Starswirl University

Chapter 9

Afterparty

Grey awoke half past six and decided to get ready for the party at Vinyl’s club. Grey selected a dark red collared shirt and black pants. As he ran a hand through his hair he heard a knock on his door. “It’s open.” Grey saw in the mirror that it was Eris. his eyes shrank when he saw that she was wearing a stunning gold, colored dress that shined in the light and went down to her mid thigh. A single strap went across her right shoulder to the center of the dress that was held by a silver ring that brought attention to her chest.

“You ready yet?” She asked as she walked forwards and checked her hair.

“For what?”

“The party, duh.”

“How did-” Eris held up the invite Pinkie had given him.

“We’re going to be late.” Grey rolled his eyes and knew there was no stopping her.

“Fine, but I need to talk to someone first.”

~~~

Shining Armor sat at his desk as he went through the personnel files of the dueling team. Shining stared down at the file with Grey’s name on it. The only info he had on the boy was his height, hair and eye color while he waited for his friend in the Canterlot records to get him some more information on the grey eyed mage. Cadence came out of the bathroom wearing a pink robe and a smile on her face.

“Hey honey.” She wrapped her arms around her husband and pecked him on the cheek. The man closed the file and touched his wife’s arm. The two heard a knock at the door. “Yes?” A guard entered the chambers and bowed.

“Sorry to disturb you sir and lady,” He said as he got to his knee. “but someone wants to see you. He’s waiting outside.” Shining sent the guard to escort the visitor to their chambers. The guard returned with the grey eyed man and Shining furrowed his brow.

“Terribly sorry if I’m disturbing you your majesty.” Grey said as he bowed to the pink winged woman.

“It is perfectly alright Grey.” She smiled.

“You’re too kind.” He smiled. “Might I have a word with Captain Armor?” Shining raised an eyebrow at the words. “If not now then I could come by later.”

“That will not be necessary.” Shining’s tone could cut through diamond. “Would you mind giving us a minute Cadence?”

“Of course.” She smiled. “Remember Grey, pages thirty-six to forty-eight.” Grey nodded as the Princess walked by him and went into her bedroom.

“Leave us.” The guard nodded and waited outside the door. Shining cracked his neck and folded his hands. “I’ve been meaning to speak with you.”

“First of all,” Grey said as he approached the desk. “I wish to apologize for my display before the fight this afternoon.” Shining was taken back by the words. “Secondly, I want to let you know why I did what I did.”

“Explain.” Grey checked his corners and leaned in so he can whisper.

“I have reason to believe that Blueblood paid Draco squad to throw the fight, safe for Heat.” Shining sat back and crossed his arms.

“Do you have any proof?” Grey bit his lip and sighed at the words.

“No, but I have a gut feeling about this one Armor.” Grey knew that the scrub he talked to wouldn’t dare cross Blueblood twice, or face Shining’s wrath. The captain stood up and paced back and forth.

“I can’t do anything without proof.”

“You believe me?”

“I’m stating a fact.” He said in a firm tone. “I’ll have to admit, Blueblood has been acting strange as of late.” Grey ran a hand through his black hair and sighed.

“We both want the same thing,” Shining looked at him in confusion. “to win the Crucible.” The Crucible, the biggest magic dueling competition in Equestria. People from all over the world train for it. The victors’ names are engraved in stone for all time and eternal glory await them. No one from the prestigious school had entered it in years.

Shining hoped to change that. “Blueblood sure as hell doesn’t care about winning it. Flaunts around his money like it’s some sort of right to treat people like dirt. Makes me sick.”

“Blueblood may be...difficult, but he’s strong. Not to mention Celestia’s nephew.” He grumbled at the last statement. “What’s your stake in this?”

“Other than winning?” The young mage sighed and ran a hand through his combed hair. “I grew up poor. I’ve seen people like Blueblood get away with a lot of shit just because they’ve got deep pockets.” Grey’s steely gaze intensified as the words left his lips.

“I’m not just gonna sit by and let him do as he pleases.” Shining had to admit that he’s heard stories of drug kingpins getting caught with twenty kilos of drugs and getting out on bail the same day. The system wasn’t perfect, no system is. Most of the time they pay the cops to turn a blind eye to their antics or they just don’t care. Shining was begin to understand why the young mage always gave him the evil eye every time he looked at him.

The captain also felt a bit of guilt for allowing the guards to become so corrupt. “I’ll admit, my brain was telling me to just handle this myself,” He let out a grumble before sighing. “but I figured Blueblood is a bit out of my league and you have the authority to take him down a couple notches if I get dirt on him. I can also see that you’re not like those deadbeat cops back home and won’t be swayed by his money, safe for a few, they’re useless.” Shining nodded at the compliment. Grey checked his watch and sighed. “Sorry coach, but I gotta party to get to. Think about it.”

Shining watched as Grey walked back outside his quarters and sat back in his chair as he folded his hands. He looked over to his right to see Cadence wearing a pink blouse and white pants. The man sighed and rubbed his temples. Shining grabbed the phone that sat on his desk and dialed the number for the Canterlot police headquarters. A friendly woman answered the phone and he asked to speak to the commissioner The tone rang until it reached the three until it was picked up.

“Hello?” A gruff voice said.

“Commissioner Iron Shield?”

“Yes, who is this?”

“Captain Shining Armor of the Royal Guard.” The Captain heard the man sputter whatever he was drinking and boots hitting against hardwood floor.

“Sir, how can I help you?”

“Commissioner, did you just salute me over the phone?” Cadence giggled at the question as a silence fell over the phone line.

“Um, yes?” Shining face palmed at the answer and sighed. He was never one for formalities especially since he now held the title of Prince since he married Cadence. “How can I help you sir?”

“I was hoping that you might be able to look up a person for me.” The captain stated in a commanding tone. “His name is Grey Newhope, twenty years old, black hair and silver eyes.”

“I’ll run a search through the system, course it’ll be a few hours. Things are kinda hectic at the moment.”

“Take your time Commissioner. I’m in no rush.” With that Shining hung up the phone.

