The King Of Nothing

"Well, Mr. Whales, I must say, your resume is impressive. Your degree, colleague titles, and extracurricular activities almost make you look overqualified for the position here. Why did you apply instead of pursuing something closer to your expertise?" A man shrouded in shadows asks Ragged while sitting on a smaller chair opposite the mysterious man, with a desk between the two.

Instead of his usual outfit, Ragged had a simple red shirt with a lightning bolt on it and black jeans as he kept his head down; not only that, but Ragged seemed to be talking with a giant since he was small compared to the man in the shadows.

Shrugging and shaking his head, Ragged answered casually, "The same story as always, I'm afraid; I have the tools but not the experience, and that is something they keep demanding; that is why I need to build experience in the field, any field to tell you the truth so companies pay more attention to me."

"So if something were to come tomorrow, would you leave us?" The man asks, causing Ragged to start to panic.

"N-no, right away, of course! Maybe if the payment is… the point is, you can count on me; I will do my best if you could hire me." Ragged was virtually begging him for an opportunity as the man put his hands together.

"That's Good. Then, you can start your job as a dishwasher right away. I hope you don't mind, but we'll need you to supply your instruments."

"Ah… okay?" Ragged was taken aback by the sudden condition.

"You would work from 4 a.m. to midnight six days a week. We will let you know when your day off is."

"Wha… what? But that is far more than just 8... okay if that is what it takes."

"Also, I need you to slash this filly throat," The man suddenly suggested, holding a mare filly of no more than five with tears in his eyes, which froze Ragged as he stood up.

"Are you insane!?" He yells at the man as a flash of light acts as a smile on the shadow figure

"Come on, Mr. Whales, it's not like you haven't done this before. Do you want a job? You will obey blindly; now kill! Consume! Conquer!" The man demands in a more distorted and demonic voice. At the same time, horns start emerging from his forehead as Ragged starts to hyperventilate, his hand seemingly moving on his own, and even when he tries to hold it back, his hand keeps moving as a knife appears on his palm, and it is inching closer to the filly neck.

Yelling in horror, Ragged woke up and started thrashing around until a hand held him in place.

"Easy, Ragged. It's me, Purple. It's easy there. You are safe," Purple tells him, putting his hands on his shoulder and bringing him back to bed.

Still startled but more calm, Ragged looked back at the guard, noticing his mane for the first time since he didn't have his helmet on. Revealing a light blue short curly mane made Ragged think he was wearing a piece of toothpaste for a mane.

"Purple?" Ragged answer and then looked around, noticing the medical equipment spread all over the room, as well as the morning sunlight entering from the rows of windows at one end of the room, a series of empty beds minus two where the other two guards were, wearing hospital garments in the middle of a game of cards and the familiar smell of medicine in the room, give him all the clues Ragged needed to have an idea on where he was. He also notices that he is on a specially made bed since he could fit inside without an issue and is currently shirtless. One of his wings was suspended on a bizarre trench next to whose ropes were suspended in mid-air and self-adjusted to his moments to make sure the wind remained outstretched and, with bandages matching the ones spread all over his body and an I.V and another cable connected to his right arm to display his heartbeats.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, buddy," Purple jokes before his expression morphs into one of concern. "Listen, Ragged, I know you must be having a lot of questions right now, and I know how reserved you are, but I give you my word. Everyone here is a professional, and they only did what they had to to treat your wounds, including the ones on your legs."

Startled, he fell and sighed in relief when he noticed he was wearing pants. He ignored that he was not wearing his usual pants and had the same hospital ones Brick was wearing.

Taking a deep breath to calm down, Ragged lay on the bed and stared at the ceiling, thinking his next words carefully before speaking. "How many know?" he asked without looking, making the room quiet.

"Know what, buddy?" Purple asks with a nervous chuckle, trying to lighten the mood.

"You know what I mean!" He reiterates and emphasizes his statement by pointing at the extended wing.

