No one (3rd person)

Today was a good day.

It was a fair 65 degrees outside with a steady breeze, making the winter air barely noticeable; the sun shined high in the cloudless sky, and, recently, Princess Twilight had attended the opening of a new coffee shop. Even the nobles of Canterlot seemed to be less “snobby” today.

Today was a good day, all except for a particular pony.

“Blast! Where in all of Equestria did I put it?” A deep voice complained. A tall stallion who owned the voice rushed back and forth, tearing up the extensive study that circled him.

His coat was a lighter shade of brown since his youth, with a strange short mane style consisting of five sections and four connecting lines leading down from his sides and scalp, and eyes of black with a four-pointed star in the middle. Covering his body was a long, black collared coat with a golden trim that met in the middle of his chest in a cross-shape design.

The room he was running around was circular-shaped, with walls covered in book-filled shelves, most of their books resting on either tables or the purple carpeted floor. The only things that segmented the many towering bookcases were stone pillars keeping them apart and a single white-bricked section with a large open window in the middle. A massive telescope jetted out from the inside and pointed to the sky. And attached to the center of the domed roof above was a single golden chandelier surrounded by a mural of the stars, each one of its consolation mapped out perfectly. But despite the study’s potential beauty, parchment, maps, books, and quills layed scattered across the ground haphazardly.

A loud bang shortly erupted after the stallion tripped over a small pile of books, sending him tumbling until impacting with a shelf. Books from the higher section wabbled from the impact, eventually tipping out and landing straight onto the stallion.

Moments passed before the stallion’s head popped out of the book pile with a scowl. His ears then perked when the sound of snickering reached them, shooting his miffed look to whoever dared laugh at his misfortune. When his eyes landed on the origin of the sound, his expression turned from a scowl into a deadpan. In the open doorway to the stallion's study was a unicorn mare levitating a bookbag in an off-white colored magic, using a hoof to stifle her snickering.

Her coat was the color of buttermilk, a tied-back mane and tail of red and purple, and a pair of worn black-framed glasses covering lavender eyes. A black turtleneck sweater covered the front half of her body, only stopping before an image of a violet moon and three stars on her flank.

“Professor Pucci? What are you doing?” She said, walking in and closing the door behind her.

With a huff, Pucci quickly pushed the offending tomes off himself and rose to his hooves, dusting his coat to rid it of wrinkles. “I see you take enjoyment of my mistake?” He flatly said, making the mare stiffen up, “But it’s alright, Moondancer, I merely fell.” He sighed, returning to examining seemingly random books, not noticing Moondancer sitting at a reasonably clean table.

“You looking for something?” Moondancer awkwardly asked, using her magic to somewhat organize the scattered books around her. “Is this about that dream you had?” She said, a slight tone of annoyance lining her words.

Pucci shook his head, “No, it’s not. I’m searching for a gift.”

“A gift, for who?” Moondancer asked curiously.

“For my sister. Heart’s Warming Eve is approaching soon, so I purchased a book for her as a gift. Before, my parents or I had to read to her, so I thought it would be a nice gift. But it seemed to have been misplaced when you and I cleaned up the other day.” Pucci quietly growled the last part as he tossed another book away. “ I can’t believe myself, misplacing something as simple as a book.” He muttered.

Moondancer’s eye widened in surprise, “Wait, isn’t your sister…y’know…blind?” She asked sheepishly, trying not to offend her professor.

A sigh escaped Pucci’s lips as he faced Moondancer with the same calm mask he always wore. “Yes, the book I bought was a brail copy of a series she loves. Small and colored white with text on the front.” He explained.

“Got ya.” Moondancer said with a nod. Second of silent thinking later, she shot out of her chair, scanning the shelves like a machine. After a few seconds, a grin formed on her muzzle. Rushing over to a far-off bookshelf, Moondancer bit down onto a rolling ladder and, with a grunt, dragged it across the floor. She eventually stopped at a section labeled “M” by a brass plate mounted in the corner of the bookcase. Climbing the latter carefully, Moondancer reached the very top and did her best to see something in the dark abyss known as the very top of the bookcase. With an “aha!”, Moondancer reached into the darkness and pulled out a slim white book.

