Dark Age of Time

Chapter 2.

Dawn came across Equestria as the shop owners awoke to a partly cloudy sky that looked like it was on fire. For Whiskey, it was just another day and he would sleep past the early morning due to him being even more tired than he had originally thought. Some hours after dawn, he rolled over in his soft bed, snoring loudly, and pulled the other pillow close. The thick bear pelt blanket kept the zebra warm, almost too warm.

In the hall outside his room, a pair of small hooves walked towards the striped pony's door. Ruby, the light yellow earth pony that had filled his bath, gently slid a key into the door and unlocked it as quietly as she could, cringing slightly as the tumblers clicked into position almost too loudly. Strung over her shoulder was the stranger's clothes. She had been up the whole night trying to clean them and had hoped he would pay for it.

Ruby glanced up and down the small dark hallway one more time before stepping inside the room and quietly shut the door. She took a quick look around the modest room and noted the stranger's lack of equipment or gear. All she saw was a tiny pile of bits on the nightstand next to the bed and a small elliptical container, with a metal device nearby that she remembered belonging to blacksmiths.

Slowly, Ruby took one quiet step after the other over to the bed. She folded the clothes and quietly set them on the nightstand. Ruby looked over at the door wondering, 'should I wake him? What if he gets mad? No, I can't. But it is late...'

She looked over at the sleeping striped pony and placed a hand on his shoulder, gently shaking him side to side. "Mister? It's past dawn. Hey mister, wake up."

Whiskey mumbled in his sleep and slapped at the thing touching him, but when he heard her voice, his eyes snapped open. Revealing a blurry light yellow face and a dark red mane filling his vision. He slowly sat up while looking around the room for actual intruders, but found none beyond the small earth pony. "How did you get in here?" Whiskey asked as he looked over at the filly. His tone was annoyed and his voice was groggy, nearly sounding like a croak.

Ruby looked down at the floor unsure of what to say or even if she should say anything to the striped one. She had no idea who he was and he could have an angry reaction if she lied. But, with a deep breath and a nod, Ruby slowly brought her gaze to meet his bright pink eyes. "I... I have a key, and I thought ya wanted to be woken sometime today. Ya missed breakfast at dawn and it's nearly lunch time."

Whiskey ran a hand through his wild mane, yawning quietly. As he looked down, he remembered something. The complete lack of clothes under the fur blanket. His pink eyes darted over to the earth pony, then the stuff on the nightstand. When he saw his brown coveralls folded up, he frowned. "Why are my clothes there and not where I left them?"

"I came in after ya went to bed and cleaned 'em as best I could." Ruby nodded as if to assure herself that, that was what she did.

Whiskey pulled the coveralls over and mentally counted how many bits he saw, coming up with the same figure he had last night. He then looked at the filly and said, "turn around and close your eyes."

Ruby wordlessly complied, turning around so her back was to him and looking down with her eyes shut. "Why do you have stripes?" she asked quietly.

Whiskey began to pull his coveralls on and thought over her question. He knew the answer, but assumed by the question that the filly didn't. Whiskey stood up, zipping the front of his coveralls closed. "Because my parents had stripes," he said as he started pocketing everything. "You can look now."

Opening her eyes, Ruby turned around and looked up at the strange pony. "Why?"

"Because Celestia made them that way."

"Who?" Ruby tilted her head, an ear twitching a little at the soft sound of hooves walking on wood in the hallway.

Whiskey looked over at the door as well, also hearing the hooves. "Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria, and sun mover."

"There's no pony like that!" Ruby giggled, quickly shaking her head.

"I'm sorry, but I can't stay and chat. I need to get to the crystal palace," Whiskey said as he tried to walk around the fully known as Ruby.

She quickly stepped in front of him, blocking his path, and said, "what's a crystal palace?"

Whiskey brought a hand up and rubbed his forehead with a deep sigh. "It's a palace made of pure crystal in the north."

Ruby tilted her head. "What's a palace?"

"A big fort where a queen lives."

"What's a fort and who's a queen?" Ruby tilted her head the other way and side stepped to block the striped visitor's path again.

"Look, foal, I don't have time to educate you when your parents clearly haven't. I need to go right now!" A faint creak outside his door caused Whiskey to tilt his head a little and whisper to Ruby, "who's out there?"

Ruby glanced at the door and shrugged. "Dunno. Ponies going to and from the bar?"

Whiskey stared at the door for a few moments and then down at Ruby with a frown, partly wondering if it was ponies hired to stop him. "Maybe..."a

Ruby held her hand out, smiling up at the strange pony. "Five bits, please."

