A Hero's Days

A Hero’s Days

Chapter 2: In Pieces

The ruler of night, Princess Luna, sat in the back of her chariot pulled by two night guards. The storm had cleared up a good two hours ago and it was now in the wee hours of the morning. Her nocturnal habits kept her from coming during the day, and the ponies scared too easily for her to come at a more reasonable time.

The female leader of the two guards, Spectro, glanced back at her before asking, “Your majesty, where should we land?”

Luna gazed down at a dark Ponyville. “Take the carriage in front the large tree house that is the library; I must speak with its inhabitants.” A feeling of vertigo was felt as a steep descent was made. She forgave them because the other guard, a stallion named Havoc, was new and had ended up coming to be shown the ropes.

Not waiting for assistance, the princess stepped out of the carriage and started walking to the door. Only the faint sound of wind rustling branches could be heard until an owl started hooting inside the library. Lights turned on, and the door opened before Luna could knock. Twilight looked like a mess unhappy to be woken up. In her stupor, she didn’t recognize the princess at first but bowed while gasping after she looked up to meet the face of a royal alicorn. Luna put her hoof under the mares chin and tilted her head up.

“Pr-princess!” she stuttered out and glanced around wildly. “I didn’t know you were coming to Ponyville, I would have cleaned up or cleaned myself up or…” she trailed off.

The alicorn briefly looked down a bit before making eye contact again as she was embarrassed to distress Twilight so much. After all, she was the one who got the villagers to like her instead of giving her respect only in fear. “I’m sorry to disturb you at what is a very late hour for most ponies; or early- I’m not quite sure. I would not have if the matter was not so urgent. May I come in?”

Twilight opened her mouth, but no words were formed. Luna noticed her staring at the lunar guardsponies and their bat-like features. This wasn’t like her, but she was probably still shocked at the surprise visit. “Spectro, Havoc, take off your uniforms to make our host more comfortable.”

Havoc quietly whined, “Aw, but I look so much cooler like this.” The young pony that still needed to learn discipline visibly cringed under his superior’s austere glare. “I was just kidding…”  When all the armor came off, a midnight blue pegasus stallion stood next to another pegasus mare with a yellow coat; still glaring at her pupil.

Twilight regained her composure and opened the door wider. “Yes, of course. Come on in.” Luna followed Twilight inside with Havoc and Spectro close behind. Spike rubbed his eyes at the bottom of the stairs and jumped when he saw the visitors. “Spike! Can you please get us some tea?”

The dragon’s eyes drooped half way. “Surre thing Twi…,” he slurred. Teetering two steps forward, he fell face down on the floor; snoring.

Twilight smiled down at him before picking Spike up with magic and sending him back up the stairs to bed. “Uh, a baby dragon needs his sleep,” she explained. The ponies headed to the kitchen, where they could sit at the table. “Would you like me to get you anything, Princess?”

“That would not be necessary, thank you.” Havoc pulled out two chairs on the same side for Luna and Spectro and sat on the opposite side with Twilight. “Has my sister ever told you of the divine gems?” Twilight tilted her head quizzically. “I suppose not. When Celestia was born from the Great Mother, the sun was created with her. There was a strong link between her and the celestial body; so strong that something was created to bypass the energy, or they would become one and the same thing.” Luna kept shifting her gaze between the mare and Havoc even though he was already aware of the story. “The physical manifestation is called the Solar Dentritus, and takes the form of a red hot gem stone. The power was too great for one being to bear so this was then broken down into the two Solar Morsum.” She paused to take a breath before continuing the lengthy account of past events. “For me, there is a lunar variant of those objects. Both of us hold on to one Morsum to help move our respective celestial objects.”

The student of magic closed her eyes for a few seconds as she processed the new information. “So…what does this have to do with the reason you came here?”

Princess Luna’s face hardened in cold fury before she spoke. “The Morsum I keep on my person has been stolen.”

~

Quick Pick looked arrived at his job ready to work. All the tools needed were in his saddlepack, and his co-workers were waiting for him. He did a lot of travelling between towns for he was a hardworking, honest to goodness- cat burglar.

“Hey Pick, took you long enough. I thought we were meeting at three?” His black cloaked partners looked at him expectantly.

He knew he was late, but as the leader of the trio he could get away with it. “No, dumbass, I said three thirty.”

His two companions weren’t as smart as they were good muscles to keep around. “Okay boss.” Without him, they would have been caught long ago and had either gone to prison or forced to get a career acceptable by society. The ponies had to respect his authority under those circumstances.

The one who was not talking before spoke up. “So whose house is this?”

