Para Bellum
By Wolfram Adolphus Tumblr: wolframadolphus
Si vis pacem, para bellum- If you wish for peace, prepare for war.
I feel like everyone has the potential to be a hero.
You could see a man running down the street and accidentally trip him, then see police roll up and arrest him, only to find out he's a mass murderer or a mastermind thief. The next day, you're a national hero, up until the newest celebrity news becomes bigger than you.
I guess my potential was buried pretty far down.
In other words, my life sucks.
I work fourteen hours a day at a job that I hate, have no friends, and I spend all my time not working at home. Most of my time at work or at my apartment that I can hardly afford. I spend as much time as I can online or watching T.V., wandering anything and everything having to do with ponies. I sleep eight hours a day, only giving me about an hour after work, eating, and sleeping.
I love the show so much, sometimes my dreams are about ponies, and about me being one of them. When I wake up, I usually laugh about them. They’re just silly dreams. Something that would never become true in the wildest of realities.
Or so I thought.
It all started one day at work.
I was at my office, working on a project I had started work on a few months before and was just about to finish. In a few more hours, I’d be all done and turn it in. I was actually kind of relieved to get this project over with. I had spent most of my time at work on this, and I was feeling like it was probably my best work so far. Perhaps good enough to make my boss treat me like I wasn't worthless.
I had worked at this job for almost four years, and I had always known that my boss didn't like me. He treated everyone of my colleagues with respect and spent a lot of time with them, talking, laughing, making plans to meet them outside of work, et cetera. Never once did he do any of those things to me. In fact, whenever he looked at me, any sign of happiness disappeared from his expression.
So, what happened next was something I had been expecting since day one working there.
"Samuel." A voice behind me said. I turned around to see my boss standing in the doorway to my office. "You're fired."
"Wh-What?" I said.
"You're fired. Nobody here likes you and you don't contribute much to this job, other than doing the projects no one else wants to do. I want you out of here as soon as possible."
I just stared at him in shock. I had worked here for years, and the one time I try to impress him, I get fired before I can. I had worked here long enough to know that he wouldn't pull a prank on me, because he only did that with the employees he liked.
So, I had to send all the unfinished work I had to another employee, clean out my area, and walk home in shame, as I didn't have a car.
When I got home, I slumped into bed, face first, and laid like that for at least an hour. I had been suspecting that my boss would fire me at some point, but I was beginning to think that it wouldn't happen after my being there for four years. And I knew that he was being honest about my now ex-colleagues not liking me as well. I had always been unpopular, resorting to media such as television and the internet to be my friends. My boss was just the first person who said it to my face.
Eventually, I was able to find the strength to get out of bed. I went to my kitchen and grabbed a few beers. Then I went to my living room and turned on my T.V. I looked through the channel guide, but couldn't find an episode of My Little Pony, so I turned the channel to a show I didn't hate and turned the sound off. I didn't feel like surfing the internet, so I started drinking the beers. I got halfway through my third before I started to feel tired.
You see, a couple of years ago, I discovered I had a condition that made me fall asleep at random times. The doctor I went to said that it wasn't often enough to be common narcolepsy, as it only happened once every week or every other week.
But I had discovered that every time I fainted like this, I had a pony dream. I quickly put what remained of my beer on the table next to my couch and got into a comfortable position and immediately fell asleep.
For a while, all I could see was darkness. There was no other sensation other than the darkness. Then I started hearing the screams.
I was confused. I thought I was having a pony dream. I never heard screams in my pony dreams before. Then I regained my sight and things only got weirder.
I was in what appeared to be a lab of some kind. I could feel something on my head. When I tried to reach up to grab it and bring it into my field of vision, I found that I couldn't move my arms.
I looked down and saw that I was tied down to some kind of medical table. I also saw something that I couldn't quite process immediately.
The first thing I saw was that I had dark skin. And I mean dark. Like pitch black dark.
Then I realized I didn't have fingers. Or toes. I just had hooves. Then I relaxed a bit. I really was having a pony dream. But if I was, then why was I hearing those sounds? There had never before been anything but calm voices from other ponies in my dreams.
Just then, a pony burst in through a door I hadn't noticed before. She had a light green coat with a deep blue mane that was styled like Rainbow Dash's, and her eyes were amber. She was wearing some kind of body armor, and I could see she was a unicorn. When I saw her horn, I thought to check if I was a pegasus, earth pony, or unicorn, but I couldn’t move anything, so I would have to wait until I got out of the restraints to find out.
“Suppressor?” The mare said. Then she ran up to me and said, “Let's get you out of here and back to Huntspony before they find us.”
I had no idea what she was talking about. Was I Suppressor? Why was this strange unicorn looking for me, and who was screaming? She examined the straps holding me down and then started trying to undo the one closest to her.
“We’re going to get you out of here.” The unicorn said, then added, "It’s good to see you again."
“Who are you?” I asked.
She got a surprised look on her face, then it changed to concern and then worry.
“No, no, no, no, this is not good.” She said. “You really don’t remember me?”
“How could I remember you? You were never in my dreams before.”
She looked at me, trying to discern whether or not I was telling the truth. Then she finally realized I was telling the truth and I could see she felt an extreme amount of worry, like my not remembering her was the most important thing to her.
She shook off her worry and started working on the straps, mumbling to herself so quietly that I couldn't hear her.
After she freed my from my restraints, she worked on getting the strange contraption off my head, and helped me get to my feet. Or, rather, hooves.
She told me that she and a group of other ponies had come to rescue me from the place I was being held in. She said that we didn’t have any time for questions and we had to get out immediately, so we started running through the hallway she had come from.
As we were running, she acted extremely cautiously. I was a few feet behind her, to the side. I saw her cutie mark was a spear, the tip glowing with a blue aura around it. I remembered my curiosity at which kind of pony I was and checked if I had a horn or wings, but I had neither. I couldn’t stop and see what my cutie mark was, but I was more concerned with getting out of there at the moment.
We ran past a few bodies of ponies wearing lab coats and body armor, though their armor wasn’t similar to the mystery unicorn’s, so I thought that was a good sign. I saw that many had bruises on them, and most were still breathing, but I saw a few who weren't so lucky. The loud voices were still there, but it was significantly quieter now, though even if I was deaf, I could have figured that out with all the bodies laying around.
We were running towards the loudest noises, which were drawing steadily lower as the remaining defenders of the facility were knocked unconscious or killed. We ran through a door and found ourselves in the room where the last struggle was taking place.
One light brown coated pony, wearing body armor similar to my unicorn savior (or captor), was ducking behind some cover that he just barely fit behind, as he was pretty large. He wasn't a unicorn like the one who had freed me, so he couldn't use magic to fight off his attackers, though I wasn't sure it mattered with his size.
He was being attacked by five ponies, all wearing body armor similar to the unconscious ponies we passed before, and nearly as large as him. One was a unicorn, one was a pegasus, and the remaining three were earth ponies. They were so intent on assaulting the larger pony that they hadn't noticed the mare and myself enter the room. The unicorn started firing from her horn at the attackers, and, in their confusion, the stallion came out of his cover and retaliated.
The unicorn fired at the other unicorn first, and, once he was taken care of, the pegasus. Meanwhile, the stallion attacked the two earth ponies, until all four were unconscious. There was no remaining noises in the facility, which I found delightful after hearing almost nothing but pained screams for the past few minutes.
"Well, Bellona, you sure do know when to make an entrance." Said the large stallion, who spoke with a dominant southern accent mixed with some other accent, one I hated in humans but seemed to fit him. Or whatever the Equestrian equivalents of those places would be. I figured he wasn't talking to me, so the unicorn's name must have been Bellona.
"Code names while we're on a mission, Warhammer." Bellona responded with no infliction in her voice.
"The mission's over, Bell. We beat all them ponies and we got back Ce-sorry, Suppressor." He said, making it clear that he didn't like the code names.
"'The mission isn't over until Huntspony gets the report.'" Bellona said, stating it in a way that made me sure it was a quote from somewhere.
"Yeah, whatever." Warhammer said. Then he turned to me and said, “Anyways, it’s good to have you back, Centurio.“
“I suppose. Quick question though: When am I going to wake up and get out of here?” I said.
The stallion called Warhammer looked really confused. He looked from me to Bellona, and then Bellona explained about my, “memory loss.” (Which I was convinced was just part of my dream.)
“Ah,” He said, after listening intently to Bellona tell the story. “Must have been part of the Dissonance experiments.”
"Excuse me," I said, " but what is going on here?"
"We need to get back to headquarters first." Bellona said. "Huntspony can explain to you once we get back."
"And why should I go with you two?" I said." I'm only dreaming. I'll wake up and leave all this behind soon."
The two ponies looked at each other, then Warhammer trotted behind me, but I wasn't paying attention to where he went, as I was focused on the unicorn. Bellona said, "If you were dreaming, would you feel this?"
I felt something hard hit me in the back of the head, and then everything went dark.
When I woke up, I was on a medical bed again, though this time I wasn't restrained. I saw that I was still a pony, and was starting to have doubts about whether or not this was a dream. If it was, then it was certainly the weirdest one I've ever had.
I got off the bed and stood on my hooves. I hadn't noticed that there was another pony in the room until she said, "Look who's finally up."
I turned and saw a light pink unicorn sitting in a chair next to what looked like some monitors. Her cutie mark was a heart with a bandage on it.
"Um.. Hello." I said, unsure of what to say. Then I remembered what had happened before I blacked out and said, "Why did you ponies take me here?"
"Relax, Cen. Bellona and Fortis brought you back to HQ because we've been looking for you for the past two years. They knocked you out because, with your memory loss, you would have been very reluctant to willingly go with them, so they decided to take the easy route. Which reminds me, Huntspony wanted to talk to you when you got up to, 'Assess the situation'.”
“Who is this Huntspony everyone keeps talking about and what’s so special about me that he would spend two years looking for me?” I said, with an annoyed tone.
The mare stared at me for a few seconds, which seemed to be popular with ponies around here. Then she said, “Bell said you had memory loss but I wasn’t sure if she was telling the truth. Now I guess she was right. You need to talk to Huntspony right away. I’ll walk you to his office.”
She walked me through a maze of corridors, past several fighting rings, training arenas, personal offices, and various other rooms. Eventually, we came to a stop in front of an office and then she gestured for me to walk in by myself, so I did.
The first thing my eyes were drawn to was the weapons hanging off the wall opposite the door. There was weapons ranging from knives to what I believed were called chakrams to bows, and many more. Several of every kind of non-modern weapon in the human world, made from various materials. I was in awe at the amazing assortment of weapons.
Then I noticed the stallion sitting behind a desk in front of the weapons, looking at me.
He was large, though not as large as Warhammer, whose real name I figured must have been Fortis Mendax. His mane was straight, only just extending over his head and down to the base of his neck. It was black except for a few inches at the base of his neck, which was white. His tail was long, black, like his mane, with gray highlights. He also had wings, so I figured he must have been a pegasus.
His eyes were a deep blue, which made me feel like there was some level of kindness inside him, though how he used his eyes to stare at me showed me that it was pretty far buried inside him at the moment. He had scars along his body, on his legs, and on his face, which helped him give an intimidating stare, though he didn't need the scars to give a menacing stare.
“It’s good to have you back, Centurio.” Said the pegasus in a monotone voice.
I tried to tell him that I didn’t know him or this place, but before I could, he said, “I want you to explain to me everything you remember since waking up in that facility.”
I paused, unsure if I should tell him. I didn’t know him, or maybe I did, and the memory loss everypony thought I had was real. After a few seconds I figured that if this pony was determined enough to search for me for two years then I at least owe him what little memories I had left.
As I was telling him, he stared intently at me, his gaze never wavering, his position never shifting, and his eyes hardly blinking. After I told him my memories up to walking through the door into his office, I said, “So why is this happening?”
He was silent for a few seconds, still not moving, then he said, “I suppose I should tell you the story of what’s happened and why you don’t remember any of this.
“I lead a group known as The Organization. I'm known as The General, and I'm the head of all the agents at this location, known as The Headquarters. There are many in this group, all the best at what they do. You have met Bellona and Fortis Mendax, who you may know as Enyo and Warhammer. Bellona is the leader of Harmony team and Fortis Mendax is the leader of Charity team. Prior to your capture, you were leader of Elysium team.
"Your second-in-command, Legatus, codenamed Legionnaire, took over in your absence, and once you are retrained he will return the reigns, no pun intended, to you."
"What do you mean, 'retrained'?" I asked.
"What I mean is that you will stay here and be taught everything you knew before your memories were erased, so that you can take part in future missions. Celestia only takes care of threats that we can't prevent from surfacing, so there are always many threats for us to deal with. I suppose we should start with who you are." He said, pushing a folder across the desk with the name Centurio written on it.
I opened the folder, and I noticed a picture of an earth pony with my coat color, and I noticed that the pony had pistachio green eyes. He also had a red mane that was short in the front but extended to the base of his neck. I figured that since the folder had the name everypony kept calling me, the pony I was looking at must have been me.
I looked through some of the papers that were under the picture. It told everything about my past to before my capture, all of which I still was doubtful to the reality of.
Apparently, I was born and raised in Baltimare for the first few years of my life, until my parents had died, though the reports didn't mention what from. Huntspony had found me and trained me afterwards, and I had been with the group ever since. I, apparently, was an amazing agent, and then noticed that my cutie mark was a helmet, shaped like a pony's head. The report said that I had been with him for most of my life, at least five times as many years as I had with my parents.
There was several psych reports, which described my personality down to a T, and mission reports, which were all labeled, "success."
"That is who you are." Said Huntspony, once I had finished reading and closed the folder. "You have a one hundred percent success rate on missions, and you were my top agent, up to your capture. And once you're retrained, you will be once again."
"And why should I stay with you? I don't know any of you, unless I'm wrong and you're all right, which is very unlikely, not to mention unrealistic, then I have no reason to stay with you."
Huntspony stared at me for a few seconds, not saying anything, his expression and stance still unchanged. Then, he responded.
"You want to stay with me because there are many ponies out there who are looking to either kill you or use you, and without me, they will get what they want. And, because I'm sure you'd like some vengeance."
"Vengeance? For what?" I said, a confused tone in my voice.
"The facility we rescued you from was run by Dissonance, a group determined to tear down the rule of Princesses Celestia and Luna. They captured you two years ago, erased your memories and created false ones that the unicorns from our facility gathered in your sleep and plan to analyze, and they used you, while under their control, to kill some of our agents, and many more innocent ponies.
"We've been fighting with them for years, keeping the battles out of the eyes and ears of the public. While relatively new, they are very large, and some of their operatives are almost as skilled ours. Without you, our chances of defeating them are much slimmer than I'd like to admit."
"They used me to kill innocent ponies!?" I said, incredulous.
"Yes." Huntspony said. "Now do you see how grave our situation is? They almost made themselves, and, in turn, us, public with their experiments on you, and if we hadn't saved you, we would have taken a much more drastic approach to prevent you from killing those ponies."
I thought about that for at least a minute. Then I said, "Where do we start?"
Huntspony sent me to Fortis Mendax in one of the training rooms first.
I saw the stallion standing in one of the fighting arenas, leaning over the ropes. I could see a punching bag hanging from the ceiling and in the ring, still swinging around. I heard Fortis breathing heavily, and could see sweat all along his body, pooling underneath him.
The bell rang, and Fortis grunted, then turned and stepped out of the ring. Once he was back on the ground, he noticed me. He grunted again, and I handed him the scroll Huntspony told me to give him. He opened it and skimmed through it for the next few seconds.
"Right. Huntspony says that your memories were erased, so I need to train you like you're a new recruit. So, go to the red corner." He said, pointing to the red post that he had been standing near when I walked in.
I did as instructed, and found what I thought were called boxing wraps, sitting next to a pair of boxing gloves.
"What am I supposed to do with these?" I asked.
"Put them on. Fight with them." Fortis said, looking at me like I was an idiot. I did feel like somewhat of an idiot, so I picked up the wraps and tried putting them on. After I somehow ended up tying my front right hoof, my back left hoof, and my tail together, Fortis came over, untied me, and showed me the right way to put them on.
Once I was all sorted out, I picked up the boxing gloves and put them on. Once they were both on, Fortis tied them together. He walked over to some kind of panel in the wall, and then the punching bag slid away. It was replaced by a dummy pony, with it's hooves up and what I assumed were targets on them for me to practice different punches on.
I looked at him, waiting for him to tell me what to do, and he mocked punches, then gestured for me to get closer to the dummy. I did as he said, and once I was about a foot away from the dummy, raised my hooves and pulled my right one back for a punch. Before I could complete the motion, however, the dummy suddenly extended it's hoof and punched me in my chin.
I was knocked back to the edge of the ring. I saw Fortis standing at the wall near the panel he had used to switch the punching bag with the dummy, a big smile on his face. I got back up and turned around, focusing on the dummy.
For the next hour or so, I got knocked down by the dummy repeatedly, only managing to get one or two punches in before it did. The next few hours, I managed to dodge some of the attacks, getting better and better every time.
At the end of our lesson, he told me that I would have to come at the same time tomorrow for the next part, which, much to my surprise, wasn't the next stage.
"You aren't done with this lesson." Fortis said.
"But we just spent hours working on to punch and avoid these attacks! I'm pretty sure that I could handle myself in a fight. The only way I could get better is by moving on to the next fighting style!" I said.
"Well, soooooorrrry. Huntspony's rules: Everypony here needs to be able to go for an hour straight against the dummy, who must be controlled by the fight training chief, or one of the Top Four, and not be hit once. You need to practice this with the boxing style before you can even move on to the punching bags, let alone the next fighting style."
"That's going to take forever! Why can't you just train me to do some awesome kung fu moves!?" I said.
"Huntspony says we need to know how to use any and all possible fighting methods because we never know when or what we'll need, and when the time comes, we'll need to deal with the hand we're given. Odds are you're going to be against a pony twice your size, and he'll probably know how to fight back. If he knows how to fight in a way that you don't, then you will probably make some kind of mistake. And if there's one thing Huntspony don't like, it's mistakes. Even more important, you may end up dead."
I wanted to argue more, but a large part of me knew that what he was saying made sense. I also didn't have time to argue, because just then, a loud bell rang, though this time I could hear it from the hall as well. Fortis said, "Dinner time. Let's go."
We walked through the hallways, which were surprisingly packed with ponies.
"Are all these ponies working with us?" I said.
"Yup." Forts Mendax said, grinning. "There are three combat teams here, led by me, Bellona, and Legatus, though once you're retrained you'll take that position back. There are also several ponies in charge of combat training, teaching our history, maintaining the medical bay, the mess hall, and various other jobs around Headquarters." I thought about that for a second. I never thought that there was so many ponies working here. More importantly, that I would have to be in charge of a large portion of them.
Once we got to the mess hall and got our food, Fortis and I walked to the back of the room. There were two empty tables in the back, and Fortis explained to me that they were for the top agents, and even though I wasn't a team leader at the moment, Fortis told me that it was okay for me to sit with them.
We sat down next to each other, and Fortis started stuffing his face into his food, no regard for manners or leaving a clean table behind for the janitor. Before the next pony even came to sit at the table, he was almost finished with his food, and I was barely started, reluctant to start eating hay and seeds.
I noticed that the new pony was the one who had been in the room when I had woken up on the medical bed. She sat down across from us, looked at Fortis with a disgusted expression at his eating habit, and then turned to me with a smile.
"Good to have you back at this table, Centurio." The mare said. "It always felt different without you."
"Centurio, you already met Royal Victoria." Fotis said, taking a break from eating what little food he had left. "She's head of the med bay, and was in charge of making sure you hadn't been damaged by the Dissonance experiments and that you recovered from the blow to the head I gave you. By the way, sorry about that."
"So you really don't remember any of this?" Royal said.
"I'm not even sure that this is real." I said.
The two ponies laughed, and then another voice said, "We all wish that this wasn't real. Unfortunately for us, it is, and it's our job to make sure that to the public it isn't real."
I turned around and saw the unicorn who had rescued me from the facility was trotting over to sit on my other side.
"Centurio, you've also already met Bellona." Fortis said. "She's head of Harmony team, and after dinner you're going with her to learn the rules and history of our group."
"I'm going to make sure you know what we do, why we do it, and how we do it. Like your training with F.M., it cannot be covered in one day alone and you will need to spend every night with me until your lessons are over." Bellona said.
"Sounds great." I said, looking at her. She was looking back at me, and when she saw me looking at her she smiled, then quickly looked away. I noticed my face getting a little warm, and then I suddenly got very interested in my food.
