Perspective: Mirage

“What do you mean that you failed to track Celestia?!” angrily demands Grand Vizier Dispatcher Hoofclaven, the gray pegasus stallion with black mane, tail, and trimmed mustache in an M pattern. He wears a black silky robe with a red inner lining.

“Just what I said, my liege,” reports the Head Palace Guard Grimwald Hadozen. The large brown earth pony stallion keeps his head bowed. Impressively he does not flinch even with his liege’s angry outburst. “There was a lot of hectic chaos at the Mon Amarie Inn. Ponies had to flee in droves because of this entity that some have dubbed ‘Phantom Face’ or ‘The Grinning Ghost’. Princess Celestia had, apparently, never left the hotel, nor was she there later when I checked.”

Dispatcher pounds the left side of the Sultan’s throne in frustration as he complains, “This was not supposed to happen! The theft of the Sun Princess’s torc was supposed to give us a chance to win it back for her and to win her trust.”

“Interesting,” my Master whispers under his breath as he quietly holds his place in the shadows of the curtains behind the Sultan’s throne. “Wheels within wheels, I see.” My Master chuckles darkly. “Oh! This is going to be more fun than I suspected!”

Captain Grimwald lifts his head slightly as he tells his liege, “On the plus side, the Red Sands did manage to secure her torc.”

Now the Vizier pounds both of his forelegs on the arms of the thorne as he barks harshly, “FOR ALL THE GOOD THAT IS GOING TO DO IF WE FAIL TO SECURE THE PRINCESS!” He sinks back into the throne as he broods thoughtfully stroking one side of his long mustache. “Do you think this ‘Grinning Ghost’, whatever he is, killed her?”

Grimwald shakes his head as he answers, “I do not, my liege, or else the sun would not have risen into the sky on time.”

“That’s true,” Dispatcher realizes more calmly as he looks up to one of the heavily shaded windows of the extravagant throne room. “Indeed the sun would not have risen if she had been dispatched.” He returns his thoughtful gaze back to his lone guest. “Else the sun would not have dutifully risen today as it did.” His expression sinks back into a grim one. “But if she still lives, then where in Tartarus is she?”

“I believe I can shed some light on this mystery,” my Master announces as he finally chooses to reveal himself from one of the curtains behind the throne. When he does so, those in the room notice that he dresses in exactly the same manner as the ghost that recently haunted the Mon Amarie Inn except for a few differences. One is he is less silent this time, and two, he does not look as transparent and shifty. He does continue to wear the white tuxedo though, white fedora hat with a black stripe, and he continues to wear the white porcelain mask of the leering, grinning and crazed-looking ghost. He also continues to carry his black shiny gentlepony’s cane with white tip.

“Who in Tartarus are you?!” Grimwald demands to know as he finally rises to three legs and uses the last to draw a giant scimitar.

“No pony who hails from Tartarus,” my Master answers in a suave tone. “Though perhaps I am one who should be sent there. In that, I believe I am now in like compony.”

“It’s him, my liege!” Grimwald warns in stunned alarm. “He is the one the others have called the Grinning Ghost!”

The Grand Vizier's face sinks into a shrewd look as he continues to regard my Master.

While all of that is going on, the others continue not to spot me, as is my Master’s plan. Accordingly, I continue to hide my presence and hold my silence, for my Master does not like to reveal his whole hoof of cards until he holds a winning hoof.

“The Grinning Ghost,” my Master repeats. “The Phantom Face!” he goes on as he waves a hoof past and over his face with dramatic showmanship. “I have to say, I like it! May those rumors continue to spread.”

“Do you have the Sun Princess?” Dispatcher asks my Master darkly as he collects his dark gray hooves in front of his face.

“No, but I believe I do know who does have her now,” my Master answers as he spins about and gives a graceful and formal bow to the Vizier. “My plans did not go as I had intended either. What I had wanted to do was chase the Sun Princess into your awaiting hooves in a spooked manner, my liege.” My Master rises from his bow. “But two others showed up and thwarted my carefully laid out plans. Of those, I know one of them very well. A meddlesome brown stallion who wears a green necktie, has an hourglass cutie mark, and calls himself the Doctor.”

Grand Vizier Dispatcher lifts an intrigued eyebrow at this announcement then passes that same expression to his Captain of the Royal Guard as he asks his servant, “Did anypony report seeing a brown stallion with a green necktie enter or leave the hotel?”

“No, my liege, but I had not instructed them to search for any stallion matching that description either,” Grimwald reports as he continues to regard my Master very warily while still holding onto that giant scimitar. He holds himself in a ready battle stance. “If such a stallion does have the Princess, though, it remains unlikely she slipped out of the building without my guards noticing. Even if she was cloaked and hooded, she continues to have an impressive height for a mare in Equestria. I’m sure my guards would have noticed something amiss even if she had help slipping out of the building unnoticed.”