"Just us, the doctors that treat you, two nurses, a couple of royal guards, and the princesses; you have been asleep for the last three days. Happy Heart Warming Eve, I suppose," Purple finally answered after signing before raising his hands. "Don't worry, they all swear secrecy, Ragged; I imagine you have reasons to keep that a secret… your majesty."

"Stop!" Sitting up, Ragged glares and points at him, "You're right; I don't want ponies knowing about my… situation, especially the sisters! But thanks for, at the very least, not exposing me to the world like some parade animal. Also, let's leave something crystal clear here: I have no authority, I have no power, I'm just a freakishly tall homeless pony living off the street of Canterlot and nothing more."

"Yeah, right. Let's see how long that lasts," Bliss says, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms.

"Excuse me?!" Ragged angrily asked while looking at the mare. He noticed her head wrapped in bandages and that she had a soft, slightly curly, light pink mane. The stallion next to him had a short, spiky black mane and tail, and Ragged could see a bandage popping out over his shoulder, no dough going diagonal to tend to his wound.

"Hey, no need to get angry, dude; I'm just saying, I don't know how things work from wherever you come from, but in here, those little things on your back," she points at his wings. "And that little thing on your forehead," She points at his horn, "Are a big deal here. Ask anyone if you don't believe me, but no matter what you were before, the moment you got those, it meant you were chosen for greatness as royalty. I don't know why you abandoned the call, but something tells me the princess would want to chat with you about it. Who knows, maybe that is why you were cursed in the first place."

She elaborates with a shrug as Ragged only blinked a couple of times. "How did you know I wasn't born like this?"

Bliss smirked and crossed her arms. "Call it a hunch, but no pony born with wings could ever forget or never use them before," she demonstrated by lifting herself off the bed for a moment, simply standing up before sitting down again.

"Plus, you knew how to fight with your fist and have a strong grip, just like an earth pony would. So let's not poke around the bushes and confess; you started as an earth pony, didn't you?"

Ragged remains quiet and looks away before replying, "...yes, I am, but it doesn't matter anyway until I manage to get rid of these lumps; the only thing I'm the prince of is nothing; you can call me the cursed prince, nothing destiny to wander alone and always remain as that, just nothing. And this is not me just being dramatic; no, you saw those things that put us all here. I try to warn you; bad things tend to happen to anyone who dares get too close to me."

The room remained silent as the guards weren't sure how to reply and just looked at one another until Brick broke the silence with a sigh.

"Well, since this is as good a time as any, better get over with the formalities. My name is Brick Breaker; call me Bricks; all my friends do." The earth pony introduces himself. "For what is worth it. Thanks for saving us back then."

Ragged just remained quiet before looking down and grabbing the blanket with his two hands. "It was the least I could do since I brought those creatures. I just couldn't bear the thought of more ponies dying because of me."

"Idiot," The mare gets everyone's attention as she shakes her head. "You should have come to us for help. The castle is full of protection and containment spells. I'm sure the princess could think of something for this curse of yours. Did you ever consider that possibility?"

"And how was I supposed to ask for help? 'Hi, could you help me? I'm cursed, and now every time I try to make friends, monsters appear and kill them all.'" Ragged acts up in frustration.

"Yes! That would be a start," The mare kept complaining before sighing in frustration. "Like I say, idiot." She sighs in frustration and crosses her arms while looking away, making the room go tense again until Brick reaches out and grabs one of her hand

"Bliss, we talk about this."

"Oh, come on, Bricks! You know I'm right," she complained while glaring at the stallion, who smiled calmly.

"Blissy, your wrinkles are showing. Let's calm down and count to ten," Brick instructed as he held her hands and put their foreheads together. The mare closed her eyes and took deep breaths.

Ragged blinked several times before looking at Purple. "Are they...?"

"... They have been engaged since last month, so yeah, they are an item. Can you believe it was Bricks who proposed?" Purple interrupted his question with the answer before chuckling and rolling his eyes. "A stallion proposing to a mare, how have things changed, am I right?"