During all this, Pucci had noticed the semi-introverted mare atop the latter. “Moondancer?” He called out with a raised eyebrow. Pucci’s eyes followed her as the mare slid down from the long latter and quickly walked up to him, a prideful smirk on her face. “What is that behind your back?” he said, pointing to a hidden object levitating behind her.

Moondancer chuckled and pulled out a thick book. It was small, not even 8 inches tall, completely white with text on the front in black, bold letters. The text read: “Harry trotter and the sorcerers stone.”.

Pucci’s eyes widened, a small smile parting his lips, “That’s it!” He grabbed the small book from her magic and stashed it into his coat. “Where ever did you find it?”

The semi-introverted mare nervously chuckled while scratching the back of her mane, “Weeeeell, you see, I remembered back when we cleaned up to see if I had seen it. And I thought I HAD seen something matching what you described.” Motioning her hooves to Pucci’s breast inner breast pocket where the book was, she grinned sheepishly, “So I found it, ta-da!” She cheered half-heartedly.

“But that place you were looking through moments ago was the-” Pucci looked down while Moondancer was sweating buckets,”- junk pile where we throw miscellaneous papers.” His eyes then locked back onto Moondancer, who forced back a yelp at the sight of his narrowed eyes.

Dismissively waving her hooves wildly, Moondancer shook her head side-to-side at breakneck speeds. “No, no, it’s not like that, I swear! It’s just that I was so tired from cleaning up all day that I mistook that book for some random manual and put it up in that place by mistake!” Seeing the look remain on Pucci’s face, she tried to make herself as small as possible, her ears folding against her skull, “Please don’t fire me.” She pleaded meekly.

Seeing what his look was doing to the poor mare, Pucci slumped his shoulders and let out a tired sigh. “It’s alright, my assistant, nothing more than a mistake.” Moondancer visibly relaxed, seeing that her boss/professor wasn’t mad. He reached out a hoof to Moondancer, who took it and pulled onto her hooves. “Just be careful next time, understand?”

“Yes, sir, I hear you.” Moondancer nodded, then perked up with a face of realization, “Oh! And speaking of gifts.” Making her way to the table where her bookbag was, she pulled back the flap, and a slip of paper emerged from inside. “I know it may not be fancy or anything, but I know how much it meant to you. So here you go. Happy hearts warming!” The piece of paper glided through the air, soon making its way into Pucci’s hooves.

Upon examining the paper, his eyes widened, “A ticket to a live performance by Mustang Handel?” He said in disbelief, “But I thought they sold out the first day they announced they were playing in Canterlot? How did you manage to get this?” He asked.

Moondancer diverted her gaze, an embarrassed look on her face, “Let’s just say my bit’s bag wasn’t feeling very full by the time I got them.” She chuckled.

Pucci was about to scold his assistant about how she shouldn’t waste her bits on something so expensive, even as a gift, but that last word caught his ears, “Them?” He echoed.

To answer his question, an identical ticket floated from the bag next to Moondancers face, “Thought I could join you,” A faint blush appeared on her face, but she managed to hide it by looking down, “I-If you don’t mind.” she said in her best casual tone. She flinched as something touched her, looking up to see Pucci smile at her, a friendly hoof on her shoulder.

“No, I don’t mind. And thank you for the gift; it is lovely.” He smiled

Moondancer internally squealed at a volume that, if released, would’ve made everypony in a 5-mile radius deaf. She clumsily rushed back to her bag, stuffing back in her ticket, and stopped at the door in all one motion. “W-Well, I got to be going now! I see that my purpose for being here is gone now, so- um -I think my…toaster is running late!” She laughed awkwardly before running out the door, slamming it close behind her.

