In Youth Eternal - Origins

Chapter 5: Infiltration Part 3

One simple hour passed as the last book in the library slammed shut before being tossed aside by a golden aura. Princess Celestia sat there on the library floor, motionless, staring blankly into space. Not a single word or grunt passed her lips.

‘I went through every last book, and I found fothing...’ she thought. ‘Absolutely nothing...’ She closed her eyes in a solemn expression. ‘After 3 straight days of research... I found absolutely nothing...’The alicorn began tensing up as she felt her blood boil within her veins. Within moments, her tensed up state began to tremble, furious at her wasted effort to avoid the fear of her own eventual death.

Princess Celestia, her breathing pattern intensifying to the point of panting as she staggered onto all four hooves. ‘Is this really how it is?! Is there really no secret to eternal life!?’ The unkempt, sickly looking alicorn gritted her teeth, furious at the revelation that she could not obtain any knowledge on the subject. Her head jerked upwards suddenly, letting out a furious scream.

“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!” Celestia bellowed skyward, violently stomping the floor with a hoof. The sheer force of her scream alone caused a small tremor, while her hoof stomp shattered the spot on the floor where it landed. Sparks of magic appeared briefly around her body. Suddenly, a flash of light erupted in front of her, revealing Star Swirl the Bearded.

“Good heavens, Princess Celestia! Are you alright!? I could hear you from-... What in the blazes has happened to you!?” questioned the elderly unicorn, taken aback by the mess of the an alicorn before him. The bags under her tired, angry eyes were unsightly. Her mane, static and unkempt, now had its colors noticeably duller than usual. To top it off, if it were even possible, Princess Celestia’s already white fur appeared to become even more pale.

“Leave me alone!!” the unsightly alicorn demanded. The doors to the library burst open, with several guards rushing into the room. “I said GO AWAY!!” Celestia screamed, pointing a hoof towards Star Swirl the Bearded and the Guards. The guards almost wet themselves at her frighteningly uncharacteristic behavior, their jaws dropping in terror. Without breaking their horrified expressions, the guards backed out of the room, closing the double doors behind them.

Equally horrified, was Star Swirl the Bearded. The force from Princess Celestia’s yelling almost blew his pointed hat off his head. “P-Princess?” he choked, adjusting the hat to its proper place with his hoof.

“Don’t make me repeat myself!” growled Princess Celestia, her breathing erratic. Star Swirl the Bearded cringed and backed away from the clearly insane alicorn. Without a word, the elderly unicorn removed himself from Princess Celestia’s presence in a flash of light.

Princess Celestia stood there, once again alone in the messy library. The sickly alicorn was nearly hyperventilating, her chest quickly expanding a contracting, followed by an ear twitch.

‘I need to be alone where nopony will bother me... I just can’t do this right now...’ thought Princess Celestia, feeling hopelessly lost and furious. With that, the alicorn vanished in a flash of golden light with one final thought.

‘I don’t want to die...’

*     *     *

Star Swirl the Bearded’s form appeared outside the bedroom of Princess Luna in a brilliant flash of light. The elderly unicorn was borderline heartbroken seeing Princess Celestia the way she was. A concerned frown adorned his visage as he knocked on Luna’s door, itching to inform her of Princess Celestia’s current condition.

The aged unicorn stallion opened his mouth to speak. “Princess Luna? Are you in there? We have a very serious-”

“NOT NOW!!! I am... most busy!” shouted a voice from the other side of the door, one that could only belong to the Princess of the Night. A sinister chuckle followed her sentence, one which sent shivers down Star Swirl’s spine.

“But, it’s about your sister! She has completely lost her mind!!” retorted Star Swirl the Bearded, throwing his hooves into the air. A loud thump suddenly sounded from behind Princess Luna’s locked bedroom door, creating a small tremor.

“I already know that! But I am busy! Now GO AWAY!!” shouted Princess Luna in response. Star Swirl the Bearded was once again taken aback, slowly backing away from the door. It was then that his head drooped, a solemn expression crossing his aged visage

Letting out a sigh, Star Swirl the Bearded slowly meandered down the corridor, away from Princess Luna’s bedchamber, one step at a time. Mere moments passed before he decided to stop for a moment. Star Swirl the Bearded slouched against a wall, standing on his hind legs. The elderly unicorn rubbed his forehead with his hooves in frustration, thinking hard about the current situation.