"...right." Ragged only nods while looking at the couple as Bliss calms down and opens her eyes to look at Ragged again more calmly.

"Look, I'm sorry I yelled at you and called you stupid; it angers me that you didn't think we would help you. We don't go around in armor to play dress up. We live to protect you, no matter what, so whatever the hell is happening to you, know we will always help. Why don't we start again? My name is Blessed Winds, but call me Bliss. I prefer something less angelical. Also, only Bricky here can call me Blissy, so don't go get any ideas, you hear?!" She adds with a big blush, breaking more of the tension in the room.

"I will keep it in mind," Ragged replied with a tired sigh. "And it's about the insults; I have called worse, so it's not a big deal; as for why I don't ask for help, well, even if it is not an excuse, my previous encounters with the law have been… less than pleasant, that is why I'm kind of wary of asking for help."

"What do you mean by that?" Purple asks, tilting his head.

"An excellent question," a new female voice says as they all turn to the entrance in time to see a small unicorn mare with gray fur, a bowled-shaped black mane style with a string of gray showing, a royal guard uniform, and a folder in her side marching inside. She is flanked by two muscular guards with white fur, their faces hidden behind their helmets.

Ragged had to take a double take at the mare entering the room since his stature almost made him believe she was a filly at first until the other guards stood to attention and saluted the mare

"Mayor Shiitake, ma'am!" They all salute at the same time

"At ease!" She orders immediately while remaining focused on their guest. She glares at Ragged with her green eyes until she gets lost. When she reaches the side of his bed, she forces Ragged to stretch his head to look at the top of hers.

"Care to elaborate on those 'unpleasant' encounters, Mr. Ragged? That is, of course, if that is your real name," The Mayor demands, yet her attempt at sounding intimidating only made her look adorable.

"Ah… not really, that is just the nickname Purple gave me," Ragged admitted while looking at the said unicorn, who simply shrugged in confusion.

“You don’t say? That is interesting because…” She stops and starts grumbling nonsense. Ragged sees how the mayor is trembling and clenching her fist. "LADDER!" She yells/orders, startling the two guards following her behind.

One of them pulled out a foldable ladder and unfolded it beside Ragged bed so the mayor could climb it up and look him in the eyes, but the side difference was still present as she only reached to his shoulder.

Once he could look at her more closely, Ragged noticed the wrinkles forming on Shitake's forehead and some spots marking her age, as if she were a mare entering her golden age.

"As I was saying, that is interesting. Let me see if I can get this straight. In short, you are the very first alicorn male in history who, for some reason, decided to hide his royal destine, refuses to use his name, and is plagued with a convenient curse that can take care of witnesses that may get too close to your activities, doesn't seem to be registered in the system or even has a birth certificate, and doesn't have the best track record with figures of authority. Is there anything else you would like to add to that?"

She questioned sarcastically, taking out a riding crop that she was wearing on her hip to try and press under his chin but had no choice but to try and do that by poking his arm. Ragged quickly noticed how her eyes were starting to wander off into his arm, and her riding crop was making small circles on his muscle before she shook her head and stared at him again.

Ragged remains jaded and ignores the clear list of accusations and pervert glances she is giving him. "Yes, can I ask what the point of all this is?"

Shiitake smirked and removed the riding crop, pressing it behind her back. "I just wanted to make sure I had all the facts before doing this," she snapped her fingers and pointed at him.

"Arrest him," She commanded her two guards, who took up handcuffs and were approaching Ragged until Purple intervened and got in between them and Ragged.

"Whoa there, Mayor. I don't want to question your authority. It's true that some days ago, a couple of nobles demanded Ragged be arrested, but I told you he didn't do anything, and from what we saw, those teenagers simply hurt themselves. There is no reason to go this far."

"On the contrary, soldier, unless this stallion starts giving us some answers, I have all the evidence right here to lock him up for good," Shiitake fired back and waved her folder in front of him. Since the altercation, I have been digging around for our steam guest here." Snapping her fingers, one of her soldiers put a table in front of her as she laid various photos, reports, and other documentation for everyone to see.