We were joined by several other ponies throughout the dinner period, including the fight training chief, who was a faded green coated pony called Sarge, the head of headquarters maintenance, an electric blue colored pony named Conductor, and a few others. I noticed that Huntspony wasn't eating with us, which I asked Bellona about.
"He eats in his study." She said. "He never eats out here with us."
I noticed that even if he had come, then somepony would have to leave the table. Both of the tables reserved for leaders had been filled up. Then I noticed another deep green pegasus walking towards the tables, apparently oblivious to the fact that both were entirely occupied.
I nudged Bellona and said, "Who's that?"
She and Fortis looked at the pony I mentioned, who was still walking towards us. Then F.M. said with a look of disgust, "That's Legatus, the acting leader of Elysium team."
"I'm getting the feeling that you don't like him." I remarked.
"Legatus may be a fine agent, but he's a world-class jerk." Bellona said. "You'll see what I mean once he gets here."
I watched, and once he got to the table he stood at the end and looked at all the ponies, who were all looking in various directions except for at him. When no one made room for him, he pushed open a space between Royal Victoria and Sarge, directly across from me.
"I see you're back, Centurio." Legatus said, with a regal sneer that totally didn't fit his position and made him seem like a jerk, which I was beginning to realize he was. "No one seemed to find it important to tell me."
"Huntspony did. I was with him when he sent out the letter to you. Maybe if you took some time to read his letters..." Bellona trailed off.
"Hmmph." He said. "Well, you are not supposed to be sitting at this table, as you are currently not a leader."
"Huntspony gave him permission to sit here." Fortis said. "And, once Bellona and I are done retraining him, you won't be able to sit here anymore."
"Hmmph." He said, which was really starting to annoy me. I noticed that when F.M. said, "retraining," Legatus's eyebrows raised just slightly. "We'll see about that." He said, looking at me.
Nobody said anything else, since Legatus had ruined the happy mood that was spreading throughout the leadership tables, however, the other tables were still just as loud as they had been before.
Huntspony sat alone in his office, eating his rose sandwich. He didn't usually like specialty food, as he had grown up as a simple pegasus, though he had taken a liking to the roses. He had the farmers grow them in the farming section of the Headquarters.
As he was nearing the end of his meal, a pony knocked at the door. He had been expecting to get a visit, and he was almost entirely sure who was on the other side of the door.
He opened the door, and sure enough, it was Particle Accelerator. She ate dinner late at night, by herself, which was against the rules, but Huntspony never confronted her about it. He saw no harm as long as the others didn't find out about.
"Huntspony, I finished examining the data we got while Centurio was knocked out. We found out what they were doing with Centurio."
Huntspony listened to her talk, and he didn't say anything. As he listened to her talk, however, he felt a hoof clench around his heart.
After Bellona finished teaching me the lessons, which took about as long as my fighting lessons with Fortis earlier today, and had gotten me about as close to finishing my lessons, we sat down in the private room in the Headquarters' library she was using to teach me.
"So, after dinner tomorrow, we will pick up where we left off today." She said.
"Great. That means I'm one day closer to putting Legatus back where he belongs. Under me and at all those crowded tables" I said.
"That would be very much appreciated." She responded, looking at a spot ahead of both of us. "He was a huge jerk before you got captured, and he was an even bigger one once he got your position."
"Yeah. Why do we ever keep him around?" I asked.
"He may be a huge jerk, but on a mission he can operate very well. He does much better than most of the agents here. He was the highest ranking agent who isn't in a leadership position, though nopony here likes him, not even Huntspony, though he never said that out loud."
"Why does everybody call him Huntspony? That's not his real name, is it?"
"Honestly, nopony here knows his real name. Huntspony isn't even a name he gave or calls himself. You saw all the weapons in his office. And everypony here thinks there's something special about his cutie mark." I remembered seeing his cutie mark when I met him in his office, though I hadn't paid much attention to it. I remember it being a square divided into eight equal triangles, half black, the other half white.
"Fortis Mendax has been with the group the longest out of any of us, and even he doesn't know Huntspony's real name. It's just something other agents started calling him, and he hasn't told us to stop, so we've used it ever since."
"That makes sense." I said, though something made me think and focus more on what had happened at dinner, and I just couldn't keep it in anymore.
"Bellona." I said, which made her focus on me. "Back in the mess hall, when you sat next to me and both of us smiled at each other, and then you turned away, I noticed you were pretty... nervous, I suppose."
She turned away so I wouldn't be able to see her face, though I caught a glimpse of it getting a little red.
After her face had gone back to it's normal color, she turned back to me and said, "Huntspony told me that you read through the reports we had on you. About the reports of your parents death. I've also read those reports, so I know what you saw, and what you should and didn't see.
"You see, you and I knew each other before we joined the Organization. We lived in the same town, Baltimare. Our parents were friends, and we spent a lot of time with each other.
"We were both very young when our parents died. They had all gone out together, though neither of us could remember what they left for. We were left with a neighbor, an old pegasus who lived near us. They never came to pick us up, and some ponies had come by to tell us the news. We were going to go to an orphanage the next day, but for the night we were going to stay with the pegasus.
We stayed up late that night, like young friends do, and we talked for hours. At some point, you had the bright idea to run off, just the two of us. That same night, we ran off, just the two of us, no parents, no orphanage, just friendship. I don't remember how long we were by ourselves, but I've been told that we looked like we had been through a lot.
"At some point, we ran into Huntspony. He says that it was in Hoofington, but I don't remember what exactly happened, and if you did, you never told me, and you wouldn't be able to anymore. All Huntspony said was that he saw us fight off some kind of creature, which we had been doing a lot throughout our adventure. He noticed how ragged we looked, and so he asked us if we had a home. We told him we ran away, since our parents were dead. He recruited us, and we've been with the Organization ever since. Well, you were up until you capture."
I took a few minutes to think about what she was saying. I never realized she and I had some kind of history together, and I started to realize what that awkwardness between us at dinner was, even though she didn't say it. "So where did F.M. come from?" I said, trying to change the subject, which she seemed grateful for.
"He lived in Fillydelphia, but his father was from Manehattan and his mother from Dodge Junction. He wouldn't specify, but he had some family troubles, and he ran away a few years before Huntspony joined. He saw some of our operatives shortly after, followed them back to Headquarters. He said he wanted to join and so they tested him, saw he had what they wanted, and he joined."
"Wow. Everypony here had no home when they joined, huh?" I said.
"Not everypony, but a lot of them. A few, like Royal Victoria, were living happy, peaceful lives, but Huntspony requested for them to join, and many did."
I wanted to keep talking to her, but just then one of the ponies that was eating with us at dinner came into the room. I recognized him as the messenger of The Organizzation, who delivered letters and packages for us. "Letter from Huntspony." He said, giving Bellona a scroll. "Thanks, Hercury." She said, and he nodded his head at her, then left.
I couldn't see what she was reading, and Bellona wasn't saying anything, but I could tell that whatever it was, it was not good. She continued reading the scroll for a few minutes, and she just keep getting a look that got more and more worried.
After she finished reading, she rolled up the scroll, looked at me and said, "Huntspony needs to talk to you."
I walked into his office and took the seat across from him. Oddly enough, it seemed like Huntspony hadn't moved from his position when I was in here before. The only thing that seemed different was that the room smelled like roses.
"The ponies in the lab finished analyzing the memories that we were able to recover from the Dissonance experiments." He said.
"Well, that was fast." I said. "So, what exactly did they do to me?"
"They didn't tamper with you in anyway other than having you in a daze and controlling what you did, with some powerful unicorn magic. All the time that you spent while they weren't using you, you were shown dreams of a world where you were what they had called, 'Human.' We had expected something along these lines. What we didn't expect, however, was what you saw in those dreams.
"In the world you dreamed, our world was just a fictional story presented on a, "television," called, "My Little Pony." They made it seem like a young filly's show, though it had somehow attracted the attention of many stallions. They put you into a situation where you would be a dedicated fan to the show, because whenever they used you to kill ponies, they couldn't prevent you from noticing what was really happening.
"They found a way to prevent you from realizing that you were killing ponies, though they couldn't prevent you from seeing ponies, so they made it seem like the story they were showing you was what caused the dreams. They made the story because if it wasn't there, you would have found a way to wake yourself up, which they would not allow."
"I knew this already, though." I said. "I still have those memories from when I was dreaming. Why is it so important?"
"In the story, they focused on six ponies living in Ponyville, who are real. We need to go there and find them."
"Why, though?" I asked. "Why do we need to visit them? Not that I'm complaining."
"Dissonance is an anti-harmony group whose main goal is to topple Celestia and Luna's thrones and take over their positions. Surely you haven't forgotten the lessons Bellona just taught you."
I hadn't. Back when Luna turned into Nightmare Moon, she had an band of villains helping her, though no public records say that. To fight off her armies, Celestia started her own secret group. When Luna was trapped in the moon, her group faded away, but ours remained ever since then, charged with making sure that nopony (or ponies) tried to do anything to disrupt the harmony we were tasked with maintaining.
Dissonance was based on the group that Luna had created, though they were against her, since she had rejoined Celestia in ruling. Our group has been trying to take them down since they formed, to no avail. Many previous leaders of our group had prevented groups like Dissonance from starting, though this time they were more secretive about it. Which was apparently very hard, since Huntspony was the greatest leader the group ever had, according to Bellona.
Huntspony was the newest leader in a long line of various leaders, though nopony knew anything about him, except for maybe Celestia, or whatever family he may have.
I finally put all the pieces together in my head, though the idea forming in my head was a terrible one.
"So Dissonance planned to use me to disrupt any way to prevent them from causing all the chaos they wanted, and those six ponies are the personifications of the Elements of Harmony."
"Exactly." Huntspony said. "Dissonance planned to use you to kill them."
Huntspony sent scouts ahead to monitor Ponyville, but he told me that Bellona, F.M., and I would be going there in one week, which meant that I would need to complete as much of my training as possible within that period. Which meant that Bellona and Fortis would have to stay with me the whole time and train me.
I got a maximum of 10 hours of sleep during that time. I spent about ten hours with Fortis and Bellona each, two hours for all meals, and two hours sleeping.
With Fortis, I learned as many fighting methods as our short time would allow I learned different stances, different attacks, different ways that I could prevent myself from being hurt, how to win in a fight with a unicorn or alicorn, all of it, being shoved into my head. However, all of it felt natural to me, so it was much easier that I thought. I supposed they had left my fighting training in my memories. Probably so they could make me use them for their maniacal purposes. Boxing, apparently, had never been my strong suit.
With Bellona, I learned more about what I could and couldn't do, such as how I was first and foremost an agent of the Organization, and my responsibilities were to it first. I learned that our mission was to maintain harmony, and, on occasion, we would have to go to drastic measures to do that. We received all our missions from Princess Celestia and, on occaision, Princess Luna. However, Huntspony decided which missions we did.
I also learned a lot about our history. I learned the names of important ponies and events, such as the Great Fire of Manehattan, and Genghis Calf. Another thing I learned was that everypony in the group was trained to fight, even the ponies in charge of the labs, med bays, and maintaining the Headquarters.
After the week was up, Bellona, Fortis and I were summoned to Huntspony's office.
"Centurio, agents Enyo and Warhammer tell me that you have learned everything you needed to learn. While there are still some things you don't know, I deem you capable of taking back your position as leader of Elysium team, effective immediately."
"Thank you, sir." I said.
"Now, as to why you're all here. The ponies in the lab were analyzing the memories from Centurio, about what they wanted with him, and we've concluded that they intended to use Centurio to take out the Elements of Harmony."
"The Elements of Harmony!?" Both of my fellow team leaders said.
"Yes. The three of you are going to Ponyville until we're sure those ponies are safe. Your highest priorities are to make sure that nopony is hurt or killed, and to make sure that nopony finds out why you're really there. You have permission to tell the Personifications, if, and only if, the situation proves itself necessary."
"How will you be keeping up on the situation?" Bellona asked. "We can't send letters without somepony noticing."
"Thank you for asking, Bellona." Huntspony said. "I planned on surprising you, but I intend on joining you three on this mission."
"WHAT!?" All three of us said.
"But who's going to be in charge of Headquarters while we're all gone?" F.M. said.
"I am leaving Legatus as my acting head of this facility until our return. All other ponies will go about their routine as usual." Huntspony said., though none of us were happy with that decision. Probably not even Huntspony.
"Why Legatus? Why not Sarge? He's done it before." Bellona said.
"While we all would much prefer to leave Sarge in charge, there are protocols we must follow. Legatus is the next highest ranked pony after the four of us, so he's going to be in charge."
We all understood what he was saying, but none of us were happy with it. We didn't argue though.
"I need to talk to Sarge about taking more initiative." Fortis said.
"Regardless of Legatus, our mission is clear: We have to protect those ponies. Now, let's go."
We arrived in Ponyville a few hours later. I realized I had never left Headquarters since I woke up there. I saw that The Headquarters was built into the side of a mountain, which I had been told during my lessons with Bellona. I knew that we were also on the opposite side of the mountain that Canterlot was built onto the side of, but we were hidden under several rock formations.
We were going by hoof, though carriage was the preferable method of travel. Traveling this way was Huntspony's decision, a way to look less suspicious and draw less attention to ourselves. It only took us about two hours to reach our destination, and we walked in silence the entire way.
It was early in the morning, so there was no ponies up. Huntspony kept walking, making me think that Huntspony had found a place for us to stay, which I hadn't thought to ask about before. Bellona and Fortis seemed somewhat surprised by it, but they said nothing, so I didn't either.
We walked past many locations that I recognized from the show, such as Sugarcube Corner and Rarity's boutique. Inside, I was freaking out, but I had been trained to fight to defend these places and ponies, not gush all over them.
We walked through the town, our hooves clopping against the soft ground. I was beginning to get tired of walking, when suddenly Huntspony stopped, saying, "There."
I looked at where he was, and saw something that brought a smile to my face. I recognized it instantly as Fluttershy's cottage, but then I felt really confused. Why had we come here?
We walked to the door, and Huntspony knocked on it three times, each knock spread out by a half a second. We waited for at least a minute, and when nopony answered the door, he repeated the action.
This time, we heard the sounds of hooves softly clopping against wood, and then the door opened to reveal the yellow pegasus.
She rubbed her eyes, then looked at the group in front of her. When she saw Huntspony, she gasped very loudly and then she did something very unexpected: she tackled him.
Bellona, Fortis, and I all got ready to separate them, but then we heard the laughter. There was a soft female laughter coming from the mare, and then something even more unexpected: a stallion laughing.
My brain couldn't exactly process what was happening, but when it finally did, I realized what I was seeing: The two Pegasi were on the ground, laughing. In the week I had remembered with Huntspony, I had never seen him smirk, let alone laugh. Based on Bellona and Fortis's expressions, I figured that they had never seen him smile either.
After another minute of the two ponies continuing to laugh and us staring at them, Huntspony finally said, "Fluttershy, I'd like you to meet my friends." He pointed to each of us as he said, "This is Bellona, Fortis Mendax, and Centurio."
"Oh. Hello." She said, stepping off Huntspony and avoiding direct eye contact in her usual shy manner.
Each of us had covered our cutie marks, so we could lower suspicion, except for Huntspony, which we were all confused about, but since it seemed he knew ponies, here it made sense to us now.
"No need to be shy with them, Fluttershy." Huntspony said. "I trust them entirely. They're my closest friends."
"Oh. Well, any friend of Wolfram's is a friend of mine."
She then got a confused look on her face from the confused looks on our faces. Huntspony's real name was Wolfram? Why were he and Fluttershy so close? Thousands of questions floated in our minds.
"Hello." Bellona said. "Wolfram hadn't told us that he knew anypony here. He just told us we were coming here, so that's why we were confused."
"Well, Wolfram does that often. It's good to see he hasn't changed much." Fluttershy said, a large smile on her face.
"So, how do you two know each other?" Fortis asked.
Fluttershy got a nervous look on her face, then she said, "Oh my gosh. I'm so sorry. I thought Wolfram would have mentioned me sometime. Oh this is so weird. I'm so sorry." She said, rambling off about how sorry she was that Huntspony (Wolfram!?) hadn't told us about her.
Hunstpony (Wolfram!?) said, "It's all right Fluttershy. It's my fault. You can calm down. You didn't do anything."
That seemed to settle her nerves. It seemed like Huntspony (Wolfram!?) had some kind of power over her. "Oh, all right." She said. "He never talked much about himself. He's always more worried about other ponies. That's why he's always been such a good brother to me."
I'm not sure exactly what happened then, but I felt like my mind was melting and warping at the same time. Then everything went black.
When I woke up, I was inside what I assumed was Fluttershy's home. I was in a bed, and several small animals were in the bed with me. I got out, careful to not disturb the animals.
I looked around and saw Fortis, Fluttershy, and Wolfram eating together. "Look who's up." Fortis said. "You were out longer than when you hit your head last week."
"Oh, I'm so sorry." Fluttershy said. "I didn't mean to surprise you that much."
"Come join us, Centurio." Wolfram said. "There's plenty left."
Fluttershy flew over to a plate of sandwiches and then flew to me. I grabbed two and then took the empty seat next to F.M.
"Centurio, we were just telling Double Barrel some stories from our childhood in Cloudsdale." Wolfram said.
"Oh yes." Fluttershy said. "So, as I was saying, the day I got my cutie mark was the last time I saw Wolfram.
"I was never a strong flyer, and one day a couple of bully pegasi were picking on me. All of a sudden, a blue pegasus with a rainbow mane came and started defending me. Wolfram was busy trying to break up a fight, but I saw that he noticed what was happening. I heard the pegasus with the rainbow mane challenge the two other pegasi to a race.
"They had me wave the flag to signal the beginning of the race. As soon as I did, they all shot off and knocked me off the clouds. I fell really far, and probably would have been hurt, but a flock of butterflies caught me and brought me to a meadow with so many animals. I had never seen such wonderful creatures, since only a few birds and pegasi can get to Cloudsdale.
"I felt a special connection with all the animals, and they were all very friendly to me. Then, a rainbow exploded in the sky and all the animals hid because they were all afraid. I was able to talk all of them into coming out, and I noticed my cutie mark had appeared afterwards.
"Almost immediately, Wolfram flew down and brought me back up to Cloudsdale. I found out that the pegasus who defended me was named Rainbow Dash, and she's been one of my best friends ever since. I found out that she was the first pony to ever do a Sonic Rainboom, which was the rainbow I saw explode.
"Wolfram saw her stand up for me and saw that she and I were friends. He told me he decided that he was going to leave Cloudsdale to go live on the ground, which is what I wanted to do after my time with the animals.
"I was really upset, since Wolfram is my brother and he had always stood up for me whenever I got picked on. Rainbow Dash saw how upset I was and challenged Wolfram to a race. If she won, he would have to stay, but if he won, he could do whatever he wanted. He and I both told her that it wasn't a smart idea. She might have been fast enough to do a Sonic Rainboom, but Wolfram and I both knew that Wolfram was probably the fastest pony ever. He just doesn't like to boast about it, but he was always able to get to a fight seconds after it starts, no matter how far he was.
"So, Wolfram won by a landslide. Rainbow Dash couldn't pull off the Sonic Rainboom again, and she's actually only been able to do it a few times since then. When he won, Wolfram stuck with his decision to leave. I was in tears, and Rainbow Dash was yelling at him for leaving me by myself. Nothing we did prevented him from leaving. I hadn't seem him since then, until this morning when you all showed up at my door. That's why I got a little excited and jumped on him."
Fortis Mendax said, "Well that's a really sad story. One Wolfram here never told us about. But why were you so happy to see him when he just left you in Cloudsdale by yourself?"
"Fluttershy's my sister" Wolfram finally said, breaking his silence. "I always defended her when she got in trouble, and once I saw that she had a friend to stand up for her, I knew she was going to be all right, so I knew that I didn't have much purpose in staying with her. I knew she was going to be happy, regardless of whether or not I was there."
"Exactly." Fluttershy said. "He always had good reason for what he did, so, after a while, I realized that he loved me a lot, but he deserved to follow his dreams, just like everypony else did. So, I decided to follow mine and move to Ponyville so I could live with the animals and new ponies, which both excited me, since I had never lived with unicorn or earth ponies, and the Everfree forest is right outside of town, so there are so many animals for me to take care of."
"So this Rainbow Dash probably has a grudge against Wolfram for leaving you." Fortis said.
"Actually, I don't know what Rainbow thinks about him." Fluttershy said. "She never talked about him after he left, but I can only imagine she's still upset."
"Yes." Wolfram said. "Perhaps I can try to make amends with her while we stay here."
