Blaze the Pony Tale

Late the next morning, Watcher’s eyes slowly began to creak open. The ashy-gray unicorn felt strangely rested yet wiped. Despite sleeping like a rock, there was a dull ache in Watcher’s bones, the kind one felt after a long day’s work.

As wakefulness washed away groggy somnolence, the stallion became aware of pressure upon his forelegs, and at each of his sides, and he realized… he was not alone in bed. That realization alone all but jolted him awake though he managed to stay still. Before peering out the corners of his eyes.

A confusion of elation and stupor nearly blanked out Watcher’s mind as he was stunned to see Nyra and Star both in bed with him, cuddled up to his sides, each of them looking so beautifully peaceful.

In bed. Together. With him in the middle.

A stirring in his loins restored his cognition as Watcher thought, Oh, Mother Faust, if this is a dream I never wanna wake up!

Meanwhile, Midnight, Macintosh, Thunderlane, and even Narbus were all enjoying breakfast. After their rescuing of Watcher last night and the regrettable putting down the tarred victims, Midnight had led everyone to a safehouse, one of many he’d established for the Brotherhood to use in Manehatten.

The safehouse was located in one of the older apartment buildings of the city, not busy and popular, but one that was still moderately successful. The landlord of the building was one of those “as long as you keep up on rent I don’t care what you do” sorts, although Midnight (through one of his Hoods) had basically bought and paid for this apartment, and then ensorcelled it with many manners of protections and enchantments that misdirected unwanted attention.

After leading everyone here, Midnight had instructed for Watcher to be laid down for a good night’s sleep after having him drink a healing elixir to take care of any injuries or damages to his well-being after all he’d been through yesterday.

Nyra and Star had both insisted on staying with him, and Watcher had been too zonked out from exhaustion and the elixir to protest. Even so, Midnight had discreetly placed an alert charm in the room to let him know when Watcher woke up, and his horn tingled, letting the sapphire stallion know the patient had woken up.

His ears perked when before long, things started to happen in that bedroom, and Midnight smirked to himself before turning his attention back to enjoying breakfast with everyone.

Midnight had shared the other bedroom with Thunderlane (in separate beds) while Mac had crashed on the couch and Narbus was content on the living room floor. Before hitting the sack, Midnight had tasked some trusted Hoods to continue monitoring the situation.

Although they’d rescued Watcher, Malice and Atom Nucleus remained at large, and they were undoubtedly still scheming something.

Mac and Thunderlane had cooked breakfast, welcoming the distraction of cooking to take their minds off recent events. Even so, all that had transpired still bothered them, and they wondered, what now?

“This isn't over.” All eyes at the table turned to Midnight, who propped his chin onto his hoof in contemplation, his eyes furrowed as he gazed downwards.

“Malice and Atom Nucleus are planning something, last night was just a distraction to keep up occupied while they slipped away.”

The earth pony, pegasus, and diamond dog shared concerned looks before Mac asked, “So then, wha’ in Haydes’re they gonna do, Midnight? We ain’t got an idea on where they’ve gone.”

“Or even what they may want to do with that tar other than turn more innocent ponies into monsters,” added Thunderlane.

“Malice… he is crrruelerr than crrruel,” Narbus growled apprehensively, “He not care who he hurrrt… as long as he gets what he wants.”

“In other words, he is a stallion devoid of conscience,” nodded Midnight, “but he’s still an assassin for hire. Watcher said as much about Malice and his followers.

“So the question is, what’s the job Malice is working to fulfill? The tar is just the method, but what’s the endgame of it?”

At that moment, a commotion of sorts drew their attention the the door of the bedroom where Watcher and the mares had spent the night. Followed by muffled words that sounded upset, tense, no one was sure. But a few minutes later, Nyra and Star both emerged, looking peeved, to put it lightly, followed by a bummed and guilty-looking Watcher.

“Er… good morning, everyone,” Watcher said a bit meekly, noticing the guys all looking at him.

They shared a look, but seeing the moods Watcher, Nyra, and Star were each in, well, it was a strong indication that they shouldn’t ask.

