My sister was obviously taken aback from my outburst, stepping back in shock. She regained her composure and returned my gaze, although it was much softer and apologetic than my own.

“Sister… this night was created in remembrance to you…” Celestia said slowly, her eyes trying to convey that she was sorry. “But in no way did I contribute to the custom of fearing Nightmare! The original name was ‘The Night of Nightmare’, honoring the anniversary of the defeat of Nightmare Moon. Over time, ponies began to twist the meaning, thinking that on that day of the year Nightmare Moon returned to haunt young foals and eat them whole.”

I listened on, still skeptical of Celestia’s explanation.

“Disguises were donned to avoid the watchful eyes of ‘Nightmare Moon’, and offerings of sweets were laid out to appease her spirit. When I first heard of these developments, I thought nothing of them, thinking that they were simple actions to create a bit of fun, but… when the actions became tradition, it was already too late to change anything… Nightmare Night was born.”

I slowly dropped my wings and eased my glare, but still held a stern look. I turned away from her a moment before sighing, my eyes nearly betraying me by creating a few tears that I refused to let fall.

“I apologize for my words Tia…I spoke without thinking clearly…” I said, never really wanting to hurt her feelings. “Thank you for your words of ease…”

I heard Celestia take a few steps closer until she was standing next to me, before she wrapped her wing around me and brought me closer to her in an affection hug. My barrier of unwillingness broke down as I began to slowly shed a few tears, nuzzling closer into my sister’s neck.

“I missed you so much Luna…” Celestia wept, holding me close.

“And I you sister…” I sobbed quietly, overwhelmed with emotion.

Ghost POV

“C’mon 64! It’s been like 3 hours! Can I just see what you are doing back there?” I cried out, finally putting the last of the dirt into the grave we had dug for the Manticore. He had completely skinned it from head to toe, taking it mane and all.

Of course 64 had the common courtesy to at least bury the carcass, because he had said something about ‘Fluttershy coming down on his ass harder than Celestia when he had the last slice of cake’.

“Be patient Ghost! I’m doing something amazing right now!” He yelled back, hidden behind a large wall of bushes and brush. I sighed in frustration, sitting down onto my stomach. It was my job to keep out a watch on any animals which might have been attracted to the smells the Manticore gave off, but so far, none had come close.

I looking left and right before I did so, I dropped my disguise with a burst of green flames, fluttering my wings and stretching my neck a bit. It was a bit tiring to hold the disguise all night, but recently it’s like something… something had been feeding me…

Today I was planning to reveal what I actually was to the rest of the Apple family. Applejack and Applebloom already knew from when we were in Canterlot, but Big Macintosh and Granny Smith Apple didn’t know yet. I had met the two shortly before the party started, introducing myself as the one who was going to be looking after Applebloom psychologically.

Big Mac looked a bit skeptical, but when I showed him my Equestrian Knight Badge, he quickly accepted my words as truth. Granny Smith looked as if she didn’t understand half of the the things I said, but when I told her I would be staying at Sweet Apple Acres, she quickly took me in as if I was a part of the family.

It seemed that Applebloom had a really loving and supporting family, meaning that she was probably going to recover faster if they all made sure that she felt safe at home. She seemed like a really tough filly, but having to kill somepony for the first time… that was innocence ripped away at the blink of an eye.

Thanks to the little incident, it caused her to develop a case of Hemophobia, which meant that even at small amounts such as Scootaloo’s little cut, she was deathly afraid of blood. With Nightmare Night, there might be things such as fake blood all over the city, so i had to make sure that she doesn’t have another freakout.

“Alright Ghost! Let’s see how this baby looks!” 64 called out from behind the brush, causing my train of thought to crash and burn in a fiery explosion, killing all passengers.

Wow, that was pretty dark…

“How what looks?” I asked, as 64 stepped out of hiding. Gave his entire body an inspecting glance, before my eyes widened in surprise.

64 was dressed as a Manticore! Although the Manticore was much bigger than him, he had managed to create a sort of Jumpsuit made out of the Manticore’s fur, with the paws at the ends of his arms and legs still attached. The stinger tail was still attached to his backside, but it looked like the actual point of the stinger was blunted to not hurt anypony walking by. The wings on his back were folded back so nopony would accidentally get smacked by just walking by.

The mane of the Manticore was the best part though. It was shrunk to fit 64’s face, and flared out in all directions, making it look as if his head was way bigger than it actually was.

“Well, what do you think? Not a bad last minute costume is it?” 64 gloated, put his arms out and turning a bit to let me see the entire thing.

“Wow! That looks really cool! Can you move the paws and stuff?” I asked, flittering my wings to fly up to get a closer look. 64 moved his fingers a bit to show me he had motion, but it looked a bit strained.

“A bit, but it’ll do. Nice and warm in here too! C’mon, lets head back to Ponyville, it’s about Noon so they’ll need help setting up the games and stuff.” 64 said, taking off the mane as if it was a mask.

It might had sounded a bit mean, but I was was wondering why 64 was getting so excited about something so childish. But when I thought about it for a bit, I realized that he never had a childhood. He’s only had his memories since he was 10, and up until he was 20 he was running for his life. I guess he just wanted to be a child again.

We walked back to Ponyville while 64 held his mane under his right arm still giddy about Nightmare Night.

“Ok, I have no idea when Luna is going to show up tonight, so we don't have that much time to get this place ready. C’mon, Twilight probably knows what’s going on.” 64 said, his speed stepping up a bit. I grinned and followed, once again donning my disguise.

64 POV

I got some strange stares in my costume, but I was too excited to notice. Nightmare Night was here, and I would finally get to do all of the things that I always wanted to do when I was younger. I went to help some street vendors set up their booths, using my magic to carry all of the food they were going to be selling.

Ghost was over with Applejack setting up the apple bobbing tub, but every now and then when I watched him I could see him giving sideways glances towards Applebloom. Whenever she looked back at him his eyes would quickly divert to the nearest thing away from her while blushing, then turning back to his work.

I stifled a chuckle every time I saw his actions, seeing young love starting to develop before my eyes. Once I was done setting up all of the food vendor booths, I went around town looking for Twilight so I could get my next task in setting up.

After a few minutes of looking around for her, I went to Mayor Mare who was standing in front of Town Hall to ask where she was.

“Ah, 64! I had just sent somepony looking for you. We have received word of... Princess Luna’s arrival in town… are you still going to be guarding- I mean escorting her around?” She asked me nervously, as if she was scared of something.

“Uh, yeah I am. Neither of us have ever attended a Nightmare Night, and she’s still trying to adjust to being in public again. Celestia just thought I would be best due to us being familiar with each other.” I answered, disregarding the comment she had made about me being her ‘guard’.

Someponies were terrified at the word that Luna was coming to Ponyville, due to the stigma that she was still Nightmare Moon waiting to strike. I swear this city had a really bad streak with social prejudices. When Zecora first came to the city, she of course was purposely avoid due to her strange appearance. When I first revealed myself to Ponyville when being pursuited by Rainbow Dash and Applejack, first thing ponies around here did was run and scream. Of course that was partially my fault.

That was the reason I was so afraid for Ghost, one slip up and the town would discover that he was one of the most feared creatures in Equestria.

“Well, we hope that we can make her visit enjoyable as possible.” Mayor Mare said with a forced smile, some sweat dripping down the side of her head.

“I hope you can…” I said simply, not sparing her another glance and walking away. I could feel her eyes staring at the back of my head, but I didn’t look back. Looking down at my watch I saw that the sun would be going down and the festivities would start in about 4 hours, meaning there was a lot of time to kill.

I decided to go and see if Twilight was at her library, not really knowing anywhere else that she might be. I had completely forgotten to ask Mayor Mare where she was, so I was going with my gut.

When I arrived I saw that the Library was decorated in cobwebs and fake spiders, so deciding to test Twilight to see if she recognized my costume, I put my Manticore mane back on. I went up to the door and knocked a few times, but all I heard from the other side was the sound of jingling bells.

“I’m coming don’t worry!” Twilight’s voice called out, getting closer to the door. She opened it to show me that she was wearing an incredibly large hat with bells all over it, obviously it being part of her Nightmare Night costume. “Oh! I was wondering where you went after the party 64. What… are you exactly?”

“Manticore. My last costume was trashed after a mishap involving water, so I had to improvise last second. Let me guess yours…Star-something the hairy or something like that?” I said jokingly, making Twilight huff.

“I know for a fact you know who I’m supposed to be.” She said with a deadpanned expression, making me chuckle a bit.

“Starswirl. Pretty cool. I just wanted to know if there was anything else I could do around here. I’m feeling pretty excited for tonight.”

Twilight giggled at my excited expression, shaking her head. “Oh 64, you make it seem like you’ve… never… been to Nightmare Night… oh. Sorry.” Twilight blushed, forgetting that I had been a fugitive from the law for over 6 years. “Well… there isn’t really anything else on my checklist, every job has either been completed or already has enough ponies on the task. The only thing I haven’t accounted for is Princess Luna’s visit is her time of arrival. Nopony was able to tell me anything about it.”

“I’m pretty sure we don’t need to worry about that. We’ll see her Chariot arriving long before she lands, so we can play all that by ear later.” I said, taking off my mane and setting it aside as I walked into the library. “So where’s Spike? He getting ready too?”

“I’m right here!” Spike’s voice called out, as he came running out of the kitchen area in… what I could only call one of the most stupid things I had ever seen. Spike, a fucking Dragon, was dressed as a Dragon. A much fatter Dragon. “Hey 64! What do you think?” Spike said, motioning to to his costume.

“It’s… something… alright…” I droned, my eyes half lidded in disbelief.

Maybe he would realize that his costume sucked before the real festivities began.

3rd Person POV

Darkness fell across Ponyville as Celestia’s sun set, making way for Luna’s moon. 64 and Twilight were both fully dressed up in their costumes and waiting to leave for the Nightmare Night festival, and after a few comments from Spike about Twilight looking like the crazed Grandpa at Ponyville retirement village, 64 thought it would be best for them to leave now.

A knocking on the door signaled the first trick or treaters.

“Sounds important! I’ll get it!” Spike cried, not wanting to have to deal with Twilight who had just discovered he had been disregarding his reading assignments. He swung the door open to show a group of foals all dressed up.

“Nightmare Night! What a fright! Give us something sweet to bite!” They all yelled, each of them holding small bags semi-filled with candy. Twilight walked up to them with and smiled.

“Hi, everypony. Great costumes. Happy Nightmare Night, Granny Smith.” She said to the old mare, who look a bit worse for wear.”

“I was supposed to be in bed 5 hours ago…” She complained. 64 took the opportunity to run to the balcony above the entrance and light the tips of his Mane on fire, giving his face an evil glow. Using magic to keep himself attached to the surface, 64 walked onto the underside of the group and growled, softly, causing all of the foals to look up curiously.

“HELLO THERE!” 64 screamed, causing all of the foals to suddenly jump in fear. After their reaction passed, 64 laughed and dropped from the balcony, patting out the fire on his Mane. “Gotcha there didn’t I?”

The foals all started laughing after 64’s scare tactic, but one colt was a bit vocal about it. He managed to pull himself out of the crowd swinging around a fake rubber Cutlass, tumbling onto the ground a bit.

“Pipsqueak the pirate, at your service. It's my very first Nightmare Night!” The colt introduced himself to 64, who kneeled with a grin.

“Nice Pirate costume! It’s also my first Nightmare Night too you know.” 64 said, causing the group of foals eyes to widen.

“Really 64? But yer so big!” Applebloom called out from the crowd, seeing the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Ghost standing there. Sweetie Belle was a vampire, if her pointed teeth and cape meant anything, Scootaloo was a wolf, but the cutest had to be Ghost and Applebloom’s.

Applebloom was the Bride of Frankenpony, and of course Ghost managed to use his morphing powers to become Frakenpony’s monster.

“Well I’ve never been able to celebrate it, so I hope that everything goes well.” 64 answered, shrugging his shoulders a bit. All of a sudden, Pinkie Pie emerged from the small group of children with a loud squawk, sending 64 onto his back in fear.

“Enough chit-chat! Time is candy!” Pinkie yelled, her chicken costumes feathers flaring out in anger. She then began to start pecking at the ground and swiveling her head around jerkily, much like an actual chicken would. 64 thought it was adorable.

“Pinkie Pie, aren't you a little old for this?” Twilight asked but Pinkie Pie made it seemed like she had just said that cupcakes were evil.

“Too old for free candy? Never!” Pinkie gasped, squawking in anger. 64 got up and dusted himself off, fluffing his Mane to keep it poofed up. “Wow 64! That’s a cool costume!”

“Thanks Pinkie, it was last minute.” 64 thanked, before pointing towards Twilight.

“We have a Weirdo Clown, so she can tame the angry lion! You guys are dressed as a circus!”

“Uh… sure?”

“I’m not a weirdo clown!” Twilight yelled in anger, turning back to the conversation after giving everypony in the group a piece of candy.

“Whatever you say Grandpa…” Spike snorted, walking by Twilight to go with the group of traveling foals.

To 64 it almost looked like Twilight’s mane was about to catch fire, causing him to laugh a bit. “C’mon Twilight, let’s just follow them to the Festival. There’s plenty of time to be mad at Spike later.”

“Fine, but I just hope anypony in town recognizes my costume.”

“Hehe… fat chance…”

The pair followed the group of foals as they went from home to home asking for candy, chanting the traditional cheer for candy.

“So, I never really found out from any of the books i’ve read in Canterlot, what’s the origin of Nightmare Night?” 64 asked, turning to Twilight. It looked like she was about to answer, but when she took in a breath to explain, she stopped and put a hoof to her chin.

“I...I actually don’t have clue! How could I not know this?!” She cried, surprised at her own lack of knowledge.

“Well like I said, no books I had found in Canterlot had any information about it, and you get most of your knowledge from books anyway. Maybe Princess Luna will know when she arrives.” 64 said, trying to calm Twilight.

Continuing to follow the foals from house to house, 64 saw that Spike was racking up an enormous amount of candy, and was munching it up at an alarming rate. Once the group of foals arrived at the Town Square, Granny Smith went back to Sweet Apple Acres, and the foals went around to get some of the last house they had missed, leaving Twilight, Spike, and 64 to walk around.

“Hey look, we're here already! Should we get something to eat?” Twilight asked, seeing Spike munch on his large pile of candy.

“Sure, I’m feeling a bit peckish. Let’s go get some candy apples.” 64 offered, but was interrupted by Pinkie Pie and the group of foals returning from getting candy.

“Twilight, 64! Look at our haul! Ah! Can you believe it? And then, we went to Cheerilee's house, and got a bunch more goodies. Didn't we, Pip?” Pinkie squee’d in delight, turning to the small Pirate Colt.

“Sure did!” Pipsqueak yelled, showing his candy bag.

“Then we went to go see if Granny Smith wanted to come back and-”

As Pinkie was explaining, a lighting bolt came down from the sky despite it being a clear night, scaring the feathers off of Pinkie Pie and the rest of the foals, causing them all to shoot off in fear. When 64 saw the only one that didn’t run in fear was Ghost, he gave him a small grin.

“Shouldn’t you go see how Applebloom is doing after that?” 64 said smugly, causing Ghost to blush a bit and run off to where the filly in question went. 64 then looked up to see Rainbow Dash on a stormcloud wearing a Shadowbolts costume, absolutely busting a gut.

“Nice one Rainbow.” 64 congratulated, receiving a glare from Twilight.

“Rainbow Dash, that wasn't very nice.” Twilight scolded.

“Lighten up, old-timer.” Rainbow said uncaring, commenting on Twilight’s incredibly long beard. “This is the best night of the year for pranks!”

“Look what you did to Spike!”

64 and Rainbow both looked down to see Spike lying on the ground grabbing at his chest as if he were having a heart attack, but he was just overreacting to being a bit frightened.

“It's all in good fun. Oh! Oh! There's another group over there!” Rainbow Dash yelled before zooming off with her storm cloud, leaving 64 and Twilight with a convulsing Spike.

“Come on, let’s go get those Candy Apples I was talking about earlier.”

Author's Note

I made up some lore about Nightmare Night because I felt that a holiday honoring the thing Luna once was is pretty shitty. Someone has a better explanation, shove it up your ass.

64 vs. Nightmare Night Part 1

Chapter 45

3rd Person POV

64, Twilight, and the now conscious Spike continued through town heading towards Applejack’s stand, each of them craving a Caramel Candy Apple. 64 had fun laughing at some of the more ridiculous costumes and being impressed by some of the more brilliant ones. Big Mac’s was one of the funniest to him, because he had literally dressed up as ‘One o’ them big shots up in Canterlot’.

“I didn’t see why you had to laugh at Colgate like that 64… I thought her costume was very well done.” Twilight scolded, seeing 64 still holding his stomach as he laughed.

“She…She was a dentist! HAHAHA!” 64 bellowed, clutching his stomach as if his life depended on it. “Her job is literally dentistry! It would of made more sense if she dressed up as a tooth or something!”

64 was laughing at the exact same reason for Spike’s costume, although he didn’t vocalize so much at that one. He was actually having one of the best nights of his life, never being able to be this carefree before. They eventually made it to Applejack’s booth, where they saw a few ponies trying to bob for apples.

Applejack was dressed up as a scarecrow, replacing her Brown Stetson with an old straw hat.

“Happy Nightmare Night, Applejack!” Twilight greeted, walking up to her friend. Not even giving Applejack a moment to respond, 64 pushed Twilight aside and pointed to the Caramel Apples decorated like Jack-O-Lanterns.

“How much for 2?” He asked, his mouth already salivating.

“That’ll be 6 Bits.” Applejack answered, not even registering that 64 and pulled out the coins and tossed them into the brim of her hat. Using his magic, 64 grabbed the Caramel Apples and gave one to Spike, before taking a bite out of the one he got for himself.

“Man thash good…” 64 moaned with a mouth full of candy apple, eyes half lidded in pleasure.

“Heh, mah apples tend to do that sometimes. Hey there Twilight, nice costume.” Applejack commented, although Spike thought it was directed to him.

“Thanks! I'm a dragon.” Spike gloated, not realizing that not only was one of the most stupidest things he said, but he said it while his mouth was covered with caramel and apple bits.

“She means me, Spike.” Twilight pointed out, looking a bit prouder that a few seconds ago.

“With that beard, Ah reckon you're some sorta country music singer.” Applejack joked, once again sending 64 onto his back in laughter. “Anyway, while ya’ll are here wanna try bobbin’ fer an apple?”

As 64 heard that his laughter started to slowly die down, forcing him to wipe his eye with his free hand. “Ah…ah… that was hilarious… I’ll give it a shot.” He said, getting onto his feet and handing his now half eaten Caramel Apple to Twilight.

“Alright, ya manage to wrap yer mouth around one of these apples on yer first try, no charge. Miss? 1 Bit.”

“Sounds fair enough. Alright let me try this out.” 64 said, taking off his Manticore mane and setting it onto the ground. He knelt down onto his knees and put his hands onto the rim of the tub, where a few Golden Delicious apples bobbed up and down on the green water.

With his mouth wide open, he dunked his head underwater and bit furiously at a few apples, but they all escaped his grasp. Not one to be beaten, especially by a piece of fruit, 64 timed his attack until he saw the apple was floating still underwater, then attack. He felt a satisfying crunch as he bit into the juicy fruit, coming up with the thing in his teeth.

“Congratulations 64!” Applejack said, a grin on her face.

“Yeah! What do I win?”

“An apple!”

64’s excitement went out the door as he stopped at the exclamation, before chuckling a bit. “Should have seen that coming a mile away…” 64 groaned, taking a full bite out of the apple anyway.

As Applejack was going to continue talking, the sound of a clapping caught everyone’s attention, as they all look back at Town Square. Mayor Mare was now dressed in a clown costume and was on a large stage with a microphone, addressing a large crowd of ponies all dressed up for Nightmare Night.

“Think we should go see what all the fuss is about?” 64 asked, taking back his Candy Apple from Twilight.

Not even giving an answer, Twilight and Spike began walking towards the commotion, with 64 following close behind.

“Thank you, everypony, and welcome to the Nightmare Night festival!” Mayor Mare said gleefully, receiving a cacophony of cheers from the crowds. “Now, all the little ponies who have been out collecting sweets should follow our friend Zecora to hear the legend of... Nightmare Moon! Mwahahaha!” She ended maniacally, the effect of her evil cackling diminished by her playful costume.

She then motioned towards the stage to cue a large plume of green smoke which erupted onstage, frightening most of the ponies in the crowd. 64 squinted a bit to see through the smoke, and saw a mare’s figure walking forward.

Soon black and white stripes became visible, along with a long white mane decorated with spiders.

“Follow me, and very soon, you'll hear the tale of Nightmare Moon…” Zecora called mysteriously, motioning to the foals in the crowd. One by one, foals of all ages went onstage to join Zecora’s group, 64 seeing Ghost and the CMC also attending.

Actually interested to see what Zecora would say about Nightmare Night, 64 went onstage to follow Zecora.

“64? What are you doing? That’s for little foals only.” Twilight warned, but 64 just shrugged.

“This is my first Nightmare Night, I want to see everything.” 64 said, waving Twilight over. “C’mon, let’s see what all the fuss is about.”

Twilight sighed and joined the human onstage, reluctant to do so. Zecora gave the group a look over, and 64 saw her subtly trying to count all of the foals that she had, just incase she lost one.

“Alright little ponies, beware from now on… The Everfree is filled with fearsome creatures, and with one misstep… you will not live to see dawn…” Zecora said hauntingly, causing the foals in the crowd to shake a bit. 64 saw Applebloom instinctively get closer to Ghost for protection, causing the young Changeling to blush.

The group of ponies, 1 human, and 1 Changeling made their way towards the Everfree Forest, excited to hear the tale of Nightmare Moon.

64 POV

The walk to the Nightmare Moon statue in the Everfree was filled with scary stories for the colts and fillies, including Spike who kept hiding behind Twilight ever time a stray twig was stepped on.

"Wh-What was that?! Ah! Did you see something move in the trees?" Spike cried, jumping out of his scales every time he thought he saw something.

"Spike, this trail has wards cast to repel any malicious animals. Plus I already look enough like a Manticore to scare anything else away." I said, trying to calm the Drake down. He nodded, but his head kept darting around as if he didn’t hear me. When he went back to hide behind Twilight, I remembered something she had said earlier. “Twi, why were you hesitant to come on the walk? Too childish or something?”

“No… It’s not that. It’s just… Ever since Princess Luna was released from Nightmare Moon’s grip, I feel that the whole thing about Nightmare Moon still roaming around is incredibly offensive to her. How would Celestia feel if we created a holiday to commemorate the spirit of Super Nova and frighten everypony by telling them she returned every year?”

“I wouldn’t mind at all…” Super Nova’s voice echoed at the back of my head, making me scowl.

“She would probably kill any thought of the holiday immediately… Man now this day is starting to sound pretty shitty.” I thought, seeing that we had just arrived at the Nightmare Moon statue. Zecora stood in front of the statue and turned to us, her eyes narrowed evily.

“Listen close, my little dears, I'll tell you where you got your fears of Nightmare Night, so dark and scary, of Nightmare Moon, who makes you wary. ” Zecora chanted, pulling out a small amount of Green Crystal Dust and blowing it into the air. The dust floated into the air for a bit before it started to materialize, turning into a spectre of Nightmare Moon. It was honestly good enough for me to charge a bit of magic up before realizing it wasn’t real, seeing it start to zoom towards us.

All of the little ones in the crowd gasped as ‘Nightmare Moon’ got closer, before eventually crashing into the ground and poofing into the air. The dust turned into a large cloud which blinded all of us for a bit, but it cleared a bit when Zecora began to speak.

“Every year, we put on a disguise, to save ourselves from her searching eyes.” Zecora said, a small remaining cloud hiding a pair of eyes and a large mouth filled with sharp teeth. The colt and filly standing in front of the cloud suddenly saw the face and ran off in fear, before Zecora revealed herself to be behind it. “But Nightmare Moon wants just one thing: to gobble up ponies in one quick swing!”

Pipsqueak was running away from the voice before he crashed into the side of the Nightmare Moon statue, looking up and seeing the evil face staring right down at him. He slowly backed away from the statue only to back up into the rump of Pinkie Pie, who had her head underground to hide from the frightening events going on.

I was honestly getting a kick out of the performance, but I could see why Twilight was a bit peeved by all of the bad talk about Princess Luna.

Zecora once again tossed a hooful of Green Dust into the air, causing another spectre of Nightmare Moon to appear. “Hungrily, she soars the sky. If she sees nopony, she passes by. ‘Nightmare’ zoomed towards Ghost and the CMC, who all jumped back in fear. Instead of growling or roaring, she looked around as if she couldn’t see anypony, before zooming off towards another group. “So if she comes and all is clear, Equestria is safe another year!”

The spectre shot up into the air and roared, before exploding into a cloud of Dust and leaving the physical realm. I was busy staring up into the sky to notice that Pipsqueak had actually walked up to Zecora and started to pull on her cape.

“Uh, Miss Zecora, if we wear costumes to hide from Nightmare Moon, so she won't gobble us up, how come we still need to give her some of our candy?” He asked shakily, still frightened from the vents that had just transpired.

“A perfect question, my little friend. For Nightmare Moon you must not offend.” Zecora answered, getting a small portion of Green Dust and blowing it lightly at Pipsqueak. “Fill up her belly with a treat or two, so she won't return to come eat you!”

Another ghostly Nightmare Moon showed up and began to bear menacingly down onto Pipsqueak, before she roared and rushed at us all. she then did the same thing and simply crashed into the ground, creating a large cloud of Green smoke.

Pinkie Pie and the rest of the foals all screamed and ran up to the Nightmare Moon statue, dumping most of the contents of their candy bags. I knew that somepony else would probably be back and collect all of the candy for the adults to eat later.

As they so frantically attempted to dump their candy, I suddenly felt a rumbling in the ground, and the wind picking up a bit. With us being in the Everfree Forest, I wasn’t going to take any chances and conjured up pair of Tomahawks, nodding at Ghost who jumped next to me. His horned glowed menacingly as he prepped a Kinetic spell, ready for anything that could happen.

The look on Zecora’s face told me that this was definitely not a part of the trip, so that only increased my suspicion. The clouds above us began to swirl around the moon menacingly, before a large burst of light illuminated the entire sky. Out of the swirling vortex of clouds, a Chariot led by 2 silhouetted creatures began to descend towards the sky, pulling a mysterious figure cloaked by a large black hood.

As they neared I squinted my eyes and saw that the creatures pulling the Chariot were actually Lunar Pegasi, which only meant…

“Princess Luna!” I exclaimed happily, putting away my Tomahawks and waving my hands in the air. I think she saw me anyway, because I could swear she gave me a grin from the air.

“It's Nightmare Moon! Run!” Pinkie Pie squawked, scaring everypony enough to get them to run away, including Zecora. I saw that Applebloom, instead of running, tackled Ghost to the ground and started to whimper into his fur. Instead of being able to laugh at his predicament, I was too worried for Luna.

“Wait no! It’s not Nightmare Moon! It’s just Princess Luna!” I yelled out, trying to calm everypony down. Apparently none of them heard me because they kept on running away. When I saw Princess Luna trying to coordinate the landing of her Chariot in the field we were standing in, I looked around and saw that it was too small for her to land in.

“Luna! Head for Town Square! There’s more room for a landing!” I yelled up at her. I saw her nod her head a few times before ordering her Lunar Pegasi a bit, obviously using her ‘Royal Canterlot Voice’ to order her guards.

They zoomed off towards towards town as I grinned a bit, excited for my friend to be here. “C’mon Twilight, we have to meet Luna when she lands!” I said, waving over at Ghost who was still on the ground blushing with Applebloom on top of him. “C’mon lovebirds, we gotta get going!”

Ghost’s eyes shot wide open at my call, and Applebloom quickly scrambled onto her hooves when she realized what she was doing. When I was about to take off running, Twilight grabbed my foot and pulled me back, a deadpanned look on her face.

“We can just teleport you know?” She said as if it was common knowledge to me. I didn't really like teleporting unless there was dire need because I often felt it was like cheating. I crossed my arms and sighed.

“Fine… get over here you two!” I said, grabbing Ghost and Applebloom with my magic and bringing them closer. “Nice costumes you two.”

Ghost chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. “Thanks, I saw Applebloom’s and decided to go with a complementary design. I haven’t really read the books though.” Ghost admitted, flushing a bit.

A flash of light later, all of us were in Ponyville Town Square, a few singes here and there. I could just see Pinkie Pie’s tail just turn corner, along with her frightened screams of ‘Nightmare Moon’. A few bursts of Lightning and Thunder later, the same swirling clouds that were above us in the Everfree Forest now swirled above Ponyville, causing the towns ponies to gasp in fear.

I saw Princess Luna’s Chariot fly overhead and before stopping in a hover, as I waved her down. She hopped off of the Chariot and glided down to the ground, her Cloak billowing in the wind as she descended.

The towns ponies all stared in horror as she touched down, her wings flared and head bowed. With a flipped of her head, her hood came down and revealed the Princess of the Night, a grin plastered on her face at the sight of me. When she saw the cowering ponies though, her expression changed into a grimace.

At her look, every single pony went onto the stomach in a terrified bow, shaking in fear. Twilight and I both exclaimed at the same time.

“Princess Luna!” We both said happily, but when I went to go greet her, I felt a tugging at my costume’s pants. I looked down to see Spike grabbing at both me and Twilight, before he let go of my leg and put a finger up to his mouth, telling us to be quiet.

“No! She’s my friend you little prick!” I said bluntly, disregarding him and walking forward through the crowd of bowing ponies. “Princess Luna, welcome to Ponyville.” I said, putting my hand out as if i had just met her for the first time. She smiled and took it, causing a lot of strange looks to be thrown our way.

“Thank you Project 64, allow me to address the populace in the formal manner of Canterlot Royalty.” Luna said quietly, as I nodded my head and took a step back. She took in a large breath of air, and suddenly I felt vibration going through my entire body. “Citizens of Ponyville! We have graced your tiny village with our presence, so that you might behold the real Princess of the Night!”

I had to hold onto the mane on my head with how loud she was yelling, forgetting that she hadn't gone to a public event such as this in a really, really long time.

“Uh… Luna?” I asked quietly, not loud enough for her to hear me.

“A creature of nightmares no longer, but instead a pony who desires your love and admiration! Together we shall change this dreadful celebration into a bright and glorious feast!”

I was about to get her attention again, but a ball of Pink and Feathers beat me to it…

“Did you hear that, everypony? Nightmare Moon says she's gonna feast on us all! RUN!” Pinkie Pie yelled, causing most of the younger and more meek ponies to take off yelling in fear. Once again, Ghost saw Applebloom run off with Pinkie Pie, causing him to sigh and run after her as well.

Luna gasped at the accusation Pinkie Pie threw in her direction. “What? No, children, no! You no longer have reason to fear us! Screams of delight is what your princess desires, not screams of terror!” She said, now in a quieter tone. She ended her plea with a loud stomp of her hoof, frightening a few more ponies.

“The feast she’s referring to is a party, not an actual banquet!” I clarified, trying to convey what Princess Luna was actually trying to say.

“Project 64 is correct! We do not wish to dine on ponyfolk tonight, but to destroy any notion of our past!”

“She’s said she’s going to destroy us! Run!” Another mare yelled, running away and taking yet another group of ponies with her. I sighed and smacked my forehead, seeing Mayor Mare still was in the crowd.

“Luna, go say something to her, she’s in charge here.” I whispered, Luna nodding in agreement. “and uh… lighten your approach a bit… softer words.”

Luna went up to Mayor Mare, who was still cowering in the ground a bit. Glad to know that his town had a good strong leader. “Madame Mayor, thy Princess of the Night hath arrived.” Luna said much softer that her last address, but she put her hoof out a bit too forcefully, making think that she was going to punch the frightened Mayor.

“Well Ms. Mayor? Are you going to greet Princess Luna of the Night? Ya know? Sister to Princess Celestia?” I said mockingly, trying to us pride to get her to actually do something besides shake in fear.

Sadly, she did nothing besides put her head between her hooves and quiver a bit more. Luna scowled and looked to the mare next to her, seeing her still looking up. Using an even more forceful approach, actually rearing up on her hind legs before doing it, she put out her hoof to try and greet the mare, but she simply did the same thing everypony else was doing. Putting her hoof out to try and get any kind of greeting was returned by frightened squeaks and scared gasps, no one even trying to meet her.

With an indignant huff, Princess Luna set her hoof back down. “What is the matter with you? Very well, then. Be that way.” Princess Luna said, offended by all of the reactions she was getting. “We won't even bother with the traditional royal farewell.”

Princess Luna began to walk away, making Twilight shake off the grip Spike had on her. “I’m gonna go talk to her.” She said, scowling a bit at all of the ponies in the crowd. As she went to walk around the ponies, Spike pulled at the back of her cape.

“You can't talk to her! She's Nightmare Moon!” He said, causing my vision to glow red for a bit.

“Spike, you have two choices.” I growled, squatting down to his level. “1, you shut the fuck up about all of that and stop with all the Nightmare Moon talk, or 2, I punch you in the throat. Which one are you going to pick?”

He gulped and immediately let go of Twilight’s cape, backing away from me a bit. Twilight scowled at my aggressive tactics, but I paid her no mind.

‘Spike, she isn’t Nightmare Moon. I saw the Elements of Harmony change her back to good. But it seems like she's having some trouble adjusting after being gone for a thousand years.” Twilight explained, walking in the direction Princess Luna took. “C’mon 64. I think you’ll be able to get through to her better than I can.

I nodded and was about to follow, when I saw all of the ponies still cowering in fear, not sure if ‘Nightmare Moon’ was gone. “Go on ahead Twilight. I’ll catch up with you.”

Now I don’t know if Twilight saw the intentions I had behind my eyes, or if she simply wanted to catch up to Luna before it was too late, but she walked as quickly as she could towards the Everfree Forest after Luna.

I walked to where Luna stood a few moments ago and cleared my throat.

“So! This is the kind of greeting that we give Princess Luna huh?! We get onto our bellies and cry for mommy is that it?!” I yelled, seeing some expressions of anger towards me.

“She’s Nightmare Moon though!” A stallion said, an astronaut helmet covering his face. I charged a fireball and chucked it as his faceplate, shattering the dark material to reveal a terrified expression underneath.

“Anypony else says that tonight and I burn all of their fur off!” I threatened. “She is not! She is not Nightmare Moon! She is not here to eat anypony! All she is trying to do is adjust to being back in Equestria!”

I pointed to the moon in the sky, my eyes turning red in anger.

“Tell me right now! Did you see the sun this morning!?”

No response.

“DID. YOU. SEE. THE. SUN. THIS. MORNING?!”

Frightened yes’s came towards me, along with head nods.

“Did you see the sun yesterday!? Did you see the sun the day before that?! Did you see it before that?! She isn’t Nightmare Moon anymore! If she was, then you wouldn’t even have seen the sun for the past 6 months!”

Everypony look around as the tried to apprehend what I had just said as if it was in a foreign language. My eyes locked with Mayor Mare as I gave her the hardest growl I could.

“Think about it.”

I rushed off to follow Twilight.

Author's Note

Technically I posted this on time, just 20 minutes before Midnight in Los Angeles!

64 vs. Nightmare Night Part 2

Chapter 46

3rd Person POV

64 ran after Twilight, bolting through the same path they had taken when they went to the Nightmare Moon statue. He hoped she she wasn't too hurt after what had happened, knowing that she often used force to demonstrate that even though she had been imprisoned on the moon for 1000 years, she was still a Princess.

64 arrived at the statue and saw Twilight was talking to Princess Luna, who looked a bit downtrodden.

“You know, that might explain why your appearance was met with... mixed results. I think if you just changed your approach a bit, you might be met with a warmer reception.” Twilight suggested, adjusting her costume as if it were just hit with a blast of wind.

“I know you’re having trouble getting used to being out in public like this Luna, but if you want ponies to start warming up to you, you might need to meet them halfway.” 64 said, walking up to the pair and taking off his Manticore mane.

“Meet them halfway? But why would I need to walk only halfway to them? As Princess of the Night they should be more than willing to go the whole way as they do my sister!” Luna exclaimed, her voice now regaining a milder tone now that she was talking to a friend.

“But Celestia does meet her subjects halfway.” Twilight cut in, stepping forward. “She treats ponies as her equals, not subjects who have to cater to her every whim. Maybe… if you act a bit more friendly and talk in a softer tone to ponies, then they might start warming up to you.”

Luna looked up and put a hoof to her chin. Turning to Twilight to speak, she began to speak in a ‘Regal’ tone again. “ Oh. We have been locked away for a thousand years. We are... not sure we can…”

Twilight’s eyes widened at this, suddenly reaching out and grabbing Luna’s hoof. “Oh! I know somepony who will be perfect for that! C’mon Princess!” Twilight said, trying to pull Luna’s hoof. Luna recoiled at the touch and flew back, her horn glowing defensively. 64 jumped in front of Twilight with his arms out.

“Woah woah! Luna wait! She was just trying to lead you somewhere! Not attack you!” 64 called out, ready to take a blast of magic if he needed to. Luna calmed down after she saw that 64 was in the way of her shot, floating down back to earth. “Don’t worry Luna. Just remember to not see yourself as a princess tonight, but another commoner among the ponies. I guarantee that you’ll have those ponies loving you by sunrise.”

Luna smiled at the kind words, bringing her wing around the human and hugging him. “Thank you 64, this night might have been much worse without you.” Luna said thankfully, letting go of the human, who blushed bashfully.

“Aww, think nothin’ of it. Twilight, who were you going to take Princess Luna to?” 64 asked.

“Fluttershy of course!”

64 blanched at the name, looking down at his costume and remembering how he got it. To a mare whose cutie mark meant she could communicate and connect with animals, she would no doubt at one glance know that it was real Manticore fur.

“Uh… I don’t think… I should go with you to go see her… She might… uh… get frightened by my costume! Yeah!” 64 lied, thinking of the best excuse he could come up with. Twilight seemed to accept the thought and took off with Princess Luna, who gave 64 a wave before going off with the Element of Magic.

“Whew, dodged a bullet there…Let’s find Ghost…”

64 charged up his magic and teleported towards Sweet Apple Acres, managing to flash in a nearby Apple Orchard. He looked around to find where he was when he heard the sound of loud laughter, no doubt being from a group of fillies 64 knew Ghost would be with. Heading towards the sound, 64 saw that there was a clubhouse in the middle of a small clearing, easily hidden from prying eyes that weren’t looking hard enough.

“Ghost! Ya gotta be gentler than that! Move like this!” A voice 64 recognized as Applebloom’s rung out, making his eyebrows rise at the out of context conversation.

“C’mon Ghost! You’re already so close! Just a bit more!” Scootaloo voiced out, further peaking 64’s curiosity.

“And you said you could take all 3 of us at once! Even Pipsqueak can probably do better than that!” Sweetie Belle, ask 64 walked up to the door and nearly kicked it off of it’s hinges.

“Alright, what the hell is going on here?!” 64 yelled, taking in the image in front of him. He saw that there were 3 fillies and 1 Changeling colt, all on the floor, costumes stripped of their bodies, a warm temperature in the room, along with sweat glistening off of them… all while playing a game of Twister.

At the sound of the intrusion 64 made, the 3 fillies all tumbled into pile on the Twister board, but Ghost managed to teleport out last second and charged his horn at the door, ready to strike. when he saw it was just 64, he smiled and waved a bit.

“Hey 64! Tonight is going awesome! Applebloom told me about this game and said that we should play a few rounds before going back out and getting more candy! We had to come back and dump all of our excess sweets!” Ghost said excitedly, pointing one of his hooves over at a corner, holding what could be called a hill of candy. “What are you doing here?”

64’s face flushed as he recalled why he barged in like he did, hearing some… sounds… that could easily be taken out of context and taken as something else.

“Just heard laughter and was wonder what was out here! Nothing else!” 64 said a bit too quickly, but luckily none of the foals managed to see the true meaning of what he meant. “Now c’mon. Luna arrived and she’s feeling a bit left out around here. Let’s go back to town and make sure that she has a good rest of the day. But remember girls, She isn’t Nightmare Moon. She’s just Princess Luna.

The 3 fillies in the room all nodded and went to go put their costumes back on, going into a separate room to change. When the door closed, Ghost morphed back into Frankenponie’s Monster and made sure everything was right in a nearby mirror hanging on the wall.

“Have you told the other 2? Sweetie Belle and Applebloom?” 64 asked, but Ghost shook his head.

“I…I didn’t think a celebration like this would be the right time to show them… I already made Applebloom promise not to tell anypony, and Applejack already knows that I’m gonna tell the rest of the Apple family tomorrow morning.”

“Well… I think you should just keep it to yourself for now… we don’t need word getting out.”

“Alright! We’re all ready!” 3 filles screamed at the same time, all back in their respective costumes.

“Ok. C’mon, I’ll take you to go get a bit more candy and play some of the games in town.” 64 said, now opening the door of the small clubhouse much gentler this time. Once they all filed out, 64 started walking after them.

64 POV

“64, how are all of the other colts and fillies that were rescued from the mountain? Are they all alright?” Applebloom asked, her eyes showing concern. I rubbed the back of my head and sighed a bit.

“All of them made it out alive… if that’s what you’re asking…” I said slowly, not exactly wanting to answer this. “Some of them got really hurt, so they’ll have to stay at the infirmary in Canterlot Palace for a bit until they can go home with their parents.”

The response I received were 3 gasps of shock, each of the girls horrified.

“That’s horrible! How could somepony do something like that?” Sweetie Belle asked. I really didn’t want to keep talking about this, so I made up a distraction.

“Hey look! There’s a house we haven't been to yet! Let’s get some candy!” I said enthusiastically, as the 3 fillies suddenly forgot the horrible subject and went racing towards the door. As they chanted the Nightmare Night song for candy, Ghost and I hung back and watched. “Well it looks like Applebloom isn’t going to have many problems getting back into the normal swing of things. From what you’ve told me the only thing that really sets her off is blood.”

“And anything that looks like blood. A few times already I’ve had to divert her attention when a few ponies had more… grisly… costumes. No way she wasn’t going to have a reaction from that.” Ghost replied, kicking the dirt a bit in frustration. I noticed he always acted a bit more mature when referring to something serious, such as helping Applebloom, but often acted carefree like a colt his age should when things got more relaxed. Right now worrying about Applebloom wasn’t very relaxing for him.

“Ghost, I know that you are scared for her, but Ponyville is an amazing town for something like this. She’s gonna feel safe here.” I reassured him, kneeling down and patting his head. He buzzed a bit at the gesture, smiling a bit.

“I know 64. I think-”

“Ghost! Come on! This house has full sized candy bars!” Scootaloo called, waving her hoof over to the front porch. I nodded and let him go towards the house, watching as he ran over and collected the candy. Reaching into my pocket I pulled out a small chocolate bar and started to eat it, looking back at Ponyville. We were in a more residential area, but Town Square was just down the block.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that the Stage was occupied by a band playing country music, complete with a Fiddle, Banjo, and Harmonica player. Ponies were dancing like crazy and enjoying themselves, but all of a sudden I could see them all stop and gasp, some bowing down and others running away.

“Ah shit here we go again… c’mon you guys! We gotta go help Princess Luna!” I called, as Ghost and the CMC all came back to me. “Let’s follow Twilight and Princess Luna. They may need some help.”

The all nodded in understanding and followed me towards Town Square. The two saw me and smiled, Luna smiling a bit more. “Hello Project 64. How has your night been?” Luna asked me, now in a much softer tone than before.

“Wow! Those lessons from Fluttershy actually worked? Forgive me if I was a bit doubtful, but I thought it would take a bit more than one pony to help you with that.” I said honestly.

“Do not apologize. I too was doubtful of my ability to gain a voice publicly acceptable. Sadly… I doubt it has helped much.” Luna confessed, gesturing around to many of the ponies who were bowing down in fear, all of them shaking.

“Get up! Everypony get up!” I commanded, once again having a small bit of rage bubble up to the surface. Slowly but surely, all of the ponies returned to their hooves. “Ok Luna… just repeat after me…”

I whispered into Luna’s ear, telling her exactly what to say and how to say it. She nodded slowly as she took in a breath to speak.

“Citizens of Ponyville… we- I… respect that you are so eager to bow to me, but I do not wish to be a symbol of royalty tonight. I only wish to join all of you in this festival as a normal pony! You do not have anything to fear of me!” Luna finished, with me reminding her to keep her volume at a moderate level. I nodded and grinned at the conclusion of her small speech, looking around to see the results.

Many ponies still looked scared, but just like my return to Ponyville after rescuing Applebloom, there were a choice few who actually stopped and listened to her words. They looked less frightened, but not any more eager to actually meet the Princess, but that was fine to me. As long as they were willing to listen.

“So where were you two headed?” I asked Twilight, fluffing my mane a bit.

“Well, if anypony is going to be able to help Princess Luna become more approachable, it has to be Applejack. We’re going to go and see if she can give her a bit of advice.” She explained, pointing in the direction of Applejack’s stall. “Want to come along?”

“Sure. Want to go see your sister Applebloom?” I asked, looking down at the now smiling filly.

“Yea! She has really good costume and ah haven't been able to try her pumpkin catapults yet!” The filly said excitedly, nearly hopping up and down in delight. We all walked over to Applejack’s designated area, where she had an Applebobbing station, Pumpkin Catapults, and Spider Chucking stand. She didn’t see us coming because she was helping Pipsqueak not get dunked in the green water. When she set him down, she started to walk towards us with her eyes closed, and when she saw Princess Luna, she jumped up in a startled tone, before falling onto the floor and bringing her hooves over her head.

“Wow Applejack. Really? I thought you of all ponies wouldn’t act this way.” I said disappointedly, scowling down at her. She looked up at me and coughed nervously, getting back onto her hooves and seeing her sister standing in our group. Not wanting to look like a bad role model, she put on a fake smile which could easily be seen through.

“Uh Hey Twilight! Princess! What brings ya two here?” She said nervously, eyes darting around a bit.

“The princess is looking for a little advice on how to fit in around here.” Twilight explained, causing Applejack to lose her pleasant demeanor.

“Fit in? Really?” Applejack replied deadpanned, causing me to growl a bit and my eyes to glow red. She saw me and coughed again. “I mean... that's easy! All you gotta do is have the right attitude.” Applejack said, walking up to Princess Luna with a much more genuine demeanor. “Loosen up a bit, be positive, play a few games, have some fun.”

“Fun? What is this "fun" thou speakest of? Pray tell, what purpose do these serve?” Luna asked, slipping back into her Royal Tone. Applejack motioned to the game to her side, showing a spider across a long stretch of grass.

“Try to land the sp-sp-spiders on the web…” A scared mare said on the ground, not even bothering to raise her hooves that were covering her eyes. Luna looked at the game and saw a large bowl of spiders to the side, grabbing one of them in her hoof.

“Go ahead Luna! Just aim and throw!” I called out encouragingly, clapping my hands in cheer. She looked back nervously, turning back to the spider web and taking a deep breath. With a small grunt, Luna tossed the plush spider, but it fell just short of the web.

“You can do it, princess!” Applejack called out, clapping her hooves onto the floor. With a nod of courage, Luna tossed the spider with a bit more force, causing the plush to stick onto the webs and stay there.

“Ha! Your princess enjoys this ’fun’!” Luna cheered loudly. “In what other ways may we experience it?”

Only a few moments later, we had Princess Luna shooting off Pumpkins, with an added twist that as she fired them through the air I would blast them with my magic, causing pieces of pumpkin guts flying everywhere.

“Ha ha! The fun has been doubled! Literally!” Princess Luna exclaimed happily, as cheers from ponies came to her ears. Ponies that were now seeing Princess Luna behaving like a normal mare instead of a frightening Princess were now cheering for Luna, rooting for her to make the shots onto targets as she played the game.

“Why don't you try bobbin' for apples? We got the best apples in Equestria here, princess!” Applejack recommended, motioning to the Applebobbing tub across the street.

“I ask that thou call us... me... Luna, fair Applejack. Hear me, villagers! All of you! Call me Luna!” the Princess exclaimed, as I cheered along with the rest of the ponies who murmured the name Luna. “Show me to these bobbing apples.”

Applejack and Luna began walking across the street when we all saw that Pipsqueak was once again trying to bob for apples on his own, but ended up falling into the water. Luna, seeing the colt fall into the water, rushed forward and sunk her head into the water, trying to get him out.

“Hey, gals. Anypony seen Pip? We lost him the last time we had to run– “ Pinkie asked, just as the moment that Princess Luna came up from the water with Pipsqueak hang from her mouth. One word went through my head as I saw Pinkie Pie’s eyes dilate.

“Fuck.”

“Ahh! Nightmare Moon is gobbling Pipsqueak! Everypony run!” Pinkie screamed at the top of her lungs, causing the multitude of foals to run away with her.

“PINKIE JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP!” I yelled at her as she ran away, but I wasn’t sure she heard me.

“Help! My backside has been gobbled!” Pipsqueak yelled, being dropped when Luna’s mouth gaped in horror.

“'Tis a lie! Thy backside is whole and ungobbled, thou ungrateful whelp!” Luna yelled, falling back into her Royal Tone, and as if there was some otherworldly force trying to fuck with us, Rainbow Dash sent a bolt of lightning down behind Luna, giving her a fearsome look. Ponies seeing her angered demeanor, began to back away slowly causing her to gasp. “Fair villagers, please do not back away. Let us join together in... fun!”

Luna tried to save herself some face by grabbing another plush spider and tossing it into the center of the the ponies. They recoiled at the plush as if it was explosive, so Luna wanted to step up her game. I went in to try and defuse the situation.

“Luna just calm down, Pinkie Pie is just a little more excitable than most ponies. You don’t have to do anything about a few ponies a bit too air headed to actually think straight.” I said, trying to calm the flames in Luna’s eyes. It did little, because with a single shove to the side, I was pushed to the side and Luna set her sights onto the plush spider she had tossed.

With a single bolt of Lightning Magic, the plush spider became animated and slowly turned towards the ponies who were backing away. At the sight of the frightening Spider, the ponies all screamed and bolted away, screaming as they did so. Luna shot the entire bowl of spiders with the animation spell, causing a multitude of spiders to come to life and crawl around.

They all spread out and were able to actually trample a mare, but most of them went towards the spider web net and stuck to the center. “ Huzzah! How many points do I receive?” Luna asked excitedly. not realizing that she was terrorizing the townsfolk.

“Luna! I don’t think you should be making Spiders come to life!” Twilight called frightenedly, stepping away from a few spiders surrounding her.

“Do not run away! As your princess, we command you!” Luna yelled, slowly making the situation worse. The pandemonium around us began to escalate towards disastrous levels, all of the ponies running around trying to get away from Princess Luna. She slowly got angrier and angrier, before she absolutely bellowed to the sky.

“BE STILL!” She bellowed in a deafening tone, making the mistake of standing way to close to me as she did. As she yelled I suddenly felt my vision go blurry and my world to start spinning, not being able to stand on my feet for long. In my state of confusion I fell to my knees, nearly vomiting all I had eaten tonight on the floor.

“Princess, remember! Watch the screaming!” Twilight called out, but to me, it sounded like I had cotton balls stuffed into my ears. To make it all worse, she kept yelling near me.

“No, Twilight Sparkle! We must use the traditional royal Canterlot voice for what we are about to say!” Luna roared, causing me to actually vomit onto the floor. “Since you choose to fear your princess rather than love her, and dishonor her with this insulting celebration, we decree that Nightmare Night shall be canceled! Forever!”

The ringing in my head became too much, and I fell to the ground unconscious.

3rd Person POV

“Ugh… where the fuck am I?” 64 groaned, rubbing the side of his head as he sat up from his unconscious position. He noticed he was in a small cot in a medical tent, but wasn’t wearing his Manticore Mane. “Hello?!” 64 yelled, seeing that it was pitch black outside.

“He’s awake!” Twilight yelled, walking into the tent. “Are you ok 64? You don’t look so good.” Twilight commented, seeing that his face was a bit paler that it should have been.

“Yeah… I’m good. What happened?” 64 asked slowly, actually not feeling that hot. “All I remember is Luna saying something about Nightmare Night being cancelled…”

“Well, she did! But now everything’s ok! Everypony realized how horrible they were acting, and are giving Luna a second chance. I think it’s turning around ofr her!”

64 smiled a bit at that and went to sit back up placing his feet onto the ground. “Alright… let’s go see how she’s doing. We walked outside to see that Luna was playing the Spider toss game once again, playing competitively against a stallion dressed as a fisherman getting eaten by a shark. She beat him, causing both of them to laugh at the friendly game.

A group of foals went up to Princess Luna and dumped their candy offerings in front of her, causing her to blush slightly and accept the candy bashfully. “Wow, what happened when I was out?”

“Project 64! I’m so sorry that I did that to you!” Princess Luna apologized, running forward and grabbing 64 in an apologetic hug. 64 returned the hug chuckled.

“You just rung my bell a bit Luna, nothing too bad. I’m glad to see that you are out here enjoying yourself with all of the ponies now! What happened to make this change?” 64 asked, seeing everypony now laughing and celebrating.

“I just needed to remember that this is a night for fun and fright, not to honor Nightmare Moon. Plus knowing that the little one’s actually enjoying being frightened helps.”

64 chuckled and looked up towards the Moon. “You know… I’ve been having some pretty strange dreams lately. Do you think you can help me out a bit?” 64 asked, looking at Luna with a small smirk.

With a grin and blush, Luna nodded and sighed. “I think I may be able to help with that.”

Even though it didn’t exactly go as planned, to 64 it was the best Nightmare Night ever.

Author's Note

OMG I'M SO EXCITED FOR WATCH DOGS11!1!!! I've been on the hype train since it came out, and now that it's near, I'M SO EXCITED!

Chapter 47

64 POV

Then time for fun came and went… because eventually I had to be called back to Canterlot with Princess Luna. Because I couldn’t pack it, and it was too big to hide, I ended up having to burn the Manticore Mane to ashes. It sucked, but I didn’t want Fluttershy to know that I had slaughtered a Manticore for its pelt and mane.

Bitch is crazy.

“You all packed 64?” Ghost asked, resting on the bed while laying on his stomach. We were both in the room he would be staying in during his stay in Ponyville, and I had already made sure he had fed before I left.

Surprisingly, he didn’t need that much for some reason…

“Yep. I have to start helping Shining Armor. With accusations against both Ethaxial, Capras, and Mutarus for aiding a war effort, we have to act quickly before something bad happens.” I explained, attaching my Enchanted Satchel to my waist band. “I might be the one going overseas this time.”

“Oh… I… I really hoped we’d be able to spend some time together…” Ghost admitted, looking up at me pleadingly. It was hard to not give in, but I couldn’t stay.

“I’m sorry Ghost. I know that it gets really lonely around Canterlot. But now you’re in Ponyville with a job to do, just like me. Plus…” I said cheekily, leaning forward a bit, “In Canterlot, you don’t have Applebloom to keep you company.”

Ghost’s face flushed at my words, before he sent a small shock spell at me. Unfortunately, he forgot I still had the shield Zecora had given me. It bounced off of the shield sending yellow sparks flying out, going right back at him and sparking against his Chitin.

“YOW! Hey that’s not fair you have a shield!” Ghost complained.

“Yeah but you have armor, which one win’s there?” I joked, as we both heard the door open. Within the blink of an eye, Ghost had managed to morph into his disguise and stand there looking nonchalant, but let out a sigh of breath when he saw that it was only Applejack.

“So Ghost, ya ready to break tha’ news to tha’ rest of tha’ family?” Applejack asked, regarding Ghost’s race. I looked at him in concern, seeing his face of uncertainty. “Now c’mon sugarcube! It’ll be like rippin’ off a bandage! Quick an’ easy!”

"All it takes is 10 seconds of crazy courage Ghost. That's all you need to say it." I encouraged. Ghost's face then set into one of fierce determination, and with a deep breath, he nodded.

"Alright, let's do this." He said, walking past Applejack and downstairs to the living room. Applejack and I followed closely, wanting to be there when he revealed himself. The Apple family would have to be the only ones who could know.

"Big Mac! Granny Smith! Can you come to the living room? I have something I need to tell you!" Ghost called out, his confident demeanor not wavering in the slightest.

"Hold onto yer britches young'n! Ah'm comin'!" Granny Smith called back, the sound of creaking wood slowly coming closer to the living room. A few loud steps coming from the outside showed that Big Mac was outside doing something else, before he appeared in the front door.

“Need somethin’?” He said, never a stallion of many words. Granny Smith finally managed to make it into the living room after a few minutes of shuffling, her walker clicking against the hardwood floor.

“Now what’s all tha’ racket ah’ve been hearin’?” She said, looking a bit tired.

“Ghost here has somethin’ ta tell all of us. Don’t ya Ghost?” Applejack said in an encouraging tone, not realizing that by doing that it made Ghost’s confidence waver a bit.

“Y-Yeah, It’s uh, really really important that you don’t tell anypony else about it though. So… y-you need to promise before you tell anyone!” Ghost asked, receiving nods from both the Grandson and Grandmother. He began to hesitate when it came time, his eyes darting back and forth nervously and sweat starting to drip down his forehead.

“Well c’mon then Ghost! Ah know ah;m still young ‘n spry, but that don’t mean ah can wait forever!” Granny Smith joked, causing me to stifle a chuckle. Weakly laughing at the joke, Ghost took a deep breath.

“Alright… Here goes.” He said simply, before his horn glowed a neon green color. Green flames began to slowly form around his hooves, causing Granny Smith and Big Mac to gape. Big Mac’s first reaction was to try and run to the kitchen to try and get some water to put him out, but I caught him by the tail with my magic before he could.

“Just watch.” I said, trying to ease the stallion. He eventually did calm down and just watch with wicked fascination as the green flames continued to rise up towards Ghost’s head, his porous legs already revealed. Chitin replaced fur, and insectoid wings grew on his back. Once the transformation was complete, Ghost opened his eyes, revealing their icy blue color.

Both Big Mac and Granny Smith flinched at the sight of his eyes, causing Ghost to revert his gaze from them.

“I’m… I’m a Changeling. 64 takes care of me up in Canterlot…” Ghost said slowly, looking to me for help.

“I saved him from a hive down in the Badlands. After awhile he ended up losing his connection to the Changeling Hivemind, meaning that he’s a free Changeling. Unfortunately, disguising himself is the only way he can get around Ponyville without a lynch mob going for him.” I added.

Big Mac was obviously the man of the house, meaning that it was his job to protect his family. From the look in his eyes, Ghost was a threat to his family’s safety. I turned my gaze to Granny Smith, who had a look in her eyes I couldn’t put my finger on. It was equal parts confusion and amazement, so I couldn’t exactly tell what she was thinking.

“Ah already knew cuz he helped me get outta the mountain! He protected me from tha’ guards and made me feel safe!” Applebloom exclaimed, blushing slightly after she realized that she didn’t say the last part in her head.

“Big Mac wipe that ugly scowl off yer face! Are ya really gonna act like that to a colt less than half yer age?” Applejack scolded, seeing Big Mac’s look.

“He ain’t a colt! He’s barely a he!” Big Mac said angrily, as I felt an all too familiar anger bubbling up in my stomach.

“how dare he…”

I shook my head and growled, trying to shake her out of my head.

“Big Macintosh Apple! How dare ya say that!” Granny Smith yelled, turning to her grandson. “Do ya really see things like that?! Ah woulda thought that Appleblossom would taught ya better than that!”

Big Mac and Applejack visibly recoiled at the mention of their deceased mother’s name, Applebloom doing it less so due to her not being so familiar with her. “Why in tha’ name of Celestia are ya bringin’ her inta this!” Big Mac barked back, his voice louder than I had ever heard before.

“Ah know that the only one in this family that could knock any sense inta ya was yer ma’, so what do ya think she would do if she saw ya talkin’ to this young feller like that?”

Big Mac went silent after that sentence, and the tension in the room became so thick I would need to wade through it to get out. Big Mac was just staring in disbelief at his Grandmother, Applejack was holding Applebloom closely, and the filly herself was starting to shed tears.

“Big Mac, Ghost has put enough trust into you that he was willing to reveal himself in order to show you his true nature. All he asks is that you don’t say anything to anypony else in town. You don’t have to like him, but he’s going to be staying in Ponyville to look after Applebloom whether you like it or not.” I said firmly, still holding back rage from Big Mac’s earlier comments.

“Apple’s take care of their own, ah don’t see why we need a colt here telling me how ta look after my sister.” Big Mac retorted.

“In all physical aspects you can protect Applebloom as best as you can, but psychologically, you’ll need Ghost’s help. When she has a nightmare and doesn’t know what it means, she’ll need somepony who went through it all with her. If she has an episode and needs comforting, her mind will react best to Ghost. Trust me when I say this, he’s gonna be the reason Applebloom gets better.”

Big Mac just continued to stare daggers into me, but I just returned the stare with ease. Anytime he would try to make himself look a bit more fearsome, I would just return it. When he figured out I had him beat, he just huffed and walked out of the door, heading out towards the Apple Orchard.

We all watched him leave in silence, not one of us saying a word for a few moments.

“Aw he’ll come around. Always acts like a big baby whenever things don’t go his way. C’mon Ghost, somethin’ tells me yer cravin’ a nice big breakfast!” Granny Smith said, completely disregarding her grandson jsut stormed out.

Her remark reminded me that I hadn’t told her the least pleasing part of Ghost’s anatomy. What he ate.

“Oh I don’t eat regular food Ms. Smith. since I’m a Changeling, I… uh, sorta have to… absorb emotions…” Ghost explained slowly, gauging Granny Smith’s reaction.

“Ah well, ah guess ah can still make lunch fer the rest of us. Didja already feed him 64?” Granny Smith asked as if it was the simplest thing ever.

“Uh… yeah. I did. If he doesn’t get too hurt then he should be ok for about 2 weeks.” I said slowly, trying to see if she really just treated this as another nonchalant moment.

“Alrighty then, Ah’m gonna start cookin’!”

Granny Smith walked off into the kitchen leaving me and Ghost incredibly confused. Applejack and Applebloom were still in the room, but they were both still shocked at the events that had occurred with Big Mac.

“Ah just can’t believe mah own brother would act like that! Treatin’ Ghost as if he was some sort of monster! If he didn’t run off like that then I would give him the backside of mah hoof a few times!” Applejack yelled, walking towards the door Big Mac had stormed out of and slamming it.

“Well if Granny Smith is trustworthy, then I’m sure he’ll come to terms with situation. Just give him time.” I said, trying to look at things logically. “Ghost, make sure Applebloom is ok.”

When he looked over at the filly, he saw that she had tears streaming down her face and was slightly shaking. “Applebloom? Are you ok?” Ghost asked quietly, but Applebloom just looked down and sniffled.

“Ah’m sorry that he said all those mean things to ya… Ah wish he jus’ talked to ya instead of jus’ runnin’ off like that…” Applebloom sniffled, barely holding in a few tears. Ghost put up a hoof and wiped away some of her tears, causing the still teary eyed filly to grin and blush.

“You think I haven’t heard a few hurtful words before? Trust me, Big Mac is just acting like a stallion trying to protect his family normally would.” Ghost rationalized, doing better than I normally would.

“Well it looks like things here are going to be ok, besides Big Mac back there… I have to head back to Canterlot now. Tell Granny Smith to wrap my breakfast up and send over to Canterlot would ya?” I said jokingly towards Applejack who grinned and nodded.

“Will do. Have fun with all of tha killin’ and fightin’ ya do over there.” Applejack said, giving me a small nuzzle before following Granny Smith into the kitchen. That wasn’t too far from the truth of what I do…

“See you later 64, I’ll make sure to stay safe over here!” Ghost said, jumping up to my shoulders and wrapping his forelegs around my neck. I gave him a small hug back, making sure to expel some emotion into the air so he could snack on it.

“See ya Ghost… see you later too Applebloom.” I said regarding the small filly, who gave me a small wave.

“Bye 64!”

I walked out of the door and took in a deep breath of air, looking up in the air. I could see Luna’s chariot waiting for me, so I waved at it to drop down a rope. Instead of a rope, I was forcibly teleported 50 feet into the air and appeared in one of the chariot seats.

“Hello Project 64! Last Night was simply the most wonderful of evenings!” Luna exclaimed, tossing her hooves into the air like a little filly. “Simply so many confectionary creations which simply melted in my mouth! I do wish I could make it Nightmare Night every night!”

“How much candy did you eat?” I said deadpanned.

“Enough to kill a large dog!”

“I believe you."

3rd Person POV

The entire chariot ride back to Canterlot 64 was tasked with try to keep the Princess of the Night from flying out of the chariot in some sugar crazed act of excitement, all while trying to prevent her from eating more candy that was stashed underneath her seat.

"I MUST CONSUME THE SWEETENED DELIGHT!” Luna roared, desperately trying to bite a Chocolate bar out of 64’s hand.

“Dammit Luna you’ve had enough!” 64 retaliated, half of him hanging off of the chariot as Luna was pushing him. He set the bar of chocolate on fire before chucking it off of the side, sending the burning confection down towards Earth. Luna watched the burning flame of the chocolate bar as it slowly made its descent, her eyes nearly tearing up at the waste of sugar. Her bloodshot eyes then turned to 64 before they started to glow white.

“YOU DARE LAUNCH THY SUGARY SWEETNESS OUT OF OUR GRASP!? YOU WILL RUE THE DAY-!”

“Alright nighty night.” 64 said as he brought his hand over Luna’s eyes, sending a bit of magic into them. In a matter of seconds Luna was unconscious and snoring loudly, but she was still on top of 64 who was still hanging out of the Chariot a bit. “Son of a bitch…”

With a grunt 64 had managed to push Luna off of himself and set her onto the floor of the chariot, grabbing the large bag of candy underneath her seat and pulling it next to him. He saw Canterlot Palace coming up close and sighed, glad that the ride on the crazy train was over.

When the Chariot landed in the Hedge Garden landing zone, 64 saw that Shining Armor was standing there with a big stupid grin on his face. Throwing Princess Luna over his shoulder, 64 smirked and walked off of the chariot.

“What’s got you so happy? Ton of recruits sign up?” 64 asked, not really expecting a serious answer.

“Not exactly. You two!” Shining Armor ordered, pointing towards two solar guards doing nothing. “Take Princess Luna back to her chambers, NOW!”

Both of the stallions followed the order without question, each of them loading a half of Princess Luna onto their backs and marching towards the Garden exit.

“So, what’s so exciting?”

“I can’t just tell you. I really need to show you.” Shining Armor said, quickly galloping away from 64 and towards the Garden exit. “C’mon 64 don’t make me wait up!”

With a sigh, 64 ran off after Shining, still wondering what the hell could be so important.Once they entered the Palace, 64 saw the humorous sight of Solar Guards attempting to salute their commanding officer as he ran by full speed, so the result was usually an incredibly confused look.

Running into the Barracks and into Shining Armor’s office, 64 slammed the door shut and locked it. “Alright, what’s so damn exciting now?” 64 asked, aggravated at Shining Armor’s antics.

“Alright, I’ve been doing a lot of reading… and I found a book on past General of the Equestria Army during times of war.” Shining Armor panted, levitating a book out of his desk drawer and setting it onto the desk. “Here, read the first one.”

64 cleared his throat and read aloud. “General Windbasker, died at 67 years of age, no spouse, led Equestrian Knights to victory against the Griffon Invasion of Year 23. Captain Reinfire, died at 48 years of age, no spouse, led Equestrian Knights into the Battle of Ethaxial Canal. Commander Hurricane, died at age 87, led Equestrian Knights to victory against Governor Talon’s Griffon Legion. What the fuck do these old guys have to do with anything?”

“What is one thing they all have in common?!” Shining said frantically.

“Uh… all led the Equestrian Knights at one point?”

“No! NO LIVING FAMILY! NO SPOUSES!”

64 raised his eyebrow at the Captain, whose eyes was twitching dangerously. “Umm… ok so none of these guys got married. What does that have to do with you?”

“I refuse to be another one of these guys 64. Not the leader of an army of course, but I refuse to end up like them.” Shining Armor stated, slamming the book in front of 64 closed.

“Dead?”

“Nope. Alone.” Shining took in a deep breath and closed his eyes, his horn glowing faintly. “During Nightmare Night, when Cadence made me dress up as a Princess Celestia…”

64 had to take a moment to imagine the ridiculous sight of Shining Armor wearing a flowing rainbow wig.

“I realized something. I refuse to die alone. So… I got this…”

His horn levitated up a small object, and a glint in 64’s eyes caused his lower jaw to nearly drop to the ground in shock.

Shining Armor had in his possession, a Solitaire Diamond Engagement ring.

Chapter 48

64 POV

I stared agape at the beautiful ring, seeing it glint brightly from the sunlight shining through the window. I reached out to inspect it further, but when i did Shining pulled it back towards him.

“Sorry man, I just can’t let anyone do that just yet… I… I already have everything planned.” Shining said timidly, growing nervous at the thought of proposing to Cadence. My mind was reeling with thoughts, so I outwardly expressed the one at the forefront.

“Shining, are you doing this just because you don’t want to be known in the history books another Captain who didn’t get married, or because you love Cadence to do this?” I asked seriously, staring into his eyes to see if he was lying.

At my words his eyes widened and he shook his head. “Hell no! It’s just… I know we’re going into a really bad situation. And if something escalates into something we can’t handle… I just don’t want to have any regrets…”

I took the answer as truth and leaned back into my chair, grinning as I did so. “Well then good luck. What’s the plan?” I asked, rubbing my cheek a bit.