"By the way," I said, noticing our missing companion; "Where's Bellona?"
"She offered to go buy some ingredients I needed for the animals." Fluttershy said. "I wanted to go with her, but Wolfram insisted I stay here, so I decided to stay with him. "
"Well, I'd love to stay, but I think I'm going to go look for her and get acquainted with the town. I'll be back soon."
With the goodbyes of all three ponies, I left in search of Bellona.
After two years of watching the show in my false dreams, I thought that I would know my way around town at least somewhat. I was wrong.
I ran past some houses, a hospital, and some other places. I was feeling like I would never find her when I heard a voice say, "Looking for somepony?"
I turned and saw a pink pony with a messy pink mane and tail. Pinkie Pie.
"I'm always looking for new ponies." She continued. "I know everypony in town. It's not that often that I get to meet two in one day." Then she gasped loudly. "That means I can throw two parties!"
"Two ponies?" I said. "You mean Bellona?"
"Yup, that's her." The pink pony responded. "She said that she and three of her friends came in early this morning. She said that she had gone to get some ingredients for Fluttershy, and then she was going to my friend Twilight's library, which she needed directions to. I think she's still there."
"Um, could you show me where that is?" I said.
She gave me the directions, but she couldn't come with me because she had to, "Get ready for the parties."
She bounced off in one direction, and I trotted off in another, heading for the library.
I walked up to the door of the library and knocked with my front right hoof. A few seconds later, the door opened and revealed a purple unicorn. "Oh, hello." Twilight Sparkle said. "You must be new in town, too. Is there anything you need?"
"Yes." I said. "I'm looking for my friend, Bellona. I was told that she was heading here."
"Oh, yes. She came a few minutes ago and has been looking through the books. She hasn't told me what she was looking for though, and apparently she hasn't found it yet."
I walked in and saw Bellona, using her magic to hold several books and flipping through pages in each of them, a frustrated look on her face.
"What're you looking for?" I asked.
She looked up and noticed me. "Oh." She looked at Twilight, who realized that Bellona wanted to be alone with me and walked upstairs.
"You see, I've been looking through some of the history books here. Something about the name Wolfram seems familiar to me. I think I remember reading it or hearing it mentioned somewhere, something to do with the battle between Celestia and Luna."
"And you haven't found it yet?" I asked.
"Not yet, but there's still a few books left."
I noticed the pile of books she had sitting next to her that she would grab from using her magic whenever she finished the last. I grabbed the one on top and started flipping through it.
After a few minutes of reading, we got to the last three books. Bellona got to the one on top and I grabbed the next. I was flipping through it when I noticed a picture of Celestia with a wolf at her side.
I began reading what was under it, and I finally had found what we were looking for. I began reading out loud.
"Celestia, along with her pet wolf, Wolfram, had worked together to trap Luna, now Nightmare Moon, in the moon. Not much is known about Wolfram, though some records tell that he was a creature of power that Luna and Celestia had created together, but had been tamed by Celestia. He was a fighter, though it is unknown how or who he fought. Since the trapping of Nightmare Moon, there have been no known records of Wolfram, what happened to him, where he is now, or if he's still alive."
"That's exactly what I was thinking of. I read that once in the Headquarter's library, but when I looked for it later, it was gone."
"That's weird. Maybe Wolfram didn't want us to know about it. I wonder why that is?"
"I don't know, but nobody except for the ponies who were in Cloudsdale when Wolfram was a colt know anything about him. I didn't even think Celestia knew anything more than we did. But if her wolf went missing after Luna got trapped in the moon and no one's seen him since, then what if..." She said, her voice trailing off.
"What if... Our Wolfram... Is the same Wolfram from then?" I said.
We both thought about that in silence. Then, the door opened and an orange pony walked in, carrying a large box behind her.
"Where d'ya want these books, Twi?" The pony, who I instantly recognized as Applejack, said. Then she noticed Bellona and I and said, " Well, howdy there. Name's Applejack. And y'all are?"
"I'm Centurio, and this is Bellona." I said.
"Good to meet'chall." She said, then turned to Twilight, who was standing at the top of the stairs. "So, where am I put'n these?"
"Just put them over by that shelf." Twilight said. "So, did you two find what you wanted?"
"We did." Bellona said, smiling. "Thanks for letting us look through your books."
"Anytime." Twilight said, returning the smile.
We left the library and started walking back towards Fluttershy's home, not saying anything the whole way back.
When we got back, we saw that the three ponies were still sitting around the table. They were all talking and laughing.
"Oh, good." Fluttershy said. "You've got the supplies. I've got some new squirrels that won't eat any of the food I give them, so I've got to try some new recipes with them."
"No prob, Fluttershy." Bellona said. "Wolfram? Can we have a talk with you?"
"Of course." Wolfram said. "Fluttershy, please continue this conversation with Fortis Mendax while the three of us go outside and talk."
"Sure thing, Wolfram." Fluttershy said, then started telling a story that Fortis listened intently to.
Once outside, Bellona said, "What are you trying to keep from us?"
To which Wolfram responded, "Can you be more specific?"
"Your name." I said. "There's only one other time in all of Ponykind that the name Wolfram appeared, and it was Celestia's wolf, the same wolf that disappeared from history and no one's seen since Luna's trapping. And there's a lot that we don't know about you. The only ponies who seem to know anything about you are the pegasi from Cloudsdale and Celestia. The only records we've been able to find of it were the one book in this town's library and the Headquarter's library, which seems to have been removed. What's going on?"
He didn't say anything for a few minutes, and then he said, "Back when Luna and Celestia ruled together, before Luna turned into Nightmare Moon and Luna was just beginning to become upset with Celestia, she began looking into dark magic. One magic that she was particularly interested in was the magic of creating organic life forms.
"It is the most difficult form of magic known to all of ponykind. Luna wasn't powerful enough to do it by herself, so she devised a plan. She knew that she was going to need a huge source of power to create living things, and she knew that even if she could find a way to get Celestia to help her with it, she still wouldn't have enough power. So, she tricked Celestia into helping her create the Elements of Harmony.
"The name was one that Luna used to make Celestia think they were for everypony, when in reality they were for Luna's selfish acts. One day, the Elements disappeared. Celestia launched a full-scale search for them, though she had her suspicions about where they really were. She went out and confronted Luna herself, and what she saw was shocking, to say the least.
"Luna had succeeded in the spell. Celestia found Luna, along with a new being. It didn't have a definite shape, as it was pure evil. It was more like an intelligent purple smoke. Then, the smoke swirled around Luna, and she became Nightmare Moon. What was left of the smoke became a wolf, the first in all of Equestria.
"Nightmare Moon discarded the elements, as she had no more use for them. The wolf, however, saw that they were a threat. He disobeyed Nightmare Moon and decided to go after the Elements instead. Celestia had seen the same threat they could be to Nightmare Moon, and also went after them.
"The two battled, and the wolf would have won, had Celestia not grabbed the Elements and used them. Celestia used them to destroy much of the evil in the wolf, and all that was left was Wolfram. He was considered by many to be her pet, though he was much more like a general. He commanded all her armies in the ensuing war with Nightmare Moon. He was also very powerful, physically, mentally, and magically. Celestia knew of his powers, and created the group that we are a part of now, with Wolfram as the leader.
"When Celestia originally tried to trap Nightmare Moon in the moon, she found that she wasn't powerful enough. Nightmare might have killed her then if it hadn't been for Wolfram, who came in at the last second and saved her. Celestia learned from her mistake then and decided to use Wolfram's power along with hers.
"Since the Elements of Harmony were created by two living things, they need the power of at least two living things for powerful magic such as that. The two went and confronted Nightmare Moon, who was just about to complete her plot to take over. Meanwhile, all over Equestria, almost everypony in the land fought, some for harmony, and the rest for, 'The New Lunar Republic.'
"Celestia used her magic to activate the Elements while Wolfram battled Nightmare Moon. Once the Elements were powered up, Celestia and Wolfram used their power to use the Elements. However, Celestia had miscalculated the amount of power they would need. She and Wolfram could both see that it wasn't working, and before she could put any more of her power into her magic, Wolfram put everything he had into it.
"Even with all the power he put into it, they just barely had enough magic to trap her in the moon. The Elements gave out a burst that spread out over the land. That was the Seed of Harmony, which ended the war, but separated the three races of ponykind. The Seed led to the events that would later bring the three back together, permanently.
"You see, when the smoke that became Wolfram took control of Luna, it didn't leave Wolfram entirely. It made him into a being dedicated entirely to himself. He had evil in him, but he was focused on taking out Luna, seeing as she was the bigger threat at the time. Working for Celestia, however, opened him up to love and friendship, and all other good in the world.
"Since he put all his being into powering the elements, he was destroyed. All of the good and evil inside him, however, was what created the Seed. All his good calmed the two armies, and all his evil created most of the monsters we know today, such as Hydras or the Cerberus, along with seperating the three races. When Luna became Nightmare Moon, there was a period of time where ponies were heading towards a second separation of races. While the Seed Wolfram created did separate them, he also put something in everypony that would later make them want to unify together and the group we are part of has maintained that unity ever since, in honor of Wolfram and the war that created harmony among all of ponykind.
"That wolf may be one of the most important beings in all of pony history. Some may view me as one of the most important beings in pony history, as well. I, however, am not that wolf. There is a larger connection between the two of us other than name and position, though.
"You see, when I was born, I had a rare medical condition that would have killed me within my first twenty-four hours of life. The doctors had me in my own room to work on me, but they knew that they didn't have a cure for it yet. They still don't. While they were telling my parents the news in the waiting room, my parents noticed a large, furry shape running in the direction of my room. They chased after it, and what they saw surprised them.
"I was laughing. I had been crying ever since I had been birthed. Even stranger, I had my cutie mark. Princess Celestia had been in Cloudsdale at the time I was born, and was also chasing the furry figure. She ended up in my room, standing next to my parents. She knew that there was something special about the figure she chased, and she knew that there was some special connection between it and I.
"She wasn't entirely sure, since she had thought he was entirely destroyed when the two trapped Nightmare Moon, but she had a feeling that the figure she had been chasing had been Wolfram, or at least what was left of him. She saw that I had my cutie mark, even though I was not yet a day old. She could tell that there was something special about me, something that would make Wolfram want to forge a connection between us. She told my parents that they should name me Wolfram, after her greatest friend.
"Fast forward to a few years later. Fluttershy and I were in Cloudsdale, training with all the other pegasi to pass our flight exams. Unbeknownst to all the other ponies, I was also spending much of my time training with the Organization. I would spend all my days training, though I never tried my hardest, not trying to call attention to myself, or protecting Fluttershy and other ponies. At night, I would fly to Canterlot and train with the previous pony to hold my position.
"Then, I found out that my parents had been killed. There was a group of three ponies, known as the Three Kings, who were trying to do something very similar to what Dissonance is now. They had found out that I was to become the new leader, and they had ordered for my parents to be killed to get to me. As Fluttershy didn't know what I was doing every night, and would also have been emotionally destroyed had she known the truth, I told her that they had been killed by a rare disease they had caught on a trip. She was very hurt, and I think that may have contributed to her shy personality.
"I may have been young, but I had part of Wolfram's spirit in me. If Celestia knew what I was planning, she never told me. I planned for months, during which time the three ponies tried several more times to get at me, including trying to kill Fluttershy, though Celestia had sent several guards to protect the two of us. They were also supposed to protect the other pegasi, which was unnecessary.
"After all my planning was complete, I went out by myself and carried out my plan. My first step was to capture one of their assassins, which was very easy, following my plan. After... questioning him, I found out where the Three Kings's headquarters was. Surprisingly, it was only a few miles outside of Canterlot.
"That same night, I infiltrated the facility and single-handedly took out every one of their minions. I finally got to their chamber, and all three were there. I killed them all, though they got very close to killing me. After I had killed them, Celestia came in to the headquarters of the Kings. She saw what I had done, and she was extremely disappointed in me. I was severely punished for what I had done, though she allowed me to continue training to become the new General. She also didn't destroy the headquarters, which was against our usual protocols, and once I became the General I made that same location what we now know as The Headquarters.
"I continued training for a few years after that. Then, the day that the filly, Rainbow Dash, stood up for Fluttershy, I realized that Fluttershy had no need for me and probably would have been better off without me, especially after I realized that some ponies would kill her to get to me. So, I left.
"I not only left Cloudsdale and Fluttershy, I left Celestia and my training as well. I sent Celestia a letter telling her that I would know when the then-current General would step down or die, and once he did I would come back and take over, though she should tell him to try and stay as long as he could. I wandered Equestria for three years, never staying in one place, learning many things, preventing many crimes, and spending a lot of time with my thoughts.
"Almost exactly three years after I left, the previous General was killed. Since I had made a promise to Celestia, I traveled to Canterlot to become the new General. I went on many missions by myself, I grew the team, I led them, and then, we get to the present, where I'm telling you my history and the history of my spritual link. Any more questions?" He finished.
"Yeah, about a billion." I said. "First off, why isn't Fortis here to hear this?"
"Fortis Mendax already knows." Wolfram said.
"What!?" Bellona and I both said.
"Or, at least, he knows part of it. You see, he was the only agent of our group that was part of it when the previous General was leading it. He knew me before I became Huntspony. He even partially trained me. There are some things, however, that I didn't want him to know for reasons I will keep to myself for now. He does know much about me. There are few things he doesn't know, one of them being that Fluttershy is my sister, until this morning."
"All right." I said. "Next question then: You seemed to brush over your parents deaths. I know you got revenge by killing the kings, but you never talked much about your actual parents. Why?"
He was silent for a few seconds, then he said, "Fluttershy and I loved our father very much, and I'm sure he loved us, but he had an... interesting way of showing it." He lifted up his right wing, revealing a scar, deeper and longer than all of his other ones.
"O.K...." I said. "So-"
"Listen, you two." Wolfram said. "There are only five ponies who know what I just told you, and three of them are standing right here. I feel like I've told you plenty, possibly more than I should have. I do not wish to spend all day standing outside the house of my sister, who I haven't seen in years. If the two of you will be kind, then you will allow me to go back inside and spend time with my sister. You may join me or you may go back into the town."
We both knew that he was right. We decided to go back inside, as we would most likely be spending a lot of time in Ponyville.
We spent the next few hours listening to Wolfram and Fluttershy tell stories of their pasts in Cloudsdale. They told many stories of Fluttershy being picked on and trying to overcome her fears, and Wolfram breaking up fights or teaching bullies their place. They probably would have continued, but at some point a rainbow maned pegasus flew in. I smiled, but then I remembered the story I had heard and got scared. If Rainbow Dash still had a grudge against Wolfram... I don't think it would turn out well for anypony.
"Fluttershy, you've got to come quick! I-"She stopped, noticing the four unexpected ponies sitting with her. "You didn't tell me you were having guests."
"Oh, they just came in this morning. This is Fortis Mendax, and this is Bellona, and this is Centurio. And you've already met my... brother..." She stopped, remembering Rainbow's anger at Wolfram for leaving Fluttershy. If she didn't have a grudge against him, the face she was making at him was a weird way to show friendship.
Up until Fluttershy said, "brother," Rainbow Dash had been looking at him with a confused look on her face. When she heard that word, she got a look of pure fury on her face, and then flew straight at him at an impossibly fast speed.
I thought that she was going to destroy him, but at the last possible moment he shifted to the side, grabbed Rainbow out of the air, spun her around, and laid her gently on the table, all in the space of half a second.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!?" Rainbow yelled, trying to get back up and flailing around, since Fortis and Bellona were holding her down.
"I have come to make peace with my sister and you." Came Wolfram's response.
"AND WHAT MAKES YOU THINK I WANT PEACE WITH YOU, YOU TRAITOR!? YOU LEFT FLUTTERSHY ALL ALONE! YOU WERE HER ONLY FAMILY AND YOU ABANDONED HER!" Her voice was so loud I almost had to cover my ears to prevent myself from going deaf.
"You say that, but do you not realize that thanks to you, she found her special talent, found a home and new friends, and is slowly overcoming all of her shyness? Do you not realize that had I stayed, I would have offered her no more than what she had, and probably would have held her back from becoming the amazing mare she is today? The only thing I could have offered her was love, and it seems to me that thanks to you and her other friends here in Ponyville, she has gotten more than I could ever give to her. You say I abandoned her; I say that I gave her a better future. I'm going to have my friends let you go. You will be free to do whatever you wish to me, and I will not prevent it. Fortis Mendax, Bellona, let her go."
They let Rainbow go, and she immediately got up and started punching Wolfram. If she was hurting him, he showed no sign of it. I looked over at Fluttershy, to see how she was reacting, and I saw tears rolling down her face and heard her whimpering softly. I knew that she was extremely hurt that one of her greatest friends would just attack her only brother without considering what he was saying.
"STOOOOOOOOP!" I yelled, not wanting to see Wolfram or Fluttershy hurt anymore.
Rainbow Dash stopped attacking Wolfram, leaving several small bruises that didn't seem to affect Wolfram.
"What makes you think that I shouldn't beat this guy until he can't walk or fly anymore?" She said, lowering her voice. "He left Fluttershy, and he waits years before ever talking to her again. He shouldn't even be here. He'd be better off leaving her alone for the rest of her life."
"I understand what you're saying." I continued. "Perhaps he did leave at a bad time. But can't you even consider what he's talking about? He may have protected her, but he knew that you could do that. He may have given her love, but you have done that, as well as help her make more friends who love her, as well. He didn't leave her all alone; he left her with you. What he did absolutely gave her a better life then he ever could."
She stared at me for a full minute, then down at the table, which she was still standing on. "I suppose you're right." Then, not looking up, she offered her hoof to Wolfram. He grabbed it and gave a firm shake. Then, she jumped off the table and started walking away. Fluttershy said, "Rainbow, what did you come here to show me?"
Rainbow Dash stopped in the doorway, not turning around, and said, "It's not important." Then she opened the door and left.
Later that day, Pinkie Pie came to Fluttershy's house and invited us to what she called a, "Mega-party for all my new friends!", an idea she had come up with while planning our individual parties. She told us that it would be that night and it would be in the center of town, so everypony would have room to party.
We thanked her for the invite, and it seemed like Fortis didn't want to go, but Fluttershy and Wolfram convinced him.
That night, the five of us walked down to the middle of the town, where the party was supposed to be taking place. None of us had worn anything special, which Fluttershy had told us to do, so we were coming to the party with nothing except for what we had when we were invited.
Once there, we saw that probably everypony in Ponyville had come to the party. We saw pegasi playing a game in the air, Unicorns flying drinks around, Vinyl Scratch spinning records, fillies and colts and fillies gathering and separate groups and spreading gossip about the other groups, and ponies everywhere having fun.
We immediately all got separated by the partygoers. I was being tossed around from dancing pony to dancing pony. I could occasionally catch glimpses of Bellona and Fortis, and they weren't doing any better than I was. I also saw Wolfram and Fluttershy, who had somehow managed to stay together and were working their way towards Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack. I also started heading that way.
After being shoved around for about five minutes, I finally managed to make it to my destination. I saw that the five ponies were all standing in their group and laughing.
"Great party." I shouted over the noise.
"Pinkie's parties are always great, darling." Rarity said. "And I assume that you must be one of Wolfram's friends."
"Yes, I'm Centurio." I said.
"I'm sorry, darling, what did you say?" Rarity said.
"I'm Centurio." I said, raising my voice.
"I'm so sorry, I still can't hear you." Rarity said.
"I'M CENTURIO!!!" I shouted, though I still wasn't sure if she could hear me. I looked around and saw an empty table away from the group and gestured for them to follow me to it.
Once we got there and grabbed our seats, we all started talking. The table was much quieter than where we'd been before, so we could hear each other without having to get too loud.
We talked about each other, what we were like, what we liked to do, and a bunch of other things. After a while, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Applejack left to go party, leaving Wolfram, Rarity and I alone.
We continued our conversation about Rarity and Wolfram's favorite sites around Equestria, places I would need to visit at some time, and the like.
They were just starting to talk about Shetland Falls when I heard a pony say, "Hey there, Rarity and Centurio. Who is this?"
Wolfram and I turned and saw Twilight Sparkle standing behind us. Off in the distance, I saw Spike crowd surfing.
"Hello there." Wolfram said. "I'm Wolfram, and I see you've already met Centurio. I'm Fluttershy's brother."
"Fluttershy has a brother?" Twilight said. "She never told me about you."
"I left her when we were young. I traveled for some time, never staying in one place, and then I lived just outside of Canterlot until I came here."