“Ooh, are those waffles?” Star perked up and joined everyone at the table, followed by Nyra and then Watcher.

Although he chose to sit apart from the mares, both of whom gave him a light stink eye as they prepared their plates, and Mac politely poured them coffee and orange juice.

“Good morning to you all as well,” Midnight said kindly, with a tone neutral yet benign, before it changed as he asked, “We were just discussing Malice and Atom Nucleus. I apologize for getting right into it after you all just woke up, but we need to figure out what their next move could be.”

Hearing the concern in Midnight’s tone that time, Watcher shared a reluctant look with Nyra and then Narbus. The zebra mare sighed, before she explained, “Malice received a job to acquire a sample of tha tar, and originally… the job was assigned to Watcher.”

Watcher shifted in his seat uncomfortably, but Nyra went on, “When that didn’t pan out, Malice sent me instead. After acquiring the sample, the job continued, and Atom Nucleus was brought into the equation.

“At first, we thought the client was Mr. Winkle. But it turns out, he’s acting on behalf of someone else. The actual client remains anonymous to us, even to Malice.”

“But what’s the goal?” prodded Midnight. “Experimenting on the tar, infecting ponies with it…”

“...to create some kind of army,” Nyra answered with woe, “an army to wage war against the world.”

Midnight, Mac, Thunderlane, and Star shared troubled looks, before Midnight asked again, “Is there anything else any of you can tell us? About the tar, Malice, Atom, Winkle, whatever they may be up to next?”

“I’m not sure if this’ll help…” All eyes turned to Watcher, and the feeling in the room sank as they saw the stallion. The way he hung his head, the look in his eyes, the sound of his voice, as he uttered, “But… it was a nightmare.

“It was like… watching an image, flashing, like one of those old-time projectors. All you can do is watch... and do nothing as your own body is made to do... horrible things. You want to scream... but you can't find your voice. You want to cry... but the tears won't come out. And everything feels so... cold..."

"Watch..." Star whispered in concern, Nyra looking to Watcher with concern that was mixed with guilt.

"And all you feel inside... is fear... anger... hate...!" Watcher went on, shuddering as he recalled every haunting detail, "And all you can do is lash out at whatever you see as the source of it, your mind... overcome with a twisted... enjoyment of the damage you cause, the hurt you inflict..."

It made Midnight's heart hurt to see his cousin like this. Part of him wished to assure Watcher that he didn't have to keep going, but another felt like he had to. To let Watcher get this out, to find a way to make sense of what had happened to him by sharing it. A few questions sprang to mind, but he chose not to voice them, so Watcher could work through the malaise himself.

"I remember... Malice... the psycho doctor..." Watcher held his head, scrunching his eyes closed as he tried to piece it all together, "So much pain... I remember attacking you all. Especially you, Midnight...

"I didn't want to, but... there was something in me that did!" Watcher finally began to tear up, sounding ashamed as he went on, "I tried... so hard to make it stop! But then, I saw strange images in my mind, they distracted me... then... I heard..."

Watcher finally lifted his face up, and they all saw the stains of his tears trailing down his face, as he looked at Nyra and Star.

The miffed feelings were shoved aside as the two mares went over to give Watcher the warmest tender hugs they could, which he welcomed with tearful appreciation, snrrking his nose as it started to run.

Midnight waited a moment, giving his cousin time to enjoy the comfort of the two mares at his sides, before saying most solemnly, “I’m sorry that this happened to you, Watcher.

“Especially after what happened… back in that tower,” Midnight lowered his gaze, recalling that harrowing experience and the cost of their survival. Taking a deep breath, Midnight furrowed his brows and lifted his eyes to see Watcher regarding him with hesitant curiosity, “But we still have a job to do, a duty to ensure that what happened to you and all those other ponies does not happen to anyone else.”

Standing up from the table, Midnight moved towards the window, to gaze upon the city. Seeing the endless traffic of ponies, living the big and busy city life, going to and fro, caught up in the fast-paced chaos of their metropolitan lifestyle, blissfully unaware of the threat that yet loomed over them all.