“The Sun Princess could have teleported,” the Grand Vizier speculates as he continues to regard the Captain thoughtfully. “She’s one of the few in the world who knows that spell. Maybe that is how she could have slipped out of the building unnoticed.”

“And teleport where, exactly?” Grimwald challenges his liege then shakes his head. “While it is true she has lived for several centuries, most of that time wasn’t spent here in this city, or even this country entirely. I believe she’d need a destination in mind first before she could execute a spell like that.” Grimwald shrugs. “Besides, she should have no reason to distrust my guards. Even if she did slip out of the building unnoticed, going to my guards should have been the very first thing she’d do unless she was unable to.”

“You forget, the Doctor is an anomaly in this situation,” my Master reminds them.

“So are you!” Grimwald accuses as he narrows his eyes aggressively at my Master.

“Hold on,” Grand Vizier Dispatcher says as he raises a hoof to signal for attention. Once he has it, he lowers both hooves onto his lap as he reminds my Master, “You said there were two who sidetracked your plans at the hotel. One was the Doctor. Do you know who the other is?”

“No pony that I know of personally,” my Master reports honestly. “And that was the first time I saw him. What I can tell you is he was a white unicorn stallion. His cutie mark was concealed, probably on purpose, but one very distinctive detail I can share about him is the fact that his horn was snapped off very near to the base of his skull. I also spotted a ring on what was left of that broken horn.”

I observe how my Master notes recognition on the faces of both of the other stallions in the room. Because of that, my Master is starting to earn a little credit in their eyes as well. Even Grimwald is now relaxing his battle stance slightly. Because of that, the Captain’s odds of leaving this throne room alive has increased a bit.

“Somepony you two know, I see,” my Master says observantly as he looks back and forth between them behind his creepy ghost mask. “Is he anything I should know about? Perhaps somepony who might be able to explain the Sun Princesses mysterious disappearance?”

“I thought you said that this Doctor is the most likely explanation,” Grimwald reminds my Master.

“Yes, but this white stallion is also an unknown factor for me, and he was there, too, in the hallway of the fourth floor, when the Sun Princess showed up,” my Master reports. “One thing I found noteworthy about him, aside from his broken horn, was the fact he was unusually brave. He stood his ground when I expected, and planned, for him to flee in panic like everypony else, but no. Curiously he didn’t.” My Master twists his grip on his cane to lift it up poignantly while he says, “Another thing of note is the Sun Princess seems to have recognized him.”

“Confound it! She saw him?!” Grand Vizier Dispatcher asks in alarm and anger.

“Indeed,” my Master replies as he twists the cane’s tip back to the ground and leans on it slightly. “Why should that be of any concern?”

Dispatcher leans back into his seat again as he says, “Let’s just say he’s a specialized project of mine. The only thing he, and his gang, was supposed to do in that hotel is rob her of her torc. With it, we could have used that as a bargaining chip later.”

“But then somepony decided to spook the residents of the hotel and get them all alarmed,” growls Grimwald at my Master. “We’re lucky that the Red Sands still managed to secure their main objective, but now we got a missing princess to deal with and an invited foreign dignitary at that!”

My Master sighs then expresses with a nonchalant shrug, “Doesn’t that always just happen with princesses? Seems like a common occupational hazard to me. They keep on getting kidnapped and taken to another castle.”

I get a weird feeling that my Master is making yet another strange reference from his native universe.

Still, I have to admit, he kind of has a point. Maybe getting kidnapped is considered a rite of passage to such royal individuals. It’s like their position isn’t really official until such things happen to them at least once.

“Anyway,” my Master continues as he now leans both of his forehoves on his cane. “Whoever this white stallion is, I saw him leave when the Doctor, and the Sun Princess, insisted that he do so, most likely for the sake of his safety. He did hesitate but eventually took off. Accordingly, he is a less likely suspect, in my playbook, to be the one to explain the mysterious absence of our glorious white Sun Goddess.”

“If you saw the white stallion take off, then you were still there to witness what happened next,” the Grand Vizier observes. “So what happened next?”

“Both the Doctor, and the Sun Princess, started to close in on my position,” my Master tells them. “I could tell neither of them feared me in the slightest so they weren’t going to back down. The Doctor also lifted up this metal stick that makes a loud noise. Somehow that device was disabling some of the hidden devices that I was wearing. Among them, one of them made me look transparent and shifty. When I noticed that, I leapt out of the window and fled into the dark of the night beyond.”

“That I can confirm, my liege,” Grimwald reports to the Grand Vizier. “The fact that somepony leapt out of the now broken window on the fourth floor, at least.” A bit of shame crosses his face as he says, “I’m sorry I didn’t add that part earlier in my report.”

The Grand Vizier's eyes shift from the Captain to my Master as he asks curiously, “So you leapt from the fourth floor of a hotel? How did you make it down without dying? Are you secretly a pegasus?”