"You lived in Canterlot? Now that you mention it, I do think I've seen you before... Were you part of Celestia's Royal Guard?"
Wolfram smiled, chuckling, "In a way, I suppose."
Before she could respond, Rarity shrieked. "LEAVE THE BANNERS ALONE!" And then ran off towards some wild party ponies.
"That pony..." Twilight said. "So, you're really Fluttershy's brother?"
We spent some time talking with her, and I wasn't entirely sure when, but Rarity, Fortis Mendax, and Fluttershy had joined our group at some point. Rarity and Fortis seemed almost entirely opposite, though they were still pretty friendly to each other. We were all having a good time, but after a while, I got a shiver along my spine, and I turned around and saw Rainbow Dash heading towards our table.
She came and sat between Rarity and Fortis, directly across from Wolfram. "This may be Pinkie's best party yet!" She said, though she was staring daggers at Wolfram.
Fortis Mendax, Fluttershy and I were all quiet. We could feel the tension between the two pegasi. Only Rarity and Wolfram seemed oblivious to it, and they were also the only ones still laughing.
Rarity seemed to notice our discomfort, because she stopped laughing and noticed the looks that Rainbow Dash was giving to Wolfram. Then, Wolfram stopped laughing and looking at Rainbow as well. There was an uncomfortable silence, which we didn't break for a few minutes. Then Wolfram said, "Hey, Fluttershy, Rarity, how about we go dance?"
The other two ponies agreed and the three walked off into the crowd, leaving Fortis, Rainbow Dash and I alone. "I just can't stand him." Rainbow said staring off in the direction they had left in.
"Look here, missy." Fortis said, grabbing her attention. "I've known that stallion for most of his life, and I suppose most of mine as well. I feel like that's long enough to know that anything and everything Wolfram does, he does with good reason. The least you can do is give him a chance. For Fluttershy."
She turned back in the direction Wolfram and the ponies had gone, though I could see her thinking over what Fortis had said. Finally, she said, "I suppose I can give it a try. But if he ever tries to just abandon her again, I will hunt him down and bring him back here. But I'll be sure to make sure he can't run away again."
"Fair enough." I said.
We spent some time talking to Rainbow Dash. It seems that she wasn't upset with us for being Wolfram's friends and standing up for him, because she was extremely friendly to us, especially Fortis Mendax. It turned out that he was an athlete when he was young, winning several Iron Pony titles, even against pegasi and unicorns using their wings or horns. The two talked about various sports and exercises, and I started to pay less attention to those two and more attention to the partygoers.
I looked around, and saw Bellona. She saw me and waved me over. I excused myself from my two table-mates, who probably didn't even notice my leaving.
When I got to Bellona, I said, "Where have you been this whole time?"
"I've been looking for you guys." She said, her voice loud enough for me to hear over all the party noises. "I ran into Wolfram and Fluttershy and they told me that you and F.M. were over here."
"Yeah, I've been here since we got here. Maybe I should have looked for you."
"It's all right. I've found you now. So, shall we dance?" She said, offering me a hoof.
"We shall." I said, taking her hoof. We started dancing along with all the other ponies. We got through three songs before Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie came up to us.
"Hey have either of you seen Wolfram?" Pinkie said.
"No. Wasn't he with you?" I said.
"He was, but then he got a weird look like he smelled something nasty, like I do when the baby Cakes need their diapers changed." Pinkie said.
"And then he just ran off." Fluttershy said.
"Oh my- All right, we'll go look for him." I said. "Just make sure Rainbow Dash doesn't hear about this."
"Got it." The two ponies said.
Bellona and I ran through the crowds, looking all around for Wolfram. We couldn't find any sign of him, so we started searching around all the homes and other buildings.
We saw a bunch of hoofprints heading towards the center of town, but there was a fresh set heading from the center to behind the town hall. We followed them to the back and saw Wolfram, holding what looked like a bunch of explosives.
Before we could say anything, he seemed to disappear. It took my brain a few seconds to realize that he had flown off, impossibly fast. Off in the distance, I saw a large explosion., though it was so far away that the sound hadn't carried all the way to us. A few seconds later, Wolfram was back by our side, looking at the explosion.
"What was that!?" I said.
"It seems that we were right when we ordained Dissonance's plan to kill the Personifications."
"You think Dissonance did this?" Bellona said.
"It would appear so." Wolfram said, a steely calm over his face. "We will discuss this later. At the moment, we have a party to return to. Wipe those looks of horror off your faces before you go back to it."
It took a few seconds, but we finally did. Together, the three of us walked back towards the front of the building.
Before we could open get back around the town hall, I noticed Rainbow flying around, with Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Fortis Mendax, Twilight Sparkle, and Pinkie Pie behind her. Fortis noticed us and called out, "Found 'em!"
"There you are!" Fluttershy said, tackling Wolfram once again.
"Yes. There you are." Rainbow Dash said, putting venom in her voice. "Where were you, exactly?"
"I thought that I saw someone I knew as she was leaving." Wolfram said. "I chased after her, but I wasn't able to find her. When I got out here, I realized how nice and quiet it was here and stayed to experience the wonderful weather."
He said it very convincingly, though Rainbow Dash still looked like she doubted what he was saying.
We all went back into the party. Nothing exciting happened after that. Bellona and I resumed our dance, and all the other ponies separated to return to what they were doing before they chased after us.
After another few hours, ponies started to leave. Eventually, it was just the Mane 6, Wolfram, F.M., Bellona and I. Vinyl Scratch had left at some point, so there wasn't any music playing. We had all grouped up around the table we had been using the whole party. We had a long discussion about a variety of topics, ranging from sports to apples to magic.
We probably would have continued the conversation, but Fluttershy gave a large yawn and said, "It's getting late. I need to go home so I can get up early enough to feed the animals. If I don't feed Angel on time, he'll get very upset."
"I suppose I'll go with you." Wolfram said.
"I will too." Fortis said. "I'm not as energetic as I used to be. You young'uns have fun without us."
Everypony said their goodbyes, and then the three ponies left. Once they were gone, Applejack yawned and said, "I suppose I should go too. Apple harvest starts in a few days, and I need to get good sleep before that. Wouldn't want to make Big Macintosh do all the work."
She also left, and then Pinkie said, "And I've got to baby-sit tomorrow." One by one, they left, leaving only me, Bellona, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity at the table. We talked for a few minutes more, until Rarity yawned, and said, "You three should really go get some sleep." And then she walked off towards her boutique.
"See you guys later." Rainbow said. Then, she head-butted Bellona, careful to avoid her horn, and me, leaving me with some head pains. Then she flew away to her cloud home.
Bellona and I were alone for the first time since she was teaching me at Headquarters. She and I looked around. The moon was full, so there was a lot of light. I saw a clock, and noticed that we had been at the party for ten hours. We had gotten there at seven.
"It's already five!?" Bellona said. "It's funny, I don't even really feel that tired. Maybe we could go to a café and get some coffee."
"That sounds great. I think I remember passing by one earlier that opens pretty early."
After searching for a few minutes, we finally found the café and saw that it was open, and nopony was in there except for the workers and one pony sitting in one of the farthest booths from the entrance.
We entered and grabbed a booth near the entrance. A waitress came and poured us each a cup of coffee and then going off to give our order to the cook. Bellona took a drink of her coffee, then looked at me and got a strange look on her face.
"Why are you smiling like that?" She asked.
I hadn't realized that I had been smiling, but once I did I didn't stop. "I guess I just realized that this is our first date."
She had a blank look on her face for a few seconds, then it got really red. "I don't know if I would call it a date."
"Going to a party together, dancing together, going to get coffee together? You really wouldn't call this a date?"
She said nothing, but her face was getting very red. I was about to say something else, but just then the waitress came back with our food. A daisy sandwich with hayseed side for her, and a plate of lily muffins for me.
We ate our breakfasts in silence, though I would occasionally see her face was still pretty red. We got most of the way through our meal before another pony came into the café.
We turned and saw Wolfram trotting through the door. He couldn't have gotten more than an hour of sleep, but I couldn't see any difference in him.
He walked straight to the counter, talked with the waitress, who smiled and got an odd look in her face, one that I had seen when Bellona looked at me during that dinner at Headquarters, and then he thanked her and walked over to a booth.
After he sat down, he seemed to notice us sitting only a few booths away from him. He beckoned us over, so Bellona and I moved all our food over to his booth, Bellona and I on one side and Wolfram on the other.
"I see that you two are up early." He said. "Was I interrupting anything between you two?"
Bellona and I both looked away from each other, and I could tell her face was red. If I didn't have such a dark coat then my face might have been just as red.
"No. Nothing important." Bellona said. "And we actually didn't get any sleep. We came here after leaving the party. Why are you up early?"
"I always wake up at five-thirty exactly. I like to start my day with a meal, and I came in here yesterday and tried the white rose sandwich. Not great, but fairly good."
As if to prove his point, the waitress came and gave him his sandwich. She smiled at him, and he smiled back. Then she said, "You three know each other?"
"Yes we do, Bayonne Witzel." Wolfram said. "These are two of my friends that came with me to this town. This is Bellona, and this is Centurio."
She smiled at both of us, a little more at me, which got her a death stare from Bellona. She saw the looks Bellona was giving her and then she looked back at Wolfram.
"Well, anyways, it's good to see you again Wolfram." She said, leaving to stand back at her usual place behind the counter.
"Somebody's got the hots for a certain pegasus." I said.
"She can like whoever she wants, as long as it's not my earth pony." Bellona said, then she seemed to realize what she said and her face went red again.
Wolfram ate his sandwich slowly, one bite at a time, chewing each bite thoroughly before swallowing the food. None of us said anything after that, so we finished our food in silence.
After paying for our meal (which Wolfram left a generous tip for), we left. Neither Bellona nor I were tired, and as far as I knew Wolfram couldn't get tired. Since none of us were tired, we all decided to walk around and acquaint ourselves with the town.
I noticed several sights from the show I had seen when I was forced-dreaming, such as Sugarcube Corner and the bowling alley. Some ponies were already getting up, and all that saw us stopped what they were doing and said hello to us. We waved back to everypony who waved at us. Some walked along beside us and initiated some small chat with us, about who they were, what they did, why we came here, et cetera.
After about an hour of walking around with nothing really eventful happening, Bellona let out a big yawn and said, "I'm starting to feel a bit tired."
I let out an equally big yawn and said, "I'm actually feeling pretty tired, too. Maybe we should go back to Fluttershy's."
"I suppose I should return, as well." Wolfram said. "Fluttershy will wonder where I've gone if she wakes up and I'm not there."
Since we all agreed on our next destination, we headed back to Fluttershy's home so that Bellona and I could get some sleep and Wolfram would be there when Fluttershy woke up.
We slept until one 'o'clock in the afternoon, and by the time we woke up the three other ponies in the house, along with all the animals, were finishing their lunch.
"Good afternoon, you two." Fluttershy said. "Wolfram told me that you two wanted to keep your date going on and went to the café after the party."
"It wasn't a date." Bellona and I said in unison, her face once again going red.
"Oh, I'm so sorry." Fluttershy said, looking down at her plate and shifting in her seat nervously. "I didn't mean to offend you two. Wolfram told me it was a date and I thought he meant a romantic date, but I suppose it was just as friends."
"Don't worry about it, Fluttershy." Bellona said. "Centurio and I have been good friends ever since I was a filly and he a colt. We've been really good friends our whole lives, in fact. We've never really had time for romantic involvement."
"Don't worry about that, sister." Wolfram said. "I was just joking when I said it." Wolfram finished his sandwich (I assume rose, though I couldn't see) and stepped away from the table. "All right, Fluttershy" He said. "Once you're done with your meal, we'll head out to Sweet Apple Acres."
"Why are you going there?" I asked.
"It turns out that Applejack miscalculated when Apple harvest season would be this year. It starts today, so she asked me to help buck the trees to knock the apples down, and she wanted Fluttershy to come help with a rodent problem that she's having."
"Can I come?" I asked.
"I suppose we could use your help." Wolfram said. "You can come with us. Bellona and Fortis Mendax, you two can explore the town while we work."
Once Fluttershy finished eating, she, Wolfram and I headed off to Sweet Apple Acres, and Bellona and Fortis headed off in the other direction. It only took a few minutes to make the trip, and once we got there, we saw that Applejack was bucking apples at a very fast speed while Apple Bloom caught them in buckets, which Big Macintosh then carried away to a spot where a few buckets that were already filled were sitting, in front of a door that I assumed led into their cellar.
Once Applejack noticed us, she ran over and said, "Great of you fellas to offer to help. And you even brought more'n I asked for!"
"Anything for a friend, Applejack." Fluttershy said.
"So, why are you in such a rush to harvest all these apples?" I asked.
"A second apple season of Zap Apple trees." Applejack said. They make apples that will ruin the trees if we don't knock them off in one day. And they taste pretty darn good, too."
I looked over all the trees, preparing myself for the arduous task ahead. Then Fluttershy said, "Now, where are those animals that you said were eating your apples?"
"I haven't been able to find 'em, but it looks like they're eating just south of the barn. They're probably near there. Apple Bloom'll show you where we think they might be. APPLE BLOOM!"
The small, yellow filly almost immediately appeared next to Applejack. "Yes, big sister?" She said.
"Show Fluttershy over to where the animals eatin' our apples are." Applejack said.
Apple Bloom said, "Come on, Fluttershy," and was just about to leave, but then she noticed me and Wolfram. "Who're you two?"
"Apple Bloom! Mind yer manners." Applejack said. "These two are Wolfram and Centurio. Wolfram is Fluttershy's brother and Centurio is Wolfram's friend. They're staying with Fluttershy for a while."
"Well, good to meet'chall." Apple Bloom said. "I never knew Fluttershy had a brother. And he's as big as Big Macintosh! How can Fluttershy be so small when he's so big?"
"You'll learn about it in school when you're older, Apple Bloom." Applejack said. "It's gene-whoozitz. It's been a while since I learned about it."
"Genetics." Wolfram said. "Everypony has genes that determine-"
"Uh, beg pardon, but we've got to get to work here." Applejack said. "Apple Bloom, you 'n Fluttershy go find those animals. Centurio, you're going to need to take over Apple Blooms apple catching job. Wolfram, you can help me buck. Let's get to work, fellas."
We all went where we were needed. I grabbed some empty buckets, and even though there was two fast and strong ponies bucking apples, I was just able to catch all the apples. Every time I filled up a bucket, I pushed it over to the side and Big Mac would pick one up at a time and run them over to the ever growing pile of buckets.
Eventually, Apple Bloom came back and helped me catch apples. I saw Fluttershy off in the distance carrying bunnies, squirrels, and various other small animals. She was heading towards the Everfree Forest.
Apple Bloom caught all of Applejack's apples, and I caught all of Wolfram's. The pile of buckets we had waiting for Big Macintosh to carry off was growing larger and larger as we filled them up faster than he could carry them away.
Both Wolfram and Applejack were speeding up, knocking down all the apples from a tree and moving on to the next in a few seconds. Apple Bloom and I were both having trouble keeping up with them. But Fluttershy had come back and helped catch apples, so I started carrying filled buckets over to the pile, lightening Big Mac's load.
After many more hours, we finally got all the apples off all the trees and in the cellar just as the sun was disappearing over the horizon. Applejack breathed out a sigh of relief and sank to the ground, sweating heavily. Wolfram didn't show any signs of being tired, but I bet that he was dying inside. Apple Bloom and Fluttershy both literally fell over and started sleeping, and Big Macintosh sat and breathed heavily, sweat falling off him at a constant pace. Even I was more tired than I ever remembered being before.
After a few minutes, the sun had set, it's rays replaced entirely by moonlight. The temperature lowered with the night air, so we cooled off very quickly. We all got back on all four hooves, except for Apple Bloom and Fluttershy, who were still sleeping.
"Well, thank ya'll for yer help." Applejack said. "We probably wouldn't have finished withoutch'all"
"No problem, Applejack. Anytime." I said, in between breaths.
"I suppose I should get Fluttershy home. She deserves some rest." Wolfram said.
"Apple Bloom needs to get to her bed too." Applejack said. "Big Mac, can you carry Apple Bloom to her room?"
"Eyyyup." Big Mac said, as is characteristic of him.
Big Mac picked up Apple Bloom and put her on his back. He then started walking over to the Apple's home. Wolfram picked up Fluttershy and did the same. I ran up to his side and matched his pace. "See you soon." I called, tilting my head slightly behind me, at the orange pony who was fading away.
When we got back to Fluttershy's cottage, we saw that Fortis Mendax was already sleeping, but Bellona was still up, playing with the animals.
"You guys were gone for a long time, so I fed all the animals. She takes care of a lot more animals than I expected." She said.
"The Apples have a lot of trees, and there was only two ponies knocking apples off the trees, two catching the apples knocked off the trees, and two carrying the apples to the cellar. We were lucky to finish this early." I said.
Wolfram said nothing, but walked upstairs to put Fluttershy in her bed. He didn't come back down after that, so I figured he must have gone to bed.
"Well, I'm going to try and catch some sleep." I said, I walked over to my makeshift bed, and I was just about to slip under the covers when Bellona said, "You're really lucky, Cent."
"Why is that?" I said, a confused look forming on my face.
"You got your memory erased by Dissonance. You can't remember a lot of the stuff you've seen. The stuff you've done. There's so much I wish I could forget."
"Is there anything really that bad that you wish you could forget it?" I said,
"Almost everything. The stuff Dissonance has done, or tried to do, makes me wish I never got involved in this sometimes. Not just the stuff they've done. Some of the stuff we've done. Especially Hunts- sorry, Wolfram. There have been a lot of evil ponies that we've dealt with, and all who aren't killed during a mission are interrogated, executed, or both, by Wolfram. I've seen what remains after he's finished with them, and I don't think I've ever seen anything more frightening."
"Well, it's a good thing he's on our side then, huh?" I said.
She said nothing after that. I got under my covers and closed my eyes, but a few seconds after, I felt a weight on the bed. I opened my eyes and saw Bellona laying next to me, her front hooves wrapped around my right side, her face buried in my shoulder. Neither of us said anything, and we both closed our eyes and drifted off to sleep together.
When I got up, I saw that Bellona was still laying on me. I gently made my way out from under her, careful not to wake her up. I saw that Fortis was still sleeping, but Wolfram and Fluttershy were up already, feeding the animals that were all gathering in front of them.
"Good morning." I said.
"Oh, Good morning." Fluttershy said. "I thought that you two said that you weren't dating?"
"Oh," I said, glancing back at my bed, where Bellona was still laying, "we weren't... She just... I just..."
"We aren't judging you, Centurio." Wolfram said. "However, if you don't want us to think you two aren't romantically involved, then maybe you should be more private with these kinds of things."
"Um... Thanks." I said. "So, what are we doing today?"
"Well, Rarity's birthday is coming up soon," Fluttershy began, "so we need to go see Pinkie Pie so that we can be sure to have everything ready for her party. If you'd like, you can come with us."
"Sounds great. How about these two?" I said, gesturing towards the two ponies still sleeping.
"I'll leave a note for them telling them where we are." Wolfram said. "I doubt Fortis Mendax will join us, but Bellona might."
"All right." Fluttershy said. "All the animals have been fed. We can leave for Sugarcube Corner now."
We left, making as little noise as possible so as not to disturb the sleeping ponies. We started towards the bakery, talking about miscellaneous topics, like the weather, the Grand Galloping Gala, recent events. It was all small talk, and the only thing that really interested me was that the Gala was only two weeks away. I mentally noted that, but said nothing.
Once we got to the bakery, we heard the laughter of two foals and frantic trotting throughout the bakery. We walked in and saw Pinkie playing with the baby cakes, while the parents ran throughout the bakery, working on some new creation they were creating. "Pinkie!" Carrot Cake said. "Fluttershy and two other ponies are here. Can you help them?"
"Sure thing, Mr. Cake!" Pinkie said. "What's up, guys?"
"Hello, Pinkie." Fluttershy said. "We're here to help prepare for Rarity's birthday party. What do you need us to do?"
"Oh, you guys don't really need to do much. All I need is some ingredients for this new cake I'm making. I'll give you guys the list and then you can go get them for me. Then maybe you can help me bake it, too!"
"Sounds fun." I said. "So, what do we need to get?"
She handed me a scroll, which had a list of ingredients such as seven seedless dark red cherries, a fifteen inch tall pineapple, and several other specific items like that.
"These are... interesting." I said. "We'll get them."
"Thanks, because someponies need to find Pinkie!" She said, running to a doorway and playing, "Where's Pinkie?" with the Baby Cakes.