Blinking and shaking the surprise away, Pucci shook his head in amusement. After all this time, Moondancer was still the same awkward pony he’d met that faithful day. No matter how much she tried to be outgoing and social, she still got flustered by straightforward compliments from him. Maybe she wasn’t used to them when she was more closed off to the world. But besides that, Moondancer gave most of the credit for her personal development to Princess Twilight before she became the ruler of Equestria. Now she’s more of a socialite than her old self and trying new things. She even took up a job Pucci put out as his personal assistant in his astrology studies. If he ever had the chance to thank the princess, he would for having the opportunity to have such a lovely student.

But the peaceful reminiscing was ruined when Pucci took a moment to look around his study, finally seeing the mess he had made during his search. With a groan, Pucci hung his head and made his way to the broom closet.

Today was an alright day for him.

But, unbeknown to Pucci, he hadn’t noticed the cloaked figure staring at him from the window. A sharp-toothed grin flashed from the darkness of the pony’s hood before disappearing in the blink of an eye.

The birds, who were about to take flight from the window seal, were now meters away in the sky.

Pucci (1st person)

The air was alive with a strange alien warmth. Not the kind that you would receive from a loved one or warm air; it’s the kind of warmth that tells a pony that you can let your guard down just this once. Not that it was up in the first place, mind you.

I’ve always had a soft spot for the classics but never really cared for genres like country or “techno.” they didn’t have the same feel. Their harmonious melodies were like a deep-tissue message to my ears; the angelic voices of the singers mixed in well with the instruments, and the way they perfectly orchestrated the piece brought the whole package together. And not one peep from the possible hundreds of ponies in the theater interrupted this beautiful art piece.

Speaking of which, the many nobles who attended the show were almost suffocating. Moondancer and I were barely able to obtain seats near the far-left middle; it was so packed.

The most likely reason for the near-overcrowding was because the princess of Equestria, Twilight Sparkle, was in attendance, sitting far above the crowd in her booth. Either the nobles just wanted to gawk at the royal alicorn like love-sick mares, or they were trying to sliver their way into her royal reserves. The answer, I do not care for it. Tonight is when my assistant and I could relax and let ourselves get lost in the music.

And as for my assistant, she is currently resting her head on my shoulder. The lack of verbal communication and her soft breathing must mean she’s asleep, although her head is a little hot. Maybe I should let her take a couple of days off, she works hard enough, and I don’t want the mare to catch an illness.

But as the music continued to play, I took the opportunity to reflect on my life. When I was but a young foal, my father managed to get me into astrology. At first, he admitted it was an attempt to get me interested in something besides reading fantasy books with my sister. But as time went on, I became more interested in the stars and what they have to hold. I still remember when my parents bought me a telescope for my 12th birthday, we spent so many nights looking up at the night sky until I fell asleep. Books upon books about the subject filled my room, and I had partially memorized every word and trivia in them. Like how our celestial bodies are made mostly of hydrogen and helium that produce light and heat from the churning nuclear forges inside their cores.

My love of astrology led me to gain my cutie mark, a spiral galaxy, and a position in the Canterlot school of space and science. There, I put my talent on full display, and as a result, I discovered at least three other star systems alone and assisted in tracking down and proving the theory of the black hole, a dead star that collapsed into itself and sucked in all light around it. Nowadays, I mostly create maps of the night sky in my free time, waiting around until I am called on for an assignment.

“HEY, SUITED-UP PIG’S!”

A round of gasps going off at once snapped me out of my reminiscing to see the surrounding nobles and Moondancer all staring at the stage. When I followed their gazes, I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.

On stage was a black-coated stallion, whose fur looked matted and falling out in some places, smiling widely as his blue eyes scanned the crowd. Covering the stallion's body was what I could only describe as royal guard's armor mended with scrap iron and trash, held together place by twine. The music players behind him looked at one another with worried and confused expressions, trying to figure out the strange lunatic who went on the stage.

“I was told to kill some guy,” He said, electing another round of gasps, “But it is too hard, and I ain’t got that time!” The stallion's head then wiped side-to-side as his body twitched erratically. A low growl escaped his throat as his crazed smile turned to a deep frown. “If there’s some guy in the crowd with a shitty white mane and brown coat, come out and die already!” He roared in anger.

