Thief of the Frontline

Chapter 1

Nightfall was really starting to hate his job.  But he had to do it.  It was for a greater good, a cause that was bigger than he was.  That's what he kept telling himself as he slowly walked through the crystal cavern.  It was very quiet.  The only noise that could be heard was the faint sound of his hooves carefully making contact with the hard, surprisingly cold, crystal floor.

"What am I even looking for?" Nightfall thought to himself as he continued into the darkness.  His eyes had adjusted to the dark and he was now able to see fairly well.  He still had to watch out for the occasional rock or crack in the ground that would cause him to trip and fall though.

"This is so stupid," he thought to himself.  "Look for something interesting, what the buck is that supposed to mean?"  Another thing that Nightfall hated was not being told exactly what he was supposed to do when he was sent out.  Sure he was experienced in sneaking around and making things up as he went along when he was in uncharted territory, but this was ridiculous.  His "superiors," as they liked  to call themselves, sent him into the crystal caves below Canterlot alone and with no clear objective.

Nightfall continued onward.  He had been walking for at least an hour.  The caves seemed to go on forever, twisting and turning.  At some points, he would come across areas where the only way to proceed was either straight up, or straight down.  "Its a good thing I have wings," he thought to himself in the darkness as he walked along.  Coming to an intersection where the tunnel split into four separate smaller tunnels, he stopped.  He now hated intersections in caves.  Another thing to add to the list that was now becoming longer by the minute.  This was the fifth one he had come across.  Looking around he noticed that much like the others, all the tunnels looked the same.

This was not as much of a bad thing for Nightfall as it may have been for a normal pony, except maybe a unicorn.  They have all those spells and tricks that allow them to do things that others could only dream of.  Fortunately, he had a few talents of his own.  One was that he could see just a bit better in the dark than others, but his favorite was something that was truly special.  Something that only his species could do.  It made him proud of what he was, a batpony.

Long ago, when he was little, Nightfall's grandfather showed him a trick that would help him keep the monsters away at night while he slept.  It would make the dark not seem so dark and scary.  It was sort of ironic, really.  He was a batpony.  And he was afraid of the dark.  Not anymore of course, that fear had been conquered long ago.  The only thing he had to be afraid of now were the royal guards that would no doubt have his head if they caught him down here.

Looking at the first tunnel, he closed his eyes and drew in a calm breath of air through his nostrils.  After holding it for no more than three seconds, he let out a smooth, high pitched, but faint whistle.  He held the note for another three seconds.  When he let go, he kept his eyes closed and listened.  He soon heard the same faint tone return to him from inside the tunnel. "Dead end," he thought as he shifted to look at the second tunnel.  He repeated this process three more times.  From how long it took the sound to return, he could tell that the second tunnel went on much further than the others.  The third was another dead end.  The sound did not return from the last tunnel.  Instead a dim light flickered off in the distance, as if responding to his song like noise.  "Well that's interesting," he thought as he began to walk in the direction of the glow.  "Mission complete.  Time to go home."  Nightfall quietly chuckled to himself.  He knew that he couldn't just leave without investigating this strange occurrence.  He was more disciplined than that, and smarter.

The caves were prettier, and a bit less creepy, when they were lighten up slightly.  The light danced and sparkled on the crystal formations elegantly.  As much as he would have enjoyed to watch the beautiful display, Nightfall decided it was best to keep moving.  The last thing he needed was for somepony else to notice the light.  He was pretty sure that he was alone and that there were no other ponies in the cave, but he knew he had been proven wrong before.  There was a time when he was caught trying to steal an expensive necklace from a rich noble.  He thought the maid had gone home for the night.  He soon learned that there were actually three young mares who acted as maids for the family who lived in that mansion.  "Rule fifteen, never assume you are alone," he whispered as he reached the source of the light.