We left for the market, and once we got there we saw that some of the shops hadn't opened yet. "I guess we're too early for some of these shops." Fluttershy said. "I suppose we should get what we need now and then get what's left later."
We walked from shop to shop, and, surprisingly, we were able to find most of what we were looking for. The only things left were all things that we were told we might be able to find once the other shops opened.
"How lucky were we finding all these things?" Fluttershy said. "When Pinkie asked for such specific things, I thought that it would be much harder."
"I did too." I said. "I guess the shopkeepers have catered to Pinkie's requests before."
Fluttershy and Wolfram both laughed at that. "Pinkie does have some odd tastes," Fluttershy said, "but when it comes to parties, she always knows what to do to make everything perfect."
"Well, everypony here must be really lucky to be friends with her, since she throws such amazing parties." Wolfram said. "Maybe I can convince Celestia to get Pinkie to plan the next Grand Galloping Gala."
Fluttershy chuckled at that, then said, "I'm sure that, if she did, we would actually have fun this year."
We noticed a few more shopkeepers opening their shops, so we went to go see what they were selling. We got most of what we were looking for, but there was still some shops that hadn't opened yet.
"So, Fluttershy, you and your best friends all went to the Gala last year and didn't have a good time. Are you guys going to go this year?"
"Oh, yes. But this year we're all going to stay together so we actually have our best night ever."
"Speaking of going to the Gala," I said, turning towards Wolfram, "are we going?"
"Of course." He said, as if I already knew the answer. "I'll tell you about it later."
I wanted to ask what he was talking about, but more shopkeepers had come and opened their shops, so we went over to each to browse their wares. After buying from the new shopkeepers, we only had one item left on the list, which we were told we might find at another merchant's stand and that he would be coming in a few minutes.
We sat near the stand of the shopkeeper that we were waiting for, and, sure enough, he came a few minutes afterwards. "What can I help ya'll with?"
"We're looking for..." Fluttershy said, pulling the list out of her saddle bag and looking over it. "...three lemons that only have seven seeds in them."
"I'm going to have to cut them open to check, miss. You're going to have to buy them." The merchant said.
"That's fine." Wolfram said,
Individually, he cut and checked lemons, only finding two and then putting the rest to the side.
"Sorry, miss. There's only two." He said.
"Pardon." Wolfram said. "But I do believe that you miscounted at least three lemons, two of which had seven seeds."
"Excuse me, sir." The pony said. "But I do believe that you're the mistaken one here. I counted and I'm absolutely sure that you miscounted."
"How about we bet, then?" Wolfram said. "If you miscounted, we'll get all those lemons for free. But, if I miscounted, we'll pay ten times the cost."
"Well, mister, I'd have to be an idiot to not take you up on that. Hey, you!" He said, calling a passerby pony to his stand. "All right, mister. Which three did you think I miscounted?"
Wolfram pointed out three lemons, and the merchant separated them from the rest. "All right, we'd like you to settle and argument we're having. We need you to count the number of seeds in each of these lemons."
"All right." The pony said, and I noticed it was Carrot Top. She grabbed the first lemon and started counting. Once she finished, she said, "Six seeds." The merchant smirked at Wolfram. Woflram didn't look at him, but then said, "And what about the other two?"
She counted the next and said, "Seven seeds." That wiped the smirk off the merchant's face, and I could see him starting to sweat. "And the last?" He said.
She counted the seeds in the final lemon, and once she finished she said, "Seven seeds."
The merchant looked really mad, but he had made a bet and decided to keep his end. We walked away with all the lemons and the bits we hadn't spent yet.
We walked back to Sugarcube Corner, and once we got there we noticed that the foals' laughter was gone, but the trotting of Mr. and Mrs. Cake was still just as loud.
We walked in and saw Pinkie walking downstairs. "Shhhhh." She said. "I just put the Baby Cakes to sleep."
"We got all the ingredients you asked for, as well as a bunch of extra lemons." I said.
"Great! Now I can start baking! Would any of you like to help me?" She said.
"Wolfram and I can't." Fluttershy said. "We've got to look for a gift to get Rarity. Maybe Centurio can."
"I would love to." I said. "So, where do we start?"
Once Fluttershy and Wolfram had left, Pinkie and I went into the kitchen and she handed me a smock as she put on an apron.
"All right. First, we need to get our cooking supplies. There's some pots in that cabinet." She said, pointing to a cabinet." I need you to get the third largest one."
"Got it." I said, heading towards the cabinet. Once I got to it I looked inside it and noticed at least 10 different pots, just as many pans. I searched through them and found the one she was asking for.
"All right." Pinkie Pie said. "Now that we've got all our ingredients and our supplies, we can start baking. So, break eggs and whisk them in that bowl." She said, pointing to a red bowl sitting on the counter in front of us.
I started breaking eggs and, using an eggbeater, started whisking them. Once they were done, I started adding other ingredients, as per Pinkie's instructions. While we worked, she started humming a song that I recognized as the Smile Song. I started humming along with her, making a puzzled look appear on her face.
"How do you know that song? I only remember singing it once."
I silently cursed under my breath, then said, "I think I remember someone in Canterlot singing it once. They said they heard it here in Ponyville."
"Really? Who was it?" She said, her confused look fading away, though there was still traces of it on her face.
"I don't remember. It was a while ago." I said.
She studied my face very intently for a few seconds, trying to tell whether or not I was lying. Thankfully, the training I had received at Headquarters had prepared me for similar situations, so I was able to keep my face blank. "Okie Dokie Lokie." She said, smiling again. "Since you know the song, now we can sing it together."
We started singing the song and continued preparing the cake.
After a few more minutes of baking and singing, we finally put the unbaked cake in the oven.
"So, what was life like in Canterlot? Because I've only been there a few times, and I don't know that many ponies from there and Twilight lived there but she spent a lot of time inside and didn't really make any friends so she never really got to see everywhere except for the castle and some other places."
"I actually didn't live in Canterlot." I said. "I lived a few miles outside it for most of my life, and before that I lived in Baltimare. I was really young when I lived there though, so I don't really remember anything from there." That was one of the few true things I could tell ponies if they asked me questions.
"Why can't you remember? I remember everything about my friends and myself. Well, not everything about myself, like this one time, I forgot it was my birthday and I was going to throw a party for my pet alligator, Gummy, that day and I got really sad because none of my friends wanted to come to the party I was going to throw and I almost went crazy but then my friends brought me to my party and I was happy again."
"Wow." I said. "That's... great."
"I know, right!?" She said. "Oh, I think the cake is almost done." She checked it, seemed unsatisfied, and closed the oven without taking out the cake. "It's not done yet. But it will be soon!"
"Great. So what are you going to call this new cake?" I asked.
"I don't know yet. Maybe I can name it after you since you helped me make the first one!"
"Wow, really?" I asked. "I would love that. So, what will we name it?"
"Hmmm... I think we should call it the Centurio Sensual Delight! What do you think?"
"I love it." I said. "So know we just need to keep it cooled until the party, right?"
"Yea-" She started to say, but then she gasped. "I just had a great idea! We should go see Zecora! She has something that could make this cake perfect!"
"You mean the zebra in the Everfree forest?" I said. "What are we going to get there?"
"Hmm-hmm." She chuckled. "It's a surprise!"
A few minutes later, we entered the forest and started walking along a path worn down by many hoofprints. Though, we didn't really need the path since Pinkie remembered where we were heading.
"Zecora will have just what we need to make the Centurio Sensual Delight the best cake I've ever made!" Pinkie said, bouncing along the path.
"And what exactly is it we're going to get, Pinkie?" I asked.
"I told you, it's a surprise!" She said, smiling.
She and I had been walking (well, I was walking. She was still bouncing.) alongside each other, but just then I suddenly stopped.
Pinkie hadn't realized I had stopped walking for about three seconds, but when she did she stopped too. "What's up?" She said.
"Shhhh." I said, not moving. I didn't know what was bothering me, but I had a feeling like something was watching us. And one of the most important rules of The Organization is to trust your instincts. So, I stood still and looked at my surroundings.
The first thing I noticed was the soft breathing. Then I noticed prints crossing through our path into the bushes to our left. Then I noticed the bushes to our left rustling, and also that the prints that I saw weren't from a pony. They looked like they were from some kind of bear, or possibly a large cat.
"Pinkie. "I said, keeping my voice calm. "Get behind me. Quickly and calmly."
"OK." She said, right behind me. How she had gotten there so fast I had no idea, but I didn't ask. I had more important things to worry about at that time. I picked up a stick from the ground and threw it at the bush.
Immediately, a loud roar rang out from the bush, and then I noticed a lion peek it's head from the bushes. I thought I was terrified then, but then, a goat head popped out from the same bush. "Huh?" I said.
Then, I heard a snake hissing and the two animals peeking out from the bush came out, revealing that they had one body, and, instead of a normal tail, they had a snake. "Great." I said. "A chimera."
"A what?" Pinkie said.
"A chimera. Two heads, one a goat and one a lion, and a snake tail. Very deadly. Stay back."
She backed up some more and said nothing. The chimera's lion head growled at me, it's goat head bleated at me, and it's snake tail hissed at me. I stood my ground, and I think I might have made some kind of noise back at it. Then, it pounced towards me.
I got onto my back and caught it on my hooves, carrying it's motion forward, past me, and into a tree. It backed away from the tree slowly, it's goat head knocked unconscious from the impact. It's lion head, however, was still fully conscious, and it was roaring at me, pawing at the ground and getting ready to pounce again.
I wasn't sure how I did that, but I focused on the chimera instead of what I did. I tried to look for things that I could use as weapons. I didn't see anything, so I focused on the chimera again. I saw it, and while I didn't know much about chimeras, I was pretty sure it was getting ready to pounce. Instead of getting ready to catch it when it pounced again, I charged at it.
It hadn't expected me to charge at it. It made a sound that I figured must have been a laugh. It lowered it's body and got ready to attack me with it's paws, so I jumped at it. While I was in midair, I twisted my body around so that my back was facing the chimera, and once I got close enough, I bucked with my hind legs. I felt my legs hit something and heard the sound like two objects colliding with each other. I used my buck to launch myself onto a tree branch behind the chimera.
While on the branch, I saw that I had hit the snake tail. I figured that when it saw me jumping, the snake tail must have lunged at me. I had knocked it unconscious with my buck. The lion head let out a cry of pain. I also noticed Pinkie looking at me from behind a tree with a look of amazement on her face.
Before the chimera could realize what I was doing, I jumped on it's back and wrapped my front hooves around it's neck. I was hardly able to fit my hooves around the neck, and the mane kept getting into my mouth.
The chimera started running around, trying to knock me off. I was still holding onto the lion head's neck. I knew I wouldn't be able to knock this one unconscious easily. So instead, I started pulling at it's mane.
Every time I pulled at the hairs on it's left side, the chimera would veer to the left, and the same for the right side. So I started looking for big trees that I could crash the chimera into, because everytime I ran it into a small tree, the chimera would knock it over.
After running through several trees, I finally noticed a tree that I felt would be good enough to finish the job to my left. I pulled some hairs on the lion's left side, and it turned to the left. It knocked over a few more trees, and just before we crashed into the tree, I jumped off.
I hit the ground and rolled to prevent myself from getting hurt. I hadn't planned on the possibility of rolling into trees or bushes, and I noticed that I was rolling towards a bush. I couldn't stop my motion, so I kept rolling until I landed in the bush. Instead of laying around, I shot up and looked towards where the chimera had crashed.
I saw that it was entirely unconscious laying on the ground in front of the tree. I could tell that it wasn't going to get up anytime soon, but I didn't want to tempt fate. "Pinkie!" I said, calling out to the pink pony.
"Here I am!" She said, right behind me. Even though I had been trained to not react to surprises, I jumped out of the bush. "You should really show me how you do that. I was going to say that we should go to Zecora before the chimera wakes up or another monster finds us. Let's go."
"But if we do see another monster then you can just fight them like you did to that chimera! That was so awesome! How did you do that?"
"I'm not sure." I said. "But I'm not sure if I can do it again. Let's not find out."
Together, we continued heading towards Zecora's place. We didn't run into anything else dangerous, but I was on my guard the whole time.
Eventually, we got to the hut that I remembered as being Zecora's home. Pinkie knocked on the door. A few seconds later, the zebra opened the door "Why, if it isn't Pinkie and a guest, coming to my house as I lay to rest."
"Hi, Zecora!" Pinkie said. "This is Centurio! We came over to see if you could make us an ingredient for a new cake! I want you to make that thing you gave to me two months ago when I was really sad, so that I can add to the cake to make it taste better!"
"You have come unexpected to my door, but I can make what you ask for." Zecora said.
We walked into her home and I saw some masks and bottles filled with strange liquids. I saw a cauldron that was empty sitting a few feet away from where we were standing.
"So, Zecora, we were making a cake with fruits and berries in it that is going to taste great but after we finished making it I realized that you could make something that would make it the greatest cake ever!"
"I believe I do know a brew that will make, the perfect treat, namely your cake."
She started grabbing bottles off of shelves and pouring them into the cauldron. Once she had poured all the ingredients in, she lit a fire under the cauldron and pulled out three sticks and stirred with one of them. I saw that the brew was a deep blue color.
"To make the ingredient you need, the brew must be stirred by three." Zecora said, handing us the other two sticks. We started stirring along with her. I saw the brew changing color from it's blue to a light green.
After another minute of stirring, Zecora grabbed an apple dropped it into the cauldron. Instantly, the concoction turned white and black, in a yin-yang pattern. Then, all the liquid evaporated, leaving only the apple, which had changed from it's red color to the yin-yang pattern that the brew had been.
"The ingredient you wished for has now been made, and now your cake will be great, with this apple's aide." Zecora said.
"Thanks, Zecora!" Pinkie said. "This apple's going to make everything perfect! Rarity's going to love her cake!"
"I'm pretty sure everypony's going to love the cake." I said. "Now, come on. We need to finish our cake."
We thanked Zecora again and then left, heading back the way we came. Nothing exciting happened along the way, but I noticed that the chimera was gone. Once I noticed that, Pinkie and I hurried up our pace.
We got back to Sugarcube Corner and made our way into the kitchen. The Cakes had stopped running around, and I could see them in the next room taking care of the babies.
"All right. Now to add the final ingredient!" Pinkie said. She pulled out a knife and started cutting the apple into slices. I noticed that the inside was still normal. She cut twelve equal-sized slices and then laid them out on the counter. Then she pulled the cake out of the fridge that she had put it in before we left for Zecora's.
"Help me put these on the cake." Pinkie said. She handed (hooved?) me half of the apples and took the other half, then started putting the slices at regular intervals around the cake. I put them along the same intervals that she was.
Once we were done, we stepped back and marveled at the cake. "It's amazing." Pinkie said. "I think It's the best cake I've ever made! And I think it was made even better since you helped me!"
"It really is amazing." I said. "I can't wait until Rarity's birthday."
"Everypony's going to love this cake! Maybe I can make one for your birthday, too!"
"I'd love that." I said. "But for now, let's get this cake put away so it doesn't fall apart."
We picked up the cake and put it back into the fridge. "Now that we're all done, we can have a party!" Pinkie said, pulling out two party hats, some balloons, and several other party essentials.
"Sorry, I think I'm all partied out after the chimera." I said. "I think I'm going to go back to Fluttershy's and get some sleep."
"That's a good idea. You wouldn't want to party while tired! A party isn't any fun if you sleep through it!"
After that, I thanked Pinkie and the Cakes and left. I saw a lot of ponies walking around the town, some of them even saying hi to me, but I didn't say anything. After getting all the ingredients, making the cake, walking through the forest, and fighting the chimera, I was about as tired as I had been the day before after helping the Apples.
I made my way back to Fluttershy's home and almost immediately fell asleep in my bed. I think I even heard somepony calling my name, but I was just too tired. The last thing I felt was my face hitting the soft mattress and then everything went black.
I woke up some time later. Bellona was in her bed this time, and I saw that the only pony who was awake in the room besides me was Wolfram, which didn't really surprise me by this point.
"Good morning." He said. "I suppose after helping the Apples and Pinkie Pie you must have been pretty tired."
"I suppose Pinkie hasn't spread the story yet." I said.
"What story?" He said, keeping his usual blank expression and monotone voice, which he wasn't using around the citizens of Ponyville.
"Pinkie and I went to the Everfree Forest to get an ingredient for a cake we were making. While we were on our way to it, we ran into a little problem."
"What kind of problem?" Wolfram said.
"A problem with a lion head, a goat head, and a snake tail."
"You fought a chimera?" He said. I was starting to feel like a hero, because even though Wolfram was speaking in monotone, I was getting the impression that he was impressed with me.
"I did. It tried to attack us, so I made Pinkie hide and knocked out each head individually. Then we got the ingredient and left."
I was about to say something about me being a hero, but then Wolfram interrupted me. "You fool."
"What?" I said, confused.
"You let somepony see what you can do. The most important rule of the Organization is to not let the public find out what we do. You may have felt like it was the right thing to do, but you let Pinkie Pie see that you have some kind of combat training, though I assume you didn't tell her how much.
"If she spreads that around, then it will grab somepony's attention. Perhaps even Dissonance's. You've put our operation here at jeopardy. One more misstep like that and I may have to send you back to Headquarters. We can't let anypony find out why we're here. Though, they may already know.
"They planted those explosives at the party. They had planned to kill everypony there, and those certainly weren't there at the start of the party. I would have known if they were. That means they have somebody in the town working for them. When I flew them away, they must have reported that in to their commanders. They may not know who we are, but they know that somepony is opposing them here. Either way, stay alert and don't slip up again."
"You got it, chief." I said. I heard a deep moan and saw Fortis was waking up. He rolled over to look at us and then said, "Boy, you really let that mare watch you fight? I guess somepony must have forgotten to mention to you that we're a secret organization." He put emphasis on secret organization.
"Yeah. I guess I was just thinking about the dangers at hand and saving mine and Pinkie's lives instead of not doing anything and getting eaten."
"You could have run away." He said.
I was going to argue, but bit my tongue. I knew that he was right and probably had an argument for anything I said. "I guess you're right." I said, resentfully.
"No need to get moody with me. Get upset with the ponies who are the reason we're here." He said. "But, if you need some help clearing your mind so you can focus, I'd suggest you come with me today."
"What are you going to do?" I asked.
"Me and Rainbow Dash are going to have an Iron Pony competition."
"Hmmph." I snorted. "Good luck with that."
"She may be fast and have wings," He started, "And I may be old, but I've still got some kick left in me. Course, working for the Organization is draining that from me faster than I'd like." He glanced over at Wolfram as he said that. Wolfram said nothing.
"Whatever you say." I said. "I suppose I don't have any other plans for today. Why not?"
"Great. We're starting at Sweet Apple Acres at noon. Wake me up fifteen minutes before that so we can go."
"Got it, gramps." I said.
I woke Fortis up around the time he asked for. Fluttershy and Wolfram had gone out for a walk and Bellona had been sent out to contain the rumors spreading about me being some kind of hero, which, I felt, I totally was.
After some disgruntled refusals to get up, most not as polite as I would like to disclose, he got up. "Well, I 'spose we should leave now. You better not have woke me up early. I don't know if you noticed since you joined us again, but I do enjoy my sleep."
"Now that you mention it," I said. "I have been seeing a lot of your back from you laying on your side."
"And that's the way I like it." He said. "Now, I do believe that we have an appointment to keep with a pegasus."
We arrived at Sweet Apple Acres about ten minutes later. Rainbow Dash was already there, and Applejack was helping her train, doing pushups, situps, and some other exercises.
"You ready to go, old pony?" Rainbow said. "Is Centurio here to offer support to the losing team?"
"Nope." I said. "I'm here to participate."
"The chimera-fighter wants to go against the fastest pegasus in Equestria and an old stallion? This is gonna be good."
"All right, everypony." Applejack said. "We're going to have twenty different challenges, and whichever one of you three wins the most is the new Iron Pony of Ponyville."
"Why aren't you competing, Applejack?" I asked.
"I'm still busy making foods with all those apples we harvested. I can't even judge the competition. So Spike'll be judging it." The dragon walked up to us and waved.
"I can't wait to see you three compete!" Spike said. "Even though I won't get to announce it, it'll be great to see this."
"Yeah, yeah." Rainbow said. "Can we just get started?"
"Fine." Spike said. "Since there's three of you instead of two, we had to change some of the challenges, so we'll be starting with.." I stopped paying attention after that, because I was focusing on getting ready for the competition. I was psyching myself up while Spike explained what we would be doing. I caught glimpses of what he said, but I was paying more attention to my thoughts.