It took a few moments for Whiskey to comprehend that she had just asked for payment on something. The whole time he was staring at her and blinking. Then, it slowly dawned on him like a slap to the face, causing him to take a step back. "Payment for cleaning my clothes?" he asked. Ruby nodded, keeping her smile. "Fine," Whiskey sighed. He dug around in his pocket for a few moments before pulling out five bits.

He dropped four into her outstretched hand and kept the fifth, causing Ruby to frown. "Please...? I don't get paid for what I do downstairs."

"What's your name?"

"Ruby Flower," she replied with a nod. "My folks were killed by bandits 'n Mister Taps raised me. But he never told me about them ponies you talk about."

Whiskey glanced over at the door again, keeping the last bit just above her hand. "Ruby, those ponies in plate armor that were staring at me last night. Are they still here?"

She nodded with a wide smile, "yes! They asked me on my way up if I had seen you leave, but I said 'how could a pony leave without his pants? He'd be naked an' ponies can't be naked now can they?'."

With a silent hiss and a glare at the door, Whiskey let go of the remaining bit, dropping it into Ruby's yellow hand. "So they're downstairs then. Is there another way out?"

Ruby closed her fist around the bits pointed a finger at the nearby window. "I heard of ponies in stories escapin' a place through a window, but I ain't never seen it first hand before." Whiskey looked over at the closed window for a few moments, then the door again, and finally Ruby. She smiled up at him. “Ain’tcha gonna go out the window?”

Whiskey pulled out his wrench and looked at it. "Hm..."

*** ***

A plate armored pony kicked the zebra's door in and ran in with his sword out, the other two ponies followed close behind. As they spread out and looked for the striped pony, they soon found out that he had vanished into thin air like a ghost. One of them slowly sheathed his sword and asked, "where's the filly? She was supposed to be here!"

Ruby skipped along behind Whiskey with a grin. "That was so cool! It was like a Daring Do book!"

Whiskey, however, was not amused. He looked back at Ruby with a frown and stopped. She also stopped and smiled up at him, clearly suppressing a giggle that caused Whiskey to facepalm. "Foal, please go back to the bar."

"Nu-uh," she shook her head. "I want to see what you are doing!"

A few poorly dressed ponies passed by the pair and looked at the odd zebra before going on their way. Whiskey didn't care, he was used to the looks, but he had no idea where he was or even when. For all he knew, he could have been thrown back in time, which he assumed to be the likely outcome.

Whiskey pointed back towards the Drunken Mare with his finger and glared down at Ruby. "Go home. I don't want you following me."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want you to!" Whiskey shouted. Ruby began to pout, the black part of her eyes slowly grew bigger as they teared up. Whiskey's ears folded back at the sight. "Don't... Don't cry." Ruby's lips began trembling, causing Whiskey to facepalm and mutter, "fine... Only to the gate."

"Yay!" Ruby instantly grinned at her success.

Whiskey groaned at having fallen for the trick, then turned around and resumed walking towards Warmare's. He and Ruby walked along without further complaints, but Ruby kept looking up at the zebra's tail and tilting her head. "Why is your tail two colors?"

Whiskey rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Why is your tail red?"

"Because it is!" Ruby giggled.

"Then you answered your own question," Whiskey said as he walked around a pony that eyed him curiously because of the stripes and odd voice tone.

Ruby frowned and skipped along.

Back at the bar, Fell Hoof pulled the bartender across the bar by the collar of his shirt and placed a sword against the back of the pony's neck. The bartender shut his eyes when he felt the cold steel pressed against his neck and waited for the inevitable.

It never came. Instead, Fell Hoof asked, "where is the filly?"

"What?" the bartender blinked and stared down at the armored hooves of the pony.

"What ain't a location!" Fell Hoof growled and pressed the blade further into the bartender's neck, drawing a little blood as it broke the skin. "The filly that works here. Where is she?!" he shouted.

"I don't know!" the bartender shouted as he shut his eyes. "She runs off in the mornings to go run errands for ponies around town!"

Fell Hoof pulled the blade away and took a step back, keeping the tip of the sword point aimed at the bartender. The other ponies in his small band kept their eyes out for trouble, but no pony dared to get close to any in full plate armor. All of the patrons had cleared out shortly after the swords were drawn and the only worker in the bar was the bartender, an old stallion well past his adventuring days.

However, the batwing doors slowly opened and a pony wearing hooded robes with a massive broadsword made of bone walked into the bar. Adorning the sky blue robes were various gold chains with symbols attached to them and small pony skulls with smaller chains linking them to the belt. On the figure's right side was a thick leather bound tome with an embossed gold skull on it, the figure's left carried the bone broadsword adorned with various inscriptions along the blade and a small dragon head with bright gems replacing the eyes for a pommel.