“Wine and dine at one of the more exclusive restaurants in Canterlot, but knowing both of our statuses we wouldn’t have problems in getting into any one of them.” Shining explained, putting away the engagement ring. “And lately she’s been bugging me that we hadn’t been dancing in forever, so after dinner I was planning on taking her to a Ballroom where I’ll have the Canterlot Symphony Orchestra all set up to play one of her favorite songs, Estati Amore.”

“Summer’s Love? I thought I had heard her humming that a few times in passing.” I commented, knowing that it was originally a Bitallion love song until it was translated and recreated in Equestria.

“Yup, and about halfway through the song… I’ll pop the question.” Shining said, slamming his hoof onto the desk confidently. I had to applaud his confidence in the matter, knowing how serious a marriage proposal was.

“And when is the date set for this thing? I want front row tickets.” At my words, Shining froze up a bit and rubbed the back of his head. “What is it? You haven't planned this thing yet?”

He shook his head no and sighed. “Everything is set a week from now. And if things do end up going perfectly, the ceremony will be set a month from now.”

I recoiled a bit at the timeframe Shining gave me. “A month? Wedding take 6 to 8 months tops to plan out! How the fuck are you going to set things up like that?” Shining’s eyebrow raised at me, as if that was a stupid thing to say.

“Umm… we have literally hundreds of ponies willing to throw themselves at Celestia’s hooves to help plan a Royal Canterlot Wedding. A month might be too much time.” Shining said, as I mulled over the fact. I guess if the entire populace of Canterlot would help, then it might not even take a month.

“Alright… I guess, that makes sense?” I said, unsure if it even did. “So what’s wrong with the proposal happening in a week?”

“Well… you might want to take a look at this.” Shining answered, levitating a folder over to me. I plucked it out of the air and opened it up, seeing a small list of names and pictures all over the pages.

“This looks like a target list, but no crimes have been listed. What is this?” I asked, closing the folder.

“Those are the Diplomats which will be attending the negotiations of peace in Ethaxial’s Capital, Volaticus. Both Kingdoms of Capras and Mutarus have agreeded to meet to negotiate a treaty.” Shining explained, opening another drawer in his desk. “You will be attending along with Frenzy Scribe, our assigned Foreign Diplomat. Unfortunately for you, you will not be able to attend my proposal. You both are leaving in two days.”

I stared agape at my friend, scoffing. “What?! Aww man I wanted to see how much sweat would be pouring off of your body by the time you pulled out the ring!” I cried, upset that I wouldn’t be able to attend.

“Well sucks to be you. Go pack your things. Oh and before I forget.” Shining said, reaching into another compartment in his desk. “No magic again. Gryphons have implemented brand new magic drainers into the wall of the Castle. Prevents beings from using any kind of magic, so take this with you.”

Shining tossed me something which I caught moments before it hit my face, but it was just a thin black cylinder. “What’s this thing?”

“Swing it and take a gander.” I looked down at the object and did what I was told, swinging as hard as I could. Out of it popped a collapsible baton, which sparked at the end once it fully extended. “Meet the newest in Earth Pony Tech, The Shock Baton.”

I looked at the device and grimaced, attaching it to my belt loop. “But I already have these.” I said, pulling my Skeleton Blades out of my pocket and attaching them to my wrists, popping them out in demonstration. “Why do I need another concealed weapon?”

“Sometimes blades won’t cut it, pardon the pun. Plus this is less lethal than those things. What if you just want to incapacitate? You try that with your blades you might hit something vital.” Shining explained, making a bit of sense.

Of course… I wouldn’t miss in the first place…

“All right, anything else?” I questioned, retracting my blades and putting them back into my pockets.

“Yes, once you are all packed, meet with Frenzy Scribe in the Palace Library. It doesn’t matter what time you show up, he’s always in there.” Shining added, pointing at the door. “Now get, I still have some more planning for the Proposal.”

I nodded in understanding and made my way towards the door, heading towards my chamber.

3rd Person POV

Ghost was sitting in his new room in his disguise, not wanting to frighten anypony with his eyes. He was reading a book given to him by Applebloom, who told him it was a really good love story about vamponies and a teenage mare going to a new school, but right now it was physically hurting him to keep reading.

“This is literature these days?” He whispered, holding back the urge to light the book on fire. “I’m gonna go find Applebloom and give this back…”

Ghost hopped off of his bed and held the book in his magic, opening the door and walking towards Applebloom’s room. He was about to knock, but his ears perked up when he heard something on the other side.

“...but he didn’t……helped us…”

“...care if he…… shapeshiftin’...... love sucker?”

“...help it… who he is…”

At the sound of something smashing and a shriek from Applebloom, Ghost turned around and gave the door a good buck, sending it swinging open. He swept the room with his eyes and saw Big Mac standing over Applebloom, one of his forehooves planted deep in the wall behind her as if he threw a punch at it.

“What going on in here?!” Ghost yelled, glaring at the large farm pony, who easily towered over him.

“Ghost! What are ya doing here?!” Applebloom said frenzied, slightly shaking a bit.

“I came to return a book. Now I’ll say it again. What’s going on in here!?”

“...Ah’m gonna go back and work on the East Orchard… Ah hope fer your sake ya don’t do anythin’ stupid.” Big Mac growled, looking down at Ghost who just returned his glare. Once Big Mac passed Ghost and left the room, Applebloom fell onto her belly with a shaky sigh, tears now beginning to stream down her face.

Ghost dove to her side and grabbed one of her hooves, holding it gently. “Applebloom, what happened in here?” He asked slowly, trying to calm the frightened filly down.

“Why… why is mah brother actin’ like that Ghost? Why… why is he so angry with you?” Applebloom sobbed.

“I’m gonna go talk to him. He’s just uses the threat of violence to try and deter me from getting close to your family, but it’s not gonna work. I’ve seen way scarier things than him.” Ghost said confidently, getting up and walking towards the door.

“G-Ghost!” Applebloom choked out, not being able to use her voice for a few seconds.

“Yeah?”

“S-Stay safe…”

Ghost grinned and waved his hoof. “Don’t worry Applebloom, I’m not gonna let anything come between you and I.”

As Ghost walked out of the room, he missed the faint red mist coming out of Applebloom.

Ghost POV

East Orchard, East Orchard… he said he was coming here. I was going from tree to tree trying to find the large red Farm Pony. He wasn't but a few seconds ahead of me, yet he had somehow managed to completely evade me.

“Big Mac? Where are you!? I wanna talk to you! Please come out wherever you are!” I called, not wanting there to be hostility towards each other anymore. The sun was starting to set, tinges of orange beginning to shade the sky.

“Ugh… stubborn as a mule…” I muttered, walking up to an Apple Tree and headbutting it in frustration. The tree shook, causing a large red apple down onto my head. “Ow… what the heck?”

I looked up to see that on the Apple tree I had headbutted, there were dozen of apples hanging on by the thread of their stems. If they weren’t picked now when they are ripe, then this entire tree could grow a spoiled crop.

I look over my shoulders and squinted my eyes, wanting to see if I could buck this tree all by myself. I took in a deep breath, and spinning on my forehooves, I turned and delivered a heavy kick at the tree trunk. The tree shook with vibrations from the root to the leaves, causing at least a dozen apples falling towards the ground. Before they could hit the ground, I managed to grip all of the apples in a magic hold before they could hit the ground, preventing them from bruising.

“Heh, piece of cake.” I gloated to myself, setting the apples onto the ground harmlessly. I began to look around for a bucket or something to contain the apples, when I heard a loud thunk behind me. I turned quickly and saw Big Mac standing behind me, an empty tub now in front of me.

“Uh… Hi. I was… uh, looking for you. I wanted to talk about what happened back there.” I said, a bit nervous now that the large stallion was now in front of me.

“Look. Ah’m gonna make this short and simple, just the way ah like it. Ah don’t trust ya. Ah know what changelin’s do, and ah won’t have any of it near mah family.” Big Mac said, with a hint of threat behind his words.

“Look, saying that 1 Changeling is just like the rest is like saying… like saying…” I began trying to think of a simile he could understand. “Is like… saying every apple in the bunch is exactly the same!”

I waved all of the apples I had in my telekinetic grasp in emphasis. “Look, each has the same shape but what about what’s on the inside!” I took each apple and split them all in half, showing the pairs to Big Mac. “Take a look at this one.”

I brought a pair of half apples up to Big Mac, who look at their insides. There was a worm burrowing through it. “This apple is no good, filled with nothing but bad stuff.” I brought another half up to him. “Now look at this one.”

This pair was clean, with nothing but apple-y goodness inside. “This one isn’t like the others, nice and clean. Perfect in every way. This is the kind of apple you want to have sold at your stand. How does the old saying go? ‘One bad apple ruins the bushel?’”.

Big Mac was still giving me a look i didn’t like, but it was much less hostile than before. “You can’t let the few bad ones ruin the existence of one thing. Not all Changelings are bad. They’re just rare.”

I let my words settle in for a few seconds, hoping that I got through that thick skull of his. Big Mac just continued to stare at me, before he turned around and began to walk back towards the house.

“Ugh… worth the shot…” I said, dropping the apples onto the floor, not caring that I had just ruined about a dozen apples.

“Hey, aren’t ya comin’? It’s almost supper time.” Big Mac called, causing me to look up in shock. Big Mac had stopped and was now looking back at me, a blank expression on his face. “Ya hear me? It’s almost supper.”

Although I couldn’t gain anything by eating, I felt ecstatic as I ran towards Big Mac and began to walk alongside him as we walked back to the house, a warm feeling in my stomach. At least U had gotten him to at least stop threatening me.

Next step, make sure he doesn’t try and get me when my guard is down.

64 POV

I had finished packing everything I had, including a proper holster for my new Shock Baton. Frenzy Scribe was apparently related to Penman Scribe, the original Royal Advisor to Princess Celestia, in someway. He was also described as ‘twitchy, shaky, but damn smart’ by some of the other Royal Guards.

I was making my way towards the Royal Library, wanting to meet this scribe before we left for negotiations. Once I arrived, I looked around to see thousands upon thousands of books littered all over the place, creating what looked like a makeshift maze. Taking a closer look, every book was about Politics, Gryphons, and Negotiating.

“Hello?! Anypony in here? Frenzy Scribe?” I called, as I heard a loud crash of books falling to the ground.

“Right here! I’m right here! Don’t you worry about me! I’m over here!” Another voice called out, speaking in a very fast tone.

“Uh, Frenzy? That you?”

“Yup! That’s me! Don’t you worry! I’ll be right out!”

I continued towards the voice, until a pile of books next to me began to shake and rumble. All of a sudden, Frenzy jumped out of the pile of books and darted his head back and forth, until his eyes finally locked onto me.

“Hey there, name’s Frenzy, Frenzy Scribe, but you already knew that didn’t you? You’re Project 64, human created 21 years ago by biologist by the name of Lab Consilium! You’ll be my bodyguard during the Peace Treaty negotiations!” Frenzy called, listing off things i didn’t know, like the name of my creator.

“Woah, slow down. Yes I’m your bodyguard. But what was that about Lab Consilium?” I asked, wanting to know more.

“Oh him!? He passed away a few years after you were made, terrible accident in one of his labs. Yep! Couldn’t even ID him without his dental records!”

I had to stop this guys motor mouth before I got a headache. “Alright! Just drop it! I just wanted to talk about what’s going to happen in Ethaxial.”

“Oh! That’s gonna be easy! The Gryphons need the gems, which only we have. We need things such as Coal and Oil to power trains, which only the Zebras have. The Zebras need land for farming, which the Changeling Kingdom has, and the Changelings need proper building and architecture, which the Gryphons can provide.” Frenzy took a deep breath. “Everypony gets something they need, while giving something they can provide easily! Easy peasy!”

My mind was still trying to comprehend what he had just said, but if he thought it made sense, he was the expert. “Alright, perfect. But I still need to do some snooping around to see if anything fishy is going on behind the scenes. Just do your job, and I’ll do mine.” I said, crossing my arms.

“Got it! Just make sure I don’t get my neck sliced and I’m sure we’ll do alright. And don’t worry about the mess, these books are all enchanted to return to their place after an allotted amount of time.”

Guess that was why he was making such as mess. “So tell me about yourself Frenzy, what do you like?” I asked, trying to maintain a conversation. I needed to make sure this guys wasn’t completely off of his rocker.

“I like research and reading. Basically anything that helps me expand my knowledge.” He said simply, now talking in a normal pace. “I mean, I know that everypony around here thinks me some kind of nutcase, but I’ve never thought that wanting to learn was that nutty.”

I nodded and grinned at Frenzy, reaching out to shake his hoof. “Good to know Frenzy. Look, it’s getting late and I’m sure you’re tired, lets head back and get some shut eye.” I offered, causing a large grin to plaster over Frenzy’s face.

“Oh no worries! If I ever need to sleep in the place, I always got this baby!” Frenzy said quickly, reaching for a book on the shelf and pulling it out a bit. A click later and the entire bookshelf came down, revealing a cot, radio, and mini refrigerator. “Voila! Instant shelter! Want anything out of here?”

Frenzy opened the fridge to show me an assortment of Soda, Alcohol, and small snacks.

“What kind of Whiskey do your got?” I asked, remembering the last time I had tried to drink my oppurtunity got taken away by Twilight.

“Ah, sweet Apple Cinnamon Whiskey. Nectar of Celestia right here. Want some?” Frenzy offered, holding out the bottle in his hoof.

“Do I ever…” I sighed dreamily, watching as Frenzy pulled out two glasses. This was gonna be awesome...

Author's Note

Well, I'm still in my funk, but I promised that this chapter would come out by Monday(PT). For those wondering what the accident was, it wasn't anything as serious as a death or suicide. It was just an incident involving one of my close friends which happened in front of the entire school, literally, and it scared the absolute hell out of me (possibly because I care for her more than a friend).

Anyway, back on schedule! Here's Frenzy Scribe!

Chapter 49

64 POV

“Ugh…… where the fuck…? Ah……” I groaned, feeling sunlight hit my eyelids. I sluggishly brought my arms to cover them and rolled over onto my side, trying to block out as much sunlight as possible.

“Well, look who’s awake.” Celestia voice said, a bit louder than necessary. My eyes fluttered open to see that Celestia was standing over me, a less than pleased look on her face. “Are you comfortable in the Courtyard?”

I squinted my eyes and took a quick look around where I was laying, and saw that I was indeed in the Palace Courtyard, right the in the middle of a patch of Chrysanthemums. I was wearing nothing but a pair of underwear, and feeling up to my head I discovered I was wearing Celestia tiara.

“Huh… this is the 2nd strangest way I’ve ever woken up.” I said sarcastically, tossing the tiara off to the side.

“And what was the first?”

“Being made.”

Celestia sighed and got me to my feet with her magic, causing my head to spin with the sudden movement. “Agh! Easy there… My head is trying to detach from my neck I swear…” I groaned, grabbing at my head in pain.

“Well maybe next time you don’t get drunk and convince Frenzy Scribe to go and seduce my sister.” Celestia said deadpanned already beginning to walk away. I followed begrudgingly.

“Look, we’re leaving tomorrow, and with everything going on I just needed a little pick me up. And how did that thing with Frenzy and Luna end up?” I asked, genuinely curious to see how that happened.

“I had to save him when I saw him dangling out of her balcony, Luna with his mane in her teeth.”

I had a good chuckle at that, but Celestia just glared at me and kept walking. “Alright, so anything I need to do today? Honestly I just want to sleep this hangover off.”

“Yes. You need to go and pack anything you may need. Your chariot to Ethaxial leaves at Midnight, so do not be late.”

“Midnight? I thought we were leaving tomorrow.”

“Midnight is tomorrow. Now get back to your quarters. You smell like…” Celestia took a few deep sniffs of the air, but her eyes widened and she took a few more vigourous sniffs. “64? What were you drinking last night?”

“Uh… I didn’t read the label, but it was some sort of Apple Cinnamon Whiskey. Why?”

“Remind me to reprimand Frenzy when I see him. That bottle of Appolosian Summer was one of my last.” She said simply before walking off, an angry scowl on her face. I shook my head a bit before wincing and grabbing my temples, realizing that doing that was probably a mistake.

I made the short walk over to my quarters, when I saw Blusa looking at a piece of paper and… muttering? She can’t speak anymore…

“Blu? What’s up?” I asked, causing her to gasp and drop the paper. She turned towards me and and blinked her horn white a few times, signaling that i surprised her. “Sorry, didn’t mean to. I just saw you reading something and it looked like you were speaking to yourself. You still move your mouth when reading to yourself?”

She nodded her head yes and blinked that it just felt natural. “Well thats cool I guess… Can you bring coffee or something to my room later? My head is killing me.” She nodded yes and walked off, making sure to pick up the paper that she was reading with her. I didn’t get to ask her what she was reading…

I walked into my room and saw that it was neatly done, probably Blu’s doing as well. I flopped onto my bed and looked at the ceiling, watching as a ceiling fan slowly turned and turned. I looked over to a table on the other side of the room and saw that the clothing I was wearing last night was on the table, along with the Shock Baton Shining Armor had given me.

I got up and put the my longsleeve and combat pants back on, before grabbing the duffle bag I had thrown in the corner of the room. I put in the Camouflage Jumpsuit, knowing that it would be able to retain its magic even if it passed through a Magic Retention field. I threw in a few more coats, knowing that it snowed up in Volaticus.

Although I still had Zecora’s shield, it would only able to withstand one good hit before it shattered, meaning it would probably be best if I brought some heavy armor to wear underneath my clothing. A chainmail vest with heavy leather sleeves was in a case under my bed, so I pulled it out and took off my shirt to see how it fit. When I slipped my regular longsleeve over the armor, it look as if I had another layer of clothing, which would look normal in Volaticus.

“64. We heard you had quite the rager with Frenzy last night? Why the heck did you not invite me?” Crossroads said, appearing at my my door.

“I didn’t plan on blacking out, so there’s that. That can’t be everything you came to say though. Out with it.” I said, adjusting the chainmail around my neck.

“Heh, always the observant one. Look, Ethaxial isn’t gonna agree to any of this bullcrap. And I know for a fact that Shining Armor isn’t gonna be able to step up to the plate if things go south. I need you to do something. If not for yourself, then for Equestria.” Crossroads said slowly, in a tone I wasn’t sure I liked.

“Frenzy has a good plan. Things are not gonna go south.” I replied, my eyes narrowing suspiciously. “What did you want me to do?”

“Look. Blackbeak is the monarch of Ethaxial right now. If you think he’s just gonna sign an agreement with Equestria, who has been a long time enemy of Ethaxial, then you are out of your fucking mind. He’s gonna strike first and we won’t even be ready for it. Shining is gonna fall apart fast and hard, so you have to put a stop to all of this before it starts.”

I honestly had to think about it a bit. Blackbeak has been the ‘King’, if you could call him that, of Ethaxial for about 30 years, longer than I had been alive. He used violent methods to keep any who opposed him down, had secret police to spy on civilians, and pretty much brainwashed every hatchling Gryphon that went to school there. He was a bastard, but by even planning to assassinate him could mean war against Equestria anyway.

“I can’t do that Crossroads. I mean… I could do it, but I won’t.” I corrected, my pride getting to me a bit. “Doing something like that could mean Equestria going to war anyways, and who’s to say that Blackbeak doesn’t already have an heir? If I kill him, then it’ll only be a matter of time before someone else takes his place.”

“That is why we would move quickly after his death. Send in our Frontal Assault when the King is dead, move quickly while their Commander is down. Quick and clean 64. Quick and clean.”

She left the room without saying another word, leaving me full of questions that needed answering from her. Why the hell was she acting like this all of a sudden? Asking me to kill someone like that? She always opted for the diplomatic approach, but now she wanted bloody politics?

“I have to ask her about that later…” I muttered, continuing to pack clothing and such into the duffle bag.

‘Crossroads’ POV

“The kind of day of which I’ve dreamed since I was small…”

3rd Person POV

Dusk began to fall over Equestria, and 64 was all prepped and ready to go. He was sitting on the edge of Princess Luna’s balcony, his bag slung across his back in a diagonal way. His Skeleton blades were attached to his wrists, and he was passing the time by making small little light shows with his flames.

He was making a small stream of fire pass between his fingers he he saw Princess Luna walk out onto the balcony.

“Hello there Princess, I can see you are hard at work.” 64 said, gesturing to the amazing setting of Twilight the sky was in right now.

“This is a combination of both mine and Celestia’s power. When both of us are simultaneously moving our respective Celestial bodies.” Luna explained, her horn glowing a bit. “You… are distressed about something. Something is on your mind.”

64 smirked a bit. “How’d you guess?” He said sarcastically, knowing that Luna could read his mind like a book. “It’s something somepony told me. I mean… could all of this really work? Frenzy Scribe is seems like one smart cookie, but… all of these countries have something against one or the other. What if… what if things don’t work out? What if Equestria actually goes to war?”

Apparently Luna could tell that 64 was in a state of distress, because as he came down from the Balcony ledge and onto the actual Balcony, Luna draped her right wing around him, bringing him in for a hug.

He was a bit taller than her, so she settled for nuzzling him in his shoulder. “Knowing you, you would stand at the front lines to fight for Equestria.” Luna said jokingly, causing 64 to laugh.

“Ha, you know? I think you may be right.”

64 and Luna both looked out towards the setting sun, each of them just enjoying the dramatic display of colors being presented to them.

“So what happened last night with me and Frenzy? I was told that we performed a few shenanigans.” 64 asked, putting his hands on the Balcony banister and leaning forward.

“Well, the kitchen was ransacked, and all of the spiciest ingredients were taken. They were later found in a blender liquified, and some of it consumed.” Luna explained, trying her hardest to not laugh. “Then it was apparent that while Princess Celestia’s night guards were distracted by a small fire… someone snuck into her room and took her Tiara.”

“That’s how it got on my head this morning…” 64 muttered, scratching his chin a bit.

“I understand that a good bit of fun is needed before something as serious as this, but couldn’t you have at least invited me?” Luna said with a mock pout.

“If I had known that you wanted to come then I would have let you tag along. But I’m pretty sure ‘Princess of the Night rampages in a drunken stupor’ would be a pretty bad headline for todays newspaper.”

“Oh, but I’m sure ‘Human burns half of Canterlot down’ would be just as delightful.”

64 and Luna both began to laugh at their banter, each of them sighing and looking at each other.

Luna could see a fire behind 64’s eyes, literally.

64 could see the entirety of the cosmos within Luna’s hair.

The fire within 64 slightly scared Luna, but excited her at the same time.

The unknown and unexplored vasts of the Night enticed 64, making him want to go and find out what it contained.

The sun finally set, and Luna’s horn stopped glowing. The moon now rested at the top of the sky, its soft white light covering Equestria with its glow.

64 blinked, bringing the both of them out of their trances. He looked down at his watch and saw that it read 9PM, the designated meet up time with Frenzy Scribe.

“Oh, uh. I, I gotta get going. Have a… have a nice night.” 64 said, for some reason unable to look at Princess Luna for a moment.

“You too 64. Farewell.” Luna said slowly, watching as 64 walked past her and out of the room.

“Funny.” She thought aloud. “Usually he would just jump from the edge of the Balcony.”

64 POV

I walked down the hallway, mind reeling a bit. It felt like something was drilling into the back of my head, and it was something usually felt when… she… was around.

“Hello there 64! How are you today?” Princess Cadence said gleefully, walking up to me with a smile.

“Oh, I’m on my way to meet with Frenzy Scribe so we could make our way to Ethaxial. I’m acting as bodyguard.” I said simply, shrugging my shoulders a bit.

“Shining told me about that, I was hoping you could shed some light on-”

With that, Cadence’s eyes shot open, and she took one long look at me. Her eyes widened a bit, and her nose flared as if she took a few deep breaths.

“Uh… something wrong?” I asked, before Cadence tackled me to the ground looked deeply into my eyes while her horn glowed.

“Pupils set at 1.99mm’s, heart rate increased, dopamine output by neurotransmitters increasing…” Cadence shot off before getting off of me. “Project 64… do you have a crush on somepony?”

My face scrunched in confusion. “I don’t think so. Why? Can you feel something?”

“Well, although mostly what I’m seeing is nothing but an increased activity of brain patterns signifying an attraction to somepony, it looks pretty similar to what I see whenever I see a young couple walking the streets of Canterlot.”

I rubbed my cheek a bit, not sure if that was the case.

“Do you feel any strange feelings? Such as excessive sweat, nervousness for no reason, or shaking appendages?”

“Not really. I was just talking with Princess Luna, but it was weird. I remember looking at her and just… staring. I didn’t feel my heart start beating faster or anything, I was just… I wanted to know her better. I could tell she’s holding a lot in, and part of me wants to know her better.” I explained, walking towards the Library with Princess Cadence.

“Hm… it does sound like a crush… but it seems it’s just an infatuation. These things should pass after awhile.” Cadence said, calming me a bit.

“Hopefully. I’ve never really… seen anyone like that before. Feels weird for some reason.”

We arrived at the Library… but the door was boarded up. I gave it a swift kick in the middle of the double doors, breaking the wooden boards and sending them both open. “Frenzy?! What’s with the doors? You in here?” I called out, seeing that it was getting darker and darker in there.

I made a small flame in my right hand to act as a torch in the dark, shining it to see if I could find him. “See anything Cadence?” I asked, but she shook her head no.

“IS SHE WITH YOU!?” Frenzy yelled out in the darkness, startling both of us.

“Princess Cadence? We were just talking and she just decided to tag along. Why can’t she be here?” I questioned, still looking for the source of Frenzy’s voice.

“NOT HER! PRINCESS CELESTIA! SHE’S HUNTING ME DOWN AFTER LAST NIGHT!”

I remembered Celestia’s reaction to Frenzy swiping some of her alcohol, which was awesome, but I never figured out exactly where he went.

“Um, no Celestia is not with me. You can come out now. We’re supposed to make our way to the launch pad! We’re taking a motorized Chariot that needs to calibrate our weight.” A few thumps later, the deranged Earth Pony came crashing to the ground, his hiding spot apparently being the ceiling. “You ever meet Pinkie Pie? I swear you two would cause so much hell.”

“Nope, never heard of her. Let’s get going! I wanna dodge Celestia before we gotta escape, I mean skedaddle, I mean embark! Yes, embark on our journey!”

“She’s already there. She’s giving us our Diplomatic Passports.” I said deadpanned, causing Cadence to giggle at his antics.

“Dang, well guess that I can’t dodge fate. Let’s go!”

We all walked towards the Hedge Maze landing pad, with me adjusting the straps on my duffle bag a bit. I noticed that Frenzy Scribe was wearing red robes which covered pretty much everything except his hooves and head, signifying his rank as a scholar of Equestria. From what I had heard, Twilight Sparkle was next on that list.

“Frenzy, is there anything I need to know before we leave? Like anything I should keep an eye out for or VIP’s?” I asked, slightly nervous about being put into such a big position like this.

“Nope! Just stick next to me and don’t let me get sliced. That’s all I need.” He said simply, in a manner which wasn’t exactly nervous, just twitchy.

“Well I’m going to go find Shining and see how he’s doing. Celestia knows he’s been so stressed with everything that has been happening.” Cadence said sympathetically, before walking off towards the barracks.

Me and Frenzy both watched her walk away, before we turned to each other and nodded.

“He’s going to get laid tonight isn’t he?” Frenzy said.

“Oh yeah. No doubt about it."

Ghost POV

I was laying in the bed the Apple’s had given me, but it was missing something. I also felt the same feeling that something was missing in Ethaxial, and I couldn’t quite put my hoof on what it was.

It wasn’t too cold. In fact, there was a nice breeze coming from the open window which comforted me, and a oil lamp lit outside which gave a nice comforting glow.

I looked over to the table on the side of the room, seeing the picture of both me and 64 standing there. I smiled a bit at the fond memory, wondering if 64 ever took other pictures.

“Um… Ghost?” I heard a voice call out from my door. I looked over and saw Applebloom standing at the door, her eyes slightly stained with tears. I got up and went over to her, turning on the lamp on the desk.

“What is it Applebloom? Are you ok?” I asked carefully, wanting to know if she was having an episode.

“Ah’m… ah’m scared of the dark…Ah’m scared of being alone in the dark…” She whimpered, more tears streaming down her cheeks. I wiped them away and whispered back.

“But what about last night? Were you ok?”

“A...Applejack stayed with me… she went to bed early for some reason tonight…” She hesitated a bit for some reason. “Can… can ah stay with ya tonight? Ah… ah don’t want to go to bed alone…”

I blushed a bit and looked back towards my bed. It wasn’t too big, meaning that there wouldn’t be a lot of room...but my orders were to make her feel safe and comfortable.

“Sure… let me just turn the light down a bit…” I said, going over to the lamp and dimming it until everything was just visible. I then morphed into my ‘colt’ form, knowing that fur would be more comfortable to sleep against rather than tough chitin.

I let Applebloom get into the bed first, letting her get settled in before I got in next to her. I draped the blanket over the both of us and sighed at the increased warmth in the bed, smiling a bit. I noticed that Applebloom was calming down a bit, her heart rate dropping and her breathing becoming less erratic.

“Feeling better?” I asked, feeling Applebloom start to snuggle up to me a bit.

“Much, thank ya Ghost…”

I think I found out what I thought was missing.

Author's Note

Thank you for sticking through with this! I need to find a new way to write pronto, so expect more delays!

Chapter 50

3rd Person POV

Engines were attached to the bottom of the aircraft, which was simply square platform with a guard rail. The hum of Anti-Gravity enchantments filled both 64’s and Frenzy’s ears, each of them sitting on the seats of the Chariot. 64 looked over the rails, but saw nothing but dark clouds rushing below them.

“I’m glad I wore my robes out here! I think having just my fur would be pretty chilly!” Frenzy said over the air rushing past us, having to yell a bit to be heard.

“It snows nearly year round in Etahxial’s Capital, plus we’re pretty high up here! It’s gonna be cold our entire trip buddy!” 64 replied, seeing Frenzy’s eyes widen at his remark.

“Buddy? I’m your buddy?”

“Well the way I see it, we’re gonna have to get to know each other on our trip. Might as well start now.”

Frenzy smiled a bit and pulled his Saddlebags up next to him. “Ya know, I’ve never really had friends in Canterlot! I mean, there were other scholars in Canterlot, and we usually got together to talk about developing Canterlot up intellectually, but I never became friends with any of them! They were always kind of snobby and thought that they were better than everypony just because they were smarter, but I never thought of this position as me being smarter than everypony.”

“Well, you thought up this plan involving every Kingdom pretty fast. I’m sure an average pony wouldn’t have been able to think of stuff like that.” 64 commended, with Frenzy just waving his hoof.

“It’s nothing. I already have a few backup plans ready just in case things go south!”

64 heard that phrase and remembered the last time he had heard it. Crossroads had come up to him with that offer, and it would be up to 64 to stop anything if things ended up taking a turn for the worst. He would need to make it look like an accident, like a drunken tumble off of the Castle walls, or food poisoning gone terribly wrong.

64 shook his head in shock that he was already formulating plans just in case, showing just how much faith he had in Frenzy. He brought his hands to his eyes and rubbed them, sighing a bit in restlessness.

64 realized that he had also been spending the long flight looking down, so he tried looking up for a change. He gasped at the amount of stars he saw, seeing millions upon millions of the flaming balls of light above him. The moon was nearly blinding when looked at directly, its white light illuminating the top of the large clouds below him.

“Usually Royal Pegasi can’t go this high! I prefer this view though!” Frenzy called out, admiring the sights as well.

Out of the corner of 64’s eye, he could see a few of the stars move a bit, forming a small image of a him with a frown on his face, before it was literally flipped upside down and turned into a grin and winked. 64 chuckled at the humorous drawing, remembering what he had felt during his last encounter with the Princess of the Night.

Infatuation? Crush? These were words 64 never even thought of acknowledging before. But now…

64 couldn’t help but let his eyelids start to droop a little bit. It was getting late and he had a pretty long day.

“I’m dozin’ off here Frenzy. You mind being alone for a bit?” 64 asked, turning over to the Scholar.

“I’ll be fine, the quiet gives me time to think!” Frenzy yelled, trying to be heard clearly over the rushing winds. 64 just shook his head and closed his eyes, allowing sleep to overtake him.

64 POV

“Uh… 64? I think some gentlemen want to introduce themselves!” Frenzy said, breaking me from my sleep. I opened my eyes and rubbed them a bit to get rid of the last remaining bits of sleep in them, before looking at what Frenzy was referring to.

Gryphon Warriors, clad in full steel armor, surrounded us on all sides. Snow fell around us at a slow rate, allowing me to see my breath at a much denser rate. The numbers of Gryphons was a bit imposing, seeing for than 20 strong around us.

“You two are to follow us to the Castle. Relinquish your weapons and keep your hands and hooves where we can see them at all times.” One of the Gryphons said, clad in a golden colored armor. It couldn’t have been real gold, Celestia knows it would have been too soft for actual combat.

I was about to tell this guy off, but Frenzy just put his hoof up towards me and shook his head no. “Understood. 64, give him your blades and baton.” Frenzy said in a calm matter, stopping me from retaliating. I grunted and pulled the blades out of my wrists, along with the Shock Baton out of my waist.

“Here, don’t cut yourself.” I said sarcastically, tossing the sheathed blades to him. Next I threw over the Shock Baton, which he caught with a scowl. He placed my weapons into some sort of burlap sack before tossing it to one of the other Gryphons.

“Step out of the carriage. Now.” The Gold Gryphon commanded, as I opened the small door allowing us to step out. I made sure to pull my sleeves up a bit to show I didn’t have anything on my wrists anymore, but for some reason it didn’t make me feel any less safe.

Frenzy stepped out of the carriage behind me, looking a bit nervous at all of the armed Gryphons. Each of them had a pistol on their side, along with a Gladius on the other side of their hip.

“My guess is that this isn’t exactly a warm welcome for us. What’s the real reason for the grandiose entrance?” I asked, not exactly pleased at these Gryphons trying to threaten me. None of the gryphons answered me, but Gold turned around and started walking.

“No sudden movements, unless you want to lose a limb or two…” He threatened, causing Frenzy to gulp.

“W-wouldn’t dream of it!” Frenzy said nervously, now slightly shaking at the intimidation tactics.

“Don’t listen to them Frenzy. They can’t lay a claw on you unless they want a war on their hands…” I growled, scowling at Gold.

“Heh, you actually think that? At least Ethaxial will actually be prepared for a war.” One of the other Gryphons sneered, receiving a smack to the back of the head from one of his buddies.

“Shut it. Don’t speak to them.”

I looked in the direction we were walking, but the snow was starting to pick up and starting to cloud my vision. I channeled magic to my eyes to see through the thickening sleet, and nearly gasped at what I saw.

In front of us was a small village, roughly the size of Ponyville, but behind that, was the true reason that Volaticus was Ethaxial’s capital. A large castle, made entirely out of stone, stood before us. Just looking at it I could tell how sturdy it was, meaning it wouldn’t be easy to sneak around once I was inside.

“Welcome to Volaticus fellas. Don’t do anything stupid…” Gold joked, making Frenzy chuckle weakly.

“Can I get your name? I don’t believe I got it back at the landing zone.” I asked, trying to be the first one to act civilized here.

“Tryin’ to get chummy are ya? Fine. I’ll bite. The name’s Aurum, Captain of the Volaticus Royal Guard.” He growled, not exactly opening up any.

We finally reached the small village, and just by taking a look around, I could see the sorry state it was in. Small buildings and shops were boarded up, completely cover in graffiti. When our convoy walked by, I could see Gryponesses grabbing their young and holding them closer to protect them. I looked closer, and saw that they weren’t cowering fear at the sight of me, but the sight of the Gryphon guards.

We were passing some sort of back alley when I saw a dumpster moving around, only to reveal 3 young gryphon teenagers scrounging in it for food.

I saw one of them pull out a rotten apple in glee, jumping out of the dumpster. When he jumped out, the 2 others immediately jumped onto him in an attempt to try and take the apple for themselves. A fight broke out, and a flurry of claws went flying.

Aurum went forward with his gun drawn, and as I began to fear the worst, he fired a shot into the ground behind them. They all stopped at the sound, seeing the Royal Captain standing there. “Get the fuck out of here! Stop with all of your squabbling and get back to your mothers before I put a bullet through your beaks!”

All 3 of the young Gryphons shot up to their feet and ran down the alley, all of a sudden not wanting the rotten apple.

“What the fuck was that for? You could have just told them to fuck off and they would have listened!” I spat out, wondering what all the threatening was for.

“Heh… maybe things are a bit different in Equestria… Those kids should have been working in the gem mines, not playing in the garbage.” Aurum said, as red alerts went off in my head.

“Wait, gem mines?”

“Heh, if you could call them that. Gems are scarce in Ethaxial… we need them for… well… I can’t exactly tell you that now, can I?”

Frenzy was looking a bit worse for wear, seeing all of the terrible things happening around us. A pregnant Gryphoness walked by our convoy, her head hung low. She saw us and immediately tried to walk away as fast as possible, but a few of the other Gryphon guards started to chuckle lecherously.

My brain was able to put two and two together, before growling and clenching my fists. When I was sure that Aurum wasn’t looking, I sent tracer magic towards the Gryphons laughing, just so I could find them later… and ask them a few questions. I also tagged the Gryphoness, wanting to ask her a few questions as well.

I remembered the map that Shining Armor had given me that was resting in the bag on my bag, knowing that I would be able to find them later using that.

We finally arrived at the outskirts of the town, getting closer to the Castle now. Now that we were closer, the Castle looked even more massive than it did before.

“Hm, keep your mouth shut… don’t want flies goin’ in there now do we?” Aurum taunted, making me growl. The Castle was surrounded by a massive moat. Strange considering that most of the population in Ethaxial was primarily made up of Gryphons… with wings.

A drawbridge closed off the main entrance to the Castle, needing to be dropped to cross the moat. Aurum whistled, and I saw a few silhouettes through the snow on the top of the castle wall move, before the sounds of chains rattling filled my ears.

The drawbridge fell downwards, splashing into the moat. The Gryphons surrounding us all stepped aside, leaving me and Frenzy at the front of the pack. “Guests enter first… Go ahead…” Aurum chuckled, the tone of his voice making Frenzy gulp loudly.

“C’mon Frenzy. Stay behind me.” I ordered, walking forward with my fists clenched. My black longsleeve was billowing in the wind, along with Frenzy’s red robes.

“A-Alright…” He whispered, his eyes darting around to see if there were any traps. I stepped carefully across the bridge, before I eventually made it across and entered the Castle Courtyard. It looked as if it should have been a moderately sized garden area, but it was completely covered in snow at this point.

“Alright you babies, you made it passed the Retention Field. Now we just gotta check your personal belongings. Follow me. THE REST OF YOU! GET BACK TO YOUR PREVIOUSLY ASSIGNED STATIONS! MOVE IT!” Aurum yelled at the rest of the Gryphon guards, who scattered in all directions.

We followed Aurum into a hallway of the castle, which was decorated with a red carpet and paintings of what I could only imagine were Gryphon heros. “You’ll been staying in the Diplomatic suites. The Zebra and Changeling diplomats will also be staying on the same floor.” Aurum explained, turning into a wooden door which revealed a room with a table with 4 chairs around it. I slung off my bag and unzipped it, laying it onto the table for Aurum to check. He found the rolled up map Shining Armor had given to me, but to him, it looked like an average map.

The good thing about having Chaotic Magic is that it isn’t entirely siphoned out by Magic Retention spells. All I had to do was give the map a jump start with my magic, and it would show all of the targets I had tagged with it.

Other than that, all he found was clothing and toiletries in both mine and Frenzy’s bags.

“Alright… Now King Blackbeak has requested an audience with you two. You can either meet him now, or first thing in the morning. Which one do you want?”

Frenzy went visibly pale at that, and I felt a shiver go down my spine. Could this by my chance to stop things? To end it all before it starts?

“We’ll see him now. No point in delaying the inevitable right?” I shrugged, actually wanting to meet Blackbeak before I thought about it any further. Aurum nodded and moved to remove his helmet, revealing a light brown gryphon with white tipped feathers.

“You’re lucky. An audience with Blackbeak is incredibly rare these days. Don’t speak unless you are directly addressed, and once again, keep your hands where we can see them at all times.” Aurum ordered, setting his helmet onto the table.

He then exited the room with a motion to follow him, Frenzy giving me a scared look. He had the smarts, but he didn’t have much experience in the field.

“Take deep breaths Frenzy. Just focus on breathing. When he speaks to you, just see him as just some Gryphon.” I instructed, trying to keep him calm. The last thing we needed right now was a fuck up.

“O-Ok… I’ll try.” He said, gulping loudly.

I was honestly feeling a bit nervous at meeting the Gryphon king as well. He may have been old… but that also equaled experience. If we angered him in the slightest…that could mean things ending before we have a chance to fix it.

We finally arrived at the Throne Room, if the large Bronze double doors meant anything, and I could feel my heart thumping in my chest.

“Alright… here you go boys.” Aurum chuckled, pulling a lever which powered the doors. A loud screech was heard before the doors began to move aside, literally sliding away from each other to reveal the Throne room.

It was dim, with torches barely lighting the walls. A long golden colored rug ran from the door to the Throne, was looked as if it was made with Steel. Me and Frenzy slowly walked forward, breathing slowly and looking straight ahead. I could see a figure sitting in the Throne.

His head was lowered, his golden crown visibly on his head. He had a red cape draped around his shoulders, and metal gloves over his talons to make them even stronger.

“Aurum… leave us be…” He rumbled, his voice deep and demanding power. Aurum nodded and left the room, closing the doors behind us. I couldn’t help but notice that there wasn’t another lever on this side of the doors. “Come forth…”

Frenzy and I kept walking, each step taken with careful caution.

“Halt… kneel….”

I looked at Frenzy and nodded, both of us stopping and kneeling. Frenzy looked like he was bowing, but it would have to do.

“Frenzy Scribe… I was notified of your attendance a few short days ago.”

“Y-yes your majesty. I have come to-”

“I know what you have come for.” Blackbeak interrupted, causing Frenzy to squeak a bit. “It is you…” Blackbeak said pointing to me, “That I am more interested in…”

I swear I could feel a bead of sweat running down the back of my neck. “Me? Why would you be interested in me?” I asked, trying to sound calm.

“The Bipedal Blight of Equestria…The Flaming Inferno… Vanquisher of Super Nova… you’ve gained quite the few monikers in my country…”

“Your point being?”

“You are revered in Equestria as a fearsome warrior… unfortunately… in Ethaxial you might not be seen as such.”

My eyes narrowed, feeling an insult in his words.

“How does me simply going into another country make my ability in the art of combat diminish?” I growled defiantly. Blackbeak simply chuckled, as I felt a fire inside of me start to grow.

“Equestria is not exactly the right place in the world to breed warriors now… is it? Their definition of a warrior is no doubt much less experienced than our definition.” Blackbeak said condescendingly, that comment being the straw that broke the camels back. I stood up and pointed my finger at him.

“What the fuck would you know!? It looks like you haven’t moved from that throne in ages! I bet I could wipe the floor with anything you throw at-”

Apparently my challenge lit a fire in him, because the next thing I know I have a sword conjured with my magic and using it to block a blade about 2 inches from my face, Blackbeak holding the offending blade.

I could see Frenzy had a face of shock, horrified at what was happening. I had to be honest, blocking the blade took a bit of effort. The old Gryphon’s face was now right in front of mine, his face completely covered in grey feathers. He had a scar running down his right eye, much like the burn scar I had on my right eye.

“Hmph… very nice reaction time.” Blackbeak said, backing off and sheathing his sword onto his hip. “Maybe we can put your skills to the test during your stay in Ethaxial…”

“Maybe you can.” I retorted, dispelling my sword.

Blackbeak went back to his Throne and took a seat, pressing a button on the armrest. The doors slid open to show Aurum standing there, his golden helmet back on. “Aurum. Take Project 64 and the unconscious one to their room.”

Unconscious one? I looked over and saw that Frenzy had passed out during the encounter between me and Blackbeak. I sighed and slung him over my shoulder, following Aurum out of the Throne Room.

Chapter 51

64 POV

Apparently these Gryhpons didn't want anypony wandering around after dark. Aurum had showed me to the room Frenzy and I would be staying in, and the first thing I noticed was a Magical time release lock. Once the clock struck 10 PM, the doors would lock, and any attempt to exit would be met with a silent alarm. There were also bars on the windows, each would be easy to cut through, but the real challenge was being wide open if I got outside.

"I hope you enjoy your stay in Volaticus. Make yourself at home." Aurum said as if he was being forced to, which he probably was. After that he slammed the door and left, leaving me and an unconscious Frenzy. The room itself wasn't bad. Two large beds, small kitchen area, and a large bathroom with a pretty nice bathtub.

I set Frenzy down on one of the beds before looking at the lock on the door, trying to find the pattern the lock had on it. Unfortunately it was names, and I didn't know a few, meaning I couldn't find a pattern. Maybe when Frenzy woke up...

bzzt...bzzt...bzzt...

The noise was coming from my bag, and when I found it, I saw it was a yellow colored communication gem. I opened the channel. "Hello?" I said carefully, not knowing who it was.

"64... I'm glad I can finally speak with you..." A garbled voice said from the other side, obvious using some kind of modifier for their voice. "We have a common interest... I know what your true purpose is here in Ethaxial... and I am willing to give it to you for a few favors..."

"And what exactly is my true purpose? What could you possibly know?" I questioned, not believing the mysterious voice. I couldn't trace the magic due to this being an unknown receiver, and if I tried tampering with it it might alert the other side.

"Information. Espionage. Did you think Equestria was the only nation to try this? Capras has sent their best Stealth Specialist to the meeting to act as 'bodyguard'. Mutarus has sent their best shapeshifter. You were almost a believable bodyguard, what with your combat experience. But I can see through your ploy... They all can."

I didn't respond, waiting to see if I could hear any clues about who this voice belonged to.

"I can see that you are eyeing the lock. Those are all historical figures. There is a history book in the bookshelf to your left. Good luck."

After that, the channel went dead.

I looked down at the gem, wondering what the fuck that was about. He said he knew i was in Ethaxial to spy... but then he gave me instructions on how to escape the room after dark. He wanted a favor done in exchange for the information... I could only imagine what that favor would be...

I looked to the bookshelf the voice pointed out. The voice could see me in my room apparently... so it was probably watching me right now. I had to make sure to inform Frenzy of this.

"History books huh?" I whispered, looking at the books. As I looked at the titles, I saw that only one book contained the word 'History', but it was a Musical book. I picked it up anyway, looking inside of it. It was the novelization of a musical, with lyrics still inside.

The opening number was appropriately named, 'History'.

"My name is King Clawmen 5th of Ethaxial! Where is Mad King Cypher 6th of Prance!?"

"I am Mad King Cypher 6th of Prance! What is it?"

There was a small squabbling between the two kings, but the names are what caught my eye. They were both on the lock, meaning I was finding a pattern.

After that, there were no more recognizable names in the number. I read on, seeing the first scene of the first act. The musical was about the Dauphin of Prance, named Clawmen 7th of Prance. That was another name on the lock, but I continued reading on. Eventually Pone of Arc came to aid Prance in a war effort, and in doing so managed to conquer Prance and the surrounding nations. Yet another name...

After a few twists and turns, it turns out a General and Archbishop were secretly trying to get rid of Pone when she started to become too powerful and succeeded. With Clawmen the 7th being good friends with her, he killed the General and tortured the Archbishop to death. He then took the throne as Mad King Clawmen 7th of Prance.

I set down the Musical and looked back at the lock, seeing the names. I unlocked the lock by overloading the names of the cast members as they appeared, resulting in a small click, and deactivation of the lock. I rearmed the lock to make sure that no one would get suspicious, and went back to sit on the bed.

Apparently reading that musical took some time, because I looked out of the window and saw that the sun was beginning to set.

bzzt...bzzt...bzzt...

I grabbed the gem again and opened the channel, looking around to see if I could find how the hell he could see me.

"I see that my clue was not so difficult to decipher... but painstakingly long..." The voice chuckled. I began to consider if just crushing the gem would be a good decision. "Now... since you are willing to perform that task, you are probably more than willing to perform the next task to get your information..."

"Depends. A few others want me to do things I know I'll regret." I chided, looking over a Frenzy. He was still out cold.

"Nonsense. A righteous soul such as your would no doubt enjoy this task. I saw what you did earlier with your magic... I saw 3 trackers sent out. 1 to the Gryphoness, 2 to two Gryphon guards by the name of Marcos and Quinn. I can say that your assumptions in the situations were correct."

I remained silent...

"Get a good night's rest. You'll need it for the next few days."

The channel disconnected, leaving me with unanswered questions once again.

"Huh? Wha...?" Frenzy moaned, finally returning to the land of the living. "Where am I?"

"In our Diplomatic Suite apparently. You passed out after seeing Blackbeak try to decapitate me." I answered, causing Frenzy to gasp and roll of the bed in an ungraceful heap.

"64! Why in the name of Celestia would you do something like that! Now he might think that we're hostile to this country!"

"Don't worry about it. If anything I made us look better." Frenzy looked unconvinced, so I explained further. "Look, Ethaxial is a country with pride in their military. Combat is a common pastime here, and to them Equestria is a weak country. By showing them that I can actually stick up for myself in a fight, it will make Equestria seem stronger. I might have to do something like that again later."

"No! You will do nothing of the sort! Do exactly what I need of you, just protect me and find those secrets." Frenzy scolded, poking his hoof in my chest.

"Look. Are you gonna go anywhere with this? Or are you just gonna keep trying to hold my back from something you know you can't?"

Frenzy huffed and shook his head, looking around at the room we were in. He saw all of the security measures that I did, but when he looked at the metal bars, he squinted his eyes and walked forward towards it. When he finally reached them, he put a hoof up to them. He knocked them... that's all he did...

They popped off like the cork off of a bottle of champagne, falling to the ground with a loud thunk. I just stared agape, wondering how the hell he did that.

"Shoddy welding job... It's like they want us to break out of here..." Frenzy muttered, looking at a intercom system next to the beds. He went up to it and fiddled with the buttons for a bit, before speaking. "Hey, we got a problem in here. The metal bars on the windows just fell off. I think they may have rusted off with the cold."

"Shit... we'll get someone up there right now. Sit tight." A Gryphon on the other side replied, before the line clicked off.

Frenzy looked at me. "Any other escape routes in the room? That lock on the door doesn't seem that hard to crack."

"Already got it... but Frenzy, I gotta tell you something." I whispered, pulling out the Yellow Gem and holding it out in my hand. "Someone's contacting me. I found this gem in my bag when I was unpacking, and whoever's on the other side is watching us..."

Frenzy's eyes narrowed and took the gem in his hoof, eyeing it a bit. "One way channel, can't trace the source though. What did they want from us?" Frenzy asked quickly, once again reverting to his fast talking way.

"Whoever it was, said they knew why I was in Volaticus. They know I'm here to do some snooping, but they said if I perform a few favors then they would just give me the info we need. He said the first task will be given to me tomorrow morning, so... he advised I got a good rest." I sighed, sitting down on one of the beds.

A knocking at our door both caused our heads to snap upwards, looking at the door. "Hey, I'm here about the metal grate!" A voice said from the other side. I walked over to the door and opened it, seeing an older Gryphon with a tool belt on.

"Yeah, that one." I said pointing to the open window. "These things should let in a chilly wind, why don't they?"

"Oh, Fire gems encrusted in the walls keep this place warmed up. A reason Ethaxial needs gems is to magically fight off the natural environment so we can actually live here." The old Gryphon explained, flying out of the room through the opening to retrieve the fallen grate.

Frenzy and I gave each other a chance, seeing the logic in that. Freezing temperatures year round would make living here difficult, with only a select group of plants available to eat. But the Gryphons were Carnivores, meaning that the plants grown would have to go to cattle for food. Gems would be the only way to live here.

"Looks like your offer may be a bit more than persuasive Frenzy, it's damn near necessary for their survival." I commented, touching the stone wall and feeling a heat radiating from it. Fire gems...

"That's... not as good as it sounds..." Frenzy groaned, pulling his robes off over his head and folding them up nicely.

"Why not? They'll accept the terms, and if they want the gems they'll have to help the Changelings build actual towns and villages. Everypony would win in this case!"

"Yes... but tensions will always be high between Ethaxial and Equestria... I came here because I wanted to help fix things forever, not a temporary bandage." Frenzy explained, sitting on his stomach on his bed. "Ethaxial is always going to think that Equestria is keeping the ladder underneath them steady, and at anytime, we can just let go and let them tumble down. No matter what they'll always think that..."

I could see where he was coming from. If at anytime Ethaxial broke their part of the bargain, we could just cut them off completely and let their country die out. That kind of distrust wouldn't sit well, and eventually it would lead to some sort of backlash.

"For now, a quick fix is what we need. Ethaxial was already planning to attack Equestria, so by doing this, we can stop their plans by keeping them on a leash. They won't attack in fear of losing an incredibly important resource that they need." I consoled, seeing the repair Gryphon fly back up with the metal bars in his talons.

He set the bars back onto the opening and started welding, using a small blowtorch he had on his belt. Frenzy and I sat in silence as he worked, seeing the sparks fly as he did so.

Frenzy scooted over to me a bit, whispering quietly. "Look, just see what the voice on the other end of that gem wants. If the jobs don't involve anything too bad, then do them. I'll make sure to stay safe in here while you do them"

I nodded and cracked my neck, seeing the old Gryphon finish up his job. "All done here. Just call back if something else needs fixing."

"Will do. Thanks." Frenzy said, getting up to make sure to lock the door behind the Gryphon as he left. He sighed and turned back towards me. "Did he say anything about the jobs though? Any minor details?"

"Yeah, two targets. Two Gryphon soldiers who probably had a bit too much fun when they went into town. Not sure what I have to do with them though." I admitted, rubbing my nose a bit. I was beginning to grow tired from the events of the day, especially with reading that long play. "I'm gonna get to sleep. Don't stay up too late, we have a biiiiiiiiiiiiig day tomorrow."

"Don't worry about me."

I accepted the short response and sat onto my bed, pulling off my shirt and armor before pulling the blankets over me. Ethaxial was certainly going to be interesting...

Ghost POV

I woke up, and once again found Applebloom in my bed... again. When she came to my room for the first time 2 nights ago, she didn't tell me she planned on doing it for multiple nights. I slid out of bed as slowly and as quietly as I could, making sure not to wake her up. It was a Monday, meaning that she had to go to school at 8. I was already tutored at Canterlot, so it was decided I wouldn't need to attend.

But that didn't mean I wasn't going to.

I never got to go to school with other's my age, so I was really curious to see what it would be like. I had the saddlebags I brought to Ponyville, so I would use those as my schoolbags. I went down to the kitchen to see Applejack already up and about, which was normal on a weekday for her.

"Howdy Ghost, ya sleep well?" She asked. I didn't think she knew about the sleeping arrangements Applebloom had made for herself, so I decided to stay quiet about it.

"Yeah, I just wanted to come down here to make a lunch for today." I answered, making Applejack raise her eyebrow.

"Ah thought ya didn't need food. An' why make a lunch when ya're gonna be here for lunch time?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "I was planning on going to school with Applebloom. I've never gone to an actual school and I want to know what it's like." I said simply enough, but Applejack tilted her head in confusion.

"Huh. Never thought Ah'd hear of tha one colt that actually wants ta go to school." Applejack joked, "But that don't explain why ya wanted a lunch."

"I never said it was for me, it's for Applebloom." Apparently I had said something strange, because Applejack just started laughing like crazy and covering her face with her hat. "Uh... did I say something funny?"

"Ya... ya didn't don't worry. Tell ya what. Ah'll let ya make her lunch. Ah've gotta go out and talk ta Rarity about a visit from her little sister. Clean up when yer done!" Applejack cheered, walking out of the kitchen. I sighed and let my disguise fall, letting me breath for a few moments. The disguise was draining... but for some reason it didn't feel as bad as it usually did.

I started with making the dandelion sandwiches and filling up Applebloom's thermos with apple juice when I heard heavy hoofsteps coming down from the stairs. They stopped once they reached the bottom of the stairs, and I felt a pair of eyes burrowing at the back of my head.

"Ghost. Ah'm going' ta ask you one question, and ya better tell me the truth. Why is mah sister upstairs, in your bed?" Big Mac asked slowly, obvious trying to be threatening.

"She got scared in the middle of the night and wanted to sleep in my bed. Simple as that." I said, not taking my eyes off of the task at hoof. "If you want to know more then you need to ask her."

I could hear Big Mac snort air out of his nose, obviously angered at my nonchalant response. He walked back upstairs, leaving me with the lunch preparations.

"Alright... now did Applebloom like her sandwiches with or without crusts?"

Chapter 52

3rd Person POV

Big Mac approached Ghost's rooming, his mind still clouded with anger. He walked into the room and shook Applebloom awake. "C'mon, ya got school today." He said, waking up the sleepy filly. With bleary eyes she looked out of the window, but saw that her curtains weren't put up where they were supposed to. And her bed felt a lot warmer than usually, but it was less soft. The last thing she remembered about the night before was her having a nightmare, before going into Ghost's room and falling asleep... and waking up with Big Mac standing over her.

"Big Mac! Uh, Ah can explain! Ah uh... was sleepwalkin'! Yea that's it!" Applebloom shot off, getting to her hooves and stumbling off of the bed. When she regained her balance, she looked up at her big brother with a blush and frightened expression.

Big Mac just chuckled and shook his head. "Yer as bad at lyin' as yer sister..." He chuckled, patting Applebloom on the head. "Look... Ah know Ghost is here to help, but do ya really have to sleep in the same bed as him to get a good nights rest?"

Applebloom just looked down at the floor and kick her hoof out a bit, not being able to look her brother in the eye. "He... he makes me feel safe alright? Ah still see...... ah still see the body when ah go to bed..." Applebloom whispered, not wanting to look scared, but failing. "When ah know Ghost is there... it's like he keeps everythin' away. Like there's somethin' about him that just makes me feel like nothin' can touch me."

Big Mac watched as Applebloom's expression changed into what a pony would look like if they were spacing out, her mouth curling up into a grin and eyes going into a half lidded positioning. Big Mac cleared his throat to get her attention, Applebloom realizing that was going into a bit of a trance. She shook herself to try and snap out of it, messing up her hair even more in the process.

Big Mac sighed and put a hoof onto Applebloom's shoulder. "Listen. This little 'thing' goin' on between ya and Ghost... ah jus' wanna tell ya to be careful. Changelin's aren't the most well behaved of the bunch." Big Mac explained, making Applebloom scoff aqnd rool her eyes.

"Why do ya keep sayin' things like that!? Ah know what Changelin's have done! We learned 'bout it in class! Ghost ain't like that though, he's been raised up in Canterlot! Not some cave in the deserts!" Applebloom defended, trying to stand up for her friend.

Big Mac knew he wasn't going to gain any ground here, so he settled for one simple sentence. "Jus' be careful Applebloom... Don't let the wool get pulled over your eyes..."

Applebloom just grunted again and walked out of the room, a scowl on her face. Big Mac really didn't want to butt in like that... but when his family was on the line, he would do absolutely anything to protect it. He was having flashbacks of trying to keep other colts off of Applejack, only to realize that she could do that just fine on her own. Seriously, that mare could send grown stallions flying towards the stratosphere with the strength she bucked with.

Downstairs, Ghost was just finishing up making a lunch for Applebloom, putting it in a small brown bag and then putting it into her small saddlebags. He made his way to put the small thermos of apple juice into the saddle bag when he saw a poofy maned Applebloom walk down the stairs.

"What are ya doin' with mah saddlebag?" She asked, not in a hostile way, but more of a curious kind.

"Oh, I was just fixing up your lunch. I'm gonna be going to school with you by the way." Ghost answered, adding the little tidbit at the end.

Applebloom didn't catch the remark the first time, shaking her head and moving her hair away from her ears. "Care ta repeat that?"

"I'm gonna be going to school with you today! I've always wanted to see what an actual school was like!" It's like these words formed an incomprehensible sentence which Applebloom's mind was unable to pronounce, causing her to tilt her head and form an expression of confusion. "I've been tutored up in Canterlot ever since I've been brought back with 64 from the Badlands. It's cool and everything, but I never have any classmates or anything. The ponies always said that having a Changeling in the class might be a bit frightening for them."

Applebloom understood what he was saying. "So ya want to see what it's really like at a real school?" Applebloom asked, Ghost nodding his head up and down, putting the thermos of juice into Applebloom's saddlebags. "Well don't get yer hopes up, all we do is sit around and learn things..."

"Isn't that what you're supposed to do at school though?"

Applebloom blushed at the question, "Well yea, but that don't mean it's any fun!" Ghost laughed at that, before green flames engulfed his body before morphing into his colt form.

"C'mon! Do your hair and get your bow on! We gotta get going!" Ghost instructed, handing Applebloom the red bow that was in her saddlebag. She nodded and ran upstairs to the bathroom, hopping on a small stool so she could see herself in the mirror. She took a comb into her hoof and began to run it down her mane, making sure to catch every knot that had developed overnight.

Once her hair was tamed, she was about to put the bow into her hair to finish off her look... but she stopped. She looked at the bow in her hoof, as if it was changing in front of her eyes.

Changing...

Ghost POV

I looked at the clock on the kitchen wall, seeing that it was 7:30 AM. It was about a 10 minute walk to school, but I needed time to register as a student. Applebloom had been upstairs for about 20 minutes now, a bit too long, even for hair. I knew that fillies had a hard time with their hair, but come on.

It wasn't until I heard hoofsteps coming down the stairs that I looked up hopefully, wanting to see Applebloom bound down the stairs ready to go to school. What I actually saw..... wow...

Applebloom's hair was now a bit longer, no longer restrained by the bow on the back of her head. She instead had her hair in a ponytail not unlike Applejack's except not as long. Her bow now rested at the bottom of her ponytail, keeping the long hair tied together. She also had another bow in her hoof though...

I don't know why... but I felt my cheeks flare red and my vision blur a bit, leaving Applebloom clear but her surroundings blurry. I saw her make eye contact with me, and at my gaze she blushed as well and turned her head.

"Is somethin' wrong Ghost?" She said bashfully, probably embarrassed that I was staring. I shook myself out of the hypnosis I was in and stammered, not being able to form coherent words for a few moments.

"Uh... wow... Applebloom. You look... you look......" I sputtered, unable to finish my sentence. Her eyes widened and she attempted to hide behind her ponytail, her face growing redder.

"It's mah hair isn't it? Oh ah knew ah shouldn't have done it like this!" She yelped, about to bound back up the stairs. I grabbed her hoof with my magic, stopping her in her tracks.

"No! No it isn't bad! It's... really... really nice actually! It took me by surprise, but it's really nice!" I exclaimed, calming her down and bringing her back. "But why did you do it though? Every time I've seen you you always do your hair the same."

She kicked the ground a bit with her hoof. "Well, ah jus' remember stopping when ah was about to put on mah bow on but I wanted to... change a bit..." She whispered, looking at me at that last statement. I grinned at her embarrassed look, when I remembered the other bow she had with her.

"What's with that second bow in your hoof?" I asked, pointing to it. She gasped as if she remembered something, putting the bow out towards me.

"You can wear it! Ah... Ah had the idea that you could wear it like a bow tie! Watch!" Applebloom explained, going behind me with the bow in her hoof. I felt her hooves fiddling with something around my neck, before it was fastened into a comfortable fashion. She stepped back and reached up to grab a silver pot, allowing me to use it as a mirror.

I looked in the 'mirror' and smiled, seeing a red bow around my neck. It actually looked pretty fashionable, giving me a bright contrast of color against my dark green coat and black mane. It felt right to have it on, as if it was second nature to wear it. "Wow! Looks nice!" I exclaimed, hearing Applebloom chuckle behind me.

"It looks really nice Ghost. Now shouldn't we be gettin' to school now?" She asked, pointing to the clock that now read 7:40. I gasped and my eyes widened, grabbing her hoof. I caught a brief glimpse of her cheeks reddening, before my eyes closed and I teleported us to the school house. When I opened my eyes, I saw Applebloom wobble around a bit with her eyes going in every direction, disoriented from the teleportation.

"ugh... wha?" She groaned, before shaking her head to regain her sense of balance. She looked around and saw that we were in front of the school. "How'd we get here so fast?"

I tapped my horn a few times, looking around to see that other colts and fillies were staring at our grand entrance. I saw Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo also looking at us, so I motioned towards them. "Why don't you stay out here. I have to register myself with Ms. Cheerilee." I said.

"Oh, ok. Hey girls!" Applebloom answered, running off to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. I chuckled and walked into the Schoolhouse, excited for my first day.

3rd Person POV

"Oh my gosh! What did you do to your hair?" Sweetie Belle asked, smiling at her friends new hairstyle. "It looks amazing!"

"Ah don't know... ah jus' wanted to change it a bit, that's all." Applebloom explained, running a hoof down her new ponytail.

"Oh, I think I know who you wanted to change for..." Scootaloo said smugly, wiggling her eyebrows at Applebloom. The filly in question blushed and glowered at her friend.

"It ain't like that! It's just... Maybe ah felt like doin' somethin' different today!"

"Applebloom, you stink at lying. Is that like a family thing?" Sweetie Belle joked. "Plus he's super cute. If you didn't like him I'd want him as my special somepony.

"And why would you want him as your special somepony!?" Applebloom said a bit louder than necessary, getting in Sweetie Belle's face. All Sweetie Belle did was smirk.

"So you do like him then."

Applebloom's eyes widened as she realized that she had fallen into Sweetie Belle's trap, inadvertently revealing that she had a crush on Ghost. "Ah walked right inta that didn't ah?"

"Yep! So you tell him yet?" Sweetie Belle asked, causing Applebloom to tackle the filly to the ground and put a hoof onto her mouth.

"Are ya crazy? Ah can't jus' tell him like that!"

"Sure you can, watch. HEY GHOST! APPLEBLOOM-!" Scootaloo was cut off by Applebloom getting off of Sweetie and covering her mouth as well, leaving Sweetie Belle free.

"GHOST! APPLEBLOOM HAS SOMETHING SHE WANTS TO-"

A crazy cycle of Applebloom stopping one of the fillies but leaving the other wide open began, each of them trying their hardest to get the word to Ghost.

"Stop it you two! Really!" Applebloom pleaded, stopping for a moment. The other two fillies were about to yell at the school house, but saw Applebloom's pleading expression. Deciding to take pity on her, they shut their mouths.

"Sorry... we just were having a bit of fun." Scootaloo said, rubbing the back of her head.

"Well it's not that much fun for me! Ah don't know what's goin' on with me!" Applebloom cried, pacing back and forth. "Every time ah see him ah feel warmer! Ah can't go to sleep anymore unless ah feel him next to me!"

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle's eyes widened at that, looking at each other with surprised faces. "You two sleep in the same bed?" Scootaloo asked. Applebloom nodded, not realizing the insinuations behind her words.

"Ah had a nightmare a few nights ago... Ah remember bein' back at that mountain, with... blood all over me..." Applebloom confided, the other two fillies knowing better than to say anything. "Ah woke up so scared, an' Ghost's room was the closest. He was awake an' let me stay in bed with him that night. Ah tried to go ta sleep the next night, but ah jus' couldn't. This time Ghost was asleep, so ah jus' snuck into his bed an' fell asleep like nothing!"

The two other fillies understood and were about to ask more, but the colt in question came up to them with a large grin. "Guess who's going to class with you guys?" Ghost said happily, nearly bouncing in joy. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo's mouths dropped to the floor, not believing what they were hearing.

"Why are they making you come to school? And why are you so excited?" Sweetie Belle asked. Ghost shook his head, correcting her.

"Nopony is making me come to school, I just want to."

Scootaloo gasped loudly, grabbing Ghost's cheeks and staring into his eyes. "Run! Run! Run away and never come back!" She warned, trying to push the Changeling Colt away. He swatted her hooves away, chuckling at her antics.

"I just want to see what school is actually like. I've never gone to a real school before and thought, 'well while I'm here in Ponyville'." Ghost explained. "Tutoring in Equestria isn't very fun."

"So... you didn't like learning in a private room, but you might like learning where you are surrounded by other foals?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Exactly." A bell began to ring, signalling the start of class. "Let's go! C'mon Applebloom!" Ghost yelped, grabbing Applebloom's hoof and dragging her along into the schoolhouse. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle slowly turned towards each other.

"I'll give them a week." Sweetie Belle betted.

"I'll give them 22 minutes."

64 POV

It was 3 AM when I felt the vibrations of a Yellow Gem underneath my pillow, making me groan and sit up in my bed. I opened the channel and listened.

"I hope you got the rest you needed. It's time for your first task." The voice told me. "Marcos is your first target. Mind you that this is not an assassination mission. All you need to do is scare him a bit."

"And how can I do that? What is he scared of?" I asked, cracking my neck and stretching a bit.

"That is not of my concern, and find out for yourself. He is currently taking the 2nd night shift, meaning you have 10 minutes before he swaps positions. Good luck Project 64. But remember, if you are found out... we have never spoken..."

The voice cut off, causing me to sigh and stand up. I grabbed my Skeleton Blades out of my bag and attached them to my wrists, then pulled out my Shock Baton and attached it to my belt. I unraveled the map and channeled magic to my right hand, seeing small flames spark up. I brought my hand under the map of Volaticus and saw 3 golden markers appear. 2 of them being guards, but the other 1 being the Gryphoness I had tagged in the village. I wouldn't be able to distinguish the 2 guards from one another, so I would need find the one who was moving, and not asleep.

I walked over to the lock and entered the combination, safely unlocking the lock and slowly opening the door. I peered through the door to see if there were any guards in the hall, and sighed when I saw none. I gave 1 last look at the sleeping Frenzy Scribe, hoping that he wouldn't wake up while I was gone. I brought my hood over my head and stepped out of the room, closing the door behind me.