Once he finished talking, we lined up behind a white stripe. I saw barrels ahead of us, and I figured we were doing the Barrel Lead. Fortis Mendax was going first. Spike was holding a stopwatch, and I saw that a crowd was starting to gather. Just then I noticed Pinkie was announcing what was happening.
Right after that, I heard Spike say, "GO!" And Fortis shot off. He was significantly faster than I would have thought, given his size. I saw Rainbow's jaw nearly hit the ground, even though she was flying slightly off the ground with her wings. After seeing that I noticed that mine had dropped too. I closed it and looked back at Fortis just as he was rounding around the last few barrels and crossing the finish line.
"Told you my age hasn't slowed me down much. Why does everypony always assume that it does?" He said.
"Nineteen seconds!" Said Spike, and Pinkie repeated it for the observers.
"Ha! Nineteen seconds!? I got you beat, old pony!" With that, she lined up at the starting line.
The process repeated, with Rainbow shooting off and weaving through the barrels. She made it back, and Spike said, "Fifteen seconds!" which Pinkie repeated to the fans who were cheering at Rainbow's skill. I saw Scootaloo jumping up and heard her cheering louder than anypony else.
"Your turn, Centurio." Spike said. "Good luck." Rainbow Dash added as I passed her.
I got right up to the starting line and prepared myself to run when Spike gave the signal. It felt like the signal took forever, and I noticed that the sounds of everypony in the stands also seemed to slow down. Then I heard the signal and shot off.
Everything seemed to pass by in a blur. All I could see was a huge mix of colors, from the ponies to the barrels to the ground. I couldn't understand what was happening. It was like my body was taking over, like how it had when I fought the chimera. The next thing I knew, I was back at the starting line. All I could see around me were shocked faces.
"Th-th-" Spike stuttered. "Thirteen... seconds." And I'm pretty sure Rainbow's jaw did hit the ground. Pinkie got over her shock, put on a smile, and shouted, "Thirteeeen seconds!" and everypony went crazy. I saw Derpy Hooves replace the large, "Zero" next to my name with a, "One."
"How... Did you..?" Rainbow said.
"I'm... Not entirely sure." I said. "I honestly don't remember running like that before." After I looked over at Fortis and saw him giving a knowing smile to me.
After several other events, we were finally at the twentieth, and final, event, with Dash and I tied with seven points and Fortis at five.
"All right." Spike said. "Since there was three of you, we decided to use the hoof wrestling as a tie breaker. Since there's no way Fortis can win this, we're going to just let Rainbow Dash and Centurio take part in the Hoof Wrestling contest, and the winner of that will be the winner of this competition."
"I'm ready." Rainbow said. "Are you gonna pull some of that wonder pony business on me again?"
"I'm not sure." I responded. "But I'm pretty confident in my abilities."
We walked towards the barrel that we would be hoof wrestling on and stood on opposite sides of each other. We each put one hoof up onto the barrel and grabbed each other's hooves.
"Ready?" Spike said. "BEGIN!"
Instantly, Rainbow and I began putting pressure on each other. I wasn't going all-out just yet, but we were evenly tied, so I began pushing harder. I could feel Rainbow doing the same, so I kept pushing harder. No matter how hard I pushed, Rainbow matched me evenly.
Eventually, I reached my limit and couldn't push any harder. I suppose Rainbow reached hers too, because we were perfectly matched, our hooves intertwined in the middle. Our hooves were shaking so much that they were starting to blur. I could see beads of sweat forming from Rainbow's forehead, and could feel some rolling onto my nose.
We were locked in the center for several minutes, neither of us backing down in the slightest. I was just about to give up, but, then, something really strange happened.
I was pushing, and noticed Rainbow didn't look like she was going to back down. The next thing I knew, Rainbow's hoof was slammed onto the barrel. Once again, everyone was shocked. They were able to shake it off earlier than they had before, and were cheering louder than they had after any of the other competitions.
I saw Rainbow rubbing her hoof, grumbling to herself. When she saw me looking, she stopped rubbing her hoof and put it back on the ground, trying to hide the wince she made when she did it. I noticed it was turning fairly red. She hid the redness from me, then said, "Whatever. I was going easy on you so I would still have enough energy to get rid of the clouds tomorrow."
"Your hoof looks injured. Are you sure you can even walk on it?" I asked, genuine concern in my voice.
"My hoof's fine." She said. "Even if it was hurt, I can fly. I don't need to use my hooves to get around, and I don't need my front hooves to get rid of clouds."
"Still, your hoof isn't looking too well. Please just get it looked at. I don't want to see a friend be hurt. Especially not when I know it's my fault."
"Whatever." She said again. She then stuck her hoof up and said, "Congratulations." I reached up and shook her hoof. I noticed the cheers growing softer, and saw that the observers in the stands had started leaving, Fortis, Spike, and Pinkie along with them.
"Shall we go for a walk?" I said.
"I don't know." Rainbow Dash said. "Will Bellona get jealous if she sees you walking around with another mare?"
I'm pretty sure I did blush right then, but I still said, "We're not together. And besides, we're friends. I'm sure she wouldn't mind." Rainbow agreed and we started walking along a path that led around the edges of town.
"So, how did you really do all that?" Rainbow said.
"Like I said before, I'm not sure." I said. "It was like my body took over. Actually, for the Hoof Wrestling, I was just about to lose when I somehow beat you. Once again, sorry for your hoof."
"It's fine." She responded. I noticed she was still trying to hide her injured hoof from me, and she made a small face every time she stepped on it. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?"
"I think you already know." I said.
She didn't say anything for a few seconds, looking ahead to where we were walking. Then she growled the name, "Wolfram."
"Yes. Why can't you just try to get along with him?" I asked.
"I said I would-" She started, but I cut her off by saying, "Yeah, I know you said you'd try, but I know that you haven't. You'd jump at the smallest opportunity to find something about him to make everypony hate him. But can you really hate him for something he did years ago? Especially when Fluttershy already forgave him?"
"I-" She started again, and once again, I cut her off. "No. Wolfram has raised Bellona and I since before I can remember, and as long as she can remember. He's done more things for either of us than I can count, even if I don't know all of them. He really may be the best stallion I've ever met, and you won't give him a chance because you hold a grudge against him for something that didn't even happen to you?"
Neither of us said anything for a few minutes. Then Rainbow said, "Fluttershy wasn't the only pony he hurt that day."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"I'm sure Fluttershy told you that he would always break up fights when he was younger. And there was a lot of fights. Pegasi used to be the warrior race, so fighting is in our blood." She said.
"Yeah."
"Well, he was... my hero." She said.
"What?" I said, incredulous.
"Yeah. I would see him break up fights and help ponies all the time. I wanted to be like him. That's why I stood up for Fluttershy when we were younger. I saw he was busy breaking up another fight, so I swooped into Fluttershy's rescue.
"Once I won the race and Fluttershy and I both got our cutie marks, Wolfram said he was leaving. Fluttershy was upset that he was leaving her, and I was kinda upset with him for that, but I was really upset with him for leaving everypony, especially me.
"He was the pony who I most looked up to. The pony I thought everypony should be like. I had only ever stopped those bullies from picking on Fluttershy before. I had never broken up a fight, and I knew I wouldn't be able to stop them all. Wolfram was the only one who I knew could. At the very least, he could have trained me to do it."
"But he couldn't have stayed. He went to follow his dream. And he inspired you to get your cutie mark, and it inspired Fluttershy to follow her dreams. He probably helped more by not staying than he would have staying."
She thought about that for a few seconds "Maybe you're right. Him leaving made me want to get a new dream, a dream to leave Cloudsdale, to become a Wonderbolt."
"See?" I said. "So, can you just forgive him and let go of this pointless grudge?"
She was silent for the next few seconds. "I... suppose I can." She said.
I walked ahead of her and turned around. I stuck up my right hoof and said, "Thanks." She went to raise up her right hoof, but then I remembered that that hoof was her injured one, and I switched my hooves. "Sorry." I said. She switched hers too and grabbed mine. We shook our hooves, and then we got back side-by-side and started walking towards Fluttershy's cottage.
By the time we got there, it was starting to get dark. Rainbow and I had talked while we walked, about many different topics. We shared some laughs, and we were laughing until we were a few feet away from the door.
"So." I said. "Are you ready?"
"I... guess." She said.
I opened the door and stepped inside. I saw that Bellona, Fortis, Wolfram, and Fluttershy were all sitting around a table, eating dinner together, laughing. All of them except Wolfram looked up from their meals, and suddenly everypony went quiet. Nobody said anything, and nobody moved.
Then, Rainbow walked up to the table, moved to the empty seat next to Wolfram, sat down, and said, "What's for dinner?"
"Um..." Fluttershy said, looking nervously between her brother and best friend. "I only have enough left over for Centurio."
"Rainbow can have it. I'm not hungry." I said. Even though I wasn't eating, I took the seat next to Bellona.
"So, Wolfram," Rainbow said, "how was your day?"
"It was fine." He responded. "Thank you for asking. And how was yours?"
"It. Was. Awesome!" Rainbow said. "Fortis, Centurio and I all competed in an Iron Pony competition, and then..."
She went on to recount the story of the day. Whenever she mentioned me doing some amazing feat that shocked everypony, Wolfram would glance at me, a grim look on his face. After dinner, she stayed to talk to us more, telling stories, sharing laughs. Wolfram took part in it, showing more emotion than he ever would at The Headquarters. I wondered if that was part of his cover or if he actually was showing real emotions.
A few hours later, Rainbow had to leave to go get some sleep. She walked out the door, then flew off. I remembered her injured hoof, and yelled out, "Make sure to get your hoof looked at!" But if she heard me, she didn't respond. I saw her fly into her cloud home.
"How did you get her to not try and kill Wolfram?" Bellona said.
"She and I had a talk. I'll just say that she won't be upset at Wolfram anymore."
All four of the other ponies looked at me. Then, they all went back into the cottage, yawning, except for Wolfram, who stayed with me and, to my knowledge, couldn't get tired, and therefore couldn't yawn. We stood out there, looking at the landscape before us. Fluttershy's yard was lovely, with animals running all over the place, fish swimming in the stream, bunnies running to and fro. We could see the town, the lights still turned on, leaving an amazing sight for us.
"Thanks." Wolfram said.
"For getting Rainbow to not hate you? It's no big deal." I said.
"No, it was. Rainbow would never have listened to me, or a lot of ponies, if they told her. I think she would have listened only to a pony she really respected, though I'm not sure why she thinks of you as one of them, and all her friends were too scared to say anything to her. Applejack might have been the only one who would have, and I'm sure she didn't know."
"I guess." I said. "Anything I can do to help."
"And next time, try not to show your abilities like that. Remember what we talked about earlier." After saying that, Wolfram walked back inside. I stood out there for a few more minutes, taking in the view, enjoying the soft sounds of nature around me. After a while, I went back inside and laid down in my bed.
That night, I had a dream. In the dream, I was very old, and had to have two braces around my front hooves to walk around. I heard a pony laughing, so I looked around and spotted him. When I tried to see who it was, I couldn't. It seemed like when I looked at him, he just seemed to blur.
Then, two more voices joined in the laughter. They sounded like they were right next to me. I looked down and saw that my hoof braces were changing. They were growing, moving up along my hooves to my body. Once there, they started spreading to my head and flank. All the while, the laughter grew louder.
Eventually, all but my face was covered by my metal death trap. The laughter was screaming in my ears, tormenting me. Still, the braces were moving along my head, covering up my muzzle, preventing me from breathing. All that was left uncovered were my eyes, and that wouldn't last long.
Still, the laughter was going on. The original pony's laughter was still audible, but the other two voices were nearly drowning the third out. My left eye got covered, and just before my right eye got entirely covered, I realized that one of the loudest voices was male, but the other was from a mare. And the mare wasn't laughing, she was... crying. Before I could think about that, my eye was covered as I continued suffocating.
I woke up, gasping. I felt sweat rolling down my body. I saw everypony was gone. I looked at a clock Fluttershy had and saw that it was already one 'o' clock. "How did I sleep that long?" I said to myself.
I got out of the bed. I noticed that there was a pillow laying on the ground, and saw that Bellona's pillow was missing from her bed. "Guess I'm not the only one who had a bad dream." I picked it up and placed it where it belonged.
Nothing really eventful happened over the next few days, up until Rarity's birthday.
Her party began in the afternoon, so right after lunch I had to go to Sugarcube Corner to help Pinkie carry the cake over. Once I got there, I saw Pinkie was in the doorway, slowly dragging the cake along.
"Hey, Pinkie." I said. "Need some help?"
"That'd be great!" Pinkie said. "For some reason, this cake seems heavier than when we made it. I'm not sure why. The cake doesn't seem different at all."
"Here, give it to me. Just make sure that nothing gets in my way."
"Sure thing!" She said, moving out of the way so I could pick up the cake. I wrapped two hooves around it, then had to do an awkward waddle to move around. Pinkie walked at my side, guiding me and making sure that nothing could trip me. Eventually, we got to the library. "We wanted to have the party in Applejack's barn, but we decided it would probably be bad for Rarity, so we're having it here!"
I saw Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, and Wolfram setting up decorations, while Spike, Fluttershy and Applejack placed food, plates and dishes. Pinkie led me to an empty table, and I placed the cake on it. I opened the box, and everypony except for Pinkie, Wolfram, and I looked at it in amazement.
"That cake looks amazing!" Twilight said. "Is it a new recipe?"
"Yes it is! Centurio and I made it! I call it the Centurio Sensual Delight!"
"Well, it looks awesome!" Rainbow said. "I can't wait for Rarity to get here."
I said nothing, as I was staring at the cake. The cake did seem heavier than it should be. Pinkie said that she had checked the cake, but I still felt uneasy, and that feeling had probably saved my life many times. But for now, I ignored it, since I didn't want to ruin the cake.
Once everything was ready, I asked Twilight when Rarity was coming.
"Bellona and Fortis left just before you got here to get her. I told them to walk her around for a few minutes so we could be sure to finish getting ready."
Just then, Fluttershy said, "They're coming!" And I noticed she was looking through a window on the second story. We all hid, then Twilight used her magic to turn out the lights.
A few seconds later, the door opened. Twilight turned the lights back on, and we all jumped out and shouted, "Surprise!"
"Oh my goodness, thank you all so much!" Rarity said. She walked in, followed by Bellona and Fortis. Fortis immediately went to the food, and Bellona walked over to me. "Look who's up."
"I guess I've just been really tired from the past few days." I said. "But I think things should be peaceful for the next few days, since," I got in close and whispered, "Dissonance hasn't tried anything funny since the party."
"Yeah." She said. "But stay on your guard. They could be planning something big right now."
"Trust me, I'm aware of that." So that we wouldn't look suspicious, whispering and standing away from the others, I said, "Let's go say happy birthday to Rarity." We walked over to the white unicorn and said, "Happy birthday, Rarity."
"Thank you two so much." Rarity said. "Centurio, I understand you helped make the cake. It looks exquisite. Maybe we should cut it now. Everypony, I wish to have my cake now and I believe that many of you want to as well. So, let's satisfy everyone's wishes, and cut the cake!"
Everypony, except for Fortis, who was still stuffing his face in the food, gathered around the table where the cake was sitting. I saw Rainbow and Pinkie drooling. Wolfram grabbed a knife and cut out ten pieces of cake, all even in size, and leaving some left over for anypony who might want some later.
I grabbed my piece and was just about to eat it when I remembered my distrust of the cake. I saw Bellona turned down her piece of cake, and Fortis was too busy eating the other foods to be bothered. I saw everypony else was eating their cake, though, so I decided I was just being paranoid. I took a bite out of mine.
Immediately, I felt strange. But then, the feeling went away, replaced by the most amazing flavors I had ever tasted. I saw that everypony else must have been feeling the same thing, that weird feeling, followed by the taste. No one said anything, as they all were gripped by the flavor. I saw Bellona watching all of us, and she seemed to change her mind about the cake. She grabbed one of the uneaten pieces and took a bite.
I saw her face contort with what seemed like anger, then immediately change into pleasure. "Really good, huh?" I said.
"Really good?" Rainbow said. "No, this is the best thing I've ever eaten!"
"Oh, I do agree." Rarity said. "Pinkie, you must give me the recipe."
"Sorry." Pinkie said. "It's a secret. Only Centurio and I get to know the recipe. And he has to Pinkie Promise to not tell it to anybody."
"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." I said, following the appropriate movements.
"Well, shoot." Applejack said. "I hope y'all can make this for my birthday."
"Definitely!" Pinkie said.
The party went on as planned after that, filled with dancing, games, food, and tons of fun. After a while everybody had to leave, as it was getting very late. Rarity took what was left of the cake home.
The next week was boring compared to what had happened to me so far. Then came the day of the Grand Galloping Gala.
Wolfram explained to me that we would be going, since the Organization would be providing security. Most of our agents would be there, with the exception of about two-to-three dozen who would either be guarding Headquarters or on missions.
We had to leave early in the morning to prepare in Canterlot. We got up early in the morning of the day of the Gala, and saw that the Mane 6, along with the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Spike, and a few others had come to see us off.
"Thank you all so much." I said. "So, we'll be seeing you six at the Gala?"
"Yes." Twilight said. "In fact, just after this we're going to be trying on our dresses to make sure they fit and then getting on our carriage to Canterlot."
"Well, thank you all for coming to send us off." Wolfram said. "Fluttershy, I'll see you later."
She trotted over to him and hugged him anyways. Then, the carriage that would take us to Canterlot came out of the sky. I saw it was being carried by six pegasi. Fortis was the first to get in, followed by Wolfram, then Bellona. Just before I got in, I turned back to look over all the ponies. I remembered all that had happened since I woke up in Dissonance's facility, all the training I got at Headquarters, and all the adventures I had in Ponyville. I smiled, then turned back and jumped in the carriage.
We arrived in Canterlot a short while later. After we exited, Fortis tossed some bits to one of the pegasi who had carried us. He caught them, then they flew off.
We walked towards the castle. In the castle grounds, pegasi and unicorns were setting up the last of the decorations. I recognized some of them as agents of The Organization, in cover. More would be coming later, disguised as distinguished guests.
We walked past many hallways, until we entered the throne room. Celestia was sitting there, waiting for us. We walked straight up to her, and then Wolfram kneeled before her. Bellona, Fortis, and I all followed suit.
"General." She said. "Agents. Rise." We all did. "General, while I don't approve of you leaving your post for two weeks, I understand why you did. But for now, let's discuss why you're here."
"If I may, my lady." Wolfram said. She gestured for him to continue. "Our mission here is to protect everypony that will be here at the Gala. There are many important ponies that will be here, including princesses Celestia and Luna, and the Personifications of the Elements of Harmony. This event will be a prime target for many evil ponies. We need to make sure that none of them carry out their plans, and that nopony figures out what any evildoers or us are really here for."
"Exactly." Celestia said. "The Organization will need to protect my subjects here, but I have a special task for you four. You will need to keep a careful watch over Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy." When she said Fluttershy, she looked at Wolfram, who didn't react. "I understand that Dissonance plans to get rid of them, and that absolutely cannot happen. Do you swear to obey these commands?"
"I swear." Wolfram said, saluting. We all followed him, and then Celestia said, "Then go." So we lowered our arms, kneeled again, and left.
A few hours later, the first guests started arriving. We were all trying to blend in with the crowds, staying out of view. Celestia had outfits prepared for each of us, so after talking to her we went to dressing rooms and put them on. I tried not to stare at Bellona after she put on her dress and got her mane restyled, but I couldn't help myself. She saw me staring and blushed, then ran off to go begin blending in.
So, I was with a group of ponies who I had managed to convince that I was a famous writer. I was looking out for the ponies I was supposed to keep a watch on, but I was also supposed to look out for any suspicious ponies.
After some time mingling with different ponies, I saw a carriage roll up. I looked and saw the door open, followed by Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy. They all stepped off the carriage, which then rode off. They walked towards the castle together. Once they were inside, I started walking towards them.
"Great to see you made it all right." I said, once I got to them. I noticed Bellona and Fortis were getting near us, weaving through the crowds that were still growing.
"Well," Rarity said, "land-carriages aren't my first choice when it comes to travel, but it could have been worse."
"Pffft." Rainbow said. "She's trying to make herself sound good. You should have heard her scream when we hit a bump in the road."
I smirked, and then Fortis and Bellona joined our group. "Hello, all." Bellona said. "Howdy." Fortis Mendax added.
I saw Wolfram off at the top of the stairs, standing next to Princess Celestia as she greeted the guests. "How about you six go greet the princess?"
