Damnit! And I was so close, too!

And just when I thought I had him in my grasp, it had to get lucky and hit me, square in the face, with his fraking magic. Damn half-breed.

I stormed through my penthouse, trying to calm down my nerves. I had one job I couldn’t deleguate, one job I took seriously enough to do it myself. And I was too rusty. I screwed up.

Anyways. I still had other chances. It wasn’t as bad as it seemed; he, no it, clearly didn’t know me. Wouldn’t remember my face. He only saw me under the shadow form; so there was no way he’d be able to find me. But I, in the other hoof, could find him. Easily. I had the world in my hoof. The princess were under my control. Nothing could go wrong unless I wanted it too. My only problem was the damn griffons; and they won’t be for long, since I had agents posted out there, spies and infiltrators already taking hold in the government. Their monarchy will soon become a democratic republic, under my only control.

The dark smoke that erupted from my head, serving as a mane, fell over my eyes. I shook it off to the dark side of my coat. Ponies usually took me for a zebra with less stripes. They didn’t know I was a child of the night; one of the only still alive. Our race had been annihilated by the Changelings long ago; but I remained. And the princess of the night took me under her wing, a few years after, and raised me to understand and control my powers. A fatal error; today, right under her muzzle, I was controlling every single thing in their government. The only thing they still had was heir pathetic magic. Even the elements were regulated now, and under my command.

I passed in front of my mirror, and stopped to look at me. A monster. Just like them. Them I killed everyday, to ensure my grasp on power and fame. What little fame I had. Nopony could ever think that a monster like me was at the head of Unity, the one company ensuring their security… And secluding. I only had to type, and the world would either collapse or flourish.

And I still wasn’t happy. Somepon- something survived at my sight. He even fled, with the help of his new resistance hound. The horror.

I looked at my poor body, half black, half white, in a small maestrom pattern. Smokey darkness were my mane and tail, signifying my rank to my peers. Well, if I still had some. I wouldn’t be surprised to know I was the last of my kind. In fact, I counted on it.

My shifted eyes looked back at me, through the reflection. I still didn’t understand how light could be black or white, depending on how it struck my coat and anti-coat. Whatever. I didn’t need to know how the magic worked to use it; in fact, ignorance was my best friend, everyday. And my only one at that.

‘’Sir, your appointement with the princesses is imminent. Should I announce them your arrival In the conference room?’’

I turned around to one of my brutes, a muscular pony in assisted armor. Those armors my engineers created, giving the wearer decupled strength and resistance. They would walk away without a scratch if they were dropped a bomb on their back. Bullets would only graze the paint.

I shook my head away from my small daydream. ‘’Yes, you may. Tell them I’ll be downstairs in a few; I only need to get my papers ready. Oh, and serve them some of our best wine while you’re at it.’’

The brute nodded and exited through the glass elevator, silently going down to the princesses.

I walked toward my bay window, giving to the glass roof of the conference room. The princesses could be seen, sitting on their seats, waiting for me. Yes. Today was the very first time they’d meet the head of Unity. The head of the organization that controls their very moves and government.

Me, their old protégé. I couldn’t help but laugh at that, as I walked to my office.

-҉-

Ebon brought me in front of the sturdy metal doors of the sewer’s entrance.

A part of my mind couldn’t help but yell at how cliché that was. During the little ten minutes walk to get there, he explained how I’d have to join the resistance now, along him and a silent mare, and seek to destroy Unity with them. Personally, I ain’t really into vengeance and all, but if I could get some kind of payback upon those who killed my team, my friends, and destroyed all of my work, all of my sacrifices, literally my life: I think I’d get a gun and start shooting.

Ebon knocked on the door three times before opening it, by turning the valve counter-clockwise for two turns. The door opened itself to a large gear, fitted in the wall, next to a console. On the gear, I could make out some runes and arcanic letters, but they were a mystery to me.

Ebon walked to the console and pressed a few buttons. I looked at the gear, wich slowly started to retreat in the wall with such noise. It would take a few minutes to open, I’d guess.

I turned towards the other door, wondering why such security would be used for a sewer. And why would Ebon knock on the first doo- oh. They were impact runes on the other side of the door- if the door would be opened without knocking over them, they would release so much arcanic residue, it would empoison the whole room here. And those on the gear-door would surely be sealing the other side from the arcanic residues. Brilliant. But they seemed a bit too complex for being sealants.