~~~

Grey and Eris arrived in front of Vinyl’s club where a line a block long was already waiting to be let in. “Damn it.” Eris said with a grumble. Grey chuckled and approached the front where he saw Thunderlane keeping the mob at bay. Grey gave him a wave and the flyer waved them past all the other people.

“Hey Grey,” Thunder said as he shook his friend’s hand. “how’s it hanging?”

“Oh you know, slightly to the left.” The men shared a chuckled before Thunder set his eyes on Eris, which resulted in his wings extending. Grey rolled his eyes while the woman chuckled. “Thunderlane this is my roommate, Eris.”

“Roommate?” Thunder said to make sure he didn’t mishear the mage. Grey gave a nod. “Lucky.” He said as he remembered having Snowflake for a roommate.

“Not really.” The man then felt the girl’s hard fist hit his arm and grunted. Thunder grinned and let them both inside, much to the mob’s disapproval. Once inside the two were bombarded by electronic sounds and lasers moving to the beat.

“How did you do that?” Eris asked.

“Do what?” She motioned back towards Thunderlane. “Oh, I work the door at night sometimes. So I get in without the wait.” Eris frowned and got in the man’s face.

“Why didn’t you tell me!?” She was so close that grey felt her breast pressing against his chest. “I would’ve come here more often.”

“Why do you think I didn’t?” Eris pouted and folded her arms. Damn she looked cute like that. Grey shook his head and heard his name being called. The man looked over to see Neon and the other three mages sitting in a booth. The man made his way over to them and sat down next to Winter. “Where’s Roach?”

“Said he wasn’t feeling too good.” The ice mage yelled over the music.

“This place is awesome!” Neon said with a smile.

“Sounds like robots having an orgy.” Boulder grunted.

“At least the views nice.” Neon motioned towards Vinyl who was on the turntable.

“Pig.” Winter grumbled. Neon brushed the comment off and went back to staring at the spiky haired DJ.

“Wanna meet her?” Grey asked.

“You know her?”

“She’s my boss.” Neon and the others looked at him in confusion. Grey explained that eh worked as a bouncer some nights for the club. At the end of the song the two men weaved through the crowd and approached Vinyl’s table. “Hey Vi.” The DJ was wearing a white tank top with a large music note on it and an electric blue mini skirt that matched her hair.

“Sup dude, enjoying the party?”

“Yeah,” He then motioned towards Neon. “this is my friend Neon Lights.”

“H-hey.” He said with a gulp. As the two started talking Grey started to make his way back to the table only to be approached by a certain pink haired girl donning a nice pink sleeveless shirt and a pink skirt.

“Hey you made it!” Pinkie chimed. “Having fun?”

“Yeah, parties aren’t usually my scene,” Pinkie made a pouting face. “but I go on occasion.” She smiled at that and lead him back to where she and the other five girls were sitting. Unsurprisingly, Rarity and Fluttershy were chatting, more Rarity talking and Fluttershy pretending to hear her over the music. AJ and Dash were arm wrestling and Twilight had on a pair of headphones with a book in hand.

“Hello dear.” Rarity chimed as he sat down.

“Never thought you’d be in a place like this. Doesn’t seem like your scene.” Rarity pouted at him.

“Just because I am a lady doesn’t mean that I don’t like to let loose every once in a while.”

“Fair enough.” AJ had just slammed Dash’s arm against the table and ‘yee hawd’ in victory. Dash grunted and slammed back her drink. “Does she normally do that?” He pointed to the reading mage.

