Chapter 16: Call of the Mark

“Your marks are glowing”

Today was the day it happened.

Today was the day Rainbow Dash finally returned from Cloudsdale, fully recovered. The athlete and aspiring Wonderbolt member had been confined to her room in Cloudsdale for the next five days after her release from the hospital. And according to Dash when she returned the following morning of her release. It had been torture.

She hadn’t been allowed to fly for a week and a half now and it was finally great to stretch her wings.

What’s more, everyone was happy to see her. And even when Spike had bluntly asked her if she saw the paper relating to Kaneki and how cool those pictures showed him the pegasus had merely smiled at the boy and nodded her head in his direction.

“Yeah, he did look pretty cool in those shots” Dash said nudging him with an elbow.

Kaneki had merely rubbed the back of his neck mekely at the comment. Needless to say he was glad his pegasus friend was back and he was especially glad the mare hadn’t referred to past events that the photos displayed either.

After Dash had returned from her home and hung out with everyone, even Sting Ray and Kill Shot joining in which was a rare feat, the group had ended up dispersing leaving Kaneki, Spike and the two investigators behind while the girls went out.

Spike who hadn’t had as much time to relate to Kaneki as the others had decided to join in on the conversation that the two investigators were sharing. But as he walked from his room back downstairs to join Kaneki, Kill and Sting, he didn’t expect to hear the word “ghoul” as he made his descent.

“Things just got interesting” Spike mused.

“Have you heard?” Sting asked his partner and gave a quick glance at Kaneki’s direction.

“About?” Kill said, glancing over his shoulder to make sure Spike wasn’t looming around somewhere where the conversation could be heard.

“There have been a few more reports of attacks happening in other parts of Equestria. I think we should get moving Kill. We’ve been here doing nothing the entire time, we need to start moving and do our jobs. Protecting the innocent.”

Kill Shot sighed. “Yes. Yes, you’re right.”

“WHAT? Kill Shot I’m saying this because we need to do what’s right for the citizens of this world! Even if they aren’t our own citizens we still have to-- matsu...did you say I’m right?”

Kill Shot nodded. “Yes. You’re right. We’ve been doing nothing while ghouls have been popping up left and right. We can’t call ourselves CCG if we’re just sitting here on our asses like the police officers back in Japan. If we want to make a change we should start where the ghouls are appearing the most, then continue from there.”

Kaneki said nothing the entire time. Merely sipping his coffee as he listened silently to their conversation.

Neither Sting nor Kill Shot had asked him why photos of him had been published on Equestria Daily. They simply ignored the matter entirely for two main reasons. The first being because Sting already knew about the fight, the second being Kill had helped in the fight and knew what happened.

Therefore there was no reason to discuss the matter any further.

“Oh yes, Kaneki” Sting said. The boy lifted his eyes away from the steaming cup he was holding then looked up to blue haired investigator with a slightly raised brow.

Sting’s expression hardened almost instantly. “They don’t know yet...do they?”

Kaneki’s attention skyrocketed. No longer leaning back comfortably in his seat he sat up, glanced over the two investigators shoulders to make sure Spike wasn’t present then set his cup of black coffee down and stared at the pensive look displayed on Sting’s face.

“Do they know?” Sting asked for the second time.

Kaneki paused recalling his talk with the princess of the night two days ago. “No...” he said. “They don’t know. I’ve been covering my tracks so they shouldn’t know” he stated picking up his cup to take a sip.

Sting’s eyes narrowed as he watched Kaneki take a sip. Kill Shot said nothing, merely keeping his attention on the stairs in case Spike came down so he could distract the young drake long enough to end this conversation.

“Are you sure no one knows?” Sting asked his voice stressing every syllable.

Kaneki did not pause after he had finished taking his sip of coffee. “Yes.”

A crash sounded in the room as Kaneki watched the crystal floor became covered in pieces of glass and the coffee he had been drinking.

His fingers still curled around the handle of the cup, Kaneki stared at where his mug used to be, then looked at the floor and saw all the glass and coffee which now proceeded to spread across the ground towards his feet.

Slowly he looked up and stared at Sting who was now standing in front of him with clenched fists.

“Why did you-”

“Why are you lying to us?” Sting asked with all the annoyance of a frustrated adult.

Kaneki blinked and dropped the hand that still held the imaginary cup. “I’m not lying. No one knows what I am.”

Sting’s hardened expression turned into a slight twitch at the ends of his lips. “No one knows aside from us right?”