“Have both of the Princess gone insane!? What am I going to do?” he muttered, concern ever so present in his voice. “It’s bad enough that Princess Celestia has gone completely mad, but now Luna too?! The Luna I know would have jumped at the chance to help her sister...” Star Swirl the Bearded began to slump down, his back side sliding down the wall until he was in a sitting position on his flank upon finishing his brief monologue.

“I am getting too old for this...” he grumbled, followed by a solemn sigh. “What am I to do?”

With that, the aged unicorn’s form vanished from its spot with a quick flash of light. Star Swirl the Bearded needed some time alone to himself in his personal study after what he just witnessed.

*     *     *

The Sun had begun to set, as the blue sky began to darken. Several hours had passed since the lunchtime conversation. Star Streak knew he had to dispose of and impersonate Scotch in order to attend the meeting with President Coltson; the stallion who rules over the land of Equis, voted into office by the ponies who lived there.

Star Streak had discreetly followed Scotch back to his home some hours later, finding out where his target lived. It had been a straight walk down from from the capitol building for several blocks, then a right turn. This new stretch of road was where various homes began lining the streets rather than small businesses and such.

‘Would have thought high ranking government officials lived in nicer and bigger houses.’ the spy thought, viewing the home of Scotch from several houses away, at the street corner. He quickly memorized the location and numbered address on the outside of the house.

Star Streak smirked confidently as he turned to head back to the Inn for the time being. His eyes scanned the buildings he passed, looking for the closest alleyway to Scotch’s home. ‘If I arrive early enough, I can wait for him to pass by, then pull him into the alleyway and replace him...’ the spy plotted, tapping his chin with a hoof as he trotted down the sidewalk. ‘Yeah, that should work!’

With that, Star Streak picked up the pace, rushing back to the Inn for the night in order to receive a good night’s sleep.

Tomorrow was a big day.

*     *     *

Star Streak had awoken at an early hour, traveling to the first alleyway that Scotch was going to pass. The spy kneeled down behind a small group of tin trash cans to hide from anypony who might decide to glance down the alleyway. Although, something seemed off.

According to the time, the sun should be peaking over the horizon by now. And yet, the moon hung high in the dark void, surrounding by the complex constellations of stars that dotted the sky. Fortunately, it was for that reason that the street lamp posts remained lit. ‘That’s odd. Why is it still nighttime?’the spy thought, tapping his chin with a hoof. ‘I sure hope nothing bad has happened at the castle. The Princesses are always on schedule. But I digress! I still have a mission to do!’ his thoughts on the matter finished, his visage beaming with confidence as he raised a hoof into the air.

With that in mind, it was there in that alleyway where Star Streak concentrated with his hearing in order to hear when the sound of hoof steps approached his general area. The only thing that bothered Star Streak was not knowing how long his wait was going to be.

‘Okay, so when he walks by, I’ll nab him, and then use that spell Star Swirl the Bearded helped me develop!’ he thought, running the plan through his head. ‘This will be great!’ his inner thoughts chimed as he smiled to himself. Then a realization hit him. He raised his brow in surprise, thinking. ‘But then what the hell will I do with the body?’ he pondered.

However, before he could continue his thoughts, his ears perked up at the sound of hoofsteps echoing in the distance. Crouching behind the trash cans, Star Streak peaked around them discreetly to get a view of the sidewalk nearby, waiting for whoever was approaching. A tight apprehension gripped the spy around the neck. It was his target, he was going to have to improvise with that to do with the body.

‘Come on come on come on!’ his thoughts raced. ‘The suspense is killing me!’ He began grinding his teeth, his eyes widening as the hoofsteps drew ever closer. It was then, that the pony finally came into a view.

A common civilian trotted past the alleyway at a casual pace, going about his early morning business. Star Streak scowled somewhat, his forehead wrinkling up as he bit his bottom lip. ‘This is going to be a long wait, isn’t it?’ he asked himself rhetorically. The hoofsteps of the common civilian eventually trailed off into the distance, no longer audible to the ears of Star Sreak.

With that, all the spy could do was sit there and wait until Scotch, his target of choice, would finally stroll by on his way to the capitol building.

*     *     *

Princess Luna remained locked away in her room, searching through her own personal tomes, a number of which contained the knowledge of various dark arts. Despite her own research, the dark blue alicorn had not forgotten to lower the sun and raise the moon the previous night. However, she deliberately did not bother switch the two celestial bodies the following morning, keeping firmly to her word.