I shook my head, banging it on the wall to my right. Wait- What? How could I read magic? I looked up to the gear door, and slightly understood, through the patterns, how the glyph was maintained without any constant energy feed. I could see how it would be reusing the arcane residues to turn the whole room into a furnace in no more than two flat seconds.

The worst in all of that, was that if a pony was even slightly touched by the arcane residues, and if the gear door was touched too- it would make a kind of lightning reaction, burning the insides of the touched pony, as well as the air around him/her.

And I somehow understood that in a few seconds. Was magic language basic knowledge of unicorns or what? And why was all of this happening? I only wanted to get home and drink.

Absentmindedly, I took out a cigarette and ignited it, before breathing out. Such relief. No more stress now, no more nothing. I took another puff, and closed my eyes. If I had enough willpower, would I be able to simply vanish and go away? I think It would’ve been best to die a few hours ago. I wasn’t some kind of hero. I’ll never be able to live like a criminal; no less be able to live normally again. Even if I ended up shipped to the zebra lands, and somehow hide my new horn, no fucking pony would like to hang out with a monster. Less hiring me. Damnit, the only city which had jobs for me now haunts the living shits out of me. I was in the undercastle’s sewers, wich leaded in the crystal caverns under the castle. Wich’s castle was the siege of Unity and the ones hunting for me right this instant.

I had lost everything. I could forget the sun. I could forget money, fame, science. I could forget it all. I’d become just like the horrors my father used to kill, just like the perverted minds my father used to put in jail. Before he was killed, for unrevealing… Unrevealing what, exactly? He last told me that nopony would be safe anymore, that the one he tried to catch was higher than his boss, hiererachly speaking. And… That nopony could ever catch a living shadow.

Living shadow.

I almost choked down. I coughed like a madpony, and my eyes bulged out of their sockets. Though, as Ebon turned to me, I tried to hide the surprise look on my face. He couldn’t know yet about how much I knew. I’ll keep this info as a metaphorical ace in my metaphorical deck. I knew exactly who I was up against; the one who killed my Father. Or, at least, the one who commanded the kill. I wouldn’t fight for my freedom. I’ll fight for vengeance. With a determined look, I threw away what little remained of my cigarette, wich hissed as it hit the dark brown water of the sewers.

I had to get back over the ground. To get back to his home, to his office. There was a safe in wich he putted all of his files; the new residents of that house would never find such a thing. You had to literally break a wall to access it without the key. Wich…

Wich was hidden in my own safe, back at my home. Would we be able to pull it off? To go back to the surface? Maybe that ‘silent mare’ Ebon talked about would be able to help us!

I turned to Ebon, wich was looking at me with question marks floating in his irises. ‘’Hum… Are you alright? You kind of started mumbling to yourself, and your horn kind of twitched a bit. Maybe you’d want to lay down a bit?’’

I shook my head a bit. ‘’Sorry, what was that?’’

Ebon looked even more puzzled, but even more, he looked like he cared for me. Care? What was that word nowadays? ‘’Yeah. You look like you need a rest.’’

I shook my head. ‘’Nah.’’ I looked at the now opened door, and walked in before him. A mare walked up to me, and quickly analyzed my body from tail to hooves. She seemed to take a long look at my flank- no, my cutie mark. What a girly name for such an important thing in life, and society. Anyways. She gave me a curt nod, wich I interpreted as a ‘’Go on, you’re clear enough to go in.’’. Ebon pushed me inside, and went to a couch. He didn’T even mind closing the vault door.

He looked at me from the couch. I must have been looking hazard, taking in the sights of the large circular room- it made me think at some old cartoon from my youth, TMNT. In a corner, large couches and a coffee table holding books and pads, as well as a few pencils. On the other side, a small kitchen, along with a large table with many chairs. In another, walls enclosing what I thought would be latrines; or something like this, eventually. And, in the last one corner, a large table with a map, a few chairs, and bookshelves leaning on the walls, filled to the brim with old dusty books. A few were missing- surely those that rested on the coffee table. There also were three other small circular doors, probably leading to bedrooms and the like. From the corner of my eyes, I also spotted a pile of hay and rags, behind the couches.

Ebon faked a cough to get my attention. ‘’You look tired. You surely need to rest yourself a bit; using that much magic missiles in your first ‘I-can-use-magic-day’ must be tiring.’’