“Malice and Atom Nucleus remain at large, and there is no doubt in my mind that their true plans are yet to unfold. I don’t know what they aim to do or when they will do it, but we must find them, and we must put a stop to it. Before anypony else becomes the next victim of that vile tar…”

Watcher looked at his younger cousin, and for the first time since reuniting with him, the dark gray unicorn saw not an alicorn prince but a pony who felt the burdens of leadership and duty upon his shoulders.

And to think… he’s been doing this since he was 18, the unicorn thought. Sighing, he gently patted Star and Nyra’s hooves to tell them he was okay, and then stood up to go over to the side of his cousin.

Looking out the window as Midnight did, Watcher searched his feelings and shuffled his thoughts, before finding his voice, “When this is over, I don’t just want a vacation, I want paid-leave.”

“Heheh, absolutely,” Midnight regarded his cousin with brotherly love and held up his hoof, Watcher smiling as he met his cousin halfway for their hoofbump.

Seeing the two stallions finding strength in standing together and their familial love, the others (Macintosh, Thunderlane, Star N’ Stripe, Nyra, and Narbus), all shared a good-natured smile as they felt their own spirits uplifted.

But then Narbus pointed out, “Prrrroblem… no idea where Malice go.”

Huffing out his nostrils softly, Midnight nodded, “He’s right. Manehatten is huge, and even with all the Hoods I have stationed throughout the city, finding them could take weeks, longer if they’ve gone to ground or fled the city entirely.”

“If only we had some kind of clue as to what Malice and the mad doctor intend with that tar,” Star leaned back in her chair, pondering.

A thought crossed Watcher’s mind, and he was reluctant to bring it up. Only the severity of the situation prompted him, and so he said, “I’m… not sure if this means anything, but…

“When I was… tarred,” Watcher kept it together, refusing to shudder, choosing to be strong, before going on, “even though I was… barely able to understand what was going on around me, or… what I was doing… sometimes I got… flashes.”

“Flashes?” Thunderlane echoed.

“Flashes or… images in my mind, messed up as it was throughout the whole thing,” Watcher closed his eyes, “I didn’t really get what I saw, but… the last thing I did, before coming out of it, before Star and Nyra… saved me.”

Watcher looked back to the two mares he loved, smiling at them with deepest appreciation and they returned his smile with smiles of love, before Watcher said, “I can… recall seeing some kind of… building, a-a skyscraper? It wasn’t clear, but… for some reason it felt kinda familiar.”

It was then that Midnight recalled something from last night. Something he came across when he’d entered that old pharmaceuticals building, but everything else that happened had nearly made that detail completely slip his mind.

“Watcher…” Midnight said with subtle woe as he lit up his horn and conjured a semblance of perhaps the most famed skyscraper in all of Manehatten, “Did the skyscraper look like this?”

Gazing upon it, Watcher’s eyes widened with recognition before they turned to Midnight in confused inquiry, and Midnight answered, “At the place where we… found you, I saw a blueprint of this building. I didn’t think much of it at first and, honestly, a buckload happened before I could wonder about it any further.”

“So, you’re saying that’s where they’ve gone,” Watcher looked back out the window, Midnight doing the same, and their lines of sight moved past the nearby buildings, billboards, water towers, to the skyscrapers in the distance.

To the one in particular, to the tallest skyscraper in the entire city, a feat of architectural achievement.

The Empony State Building.

“Huh, Malice always did like to think big,” Watcher commented, “But why? It’s one of the busiest places in the entire city, thousands of ponies and foreign visitors pass through its doors on a daily bas…is…!”

It was then it dawned on Watcher, as it did for the others, as he looked to his cousin and saw Midnight was thinking the same thing.

“Watcher and Nucleus want to make an army? They unleash that tar on everyone in that building,” Midnight furrowed his brows, “that’s what they’ll get.”

“Welp,” Thunderlane spoke up, “we know the ‘where’, but what about the ‘when’?”

“Thunder’s right,” Star agreed, “Malice could strike at any time!”

