Adventures in the TARDIS

While I was caught off-guard by the arrival of the guards in a very hidden location, I have reached the part of my adventures where I am on much more familiar territory. I parkour through the city with the kind of graceful flourish that leaves even me baffled at times. After all, these skills are not derived from the empathic memories of anything I am wearing. Instead they are my own skills which often makes me wonder about my mysterious past.

Those who chase after me aren't nearly as skilled but they are numerous. I have to watch out for shot arrows, telekinetic attempts to grab hold of me or any object I reach out to grab in order to try and dislodge it and thus ruin my parkour attempts. Leaping towards and among the rooftops doesn't help me from successfully evading other pegasi either, and once again I find myself baffled why a guard captain is devoting so many forces against only me while he literally has a very important visiting dignitary to watch after instead. He's not even trying to go after the other members of my guild either that I notice. For some reason this really does seem to be a personal vendetta for him. I feel compelled to wonder if I somehow personally insulted him in my mysterious past or if this is somehow a grudge from a past life.

Whatever the case may be, it's almost comical to me, at this point, if it wasn't simultaneously so annoying too.

Evading that many forces is quite a challenge. I have to dodge and weave through so many rooftops, alleyways, buildings, and I even accidentally knock over a wagon full of cabbages which prompts the seller to scream in frustration as he grabs his turban, “OH NO! MY CABBAGES!” I wish I had enough time to apologize to him but I'm barely able to keep ahead of the law-ponies as it is.

As I continue to race ahead, I get an empathic instinct that the reason the seller's frustration is so keen is because this isn't the first time this has happened to him.

I finally catch a break when I leap off a tall building and snatch a clothes line along the way down to break my fall. It slows me down a bit but ultimately the clothes line does snap. I do, however, manage to snag a shoddy-looking cloak and wrap it around my hooves to form an improvised parachute. When I land, I also notice that the other law-ponies have not spotted me yet so that gives me enough time to slip into a crowd while putting my new disguise on. At that point I slow down considerably to match the pace of the rest of the crowd to avoid drawing any further suspicion.

The guards, however, continue to hold their pace but it is clear to me, as one of them passes me, that they have lost sight of their target. They are racing desperately to get eyes on me again.

“OUT OF MY WAY!” a guard roars at me in anger and shoves me aside so hard that I end up knocking down another table full of clay pots.

“Pardon me, Sir,” I say in a shaky and shriveled tone of a very old mare. Incidentally that actually is who normally wears this cloak. I empathically sense that and that helped me to modify my voice and body posture to mimic her almost perfectly.

The guard spits at me in disgust as if revolted by the mere idea that he touched a “dirty old mare” like me for even a moment. I even get the feeling that he'd normally unload even more harsh words towards me, or perhaps even commit further physical abuse as well, but he's on a mission so that propels him to rush on and reluctantly dismiss this encounter.

That causes me to shake my head. My memory certainly isn't what it used to be but I get the feeling that the guards didn't used to be this bad.

The merchant of the table I just knocked over comes about the table and trots next to me. At first I thought he was going to attack me too in frustration for knocking over his wares, but instead he kindly reaches a hoof down to me to help pick me up.

“Oh! Thank you, young man!” I express to him in delighted surprise. Once again I continue to hold the voice and poise of the old mare who normally wears this cloak. “Sorry for knocking over and-”

“Nah-nah,” the yellow earth pony stallion with trimmed black beard and mustache says dismissively as he waves a hoof in front of him. “I know it's not your fault. That guard should've watched where he was going.” He grunts as he adds in frustration, “I swear, this city isn't going like it used to. Back in my day, we used to be kind to our elders.”

“In my day too,” I agree when I sense that's what the mare of this old cloak would have said in my place and meant it. “It does my heart good to see some chivalry survive to this day and age.”

“Are you hurt?” the stallion asks me in concern.

“Oh, I'll be fine,” I tell him with a dismissive wave then sigh in lament. “I'm used to it.”

“That makes it worse,” he says with a regretful shake of his own head. “Well, in any case, you take care of yourself.” He gives a courteous bow to me. “I bid thee health and good fortune.”

“Thank you, kind Sir!” I express to him brightly. “And I return the . . .”

I trail off when I suddenly sense something amiss. A new empathic impression is given to me by this cloak. Contrary to this stallion's bidding, the lady who wore this cloak last is actually not doing so well. She is ill. Alarmingly so.

“You sure you're alright?” the yellow stallion asks me in renewed concern when he notices me trail off.

“Ah . . . oh, yeah. I'll be fine,” I try to reassure him. “Thank you for your concern. I'll be on my way now, and if I ever get a chance to repay you, I'll be sure good fortune returns your way too.”

“Thank me by returning to your home safely,” he bids me kindly in return.