What he saw disturbed him just as much as it confused him.  He was standing before an alicorn.  Not a real one, just a statue made from solid crystal.  The craftsmanship was incredible.  It almost seemed as if it had once been alive, as if it was formed by the masterful hooves of nature.  Everything about it was perfectly to scale.  From the wings, to the head, to the tail.  Nightfall knew all to well that scaling was harder than it looked.  He had once had to pose as a sculptor for a heist he pulled ten years ago.  Sculpting was not his special talent.  Not by a long shot.  The only things he couldn't figure out were why it was down here, and who it was supposed to be.  Depictions of the royal sisters that he had seen showed them as much larger than the average pony, but this one was about the size of your everyday mare.  Just a few inches shorter than he was.  The cutie mark and mane style were all wrong too.  Also there was no stand or anything that gave the name of the artist or the alicorn.  He finally looked at the horn.  It was now only faintly radiating its pink glow.  Curiosity compelled him to touch it.  He knew this was a bad idea.  It had to be, but Nightfall couldn't resist.  He just had a feeling like he needed to touch it.  He reached out and put his hoof up to it and slowly placed it on the tip of the horn.

Light filled the room.  It was very sudden, and Nightfall jumped back from the surprise.  The crystal melted away from the form of the pony.  Small sparks of purple magic flowed upward from the statue like bubbles underwater. This revealed the statue wasn't at all a statue.  It was the real deal.  A real alicorn!  Nightfall was awestruck.  He didn't have any idea of what to say or do, but then he noticed something.  Something red leaking down the ponies face.  Blood.  The purple alicorn began to fall sideways, but was caught at the last moment by the astonished batpony.  She was unconscious.  His questions would have to wait.

Nightfall pulled off his saddle bags that he had been carrying and placed them on the floor next to him.  He then reached inside and pulled out a box of bandages and a clean rag.  "Rule number six," he said out loud.  "Always come prepared."  When he had made his list of rules, he never thought that being prepared would mean giving an alicorn treatment for an injury.  He began to wipe the blood off of the mystery mare's face.  She had a large cut that ran vertically between her right ear and her mane.  It wasn't very deep.  This was good for more than just the obvious reasons.  Nightfall still had to carry this poor mare out of these caves and a major head injury would only complicate things.

As he began to apply the bandage to her head, he started to wonder more and more what could have possibly happened.  When the blood had stopped seeping out of the alicorn's head and the bandage had been put in place, Nightfall put his saddle bags on over the jacket he was wearing and then hoisted the unconscious mare onto his back.  It was time to get out of here.  He began to walk slowly and cautiously at first so that his eyes could adjust to the darkness again, but soon found himself in a speedy gallop only moments later.  He was deep in the caves.  He had placed small wooden planks with arrows on them on the ground every so often to prevent him from getting lost.  The last thing he needed was to not know where the exit was.  What had taken a good hour to walk was taking no time at all now.  He was able to run faster and faster as his adrenaline levels rose.  "A real life alicorn, no way," he thought.  "This is crazy."  He was determined to get her out of these caves.  To somewhere safe.  Somewhere that she would be away from the evils that lured in the castle above.  He wondered if the crown even knew about these caves under Canterlot.   As he ran, he took a left at the first intersection, then a right at the next.  He slowed down and stopped again.  Before him was a large cliff that led downward into a different part of the caves.  Jumping from the elevated position, Nightfall slowly glided down.  He landed as best as he could, being extra careful not to drop his passenger.  He ran for about five more minutes before reaching another intersection.  Looking at the wooden sign he had previously placed down, he saw it point straight ahead, and so he kept running straight.  He had to round a few more corners before he hit one last intersection where he took a left.

Reaching the final stretch out of the cave system, Nightfall saw the dim light of the moon shine through the exit.  It was small enough for a single pony to fit through if they laid down and crawled, but just barely.  When he came to a stop, he gently placed the young alicorn down. He took off his saddle bags first and then his jacket.  First he slid his bags through the exit.  Then he lifted the young mare and carefully placed her down on top of his jacket that was now lying on the floor.  He slid himself through the hole rear legs first.  He then grabbed the coat with the mare that he was now bent on saving in his teeth and slowly pulled them through the hole, being careful not to drag her to hard or across any kind of sharp rocks.  When she was out, he put his gear on and then her back on his back and began to run across the field at the base of the mountain just under the royal fortress city.  He knew exactly where to go.