Together, they lined up behind all the other ponies, with Bellona and I walking on one of their sides while Fortis walked on the other. Once we got to the end of the line, Celestia said, "Ah, Twilight Sparkle and her best friends. It's a pleasure to see you all. I wasn't sure if you were going to come after last year."
"Thank you, Princess." Twilight said. "We plan to not destroy everything this time. And hello, Wolfram. I didn't realize that you and the Princess were close." He said nothing, but nodded at her.
One by one, all six of the ponies greeted Celestia. After that, they joined Bellona, Fortis, and I at the top of the next set of stairs. Once they had all greeted her and joined us, Wolfram whispered something in Celestia's ear. She listened to him, then nodded, and then Wolfram left her side and walked up the stairs to our group.
Together, the ten of us walked into the ballroom. Most of the ponies were already in there, and most of the others would join us later. I saw Octavia tuning her cello, and noticed the other musicians getting ready to play, and ponies were partnering up and getting ready to dance.
A few seconds later, they started playing. The ponies who had gathered in pairs started dancing. A few were standing off to the sides, but most of them were dancing in the center of the room.
I saw movement in the corner of my eye, and turned to see Wolfram and Fluttershy walking towards the dancing group. Once there, the two of them started dancing. Then I noticed Bellona was watching them as well. “Do you want to dance too?” I asked.
“Oh, no. I’m fine.” She said.
“Come one.” I said. “It’ll be fun.” I grabbed her hoof and dragged her over to a spot near Wolfram and Fluttershy. I realized just then that I didn’t know how to dance to music like this, so I looked over at the other ponies and tried to copy what they did. At first, Bellona didn’t do anything. After a few seconds, though, she started dancing with me, and she, thankfully, knew how to dance, so I just had to make sure I didn’t step on her hooves.
We continued dancing, and, strangely enough, it felt like no one else was there, just me and Bellona, hoof in hoof. The instruments seemed to be playing themselves, their sounds carried by gentle winds towards us.
After a while, I’m not entirely sure how long, Bellona let go and walked back to our group. I saw that Wolfram and Applejack were dancing together, in the same place Wolfram had been before.
We walked back to where we had been before we started dancing. I saw that all of them except for Wolfram, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie were there. I looked back and saw Pinkie dancing with several different ponies. The other five were all standing together and conversing. They welcomed us back and then went back to talking. We talked for a few more minutes before I got a shiver along my spine.
I looked around and spotted a green pegasus walking towards us. Even though he was supposed to blend in with the masses gathered at the Gala, I immediately recognized my second-in-command, Legatus.
He walked up to our group, and with a very fake smile, he said, “Hello, beautiful.” I saw he was focusing on Fluttershy. “Would you care to join me in a dance?”
“Ummm...” She said, looking at all her friends. Twilight and Rarity gestured for her to go, while I stood behind Legatus and tried my hardest to tell her not to go without making a sound. “Sure.” She said, and I deflated. She hooked her hoof around Legatus’s and the two walked off into the crowd, out of sight.
“Oh Fluttershy is sooooo lucky.” Rarity said. “He is sooooo dreeeaaamy.”
“I know.” Twilight said. “I’m so jealous.”
“Pfffft.” Rainbow said. “You two are such fillies sometimes.”
While they gushed over Legatus, I got close to Fortis and whispered, “Follow them. Make sure Legatus doesn’t try anything funny.” He grunted, and then he walked in a direction near where they went.
We went back to our conversation, and, when nopony was looking, I glanced out at the crowd, watching for any potential evildoers. I guess that either evil was taking a break for this huge party, or our agents were doing their jobs very well. Either way, I was able to have fun at the party, like I had always dreamed of when Dissonance made me think I was a human.
We had gotten from talking about Legatus and who we thought he was and how important he must be to get invited to the Gala, to what other guests we wanted to dance with and who we thought should be there but wasn’t, when Fortis ran back to rejoin our group.
“Bellona, Centurio, we’ve got a problem: Fluttershy’s gone.” He made sure to say that low enough that Twilight, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash couldn't hear.
“What do you mean, she’s gone?” I said.
“I was watching them, like you asked, when they disappeared behind some other ponies. I tried to find them but I can't. They're gone."
I said nothing, but went back into the crowd to look for somepony else. After a few seconds, I found who I was looking for. "Wolfram." I said over the noises of music and hooves shuffling against the floor. "Fluttershy's missing."
Immediately, Wolfram and Applejack stopped dancing. "Fluttershy's missing?" Applejack asked.
"What happened?" Wolfram said.
"Legatus came by and asked her to dance. I told Fortis to go watch them, and he said that he did, but after a while, they disappeared behind other ponies. Fortis said he couldn't find them."
Wolfram listened, unblinking, as I told him. Once I finished talking, he said, "Applejack, go back to Twilight and your friends. Centurio, get Bellona and Fortis Mendax."
Together, Applejack and I ran back to where our friends were waiting. "Bellona, Fortis, we've gotta go to Wolfram." The two nodded and then started following me as we ran back to our General. I heard Applejack explain to the pegasus and two unicorns that Fluttershy was missing, and then Fortis said, "You let her hear that? There's a reason I whispered it to you two." "Sorry." I mumbled.
I saw Wolfram walking towards the exit calmly, so that he didn't look out of place, and decided to follow his example. I slowed my pace, and whispered, "Slow down." To Bellona and Fortis just loud enough for them to hear it. Together, the three of us gently made our way through the dancing ponies, who were more focused on their partners than the three of us.
After we made our way through the crowd, we tried to exit through the door without looking inconspicuous. I snuck a look back and saw Rainbow Dash dragging Pinkie towards the door, which Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity were already running towards.
I said nothing, but followed my companions to the castle grounds.
Once outside, I found the two of them looking around, probably for Wolfram. I noticed movement in the sky, so I looked up there, pointed and said, "There's Wolfram." The two looked where my hoof was leading their eyes to and noticed the pegasus.
"It looks like he's looking for a sign of where Fluttershy and Legatus went." Bellona said. He continued scanning the ground, then seemed to find what he was looking for and then flew back to us. "They went that way." He said, pointing in the direction of the thing he noticed.
The four of us ran in that direction, hopefully towards Fluttershy. I noticed plenty of hoofprints heading both towards and away from the direction we were going. "How do you know this is the right way?" I asked.
"One of these pairs of hoofprints match Legatus's, and another matches Fluttershy's." He responded, though how he could notice that from the sky I had no idea.
We continued running, and pretty soon the trees blocked out the sky. More running after that, until we eventually came to a clearing. The trees were spread out here, so we could see the sky again. The moon was full tonight, so there was plenty of light to see the two pegasi in the center of the clearing by.
Legatus stood behind Fluttershy, and he held her by her throat, leaving his other hoof free. He had a big, evil grin on his face. I noticed Fluttershy had tears rolling down her eyes, and she was softly whimpering.
"Let her go, Legatus." Wolfram said. "Let's have a fair fight."
"No, I'm fine. I personally think it's better to enter a fight with the odds stacked in my favor. Isn't that right, Forza?" He said, looking behind me.
"Sure is, Sapientia." A familiar voice said. I turned to see Fortis Mendax, looking at Legatus and smiling. He started walking around the edges of the clearing so that he would be away from us and then walked towards Legatus, until the two of them were standing side by side.
"Fortis?" I said. "You're working with him?"
"Are you kidding?" Fortis said. "I've always been working with him. I was working with him before I even joined the Organization."
"How did you not notice this?" I asked to Wolfram.
"I had my suspicions, but I never go by just suspicions in these situations. I'd need evidence."
I had a flashback to something that happened to me before, and I said, "Wait a second. You were the one that planted the explosives at the party!"
"Well, duh." Was Fortis's response.
Something else came back to my mind, and I said, "You also tried to suffocate me in my sleep!"
The two evil ponies laughed. "No, idyit." Fortis said. "T'wasn't me. But I'm sure you're very familiar with the pony who did do it though. Right, Navitas?"
I looked at Wolfram and said, "Please tell me that's not you."
"No." Another voice said. "It's me."
I looked over and saw a unicorn hanging her head in shame. What I just heard and what I was seeing now didn't go together in my head. The unicorn mirrored Fortis's moves, and was standing on Legatus's other side a second later. I was speechless, but Wolfram said the next words after that.
"Bellona? You, too?"
"Of course, her too." Legatus said. "Are you kidding? The three of us have been three of the top five ranked ponies in the Organization and you couldn't convict anyone of us."
"And I believe I heard you using your own code names." Wolfram said.
"That's right. How else are the Three Kings supposed to keep secret identities?"
"Three kings? You three are copying the group that killed my parents?" I noticed Fluttershy's eyes widened when he said that.
"Copying? No, of course not. Are you really that oblivious to what's really going on here?"
"No, of course. You're not copying. You're continuing." Wolfram responded.
"Ah, now you get it." Legatus said. "That's right. We're not a clone. We're the original Three Kings. Well, two of us are."
"Let me guess: Bellona was your newest addition." Wolfram said.
"Yes." Legatus said. "When you were younger, we never had two kings in one place. We always had one king in our throne room, with two decoys. You left us with a gap when you killed the last king. And we thought, how better to keep a king's secret identity than to have her be a queen?"
"So of those three who I thought were the Three Kings, only one of them was an actual King. And the other two, you and Fortis, were in hiding up until this point. At some point, you recruited Bellona to your evil scheme. And, pardon my knowledge of other languages, but I believe that 'Forza' means strength, 'Sapientia' means Wisdom, and 'Navitas' means energy."
"Good job." Legatus said. "Maybe you can draw something and I'll stick it on the fridge next."
I said nothing the entire time, as I was still staring at Bellona. She was looking at the ground, her head hanging in what I hoped was shame.
"So, you tried to kill the only ponies who can use the Elements of Harmony, since as long as they are around, they can use the Elements to defeat you. You sent Bellona and Fortis to kill them or split them apart."
"That's right." Legatus said. "I let loose a chimera on Centurio. I even had them add Hate Seeds to that birthday cake."
"Hate Seeds. Used to cause the one who ingests it to be filled with hatred. Thankfully, Pinkie added a special ingredient to the cake. A Balance Apple, which transforms all emotions into flavor. The more you feel, the better the taste."
"I wondered why it didn't work." Fortis said.
"And now that everyone's distracted with the Gala, you planned to take Fluttershy so that we would follow you, and in turn the Personifications you plan to kill would follow us. You plan to kill all of us now, so you can get rid of your two biggest problems. After that, you plan to get rid of Princesses Celestia and Luna."
"Goooood." Legatus said. "Now to take care of the next step in our plan: Kill the two of you, so that the three of us will be in charge of The Organization and we'll have all those fine agents at our disposal."
"Only one problem with that." Wolfram said. "We're going to be the ones who kill you."
Wolfram flew off towards Legatus, who threw Fluttershy to the side, and then Wolfam tackled Legatus and the two of them rolled off, fighting. Meanwhile, I was focused on Fortis Mendax, who was walking towards me, a big grin on his face.
"It's over for you, Centurio." He said. "How can you expect to beat the pony who trained you when you only got a week of training?"
"Same way I beat you in the Iron Pony competition and the same way I beat the chimera." I said.
"You're just going to hit me and hope that some miracle happens?" He said, then laughed. "Or I could just kill you before you get a chance to do that. Yeah. I think I like that idea more."
He lashed out, which I dodged. The two of us circled around each other, hooves up. Occasionally, one of us would throw out a punch or a kick, and the other would block or dodge it.
After a few more seconds filled with both of us not hurting each other at all, Fortis jumped at me. He collided with me and the two of us rolled off. Once our roll stopped, he was on top. I was being crushed under his mass. He pulled back his hoof and launched it towards me. I moved my head to the side to avoid it. I managed to wriggle my hoof free, and I punched in an attempt to stun him.
I don't know how, but I managed to punch hard enough to knock him back a few feet. I got up and back into my combat stance. This time, however, I jumped on him. I threw a few punches, and since he was so big, he had a much harder time dodging my attacks. I had managed to trap his hooves, so he couldn't knock me off. I continued punching him, and he couldn't stop me. It looked like I was going to win, but then something hit me in the chest and sent me flying back.
I got knocked into a tree, then fell off and laid down on the ground. I got up to see what hit me, and saw that Bellona had finally moved, and her horn was glowing with a green aura. The glow disappeared after that. "Bellona?" I said, incredulous.
"I'm sorry." She said.
She shot off another blast at me. This one hit me in my chest again. I noticed Fortis picking himself up, shaking off his pain. I saw him bleeding in a few places, with bruises in many more. Bellona continued firing at me, every hit more painful than the last.
In between the magical bursts hitting me, I caught glimpses of Wolfram's and Legatus's fight. I wasn't sure, but it didn't look like it was going well for Wolfram. I couldn't see Fluttershy anymore, which I thanked, as it meant she was out of the way of immediate danger. I also caught two distinct sounds coming from Fortis Mendax and Bellona.
One was a laughter, from a deep voice that I recognized as Fortis's. The next sound was a sobbing, coming from a mare. I noticed Bellona had tears in her eyes. I had a flashback to my dream of me being old and my arm braces suffocating me. I realized that Bellona had been crying as she covered my face with her pillow. I realized that the crying I had heard had been hers, and that the two stallions I had heard laughing were Fortis and Legatus.
Another magic blast hit me in the chest, and I finally let out a grunt of pain. She continued firing harder and harder, and she wasn't slowing down at all. Every hit, my shouts of pain got louder and louder, until it just became one continuous shriek of pain.
I was about to give up when I noticed that I wasn't being hurt anymore. I stopped screaming. I opened my eyes and looked to where Bellona was standing. I saw her and Fortis laying on the ground a few feet away. I looked in the direction opposite of that which they had been knocked back and saw a purple unicorn, her horn still glowing.
"I don't know what's going on," Twilight said, "but I'm willing to bet that he wasn't screaming in pain."
"Thanks, Twilight." I said. "But you need to get out of here. It's not safe." I looked over at Wolfram and Legatus, and saw Legatus was sitting on top if Wolfram, who was pinned down and couldn't, or maybe wouldn't, fight back.
"I'm not going to let my friends be hurt." She responded. "And I think that our friends would agree."
Just then, a sky blue blur shot of the trees, tackling Legatus and knocking him off Wolfram. I saw Fortis had gotten to his hooves. I saw something red come out of the trees behind me and fly straight into his face. He got knocked back onto the ground, and I saw that it was an apple that hit him, and then Applejack came onto my other side.
I saw cloths fly out from Twilight's other side and tie up Fortis and Bellona. Rarity stood on Twilight's other side. I saw heard a sound of many feet running against the ground, and then a bunch of small animals came out and started holding down the two Kings who had attacked me. Fluttershy then came out onto Applejack's other side.
Then, Pinkie ran straight up to the two of them with her party cannon and fired it at them. Instantly, the two of them were covered with confetti and balloons. She giggled, then put on a serious face and joined us, standing on Rarity's other side.
"Well, if you aren't going to leave, then you four," I said, pointing to the two earth ponies and unicorns, "watch over these two. Make sure they don't escape their bonds. Fluttershy, come with me."
The four ponies got closer to the two tied-up ponies, while Fluttershy and I ran to Wolfram's side. He was still laying where he had been when Legatus was attacking him. He was breathing heavily, and I saw a bunch of bruises all over his bodies. I also noticed some cuts that would probably make some new scars when they healed. If he lived that long.
"Fluttershy? Centurio?" He said, looking straight up at the moon. "Rainbow Dash... And Legatus..." His breathing was getting worse, heavier, slower. I noticed a fresh batch of tears forming in Fluttershy's eyes.
"Which way?" I asked. He didn't say anything, but lifted a shaking hoof in a direction that had some leaves that had been pushed down by the two bodies. I nodded and said, "Fluttershy, stay with him." She nodded through her tears.
I ran off in the direction Wolfram had pointed. After a while, I heard the sounds of a scuffle. I followed them, and I eventually found Legatus, holding Rainbow Dash against a tree. He pulled back his hoof, getting ready to end her life. Rainbow noticed me but didn't say anything, since Legatus was holding her up by the throat.
I snuck up behind Legatus, and just before he could hit Rainbow, I got up to his side and bucked him in his flank. He got knocked into a nearby tree, and Rainbow fell to the ground, taking in gulps of air. I held out my hoof for her, which she grabbed. I lifted her off the ground, and even though she was still rubbing her throat, she looked ready to rip Legatus's head off.
"You all right?" I asked.
"I'm fine." She responded. "But he won't be once we're done with him. More importantly, is Wolfram all right?"
"I'm not sure." I responded honestly. "But for now, let's focus on the biggest problem." I pointed at Legatus, who was getting up. I guess I must have hit him pretty hard, because he had a pained look on his face as he got up, having to put his hoof against the tree to support him as he got up.
"That was a good move. Maybe you should have accepted our offer before. You would have been a good evil mastermind."
"His offer?" Rainbow said, puzzled. "What is he talking about, Centurio?"
"I don't remember." I said, not taking my eyes of Legatus.
"I'm sure you've said that a lot in the past few weeks, after I had Bellona erase your memories." He said, grinning, even though he was still leaning against the tree.
"She did what?" Rainbow said, while I remained silent.
"Yes." Legatus continued. "We wanted to become the Four Kings, and Bellona and Fortis both had a liking for him, along with his amazing skills, so he was naturally our first choice. We asked him to join, and when he declined, we decided that if he wouldn't join us willingly, then he would just have to join us on our own terms."
"So you had Bellona erase my memories and put me on a two year-long nap, while she used her magic to make my unconscious body go out and do your dirty work."
"Ah." He said, his grin widening. "So you're not as stupid as I thought. You know, you could still join us. All you need to do is turn on this lovely pegasus here and then go back to the clearing and get rid of those other five, along with that blasted General."
"You know, you make a convincing argument." I said. "Now, here's my rebuttal." I ran up to him and punched him in his stomach. He doubled over, putting both of his hooves on his stomach. He didn't have the tree to support him anymore, so he fell over. Before I could hit him again, he lashed out his hoof and wrapped it around mine, pulling me to the ground with him.
I guessed that he had been faking his injury to get me close to him. I saw him get back up and attack Rainbow as she tried to attack him before he could regain his bearings. I hopped back up and the two of us started our duel.
We stood a foot or two away from each other, throwing punches that the other would usually block, only landing a few punches out of all that we gave. I couldn't tell how hard I was hitting him, but it seemed like it was the same ferocity and vigor that he was using on me. Neither of us reacted whenever we where hit though, and we both just continued hitting each other, not stopping at all.
We hit each other, not ceasing at all, until I saw Rainbow come up behind him. Instead of continuing my attack, I jumped back and turned around. He had a confused look on his face, then he seemed to realize what was happening and turned around. But he was too slow to prevent Rainbow Dash from bucking him in his gut.
He got launched towards me, and I bucked him back at Rainbow. We continued this perverse game of volleyball with his body. He grunted every time we kicked him, and after a while, I started feeling a warm liquid forming on my back hooves. Blood.
After about five minutes of the two of us knocking his body, which I hoped wasn't unconscious by this point, since I wanted him to feel the pain he deserved.
"Hey Rainbow!" I called out.
"Yeah?" She responded.
"You know, I think Legatus would like to take one last flight before we finish him. But I think his wings might be broken. Do you think you could help him? If you think he can't do it by himself, make sure he makes it back on the ground."
I couldn't see, since our backs were to each other, but I'm sure she was smiling. "Sure thing. Why don't you give him a boost?"
"All right." I said, then started counting off. "Three." Kick. "Two." Kick. "One." I kicked him straight up in the air, and Rainbow flew straight up, right to where he had been knocked, and pounded both of her front hooves into his chest. I finally saw what he looked like, and it was hardly recognizable as a pony anymore. He looked more like a giant chicken who was in the process of being slaughtered for it's meat. I saw that I had actually knocked him pretty high in the air and wondered if I had been bucking him that hard the entire rally. If he was somehow still alive, and I hoped he was, then I was very doubtful that he would survive the impact of being knocked out of the air by Rainbow.
He hit the ground, leaving an indentation in the ground. Rainbow landed on the ground next to me, staring down at what remained of the root of all mine and Wolfram's troubles. At least, half of it.
Thinking of Wolfram reminded me of Wolfram, who was probably dead or dying right now. "Oh my gosh." I said. "Wolfram!" Rainbow got a shocked look on her face, but said nothing. I ran off in what I hoped was the direction I came in, and heard Rainbow close behind me.
We ran for what felt like hours, though it was surely much less time than that. Maybe it was just dread that made it seem like time was slowing down. Eventually, we came to the clearing. And what I saw wasn't good.