I nod to him once again then make my way away. As I proceed, I secretly secure the coin pouch I pilfered from that rude guard on my person more tightly.

“There you are,” whispers Red Star as the young red pegasus colt crawls into an empty wagon I'm hiding within for the moment. When our eyes meet, he gives me a cocky grin as he tells me, “I heard you had more trouble with the law-ponies chasing after ya. A bunch of ma gang were concerned about you but I knew you'd make it out.”

“Where is the Princess now?” I check with my young friend.

“In the Mon Amarie Inn,” Red Star reports to me. “She should be making her way to the main Palace tomorrow.” He then winces at me as he asks me in confusion, “One thing I don't get, though. Princess Celestia has several pegasi among her and, failing that, she can fly herself. Why doesn't she just fly her way straight to the Palace? That certainly would have saved her some trouble, I assume.” A devious grin spreads on his face. “It would have spared her from tonight's theft too.”

I shrug as I tell him, “Don't ask me. I'm not her, but I'm sure she has her reasons.” I shrug again as I add, “Maybe she really wanted to see the other ponies along the way. I get the feeling she really is as kind as the rumors say.”

“Kind?” Red Star scoffs. “Maybe, but certainly stupid too.”

“Stupid enough to leave the Inn undefended?” I ask skeptically.

“Ah . . . no. She ain't that dumb,” Red Star replies. “Even if she was, though, that Inn has plenty of guards of its own plus the Vizier assigned several extra guards to defend her.”

Red Star suddenly looks worried as he asks me in concern, “But you're all not going to challenge her directly, are you? I ask because I get the feeling that the most formidable one in that Inn right now is the Princess herself. That babe is a bleeden alicorn who is over four centuries old.” He shakes his head. “I don't think one gets that old without learning a few tricks.”

“No.” I shake my head. “Obviously we have no plans to confront the Princess directly. That wouldn't be smart. I got a few tricks up my sleeve just in case it does come to that, but that's not part of our plan.”

I look around at the shadows of the moon carefully then nod to myself as I say aloud, “The others of the Red Sands should be in place by now. If they aren't, they should be soon. I'll need to get into position as well.”

“Well you can count on me too!” Red Star says to me proudly as he gives me a firm salute. “Just say the word and I'll do whatever I can too.”

“Actually, I do have a mission for ya,” I confirm as I look back to my brash young friend.

“Anything!” Red Star reaffirms proudly.

I slip him the pouch of coins. When he holds it and shakes it, it only takes him a second to not only deduce what is inside the bag but he has the uncanny ability to tell how many bits it is as well.

“Just a little something one of the guards dropped,” I tell him.

“Aww! How sweet of him!” Red Star mocks in amusement.

“Keep six coins to yourself,” I instruct him. “But the rest needs to go to a Doctor named Albetzier. Tell him to make a poultice medicine for the Hay Fever. Once you have it, deliver the medicine to the old lady at this address,” I add as I slip him another note which has a map of a certain section of this city.

Red Star is caught off-guard for several reasons. First because he probably expected me to make a request related to my upcoming mission and secondly because of my uncanny ability to sense unusual details about others. Red Star has never directly asked about that either, but I can sense that some of his theories are very close to the truth. He is also touched that I care for others so much.

“Can I count on you?” I prompt when I get tired of waiting for him to respond to my request.

“Ah . . . sure. Easily done,” he assures me when he recovers his wits. “Consider it done.”

“Thank you,” I express to him gratefully. “Be quick about it too. That old mare won't have long to live without that medicine.”

“Then I'll do it right now,” Red Star decides as he starts to climb his way back out of the wagon. At the last second he hesitates then glances back at me with a bit of a worried expression. He's very confident in my skills, but what we're up against tonight is beyond the scope of anything I had ever done with the Red Cleft Sands. I already have some enemies hounding me, too.

In return, I give him a shooing motion while giving him as confident of a grin as I can muster right now. Seeing that and feeling a little more reassured, my precious little guy continues his way onward.

Which, in turn, is a great relief to me. This keeps him away from the greater challenge I will face, and Red Star can be courageous and loyal to a fault. He'd gladly be willing to do anything for me, even if it puts him in undue danger. To be fair, he can hoofle it far better than an average foal which is why the little gang of orphans he's in charge of look up to him so much, but he is still a foal and he does have his limits.

I'm also relieved to know that I've done the best I could for that old mare. There's no guarantee that she'll survive but I did what I could to give her an honest shot. It kind of helps to think that I'm repaying a debt to her, too. That cloak helped to save me from a lethal fall. It's only fair for me to try to return the favor.

With all of that out of the way, it'll be easier to focus on my next mission. That's good because I probably can't afford distractions at this point.

I look up to the moon which has the shadow of a mare's face on it. As I gaze upon it, I pray for it to wish me luck before I continue on my way.