My Master twists his cane upward and rests it against the mouth of the mask he wears as he says, “A good magician never reveals his tricks.”

“My liege asked you a question!” Grimwald menaces as he lifts his scimitar again. “If you wish to leave this room alive, you’ll tell him what he wants to know!”

“In due time,” my Master replies calmly. “I’m going to need some assurances first.”

“Why you-!” Grimwald menaces as he lunges forward to attack. Meanwhile my Master doesn’t move or flinch even slightly, but I can easily imagine a devilish grin spreads on his face beneath the mask. There is a good reason why he does not fear anypony else in this room.

Grimwald halts his charge, though, when he notices his liege lift a hoof in objection. The Captain regards his liege curiously at that point, wondering why the Grand Vizier is holding him back from attacking my Master which assuredly would have led to the guard’s death one way or another.

Noticing the Captain halt, Dispatcher lowers his hoof again as he regards my Master thoughtfully and asks, “You came at us for a reason. Somehow you managed to slip through all of my palace guards to get to me and my throne room. You obviously have some talent and then you decided to reveal yourself and announce that you had planned to chase the Sun Princes to me, but somepony else thwarted your plans.”

The Grand Vizier lifts his touching forehooves in front of him again as he peers at my Master carefully and thoughtfully over his hooves. He says, “Pretend, for a moment, you had succeeded with that plan. This Doctor did not get in your way and the Sun Princess fled all the way to my Palace, most likely in a fright. Tell me . . . if that was your plan from the start then what, exactly, did you expect to achieve afterwards?”

My Master politely and diplomatically bows to the Grand Vizier and says, “As you cunningly had surmised, there is something I had planned to achieve with you, for you see . . . you have something that I want. Something I was willing to do you a favor for.”

“Which is?” the Grand Vizier presses with a raised eyebrow.

My Master lifts his still masked ghost face slightly more at the Grand Vizier as he tells him, “My aim is to achieve nothing less than immortality, my liege, and I am convinced that you are equipped with the necessary resources to help me with that ambitious goal.”

“I see,” the Grand Vizier replies as an evil cunning look sinks deep into his eyes.

“Rumor has it that you are now nothing less than a Vampony Lord,” my Master goes on, “and those who are bitten by your vampony kiss may enjoy eternal life with you in exchange for eternal servitude.”

The Grand Vizier lifts a hoof to indicate that my Master has the Grand Vizier's permission to rise from his bow, which he promptly does. When that happens, the Grand Vizier asks, “Assuming that is true, are you sure you are willing to pay that price?”

“In exchange for eternal life? Most certainly,” my Master replies gladly. “For you see . . .” My Master trails off for a moment as he lifts his left forehoof with the hoof facing upwards in a scooping motion then says, “Time, like anything else in this world, usually is a limited resource. That is the normal ‘rules’ of this world, but as far as I am concerned, any rule is meant to be broken by the cunning. The strong. The resourceful. The ambitious. Power is meant for those who have the gumption to simply take what they want! What they are owed. Power,” he stomps his cane on the ground, “is meant for the entitled. The elite. Those who force themselves to be in charge and crush any resistance before them.”

The Grand Vizier quietly nods in agreement but his face otherwise remains expressionless. He had already achieved most of which my Master is talking about so the struggle is no longer as much of a concern to him. Instead, he observes my Master with arrogant and royal disdain but also enough interest to continue paying attention because he’s curious what ultimate point my Master is trying to make.

“I’ve given you a taste of what I am capable of,” my Master continues as he returns both of his forehooves back on the top of his cane which, in return, remains pressed to the ground straight down. “Impressive, no? Well then . . . imagine how well I can hone my craft if I had another hundred years to perfect it. What about a thousand? Ten-thousand? How about a million?”

The Grand Vizier grows a sly and feintly devious smile because everything my Master is saying is just another reminder of what the Grand Vizier already has and will continue to accumulate.

“Time becomes irrelevant to a true immortal,” my Master goes on in a tone of sinister cunning. “Infinite time means infinite resources. We’ll have all the ‘time’ we ever need to achieve anything else we’ll ever wish for, and that,” my Master tilts the top of his cane towards the Grand Vizier for emphasis, “is my true goal. The slow and inevitable acquisition of anything that I want, and all it will cost me is eternal servitude to you . . . but so what? With all of that time on my hooves, it is more than enough to do your occasional bidding then get back to whatever I plan to get.”

My Master cocks his head to the side a bit at the Grand Vizier while still wearing the creepy white ghost mask as he goes on to say, “Ultimately what infinite time means is infinite power, and it would be nice to share it with one who has enough cunning and ambition to force fate to bend a knee to him as well. I respect that and plan to have a piece of that action. To that end, I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine.