Kaneki nodded, and this time Sting turned around and began pacing. The ground crunching and making light smacking sounds as glass crunched over his shoes and coffee hit the surface of his soles.

“You’re lying” Kaneki heard him say as he paced.

Neither Kill Shot or Kaneki said anything to this.

Finally after minutes of pacing Sting stopped and turned to look at Kaneki. “Two nights ago, I was outside. I’ve already told you how Kill Shot and I do patrols on the west side of Ponyville because that’s where we’ve noticed some ghouls passing by every now and then.”

“Sting” Kill Shot warned, but the senior investigator’s warning went either ignored or unheard.

“I was passing by, you know minding my own business until I heard a shout and immediately moved off in the direction to approach it. The entire time I was running over there with my quinque ready I was thinking, “I got to hurry. Somebody’s in danger”, but when I got there guess who I found Kaneki.”

Kaneki remained silent, not sure where Sting was going with this. But when he saw that look in Sting’s eye that showed how furious he was he realized, it was him.

Sting caught on to the look in Kaneki’s eyes instantly. “That’s right. You. You and Hachikawa. Kaneki, what were you thinking?!” He shouted. “Everyone in CCG knows out of anyone with a more stronger hatred for ghouls Hachikawa is at the top of the list! Why would you do that? And more importantly with PINKIE in your arms! What’s wrong with you?!”

Kaneki didn’t say anything, he just kept quiet slightly gaping at Sting who continued to speak unaware of their current guest. “And what’s more you were talking with one of the princess’s of this entire nation! So don’t sit there and tell me that no one knows. What did you and Princess Luna talk about?”

Kaneki opened his mouth but upon seeing their guest staring at them with a confused look he closed it.

“Answer me!” Sting yelled.

“STING!” Kill Shot yelled.

The young man froze then scowled as he turned to face his partner. “What?”

Kill Shot pointed in front of them and as he did so Sting’s gaze followed in suit.

Standing there with a really confused look on his face, was Spike.

Spike was young, is young. He knew there were some things that he still wouldn’t be able to understand. But then again there were things that he already understood thanks to his travels with Twilight and their friends.

Having never met a ghoul as far as he knew, Spike wasn’t sure of what to make of everything Sting was saying, but he did know that ghouls were dangerous. And that alone made it very clear to him that he never wanted to meet one as long as he lived.

“What does Kaneki meeting the princess have to do with ghouls?” Spike asked.

The entire room froze.

For a second the three members not of this world could fill a major drop of temperature and chills run up their spines as Spike’s confused look only told them he had questions he wanted answered. Questions they knew the answer to.

Sting glanced over to his partner a feeling of dread overtaking him as he realized he had let his emotions do the talking for him once again. This was on him. If Spike realized the truth behind his words, then Kaneki would be subject to suspicion and so would they.

He and Kill Shot were already under enough suspicion from the equines of this town since they did nothing but roam about at the night with weapons that could kill. And since unlike Kaneki, Kill Shot’s moment of heroism hadn’t been captured on the papers suspicions were still being thrown their way.

This is bad Sting thought, I need a distraction. And just as Kill Shot was about to put at rest everything Sting had said, something happened.

Away from the living room, down the four or five halls near the front door and close to a small room Twilight often used for reading was the common room. That common room held the cutie mark map.

So when the ground beneath the four started shaking and vibrating, Spike immediately recognized the feeling and took off down the hall to see what was happening.

Sting, Kill Shot and Kaneki who had been expecting Spike to suddenly come to the realization of what was really going on were somewhat relieved to see him turn tail and rush out of the hall, but when they too noticed the vibrations that shook where they sat or stood, all three looked at each other and took off after the young dragon.

Kill Shot ordering Sting to come back and clean the mess he had made out of Kaneki’s coffee when they were done.

Upon entering the room the three were greeted with a bright glow and a shadow. Spike’s shadow.

Standing in front of the glowing table Spike turned to the others that were also staring at the glowing table in front of him and the cutie marks pointing to a certain place on the map.

“Spike” Kill Shot said as he approached the drake. “What’s happening?”

Spike bit his lip nervously staring at the cutie marks before he turned to face the others.

“It’s the Map. It’s activated again.”

“Again?” Kaneki repeated. “This has...happened before.” Spike only nodded in response.

“What does that mean then?” Sting asked.

Spike’s nervous biting turned into a frown his tail swishing to the side out of nervous habit. “Trouble.”

Pinkie Pie had done it. She had thrown one of the best “Welcome Back From Your Short Term Recovery Rainbow Dash” party ever.

