The Human

I told her what I knew. Which, was of course, nothing, but it's a start. The state of affairs right now is or could be pretty grim with the human on the loose, and he just killed somepony. That about sums up what I told her. She was anything but impressed. With a slight raise of the eyebrows and a faint grin you would give someone out of his right mind she stared at me. Needless to say she wasn't taking me seriously.

"Honestly!" I say, "There is a human being here, he's murdered somepony in town, and his tracks disappeared into the woods towards the most populated place in Equestria, Canterlot! This is serious!"

She laughs jestingly and looks at me with an incredulous look, dripping with sarcasm.

"Last time I checked you didn't believe in urban myths."

She's right.

"Well, yes, but I'm not lying. I saw it with my own eyes after that accident, and he is the unknown killer of that unicorn in town!"

"Even if I believe you, what do you want me to do about it? The way you rave about thing thing makes it sound pretty unbeatable, why would you try to take this on with just the two of us?"

"We're not taking this thing on alone. I plan on confronting Celestia about it today,before any innocents get harmed. I tried to keep this under wraps before, but this is too big of a problem for a lone stallion to take on. Problem is, I checked, and she is booked the whole day planning the gala for tonight, unable to answer a letter or take an appointment, and there are no available tickets this late," I smirk confidently even though the odds appear to be stacked.

"I'm not giving you my ticket, if that's what you are wondering. If not, what the heck do you have in mind?"

"You still have that fancy dress of your's don't you?"

The carriage rocks back and forth slightly as the stallions pulling the cart up front move over cobbled roads. Rainbow Dash sits there quietly, looking ahead, as I adjust my bow tie. I had to dig up my good tuxedo for this occasion, and it's a little faded, but it's not noticeable. I tug my overcoat in place again and look over at her.

"How do I look?"

"Like an idiot," she looks over at me. "Like always."

The cab is quiet for a second.

"See if I ask your opinion on anything again." I close up my jacket and look outside. The dazzling lights of the party are just up ahead, and the sound of ponies talking starts to thicken. The ride continues like this for a little longer, with the effects slowly getting louder and brighter while the hoofsteps stay at the same intensity. We finally reach the castle front and I nod to her to show her that I am here. She sighs.

"Did you have any better plan than this?"

"Yes and it involved mugging you for the ticket. Come on, let's go."

I step up and behind her as she opens the door and starts stepping down. Taking in a short breath, I grab the hem of the tail end of her dress and jump under. Rainbow Lurches slightly then keeps walking, and I almost run into her. It is really uncomfortable trying to crouch under and walk at the same pace as she does at the same time, and she seems really ticked.

"Did you know your cutie mark looks really nice up close?" I whisper only loud enough for her to hear.

She kicks me right where it hurts and I stagger for a second. I furiously whisper at her.

"What the hell was that for? I was trying to make you feel better."

"That made me feel a lot better though," she whispers, almost laughing. She stops immediately though and she moved around a bit, as though she was more uncomfortable for a second, then she keeps walking normally.

"We just passed the guards," she whispers to me. "Pretty soon we should be able to separate unsuspected."

I pull up the hem a bit and look out. We are close to the large doorway that leads to the palace.

"Alright, head to the right a bit, I need you to dispense me at the bushes so they don't see me climb out. That could be awkward."

She heads to the right and walks over to a bench. Some ponies are gathered around a bit farther away, but not close enough to see anything suspicious.

"Walk right over to the bush now and but your back to it."

She does that without a hitch, and I start to climb out. It is at that point that some thorns start to snag on my tux. I try to pull myself out but then I trip on Rainbow's tail, and she cries out. She falls over and hits me, and we both tumble into the bushes. I can feel fabric rolling around and the sting of thorns along with the flow of blood from the cuts.

"Way to be inconspicuous Rainbow," I hiss to her as well as I can with a stem jammed down my throat.

"It's not my fault you pulled me under," She growls back.

I noisily yank this way and that to pull away the awful thorns. My head is doused in petals as I mostly grab the unoffensive flowers. Rainbow stands up right next to me, hair mused up and face angrily flushed.

"Never do that to me again Black, or at least not right into a rose bush!" She loosens the necklace around her neck then looks ahead. She flushes even pinker and looks embarrassed. She grabs my shoulder and points me towards where she is looking. Right in front of us is a fancy looking couple looking right out disgusted at us. I look down at myself and see that my bow tie is askew, the front of my shirt is ripped open, and the worst part, there is a rose stuck quite painfully inside my mouth. I yank it out to the subtle taste of copper.

"Nothing to see here folks," I try to sound as casual as possible. "Get yourselves some martinis or something."

The walk away slowly, still facing us half the way with the awful looks on their faces. I turn to Rainbow.

"At least this is less suspicious than sneaking in."

She slugs me right in the chest and growls again.

"They think that I.... with YOU of all ponies!"

"You would rather do it with somepony else?" I smirk and have myself a little chuckle.

She kicks me again where it hurts. Hard. I jerk over as she steps out of the bush with as much dignity as she can, fixing her dress as much as possible. I grab my top hat and step out also, pulling my coat back on and trying to cover any cuts. My mouth is still bleeding a bit. I shrug my shoulders and walk into the line streaming inside. As soon as it empties into the larger room I move to the right, hugging the wall with my back. There are too many ponies in here to reach Celestia and talk to her, I will have to wait it out a little bit til the stream of them comes to a close.

And I wait. For a while actually. This is possibly one of the most popular years at the gala I have seen yet. The crowd has only waned slightly through the night, and now is as good a time as any to try to tell her about the problem. I step right into the herd slowly moving to her, staring directly at her. Of course she didn't see me in the cloud, when you are the essential cog of a monarchy you have to be a damn good politician, looking everypony who passes you in the eye. When I finally do reach her she looks at me like she looks at everypony else.

I whisper to her, "The human is near the castle!"

She whispers out of the corner of her mouth, "I can take care of it, it's no threat."

"He dismembered that stallion in Ponyville!"

She waves her hoof in a dismissive way.

"The guards are on high alert, and we have a team hunting it down. It won't be able to get anywhere within the area of Canterlot without getting captured. Now, I really need to continue."

I admit this isn't the best idea, but I need to see all her human information right now before the human reaches the castle urgently. No time to ask permission. I fly right up into the air, and Celestia takes one side glance at me, the smile sliding off her face. I fly at top speed up the right staircase, to one of her upper libraries where she must keep all her information. I heard of it from somepony. I turn around the corner to the sound of yelling guards and minor crowd chaos. I take several turns this way and that searching for the library, til I finally find it. I quickly shut the door and pull the latch down to block it best I can. The door is being beat on repeatedly. I look around for a book with information on humans, and I see an interesting looking book hidden behind a bookcase, sticking out slightly. I yank it out right as the door is broken down. No time to look back. I sprint as fast as I can then dive out the open window. I almost hit the ground then I spread my wings, lifting myself up slightly to stop myself from dying. I fly through the air towards the forest, at least I am almost entirely black, so it makes it easier to just jump down to the ground and hide, no need to even try to turn invisible. So I jump down to the ground as they fly overhead.

As I disappear into the night.