“So . . . what do you say?” my Master asks as he straightens his head again. “Do we have a deeeeeeeaaaaaaaal?” my Master drags out the last word of his sentence as if savoring a delicious, sinful experience.

Since Grimwald is the only other pony in the room, and that because the Grand Vizier doesn’t like to make secret meetings where sinful acts are discussed, the Grand Vizier looks to Captain of the Royal Guard for advice.

“So let me get this straight,” begins Grimwald to my Master, “your goal is to help us secure the Sun Princess. In exchange, you want my liege to make you a fellow immortal?”

“It would only be prudent to enslave the Sun Princess,” my Master replies as if that answers the Captain’s question. “After all, doesn’t a vampony have a curious and unfortunate aversion to sunlight? But if we can get the Sun Goddess to bend a knee to us then, not only do we get access to every resource she has her hooves on in Equestria, but we can make sure that the sun never rises in Saddle Arabia again!” My Master stands up on his hind legs as he uses his forelegs to lift up to his sides dramatically. “Eternal night! Imagine it! No more resting and shielding us from the accursed sunlight. No more blazing sun in the sky to thwart and halt our devious plans! We can bask out in the open forever on! We shall rule this land, and even the whole world, as eternal GODS of the NIGHT!” my Master says with dramatic flair so intense, his words occasionally sounded monstrous when he roared.

My Master stabs his cane back down and leans on it to return his weight to natural pony equilibrium while making a dramatic point at the same time.

“Such is our will, and such shall ever be our fate,” my Master declares in a much smoother voice. “With our chains wrapped around Princess Celestia’s throat, our greatest nemesis shall be forced to her knees and forced to suck us dry.

“Don’t you agree . . .” my Master asks with another curious tilt to his head at the Grand Vizier. “. . . my liege?”

“I will become Sultan soon,” the Grand Vizier announces with smooth confidence. “That was actually another reason why Princess Celestia was invited. She was to bear witness to my glorious ascension. I will wed Princess Arielza Alabaster and my acquisition of the throne shall be official. At that point, it is my current position that shall then be vacant.” He points to my Master using both collected hooves. “If you pull this off for me, then not only shall I grant you your wish to make you an eternal servant, but I shall also appoint you as my new Grand Vizier.” He lifts an eyebrow slightly. “How does that sound?”

“Deliciously sinful, my liege,” my Master answers. “I love it!”

“Very well, then,” the Grand Vizier replies as he returns his forehooves to the arms of the throne. “So be it.”

“I do have one question for you, though, my liege,” my Master brings up. “Won’t you share your vampony’s kiss with Princess Arielza too? That way you can ensure she says yes to the marriage and you can make her crawl on her knees and-”

Even I am startled by the fact that Grand Vizier Dispatcher Hoofclaven suddenly zips at my Master then lifts my Master up by his throat. That didn’t even take a split second, but I know he did not teleport.

To lift my Master’s throat, the end of the Grand Vizier’s hoof transforms into some kind of solid black smoke which surrounds my Master’s throat and lifts him up. Seconds later the Grand Vizier’s whole body turns into some kind of black smokey form which has glowing red eyes. His head lifts above my Master then curves down to peer straight into my Master’s eyes (or the equivalent on the mask at least), then says with a monstrous growl, “Don’t you ever . . . EVER . . . badmouth Princess Arielza again! If you do, I’ll rip out your heart and shove it down your pathetic throat myself! Do I make myself CLEAR?!”

Since my Master can’t speak due to the chokehold, he merely ends up nodding instead.

“Good,” the black smokey form of the Grand Vizier accepts before tossing my Master to the ground like a discarded ragdoll. Seconds later, the black smokey form of the Grand Vizier recollects into his natural gray pegasus form. From there, he brushes out any wrinkles on his robes as he makes a deliberate effort to regather his composure.

“Now then, with all of that said, I believe we’re done here,” the Grand Vizier says dismissively as he starts to make his way back to the Sultan’s throne. “You know what you need to do,” he continues while his back remains to my master. “Get the Sun Princess and bring her to me.” He sits on the throne again and rests his forelegs on the arms of that extravagant throne. “Alive, of course, and no worse for wear if you can manage it. I want her to trust me, too. We cannot afford to underestimate the Sun Princess so I need her vulnerable before I can spread my vampony kiss to her.”

My Master rises up to his knees, coughs some to force open his throat again, then bows to the Grand Vizier diplomatically once again.

My Master stealthily slips his way into the basement of the Palace and trots his way past one recent addition to this place, and that is a tall blue box that mysteriously says “Police Call Box” near the top. Moving past that, my Master makes his way to the back and opens a window shortly after hearing three chirping sounds from outside which was the signal he was waiting for.

“How are things on your end?” asks the Doctor’s voice which mysteriously is being projected from some great distance. Every word he speaks has a metallic sounding echo to it as if he’s speaking through a metal tube.