"Manehattan, Chickcago, Las Pegasus, Appleloosa, Trottiham, and Celestia know where else; you sure have moved around, Mr. Anonymous," Shiitake mentions with a raised eyebrow, looking at Ragged, who remains stoic at her accusation.

"I'm a wanderer; I travel a lot, so what?"

"So glad you said that because I also asked around and found those unpleasant encounters you mentioned. Disturbing the peace, extortion for information, illegal selling of animal skins and parts without a license!" She kept listening, pointing at the police reports in the folders. "Do I need to say more?"

To everyone's confusion, Ragged started to chuckle and shake his head before glaring at Shiitake with a smirk. "Let me guess, plenty of those so-called 'reports' stated that I was terrorizing citizens on my march, trying to steal their bits or demanding something or another. And all of them end with the ponies making the reports sounding like a fairy tale hero defending the peace and order from the strange monster that invades the city?"

His statement took Shiitake off guard, and he re-read some of the articles, making Ragged sigh in frustration.

"Oh, for the love of… tell me you didn't bother to read all the reports to the end!" Ragged's statement startled the mare, who almost fell off the ladder until one of the guards caught her and helped her stand up again.

"It doesn't matter; the point is that you have a record..."

"...They are lying, you shroom head moron!" Ragged states that sitting on his bed in front of Shiitake makes her realize even more the size difference between the two and makes her gulp at how easily his shadow covers her body.

"Wanna know what those unpleasant experiences were? Everywhere I went, ponies saw me with disgust and fear, rushing away from me, even when I was simply sitting on the street begging for some change; the only thing I'm guilty of is selling animal parts to survive. I will grant you that, but those assholes here!"

He pokes his finger on the table for emphasis. "Are just a bunch of spineless monsters that get off from beating others struggling in life and make themselves look like heroes?" He leans his head a bit while glaring at Shiitake. "If you are gonna open an investigation , Mayor, I suggest you do your freaking job and confirm the validity of your facts."

He sat straight again and sighed, "Then again, what is to be expected? I'm just a smelly homeless pony. It's my word against your royal guard pals. Who do you gonna believe?"

"I will believe the facts, justice, and the truth," Bliss immediately answered and stood next to them. "Mayor Shiitake, I want the list of all the ponies that made those reports and open an investigation to confirm if they are true or not; falsification of reports is a serious crime, and I have some choice of words for those ponies that lie about it" Bliss request, while her wings were extending and getting ruffle by the second until Bricks stood behind her and hold her shoulders before massaging them to calm the mare down.

The room got deadly quiet as the Mayor was suddenly in the spotlight before clearing her throat to recover control of the conversation. "Well then, if that is true, I still have the authorization to make an arrest. This stallion is just too suspicious. He doesn't even have a past; he has a fucking legend behind him, for crying out loud; the locals keep referring to him as ‘LongMane" She mentions pointing at Ragged.

Confused, Ragged grabs a piece of his mane before looking at the mare. "I have a legend?"

"Don't act as if you don't know; you are starting to become a local tale of a tall, mourning spirit walking the streets at night looking for his family or his killer or something. It just raises too many questions, and by the laws written by Princess Celestia herself, it is my right to arrest you."

“The only thing you are going to do is leave my patient this instant!” a stern voice calls from the entrance as they all look at a stallion unicorn with yellow fur and a brown mane walk inside the room wearing a formal square shirt, formal pants, and a doctor's shirt. He is followed closely by a pegasus nurse in a pink outfit, light pink fur, and a velvet-long mane next to him, holding a clipboard in front of her as she hides her blush while taking occasional glances at Ragged.

Ignoring the rest, the stallion marched straight to Shiitake and moved aside the two guards, who were startled to see how, despite being slim, the stallion managed to move aside the two muscular guards and stand in front of the mayor.

"Shiitake, what in Celestia's name are you doing?" The doctor demands, crossing his arms.