Her friends were sitting about talking joyfully with mugs of applecider. Unlike all her other parties Pinkie had decided to make this one a bit more private. Especially since this was a moment where her friend had returned from a near death experience.

Since Dash’s return and the images of Kaneki’s display of heroism, Pinkie has finally begun piecing things together. And that in turn was proven to her as her nose hadn’t twitched in awhile now.

The time Kaneki had intentionally dismissed her when Luna had confronted them two nights ago was still fresh in her mind, and these pictures that had been published were beginning to weigh on her.

What was the connection? What am I missing? She thought absentmindedly putting down her mug and scrunching her muzzle up in deep thought.

Pinkie’s friends who were sitting around stopped their own conversations, just now taking note of their friends turmoil, Fluttershy spoke.

“Pinkie, what’s wrong? You haven’t eaten as many cupcakes as you usually do. Is everything alright?”

Pinkie winced at the question, completely snapping out of her thoughts she looked up and saw the worry on all her friends faces.

That struck a cord in her. If there was one thing Pinkamena Diane Pie, Master of Sweets, Conqueror of Pranks, and Queen of Parties did not like doing, it was upsetting her closest friends.

“I’m fine” she said quickly which she only tried to prove by chugging down her applecider in one gulp and coughing half way through it.

“Pinkie, sugar what’s wrong?” AJ asked patting her friend on the back. “Ya ain’t acting like your usual self. What’s buggin’ ya?”

When Pinkie had finally finished coughing and settled down, she looked around at her friends only to see warm smiles.

She sighed, she didn’t want them to worry so this was probably the best option to voice her thoughts. “Recently, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking.”

Rainbow Dash stifled a snort only for Rarity to firmly elbow her in the ribs, forcing her to stop, wince then offer a pained smile to Pinkie who had looked at her.

“Go on” Twilight said gently after shooting Dash a glare.

“It’s about Kaneki. There’s just a lot we don’t know about him. That I don’t know about him. And well...I’m not used to not knowing anything about anypony...or anyone in this case so. So I guess what I’m saying is-” she stopped when she felt a hand touch hers. She looked up and Fluttershy was there smiling at her.

“And it bothers you right?”

Pinkie nodded. And it was natural. Pinkie had grown up at a rock farm. Working with rocks and minerals her family had quite a bit of money. But due to their lifestyle that money didn’t get spent that much and was saved, so they rarely went out and she most of the time didn’t go anywhere but play with her sisters and...rocks. Pinkie loved her family, they were great, but not going anywhere had made things dull at home and often made her depressed when she thought of how there were other colts and fillies she hadn’t met yet. Having fun and enjoying themselves while she remained in a stasis like life with nothing to do but take care of the farm. It was fine, but then again it wasn’t. That all changed when the Rainboom came though.

After she got her cutie mark, Pinkie had made sure she got to know everypony within an inch of her so she could spread the joy and enlightenment she felt the day she saw that explosion of light particles disperse the sky.

But not being able to understand or connect with somepony, especially one who lived with her for almost a month now was...unsettling. Even with Cranky it had taken her a few days but this was different. Kaneki had accepted her friendship unlike Cranky when they first met, and what's more she lived with him and had visited both Sting and Kill on multiple occasions yet she still knew nothing, so yeah, it bugged her, it annoyed her and her friends could see this.

“It’s not just Kaneki, but Sting and Kill Shot also. I mean ever since they got here they’ve been so discreet and secretive. Even hiding a lot of information on the ghouls from us. I’m just trying to figure out, why, you know. Why do they need to hide everything from us like this...it’s as if they don’t trust us or...can’t.” Pinkie said with a frown.

The others went silent and looked at each other. Twilight had to admit, Pinkie was right. This wasn’t the usual kind of keeping secrets ordeal they were dealing with. This was the kind of secret these three were willing to die to protect, the question was what was so important they weren’t willing to tell a soul.

Fluttershy had to admit as well that even though she had been spending some time with Sting, he was always alert, always on the lookout even when he came over to visit her and her critter friends. Sometimes it was uncanny, other times she just thought he was being protective of her and her friends, but then there were moments when she looked into his eyes and just couldn’t see any warmth at all.

Fluttershy lightly squeezed Pinkie’s hand to show she understood, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack also reflecting on their own interactions with the boy and the two investigators.

“Pinkie is right though.” Rarity said after a few minutes of silence. “When those images of Kaneki came out I must say I was quite surprised to see him display such skill. Even if it was a photo, I still must say it was surprising.”