Fell Hoof and his cronies glanced over at the figure and took a step back as the pony rested the tip of the sword on the ground and looked over at the nearest armored pony. The robed pony sniffed the air for a few moments and shut its eyes, taking in all of the various scents with a faint smile that was invisible to the others. All Fell Hoof could see was the pony's masked muzzle. "We got no quarrel with you," he said to the figure.

"Ah," the figure began in a masked voice that did not reveal its gender. "But that is where you are wrong." The robed pony held its gloved right hand up, revealing that it was clutching some parchment, and tossed the parchment over to the leader.

Fell Hoof picked up the paper and slowly read it before crumpling it into a ball. "And?"

"I hate Hunters," the figure replied in its indistinguishable voice. "I could smell your filth before I even set a hoof near the gate. I want you three gone before I make you disappear."

"There's three of us and only one of you," Fell Hoof said. "I think the odds are in our favor."

The figure pointed a finger at Fell Hoof as the palm of its hand and the gems in the dragon head's eyes began to glow, a ball of energy started forming in the figure's palm as its fingertips started to turn into bones. "Last chance to leave before I add your skulls to my collection."

Meanwhile, a completely oblivious Whiskey walked up the steps of Warmare's, a small two story shop with a forge out front. Inside the shop was a counter with a sleeping old unicorn. Around her sat various weapons on racks ranging from simple wood staves to ornate ceremonial muskets. A few displays showcased suits made from chain mail or thick linen, but no plate. Dirt lined the floor and, by the depressions in the floor,  one could see the room was well traveled.

Whiskey walked over to a shelf with gloves on them and picked up a leather bracer, slowly turning it over to inspect the stitching. Ruby, however, smiled as she skipped over to the counter, around it, and started to slowly pull a dagger out of its sheathe.

The unicorn snorted awake and glared over at Ruby. "Put that back you thieving foal!"

Ruby squeaked, quickly sheathing the dagger and scrambling to the front of the counter. Whiskey glanced over with a frown, setting the bracer back down before slowly walking over to the counter. The blacksmith looked over at the zebra and tilted her head, but shrugged.

Ruby tapped the counter and said, "I need to pick up an order for Stone Gazer."

The unicorn stretched her back, shutting her eyes, and yawned as it popped. "Oh? Stoney's order was ready last night. It's that sword there," she pointed at a polished steel sword on a rack. Ruby went over to it and pulled it down along with the sheathe, then used the belt loop to carry it on her back.

Whiskey tilted his head at Ruby and it finally clicked that she wasn't following him, but picking up an order for a pony. He nodded at Ruby before looking at the shopkeeper. "Tell me, what year is it?"

"Spell traveller, huh?" The unicorn scratched her chin some while she thought over the question. The others in the room merely stood there awaiting the response, which took the unicorn some time. "About seventy years since the fall of the kingdom and the Sisters vanished."

"What?" Whiskey's eyes widened in shock as his mouth dropped. He wobbled a little bit before collapsing into a sitting position, leaving his hands on the counter. Whiskey shut his eyes and shook his head. "No... This can't be! I... I was hired by the Crystal Queen last week to fly her airship!"

The unicorn nickered and shook her head. "Ain't that some bad luck. Well, you're here and I presume you have bits to make a purchase?"

"Huh?" Whiskey looked up at the unicorn in clear confusion and on the verge of collapse from shock. He teetered a bit in place as Ruby walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder, drawing his attention to her. "I didn't know..."

Ruby pat Whiskey's shoulder and smiled. "Now you know. But I don't know what you don't know, so it's okay!"

"Do you want to buy something?" The old unicorn asked the striped pony.

"Um..." Whiskey slowly looked around the room and nodded. "I would like some armor and maybe a weapon. I've a long trip ahead of me it seems and will need protection."

*** ***

A backpack. That was all Whiskey could afford with the rest of his twenty bits. A simple two strap leather backpack big enough to hide Ruby in if she wanted to play hide and seek.

The zebra's gaze went down to Ruby. Her long green dress nearly touched the ground and the sword on her back was just barely above the ground. Ruby' gaze was scanning all of the nearby buildings including the gate, which a pair of cloth uniformed guards stood at. Not far from the blacksmith's shop was a market. To the right was the rest of the town and to the left was one of Waremare's apprentice blacksmiths making a dagger.

"Where are you going to go?" Ruby asked, slowly rising her gaze to meet Whiskey's. "Didn't you say you couldn't stay and talk?"