"Stay out of this Backup. I'm only doing my job, this stallion…"

"...is injured, saved three guards, and is currently protected by the law that states that he will be cared for and healed as a member of the less. Fortunately, he is not going anywhere. He is under my care, and he is in no condition to be held accountable for any police investigation unless it is relevant to a murder, terrorist attack, or kidnapping case, which he is not. So I will say this one last time: you will leave this instant before I decide to report you for obstructing basic rights."

"But…but he doesn't even have a name! And everything I found, we can't just…" Shiitake tries to argue, but Backup interrupts her from saying anything.

"Have a complaint? Talk to the princess, but right now, I have a job to do, so unleash you want to wear those handcuffs, leave my patients alone, and get out of my infirmary." He points at the door with authority, leaving the room quiet until Shiitake gathers her things and gets down from her ladder,

"We are not done here, Mr. I have more than a few questions for you, and you are going to..."

"OUT!" Backup yells, startling everyone as the mayor and his guards rush outside and close the door behind them.

Once they were out, Backup sighed and clapped his hands together as he turned around and addressed the rest of the ponies in the room. "Well! Now that we took that out, how is everyone doing?"

He asked cheerfully and smiled before looking at Ragged. "I see our guest has finally woken up. It was so nice to meet you formally, Mr. Ragged. I hope you don't mind me calling you that. We need to fill something out on your medical chart."

Ragged remains quiet and lowers his head in frustration, leaving the room silent.

"Riiiiight, Mr. Purple told me about your shyness; it's okay. We can discuss that subject later. We have plenty to discuss, mister, particularly the sorry state of your wings and how terrible you have been treating them."

Backup then approaches Bliss and Brick and starts asking them questions, inspecting Bliss's eyes and reaction time. The nurse stays close to the doctor but keeps glancing at Ragged, who becomes aware that he is shirtless, so he returns to bed and tries to cover himself up.

During all that, Ragged sighed and closed his eyes until he heard Purple's voice beside him. "Ragged, I know you don't want to talk about anything. I'm sorry I put you in this situation, but please, at the very least, I need you to give us a name. We want to help, but we won't be able to do much unless you help us out."

Ragged took a glance at Purple with a stoic expression. "The more I share with you, the more in danger you will be. I've not been stubborn here, Purple; you must patch me up, return my clothes and bag, and let me go before something bad happens."

"Something terrible WILL happen if you don't do that. Mayor Shiitake was out of line, but she had a point. I don't know what you did before, and I believe those corrupt cops are harassing you, but if you don't help us out, we won't have any choice but to side with the mayor.

I know you are worried about yours and our safety, but do you want to end up locked up in a dungeon?"

At that comment, Ragged just clenched his fist and eyes in frustration before relaxing both and sighing, opening them again and keeping his eyes down. "...Amon," Ragged tells out suddenly in a whisper tone.

"What?" Purple asks in mild surprise.

"My name is Amon. If you need it that bad, there you have it."

Purple smiles and nods satisfied that he has seen the alicorn open up. "Nice to meet you, Amon; thanks for telling me."

"Don't get any ideas, Purple; I'm only doing this because I don't want to give that bitch a reason to lock me up," Amon mentions with a tired sigh. "So don't expect me to start sharing my life story; trust me, you are better off knowing as little as possible."

"It's okay. We can start there. Take baby steps. Don't worry, Amon; we won't let her do that. And don't worry, as Bliss said, the castle is the most protected place in Equestria. Whatever this curse is, we will help you fight it, so relax and let us know if we can do anything to put your mind at peace."

"Can you keep my existence a secret from the princesses?" Amon asks, looking at Purple with a slight grin and a raised eyebrow.

"...except that," Purple mentions, maintaining his smile. "Sorry, dude. We are still guards. We can't pretend we didn't see an alicorn in the streets."

"Yeah, I imagine," Amon groaned, looking at the ceiling in defeat. "This will be one long day; I know it."