The dark blue alicorn laid on her bed with an aged tome opened up before her. Her vengeful eyes shifted back and forth, scanning the contents of the pages, with her dark blue magic flipping the pages as she finished them. Deep in her heart, she felt a spark of darkness; a spark of anger towards Princess Celestia.

“My sister, you are unfit to rule Equestria,” Princess Luna growled to herself. “I shall have no choice but to remove you!” The Princess of the Night continued her reading of the dark arts, searching for something, anything, to give her an edge against her elder sister should she fight back.

Before long, the dark blue alicorn found it. Her eyes stopped on the page, reading it much more carefully. Princess Luna took a moment to think, her visage unmoving as she stared blankly at the page. It was then that a sinister smirk found its way onto her features.

“Yes... This will do nicely!” she exclaimed, raising her head in excitement. The book promptly slammed shut with a touch of her magic. “Now, I must make all of the preparations for the transformation,” she said aloud, her voice beaming with an ominous joy.

“And then, Equestria will behold only the Princess of the Night!”

*     *     *

Half an hour had gone by before another set of hoofsteps were audible. Star Streak looked up towards the alley entrance as he ceased the twiddling of his hooves. Popping into view, strolling by at a casual pace, was none other than the target of choice, Scotch.

Star Streak’s eyes beamed with excitement now that his target has arrived. ‘Finally! He’s here!’ his thoughts exclaimed. Star Streak waited just a moment behind the trash cans, waiting until he knew he would be out of Scotch’s peripheral vision. Scotch was almost out of view before Star Streak made his move. ‘Alright! Time to do just what I’ve been planning for!’

Star Streak darted out from behind the tin trash cans, stopping in the middle of the alleyway. His horn was shrouded in a magic aura, giving off a mystical light as he stared down the passing government official. The spy began concentrating on Scotch, who suddenly turned to look into the alley where the sudden movements came from. Before Scotch could properly react, he found himself encased in an aura, followed by being flung off of his hooves and into the alleyway like a rag doll.

“What in the blazes is the meaning of this!?” the government official shouted as he was hovered directly in front of Star Streak. “Who are you!?” he inquired with a demanding tone.

“Heh. Sorry pal. Nothing personal,” he replied, ignoring Scotch’s question. A smirk crossed his lips as his horn began to glow even brighter, casting a sleep spell on the frightened government official. Scotch soon found himself blacking out, his body hanging limp in the air. “Too easy,” Star Streak gloated.

The spy took the next several minutes stealing Scotch’s suit and sunglasses. Star Streak removed  all articles of clothing, only to slip each piece of the suit onto himself. Lastly, the spy levitated Scotch’s round eye piece sunglasses onto his own face.

“Heh heh. What this bozo was doing with sunglasses right now, I will never know,” Star Streak chuckled to himself. “Now, for the finishing touches!” With that said, Star Streak lowered his head down to Scotch’s unconscious body, puncturing him with his horn in order to draw blood. His horn now touching a sample of blood, his horn began to glow once more. An eerie, pale light crept down his horn and spread throughout his body, completely engulfing the spy.

Several seconds passed, and the light dissipated, revealing Star Streak in Scotch’s exact likeness, down to the last detail. “Testing, testing, 1 2 3!” he chimed. To his satisfaction, even his own voice perfectly mimicked Scotch’s. His eyes rolled upwards in their sockets to see if his horn was still visible.

“Oh, good,” he muttered calmly. His horn was currently invisible, due to him taking on the appearance of an earth pony. However, he could still utilize his magic as his horn was not actually gone. “And now, to take care of this guy.”

His invisible horn gave off a soft glow as he turned his head to face the nearby trash cans. The lid of the nearest individual trash can suddenly lifted into the air, along with all of the contents inside. He then gave a glance down at the unconscious Scotch, whose body was then encased within his magic aura. The earth pony’s body carelessly hovered over the trash can, only to be stuffed inside like just another trash bag. With that, the former contents were returned to the inside of the trash can, covering up Scotch from head to hoof, followed by the tin lid.

“Probably won’t be seeing him for a while,” Star Streak joked, slowly shaking his head as he chuckled. “And now, I’ll just have to be careful not to use my magic for a little while.” The disguised spy turned around to face the street before trotting away.

With that taken care of, Star Streak made his way to capitol building just down the street a few blocks, ready to face the challenges that lie ahead, his eyes beaming with confidence under his newly acquired sunglasses

“Alright! Let’s Rock n’ Roll!” he exclaimed, one final time.