"Alright... let's have a little chat Marcos..." I whispered, crouching and heading down the hallway. Security was much tighter thanks to the negotiations which were going to take place in the morning, meaning that guard presence was going to be a killer. The hallways were lit up with the dim glow of Red Gems, which no doubt were Fire Gems which were heating the Castle.

"Fuckin' snow... fuckin' blizzards..." A guard said down the hall, making me dive into a doorway which provided ample cover. I peaked around the corner and saw that he was covered in melting snow, dampening his feathers and making him chafe in his armor. I saw that he was alone, making him a perfect target.

I stepped out of the doorway when I saw... something... come out of the wall. A shadow literally came out of the wall, zooming over to the Gryphon guard and delivering a devastating blow to his skull. When he was incapacitated, the shadow grabbed the body and dragged it over to the wall, making it appear invisible in the dark. I realized the shadow was just wearing a dark cloak, and when it swept to the side for a split second, I growled.

Stripes.

"You won't have the target. He is mine..." A feminine voice said from the Zebra, before she sprinted away. I smirked and unsheathed my blades.

"A challenge is it? Game on bitch..." I growled, zooming through the halls after the Zebra Assassin.

Chapter 53

3rd Person POV

64 had a hard time keeping up with the Zebra he was tailing. According to the strange voice behind the gem, she was the best stealth specialist to come out of Capras. She was able to maneuver through entire Patrols of Gryphons, without warning a single one. This left 64 with blockades which he was forced to cross through either distraction or just plain luck. If he were to incapacitate any of the guards, then they would know that he was out of his room after hours when they came to, and that wouldn't look too good for Equestria.

A quick glance at his map showed that the Zebra assassin was headed in the wrong direction, allowing 64 to slip down another hallway which lead to a staircase that he could follow to the Castle walls, where Marcos was located. He could already feel the air start to chill as he got closer and closer to top of the Castle, before he found that the quickest way to get to Marcos would be to sneak out one of the windows and shimmy across the outside of the walls.

64 slowly opened one of the stained glass windows which was in the staircase, seeing as snow and sleet came rushing down from the sky. He looked up the wall and heard the distinct sound of steel colored talons hitting the ground, meaning that Marcos was patrolling at the top of the wall.

"Shit... climbing up this is going to be a pain in the ass..." 64 groaned, seeing that the stones that decorated the sides of the Castle walls were slick with the precipitation. Even with the use of magic, sticking to the wall would be difficult with the snow and sleet constantly making the surface slippery. 64 charged his left hand with magic and slapped it onto the Castle Wall, sitting on the edge of the window to keep his balance.

He pulled his hand a bit to test if he would stick, and was satisfied when he saw he would only slightly slide a bit. He pulled himself completely out of the window, immediately becoming soaked in in the damp snow falling down onto him. With both of his hands, he began to pull himself upwards, using his feet to push onto the wall and keep him attached.

He noticed that the storm above him started to get worse, the snow and sleet giving way to a mighty blizzard. Gusts of wind began to whip around 64, threatening to make him fall off of the side of the wall.

"The only good thing about this storm is the cover!" 64 thought, knowing that visibility was so bad you probably have to hold your hand or hoof in front of your eyes to see them.

64 reached up to attach himself to a windowsill, but when he went to pull himself up, he found himself slipping. "Oh shit!" 64 swore, quickly using his natural grip to grab onto the small ledge. He used his feet to attach himself to the wall, holding him steady as he found another ledge to attach himself to. He eventually did find one, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself. A fall from the height he was at wouldn't kill him, but it sure as hell would alert the guards to his presence.

The heavy sleet continued to slam against 64 and the wall he was climbing, making him clench his teeth at the cold temperatures. His magic usually did a pretty good job at keeping him warm in cold temperatures, but with his clothes becoming drenched and the sleet continuing to fall, it wasn't working as well as it should have.

Finally, 64 reached the top of the Castle Wall, but was careful to only use the tips of his fingers to not let the guards see him. "One of these is Marcos... whoever was behind the Gem want's him spooked. Luckily, I'm very frightening when I want to be..." 64 thought, peering over the edge. Letting go of the edge with his left hand, 64 reached into his pocket and pulled out his Locator map, using it to identify Marcos.

There were 4 Gryphons acting sentry on this side of the wall, each of them wet and aggravated. "3 minutes guys! 3 minutes til the position switch!" One of them called out, carrying a Halberd over his shoulder. Looking at the map, I could see that Marcos was the fourth Gryphon in line. When they moved, he would be the last in line, meaning their backs would be turned from him.

"Gotta get to him before that damn Zebra gets to him..." 64 growled, knowing that she would take the exact same opportunity. 64 pulled out his Shock Baton and put the handle in his mouth horizontally, wanting it to be ready when he vaulted over the edge of the wall and attacked.

"Alright! Move to the Eastern Wall!" The lead yelled as they all turned right, presenting the window 64 needed. He jumped over the wall and rushed at Marcos, seeing that as he expected, the Zebra fell from above, landing behind Marcos. She grabbed the Gryphon in a choke hold to silence him, but 64 wasn't about to let her get the win.

Marcos' eyes widened as he saw 64's Baton flying towards him, but was shocked when it just grazed his ear, instead connecting with the Zebra attacking him from behind. She stumbled backwards at the blow, growling at the attacking human. Not letting Marcos yell out, 64 grabbed him by the throat and lifted him into the air, leaving his midsection exposed. The Zebra took this opportunity and lunged forward, sending 3 quick blows to his chest and stomach.

64 saw his magic shield absorb the first blow, but after that he felt the wind get knocked out of him, making him double over onto one knee, dropping Marcos hard onto the ground. The Zebra delivered a devastating blow to the back of Marcos' head, rendering him unconscious.

"Hey! He's my target!" 64 threatened, getting back onto his feet and charging his Baton with electricity. He charged the Zebra Mare and swung at her head, making her try and block with her hoof. She yelped in pain as she felt the zap of the electricity, leaving her open to a roundhouse from 64. She was knocked over, but she quickly rolled onto her hooves and whipped her head, revealing a very sharp Kukri in her mouth.

64 grabbed Marcos with his magic and threw him to the side, before putting away his Baton and conjuring a Gladius in his right hand. The two opponents stood across from each other, staring each other down.

"It's obvious we were contacted by the same mysterious voice. Which means you were also offered information in return for performing a few favors." 64 said, causing the Zebra to narrow her eyes. "But let me ask this. If I'm here, and you're here... where's the Changeling?"

"What's going on over here?!" A voice yelled. 64 turned and saw a Gryphon guard advance towards he and the Zebra, a Halberd in his talons. "Drop your weapons now!" He yelled, pointing the spear end of his Halberd at the two. Neither complied, eyes narrowing at the guard.

The Zebra whipped her head and threw her Kukri at 64 causing him to bend backwards to the ground to dodge it. It continued to fly, headed straight for the Gryphon Guard. He eyes widened and a Green shield erupted in front of him, stopping the Kukri from taking his head off. The Zebra whipped her head back towards herself, revealing a near invisible wire attached to the hand of her blade, allowing her to reclaim her Kukri and place it back in its sheathe.

"I think we had just found him..." She growled, looking that the "Gryphon Guard" who was using magic. He growled and released his disguise, glowering at us.

"Well look at this, the whole gang in here." 64 said sarcastically, getting up off of the ground and staring at the unconscious Marcos. "So we all were contacted by the same mysterious voice, am I correct?"

"And why should I answer that?" The Changeling said, hissing a bit.

"Because you are wearing the damn yellow gemstone around your neck..." 64 deadpanned, pointing to the accessory which the Changeling forgot to disguise.

"I was contacted as well... but was not given a reason as to why this Gryphon was to be intimidated." The Zebra said, addressing the unconscious Marcos.

"I have an idea, but first we need him awake." 64 explained, walking over to the Gryphon and taking off his helmet. A cold bucket of water wouldn't be able to help right now, a damn blizzard wasn't waking him up so what would?

"Here, help me do something really quick." 64 said picking up Marcos.

64 POV

"Ugh...mmph...phumph? " Marcos groaned against the duct tape wrapped around his beak, finally waking up. He felt that gravity was going in the wrong direction, and when he tried to move his wings, they wouldn't budge.

"Finally! You know how long we were standing in this damn blizzard for?! Like 10 minutes!" I yelled up at him, waking him up a bit. He looked in the direction that my voice was coming from, but thanks to the blizzard whipping by us he wouldn't be able to see me. He was hanging off of the highest wall of the Castle, suspended over the edge by a rope being held by the Changeling. He was reluctant to help, but realized he had no other choice.

When Marcos realized the predicament he was in, he started to give muffled screams, but the sound of his voice was drowned out by the whipping winds and falling sleet. "Look! I know what you did Marcos! That poor girl out there is pregnant with your clutch of eggs! You performed one of the most unspeakable acts known to all, and were fucking laughing about it! Now you get to pay the price!" I screamed at him, seeing tears start to stream out of his eyes as he began to realize what I was talking about.

He started to shake and swing against his restraints, but apparently that Zebra knew how to tie a damn fine knot. I could hear through his muffle that he was begging for me to let him go, to stop what I was doing.

"Let me guess! Is that what that poor girl was screaming when you defiled her?! And what did you do!?" I asked, "You continued! Disregarding her pleas! So why do you deserve any better?!"

His eyes widened when he realized I couldn't be bargained with. This was it for him. "Drop him!" I ordered.

The Changeling let go of the rope, sending Marcos falling towards the ground. He wailed silently as he fell down to the Earth, bracing himself for the sweet kiss of death. Suddenly he stopped falling, and he opened his eyes for just a bit to see what was going on. The Zebra was conjuring a spell with the enchantment powders that she had, creating an invisible cushion for him to land on in mid-air.

"Alright he can survive from there, drop him." I ordered, sending Marcos crashing to the ground. He would live of course, just be severely injured.

As if they were synchronized, every single one of our Yellow Gems began to vibrate, as we gave knowing looks on our faces. We all opened the channel, waiting expectantly.

"Well it looks like the spies have learned of the arrangement I have made for them." The voice chuckled, causing the fire in my stomach to burn a bit.

"Listen bub, we did the stupid favor and frightened Marcos. I can guarantee you that he's not going to talk. Now give us what we all came here for so we can get the negotiations on the way." I demanded, making the voice just laugh.

"Oh? You think you are done? We haven't even gotten started. You 3 may have worked together this time, but when it comes time for the next task, only one of you will be able to claim victory. Good luck, and you may want to start running. Gryphon guards are already on their way..." The voice said before cutting off, leaving all of us confused.

When we heard the sound of steel talons stomping towards us, we all split up into different directions, heading back towards our rooms. Luckily all of the guards flooding outside to find out what had happened to Marcos left the hallways pretty empty, so I was able to fiddle around a bit with the Yellow Gem I had as I ran. Now that I knew that the Zebra and Changeling had these too, I would be able to create a channel between us, allowing for communication within the Castle. We may have been spies, but we were still security.

"Testing, testing, 1,2,3, do you copy?" I said into the Gem, trying to get in contact with the Zebra.

"What in the world? Who is this?" The Zebras voice said, not expecting another voice.

"The human. I've found a way to communicate through the gem... I'm 64 by the way. We really didn't get a chance to introduce ourselves." I said, giving my name in hopes of receiving one.

"My name is Dolus. I'd have to say I wish we could have met under better circumstances." She replied.

"Likewise, you're pretty quick on your hooves. I had a tough time trying to get to Marcos before you did."

There was a short silence, before Dolus spoke up. "Do you know how dire the situation is in Capras?" She asked. I honestly didn't know how bad the situation was, but I did know it was really, really bad.

"I... I guess I don't know exactly. Why?"

"My country is going through the worst famine that we have ever experienced. I have 10 brothers and sisters waiting back at home, doing anything to survive. My mother and most of my sisters have been reduced to performing disgusting acts for food, and my brothers have to resort to thievery and trickery to get by."

I was wondering why she was telling me this, until she began to explain. "I will do anything to help my home. And if that means defeating you to get what he has... then so be it."

The channel cut off, leaving me in the silence. Something was telling me that this mare wasn't exactly lying either. With the information that the Voice had, she'd be able to blackmail the shit out of Ethaxial, strong-arming them to assist Capras with anything they needed. And according to the Journal that Shura Slava kept, Ethaxial was trying to get both Capras and Mutarus to assist them in an attack on Equestria.

Ethaxial had no idea that we knew of their little deals, so if worst came to worst, we could use that to strike the non-aggression agreements home.

I arrived at my assigned room, opening the door, slipping in, and closing it behind me. I rearmed the lock then started to shed my drenched clothing, removing the chain-mail and leather armor I had underneath my clothing as well. Frenzy was still out cold, giving me the time that I needed to contact the Changeling shapeshifter.

I redressed into more comfortable clothing, a black T-Shirt and white Pajama pants. I grabbed my Gem and began to triangulate nearby open channels, only 2 others existing. One of them was Dolus, so the other had to be the Changeling. I opened the channel, hoping he would pick up on the other line.

"Who is this? You better start talkin' because if I swear if this is the ass who keeps calling with the stupid voice changer I'm gonna smash this thing!" The changeling threatened, but I knew he was bluffing.

"First of all, don't make threats you can't keep. Secondly, no it's not that guy. I'm the human that was out there with you a few minutes ago. My name is Project 64, can I get your name?" I asked as politely as I could, walking into the bathroom so Frenzy wouldn't hear anything if he did wake up.

"What's it to you?" He replied defensively, making me roll my eyes. He was trying to act all tough, but that facade was easy enough to break through.

"Look, even though that voice is saying that only one of us will get the info he has, we still have to work together to keep everyone here safe. Now I'll ask again. Can I please get your name?"

There was a pause followed by a bit of grumbling. "Novus, my name is Novus."

"Novus, by what I've heard you are a shape shifting specialist. And by what I saw out there, and your less than stellar attitude..."

"Fuck you."

"...you probably don't have that much experience in the field, do you?"

"Hey! What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little bitch? I’ll have you know I graduated top of my class in the-"

"Holy shit you are not about to quote that one book, All Quiet in Eastern Equestria are you? I swear I've read that thing about 10 times and that part is so difficult to read through. Look, me and that Zebra mare can help you out. Now in about 3 hours the negotiations are going to start. Just keep your eyes and ears open for anything that might go down, and you'll be fine. Get some rest."

"Fine... and sorry for what I said." Novus apologized.

"Don't worry about it. See ya in the morning." I said, closing the channel and walking out of the bathroom. I laid onto my bed and closed my eyes, wanting to relish in the last moments of sleep I still had.

Chapter 54

64 POV

"64, wake up. We have to go to the Grand Hall! I've been up since the crack of dawn trying to fix up the plans in any way possible and I've found that there aren't as many cracks that I thought there would be! We have gotta get going right now thought so get you're armor and Security Clothing on right now cause we gotta go!" Frenzy said frantically, waking me up from my slumber. I could feel Luna poking around in my head, but she didn't find anything with a dreamless sleep.

"Alright, alright... give me a few minutes." I groaned, getting out of the bed and cracking my neck. I undressed and put on my armor, along with a pair of dark green combat leggings and my black hooded long sleeve.

"Here! I got ya these too! I figured in a nation going through a blizzard you might need them." Frenzy offered, holding out a pair of dark green cotton gloves. It looked like they were made a bit hastily, but when I slipped them on they didn't feel that bad.

"When did you get these?" I asked, looking at how they looked when I wore them.

"I put in a requisition to the royal tailors here for them. I detailed your hands and approximate sizes and I'd say they did a pretty good job!" Frenzy explained. A buzzing on the intercom in our room alerted us to an incoming call, so Frenzy walked up to it and put a hoof to the answer button.

"Equestria Diplomat Frenzy Scribe here." He said officially, making me chuckle a bit at how ridiculous it sounded.

"In a few moments the automated lock on the door will disengage, allowing you and your bodyguard to leave the room. At this moment you will step out of the room and accompany the small guard detail assigned to you to the Grand Hall." An authoritative voice said on the other side, before a loud buzz indicated the call was cut.

"Well here comes the boring part." I groaned, making sure that my Skeleton Blades were in my wrists and Shock Baton on my waist. Frenzy was putting on his red scholar robes, and putting all of his notes and such into his saddle bags. His silver tongue would be what could save Equestria, so I had a lot of faith in him. "Alright, I'm all ready to go. you ready for this Frenzy?"

Frenzy took in a deep breath, nodding his head with an unsure smile. "Yes, I'm ready." He said confidently, walking up to the door. We waited for maybe 30 seconds, before a click sounded and the Automated lock disengaged. I made sure that I took the first step outside, seeing 4 Gryphon Guards standing at attention in the hallway.

"Follow us to the negotiations. Keep your hooves and hands where we can see them at all times." One of the guards ordered, hefting a Halberd over his shoulder. I eyed the Revolver on his hip wearily. Guns were designed by Gryhpons, and had only recently been imported to Equestria. It seemed as if they were standard issue to all of these Guards though.

"Alright, Frenzy stay in front of me." I instructed, stepping back and letting Frenzy stay in my line of sight. We began walking down the hallways of the Castle, my eyes darting left and right subtly to see anything out of the ordinary. My only job was to keep Frenzy alive, so I was not going to fuck that up.

The Grand Hall was located underneath the Castle, accompanied with dimmer and dimmer hallways as we descended. The gems on the walls were purposefully drained of magic to only illuminate a small section of the room, forcing me to raise my guard. We finally entered a single long hallway, towards a large door which looked like it was made from Iron.

"Alright, open it up." On of the guards said, before there was a hiss, causing the door to slowly swing inwards.

Everyone else was already in the Grand Hall, with Dolus and Novus already standing there next to their respective diplomats. They were all seated in a large circular stone table, but the bodyguards were all standing. Frenzy and I took a step into the room, while the guards behind us stayed on the other side of the door, before it closed us off from the outside. Blackbeak sat in his throne with his cape and crown, with Aurum standing at his side, his Golden Armor not very

"Frenzy Scribe... and Project 64... Now that you two are here, the negotiations can begin. Please, take a seat..." King Blackbeak addressed, the growl behind his voice not hidden from us. Frenzy took the seat directly across from the King, with the Changeling and Zebra diplomats sitting on opposite side of each other as well. I stood to Frenzy's right, magic channeled to my eyes to see in the dark room. "Now then. We are here to negotiate both Peace and Trade Agreements for our respective countries. Since Princess Celestia of Equestria called for this meeting, we will let Frenzy Scribe make the first statement..."

Frenzy was sweating already. The stares from everyone else in the room was starting to get to him, and if he didn't snap out of it soon, it wouldn't look good for us.

"Uh... yes." Frenzy said with a slight whimper, before clearing his throat. "Princess Celestia has called for this meeting in order to find ways to aid in foreign affairs. Such as the famine occurring in this very country."

Blackbeak leaned forward in his Throne. "Are you saying that Princess Celestia doesn't believe I can rule my own Kingdom correctly?" He growled, giving Frenzy a death glare. I could tell the King wasn't really offended, but wanted to intimidate Frenzy so he could swindle him later.

"Nopony is saying anything, let Frenzy continue." I interrupted, trying to shake Blackbeak off of his game. Frenzy was already freaking out, so that didn't do much good.

"Um... y-yes. As Project 64 stated, nopony is making assumptions on how well you can rule your Kingdom. W-We are simply trying to find ways to give aid." Frenzy finished, letting out a deep breath his must have been holding. "N-Now I suggest that we let the Zebras make their statement."

I looked over to Dolus and saw that in the chair next to her, was a male Zebra with a scar from what looked like a blade going from the right side of his forehead, down his nose, to the left side of his cheek. His mane was in a common Mohawk style, and he wore black robes just like Frenzy's.

"My name is Vulnus, speaker for the Zebras of Capras. We are honored that the nation of Ethaxial has accepted us into its borders, and honored that you have accepted into your home, King Blackbeak." the Zebra said, bowing his head respectfully. I noticed that Frenzy was looking around nervously, realizing that he must've forgotten to do the traditional greeting or something. "As you might be aware of, my home is currently enduring one of the worst famines in its entire history. We require land more suitable for farming, in hopes that we may escape from this famine."

King Blackbeak nodded, clasping his claws in front on him on the table it thought. "Very unfortunate indeed. Is that all you have to say so far?" He asked.

Vulnus nodded, "As of right now, yes. The Changelings may now speak."

"Didn't know we needed permission..." Novus said under his breath, but loud enough for all of us to hear. The Changeling diplomat in the seat elbowed Novus in the nose, sending him back groaning in pain.

"You were not addressed to speak hatchling! I apologize for the abrasiveness of my punishment and the disrespectful outburst of this one." The changeling said, narrowing his eyes at Novus. He was wearing dark green robes, and wasn't disguised at all. He really needed to fix his facial expressions, because it looked as if he had a permanent scowl on his face. "My name is Illudere, speaker for the Changelings of Mutarus. My home, although it is not in a dangerous situation, lacks proper homes for its citizens. Without any skilled artisans or craftsponies, we lack the knowledge to build actual homes."

To me... it didn't seem that bad of a problem. But I guess even Changelings were entitled to good homes. Now that the opening statements were done, it was time to start the actual agreements. Of course the problems presented were just the tip of the iceberg. Once the negotiations began, the real problems between the countries would arise.

All it took, was time and pressure.

3rd Person POV

"And cut our lifeline when you see an advantage?! I'd rather align with the Diamond Dogs!"

"No! Then Capras could cut off our supply of coal and oil! It's all set up so that if one country goes back on their agreement, then the other can cut them off as well!"

"Don't forget about this shape-shifting troublemaker! We need that farmland to feed our entire populace! They could sabotage the land and possibly poison us all!"

"Then Equestria would provide support in your struggles! I've been very clear about this!"

64's prediction had been correct. Frenzy came in confidently once it was time to present his plan, complete with a 4 year planner to show how precisely he had thought this out. Of course the sparks started to fly as each of the 3 other nations began to pick and peel his plan apart, pointing out the most minute of mistakes as plans of sabotage.

The Gryphons accused Frenzy that Equestria would give them faulty or even sabotaged gems, no matter how much Frenzy insisted that the Zebras would cut Equestria off. The Zebras were suspicious that the Changelings would give them infertile land, which could make matters even worse in Capras. The Changelings were suspicious that the Gryphons would make buildings which could collapse at the lightest problems, and the nation of Mutarus suffered from constant earthquakes.

Way too much conflict was going on to make any real progress, and 64 saw this.

"If I could make a suggestion..." 64 called out, trying to cut through the arguments. Blackbeak saw this and scowled a bit.

"And what would you have to say that can possibly be beneficial to this conversation?" Blackbeak growled.

"It's obvious that tempers are flaring around here. How you take a recess and cool down a bit before continuing?" Everyone in the room saw the good a short recess could do, and the tension in the room immediately dropped. 64 let out the breath he didn't know he was holding. He was afraid that something might have happened between the diplomats and ruined this entire thing.

"Very well, we shall take a short recess for rest and repose, then continue our negotiations." Blackbeak sighed, before Aurum cleared his throat.

"Permission to request sir?" He called out, looking straight at me for some reason.

"Granted, what is it Aurum?"

"With all due respect towards 64, I request a duel."

Everything went silent for a few moments, Frenzy's eyes widening at the challenge. Dolus and Novus both grinned at the challenge, looking towards 64 to see what he would say.

"I say that a bit of entertainment would do wonders for my aching brain. I would greatly enjoy a battle such as this one." Vulnus chuckled, looking towards 64. "I've heard of your trials and battles, surely you wouldn't back down from a challenge such as this one?"

64 scowled at that, his drive for competition getting the better of him. He looked over to Frenzy, who was shaking his head quickly to discourage him from accepting. This time, he would have to disregard him.

"I accept the challenge. What are your terms?" 64 asked walking forward towards the table and leaning on it with his hands. Aurum grinned and cleared his throat.

"Excellent. The terms are subject to change at your request of course. A simply duel, a battle of strength and skill. I ask that you refrain from using magic, but if you must, you can."

"A warrior uses every advantage they can get." 64 stated, smirking a bit.

"Words to live by. I would also ask that Non-Lethal measures be used, no need for an accident to occur now is there?"

"I thought that was already implied, but ok. What else?"

"The match will end when either of us submits or is unable to continue. Do you accept these terms?" Aurum asked, holding out his talon for a shake. 64 gave one last glance at Frenzy who was now visibly shaking, but knew that nothing he could say would change 64's mind. With a grin, 64 took Aurum's talon in his hand, shaking it heartily.

"I accept. Where will we fight?" 64 asked. Blackbeak was already laying out a map and pointing to an area even deeper underground in the Castle.

"The Guard Barrack training arena. There is a domed cage there used for sparring matches. The match will begin in 20 minutes, so make sure you are there Project 64." Blackbeak warned, 64 putting his hands up in a mock surrender.

'Hey, I literally cannot go anywhere. I'll be there."

"Good. I shall see you all there. Aurum, let us prepare you." Blackbeak concluded, walking towards the exit. Aurum gave 64 one last smirk as he walked away, eager to face off against the human.

"Best of luck to you Project 64, Aurum has a near perfect sparring record." Vulnus warned, a grin on his face.

"What do you mean 'near' perfect? He's been beaten before?" 64 asked, looking over to the Zebra diplomat.

"Not exactly. More like complications occurred, causing the fight to be ended early. Dolus! Let's head to the Arena, I would like to get a decent view of the match." Vulnus ordered, with Dolus bowing her head and escorting the diplomat out of the room as well.

Apparently, Illudere didn't have anything to say to 64, because he left pretty much immediately after the Zebras did, Novus in tow. It was only Frenzy and 64 still left in the room, his head buried beneath his hooves on the table. "Hey, cheer up. This is what they do in Ethaxial." 64 tried to comfort, but Frenzy just held his hoof up to interrupt him.

He lifted his head up, a sullen look on his face. "It's not about that... you were right about the fighting part, you make Equestria seem stronger." Frenzy whispered, looking down at the table. "It's just... I didn't think I would crack so easily under the pressure here. They just glared at me, and I just fell apart back there. If it wasn't for you stepping in and stopping them then I would have messed this all up ages ago."

This was a stark contrast to the Frenzy that 64 first saw when he met him. He was no longer the bounding optimistic stallion, but instead a shaky and bewildered mess, realizing that not all problems could be fixed.

"Hey, you just have to tough it out. I've had experience learning how to develop a thick skin, so maybe I can show you how to get some of your own. But it'll have to be after the match, now c'mon, I gotta be there in 15 minutes!" 64 exclaimed, waving Frenzy over to the door.

Frenzy didn't look any more eager to get up off of the table, but he walked over left the room with 64. They made their way towards the Barracks, both of them trying to psych themselves up for the battles they would have to face in the future.

64 POV

I looked at the cage, and saw that it was absolutely massive. Part of it was in the ground, with the cage dome being there just to prevent Gryphons from flying away. I took out my Skeleton Blades and handed them to Frenzy, who took them and put them into his saddlebags.

"You have a plan once you're in there?" Frenzy asked, looking around to see that an actual crowd was beginning to form around the cage, staff and Guards alike coming to watch the Captain of the Gryphon Warriors fight against the Bipedal Blight of Equestria. I honestly hated that name, but if kept someponies in fear, which was good.

"Yeah, hit him, don't let him hit me. Same as always" I explained simply, making sure that my Shock Baton was charged and ready to go. Aurum was already in the pit and and ready to fight, his Golden Armor somehow managing to glint with light although it was dim in the barracks.

"Really? That's all your going with? How about this? Gryphon combat is nearly always in the air, meaning that if you somehow manage to keep him on the ground, you gain a huge advantage over him." Frenzy told me, actually giving me really sound advice.

"How did you know that?" He literally pulled a book out of this saddlebags which was titled, 'Gryphon Combat Tactics: Unabridged'. "Do I even want to know why you have that on you right now?"

"No time to explain that. Just try to clip his wings and you'll do fine. Now get in there!" Frenzy yelled at me, walking over to the cage and lifting one of the doors to get into the pit. I nodded and jumped into the Pit, looking up to see that Aurum was grinning at me.

"Are you ready for our battle Project 64?" He asked, looking around and seeing the crowd which had developed. "It seems the Gryphons around us are eager to watch your defeat."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that, I mean we haven't even started yet." I replied, pulling out my Baton and sparking it a few times. "Hope your armor isn't conductive."

"Oh don't worry, I've taken into account your exploits of Fire, but electricity is a new one. Luckily I have precautions against that as well." We stared each other down for a few moments, the cheering of our audience increasing to near deafening levels. "On your go Project 64. Just say the word."

"Alright... on go." I growled, cracking my neck. "3...-"

He didn't give me a chance to count down.

64 vs. Aurum

Chapter 55

3rd Person POV

Aurum dashed forward at 64, his wings extended with blades attached to them. 64 rolled to the side and grabbed his left wing in his hands, the metal plating in his palms protecting him from injury. He spun around and slammed Aurum into the wall, but the Gryphon pushed off the wall and swung at 64 with his talons, forcing him to let go of the wing and jump back to avoid the attack.

Aurum unsheathed a Blunt Sabre, rising a bit into the air. 64 made sure to keep his eyes on his movements as he slowly swayed around, trying to find an opening. 64 reached out and tried to grab Aurum's wing with his magic, but his armor prevented the magic from getting a grip.

"Seems our Magic Retainers didn't catch all of your magic now did it? I was wondering why they overloaded shortly after your arrival." Aurum grinned, suddenly zooming down to try and catch 64 off guard. He jumped as high as he could, grabbing the top of the cage as the Gryphon slammed down into the ground he was just standing on. 64 swung himself to the other side of the cage, barely turning around in time to see that Aurum was clearing the distance between the two and was about to strike.

He sent his foot out and caught Aurum in the chin, sending the Gryphon up towards the cage. Instead of waiting for him to recover, 64 jumped up at Aurum and grabbed him by one of his legs, throwing him towards the ground. The Gryphon recovered a few moments before colliding with the ground, landing on all four of his legs and sliding across the ground a bit.

64 landed back on the ground and decided to go on the offensive, zooming towards the Gryphon with his Baton out and charged. Aurum steadied himself and blocked 64's first strike with his Sabre, standing on his hind legs to use his other talon to swipe 64 across the chest.

Luckily the human was wearing his armor, his chainmail catching the attack easily. He sent his forehead at the Gryphon's head, disorienting Aurum long enough for him to smash the handle of his Baton into Aurum's wing socket. The Gryphon's reaction was immediate, a loud screech followed a beak clamping into 64's shoulder, causing the human to yelp in pain as his magical shield was destroyed and the skin beneath his clothing was torn open.

"ARGH!!! You dare attack my wings like that!?" Aurum bellowed, with 64 jumped backwards and holding onto his now bleeding right shoulder.

"Keeps you on the ground now! Now you're stuck on my turf!" 64 yelled back, waiting to see if his chaotic magic would heal his shoulder injury fast enough. He didn't get a chance to tell, because a now much more angered and barbaric Aurum lunged at 64 with his talons, forcing the human to roll left out of the way of the attack. Not letting up, the Gryphon kept sending swipe after dangerous swipe at 64, who was dodging and blocking at every opportunity.

Just after 64 rolled backwards, he conjured a shield between he and Aurum, holding the Gryphon back for a few moments. He used this time to put away his Baton, knowing that it wouldn't be enough.

"Alright, now to take away his weapons..." 64 thought, dropping the shield and charging at Aurum. He too rushed forward, leaping to try and slice 64 across the throat with his talons. The human slid under Aurum, managing to take his Blunt Sabre out of his sheathe and snap it in his hands, leaving Aurum weaponless... sort of.

"He still has his wings blades and talons... granted one of his wings is dislocated, the other can still be a problem..."

Aurum growled at 64 when he realized that his weapon was now destroyed, seeing that 64 had gotten back up and conjured a large war-hammer and was holding it over his shoulder.

"I can see that your speed is not to be underestimated... Luckily that Sabre was only a practice model, or we might have had another problem on our plate..." Aurum grumbled, catching his breath.

"I could tell, it snapped like a twig. But I doubt you really needed it." 64 admitted, knowing that Aurum was probably more comfortable with fighting with his talons.

The crowd was enjoying the fight immensely, young Gryphon guards bunching around the cage to get the best views. the diplomats were also enjoying themselves, Vulnus and Illudere both grinning at the competition. Frenzy was looking a bit nervous, but was also surprised to see how well 64 was fighting. Blackbeak on the other hand...

He was watching with an even more furrowed scowl than usual, his eyes narrowed angrily. Aurum was his best warrior, and to see him in a stalemate against a human, from Equestria no less, angered him to no end. Ethaxial was supposed to have the most trained and skilled warriors know to the world, yet here Aurum was having a difficult time fighting against a being from Equestria, known for their peace and harmony.

It made Blackbeak sick.

He rose his foreleg into the air, his talons closed into a fist. The cheering crowds immediately went silent, wach of them looking up to the King and bowing their heads slightly. Aurum also performed this act, bowing his head, leaving him vulnerable to attack. 64 knew better than to attack while your opponent was completely defenseless, so he also looked towards the King to see what was going on.

"Aurum, release Restrain Level 1..." He said cryptically, before Aurum's golden armor began to shine brightly. Blackbeak knew that this countermeasure was only to be used in extremely dire situations, but he decided that exceptions could be made.

64 was wondering what the heck was going on, before he heard the sickly snap of Aurum's right wing being snapped back into it's socket. It seemed that he was now radiating magic, and a sick and twisted grin grew onto his face. "I can't believe he would allow this, but I guess drastic times call for even more drastic measures..." Aurum growled, staring 64 down.

"What the fuck are you going on about?" 64 asked, getting the hammer slung over his left shoulder ready for anything Aurum might do. In the blink of an eye, 64 found himself being kicked across the room by an unknown force, smashing into the cement wall of the Pit. He looked and saw Aurum was now positioned where he was just standing, his fist held outwards as if he just punched something.

64 pulled himself from the wall with a grunt, dusting off the cement on his shoulders. "So we're pulling all the stops is that it? All right, I'll play this way." He growled, charging his fists with Chaos Magic. "Let's fight!"

64 sent a wave of flames at Aurum, who zoomed to the left to dodge. Using his now healed wing, the Gryphon shot into the air and sped towards 64 with lightning speeds, grabbing him by the right arm and throwing him against the wall again.

64 was dragged along the wall as Aurum began to fly around the edge of the Pit, running him against the cage, the ground and any other abrasive surface he could find. 64 was tugging and pulling to try and rip his arm away from Aurum, but the augmentation he was putting himself through prevented him from successfully doing so.

In a desperate attempt, 64 waited until Aurum decided to bring him around the top of the cage, then grabbed onto the metal links keeping them trapped. The results were instantaneous.

"ARGRH!" 64 yowled, feeling his right shoulder pop out of its socket as Aurum kept pulling on it, trying to keep going. 64 fingers on his left hand were able to hold on thanks to the metal plating 64 had under his palm, but it didn't stop it from hurting like hell. Through his pained and blurry vision, 64 saw that Aurum was now still in the air, not moving thanks to his grip. Using his right foot, 64 sent a magic infused kick towards Aurum's stomach, causing him to lose his grip on the humans arm.

64 dropped to the ground, quickly putting his working hand onto his left shoulder to pop it back into place. "Ok... now!" 64 encouraged himself, quickly snapping the dislocated limb back into place. "BY CELESTIA'S BURNING FLANK! FUCK!" He yelped, feeling the sharp pain run down his arm to his finger tips.

He looked up and growled a bit, seeing that Aurum was standing across on the other side of the cage, a smirk on his face. "What's the matter 64? Can't handle the heat?" Aurum taunted, the fire in 64's stomach growing.

"You want to talk heat?! Fine! Let's talk heat!" 64 roared, his arms igniting in flames with the amount of magic he was channeling through them. He radiated the energy from his magic around the room, and it's effects became apparent within a few moments. The temperature of the room began to rise, everyone in the room suddenly becoming uncomfortably warm and beginning to perspire. Aurum was feeling the effects too, his feathers under his enchanted armor suddenly becoming damp with even more sweat than what he had before.

64 used this moment to smash his fists into the cement wall, ripping out chunks of rocks which surrounded his fists.
He heated them up until they were beginning to turn red, then turned his attention to the Gryphon across the ring from him. Aurum saw that he was about to attack, so he went to the air and zoomed around 64, trying to disorient him.

"Not gonna work feather brain!" 64 growled, jumping up and delivering an uppercut into Aurum's stomach. The Gryphon gasped in pain as the wind was knocked out of him, sending him crashing to the ground. Using his molten rock covered fists, 64 managed to smash the back of Aurum's wings, once again crippling him from flight.

"GRAWAWK!" Aurum squawked, feeling the bones in his wings shatter into pieces. 64 wasn't done with him yet, his eyes glowing red. He brought his boot up to smash it into Aurum's skull, but suddenly he was tackled by a group of Gryphon guards, trying to subdue the human.

"64! That is enough! Aurum is clearly incapacitated!" Blackbeak commanded, angry that the Captain of the Gryphon Army was defeated, but impressed that even with augmentations 64 was able to beat him.

"I'M NOT DONE YET! I'LL TURN THAT HEAD OF HIS INTO A CONCAVE!" 64 threatened, thrashing against the many guards trying to hold him down.

"Wait! Let him go! He has problems with restraints!" Frenzy yelled out, hopping into the ring and running up to the dogpile that was on 64.

"If we let him go then he'll attack our Captain!" One of the guards yelled.

"He'll attack us all if you keep holding him down! Just get up slowly!" Frenzy commanded, showing an unknown authoritative side of him he didn't know existed.

Seeing the look in Frenzy's eyes, and the thrashing human underneath them, the pile of guards began to slowly get off, 64 shoving a few of them to get them off quicker. His eyes were no longer red, instead reverting to their natural brown. his was breathing deeply, trying to calm himself down.

"Alright 64, the fight is over. Just sit against the wall and let the medics look at you." Frenzy instructed, helping 64 over to the wall of the Pit. 64 groaned when he sat down, rubbing his aching neck and allowing a Gryphoness medic to look over his shoulder where Aurum had sunk his beak into.

Aurum didn't look any better, the bones in his wings being set and splints being made. A few bandages were around his midsection too, a few of his ribs being cracked when 64 sent the uppercut at him.

"What happened back there? It was like you became something else." Frenzy asked, regarding 64's barbaric fighting tactics near the end of the fight. 64 didn't answer at first rubbing the bridge of his nose with his eyes shut tightly.

"I have no idea... I just need a bit of rest." 64 replied, tired from the fight. Blackbeak entered the Pit, medics and guards bowing as he walked towards 64. Frenzy's eyes widened when he turned to see that Blackbeak was standing right behind him, giving a yelp and jumping backwards a bit.

"King Blackbeak, how did you enjoy the fight?" 64 asked, looking up at the Gryphon King.

"It was very impressive. I would have never thought that something from Equestria would be able to fight like that." He commented, his tone a bit condescending. 64 brushed the comment off, not having enough energy to give a snark comment back. "Due to the circumstances of the fight's aftermath, I am afraid that I will need to postpone the negotiations until our bodyguards are back to full health."

"I think that's best... Thank you King Blackbeak." Frenzy said, bowing his head down a bit. The king walked off towards Aurum, who no doubt was about to receive a very intense talking to. "I didn't know who could fight like that. I mean, I've heard about what happened with Super Nova and Discord, but I didn't expect any of that."

64 nodded his head a few times in response, feeling his eyelids starting to droop. Frenzy saw what was happening smacked 64 a bit on the cheek. "Hey stay awake until we get back to the room. I don't want to be left alone here."

"fine... let's go..." 64 yawned, waving the nurse that was tending to his shoulder away when she was done wrapping it in bandages. He pushed himself up and climbed up and out of the pit, pulling Frenzy up behind him. He gave a quick look around and saw that Vulnus and Illudere had already left the scene, but right then he didn't really care, and started towards his room. Frenzy followed close behind, not wanting to be left behind and exposed.

64 made no effort to try the door knob once he got to the room, instead slamming into the door and falling over onto his back. Frenzy sighed and opened the door for 64, dragging him into the room and closing the door. He looked between the distance from 64 and the bed, before just shrugging and going over to the bookshelf, pulling out the Musical Book 64 had pulled out earlier and began to read it.

"He'll be fine on the floor."

64 POV

I was... floating? That's what it felt like, so I wasn't exactly sure. I opened my eyes slowly, looking around to see that there was nothing but blackness around me. I tried to move around, but with my body suspended in the air, all I ended up doing was flailing around a bit and look stupid.

"That would be an understatement..." She said, making me grunt in annoyance.

"And what pray tell could you have to say to me right now. The last time we crossed paths you shot a beam through my chest and left me unconscious." I growled, not really wanting to listen to what she had to say.

"You wound me 64... all I wanted to do was warn you of things to come."

I glared at her, pointing a finger in her direction. "Listen! I don't care what ponies are trying to get me to do! I won't kill Blackbeak if I don't have to!" I yelled.

All she did was begin to chuckle, "Did you think I would come to you to ask that? I would expect more of you 64..." She said, acting hurt. "No... I came to tell you of what I gifted you with in Ponyville. A gift which you have so disrespectfully neglected."

"Get on with it! What did you do with me!?"

"Quite simply, I gave you the gift of me..."

My face twisted into one of confusion, before I just got angry at her cryptic explanation. "What is that supposed to mean!?"

"64... what I gave you is nothing short of the Power of the Sun..."

Those words lingered in the air for a few moments, allowing me to comprehend what she had said. "W-What? What is that supposed to mean?" I asked, no anger behind my words, just confusion.

"Celestia may possess the power to move the Sun, but she only possesses a fraction of the true power of the star." Super Nova began to explain, slowly circling around me. "Of course, you don't possess the full capabilities she has right now, but eventually, the sun can literally be in your hands..."

My hands began to glow red involuntary, slowly starting to get hotter and brighter. They began to shake in pain, as the magic within them began to literally sear my hands from the inside out, my skin beginning to melt away and bones beginning to char right before my eyes. With a flash, the gruesome image of my hands being burned off was gone, leaving me gasping for breathe.

"As I expected, you aren't ready for the power just yet... Perhaps Discord can assist you..." Super Nova joked, receiving a glare from me. "It's time for me to depart. Good luck Project 64."

She flashed away in a burst of flame, revealing another figure who was floating behind her.

"Princess Luna..."

Author's Note

Finally I get this sumbitch out! Dammit this Kindle sucks for typing.

NEW SIDE STORY!

Come read Ghost vs. The Equestrian Educational System!

It's a side story of what Ghost is gonna go through during his time in Ponyville. Ghost POV's won't be in this story until the side story is over, and I plan to update the side story ever 2 chapters of the main story, so chapters may be few and far between.

I wanna go to RTX dammit!

Chapter 56

64 POV

I stayed there, floating in the immense darkness which was my mind, while Princess Luna gazed at me from where Super Nova had just departed. She looked concerned, her mouth in a frown and her eyes half lidded. It looks like she was finally able to get into my mind, but it took a bit of effort.

"So she was the one locking me out... I wonder why she would decide to let me in now." Luna whispered, flying over to me.

"She said something about unlocking the power of the Sun for my own use, but I've learned better than to trust what she says nowadays." I replied, crossing my arms. "Why are you here?" My question came off as a bit blunt, but I was genuinely curious.

She looked down and sighed, looking back up at me. "I could tell that you were in a state of physical distress. An incredible amount of trauma within the span of about 15 minutes. I feared the worst and tried to make contact as soon as you fell asleep. Has anything happened in Ethaxial?" She asked.

"No, nothing too serious. I was challenged by the Captain of the Gryphon Guard to combat, and I had to accept or make Equestria look weak. I'm not hurt too badly, just a bit tired..."

Luna let out a small sigh of relief, glad that things weren't as serious as she thought they were. "I feared that the Treaty talks might have gone sour." Luna sighed, but I guess my face of nervousness alerted her of something else. "What's happened now 64?"

"Well, Frenzy is plenty smart... but is lacking in the assertiveness part. They aren't taking him seriously, and he's too afraid to speak out against the other diplomats. He's gonna need some help or else things really will go sour." I admitted, scratching at my neck. "I can help him out, but things might take awhile."

"I expected as much. Do not worry about deadlines 64, you have more than enough time to accomplish your task. And... there is a bit of good news from Equestria as well." Luna said with a cheeky grin, a part of me already knowing what it was going to be. "It seems that a Royal Wedding will be taking place very soon. Shining Armor has proposed to Cadence tonight."

I grinned and laughed. "That son of a bitch... Did you at least get photos of the proposal? I wanna see how much Shining cried versus how much Cadence cried."

"Sadly it was a behind closed doors proposal. The news has already sent Canterlot into a frenzy, with some of the best wedding planners tearing each others manes out in an attempt to oversee the wedding. I wouldn't be surprised if the wedding plans would be completed in the matter of a few weeks."

I nodded at that, knowing it could be possible. This just gave me incentive to finish the job here as fast as possible so I could get back to Equestria.

"It's been a matter of hours since you fell unconscious, and I feel that Frenzy Scribe is in need of the company. Farewell 64."

"Goodnight Luna..." I replied, giving her a grin. The last thing I saw before everything went white was Luna smiling at me, making something in my chest feel tighter...

3rd Person POV

64 opened his eyes, noticing that the sun was beginning to set already. Frenzy was laying on his bed, the same Musical book still laid out in front of him. "Well look who's not dead yet! Ya'know I was a bit afraid that your noggin might have gotten a bit bumped up while you were fighting Aurum, but I'm glad that you're alive and kicking!" Frenzy called off, once again reverting to his excited self.

"It's gonna take a bit more than serious brain damage to keep me down... Now has there been any word from Blackbeak or anyone else?" 64 groaned, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

"Well... kind of. Whoever's on the other end of that Gem you were talking about tried to contact you about a half hour ago. I answered it, and all they did was tell me to give a message."

"And?"

"They said, 'Don't bother with the next task... the Zebra managed to pick off Quinn'.

"Well... whoever he is, he's watching us right now. So all we have to do is wait for him to call us now that he knows I'm conscious." 64 sighed, running a hand through his hair. The two sat in silence, waiting patiently for contact to be made. 64 sat on the edge of his bed and stared out of the grated window, watching as the sunset began to flourish in a blast of orange and pink shades of color.

He swiveled his right shoulder to get a kink out of it, when he felt the sting of his shoulder injury acting up. He lowered the collar of his shirt and saw the bandage that was applied earlier, now stained brown thanks to his dried out blood. 64 knew that it just needed to air out over night, so he made quick work of removing the bandage, seeing that his injury was already beginning to scab over.

"Wow, he really got you good didn't he?" Frenzy asked, seeing 64 looking at his injury.

"Eh, it's not as bad as it looks. Probably gonna scar though." 64 admitted, leaving his wound alone. "So Frenzy, how'd you enjoy the fight?"

Frenzy chuckled, a grin spread across his face. "It was really impressive when you smashed the wall and pulled out chucks of rock to use! I wouldn't had even thought of that!"

bzzt...bzzt...bzzt...

64 and Frenzy both turned their heads toward the buzzing Gem on 64's nightstand. Not wanting to waste time, 64 reached over to the gem and grasped it in his fist, opening the channel.

"My favorite part was when you actually managed to get Aurum to activate his Armor Augmentation..."

"Alright, what is it that you want? Apparently Dolus was more than capable of taking down Quinn. What could you possibly have for me next?" 64 questioned, trying to figure out what his game was.

"Oh... much more, in fact, I have an assignment needed to be done at precisely midnight tonight. The Changeling and Zebra have already be informed."

"What's so specific about the job that it has to be done at exactly midnight?"

"Just the fact that the door which the objective is behind only opens at midnight. A minute too late, and what I need won't be accessible until the next midnight, and I'd rather have it sooner than later. We'll be in touch."

The channel cut out, leaving 64 in the dark once again. "What the fuck kind of door is only open for a minute, then locks?" 64 asked Frenzy, who put a hoof to his chin in thought.

"Well, it could be a time release door like the one we have. Maybe this lock is just made in a way that it's too tough to pick?" He answered, giving his thoughts. "The way he made it sound, it's probably some sort of vault door."

"A vault is meant to protect something valuable, and to keep other out. whatever he wants inside that vault..." 64 stopped himself before he said anything else, knowing that they were listening in.

"What about inside the vault?"

64 grabbed Frenzy and brought him close, whispering in his ear. "whatever he wants... he's wants it really bad. what if I just so happen to bar him from receiving it?"

Frenzy's eyes widened at my plan, but a grin formed nonetheless. "or... maybe you could arrange a face to face? no setting up a drop off point or anything... face to face only?"

"Sounds good, but we'll see how the situation plays out when the times comes." 64 spoke, using his regular tone of voice. He looked out of the window once again and saw that the sun had now completely set, leaving the sky shrouded in elegant moonlight. Looking up at the clock and seeing that it was only 9 PM, 64 saw a perfect opportunity for something. "Hey, let's get started on your assertiveness training Frenzy."

Frenzy's eyes shot up from the book in front of him, a look of nervousness shooting across his face. "Right now!? But... I-I still haven't look through my research books about intimidation yet!" He cried, causing 64 to shake his head.

"I swear you're like if Twilight and Pinkie Pie had a kid or something... Look! None of the matters when it comes to keeping your willpower stronger than others. We'll try one of the easiest ways to test how confident you can be" 64 instructed, getting up and walking into the bathroom Frenzy's head tilted in confusion when he pointed towards the mirror. "You are going to have a staring contest against yourself."

"What? What is this supposed to prove?" Frenzy asked, but 64 just shook his head and pointed to the mirror. Frenzy sighed, "Fine, let's give it a shot..."

Frenzy stepped onto the small step-stool in front of the mirror, resting his forelegs against the sink. He made eye contact with himself in the mirror, and realized what 64 was talking about. He would stare himself in the eyes for a few moments, but always felt compelled to look in a different direction due to his own nervousness.

"Frenzy, look yourself in the eye, and tell me what color are your eyes." 64 ordered, making Frenzy make eye contact with himself again.

"They're... teal colored..." Frenzy strained, having a hard time.

"Now tell me what color is your mane?"

Frenzy didn't see how this was helping, but didn't stop. "G-Green."

"And what color is your coat?"

"Greyish Blue, 64 I don't see the point in any of this!" Frenzy complained, but 64 kept making him stare.

"Keep repeating those lines. 'My eyes are teal, my mane is green, and my coat is Greyish Blue'. you are going to repeat those lines until you feel that you can't stand anymore, got it?" Frenzy gave him a stern glare, but nodded nonetheless. "And make sure to look yourself in the eyes when you do it!" 64 added.

"I got it!" Frenzy groaned, starting to repeat the lines clearly and concisely. "My eyes are teal, my mane is green, and my coat is Greyish Blue. My eyes are teal, my mane is green, and my coat is Greyish Blue..."

64 POV

I left Frenzy to his exercise. I know it seemed useless and repetitive, but he would learn to immediately look at someone else's features and list them in his head, keeping him calm and focused. All he had to do was just try a bit, and his confidence would soar. I was cleaning my Skeleton Blades a bit, seeing how they got a bit dirty from the weather, and making sure that I oiled up the Shock Baton so it'd swing out smoother.

I knew that these weapons were without a doubt trustworthy, but I had gotten them for situations where I couldn't use my magic. The Skeletons were only used for the siege on Smokey Mountain, and the Shock Baton was just in case the Magic Retainers made my magic useless here. Of course my magic was just fine, maybe a bit weaker, but it would do the trick.

I looked at my right and and focused on conjuring a shape, one that was hexagonal and elongated. Once the shape was finished, I held it in my hand and sighed, remembering what it looked like. I had sort of gotten over it... Vi being dead and all. But whenever I saw her with Super Nova in my head, it was just a painful reminder that the real one is dead, but a memory of her still lives in me.

The same could be said for Super Nova. Although she was technically still trapped in stone in Canterlot, she was able to speak with me because I had her magic. Of course I could do without her hijacking my consciousness for her own games, but what could I do?

I finished up with the weapon maintenance, closing my Baton and putting the Blades into my wrists. I looked up at the clock and saw that it was about to ring 11, so I should be getting word from The Voice soon enough.

"My eyes are teal, my mane is green, and my coat is Greyish Blue... My eyes are teal, my mane is green, and my coat is Greyish Blue..." Frenzy recited, eyes eyes beginning to droop.

"Alright Frenzy, I think you're good for tonight. Get some shut eye, I have to stay up to get this guy's assignment..." I groaned, cracking my knuckles and putting on the gloves he had given me. If I needed to go outside again, I would definitely need them.

"Alright..." Frenzy yawned, walking towards his bed. "I did feel more comfortable looking at my own reflection though..."

"That's good man. You'll probably have an easier time tomorrow at negotiations, just make sure to stay relaxed." I instructed, before I heard the soft breaths of sleep. I sighed and once again started to play with fire, creating small little flames between my finger tips and just rolling them around. In the darkness of our room, the flames created a dance of light, letting me just forget about everything for awhile.

Unfortunately, I was in a frozen hell hole far away from my home and friends, so reality gave me a check when I felt a very familiar vibration around my neck. I grabbed the Gem and opened the channel.

"Now... you 3 will race to retrieve something very important to my plans." He said, as I realized we were all on the same channel.

"Just tell us already, no need to get all dramatic!" Novus complained, making me roll my eyes.

"Just play along, he obvious needs the ego boost." I sighed, waiting for him to continue.

"As 64 predicted, the artifact I need is hidden behind a time released vault. Every night at Midnight, it opens to allow King Blackbeak inside. You will need to retrieve this artifact without alerting Blackbeak, and bring it to a drop off point."

"Why a drop off point? Why can't we simply deliver it straight to you?" Dolus questioned, asking what I was about to.

"I know what you are thinking. And trust me, that will not be an option." He growled.

"I think we can make it an option. You need us, we don't need you." I countered, an edge to my voice. Apparently he was thinking about it, because he didn't say anything for a good while.

"I won't reveal a location until one of you have the artifact... The vault door is behind King Blackbeak's Throne." The voice said before cutting the channel. I didn't have anytime to waste, so I disarmed the alarm on my door and sped out of my room. There weren't going to be any truces this time, no teamwork. I either beat these guys, or they beat me.

I slid behind a few boxes when I saw a patrol of Gryphon guards walk by, two of them talking to each other. "Look, nobody has seen Quinn since this morning, and you saw how bad Marcos was roughed up last night."

"He said that he fell from the top wall, and Quinn always takes those trips into the village. He's probably just passed out drunk in some chicks house." Another guard tried to rationalize.

"How could Marcos fall if he could fly?"

"He said he got tangled in some rope in his fall so he couldn't use his wings! C'mon your making a mountain out of an anthill."

They passed, allowing me to continue forward. Apparently my assumptions that Marcos wouldn't say anything to save face were correct, keeping me and the other bodyguards safe. I still didn't know what was the deal with Quinn thought, or why the voice targeted him.

I noticed a shadow shoot by me, absolutely booking it towards the Throne Room. "Shit..." I muttered, sprinting after the blur. I gave my watch a quick glance and saw that it was 11:58, meaning that door was going to open in 2 minutes. If King Blackbeak was in there, and we only had a minute to get in and out, this was going to be difficult.

As I ran I saw countless unconscious guards sprawled all over the floor, following the trail towards Dolus as she ran. She obviously didn't know how to be subtle, how were they going to explain all of the knocked out guards? I was barely able to see someone slip into the Throne Room, the large doors barely opening and closing in front of me. I couldn't slip in a fast as she could, meaning i had to find another way in.

"ashes to ashes... dust... to dust..." I whispered, channeling magic to my entire body. I felt my legs begin to become numb, seeing them literally turn to dust. The rest of my body followed suit, and I was able to slip underneath the door. It felt strange moving around as a pile of ashes, but it was the only way I was going to be able to stay hidden in here. I had to find another hiding space soon though, because I could only stay like this for 2 minutes. Luckily that's all I needed.

I could feel that Dolus was somewhere in the room, but I couldn't pick out where. She was a stealth specialist after all. Then there was King Blackbeak, sitting on his throne. He had a look of deep thought plastered across his face, looking up at the ceiling. I moved to a corner of the room in my dust form, trying not to be spotted by the King. A loud bell tolled, signifying that Midnight had arrived. I only had one minute to get whatever was that vault, and get out.

King Blackbeak got up from his Throne, sliding it aside to reveal a large door with a large pulsating green light in the center. He sighed and opened the door, showing two pedestals side by side, one of them with a stand. Moving excruciatingly slow, he grabbed his Crown and placed it onto the pedestal on the left, adjusting it so that it was perfectly centered. Next, he pulled his sword out of his sheathe, placing it on the stand which was on the other pedestal.

Suddenly I heard the door slide open and a small thud, revealing a small form lying on the floor. "Who goes there!?" Blackbeak yelled, taking his sword back and pointing it towards the intruder. While he was distracted, I moved towards the vault and reverted back to my human form, but also saw Dolus drop from the ceiling silently, making for the Crown.

"Guards! Come quickly!" Blackbeak yelled, managing to grab the intruder at the door and put him into a submission hold of some sort. My hand and Dolus's hoof came into contact with the crown at the same time, but I wasted no time smashing my elbow into the side of her face. She pulled her Kukri out of her sheathe and immediately took a swing at me, managing to to slice my right forearm and make me drop the crown.

The clatter it made made us both freeze, but I used the opportunity to grab her head in my hands and send my knee into her nose. I grabbed her Kukri before it fell to the ground, and put her into a choke-hold before she could retaliate. Guards started to come into the room as she began to kick and flail, starting to collect the intruder and interrogate him.

"So you decided that you wanted a piece of King Blackbeak huh?! Wanted to get rid of him when you had the chance!?" Aurum yelled, looking a bit banged up but okay nonetheless. Dolus finally stopped kicking around, slowly going limp in my arms. I took the crown and placed it into my Pocket Satchel, along with her Kukri. I slunk out of the Vault room, not wanting to be stuck there when it closed.

I contemplated leaving Dolus in there, but the rational part of me picked her up and put her forelegs around my shoulders, giving her a piggyback ride of sorts. I took a page from her book and climbed up to the ceiling with her on my back, using one of the banners adorning the walls. Once I knew I was in the clear, I watched as the guards continued to rough up the intruder, finally standing him up from the floor.

"Let's see who thought they could get the drop on our King..." Aurum growled, pulling the hood back off of the mysterious figure. My mouth widened at who it was, and I suddenly felt really scared for them.

Novus stood there, green blood dripping down his face and cracks decorating his face like a macabre portrait. "Of course... damn Changelings trying to swindle us. Get him to the dungeon, and don't do anything to him until I get there." Aurum ordered, as the other Gryphon guards dragged the beaten Changeling away. "Are you alright Your Majesty?"

"I'm fine... luckily his skills in staying hidden are about as good as your skills in combat..." He said scornfully, as the Vault closed. "Damn... I couldn't put my sword away..."

"Allow me sir, I'll keep them safe until the sunrise." Aurum said, bowing low to the ground. King Blackbeak removed his scabbard and held it out towards Aurum.

"Very well... make sure our Changeling guest is treated... 'well'." Blackbeak said, an edge on the word well. They both left the Throne Room, as I growled at losing the sword.

"They're gonna be on high alert after a stunt like that... I gotta find somewhere to hid Dolus then get to the meet up point for the Crown..." I thought, sliding down the banner and holding onto Dolus' hooves. I slowly crept out of the Throne Room, making my way towards one of the empty boxes lining the corridors. I put Dolus into the wooden box and placed a burlap cover over it, leaving her safe and hidden. I sighed and pulled my Gem out of my shirt, knowing that I had to wait for him to contact me first.

I pulled the Crown out and gave it a look over, sighing in exhaustion. "I hope this is all fucking worth it..."

Author's Note

Wow! Finally got this out! Here's a gift for my shitty timing.

Here's Dolus!

Chapter 57

3rd Person POV

64 hid in a small storage crate next to the one he put Dolus in to wait for his next step. He was unsure if the crown in his possession was indeed the item which The Voice had told him to receive, but if he had to get the sword, he would need to get it from Aurum.

"Why the fuck does this guy even need these things?" 64 asked himself, sighing at the stupidity of the entire situation. He was considering cutting his losses and just looking for any incriminating information himself, but was cut off by the Gem suddenly coming to life. 64 answered the call. "Why is it you always try and contact me at the most obvious moments?"

"That is because I always know how to make a grand entrance." He taunted, laughing a bit. "Now, do you have the items?"

"First of all, you didn't tell me there would be two things in the vault. Want to explain that to me first?" 64 demanded, shuffling a bit in the crate he was in. He made sure to keep his voice down to not alert any passing guards.

"I decided that minor details weren't important to your objective."

64 growled at the explanation, but didn't have any authority on the matter. "Okay then fine. Where the hell are you so I can give you this stupid crown?" There was a bit of a pause in the air, 64 awaiting the response of the voice. He wasn't going to hand over the crown unless they met face to face, so until then he was going to hold onto it.

"We will set up a drop off point. I cannot reveal my identity to you just yet." The Voice answered, realizing the predicament he was in.

"Bullshit you can't. At this point, I'm the only one who can give you the Crown, and I'm the only one who can get you that sword. You're not in a position to be calling the shots around here." 64 asserted, using the small bit of power he had over the Voice. He then thought of something, and knew he could use it. "I'll go to the set drop off point, on one condition."

"And what pray tell is this condition you have?"

"I know you were somehow watching us as we moved through the Castle. That means you knew Novus was captured by the Gryphon Royal Guard." 64 started, knowing that he was going to draw on a bit. "Get him out of trouble somehow, and I'll give you the Crown, and get you the sword."

64 could hear the Voice on the other end grumbling to themselves, probably seeing if they could get him out somehow. "Alright, I accept your terms. I have the release forms for the Changeling known as Novus signed by Aurum Risen, Captain of the Royal Gryphon Guard. I will send this to the guards in charge of the Prison and get him out of there."

"So you can do forgeries apparently. I've had experience in ponies using forgeries to try and hunt me down..." 64 said suspiciously, remembering Knight and his exploits.

"I assure you, I have no ill intent towards you or Novus. We are simply using each other's skills to get what we want. A very mutual relationship if you ask me. And don't bother trying to retrieve the sword, I'll get the Changeling to acquire that item for me."

"Based on what happened to him tonight, I doubt he's in any condition to get that sword. Just tell me where Aurum took it, and I'll be able to get it."

"I assure you that Novus is in capable condition for this assignment. I can see him right now in his cell, pacing around good as new. He must've had quite the love reserve inside of him to heal himself that quickly."

64 huffed a bit, but The Voice was doing what he asked, so he would would have to hold up his end of the bargain and drop off the Crown. "Alright... where do you want me to take the Crown to?"

He chuckled, sending red flags off in 64's head. "You're actually near the location now actually. You need to conceal the Crown, and bring it to Aurum Risen's footlocker in the Barracks. I'm sure you know what I'm trying to do..."

"You want to frame him. Make it seem like he stole the crown." 64 answered, gripping the Crown tightly in his right hand.

"You got it... This isn't a problem for you I hope?"

64 waited a bit before answering. If he did this, then Ethaxial would be sent into a state of civil unrest. The Captain of the Royal Guard, guilty of Treason against the Crown. Sentenced to death, making it nearly impossible to get these Anti-Aggression agreements signed. As these thoughts circled through 64's head, he started wondering if this would be the right thing to do.

"Then again... when I have been known to make the right decisions?"

"Project 64? You need to get moving, the sun will be up in less than 4 hours." The Voice reminded.

"Alright... I'll get moving." 64 sighed, peeking out of the crate he was in and hopping out. "But trust me, this isn't going to end well."

"I know... and that is the reason I am going love every minute of it..."

The line cut off, leaving 64 with bad felling in his gut. "Hm. This is a new one. I've never had to frame someone like this before."

64 POV

I really needed to rethink my lifestyle choices. Here I was, hanging upside down using magic to stay attached to the ceiling above the Barracks Kitchen, while a maid and a guard shagged no further than 10 yards away from me. Apparently they had been fooling around for awhile, because the maid had said something about 'getting caught'.

I wanted to get the fuck out of there to at least give them some privacy, but if I moved I would cast a shadow directly on them, giving me away. I stayed huddle in a corner of kitchen ceiling, covering my ears and praying that they hurried up and finished.

'Dammit I respect the guy's stamina but can he please just hurry the fuck up?' I yelled in my head, trying to drown out the sounds of moaning and groaning reverberating off of the kitchen walls. Eventually, the couple finished up and left the kitchen, leaving me very uncomfortable. 'I really should have taken another route...'

From here it was a straight shot to Aurum's private quarters, and in his quarters would be his Footlocker. Even though he was the Captain of the guards, he wasn't exempt from daily inspections. I moved quietly, hugging the walls and trying to listen closely for any night guards. I wanted to go into my ash form now, but I knew that if I needed it later I would be screwed.

I reached Aurum's Quarters, labeled by a large sign on the front of the door. I was turning my head left and right praying that I wouldn't get spotted, because I had already seen what happened with Novus. No way I was going to fuck this up for Equestria.

The door wasn't locked, giving me easy entrance. I poked my head in as little as I could, looking left and right in the room to see if there was anyone in there. Thankfully, Aurum was still out, giving me ample time to get into his Footlocker.

"Alright, footlocker... footlocker... Ahah! There it is..." I whispered, seeing the Green steel case against the same wall that his dresser was against. It was combo locked, but luckily, there was an easy way to get into these things. I looked and saw that the most worn out numbers were 2,0,4, and 8. Talons had a nasty habit of leave marks when pressing a button.

The footlocker clicked and opened, allowing me to see what was inside. There were a few small sacks filled with items such as snacks, books, and the occasional photo, so if he were to glance inside and notice a new sack he wouldn't notice. I took out the crown and gave it one last look, taking a deep breath and letting it go.

"And with this... Aurum is fucked..." I whispered, wrapping up the crown in a spare blanket I had and stuffing it into the footlocker. I gently closed it and went to leave the room.

Until I saw the fucking doorknob turning.

Without thinking, I dove underneath Aurum's bed, going into my ash form to avoid detection. I could see his Armored talons going across the floor as he made his way to a large chest on the right of his bed. He opened it up, and the kleptomaniac in me was wondering what he had in there. I heard the distinctive clicks of clips holding his Golden Armor together releasing, allowing him to take it off and place it into the chest.

I was about to make my move to get out of there, but noticed that Aurum still hadn't moved from standing in front of the chest. I didn't want to move while everything in the room was still, he would be on me in a second.

"64? Are you in here?" He said, nearly causing me to release my ash spell. "No don't worry, it's me Novus."

I wondered if I could truly believe him, but by the uncertainty of his voice, I was inclined to believe him. I formed back into solid form and crawled out from under the bed, and 'Aurum' indeed did burst into green flames and reveal himself to be Novus.

"I saw you get pummeled in the Throne Room, how the hell did you have enough in your reserves to disguise yourself?" I asked, knowing the limits that Changelings have.

"I'm not Mutarus' best shapeshifter for nothing, I know how to use the absolute minimum amount of magic needed to completely disguise myself. Plus I managed to nail a maid in the kitchen a few minutes ago." Novus admitted, as I felt my cheeks go flush. "What's up with your face? It just got all red."

"Nothing! Shit, you got the sword?"

Novus pulled the sword from his scabbard, revealing the jewel encrusted blade. I didn't know why the Voice wanted this blade put into his footlocker, King Blackbeak gave him permission to be in possession of the blade.

"Yep, swiped it from him while he was in the can. I was told to put the blade into the mattress of his bed." Novus said, stabbing the blade into the side of the bed, stuffing it deep within the thick mattress. Novus patted the bed to make sure he couldn't feel it, before nodding. "Alright, we're good. Let's get the fuck out of here before he really does show up."

Novus and I quickly made our way out of the room, splitting up as soon as we went through the kitchen. I didn't even get 10 feet away before the Gem around my neck started to buzz again.

"What do you want now?" I growled, but instead of the false voice, I heard Novus.

"Look, I just wanted to thank you for getting me out of there. I know there was no way that Aurum would just let me walk out of there like that. How did you spring me?" Novus asked, panting a bit as he ran through the halls.

"I asked a favor from our mutual friend. Luckily the bastard knew that he wouldn't be able to get the Crown if he didn't get you out of there somehow." I replied, barely being quick enough to duck behind a doorway when a few guards walked by.

There was a pause, probably because Novus needed to stay hidden from guards. He spoke again a few moments later. "You didn't have to do that... You could have just let me take the fall and let Mutarus get cut out of the deal that's going on..."

"No... I couldn't have."

"Why not?"

I finally arrived at my room, getting inside and shutting the door behind me as fast as I could. Frenzy was still sound asleep, allowing me to step into the bathroom and close the door so I wouldn't wake him.

"Look... I don't know what other plans that Vulnus or Illudere might have, but Frenzy's is the one that will definitely be most beneficial to every one of us. It requires that all of 4 of the nations here are in agreement though, so if the Changelings somehow were rejected from the arrangement, it would all fall apart. Just make sure to see this as something that can't happen again, alright?"

Novus sighed a bit, "Alright... I'll be more careful next time."

I cut the line before he could say anything else. I stepped out of the bathroom and rubbed my eyes, suddenly realizing how tired I was. Frenzy was sitting on his bed, looking at me.

"What did you have to get?" He asked, not as asleep as I thought he was. I sat onto my bed before answering.

"King Blackbeak's Crown and Sword... frame Aurum for stealing them..." I replied, exhausted. I only have 3 left hours to sleep dammit...

"And? Were you able to do it?"

"Yes, but there were a few complications along the way... The Changeling bodyguard got caught while trying to get to the Vault."