Fortis and Bellona had escaped their bonds, but instead of seeing just five unconscious or dead bodies, the last two Kings, and Wolfram's dead body like I expected, I saw something much odder.
I saw Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy, all unconscious (at least, I hoped). But I also saw Fortis's body. I hoped that he had suffered a much worse fate, as it would mean that I was in for a much rougher night. But I couldn't see him breathing.
And then we get to the last two in the clearing. I saw Wolfram laying on the ground, in the same place he had been when I left. Instead of looking up at the moon, which was now beginning to set, he was looking up at Bellona, who was standing over him. I noticed that it seemed like her horn was charging up power, gathering energy for the final blow that would end Wolfram's life.
"Bellona!" I said, and she turned to look at me, her horn still glowing more and more by the second. Rainbow tried to tackle her, but I stopped her with my hoof. "No. This is something I have to deal with alone." She said nothing, but backed away.
"Centurio." Bellona said. "I'm so sorry."
"How, Bellona?" I said, blinking back tears. "How could you possibly ever end up as one of the leaders of this extremely evil group?"
"Same way you did." She said, managing a bleak smile.
"Really? Because I'm pretty sure you aren't dreaming and having hallucinations of a fantasy world."
"No." She responded. "I'm in a living nightmare.
"You see, I got sucked into their group years ago. I was young, and foolish, and I trusted Legatus and Fortis back then. They were like two older brothers to me. Then, a few years ago, I started getting... feelings for you. I knew that if I was part of the Three Kings and you stayed with the Organization, things wouldn't work out well for one of us. So, I tried to quit." I noticed her horn was getting dangerously bright now, but I continued listening to her.
"Legatus didn't take too kindly to that. He had me strapped onto a table, and had his most powerful unicorns cast a powerful spell on me. They put me under his control. He made me unable to tell anyone what I was dealing with, and I had to do whatever he wanted me to. And trust me, there's a lot that I really wish I could forget.
"And another part of the spell was that once he died, I wouldn't be free of it until I killed Wolfram, Celestia, and Luna. Right now, my horn's charging up to finish him off. I was able to prevent myself from killing the other five, but I had enough self-control to kill Fortis. So, Centurio, I have one last favor to ask."
"What?" I said, tears flowing freely now, since I knew what she was going to say.
"You have to promise to do it before I tell you." She said.
"Cross my h-heart, hope to f-fly, stick a c-cupcake in m-m-..." I almost couldn't finish it. Somehow, I managed to blurt out, "My eye."
She seemed satisfied with that, and then she muttered something that I couldn't hear, or I could hear and my brain refused to accept that it was what she had said. "I'm sorry." I said, "Can you repeat that?"
"Please, Centurio." She said, softly, but still loud enough for me to hear. "Kill me."
"Bellona..." I mumbled. "I-I can't do that."
"You have to." She responded, tears flowing from her eyes too. "If you don't then I'll kill Wolfram, and then these six here and you, then either kill Celestia and Luna, or get killed by one of them. Unless you kill me, neither of the princesses will escape it unscathed. Killing me is the only way you can prevent this. Besides," She added, "you made a Pinkie Promise."
"Nopony breaks a Pinkie Promise." Rainbow Dash added, in a grim tone.
I said nothing, but thought about what was about to happen. Either she would kill Wolfram and then me, Rainbow, and all of our friends, maybe even the Princesses, or I would have to kill her. And, as hardened as I had become from fighting the chimera, Legatus, and all the other trials I faced in the past I can't remember, I don't think anything could have prepared me for this.
"Centurio, please." She said, her eye shadow running down her face from being wet by her tears. "We don't have much time left." Sure enough, her horn's light was almost blinding by this point. It wheeled her around and directed itself at Wolfram.
"I'm so sorry." I whimpered. An instant later, I was by her side, my back turned to her. I lifted up my hind legs, and gave a kick harder than when I hit Legatus into the air. I heard an extremely loud blast and a heart-dropping crunch, though I wasn't sure which came first.
I was reluctant to look back at what I had done, but I needed to make sure she was dead. I slowly turned around, my eyes closed. Once I had turned full around, I slowly lifted my eyelids.
The first thing I saw was something that gave me hope. She had missed Wolfram, though she demolished a few trees nearby. The next thing nearly drove me to insanity.
I had hit her directly where I was aiming: the side of her head. She was laying on the ground, blood coming out of her fresh wounds. Wounds I caused. Her horn seemed oblivious to her injuries, as it started gathering power again. I noticed that Bellona was still breathing, which made my heart sink at least fifty feet underground.
"Centurio." She was barely managing the words. "You... need to... finish... me before... I kill... Wolfram." She coughed up some blood after that last word.
I said nothing, my tears nearly blocking out my vision entirely. I nodded, then turned around, lifting my hind legs, which, I hoped, for her sake, and for mine, would be the final time. I almost couldn't do it. I stood there, feeling the warmth of her horn as it gained more and more energy.
"Centurio" She squeaked.
"Yeah?" I whispered, choking back tears so I could manage the words.
"One last... thing be... fore you... do this."
"What?" I asked. I was barely able to hold back new tears as what had already come out started drying up, so my tears wou;dn't prevent me from functioning.
"I love you." She said. And then I just couldn't hold it in anymore. I started bawling. I managed to somehow hold my pose though, my back hooves hanging awkwardly in the air.
"I love you, too." I whispered. Then, I propelled my legs in the direction they were facing. I tried to block out the sound, but it made everything else go silent, and it seemed much louder than it should have been. It reverberated in my ears for what must have been a few seconds, but felt like way longer.
After a while, Rainbow came up to me and said, "I'm so sorry."
I said nothing, but embraced the rainbow maned pegasus. She seemed shocked at first, then she returned the hug. I'm not sure how long the two of us stood there, with me crying into her shoulder, until one of the Royal Guard, a unicorn came out of the trees.
"They're over here!" He called. A few seconds later, Pegasi flew into the clearing and more unicorns came out of the trees. Shortly after that, Princess Celestia joined them. They all kneeled, and Rainbow joined them, but I remained standing.
First, she went over to Twilight. She examined the unconscious mare, then her horn started glowing. A second later, Twilight woke up.
"Oh, my goodness! Princess!? What happened!?" She said. Princess Celestia whispered something in her ear, and Twilight said, "But-" which Celestia responded by whispering in her ear again. Once she finished talking, Twilight simply nodded, then set about waking up her friends. She didn't even bother trying it on Fortis or Bellona.
Once Fluttershy was woken up, she looked around, seemed frightened by all the guards, and then noticed Wolfram still laying on the ground. She got up and rushed towards him. Celestia stood on her side, so I joined them on his other side.
"Oh, Princess." Fluttershy said, tears flowing like waterfalls from her eyes. "Please be honest with me. Is he going to live?"
Princess Celestia examined Wolfram, whose breathing was loud enough to be heard over Fluttershy's crying. He looked in her eyes as she stood over him, and he managed a smirk. Then, he got caught in what looked like a painful coughing fit.
The princess said nothing for a few seconds, then she said, "I'm sorry."
Fluttershy began weeping over his body, which was convulsing with his coughing spasms.
"Fluttershy." Wolfram said, his voice shaky. She looked up, wiping tears from her eyes.
"Yes" She said, her voice almost as uneven as his.
"I'm so... Sorry-" He started coughing, then continued with, "For not... telling you... Everything...And that... I wasn't always... There to pro-" Another coughing fit. "tect you... Like I... Promised. And... When I finally try.... To protect you... Again, It's the last... Time I ever... Get to... See you."
Fluttershy looked like she wanted to burst into tears right then, but she wanted to listen to her brother's dying words.
"So Fluttershy... Promise me that-" More coughs. "You'll protect your... Self from now on... Or that... Your real family... will protect you." I knew he was talking about her friends from Ponyville. "Be strong... for dad... for mom... for me... for you." And then, he said no more.
Fluttershy finally let loose her tears, and I saw the other five mares all standing behind her, unsure of what to do. I think I even saw a tear forming in Celestia's eye. I wasn't focused on her though, as I was walking to Fluttershy's side. I gave her a hug, like the one I gave to Rainbow Dash, except I was the comforter this time.
We stood like that for a while, when I heard Rainbow gasp and say, "Look at that!"
I turned to her, and saw her pointing to the sky. I followed her hoof and saw something odd, which I was getting used to after this night. But this took the weird cake.
Some of the stars were rearranging themselves, forming some kind of new shape. Once they all finished forming, they glowed brighter than all the other stars.
"Is that..?" Twilight said.
"Yes." Celestia said. "I don't know whose magic could possibly do this, but, as they say, don't look a gift horse in the mouth. And I think I know a perfect name for this new constellation. Il Re Lupo. The Wolf King."
Fluttershy's tears finally quieted down, and she said, "It's perfect."
Together, we all made our way back to the castle, under the light of Il Re Lupo, the new constellation shaped like a wolf with Wolfram's cutie mark across it's chest.
"It appears we're in need of a new General."
This was hours later. Rainbow and I got the blood and dirt washed off, and we all were sent to different beds to go get some rest. I didn't, and I'm not sure if any of the others did either. I'm sure Fluttershy didn't. After that, I was summoned to Celestia's throne room. I saw all six of the ponies who had somehow managed to stay alive, meaning I completed my assignment, though I wasn't too enthusiastic about that.
"And I'm the next highest rank, meaning that you want me to do it." I said, speaking in monotone, knowing that if I let emotions invade my speech now, they would overrun me and render me incapable of speech or thought. Maybe that's why Wolfram liked to use that tone so much.
"Yes. Do you think that you can take on this new position?"
"I... I'm not sure. And also, why are these six here? I believe that this should be a top-secret meeting, under closed doors, all that."
"I believe that these six have proven that they're more than worthy of knowing about the greatest secret in Equestria. Plus, they've already seen so much that erasing their memories of these events wouldn't be right, after their involvement over the past few weeks."
None of us said anything, but I scanned the six of them for any signs of surprise. There wasn't any, but they all seemed to be looking at me... differently, I suppose. And I understand why they did. I would have too.
And then I saw Fluttershy.
Looking at her, I was sure she didn't get any sleep. She looked like she had been crying the entire time, so much that her tears had all dried up now. I thought about how she had just found out what had really happened to her parents, and found who killed them, only to have him kill her only remaining family that same night.
I remembered Wolfram, as he lay dying, telling her to be strong, for their parents, for him, and for herself. I remembered him showing us the scar under his wing, the one his father gave him, and I realized that it was probably what caused Fluttershy's shy nature in the first place. And still, I was sure she loved him.
The idea of love made me think about hat I had tried to avoid thinking about for the past few hours. Bellona. When I woke up in the facility, she was the first pony I met after I lost my memory. I had suddenly come back into our world, amidst the evil conspiracy, my romantic awkwardness with Bellona, and so much more. I though about all that had conspired over the past month or so. Mostly, I thought about what had happened last night.
I remembered her last three words she said: "I love you." I thought about how she was the closest thing I had to family, and now she was gone, just like Fluttershy lost her brother. I was reminded of Wolfram's final words one last time. "Be strong... for dad... for mom... for me... for you." I saw that Fluttershy's tears hadn't recently dried up, but had been dry for some time. I realized that she was heeding what he said, being strong so that she could honor his final request.
I realized that if she could experience the loss of her only relative, maybe the pony she loved the most, and she could be strong, then I could be strong after losing the one I loved the most.
"I accept." I said, in a tone that still reminded me of Wolfram.
"Excellent." The Princess said. "Now, as for your new team leaders, I believe we already have some candidates lined up."
"Really?" I said, letting some emotion in my voice and finding myself more surprised that I didn't burst into tears. "Who?"
"They're in this room now." She responded, waving her hoof over the six ponies who I had tried so hard to prevent from getting involved in this.
"Uhhh, I'm sorry." I said. "I don't quite understand."
"We want to join this Organization, or whatever it's called." Rainbow said. "We want to make sure that nothing like this happens ever again."
"I'm sorry, but you six can't join." I said.
"Why not?" Said Twilight. "I'm pretty sure we showed you what we can do last night, plus the six of us can use the Elements of Harmony together, which seems like it'd be perfect for your group."
"OK." I said. "Let me rephrase that: I won't let you six join."
I started arguing with them, the only two in the room staying silent being Celestia and Fluttershy, which didn't surprise me. After about a minute of arguing, a voice shouted out, "QUUUUUIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEET!!!"
We all looked shocked at Fluttershy, who had emitted the shriek, louder than any of us thought possible from her.
"F-Fluttershy?" I said, breaking the silence.
"Centurio, my brother kept a lot of secrets from me." She began. "I knew that, even when we were young. But there's a lot that I didn't know he knew, stuff that I probably should have known when I was younger. Most importantly, he kept from me what he really did. His last words were telling me to be strong, and he was the strongest pony I ever knew. I can't think of any better way to do that than to fight for the same cause he did. So, if you deny me, then you deny Wolfram. And my friends stay with me, so if you accept me, then you accept them as well."
We were all still staring at her in shock, even Celestia. Fluttershy was talking like a completely different pony. She spoke with confidence, posture, in a manner that reminded me of Wolfram. I realized she was determined to bring pride to her brother, and she was actually overcoming her shyness to meet his last wishes. I realized that I couldn't argue with her, because I'm sure Wolfram would have been forced to make the same decision, were he here.
I was being forced to decide whether I should honor the wishes of his sister, who changed her personality in a few hours because of him, or to deny her, and the dying wishes of my mentor, and who I thought of as my father, putting her in a constant state of danger.
I was being forced to make a tough decision, one of the toughest ones I had ever made. I looked at Princess Celestia, who returned my stare without saying anything. Then I looked back at Fluttershy. I looked into her eyes, and I saw that she hadn't changed. She was still the same gentle pony who she always was. She was just showing off a tough exterior, burying her gentle self for now.
I thought about Wolfram, and wondered if he had been doing the same thing. I remember seeing him smile for the first time, and how I wondered later if he was faking it. I realized now that those were genuine emotions. He had buried them away, and seeing his sister brought out his true feelings. And he didn't hold them back. It seemed like they weren't flowing out of them, but maybe that's because he was so unfamiliar with letting his emotions out to roam.
She was trying to be more like her brother, even if it meant going against everything she was afraid of. She was determined to join me, and, even if I said no, I'm sure she would try to do this, independent of The Organization. Even if friends didn't help her with it. So, no matter what, she was going to be living a dangerous life. But, if she were to join us, then I could at least keep an eye in her, make sure they didn't get into too much trouble.
"Hmmm." I said. I realized it was the first thing that had been said in minutes. I was silent, as I finalized my decision.
"Yes?" Celestia said.
"I've made my decision." I said, turning back to face her.
"And?" She said.
I said nothing, having second doubts. Then I grumbled, "They can join."
The six new recruits all burst out in cheers. They all swarmed me and showered me with their thanks.
"Now," Celestia said. "I believe you six need to visit Ponyville to gather your things, and say your goodbyes."
A short while later, our carriage landed in Ponyville. We traveled by pegasi instead of earth ponies, like the other six passengers had gone to Canterlot by. One by one, we got out, with me coming out last.
This time, the carriage didn't fly away, but waited where it was. I saw the six mares all staring at me. "Go to your homes. Decide what you're taking with you. Say your goodbyes. Meet me here in an hour." They all nodded, then each headed in the direction of their homes, which they would be abandoning now, since they would be living at Headquarters.
Since I didn't have anypony I wanted to say goodbye to, I headed towards the diner that Bellona and I had eaten at after the party, our first night in Ponyville.
I entered the diner and sat at the booth that Bellona and I had sat at when we ate here. The same waitress came by and took my order. This time, however, I ordered something different.
I sat and thought about the six ponies, all of who, except for Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, would be saying goodbye to family right now. I wonder how many tears were flowing right now.
I sat in silence, staring straight at the table in front of me. No tears came anymore. Maybe they couldn't anymore. Then a plate appeared in front of me, and I looked up to see Bayonne Witzel standing at the end of the table. "Thanks." I said. She smiled and then left.
I set about eating my white rose sandwich, which I understood was Wolfram's favorite thing to eat. I wasn't very hungry after the rough night I had, but I was sure that I was more hungry than I realized. I couldn't really taste the sandwich, because it felt like all sensation went numb. But I ate it anyways.
I sat there taking bites, until I realized that I was biting into the air. I looked and saw that I had finished eating it sometime ago, but got lost in my thoughts and didn't realize that I had.
I wiped my mouth off, then got up from the seat. I walked to the counter and saw a bag waiting for me. More sandwiches, for the new recruits to eat once we got to Headquarters. To home. I grabbed the bag and threw some bits onto the counter. I think it might have been enough, or maybe it was too much, but I didn't care. I was about to leave when Bayonne called me back.
"Umm. pardon, but this isn't enough." She said.
"Oh. Sorry." I responded. I started fishing out some bits from the saddle bag I was wearing.
"So how was the Gala?" She asked.
"It was fine." I said. I think she was waiting for me to say more, but I didn't add anything. "Where's Wolfram?" She asked.
"He's taking a nap right now." I responded, coming up with that excuse without hesitation. "He's back in Canterlot. He didn't come. I'm actually leaving for there in a few minutes."
"Oh, that's too bad." She said. Before she could ask anything else, I placed the remainder of what I owed on the counter. "Thanks." She said. "Make sure to come back if you're ever in town again!" By then, I was walking through the door.
A short while later, I was waiting in front of the carriage. All six of the new agents came up in front of me as a group. They all had their saddle bags on their flanks and their pets by their sides, and I wasn't sure if that was all right, but I didn't mention it. "This is your last chance. You can quit now, stay here with friends and family. If you come with me, there will be many times that you will come close to death. That is a fact, not just something I'm saying to scare you off."
I saw that their eyes were red and puffy from crying. But they said nothing. Twilight was the first one to walk up. She passed me and then got in the carriage. One by one, her friends did the same. Applejack came next, then Rarity, Pinkie, Rainbow, and finally Fluttershy, each followed by their animal companions. Once they were all in, I stepped towards the carriage.
Just before I got all the way in, I stopped and looked back. I found it hard to believe that only twenty-four hours ago, I was standing in this same position, with Wolfram, Bellona, and Fortis waiting for me to get in. I had been looking over all the friends I made here, the only friends I had when Bellona's magic made me think I was a human.
Once again, I thought about my adventures since I woke up in the lab, strapped down on the table. I...
I stopped thinking about those. I couldn't think about my past. I had my future to think about, not to mention the present. I shook my head, then turned around and got into the carriage. I closed the door behind me, then took the open seat next to Rainbow, across from Fluttershy. I let out a whistle, and felt the sensation of the carriage being lifted off the ground.
I closed my eyes and started thinking about what I was going to be doing as the General. It was only a few seconds before I heard the sound of weeping. I opened my eyes to see Applejack crying. Seconds later, Pinkie, Twilight, and Rarity joined her. The only ones who weren't crying were me, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy.
None of us said anything, not even the pets, but the four mares continued sobbing. I looked at Rainbow, then over at Fluttershy. Our eyes were entirely dry. The three of us were the only ones who weren't leaving behind family. I wasn't sure if Rainbow still had family, but Fluttershy and I had both lost everyone we cared for, except for everyone in this carriage.
The three of us weren't crying, not because we had nothing to cry about, but because we wouldn't. We were stronger than that, and eventually, the other four would be, as well. We didn't cry because we were warriors, ones who had had the worst experiences last night and survived. We were the ones ready to fight at any time, who fought because we had nothing to lose.
There aren't many of us like that, and I'm not even sure if Fluttershy would be able to maintain that attitude. But I knew that when she needed to, she would enter this state again, an attitude she learned from her brother. She was ready to fight, kill, and maybe die, because of him.
And Rainbow. She wanted to follow in his hoofsteps when she was younger. And now, she really was. The hoofsteps he covered his entire life. I never heard her mention any family, but I'm sure that she saw us as her family, maybe Wolfram as the brother she never had. Maybe she was taking the loss of Wolfram as hard as Fluttershy. But she wasn't showing it, like I wasn't showing any sorrow anymore for losing Bellona.
Our carriage continued flying through the sky, and I could see tufts of cloud coming into the carriage through the openings. They weren't gray, but rain was still falling on one half of the carriage's interior.
Yeah, there aren't many like us. Those of us who never take a break, who carry the world on our shoulders. Those of us who fight all the wars so the rest don't die. Maybe I was born for this job. I wasn't sure about the others, but I'm sure Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were. They were ready. They were stone next to their friends.
They, like me, were heroes.