“Malice isn’t one to just strike at the opportune time, he’s calculative,” Nyra interjected, all eyes turning towards her. “ He always thinks about the execution and reactions of everyone involved. That's why he leads us.”

"Led us. Past tense, Ny..." Everyone turned to Watcher, and they saw a stallion ready for a mission. "What happened to me... what happened to someone I cared about, it's all because of Malice and that damned tar... I am not gonna let that happen to anyone ever again..."

"Aw'right," Mac spoke up and went over to stand with Midnight and Watcher, "So... Malice wants t' tar up ponies, he'll wanna get as many as he can all at once. How's he gon' do tha'?"

Everyone considered that very good question for a moment... when a haze of shimmery particles zoomed in through a crack in the window and towards Midnight, before they coalesced into a rolled up parchment, sealed with Twilight's mark.

"It's a message, from Twilight," Midnight was a tad surprised and opened the parchment.

Everyone waited, and saw the look on Midnight's face turn relieved, then he had a smile... but then there was a troubled look that turned into one on the verge of alarm.

"Midnight... what's wrong?" Thunderlane asked, already getting a vibe of bad news.

"This is how he's going to do it..." Midnight closed his eyes in fret before he read the message aloud:

"'Dear Midnight,

'I hope this message finds you well. I want to apologize for my behavior before you left. I had a little talk with your mother... and I realize, I need to work things out with you, to be fair to you, because I love you, and nothing can ever change that.

'I have been invited by the mayor of Manehatten to be receive an award. The ceremony will be held just outside the Empire State Building this afternoon. I have already arrived, and am at City Hall.

'I hope you will come to the ceremony, and once it's over, I would like for us to go out and have a nice time in the city, and we can have our talk.

'I'm actually quite excited! The mayor is inviting practically half the city!

'I hope to see you there.

'All my love,
'Your Twily'."

"An award ceremony...?!" Star was aghast before taking a breath, "But Midnight, are you certain Malice-"

"It's too much of a coincidence," Midnight asserted, "Malice must be behind this so-called ceremony, in order to gather as many ponies as possible at the site of where he's going to make his move."

"He is behind this..." Watcher said woefully, giving Midnight a look of concern. And perhaps a bit of shame? Watcher took a deep breath and said, "While Malice had me... he offered me 'forgiveness', a way back into the House of Assassins... all I had to do, was take out Twilight."

The look of cold outrage on Midnight's face said it all, but Watcher assured, "I told him no! I swear!"

"I know you did, Watch," Midnight assured, before regarding everypony present and snarled, baring his fangs as his eyes glowed white-hot and bone-chilling cold at the same time, "but Malice has made his last mistake...!"

As noon approached, Twilight waited in the mayor’s office, having been left there to wait as something had suddenly demanded his attention. Given how oddly shaken the stallion had been to receive the notice, Twilight hoped everything was fine, despite the mayor assuring her there was nothing to worry about.

Twilight sat in a cozy armchair and gazed out the window, seeing the Empony State Building not too far away.

It’d been hours since she’d asked Spike to send that message to Midnight, and she was trying not to get antsy about waiting for his response. Although Spike would normally accompany Twilight on occasions such as this, Twilight had decided Spike should stay and assist Faerie Tail, having noticed how the older mare’s pregnancy was coming along.

While Spike being there would have felt more reassuring, Twilight knew, once in a while, she needed to handle such situations on her own.

Getting back to the present moment, Twilight did have to wonder, What ‘contributions’ to science am I getting this award for, specifically?

Granted, Twilight had studied and written various works on various subjects, many of which involved magic, but other subjects included science, mathematics, geometry, linguistics, chemistry, and so on.

She’d even submitted essays of her work to universities, research facilities, even some media outlets, and much of her work got published into articles. Most of the time she wrote under pseudonyms however. Only a few instances did she use her actual name, but most of those had been before she became an alicorn princess.

Twilight’s train of thought derailed when a familiar magical phenomenon occurred, shimmery ashes flying in from nowhere, and coalescing into a message. She smiled to see Midnight’s mark on the seal and eagerly opened it to begin reading.