“Well he did catch me when I was falling out of the sky after I injured myself, remember?” Dash said with a slight fluff of her wings.

“Did he though?” Pinkie asked.

The others looked at her. “Pinkie what are you talking about” AJ asked.

“You guys all know about my Pinkie sense, Twilight.” Twilight rolled her eyes. “For the past few days they’ve been acting up.” The way her friends stiffened wasn’t lost on her. “And I’m sure it’s because of Kaneki and the others. But mainly him.”

“What do you think sets it off about him? Do you think he’s dangerous or something?” Twilight asked after taking another sip of her applecider.

Pinkie shook her head, “I don’t know. I’m not sure, I mean- I think I have an idea but...it’s nothing good.”

“Well what is it?” Dash asked.

Pinkie bit her lip. This wasn’t something she wanted to admit. That maybe, just maybe Kaneki wasn’t actually a investigator but was tied in with Kill Shot and Sting by some other means, like an assassin or something along those lines. Maybe the reason why he never talked about his past was because a lot of horrible things happened that he didn’t want anyone to know about.

But if that’s the case what did that mean for her. Was she breaking his trust by intruding or being curious? Was she being just a bit selfish in wanting to know more about him and the others as well?

She didn’t know. She felt so confused and wasn’t sure how to approach this, but then suddenly she saw a glow emit from under the table.

“Uh Rarity, girls” Pinkie said drawing everyone’s attention as she looked at her jeans to see the glowing cutie mark.

“I think we have some business to attend to.”

Kaneki, Sting and Kill Shot sat down while Spike explained to them what the Cutie Map was. How it worked, what it did, and how it only selected Twilight and the others to do these jobs and no one else.

“Wait, wait. So only they can solve these problems?” Sting asked feeling quite confused. “I’m sorry to say this but we haven’t been in your world that long. And I don’t understand why they are the only ones that handle these dangerous situations. I’ve talked to Fluttershy and she’s told me you and the others have been through a lot. Yet you have Royal Guards who do virtually nothing, and officers who aren’t as useful either.

“What gives?”

Spike shrugged. “It’s just the way things are. We don’t question it, we just do it.”

To this Kill Shot looked at the map then looked back at Spike. “And you’re fine with that? Just obeying orders from something based on your explanations you don’t understand.”

Spike opened his mouth to speak, but found he couldn’t say anything. Kaneki wasn’t sure of what to make of this either. Blindly obeying the wishes of something they didn’t understand, going through dangerous trials leading up to the current point they now were in, was it any different from the way he lived his life doing his best to keep things in check and protect those he cared for?

The sound of two doors being thrown open interrupted everyone’s thoughts.

Pinkie and the others walked in looking like they had just ran a marathon and much to Kaneki’s surprise along with the other two investigators, that were also staring at the flashing lights on three of the mare’s sides.

Rarity, Pinkie, and Applejack moved towards the map, Spike stepping aside to give them way as they took their seats.

“Alright, what the news Spike” Twilight asked once she’d taken her seat and her assistant had taken his by her side.

“The map shows that Rarity and Pinkie Pie are heading to Trancelvania” Spike said. “Applejack and Dash you two are heading to Manehattan.”

The four nodded. “Alright girls, better get ready to pack up and move on out. Meet y’all back here at Twilight’s in an hour” AJ said before she began heading out the door.

“Wait” Kaneki and Kill Shot said together. The four stopped moving and looked at the men.

Kaneki looked at Kill Shot and nodded for him to speak. “Let us come with you.”

“We can’t.” Twilight said. “The map chose us and it’s important we go ourselves.”

“But the map is not control your actions. Just because it chose you doesn’t mean you have to abide by its rules. Let us come, we won’t interfere” Sting said.

Twilight looked at the others and they all shrugged in response.

“Wait outside, we need to talk.”

Outside Kaneki could hear voices raising and lowering. Whatever was going on in there was serious. Was it really that bad if they let them go?

“Sting” Kill Short said. The young man looked up. “I need you to go with Applejack and Rainbow Dash.”

“But what about Kanek-” Kill Shot raised a finger for silence.

“I will go with Kaneki. We need to get out, we can use this opportunity to observe the damage outside of Ponyville. In the meantime we will just have to wait for their decision.”

“And if they say no?” Kaneki asked.

Kill Shot looked at the closed common room doors and pushed his glasses back up his face. “Then we make them see reason.”

Author's Note

Leave a comment if you're curious about anything said in this chapter, as well as if I made any mistakes.
Enjoy.