Frenzy's eyes widened, knowing how serious that was. "What?! Oh no... this is terrible! The Changelings aren't going to be able to give the Zebra's farmland! The Gryphons won't have to give them-"

"Relax Frenzy, I was able to get Novus out of the prison." I tried to say, but it didn't do anything to calm him down.

"No! The guards in charge of the Prison will know that he was there! They'll notice that someone helped him escape!"

"I didn't help him escape. I was able to get him out by forging a document. To the King it will look like Aurum freed him on purpose, and we're already framing Aurum, so anything he'll try to say to the king will instantly be discredited. I'm not even doing this anymore to get the secrets whoever this fucker is has, I'm doing this to make sure that either Mutarus or Capras don't get them."

"And how do you know that the whatever this guy has will be legit?" Frenzy said, a confronting tone in his voice.

"I don't, but I'll put his head through a wood chipper if i ever get the chance to meet him..." I growled, laying onto the bed with my arms extended at my sides.

There was a very long pause after that, as if Frenzy was trying to process the seriousness that my words contained. I kept forgetting that he wasn't exactly experienced in the field, meaning he didn't know just how dirty these things could get. I was just about to finally go to sleep, but his next words shot a chill down my spine.

"Why do you help Equestria?"

I opened my eyes and slowly turned my head towards Frenzy. "What... what do you mean?"

"I did some research on your past when I that we going to be partnered for this mission... All of your past experiences involving the Underground Labs, Silent Knight, Princess Celestia... Super Nova... Project #1... I read about all of it." I could feel my knuckles start to clench nearly instinctively at this, but managed to keep my mouth shut. "I'm not sure I'm right about this... but it seems to me that anyone else who was also put through all of that would stop at nothing to get revenge. A lot of the stuff involving the Underground Labs and Celestia's involvement in everything has been covered up pretty good, but you could expose her for what she really did in a few seconds. Why don't you?"

I took a minute to think about it. Well... that wasn't entirely true. I had spent countless hours thinking about it before. Everyday, I often wondered if I should just reveal Celestia for what she did to Equestria, every single bloody detail included. Nothing would be able to stop me. Celestia had tried before, but history has proven that I could take her down if I needed to. I didn't know why... but I had made an excuse for myself for all of these years.

"What good would it do...?" I whispered, pushing myself into a sitting position. "What good would it do for Equestria? I get revenge? Whooptie fucking do. What about everyone else? Either Luna is forced to banish Celestia to the Sun by the angry citizens of Equestria, or Celestia's guards perform a mutiny and turn their blades on her. She's might be invulnerable to time, but not to the sharp end of a sword. It wouldn't be worth it in the long run Frenzy... None of it would..."

I flopped back onto my bed. "Now go the fuck to sleep..."

Frenzy complied.

Chapter 58

3rd Person POV

64 was asleep, but Frenzy was up and about. More specifically, he was focusing on keeping confident and in control. He was repeating the same descriptive sentence about himself over and over in his head, his heart thumping in anticipation. The first day was a bit of a clusterfuck for him, meaning that he couldn't afford to screw up this time.

"Dammit 64, this would be so much easier if you did the talking..." Frenzy muttered, watching the sleeping human. On the nightstand beside him, 64's weapons were organized. His Skeleton Blades and his Shock Baton were ready for use, and Frenzy couldn't help but want to see how they worked.

He held out his hoof to grab the Shock Baton, bringing the collapsed weapon closer to him. It was a simply collapsible baton, primarily built up of Steel, it contained traces of silver for conductivity.There was a small button on the handle to charge the baton with electricity, which Frenzy made sure to keep his hooves away from.

Frenzy then looked to the Skeleton Blades, but noticed that 64 was actually starting to stir.

"Ah shit... today is going to be fucking terrible." 64 groaned, sitting up from his bed. He had dark rings underneath his eyes, his eyebrows furrowed to form a scowl on his face, as if he knew how bad things could get. Frenzy noticed that his fingertips were actually starting to channel magic, a red glow forming over his shaky hands.

"64? You feeling okay?" Frenzy asked, seeing the disheveled appearance of the awakening human. 64 swung his legs over the bed, pulling his shirt of over his head and tossing the dirty piece of clothing across the room.

"Well, considering the fucking mad dash I had to pull last night, I'm surprisingly less stressed than I thought I would be. Still, it doesn't change that today is going to be fucking terrible." 64 grunted, standing up and pulling out the Flame Retardant white hooded long sleeve that Rarity had made for him before he investigated the Slava case. He clipped on his leather and chainmail armor before slipping the special clothing over his head, cracking his neck with a sigh. "Don't say a word unless I give you the okay today, got it? Blackbeak's crown disappearing is going to create a shitstorm until they find it with Aurum, and until then they are going to suspect everyone in this Castle."

"You and the other bodyguards are going to be high on their suspect list. Do you have a plan to make it seem that you're innocent? What if that strange Voice rats and shows all 3 of you guys sneaking around the Castle? They can obvious watch us, what makes you think that they don't have it all saved on something?" Frenzy worried, sweat already beginning to form on his brow.

"Nope... My plan stays the same. Protect you, and find anything I can that will be an asset against Ethaxial. Honestly, that last part is a big optional objective. But I've dug myself to deep to just quit now. I'm gonna get what that Voice has, then I'm going to stomp on his neck..." 64 growled, his eyes flashing red for a second.

The lock on the door automatically shut off, allowing about 7 Gryphon Guards to come rushing into the room. Each held a Halberd, 2 of them aiming the spear-end at Frenzy, the other 5 at 64. Frenzy's hooves shot into the air, while 64 quickly extended his Skeleton Blades and prepared for combat.

"You are to surrender all weapons and accompany us to the Grand Hall! You are no longer here as guests, but as suspects of Grand Theft!" One of them yelled, his attention focused at 64. "Drop those Blades unless you want 7 inches of steel through your neck!"

64's right hand shot out and grabbed the spear of the Halberd, pulling the Gryphon towards him and elbowing him in the face. Once the Halberd was in his grasp, he snapped the handle over his knee and threw the pieces onto the ground. The other guards completely forgot about Frenzy, all aiming at the aggressive human. The bloody beaked guard held his mouth in pain, looking up at 64.

"From now on... you never threaten me again..." 64 snarled, kneeling down to the downed Gryphon. "Next, you will not be taking my weapons away. Now... take me to find out what this is all about..."

The other guards could tell that even though they outnumbered him, they were outmatched. 64 glare was sending shivers of fear down their spines, and some of them began to think if they kissed their wives goodbye that morning. "Right...agh... right this way." The injured guard groaned, standing onto his feet and motioning towards the door. 64 sheathed his blades, and waved Frenzy towards him.

"C'mon Frenzy, stay in front of me." 64 ordered, walking out the door with all of the Guards behind him. Frenzy sped to comply with 64's order, not sure whether to be more scared of him or the Guards. 64 remembered the path needed to take to get to the Grand Hall, meaning that he wasted no time in arriving and entering the room.

He saw the other 2 Foreign Officials seated in the center of the room, their respective bodyguards behind them with cuffed forelegs. The way 64 saw it, he was watching Mutarus and Capras being held hostage by Ethaxial. To everyone else in the room, it looked like 64 had walked into the room as if he was on practically up in flames, the guards behind him too scared to do anything about restraining him.

"64... I'm glad you have arrived. I see that my guards did not restrain you or Frenzy Scribe in anyway?" King Blackbeak asked, his crown missing from the top of his head.

"I wouldn't let them. What in the name of Celestia is going on here?" 64 questioned.

"Well, I'm sure that you can see a discrepancy regarding his Majesty's appearance today. Do you have any comment on it?" Aurum asked, his Armor already glowing with an Augmentation spell.

"Sure, it looked like he actually bathed this morning." 64 taunted, receiving a growl from Aurum.

"That is enough from both of you!" Blackbeak yelled, slamming the round table with his clenched talon. "If I still had my sword I would decapitate the both of you! Aurum, allow 64 to step towards the table. Project 64, another remark such as that one and I will banish both you and Frenzy Scribe back to Equestria!"

64 sighed and grunted, motioning for Frenzy to step towards the table. The stallion took a seat, feeling a bit less confident than he did this morning. 64 couldn't help but notice that guards were stationed at all corners of the room, each of them with a pistol sidearm and Halberd. If things got dirty, it would get cleaned up real fast with them in the room.

"Now... the reason you were brought here under such harsh actions is to find out who had the audacity to steal from me. My crown and sword are now missing, and nothing has came up from the search teams. My best guess... is that 1 of you 3 have them." Blackbeak accused, motioning to the 3 bodyguards.

64 and Novus exchanged glances, with Dolus looking a bit confused. The human and Changeling were wondering how the hell Aurum was still standing in the room. If he underwent morning inspections, they would have found that he had the crown in his possession. "Well, you could search us and our rooms, you won't find the crown or sword there." 64 defended, crossing his arms.

"We are already doing so. If there is any sign that you were even outside your rooms during these past days, then I will have no choice but to banish you from Ethaxial." Blackbeak stated, causing 64 to growl. He'd been careful, but he remembered that one the first night, he and the others had to go outside of the castle to intercept Marcos. It was raining heavily, meaning his dirty clothes could still be wet.

Novus and Illudere were throwing glances at each other, as if they definitely had something to hide. Frenzy noticed this and looked to 64 for advice. He shook his head, telling Frenzy to just stay quiet and wait. The silence in the room shrouded everyone like a thick blanket, smothering them with the lack of sound. Whatever happened next would decided the fate of the Agreements.

"we withdraw..." Illudere muttered, causing all heads to turn towards him. Frenzy leaned forward, unable to hear him the first time.

"Um... could you repeat that?" Frenzy asked, more nervous than he had ever been.

"I said, Mutarus will now formally withdraw from these Non-Aggression Agreements. It's obvious that with these threats and hostilities no real progress can be made." Illudere stood from his seat, but looked back at Vulnus who was staring wide-eyed. "But, let it be said that I will not leave without giving aid towards Capras. We will discuss arrangements for land trade soon. Now, if you'll excuse me, Novus and I will gather our things from our guest room and depart."

Illudere was making his way towards the door, when Aurum stepped in front of him. "You'll do nothing of the sort. You won't be leaving this room until we are done searching you rooms and belongings. Now sit back down in your seat." Aurum threatened, reaching for a blade on his waist. Illudere saw the serious look on Aurum's face and knew he wasn't going anywhere, so he returned to his seat.

"Can we at least uncuff these two? I seriously doubt that it matters if you cuff them or not." 64 suggested, looking at Dolus.

"It's true, I already managed to pick the locks." Dolus agreed, holding up the now unlocked hoofcuffs.

Aurum growled and released the restraints on Novus, who rubbed his hooves in pain. "Thanks.."

"Now that the nonsense is over, would anyone like to confess to stealing my crown before we find out who did it?" Blackbeak growled, as the guards lining the walls took once step towards the center. Aurum moved behind Blackbeak, an excited malicious grin on his face.

No one moved or gave the hint that they were going to speak out, except for Frenzy who was shifting nervously at the news that the Changelings were withdrawing. Of course, it was good that the Zebras would still get a chance to get the farmland necessary for their survival, but now the Gryhpons had no obligation to give anything in return for the Gems Equestria would supply them with.

64 on the other hand, was racking his brain to find out what was going on. With everything he did the night before, Aurum should have been locked up tighter than Celestia's cake stash. How did he explain Novus being free after being caught trying to sneak into the Throne Room? How did no one find Blackbeak's Crown in his footlocker? How did he explain no longer being in possession of Blackbeak's sword? There were too many unanswered questions, and 64 had a feeling none of them would be answered with coincidence.

He could speak up and call Aurum out, but he wouldn't be able to explain how he knew Aurum was supposed to have the Sword.

"Novus, do you agree with your companion that withdrawing right now would be the best course of action?" Blackbeak addressed with a knowing smile, making Novus shift a bit.

"Well... he's the brains. I'm not sure I can make a call like that." Novus answered nervously, as all of the guards in the room once again took another step towards the center table. 64 knew something was up, and was slowly charging magic into his hands.

"Hmph... I guess that is a logical decision... what about you Project 64? Do you agree with his actions?" Blackbeak asked, directing the conversation towards the suspicious human.

"I don't have a say in the matter. What I do have a say in is why do I feel we are being threatened?" 64 questioned, motioning to the guards surrounding them.

"I feel that in light of this breach in security, added personnel was necessary. I apologize if you feel in anyway threatened." Blackbeak answered with grin, his tone dripping with sarcasm. "Until we find my Crown, you are not here as guests. You are here as suspects. If our search of your rooms come up fruitless, we will take each of you one by one into an interrogation chamber and 'question' you... until we can find what we need."

Frenzy's pupils shrunk into pinpricks, with 64 putting a hand onto one of his shoulders to calm him down. "Laying a talon on any of us would give us the means to declare war. I doubt that's what any of us want right now." 64 argued, but Blackbeak just laughed.

"Oh? I guess it would be. But, wasn't it Equestria that wanted to set up these Non-Aggression Agreements in the first place? I doubt the nation that wanted 'Peace' in the first place would strike first. That goes double for someplace as benign as Equestria..."

"There's no need for this kind of talk. We should all calm down and focus on proving our innocence." Vulnus called out, Dolus glaring at him for bringing them into the conversation.

"And why are you so adamant about proving your innocence? If you didn't do it, then you obviously wouldn't draw attention yourself like that, right Dolus?" Aurum taunted, making the Zebra mare narrow her eyes dangerously.

"We are being held prisoner and you expect us to keep our mouths shut? Our homelands will be told of this treachery, and you will be held accountable for this..." Dolus threatened, making Aurum scowl. He slowly walked towards her, nearly touching her muzzle with his beak.

"I would hold your tongue... The Changelings were gracious enough to actually consider giving your nation land. I wouldn't want to ruin that chance by making threats.... would you?"

Dolus grunted and shook her head no. "I... wouldn't..."

Aurum gave her a condescending pat on the head. "Very good."

"Equestria is still giving Gems to Ethaxial. You wouldn't want them to be withheld on account of threats being made to allied nations would you?" 64 countered, but Aurum just turn on him.

"Yet the Zebras are giving you nation Coal and Oil! What if they learn of your threats against us and withhold those resources from you!"

"ENOUGH!" Blackbeak yelled, slamming his fist into the table again. "Aurum, please return to your position behind my seat." Aurum smirked and went back to stand behind Blackbeak, who was wearing a very distinct scowl on his face.

"So what do we do until you guys are done with the search? Sit here picking our noses?" 64 asked, fists clenching in anger at his sides.

"If that is what we must do, then yes. We will."

Silence once again filled the room, everyone except Frenzy sending harsh glares at each other. Then, the possibly worst thing that could happen, happened.

bzzt... bzzt...bzzt...

The gems that 64, Novus, and Dolus had all went off, causing the vibrating noise to fill the room. Blackbeak saw where they were coming from, and stood. "RESTRAIN THEM AT ONCE!" He yelled, causing a few of the guards lining the walls to rush forward. Over ten guards went towards 64, who managed to sent a bolt of magic at a few before getting tackled to the ground. Novus was grabbed and shoved to the ground, restrained by about 3 guards.

Dolus managed to act like a bar of soap, slipping through and dodging guards that were attempting to grab her. She was going to make her way towards the door, but a single shot rang out, and her shrill scream filled the room. A guard stood across the room, his pistol aimed at her fallen body.

"Good shot Arkos. Get her up." Aurum commanded, as two guards picked up the shot mare. She had a bullet wound through her right foreleg which she struggled to hold, and was bleeding profusely.

"Grr! Let go of me!" 64 yelled, struggling against the many guards holding him down to the ground.

"Find those gems! Search them!" Blackbeak commanded, as the guards searched the bodyguards. They quickly found the gems around their necks, and ripped them off. They were all still buzzing, and Blackbeak moved to grab the one stolen from 64. "Who is this?! Why are you contacting these 3!?"

No response came from the Voice 64 expected to hear, instead it was Blackbeak's voice just echoing. "Who is this!?" His words just echoed, and Frenzy's eyes lit up.

"Whoever that is is in this room! Their gem is picking up your voice!" Frenzy yelled, as the same effect took place with his voice.

"Sorry Blackbeak... Your time is up..."

Everybody except the guards turned their heads towards the direction of the voice, and all of their eyes widened. He had pulled out the Crown and placed it onto his head, then pulled out his sword to reveal it was actually the Royal Blade.

"Long Live the King..." Aurum growled, before charging at Blackbeak.

Chapter 59

64 vs. Aurum Part 2

3rd Person POV

64 watched Aurum rush towards King Blackbeak, with obvious intent to kill. The Guards looked oblivious, as if they didn't see their Captain about to behead their king. Time slowed down in 64's eyes, as he began to see everything around him.

Dolus was cradling her injured leg, being held up by two Gryphon Guards. The bullet wound didn't make an exit wound, meaning she would need immediate medical attention or else there could be complications in the future.

Novus was being held on the ground, a guard on top of each of his legs, along with one guard his his talons around his horn. If Novus jerked around or struggled in anyway, his horn would snap, and those took forever to grow back.

Frenzy was cowering in his chair, his hooves thrown over his head and his eyes clenched shut. This was the first time he had seen actual unwarranted violence happening, and worst of all he felt as if he could do absolutely nothing. He couldn't move, he couldn't help fight, and he couldn't protect himself. All he was was a scholar, not a warrior.

Aurum had a crazed look on his face, the Crown giving him the kind of look a mad king would give to his subjects. He was the one contacting the bodyguards everyday. He was the one making them go on wild goose chases to perform these tasks, all so he could usurp the Throne.

Blackbeak eyes widened at the sight of the Captain of his Royal Guard rushing towards him, with his own sword no less. Blackbeak instinctively went to grab his sword from his scabbard, but only found emptiness where a handle was supposed to be. It was in the hands of his assailant.

64 knew that if that blade hit Blackbeak in anyway, these Non-Aggression talks would go down the toilet. Not that there was any where else they could go in the state they were in. He had to stop Aurum from killing Blackbeak.

He started to charge his arms with magic, causing them to burn the talons of the Guards holding them down. The instant his arms were free, 64 cast a barrier of magic around Blackbeak, causing Aurum to crash into it.

"He's attacking the King! Stop him!" 64 yelled, pointing at Aurum. None of the guards surrounding 64 moved an inch, and Aurum's laughter filled the room.

"Oh 64... do you think I would pull this little stunt if I didn't have the loyalty of all the guards in this room? One of the best perks of being the Captain of the Royal Gryphon Guard is having the ability to select each and every guard for an individual assignment. It just so happened that the all of the ones loyal to me just happened top be in this room." Aurum explained, getting up from the floor. "Each of these guards is under my control now, willingly might I add. Right boys?"

"YES YOUR HIGHNESS!" They all shouted, causing 64 to narrow his eyes. Novus was still being restrained, but if 64 released him, he might be able to help him deal with the guards. Dolus on the other hand was out, not being able to do much with a bullet hole through her leg. 64 had to think quick, or else everyone in this room would be dead.

Conjuring a Long sword in one hand and flames in the other, 64 looked around him to see who was going to strike first. He saw that no one was going to move unless he made the first move, looking around to see what he could use. 64 reached out with his magic and grabbed Blackbeak's seat, using it to smash the back of an unsuspecting Guard. When his partner next to him turned to see what happened, 64 rushed forward and delivered his knee in the guards beak, sending his smashing into the wall behind him.

64 ducked to avoid being impaled in the back of the head, seeing a Halberd's pike where his head was moments ago. He reached up and grabbed the blade, using it to throw the Gryphon still holding onto the handle over his shoulder. Once he was on the ground in front of him, 64 stomped his foot onto his chest to make sure he stayed down.

"Guards! Subdue Project 64 at all costs!" Aurum ordered, still attacking the magical barrier surrounding Blackbeak. The guards holding up Dolus dropped her to go after 64, causing her to go crashing to the ground with a painful yelp.

"Come at me yourself why don't you!?" 64 taunted, grabbing the foreleg of a Gryphon attempting to slash him with a halberd and snapping it at the elbow. "Or are you afraid I'll beat you into next year!?". Aurum didn't respond, instead focusing on trying to break the magic barrier.

A pair of guards attempted to stab 64 in the back, only to be deterred the handles of their blades being sliced in half. 64 decided to go on the offensive and lunged at a guard with his sword, managing to stab the Gryphon through his shoulder. The Gryphon screamed in pain as he was lifted into the air by the blade, and swung around as 64 turned to face his other attackers. With the Gryphon still stabbed on his blade, 64 held his sword outwards as guards tried to attack him, instead attacking the poor Guard being used as a shield. When the guards realized their mistake, they recoiled with mortified yells, giving 64 the window of time needed to dispel the sword and rush forward.

Dolus looked up from her position on the ground, and through blurry vision she watched as 64 managed to rend a Gryphon's head from his neck. As the gore from the attack spurted out of the deceased gryphon, she suddenly felt sick to her stomach. The reason she often fought from the shadows was because she could never handle the sight of blood. She always managed to incapacitate her enemies with poisons, or even performing quick actions such as snapping their necks. Seeing 64 just... create so much death with such barbaric actions... she couldn't believe that he was capable of such things.

64's eyes were now red as he managed to send his magic infused fist through the chest of an armored Gryphon, his clenched fist sticking out of his back covered in feathers bones and blood. As he pulled his hand out, he turned and saw that none of the other guards were willing to attack him. They all stood around him with the weapons pointed at him, but they were shaky, nervous, and downright scared for their lives.

"Blackbeak!" 64 growled, his voice raspy and deep. "The lives of these Gryphons are in your talons! They are traitors to your kingdom, and are followers of Aurum! Do you forfeit their lives!?"

"Without a doubt! Do what you must!" Blackbeak answered, scowling at Aurum who stopped attacking the barrier and turned towards 64. The human charged his arms with magic and zoomed forwards the the Gryphon directly ahead of him, causing the Gryphon the scream and attempt to flee. With a sickening crunch, 64's hands wrapped around his neck, completely shattering the bones inside. Not skipping a beat, 64 gripped the dead Gryphon's neck and spun him around, throwing him towards the nearest guard before attacking.

Frenzy was still cowering in his chair, his eyes shut tight and hooves over his head. He was absolutely terrified at the noises being made in the room, and refused to watch the developments happening. 64 was acting monstrous, a savage grin on his face as he snapped the spine of another poor Gryphon guard. The screams were enough to cause Frenzy to clench his teeth in fear, hoping that the screams would stop.

The guards holding Novus down looked at each other and nodded, all getting off of the changeling and rushing towards the door. A crazed 64 turned his head and saw them trying to run, but charged magic in his hand and sent a large blast of flame at the ground in front of them. As they fled, the ground exploded around them, causing all of them to explode in a blast of gore and flames.

Not a single guard was left in the room... All of them were successfully decimated by 64. He was breathing heavily, his chest heaving in and out as the flames on his arms continued to burn. Aurum glared at him, standing next to the protected Blackbeak.

"So... Equestria finally managed to create something I thought they wouldn't be able to..." Aurum grunted, his Golden armor glowing a bright yellow at this point.

"And what was that?" 64 growled, not turning around to look at him.

"A killer."

A pause followed his words, allowing 64 to slowly turn around, giving no sign that the flames starting to engulf him were going to die down. "Well then I guess we're both on the bad side of the moral scale. I just have to ask you one question... why the hell did you make us do all of those ridiculous tasks?"

"Well, let's start from the beginning. When you arrived in Volaticus, I needed a way to make sure I could contact you without getting my talons dirty. Thankfully you and Frenzy were both so willing to hand over your bags to me for an inspection." Aurum explained. "After that, it was quite simple. You, Novus, and Dolus were looking for ways to steal secrets from Ethaxial. So, I simply gave the means to collect them."

"What reasons were needed for getting rid of 2 guards?"

Aurum chuckled, rubbing his chin with a talon. "Those 2 guards... it's ironic that you were the ones who managed to get rid of them now that you are trying to stop me..."

"JUST FUCKING TELL ME!" 64 yelled in anger, the flames on his arms flowing over onto his hands.

"Hmph. Those 2 guards were going to sell me out to Blackbeak before I could do anything about it. They were the only one's knew of my plans, yet weren't willing to participate. Thankfully, you managed to dispose of them quite nicely." Aurum taunted, before his armor exploded in yet another burst of yellow magic.

"That's it! You're fucking dead!" 64 bellowed, rushing towards Aurum. The Gryphon steadied himself and concentrated, as a ball of yellow magic began to form in front of him. 64 lept up and attempted to stomp on Aurum's head, but the Gryphon aimed and fired the yellow ball of magic at 64, the beam of light headed right at him.

64 saw the beam headed towards him and shot a blast of magic while he was in the air, countering the magic with flames of his own. When Aurum saw that 64 was undeterred, he jumped into the air and hovered as 64's foot stomped on the ground, creating large cracks in the cement floor.

Without skipping a beat after he landed, 64 ran towards the wall in front of him and run halfway up, before launching himself off the wall in attempt to grab Aurum and pull him out of the air. The gryphon flew left to avoid 64's grasping hand, but as 64 landed on the ground he turned and formed a Javelin in his hand.

The fiery spear shot towards Aurum and managed to hit, but the magic dissipated against his armor. Aurum laughed, "My armor at the level drains the magic from any attack sent at me! And all your attacks are based on magic!"

"Not all of them!" 64 refuted, picking up one of the Halberd's the fallen guards had dropped and jumping up towards Aurum. Aurum zoomed back onto the ground and launched himself up at 64, tackling him out of midair and onto the floor. Aurum pulled out Blackbeak's sword and attempted to stab it into 64's neck, making 64 throw his hands up and grab the blade in his hands.

Thanks to the metal plating Grey Streak put into his hands, the only part of 64 that was injured were his palms, but it caused the blade to be covered in his blood, making it very slippery. Gripping as hard as he could, 64 held the blade just above his neck, but Aurum was jerking the blade downward to try and stab him.

"Don't worry Project 64! I'll make this quick!" Aurum growled. 64 was trying to use magic to augment himself, but Aurum's armor was absorbing any magic he was trying to output. Thanks to the blood on 64's hands, the blade slowly started to slide downwards towards his throat, causing him to grunt in exertion. "Just a moment!"

"GET OFF OF HIM!"

Novus ran at Aurum and tackled him from the side, sending the Gryphon sprawling onto the floor, allowing 64 to get up and channel magic once again. Using it to quickly repair the damage to his hands, he looked over and saw Novus trying wrestle Aurum to the ground.

The Gryphon sent a punch into the changelings cheek, giving him the time to wrap his talons around his neck. 64 ran over with the Halberd in both of his hands, the pike end pointed directly at Aurum's mid center. The pike connected, but instead of the point going straight through Aurum's chest, the point broke against his armor.

"YOU AND YOUR FUCKING ARMOR!" 64 screamed, sending his foot into the side of Aurum's head. The gryphon stumbled off of the changeling and lashed at 64 with his talons forcing the human to jump backwards in defense. He wouldn't be able to do anything unless his armor stopped braining magic like it was, so 64 started to think of ways to do so. The answer hit him like a ton of bricks, but the challenging part would be getting him there. "FRENZY! WE'RE GETTING OUT OF HERE!"

64 grabbed Frenzy in a magical grasp and pulled him into a near bridal style carry, motioning at Novus, "You! Grab Dolus! Illudere, Vulnus! You both have 4 legs that aren't broken! Run!"

The human ran towards the exit with his entire body charged with magic, allowing him to burst through the door in an explosion of dust and magic. He looked behind him and saw that Aurum was flying after him, which was exactly what he wanted. He didn't waste any time trying to stay ahead of the Gryphon, smashing through walls, bowling over guards, and doing anything he could to just get where he needed to go quicker.

"I NEVER TOOK YOU FOR A COWARD 64! NOW LOOK AT YOU! RUNNING AWAY FROM YOUR IMMINENT DEMISE!" Aurum taunted, zooming after the fleeing human and having some difficulty keeping up. 64 was trying to get the fuck out of the castle, and was headed straight for the drawbridge exit. Finally, 64 reached the Castle Main Entrance, remembering the large entrance room.

Not wasting a second, 64 smashed through the large double doors and ran towards the drawbridge, seeing that it was still up. Using his magic, he began to lower it slowly as he made his final approach. "Hold on tight Frenzy!" 64 ordered, as he began to run up the still lowering drawbridge. With a final leap, 64 jumped across the remain portion of the moat, successfully landing on the other side onto his back. Frenzy was curled up in his chest shaking like crazy, but 64 shoved him off and got up. It wasn't over yet.

Aurum watched as 64 jumped across the moat, his armor glowing even brighter in anger. He zoomed faster and faster towards the human, prepared to rip his throat out with his own talons. He noticed that 64 had stopped fleeing and was now instead waiting for him at the other side of the moat. "I'VE GOT YOU NOW PROJECT 64!" Aurum screamed as he flew across the moat and straight at 64.

With the flick of his wrist, 64's hand shot out and managed to grab Aurum's neck just as he was about to make impact, as the Gryphon struggled and failed to rip 64 apart with his talons. 64 just stood there with his eyes narrowed, his hand slowly adding more pressure to Aurum's neck. "W-what... H-how!" Aurum choked, suddenly feeling himself get weaker and weaker as every second rolled by.

"You might want to look at your armor." 64 suggested, pointing down to it. Aurum struggled to do so with 64's hand wrapped around his neck, but looked anyway. He was expecting his armor to still be glowing with magic, making him stronger than any other Gryphon imaginable. Instead, he saw that his armor was a pale yellow color, lacking the golden shine it once had. "I will say this about the Castle. It's Magic Retention Fields is one of the best ever constructed..."

Aurum's eyes widened in realization as he realized what happened. He had cross the moat that he had 64 cross on the day he got there, and taunted the abilities that the Retention field possessed. He had now passed through it, while his armor was fully charged with magic no less. "N-no... I refuse... T-to end like this..." Aurum choked, gripping the arm 64 had extended as tight as he could.

"Don't worry, you won't." 64 consoled, dropping the Gryphon on the floor. Aurum gasped for breath as he stared down at the floor, hunched over on all 4's. He slowly looked up at 64 who was standing over him, who was holding something over his head.

Aurum realized what it was a few moments too late, as a large axe came down onto his neck.

Author's Note

Just in case you don't know, I have a side story focusing on Ghost's misadventures in Ponyville! Ghost vs. The Equestrian Educational System

Chapter 60

64 POV

My chest heaved as I sucked in air, taking deep breathes in and out to try and calm myself down. I was still seeing red, still seeing things that needed to be destroyed... But I knew that it was over, I didn't need to cause anymore damage. Eventually, the flaming spires that were my arms began to fizzle out, and my eyesight returned to it's natural state. If I had to guess, my irises changed from red back to brown as well.

"Frenzy, you can open your eyes now... It's all over." I huffed, really fucking tired after what had just transpired. I dispelled the axe in my hands and let them fall onto my knees, allowing myself to take a breather. Frenzy still laid on the ground with his eyes forced shut and his jaw clenched in fear. "C'mon Frenzy. Get up."

With timid movements, Frenzy's jaw began to relax a little, but he still stayed in the same place. I heard the sound of steps on the drawbridge behind me, and saw that it was everyone else that was in the Great Hall, including Blackbeak. I guess when I passed through the Retention field, it dispelled anything I was using on the other side. "Hey... I uh... I took care of Aurum..." I panted, motioning to his decapitated body. There was already a sizable pool of blood around the dead Gryphon, making me take a few steps back.

"Yes, that much is apparent..." Blackbeak sighed, reaching for the body and taking his Crown and Sword back. "I believe... that all of these nonsense has gone on long enough. Illudere, if you wish to collect your items from your quarters and depart, then I will not bar you from doing so. It's painfully obvious that we cannot continue in light of the recent events."

"I think that would be the best course of action." Illudere sighed, rubbing the side of his head with his hoof. "I believe the Changeling race will do just fine without any assistance, but we will definitely be giving aid to the Zebras. No need for unneeded suffering." He was walking back towards the Castle, but turned to me. "It's a good thing you were here to clean up the mess. Who knows what might've happened."

Novus hung back for a bit, looking a me with a small grin. "Thanks for what you did the other night. Who knows how fucked we might have been if Aurum managed to pull off a successful coup?"

Dammit... why were they congratulating me? I was... turning into something. Something bad. Every moment I was fighting I could feel myself being ripped away, being dragged down towards Super Nova. I could feel her grinning as I killed each and every one of those guards. I wasn't proud of it, but it was something I had to do. Each of those guards probably had families, and each of their families would be getting letters telling them that their husbands and fathers were traitors, and were sentenced to death. That wasn't a way to find out.

"64? Are you feeling ok?" Blackbeak asked me, probably seeing my face turning a bit green. "I know that your actions here today were not easy to do, and let it be known that you have my most sincere thanks for saving my life."

"Thanks... Frenzy. I said you can get up now. Any longer on the ground and you'll get blood on you." I commented, seeing the pool of blood around Aurum's corpse slowly creeping towards Frenzy's curled up position. Frenzy shot to his hooves at the mention of blood, shaking a bit from the events which had transpired. "And, I'm sorry for sneaking around the Castle. I know that these were supposed to be peacefully agreements, but doing stuff like that makes it seem that things aren't going so peacefully."

"And our apologies as well your Majesty." Vulnus interjected, bowing his head very low to the ground. "The actions of our bodyguards were most dishonorable."

"Vulnus, does it stink up there? I mean, you're kissing Blackbeak's ass pretty hard." I quipped, causing the bowing zebra to shoot back up and glare at me. Dolus couldn't help but laugh at the expense of her companion, although it was obvious she was in great pain. Blackbeak saw her struggling to stand up and addressed her.

"I believe my medical team is more than capable to help repair that wound. Let us see if we can arrange an appointment to fix what my men have done to you." Blackbeak offered, but Vulnus just stepped in front of Dolus defensively.

"I believe that we've endured enough turmoil during our stay here. We will leave at once and she will get treatment in her own home."

Blackbeak nodded and stepped aside, allowing the two Zebras to pass. Dolus, leaning on Vulnus, turned and looked at me. "You are a true warrior Project 64. Thank you for ridding the world of that beast."

And with that, the Zebras returned to the Castle as well. I looked at the corpse on the ground, walking over to it and grabbing the dismembered head of Aurum by the feathers on his scalp. "You want this as a trophy or something?" I asked, semi serious.

Blackbeak chuckled and shook his head. "Trophy are reserved for the ones who performed the deed. I'm afraid that it was not I who managed to stop him." With that, I looked at the last face that Aurum made before his death. Eyes widened, beak agape. I stared into the eyes of the dead gryphon, and as I did, I swore that the image of Silent Knight's head appeared for a split second before disappearing.

With a scowl, I ignited the head into a ball of flames and punted it away, sending it flying into the large moat surrounding the Castle. The head just gave me bad memories which I didn't feel like reliving, and I would rather keep it that way. I turned around to see that Frenzy was now emptying the contents of his stomach onto the floor, a bit of the bile managing to mix with the pool of blood on the floor. "You might want to get a clean up crew out here. And I suppose that Ethaxial will still be receiving a steady line of Gems to keep this place alive, right Frenzy?" I asked, but the only response I got was a heavy heave and the sound of more vomit hitting the hard cement ground.

"But what of the Zebras and their trade of coal and oil to Equestria? Won't that affect your nation negatively?" Blackbeak asked, but I just waved my hand dismissively.

"The biggest use of coal and oil is for train locomotion. Celestia's been in talks to switch to a more alternative source, but if not we'll just have to learn how to manage. I'd rather not feel like they owe us something now that we're helping Ethaxial."

Blackbeak looked down at the ground before his eyes narrowed, his gaze once again returning to me. "I wish to speak with you ni a more private matter. Frenzy Scribe?" Blackbeak called, looking at the sickly stallion who was beginning to regain some color in his face. "If you do not mind, I wish to speak with Project 64 in my private quarters."

"Frenzy, just head up to the room and wait for me. Take a bath and pack up. We'll be leaving after this too."

Frenzy nodded and just started walking away, not even glancing up at me. Great... this was his first field assignment, and it just so happened to involve an incredibly unnecessary amount of bloodshed, a failed coup d'etat, and he just had to witness all of it. I would be lucky if he even said a word to me on our return home.

Blackbeak and I followed until we made sure he was safely back in the room, before heading towards Blackbeak's private quarters at the tippy top of the Castle. There were 6 incredibly heavily armored guards standing in front of the door, each of them armed with some sort of Revolvers. Firearms were mainly used by Gryphons, but these guns looked as if they would be capable of making a fist sized hole in whatever they hit.

"Allow him in, we have private matters to discuss." Blackbeak commanded, as the guards stepped aside to reveal the steel door. Blackbeak walked in first, but I took a few careful steps forward just to make sure one of these guards wasn't going to draw on me. Once I was in, Blackbeak shut the door behind me, giving me a moment to see just how big his room was.

It was large enough that I was able to hear a small echo whenever Blackbeak's talons clicked on the ground, and his bed was easily larger than a large swimming pool at Canterlot's finer hotels. There were banners of past monarchy emblems hanging from the ceiling, and finally a large desk brimming with papers every where. My only thought was 'Twilight would have a fit if she saw that'.

"So... what did you need to talk about? I thought that all of our matters were taken care of? You're getting the gems, plus Aurum's been dealt with. What else is there?" I asked, as Blackbeak motioned for me to take a seat in front of the cluttered desk. I did so and leaned back, crossing my leg over my knee to try and relax a bit.

The King took a seat on the other side of desk, opening a drawer on the desk and sighing. "You've done me a great service today, Project 64. After today's events, I will no doubt work to further strengthen ties between Ethaxial and Equestria." Blackbeak started. I could tell there was something serious going on, but I knew better than to interrupt him. "And... to reward you for your efforts, I shall inform you of something... very troubling."

"Does this have to do with the arrangements Shura Slava was trying to set up for an attack on Equestria? I understand why you were willing to listen to her. I mean, she was offering the gems that your Kingdom desperately needed to survive, of course you would give in to her demands. Don't worry, I'll inform Celestia of what was really going on." I tried to explain, seeing no need for him to try and explain himself.

He chuckled a bit. "That... was in fact not what I was going to tell you. But, thank you for understanding my reasoning in that situation. She made an offer that I simply couldn't refuse in good conscious. No... What I wanted to share with you is a bit more troubling than that." He pulled out a piece of paper that was in the drawer he opened. "This... was found in the Changeling's guest room during the inspection. It was brought to my attention immediately."

He handed it over to me, allowing me to see what was written. I began to read the papr, which started off as a simple list of orders written in green ink from... Queen Chrysalis? Last I heard, she had been driven out of power by... hell. It was never said what exactly drove her out of power. One day she was proud Queen of the Changelings, next day? Gone. As if she disappeared.

"How was the written by Queen Chrysalis? She is no longer in power." I asked, but Blackbeak shook his head.

"Read the letter, and pay attention to what it is written in."

"What are you talking about? It's written in Equestrian. I don't see what-" I stopped after really seeing what he meant. It wasn't written in ink. This was Changeling blood. "What the fuck?" I mumbled, continuing to read the long letter.

'My location matters not. Let it be known that I will regain my title as Queen after the plan is done. The love that this nation emanates is near impossible, and thanks to an era of peace, they have little to no defences. I must know more before the final stages of planning are complete, but thankfully that will not be long. I've infiltrated these foolish creatures, and made sure that the real beings I'm disguised as are out of the picture. There is one being though... He walks like none I've seen before. He's brainwashed one of us, taking away his need for the hivemind and treating him as if he was a domesticated animal. This will not stand. The brainwashed one is too far gone, and unfortunately cannot be dealt with as of right now. While you are in the Gryphon territories, you will see the one who walks with two legs. Do whatever you can to disrupt these negotiations. If you must withdraw to cause panic, then do so. But give aid to those who you see as allies. Soon the Changelings will have Equestria. '

"Signed... Queen Chrysalis..." I muttered, reading the letter over and over. My heart rate increased as the severity of this situation dawned on me, and the hand I was holding the letter in began to grip the bottom of the paper tighter. They were planning an attack on Equestria. They knew about me. They knew about Ghost. And they were going to attack soon. "Fucking hell..."

"Indeed. It seems that the Changelings would have double crossed us at these talks if they had the chance. It seems as if Aurum beat them to it." Blackbeak sighed. "So? What will you do with this information? I suggest that tighter security measure be put into place around the castle, and everyone interrogated to find the Changelings Spy.

"No... No that's not what we do." I replied, feeling the fire in my gut beginning to burn again. "We make it seem that we have no clue. Make it seem as if we are completely open to attack. They don't know that we know of their plans. We will work around that, and then... fuck I'm no strategist. We'll figure something out."

I stood up and extended my hand. "King Blackbeak, it has been a pleasure, but I'm afraid I have to get back home as quickly as possible."

The King matched my urgency in getting out of his seat, and extending his talon to reach my hand. "Best of luck to you Project 64. I wish we could have met under less distressing circumstances."

With that goodbye, I ran out of the room with the letter grasped in my hand, needing to get back to Equestria as fast as possible. Frenzy would need to be shown this as soon as possible too.

3rd Person POV

64 and Frenzy were now airbourne, taking their motorized chariot over the Ocean and back to Equestria. Even after everything was said and done, Frenzy still saw the attempt at peace as a huge failure. Equestria failed to establish a steady trade of coal and oil from Capras, and the Gryphons were still receiving gems even thought they weren't giving anything in return. And then Frenzy read the letter...

"Well this is just great! I'm mean, not only did we mess these entire Non-Aggression agreements, but now we have to worry about a changeling spy!?" Frenzy screamed angrily, his eyes bloodshot from lack of rest.

64 rubbed his forehead and sighed. "Not just a changeling spy. Apparently Queen Chrysalis herself has been slipping in and out of the Palace. And you won't be the one dealing with it, I will. My time with Ghost helped me learn how to detect Changeling magic."

"The changelings were never going to agree to any of the terms at that meeting! They were trying to purposefully sabotage them!" Frenzy yelled, his red robes billowing in the wind. They were above the cloud layer, and the sun was shining in the air. 64 decided that he needed time to vent, so he pulled out the gem around his neck. He was about to channel magic into it, he swear he could see his green gem flash as a yellow one for a second.

He sighed and channeled magic into it, trying to come into contact with Celestia. A few moments later, her voice came through.

"Project 64? I have not heard from you in over 3 days, what is going on? How are the talks of peace going?" Celestia spouted off, trying to get as many answers as she could out of 64. The human rubbed the back of his neck and sighed.

"Well... they... didn't exactly go to plan." 64 muttered, not wanting to explain this to her. "In a series of unfortunate events, I managed to fight the Captain Gryphon Royal guard in an exhibition match, uncovered a military coup that conspired to kill King Blackbeak and put the same captain on the Throne, killed everyone involved in the military coup, and discovered another conspiracy against Equestria. Not bad for 3 days right?"

Silence was all that was heard from the other end, so 64 just waited patiently. He began to check his nails for dirt before Celestia finally responded. "Why... oh why in the name of Tartarus do I believe you?" Celestia groaned, as if this was a mild inconvenience, but everything involving 64 was an inconvenience to her. "64, why must everything go terribly wrong when you are in some way involved?"

"No fucking clue... but hey, at least we managed to smother the problems over here before they got too big. When I got back, we'll discuss a few more of the bigger problems."

"Very well... How is Frenzy Scribe? I would believe that the amount of chaos surrounding his first field assignment couldn't be good for him."

"He's..." 64 drawled, looking over at Frenzy who was still rambling angrily about the failure that was their mission. "not doing so good no. But he just needs time to cool down. Not everything went to shit over here like he thinks."

"I will learn what new trade agreements we must fulfill from him as well. How long until you arrive back in Equestria?"

64 took a peek at his wristwatch, and groaned when he saw that the glass was cracked. Luckily, he could still see that it was 3PM. "Yeah, we'll be there in about 3 hours. Get a hot bath ready for Frenzy, I think he'll need it."

"I'll be seeing you then"

"Later Sunbutt."

With that, 64 cut the channel and sighed, looking back at the frenzied Frenzy. 'This is going to be a loooong ride..."

Chapter 61

3rd Person POV

It was about 6PM when 64 and Frenzy landed back in Equestria, each of them exhausted from the trip. 64 was struggling to keep his eyes open as he stumbled out of the Motorized Chariot, managing to trip and fall into the dirt under him. He felt something walk over him, because whoever it was was blocking the sun.

"Stay right there... I need the shade..." 64 muttered, before getting pulled by the back of his shirt back onto his feet by Celestia. "Why hello there Princess. It feels great to be back home."

"I'm sure being back in a moderately warm Equestria is a bit more pleasant than freezing in Ethaxial, isn't it? Now that you're back, I need a report on absolutely everything that happened." Celestia explained, but saw the tired looks that Frenzy and 64 had on their faces. "But... I'm sure I can get them once you've had a pleasant night's rest. You both look tired from your journey."

"Trust me... that's bit of an understatement." Frenzy sighed. Celestia noticed that the usual happy gleam behind his eyes was gone, and his fur looked a bit duller than it was before he left. "I can give you the report right now. But you'll have to ask 64 for his report later. He got mixed up in a bit more than I did."

Celestia nodded and let Frenzy pass, heading into the Palace. 64 rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I think that I might've broken him... He was so optimistic about everything, thought that he could fix everything... But nope... instead we get mixed up in a coup and the other nations leave out of anger or fear." 64 muttered. "Either he learned that not everything can be fixed with words, or that he shouldn't take Diplomacy jobs."

"I believe that was also a lesson that you had to learn in the past, wasn't it?" Celestia asked, making 64 scoff a bit.

"Well, from my birth and upbringing... I knew the world was a shitty place. I guess I just had to learn that I couldn't help everyone."

Celestia looked down with a semi-sad look. "Everypony has to learn that lesson from time to time, especially with the failure that were the Agreements." She looked back up at 64. "Get a good night's rest 64. I believe you've earned it."

64 nodded with a grin and walked past Celestia, heading towards his room with his feet dragging. Once he entered the Palace, he looked around to see a flurry of attendants and maids running around as fast as they could, each of them cleaning everything up as best as they could. He saw a unicorn mare bolting past him, but he grabbed her by the tail before she ran off. "Whoa wait up, what's going on around here? Where's the fire?"

"Oh! We have to make the Palace as presentable as we can! We can't have a Royal Wedding in a dirty palace!" She yelled before running off, a feather duster being held with her magic. That's when 64 remembered that Shining had proposed to Cadence while he was gone, but... that meant the wedding was going to take place a few weeks from now, why was everyone running around in a hurry?

"I gotta find Shining..." 64 muttered, making the walk downstairs to the Barracks. All throughout every single hallway, arrangements were being made to clean up. It didn't look like decorations were going up yet, but things looked as if things were going pretty quickly. The flurry of attendants stopped once 64 arrived in the Barracks, knowing that nopony was going to come down here during the wedding.

He went into Shining Armor's office, only to find that nopony was in there. He looked towards the guards standing guard in front of the door. "Where's your captain? I need to talk to him."

"I believe he is in his quarters. I... actually haven't seen him since yesterday." The guard explained, causing 64 to sigh.

"You haven't seen him come out of his quarters since yesterday, and you didn't think to send somepony to check on him?"

"Well... I decided to respect his privacy..."

64 scowled at the guard and turned away, already heading towards Shining Armor's quarters. Once he arrived, he tried the door knob to open the door, but found that it was locked. Not having the patience to wait for the stallion to open the door, he forced open the lock and swung it open, taking one step inside.

"Yo Shining I'm ba-" His words were caught in his throat as his eyes widened, seeing the image displayed before him. It was exactly what one would think was happening, but... these kind of actions were usually reserved for during the honeymoon... "WHOA! LEAVINGNOWBYE!" 64 yelped before he jumped backwards and slammed the door shut, leaving him red in the cheeks. There was a clambering noise coming from the other side of the door, before an equally red faced Shining Armor, who was now wearing a robe, came bursting out of the door.

"You know there's a reason for locked doors right?!" He yelled embarrassed, flustered that 64 had walked in during something like that.

"How was I supposed to know?! Dammit I thought couples saved shit like that until after the honeymoon!" 64 retorted, returning the glare he was receiving from Shining Armor.

"Really? That's your argument for breaking into my room while I was having a private moment with my fiancee?!"

"Well that's all I got! I really need to talk to you about something." 64 tried to defend himself, but Shining's stern glare told him that it wasn't enough.

The robe wearing stallion sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Grr... Give me a moment to explain this to Cadence, then we'll head over to my office to talk." With that, Shining Armor walked back into the room, allowing 64 to sigh and lean back against the wall, the redness on his face subsiding. 10 minutes back in Equestria, and he had managed to catch one of his friends in the act. Not the best way to return home.

64 POV

"So, back in Equestria already? I thought you and Frenzy Scribe were supposed to be in Ethaxial for over a month?" Shining asked me, sitting on the other side of his desk. I wiped my forehead and nodded.

"Unforeseen events led to a quick return. The captain of the Royal Gryphon Guard tried to seize power in a military coup, then we discovered of another plot against Equestria. We decided a hasty return was the best course of action." I explained, reaching into my Satchel and pulling out the letter from Queen Chrysalis. "Remember her? Well looks like she's back."

I gave Shining the letter and gave him a few moments to read over it, wanting to gauge his reaction. His face remained stony as he read, the only movement on his face being his eyes darting back and forth as he read. He finally put the letter back onto his desk, before closing his eyes and letting out a deep sigh.

"Things don't ever get easier... do they?" Shining asked, and the only answer I could give was a shake of my head. "Really? Now we have to deal with the former Queen Chrysalis infiltrating Canterlot?!"

"Yes! That's why we have to treat this tactfully. We can't just go around and interrogate everyone in the city, that will make her get scared and drive her off. She doesn't know that we know that's she in the city, so we gotta make it seem that we're oblivious." I tried to calm Shining Armor down, but it just seemed to make him angrier.

"So we just sit here and do nothing because we're supposed to pretend that we know nothing!?"

"Of course not! Just... dammit it'd be easier if Ghost was here. He'd be able to seek out Changeling magic way easier. We need to find if anypony has been acting strangely. Chrysalis is masquerading as someone in the Palace, otherwise she wouldn't know so much about Ghost and I. She won't change her disguise too much, otherwise she'll have too many bases to cover. So we just have to focus and find out who's been acting out of the ordinary."

"Any ideas who it could be? I mean, who would be able to get around that easily?"

I thought about it, and two potential targets came up. "Well... the first option would be that she's disguising herself as an attendant. She'd be able to get around easy, and most ponies around here wouldn't ask too many questions."

"That's true. Attendants can literally walk into pretty much any room except for the Princesses Quarters and the Barracks. It wouldn't be hard to go undetected." Shining agreed, writing some stuff down onto a paper head had in front of him. "What else is there?"

"The second option would be a guard. They wouldn't be able to move around much, but they would definitely be able to hear whats going on around the Palace. Ponies usually forget that they actually have ears." I clarified, motioning towards the door where 2 guards were standing just outside of.

"That seems a bit less likely. I'm sure Chrysalis would want to move around as much as possible to learn as much as she could. I doubt standing in one position everyday would be a good way to do that."

"So what should we do from here? Start asking around?" I asked. "Sorry to say but I'm not too friendly with most of the attendant staff. But... I'm sure Blusa is. I can ask her if she's seen anything strange."

Shining's eyes widened for a moment, before leaning forward. "Actually, she hasn't been seen for 3 days. I've already gotten the Military Police investigating the case, but there hasn't been much. She lives alone and her closest family lives in Manehatten, so there aren't a lot of references. We asked around to some of her friends, but nothing substantial has came up."

"Shit... do you think..." I trailed off, not wanting to think of that possibility

"I hope not. But now this means Chrysalis might have already gotten others as well. Crossroads left a letter stating she was going to use some of the vacation time she accumulated over the years, so we can't rely on her to help us."

“She left right after Frenzy and I took off? That seems… unusual.” I commented, but Shining pulled the letter out of his desk.

“It has her hoof writing down to a tee. The stamp of recognition from her desk, everything. If you’re saying what I think you’re saying, I don’t think that Chrysalis would be able to pull that off. I mean, Crossroads wouldn't go down that easy would she?” Shining countered, his voice wavering a bit.

“Until we find Chrysalis, we have to take every single gut feeling we have and stick with it. That means that Crossroads and Blusa are... missing, at the moment. We gotta search their rooms to see if we can find anything, signs of a struggle, anything. Chances are that Chrysalis might have cleaned up a bit, do the trail is gonna be a bit cold. I'm gonna go check things out."

I stood and was able about to walk towards the door, but another question I had on my mind made itself apparent. "Why does it seem like preparations for the wedding are beginning way too quick? I can get the stuff like getting a dress ready and the actual ceremony, but why are the attendants doing things such as dusting and pretty much decorating already? The weddings not until a few months right?"

Shining's cheeks flared red for a bit, before he chuckled uncomfortably. "Well... when I proposed, Cadence was so excited I was afraid that she wouldn't be able to sleep for a week. She went to go show her friends the engagement bands, and when she came back, she apparently wanted to have the wedding as quick as possible."

I stared and blinked. "How quickly...?" I asked slowly, wondering if I would regret asking that.

"Uh... ya know. 1... maybe 2... weeks."

"What the fuck!? 2 weeks? Shining how were you okay with that!?" I yelled, not believing what I was hearing. Granted that he might've not known that Chrysalis had managed to infiltrate the Canterlot Palace like this, the preparations for the wedding would allow her to move through the Palace with relative ease. "Well, you need to tell all of the attendants and Cadence that you'll have to extend the date back to the original time. We can't investigate for Chrysalis with all of these preparations."

"I can't just do that! We already have a collaboration of wedding planners from all over Equestria flying in to help plan my wedding, there's no way I could get them to just put things on hold! Especially not with Cadence! I don't know if she's just really excited to get married, but she's trying to move everything along as fast as she can. She's the one who managed to get those planners out here, who's pushing the attendants to get the Palace ready... she's pushing everything!" Shining exclaimed.

"So... the Princess of Love is turning into a bridezilla? I guess... that makes a bit of sense. Marriage is one of the bigger steps in showing love, so no doubt she's eager to partake. Was that why you two were so... eager?"

Instead of blushing and getting bashful like one might think Shining would have done, instead he put a hoof to his chin and thought for a bit. "Actually... that was Cadence too. I originally wanted to have a small agreement about saving it until the wedding night but... I guess she just had different plans."

I shook my head and walked towards the doors, ready to start investigating what was going on. I'd just let Shining Armor deal with his marital problems. I mean, he could deal with Cadence...

...right...?

3rd Person POV

"And that was when the other nations began to depart. I mean, I had hoped that we would all leave on better terms, but it just felt so... anti-climactic. We all went through all that, only for everyone to leave either receiving partial aid or emptyhoofed. If anything, all this trip did was prevent King Blackbeak from being overthrown."

Celestia had listened with great interest to everything that Frenzy was telling her, minus the parts that 64 would have to add to his report, and was astounded that so much could go so wrong within the span of 3 days. She had thought that the Ethaxial Monarchy had been going a bit too smoothly for quite some time, so it was only a matter of time before something like that happened.

Then... there had been the letter.

Frenzy, displaying an impressive amount of memorization, recited the letter sent from Queen Chrysalis to Illudere, even remembering what kind of macabre ink was being used.

"I wouldn't say that the meeting wasn't beneficial. If we hadn't had attended, then we would have never discovered Queen Chrysalis managed to somehow infiltrate the Palace. We can begin investigating any suspicious behaviour around the Palace immediately." Celestia said with determination, ready to order Shining Armor to start knocking down doors.

"Already on it." 64 said with a smirk, entering the Throne Room. "And Shining Armor and I already had a chat about what's going on, and how we should handle things."

Celestia wore of curiosity. "And how did you suggest we handle things?"

"Well, Chrysalis is creeping around the Palace, and she has probably already taken the form and gotten rid of two residents in the Castle. Crossroads, and Blusa. They've gone missing and no one can confirm their whereabouts." 64 started, walking towards the Throne. "Chrysalis doesn't know that we know of her presence, so she'll continue to act accordingly. We just have to maintain a certain level of feigned obliviousness, and sooner or later she'll slip up. We just gotta be there when she does."

"You're plan is to wait and see what she does? Doesn't that pose a threat to everypony else in the Palace?" Frenzy asked, a bit doubtful of 64's way of thinking.

"Well we can't start a witch hunt, especially with Shining Armor's and Cadence's wedding only 2 weeks away. That might scare her off. And like I said before, if she thinks everything is going well, then she'll continue to do exactly what she is doing right now. We just have to keep an eye on any of the attendants that seem to be out of place, that's the best form Chrysalis could take."

"Unfortunately Frenzy, there isn't much we can do to find Chrysalis. If she receives word that we know of her plans, she may flee and we will miss out chance to apprehend her. For now... all we can do is wait, and remain vigilante. 64. I want you to begin bugging rooms. Use Communication Shards and hide them in each of the attendants quarters."

"Yes ma'am." 64 agreed, already knowing where to place them. "Anywhere else? I mean, she might also be disguised as a guard. Plus some attendants have homes outside of the Palace."

Celestia's face grew pensive, considering spying on her own subjects on a larger scale. What kind of ruler would purposefully spy on their own citizens?

"No. I don't want to have to do that unless we absolutely have to. We must keep a level of privacy in this endeavor." Celestia answered.

"Alright then. But, while we're on the topic about Chrysalis, I had an idea on how to prevent her from leaving." 64 inquired, looking up at the ceiling. "Ever think about casting a force field?"

Chapter 62

64 POV

I stood on the highest balcony of the Canterlot Palace with Shining Armor and Celestia, some magic already channeled to my hands. The night sky presented an array of stars to observe, and I could see Luna already rearranging a few. It would take awhile before the image was clear though.

The plan was simple. Shining and I were going to cast a bubble shield which would surround Canterlot, with him casting the primary shield, and me casting the secondary shield. His would prevent her from actively trying to fly out at night or any other time, and mine would prevent her or anything else from trying to teleport out of Canterlot.

“Alright you two, whenever you are ready. Shining, goes first.” Celestia commanded, as Shining stepped forward confidently. He narrowed his eyes and steadied himself, making sure to plant his hooves onto the ground. His horn began to glow a bright rose color, charging more and more magic. “Fire!”

With that, Shining shot the entirety of his charge straight into the air, as the bright bolt of pink magic went shooting towards the sky. Thanks to the darkness of the night, his magic looked as if it was a spectacular firework shooting into the air, and at its peak, it exploded. Magenta energy went flying in all directions, the first stages of the giant spherical shield was being conjured.

“Now you 64.” Celestia ordered, as I shot my hands into the air and let the flames fly. Instead of a single bolt of magic like Shining Armor shot, I fired a continuous beam of flaming magic. My magic collided with the center of the half sphere that Shining’s magic already formed, and began to fuse with it. The rose wall of magic began to become consumed with flames, creating a glowing sphere of safety.

I strained to keep up the precise level of magic needed for this spell. Too much magic and my magic would burn up the shield, but too little and my part of the shield would fizzle out.

Once the sphere was complete, I stopped releasing magic and gasped, not used to concentrating that hard for too long. I wiped the small beads of sweat that were starting to form on my brow and looked at our handiwork, seeing the shimmering shield surrounding the Canterlot Cliffs.

The color still remained dominantly rose colored, but now shimmered with a bit of redness. “Whoa… that looks really cool.” I commented, seeing how the glowing shield lit up Canterlot in a soft light, not enough to be distracting, but enough to make one feel safe. “Let’s see Chrysalis try and leave with that.”

“Now that we know that she cannot get far if she tries to flee, I believe you can start asking questions around the Castle 64. Just small things, such as if ponies have seen Blusa. you haven’t been back for long, so it would be a reasonable question.”

“Got it, I’ll start early tomorrow.” I answered.

“And Shining, remember that this shield is in no way permanent. You must add to it’s power every 12 hours to maintain it. It will most definitely drain you, so make sure to not over exert yourself these next few days. We still need you for your wedding.”

“Yes sir. I won’t forget.” Shining replied, giving a salute. “Now I gotta get back to Cadence, she’s still a bit peeved that I had to leave a bit earlier than she wanted this afternoon.”

The image that was burned into my eyes when I opened that door came back to me, and I shivered in embarrassment.

Shining Armor walked away, leaving me and Celestia on the balcony alone. "Besides Shining proposing to Cadence, what's been going on? Any reports from Ghost in Ponyville?" I asked, curious about my little Changeling.

"None yet, but he is due for one at the end of the week. He and the rest of Twilight's friends will get invites to the wedding soon." Celestia answered, making me miss him a bit more. “I have utmost confidence that he is doing well in helping Applebloom cope.”

“I really hope so. I remember being terrified at the sight of blood. I guess I just I just got used to it eventually.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t think we have the option to expose her to blood until she’s numb to it. Eventually the shock of her situation will die down, and her mental state will return to normal.”

I sighed a bit, looking up at the shield once again. I wondered how quick ponies would overreact to it’s creation, but knowing Celestia, I knew she would use a bit of tact in explaining it. Probably would chalk it up as added security for the wedding.

"64, look at me." Celestia said sternly, causing the hair on the back of my neck to stand. I didn't know why, but I wanted to conjure magic to defend myself.

I turned and faced Celestia, whose eyes were narrowed at me dangerously. I felt my hands grow hotter, not from sweat or nervousness, but from magic. “Why are you looking at me like that?” I questioned, taking one step back towards the edge of the balcony.

“Your eyes… they're red…” She growled, shooting a bolt of magic at me. I brought my hands up to block the magic with a spell of my own, but when her magic hit my shield, it absorbed into my hands and caused me to lock up. I couldn't move, and old fears concerning claustrophobia began to bubble to the front of my mind.

I wanted to yell out in rage, but a sense of passiveness washed over me, causing me to relax. It was as if my mind was clouded by a thick hazy cloud, but now it was cleared up and allowing me to think straight. Celestia’s eyes continued to inspect mine, before letting out a small sigh and casting another spell.

I gasped and fell to the ground, landing on my hands and knees. With wheezing coughs, I looked up at Celestia. “What… the fuck… was that for?!” I gasped, not exactly happy with whatever she did to me.

“I had to stop Super Nova from making any further progress. She was slowly beginning to take over your mind with her magic.” Celestia explained. “I believe that the overuse of your magic has been allowing her to easily gain entry to your mind. I simply restrained her from continuing to progress.”

I felt a burning around my wrists and looked at them as I was still hunched over on the ground. Tattoos that resembled tribal markings began to surround my wrists, creating bands around them. “What the hell are these?” I wheezed, still catching my breath from the ordeal.

“It is a restricting spell. I know you may not like this, but you need to cut down use of your magic until you are fully capable of wielding it. Discord may have helped you unlock a large portion of it, but you still have a long way to go.” Celestia helped me back onto my feet, causing me to stumble a bit. “These restrictors would work completely with someone with harmonious magic, but… things are never simple with you, are they?”

“What can I say, I’m a bit of a troublemaker.” I joked rubbing my wrists. I should have been feeling so angry at Celestia for doing what she just did that I would want to rip her fucking mane out of her scalp, or maybe threatening to burn her bed while she was still sleeping in it, but… I felt nothing. I wasn’t angry at her, or happy with her. I just… understood. That was the only word that I could use to describe it. I understood why she needed to do that.

“With chaotic magic, this spell only works if you allow it to. If you resist using your magic, then Super Nova won’t have any pull on your mind. Have you noticed that you are feeling a lot less angrier than you would normally be right now?” All I did was nod, feeling as if the red haze that was always obscuring my gaze was gone. “That is because Super Nova was making you angrier. The more emotional you got, the more she was able to take over your mind.”

“So… I was being… mind controlled?” I drawled, still not getting most of what was going on.

“Yes, in laymans terms, you were being mind controlled. It seemed to accelerate when you helped cast the shield spell, which was why your eyes went from brown to red so quickly.”

I brought a hand to my eyes and felt around them, not even realizing that they had changed. Usually I could feel when they changed, but now… I didn’t know what the heck was going on. “So… what? I can’t use my magic or else Super Nova will be back in control?” I asked, still feeling around my eyes.

“Not entirely. Only in excess will your magic have any effect on your mind. Just… be careful 64… I don’t want you to go down the same path that I did…”

With that, Celestia turned around and went back into the Palace, going through the observatory we were standing outside of. I looked back down at my wrists and could see a red glow beginning to trace the markings, as if the magic was trying to break through.

“Huh… Celestia’s never told me to be careful before…” I muttered, looking back up at the stars. Luna’s message in the sky was now clear, and when I read it I gave a small chuckle. It was a bit hard to see through the fiery shield, but I could still read it.

“Starlight… starbright… do you feel the love in the air tonight…?”

Cadence must have told her to do something to that effect, due to the upcoming wedding. I thought it was a nice touch, Luna never really got a chance to write out messages like that. Maybe she would do more with the good news of matrimony.

I turned and headed back into the Palace, walking all the way down the stairs, heading towards my room to get the first nights good rest in a while. When I arrived, the first thing I noticed was the level of disarray my room was in.

Things that I know I never touched before I left were strewn across the room, the sheets of my bed were haphazardly bunched up on my bed, and the contents of every single shelf and drawer were dumped onto the floor.

My first instinct was to unsheathe my Skeleton Blades and put my guard up, just make to sure whoever did this wasn’t still in my room. After checking all of the corners and my bathroom, I sighed at the lack of ponies and turned back to my disheveled room.

I began to look through all of the stuff dumped onto the floor, wanting to make sure that none of it was stolen. A lot of my belongings were damaged, including a few schematics for a newer bow and arrow I was planning to build.

If Chrysalis did this, then she was probably looking for anything she could use to invade Canterlot, but it was also really petty. At least put my shit back after you fucked with it…

I began to put everything back to where it belonged, taking a good 30 minutes before everything was all put back in place, but something caught my eye. I hadn’t done anything to my bed yet, but there was a tinge of red on my white sheets. When I unraveled the sheets, I nearly gagged at the smell.

There was thick red blood staining everything, and it all suddenly clicked for me. Blusa must’ve not gone down without a fight… but it looked like she lost anyway. Everything being fucked with were the signs of a struggle, not a search. Chrysalis must’ve use my sheets to clean the blood up.

“Well fuck… looks like I’m not getting any rest tonight…”

3rd Person POV

64 changed into a pair of pajama pants and a large purple shirt with Luna’s cutie mark printed on the right shoulder, given to him by the Princess of the Night herself. It was a sort of gag gift for his 21st birthday, but he actually really liked it. And compared to the gift he got from Celestia, it was perfect.

Then again, being hung by your ankles off of a balcony for having Celestia’s cake as a ‘birthday breakfast’ kind of warranted that.

He had called for a few attendants to take the bloody sheets to a forensics lab, but made sure question them to see if they knew anything about what happened to Blusa. Neither of them knew anything, only knowing that nopony had seen Blusa in a while.

“Any noises coming from my room? This had to have happened within the past four days.” 64 questioned, but once again, the mares shook their head no.

“I woulda told you if I had heard anything, but whoever done this was a silent as a mouse.” one of them said, a thick New Horsey accent on her.

“Then just keep an eye out. I don’t want to turn this into a witch hunt, but if any of your friends starts acting a bit strange, come and get me. I’ll find out what’s going on, got it?”

Both attendants nodded and took the bloody sheets away, allowing 64 to let out a frustrated sigh. He couldn’t stand the thought of one of his friends hurt by an evil bug like that. Not knowing what else to do at this hour, 64 looked up at the ceiling, seeing the moonlight filter though the stain glass windows.

“I haven’t seen her in a while…” 64 muttered, sticking his hands in his pockets and walking down the hall towards Luna’s Court.

He curled his toes as he walked on the soft carpet, the warm feeling giving him memories of the first time he ever felt carpet on barefeet. It was a bittersweet feeling, giving him the rush of happiness that he no longer lived that life, but the dread of loss after what had happened to her. Little things like that made him wonder why everything happened the way it did.

“Why did I have to be made? Why did she have to be made? Why did Celestia commit those horrible atrocities? Why am I letting her live?”

That last thought literally made 64 stumble a bit, catching himself by leaning against a wall. It felt… primal, and now that he wasn’t being consumed by the aggression Super Nova was feeding to him… it scared him.

His wrists began to burn again, a red glow being suppressed by the bands Celestia had put on him. She was trying her damndest to break out, but 64 knew that he couldn’t trust her or her magic. He wouldn’t be consumed like… she was…

64 arrived at the Throne Room and pushed both doors open, only to immediately have spearheads being pointed at his throat.

“HALT! WHAT BUSINESS DO YOU HAVE WITH PRINCESS LUNA?!” One of her night guards yelled, poking the spear into 64’s neck to try and threaten him.

64 smirked, and decided to have a bit of fun. “Hey Luna, new guys?”

Luna saw what was going on and stifled a laugh with a hoof, waving the guards off of 64. “I apologize, they aren’t used to my subjects addressing me so informally.”

“Well they better get used to it.” 64 sighed, rubbing the part of his neck that was so rudely prodded at. “How have things been since I’ve been gone? You didn’t exactly see me in the best state of mind or body last time we spoke.”

“Well… besides the Royal Wedding in 2 weeks, all has been as one would expect.” Luna sighed, looking down at 64. She scowled and waved him forward. “Come sit in Celestia’s Throne 64, it is not proper for a dear friends to look down at one another.”

64 shrugged and went to go sit next to Luna, taking slow steps towards the golden throne. He turned and sat down onto the Throne, sighing in pleasure as he did. Luna smirked at him and giggled, seeing the look of contentment spread across 64’s face.

He felt… powerful, for a lack of better word. He imagined ponies coming in and out of this Throne Room, and he had total power over them. They would do whatever he said… and no one could do anything about it, because he would rule…

“64? Are you feeling ok? You’re shaking.” Luna called, shaking 64 on his shoulder a bit. Coming out of his imagination, 64 gasped and looked at Luna, nodding and taking in a deep breath.