My Master finally removes the ghost mask from his face which reveals the beautiful blue face of my Master, Card Shark.

“Better than I had anticipated,” my Master answers back. “They have accepted me, somewhat, so long as I ‘pay up’ and prove my worth. I don’t think I have to explain to you what they are after.”

“Princess Sunbutt, no doubt,” answers the Doctor from that weird invisible echo tunnel.

“And you say I’m rude to women,” replies my Master with a dark chuckle.

“Hey! Miss Princess of the Sun has more of a sense of humor than you think,” the Doctor says as if in his defense. “Of course I’m a little more sensitive to her titles if we’re in public, but in a private setting she considers it a kindness to dispense with formal titles. She gets enough of that everywhere else.”

“In ‘private’?” my Master reiterates with a snarky smirk.

We hear the Doctor sigh wearily which still sounds strange coming from some invisible metallic tube thing, then he says as if to change the subject, “Be that as it may, you said you had a little extra success on your end?”

“Maybe but I want to check on something,” my Master replies. “Do you recall that white unicorn stallion we met in the fourth floor hallway who had a chopped off unicorn horn?”

“Indeed,” confirms the disembodied echo voice of the Doctor. “I was able to coax a little extra information on him from Miss Sunbutt here. It seems that mysterious stallion is one that the Princess thought was dead; one former Sultan Nanpour Alabaster. I’ll admit, though, Miss Sunbutt had her suspicions about this situation from the start. It seems one of the reasons she came to this city in the first place was to start an investigation of her own. Officially she’s here to oversee a new wedding and Dispatcher’s ascension to the throne, but it seems, in the back of her mind, she always suspected that there was more going on here. Seeing that pony standing there in that hallway has redoubled her suspicions. At this point I’m pretty sure she won’t give up her secret attempts to find more answers. Now it seems she’ll need someone around to do a little digging for her, and guess who showed up looking all cool and heroic-looking?”

“Indeed,” my Master agrees with a slight devious chuckle. “But as it stands, this isn’t Celestia’s own land. Her powers are more limited here. I imagine she would want to play her cards close to her chest too.”

“But of course,” the Doctor’s voice agrees as if that should be obvious.

“From my end, I’ve stumbled upon a couple of interesting tidbits here,” my Master reports. “For one thing, it seems that the former Sultan, the one presumed dead, now works for a thieves guild called The Red Sands. Moreover, someone in that organization secretly works for the Grand Vizier, and the Captain of the Royal Guard here is in on this conspiracy too. Both of them are too aware of the goings on in that guild and they counted on the theft of a particular item of Princess Celestia. You know that golden bib-thing she wears that has a purple jewel on it?”

“I do,” the Doctor confirms in a calm voice. “That piece of jewelry on her is pretty iconic. I half expected her to sleep with that thing on.”

“Well the Grand Vizier and the Guard Captain counted on its theft so that they could later secure it themselves, somehow, as a bargaining chip to win Celestia’s trust and favor.”

“Well . . . that’s convoluted, but okay,” the Doctor accepts with what sounds like almost casual acceptance. “Not every villain's plan has to be brilliant.”

“Tell me about it,” my Master agrees with a roll of his very light purple eyes. “Anyway, it seems the Red Sands managed to pull off the theft afterall. I’m guessing our plan inadvertently caused the distraction they needed. From what I can tell, though, our amnesiac former Sultan decided to go off the rails on a crazy train a bit. I have a feeling that investigating that hallway, to find out what was going on, wasn’t part of his guild’s plan. My guess is his reasons may be something akin to you. He was just concerned.”

“I agree that it is likely he lost his memories somehow,” says the Doctor’s voice. “That probably happened around the time his horn got damaged and he ‘supposedly’ died.”

“I think there is more to the story than just that,” informs my Master to the mysterious echo tunnel. I suspect my Master has the same echoey distortion on the Doctor’s end. “Towards the end of my conversation with the Vizier, I happen to mention that perhaps he should have spread his supposed ‘vampire kiss’ to Princess Arielza to secure her cooperation to his plan. In response, I received a much more intense reaction than I expected. He immediately zipped over to me faster than I can blink and lifted me up as some smokey black monster.”

“That sounds something like King Sombra, but these ponies would probably know nothing about that monster in this century,” the Doctor muses.

“Who is King Sombra?” my Master questions.

“Oh that’s right! That’s before your time too,” the Doctor recalls. “Well . . . sort of.”

“I am a Time Lord!” my Master reminds arrogantly and sounding a touch offended. “As such, I am beyond all time.”

“That is an irrelevant detail anyway,” the Doctor says dismissively. “Or at least . . . most likely. More to the point, I probably don’t have to tell you that we’re not dealing with a ‘real’ vampire, do I?”