“Oh yeah.” Rainbow sighed. “You’d have an easier time of prying that hat of AJ’s head than separating Twilight from a book. Grey blinked at the expression and reached for the cow girl’s hat only to feel a vice like grip on his wrist.

“Don’t. You. Dare.” She said in a deathly serious tone.

“R-right sorry.” The girl let his arm go and he rubbed his wrist. “Any of you guys seen Eris?”

“I saw her at the bar earlier.” Pinkie chimed. Grey scanned the room and found the bar. He narrowed his eyes and saw her shimmering gold dress against the flashing lights. The woman was chatting with one Endzone’s goons, the one with the brown wings and the one that Grey managed to ditch in a hotdog cart. He saw him hand Eris a drink with something quickly dissolving in the bottom.

Like a snake, Grey shot up and weaved through the crowd and focused on his destination. As he reached out to intervene Eris slammed the drink back. As the flyer offered her another drink it was smacked out of his hand by the mage.

“That’s enough.” Grey said as he pushed him up against the bar.

“What the hell Grey!?” Eris yelled.

“This prick just drugged your drink.” At those words the music stopped and all eyes were on the three.

“Bullshit. I did nothing!” He yelled as he tried to shake Grey off him. The mage heard something hit the floor and looked down to see two bottles of pills. “Th-that’s medicine. I swear!”

“Really?” Grey waved his wand and a clone retrained the flyer as he picked up the bottles and read them aloud. “Rohypnol, Chloroform and,” He chuckled at the last one. “viagra.” He heard a few chuckles from the group. “Having trouble keeping it up?” Grey mocked. “relax happens to the best of us, well not me, but you? Yeah I can see that.” The flyer cursed at the words and slammed his elbow into the clone making it vanish.

As he tried to run he felt a strong arm grab his shoulder. “The fuck you think you’re going?” A hard fist collided with the man’s face. Grey staggered back and cracked his neck as he smirked. “Okay now I’m pissed.” The flyer gulped when he saw a large blue crack on his right cheek. Grey grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and head butted him. The flyer crumpled to the ground and groaned.

A thump brought Grey back to reality. Grey turned around and saw Eris knocked out on the floor. “Shit.” Grey sighed and picked her up bridal style as two police officers entered the establishment and the party broke up soon after they took witness statements. They took the flyer away in a police carriage. As Grey walked out with the still unconscious Eris in his arms he was stopped by one of the officers.

“Whoa buddy, what happened to her?” he asked as he looked at the girl.

“Roofie.” The cop raised an eyebrow. “I know what you’re thinking, but she’s my roommate.”

“Likely story.” He said as he crossed his arms. Grey rolled his eyes and noticed the six girls leaving the club.

“Hey Twi. Come over here for a second?” The bookworm and her five friends walked over to the two. “Isn’t Eris my roommate?”

“Yeah.” Twilight said as she looked at the officer.

“You trust him with this girl?”

“You bet!” Pinkie chimed. “Grey isn’t a creep that that other guy.”

“Plus if he tries anything.” The farmer stated. “We’ll personally drag his ass down to the station ourselves.” She cracked her knuckles as she looked at the man.

“Fine.” He said as he gave the farmer his business card. Grey and the girls made their way back to the school. The five girls went ahead of Grey, Twilight and Eris who was nuzzling the man’s chest. Grey also noticed that Twilight was staring at him.

“What?”

“Hm?”

“You’ve been giving me the stink eye for the past ten minutes. Why?”

“You’ve got a crack on your face.” She said as she looked at his right cheek. Grey opened his mouth to answer. “Don’t try to deny it. I’ve seen things like that before on you. So I suggest you start talking.” Twilight crossed her arms under her chest and raised an eyebrow.

“You’re not gonna leave me alone unless I do right?” She just gave a shrug. “you know what my magic does right?”

“You compress your magic into physical objects like those swords you used in the match today.”

“Correct, granted I can do a lot more than just that, but that’s for another time.” He cleared his throat. “I smother my body in my own magic and compress it to act as a shell.”

“Like armor?”

“Sort of. It’s far from indestructible, it can’t stop a bullet, it can redirect a blade if I see it coming.” He then motioned for Twilight to hold eris for a moment. She wrapped her in a telekinetic grip and levitated her off the ground. Grey waved his wand and Twilight saw the crack vanish.

“Won’t something like that use a lot of magic?”

“Oh yeah, big time. I use about half of my magic supply to just keep it up for day to day use.” Twilight’s jaw dropped.

“Why would you do that?”