I gave him a reassuring smile, and turned my head towards the silent mare. ‘’No, sleep is for the weak. But I’ve just got a good idea. Maybe you’d like to help me with something? It could maybe entrust the princess to our cause. It clearly was Unity chasing us. And my father used to be looking after them, being the lead investigator of the royal guard and all. And he had a file on them, in his safe, wich’s key is in my home. Right next to Canterlot/Central park. They must contain some info that could be of some use to us, right? Some info that could make the princesses trust us and dismember Unity?’’

The silent mare looked at me with a weird… Shine, in her eyes. It made me feel a bit uneasy, but I shook it off. Ebon pushed me to a table with a city map on it. ‘’Look.’’ His hoof pointed a certain point in the city, right next to some kind of scrapyard. ‘’We’re right under here.’’ He slid his hoof to the middle of Central Park. ‘’And this is where you want us to go.’’

I smiled. ‘’Yeah. You got it.’’

He frowned. ‘’You don’t seem to understand. They’re looking for you out there. And, right in the middle of that park, there’s a cargison of them. And, across the park, is their general headquarters.’’

I kept the smile on my face growing. ‘’Yeah. No problem with that. We can either wash them off, either sneak out there. Easily.’’

He locked eyes with me. He seemed slightly pissed, and a bit anxious now that I think about it. ‘’You don’t understand. I’m the only one here who gets to leave the sewers. They know her more than they know you, and they’re clearly surrounding the scrapyard. They think that’s where we hide. Once in a while, one of them patrols the sewers. Even if you can prove your worthiness in combat, you simply can’t sneak past their magic sensors. You’ll get caught, and we won’t be able to do anything for you then.’’

I kept smiling. ‘’Yeah. But I know what I’m doing.’’

He slammed an hoof on the table, sending the map flying away in the air currents, wich led it to the floor. He kept silent for a bit, clearly trying to put his toughts into words. I don’t blame him for being a bit impulsive, but I do praise him on his restraint. ‘’Okay. Here’s what we’ll do. I’m going to hang you on the ceiling and keep you from going out until you can untie yourself without magic, and put a dagger on my neck while I’m sleeping.’’

I smiled. ‘’Or, I can simply wait for the night to come, and move in the shadows like my father thaught me. True, I was a Pegasus back then, but I still know how to walk lightly and without a sound. And we won’t have to care about theses unity guards. Simply let me do my job.’’

He shook his head negatively. ‘’If you think about sneaking up on them, it won’t work. Even I, an earth pony, can sense your magical energy. Quite uncommon and large. And yet, you seem impossible to use it.’’

I still had an ace in my mental card deck. ‘’Wait. I can still talk myself out of anything; how else do you think I could make the directors approve of my every actions and lead the most renowned scientists around? Unity guards are only but psychologically altered unicorns with no willpower. They won’t be able to resist a mental blow like I can deliver.’’

Ebon and the mare looked at me like I was a freak. ‘’There’s no such thing as mental energy. Teluric, Necromantic, Aeric, arcanic, yes. But mental? You’re trying to fool me so you can escape, right? Well, I’ll tell you a little something. We’re all in the same boat. They catch you, they’ll read your mind and know where we two hide. Let’s just do things as I planned, okay? We’ll go take out your files when we’re ready. Until then, we follow their radio calls, and when something important enough comes, the patrols stops. So we can get out and save the innocents like you. Then, we come back here, hide our flanks for a few days, then do it all again. And when we’ve got enough numbers to take down a few of them at a time, we go out and kill the patrols, steal their power armor, and make our own army. If we all go out and see the princess afterwards, an army of fifty criminals, and tell them the truth, it’ll speak for itself. Though, your files are a good asset. But we’re far from ready!’’ He almost shouted that last sentence.

I lowered my head. I knew we could make it, and if they found out my stuff before us, it’ll be too late to get the keys. We’ll have to break out the safe, and we clearly couldn’t do this.
‘’Wait. You can’t simply tell me to sit around and wait. And you clearly can’t tell me I can’t use mental energy! Look!’’