After running from the field to a nearby tree line, Nightfall placed the alicorn down on the soft grass.  It was probably the softest thing she had touched in what Nightfall believed had to be at least one hundred years.  Give or take.  She was quite pretty.  Purple coat, a darker purple mane and tail, both of which had a lighter streak of pinkish purple.  After wiping the sweat from his forehead, Nightfall leaned down and put his head down closer to her.  She was still breathing.  He was a little paranoid that she would just give out while he was carrying her.  He was trying to be as gentle as possible, while also being quick.  He didn't want to get caught out in the open with what could possibly be the last alicorn in all of existence.  Pulling her onto his back again, Nightfall took off.

"I can get to the Everfree forest much faster if I fly there, but do I want to risk it.  What if she falls?  I've never flown with a passenger before."  Nightfall hesitated, but decided he would fly low and slower until he got used to having her on his back.  For the next twenty minutes, he carefully flew low between the trees.  The moon was just reaching its midnight position, giving him enough light to see in front of him.  Then, he was full speed flying above the trees and fields.  It was a nice night.  The stars and moon were beautiful.  A few hours of flying later and the Everfree forest was insight.  All that remained was getting through Ponyville.   This did not prove difficult at all, because nopony was ever awake at this time of night.  That and there was no large royal presence in the small town.  He flew through the streets with ease.  He knew them like the back of his hoof.  He had grown up here.  Reaching the edge of town, he looked over his shoulder to make sure that the alicorn was still there.  She was.  Still unconscious.

As the batpony and his very special passenger soared through the forest, a large crumbling structure appeared on the horizon.  The old castle of the two alicorn sisters that had peacefully guided Equestria long ago.  Nightfall landed in the forest just outside the castle.  He began to walk.  A voice called out to him.  "Cow," the voice sounded.  Nightfall stopped and placed a hoof on his face.  "Really Paper Cut, Cow?" he called back.

A young stallion with a light tan coat, cherry red eyes, and short, messy, orange mane stepped out from behind a bush.  "Call back sign.  What is the call back sign?"

"There isn't one, you just made that up," Nightfall replied with a smile.  "Stop goofing off and help me with this."  He pointed to the purple mare on his back.

Paper Cut looked at Nightfall as he walked closer.  At first all he saw were the wings, but then he saw the horn and froze.  "Is she really a..."  The unicorn couldn't think.  He had never seen an alicorn in real life before.  And now he was watching one sleep on his friend's back.

Nightfall looked at the young stallion and nodded.  "Come on, we have a lot of work to do."  With that he began to walk toward the steps to the old castle and then up them toward the door, which was flanked by a guard on either side.  Each looked amazed at what they were seeing.  Paper Cut quickly ran up the stairs after Nightfall, who was telling each guard something.  "Please keep this as quiet as possible.  The crown still thinks that we aren't a threat," He said to the two earth ponies.  "If word gets out, we may have a problem."  The pony on the left ran a hoof across his mouth indicating that it was sealed, while the other nodded and said, "Don't worry about it.  This secret is as safe as possible with us."  Nightfall walked through the door, followed by Paper Cut.

"I'll let the commander know that you are back, and that... Paper Cut was cut off.

"Just tell him that I have something to show him," Nightfall said calmly.  "I'd prefer it if news didn't spread like a wild fire of what we have."

The young pony raised his hoof to his forehead.  "Yes, sir."  Paper Cut then ran off toward a hallway and then vanished around the corner.  Nightfall smiled and then started off down a hallway opposite of the one that Paper had run down.  When he rounded the corner, he stopped and walked into a medium sized room that was dimly lit.  There was a single wooden table in the middle of the floor and few rope hammocks that hung from stone supports.  He walked over to the closest one and gently set the mare into it.  He then dropped his saddle bags in a corner and opened a drawer next to him.  After pulling out some medicines to clean the alicorn's wound, and a fresh bandage, he turned around to head back to her.  His eyes met hers.  Nightfall nearly dropped what he was carrying.  She was awake.