Immidetaly, multiple royal guards came swarming out nearby doors to arrest the crazed stallion. But his frown snapped back to his smile as I felt the once-warm air filled with a menacing chill. In an instant, three of the royal guards were implied in the head by an invisible projectile. The theater was now in horrified silence, the only sound being the stallions cackling at what he just did.

His laughter eventually died out, only to be replaced by a menacing glare. “If you don’t want to die to my stand, I suggest you start running. I’m tired of waiting.”

It was like somepony flipped a switch. Screams of terror deafened the theater as the nobles trampled and ran from their seats to reach the door. The lunatic’s cackling only increased, but I could faintly make out a shape behind the stallion.

“Seven Nation Army, KILL THEM ALL!” He shouted, pointing to the retreating crowd. That’s when I saw it, the figure behind the stallion.

Floating just above the floor was a pony-shaped entity cladded in silver armor and red robes. But beyond the armor was not flesh and blood; instead, it was all mechanical junk shaped like a pony, gears for eyes, a crushed can for a muzzle, scrap metal for the ears, and wires and tubes making up the rest of the “face”. And in its grip was an elegant bow made from dark wood and engraving decorating it.

The entity drew back its bowstring, aiming at the crowd for a few seconds before letting go with a loud bang. Arrows made of the same metal as its armor tore through the air before finding their targets, impaling some of the escaping crowd and a couple of guards.

I was reminded of Moondancers presence as she screamed at the sight. I pulled the petrified mare close to me and went low behind the seats in front of us, looking around for an escape. Luckily, my eyes landed on a backstage entrance that the guards, who were also getting shot at, came through. Keeping my panic to a minimum, I started to shuffle behind the seats in the direction of the door.

“I order you to stop, criminal!” A voice shouted. Peeking over the edge, I saw princess twilight standing between the crowd and the crazed stallion. “ Why are you doing this, Valiant Heart?! What drove you to do something so horrible!” She said, sounding more heartbroken than angry.

“Oh, it’s you.” The stallion, named Valiant Heart, sneered, his words lined with venom. “I shouldn’t have to answer to you anymore, your majesty. Especially since you kicked me out off the guard!” He roared.

Princess Twilight winced from his tone but managed to keep her ground, “That was only because you not well! You need help, Valiant; stop this, and I promise you will be better.” She practically begged. Valliant roared in anger, grabbing the sides of his head as the ghost behind him shot three arrows at the Princess. She managed to deflect the first two with magic blasts, but the third one managed to graze her cheek, drawing a small amount of blood.

“Argh! I told you before, nothing is wrong with me!!!” he said, pointing behind himself at the entity with a hoof. “See, I have proof I wasn’t lying!” Twilight followed his hoof and hardened her gaze when it landed on the bow-wielding entity. “But now, I’m going to fulfill my promise,” The entity switched its sights from the princess to where I was hiding, “And then, I’M GOING TO MURDER YOU!”

The entity let go of its bow again, sending arrows toward Moondancer and me. Time seemed to slow down as I jumped out of the way, but I was too late as the arrow mangled the seat I was behind moments ago and stabbed one of Moondancer’s forelegs that were wrapped around me and impaled my side. We fell to the ground with pained yelps, blood quickly staining our clothes and coats. I looked behind at the end of the arrow to see most of that blood gushing from Moondancer’s forearm. “Crap, must have hit an artery!” I internally cursed myself for being slow.

Twilight had seen this, and her shocked expression turned to anger, whipping her head back around and lighting her horn with a powerful lavender glow. “I said STOP” A power wave of magic exploded from her horn and was directed at Valiant. His eyes widened, and he tried to block by crossing his forearms but was sent back into the far-off wall. By this time, the music players had already left, and Valiant's body fell onto the music sheet holders below.

The princess then turned her head towards me, “Are you two alright?!” She asked. I shook my head, coughing up a bit of blood.