“Of course not,” my Master replies evenly. “But since you put it that way, tell me . . . have you met a real vampire before?”

“Some can come awfully close to that definition,” the Doctor replies. “After all, I met plenty of lawyers before.”

My Master grins slightly then says, “Quips aside, we should keep in mind that, supposedly, ‘magic’ is real in this dimension. If you haven’t met an actual vampire before, the odds of encountering one in this dimension is a little stronger.”

“Maybe but not in this case,” the Doctor assures. “Instead, what we’re dealing with here is a symbite. That race can assimilate any memories and organic abilities of any host it previously had. In practice it is not much different from the fictional character ‘Venom’ from Marvel Comics. You remember that one?”

“Of course,” my Master says with a casual nod which I suspect this Doctor did not actually see. “So we’re dealing with a creature that can mimic the abilities of a vampire. Aversion to sunlight, need to feed on blood, and super speed . . . obviously, in addition to being able to change into a black smokey form.”

“The ability of a symbiote can greatly vary with each one depending on the hosts and number of hosts they had before,” the Doctor lectures. “However a symbite is different because they can infect unwilling hosts like a virus which is what they have essentially devolved into. In symbiote society, symbites are rogue criminals who broke the laws and taboos of their society. They are corrupted versions of symbiotes and, as such, they have a few things in common. There is a corruption to their genetic structure which makes them inherently unstable. It is not blood that they need, per se, but certain nutrients that can be found within the blood of some species. If they can find those nutrients in other things then that would suffice as well, but on paper . . yeah. They greatly resemble a vampire. A symbite always chooses one central host to consolidate the majority of its consciousness but it can spread samples of itself in other hosts. That, in turn, can allow them to copy their abilities in others, albeit at only one-tenth of the original’s strength, but it gives telepathic control as well. In vampire terms, it resembles a vampire spawn.”

“I’m well aware of all of this,” my Master says dismissively. “What’s our next move?”

“Something you told me I do find interesting,” notes the Doctor. “It seems like Grand Vizier Dispatcher has true feelings for Princess Arielza. That probably means that his hostile take over for the throne isn’t just motivated by ambition alone. I think, what we have here, is a crime of passion as well. That puts a new spin on everything. This means that, with everything he could have done to poor Nanpour, such as truly kill him, Dispatcher held back instead and somehow removed the memories from the former Sultan along with a chunk of his horn. After that, the Grand Vizier arranges for the amnesiac former Sultan to join a thieves guild, most likely to push the former Sultan further down the path of corruption.

“Don’t you see? To the Grand Vizier, simply ‘killing’ his hated enemy isn’t enough. This is actually revenge from a jealous rival lover. Knowing that, that puts a new perspective on all of the Grand Vizier’s future moves as well. That’s good to know.”

“All of this really means we have a new player at the table,” my Master replies. “Probably one who doesn’t even realize how important his involvement is. Since we do, however, that may modify our actions going forward.”

“It will indeed,” the Doctor agrees. “I was originally planning on hogging more of the spotlight from the heroes side of this story, but the addition of this new player is causing me to rethink my strategy somewhat.

“Regardless of all of this, one of our original objectives remains firmly in place. The symbite’s former vessel should be here in this city somewhere. The corrupted creature needed it to get here. That kind of technology is primitive compared to a TARDIS, but it still has the power to exert massive control over gravity. This society is far too primitive to handle that kind of alien tech safely. If they misuse it, they could accidentally create a black hole here and suck in this entire world into oblivion. We cannot let that happen.

“That object probably remains with those who would be considered a ‘lawful’ authority around here, though, which is why I needed someone who didn’t have qualms about subterfuge. That’s why I originally brought you to this time, but if we can restore Nanpour back to the throne and get his memories back, he just might hand over the dangerous artifact on his own, especially since it would give him awful memories of his former oppressor by that point.”

“Well that’s no fun,” my Master complains. “I was told I was going to get a good heist out of this operation, damn it, and I plan to collect. Don’t back out of that plan now just because a new player is involved. I want to climb over a mountain of corpses before we secure our prize.”

“You would,” the Doctor scoffs in disgust. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure you get some fun. After all, I invited you into this mission in the first place and I’ve known, a long time ago, how you tend to operate.”

“You’re god-damn right!” my Master agrees aggressively.

“Everything we’ve discovered so far has simply put a few extra layers into our operation because we have some new objectives now,” the Doctor clarifies. “Does that sound fair?”

My Master sighs then says, “Sure, but remember . . . I told you from the start that I’m only joining you on a trial basis. How this operation goes down will help me to determine if I ever join you on one of your little crusades again, and I’m something of a vampire myself. I demand blood on my hooves before all is said and done.”

“Because that isn’t going to mess with history, isn’t it?” the Doctor asks sarcastically.