“Just… saw something I’m not sure I liked...” 64 sighed, Luna giving him a sad smile.

Luna stared at 64 for a bit, observing his demeanor a bit. The way his fists clenched on the armrests of the chair, his eyes narrowing slightly, and a frown on his face. She knew that feeling all too well. Why would she ever forget it when it was the reason she was banished in the first place?

“64, eliminate those thoughts immediately…” Luna warned. She put a hoof to 64’s shoulder, trying to get him to focus on something else. “Those thoughts are ones that led me on my dark path… You cannot make the same mistakes that I once did.”

After hearing those words, 64 shook his head in an effort to focus on Luna, but his mind felt cloudy. It seemed that whatever Celestia had put on him wasn’t as effective as she described, because even when he wasn’t trying to channel magic Super Nova was trying her best to get into his head.

Only after a bit did 64 feel his focus return, opening his clenched eyes and groaning. The first thing he noticed was Luna standing in front of him, her hooves on his shoulders as she tried her best to get his attention.

“Don’t let it pull you away 64. I know how powerful it feels, but it will destroy you. Focus on the here and now.” Luna spoke gently, trying her best to try and pull 64 back.

“I’m good… I’m good…” 64 groaned, finally coming to. He finally noticed the close proximity which the Lunar Princess was in, and couldn’t help but feel a bit of warmth rising in his cheeks. Granted, the feeling felt a bit weaker than he remembered, but it was still there. “Umm… Luna? A bit close there aren’t you?”

Luna noticed what she was doing, and backed off immediately. She wasn’t flustered or blushing, but simply realized that she was invading someone’s space. “My apologies, but I needed to try break you from those thoughts.”

“What the hell was going on back there? It’s like I saw a vision.” 64 asked, rubbing the back of his head as the red glow around his wrists began to recede.

“The exact same thing I saw when I chose to follow Nightmare Moon…”

64 silently gasped, allowing Luna to continue. “She promised power, revenge, and above all… everlasting night. Do not listen to those empty lies, they’ll only lead to destruction.”

The human took a few seconds to take all that in, rubbing the side of his head with a stressful huff. The lack of rest ever since he got back from Ethaxial, plus learning that Chrysalis was creeping around the castle, it was really taking a toll on his mental state. Now with the Nightmare manifestation of the sun trying to corrupt his mind, he wanted nothing but a comfortable bed to rest in.

“Come, I want to show something to you.” Luna ordered, grabbing 64 by the hand and pulling him onto his feet. “Tis in my chambers though, follow me.”

64 didn’t know what she was doing, but nonetheless he followed her. “I am returning to my chambers, no one is to disturb me.” Luna ordered, the two bat guards giving a salute before returning to their state of stillness.

“Why your chambers? What are you going to show me?” 64 questioned, but Luna just shook her head.

“You’ll have to wait and see.”

Taking the cryptic order, 64 continued to follow the Lunar Princess in silence, only giving her a glare. Arriving at her chambers, 64 looked at the very intricately crafted doors. They were colored a deep hue of purple, with carvings of all of the phases of the moon decorating it.
The door handles were crescent moons, something 64 found to be appropriate.

Using her magic, Luna swung the doors open and stepped in, allowing 64 to step in behind her. He looked around the room and saw that it truly was, fit for a Princess.

The bed alone was massive, nearly half the size of the room. Star charts decorated the ceilings, including all cycles of the moon. Taking a closer look, 64 saw that they were all hoof painted.

Luna didn’t waste anytime admiring her room, instead moving towards the wall with a large painting of a solar eclipse. Secretly, the painting depicted her most wished for moment, one where the moon over powers the sun.

She moved the painting off of the wall, revealing a hidden safe with the same lock which protected the Elements of Harmony. 64 looked over and noticed her open it, using her horn to unlock it.

“This, is a constant reminder to me, why I cannot, and will not, ever return to that state of mind. I make a point to read this, cover to cover, every single week. And now… I believe that it may help you as well.”

She levitated the book over to 64, who carefully took it from the air. The cover had nothing but a crescent moon on it, not giving 64 an idea of what was inside. “Can I ask what’s inside before I read it?”

“No, you cannot. Go to your chambers, and read this book in solitude.” Luna whispered, putting a hoof to 64 shoulder. ”Promise me that you will read it.”

64 nodded, “I promise.”

“Remember, please don’t make the same mistakes that I did.”

With nothing else to say, 64 began to take steps backwards towards the door, the strange book in his hands. “Have a good night Luna.” He whispered, knowing those words probably meant more towards the Lunar Princess than they would another pony.

The last thing he saw before the doors closed was her smiling face.

64 POV

I entered my room and was happy to see that the sheets were now changed. Hopefully in the morning there would be a bit more evidence from the bloody sheets to see what really happened, but for now, all I wanted to do was read the strange book that Luna gave me.

If whatever was in this book was able to help her keep down any dark thoughts, then it could probably help me too. I sat on the bed and laid my back against the wall, wanting to get comfortable before I saw what was so important.

I flipped open the cover, opening to some sort of introductory page. In shaky and sloppy writing, it read:

“If anyone finds this… please tell her I’m sorry…”

My eyebrows furrowed at the phrase, also seeing tear stains dotting the page. I read on, flipping to another page. At the top of the page, Hour 1 was scrawled out in calligraphy.

“Dear diary, I am soo mad! Celestia sent me to my beautiful moon as punishment for what I did."

I immediately gasped and shut the book after reading that sentence, realizing what Luna had given me. She gave me her personal diary of her banishment to the moon. I couldn’t in good conscious invade her privacy like this… but she did give it to me… I shuddered and continued reading.

“I guess I should have expected her to do something as drastic as this. I know what I did was wrong, but… she seemed so confident in her plan. She told me that she could make everypony love my night, and stop Celestia from trying to stop me. I mean, I’m much more calm now, and I’m sure that Celestia has calmed down as well. It’ll only be a matter of time before she realized this was a huge misunderstanding and bring me back.”

I could barely get through the first paragraph, tearing up at Luna’s innocence. It was only the first hour, and she was expecting Celestia to bring her back. I couldn’t possibly read this all… If I did, I would probably go into a fit of blind rage against Celestia for doing this to Luna. But I promised Luna that I would read it all, so dammit I was going to read this.

Day 2: “Dear diary, I’m still here on the moon… I guess Celestia must’ve been pretty angry with me to leave me here this long. It can’t be much longer now, she’d never leave me up here much longer than this, she’s much too nice for that. I’m actually surprised that I’m still up here…”

Luna gave me this to stop me from thinking the same thoughts that got her sent to the moon in the first place. It was working…

I continued reading, but noticed that there were a few pages torn out. It automatically jumped to Day 6.

“I have found a small cave I have taken to sleeping in. I tried to spruce it up a bit, but I know it will never be as cozy as my room back on Earth. It looks so small from over here… I can’t wait to see my big sister again! She has to be here tomorrow, it has nearly been a week!”

A tear formed and slid down my cheek, making sure to wipe it away before it dripped onto the diary. I wasn’t sure how much more of this I could take. At this point, the beautiful calligraphy Luna had been writing in had become a bit messier, beginning to revert back to simple cursive. I guess she got tired of using so much effort to write.

Week 3: “It is really cold here on the moon… I have a bit of magic to keep me warm… but its somehow always able to be freezing here on the moon. I… would have never guessed that my moon was so desolate, even in all of its glory. My sister must know that I’ve learned my lesson by now! Where is she?!”

Weeks turned into months, and Luna continued to write of her Sister’s return. I noticed that the space for entries was becoming scarce, and I eventually reached the final page. Her writing was now reduced to a messy print, still legible, but a far cry to what it once was.

Month 9: "I can barely even remember what is was we were fighting about… It’s been so long, and I’m so lonely… I cry myself to sleep every night think about how me and big sis used to visit all of the ponies across Equestria… Such good times… Three more months and then a year will have passed. Celestia will surely come for me at years end. Oh how glad I’ll be to see my big sister again! I can’t imagine a punishment worse than spending a whole year alone on the moon!”

I closed the book finally, tears streaming down my face freely. I couldn’t believe that through all of that, Luna could forgive Celestia like that. It showed just how strong she was… and I understood why ponies like Frenzy asked how could I not want revenge on Celestia.

Because forgiving and forgetting is just the right thing to do.

Holding in rage and hatred would cause me to turn into a nightmare, but if I forgave Celestia for what she did, and she acknowledges that what she did was terrible… I had no right to be mad afterwards.

I set the book on my desk and rubbed my eyes, finally ready to get some much needed rest. It was a very emotionally draining day, and I needed sleep. I turned off my lamp and pulled my covers up to my waist, staring up at the ceiling.

It wasn’t long before my eyes closed and allowed me to sleep. In my dreams, I could hear a faint voice whisper.

“64, thank you for understanding everything…”

Author's Note

The diary part was inspired by this.

Chapter 63

3rd Person POV

2 weeks flew by, each and everyday making 64 more and more frustrated. Absolutely nothing came up regarding the location of Chrysalis, as well as the location of Blusa and Crossroads. After calling Grey Streak to see if he knew anything, he immediately insisted on flying out to Canterlot and helping in the search.

Same went for Crossroads’ parents, who knew nothing about where their daughter was. They too had received word that she went on a vacation, but didn’t know where to or when she would get back. This just led to further suspicious and anger with 64, who also worried about the upcoming wedding.

That… was a whole ‘nother problem…

“Shining! Focus!” 64 barked at the Captain, who gasped startled before rubbing his eyes with his hooves. They were both in his office, with interrogation transcripts littering the desks and apparent photos of green flames in dark alleys and backroads.

“Huh?! Wha? Oh… sorry 64. I’m… just so tired right now…” Shining yawned, receiving a small glare from 64. “I was up all night with Cadence trying to see what the difference was between eggshell tablecloths and pale brown tablecloths…”

“Why the heck do you need to worry about that? I thought the attendants were taking care of decorations.” 64 asked, looking over the latest interview with one of the chefs. “It seems as if she’s trying to intentionally tire you out.”

“Heh, I don’t think she’d do something like that.” Shining looked over at the wall clock and sighed, realizing that he would need to go and add power to the forcefield he and 64 put up. “That time of day again…”

“You want me to give it a shot? I know Celestia told me to watch it with the magic, but I think I can handle it.” 64 offered, but Shining shook his head.

“Let me just… go get my armor on. It’s almost time for me to stand with the guards outside.” With that, Shining walked over to his Armor Closet and pulled out his captain uniform, the gold shining brightly in the dim room.

The gold armor reminded 64 of Aurum.

It had been like this for about a week. In the morning, Shining was being hit by splitting migraines, and from what 64 was told, Cadence was helping by alleviating the pain. 64 didn’t know a spell that could transfer pain from one pony to another, but Cadence probably had a bit more experience than him when it came to Restoration magic.

By the afternoon, Shining was dragged off by his fiance to do some sort of meaningless task, and always came back exhausted. It was becoming irritating to 64, who thought that the fact that ponies were in danger was more important than discussing clashing color schemes.

“Shining, look at yourself. Celestia told you that you wouldn’t have to worry about anything regarding the wedding, but look at you now. You have bags under your eyes, and your mane looks like it’s gotten two shades lighter.” 64 pointed out. “Take a break, and let me handle the shield.”

“N-No. I’m not some foal that needs to be watched constantly. I can handle this.” He grunted, putting on his armor and helmet. As 64 got up to block the doorway, Shining just shoved him aside to get outside.

“Dammit man…” 64 groaned, following Shining so he wouldn’t drop dead on his way there. “By the time you have to get married, you’re going to be too tired to stand.”

“I’ll be fine. All you have to worry about is making sure you can find everything you can about Chrysalis in the next 2 days. And you might be getting some extra help today too.” Shining told 64, continuing walking through the barracks towards the ground floor. “My sister and the Elements of Harmony should be getting a letter from Princess Celestia early in the morning inviting them to the wedding. And that’s another headache I might have to deal with too…”

“Why would that be a headache? Twilight should be ecstatic about you getting married.” 64 questioned, making Shining release a shivered sigh.

“I… never……...to tell ………. married…” He muttered, 64 not hearing him.

“Say that again?”

“I never made the time to tell her that I was getting married, okay?! Things… just flew by too fast”

64’s blood ran cold at that statement, knowing how pissed Twilight would be after that. “You better tell her that when she gets here.” He warned.

“I hope she’ll listen though… ever since we’ve been foals she’s been quick to jump to conclusions. I once forgot to tell her that Cadence wasn’t coming to babysit her for a few days, and she responded by refusing to speak with me for over a month. Imagine what she will do when she finds out I didn’t tell her I was getting married…”

The rest of the walk towards the Canterlot Palace Walls was made in silence, 64 looking left and right towards the many attendants dashing up and down the halls. The wedding was the next day, and 64 was made Head Of Security of the ceremonies, making him responsible for the well being of every single pony in the Palace before, during, and after the wedding.

There wasn’t a single pony or person in the Palace without a job, and unless everyone performed it perfectly, the entire thing would fall apart.

Well, that’s what Cadence had been saying anyway. 64 noticed that she was turning into a mega bridezilla, ordering around attendants to make sure that every little detail was correct. He wanted to step in and tell her that everypony was working as hard as they could, but Shining had assured him that he would take care of it.

The Captain and Human arrived at the Walls, where nearly every single guard available stood at attention, looking out for anything or anypony that even looked at the Palace the wrong way.

“I still can’t believe everypony bought the wedding excuse…” 64 muttered, watching as some civilians walked along the roads below.

Celestia and Princess Luna both used an indescribable amount of tact and PR talent to successfully distract the public from questioning the increase in Guards and the Force Field surrounding Canterlot. Of course, there were still a few who were a bit wary, but they were immediately labeled as paranoid and were ignored by a majority of the public.

“Well it’s lucky they did. There’s no need for anypony to worry anymore than they have to.” Shining replied, 64 shaking his head at this answer.

“I think there’s a very big reason to worry. Chrysalis is somewhere around here skulking around and planning. It’s obvious she plans to attack during your wedding, and we still have no clue where she is right now.” 64 growled, placing his hands on the edge of the wall and staring over it. “I won’t have some bug hellbent on reclaiming her Throne ruining one of my best friend’s wedding.”

Shining smiled at that, seeing how willing 64 was to protect him. “And she won’t. But you can’t beat yourself up about not being able to find her. She’ll come up eventually.”

“Sir! Solaris Squad reporting in!” A Pegasus Guard chanted, about 4 more Pegasi behind him. “What are our orders?”

Shining began to give the squad their orders as 64 continued to stare over the edge of the wall. He saw a flash of purple in the distance, and squinted his eyes to get a closer look. The speck of purple seemed to be getting closer and closer, but 64 still couldn’t make out what it was.

“You, Spyglass me.” 64 ordered, pointing to a Unicorn Guard standing to his right. The guard handed him a Spyglass out of his satchel and 64 peered through it, focusing to see what was coming. He froze up when he finally saw it. “Um… Shining?”

The Captain looked over his shoulder and saw 64 looking out in the distance with the Spyglass. “What is it?”

“It’s your sister, and she looks very very pissed…” 64 warned, continuing to peer through the Spyglass. Shining blanched and took the spyglass for himself, seeing the Purple unicorn headed straight for them.

“Damn, thought I had more time…” Shining groaned, not ready to explain this all to Twilight yet. “Get down there and stall her a bit 64. I have to go get somepony.”

64 nodded and jumped over the wall, grunting as he hit the ground. He jogged towards Twilight and intercepted her, giving her a smile.

“Hey Twilight! Here for the…” 64 tried to say, before Twilight just teleported around him. “...wedding?”

64 grunted and ran to catch up to Twilight. “Hey, I’m trying to say hello here, maybe the least you can do is say hello back?”

“Hello 64. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go beat my brother senseless unless he gives me a good reason for not telling me he was getting married.” Twilight grunted, not slowing down in the slightest.

“Let’s not get hasty Twilight, he actually has a really good reason for that.”

Twilight growled and turned towards 64, a very angry look in her eyes. “What reason could he possibly have that he didn’t tell his own sister that he was getting married!?” She yelled.

64 peeked over her head and saw that Shining Armor was back on the Wall, giving him the okay to send her over. “I think you should go ask him yourself.” 64 answered, pointing up towards Shining.

Twilight followed his finger and saw her brother, immediately stomping off towards him. 64 sighed and ran a hand through his hair, following the mare close behind.

“I’ve got something to say to you mister!” Twilight yelled, catching the attention of every single guard in the area. Seeing the new threat, they all brandished their Spears towards the mare, before 64 held up his hand in a palm.

“She’s a friendly!” He warned, making all of the guards relax and stand at attention.

Shining Armor leaned over the wall and took off his helmet, a wide grin on his face to try and defuse the terrible feeling he was getting from Twilight.

“‘Twily! Ah, I've missed, you, kid. How was the train ride?” Shining prattled on, trying to keep Twilight from getting straight to the point. Unfortunately, she wouldn’t have it.

“How dare you not tell me face to face that you were getting married! I'm your sister, for pony's sake!” She demanded, swatting away the hoof that Shining was about to put around her shoulders.

64 whistled nervously and turned to walk away, knowing better than to get caught up in a sibling rivalry. That was until a voice called from far away, catching his attention immediately.

“64!” The voice yelled, causing 64 to turn around so fast that he wasn’t sure how he didn’t get whiplash.

“Ghost!” He yelled happily, kneeling down as he saw the young changeling charging towards him. The colt shot towards 64 and hugged him with a flying tackle, sending 64 onto his back as they wrapped their arms around each other.

“I haven’t seen you in forever!” Ghost yelped happily.

“It’s only been about a month Ghost.” 64 chuckled, seeing the new red bowtie around Ghost’s neck. “Where’d you get that bow? It looks a lot like one... Applebloom would wear…” 64 gave Ghost a knowing grin.

Ghost buzzed in embarrassment and punched 64 in the chest. “It’s not like that! She gave to me when we first started school.” Ghost explained, getting off of 64 and stepping off of the side.

“School? I didn’t think you’d go to school willingly.” 64 said as he sat upright. “Why’d you go to school?”

“Well, I first did it so I could keep an eye on Applebloom during the day, but I also wanted to go because I’ve never been to an actual class before. I was always cooped with a private tutor.”

“And how’s she been? Any problems?”

Ghost shifted a bit, fiddling with his bowtie nervously. "Well... I guess you could say that... Applebloom dabbled in some sort of cutie mark magic, and when I went to go find out how to cure it, she started freaking out because she felt vulnerable and scared. I got back a little while later with Zecora, and she was able to fix everything."

"Well that's good. Any other incidents?"

“I was talking with Applebloom after the cutie mark incident in private, but apparently Scootaloo was listening in too. She saw me take off the disguise I had on, and she ran off thinking that I had brainwashed the Apple Family.”

64’s eyebrows rose in surprise, but stayed silent to allow Ghost to continue. “I caught up with her as she was running away and talked some sense into her, but I still think she doesn’t trust me too much.”

“How did the girls react when they found out I recommended them for flower fillies?” 64 chuckled, seeing Ghost stifle a laugh.

“They were all there when we got the letter from Celestia. I didn’t know Sweetie Belle could run around screaming that fast.”

“Glad to see that nothing too serious happened. Now c’mon, I still got a lot of work to do for the wedding.”

“Can I help?”

64 hummed to himself and shrugged. “You know what, yes you can.” 64 looked left and right, trying to see if there were a lot of ears listening in. “There’s been a breach in security, and we still haven’t found where the intruder is.”

Ghost’s ears perked up a bit in surprise. “What kind of intrusion?”

“A changeling one....”

Ghost remained silent, looking down at the ground. “Well… that’s not good.” He muttered, flying up and landing on 64’s shoulders. “How many?”

“One as far as we know. A Queen.” 64 explained. “Queen Chrysalis apparently has infiltrated Canterlot, and she’s sneaking around somewhere. She’s already taken 2 mares, Blusa and Crossroads, and we have no idea where they are. All I can do is watch out if anypony is acting strange or differently. Do you think you can trace Changeling Magic?”

“Well, a Queen’s magic is a bit more difficult to differentiate from regular magic. I can look around, but with everypony in the Palace using magic it will be harder to find the changeling magic.” Ghost pondered.

“Well I can’t just get everypony to stop using their magic…” 64 grunted, pacing around with Ghost on his head. “Any other ideas?”

“Hm… what about springing a trap?”

64 scoffed a bit at that, remembering how well things went the last time he sprung a trap. “I don’t have the best track record when it comes to traps. What would we use as bait?”

"What do you think? What is something that no Changeling can ever resist?" Ghost hinted, causing an answer to spring into 64's thoughts.

"Love... But who would we use? Who could we..." 64 stopped as he realized who could help, but he knew she would refuse immediately. "Shit..."

"What's wrong 64?" Ghost asked, seeing his sudden change of attitude.

"I know who to go to for the burst of love we need to attract a Queen, but she's getting married..."

Ghost realized that 64 was talking about Princess Cadence, but didn't know why that was a bad thing. "Well if you need help, why would she refuse?"

"Well for one thing, asking a mare to help capture a criminal one day before her wedding would just be unethical. And two, she's an absolute mess right now. She's stressing about every single little detail in her wedding, making sure every little thing is alright. I swear she's not acting like herself every since Shining proposed." 64 explained.

“Well, she is the Princess of Love. Of course she would be a little crazy for her wedding. SHe’s probably just super excited and not sure what to do.” Ghost rationalized. “Still, it wouldn’t be a terrible idea just to ask her.

64 nodded and was about to go and find her, when he heard the tell tale sign of an enormous amount of magic being gathered up. He didn’t notice that as he and Ghost talked, Shining Armor was also talking with Twilight.

With a burst of light, Shining shot of a large beam of magic towards the sky, where it collided with the pink and red shields collectively. With a gleaming shimmer, the shields were reinforced, giving them a bit power power and longevity.

With a wince and groan which were poorly concealed, Shining put a hoof to the side of his head, trying to rub away the headache he was developing. 64 walked over to him and sighed.

“I keep telling you, if the headaches are becoming too much, I’ll take over on putting up the shield.” 64 scolded, but Shining just grunted and looked away.

“And Celestia told you that you shouldn’t be using large amounts of magic like that either. What if you become vulnerable to Super Nova again?” Shining refuted, trying to counter the humans offer.

That comment hit a nerve with 64, knowing that he was slightly correct. The regular urges of anger and hostility had been suppressed ever since Celestia put those suppressants around his wrists, and along with the very eye opening moment he had with Luna, he was pretty sure that he could hold out against Super Nova.

“That won’t happen again.” 64 snapped back, seeing the confused stares both he and Shining Armor were receiving from Twilight. “We’ll get you up to speed.”

With that, Shining led his sister up the stairs to the Walls, 64 and Ghost following behind him. “Have you told her about… her?” 64 asked, receiving a nod from Shining. The stallion looked at his sister and sighed.

“I’ve been told by Celestia to only worry about the shield, but 64 and I have been scouring the Palace for clues to tell us where the Changeling is. The burden of keeping Canterlot safe and secure rests squarely on his and my shoulders. Staying focused on the task at hand has been our top priority.” Shining told Twilight, continuing to walk across the wall.

“Okay, okay, I get it. You've got a really important job protecting all of Canterlot with a force field only you can conjure up. But still... how could you not tell me about something as big as your wedding?” Twilight asked, tears beginning to well up in her eyes. “Am I not that important to you anymore?”

Shining quickly saw to get rid of those ideas. “Hey. You're my little sister. Of course you're important to me.” He comforted, before growing a smug look on his face. “But I'd understand if you didn't want to be my best mare now.”

64 chuckled and shook his head, realizing Shining’s plan all along. Within moments, she was now giving him a look of amazement, happily accepting his offering of being his best mare. But of course, she wouldn’t be swayed easily.

“But I'm still pretty ticked you're marrying somepony I don't even know! When did you even meet this ’Princess Mi Amore Cadenza’?” Twilight questioned, receiving a head tilt from 64.

“Celestia used her full Bitallion name in the letter?” He asked.

“It’s what she wanted.” Shining responded, but Twilight poked him in the chest again.

“Answer me!” She demanded, getting a chuckle from her brother.

“Twily, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza is Cadance, your old foalsitter.”

64 POV

Within a few moments, Twilight was was spouting off memories of her old adventure with Cadence, bouncing around happily as Ghost and I watched with smiles. Twilight looked so happy, and I’m glad that she was actually able to have those memories with her.

Who knows how things might might have been if things had gone differently…

I didn’t notice that as Twilight was bouncing around Shining Armor in glee, somepony had come up from behind me. Once I felt their presence I turned around with my fists clenched, not sure who it was. I let out a small sigh when I saw Cadence standing there, a less than pleased look on her face.

“I hope I'm not interrupting anything important.” She said in an almost scolding tone. When Twilight saw her, I stepped out of the the way to let her through. Ghost’s wings began to buzz as he took flight, hovering next to me as he adjusted his bowtie a bit.

“Cadance! Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!” Twilight chanted, causing me and Ghost to question whether this mare was going insane or not. After a few moments of awkward silence from Cadence, Twilight got up from her provocative position and smiled at Cadence.

“What are you doing?” The Princess of Love questioned, not used to having a mare all of a sudden start dancing in front of her.

My eyebrow raised in curiosity. I know Cadence was all stressed out about the wedding, but if what Twilight had said about all the fun times she and Cadence had was true, then she must’ve been driving herself even more ragged than I thought.

“Cadance, it's me, Twilight!” Twilight exclaimed, holding her forelegs out for a hug. Instead of the happy reunion I was expecting to happen, Cadence just gave her a small sigh of acknowledgement and walked around her, going straight for Shining Armor.

She nuzzled up against him affectionately, Shining draping a leg over her. “I've gotta get back to my station, but Cadance will be checking in with all of you to see how things are going.” Shining explained, to Twilight, as Ghost and I just stood spectating. “I think I speak for both of us when I say we couldn't be more excited to have you here. Right, dear?”

Cadence put on a face of… well, not one that I could identify, but it wasn’t her usual demeanor. “Absolutely.” She answered, her tone being one of malicious intent if I could label it. I stared at Cadence for a bit until she made eye contact with me, giving me a cheerful smile.

“Well, we'll let you get to it.” Shining finished, both he and his bride to be walking away. I noticed Twilight wasn’t following them, her expression a bit confused.

“You okay Twilight?” I asked, seeing that she made no move to go anywhere.

“What was wrong with her? Has she just completely forgotten about me?” Twilight whispered, looking up at me for answers. “It was as if she was a completely different pony.”

I sighed and shook my head, scratching an itch I had on my cheek. “She’s been a bit irritable lately. She’s been acting really bossy towards most of the Palace staff, and always tries to drag Shining away when we’re investigating the disappearances. I know she’s acting differently, but with her wedding right around the corner, all of her focus is probably centered towards the special day. Don’t hold it against her Twilight.”

Twilight sighed and began walking away. “I’ll go to the Kitchen and help Applejack get started on the catering.” She said dejectedly, walking away.

I looked towards Ghost, and I saw that his face was contorted into one of very deep thought. “What’s on your mind Ghost?”

“What did Twilight say? Back there about Cadence?” He asked me, as I recalled her words.

“Umm… something about Cadence acting like a...... completely different…… no…” I knew what Ghost was trying to insinuate, and stared at him. “You… you can’t really think that can you?”

“You said it yourself that you were looking out for anypony that was acting strange or differently. And based on what Twilight was saying, Cadence has been doing both.” Ghost explained, continuing to buzz around me. “I don’t think that just because she’s a Princess means that you should eliminate her as a suspect.”

I looked over the edge of the bridge we were on and thought about it. Usually, Cadence was one of the most kind and gentle ponies anyone could ever meet, but ever since Shining had proposed she had been acting aggressive and very authoritative. That was not her normal behaviour, and now I was curious.

“I can see why you’re saying this, but everypony starts to stress out when they’re put under pressure. We can’t just make assumptions like that until we have hard evidence.” I rationalized. Ghost sighed and rubbed the side of his head.

“I get that, but I’m saying it wouldn’t hurt to keep an eye on her. How about this, I’ll tail her and keep tabs on her, and I’ll report back to you at the end of the day?” Ghost offered, making me consider it.

“Alright, it couldn’t hurt that bad. I’ll catch up with Shining and make sure that he doesn’t drop dead by the end of the day. It’s taking a lot out of him to keep this shield up.” I said, as he gave me a salute. He was about to fly off, but I called him back. “Ghost wait!”

He turned back to me. “What happened?” He asked.

I smiled and held my arms out. “Stay safe.”

With a grin, he went flying into my arms for a hug, before he went flying off on his own to catch up with Cadence. I let out a puff of air, unknowingly breathing out a puff of smoke as I did so. I walked in the other direction, knowing that Shining’s post was along the Northeast Cliffside right now.

3rd Person POV

Ghost flew through the Palace, waving to a few of the attendants as he did so. Some of them nearly tripped up as they saw him bolt through the halls, making him laugh a bit. He saw a few guards standing in front of the Palace kitchen, and stopped in front of them.

“Is Princess Cadence in there right now?” He asked innocently, but both of the guards glared at him, not saying a word. “What’s your problem?”

“Only authorized personnel are cleared to enter any room that Princess Cadence enters.” One of them barked, making Ghost groan in annoyance. He normally didn’t like pulling rank, but if he was going to help 64 find a changeling Queen, then he had no choice.

“I am Agent #65 of the Equestrian Knights. I am cleared to enter any section of the Palace I have reason to believe there is malicious content. I am investigating the recent disappearance of Blusa Streak and Crossroads.”

Ghost knew that it was a shot in the dark, but if it worked he would be able to get inside. The two guards looked at each other, before grunting and moving their spears out of the way. Ghost gave them a smug grin, before entering the kitchen and looking around.

He barely caught Princess Cadence’s tail heading out of the room, before the doors slammed behind her. Twilight Sparkle was also in the room, giving the doors a harsh glare. “ Did... you see what she…” She stammered angrily.

“What happened Twilight?” Ghost asked, seeing her angered state. “Was Princess Cadence just in here?”

“Yes, she was.” She answered walking over to a wastebin right beside the door Cadence walked out of. “And she just threw away the apple fritters Applejack just gave her!” She exclaimed, but the country mare in question was too caught up in baking to hear her.

“Maybe… she didn’t like them?” Ghost said, but Twilight just scoffed and looked away.

“Then just refuse them like a normal pony! Why throw them away?”

Ghost shook his head and looked at the door that Cadence went through. “I’m going to catch up to her. Want to tag along?”

Twilight groaned and shook her head. “I have to go and find Rarity to see if she needs any help.” With that, Twilight’s horn lit up and with a bright flash, she teleported away.

Ghost nodded and went out the door Cadence did, seeing her walking across the Courtyard and towards the Palace once again. Using care, he began a brisk pace towards her, knowing that even if he was spotted by her, he wouldn’t be in any trouble.

She walked through the Palace heading towards the guest quarters, stopping at one of the larger suites reserved for Guests of royalty. Ghost watched her carefully from around a corner, utilizing one of the windows to peer around the corner of the hall without revealing himself.

Cadence knocked on the doors a few times, but didn’t wait for a response. She opened the doors and walked inside, allowing Ghost to move up a bit. Unfortunately, Cadence slammed the door behind her before Ghost could hear anything, causing the young changeling to groan in frustration.

“I guess I’ll just pay her a visit then…” Ghost whispered to himself, knocking on the door before stepping back with a happy smile on his face. If this really was Cadence, she’d recognize him immediately. The doors wasn’t opened by Cadence, but instead by a mint green unicorn with bright golden eyes. She looked down at Ghost and gave a surprised yelp, jumping back as she came face to face with the changeling colt.

“A changeling!” She yelled, trying to close the door. Ghost shot his hoof out to catch the door, realizing that she didn’t know him.

“Wait! I live here, I just came to see Cadence! I haven’t seen her in about a month.” Ghost explained, not trying to push the door open, but just keeping it from being shut. The unicorn continued to push against the door, trying to push it shut, but she severely underestimated the strength that Ghost had. “Just go get her, and she’ll tell you!”

There was a bit of a pause, the unicorn not making anymore effort to shut the door in Ghost’s face. “Get Cadence out of the bathroom.” She asked somepony else, still peering out of the door with a suspicious look plastered all over her face. Ghost just stood there awkwardly, giving an embarrassed smile as more hushed voice came from inside of the room.

“She says to tell us your name to make sure you really are who you say you are.” The mint green unicorn said, squinting her eyes suspiciously down at Ghost. He hummed to himself silently, wondering why she would do that. Of course, she might just be trying careful about Chrysalis, knowing that it wouldn’t look too bad to see a known Changeling in the Canterlot Palace shapeshifting.

“Ok then… My name is Ghost.” Ghost answered, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to get inside the room otherwise. More hushed whispering came from inside of the room, relaying the information Ghost gave to them. The mint green unicorn stepped back, until the door opened wide and Princess Cadence showed herself.

She had a large smile on her face, holding out one of her hooves for a hug. “Ghost! It’s been so long!” She said excitedly, as Ghost walked forward and gave her a hug. “Where have you been all this time?”

Ghost was about to ask her why didn’t she know, but realized that he never told her about his new assignment in Ponyville. even if this was the real Cadence she wouldn’t know. “I’ve been in Ponyville acting like a bodyguard for somepony. I was able to come back for the wedding!” Ghost answered, knowing that he had to act the same way he normally would when speaking with Cadence to keep his facade up.

“Oh well that’s wonderful. Come in, would you like to meet my bridesmaids?” Cadence offered, waving her hoof towards the 3 mares in the room. Ghost nodded and looked towards the mares. “I’ve known these mares since I was a little filly. This is Lyra Heartsrings.”

“Hello there, sorry for screaming when I first saw you. I… didn’t know that Canterlot had a Changeling working here.” Lyra apologized, blushing bashfully. Ghost waved his hoof understandingly.

“She and I used to play together in our school band before I became an Alicorn. I remember having to make up for her wrong notes all the time on the Bugle.” Cadence recounted, giggling at the silly memory.

Lyra blushed red in embarrassment for a bit, a small grin on her face. Cadence moved on towards the next mare, a blue and white maned blue unicorn. “This is Minuette. She was my magical tutor when I first became an Alicorn.”

“A pleasure to meet you.” Minuette greeted, nodding her head in acknowledgement.

“And last, but certainly not least, is Twinkleshine. We’ve known each other since… well… forever I guess.” Cadence introduced, but that hitch in her voice wasn’t one of deep thought to Ghost. It sounded like she didn’t remember for a moment.

“Very nice to meet you Ghost.” Twinkleshine said, holding her hoof out for a shake. Ghost took her hoof and shook it with a smile. “We were just about to go and see how our dresses are doing. Would you like to join us?"

Ghost noticed that behind Twinkleshine there was a mirror, and just as he was about to accept the offer, he saw Cadence giving Twinkleshine a death stare behind his back. His curiosity piqued, he gave a smile.

“That would be great! I bet they’re gonna be so pretty!” Ghost said excitedly, knowing that for some reason Cadence didn’t want him to tag along. She gave what was obviously a strained smile, but Ghost simply gave one back, acting oblivious.

“Alright then! Let’s… get going!” Cadence announced, walking out of the room with her bridesmaids in tow. Ghost hummed to himself thoughtfully before following, knowing that even if Cadence wasn’t a changeling, something was definitely up.

64 POV

I found Shining Armor where he was supposed to be, on the Northeast Cliffside. The same cliff I first jumped off of during my first ever escape. It was now a Loading Dock area for pegasi bringing in supplies, and Shining Armor was overseeing some of the distribution. Large carriers for things like imported foods, rare decorations, and gifts for the newlyweds.

I saw him inspecting a few large fountains which a few Gryphons had brought, and there was a bit of a heated argument going on. I walked towards them and cleared my throat, catching the attention of everyone there.

“What seems to be the problem here?” I asked with an edge to my voice, crossing my arms and looking at the Gryphons.

“This one is not allowing our gracious gifts to be brought into the Palace!” A tan Gryphon growled, pointing a talon towards Shining Armor.

“That is because I found a substantial amount of contraband hidden inside of one of the water spouts. I have every right to bring you in for smuggling charges.” Shining threatened, swatting away the talon pointed at him. I grimaced at the tension in the air, knowing that if an altercation broke out Shining would be too weak to fight back.

“After the fiasco in Ethaxial?! You even lay a hoof on us there will be hell to pay!” The black feathered gryphon next to him said, going beak to muzzle with Shining.

I pushed him away and scoffed, a grin on my face. “Well you obviously didn’t pay much attention to what really happened. The negotiations were settled peacefully, and Equestria helped in the termination of a Military Coup. I think things were left on pretty good terms.”

The gryphons blanched at my explanation, knowing that I had them cornered. “Now are you going to leave peacefully? Or do I need to assist Captain Shining Armor here in taking you to the Holding cells?”

They growled, knowing that they were beaten. “Tell Tulmech to reload the carriages… We’re bringing these back…” The tan gryphon growled. “We won’t forget this…” He glowered, looking at me and Shining. He turned back towards his small team of Gryphon’s and began to load the fountains back onto the carriages.

After a few minutes, they were all loaded up and were flying away, Shining and I staring as they did. “What was their problem?” I muttered, knowing that they were not just going to take whatever they were smuggling back.

“I don’t know… But I’ll send out a group of Pegasi to make sure they stay away from Canterlot. I don’t think we’ve seen the last of them.” Shining sighed, rubbing his eyes a bit. “That reminds me, I actually have something for you. Wait here.”

Shining walked off towards a few crates covered with tarps, opening one up and rummaging around a little bit. He pulled out a smaller box out of the crate, this one very intricately designed with blue lines covering the auburn box. There were two clips on the front of the box, keeping it closed shut.

“I still don’t understand why you have an affliction towards these things, but for now, keep it as a precaution.” Shining told me, holding the box out towards me with his magic. I reached out and grabbed it, undoing the two clips and opening the box.

I sighed, knowing why he was reluctant to give it to me. It looked to me like it was a Revolver, but it was missing two things. It didn’t have a hammer, and had no chamber. I picked up the gun and inspected it further, seeing that there was one large red gem at the bottom of the grip. It was pulsing a dull red, but I didn’t know what that meant.

“It doesn’t require traditional ammunition. That gem can be charged using magic that you provide, or magic that it sent at you. If you can capture it and channel it into that gem, you can keep firing.” Shining explained, seeing my confused look.

“Is it lethal?” I asked, seeing that inside of the box was a folded up shoulder holster. I took it out, knowing that Shining wasn’t going to take a no from me this time around.

“That depends on how much magic you can put into it. If you really needed to, you can blast holes through concrete walls if you tried.”

I didn’t exactly know why’d I need to do something like that, but for now this thing was useless to me. I couldn’t charge any magic in this with the Magic Retainers around my wrists, not without risking Super Nova fucking with me even more than she was already.

I looked at the Revolver with a scrutinizing look. “Any chance I could get a Bow with this?” I joked, knowing that I was a crack shot with those things.

“Heh, don’t get ahead of yourself. I have to inspect the rest of these gifts. I didn’t need another gun.” Shining said, beginning to walk away. I watched as he did, before calling out to him.

“Shining wait!” I called, as he turned around to face me. “How’s… Cadence been?”

His eyebrow raised in confusion. “She’s been doing ok. A bit irritable thanks to the wedding, but she’s fine. Why are you asking?”

I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck. I knew no matter how I worded this it would sound terrible, but I had to say it. “She’s been acting… a bit strange lately don’t you think? A bit more than necessary?” I asked, seeing that what I was implying wasn’t getting to him. “She’s… changed a bit, hasn’t she?”

He was tilting his head in confusion, until I saw the gears start to spin. His eyes widened, before a look of anger flashed across his face. “You are NOT saying what I think you’re saying… Don’t say that you are…”

“Shining I just need to make sure. Like you said it yourself everypony is a suspect, no matter how well protected you might think they are. Ghost has been able to infiltrate and disguise himself as one of the highest ranking lieutenants in the deepest crime ring in Fillydelphia, and he’s a colt for crying out loud. You’re telling me you don’t think a Queen could do the same?” I asked in a hushed tone, seeing the anger in his expression slowly increasing.

“Why don’t we see if you’re one?! You seem pretty eager to start throwing out accusations!” Shining yelled, catching the attention of a few of the other guards standing near. I grunted in frustration.

“I’m not trying to start a witch hunt. Please just let me and Ghost inspect Cadence just for safe-”

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to continue my explanation before Shining lashed out at me, throwing his forehooves towards my chest. I blocked and swatted his hooves away, his tired state leaving him slow and predictable. “Dammit Shining listen to me! We can’t take any chances!”

“You stay away from my fiance! Or I will have you thrown into the Underground Prison!” Shining threatened, a few of his guards coming up behind him with their spears out. I grunted and took a step back, yielding before things got out of hand. “That’s what I thought.”

With that, Shining turned and walked away, leaving me with his gift. I took out the shoulder holster and put it on, before putting the Revolver inside. I knew Shining had a right to be angry, but it was blinding him.

I knew nothing at the moment that would help change his mind, so I needed some sort of proof. Luckily, I had a certain changeling tailing the Princess.

Ghost POV

“Okay, let me see. We've been over the games... “ Pinkie Pie said, before zooming over to a children’s board game against one of the walls and throwing the dice. “And the dances…” Once again, running over to a gramophone and playing some sort of polka song on it.

Cadence looked very unamused, and I kinda agreed with her. A wedding reception and a birthday party were supposed to be totally different from what I had read, but it looked like Pinkie didn’t know that difference.

“I think this reception is gonna be perfect! Don't you?” Pinkie asked, oblivious to the childishness of her reception.

“Perfect!” Cadence said with a fake happiness, before muttering under her breath. “If we were celebrating a six-year-old's birthday party...”

Pinkie Pie looked as if she was deeply offended by that, but a grin and a thank you showed that she didn’t hear the spite put into Cadence’s voice. Cadence left the hall, Pinkie following a few moments later.

I dropped from the roof a few seconds later, sliding down a marble pillar and landing next to Twilight. “You hear all of that?” I asked, as she nodded.

“There’s definitely something up with her. Nopony can go from being that loving and caring to one of the meanest and rude ponies ever.” Twilight sighed, looking out of one of the windows. “How does my brother not see how much she has changed? Why is he marrying her?”

“They say love is blind…” I said under my breath. “But I don’t know much about love to be honest, even if I eat it. Maybe there’s something more to all of this? More to your brother and Cadence?”

Twilight looked down and grunted, before looking up at Ghost. “I’m going to go and find my friends. Meet us at the Grenadine Cafe at 8 later tonight, ok?”

I nodded. “I’ll be there.” She went to exit the room, but the doors opened before she could get to them, 64 walking in with a strap around his shoulder. “64? What are you doing here?”

“Looking for you actually. Hey Twilight.” 64 commented, walking forward a bit. “Anything new? Something we should be looking out for?”

“Besides her acting like a super jerk to everypony that’s just trying to help make the wedding go smoothly and making last minute changes? Nothing new.” Twilight grunted. “Me and Ghost have been tailing her ever since we met up with Rarity. Why did you have Ghost following her though?”

64 let out a puff of air out of his nose, looking over at me. “We just want to make sure Cadence’s behavior isn’t being caused by something else. Something malevolent. But if Ghost didn’t find anything…” I shook my head no. “...Then we’re at a dead end.”

“This isn’t right 64. He shouldn’t marry somepony who acts that mean…” I said, but 64 just walked over and patted my head.

“I know Ghost. But the heart is fickle. It’s going to love whoever it chooses to love. If Shining loves Cadence and wants to marry her… then who are we to say anything?”

I looked down at his answer, before giving a small grunt. “I guess…”

“64, if you don’t mind, can you meet us at the Grenadine Cafe at 8 tonight? I need to have a word with everyone.” Twilight asked, 64 nodding in response.

“No problem.” 64 answered, Twilight walking away after receiving her answer. “Now Ghost, tell me everything you saw, even if it seems irrelevant.”

3rd Person POV

Luna glided through the dark sky, keeping her watchful gaze on the citizens below. She had no plans to attend the wedding, instead keeping a watch over the Canterlot Border while the ceremony was preceding.

Using her magic, she opened up a small opening in the barrier surrounding Canterlot, barely able to open 64’s magic and squeeze through before it closed. She saw the lookout point that Celestia was standing on, and swiftly made her way downwards.

“Rest, my sister. As always, I will guard the night.” Luna ordered, seeing Celestia’s eyes begin to droop a bit.

“Thank you sister. I really need to get a pillow to sit on when I’m on guard duty…” Celestia yawned, putting a hoof to her mouth. “Where did you go for the better part of 12 hours?”

“Searching for answers regarding 64’s tenant.”

This was followed by a long pause, mostly from confusion on Celestia’s part. “But… What answers did you need?”

“Anyway that he doesn’t have to worry about her infecting his mind.” Luna admitted. “The best we could find are barely enough to keep her at bay. Those small bands will only last until he wants them too, and he must actively think about keeping them strong at all times. Anything else that doesn’t require him to tire out just to prevent something from happening.”

“You’re afraid for him aren’t you?” Celestia asked, already knowing the answer. “Afraid that he’ll be consumed by the same thing that once consumed you.” All Luna could do was nod silently, barely remembering that she had to keep an eye out for anything abnormal. “Luna… Do you think he would be susceptible to those thoughts?”

“I have already caught him as he thought them. Once you have a taste… it haunts the mind forever until you have the ability to sate them. I searched our old castle for anything that might’ve helped… but there was nothing.”

Celestia saw the distress her sister was in, and wrapped a wing around her smaller frame. “Things will be okay Luna. It will not consume him as it once did with you…”

During the two sisters emotional discussion, 64 actually sat beneath them. Not directly underneath them, but many stories below, sitting in a chair just outside of the Grenadine Cafe. Next to him sat Ghost, and the rest of Twilight’s friends, minus the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Twilight herself.

“Twilight tell you what she wanted to meet for?” 64 asked, already having a small idea.

“Not really. Ah was jus’ about to finish up for the day, and she comes in tellin’ me to come here.” Applejack answered.

“Same here with me! I was practicing for my Rainboom Finale, and she just yanks on my tail as I’m making a climb upwards and tells me to meet here.” Rainbow Dash added, throwing her hooves out with a huff.

At last, the mare who had called us to the meeting came out of the cafe, holding a glass of juice in her telekinetic grasp.

“Bet I can guess what you're all thinking. Cadance is the absolute worst bride-to-be ever.” Twilight said with a smug grin on her face. Everypony looked at Twilight in shock, but Ghost and 64 kept their eyes focused on the drinks they got.

Spike jokingly pulled out Cadence’s cake ornament, “Who me?” 64 chuckled jokingly at that, but Applejack scolded the young dragon.

“Twilight, whatever are you talking about? Cadance is an absolute gem!” Rarity exclaimed, receiving a scowl from the purple mare.

“Rarity, she was so demanding!” Twilight retorted.

“Well, of course she is! Why shouldn't she expect the very best on her wedding day?”

“But Cadence is usually so nice to me.” Ghost interrupted. “But when I tried to talk to her today, she was suspicious and tried to get me to go away a lot.”

“Well she’s probably just under pressure. The wedding is tomorrow after all!” Rarity replied, but Twilight wasn’t done.

“Applejack, did you know that after she told you how much she just 'love-love-loved' your hors d'oeuvres, she threw them in the trash?” Twilight addressed, but the farm pony just waved it off.

“Aw, she was probably just trying to spare my feelin's.” Applejack rationalized. 64 raised his eyebrow at her answer, thinking she would act a bit more rash if someone just blatantly lied to her.

“No, she was just being fake and totally insincere!” Twilight yelled, an awkward silence following it. She looked around at the table, her eyes falling onto 64. “64! What did you think of her behavior?”

The human sighed and pushed his chair away from the table, leaning backwards. “Look. I haven’t seen much of Cadence for awhile now. By the time I came back from Ethaxial, the wedding was 2 weeks away and I was wrapped up in another investigation. I saw her this morning and did notice that something was off, but I’m not sure what that could mean.”

Twilight grunted at the lack of substantial evidence in her favor, that was until Fluttershy spoke up. “She did raise her voice at one of my birds during rehearsal.” Twilight was about to exclaim something, but Fluttershy continued. “But he was singing really off-key.” The mare pulled out the Redbird from her hair, as it let out a bellowing screech.

Using her last trump card, she looked towards Pinkie Pie… only to see that her and Spike were now playing with the cake ornaments. “Never mind. Rainbow Dash, you're with me, right?” Twilight hoped, but 64 could see that she was fighting a losing battle.

“Sorry, Twi. Been too busy prepping for my sonic rainboom to pay much attention to the bride's bad attitude.” Rainbow dash answered, not really caring about the actual wedding.

“The princess is about to get married. I'm sure any negative behavior she might be displaying is simply the result of nerves.” Rarity intervened, but Twilight wasn’t having it.

“And I'm sure it's the result of being an awful pony who doesn't deserve to even know Shining Armor, let alone marry him!” Twilight shouted in response, swatting away Rarity’s extended hoof.

“Think maybe you're bein' just a tiny bit possessive of your brother?” Applejack asked, knowing what it was like to have a brother.

“I am not being possessive, and I am not taking it out on Cadence!” Twilight yelled out, slamming her hoof onto the table. “You're all just too caught up in your wedding planning to notice that maybe there shouldn't even be a wedding!”

With that, she slammed her hoof onto the table one last time, causing everyone’s drink to go spilling everywhere. She turned and left the Cafe, leaving everyone sitting there uncomfortably.

“Where in heavens did that come from?” Rarity asked, as 64 slid out of his seat and stood.

“I’m not sure, but it can’t be good. I’ll follow her to wherever she’s going and see what’s she’s going to do. Ghost, you stay here with Applejack, alright?” 64 said, as the changeling colt nodded. “I’ll see you all in a bit.”

64 left to follow Twilight, as Spike began to moan uncomfortably. “What’s up with Spike?” Ghost asked, before a loud belching sound reached his ears. A rolled up letter fell onto the table, and not knowing what to do, everypony just looked at it.

“Um… ok?” Ghost questioned. He picked up the letter and unrolled it. “Dear Twilight, please bring your friends to Princess Cadence’s quarters, she has very important news to tell them.” He read simply, before turning over the letter looking for more. “Why did Princess Celestia send this through Spike?”

“Heh, I’m the quickest way of communication in Equestria!” Spike boasted, pointing a thumb to his chest. Ghost raised his eyebrow and pulled out his communication gem, before activating it.

“Hey 64?” He asked, before holding out for Spike to hear.

“What’s up?” 64’s voice answered through the gem, causing Spike’s eyes to widen.

“Nothing just settling a bet.” With that, Ghost cut off the magic to the gem, leaving Spike speechless. “Sorry Spike, me and 64 use a way that’s a bit quicker.”

The dragon just crossed his arms and huffed. “Didn’t have to be a showoff…”

64 POV

I followed Twilight for about 20 minutes until we reached Shining Armor’s home, the one he went to when he was off duty. “Twilight!” I called out, just as she was about to knock on the door. “What are you going to do?”

“I need to talk to him.” She answered simply. I crossed my arms and tapped my foot.

“About what exactly?”

“About preventing him from making the biggest mistake he might ever make.”

With that, she knocked on the door, waiting for Shining’s answer. I waited patiently with her, remembering the sour meeting I last left off with Shining. Hopefully he got some rest and was calmed down a bit.

The stallion opened the door, not seeing me just yet. “Twiley! Come in!” He said excitedly, pushing the door open even more. He finally saw me, causing his eyes to widen. He and I just stared at each other for a short while, while Twilight cut between us and walked into his home. He looked at me one last time, before grunting and closing the door.

“Really?” I sighed, looking at the two guards who were standing in front of the door now. “Let me in.” I ordered, but neither of them moved or even blinked, simply standing there with their spears at their sides.

I knew that all I could do was wait for Twilight to come out of the house, so I sat on the bottom of the stairway and scratched the back of my head. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the Magic Retainer Band around my right wrist, but it looked a bit different.

I looked at them with a bit more discretion, and saw that not only were the areas around my wrists red, but the actual tribal markings which made up the bands were turning red too. “That doesn’t look good…” I muttered, not knowing what it meant.

I rolled my sleeves back down and huffed, once again waiting for Twilight to come outside. After a few moments, I heard a bit of a commotion coming from the inside of the house and stood to turn towards the door, before the door slammed opened and Twilight came running out.

“64! I need your help!” Twilight yelled, my instant reaction being to conjure a Longsword and run up the stairs. Unfortunately, the guards still stood there, their weapons brandished now and aimed at me.

“You are not permitted to enter!” They yelled, swinging their spears out at me. I looked through the open door and saw Shining Armor standing there, a furious expression on his face. Behind him stood Cadence, not even fazed with a smirk on her face.

“I told you if you ever went near my wife again, I will throw you into prison!” Shining yelled at me, his horn glowing threateningly.

“Twilight, what’s going on?” I asked, my eyes not leaving Shining’s gaze.

“We need to go and get my friends!” She exclaimed, as I dispelled my sword and turned around to run with Twilight. I didn’t know what the hell was going on, but I knew better than to doubt Twilight.

As we ran, I heard a bellowing voice. “Who goes there?!” Luna called out, as I looked up and saw Luna from her watchtower. “Stay indoors Twilight Sparkle, this goes for you as well 64!”

I gave her a thumbs up as we ran into the Palace, Twilight immediately asking one of the attendants where her friends were.

I followed Twilight towards the dressing rooms, who slammed the door open and yelled. “Shining Armor's in real trouble! You have to help–” Her words were caught in her throat as her and I saw what was going on inside, both of us flabbergasted.

Everypony, including Rainbow Dash, were wearing brand new dresses. “Dresses? What are you–?” Twilight tried to ask, but Fluttershy flew up to us and cut her off.

“Can you believe it? We're gonna be Princess Mi Amore Cadenza's new bridesmaids!” Fluttershy said with glee, but I was more focused on finding where Ghost was.

“Where’s Ghost?” I asked, not seeing him anywhere. As Twilight began to ask what was going on, Pinkie Pie told me.

“When Princess Mi Amore Cadenza was offering us to be her new bridesmaids, she took Ghost outside after to go and talk to him! She must’ve had him go do something really important, because I haven’t seen him come back yet!” Pinkie exclaimed, before bouncing off.

I stood there for a second, before my mind registered what had happened. “Wait! Pinkie!” But she was already chattering and talking to Applejack about what had happened. I looked over and saw Twilight walking out of the room.

I followed her, a sad sigh escaping her lips. “Looks like I really am on my own.”

“No. You’re not. I think something new might’ve come up in my investigation.” I growled, feeling the familiar feeling of fire in my gut. Twilight looked at me with a strange look, but I paid it no mind. I knew what to do.

I didn’t even feel the burn of magic heating up my palms.

3rd Person POV

“Perfect, girls. No need to rush.” Celestia instructed, as Cadence’s new bridesmaids walked down the aisle Cadence was scheduled to in the morning. “Then of course, Cadence will enter.”

Two guards opened up the doors to reveal Cadence, making Shining Armor’s eyes widen in awe. In his eyes, she was the most beautiful mare in the world, everything else around her blurred in a feeling of euphoric bliss.

That was what love felt like… but that wasn’t love he was feeling…

Unbeknownst to everypony else in the room, what Shining was actually seeing was the effects of the passiveness spell Queen Chrysalis had been slowly administering on Shining throughout the time of 2 weeks. She could have done it completely in one day and simply siphon the love out of him and leave… but why have a simple meal if you could have a buffet?

She wanted to wait until the wedding, where her subjects could break through the barrier Shining Armor had placed. Plus, it would look very suspicious if the groom to be suddenly became lifeless and unresponsive. Chrysalis had to make it look like a gradual thing, the effects coming from getting ready for the wedding.

Cadence finally reached the altar, as the bride and groom affectionately nuzzled horns. “I'll say a few words, and then we'll begin with the vows. Shining Armor, you'll get the ring from your best mare.”

Shining nodded and turned behind him, only to find that Twilight wasn’t even there. “Hey... has anypony seen Twilight?” He asked. The doors to the large hall were slammed open, 64 standing there with his foot extended outwards.

Celestia saw him and gasped, seeing that the bands around his wrists were now completely red, and the irises of his eyes were now red instead of brown. Twilight came up from behind him, an angry scowl on her face.

“I'm here! I'm not gonna stand next to her! And neither should you!” Twilight yelled, walking forward. 64 didn’t follow, instead staying by the open doors. Shining Armor glared at his unexpected intrusion, before turning towards Cadence.

“I'm sorry, I... I don't know why she's acting like this.” He apologized, but Cadence wasn’t having it.

“Maybe we should just ignore her.” She said snidely, turning her head away from Twilight.

“You have to listen to me!” Twilight yelled, as Fluttershy flew down to her side.

“Oh, goodness! Are you okay?” She asked, showing concern for Twilight’s state of mind.

“I’m fine.”

“Ya sure about that?” Applejack said with an unbelieving tone. Twilight pulled her hat onto her face and pushed her away.

“I’ve got something to say!” Twilight exclaimed. “She’s evil!” At this, Shining stepped in front of his fiance, an offended look on his face. “She's been horrible to my friends, she's obviously done something to her bridesmaids, and if that wasn't enough…” Twilight teleported behind Cadence slowly walking towards her as the Alicorn Mare backed away until her back hit the wall. “I saw her put a spell on my brother that made him go completely complacent!”

Cadence was backed against the wall, and with nothing to retort with, she simply began to tear up and cry. Everypony else in the room watched in awe, but Shining Armor looked on in anger. He turned towards 64, who continued to simply stand at the door.

“Did you put her up to this!?” He shouted, walking towards the human.

“I didn’t put her up to anything. But her and I agree on one thing.” 64 growled. “That… is not Cadence…” Feeling trapped, Cadence made a run for the door, but 64 stepped in front of her and blocked her from escaping.

“YOU STAY AWAY FROM HER!” Shining screamed, running towards 64 and tackling him. The gun in 64’s shoulder holster went clattering across the floor, as the two began to wrestle and swing at each other on the ground. Cadence took this chance to run out of the door, not even turning to look back at her husband who was now on the ground with an angry human on top of him about to slug him across the face.

Before 64 could land any substantial blows, two magical grasps took his shoulders, pulling him off of the Captain. A large blow to the back of the head caused the human to go sprawling onto the ground, pushing himself up and seeing Celestia begin to advance on him.

“64! Stand down now!” She yelled, her horn glowing a bright yellow. His eyes glowed a brighter shade of red as he pushed himself onto his feet. His arms burned with bright fire, charged with magic.

“Not to you! Not ever again!” He shouted, but as he was about to lunge at the Solar Princess, a loud bang sounding throughout the room and 64 froze in place.

The pistol that had gone clattering out onto the floor was now held by Shining Armor’s magical grasp, the barrel smoking. 64 fell onto his knees and then onto his stomach, laying still as he groaned in pain. A large bruise was now forming at the back of his neck, but no blood came out of the wound.

Shining Armor tossed away the gun and looked towards the guards that had grabbed 64 and attacked him in the first place. “Take him to the Underground Prison for holding until further notice. I want him nowhere near this wedding.” Shining ordered. The guards nodded and grabbed 64, who was groaning in semi conciousness.

“Don’t… trust…” He barely whispered, but none were able to hear it.

Once he was taken out of the room, Shining turned towards Twilight, who was looking frightened at how violent it had all turned.

“And you…” He whispered. “You can forget about being my best mare. In fact, don’t bother coming to the wedding at all.” With that Shining walked out of the Hall, followed by the rest of Twilight’s friends.

“You have a lot to think about…” Celestia said, her voice dripping with disappointment. The Solar Princess walked out as well, one thing on her mind. “64… I pray it’s not too late to save you…”

Author's Note

Wanna know the scariest part about this Halloween? How long it took for this chapter to be released.

64 vs. The Finale Part 2

Author's Note

New chapter for you guys who were patient enough to wait. I guarantee you there are only like 1 of you.

64 vs. The Finale Part 2

Chapter 65

3rd Person POV

Inferno was what he yelled, and the heat from his words was beginning to singe the ends of everyone’s mane. From his mouth spewed pieces of lava, charring the floor where it landed. His glare literally sent a blinding light towards whoever it was directed to, and right now his glare was locked onto the Changeling Queen standing in front of him.

Chrysalis was gaping at this creature in front of her, her horn glowing in preparation to defend herself. She was so distracted by the Inferno burning in front of her that she didn’t notice Twilight Sparkle once again was sneaking behind her to reach Princess Cadence, who was also frozen in fear at the events unfolding around her. Using her magic to dispel the goo holding Cadence to the altar, Twilight freed the Princess of Love.

“Quick! Go to him while you still have the chance!” Twilight urged, pushing her soon to be sister in law towards her fiance. Cadence was shaken out of her stupor at Twilight’s words, and rushed towards the complacent Shining Armor.

She looked over her stunned love, seeing his eyes glazed over by the magic Chrysalis was using to control him. Seeing him this helpless, and none the wiser to anything going on around him…

She was forced to tears at the sight, reaching out a tentative hoof to touch his face. Cadence choked on a sob and threw her legs around his neck, tears now streaming down her face at the loss of her love. So overcome with emotions, she didn’t realize that her horn was now beginning to charge magic, sparking and buzzing to life with love magic.

“Stay down you fleshy whelp!” Chrysalis threatened, once again sending concussive blasts of magic at Inferno, who only slightly flinched when an explosive blast hit. Where they struck pieces of rock were being blown off, showing flowing lava underneath the stone layer of the creature who was recovering from the hits. The exposed portions of his body slowly began to regenerate, once again being covered by the molten rocks.

“YOU MUST HAVE A DEATHWISH!” Inferno yelled, his right arm lashing out and sending a fiery whip toward Chrysalis who was forced to take to the air. The whip nearly struck Cadence and Shining Armor, the heat causing Cadence to yelp and recoil in fear. The shock was enough to send a pulse of love magic into Shining Armor’s horn, breaking through the mind numbing spell that Chrysalis was using to keep Shining Armor in her grasp.

Slowly as the world came back into focus, Shining Armor blinked and groaned in confusion, rubbing the side of his head with his hoof and looking around. He felt the intense heat in the room, but had no idea where it was coming from. “H-Huh? Wha? I-Is the wedding over?” He asked, still dazed and disoriented as to where he was.

He looked to his fiancee and saw her disheveled state, and was about to ask her what had happened, until a very loud scream of pain assaulted everyone’s ears. Shining’s eyes darted towards the two combatants in the room, seeing Queen Chrysalis struggle to free herself from tendril of flames coming from Inferno’s left arm.

“What in Celestia’s name is going on?! What is that thing!?” Shining yelled out, standing in front of Cadence as if to protect her.

“It’s 64! He suddenly changed into that… thing! He said his name is Inferno!” Cadence replied, almost shaking at what was going on. Chrysalis, as she was still in the air, spun around in an attempt to free herself from the burning grasp of Inferno. The beast jumped as the Changeling Queen spun and got lifted off of the ground, pulled along as Chrysalis came to a stop.

Using his momentum Inferno pulled the tendril towards himself with both hands, making the tyro queen come along with it. With one hand extending outwards, Inferno caught the Changeling Queen by the neck and gripped it hard enough to block her flow of air, causing her to choke and gasp at the burning and searing pain around her neck.

“I’m going to squash you like the tiny bug you are…” Inferno growled, a guttural vibration resonating deep within his throat. Chrysalis, not seeing any other way out of the monster’s grasp, charged her horn once again and began blasting it at Inferno’s face at close range, making him yell out in pain and drop her.

Now free, Chrysalis saw no point in staying in the room and flew out of the Balcony window, taking to the skies of the burning and crumbling Canterlot. Inferno cleared his eyes and watched her go, before growling once again and steadying himself. “You thought that you could just leave after you destroy what is rightfully mine to end?! I will not allow you to end it like that!” Inferno called, before dashing out of the same balcony window and leaping a great distance to catch up with the Changeling Queen.

“Your spell, perform your spell!” Twilight urged Shining Armor, everyone safe for the moment. Shining nodded and began to charge magic into his horn, but all that was able to come of it was a small spark of rose colored magic. He began to strain more and more in an attempt to try and conjure the spell, but its already taxing supply of magic it needed was too much for Shining to handle.

“N-No… My magic is useless now. I don’t have the strength to repel them…” Shining admitted, his brow furrowed and sweat dripping down his forehead. Cadence stepped towards him.

“My love will give you strength.” Cadence assured, wrapping her forelegs around Shining’s neck. With a newfound strength, Shining began to pour more and more energy into his magic, desperately trying to build up the magic needed for the shield. Cadence was trying to use her magic to help amplify the power Shining’s horn was giving off, but she felt blocked off and weak. “I… can barely use my love magic. What’s going on?”

“Twilight, try and get me down from here.” Celestia called, her voice hard and urgent. Twilight nodded, and tried to use her magic to get Celestia down from her Rehabilitation pod. It took a lot more effort than Twilight thought was necessary, and began sweating from the amount of concentration she needed. Once Celestia was free, She flayed her wings out and gently descended to the ground, trying her best to shake off the green goo still staining her white fur.

“Princess Celestia, what’s going on? Why is it so hard to use our magic? Why did 64 turn into that thing?! Why did-” Twilight was about to go on another tirade, but Princess Celestia stopped her with a quick stamp of her hoof.

“Ease yourself Twilight… So I can begin to explain.” Celestia began, her voice now with a tired tone behind it. “First of all, Shining Armor, are you feeling well?”

“I’ve… I’ve felt better. Ah, I can’t remember much of what’s happened… The last thing I remember is getting dressed this morning… then Cadence… I think… walked in and tried to help me with my migraines.” Shining Armor explained, still rubbing the side of his head in pain.

“It seems Chrysalis was under our nose the entire time… Twilight, I want to express my sincerest apologies for doubting you as I did.” Celestia apologized, Twilight simply waving it off.

“That’s the least of our worries right now. What we do need to worry about is-”

As Twilight was speaking, everyone’s eyes darted to a gargantuan blast of flames blasting into the sky outside. Everypony ran outside to the balcony to watch the spectacle, before they all saw the other jaw dropping occurrence.

They saw the creature know as Inferno, standing atop a spire in the distance, with his mouth spewing out the massive fireball which they saw. Standing across from him was Chrysalis, but behind her was an entire horde of Changeling drones. It wasn’t every single Changeling in the assault, but it was still an incredible amount.

“Drones! Assemble!” Chrysalis commanded, continuing to stare down Inferno who was glaring at her menacingly. The drones behind her began to shift and move, slowly forming into some strange object.

“What in the hay are they doin’?!” Applejack yelped, seeing the Changeling Drones buzzing and flying around.

“I’m not sure. I’ve never seen a horde of Changeling’s moving with this level of organization. Either they’ve prepared for something like this, or Chrysalis has an amazing level of control over her drones…” Celestia answered, trying her best to explain the strange phenomenon.

Inferno watched as the Changelings moved and shifted, until they were finally done and ready to assist Chrysalis. The Queen herself allowed herself to fly backwards into the center of the massive formation, keeping herself as safe as she could. “So you human whelp… I hope you are ready to perish!” Chrysalis cried, as her giant formation buzzed loudly.

Every changeling in that mass had moved, shifted, and formed into one, giant Changeling Drone. The Changeling Gargantuan stomped its massive hoof down onto the ground, sending quakes throughout all of Canterlot, reaching the Palace and causing everypony to steady themselves.

“My word! Is that what I think it is!?” Rarity exclaimed, seeing the massive changeling formation.

Inferno’s eyes narrowed, seeing his new opponent. He stood straight on the tip of the spire and concentrated, focusing on every fire which was lit in the city. He brought his arms straight above his head, and used his magic to pull every fire towards himself, making arcs of fire fly through the air from the ground up to him.

“Your ashes will decorate this mountainside!” Inferno taunted, the fire he was gathering forming into a large ball above his head. The day was beginning to enter its afternoon stages, with the sun still high in the air. Not that anyone would be able to tell, thanks to the changeling drones still swarming in the sky and effectively blocking out the sun from Canterlot.

Even with that coupled with the light and heat coming off of Inferno and his creation was beginning to blind those who stared for a bit too long, and literally set puddles of water on the ground ablaze.

“Forward Changelings! Crush the human!” Chrysalis commanded, making the mass move forward. Although the Changeling Gargantuan was big, it wasn’t slow. It jumped forward towards Inferno, ready to crush him underneath their massive weight. As the changeling’s neared, Inferno strained and wound back his arms, before bringing them forward and tossing the massive fireball towards the Gargantuan Changeling.

The two forces collided in mid air, a screeching sound coming from the changelings who were unfortunate enough to be hit by the massive fireball. Inferno’s attack was heavy enough to stop the Changelings barrage, as the massive beast simply landed fell onto a few buildings in a commercial district.

Going on the offensive, Inferno leapt from the spire towards the Changeling Gargantuan, landing onto its head and beginning to smash away at the outer layer with his fists beginning to burn. Everypony in the Palace watched as the Gargantuan began to thrash and smash at its own head to get him off, but to no avail.

“Your highness, why couldn’t Cadence or Twilight use their magic? They both said their magic’s weren’t working correctly.” Shining asked. He saw that Celestia had a saddened, yet hard look in her eyes, as if she was remembering something.

“That creature… that thing that has taken over 64’s body and mind… It’s filling the air with Chaotic Magic, the same that Discord possesses. The malicious energy it permeates into the air is powerful enough where it can interfere with all of our magics.” Celestia told, lighting her own horn up in demonstration.

Where a normal illumination spell would take little to no effort to perform, even in her fatigued state, her spell flickered to life, only being able to light up the room with a dim spark. The darkness that the changelings blocking the sun were casting still remained in the Wedding Hall.