“‘Dear Twily,

‘I’m happy to hear from you, and I do indeed want to talk things out. The thing with Sunset, well… all that matters is we work through it and don’t let it hurt us anymore. I’m deep into this case with the Brotherhood, but I will be able to make it to your ceremony.

‘You won’t see me there until I come to you, so you know. I don’t want to disrupt anything, since I wasn’t actually invited, and my showing up would likely make waves, however minor.

‘Again, I’ll be there, and when this is all settled, you and I will enjoy the next few days and nights in Manehatten while we patch things up.

‘Love you so,
‘Your Midnight’.

“Mmm!” Twilight beamed with a warm and affectionate relief as she hugged the message to her heart when she heard the door open.

“Princess Twilight!” Twilight Vanished the message as Mayor Pescolt came in, accompanied by a zebra Twilight had never met before. “Oh, pardon me, Princess. I hope we weren’t interrupting anything.”

“Not at all, Mayor,” Twilight assured with a polite smile, “I… just got some good news, personal matters. You understand.”

“Oh, of course, Highness! Now, I must apologize for this impromptu introduction,” Mayor Pescolt gestured to the zebra, “This is Delegate Ro from Zebrabwe.”

Twilight regarded the zebra before her. He was tall, slender, handsome in his own way, and wore a tunic-like garment of orange, brown, yellow, and green. He looked around her father's age, and she could see a scar on his face that seemed to complement his good looks rather than mar them. "It is truly an honor to meet you at last, Your Majesty," Delegate Ro spoke with gentle adulation as he bowed his head before, to Twilight's surprise, having the boldness to take hold of her hoof and give it a kiss like a gentlecolt.

"Ro is the sponsor behind your award ceremony, Princess Twilight," explained Mayor Pescolt, "and he will personally present you with your award at the ceremony this afternoon."

"Indeed. My people and I are indebted to you, Princess Twilight," Ro nodded with a beaming of gratitude on his face, "Your contribution to alchemical research has allowed our shamans and medicine manes and mares to broaden their understanding of their craft, allowing for them to create more effective medicines, potions, elixirs, powders! And this ceremony is but a small gesture of our gratitude and esteem."

"Well, I'm flattered, and relieved to know my research into alchemy and mystical herbs has been of service," Twilight smiled kindly, "but, I'm not really sure if it merits-"

"I assure you, Princess," Ro insisted in a subtle manner, "you are deserving of this. It ill becomes one to belittle their own efforts whether they succeed or fail, as long as such efforts were made in the sincere aim of doing good.

"Just as it ill becomes you to decline sincere appreciation from others whose lives have been bettered by your efforts. The ceremony will be held this afternoon at the Empony State Building plaza, where all of Manehatten can bear witness to your achievement, which I will personally bestow upon you."

Twilight took a moment to digest Ro's words, and took a moment to do Cadance's calming method, before agreeing, "Very well, Delegate Ro, I will accept this award, with grace and humility."

"Then I will see you in just a few hours at the plaza, Your Majesty," Ro said with a smiling nod before he turned to take his leave.

"Wait, Mister Ro?" Ro paused mid-step, hearing Twilight ask, with a smile in her voice, "Will I like this award?"

Unable to resist a sly smirk, Ro responded, "...Princess, it's to die for."

Ro had turned his head back to look at Twilight out of the corner of his eye. And it had been then where Twilight saw something in Ro's eye just before he and the mayor walked out the office. Something that stunned her for a moment.

Something that... made her skin crawl.

As the noonday sun began its descent, everypony was preparing. It pained him to keep his wife in the dark, to risk not only her life but the lives of Manehatten as word quickly spread of the ceremony to take place at the Empony State Building plaza. But Midnight understood the threat was grave and there might not ever be another opportunity such as this.

He’d sent the word out to every Hood living in Manehatten. He’d given them their instructions, their positions, theirs dos and don’ts for when things went pear-shaped.

Now, he addressed his friends.

“Make no mistake… there is a real chance that not all of us will make it through this,” Midnight said solemnly to his knights, his Hoods, his… consultants (Nyra and Narbus), “We face an enemy who holds life in contempt.