“I’m not aware of any fixed timeline here so anything goes,” came my Master’s rebuttal. “And even if there was, I’m a rogue element among the Time Lords anyway too, just like you were. Apparently by design,” he adds with an undertone of bitterness. “Still, I play the cards I’ve been given to the best of my ability. I will own this game by whatever means is at my disposal.”

“I know you will,” the Doctor expresses with a sympathetic tone. When he speaks next, it sounds like he’s about to be interrupted.

“Okay. Something has come up and I’ve got to go,” the Doctor reports. “I’ll contact you later on when I can. Over and out.”

The strange metallic tube sound outside suddenly seems to cease. Following that, my Master slowly closes the window behind him then bonks his head slightly against the wall.

“You can come out now, Mirage. I believe we finally have privacy now,” my Master, The Master, commands.

As he bids, I change my form from the hidden pocket watch he had hidden in his pocket then leap forward while still in mid-transformation. When I am done, I look like a beige colored earth pony mare wearing a sparkling veil over my face. My tail and mane is tied up into a single pony tail that has woven reflective silver threads to it. I turn around then kneel before my Master as I gaze up at his glorious face with my currently brown-colored eyes.

Much like anything else I appear to be, it is only superficial and subject to change, especially at his command.

“What is thy bidding, my master?” I ask in reverence.

My Master does not answer right away. I slowly grow more disturbed by the continuing silence then get double caught off-guard when he erupts into roaring laughter. Only when he simmers down somewhat enough for me to speak without having to shout do I ask him, “Something amusing, my Master?”

I see my Master gaze up at the ceiling and bonk his head twice against the wall behind him. I notice he has a silly grin on his face that I’m not accustomed to seeing. Through my secret changeling olfactory senses, I smell other emotions coming off him too that is a little too complex for me to fully identify, especially considering he’s not really a true pony at all. As such, the pheromones coming off of him might not match what other species' emotions would be, but I think I still have a rough baseline to work with.

“You don’t know this, but for so . . . many . . . years . . . the Doctor has been nothing but my enemy. My opponent. The one that stands in my way!” my Master, Card Shark, exclaims bitterly but he quickly relaxes shortly later. “For once . . . it’s nice to be on the same team.”

My Master looks at me then kind of startles me by showing me an almost colt’ish smile on his face. One that is born from almost pure joy. He then says to me, “I find this fun, too. Far more than I expected. Subterfuge. Deception. Now that is my cup of oats. Finally we’re on the same page with this one and it feels great!”

Although still slightly confused, I smile too as I express, “It’s great to see you happy, Master. I must admit, I never saw this side of you before. Part of me doesn’t know what to think.”

Still pressing his back against the wall, my Master slides himself down to the ground and sits. From there, he lays his cane across his lap and says, “In many of my schemes before, I had often offered for the Doctor to join me in my conquest spree. No matter how many times he said no to me, I kept on offering because that was what I truly wanted.” He lifts a hoof to me. “Don’t get me wrong. He can be fun as an opponent too, but I always had this gut feeling that if we could be on the same page for once, we’d make an unstoppable duo.

“The Doctor . . . the one who stood in my way and successfully thwarted so many of my other would-be conquest attempts . . . I had often wondered if anything could stop us if he joined me for a change. A good game can be fun but I want to win for once, damn it, and if my greatest opponent was finally on my side then there is no telling what we can achieve together.”

My Master looks up at the ceiling as he has a musing expression on his face.

“All that I ever wanted . . . all that I tried to acquire . . . I wonder if him being on my side might have been my greatest wish of all.

“Now this mission,” he gestures behind him for a brief moment, “is far more tame than I usually planned. This isn’t really conquest and I figured the Doctor wouldn’t really go that far, but in this case . . . his tactics resemble mine enough to find some common ground together. I guess I just feel a little giddy to get a taste of an ancient wish of mine fulfilled.”

“Subterfuge, as you know, is something that my native culture specializes in as well,” I remind my Master. “Nothing pleases me more than to join you in an operation like this. Seeing your excitement inspires my own too because I see it as a hint how far we might get this time.

“I told you, long ago, that my only true ambition in life is to serve you and fulfill your ambitions. After all, if it weren’t for you, I wouldn't even desire anything at all. Not really.”

This is true. I well recall this, for I am not an ordinary changeling. I was among the few secret police force of the changelings. An elite and largely unknown faction that is known in legends to be The Ghosts. There are only ten spots in that organization and we’re required to kill another to take their spot.

We were the faction that wasn't supposed to exist. Just a fearsome legend mentioned in hiding of an elite group of changelings that is so perfect at our job that we have access to training and abilities no other changeling could accomplish.

But to achieve that level of perfection required the sacrifice of everything else. We never associated with the rest of the hive unless it is in disguise. Our allegiance was only to the Ghosts and Queen Chrysalis. So strong was that devotion that we were nothing else at all. Just empty, emotionless shells that literally had no true ego of our own. No real free will. No personality at all other than the masks we temporarily wore.