“The only magic that would be able to combat the Chaotic Magic would be magic of the same kind, which Chrysalis was able to create using the love she drained from Shining Armor.” Celestia continued.

Their attention on Celestia was suddenly disrupted by a deafening screech coming from the Changeling Gargantuan, as a stream of flames and light came erupting from its forehead. Inferno was attempting to burn his way to the center of the Gargantuan to get to Chrysalis, burning anything in his path.

Following another screech, the Changeling drones making up the Gargantuan head dispersed into small swarms, flying in arcs away from the rest of the body before zooming back towards the now exposed Inferno.

Inferno saw this and was soon swarmed by the drones, as they each tried to grab him and lift him away. Those that tried to get a grip on him found that their legs immediately bursted into flames upon contact with his molten skin, and that any use of magic was weakened and useless.

Still their resistance was enough to knock Inferno off balance, losing his grip on the Gargantuan and causing him to go plummeting towards the ground. Like a meteor falling through the atmosphere, he was engulfed in flames as he descended, before crashing into the ground below. From the scorched and smoky hole he left indented into the ground, he slowly rose and stared up at the Gargantuan, who had now regained it’s head. Gaining speed and rushing forward, Inferno pushed off of the ground and leapt towards the Gargantuan’s leg, plunging his fist deep within the mass of Changeling drones.

Now climbing upwards and charring any Changeling’s that dared to attack him, Inferno was still being spectated by the ponies standing on top of the wedding hall balcony. Celestia looked up at the now smoky sky, the smell of fires and decay prevalent in the air. There were no more drones in the city streets, every single one of them being tasked with aiding their queen in defeating the monstrous beast which was literally burning a hole straight through their defenses.

The Solar Princess wanted to intervene and stop the madness, but even a simple flap of her wings was enough to send her into another bout of exhaustion. Twilight saw this and rushed in to help, putting herself beside Princess Celestia to act as a base. “Thank you Twilight…” The Princess strained, still holding a steely gaze in her eyes. “With the Changeling’s occupied, I believe now would be a perfect time to once again attempt to retrieve the Elements.”

Twilight looked around and exchanged looks with her friends, seeing they too thought it was a good idea. “Don’t worry, we’ll be back with those elements this time.” Twilight nodded, making sure to set the Princess down carefully. “C’mon girls! While the Changelings are distracted!”

And with that, Twilight and her friends went rushing out of the door towards the Elements once again, this time with hopes of success.

Twilight Sparkle POV

As fast as our legs could carry us, we all ran frantically through the Palace grounds, following the same path that we did last time. Although we were all focused on getting to the Elements of Harmony, we couldn’t drown out the sounds of the battle going on in the middle of downtown Canterlot. The buzzing chirps of thousands of fighting changelings did little to mask the roars of Inferno, who would blast a flaming ball of magic into the air every few seconds. The air was thick with heat waves, the sweat on our fur evaporating mere seconds after surfacing, and many of the surrounding flora was already ignited in flames.

The changelings that flew overhead paid no mind to us, instead focusing on the beast whipping around flames left and right as if they were made of nothing. There was now a noticeable dull ache in my horn, possibly from all of the chaotic magic in the air. I was suddenly reminded of the statue of Discord, knowing that even the smallest of amount of disharmony was capable of allowing him to escape and wreak havoc.

“Twi! The tower! Look at it!” Rainbow Dash shouted, a noticeable tiredness in her voice. I was shaken out of my train of thought to see that the bridge which led to the Tower of Harmony was destroyed, and the Tower was partially destroyed. I was able to see into the Tower and saw that the door which kept them secure was still intact, meaning that the Elements were still safe.

“Rarity, we need to try and form some sort of solid bridge to get across.” I suggested, knowing that with the strain that would put on a single unicorn would probably be too much to bear. She nodded at me and prepared her horn, as we both began to try and conjure some sort of pathway to get across the perilous drop.

The both of us strained and grunted, a slow mixture of azure and raspberry colored magic solidifying in front of us, albeit a bit weak. The bridge slowly extended forward, creeping at a painfully sluggish pace before it finally reached the other end. Both Rarity and I were straining to keep this rudimentary spell active, my eyes clenched tightly shut as sweat beaded on my forehead before evaporating into mist.

“Okay girls, one at a time!” I called out, not sure how strong this bridge actually was. In her delightfully optimistic fashion, Pinkie Pie was the first one to bounce across, both me and Rarity straining at each of the bounces she gave against our magic. Applejack was the next one across, taking a running leap as far as she could across the bridge to lessen her strain on us.

As Fluttershy was about to take her first tentative steps across the bridge, Rarity gave a short grunt and nearly buckled onto the ground, the integrity of our bridge beginning to wane and fade. “Fluttershy hurry!” Rarity gasped, as the reserved pegasus ran across the bridge as quickly as she could, her wings failing due to the excess chaotic magic in the air. As soon as she was across the opening, Rarity fell to the ground and groaned, her horn flickering one last time before the bridge finally gave out and disappeared.

“Rarity!” I gasped, rushing over to the exhausted mare and seeing her horn beginning to spark and fizzle thanks to over exertion. “Gosh, this magic restriction is getting worse than I thought it would be…”

“I’m terribly sorry Twilight, but it seems we’re going to need to find another way across the broken bridge.” Rarity apologized, but I returned her apology with a shake of my head.

“There’s nothing to be sorry for, but you’re right. Rainbow, can you see any other way we can get across? Some wooden planks or anything we can lay across?” I asked, looking up at the pegasus in question. She was still able to get airborne, but the strain and fatigue on her face was showing that she was already tired.

“Nothing I can see around here, just a lot of stone rubble from other parts of the Palace. We can probably find a big enough piece and-” Rainbow explained, but another powerful roar cut her off as our attention was brought elsewhere.

Inferno’s battle against the Gargantuan Changeling was beginning to escalate, with him standing on the head of the immense beast with fiery tendrils extending from his arms and wrapping around the Changeling’s neck, making it look as if Inferno was trying to tame the mighty beast. As the forces battled for dominance, the Gargantuan Changeling bucked its legs and kicked part of the Palace wall, sending an enormous piece of debris heading straight for us.

“Girls! Look out!” I yelled, running and leaping to safety as the piece of Palace came crashing down to the ground, kicking up rubble and dust everywhere, diminishing visibility to nearly nothing. I kept my eyes clenched shut and my hooves over my head until the shaking and quaking stopped, the sounds of roaring and battle the only prominent sounds in the air.

I opened my eyes slowly and looked around, trying to make out anything through the obscuring cloud of dust. “Girls?! Are you all okay?!” I exclaimed frantically, before receiving various responses back.

“I’m okey-dokie over here! Hey that was fun! Can we do that again?” Pinkie answered, before an irate voice responded.

“Are ya crazy?! We were nearly flattened into mush! We ain’t goin’ through that again.” Applejack scolded, as I saw her silhouette across the opening using her stetson to wave away some of the dust.

I was beginning to dust myself off when I heard Rainbow Dash cry out. “Agh! Guys, my wing’s stuck over here!” She yelled, not in pain, but instead in annoyance. I scanned the area and saw her attempting to pull her wing out from under a piece of fallen debris.

“Rainbow! Are you hurt?” I questioned, helping her by carefully lifting up the pieces of debris and gently tugging her wing out. As we pulled out her wing, I saw that there was already some bruising beginning to form, and she winced as she brought her wing back into herself.

“I don’t think it’s anything too bad, but I’m grounded for now…” She winced, trying to massage the wing against herself using her hoof. As the two conversed, Rarity made herself apparent by coughing lightly, getting rid of some of the dust she was breathing in.

“Not to interrupt, but I don’t think we’ll have anymore trouble with getting across the bridge darlings.” Rarity announced, showing that as the dust cleared, a piece of debris which was large enough had fallen from the Palace wall, filling in the large gap in the bridge.

Not one to waste an opportunity when I see it, I walked over to the debris and climbed up on top of it, Rarity and Rainbow Dash following close behind me. Once our party was once again reunited, albeit a lot more dusty and dirty, we set off into the tower to retrieve the Elements.

“Fluttershy, are you doing okay?” I asked, seeing her a bit shaken up. She nodded at me, but I was able to see that she was less than eager to keep moving. “Don’t worry, as soon as I get his door opened, we’re gonna get back to Celestia and use the Elements to put an end to all of this.”

“I know that Twilight, but that’s not what I’m worried about.” Fluttershy admitted as we walked towards the Vault Door. “What about 64? What are we going to do with him?”

I stopped and looked at her, a bit confused about what she was asking. “What do you mean? We’re gonna do what we always do in these situations. Use the Elements of Harmony to-”

“But don’t you remember the last time we used the Elements on him?” She interrupted, stopping my train of thoughts in my tracks.

“She’s right, what are we gonna do? Turn ‘im into stone again? And it ain’t like we got some new fangled magic sword to bring ‘im back neither.” Applejack said, giving her input into the situation.

“But you guys remember what happened to Nightmare Moon right? When we blasted her with the Elements she didn’t turn into stone, the Nightmare part of her just got destroyed, right?” Rainbow interjected, as I just stared at the lock on the door, pondering what should be done.

Of course I hadn’t thought of what to do about 64. Right now, he was a burning monster trying to kill every last changeling out there in Canterlot. You could say he was saving the town, but what he said in the Wedding Hall still sounded through my head.

“You thought that you could just leave after you destroy what is rightfully mine to end?!”

To end what? Canterlot? Celestia? There was no secret that although 64 was now loyal to Equestria, he still held a fair amount of contempt for Celestia. Of course he was intelligent enough to realize that his vision of hatred and revenge wouldn’t solve anything, but now…?

Now 64 had the means to get his revenge, and it didn’t seem like he was too reluctant to use it.

I kept my gaze on the locked door, seeing the only barrier between me and the Elements of Harmony. For tools that were only supposed to be used in the most dire circumstances, these things were seeing more and more time outside of their vault than ponies should be comfortable with. Discord should’ve been the last time these things had to be used for another millennium, with new bearers and new problems, not for the same silly reasons Celestia and Luna had to use them for. Although I doubt anypony had seen an invasion as large as this on something as benign as a Royal Wedding.

With a sigh of reluctance, I slowly began to cast the spell to open the doors, the task being considerably more difficult than it should’ve been thanks to all of the interference. As the first set of security runes began to be unlocked, the ground trembled and shook once again, nearly knocking us all to the ground and throwing off my concentration.

“What in the hay was that?” Rainbow asked aloud, as if we weren’t all already thinking it. As I stayed in concentration opening the door, the rest of the girls went over to a window to take a look at was going on.

“Holy turnover! How in the hay is he-!?”

“There’s no way! No way in Equestria!”

“My goodness!”

I was almost brought out of concentration by their shocked exclamations, but it was for nothing as I felt an immense wave of chaotic magic blast through the air, like a shockwave of a breeze from Tartarus itself. There was no way anypony in Canterlot still had magic they could still use, not after a blast like that. My horn felt as if there was a bonfire sitting directly on top of it, and the moisture in my mouth was beginning to boil to almost painful temperatures.

“I can’t get the door open!” I yelled out, now not knowing what to do.

“Forget the door Twilight! Get over here!” Rainbow Dash shouted right back at me, waving me over as frantically as she could. I shook my head and went over to her, also looking out of the same window everypony else was staring through.

When I saw what was going on outside, I didn’t gasp dramatically. I didn’t stiffen up in fear and begin to shake. There wasn’t a dropped jaw, followed by a comical use of a hoof to keep it shut. I used what I thought was necessary, and from where I was standing, it was a perfect way to sum up my feelings on what was going on.

“Fuck.”

3rd Person POV

Battles between hero and villain are often painted in a romantic light. Where a hero, righteous of heart and purpose, fights against a villain, their heart stricken with malice and ill-will, in a battle of brains and brawn. Both foes are powerful, and each of some sort of trick up their sleeve in a last ditch effort to win the fight.

Of course, in these battles, the Hero always triumphs, his selfless heart and righteous courage being the tools necessary to win over the forces of evil, banishing it away and bringing forth an age of peace and prosperity. Evil is always dashed away with, either as a husk of its former self, with its tail between its legs and head hung low, or reformed to see the errors of their ways to join the truly correct side, the side of Good.

But Evil is never killed. No, Good can never kill Evil, lest it risk becoming the very idea which Evil was trying to uphold. Evil is always cast away, or changed. Any other action by Good is unheard of, blasphemous of itself.

That is why 64 has never, ever in his entire life, seen himself as the good guy. He might’ve tried at first, to try and paint himself as the beacon of hope or as the one true benevolent force in Equestria, but that was an illusion quickly broken by the real world.

You don’t try and reason with Evil. If you’re lucky, you grab hold of it and burn it into ashes. Of course, he wasn’t 64, but Inferno knew well enough that Evil wasn’t to be reasoned with.

But when Evil is a Gargantuan Changeling the height of Canterlot Palace itself, it’s hard to grab hold of. So what was there to do? Just try and hug it’s leg as tight as you could and try to burn it like that? Maybe try to cover it with an enormous blanket and try to smother it?

No. The smartest and easiest solution of course, would to simply become as large as Evil itself. Bringing forth all of the heat in the air, Inferno focus it into himself, before allowing his magic to expand outwards slowly. But instead of allowing all of this energy to simply be formed into a ball, Inferno focused it, using his body as the canvas for the work of art he was trying to create.

Standing across from his opponent, demolished buildings and burning chunks of land standing between them, Inferno’s body slowly began to rise from the ground, an orange outline of his own body slowly expanding outward from him. He grew slowly at first, his eyes closed in concentration as he knew this was a delicate creation made from fire and hatred.

The legs of his orange outline began rising higher, his torso expanding and his arms growing, along with a head now growing from the neck of the torso, each limb becoming more and more pronounced as Inferno remained in the chest cavity of the beast, guiding the gargantuan like the pilot of the fires of Tartarus itself.

As Inferno opened his eyes, two blinding white lights emerged in the outlines head, placed where eyes would normally be. The titan stood as tall as the Gargantuan, mimicking the same bipedal shape Inferno stood with. Those looking on with gaped mouths and shocked expressions weren’t sure if this great beast would help save Canterlot, or only assist in destroying it further.

Celestia, Cadence, and Shining Armor watched from the Wedding Hall as Inferno took a careful step forward, before going into a rushing charge towards The Changeling Gargantuan and colliding with it, a flurry of blows and blasts being exchanged between the titans.

There was no finesse or grace to the battle, as most think a fight between to large forces are more reliant on skill or technique. No, this was a brawl, a mass of uncoordinated blows and clumsy strikes. Most of the attacks from both sides missed or only grazed, but when they connected, it was as if there were shockwaves of magic sent in all directions.

A fist collided with the side of the Changeling Gargantuan’s head, sending dozens of changeling drones flying off of the collective mass of the beast in heaps of charred chitin. The Gargantuan stumbled, quick to divert drones towards the now damaged part of the head. It was as if for every drone that Inferno was able to send to its doom, another 5 were able to take its place. Inferno continued with his momentum, sending more and more blows towards the Gargantuan, and each of those blows only resulting in more changelings taking the place of the ones killed.

“WHY DON’T YOU STAY DEAD!?” Inferno cried, sending his open palm towards the face of his opponent. He connected, digging his fingers into the surface of the many changelings taking the shape of the face. He began ripping and tearing away at the face as fast as he could, holding tight with his left hand around the Gargantuan’s neck and his right mercilessly clawing away.

The Changeling Gargantuan began to struggle, shaking and sending bolts of magic into the beastial form of Inferno. Angered by this retaliation, Inferno gripped both sides of the Gargantuan’s head with immense strength, and sent his forehead crashing into his oppositions face, sending a ferocious shockwave of chaotic magic into the surrounding area.

Those spectating this clash of titans were nearly sent to the floor at the raw power exhibited in the display, in both spectacle and ferocity. The changeling Gargantuan was losing power, seen with some parts of its body having changelings simply going limp and falling to their death from exhaustion.

Twilight Sparkle had to stay grounded as the blast quickly made its way to the tower she and her friends were in. There was a terrible rumbling of stone and grating shrill shrieks of steel which pounded all of their ears, making Twilight look behind her. The shockwave blast had been enough to destroy the vault door to the Elements of Harmony.

Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, she sprung into action, grabbing the Element of Harmony and placing them onto her back. “C’mon girls! Back to Princess Celestia! Now!” She called out, grabbing the attention of all of her friends as they began their mad dash back to the Wedding Hall.

Inside of the Gargantuan’s head, Queen Chrysalis was quickly losing composure. That headbutt had drained the entirety of the love that she had extracted from Shining Armor, and she was losing her grip on the changeling drones quickly defecting from her hive in an attempt to save their own lives. She was quickly running out of options, and as she was beginning to form a plan, she saw something she was terrified of seeing at the moment.

As another palmful of Changeling drones was ripped away from the Gargantuan, Chrysalis saw light beginning to feed into her small nest. Seeing light rapidly fill her vision, she squinted her eyes in an attempt to filter what see what was in front of her. As her vision cleared, she gasped to what was in front of her.

Inferno, still inside of his own gargantuan creation, was glaring daggers into Queen Chrysalis. She was now completely exposed, the front of the face of her Gargantuan now broken away into nothing. She stood perfectly petrified as she stared forward, seeing the monstrous being she once taunted inside of the Wedding Hall now glaring at her with her completely at his mercy. She had never felt the powerless before, this absolutely defeated. Now it was time for her judgement.

Inferno and his Gargantuan reared their fist back, almost painfully slow in Chrysalis’s eyes, before their eyes quickly flashed in blinding white light. With enough force to move an entire mountain into an ocean, the fiery fist went sailing towards Chrysalis, as things slowed down all around them.

Chrysalis stared with wide eyes at what was coming, her shell chipped and cracked in many places. In a last ditch effort, her horn was trying to spark any sort of magic, but none could be conjured.

Celestia and the others in the Wedding Hall stared in awe, never seeing a battle end with such a ferocious blow before.

The Bearers of Harmony were getting nearer and nearer to the Wedding Hall, only a few halls away in the Palace.

Inferno’s face was twisted into one of fury and anger, putting every ounce of hatred and malice as he could into this one attack.

The blow connected with the remnants of the Changeling Gargantuan’s head, time once again returning to it’s normal speed. When it connected, a blast of magic was released into the air once again, with Changelings being sent in nearly every direction from the sheer force of the blast. The rest of the Changeling Gargantuan began to completely crumble away, the black mass of drones simply dropping where they were onto the ground.

Inferno squinted to see where Queen Chrysalis was falling, and saw her quickly descending towards the ground. “OH NO YOU DON’T.” He growled, ejecting himself from his Gargantuan and sailing forwards towards the Changeling Queen. He intercepted her from midair, grabbing her around the neck and continuing to sail forward towards the Palace.

Celestia gasped as she saw Inferno and Chrysalis sailing towards the Wedding Hall window and quickly shoved Cadence and Shining Armor out of the way, just before the two combatants shattered through the stain glass window.

Chrysalis and Inferno both went rolling away from each other as they hit the ground, both of them smouldering with smoke rising off of them. Inferno was the first to stand up, dusting himself off a bit and glancing towards the defeated Changeling Queen.

“So… you thought you could just take over like that? Just a bit of scare tactics and flashy love magic and you’d be set?” Inferno began, sauntering his way over towards Chrysalis. “Didn’t expect the embodiment of fire itself did you?”

Chrysalis glared up at him with tears in her eyes, giving a bit of defiance in her defeat. Inferno was taking deep breaths, as if he was trying to calm himself down. Shining Armor stepped forward, a careful stare boring into Inferno’s back.

“64… stand down now.” Shining began. “We can now take Chrysalis into custody and begin to repair any and all damage made to-”

“Damage?! Custody?! You clearly have me mistaken for somebody else!” Inferno roared, turning towards Shining Armor and glowing a bit brighter with magic. “I am NOT, 64. I. AM INFERNO. And you will address me as such…”

“64!” Another voice yelled. All heads turned towards a new voice in the room, a buzzing and chirping voice. “What’s going on!? What happened to you?!”

Inferno stared at the Changeling pup on the ground, now conscious, yet frightened and shaking. Ghost looked around at what was going on. The last thing he remembered was being trapped in the Crystal caverns deep underneath Canterlot, but now as he looked around he was a destroyed Wedding Hall, a few ponies lying either dead or unconscious in the room, and a bipedal resembling 64, but covered head to toe in molten rock and fire.

“Ghost, get over here now.” Shining ordered, not taking his eyes away from Inferno. “Inferno, for the last time stand down!”

“Never! You expect me to give up this chance? Get revenge for all the pain and suffering THAT mare has caused!” Inferno countered, pointing a hand towards Celestia. “ALL THOSE YEARS OF TERROR, OF TORTURE, OF MURDER! Those foals… all dead… all dead for a damn EXPERIMENT DOOMED TO DIE!”

Everypony in the room was silent, Inferno continuing. “YOUR PROJECTS… most failed… most… nothing… FOR NOTHING!” He roared, his words beginning to slur as they were filled with more and more malice. “ALL THOSE DEAD… mourned for... CHILDREN! they… why’d they… YOU!”

Shining Armor stepped in front of Celestia protectively, as Inferno began to move forward, his hands beginning to charge with magic. He was going to get his revenge, revenge for what she did to him, and revenge for all of the countless murders she had committed before he was brought into existence. Even if it was with his last dying breath, Inferno would use it to try and end Celestia once and for all.

“64 no!” Ghost yelled, jumping onto Inferno’s back and wrapping his hooves around his neck. Inferno was knocked off balance at this, reaching behind him to try and rid the changeling pup off his back. Shining Armor took his chance to act, rushing forward and ramming into Inferno’s stomach hard enough to send the Biped onto a knee.

“Girls! Now!” Shining Armor yelled, looking towards the door leading into the Wedding Hall. Twilight blasted both doors down with a concussive spell, with the rest of her friends behind her all wearing their respective Elements of Harmony. Already fully charged, they sent the blast straight towards Inferno, whose eyes widened at the technicolor blast of magic being sent towards him.

With one last motion, 64 gripped Ghost by the scruff of his neck and threw him aside,just as the Elements of Harmony came into contact with his body. The ribbons of rainbow magic went zipping and zooming around his body, seeping into his volcanic armor and and turning his skin white. With a roar, a blast of Harmonious magic went blasting from 64 and throughout Canterlot, the wave of Rainbow magic being sent in all directions.

Dead plant life once again came back to life, the fires still stoking the destroyed buildings were snuffed out, and the grey skies were once again brought to a cheery blue.

But, even with the Harmonious magic, there was still damage throughout the city. Buildings were still either partially or completely demolished, and there was still several bodies still littering the streets of Canterlot.

The capital city still held the remains of a warzone, as did many who had survived the entire ordeal. The blinding light emitting from 64 was now gone, and the biped was still standing on two feet, although he was bleeding from the mouth, bruises already covered most of his face and body, and there wasn’t a shred of clothing on the man. His long shaggy hair nearly covered his eyes, which tears began to seep down from.

Everypony stared at 64 as he struggled to stay standing, swaying left and right a bit in an attempt to keep his strength. Celestia and Shining Armor were still being very cautious towards the human, not sure if he was still hostile or not.

With heavy gasps and wobbly feet, 64 struggled to get words out.

“You…… you might… wanna check…… the dungeon…… there might be… might be…… flooding……” And with that, 64 fell to his knees, then onto his face, completely and utterly unconscious.

64 vs. The Finale Part 3

Chapter 66

64 POV

Cold… Things felt cold…

Well, I guess everything would feel cold after you were literally made of fire for a few hours. Except the sensation I was feeling wasn’t a chill like a cold metal pole, or a slab of concrete in the shade. It was the artificial kind of cold which could only be made with something like an air conditioning unit or a meat freezer, the kind of cold which made the air almost have a metallic taste.

The decrease in temperature wasn't the only thing I felt though. I was laying on some sort of cushiony surface, my back sinking into the pillowy material. My back felt sore, as if I had been lying in this same position for a long time, and I could feel a bed sore or two beginning to form.

I struggled to open my eyes, but instead of the blinding white light that was normally expected after I normally woke up from unconsciousness, I was only met with more darkness. But even through bleary eyes and the suffocating darkness, I was able to see that the ceiling of wherever I was was also covered in the same material that I was lying on.

I flexed my fingers tentatively, trying to work out the stiffness in the joints. I continued to do the same with my arms, twisting and stretching them a bit upwards and outwards. Next came rolling my neck around a bit, making sure I didn’t have a neck brace or something. After doing all of this, I pushed myself up, now being seated instead of laying down.

I took a careful look around the room, not seeing any obvious entrance or exits, nor any windows or vents. I made my way to my feet, stumbling once or twice once I regained my footing. Walking forward was actually proving more of a challenge than I thought it would be, with each step feeling as if there were lead weights around my ankles.

The chilling cold wasn’t helping me move either, and I couldn't figure out why for the life of me why I was feeling so cold. Even when I only had the bare minimum of clothing like a t-shirt and sweats I had on right now, I was able to shake off the cold as if it was just dust on my shoulder. But now, the chill was seeping into my bones with a numbness, actually feeling a bit of an ache due to the cold.

Once I managed to walk my way over to one of the walls in the room I was in, I carefully began to run my hands along each and every crevasse of the surface as I could. Moving slowly along the wall, I couldn't find any abnormalities or distinct protrusions, so that meant I was in some kind of holding cell. Now knowing what I was up against, I decided to start calling out.

“U-Umm… Hey! Can You maybe turn down the A/C a bit!” I asked, feeling the chill of the air on my lips. “It’s getting a bit too cold in here!”. There was no response from anyone, and no sign of the temperature going up. “Perfect…”.

I sat down once again, already feeling my strength already beginning to leave me. Leaning against the wall and bringing my arms around my knees, I began to think about just what had happened before I passed out. It wasn’t as if once I turned into Inferno that I had just totally gone into a catatonic state of mind. I was able to see what he was doing, what he was feeling, and what he was thinking.

And to be perfectly honest… a lot of it felt reeealy good…

Just the pure unadulterated rage and lack of conscience was an intoxicating feeling for me, and Inferno gave me an outlet to release all of the pent up emotion I was feeling. Of course I knew it got very out of hand very fast, with me threatening to kill Princess Celestia and avenge those she had wronged in the past. That was something that even in my right state of mind, I would never be able to completely forgive her for.

I was able to put it behind me, as I had explained to Frenzy Scribe in Ethaxial. But there was always that one bit of me nagging that her neck was vulnerable, that an unfortunate training accident could occur, or there was enough time to hide the evidence. I’m glad that the feelings weren’t exactly hidden anymore, but… it could’ve been portrayed with a bit more tact. Maybe something that wouldn’t land me in a freezing and cushioned cell.

I closed my eyes in frustration, knowing that all I could do at the moment was just sit here and wait for something to happen. If I was lucky, then they might not have sentenced me to eternity in this cell. Yet.

“You cool yet?” A voice suddenly echoed through the room, making me open my eyes wide and looking around frantically. I pushed myself up a bit too quickly and tumbled to the ground in a heap, my footing failing me. “Relax 64. We were just keeping you in here as a precaution. But you have to answer my question, have you cooled down yet?”

The voice had some sort of synthesizer to it, so it was a bit hard to tell who was doing the talking. I did feel a lot calmer than I did before I was hit with the Elements of Harmony, and I wasn’t having thoughts of stringing up Celestia by her entrails anymore, so that was definitely a good sign.

“Yeah, I think I’m good.” I answered, awkwardly rising from the ground and managing to stand up this time. “Where am I?”

“You’re in a maximum security cell complete with magic retention fields and a customized freezing unit. It’s about -40 degrees in that room right now.” The voice answered, actually surprising me with that last phrase. I was only feeling a slight chill, and it was way below freezing right now. “You’ll be released in a moment, Princess Celestia wishes to have a word with you.”

And with that, the voice went quiet. I waited a bit to see if it was actually gone, and after a few moments, I sat back down against the wall of the cell. I felt myself beginning to doze off again, my eyelids growing heavier and heavier. The chill in my bones and the numbness in my fingers weren’t helping, and soon I felt my eyes shut, and sleep begin to take over my mind.

Of course there were other things planned for me, like when the wall I was leaning against all of a sudden shot up into the ceiling, leaving me nothing to lean on and causing my head to go slamming onto the head concrete on the other side of the door. “Son of a bitch…” I groaned, already getting frustrated with the situation I was in.

“Well, look at who actually managed to cool down a bit!” A familiar male voice called out, my eyes opening to find Frenzy Scribe looming over me. His mane and red robes being a dead giveaway to his identity, even with my senses muddled as they were. “You know, it wasn’t very fun being shoved into a bunker in the south side of the mountain, but when I figured out that you were the one fighting all of those terribly dreadful changeling bugs I was simply astonished! I mean I knew you were no pushover, what with our exploits in Volaticus, but to discover you nearly single handedly took on an entire changeling army… Simply unheard of!”

"You seem... awfully chipper despite recent events..." I grunted, getting up off of the ground and giving him a careful glance. Frenzy caught what I insinuated, and shook his head.

"I assure you, should I have been a Changeling, then I would be an empty husk of a bug!" Frenzy grinned, making me tilt my head a bit. "Oh! I had forgotten, you've been out of the loop as some would say. Well, thanks to all of the Chaotic Magic being strewn about that day, along with Queen Chrysalis absorbing all of the love emotion out of the air in an attempt at self preservation, nearly all of the Changeling drones in Canterlot that day simply died of starvation! Fascinating phenomenon!"

I gasped at that last comment, remembering Ghost regaining consciousness shortly before I was blasted with the enemies of Harmony. I was about to go rushing forward to find him, when Frenzy put himself in front of me. "Just wait a moment 64! I assure you your Changeling pup is unharmed. Princess Cadence had given an incredible excess of pure love magic before the chaotic magic leaked into the air, protecting him from most of the damage. The worst he will feel is a bit of grogginess."

My heart rate slowed, and I brought my hands up to rub my temples. This was too much for just waking up. "Just... you said something about Celestia wanting to speak to me. Can we go get to that?" I asked, wanting a comfortable bed and a hot meal. Frenzy nodded his head and waved his hoof towards me.

"Of course! C'mon 64, let us go seek audience with the Celestial Monarch!" Frenzy said a tad too loudly. He turned and began walking, with me following him closely.

"How long have I have been out of the swing of things?" I questioned, remembering Frenzy using phrases like 'that day'. "It couldn't have been that long."

"Right you are! You have been unconscious for about 3 and a half days, and repairs are already underway in nearly all of Canterlot." Frenzy explained. "Princess Celestia has been heading a majority of the restoration projects, and the wedding was postponed to next month."

"Celestia expects this place to be ready for a wedding within a month?"

"Why wouldn't it? Most of the Commercial District has already been repaired, the Residential District is on track to being halfway completed, and the damage to the Palace was easily repaired by both of the Princesses collective effort. The only long term effect of the attack will most likely be the amount of casualties."

That had made me pause a bit. I looked at Frenzy with a cautious stare. "And, just how many casualties were there?"

"Well, the numbers haven't been too good. About a quarter of the Royal Guards both Solar and Lunar were sadly lost with another estimated 250 injuries, and there have been about 100 civilian deaths reported, along with another 150 injuries. Hospitals in Canterlot and here at the Palace are nearly full, and doctors and nurses are working around the clock in an attempt to save as many ponies as they can." Frenzy explained, not losing any of the urgency in his voice, but dropping in tone for seriousness. "I mean... this was a blitzkrieg attack. Just out of nowhere. The only reason we probably managed to defeat them was because of you."

I grinned a bit, rubbing the back of my head in bashfulness. "Nah, I'm sure even if I didn't act, Celestia would have found a way to fight off Chrysalis. You can't just assume that I was the only reason Canterlot wasn't destroyed."

The conversation hushed up after that, as men and Frenzy continued towards Celestia's throne room. As we walked, I noticed that a stained glass window was cracked open, allowing for a view overlooking the Commercial District of Canterlot. I pushed the window open completely and looked out towards the city, seeing a flurry of activity.

Hundreds of Pegasi in bright orange vests were flying around, some of them carrying saddles full of construction materials, and some carrying large tools. Unicorns were using magic to place bricks and rebar, while Earth ponies were raising wooden frames and studs. Symbiosis was in full effect from what I could see, with every pony working their asses off to get the city back in shape. Of course, signs of damage were still obvious, rubble and debris still littering some of the streets.

With a small pang in my heart, I saw rows of what looked like corpses, covered by drapes of some kind which were one by one loaded into carts and taken away, onlookers sobbing hysterically, and others trying to console them. Looked like things weren't all okay just yet.

"Fucking hell..." I whispered, stepping away from the window. "How were things the first day after?"

"Umm... hectic. Princess Celestia publicly announced that the invasion was thwarted, but a lot of skeptical ponies began to riot with accusations that Princess herself was a Changeling." Frenzy recalled. "Luckily they were stopped within the hour, but man were things rough. Ponies also started wondering what the the world was that enormous beast fighting the giant changeling, and also demanded answers for that too. Celestia answered honestly there."

My eyes narrowed. "What does honest mean?"

"She said that one Project 64 manifested his power and helped defeat Queen Chrysalis."

My cautious stare slowed turned to a small grin, letting out a small grunt of appreciation. "Well, that was better than I was expecting." The two of us continued on towards the Throne Room. Not seeing much activity in the halls, I wondered for a bit if the attendants were all out there assisting with the reconstruction. Frenzy saw my curious looks apparently and answered for me.

"Celestia gave them all paid leave. She understood that the last few weeks were an absolute killer." Frenzy explained, giving a small yawn afterwards. "Yeah... been really busy..."

"S'wrong Frenzy? You're looking a bit beat." I asked, noticing that we were nearing the Throne Room. "You see much action before you were evacuated?"

"Haha, me and action are not two things to be associated. No! Before I was so rudely crammed into that vault like structure, I was still busy pouring over the trade agreements made by Capras and Mutarus. Seeing if their agreements were up to par." Frenzy said, making me furrow my brow a bit.

"You mean the Zebra and Changeling agreements? I thought with this invasion no one would be trading with the Changelings for fear of war." I grunted, receiving a head shake from Frenzy. "You mean the Zebras are still receiving land?"

"The Zebras still haven't received word of this attack, and technically this wasn't even an invasion from Mutarus." Frenzy enlightened. "This was an entirely rouge attack with forces amassed by Queen Chrysalis, none of it sanctioned by the Nation of Mutarus. She'll be branded as a traitor by Mutarus, and will most likely will not be receiving diplomatic assistance from her homeland."

"So... what? She still here?"

"Yep, locked up in the Underground Prisons. Round the clock security on her, checks on all incoming and outgoing guards, the whole nine yards."

I chuckled a bit at what that meant to me. "You mean the same security I was able to break out of when I was 14?"

Frenzy was about to open his mouth to say something back, but closed it and grunted. "Yes, I suppose, but she's so weak she can barely move, and is catatonic at the moment."

"I pretended to be those things too......"

"No one asked you alright?!"

I laughed at our back and forth, before realizing that we had arrived at the Throne Room doors. With both of my hands I pushed the doors wide open, looking down the large aisle and seeing Celestia and Luna both sitting in their respective Thrones.

When she saw me, Luna's eyes shot open in surprise before she literally became a violet blur and went crashing into me, sending me onto my back. "Oh 64! Thank heavens you are alright!" She exclaimed, her forehooves wrapping around the back of my neck as she nuzzled against my face affectionately. I smiled and hugged her back.

"Aw c'mon Luna, it's gonna take a bit more than a Changeling Invasion to keep me off my feet." I joked, patting the back of her head as a signal to let me up. She complied with a smile and helped me onto my feet, walking with me towards Celestia. The Solar Princess smiled at us, tilting her head a bit.

"You know, if anypony else had been subjected what you were put through in the past 72 hours, they wouldn't be so spry." Celestia quipped, me waving my hand a bit.

"Yeah, anypony. I don't think I fit that classification." I smirked. I kept looking around the room and saw two mares standing off to the side, both with small grins on their faces. I gasped and walked up to them. "Holy crap! I'm so glad to see you guys!" I exclaimed, seeing both Blusa and Crossroads, each of them with a few bruises and bandages.

"Heh, don't worry about us. Just got a bit tied up... literally..." Crossroads grunted, looking down and kicking the carpet playfully. "Was able to catch the fireworks out there though, nice work 64."

Blusa nodded her head feverishly, her horn blinking a few times in glee. She began to blink out a phrase, asking about her brother.

"Grey Streak is on his way over here right now probably... once word of this invasion reaches the rest of Equestria, I'd bet good money that he would drop everything to get over here right now." I answered. "There's not much stopping him from taking you back to Manehatten you know. And in my opinion, I think you should go with him... he really missed you last time I went to go see him."

Blusa nodded sadly, with a small knowing smile on her face. There was a lot of love in the bond they shared, and I had no doubts that getting Blusa back to her brother would be a good call. Plus I technically still owed Grey Streak for making me my Skeleton Blades, something I hadn't repaid him for yet. "You know he's pretty well off over there. Big city, nice ponies... I think you'd really like it."

The sadness in Blusa's expression began to slowly dissipate, before a nice glowing smile came through in a wave of fresh optimism. I gave her a smile before turning my attention back towards to Crossroads. "I can't imagine the paperwork you're going to have to sift to to sort out this fiasco." I joked, giving her a little shit eating grin as she returned with a large groan.

"Don't even joke about that...... All of the new recruits coming from this invasion... I'm going to have to counsel and assign all of them..." Crossroads sighed, rubbing the side of her head with a hoof. "That's going to be the hardest part, all of the fresh faces."

"Not a pony's mare am I right?" I poked.

"Not a chance in Tartarus..." Crossroads yielded.

I heard the sound of a throat clearing behind me, and turned to see Celestia giving me a bit of a 'wrap it up' look. I gave a small laugh and turned back to Crossroads. "Well good luck with that, it's good to see you both safe and sound." I grinned, waving before turning once again and beginning to walk towards Celestia and Luna.

As I walked towards the Princesses, the strange sensation of time slowing once again consumed me. Not to the severity as if I was in combat, where I could begin to make out the droplets of sweat dripping off of someone's head, but instead a keen awareness of everything that was going on around me, in every single direction.

Behind me, Blusa was giving me a small wave, knowing that I couldn't see it, but out of courtesy.

To my left, the shadow of a passing bird flittered by one of the stained glass windows, barely casting a shadow in the actual Throne Room itself.

There were guards posted by both sides of the Princesses, each with the Standard Issue Halberd by their sides. The blades were painted gold, and their blades and pikes were sharpened to a fine sheen. It would really make it a shitty day to be on the business end of one of those.

To my right, there was a quick flash of blue, making my head suddenly snap in that direction to see if my eyes were playing tricks on me. I looked left and right to see if there was anything there, but closer inspection showed there wasn't anything of interest there.

"64? Are you feeling well?" Luna asked me, seeing my sudden stupor of confusion.

I glanced around one last time to see if there was anything there... but there was nothing. "Yeah... just thought I saw something... familiar..." I looked back at the Thrones again... and thought I saw her sitting at the top of Celestia's Throne, giving me a wink and a wave before once again popping out of existence. Shaking my head, I finally stood in front of Celestia and Luna, ready to listen to what they wanted me for. "So what is it Celestia? More damage control in result of the invasion?"

Celestia grinned and shook her head in a defeated manner. "You know your role all too well don't you 64?"

"Hey, I was literally made to take as much pain as physically possible. There's not much else I can do." I joked. Luna gave a chuckle at that, smiling at me.

"You know perfectly well that you are capable of so much more 64. There are some things that not even we can do that you yourself can accomplish." Luna comforted, even though I knew that was probably a pretty hefty exaggeration.

"Well until we find what those things are, let's just stick with the the tasks that you have ready for me. What's the job Princess?" I asked, scratching at my cheek. "I wouldn't expect there to be much trouble except for a few looters the guards could handle. Why do you need to bring me in?"

The tone of the room suddenly shifted a bit, the air becoming heavier and the mood becoming serious. Celestia gave a slight grimace at the thought of the job, obviously not something she was very happy to have to issue out. "It is not one of your usual assignments 64, you won't be able to use your usual brute force and magic." Celestia elaborated, pausing a bit to think. "In fact, you won't even have to leave the Palace grounds to complete it."

My eyebrow raised in confusion, wondering what task required me to do it, if it meant not even having to leave the Palace. "That... doesn't sound like it would need me then. No captures? No intimidation?" I questioned, receiving a slight unsure head shake from Celestia.

"Well, the former has already been completed technically... what we really need you for is the latter." Celestia continued. "We feel that Shining Armor wouldn't be a suitable interrogator due to his recent... incapacitation... but you aren't so closely connected to the captive as he is, and your aggression should be a viable source of intimidation for gathering information."

Finally, I was able to piece together just what the Princess wanted me to do. I looked up at her and furrowed my brow. "Well... I won't say that I'm incapable of helping you there, but are you sure I'm the best candidate? Why not get someone who actually specializes in these kinds of things? My guess is you don't want me getting physical with her right?"

Luna nodded her head. "Unfortunately, we require that no further harm come to her. It must be an interrogation, not a torture session. But I'm sure that even without physical harm, you'll be very capable of getting the information we need."

"And what exactly are you looking for? What am I supposed to be finding out specifically?"

Celestia straightened herself out a little bit, and cleared her throat. "Several things as a matter of fact. We need you to gather if she is holding other prisoners, and their locations for extraction. We also need to know if there are any other forces acting against us, and where they are now. This is the first large scale invasion of Equestria in over a millennium, and I believe that there are other benefactors who were willing to assist her in the invasion."

A small manila folder began to levitate it's way towards me courtesy of Celestia, so I took it from the air and opened it up. There were photos of the destruction of Canterlot, with smashed buildings, blood and other undesirable innards in the streets, and finally a few of the covered up bodies themselves. I continued through the folder and saw one last photo near the back, bringing it up to my eyes for a better inspection.

I almost chuckled when I saw a snapshot of Chrysalis's Gargantuan Drone, and Inferno's Enormous Astral Projection. It truly did look like a clash between two titans, towering so high they might've been visible from Ponyville itself. "Alright... I think I have what I need." I assured. "How long do I have with her?"

"As long as you need. She is a prisoner without chance of asylum. Even if she was sanctioned by Mutarus in this invasion, they would never admit it. The consequences of such an attack would be too great for them to deal with in their country's current state. She will be staying here until the day she passes away if deemed necessary." Luna clarified, an edge to her voice at the mention of letting her die here. I guess the whole "no harm must come to her" thing was more so I didn't accidentally kill her.

I once more thumbed through the file, seeing a case profile for Chrysalis, and another one on the basic Changeling Drone. I didn't see anything in them that I could get any real use out of, so I closed it up and looked back up at the Princesses. "Alright, I wanna talk with Shining Armor and Cadence before I go and see her. Want to clear some stuff up."

Celestia and Luna looked at each other thoughtfully, before looking back at me. Celestia broke the silence, looking at me with a small frown. "Of course."

I walked through a dim hallway, the lack of noise from the usual attendants giving me an unsettling feeling in my stomach. After the chaos a few days ago, all of this silence didn't feel right. It was too out of place, too normal in this very abnormal situation. But thanks to the silence, I was able to hear hoofsteps on the other side of the door I had just arrived at. I didn't expect either of them to be moving around too much after the entire ordeal, I know so the amount of movement I heard surprised me a bit.

I brought my fist onto the door 3 times, knowing better than to barge into a room with the both of them inside anymore. The movement in the room stopped for a moment, and there was once again a very uncomfortable silence filling the air. I waited with my arms crossed, taking a step back away from the door and sighed deeply. This definitely wasn't going to be a very nice conversation.

Eventually the sound of hoofsteps got closer to the door, and it slowly creaked open. Princess Cadence poked her head out of the doorway, and saw me standing there. She opened the door completely and gave me a small smile. "Well hello there 64. You're looking well." She greeted. "I've been wondering where you were for the past few days."

I rubbed the back of my head, shrugging my shoulders. "Eh, I've been cooling off." I answered nonchalantly. I gave a closer look at Cadence, and noticed that she still wasn't looking 100 percent. Her mane looked pale in color, and her eyes and cheeks were just a bit sunken. I didn't make a big deal about it though, knowing that these past few days couldn't have been easy on her. "How are you feeling Cadence? Anything you need?"

She gave me a slow shake of her head. "You don't need to worry about me right now 64. I'll be fine. What I think you need to worry about...." She began, slowly dropping volume and stopping. She looked up at me again, staring at me as if she was looking for the end of her sentence on my skin. She grunted and looked down at the ground. "64... I think you need to talk to Shining Armor for me."

My brow furrowed, my head tilting to the side in confusion. I stayed silent, and waited for her to continue. Cadence's eyes shifted left and right, as if she was nervous about how I would react to what she was worried about. "Look, I'm not sure what happened to him, but all of a sudden he is acting incredibly distant towards me. He hasn't even slept in the same bed as me the past 2 nights, and anytime I try to give him any sort of affection he just makes up an excuse that he has to be anywhere but with me." Cadence confessed. "I don't know how to get through to him, and his attitude isn't making anything easier either. But you might be able to get through to him. Can you do this for me 64?"

I thought about what reasons Shining Armor could be acting like this for, but nothing was coming up in the immediate moment. "Well... I'm not too sure what could be making him act like that. But I'll get a word to him about it if I can. There has to be a way to get through to him." I started. "But right now I have an assignment from Princess Celestia. I'm going to be interrogating Chrysalis today, about the invasion, who she had helping her, and how she managed to get into Canterlot in the first place. I came by to ask if there was anything else you wanted me to be asking her."

Cadence's eyes widened when I told her I was going to be the one interrogating Chrysalis, and she looked over her shoulder back into her quarters. I looked over her and saw that she was staring at a closed door, so I assumed that Shining Armor was on the other side. "Apparently Celestia thinks he's not in a well enough state to do the job. And I'm pretty sure you think so too." I said. Cadence looked down at the ground once again, knowing that I was right. "So is there anything you want me to find out? I'm sure I can get it from her."

"I want to know what she did to my Shining Armor..." She whispered. "I want to know what she did to make him feel this way."

I raised an eyebrow at that. "You think he's acting this way because of something that she did?"

"I really have no doubt in my mind about it. If she was posing as me for so long... who knows what she could've done. What she could've done to Shining Armor." She finished. I nodded and made a mental note of what she wanted. "Thanks for this 64. I just really need a break from these past few days."

"Anything for you Cadence." I smiled. I looked over her once again, eyeing the closed door on the other side of the room. "I wanted to ask him about it too. Something tells me he might have a particular bone to pick with her. "

Cadence nodded and stepped out of the doorway, letting me in. I walked inside and started towards the closed door, knowing that it wouldn't be easy if Shining had locked the door. More than likely he wasn't going to be interested in letting me in, but something was telling me that if I told him about what I was going to be doing to Chrysalis, he might let me get a few words.

I moved to knock on the door, but I stopped and looked over my shoulder towards Cadence. She was giving me a careful look, worried about what might happen if I knocked. I turned back towards the door and gave it a few knocks, not hearing anything on the other side. "Yo Shining, it's 64. We need to talk."

I waited for any sort of response, any noise or any sort of answer. Nothing came, so I gave another few knocks onto the door, with a bit more force than what I did last time. "Shining. We need to talk." I barked, once again getting no answer. "If you don't open this door I'm just gonna have to force it open! Last chance Shining!"

Me and Cadence waited in an awkward silence, wanting to see if there was anything that Shining would do. Even after all of the coaxing, there was still no noise coming from the room. I channeled magic into my hands and grasped the doorknob, feeding my magic into the door and eventually forcing the door to open up. I swung open the door and looked inside, and saw a very angry unicorn stallion with a horn fully charged and staring directly at me.

"Don't you know when someone wants to be left alone!?!" Shining Armor yelled, sending volley of kinetic blasts my way. My hands flew to my protection faster than my mind did, throwing up a wall of magic to catch all of the blasts and dispel them. Shining fired one more blast directly into my shield, overloading it and causing me to be thrown back into the main room. Cadence stood there with a shocked look on her face, stepping to the far side of the room.

Knowing it was better to not retaliate, I stood back up and readied another shield. Shining rushed towards me with his horn charged up once again, this time grabbing my shirt to pull me towards himself. As I was forcibly brought towards him, it looked as if Shining was about to gore me onto his horn, despite what a painful and self destructive move that would be. I planted my feet onto the ground and reached out, wrapping a hand around his horn and sending my chaotic magic into him. The results were instantaneous, and exactly what I was going for.

Shining's eyes wrenched in pain, but I made sure that it wasn't enough to completely subdue him, just to give him a painful jolt, like a brainfreeze. Soon, he was simply squirming around on the floor, knowing that if he struggled to much he could risk injury to his horn.

"Yeah, I do know. But I also know when someone is acting like a prick and needs to have some sense knocked into them." I growled, still holding him down by the horn. "What the hell has gotten into you Shining? What's going on?"

He began to thrash and struggle once again, but as he did, I wrenched his head to look towards Cadence. After a bit more struggling, his eyes met with hers, and all immediate signs of resistance faded away. I don't know what made him stop fighting, but I knew it was safe to get off of him at that point. I let go of his horn and slowly stepped off of him, helping him up as well. "Are you ready to stop acting like a little foal hiding from his problems? Or are you ready to do something about them?"

Shining grunted and shot me a dirty look, but did nothing else. Cadence was standing in the other room, giving a careful stare towards her fiancé. I could feel the tension beginning to rise, the bride and groom waiting to see who would start speaking first. Suddenly the silence that had been so pervasive earlier became a lot more tolerable compared to the awkward kind quickly making itself apparent.

"Cadence, how about giving me and Shining a few minutes in private?" I asked, "I think there's a few things he and I need to discuss..."

She gave one last look between Shining and I, before he gave her an okay in the form of a nod. With an apprehensive expression, she nodded and turned away from the door, leaving the Quarters and heading down the hallway. The sound of her hoofsteps got fainter and fainter, before we were once again enshrouded by the pervasive silence, the awkward edge leaving with Cadence. I used magic to shut the door, then turned and faced Shining once again. "Alright... let's talk..." I began.

"And what is there to talk about right now?" Shining retorted, his abrasive attitude once again making itself known. "Right now all that should be focused on right now is helping with the the reconstruction of Canterlot and-"

"Well obviously that's what you're doing right now, moping in your room! How are the repairs coming Shining? The room looks fantastic by the way!" I yelled sarcastically, followed by a shove from Shining. He was glaring at me once again, but right now I wasn't trying to be nice. "Shining what the hell is up with you? Neglecting Cadence like this? Locking yourself in your room like a damn teenager? The hell man?"

He shook his head at me and turned away, trying his best to ignore what I was saying to him. "You know when I saved your life in Celestia's Academy for Gifted Unicorns I didn't expect you to end up like this." I kept pressing, knowing that eventually he was going to either retaliate with words or more attacks. Whichever one came first I would be able to deal with. "You know what? Yeah, shit happens. We got invaded, we took a blow, but you know what? We shook it off, and now we're going to be fixing the problem. You can't just sulk around while there's still things needed to be done Shining!"

"That's not what any of this is about..." Shining muttered quietly. I waited for him to continue, opting for silence while he gathered up his thoughts. I finally cracked through his mental barrier, all I had to do was wait. "Look, just forget about what's going on right now. I'll get my armor on and-"

"Oh nuh-uh. You're not just gonna brush this off right now." I interrupted, standing in front of the door. "You're gonna tell me just what is eating you. If you're shook up by the combat I know what that's like. If you're mad that you got captured, there's nothing any of us could've done about it. You know that you can talk to me about any of this.... It doesn't feel good seeing you like this Shining."

There was a pause in the conversation, Shining looking down towards my boots as if he was thinking very hard about something. It was the kind of look where you knew better than to break him out of his thoughts, the kind where you knew you had to let them think. After a few moments, Shining finally looked back up at me, and spoke.

"Have you ever been in love before 64?"

See now it's questions like that which can absolutely make or break a person. I was stunned momentarily by the weight of such a question, before really giving it some thought. Shining was still staring at me with a bit of a blank look in his eyes, obviously willing to wait a substantial amount of time to receive an answer.

When I was created, and eventually liberated... love wasn't the thing at the front of my mind really. The only thing that I ever thought about, the thing that made life make sense... was survival. I just had to survive until the next day. And then the day after that. And then the day after that day too. I survived only to maybe one day expose Celestia for every single atrocity that she ever committed, and if that wasn't possible, to take her down with me. So of course the subject of love wasn't something that was very often discussed. But... I guess it was always there.

She... I don't know what kind of love she had for me... But I do know what kind of love I had for her. She was my best friend, my partner in crime, and the one who would keep me going when the shit got rough. I loved her like one would love someone by being there from the very beginning. We both knew the struggles of imprisonment and experimentation, and she was the one who got me out of the Palace on the day of my escape. I guess I could say that I did love her... but not the way Shining loves Cadence...

"Once... but it was nothing romantic... at least not from me I think..." I answered, remembering her. "What's your point?"

Shining turned away from me once again, and I was afraid he was going to shut me out. But instead he began talking. "I love Cadence so much...... so much that it hurts sometimes when we're apart for more than a few days...." Shining confessed. Once again, I stayed silent. "But I can't look her in the eye right now... not after what happened with... her..."

Something clicked in my head, and things started to suddenly make sense. I went to speak, but Shining beat me to it. "I loved that thing just like I loved Cadence... and I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive myself for that. I...... I laid...... with that thing... just like I would with Cadence..."

Shining began to shake his head wildly, as if he was attempted to rid himself of a painful memory. He charged up his horn in his rage, before taking the footlocker at the base of his bed in a magic hold and throwing it against the wall, spilling its contents everywhere. Horseshoes and spare sheets now were strewn all over the room, and Shining still still standing there huffing and breathing. He obviously needed a few minutes to cool down, so I took the liberty of using my own magic to gather everything back up and putting it back into the foot locker.

His attitude suddenly started to make a bit of sense. He wasn't beating himself up about the invasion. He would've just brushed something like that off, maybe even using the invasion to strengthen his resolve. No, this was a matter that was far more personal, and something that he had much less control over. It wasn't his head that was played with, it was his heart. And a wound of the heart was a lot more complicated to heal than a flesh wound. I guess it was only good luck that his wife was the Princess of Love.

"You think you betrayed Cadence because of what Chrysalis was doing to you..." I stated, making sure to not pose it in anyway as a question. "You think you've broken your vows."

Shining Armor grunted in response, giving the ground a piercing stare. He looked as if he was about to start yelling again, but to me it looked as if he was tired of dwelling on the matter. I stepped closer to him, and when I saw that he gave no reaction, I spoke.

"Shining, what's all of this really about? Do you feel that Cadence blames you for what happened? Do you think that she won't love you as much if you tell her what happened? Because I can assure you, that nothing would please that mare more than being able to help you right now. But you sure as hell aren't giving her anything she can work with right now, you have to let her help you out Shining."

Finally, I saw Shining's last wall of insecurity break down. He shivered and gave a shaky sigh, slackening himself and releasing all of the tension he was holding in himself. He looked openly frightened now, but he had every reason to be. Here was a stallion who in the course of a day had learned that who he thought was his bride was actually a Changeling Queen, and that his real fiancee was being held prisoner underneath Canterlot for almost 2 weeks. A stallion who looked as if he was about to break at the seams at a single fragile push, and who needed the comfort only a loved one could provide.

I felt Cadence's footsteps coming down the hall again, and looked out of the room to see her peek her head in through the doorway. She must've seen Shining's despondent expression, because she pressed a hoof to her mouth when she looked in our direction. She made her way over to me, not tearing her eyes away from Shining Armor.

"What... what did you talk about?" She carefully prodded. I gave a small smile and shook my head a bit, knowing better than to disclose the sensitive nature of the topics at hand right now.

"I think it'd be best if you let him open up to you right now." I answered, looking at Shining and giving him a nod. The silence as Cadence began to take slow, tentative steps towards her fiance were nerve wracking, but I knew better than to stick around and put my nose into something that wasn't my business. I turned and walked out of the room, knowing that my part of the job was done.

"64, wait." I heard Shining call, a hoof gripping my shoulder and turning me around. "Look, I know you're the one who's going to be interrogating Chrysalis. All I want you to do is to find out what her endgame was. It couldn't have been to feed her hive. If that was her goal, she could've stayed hidden until she had enough love to bring back. I think she was aiming for something bigger."

I could understand the logic behind his request and nodded my head. "You got it Shining. don't be afraid to open up to your fiance there, she's got a great head on her shoulders." I acknowledged, making Cadence roll her eyes dismissively, a small grin on her face.

Shining chuckled and smiled. "She does doesn't she?" He sighed, looking back at his wife. "Take care 64."

"You too Shining..." I muttered, already out the door. I knew where I was going next, the gaping pit in my stomach already telling me that no matter how well prepared I thought I was for my next task, it wouldn't go as smoothly as I hoped. There were too many things I didn't know, and too many things that could go wrong if I didn't handle it the right way. But for now, I had one last pit stop to make. I had a friend that needed checking up on.

Ghost looked no worse for wear thankfully. I sat with him in the a private Infirmary room, which had a pair of guards stationed outside the only exit and entrance to the room. I rubbed the back of his neck tenderly, feeling a buzzing as he enjoyed the ministrations.

When I had heard Frenzy Scribe tell me that the Drones attacking Canterlot had all been killed by the Chaotic Magic in the air, there was little hope in me that Ghost was okay. I had feared that in all of my hate, and in all of my wrath, that I could've accidentally killed him. I mean he was in the same room as Inferno when he first was released, and had actually grabbed onto him when he had awoken from his fight with Queen Chrysalis in the Crystal Caverns.

The doctors had said that an overdose of love magic was the only reason he was still alive, and without it my Chaotic Magic would've fried him like a drop of water on a hot summer sidewalk. There was still a risk of me harming him involuntarily, so a few Magic Retention spells were placed on me before I was allowed to see him. Apparently even me leaking the smallest amounts of Chaotic Magic could be detrimental to his recovery, and could worsen his already exhausted state.

That worried me more than anything actually. The overdose of Love Magic and the subsequent exposure to the incredible amounts of Chaotic Magic a few moments later caused a major defect in his immune system, making him overly sensitive to feeding off of negative emotions, or consuming an excess of positive emotions. This meant he had to be put on an extremely strict diet, one of which could be proven fatal if he didn't follow it to a T.

How the nurses here were going to be able to regulate that, I didn't know. These were a few of the things that I had no idea could ever happen. In all my time observing Changelings, even studying their physiologies up close and personal both in and out of their nests, this condition was something that had never been recorded in Equestrian history. Ghost was essentially the first Changeling ever without a working immune system.

Of course, things could have been a lot worse. He still had the ability to actively monitor which emotions he was consuming, meaning that as long as he was careful he could safely eat the right amounts of love. The only problem was, what was considered the "right" amount? Things were really going to change for Ghost, and the biggest change of all was told to me by himself.

"I'm being Discharged from active duty." Ghost whispered, his eyes closed and his mouth set into a small frown. He pointed to a small open letter on a bureau next to his bed. "That came from Crossroads desk about an hour before you got here. Signed by Celestia herself." The way he spoke about it... it was as if someone was just casually speaking about a retirement plan. "Looks like I'm supposed to stay in the hospital until they say I can leave. No more missions ever from Celestia though, no matter how healthy I am."

I read the letter with a sad silence. Unfortunately, I agreed with every word written on the page. With this defect, missions were now even more dangerous. If he didn't have a constant source of love to keep up with the regulated amounts prescribed to him... especially while out in the field... The added risk to his health wasn't worth it. "I'm sorry Ghost... This never would've happened if I lost my control..." I sighed, rubbing my head. "What did you think about this when you read it?"

Ghost shifted a bit, raising his head off of the bed. "Well... I sorta saw it coming... I mean, I'm gonna be sick most days now until they can find some way for me to get the right amount of love magic into me. If I'm too sick to fight I'll be too sick to go on missions." Ghost explained, showing a surprising amount of maturity about the matter. He's grown up quicker than the average Colt...... or Drone, but he always had that childish playfulness which allowed him to brush things off.

I huffed a bit and continued to rub Ghost's back, my head still spinning on how quickly things had managed to go topsy turvy around here so fast. I guessed that I shouldn't have been so surprised, it seemed as if I could barely go a few weeks without something crazy being sent my way. It was as if there was always an air of chaos following me, and no matter what I did, there was nothing I could do to shake it. It was like my existence somehow threw a wrench into the natural order of how things were supposed to go, because I'm damn sure than a human didn't belong in Equestria, no matter what the circumstance.

"You okay there 64?" Ghost asked, noticing that I had stopped rubbing his back and had a far off look in my eye. I shook my head in response, groaning as I stood up and stretched a bit.

"You know, it's me that's supposed to be asking you that question right now, not the other way around." I joked, shooting a small grin Ghost's way. He laughed and smiled, buzzing his wings a bit as he did so. At least his sense of humor wasn't gone yet. I watched as Ghost rolled over onto his back and splayed his legs outward in exasperation, sighing to himself. "Anyone else visit you lately?"

"Well... Crossroads to deliver the letter, but she seemed as if she wanted to leave before I got a chance to read it, like she didn't want to see what my reaction would be. Cadence came to see me a little bit before you got here, but she had this funny thing around her horn, and she told me it was a Magic Retention cuff. They didn't want her getting any magic out of her horn just in case I wouldn't be able to take it very well... and...." Ghost went a bit silent, droning off that last and. "and... that's it, nopony else came to visit."

"Huh. Only us three? That's a bit low. Not even Twilight or her friends? Applebloom?" At that last name, I saw a bit of blush dusting Ghost's cheeks, looking up at ceiling. I decided not to press him too hard about it, deciding that he didn't need any unnecessary stress right now. "Don't worry Ghost, chances are she's gonna be around here soon. She was already released according to the front desk, only a bit of a concussion she had to worry about. My guess is she's making sure everything is sorted out with her and Applejack."

Ghost looked as if he didn't hear what I had said, because he just kept staring at the ceiling, counting the small tiles in a bored manner. I didn't blame him, knowing how bad hospitals could be. He was just lucky he didn't have a homicidal doctor to watch out for. All he had to deal with was wonder just what disgusting "food" paste would be served at lunch time.

I glanced up lazily at the clock on the wall, and saw it was almost time for me to get going. I didn't want to leave Ghost's side, knowing how lonely it could get in the ivory walls of a hospital room, but I didn't want to put off the interrogation any longer than I had to. Sadly, it was just about time for me to get going.

"Sorry Ghost, it's about time for me to get going... I still have a job to do..." I whispered, once again sitting down by Ghost's side. He glanced over to me with a sad smile, rolling over onto his stomach again.

"S'alright, I think it's about time for me to take a nap anyway..." Ghost yawned, looking a bit tired with everything. I couldn't blame him, hell even with my extended stay in a glorified meat freezer all I wanted to do was curl up in bed and sleep for a day. "Good luck 64, I know you'll be able to squeeze her for the info you need."

I chuckled and stood up, patting him once more on the head before heading towards the door. The smell of disinfectant filled my nostrils as stepped out into the hallway, seeing nurses bustling back and forth as they pushed carts full of medical supplies and patients to their needed destinations. There definitely wasn't a lack of work for these ponies, the incredible amount of injuries sustained from the Invasion making them really earn their paychecks.

I stepped left and right, making sure to stay out of anyponies way as they came past me. Tight corridors filled to the brim with others wasn't exactly my favorite place to be, my paranoia telling me that any one of the ponies in this crowd could be a changeling just waiting for the perfect time to slip a knife in between by rib cage. Of course, according to Frenzy every single Drone in the invasion had been completely disintegrated as a result of the Chaos magic, so there was no way a drone could still be around here. But despite knowing that, there was still that biting and nagging feeling in the back of my head telling me to watch my back.

Ironic as it was, as I was to busy focusing what was around me to actually notice what was in front of me, because I collided with a pony just as I exited the incredibly claustrophobic hallway, stopping for a bit to apologize to whoever it was. "Oh crap, sorry about th-", I started, but stopped as I saw a Stetson hat and orange fur. "Shit Applejack, what brings you here?" I asked.

She gave me an incredulous look, as if the answer was obvious. "Well shoot, same reason yer here yerself. Word is our little Changeling friend is stuck here for the time bein' thought me and AB here should give him a visit." AJ answered, stepping aside to show Applebloom standing behind her with a small bundle of flowers in a saddlebag. I raised an eyebrow at the flowers and caused Applebloom to blush, looking away from me.

"It, it was Applejack's idea okay?" She admitted bashfully, suddenly very interested what the wall opposite of her looked like. "'Sides, ah've seen what these hospital rooms look like. I jus' can't stand how boring they are, maybe these will brighten the room a lil bit." I nodded along with the excuse, pretending that I didn't see any of the romantic undertones in the gesture. I knelt down and patted Applebloom on the head, tugging at her Bow a bit.

"Ghost might need another one of these bowties, chances are the one you gave him was destroyed in all of the fighting." I didn't actually know if it was true or not, but he didn't have it with him while in the hospital room. Either way, it was another chance for Applebloom to get another gift for Ghost.

"Oh shoot! Ah gotta git 'im one when we get back to Ponyville! Ah got a closet full of 'em!" That made me pause for a bit, realizing that since he was technically discharged from active duty, he wouldn't be cleared to work as Applebloom's escort in Ponyville anymore. Of course the job of a foal psychologist wouldn't be too hard to replace, but separating the two could be detrimental to Applebloom's condition. She used him as a familiar friend to ground herself to whenever she was feeling lost, knowing that he was there to protect her if necessary. But without that, she could be susceptible to more and more panic attacks.

I wasn't about to be the bearer of bad news, so I smiled and nodded. "Sounds like a plan AB. Sorry to cut this short, but I gotta get going. You two have fun with Ghost." I said with a smile, stepping aside and walking away with a wave. The Apple sisters waved back at me and continued into the Hospital, eventually getting lost in the mass crowd of ponies. Seeing no point in stalling for time any longer, I knew exactly what I had to do next.

There was a certain Changeling Queen that had a lot of explaining to do... whether she wanted to or not...

64 vs. The Finale... Finale... Finally

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 1

3rd Person POV

A night in Trottingham brought dark clouds and stormy weather, as the rain pelted down onto The Methysmenos Mare, an large tavern filled with drunken stallions and mares alike. It was a place for friends to grab a pint, and wait for anything bad happening in their lives to blow over. It was a place for adulterating stallions to pick up loose mares and have a night in the sheets, at a very expensive rate the patrons would say. Of course a Tavern like this would gather a sleazier crowd than usually, due to its obscure location and lack of advertising, so this was a place for many discrete and behind closed door deals.

Three stallions walked through the rain towards the bars entrance. You could hear the loud Rock ‘n Roll music playing from the outside, along with the constant yelling and hollering from the patrons on the inside. The doors swung open as the three stallions walked in unnoticed, the music too loud for any of the customers there to hear them or care.

“Are you sure this is the place? Seems too public for Shura to meet us here.” One stallion said under his Grey Cloak, his associates barely hearing him.

“She knows what she is doing. She gave us specific instructions to meet her at the bar, and to tell the waiter to order a ‘Red Fang Reloader’.” The second stallion said under his Red Cloak, speaking with a slight Marescow dialect.

“Whatever… let’s just get this show on the road, I gotta a lot of shit to do after this.” The third said from under his Black Cloak. They all walked up to the bar, sitting in different parts. The plan was for the accented pony to order the special drink, as the others covered him for anypony who would want to butt in. None of them knew what Shura wanted to meet them for, but a letter with her hand writing and signature had called them here, and no one disobeyed Shura.

The Unicorn bartender walked up to the Black Cloaked stallion, wiping down a mug with a rag.

“Welcome to Methysemnos, or Methy’s for short. What can I get ya son?” The bartender asked.

“I’ll take Celestia Ale, but that fella over there looks a bit thirsty.” The stallion said as he pointed his hoof to his Red Cloaked associate who would give the order.

“Comin’ right up, and I’ll get to him eventually, so don’t go worryin’ your behind about nothing.”

The Unicorn bartender levitated a clean mug and a bottle of Celestia Ale out of the small shelves within the Bar, and poured the frosty brew into the mug. He set the mug onto the Bar and slid it to the pony, as he took a nice big gulp of the drink.

“Thanks, now shove off.” The stallion said as threw 4 Bits onto the counter, before he turned away from the bar and looked towards the Entrance, looking for anyone who looked suspicious who would enter the establishment.

“Hm. Mind your manners next time.” The bartender said as he turned away in a huff, as he walked over to the Grey Cloaked stallion in the group, “What’ll you have?”

“I’ll take a Manticore Malt, 40oz please.” The stallion said as he pulled out 6 Bits and set them on the table, making sure not to piss off the bartender like the Black Cloaked did. The bartender nodded as he took the bits and reached into the cooler behind the bar, pulling out a 40oz bottle of Manticore Malt and setting it on the counter, as the stallion nodded and took a nice big swig.

“At least you’re a more well-mannered then yer companion over there.” The bartender said as he started to take a few more ponies orders. The Red Cloaked stallion waited patiently as he sat there, watching as his companions slowly sipped their drinks, making sure to stay clear headed if anything went wrong.

The door opened as another stallion walked in, dressed in a Brown Cloak as he walked to an empty table and sat down, waving over a waitress to take his order. The Black Cloaked stallion noticed the pony walk in, and gave a small nod towards his companion across the bar. He shook his head back no, telling him to stay put and let the pony be, and wait for anything big to happen.

After the steady rush of ponies died down and abandoned the bar, the bartender finally was able to walk over and get to the Red Cloaked stallion, whose patience was starting to wear thin after all his time waiting.

“I’m terribly sorry for the long wait, but things around here got a bit hectic. What’ll you have?” the bartender asked, as the accented stallion huffed.