I looked at the nearest wall, and took out a few electrodes, plugging them on my head. An halo appeared over my head, it’s familiar blue hue showing me that I was fully charged. I began to focus my thoughts on the wall, and pictured myself before my ‘mutation’. In a flash, a copy of myself in two dimensions appeared on the wall, looking at me. ‘’See? We could fool them with images of ourselves, or dangers they can’t overcome, and get some weapons and intel in my father’s safe. It’d be easy! And that way-‘’

I couldn’t end that sentence. The electrodes died down, the halo turned red. Then, the headache sinked in. I tried to hold it, but almost fainted after a few seconds.

Ebon clearly saw how I held my head in my hooves in pain, and snorted. ‘’Yeah. You keep showing me how much you fail at this and I’ll keep you here for ever.’’

I took a pained breath and tried to hide the headache, as it faded out bit by bit- it would take a few hours to completely disappear. ‘’Well, I showed you illusions- I can also shoot things. Though… I think my electrodes where a bit soaked…’’

At that, a crackle and an electric explosion took me by surprise. The electrodes on my head exploded, and burnt a bit of my furr (it didn’t hurt that much, though).

Ebon laughed his ass off. ‘’Okay. I get it. You’ll be the brain of the team, alright, but you’ll get to stay here with the priest. And, if you stop humiliating yourself with your broken stuff and overconfidence in your skills, I’ll let you make the outside excursion plans. Though, one thing first.’’

He took my hoof and shook it. ‘’Welcome to the resistance, Saul. And has our newest member, I name you as the Sewer’s bitch.’’

I looked at him, narrowing my pupils to slits. ‘’What?’’

He chuckled a bit before going on, ‘’Your duties will be cleaning around, using our intel and incoming members’s skills to our advantage, and making every plan. In short, you’ll be the agenda, the taskmaster, and the reference book. You’ll also have to plan out everything. Myself, Ebon FireHeart, as Co-Foundator, trust you to the Sewer’s Bitch position, and let you hold onto…’’

He shuffled inside his inner coat’s pockets, then took out a little wooden necklace with a large ‘R’ engraved on it. The circular pendant was dark, and the letter was painted silver.

‘’The Resistance’s Proof of Adhesion! It’ll let you come in without any other need of ID, and let you understand Silence’s weird eye-and-symbol language.

At that, I turned to Silence, who sighed. Her pendant, as I could see now, glew in a multitude of colors, and her eyes were like a lake- you could see riddles on the surface. Then, I heard her in my mind. ‘’Welcome in the resistance, and don’t you ever take what that asshole says seriously. And, most of all, welcome to the family. Hope you’ll find your place quickly enough- wich is, as your rank says, Way. Under. Ours.’’ She then shook her tail upwards, lifted her head a bit, and took off. Her pendant was shining a vivid purple; I took mental note of it.

Ebon gave me a quick fraternal hug. ‘’Welcome to the family!’’ He then leaned his muzzle next to my ear to whisper, ‘’and don’t ever get close to her when she’s bitchy. It hurts.’’ He jumped back on his hooves, and pointed me to the corner of the large room, where the pile of rags and hay rested. ‘’It ain’t much, but it suits your rank. There’s your bed. Now go to sleep, I’ll wake you up at around two AM. Then, we’ll plan out our next leave outside, then I’ll train you in hoof-to-hoof and the arcanes. G’night, newbie.’’

At that, he trotted away, in the same direction that mare went. Realisation took me at that same exact moment- I was now a criminal, and my mercenary’s group were at the same moment my captors and liberators. How ironic.

I jumped on the bed, and rolled myself into a ball, not unlike a young pupy. ‘’G’night, myself…’’, I muttered. How surprised i was when I heard a voice in the bottom of my mind whispering back.

‘’And welcome to Tartarus, asshole.’’

______________________________________
Saul: Level 6.
Ebon: Level 13.
Silence: Level 12.
_______________________________________
???: Level 24.
???’s Second-in-command: Level 20.
???’s first General: level 16.
_______________________________________
Politic news: The Government raises the taxes on Alcool. Manifestations are incoming.
EqRobotics’s Canterlot branch as been closed. Most scientists have died in the explosion.
The grand Staircase is closed until several criminals have been catched by Unity. Fear takes ahold of the population.
Celestia’s former captain of the Royal Guard is still missing.
The Griffin General Hecathon Chirez will soon be sent to Canterlot as a diplomat to rediscuss the terms of the former peace treaty. War might be at ‘’bay’’ (more like Cloudport).

Author's Note

Sorry it took so long. It was sleeping in my folder, and i was sure i had published it a week ago. Oh well.
Anyways. There it is.