"Yeah," Whiskey nodded some. His gaze went over to the pony in thick clothes with a thick apron over them. The pony was busy hammering the dagger's blade into submission and had their back to Whiskey. "But now... I don't know. It seems like my job is a failure, but I want to head for the castle anyway."

Ruby shrugged and started skipping off towards a building across from Warmare's. Not knowing any other pony in town, Whiskey followed along behind the filly as she started humming a merry tune. Ruby skipped past the buildings and headed for one almost a city block away marked 'Phantom's Apothecarium'.

The buildings was a small stone and wood hut with the image of a partially filled bottle leaning over as it poured into another bottle. Whiskey tilted his head and wondered what Ruby could be doing there.

His answer came when she opened the door and pulled a small lock of his two-tone mane out, causing Whisky to instinctively feel the back of it where it was probably cut. Ruby opened the door to the shop and skipped inside.

A pony almost as purple as a plum was sitting down at a table with various vials around him. Adorning his head was a straw hat and thick gloves covered his hands. A black robe was bunched up and partly covered with an apron so anything spilled didn't get on it. He didn't notice the others when they entered.

"Phantom!" Ruby shouted, causing the pony to start in surprise and spill the whole vial into the partially filled one as his smaller than average wings flared out with a pop. Any concoction he had been working on instantly burst into flames and smoke. Ruby covered her smile and suppressed a giggle as Phantom quickly doused the mixture with a thick cloth.

He started dabbing it dry and glared over at Ruby, folding his wings back under the fold in his robe. "You know better than that! These potions are very... who's that with you?" He tilted his head when he finally noticed the zebra with Ruby.

"Whiskey," he said with a nod, stepping around Ruby towards another table and a set of chairs. "I'm new in town and Ruby was showing me around."

"I brought you a part of his mane!" Ruby held the lock of hair out and smiled. "Maybe you can make me striped too!"

Whiskey rolled his eyes before sitting in one of the chairs. Phantom gently took the hair and set it into a jar, sealing it tight with a clasp lock. "Ruby, transformation magic like that is dangerous and requires a lot of ingredients. Just a mane sample isn't enough and you probably wouldn't like the result."

"Why not?" Ruby frowned.

"Why not just paint them on with soot?" Whiskey mumbled to himself. The others didn't hear him because he was on the other side of the small room.

"Ruby, why are you interrupting me?" Phantom sighed, rubbing his temples.

"Papa needs some more firewater cure," she replied.

Phantom sighed. He pointed over at a large cabinet filled with all manner of potions over by Whiskey. "Over there. It's labeled 'aspirin' with three pills on top."

Whiskey glanced at the cabinet as Ruby skipped over and started to dig through the bottles. Upon getting an idea, he looked over at Phantom. "Do you know of any job openings? I spent all of my bits."

Phantom leaned back, scratching his chin in thought. "Hm... You could try dancing at the inn. An exotic looking-"

"No," Whiskey glared at Phantom. "You can burn that idea."

Phantom shrugged as Ruby picked up the right jar and said, "found it!"

"I'll send the bill later," Phantom said to Ruby. He looked at Whiskey again. "There might be work around town if you ask. Somehow Ruby always finds some."

"Yep!" She smiled and nodded.

*** ***

As Whiskey and Ruby approached the bottom floor of a two story wooden building marked Ground Floor General Goods, the two of them could hear muffled shouting.

Ruby was about to grab the handle when Whiskey's striped hand engulfed the filly's tiny hand and pulled it away, causing her to look up at him in clear confusion. "Peppy always yells at her help," Ruby said, frowning some as the confusion cleared off her face.

Whiskey took a slow glance around the town, that seemed too quiet, before looking down at Ruby. "Are you sure?" She nodded slowly, to which Whisky let go of her hand. "Alright, but at the first sign of trouble you run. Okay?"

"Okay!" Ruby nodded and opened the door.

"-I don't want it here any longer!" the old unicorn mare from gate last night shouted at another, much younger, pony. "You get that box out of my shop. Do ya hear me?

"Yes, ma'am," the pony nodded.

The old pony from the night before wore the same garb she had then, a simple robe covering most of her figure while her assistant wore just pants and a shirt. Whiskey stepped into the room behind Ruby and whispered, "which is Peppy?" Ruby pointed a finger at the unicorn. "Of course."

Peppy turned around to face the door, having heard the bell. She smiled at the sight of Ruby and Whiskey as the two of them covered the short distance to the counter. The shop was your average goods store that looked like it sold junk to any pony to walk in; filled shelves upon filled shelves lined the wall and part of the room's center. Next to her sat a box about the size of a very large tome.