“I like to push my limits. I can alter and repair the shell, but that in turn uses more magic.” The tow then heard Eris groan. Grey took her in his arms again, this time the woman had wrapped her arms around the man’s shoulders and snuggled against him. The action caused Grey to blush brightly. Silence wrapped the two students as they continued their way back towards the dorm.

As they approached their rooms Twilight spoke up. “I still have more questions.” she said with a pout.

“Twilight, it’s been a very long day, not to mention I have to put this one to bed or Discord will have my ass on a silver platter.” He groaned as he pulled out his wand and unlocked the door. “Mind if we pick this up tomorrow?”

“Fine, but if you ditch me then I’m telling my brother about the time you kissed me in the market.” Grey cringed at the thought of Shining throwing him in the slammer over a kiss.”

“Fine.” He groaned. An idea came to Grey and he grinned. “I’ll be looking forward to out date~” He teased.

“What!?” Both student looked down to the now fully awake Eris. Grey frowned as she threw on a toothy grin. Grey walked into the room and tossed her on the couch. “Ow! Jerk!”

“Why aren’t you knocked out?”

“Do you really think a weak drug like that would work on moi?” She said with a giggle.

“So why did I just haul your ass all the way up here?”

“I was tired.” She said in a little girl voice. Grey rolled his eyes and headed off to bed.

~~~

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna made their way through the school hallways headed towards Shining Armor’s private quarters. The sun goddess knocked a few times before the door opened to show the pink winged teacher. “Hey Aunt Celestia.” Cadence said with a smile.

“Good evening Cadence. I trust we aren’t interrupting anything?”

“Nope, c’mon in.” She held the door open for the two and led them inside. “What bring you two around here?”

“We are wondering where Shining Armor is.” Luna stated. Cadence nodded and lead them into Shining’s office where he had a few papers scattered on his desk. The azure haired man set the papers aside as he saw the Princesses.

“Princess Celestia, Princess Luna.” He said as he rose from his seat.

“Oh come now Shining. There’s no need for formalities among family.” Celestia said with a smile.

“Of course. Sorry Celestia.” He said as he cleared his throat. “What can I do for you?”

“We were wondering if you’ve turned up anything concerning Grey Newhope.” Celestia stated. As Shining was about to answer when the phone on his desk started to ring. He walked over and picked up the receiver.

“Hello?”

“Captain Armor? It’s Commissioner Iron Shield.” Shining smiled at the words and put him on speaker.

“Okay Commissioner, you’re on speaker with Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and Princess Cadence.” The group heard a yelp and stumbling.

“Your majesties!”

“Commissioner, did you salute over the phone?” Celestia asked.

“Yes, ma’am. How can I help you ma’am?”

“The information on Grey Newhope.” Shining stated with a sigh.

“Oh yes,” The group heard a few shuffling papers. “I ran his name through the system and I found absolutely nothing.”

“That’s good is it not?” The three looked at the Princess of the night. “He does not have a criminal record correct?”

“Perhaps I should have been more specific Princess, my apologies.” He cleared his throat. “I found nothing, no blood records, no finger prints, not even a birth certificate.” The four instructors in the room looked at one another in shock.

“So there’s no record of his background?”

“Princess, putting it bluntly, there’s no record that this kid even exists.” The four looked at one another in shock. “Is there anything else you can tell me about him?” The four thought and they realized they knew almost nothing about the young silver eyed mage. Almost nothing.

“Well, Grey said that he grew up in the Osiris.” Celestia sated.

“Oh, well that explains it.” Iron said with a groan.

“Care explaining?” Shining asked.

“Sir, that place has so many unregistered people that they could fill every room in ten five star Manehattan hotels.”

“Why’s that?” Cadence asked.

“Most of them can’t afford it and they’re not too big on paperwork.” A silence fell over the group. “Although, that name rings a bell. Newhope that is. I think it’s the name of an orphanage.”

“Grey mentioned that.” Celestia stated. “Might be worth looking into Commissioner.”

“Princess, with all due respect, I’ll have to enact the Commander Firewind act.” Celestia and Shining Armor looked at one another in shock.

“The what?” Cadence asked.

“During the Griffonian wars, three hundred years ago, Commander Firewind was a leader in the Equestrian Royal Guard.” Shining stated. “He foolishly sent his men into a deathtrap and they were massacred, while he fled. He was tried, courtmartialed and executed. The act states that a soldier, or officer of the law can refuse a direct order from a CO if there is undeniable proof that men will die for no logical reason.”

“Exactly. The Osiris is one big hot zone, one I want to keep myself and my men out of at all costs.”

“It’s that bad?” Cadence asked.

“Princess have you ever seen the Osiris? You’ll never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.” The four looked at one another in confusion. “I apologize m’lady, but I have other duties to attend to.”

“It’s no trouble Commissioner. Thank you for your help.” The line disconnected and the four were left with even more questions than answers.