“Malice knows we’ll come, he’s too smart not to anticipate that. We may very well be walking into an ambush. As Knights of Harmony…” Midnight regarded Macintosh and Thunderlane, the both of them nodding, “and Evening Hoods…” Midnight looked to Watcher and Star, “that is a risk we signed up for, but the citizens of Manehatten did not.

“Our priority is to save as many of them as we can before we take the fight to Malice and his cohorts. We save them from the tar… and then we make Malice pay for all that he’s done.

“We find out what Malice and Atom Nucleus’s trap is. We protect the citizens and Twilight. We clear the field, keep the fight between us. We will stop Malice, and we will protect this city!” Midnight finished his speech, before noticing Watcher motioning him to follow him. Taking him to the other room where the two could be alone for a moment.

“Is something wrong, cuz?”

“You know, Midnight, the more I think about it, the more I begin to realize that Malice and I aren’t so different,” Watcher said, looking down solemnly. “When Malice trained me, he told me that he had come from a broken home, and he believed that taking lives was a way to deliver his… divine justice to those deserving of it.”

“I became a mercenary… as a way to help ponies from going through the same thing we did with our families, and the more I think about it… maybe we really are monsters, and he knows this,” Watcher explained. “But after being freed from the tar… I had a talk with Nyra & Star, I’ve come to realize that we can’t keep living like this… can we?”

“...A similar thought crossed my mind,” Midnight replied, speaking tenderly, “I began the Brotherhood with the intention to do good… to work in the dark to serve the light. To punish the guilty that the law could not touch. Along the way, I lost sight of my good intentions and was consumed by the determination to punish, when the aim is and should always have been… to serve justice.

“I take lives to serve justice, Watcher,” Midnight clarified with a heavy heart, “Malice takes lives… because he enjoys it, because it benefits him. Because he is, at his core, a killer… There’s nothing ‘divine’ about what we do.”

“Midnight… I’m a killer… Nyra’s a killer… And justice… has been just… an excuse to just take out our anger on the scum of the world… No… Fuck justice, fuck secrecy, no more. You can’t tell me you actually want to keep doing this forever?”

“OF COURSE NOT!!” Midnight snapped with such fury, his eyes flared the blazing blue of a cutting torch, unnerving Watcher into stunned silence. Taking a moment to gather himself, Midnight sighed, and placed an apologetic hoof on Watcher’s shoulder.

“Watch… do you see their faces when you sleep? Hear their voices when you wake? Do you think about who they were and what they might have been?”

“Funny… I was about to ask you the same thing,” Watcher said calmly. “I wasn’t asking because I believed that you wanted to keep doing this… I asked because it needs to end… The House of Assassins, the Brotherhood, all of it… One day… sooner or later… the other hoods could one day be exposed and their lives will be endangered… I think it should be disbanded,”

“You’re not wrong, Watcher,” Midnight looked out the window of the room, looking out to the city, “I can’t tell you how often I’ve wished to hang up my hood and leave this part of my life behind. I won’t lie, there are some parts of it that I enjoy… and there have been times when I enjoyed doing what I do…

“But like it or not, the struggle between good and evil is an eternal one. Times of peace come and go, as do the criminals, the scum, the struggles of the common pony that can either spur them to stay true to themselves… or choose the easy way instead of what’s right. The Brotherhood has come and gone over the centuries, I didn’t create it… and the time for when I disband it, is a time I pray will come soon.”

“You’re not wrong… but maybe… there is a way… to stop the whole secrecy thing and still keep the brotherhood around… bring them into the light, Midnight… because if you don’t, there will be consequences in the future,” Watcher warned him.

Shaking his head, Midnight huffed bitterly, “Tell that to Celestia…”

“I’m not telling you as a member or because of blood… but as a friend who cares about-”

“Your opinion is noted… now gear up,” Midnight responded, clearly in no mood to discuss it any further.

Furrowing his brows, Watcher responded, “Whatever you say, Sir…”

As his cousin left, Midnight closed his eyes, feeling his heart hurt, not only from the weight of the undertaking ahead, but the fear of losing his cousin yet again.