“It’s alright; I have the patience of a tree waiting to grow. I’ll take a Red Fang Reloader please.” The stallion said, as the Bartender recoiled a bit, before he leaned closer to the stallion.

“Are ya sure ya want to order that? Are you who she sent?” The bartender said as the stallion grew a smirk on his face.

“Yes. Me and my three associates…” the Red Cloaked stallion said as he nodded towards the two, who raised their drinks in acknowledgment.

“Alright… I’ll tell her I’m sending ya to the back room. HEY! YOU! STOP MESSIN AROUND BACK THERE!” The bartender yelled at the Brown Cloaked stallion, who appeared to be trying to hit on one of the waitresses walking around. He backed off as he stumbled a bit, walking over the small jukebox. He pulled out a Bit as he inserted it into the coin slot, and a heavy rock song started to play.

“This right here my song!” The stallion said as he tripped over his Cloak, falling onto the floor as the Cloak blanketed him. He groaned as he lay there, shifting a bit in his drunken stupor.

“I’m dreadfully sorry about this stallion’s behavior everypony! Say, friend, before you go to meet Shura upstairs, would you mind throwin’ out the trash? My bouncer called in sick today.” The bartender explained as he gave a pleading look.

“Of course, no problems.”

The Red Cloaked stallion walked over to the inebriated pony on the floor, before he gave a swift punch to the drunkards head.

“Oi! Get outta here right now! This place has no need for your patronage tonight!” The Red Cloaked stallion yelled as he went to punch the back of his head, when all of a sudden an appendage came up from under the figures Cloak, gripping the oncoming hoof.

“What the fuck?” The Red Cloaked stallion yelled as the grip on his hoof slowly increased, and the Brown Cloaked figure lifted off of the floor still holding onto the hoof which tried to Assault him. As the figure now stood equally to his attacker he continued to rise upwards, the Cloak falling from his arms as they were revealed. He stood on two legs, and stood 2 feet taller than the Assaulting pony.

“Before you start to attack someone, make sure you can take them first.” The tall figure said, as he lifted the stallion off of the ground and dropkicked him, sending him flying behind the bar. The other two stallions saw the leader of this operation get sent flying behind the bar, as they quickly made for the attacker.

The rude Black Cloaked stallion got up to lunge at the tall cloaked figure, before he felt an excruciating pain shoot into his hoof. He looked down at his hoof to see a knife stabbed through it, with the bartender holding it down.

“AAH! YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!” the stallion yelled as he tried pulling the knife out.

“Be careful what demons you stir up son!” The bartender yelled as he picked up an empty Vodka bottle and smashed it into the head of the stallion, effectively knocking him out.

The bartender turned around to see the Red Cloaked stallion, stumbling to get up.

“Now you, need to get out from behind this bar!” the Bartender yelled as he picked up the Stallion with a magical grip, and tossed him from behind the bar.

The Grey Cloaked stallion stood in front of the tall figure as he unsheathed a sword hidden under his Cloak using his magic.

“What in the fuck are you?” The stallion yelled as he aimed his sword at the tall, cloaked figure.

The figure said nothing as he grabbed his Cloak and tossed it away, revealing bipedal being, wearing a Black Long sleeve with grey cargo pants. His hair ran down to his neck, oily and grimy from days of unkemptness. With a burn scar on his right eye, he smirked in excitement.

“I’m Project 64, and you’ve been a bad pony.”

A few of the bar patrons sensed what was about to go down, so the less rowdy ones immediately went galloping out the door. Others were either incredibly drunk or incredibly stupid, and stood to join into the fray.

“Look at that thing right there! He must be 6 feet tall! That ain’t a fair fight!” One of the less inebriated customers yelled, as he ran over to join 64’s opposition. Other stallions looking for a fight went to go join in, some on 64’s side, and some on his opposition.

64 wore a grimace on his face. This many civilians in the middle of this fray were going to be a bad thing, especially when two of the combatants were armed. He needed a way to diffuse this situation, and quickly.

“Look, this is between me and this gentlecolt right here! Everypony should clear out of here before things get ugly!” 64 yelled as he saw a Bar Stool being magically lifted and thrown towards him as he ducked, the Stool colliding with a stallion behind him.

“Well so much for a peaceful approach…… Oh well, acceptable injuries can be made. CHARGE!!!” 64 roared, pointing towards his target.

“EVERYPONY, GET THE MONSTER!!!” The Grey Cloaked stallion screamed, as both sides of the opposition yelled as they collided. 64 hung back to wait for an opening, watching as the countless drunken ponies start to brawl, some not even bothering to see what side of the fighting they were on, and were just swinging wildly with beer bottles and bar stools.

64 saw a gap in the fray, and saw Grey standing across the mass of ponies, still holding his Sword in his magical grip. 64 made his way through the mass of brawling ponies, simply walking as he pushed stallions out of the way.

“C’mere you!” A drunkard yelled as he lunged onto 64’s back. 64 shifted left and planted an elbow onto the drunk’s muzzle, knocking him back onto the ground in an unconscious lump.

“Hooves off …” 64 growled as his irises glowed red and he pulled his hood back up. He continued towards Grey, and when he was finally within range 64 conjured a Double Edged Rapier and slashed forward at Grey as he parried the swing, thrusting forward towards 64 for a stab to his head. 64 moved his head left last second and came in close with a Dagger in his left hand, ready to put the blade into the stallions shoulder.

When a bright light illuminated his vision 64 suddenly felt himself get launched from his battle and into a wall, as [Red finally got to his hooves and saved one of his comrades from injury. Only feeling the force blast him back 64 got onto his feet easily, and saw Red across from him, his horn glowing a bright green.

“We’ve heard of you Project 64, many stories of the Bipedal Blight have come across mine and Shura’s ears!” Red shouted, yelling over the hollers of the still brawling drunks.

“I bet you have heard of me!! I’ve been busy these past months. Tell me, your old man is still locked up in Canterlot right? How’s that been going for business? I bet Shura has been having a hard time keeping things together without him right?” 64 taunted, knowing Red’s family held very close bonds in their mafia.

“You will not disrespect the Slava family name!” Red yelled as he rushed at 64, charging his horn as he blasted a bolt towards him. Reaching to his right very quickly 64 grabbed a chair and threw it at the bolt, causing a mild explosion which stopped the bolt and destroyed the chair in the process. A large flash of light exploded, and both combatants ran towards one another, both bearing Long swords.

The weapons collided as sparks flew, Red charging his horn to catch 64 up close. Eyes widening 64 immediately dropped backwards onto his back, and while Red fell forward on top of him he planted his foot onto Red’s stomach, launching his body backwards in a roll. Red collided with a wall as 64 got to his feet to see Greyattacking him with a sword.

“You’ll pay for this!” Grey screamed as he suddenly teleported from the ground, and appeared right above 64, ready to cleave his head in two.

“SHIT!” 64 yelled as he brought his sword up for a block. Seeing his chest was exposed Red charged up a bolt of energy, and launched it at 64. He was blown backwards into the bar, smashing the countertop as he crashed.

“Ya need some help there bud? Seems these two are more than ya can handle!” The bartender yelled as he pushed away another brawler trying to swipe a Bottle of Appalosa Ale.

“No Ghost, I got this! Just hang back and deal with the civilians!” 64 yelled as he got back onto his feet, and stared at his two combatants. They stared at him with malicious grins, knowing if they were able to finally put an end to the Bipedal Blight they would be sitting pretty in bits.

“You know Deimos, I say we use the little trick we have up our sleeve to finally finish this…” Red growled, as Deimos, AKA Grey, nodded his head slowly.

“I agree Duplex, let’s end this quickly…” ‘Grey’ said back. Both of their horns began to glow, as 64 waited for whatever was going to happen play out. He stared wide eyed as Duplex began to duplicate himself. First there were 2 clones, then 4, then 8, then 16, as they all had the same evil grin as the original. Deimos' horn then blasted at all 16 of the clones, shrouding them in a reddish glow. All clones then grew longer fangs, and their pupils began to shrink, as some began to cackle wildly.

“Minions! Sic the Bipedal Blight of Equestria! Tear him limb from limb!” Deimos screamed as all of the clones did the same, and all of them rushed at 64. 64 dispelled his sword, and held his hands out towards the group of rushing clones. He shut his eyes tightly as he concentrated, and attempted his latest skill.

A bright red wall formed in front of him, as the crazed clones began to try and leap and climb over it. 64 began to sweat at the amount of energy and concentration it took for him to pull that off, as he began to catch his breath.

“EVERYPONY! GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!” 64 roared as his irises once again began to glow red, immediately catching the attention of all of the drunken ponies. They scattered at the sight of 64 beginning to leak a red aura, as the palms of his hands began to burn with flames.

“THIS. IS GOING TO BE FUN!”

The shield dropped as the crazed clones swarmed towards 64 as a psychotic grin split his face, ready for his share fair of fun.

64 POV

I cracked my neck as I took a look at my handiwork, finally coming down from my magic induced rage. The bodies of Deimos “Grey” Tranq and Duplex “Red” Slava laid at my feet, both covered in bruises, cuts, and swollen limbs. The only pony who looked relatively uninjured was Dust “Black” Charmer, only having a few lacerations to the face from a broken Vodka bottle and a knock on the side of the head from a short recovery from unconsciousness.

The bar we stood in was a totally different problem.

There were destroyed tables and chairs everywhere, along with large holes in the walls from the flurry of fights which hurricaned through the entire place. It was chaos Discord would have been proud of.

“Well, looks like ya done wrecked the bar up, but we did make an agreement with the owner of this place, right?” Ghost asked me, still masquerading as the bartender of Methysemnos Tavern.

“Yep, he should be getting compensated for the damages, but let’s let the Bean Counters back in Canterlot worry about that. Let’s get these three bozos upstairs with Shura, and then we can make our way back to Canterlot. From here it’s about a 2 days travel, but we can try and use that spell that Princess Celestia gave you. I know that I won’t be able to pull it off.” 64 explained, as he slung Deimos and Duplex over his shoulders.

“Alright, I’ll grab this one then. Made me glad I could smash a bottle over his head with his rap sheet.” Ghost said, a hatred burning inside of him. He picked up Dust using his magic, revealing it to be bright neon green, and propped him onto his back.

Luckily the staircase to the roof was still intact, so Ghost and I carried our three captured fugitives from the destroyed bar up to the roof, where Shura was still lying there unconscious.

“Alright, lay them down so we can do our stupid capture report.” I said, setting the two down and stretching out a bit, sore from an extended use of magic. I grabbed my satchel which I left on the roof and rummaged through it, pulling out a small manila folder containing 4 profiles, and then I tossed it Ghost’s way.

Ghost opened up the folder and pulled out the first piece of paper. He shook his head as he was consumed by a green flame, shedding his disguise and revealing his true form. Black chitin made itself apparent, and beady bluish eyes were uncovered. Ghost shook himself a bit, before clearing his throat, regaining his actual buzzing voice. A changeling pup might've not been the most ideal choice of a companion, but the little bugger had grown on me.

“The first stallion from Manehatten, Dust Charmer. Enforcer of Shura Moonlight’s Crystal Methamphetamine and Mare trafficking ring. Identified by a Cutie Mark of a female gender symbol with dust falling out of it, signifying his ability to put ponies of the opposite sex in a trance. Status, Captured.” Ghost chirped as I nodded, pleased at what we had. Dust had a perfect description of Princess Celestia’s dossier, down to the cutie mark. He was an orange stallion with a black mane, spiked forward with gel.

“The second stallion from Californeigha, Deimos Tranq. Enforcer of the same organization. Identified by a cutie mark of a Heart with 3 claw marks slicing through it, signifying the ability to put ones true soul to sleep, and reveal a much eviler, much more demonic side of one’s self. Status, Captured.”

Ghost looked down and matched the descriptions, grey coat with a white mane, along with matching cutie marks.

“That would explain what I saw in there before I sorta blanked out. The clones Duplex was able to make all had some sort of spell cast onto them, making them crazier.” I said, trying to recall what had happened while I was in a rage.

Ghost nodded yes as he continued flipping another page, “The last stallion from Marescow, Duplex Slava, Son of Shura Slava and Manager of Drug Rings from Neighvada to Ethaxial. Identified by a cutie mark of a mirror, signifying his ability to duplicate himself with very little effort. Status, Captured.”

This stallion had a red coat like his cloak, with a black slicked back mane, and the cutie mark was a spot on match.

“Then that leaves her…” I said, grabbing her profile and reading it for myself. “Shura Slava, Leader of the Slava Crystal Meth and Mare Trafficking Ring. Identified by a cutie mark of a black mask, signifying her ability to appear as something she’s not. She’s used this to swindle past the police, DEA, and the Royal Guard itself. I wish I could learn her secrets, but sadly Celestia is paying us to bring her back as soon as possible. We should get going, turn into a human so you can carry two of these two at a time.” I told Ghost as he nodded his head, green flames enveloping him as he formed into me, smirking as he knew that seeing a copy of me really freaked me out.

“Ready to go 64?” Ghost said using my voice, as I punched his shoulder.

“Hey, you know how much I hate that, stop it.” I said, grabbing Duplex and flipping him onto his back, reaching into his Cloak to repossess the real reason we got this task.

A small blue amulet in the shape of an arrow pointing downwards, and hopefully it would stay that way forever.

“Alright, got it. Let’s go. Try using the Longshot Teleportation Spell, Celestia still hasn’t taught that thing to me.” I grunted as I lifted both Shura and Duplex onto my shoulders, as Ghost lifted Deimos and Dust onto his shoulders.

Ghost nodded as “my” forehead began to glow green, and a ball of green flames surrounded us both. I looked down to see my feet disappearing as they were being teleported into Canterlot along with the rest of my legs, my torso, and eventually my head, as Ghost and I successfully appeared in the Canterlot Throne Room I looked up to see Princess Celestia and Princess Luna sitting upon their Thrones, looking at both of us with small grins upon their faces.

“Princess, glad to see you again.” I said, placing my right fist across my chest to my left shoulder, bowing slightly.

I was back home.

Author's Note

Sup Losers! First Chapter of 64 vs. The Underground is here! Lots of questions to be answered and lots of Cliffhangers ahead! I know for a fact that this story will not do half as good as its predecessor did, but hey, I don't give a shit. Enjoy the new story!

As last time this story will be updated every 3 days!

Chapter 2

64 POV

Princess Celestia gave me a warm look, nodding her head down towards me and Ghost.

“It seems you have brought some guests along with you, are they who we have requested?” Celestia asked, as I nodded and pulled a dossier out of my satchel.

“Yes ma’am, Deimos, Duplex, Dust, and Shura. The Crystal Mare Runners. Took a few weeks to locate them all, but we eventually set an ambush after we forged a document using Shura’s hoofwriting. These two here took a bit of elbow grease to bust down, but all in all they’re alive and captured.” I said, gesturing to Duplex and Deimos.

“Yes your highness, it was indeed a successful mission. Due to the Longshot Teleportation Spell I have casted, I seem to be a bit tired. Permission to retire to my quarters ma’am?” Ghost spoke, struggling a bit to force his words out. He turned back to his Changeling form, bright green flames lighting the room for a few seconds.

Princess Celestia took notice of the Changelings weakened state and nodded, “Yes young Ghost, you may retire to your quarters.”

Ghost nodded respectfully, and proceeded out of the Throne Room, down to our quarters. After he was gone I turned back to Princess Celestia and Luna, wanting to speak to them.

“Excuse me Princess, if I may. I want to feed Ghost tonight, especially now that we just got back from a mission. He hasn’t fed for the past 4 weeks and I’m afraid it’s starting to get to him.” I said, seeing his slightly more disheveled state.

Princess Luna looked surprised by this, and stepped off of her Throne, and walked up to me.

“Are you sure about this Project 64? You must remember last time he fed from you, you were out of commission for almost 2 days.” Luna said, putting a hoof to my shoulder.

“I've been trying to help him with self contol, and I want to see how far along he has come. He now knows what he needs to do to focus on getting the sustenance he needs versus what he wants.” I said, defending my closest friend.

Both Princesses looked apprehensive, and turned back to me. Princess Celestia spoke up first, “Project 64. The reason we are slightly unsure about his feeding is because we have a job which needs to be taken care of in the next 2 days. It involves the defense of Canterlot itself.”

I looked confused at that last remark, knowing defense wasn’t my forte.

“But, Captain Shining Armor is in charge of Canterlot’s defenses, why am I being put in charge?” I asked confusedly, as Princess Celestia shook her head.

“No, you will not be defending Canterlot lot in its wholeness, but rather a small portion of it due to a very important upcoming event.”

“What event? I’ve been gone for the past month remember? It’s been awhile since I left to go find these four.” I said motioning to the 4 unconscious heaps on the floor, “Speaking of these heaps, Guards! Escort these four to the Underground Dungeons!” I yelled out, as the two Unicorn Guards stationed inside of the Throne Room nodded and lifted the 4 ponies magically, carrying them out of the room.

The Underground Laboratories were converted to a small prison, with many spare cells for the more dangerous prisoners I had taken over the months. It was strange when I had to first go back down there, but the feelings quickly disappeared over time.

My thoughts were interrupted by Luna’s explanation.

“Why the Grand Galloping Gala of course, it is the Annual Autumn celebration here in Canterlot, and due to your latest job, we have reason to suspect that somepony may come to sabotage the celebration. We need your skills to help and defend Canterlot Palace for that one night, then you may let Ghost feed upon your emotion.” Princess Luna explained, finishing with the procedure I was to follow.

I looked down dejectedly, knowing that Ghost was probably starving at this point, and I couldn’t stand to see him go hungry for any longer. I looked up confidently, knowing what I had to do.

“With all due respect Princess Luna, I simply cannot wait 3 days until I can feed Ghost. This is the longest he has ever gone without being fed, and I won’t sit by as he starves. I will be feeding him tonight.” I spoke, purposefully speaking against them.

They dropped their soft faces for blank expressions, as we began a mental tug of war.

Princess Celestia was still wary about having a Changeling within the Palace, which was obvious. But Ghost no longer had a connection to the Hive; he was a free Changeling and was loyal to Equestria. She always did this when I requested to feed him, as she didn’t want him to become too strong to pull any funny business.

“Princess. I will be feeding him tonight, and I will still be able to execute the job you have given me. You have my word.” I said, knowing my word wasn't really worth that much, it was my job to be deceitful. Princess Luna turned towards her sister, and spoke.

“Sister, I have reason to believe Project 64 is telling the truth about Ghost’s state of mind. He has shown no signs of disloyalty, and has shown in many cases that he is an incredibly docile. I say that we allow him to feed tonight, and you can see that Ghost is in fact safe to have within the Palace.”

Celestia looked a bit pensive, knowing the Changeling Race has been known to be as deceptive as I had to be to achieve some very violent jobs.

There had been an attack with 2 Changelings involved about a week before I left for Trottingham, and Ghost was immediately pegged as Suspect #1. I had to go around the castle to ask ponies to testify his innocence, and confirm his alibi’s throughout the day. Luckily Ghost wasn’t convicted, but I had to learn to make sure I kept him a bit closer than usual after that to try and keep him from trouble.

“I can’t guarantee that I approve of this feeding session, but I know for a fact that you won’t listen to my pleas. If you feel that it is so necessary to feed Ghost, then you may. I still expect you to be ready 2 days from now for security detail, so I suggest you feed him as quickly as possible.” Celestia said, bowing her head down in frustration.

“Thank you Princess, I assure you I will be here.” I said, bowing down slightly and letting out a sigh, turning around and walking out of the Throne Room. I felt Princess Celestia’s eyes bore at the back of my head, knowing that she still wasn’t too sure about letting me feed Ghost. I had never had major problems with Ghost’s eating habits, and didn’t understand Celestia’s apprehensiveness towards him.

“Oh, and by the way, I managed to complete the secondary objective.” I said, pulling out the Blue Downwards Arrow amulet out of my pocket, and tossed it towards Princess Celestia. I saw her catch it with her magic, but before she could say anything, I turned on my heel and continued to walk out of the Throne Room.

I eventually reached my quarters, the strange bedroom I had encountered while infiltrating Super Nova’s castle. I had searched for the staircase in the wall to try and find that strange room again, but it was nowhere to be found. I had later learned that the room was transported back to its original space, back in a small tower of the Palace which had an overlook to a large gathering area, used for small announcements from the Princesses.

I swung the door open to see Ghost curled up at the side of my bed, curled up similarly to a dog, sleeping as he tried to get some rest after our long month of work. I almost didn’t have me in it to wake him up, but I knew I had to feed him.

“Hey, Ghost. You gotta wake up for a few minutes, it’s feeding time.” I said, rubbing the back of his neck. I didn’t really see him the small Changeling as a pet, but sometimes I couldn’t help but baby him a bit.

“Hnnn…… alright…… I’m starving……” Ghost said, grumbling a bit and rubbing his eyes, opening them to reveal their icy bluish color.

“Hey, you know the Celestia is always riding my ass about unauthorized feeding sessions, and you were able to stick out that job with no complaints, so I think you deserve a little reward.”

Ghost chirped happily as he buzzed his wings and hopped up onto my bed, ready to feed on my emotion. I sat on my bed next to him and closed my eyes, ready to let him absorb his food. I felt him nuzzle up against my shoulder, and the faint hum of his horn snuck into my ears.

“Alright…… go ahead Ghost, remember what I told you about control......” I said, nervous to see if Ghost took our lessons about control to heart.

“Understood…” Ghost whispered, as the humming in his horn intensified, and I opened my eyes. A green aura surrounded his horn, and slowly out of my chest, a red mist began to get sucked out. Ghost smiled contently as he began to feed, releasing a sigh as he began to fill himself.

The feeling of having an emotion sucked out of you forcibly is a very strange sensation. It feels as if you are literally having the life sucked out of you, and you feel your years dwindling. The fatigue that shortly follows after the process begins is always a given, and it’s impossible to get used to, so you can only prepare for it.

I began to hear Ghost purr louder, and the pull of my emotions began quicker. I knew that he could feed for a bit longer, but I still felt that he was absorbing a bit too quickly. If he wasn't able to hold himself back soon enough I would have to do something about it.

“Ghost… remember what I told you… hold it back…” I grunted through clenched teeth, watching as more red mist started to flow out if my chest. It didn’t stop flowing, and I felt my eyelids start to droop a bit as I tried to keep them open.

“Ghost… stop it right now… you’ve gotten enough…” I grunted, clenching my hand in a fist. Ghost responded with another loud purr, and I acted as quickly as I could. I grabbed Ghost by the temples and slammed his forehead into mine, knocking him out with a head butt.

“Ahh… shit… that hurt…” I groaned, clutching my forehead in both of my hands as Ghost fell onto the floor in an unconscious heap. Luckily I had managed to head butt him without impaling myself on his sharpened horn. I looked at him with a disappointed glare, knowing how far we had gone in this kind of restraint training before. He had let his hunger get the best of him, and he attempted to gorge himself of love until he couldn’t eat anymore.

“Well, that went as expected.” A voice said from above, although I already knew she was there.

“Yes Luna, seems that Ghost was trying to stuff himself this time… I fell like there are freaking rocks in my veins right now….” I groaned, rubbing at my neck in fatigue. I looked up at Luna, who was standing on the roof upside down, clinging to it using the same kind of magic I used during some stealth missions.

“I am aware that you wish to keep this small incident away from the ears of my sister. I will keep my mouth shut about it, you have my word.” Luna said, hovering down to the floor. She and I had developed an excellent friendship, becoming one of my good friends, besides Ghost of course.

“Yea, if you can do that. I don’t know what she would do if she realized that Ghost is still susceptible to his inner instincts. Luckily I don’t think he did too much damage to me, and I’m pretty sure he’s had his fill for the next few weeks, so that’s good I guess…” I said, trailing off as I realized something.

“You wouldn’t just come into my chamber to simply observe the feeding session. My guess is you have something to tell me?” I asked, unclasping my brown cloak from my shoulders, letting it fall to the floor unceremoniously.

“Yes… but, it’s a very delicate situation.” Luna spoke, rubbing her left leg with her right hoof.

“Is it regarding my job in two days? Because I assure you I can still work, I just need to take it easy tomorrow.”

“No, well… not exactly… It is in regards to Ghost, and his jobs.”

I looked towards Luna with a confused look, wondering what she meant by that. Ghost had gone on many solo missions before, due to his ability to easily adapt to any kind of situation he was sent on many silent assassination tasks, while I was either assigned to demolition or capture tasks. We each had a specific skills set which was already known to the Princesses, so why would Luna need to talk to me?

“And what about his jobs? Do you need him for a specialized assignment?” I asked, reaching my arms over my head behind my neck, grabbing the collar of my hooded long sleeve and pulling it over my head, pulling the dirty piece of clothing off of me and tossing it into a small hamper in the corner of the room.

“Yes we do. There are reports of Diamond Dog raiders attempting to smuggle Crystal Dust through Ethaxial into Equestria for financial gain, but to those they are selling the Dust to are unknown at the moment. We need Ghost to infiltrate this smuggling ring and find out who the buyers are, and once we do, you will be sent after him to arrest the culprits. This is a specialized job for the amount of danger Ghost will be put through, and the amounts of time Ghost will be away from Equestria. It may be a matter of months until we learn anything about Ghost’s progress in this mission if he accepts it, so he will be truly on his own when he is hooves down in Ethaxial.” Luna explained, as I immediately saw something flawed in this plan.

“Ghost won’t be able to feed from me if he is overseas, how the hell would he eat if he were to accept this job?” I asked, as Luna gave a slightly unnerving answer.

“He will need to feed himself while overseas, and extract emotion on his own.” Luna said without skipping a beat, as if she already had the answer in her head.

I had never seen Ghost feed off of anything besides me, and the fact that he would need to learn to feed off of a deceived pony was terrifying to me.

He is a growing Changeling Project 64. You can’t keep him from his true nature for long; he will need to learn the ways a Changeling must adapt to survive.” Princess Luna said as she turned and walked leaving me standing there in shock. That was why it was a specialized assignment. Ghost would need to feed off of unwilling hosts of love while overseas.

“Wait! Luna!” I called out, grabbing a black shirt out of a drawer and slipping into before I ran out after her. “How can he learn how to be a Changeling? Send him back to a hive? They would rip him apart if he went back into one, and I doubt we have any other Changelings which can teach him.”

Luna stopped in her tracks, but didn’t bother to look back at me.

“We have your reports from the Changeling infiltration you did. You learned more about the Changelings than even my sister knew about. Give those documents to Ghost if he chooses to accept the task, and let him learn the true ways of the Changelings. He will need it.” Luna said, before she continued to walk down the hallway we were in. I stared as she went, until she eventually went out of sight, and I turned back to my room sighing.

I still remember what I saw 4 months ago in that disgusting hive, all of the grotesque things which happened on a day to day basis.

-----------------------------------------------------FLASHBACK 4 MONTHS-------------------------------------------

3rd Person POV

64 was crouched low in a pool of glowing green goo, letting its rancid smell invade his nostrils. He was currently observing a Changeling Queen by the name of Clovercloud, who was currently putting 4 of her newest soldiers through the ringer.

By making them fight to the death.

The four Changelings were stabbing and slashing at each other’s chitin, making grotesque cracks and cuts throughout their bodies.
“GOOD, WE WILL SEE WHO IS THE MOST WORTHY OUT OF THE FOUR OF YOU INSIGNIFICANT, PUTRID, SACKS OF WASTE!” Clovercloud cackled, obviously seeing entertainment in seeing the 4 Changelings brutally attacking each other.

One of the Changelings finally successful in an attack and impaled his brother through the stomach, as a very high pitched scream rang throughout the cavern, causing 64 to wince at the screeching tone. The wounded Changeling fell in a deceased heap, his bluish eyes losing their light and finally closing.

Clovercloud laughed in glee at the fatality, as the 3 remaining combatants continued to beat and stab at each other.
Every bone in 64’s body screamed at him to end all of this madness, but his cover was going to be blown. His job was to assassinate Queen Clovercloud, all Changeling soldiers, and any offspring which would grow up to become Soldiers. It was a very violent job, one which 64 wasn’t used to, but it needed to be done.

Another one of the unfortunate Changelings fell after being bucked in his temple, killing him with the heavy blow. The two remaining Changelings stared at each other, each covered with green, oozing wounds, and 64 suddenly realized what he was nose deep in.

“HA HA HA! YOU TWO! AMUSE ME! ONE OF YOU WILL HAVE THE GRAND PRIZE!” Clovercloud screamed, looking as if she was in ecstasy at the horrific display. The two remaining Changelings slowly circled each other, waiting to see who would make the first move. The first lunged forward to try and catch the other with a stab of his horn, but was caught when his opponent put his hooves out to stop his forward progress. The two began to punch and beat at each other, but 64 noticed something. They were starting to quietly communicate with each other as they fought, but he couldn't make out what they were saying.

The Changelings eventually backed off of each other, and stood across from one another. Their horns began to glow a bright neon green as they both began to charge a spell, aiming them at each other for one last push. The spells were finally fully charged, but instead of shooting the spells at each other, the Changelings shot the spells at the roof of the small cave, causing massive tremors to shake throughout the Hive.

The Changelings had joined forces and sent large bolts of magic into the caves walls, causing the small cave to start to cave in. Queen Clovercloud realized what was going on and went into a rage, sending two deadly bolts of magic into the Changelings, disintegrating their bodies into piles of ash.

“YOU LITTLE TRAITORS! HAVE FUN IN TARTARUS!” Clovercloud yelled, as 64 pulled himself out of the Changeling blood pool and leapt at her, sending a flying haymaker into the side of her head. Before she had time to recover, 64 conjured a Dark Red Claymore and lunged at Clovercloud, aiming to cleave her head from her neck. Clovercloud saw this and cast a small repelling spell, pushing 64 back as if a large gust of wind was blowing him back.

“The Bipedal Blight!? What an unexpected surprise! Have you come to see my little show?!” Clovercloud yelled as pieces of the ceiling continued to fall, as 64 jumped to the right to avoid being crushed. He knew he had no time to talk, so he decided to try and end this quickly, and quickly dashed at Clovercloud, using his magic to flash there in a burst of red light. He swung at her left foreleg, slicing through her chitin and into her skin, causing her to screech in pain before she bucked out of reflex, catching 64 in the chin.

He was sent backwards into a wall, smashing into it hard enough to leave an impression.

“Shit…… gotta make this quick……” 64 groaned as he struggled to get up, stumbling a bit as he saw Clovercloud limping towards him.

“YOU WILL PAY FOR ATTACKING ROYALTY SUCH AS ME—“

Clovercloud was stopped as a stalactite fell from the ceiling, impaling her through the top of her head. 64 stared in shock as her mutilated body slumped to the floor, her head completely destroyed.

“Holy fuck…” 64 muttered as he shook his jitters away, knowing that the combined effort of the two rebelling Changelings would be enough to take down the very delicate caverns of the Badland Mountain he was in.

“Alright, the cave-in is gonna kill the eggs and most of the workers. I just gotta get to the exit and wait for the Soldiers to try and escape. I gotta get out of here!” 64 screamed in his head as he climbed up the side of the rocky wall into a small tunnel entrance above him, leaving the gore filled cavern behind.

64 ran full speed through the cramped tunnels, barely tall enough for him to stand upright in. He saw Changelings pinned underneath the falling rubble, each screeching and crying for help from their brethren. 64 knew in his gut that what he was doing was wrong, but these Changelings had been reported for various crimes throughout the San Palomino Desert settlements. Amongst these charges were Murder, Aggravated Assault, Child Abuse, and if not the worst of them, Rape.

The easiest form of love to acquire, whether it is consensual or non-consensual, was through sexual intercourse, and the go to Changeling method of forcibly extracting love. 64 knew the job had to be done in order to stop any more of these heinous crimes, but something in his gut was telling him there were some innocent Changelings in these caverns which were going to be killed.

Quickly jumping to the right 64 barely dodged a falling column of stone, but in doing so he tripped over loose rocks covering the ground he was running on, forcing him to quickly roll as he hit the ground.
“SHIT!” 64 swore as he quickly dove into a small cavern carved into the wall next to him, barely escaping being crushed into mush. He slowly got up and made sure he was all there, feeling his arms and legs as he cracked the stiff muscles.

“Fuck, now I gotta try and dig my way out…” 64 muttered as he saw the entrance into the small cavern was now completely blocked by stone, cutting off his only exit. His only option was to dig his way out, but he was inexperienced in spells which would help clear the rubble, and one of his conjured tools wouldn’t be strong enough to break through the rocks.

64 formed a pickaxe into his hands, its deep red glow adding light to the pitch black dark cave. He turned to the rocky blockage and took a swing, sending small chips of rock flying around him. Swing after swing for over 15 minutes and nearly no progress had been made, and 64 began to become impatient.

“Ugh, if I had the same targeting thing Vi had I could probably take down this entire wall in one swing…” 64 groaned, as he sat back against the wall, opposite to the blocked entrance. He dispelled the pickaxe, plunging the cavern into darkness once again.
“How the fuck am I going to get out of here?!” 64 yelled in frustration, pulling on his hair to try and relieve his anger.

“You can get out 64…” A voice whispered, as 64 looked up to see a quick flash of blue leave his vision, angering 64 further.

“GET OUT OF MY HEAD!” 64 screamed as he charged towards the blocked exit, sending punch after punch at the stones, bloodying up and skinning his knuckles. These hallucinations and whispers from thin air had invaded 64 since the day of Vi’s death, driving him madder with every passing day.

After his assault on the stones, 64 finally calmed down, and looked at the damage to his now bloody knuckles.

“Shit……” 64 whispered as he released a small red light from his palms, illuminating the room a bit to stare at his bloody injuries. He needed to find a way to escape the caverns before this small space collapsed too, and at this point he had no idea where to turn.

Apparently it was to his left.

“I…I can h…help…” A chirping voice whispered, startling 64 and forcing him onto his feet with a dagger conjured, looking in the direction of the voice. He put out his left hand with the small red light, and saw what was lying there.

A small changeling, no bigger than a pup, was lying on the floor where 64 was just sitting. He looked incredibly malnourished, his chitin cracking in some areas, and bags underneath his neon blue eyes. He slowly got up onto his hooves, wobbling as he did, and walked over to the blocked off entrance.

“I… I can move these… I… I have a lot of practice…” He chirped, as green glow began taking the rocks out one by one, but with each pull of a rock, about 5 others fell. He was strategically pulling out the rocks as 64 simply stared, watching as the small changeling started to create a small tunnel out of the cavern. The changeling turned around as 64 flinched slightly, wondering what he wanted.

“C…Can you f…follow me with that light? I can’t r…really see…” The changeling said to 64, who slowly nodded as he walked forward. The changeling hopped into the small tunnel he was digging and crawled forward, throwing rocks out the way he came in, as 64 attempted to squeeze himself into the small tunnel.

“Hey, watch it with the rock throwing will ya?” 64 said as a stone collided with his forehead, as the little changeling continued to dig stones out of the way. Eventually 64 was able to wiggle into the small opening with his forearms clutched close to his chest as he kept the light spell up, illuminating the small tunnel for the changeling.

“I… I had to practice this… there is a lot of cave in’s here…” The changeling said, as he gasped very sharply. “I think… we are at the end of the blockage…”

He was right, as he was able to push the rest of the rocks out of the way, allowing him and 64 to crawl out, as 64 began taking deep breaths.

“Oh fuck my claustrophobia…” 64 gasped as he put his hands to his knees, trying to regain his bearings.

The small changeling looked at the strange creature, wondering just what it was. He had seen many kinds of creatures before in crude pictures, attempting to replicate their forms, but always failed due to the lack of 3D figures. Now he had an actually being here, the Changeling wasted no time in recreating the figure, down to the black hooded long sleeve and baggy black combat pants.

“Alright, now I gotta get outta he—“

64’s sentence stopped in his tracks as an exact copy of himself stood in front of him, standing 5’10 along with him, brown shaggy hair, and a large burn scar on his right eye. Memories flashed through 64’s vision, more specifically, Ghost. His double while inside of the Peacemaker, his sparring partner, his friend. These were things 64 had tried so hard to forget, but thanks to this little Changeling in front of him, those memories came flooding back.

“Get the hell out of that form.” 64 said, staring at “his” face with an incredibly cold stare. Bringing up the past was something he definitely didn’t want right now, especially with his job still in progress. He knew this Changeling wasn’t harmful, it being a worker instead of a Soldier drone.

The Changeling surprisingly obeyed, closing his eyes as a green flame engulfed “his” body. The Changeling stood there dizzily, whimpering in slight pain as he put a hoof to his stomach. He was obviously starving, but now wasn’t the time for 64 to feel sympathetic. He stepped around the Changeling, continuing down the dark passageway towards the exit of the Caverns.

The footsteps echoed down the tunnels, and after about 10 minutes of walking, 64 felt a disturbance in the vibrations his footsteps were making. He turned to see the small Changeling tailing him, following as if he was a dog following his master.

“Why are you following me?” 64 said, making sure his voice had a slight edge to it to try and scare away the pup.

“I…I want to leave too…” He said, looking down at the floor rubbing his stomach once again.

“No, you have to stay here. I’m not just going to let you leave this place.”

The Changeling looked down dejectedly and nodded, and to 64’s surprise, began to shed a few tears. 64 turned away and kept going to prevent himself from seeing the depressing image any longer, and continued down the path.

Eventually he saw a very dim light at the end of a long tunnel, and instantly recognized it as the exit.

“Finally, gotta get the hell out of here. Gotta destroy the entrance so nothing comes back here.” 64 whispered as he ran for the exit, the light from his right hand dissipating as the natural sunlight began to leak into the cave the closer he got.

Finally stepping outside of the cave, 64 looked over the edge of the small trail which held the entrance, taking in the vast canyons and mountains which made up the Badlands, home to a small pocket of Changelings that decided to settle in.

Looking up towards the cliffs above him, 64 saw a plateau which held very large boulders near the cliffs, perfect for blocking off the entrance. He began a climb up the cliff face, sighing as the heat of the intense began to beat down upon him.

“Shit, maybe black wasn’t such a good thing to wear out here……” 64 muttered as he finally reached the top of the plateau and walked over to the loose boulders, ready to push them down the cliff.

“Alright, let’s get this over with…” 64 sighed as he planted his hands upon the stones, and planted his feet.

He didn’t see the first Changeling tackle him.

Author's Note

Yay! New Chapter! I want to get the flashbacks out of the way as quickly as possible so we can get to the nitty-gritty story line I have planned. Once again any constructive criticism is encouraged, and new chapter out in 3 days!

Chapter 13

Ghost POV

Well flashing my badge did absolutely nothing. The Police officers not only took me into custody after tasering me, they took my badge and stomped it into the ground! Apparently being found in a room with piles of incredibly harmful drugs surrounding you along with a dead Gryphoness next to you wasn’t the best situation to be caught in. The police officers were currently using MY Magical Charm to contact Princess Celestia to confirm my place in her ranks, something I bet she wasn’t going to be too happy about.

I didn’t drop the Gryphon façade, not want to be further persecuted as a Changeling, knowing it would only make things worse. I still held the name of Fonix, but I told them to address me as Agent 65 so Celestia wouldn’t get confused. I figured the sooner I was out of this dinky little prison cell I could easily escape out of the better, because I now knew who the head Dealer of the Crystal Dust was in Ethaxial. I could just tell the police, but I doubt they would be able to apprehend the suspects without arousing suspicion. I already had one tie to the dealer now, one of the Gryphon’s who had been stuffing the bags of silver bars into the back of the getaway van. His name was Wrath, and he had given me the location of where the Diamond Dog leader was holing up. All it took to get the info out of him was a very hefty amount of Gems I had brought with me.

I wasn’t able to get the name of the dealer, but I knew that I would need to go back to the club where I had met the Gryphoness in two days, and request the DJ there to play “Luna”. After that the dealer always went to the bar to order something called the Sidebar, apparently the heavy song often put him in the mood for his favorite drink.

All it would take would be a few choice words and maybe some bribery, then I would be in. All I had to do after that is find some evidence incriminating the dealer, then call in 64 for the kill.

“Alright, she sounded pissed, but everything checks out. We’ve been trying to find the bastard running the dust for a while, so don’t bother trying to dig any deeper.” The Earth pony officer told me, making me scowl at him.

“And what the heck makes you think I won’t be able to find anything about the Dust? You don’t know what I’m capable of.” I retorted, making the officer chuckle.

“I do know. You managed to get yourself arrested for remaining at the scene of a crime which you were investigating, already revealed yourself as an uncover agent from Equestria to nearly every officer in Ethaxial, and you are doing a very bad job in finding any evidence. I will say something though, you managed to plant yourself inside of the very group we have been trying to find any information about for the past year. How did you manage that?”

“Easy, find the buyer, find their seller, find their supplier, and then find their dealer. Follow the ladder all the way up, then strike from the inside. And FYI, I do have a very important piece of information that I might need help with.” I said, piquing the officer’s interest.
He looked down a bit before unlocking the door to my cell, stepping inside.

“Where are my manners? Captain Reggie Fawkes.”

I grinned. “Now we are getting somewhere.”

64 POV

The train finally arrived in Manehatten, and Blusa looked like she was gonna burst in excitement at any moment. She nearly knocked me over when she ran to go get off of the train, and I had to grab the edge of her saddlebags to prevent her from zooming off into the city.

“Wait up Blu, Grey isn’t going anywhere. His shop is on the far side of Manehatten, so it’s about a 30 minute walk. Applejack’s Aunt and Uncle live about 10 minutes from the train station, so let’s go drop off Applejack, then we’ll head for your brother alright?” I asked, making her nod her head sadly.

“Aww don’t worry Blu, it’ll only be a moment. 64 and ah were gonna go visit little Orange Grove later anyway, so we have plenty of time.” Applejack said. We walked out of the Train Station and looked at the immense urban jungle in front of us, Applejack’s eyes widening and Blusa jumping up and down in excitement.

“C’mon, the Orange’s live in one of the Stately Apartments at the Pinewood Suites on the corner of 22nd and 3rd. You excited AJ?” I asked, making Applejack shrug her shoulders.

“Ah haven’t seen them since ah moved back to Ponyville, in fact ah didn’t even leave any kind of note or anythin’. I think ah might have given ‘em a really bad scare so ah’m glad I can come back and apologize.” Applejack said, making me nod.

“You know, I was still locked up in the Labs when that whole fiasco with the Sonic Rainboom happened. But it’s strange; I’ve heard the stories about how you and your friends all got your cutie marks in all of the same days, and based on Twilight’s story, if it wasn’t for Rainbow setting off the Sonic Rainboom, I wouldn’t have escaped.”

“How do ya figure? You weren’t able to see it.”

“There were these two know rookie guards. After a particularly bad session, they began to blather on about Twilight’s fiasco with Spike. While they talked that’s when I first heard about the Peacemaker, and my plan for escaping was set in motion. If anything, Rainbow Dash was the reason I escaped.”

Applejack and Blusa both looked surprised at my explanation, even though it was a bit far-fetched. I still thought it was plausible, so that’s was what I was sticking with. We continued to make the short walk through the streets of Manehatten, and I received the usual terrified and disgusted stares. At this point I was numb to them, but then something I didn’t even expect happened.

Suddenly I felt the hairs on the back of my head stand straight upwards, indicated imminent danger was coming. The magic she gave me suddenly sensed a projectile heading towards the three of us, and I could tell by its trajectory that it was directed towards me, but it was instead coming towards Blusa.

I quickly made a 180 turn and caught the object about to hit Blusa in the back of the head, and saw it was a nicely sized rock. I looked in the direction it came from and saw the rear half of a stallion running away down an alley across the incredibly busy street.

“AJ lead Blusa to your Aunt and Uncle’s house, I gotta deal with this punk.” I said, making Applejack nod and continue with Blusa down the road. I looked at all of the carriages quickly speeding up and down the road, so I channeled magic to my eyes to “slow” things down. I saw a two second opening coming, and used it to my advantage.

I zoomed across the street with my legs augmented, and quickly followed the asshole who threw the rock at us. I saw that there were overturn garbage cans and thrashed around trash making a trail, so I quickly followed it.

I slowed down when I heard the sound of conversation, causing me to hug the wall and listen closely.

“I still don’t understand why the heck ya wanted me to throw the rock Jess, he wasn’t hurtin’ nobody.” A voice said, indicating himself as my provoker.

“That thing needs to learn that this is our turf, and he better stay off. I don’t want some two legged thing walkin’ my streets.” The stallion indicated as Jess responded. The little punk wanted to fuck with me? Alright, I’ll show him I’m nothing to fuck around with.

I looked up the wall I was hugging and saw that there were bricks that were slightly protruding, and I immediately started climbing. The building creating the small alley had a fire escape right above them, and I saw the perfect idea to show them who was really in charge. Using one of the water pipes along the wall I shimmied across to the escape, and saw the three stallions standing below were still talking shit.

I grabbed the lever release of the fire escape ladder and waited for the moment they were going to start and walk away. They eventually nodded their heads and were about to leave, but I pulled the lever and caused the ladder to crash down to the floor.
I saw the three stallions turn towards the sudden sound, obviously startled.

“What the fuck!?” I heard the stallion say; now identifying himself as Jess. I pulled up the hood attached to my long sleeve and took a few steps back then ran forward, vaulting myself off of the railing of the fire escape and jumping towards them. The now identified adolescent stallions below me saw my quickly descending form, and all scrambled.

Unfortunately for Jess, he wasn’t quick enough to evade me. I landed on his back and felt his body immediately crumple to the ground, his forelegs trying to crawl his way out from under me. His two buddies decided they weren’t gonna help him, so they booked it out of the alley.

“HEY! WAIT! YA GOTTA—MMHM!” Jess tried to yell, but I held his mouth shut.

“So, you think you run these streets huh? How old are you? 16? 17? Huh Jess?” I whispered, trying to sound as menacing as I could. Jess simply started to whimper and tried harder to crawl his way out, but easily held him down and detained him.

“So what in the name of Celestia do you think you are? Huh? Telling your ‘friend’ to throw a rock at me and my friends? You think you’re tough shit?” I continued.

He shook his head no feverishly, tears starting to form at the edges of his eyes.

“Now there’s a good boy, get the fuck out of here.” I said, finally standing up and letting go of him. He started to bawl and ran in the same directions his buddies did moments ago, yelling the word ‘mommy’ as he ran.

“Damn that felt good. Little shit needed to be knocked down a peg.” I said, pulling down my hood and walking towards Applejack’s relative’s house. They should have arrived there by now, so I would be able to take Blusa to her brother once I got there. I walked out of the alley and made the not so complicated walk to the Orange residence.

I made my way up the stairs and found the front door to their apartment, knocking twice to alert them of my presence. Uncle Orange opened the door and smiled.

“Ah, Project 64. So nice to see you again. Applejack tells me you are here to pick up your friend?” Uncle Orange asked me.

“Yep, I just had to take care of something really quick. I’ll be back later today to pick Applejack up so we could go visit… uh… Orange Grove’s grave.” I said slowly. Uncle Orange looked down a bit before giving me a sad smile.

“It’s been 5 years… it only feels like yesterday…”

I felt like I had to do something to console him, but I knew that any words I give wouldn’t mean anything coming from me. I still had to try something.

“It was a terrible thing to happen. I can’t imagine what losing a daughter must be like.” I said, honestly feeling incredibly terrible. The Underground Guards were chasing me, and Orange Grove got caught in the crossfire. If I had turned in any other direction before I crossed Orange Grove then this terrible tragedy wouldn’t have happened.

“It’s alright son. She’s in a better place now.”

Uncle Orange stepped aside when Blusa came to the door, a sad smile on her face. She blinked out the word sorry to Uncle Orange, who turned to me for translation.

“She says she is sorry for you loss.” I answered, to which Blusa nodded.

“Ah, thank you very much young lady. I do hope you and your brother will have a happy reunion.” Uncle Orange told her, making her blush and nod.

“C’mon, we better get going. It’s about a 10 minute walk from here.” I said, wiping some tears that were threatening to fall from my eyes. Blusa nodded and I said my goodbyes, Applejack apparently meeting up with her other relatives inside, and was unable to come to the doors to say goodbye.

We walked back downstairs and walked back outside. I caught a glimpse of what looked like Jess and his friends quickly scurrying away when they caught sight of me, and I had a quick chuckle at their expense. I looked over at Blusa who was now visibly sweating, obviously nervous at meeting her brother.

“Hey Blu, he was nearly in tears when I told him that you were still alive. He’s going to be so relieved to see you again. Heh, I’m actually jealous of you right now.” I said, making Blusa look at me strange.

“You have the pleasure of having a relative in your life. Ghost is definitely the closest I will ever get to family and he’s over in Ethaxial doing who knows what. I don’t share blood with anypony else in this world except for me.”

Apparently this helped Blusa calm down a bit and realize how lucky she was to have a brother. She blinked the word ‘lonely’ to me, and I chuckled a bit.

“Only a little bit. It nips at my sanity from time to time, but I’m good. All I have to do is realize that it could be worse and keep moving forward. Sometimes I just wished I had a relative.”

The conversation stopped after that and a comfortable silence between us grew, the hustle and bustle of the Manehatten streets still buzzing. After about 7 more minutes of walking, I finally saw the building we were looking for, Grey Streak’s Creations. This was Grey’s workshop, where he made incredible metal works. He wasn’t a combat weapons blacksmith, but he was definitely skilled when it came to decorative weaponry.

“Alright Blu, you ready?” I asked. Blusa nodded incredibly fast, a wide smile and shaking legs obviously shown.

“Ok, wait just outside the door until I call you in ok?”

Blusa nodded yes as I opened the door to the building. The small tinkling bell sounded through the building, and a large grey stallion was seated on a swivel chair with his rear hoof kicked up on the counter. His eyes were covered by his long hair, and it looked like he wasn’t very interested in the potential customer who just walked through the door.

“Welcome to Grey Streak’s Creations… do ya got a order placed?” Grey Streak asked lazily, making me chuckle a bit.

“Sorry, I don’t. You Grey Streak?” I asked, making him wipe the hair out of his eyes.

“Thas’ the name, don’t wear it… Hey, you’re that guy who came here 2 months ago to tell me about little baby Blu! How ya doin?”

“I’m doing good. How’s the business treating you?”

“Eh, you gotta work to live, and I say why not do somethin’ that involves a bit of fire. It’s doin’ alright, it’s what is keepin’ the meals rollin’ in.”

Grey Streak once again took his lazy demeanor, once again kicking his hooves up onto the counter.

”Anyway, you obviously didn’t just drop in to check on me, what you gotta say?” Grey Streak asked me, making me grin a bit.

“Blusa? Somepony wants to see you!” I called out, making Grey Streak’s eyes suddenly widen and mouth to drop. He shot back to his hooves and looked at the slowly opening door. Blusa stepped through the door and made eye contact with her brother, and tears immediately began to be shed.

“BLUSA!” Grey Streak yelled, vaulting himself over the counter and rushing his sister. She ran forward too and they embraced each other, Grey crying tears of joy along with Blusa, who was unable to cry audibly but was still shedding tears.

I looked at their emotional reunion and could only smile at them, but something caught my eye on Grey Streak’s counter. It was a camera with an incredibly large flash bulb on it, and I immediately grabbed it and took a snapshot, catching the two in a surprise.

“Now that is literally worth 1000 words…” I whispered as the camera began to develop the picture. It popped out and I handed it to Grey, who wiped his teary eyes and looked at the photo I was holding out at him.

“Heh, It’s just been so long Baby Blu. I was so scared something happened to you when I heard you got foalnapped, and I nearly didn’t believe this guy when he told me you were alive in Canterlot.” Grey said, choking up a bit.”

“How about I just leave you two here to catch up a bit? I’m gonna head back and meet up with AJ ok Blu?” I asked, making Blusa nod.

“Wait up. Thank you so much for saving her. I… I can’t tell you how grateful I am for saving her.” Grey Streak told me, making me smile and nod.

“It’s all part of my job. All that matters is that she’s safe and sound now back with her family. I actually have something to ask before I forget. Blusa has a week’s vacation right now, and she wanted it to spend it in Manehatten to spend time with you. I have more than enough to set her up in a hotel nearby, but I was wondering if you wanted her to stay with you.” I asked, making Grey Streak look at me as if I was stupid.

“Of course she can stay with me! It’ll be perfect!” Grey Streak answered me, turning to Blusa with a grin. “You don’t mind staying with me for a week right?”

Blusa nodded no, but she pointed a hoof to her throat.

“Oh! It’s cool! I learned Morse once I heard the news from this guy here! Speaking of which, what’s your name by the way?”
I chuckled. I always got a funny reaction.

“64, my name is 64.”

Chapter 24

Chapter 24

64 POV

I was shaken awake by one of the Lunar Pegasi, who informed me that we had arrived in Las Pegasus. I blinked away the sleepiness in my eyes as I looked at my watch, and saw that it was 6:42AM.

“Huh, nice guess Luna…” I muttered, sitting up and stepping off of the carriage. “If I need you guys, how can I contact you?”

“Simply use your communicator on channel 17. We will rest for the day until your return.” One of the Pegasi said, as they all suddenly extended their wings and folded them over their entire bodies, making these weird sleeping cocoons.

I stared at them for a while until I simply turned towards the large city of Las Pegasus, looking at it in its entire splendor. It was the largest city in Equestria, with Manehatten bringing up a near 2nd. There was the large tourist part of the city, which consisted of sky scraping hotels, massive arenas, and many places to drink and be merry.

Then there was the actual city, which consisted of many small suburbs hiding in the shadows of the large desert city. Due to the sun barely raising, the sun cast a beautiful orange and pink hue on all of the large reflective buildings, making a spectacular light show which counted as a tourist attraction in itself.

“Damn… maybe I should have taken my vacation here…” I whispered to myself, seeing the shining city. I looked at the first address, the one of Cardinal Berry’s parents. “2301 Seamount St.”

I looked up and took a look around to see where I was, seeing a huge desert surrounding me in all areas. There were Pegasi Transports coming in and out of the city, coming from and going to the McMarean Transport Hub. It was the quickest way to get to Las Pegasus, but for cautionary reasons, we landed about a mile away from the cities border.

I started the walk towards the city, heading for the less prominent part of the city, the Burbs. After about a half hour of walking, I found myself walking down one of the roads which led towards the Suburbs, and I was already getting strange looks from the ponies that caught a glimpse of me. I pulled up the hood that Rarity attached to the shirt and pulled it up over my head, at least sparing them looking at my menacing looking eye.

I looked up at the Street signs and made my way to Seamount Street, before sighing and looking down at my right hand. It was always kind of a painful memory to use this spell, knowing that she had gotten me out of so many situations with it.

I held my hand out as I channeled magic into it, before a Red line of light shot out of my hand and zoomed down the road and around a corner, showing me the way to the address. I walked along the road and looked at my watch, seeing that there weren’t that many ponies awake on a Saturday morning at 7AM. I wondered if this was a bit early to ask Cardinal’s parents some questions, but my mind just said ‘fuck it’.

I saw the house down the street, and saw it was 2 story house, with a very clean cut lawn. This description didn’t really do anything, because it looked like the same design was used for every single house up and down the street.

“How the hell do these ponies get home?” I muttered to myself, before shaking my head and walking up to the house which my Locator was leading to. I knocked on the door loudly, bringing out my Badge to show it to them.

I heard the soft footsteps of a mare on the other side of the door, before it cracked open slightly, letting the mare inside see who was outside.

“Yes…? Who is it?” She asked, not even batting an eye at my figure. I didn’t pay it any mind and began to explain myself.

“Hello ma’am. My name is Project 64, and I’m here from the Equestrian Special Forces.” I said, flashing my badge. “I’m here to investigate the disappearance of Cardinal Berry, along with many other disappearances. May I come in and ask a few questions?”

She looked up with a quick look of optimism, before quickly making it disappear, as if she didn’t want to get her hopes up. “O-Ok… Come on in… Red? Come down stairs honey, there’s someone here to investigate what happened to Cardinal.” She called in a sort of half happy tone, as if she had felt defeated.

A large blue stallion with red hair came down the stairs with an angry scowl on his face, walking up to me. He looked me over before grunting and walking away, to what I guess was the kitchen, because when he came back, in his hoof was a 12 ounce bottle of Beer.

“So they finally decided to do something about my daughter? It’s about time they got their heads out of their asses and actually did something for once.” Red grumbled, chugging down the beer in his hoof.

“Red, please. All that matters is that now we have a chance of finding Cardinal. Thank you for coming 64. My name is Marion Berry, this is my husband, Red Berry.” She introduced, walking over to her husband and draping her right foreleg around his shoulder, which he paid no mind to.

I pulled out a small notebook and a pen and cleared my throat, not really used to questioning somepony without smashing them through a wall or something.

“Ok, can I ask what you both were doing the day before Cardinal got kidnapped?” I asked, trying not to bring up any bad memories.

"Yes. We were at the Maresco Park about 2 blocks down the road. Little Cardinal was playing on the jungle gym with her toy Donkey, Big Heart.” She explained motioning to a picture on a shelf next to us. It was Cardinal, hugging what looked like a plush donkey with a large heart sewn onto the surface. “We came home later that night, with Red having to carry her home. She played so much that she was exhausted after we had to go home, so she fell asleep.”

“Did you see anypony suspicious at the Park before you left? Strange stallions lurking around or anything like that?” I asked, writing down notes from what she said.

“No. For the 4 hours that she was there, nopony else showed up to the Park. Red and I were watching our daughter like a hawk, we would’ve seen somepony else in the park.”

“Alright, continue please.”

“The next morning, Cardinal woke up and realized that she forgot the she had left Big Heart at the park when she fell asleep, and she went running out the door to go and find him. I was about to follow her… but Red convinced me that she was just going to the park to get the toy and back…” Marion sniffed, as tears began to well up in her eyes.

I knew what would happen next, so I nodded and looked away, letting Marion get what she needed out. She went to embrace Red, but he simply sat there, chugging the alcohol in front of him, not even acknowledging that his wife was crying on him.

“I hate to ask this, but what time did Cardinal leave the house?” I asked softly, with Red answering me this time.

“9:32 exactly. I remember watching the clock above the door as she ran out towards the park, hoping that she would come back within a few minutes. She never did… It wasn’t until 10 that we called the police, who did fucking nothing after they asked us a few questions…” He said, getting up and pushing his wife off of him in the process, leaving the weeping mare all by herself.

I could easily see what was happening here. Red blamed himself not only for not going after Cardinal, but for holding his wife back from going. Although, if I was ever a parent, I would never let my child out of my sight for more than a few seconds without going after them.

I looked down at my notes and saw that I had a good amount of information from this family. Foalnapping took place between 9:32am and 10AM on January 5th, two days before Discord returned. No correlation between victims found yet, and no suspects.

“Alright… I thinks that’s all I needed to know so far. I’m going to visit the Park to see if I can find anything, although I’m doubtful that after 2 weeks that there’s going to be anything left.” I told them, folding up my notebook and heading towards the door.

I felt a hoof grip my arm tightly and saw that Red was grabbing me, a look of rage in his eyes.

“Please… bring our daughter back… and make the ponies who did this pay…” He said with a growl, although tears were streaming down his puffy eyes. I looked into the eyes of the lost father, not knowing what to do, and scared for his daughter. I couldn’t possibly fathom to what he was going through, but I knew I had to do something.

“I’m gonna try my damn hardest to find Cardinal back. I’ll make that promise right here.” I said, slowly pulling away from Red. He nodded as he went to go comfort his wife, wrapping his forelegs around her. She went ahead and started to sob into his chest, as I finally walked out and closed the door behind me.

That was physically painful to see, but all it did was fuel the fire in me to try and find out who the hell would go around kidnapping foals from their parents.

“Alright… Maresco Park…” I muttered, casting the Locator Spell in front of me. It zoomed off down the road, leading me in the direction of the park.

Once I arrived, I saw the remains of what looked like Police tape littering the area, and nopony was around. There was a large sign hammered into the ground which read, “CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.” I entered anyway, knowing that I had full jurisdiction. Plus it was a sign, not a cop.

It wasn’t a very big park, with a grass field about the size of a Hoofball Field, a bright Orange and Blue Jungle Gym with 2 stories, and a large Sandbox next to it.

I didn’t know what I was looking for exactly, but I knew that Marion had last placed Cardinal playing on the Jungle Gym before she fell asleep. That was probably where she left Big Heart, and it would also be the first place she would start looking if she came back. There were woodchips surrounding the Jungle Gym, so it would be impossible to see if they left any hoof prints.

I stepped up onto the Jungle Gym and looked around, using magic to scan the area to look for anything out of the ordinary. As I scanned, I found that children were fucking disgusting. Vomit, feces, urine… there was absolutely nothing that wasn’t littering the jungle gym.

“Ugh… I’m wearing my shoes and this feels disgusting…” I said, continuing to scan. It wasn’t until I found something standing out from all of the disgustingness.

“Hello… what’s this?” I whispered, kneeling down to analyze the strange substance. The iron in the mixture told me all I needed to know. Blood. It trailed from the first level down the steps, before disappearing in the wood chips.

I followed it until it stopped and kneeled down, brushing away some of the wood chips at the surface. I found that the blood trail continued, but that this time, there were two different blood types. I took a sterile swab out of my Satchel and made sure to take a sample of both types of blood, before sealing them into separate bags.

The blood stopped at the edge of the wood chip floor, leaving me at a dead end. I would need to get the samples back to Canterlot before I could find out who they belonged to, so from here, I decided that it was time to investigate the other missing Foal, Crescent Rose.

3rd Person POV

The father of Crescent, Wilt Rose, actually lived in an apartment on the Strip, which meant 64 was going to have to walk through the now bustling public. He already got strange stares from the sober ponies in the Suburbs, so he couldn’t wait to see what all of the Drunk and High ones that of him.

He saw a carriage service near the Outskirts of the Strip, which he thanked Celestia for.

“Hey, how much to get to East Palmer Blvd?” He asked the carriage driver, who suddenly recoiled at the human staring at him.

“HOLY! What in the hell are you?” He asked bewildered, making 64 roll his eyes. He pulled out his badge and flashed it discreetly, seeing the many eyes of ponies who were staring at the sudden outburst.

“Agent 64… Equestrian Special Forces. I’ll repeat myself. I need to get to East Palmer Blvd.”

The carriage driver suddenly started to sweat and stuttered out.

“O-Oh! W-Well then.. uh, go… go ahead and hop in! I’ll get you there, no problem!” He said nervously, as 64 stepped into the small carriage. The driver then began to pull it down the road, as 64 looked about the window.

On both side of the Strip, ponies of all shapes, colors, and creeds were walking about, taking in the sights of the illustrious city. The air smelled of cigarette smoke and smog, not a very pleasing spell, and the air had a slightly greyish smog lining over it.

“Well, I wonder if spending enough time here get somepony used to the smell.” 64 thought, watching as he approached the apartments. They turned right into a small side street, and he saw the building which housed Wilt.

“Alright, right here is far enough.” 64 called out, making the driver stop abruptly. He tossed him a Cut Sapphire without listening for the actual cost, instead just leaving him there to gawk at the gem. 64 looked up at the Apartments and took a quick look at Crescent Rose’s Profile, seeing that she lived in room R-25.

Despite the floor being marked as R, it was only 3 floors up. 64 looked for the room numbers, and eventually came to the door marked as 25.

He knocked on the door loudly, waiting for a response. When none came, he knocked and called out at the same time.

“Hello? Anypony home? Agent 64 from the Equestrian Special Forces, here to see Wilt Rose, regarding the disappearance of Crescent Rose.”

A grumbling sounding on the other side of the door, along with the shuffling of glass bottles.

“Wait the fuck up! Can’t a stallion take a nap without somepony bothering them every 5 fucking minutes!” A stallion yelled from the other side, with 64 guessing that it would be Wilt.

He opened the door with a growl, scowling up at 64

“Yeah?! What the fuck do you want?!” He cursed, with 64 simply standing there.

“I’m here to investigate the disappearance of Crescent Rose… your daughter?” 64 continued, not seeing Wilt react in anyway.

“What about her? There’s nothing to investigate. She got kidnapped and is probably 6 feet under…” He grumbled, scowling down at the floor and turning to walk further into his apartment, which was littered with empty bottles of all kinds of alcohol. “Like her mom, my brother, my damn father. They’re all fucking dead, but that’s what I gotta live with I guess. Celestia Bless Equestria!”

Wilt then began to once again open up another bottle of what looked like Buck Daniel’s Whiskey, all while continuing to drunkenly spew hate against the world. He sat back onto a recliner and took another large swig, belching loudly. 64 looked around at the dirty apartment and decided that he wanted to be out of this place as quickly as possible.

“Alright, are you right enough in the head that you can answer a few questions about Crescent’s disappearance?” He asked, with Wilt nodding his head slowly.

“Yeah, sure. Ask away.” He droned, obviously uninterested.

“How the hell can you be so indifferent about your own daughter going missing? The family I visited before this was absolutely devastated 2 weeks after their daughter went missing, yet here you are drinking your ass off!” 64 yelled, slamming the coffee table in front of him with his hands.

Wilt looked unfazed and simply looked down, letting 64’s word simply go past him.

“Why the fuck should I care… my family is dead… friends left me… now my daughter, the last fucking thing I had in this world… GONE!” He screamed, throwing the now empty bottle of Jack at 64, who ducked underneath it.

“Crescent isn’t gone! I can find her! But all you have to do is help me!” 64 yelled, holding Wilt down to the chair he was sitting in. Wilt struggled against 64, but it was all in vain. He eventually stopped struggling and relaxed, falling into a fit of drunken tears.
64 held him down until he stopped crying, not wanting to take any chances if he lashed out. He eventually calmed down, as 64 slowly took his hands off of him.

“Ok… now, do you feel good enough to where you can answer some questions?” 64 asked slowly, as Wilt nodded.

“Yeah… I’m cool… but first…” Wilt whispered, as he suddenly turned over in his chair and vomited onto the floor, making 64 cover his nose. When Wilt was done, he turned back to 64. “Now I’m ready…”

64 used magic to levitate the vomit over into a nearby trash bin before pulling out his notepad, flipping to the next page.

“First question, what were you doing the day before Crescent went missing?”

Wilt looked out of the window and sighed, closing his eyes. “All I remember from that day is thinking about jumping out of the at window, and landing head first onto the concrete…” Wilt said morosely, as 64 looked at him with a concerned look on his face.

“Suicidal tendencies? Shouldn’t you be getting help for that? Maybe get put into Rehab Center for your alcohol abuse?”

“You think I can afford that stuff? I can barely afford to keep this shithole of an apartment. I remember the reason that I was thinking about jumping was because that way Crescent would at least be put into an Orphanage, where she would be fed and have a warm bed. Look at this fucking letter.”

64 looked over to one of the many letters littering the coffee table, and saw a note with a large ‘Eviction’ printed on the front.

“Next month I’m getting booted outta this place if I don’t come up with 400 Bits at the end of the month. I work over at the Rock Quarry about 3 miles from the city, and my boss up there is coming down on me for my drinking… IT’S TOO FUCKING MUCH!” Wilt yelled, slamming the sides of his head with his hooves.

64 just continued to let him vent, knowing that he was going through a hard time.

“Anyway… I don’t remember much after that… the next day I remember waking up with the phone ringing and some broad from the school Crescent goes to saying that she didn’t come in that day. I brushed it off saying that kids ditch school all the time, but she never came home. I called the cops a few days later, but they told me that nothing came up a week after.”

64 let Wilt gather himself before he continued, sighing as he did.

“Do you have any idea where she might have gone? What route does she take to school?” 64 asked, making Wilt shake his head.

“Hell if I know… I never walked her… she went over to Hoofer Elementary 6 blocks south of here. Maybe you could try walking there and asking some of her friends. I know she hung out with some colt named Lucky Guess…”

64 wrote the name and sighed, feeling that he was going nowhere. The trail was probably pretty cold, and the only lead he had was a colt still in elementary school.

“Alright, I think that’s enough. I have what I need for now. Thank you for your time.” 64 said, putting away the notebook in his hand and stuffing it into his Satchel Pocket.

“64… if you ever find the motherfucker who took the only thing I have left in the world… make him pay.” Wilt said, reaching for another bottle of alcohol on the table. He hesitated, before eventual pulling away from it completely and swatting it off of the table.

I grinned at him as I walked out the door, ready to go and find out what the hell could have happened to Crescent Rose.

Author's Note

Here are a few more OC's

Cardinal Berry
Crescent Rose
Marion Berry
Red Berry
Wilt Rose

Chapter 41

3rd Person POV

64 was still sewing his costume together when Ghost came into the room and jumped onto the bed. “Hey 64, what are you making?” Ghost asked curiously, eyeing the hood that 64 was sewing together.

“My Nightmare Night costume, speaking of which… what did you want to go as?” 64 asked, looking over to the Changeling. Ghost face scrunched in thought, not exactly knowing what the point of Nightmare Night was.

“I don’t know… all of the dressing up and asking for candy thing sounds kind of stupid to me for some reason… Plus I can change into anything I want anytime I want! Why does this day have to be any different!?”

64 sighed and turned in his chair towards Ghost. “It’s not really about dressing up and eating candy Ghost. It’s about being scared for fun, but I guess the part about the Nightmare Moon legend could be tad less offensive for Luna… For us, it’s gonna be our first ever Nightmare Night, so we should enjoy it! Plus you can eat all of the candy you want and not get sick! How cool is that?”

Ghost’s face lit up at that realization, bouncing up and down on the bed. “I FORGOT ABOUT THAT PART!” Ghost screamed happily, making 64 chuckle. Sometimes 64 forgot that Ghost was a trained killer.

“So how’s Applebloom? She feeling better?” 64 asked, turning back to sewing his costume.