Somehow, however, my Master discovered my true identity and then he used me. He seized me in a forceful kiss that I initially tried to resist, but doing so is like being butter next to a blazing inferno. There is a primal and savage intensity to my Master’s spirit that is unlike anything else I had ever encountered before. He can seem like such a suave and smooth gentlepony on the outside, but like the many disguises that I wear, that is just another facade for him. Beneath that, he is the very embodiment of primitive carnal desires times a thousand. So overwhelming and intense is that passion that even he can’t control it at times which occasionally makes him seem like a mad pony.

But to me, I had never encountered anyone else who was more alive than him! His passion is so intense, I started to realize how fake I felt before compared to him. I never truly “wanted” anything like him, especially to the same degree. It forced me to question the very nature of existence and wonder what it meant to truly be alive.

I had sworn a secret allegiance to Queen Chrysalis and the Ghosts, though, and they’d certainly not let one of their top agents defect without a fight. I knew too many critical secrets of the Hive. If I showed any sign that I was a compromised agent, they’d send everything else they had at me with maximum prejudice. I genuinely didn’t think anything could withstand that kind of focused onslaught.

But not only do I still live, but the Hive now thinks I’m dead. Somehow my Master created a clone of me, I guess? It would have to be very detailed because I know the Ghosts would inspect the body to minute detail to make extremely sure it was me. In order to fool super spies of that caliber requires a mind that is so vastly overwhelming that it truly is out of this world.

But he did it! He actually did it!

I realized something ever since. Not only did he teach me how to truly feel and desire things, but with him . . . it is safe to do so because nothing would be out of his reach for long. Every-single-time I have ever watched him skillfully negotiate with others for whatever he wanted, I soon realized he planned circles around them that seemed to be a thousand steps ahead. Backup plans layered over backup plans, then to go way out of his way to clean up every trace of evidence that ever revealed his crimes. He even thought of things that never occurred to me before. I was in awe of his majesty!

What makes this even better is he had no morality to limit his freedom. No sense of guilt to ever slow or tie him down. Because of that, nothing impedes his movement. It feels so incredible to serve under a master who truly can accomplish anything. Seriously, it really does feel like nothing is out of his reach in every possible way.

Personally, I don’t care about issues of morality either and I don’t think I favor any side of it truly. I consider those tiresome philosophical debates that are a chore to slog through, like is it truly a sin for a lioness to kill for her meal? What about for her cubs?

For me, I am proudly above those kinds of issues. Instead of that, I examine life in a much more simple format. What do I want and how can I achieve that?

It is a pleasure to simply want anything at all. It is an ability that most sentient life takes for granted, but I really was raised by a culture that fully lacked an ego. All we could think about is how to accomplish the mission we were assigned. No thought was given to anything beyond that.

But my Master! My glorious master! He exemplifies ego in every possible way. He made me realize what I was missing. How empty my existence was without it.

I owe him everything, even my love. I used to take love from others as much as the next changeling, but to feel it growing inside me instead . . . that is a precious and very different gift.

I wouldn't be who I am today if it weren’t for him, and I’ll follow him to the depths of Tartarus if that is what it takes.

He gave me the ability to want things. It’s only natural that I use that ability to want him in return.

Author's Note

This chapter was posted December 29th. If I keep to my weekly schedule, which I will, then this chapter is going to be as close to the new year for 2024 as this story will ever get.

However, this author's note now is added exactly on the date of December 31st. In my time zone, more specifically 4:33 PM. I'm about to go out for my walk soon. Anyway, in light of this fact, I have this to share.

So this is the second year straight I've been posting this story. Last year I posted a chapter exactly on December 31st. The weekly schedule just happened to land that way. In terms of duration of posts, this is the longest story I've made so far, and that was true a long time ago. It also has the most chapters and total words. I see no end in sight either right now, so this very well can go on for years. Given the fact each arc is in little segments, it is easier for me to tell when the next arc is ready to be put online. From there, those chapters simply wait their turn to be posted.

I heard lots of rumors and predictions all throughout this year of how hectic it is going to be, that it'll be the year that will change everything. So on and so forth. But I look around me and I just continue to see the world is not on fire. Instead, I continue to see a bunch of people walking their dogs, the sun rises and sets as normal, and I hear birds tweeting outside, the same as I usually do. Those birds have no care or have any awareness of human propaganda whatsoever. To them, the world is mostly the same as it ever was. When it does change, they probably have no idea why, but they still deal with it.

So that is the attitude I'll hold for 2025 too. Until I do see floods, fires, and all of that hellish nonsense directly in my immediate vicinity, I will treat the world as just moving on as normal.

With all that said, have a Happy New Year, everybody, and thanks for loyally following the story I have so far. May be be another of many to come.