"I see the lone traveller has graced my presence," Peppy said with a smile, slowly placing a hand on the box. "Sleep well at the Drunken Mare?"

"Yeah," Whiskey nodded. Ruby skipped over to a shelf and started pulling things down much to the annoyance of the assistant, who rushed over and started putting everything back as fast as he could. Whiskey looked at Peppy's hand for a few long moments, before looking into her eyes. "I'm out of bits and looking for work."

The statement caused Peppy's lips to curl up as the old mare chuckled. "I figured the measly amount of bits wouldn't last you." She pat the box with her hand and smirked. "Tell you what. I just happen to have a jo-"

"Hey!" the assistant shouted at Ruby as she stuck a sucker in her mouth and skipped away. "Get back here you thief!"

"Let her alone!" Peppy shouted at her assistant before he could chase the diminutive pony. Ruby skipped up to the counter and set a bit down, which Peppy took and placed in a bag without looking down at Ruby because her gaze was locked on her assistant. "Grab a broom and start sweeping."

Whiskey waited patiently for Peppy. He looked down at Ruby and tilted his head when he noticed she was looking up at him and holding another sucker out. "For me?" Whiskey asked quietly in some surprise.

"Yep!" Ruby nodded.

"Thanks." Whisky took the sucker and placed it into one of his pockets. "I'll eat it later."

"Right," Peppy began as she slid the box over and opened it, causing Whiskey's eyes to widen in complete shock. "I want this box, and its contents, to be delivered to Fortune City. You will not give the box to any other pony, you will guard the box with your life, and if you succeed. I'll pay you fifteen hundred bits and give you a sword that was once wielded by a captain of Celestia's personal guard. It’s claimed to have heavily wounded the changeling queen in a battle before she disappeared."

Whiskey closed his mouth at the same time Peppy shut the box and regained his composure. "Why me?"

"Because you're not from here and I know a mercenary when I see one. And judging by your reaction, you know exactly what the contents are." Whiskey slowly nodded his reply and said nothing. "Exactly my point. Now what do you say?"

Whiskey scratched his chin in thought for a long moment. He didn't know where Fortune City was, but planned to ask, and it wasn't as if he had any other choice. None of the other jobs he had found were worth as much as the one Peppy offered. Whiskey took a quick breath and said, "how do you know I won't simply run off with the bits and box?"

"You're a merc, right?" Peppy asked with a tilt of her head.

"Privateer actually," Whiskey corrected her.

"I didn't know you had a ship," Peppy replied dryly. "Did your crew decide to throw a mutiny and toss you overboard?"

Whiskey rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Not exactly. I was thrown forward in time. My ship is long gone by now."

"There are some birds still in the air from before the war, so there's a good chance yours might be around. The point stands. I assume you’re a stallion of your word based off your… shady profession. Can’t get much work if you constantly go back on your contracts."

Whiskey nodded before snapping his fingers when he thought of something and pointed at Peppy's horn. "You can open a portal and-"

"Fuck. That." Peppy glared at Whiskey, cutting his sentence off and causing his ears to fold back. "I wouldn't trust the chaos realm with this box for one second. You're using conventional means."

Whiskey slowly ran his hand through his wild mane and scratched behind his ears, thinking over the job again. "Where's this Fortune City?"

"In the sky."

There was a few seconds of silence before Whiskey asked, "come again?"

"Did I stutter? For a second I thought we were negotiating, but now it's so quiet you can hear a mouse fart. Fortune City is in. The. Sky."

"You mean Cloudsdale was renamed?"

Peppy shook her head. "Cloudsdale? No. Fortune City was a joint project before and during the war to build a flying city of stone and steel. It still flies thanks to earth pony engineering and pegasus magic, but the buyer for the box is there. All you have to do is get to one of the waypoints along its route and charter a taxi ride up, if a dragon doesn't try to eat you."

Whiskey looked at the box with a frown at the new information. "I see why it's still here. That sounds..."

"Suicidal," the assistant added in, receiving a glare from Peppy. He quickly went back to work sweeping the wooden floor. Ruby was sitting on a chair clicking her hooves together and humming a song, still not having delivered the sword yet as it was her second to the last stop.

Whiskey took a deep breath and looked at Peppy, sticking his hand out. "Half the bits now and half after delivery, sword too."

"Deal," Peppy smirked and firmly shook Whiskey's hand. She looked at her assistant and shouted, "oi, you. Get the bits."

"So who am I delivering the box to?" Whiskey asked as the assistant walked across the room to a safe.

Peppy shrugged. "Some pony I don't know the name of, but I imagine you'll know who to give it too when you get there."