“Yeah, after she woke up from her nap we started to draw in the coloring books. She did say that she wanted something a bit more fun like a board game or something, but she told me not to worry about it.” Ghost replied, lying onto his stomach on the mattress. “I just came by to ask if you needed anything.”

“Not right now no. But you should be getting ready to head to Ponyville. I already have you assigned under your mission log as Applebloom’s caretaker, and you’re gonna be staying over at her farm until she’s all better.”

Ghost nodded and hopped off of the bed, he went for his Weapon Cabinet and was about to pull out a set of throwing knives before 64 stopped him.

“Not that kind of ready. I mean… Ponyville has a habit for not being all too friendly with new arrivals… I mean they were terrified of a Zebra walking in and just trying to buy some ingredients, so what do you think their reaction is going to be when a creature capable of extracting love from a pony is going to be?”

Ghost nodded and put his Knives away, before suddenly scrunching once again in thought. “Wait, what kind of ready does that mean?” Ghost asked, making 64 sigh and stop sewing once again.

“I mean… it might be best… if you… wore a disguise. I know you hate them, but this time it’s for your own good.” 64 explained, as Ghost’s eyes widened.

“What?! No way! I’m a Changeling! If they have a problem with it then they should change, not me!” Ghost shrieked adamantly, his eyes narrowing.

“Ghost, you have to realize that your appearance can frighten someponies. I know that I’ve always taught you to stick to your guns and not care what anypony thinks of you… but I just don’t want to see you being the target of attention for everypony in Ponyville.”

Ghost huffed and scowled, walking out of the room angrily. 64 sighed and turned back to his sewing machine. “Teenagers…”

Ghost POV

“What was he saying that I should get a disguise!? Why should I change what I look like!?” I screamed in my head, stomping down the hallways of the Palace. 64 has always taught me to not be ashamed of what I am, but to embrace it! Why was he changing his mind now!?

“I’m not going to wear a disguise, and that’s final!” I shouted, not looking where I was going. I bumped into maid who was carrying towels, and all of a sudden I had a bunch of them on my head. I quickly tried to get them off, but they were pulled off by a unicorn’s magic. When I looked up at the maid, I saw that it was Blusa who I had bumped into.

“Oh! Sorry Blusa... I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going…” I said bashfully, knowing that she probably heard my outburst. Her horn glowed a green color, meaning that she wanted to talk using magic. I connected our magics together and heard her voice.

“Ghost, I heard you yelling. What’s bothering you?” She asked, tilting her head curiously. I really didn’t want to tell her, but the look that she was giving me was enough for me to crack and open up.

“It’s just… I mean… I’m gonna go to Ponyville to be a PTSD caretaker for a filly named Applebloom, but… but 64 said that I should wear a disguise. He’s always told me that I shouldn’t care what others think of me because I’m a Changeling, but now he’s telling me that I should change because other might not like what I am! What if they think I’m hiding because I’m scared of them!? What if they find out I’m a Changeling and get all frightened!? What if they—!?”

I wasn’t able to continue speaking because Blusa had put her hoof over my mouth, shutting out any more noise I was going to make. She looked down at me with a gentle smile and motherly eyes; as if she knew what I was going through.

“Ghost… I understand that you are in a state of trouble. Whenever I have a problem, I always try to look at it through the eyes of the ponies I have a problem with. Let’s try that for your situation. Now imagine that you are a pony living in Ponyville.” Blusa instructed, as I closed my eyes and started to picture everything.

“Ok... now what?”

“Now… imagine that one day a changeling colt, with the abilities to impersonate anypony they wanted and suck the love out of everypony, walked into town saying that they were going to be taking care of a filly that was just recently foalnapped. What would you do?”

I thought about for a bit, imagining that I was an Adult living in Ponyville. I… would definitely be scared… not just for me, but any friends or family I might have had. And there’s already such a negative light on changelings with everything they had done to ponies in the past… that even one of them living within the town would scare me.

I slowly opened my eyes in realization, looking at Blusa’s smug face. “Now do you see what I am saying? Someponies might not be ready for the news that a Changeling is living with them. How about this?” Blusa said, lying onto her stomach. “You disguise yourself to the town at first. Then when you have gained everyponies trust, you start to reveal yourself slowly. By then everypony will know you enough to not lash out or do anything harsh.”

I blinked at the plan and thought about for a bit, realizing that it was a pretty good plan. Once everypony knew I wasn’t bad, I could reveal myself to be a changeling!

“That sounds good Blusa! Ok, I’ll do it. I’m gonna go and try to pick out a form to use. Bye Blusa!” I said happily, waving back at her. She waved back with a smile, before she turned away to go and do whatever she does around the Castle.

I had to try and find a form to use!

Blusa POV

“This day is going to be perfect…”

64 POV

2PM rolled around and Ghost wasn’t at the landing pad where all of the foals were being transported back home. Applejack was waiting patiently with Applebloom sitting on her back, patting her hair were her bow used to be.

“Applebloom, what happened to your bow?” I asked, barely noticing it for the first time.

“In the caves it was too dark for us to see, so ah let Ghost use it to let him make a torch. He was able to do all kinds of thing with only a little bit of stuff to use!” Applebloom said in a half praising tone, almost dreamily.

I barely stifled the chuckle that made its way to my lips, putting a hand over my mouth. “Well, I did teach him how to be resourceful. I’m glad that not all of it went over his head.”

I looked around for Ghost, wondering if what I had said earlier had maybe have had a stronger effect than I thought. He was really sensitive about not being ‘normal’ as he had described it, and I had always told him that he was a Changeling for a reason, and one day he would find out why.

I based what I taught him on a few things I had asked Vi when I younger, wondering why I had to be a human rather than a pony.

“Because, you have a destiny 64… and one day you will find out what that destiny is…” Vi’s voice called in my head, not sure if it was actually her or the twisted version of her that Super Nova was manipulating.

“64… I’m here and ready to go.” A voice said behind me, causing me to turn around and look. Nopony was there until I looked down, and I saw a small unicorn colt. I was wondering if it was one of the foals that was also heading home, until I got a good look at his eyes.

He had forest green fur and a black mane which wasn’t very well kept. He had a short black tail along with black eyes which screamed familiar. His cutie mark was a compass rose with a heart in the center.

“Ghost?” I asked, taking in his appearance a bit.

“Hey 64… I… I just wanted to apologize for the way I acted earlier. I know that I should have at least tried to understand what you said, but instead I just got angry and walked away.” Ghost apologized bashfully, rubbing his leg with his other hoof.

I knelt down and ruffled his head a bit, making sure to avoid his horn. “Aww don’t worry Ghost. I was once your age and was angry about everything once. Then again, when I was your age I was getting cut open on a near daily basis, so I guess I had stiff to be angry about.”

Ghost laughed as he looked over to Applebloom, who tilted her head at his new appearance. “Wow Ghost! You look like an actual Colt!” She exclaimed, looking him over. He blushed a bit and rubbed the back of his head.

“Heh, well it feels kind of weird without my wings, but I can get used to it. I just hope I can keep it up for as long as I need to.” Ghost said, motioning towards our awaiting Chariot. “Let’s get going to Ponyville! I already have my Nightmare Night costume ready!”

That reminded me of my costume I had folded in my Satchel Pocket, now completely done and ready to be worn. We all stepped on board the Chariot and took a seat, with Applebloom hopping off of Applejack’s back and onto the bench.

Ghost in his new form gave the order for takeoff, which the Pegasus Guards followed to a T. We were in the air headed for Ponyville now, only a 10 minute flight.

3rd Person POV

64 looked over the edge of the Chariot and saw that in the town square of Ponyville, an entire crowd of ponies were waiting for our arrival. Many posters were being held up with the words ‘Welcome Back Applebloom’ plastered all over them, with drawings and pictures adorning them as well.

“Well it looks like there won’t be a lack of a welcoming committee.” 64 muttered, wondering what their reactions would be for him when they found out he had helped free Applebloom.

“There’s always one for any occasion ‘round here. If ah know Pinkie Pie she’s probably already got one heck of a hootenanny ready for us.” Applejack explained, holding one leg around Applebloom’s shoulder protectively.

“Ah love Pinkie Pie’s parties! Ya’ll have lots of fun there Ghost!” Applebloom exclaimed happily towards Ghost, making him frown.

“I’ve never been to an actual party before, what would I do?” Ghost asked, putting a hoof to his chin thoughtfully.

“Ya could play games with me and mah friends! Ya can dance and eat cake and make new friends!”

Ghost eyes slowly widened in wonder at the description of the party, especially with him never having been to one before. He and Applebloom continued to talk about the wonders a party could hold, as Applejack and 64 looked on with smiles.

Eventually the Chariot touched down, and there was no shortage was gleeful shouts as Applebloom stepped off of the chariot and waved to everypony. Out of the blue, two other fillies, one Pegasi and one unicorn, came running out of the crowds and nearly tackled Applebloom to the ground.

“Oh! We were so worried about you Applebloom! We didn’t know where you were!” Sweetie Belle cried, shedding tears of joy after seeing her friends once again.

“We thought we were gonna lose you forever!” Scootaloo yelled, also crying out of joy. Applebloom returned their embrace, tearing up at hearing her friend’s cries of joy.

“Ah’m never gonna leave you guys again ever!”

The entire crowd Aww’d at the display of emotion, and 64 swore he could see some drool dripping from his mouth at the emotion flaring. But as quickly as the sounds of affection started, all went silent as 64 stepped off of the Chariot and looked around.

All eyes that went towards him widened in terror, some parents grabbing their children and bringing them closer to them. 64 sighed and shook his head, knowing that nothing he said would be able to change their minds.

“Now hold on a minute! Why are ya gettin’ so defensive about 64 bein’ here?” Applejack called out, scowling at some of the stares 64 was getting.

“Well, you saw what happened when he came to town before! He got Applebloom kidnapped didn’t he?” a stallion cried out, making sure to hold his little filly protectively.

64 was about to shout out at the stallion, but Applejack put a hoof out at him. She gave a death glare at the stallion and marched up towards him, getting in his personal space. “Now dontcha think that if 64 could’ve stopped that he would’ve tried?! Applebloom told me that she did exactly what 64 asked of her, but there were too many ponies for him to stop!” Applejack yelled out, trying to set things straight after she nearly sent out a lynch mob for 64.

“But doesn’t that mean that if more ponies come to take our children he wouldn’t be able to stop them?” A mare’s voice called out, but it was 64 who called out this time with a barb he was ready to use.

“Did Celestia do anything to get all of those foals back?” He called out defensively, gauging the reactions of all of the ponies in the crowd, especially Twilight. She stepped forward and cried out.

“The Princess doesn’t have time to fix everyponies problems at once! She tries to fix the bigger problems first!” She cried out, but Applejack deadpanned at her.

“And 20 foals disappearin’ off of the face of Equestria isn’t a big problem? Applebloom wasn’t theonly one Twi!” Applejack retorted. 64 saw what he had started and stepped in, waving his hands.

“Look! The most important thing right now is that Applebloom is back home and everypony is safe! Let’s just celebrate that, and then I’ll get out of your manes, ok?!” He called out, causing all in the crowd to go silent. After nopony moved to answer, and only more stares came towards him, he realized that it was a lost cause. “Alright … I’ll be going then… Pegasi, Ready?”

64 was about to give the order for takeoff, but a voice called out.

“WAIT!” Applebloom cried out, getting the attention of everyone in the town square. “Why are ya treatin’ 64 like this? It’s not his fault that I got nabbed! If it wasn’t fer him, I woulda never gotten back! Are we gonna have another Zecora happen in our town again?!”

All were stunned at the remarks of the small filly, and soon more cries filled the air.

“Yeah! We all thought that Zecora was a weird evil creep! But she wasn’t evil or a creep at all!” Scootaloo joined, further encouraging the crowd.

“Besides! He’s helped us all before when that big evil fire ball came to town remember? All he’s done is help us!” Sweetie Belle added, trying to get the town to stop picking on 64, who couldn’t do anything to retaliate.

Everypony started to look at 64 in different manner, not exactly with hate and contempt anymore, but a bit of understanding. There were only a few that still gave him untrusting glares.

“Let him stay fer the Nightmare Night celebration ya’ll! Then ya can see that he isn’t all bad on the inside!” Applejack yelled, receiving a few grumbles of acceptance.

“I for one thank Mr. Project 64 for assisting in the rescue of little Applebloom and all he has done for our town!” Mayor Mare called out, knowing that her public image might help 64’s case a little bit. 64 grinned at the support he was receiving, glad to know the he had some allies in this world.

“Alright then, I bet that Applebloom wants to go home and see her big brother and Grandma again, so everypony can celebrate her return later tonight, got it?” 64 yelled, receiving disgruntled nods from those who began to slowly walk away, some glares still headed in 64’s direction.

“Son of a bitch, I can get why they acted hostile towards me when I wasn’t able to protect Applebloom in the first place, but why when she returns is everypony acting like this?” 64 grunted to the remaining ponies in the crowd.

Twilight stepped forwards and sighed. “Well maybe you can show them that you aren’t that bad of a person tomorrow. And… I’m sorry for saying that thing about important problems Applejack, I relaly didn’t mean it like that.” Twilight apologized.

“Aw don’t’ fret none Twi, things got a bit heated back there. Let’s jus’ get Applebloom settled back in and then we can get goin’ with her welcome back party!”

“Sounds good to me. Ready to see where you’re gonna be living for a while Ghost?” 64 asked, looking down at his ‘companion’.

"You bet I am!

Author's Note

I'm not going to state the obvious here! Something big is going to happen!

Here's Ghost!

64 vs. The Finale Part 1

Chapter 64

Ghost POV

“Ah… where… where am I?” I muttered, feeling the world around me spin in 5 different directions. I couldn’t tell if my eyes were open or not, because everything was in total blackness. My hooves and horn felt numb, not letting me get up or illuminate the pitch black darkness I was in. “Anypony? 64?”

No response came, but my words echoed through the room over and over, as if something was reflecting my voice like a mirror. I moved my head against the floor I laid on, and felt that it was an incredibly cold and hard stone floor. I clenched my eyes one last time, trying to see if my eyesight could adjust to the dark like I could normally do.

Before they could, I gasped as the events of how I got into this situation came back to me. Cadence had been waiting for us at the dressing room, and as the girls got dressed, she asked to speak with me privately outside.

Before I could even turn around to face her, a ring of green flames surrounded my entire body, trapping me and eating away at my magic. I could only hear the few words muttered to me as I was sucked into the ground.

“You’ll be back with us very soon…”

I began to get some feeling back into my horn, and managed to get a small amount of light to illuminate the room. Crystalline walls surrounded me on all sides, a kaleidoscope effect on nearly every single surface, including the floor. I moved to get up and groaned in pain, feeling a very sharp pain in my right foreleg.

I looked down at my leg and saw that there was a large crack in the chitin, along with the ankle being swollen a bit. I moved magic towards my leg and felt the healing effects, but a growing pain in my stomach caused me to gasp and stop immediately. I was low on love reserves, meaning I couldn’t completely heal my injury without severely injuring myself even further.

“Having fun young one?” A haunting voice rang out, reverberating off of the walls and completely surrounding me. I growled and stood up, avoiding putting weight onto my injured leg. The voice chuckled in response. “How defiant… I’ll fix that the first chance I get…”

“It’s you isn’t it!” I retorted. “You’re the queen that 64 told me about! Queen Chrysalis!”

The voice laughed once again, a bit louder this time. “My, so receptive too! It’s unfortunate that you made the discovery a bit too late.” Chrysalis mocked. “Do not worry. Such trivial things will not matter once you are one of us again.”

“What do you mean ‘us’!?” I yelled, accidentally putting too much weight onto my right foreleg and crying out in pain. I fell onto my side, trying my best to regain my footing and stand back up.

“You mustn't injure yourself! It would only make the rehabilitation process even more painful…” Chrysalis giggled forebodingly, sending a wave of fear down my spine. I tried to get up, but I felt energy beginning to leave me, not letting me move my hooves. “Fear not young one, when everything is said and done, things such as pain and fear will no longer be there. All that will exist… is the Hive…”

I groaned as I once again tried to get up, but couldn’t. A thick haze covered my vision, as I felt myself slipping from consciousness. All I could hope was that 64 could do something to stop all of this…

64 POV

The first thing I noticed was a bright blinding light burning into my eyes, causing me to wince in pain and sit up. It didn’t feel as if I had woken up, but was jerked awake by a bad dream. I looked around, trying to remember the last thing that happened before I fell asleep.

“SHINING!” I yelled out, looking towards the door of the small cell I was in and running up to it. I tried to charge up magic and begin smashing through the door, but when my fist collided with the reinforced glass it did nothing but make a loud thunk. “What the…?” I muttered, looking down my entire arm.

Now going down both of my arms, were the same tattoos that Celestia had first put on me. The entirety of my arms were covered in the tattoos, now completely holding back my magic.

“HEY! SOMEPONY GET THE FUCK DOWN HERE! THE WEDDING HAS TO BE STOPPED! THAT ISN’T PRINCESS CADENCE! THAT ISN’T PRINCESS CADENCE!” I shouted as loudly as I could, but there wasn’t anypony else outside in the cell block. Looking around the room for anything I could use, I saw the metal bedframe of the bed.

I threw the mattress off of the bed frame, picking up the frame and rushing towards the door with it. I smashed into the glass, but of course it didn’t give way. Backing up again, I began to use the bedframe as a battering ram, smashing it into the glass over and over as hard as I could.

It wasn’t until I saw that the bedframe was beginning to be crushed smaller and smaller that I slowed down, until it looked like nothing but a mangled mess of steel. “Fuck!” I grunted, tossing the destroyed bedframe aside. I looked around for anything else, seeing the sink and toilet there as well.

I grabbed the lid of the toilet and proceeded to smash it against the glass, until it too was a mangled mess of metal. I threw it against the wall and growled, knowing that if I was trapped in here, I wouldn’t be able to stop whatever was going on above in the Palace.

“You seem to be stuck in a predicament over there.” a Voice echoed through the room, sounding vaguely familiar. “I would think the same thing that put us behind these bars would know well enough to stay on the other side of them.”

“Maxis?” I asked, hearing the voice coming from the cell to my right.

“The very same.” He confirmed. “Sounds like a bit of ruckus over there. Care to share your problem?”

I huffed, resting my forehead against the glass door. “There’s a wedding upstairs, a royal one at that. The bride to be is actually a fake, a changeling, but I don’t think anypony believed me. I gotta get out of here before shit goes to hell.” I narrowed it down, not wanting to dwell on it too much.

I still had try and find a way out of this mess, so I continued looking around as Maxis continued speaking. “Forgive me in saying, but didn’t you spend much time in these cells shortly after your birth?” Maxis asked.

“Not these kinds. These were retrofitted to hold a criminal. I wasn’t a criminal, I was an experiment.” I answered, looking up towards the metal ventilation grate. Without magic, there would be no way I could walk up the tall wall to the ceiling.

“Well then, you escaped that cell somehow, how would you escape this one?”

“I faked an illness and managed to take down the two guards that came for me. Now that I think about it… there should have been no way a malnourished 14 year old boy could’ve taken down 2 fully grown guards. Or fight my way out. Or outrun Celestia.” I murmured, squinting at all of the abnormalities now that I thought about it. I shook the thoughts out of my head, knowing that it was all in the past.

I leaned on the sink and let out a breath, smoke releasing from my lungs as I did. As
I leaned, I felt the sink began to creak a bit, then hearing a few drops of water. My eyes widened, turning to see what had caused the noise.

There were a few small drops of water underneath the sink, right below one of the plumbing pipes. I pulled on them a bit, and saw more water start to leak out, a few streams at a time now.

“That’s it!” I exclaimed, wiping a few strands of hair away from my eyes. I looked back up at the ventilation grate, and nodded. I grabbed once more onto the pipes underneath the sink, and pulled with everything I had.

I stumbled backwards as the pipes came loose, releasing a torrent of water out of the broken plumbing. I looked towards the toilet as well and began to push against it, tearing it off of the floor as the pipes underneath it also began to spew water out.

“What are you doing over there?” Maxis called, now hearing the water rushing.

“I’m flooding my cell! The cell is sealed up tight, so all I have to do is wait until the water rises high enough to where I can float up to the ventilation shaft, pry the grate off and climb through to the main cell area!” I explained, already feeling the water around my shins.

“It’s too bad I’m not much of a swimmer. I could’ve used that ages ago.” Maxis muttered, the water already rising to my waist. It was coming up fast, meaning that I wouldn't have a lot of time to pry off the grate once it was so high that it would completely fill the room.

“Alright… it’s coming up to my stomach now…” I called, feeling the water begin to reach my navel. It was a good thing that this room actually wasn’t large, or else it would take a much longer time. I didn’t know what was going on upstairs, but whatever it was, I had to stop it fast.

“Maxis! When did they bring me here and how long was I out?!” I yelled, wanting to have a sense of time.

“You were brought last night at around Midnight. It’s been about 7 hours since then.” He answered, a grunt coming up from my throat. That meant the ceremony was in about 30 minutes, not a lot of time with the situation I was in.

The water was now up to my elbows, so I crouched into the water to get a bit used to it. “It’s fucking freezing in here!” I yelped, submerging my shoulders into the icy water to get a better feel for it. The water was now high enough that I could float a bit, but not high enough for me to reach the grate.

My heavy pants and shirt weren’t helping me much, so I hugged the wall to try and push myself further towards the top of the cell. I could feel the familiar feeling of tingling in the back of my neck, my fear of closed spaces slowly coming back to me.

“Not right now…” I growled, knowing that I couldn’t just give into fear right now. “I’m coming you Changeling bitch!”

3rd Person POV

Ghost laid in his crystal prison, completely drained of love. He was still conscious, but his eyelids felt heavy, and he was unable to make the slightest of movements. Any further movements would have caused his body to begin eating itself, and thats when the blood coughing started.

In the pitch black darkness of his prison, Ghost saw a violet light illuminating one of the walls, but very faintly. “Hello…?” A faint voice echoed, muffled by the thick crystals between the two caverns. “Is anyone there?”

All of a sudden, the same wall that the violet light and voice was coming from was illuminated brightly for a few moments, but instead of the soft violet, it was replaced with a dark green. A echoing and foreboding laugh invaded Ghost’s ears, causing his head to pulse in pain. Something about it was trying to do something to him, and without the energy to fight back, he felt all of the effects.

“Help! Help!” The voice yelled out again, Ghost now recognizing the faint voice of Twilight Sparkle.

“Twilight! I was hoping she could help 64 settle things up there!” Ghost thought, now realizing that things were getting worse and worse.

“It's no use. No one can hear you. And no one will ever think to look for you, either. Most ponies have forgotten that these caves even exist, which is why they are the ideal place to keep the ones who try to interfere with my plans… Like that strange biped...”

All rational thought went out the window at that statement for Ghost. If both Twilight and 64 weren’t up there doing something about what was going to happen, then the results would be catastrophic.

After that, the same horrible laugh began to invade Ghost’s ears, causing his eyes to clench in pain and the feeling of bile beginning to rise in his throat. But as the laugh began to get louder, a large blast shook the cavern, causing dust and crystals to come raining from the ceiling.

More and more blasts began to shake the room, with more of the terrible intoxicating laughter following each one of them. Ghost was trembling in pain, unable to move or cover his ears. All he wanted was for the laughter to stop, and the room to stop shaking.

One final and deafening blast sounded, finally putting an end to the laughter. The blast sent the entire cavern into a frenzy, falling crystals pelting Ghost as they came down. After a few moments, the room became still. The air in the room was now dead, no longer having that feeling of toxic electricity in it.

There was now hatred permeating through the walls, the stink invading all of Ghost’s senses. It left him with a thick haze clouding his vision, dampened his hearing to a quiet muffle, and numbed his ability to feel to nearly nothing.

The icy blue color in his eyes was now fading to a much duller greyish blue, and his leathery wings were falling from his sides, splaying outwards on the floor he was laying on. There was an excruciating burning pain in his chest, the last few bits of love he had left in him beginning to burn up.

Ghost heaved with staggered breathing, closing his eyes as he tried to keep those last few moments of strength. With his eyes closed, he saw an image, one that he hoped he had been able to see one last time.

“Applebloom…” He whispered, the last of the will he had being released with that word.

“sunshine sunshine ladybugs awake…”

He felt it. The last hope he had left. In those muffled words he felt it, the thing that would get him out of the cavern.

Love.

Not skipping a beat, he absorbed what little love was able to permeate into the room and lit his horn, not caring that every other part of his body was screaming at him to stop. The bright green light coming off of his horn was enough to illuminate the room he was in, causing it to glow green to anyone standing from the outside.

Luckily, there were two ponies standing just outside of the cavern.

“The light is coming from in here!” Princess Cadence shouted, seeing the faint glow from Ghost’s horn. Both her and Twilight began to charge their horns in unison, charging a blast which would be able to blow right through the crystal walls.

Without another word, the two ponies blasted the wall right open, sending more dust and crystals scattering across the floor. Twilight stepped forward, scanning the room carefully. When she saw the green light in the cave, she immediately thought that it was Queen Chrysalis taunting her once again.

“Where is she?!” She yelled, her horn still charged to blast anything in sight. “I’ll wipe that smug grin off of her face!”

Cadence scanned the room as well, her eyes immediately darting downward towards the black creature in the center of the room. Illuminating the room as bright as she could, she gasped at what she saw.

“Ghost!” She exclaimed in horror, seeing the state he was in. Twilight saw the changeling in question, recognizing him as the same changeling who asked her for help in Ponyville. “Ghost, can you hear me!?”

The Princess of Love waited for any kind of response, but paled when he stayed limp in her hooves. Charging her horn a rose color, she pulsed a pure wave of concentrated love in all directions, hoping to send some of it into Ghost’s system. “Please Ghost! Please speak to me!” Cadence begged, hoping for any kind of reaction.

Unconscious and unable to absorb any love, Ghost stayed limp in her hooves as life continued to leave him. Twilight watched in anticipation as the scene in front of her unfolded, not knowing what to do. She knew very little of Changeling anatomy, but that didn't mean that she would stop trying to help.

“Cadence, he can’t take anything in if he is unconscious like that! You have to try and force it into him!” Twilight suggested, trying absolutely anything.

Cadence nodded and placed her horn onto Ghost’s, once again concentrating love into her horn. Sending it straight into Ghost, the rose colored magic once again illuminated the crystal cavern they were in. A few tears threatened to fall from the corners of Cadence’s eyes, not knowing if what she was doing was going to save Ghost or not.

She pulled away after a few moments of forcing love into Ghost, looking to see if the results did what she wanted them to do. He remained limp, his chest not rising and his eyes not moving. His injured ankle healed due to the exposure to love, but neither Twilight nor Cadence knew if that was a sign that Ghost was going to wake up.

“Ghost… you can’t just leave us like this… not against her…” Cadence begged. She wouldn’t just let Chrysalis do this to him. She couldn’t let him die. “We have to take him with us to the surface.”

Twilight nodded and grabbed Ghost in her magic grasp, placing him onto her back. “Then we don’t have time to lose. We have to get out of here. We have to stop her!” Twilight exclaimed, as the both of them began to sprint down the hallway.

Cadence, for some reason unknown to everypony in Equestria, began to sing. “This day was going to be perfect…”

64 POV

“Come on! Almost there!” I shouted, already crawling through the vents. Water was spilling out of the other side of the vent I was in right now, my cell already completely filled with water. I pulled myself forward with everything I had, the incredibly small and very wet air duct being very hard to navigate in.

I wriggled forward towards the exit just outside of the cell, an 11 foot drop waiting for me at the other side. My arms were outstretched forward as I reached for the opening, wrapping my fingers around the edge and finally pulling myself forward. I pulled until my head was right above the opening to the ground below me, water spilling out onto the ground at a very fast rate.

“You’d think a guard would have come to check on the commotion…” I mumbled, before taking in a sharp breath. With a yelp I pulled myself through the opening, falling all the way down onto the hard concrete surface below.

With a splash I landed onto my back, my eyes clenched in pain as a painful groan escaped my lips. “Damn that was always easier to do with magic…” I groaned, remembering that I was able to survive high falls by using magic to cushion myself.

“Congratulations, you’re out. Without magic or any weapons. What now?” Maxis said with a bit of snark behind his tone.

“Now, I have a damn wedding to stop!” I yelled over my shoulder, already running towards the exit and up the staircase. I had absolutely no time to lose. One of my best friends was getting married to some changeling and he didn’t even know it. I couldn’t let that just happen!

3rd Person POV

It took 64 just a few minutes to get back to the surface, heaving loudly and sweat dripping down his face. Without magic to help him augment his movements, his normal speed put a strain on his unaided body.

“Dammit Shining, you better hope Chrysalis kills you before I can...’ 64 gasped, running through the same holding cells he did during his first escape from the Underground. Not even bothering to open the door, the human smashed through the wooden barrier with his shoulder, causing it to shatter into pieces onto the floor.

He looked left and right down the hallway, making sure there wasn’t anypony who would to try to stop him. After making sure he was clear, 64 sprinted down the hall towards the Wedding Ceremony.

“C’mon… I gotta go faster!” 64 growled to himself, unconsciously beginning to pump magic into his legs. The first few tattoos near his shoulders began to turn from black to red, but he was much too focused on getting to the wedding to notice.

He turned a corner to find an entire row of Solar Guards blocking his path, with the wedding only down the hall from where he was. Soaking wet and incredibly determined, he stared down the guards.

“Let me through! There’s something seriously wrong with the wedding right now!” 64 called, but none of the Guards even blinked. “Oh for fuck’s sake…”

Not letting this stop him, 64 ran towards the guards with his hands prepped, knowing he could catch the blades of their Halberds if he needed to. The first guards extended their wings and stayed low to the ground, shooting forwards to stop 64 before he got to them.

The fastest guard got to 64 with the spear of his Halberd about to pierce his chest, but the human grabbed the blade and spun around, sending the Halberd and the guard holding onto it over his shoulder.

Holding onto the weapon, 64 grabbed the handle and swung at the other attacking guards, making them all jump back away from the offending blade. The guards began to slowly circle around 64, each of them with a deadly glint in their eyes.

“Stand down now! Your punishment will be less severe if you surrender and come with us now!” One of the Unicorn Guards yelled out.

“I can’t do that! There’s a wedding going on in there which has to be stopped. The bride is a Changeling!” 64 yelled back, grasping his Halberd in both of his hands and keeping low to the ground. The guards all looked at each other in confusion, before they started chuckling to themselves softly. “What’s so funny!?”

“Well, that’s quite a coincidence…” The same Unicorn Guard said again. One by one, green flames erupted from every single one of them. 64’s eyes widened, as he was suddenly surrounded by half a dozen black chitinous creatures. “So are we…”

Half of the Changelings all rushed 64, some of them jumping towards him, and some of them running. 64 spun and swung his Halberd at the first wave of attacking creatures, only managing to catch a few of them before he was tackled by the rest.

He rolled as soon as he hit the ground, grabbing one of the Changelings on his left shoulder and pulling him off. Swinging his head back, 64 headbutt another Changeling which was about to sink it’s fangs into his neck, before reaching over his shoulder and tossing it away from him.

Getting onto his feet as fast as he could, 64 grabbed the Halberd off of the floor and went on the offensive. Slicing with the blade end, 64 took long arching swings in an attempt to keep the Changeling’s moving, not giving them a moment to charge and attack.

Seeing that one of the Changelings was straying from the group, 64 focused his attention onto him and lunged, sending the spear end of the Halberd towards the creature. It ducked underneath the pike, giving 64 the moment he needed to send his foot into the Changeling’s head.

He felt the Changeling’s brain turn to mush at the harsh kick, barely having enough time to spin around and slash into another Changeling trying to get the jump on him. Green blood spattered onto 64’s face and clothing, the metallic taste pervading 64’s senses.

A green bolt of magic was shot at 64, making the human drop his weapon and roll away to safety. Now on the defensive, 64 kept running to avoid getting blasted by the volley of hot magic being shot at him. Sliding towards the wall to avoid getting shot, 64 failed to notice another Changeling pouncing behind him while he was distracted by avoiding the fire.

The Changeling landed on 64 and bit into his right arm, making the human yelp in pain. Seeing the other Changeling’s charging their horns once again, 64 ripped the Changeling off of his arm and held it out in front of him, using it as a shield as a barrage of magical blast collided with the squirming creature.

The human threw the Changeling corpse towards the other Changelings, rushing right behind it as they scattered. Literally not pulling any punches, 64 connected with a devastating hook onto one of the last Changeling’s jaw, before picking it up and throwing it at another one of the beasts.

Stunned by the body now flying towards him, the other Changeling couldn’t react quick enough to counter a heavy kick which connected with his lower jaw, before two large hands wrapped around it’s neck. With a quick twist and pull, the Changeling’s neck was snapped into fragments, it’s body falling to the floor limp.

64 was now breathing heavily, covered in Changeling blood. He looked down towards and saw the Changeling he had first threw, awakening from the powerful punch which had sent him into unconsciousness. A growl growing in his throat, 64 raised his foot before stomping it onto the side of the Changeling’s head, sending blood and skull fragments all over the ground.

64 stayed there, taking in deep breaths and shaking a bit. He heard a soft buzzing noise behind him, and looked over his shoulder to find the one remaining Changeling still standing up, but now frightened stiff and shaking.

“Come here…” 64 growled, looking at the ground and finding the horn of the last changeling he had just curb stomped on the bloodied ground. He picked it up and turned towards the last one, now taking slow steps forward.

The Changeling’s eyes widened as he turned around and bolted in the opposite direction, but 64 wound back his arm and threw the spiked horn like a knife.

“GRAHH!” The Changeling yelled as the horn entered his left hind leg, making him fall to the ground in pain. 64 got to him before he could get up, kicking the Changeling in the side of the head.

“You stay still…” 64 warned, before grabbing the horn protruding from his leg and pulling it out. The Changeling once again yelped in pain, but 64 silenced his by punching him in the side of the neck. “Now… You’re gonna tell me with they did with that rogue Changeling…” 64 threatened, regarding to Ghost.

“T-That deserter? He’s… He’s gonna be reformed… Once again one with the Hive…” The Changeling sputtered out.

“And who will be performing the reformation ceremony?” 64 asked, holding his impromptu blade near the Changeling’s eye.

“T-The Queen! She’s… She’s the bride!” The Changeling screamed.

“That’s all I needed to know…”

With that, 64 brought the horn down onto the back of the Changeling’s neck, severing the neck from the spinal cord. The Changeling fell limp, allowing 64 to stand up and take one last deep breath.

This was when he noticed that when one of the Changelings had sunk his teeth into his arm, he had ripped most of his right longsleeve off. Knowing it was better to get rid of loose clothing before getting into a fight, 64 grabbed the hanging fabric and ripped the rest of it off.

He gasped when he noticed that the tattoos near his shoulders were now red, meaning that they were already beginning to fail. His magic was slowly driving him insane, but he was unsure if he would be able to get rid of Queen Chrysalis without it.

Deciding that he shouldn’t dwell on it too much, he began to walk forward, when he heard something else coming up from behind him. Turning with his guard up, 64 snarled at what was coming at him. He gasped when he saw a very disheveled Princess Cadence and Twilight Sparkle.

His instincts went wild when he saw Cadence, immediately seeing her as a threat. “YOU!” 64 shouted, running for and pouncing at Cadence. Twilight stepped in front of Cadence and cast a shield spell, knocking 64 away and keeping him back. “What are you doing?!”

“64! Calm down. This is the actual Cadence, I found her with me trapped in the Crystal Caverns underneath the Underground Prison.” Twilight explained, but 64 was still unsure.

“Oh yeah? Tell me something that only Cadence would know!” 64 commanded, making Cadence put a hoof to her chin thoughtfully.

“Hm… Well… I can’t tell if you do right now, but you once had a crush on Princess Luna.” Cadence admitted, causing Twilight’s eyebrows to raise and 64 to blush. “What? Too sensitive?”

“N-No… I believe her now. Good to have the real Cadence on our side.” 64 commented, now calming down and actually looking at the two. Cadence looked like she had seen better days, her mane disheveled and her eyes sunken. She looked a bit pale, but ready for a fight nonetheless.

Twilight looked well, despite being kidnapped. When 64 glanced at her, he saw something on her back, before realizing just what it was. If that red bow tie was anything to go off of, he recognized him immediately.

“GHOST!” 64 cried, jumping at Twilight and gently scooping the young changeling colt off of her back. They way Ghost’s neck simply went limp as 64 picked him up caused the human to audibly gasp, before putting his ear to his chest.

In lieu of an actual heartbeat, Changelings had a constant heart buzz, the vibrations channelling love throughout their bodies. There was a buzzing sound coming from Ghost’s chest, and it was very strong to 64’s surprise. He took a few deep breaths, knowing that Ghost would be fine.

“Alright, he’s gonna be fine. I’m guessing you shot love directly into his system?” 64 asked, Cadence nodding at the question. “It’s going to take a while before he regains consciousness. That much love entering a colt no less is going to have some adverse effects.”

Twilight seemed to eyeing 64 warily, looking up and down at him. “So… you’ve been busy?” She said carefully, seeing the state 64 was in.

“Uh… I guess you could say that.” 64 answered. “Look, there’s no time to lose. We have to stop that wedding.”

64 set Ghost onto his back, putting his hooves over his shoulders. Bloodied and tired, 64 followed Cadence and Twilight as they continued to run towards the ceremony. Celestia had already opened the ceremony up, Twilight and Cadence able to hear it just before exiting the Crystal Caverns.

64 listened carefully to the wedding vows as a brainwashed Shining Armor began to admit his love to his ‘wife’, making the real Cadence begin to tear up both in heartbreak, and love.

“We’re gonna get him back Cadence, don’t you worry!” 64 encouraged, trying his best to keep the mare calm. This was supposed to be her day, not some love hungry changeling’s. The ceremony was coming to a close, and the imposter was already finished giving her “vows”. All Celestia had to do was close the ceremony with the final kiss.

Twilight began running even faster, her horn glowing before she flashed out of sight and teleported to the Wedding Hall itself.

“Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, it is my great pleasure to pronounce you–” Celestia began, a smile as wide as the day was long, and completely oblivious to what was going on.

“STOP!” Twilight shouted as loud as she could, catching everypony’s attention. Celestia gasped at her students intervention, thinking she would have learned her lesson after the practice run of the ceremony. All of Twilight’s friends looked in exasperation, thinking that Twilight was making a huge mistake.

‘Cadence’ growled in frustration. “Ugh! Why does she have to be so possessive of her brother?” She said, receiving a strange look from Celestia. Realizing her mistake, she managed to have her eyes tear up. “Why does she have to ruin my special day?”

64 and Cadence arrived just behind Twilight. “Because it's not your special day! It's mine!” Cadence shouted, a burning hatred towards the changeling that was trying to take away the one she loved the most.

The crowd gasped at the revelations being unlaid before them. There were 2 Princess Cadence’s standing before them, one already in her wedding gown, and one that was supposed to be in it.

“What? But how did you escape my bridesmaids?” ‘Cadence’ questioned, a hostile tone in her voice which betrayed her original heartbroken tone. Cadence and Twilight gave each other a knowing look, one that 64 couldn’t make sense of.

The ‘guards’ in the Hall were already making their way towards the intruders, but 64 growled and stepped forwards towards them, daring them to come at him. Covered in changeling blood, the ‘guards’ quickly realized what they were up against.

“I-I don't understand. How can there be two of 'em?” Applejack questioned, standing next to Rarity and Rainbow Dash. Applebloom stood just next to them with her friends, before gasping at who 64 was holding on his back. Not even bothering to think about her actions, she darted forward towards 64, pushing her way through the crowd of ponies, and her friends following her shortly after her.

She made her way to 64, looking up at the unconscious Changeling on his back. “Ghost! Is he okay?!” Applebloom asked, her eyes widened in fear. 64 nodded and eased him to the ground.

“He’s gonna be fine AB… Listen, take Ghost and your friends and head towards my room, it’s the room with the red door down the hall just right of here. If you see any guards, try to get around them. Don’t trust any of them. Barricade the door and don’t let anypony in.” 64 instructed, as the yellow filly nodded.

She took Ghost onto her back, and ran out of the hall with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle following after her. Now sure that they was safe, 64 once again focused on what was going on around him.

Cadence had explained her doppelgangers true species, and murmurs were already beginning to spread throughout the crowd. ‘Cadence’ began to charge magic, giving off a glowing green glow instead of her natural blue magic glow.

She was exposed, but it was already too late. She finally had enough power to enact her plans. With one final flash of green, ‘Cadence’ surrounded herself in green flames, but instead of the normal flash and morph, an explosion of green magic went flying into the air, making everyone in the room cover their eyes.

Squinting, 64 looked over his arms and saw the grotesque transformation that Queen Chrysalis was undergoing. Her wings twisted and contorted until finally exploding to show their true insectoid shape. Her legs extended and began to crumble to reveal a black shell underneath the pink fur. Finally, the tip of her horn began to change, becoming jagged and sharp. Her head changed to show that instead of a beautifully done multicolored mane, it was a unkempt mass of green strands of hair.

She stood taller than everypony in the room, a few inches taller than Celestia herself. With a deranged cackling, the green flames died down, revealing her true form.

Queen Chrysalis…

“Right you are, Princess. And as queen of the changelings, it is up to me to find food for my subjects.” Chrysalis explained, slowly making her way towards Cadence. Onlookers stared in horror at the trickery displayed before them, completely oblivious of the switch made right under their noses.

Cadence glared at the Queen, shooting back at her. “They'll never get the chance! Shining Armor's protection spell will keep them from ever even reaching us!”

Chrysalis simply laughed at the rebellious comeback. “Oh, I doubt that. Isn't that right, dear?” She responded, looking back over her shoulder. 64 looked over at the groom and gasped, noticing that he had a green glazed over his eyes. Shining’s horn glowed a rose color, and 64 looked out the window to see that the shield surrounding Canterlot was beginning to flicker in weakness.

Cadence attempted to rush forward to get to her fiancée, but Chrysalis cut her off with a powerful stomp, her bladed horn glowing menacingly. “Ah, ah, ah. Don't want to go back to the caves, now do you?” Chrysalis threatened, knowing that she had the upper hand. Cadence yielded apprehensively, as Chrysalis went back to the altar. “Ever since I took your place, I've been feeding off Shining Armor's love for you. Every moment he grows weaker and so does his spell. Even now, my minions are chipping away at it.”

64 wanted to yell out, but he knew that any unwarranted outburst could spell disaster for everypony in the room. He looked at the guards still in the room, who were looking up at the Queen with grins on their faces. “Shit… no help in here…” He muttered to himself, taking into account everything that was in the room that could help him.

He was outnumbered, without his magic, and the Halberd was a manifestation of Changeling magic which was on a timer. It wouldn’t help him long enough to subdue the situation, and if Chrysalis was there to feed them, the Changelings would regenerate no matter how much he hurt them.

As 64 kept thinking, Cadence and Chrysalis were going back and forth. “Soon, my changeling army will break through. First, we take Canterlot. And then, all of Equestria!” Chrysalis exclaimed loudly, hovering just above the altar.

“No. You won’t.” Celestia finally intervened, her words ladened thick with determination. Her tone reminded 64 of the same tone she used when he was once a fugitive. The air between the two monarchs was filled with electricity, the static tension so thick that most of the ponies in the crowd were beginning to sweat. “You may have made it impossible for Shining Armor to perform his spell, but now that you have so foolishly revealed your true self…” Celestia continued, before charging forward and locking horns with Chrysalis, the ultimate show of an aggressive engagement between two powers. “I can protect my subjects from you!”

Celestia flew backwards into the air, her horn glowing an ethereal yellow color. She fired a beam of magic straight at Chrysalis, who returned fire with her own green magic beam. The two attacking spells met in the air, creating another blinding light as the two powers fought for dominance.

64 gaped at the display of combat, feeling the raw magic that was filling the air. The two forces continued to go back and forth, the light coming from the point they clashed getting brighter and brighter. Everypony watched as the light finally got so bright it blinded everypony in the room, and in the blinding light, a scream filled the air.

A green explosion rocked the room, as the dust from the battle settled. Everypony looked in absolute shock, as Celestia fell from the air and landed onto the floor with a harsh thud, her crown flying off and landing next to her unceremoniously.

64 gasped at the outcome, as Twilight and the rest of her friends went rushing to the fallen Princess’s side. “No fucking way…” He whispered, seeing that Celestia was completely incapacitated with her horn damaged like the way it was. He couldn’t believe it, that Celestia had lost.

Of course he had defeated her himself, albeit that it was her evil alter ego, but he never imagined it could’ve happened twice in his life.

“Ah! Shining Armor's love for you is even stronger than I thought!” Chrysalis cheered, looking towards Cadence who was looking on in horror. “Consuming it has made me even more powerful than Celestia!”

64 moved forward towards Celestia, but one of the ‘guards’, tried to intercept him. Simply tackling through him and punching him in the horn, his disguise fell and 64 went right past him. He slid to Celestia’s side and looked her over, seeing that the only thing she was suffering from was a severely damaged horn and a bit of bruising.

The changeling guards in the room all dropped their disguises, but apparently not all of the guards were double agents. The actual Solar Guards began to fight the changeling creatures, but 64 knew that as long as the Queen stood, the pawns wouldn’t fall.

“The Elements of Harmony. You must get to them and use their power to defeat the queen…” Princess Celestia managed to choke out, grunting her last few words in anger. She then looked towards 64, who still stared down at her wide eyed. “64… you must go into the city and defend the citizens of Canterlot…”

“I should go get the Elements of Harmony! Even without magic I can protect the girls on the way there, but I can’t do that for an entire city!” 64 argued, showing her his tattooed arms. The Princess grimaced in pain, before her horn glowed the necessary glow of yellow before all of the markings covering 64’s arms were gone.

“That should make things easier… now go, all of you!” Celestia commanded. The Bearers of Harmony all looked at each other and nodded, all of them except Rarity and Twilight ripping themselves out of their bridesmaids gowns and bolting out of the door.

64 was getting used to having all of his magic back. For about 2 weeks he was handicapped from using magic, and the past few hours he was completely without it. Now having all of the raw power of the sun in his hands… it made him feel whole again.

He took one last glance over his shoulder at Chrysalis, who was ready just in case he would attack. 64 shook his head and ran towards the window behind the altar, jumping off of the balcony leading outside and landing onto the ground below, creating a crater underneath him.

Flames grew in his palms, and his eyes flashed red for a split second. “Alright… let’s do this…” 64 growled, looking up at the bubble shield surrounding the city. There were cracks all over the surface of it, Changeling’s battering it with their own bodies as the flew head first into it. “Ok… secure residential districts first… then commercial... and finally the cliffs…”

Royal guards were beginning to flood out of the Palace, also ready to defend their home. 64 dashed towards the residential district of Canterlot when he suddenly felt the ground begin to tremor, knocking him off balance and sending him to his knees.

The human looked up once again and gasped, seeing a large black cloud of changelings heading into the city. The buzzing was that of a million frenzied hornets, each of them poised to siphon from and kill every last pony in Canterlot. Like pods dropping from the sky, several changeling drones crash landed into the street around 64, who was now ready with two large swords conjured in his hands.

Kicking off of the ground and shooting towards a drone in front of him, 64 stabbed at the creature who jumped to the side, lashing out with it’s sharp fangs and sharpened horn. With a twist and a slice from his swords, the changeling was sent to the ground with a loud screech coming from it’s throat, green blood spewing forth from the two slashes on his abdomen.

Not giving the other Changelings time to recover, 64 zoomed from one drone to the next, delivering fatal blow after fatal blow with his newly regained power. Finally seeing an opening that he could escape through, the human ran down the streets towards the residential district, seeing a horde of changelings attempting to get into homes, some civilians running from Changeling pursuers, and Guards doing their best to try and keep them back.

The guards were uncoordinated without the captain to give orders, so 64 knew he had to do it for him.

“Unicorns set up a defensive perimeter around this block! Pegasi, bring any and all airborne drones to the ground! Earth Ponies, eliminate all drones that are brought down by the Pegasi!” 64 commanded, his voice managing to ring over the sounds of terror and combat.

The unicorn guards began to focus not on eliminating the threat, but keeping it out of the block they were defending. The Pegasi and Earth Ponies were working together to bring the drones out of the air, and so far it was looking good. 64 knew that only holding a few blocks wouldn’t be enough, so he looked around him and found a Pegasi guard being tackled from the air onto the ground by a drone.

Not wasting a moment, 64 dashed towards the drone and sent his foot smashing into the side of it’s head, killing it instantaneously. The downed guard was lifted off of the ground by 64, who began to bark in his ear.

“Relay my instructions to all of the platoons you find fighting! Get going!” 64 ordered, sending the guard on his way. Moving towards another block of a residential area, 64 noticed a large amount of Changelings beginning to swarm the tower which the Elements of Harmony were held. “C’mon girls… you can do this…”

Inside of the Wedding Hall, a few Changelings were in the finishing stages of concealing Princess Celestia into a reformation cocoon. It would prevent her from hurting herself during the transformation process of becoming and Queen Changeling. Of course… she would still be inferior to Queen Chrysalis in every way…

As the tyro Queen began to look around the hall, she noticed something was missing, something very important to her. Her eyes squinted mischievously and a devilish grin split her face. “Find the rogue pup… I do believe it’s a perfect time to build his cocoon too…” Chrysalis ordered, as a few of the drones left to find Ghost, and a few began using their magic to make another cocoon.

Cadence’s eyes widened in horror, trying in vain to pull herself free from the gelatinous substance keeping her stuck to the floor. “No! Leave him out of this!” Cadence begged, but Queen Chrysalis simply laughed.

“And leave him to be free? I think not. What if another drone discovered the pleasures of free will? There’d be chaos within my hive… and you wouldn’t want that to happen, would you?” Chrysalis taunted, laughing after the end of her sentence.

Cadence tripled her efforts, tugging and pulling as hard as she could on her slimy restraints. She looked to her left and saw Shining Armor standing there was well, his eyes staring forward unmoving and his expression blank. She teared up at the sight of him, but shook her head and continued to fight.

She had to be strong.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders were all in 64’s room, and had already made quick work of blocking the door with everything they could move. 64’s wardrobe, bed, and work table had all been shoved against the door, along with 3 fillies as they all leaned against it.

Applebloom looked towards Ghost’s unconscious form, relieved that he was going to be ok, but afraid that she wasn’t there to protect her. Sweetie Belle saw her gaze and sighed.

“He’s gonna be fine AB, we just have to worry about everything going on outside.” Sweetie Belle said, bringing her friend back to reality.

“Ah know… ah jus’ can’t stand seein’ him like that. He was so strong when we had to run out of that mountain, and ah had to see him gettin’ beat on to protect me… It’s a bit strange when the roles are switched.” Applebloom admitted, blushing a bit.

“All we have to do for now is keep those weird changeling outside, and make sure our changeling is ok.” Scootaloo said, making sure everything was up against the door. As she was adjusting a chair against the door, a thumping sound came from the other side. The girls all looked towards the door with wide eyes, as the thumping became louder and heavier. “Quick!”

The fillies all pushed against the door, keeping whatever was trying to get in out. As she pushed, Applebloom looked over her shoulder and saw Ghost still lying on the floor, remembering what she was trying to protect. Doubling her efforts, she dug her hooves into the floor and pushed against one of the desks wedged against the door, a few of the drawers beginning to open under the splintering wood.

With a bit of a clatter, the drawer opened up and something fell out, it’s metallic glint catching Applebloom’s eyes. It was 64’s shock baton, and her eyes widened as she made a grab for it with her mouth.

“Applebloom! What are you doing?” Sweetie Belle called, seeing the filly in question extending the blunt weapon and putting it into her mouth.

“Precaution!” The filly said with her mouth full, the word barely being understandable. The banging and pushing against the door began to get even worse and worse, the barricades barely enough to hold back the attackers at this point. Slowly, the opposition finally stopped, leaving the girls to relax just a little bit.

The air was tense for a few seconds after the fillies backed away from the door the silence coming from the outside scaring them more than the commotion.

“Did, did they leave?” Scootaloo questioned, leaning forward just a little bit towards the door. As she took one step forward, a huge blast of green magic blew the door and all of the barricades down, sending splintering pieces of wood and plastic towards the girls.

As the dust settled, the now cut up and bruised fillies all squinted to see what had done that, before gasping at the 4 figures now stepping forwards towards them. The drones in front of the Cutie Mark Crusaders began to bare down on them menacingly, their fangs bared and their wings flared.

Applebloom was the first one to get up off of the ground. “Ah’m not gonna let ya take Ghost away!” She exclaimed, stumbling to her hooves and scowling at them. A drone stepped forward and began to charge magic into his horn, but a flying piece of wood came at him and collided with his horn, making him cry out in pain.

Scootaloo stood behind Applebloom, picking up pieces of debris from the explosion and throwing it at the offending changelings coming at them. Sweetie Belle soon joined in on the defensive, picking up still smoldering pieces of debris with her magic and launching them towards their attackers.

Not wanting to just leave her friends doing the heavy lifting, Applebloom recovered 64’s shock baton off of the floor and began to swing it at the drones, not managing to hit any of them, but keeping them back in fear of being shocked by the sparking weapon. “Stay away from him! He ain’t goin’ anywhere!” Applebloom shouted again, teeth gritting in determination and eyes squinted in focus.

Having enough of the retaliation, the lead drone rushed forward towards Applebloom, tackling her to the ground and holding her down. As she struggled to push the changeling drone off of her, Applebloom brought the shock baton across the drone’s neck, zapping it and bludgeoning it at the same time. As she continued to attack the one drone on top of her, the remaining changelings rushed forward and seized her, grabbing her hooves and pulling her out from under their downed leader.

“Let me go ya parasites!” Applebloom cried, struggling against the 3 other changelings restraining her. “Girls! Help!”

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo leapt onto the backs of two changelings, wrapping their hooves around their necks in an attempt to bring them to the ground. But their small sizes allowed the drones to shake them off with ease, throwing them onto the ground with a harsh bounce.

Within a few seconds, each of the girls were seized and held back, each of them struggling to get free. The leader of the small pack buzzed menacingly at Ghost, lifting him up with his magic and placing the pup onto his back.

“Let ‘im go!” Applebloom yelled, gnawing and kicking to get away from her captive. The alpha hissed and leaned in towards the small yellow filly, her friends staring in horror. Applebloom didn’t cower under the changeling’s gaze, instead matching his stare with an equal intensity. Neither of their gazes willing to let up, the drone simply chuckled in a buzzing manner.

“The love radiating off of this one is sickening. A young and naive love like this will barely even be a meal for any of us…” He vibrated, the changeling amongst them chuckling at the jab. Applebloom’s cheeks flushed at this, but the anger in her stare didn’t let up, still struggling against the foreleg wrapped around her frame.

The alpha gave one last buzz before picking up the abandoned shock baton on the ground, before swinging it at Applebloom’s temple and effectively silencing her for the time being. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle yelled in fear as they saw they friend bludgeoned to unconsciousness, their eyes welling up with tears in fear for both themselves and Applebloom.

“Take them to the Wedding Hall to witness the Reformation ceremony… I believe these girls have earn front row seats…” The alpha commanded. With that, the Changelings all left 64’s now destroyed room, their objective complete.

Bloodied, battered, and belligerent, 64 stood inside of another reclaimed part of the city. Unfortunately for every section of the city that was secured, there was another section that would fall. Allowing the large hammer he held in both of his hands to dispel, he took a few deep breaths as he felt a red haze cloud his vision once again.

“Hold your positions! I’m moving towards the commercial district!” 64 barked, relaying his orders to every guard that was within earshot. Changeling drones were literally flying in enormous clouds now, darkening the sky and attacking in more than a dozen at once. Canterlot guards were barely holding out, there being nearly 50 drones for every 1 guard.

64 began to move down the roads as quickly as he could towards the Commercial District of Canterlot, knowing that it was currently the most densely infested. As he ran down a long straight road, he suddenly stopped as his eyes widened at what was coming towards him.

A mass of changelings, flying in an almost snake like mass, was zooming down the street towards 64. It spun in a spiraling motion, Each and every one of them hellbent on killing every guard and civilian they could find. The mass buzzed like the sound of a million angry beehives being projected into a megaphone, the sound deafening any coherent thought 64 was trying to come up with.

64 closed his eyes and let out a puff of smoke through his nose, before slowly moving his hands to his sides, and planting his feet firmly to the ground. His fists clenched as he began to focus harder and harder, the buzzing in the air making it hard to do so. Gathering magic into his hands, 64 very quickly and fluidly brought his hands outstretched in front of him, before opening his eyes and revealing them to be a fiery red.

“Flame wall…” He whispered, keeping his thoughts on forming a large wall of flames out in front of him, and blocking any forward motion past him. It burned gently, the sound coming from it similar to a campfire on a quiet night. The mass of changeling got closer and closer, before finally reaching the giant wall of fire. Many of the drones fanned outward just before they reached the wall, flying in a different direction to avoid a fiery death.

Some of the less intelligent drones flew straight through the wall of fire, their bodies immediately igniting in flames as they began to screech in pain. The morbid pyrotechnic display came to a stop once 64 released the flame wall, seeing the large mass of changelings disperse and fly in different directions.

Now with enough time to move forward, 64 dashed forward while watching out for attacks around him, seeing a few drones hovering overhead. Throwing bolts of magic above him to keep the offending creatures at bay, 64 started to realize the magnitude of which the changelings were attacking at.

Like fighting a hydra, no matter how many times you cut off the head, they would always grow back with another to back it up. These changelings were the same, their numbers refusing to dwindle no matter how hard the guards in Canterlot fought.

Lunar guards had already been awoken from their daytime slumber to join the fighting, most of them being dispatched to deal with drones dive bombing from above. It was a war zone, with the casualties already beginning to pile up on both sides. 64’s heavy breathing was a testament to the severity of the fighting taking place, fatigue from overuse of his reacquired magic already beginning to catch up with him.

Unless something ended the fighting soon, Canterlot would fall to Queen Chrysalis without a doubt.

“Sir!” A young pegasus guard yelled, nearly crash landing into the ground near 64. He had blood running down his right eye, and his armor looked as if it was hanging onto him by a few chains and hooks. “The Elements of Harmony! The tower that contains them has been overrun! The Bearers weren’t able to reach them!” He breathed out, looking as if he was barely able to stand.

64’s eyes widened, looking towards Canterlot Palace. As the guard said, it was absolutely infested with changeling drones, the black masses covering it’s surface like a macabre paint job. He had the feeling that even if he went with the Bearers of Harmony, they wouldn’t have been able to reach the Elements. 64 was about to rush forward towards Canterlot Palace, but the guard gripped him by his remaining sleeve.

“Wait sir! What about the city?!” He cried, his hooves around 64’s arm. The human looked around himself, seeing buildings already beginning to burn, both pony and changeling bodies littering the roads, and nothing but more and more changelings flying overhead towards the Palace.

With a scowl forming on his his face, 64 looked towards the Pegasus guard. “Canterlot is lost, tell all remaining guards to fall back towards Canterlot Palace! We cannot lose the Palace!” 64 yelled, sending the young guard on his way.

Following his own orders, 64 disregarded heading towards the Commercial District and made a beeline towards The Palace, running as fast as he possibly could through the streets of Canterlot. Any and all opposition 64 met with on his mad dash for the Palace was met with a dance of flames and blades, unable to stop the human from accomplishing his goal.

The main entrance Drawbridge was destroyed, collateral damage along with parts of the Palace being bombarded with magic and drones. Leaping across the wide moat, 64 gripped the stone wall of the Palace, beginning a steady and quick climb thanks to his magic. A group of drones saw this and took to the air, flying directly at him.

“Shit!” 64 cursed, planting his feet against the wall and holding himself there with his magic. Quickly moving to avoid being gored by the drones, 64 brandished a pair of blades in his hands to defend himself.

Standing perpendicular to the wall, 64 spun and cut into the chitin of the drone nearest to him, sending him down to the moat below with a screech of pain. The human lashed out with a kick before attacking with his blades against the remaining changelings around him, one by one sending them to a watery demise.

Catching his breath for a few seconds, 64 dispelled the blades in his hands and gripped the wall once again, beginning to once again begin his climb up towards the Wedding Hall. He reached the same window he used to leap out of the room in the first place, lifting himself up to just peek over the ledge.

He saw Princess Celestia entrapped in a reformation cocoon on the roof, and Princess Cadence stuck to the ground by some sort of green goo. She seemed defiant despite the chaos enacting around her, a tone of rebellion escaping from her lips.

“You won't get away with this! Twilight and her friends will–” At the worst possible moment, Twilight and her friends were pushed through the doors, an entire horde of Changeling drones following behind them. They were battered and bruised, Rainbow Dash having to be restrained by her hooves and wings. She looked the worst for wear, but was still struggling against her captives. Princess Cadence’s demeanor fell, horror and shock replacing her once defiant gaze.

“You were saying…?” Chrysalis taunted, her eyes squinted towards Cadence. 64 growled, knowing he had to wait for the right moment to make himself apparent. It looked as if she was going to say something else, until a few more changeling drones burst through the door, each of them carrying a small foal in their hooves.

An unconscious Applebloom and Ghost, along with a terrified Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were brought into the room, 64 gasping quietly at the state they were all in. Applejack saw her unconscious little sister, and feared the worst.

“Applebloom!” She cried out, tears welling up in her eyes as she tried to lunge out towards her. A pair of drones restrained her, not letting anyone move. “What didja damn parasites do to her!?”

None of them answered, only giving a laughing buzz before bringing their true target forward. 64 swore to himself silently as they brought Ghost forward, placing him into the middle of the room just in front of Queen Chrysalis.

“Ah… the Rogue Pup…” She sighed, observing him as he laid there. “To think that a drone was able to experience free will…such a notion would have sent me into a fit of laughter a few years ago. Now…” She looked up towards the same drone that brought Ghost forward. “Begin the incantation for reformation. We mustn't waste any time.”

64 lifted himself up over the edge and charged magic into his hands, his palms outstretched towards the drone and Queen Chrysalis herself. She saw this act and took Applebloom with her magic, lifting her limp body outwards in front of her and stood in front of the Bearers of Harmony.

“The human once again graces us with his company! I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Heavens forbid you miss me and strike your friends. Or even worse, you strike this poor little youngling…” Chrysalis taunted, using Applebloom as a shield.

64 made no move to put down his hands, keeping his sights steady on his targets. “Canterlot may fall Chrysalis, but I’ll be damned if I let you walk away from this alive!” 64 threatened, seeing the frightened faces of the girls standing behind Chrysalis.

“Hmm… then I guess I’ll have to do something about that…” Chrysalis said, her horn glowing a dark green for a moment. Shining Armor, who was simply standing there with a blank and vacant stare on his face, suddenly shifted and pointed his horn at 64. “Love… kill the human…”

Shining Armor nodded his head and charged up magic in his horn, causing 64 to avert his gaze from Chrysalis to cast a shield to his right. 5 continuous bolts of magic flew at 64, the first actually blasting him backwards against a wall behind him. Not letting up, Shining Armor telekinetically grabbed stone decorations off of the walls and sent them flying at 64, making the human roll away to safety.

64 was about to retaliate with a few magic blasts of his own, when he felt a searing hot bolt of magic collide with his back, sending him flying across the room and into one of the walls before he slammed onto the floor, wincing and gasping in pain.

Chrysalis stood there with her horn smoking slightly, a smug grin plastered on her face. “Thank you for that honey…” She giggled, causing Cadence to growl in anger. Shining Armor nodded and returned back to his place on the altar, allowing Chrysalis to continue with the Reformation Ceremony for Ghost.

64’s vision was blurred by the concussive force he was hit with, as he so desperately tried to regain his senses and get back onto his feet. He put his palms on the ground and tried to push himself up, but the pain in his back was too much and he collapsed once again.

Chrysalis looked around at the many drones still in the room, before bellowing. “The day has been won Changelings! Go! Feed!” She commanded, as she finished up building the cocoon around Ghost. The many drones took flight and flew out of the door, leaving only Chrysalis in the wedding hall.

“It's funny, really. Twilight and the human were suspicious of my behavior all along. Too bad the rest of you were too caught up in your wedding planning to realize those suspicions were correct!” Chrysalis taunted once more, causing looks of guilt to be cast among the faces of everyone in the room, the most prominent being Princess Celestia as she looked down at the battered 64.

Nopony said a word as Chrysalis turned and looked out of the large window, watching as clouds of Changelings flew throughout the now ravaged capital of Equestria. She took a few steps towards the balcony overlook, as Twilight saw her chance to make her way over to Cadence.

One loud hoofstep was all that was needed for Chrysalis to turn around and fire a concussive blast in front of Twilight, blasting and charring the floor in front of her. The Changeling Queen laughed at the feeble attempt to try and free Cadence.

“It seems that this one isn’t very happy with the arrangements I set up for the dear Bride to Be! Perhaps she would like to be placed into a cocoon herself!” Chrysalis threatened, grabbing Twilight’s mane with her magic and pulling her towards the same goo on the ground which was encompassing Ghost and Celestia.

Twilight cried for help as the rest of her friends tried to take their friend back, grabbing onto Twilight and pulling against Chrysalis’s grasp. Chrysalis growled in anger as her horn began to glow, building up more and more energy to blast The Bearers of Harmony into nothing but dust.

64 looked up in pain as he heard the commotion, barely able to make out any sort of image through the blurriness and haze of the pain he was in. As he saw the magic building up in Chrysalis’s horn, time slowed to a crawl.

Celestia looked on in horror from her perch on the ceiling, tears running down her face at the sight of her student about to be hurt.

Cadence was fighting tooth and nail to try and free herself from her bindings, also yelling in fear of her soon to be sister in law about to be attacked.

Ghost was still unconscious in his cocoon, with Applebloom laid down beside him. Both were injured and unconscious, but they both had the same thing on their minds in their dreamscape. Each other.

Shining Armor stood at the altar, a blank look and a dumb smile plastered onto his face. He was totally unaware of his defeat, so blissfully ignorant about the death and destruction happening just outside of the Palace.

64 saw all of this in his slowed state of mind, as a harsh, yet familiar voice had begun to echo at the back of his head.

“64… You and I both know that this won't end well… Not unless we take some sort of action...” Super Nova echoed, her voice dripping in amusement at the events unfolding. “Celestia is captured… Your changeling friend is being reformed to be one with the hivemind… and Twilight isn’t too far behind. Canterlot is in ruin, and no one can stop that wretched changeling queen…”

“S-Shut up…” 64 quivered, trying once more to get up. Chrysalis saw this and took her attention away from Twilight, pushing her and all of her friends back onto the floor kinetically. She cackled once more at the desperate attempt 64 pulled, before walking over to the downed human. 64 lifted his head and looked up at Chrysalis, his eyes squinted and his teeth clenched in anger. “Y-you…”

“Yes… me. Any words of retaliation? Perhaps a last curse of my name?” Chrysalis goaded, standing triumphantly in front of 64. All he did was continue to glare at the Queen, knowing that anything he could say would have no effect. Chrysalis glowered at the look 64 was giving her, before lifting up her forehoof and bringing it down onto his forehead.

“64!” Cadence yelled in terror, seeing blood now running down the right eye of the injured human. Chrysalis brought up her hoof once again and repeated the action, this time stamping right onto the back of his head.

To 64, the world suddenly exploded into bright blinding lights, and nothing but a loud ringing in his ear could be heard. All that he could feel was the sensation of Chrysalis’s hoof being brought down once again onto his head, and feeling consciousness beginning to leave him.

“I won’t allow the last bit of me to be squashed like a bug, by another bug. It looks like I’m going to have to pull rank here.” Super Nova sighed, moving around in the blackness which was 64’s mind at the moment. Her hair began to burn brighter, her black charcoal armor began to redden and melt, and her eyes became a blinding white shining color.

As she began to change, the blackness around her also began to change. The black landscape began to glow a dark red color, as her magic began to mold with 64’s mind and body. His muscles augmented to withstand more tearing, and his bones were being blackened to the strength of volcanic rocks.

“You’ll thank me for this someday…” Super Nova commented, before finally unleashing the full extent of her magic into the air around her.

Chrysalis was about to bring her hoof back down onto the now bloody headed human, when she noticed that he began glow somehow. The back of his head was now beginning to glow with the bright red glow of magic, before it hardened to form a charred and black armor. The clothes of his body began to ignite in flames, as more fiery magic began to cover his skin.

Queen Chrysalis stepped back at the spectacle, her eyes widened at the strange occurrence. She was just about to completely crush 64’s skull, when all of a sudden he ignites in flames? Her victory was now diminished at the fact that 64, now covered in complete head to toe with molten rock armor, along with his hair now ignited in flames, was slowly beginning to stand up with no difficulty whatsoever.

“What is this?! Stay on the ground!” Chrysalis commanded, blasting a concussive spell at 64. He took the full blast head on, dust and ash clouding around him for a few moments. When it settled, 64 was revealed to now be standing completely upright, his eyes closed with his arms hanging limply at his sides. “What is Tartarus are you?!”

64 now opened his eyes, showing that instead of the deep and rich brown they normally were, they were replaced by a blinding white light. The room began to heat up to the point of unbearable, everypony in the room beginning to sweat due to the sweltering heat.

Celestia’s eyes widened as she recognized what had happened, and suddenly didn’t fear Chrysalis anymore. She feared what had become of 64.

64 turned his head with a almost peacefully slowness, but his eyes finally rested onto Ghost. With that, a deep growl was heard from within him, before a roar shook the room with the force of a small earthquake.

“YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT I AM!?” The being roared, fire already building up inside his chest and arms.

“I...AM...INFERNO!”

Author's Note

Longest chapter for the longest hiatus in the story.