“N-No, my assistant got hit in the arm, and it cut an artery!” I shouted back. Ignoring the princess and turning back to the impaling arrow, I positioned one hoof behind me, grabbing the arrow under Moondancers arm. With a pained grunt, I snapped the arrow in two. The movement must have been too much, as Moondancer cried out in pain before going limp in my forelegs. Some panic managed to slip past my calm mask, seeing my beloved assistant possibly dead on the ground. I pressed my ear to her chest and sighed in massive relief, hearing a faint heartbeat.

Another loud bang caught my attention, making me move out of the way in time to avoid an arrow running me through the head. Looking back again, I saw Princess Twilight and Valiant battling, that arrow probably being a stray shot. Thinking quickly, I bit down the edge of my coat and ripped off a long strip, tightly wrapping it around Moondancer’s forearm.

“Don’t think I forgot about you, shitty hair!” Valiant called out, dodging another magic blast from Twilight. “You match his description, so you're in my crosshair now. Stay still!”

Anger rose in me as I stared holes into Valiant's head. He dares ruin my night with my assistant, hurts others just to get to me, and has the gall to order me around! I felt veins bulge in my head as I put Moondancer on the ground, making sure she wasn’t in the way. “You psycho! You’ll pay for this!” I shouted. The muscles in my legs contracted, and I kicked off the ground and into a sprint, rushing the laughing stallion.

Valiant pointed a hoof at me, “Seven Nation Army!” He commanded. The entity aimed and fired at me, which I dodged by the skin of my teeth, weaving and moving past the remaining theater seats.

Once I was at arm's length of the lunatic, I reeled back my foreleg and swung it at Valliant. But he didn’t dodge; he instead stood there as my hoof connected with his cheek. To my bewilderment, the stallion had barely moved an inch, smiling at me cockly while chuckling.

“You call that a punch?” He taunted, balling up his own hoof, “barely felt it.” The wind instantly escaped my lungs as Valiant hoof slammed into my solar plex, dropping me to the ground like a bag of bricks. I knew I wasn’t the type to get into fights often, but the psycho did have a point; that WAS pathetic.

“Sir!” I heard Twilight call out. A second later, a magic blast shot towards Valiant, which the entity softened as they went flying back. “Are you alright?” Her voice was closer and filled with concern. I managed to look up and see her staring down at me.

After a round of hoarse coughs, I nodded, “Y-Yes, your highness.” I wheezed out. “How am I going to be this crazy stallion?! And what is that thing that’s following him?” I thought, turning my gaze to where he should have been: in front of the stage.

He wasn’t there.

My eyes widened as a bang went off above Twilight, and I turned just in time to see Valiant above us, smiling as an arrow was heading straight toward Twilight's heart.

And in that single moment, seconds away from having a dead alicorn atop me, something inside me took over. In the blink of an eye, Princess Twilight and I have seemingly teleported away onto the stage, visibly shocking Valiant. The arrow targeting Twilight seconds ago now stabbed the empty floor, kicking up debris and dust. Valiant confusion turned to shock as he switched over to where we were.

I managed to dislodge myself from under Princess twilight, who followed my movement with a similar expression to Valiant’s. I knew for certain something was behind me, something that I felt would help me keep others safe from this psycho.

I knew not of its form, but I FELT its name in my head.

“You dare ruin the happiness of others on this night. And for what? Because somepony told you to kill me?” I ask mockingly, “Such unnecessary violence, utter foolishness.” I sneered. The words that came out of my mouth felt so foreign yet so familiar at the same time. But it was not time to dwell on such things, now was the time for judgment.

An aura of multicolored light surrounds me as I slowly closed the distance toward Valliant. He backed away with a fearful expression, most likely feeling the same energy coursing through my body.

“Come forth-”

“Made in Heaven!”

Author's Note

Stand Name: Seven Nation Army
Stand master: Valiant heart

• Power<C
• Speed<C
• Range<B
• Durability<D
• Precision<A
• Potential<D