“Well Boulder, how would you feel if I told you we’re breaking into an element’s house?”

Boulder recoiled, eyes widening in fear. “Woah we can’t rob Twilight sparkle; she’ll kick our asses!”

The ring leader shook his head. “Damnit, sometimes I just can’t decide who’s dumber: you or Tough.” Boulder and Tough both merely blinked in response. “The element of generosity owns this, and she has a shitload of jewels stashed in the back. These aren’t just everyday diamonds either; she has to get some pretty rare ones for rich clients.” He cracked a smile. “Boys, I think we may just earn ourselves a vacation today.” They quietly cheered in response.

Quick Pick pulled out a tool set and silently trotted to the door. After it was unlocked, he called his partners over to enter the house. Holding a dim flashlight in his mouth, he searched until he found a closet. This door had a combination pad lock on it. It must be in here, he excitedly thought. Cracking that was a joke; you don’t get an open lock cutie mark for nothing. He tucked his stethoscope away and turned the knob.

Reeeaahhr! Some creature screeched and hissed. Pick turned around, heart racing, and shined the flashlight to find a white cat. It opened its mouth again but Boulder ran up and held the cat’s mouth in the crook of his foreleg; only to be scratched and yelping out loud in pain.

A female voice called from down the stairs, “Opal? Was that you?”

Shit! The thieves almost whispered in unison, and any light was extinguished. Hoof steps could be heard coming down; it was too late! The flick of a light switch was heard and a white unicorn mare just stared at the trio. “AAAAAAAH!” She screamed.

“Pipe down or the cat gets it.” Tough had pulled out a knife and held it near the feline, still in Boulder’s grasp. She stopped; tears starting to come from her eyes. Pick had to give his partner props for the smart thinking.

“Wh-what do y-you want?” The greedy thieves flashed eachother grins.

Quick Pick was the first to speak while slowly opening the storeroom door. “We just need you to keep quiet while we clean you out.”

“N-no please don-!”

The stallion cut her off. “What?” Just to be certain he walked all the way into the room, “You put a lock on door just to store dresses?”

She got down on her back knees and held her forelegs up into a praying position. “Pleeaase don’t take my work,” she begged. “Take anything but those dresses!”

“Look, lady, we just want your jewels; where do you keep ‘em?”

She actually looked relieved! “Oh well in that case, they’re upstairs in my….”

Tough looked at her crookedly. “Spit it out already!”

“I just used the rest of my supply today and…and was going gem hunting in the morning,” the mare almost whispered.

The thief pushed his knife closer to the animal. “Quit fooling around, where’s the stash?”

Her faced showed anger instead of fear, but Pick’s voice from the closet said “It’s okay, I think I found something just as good.” Movement was heard and seconds later, he emerged with a flashy gown covered in jewels from top to bottom draped over his back.

Instantly, the mare started screaming “No!” multiple times. This was ignored by Pick who just walked back into the closet to find more hidden treasure. Tough tried to calm her down by once again threatening the cat but she must have not heard him or didn’t think he would go through with it.

Tough went silent with a blank face, mouth hanging open. The screaming white mare noticed and stopped making noise to turn around. Standing in the still open doorway was Mare-Do Well with her expression invisible through the mask.

Before anyone could react, the vigilante leapt forward and hit Boulder in the forehead. Ducking down, she barely dodged the thrust of a knife from Tough before bobbing and weaving to dodge a couple more stabs that cut nothing but air.

Coming up on his side, she gave him one good punch to the head. His eyes rolled back as the stallion collapsed in a heap.

Rarity saw the larger one getting up and shouted, “Behind you!” The masked mare quickly turned around and gave him the same treatment as his partner with the same results.

Shuffling was heard in the closet and the last thief poked his head out. Mare Do-Well pointed her rear legs towards him and bucked him into the closet. Rarity snatched the lock off the ground and shoved it onto the door latched. When she turned around to express gratitude for her savior, the mare was already galloping out the door. Admiring the grace of the hero, Rarity said to nopony in particular, “I must say I did a marvelous job designing that costume.”

~

Luna waited for Twilight’s reaction to what she had just revealed. To her surprise, the unicorn reacted very calmly and only asked a few brief questions. “Do you have any idea who the thief might be, and if not: what are the tell-tale signs of it in their possession?”

Havoc answered for his liege. “We’ve had the most trusted unicorns on this matter scry for weeks and they couldn’t pinpoint the location. Or at least they couldn’t until this morning- er, evening.” Luna sympathized for him; becoming a lunar guardspony means one must become nocturnal and the switch is hard to get used to. “It’s been concluded that the stone piece is somewhere in the Ponyville area, so watch out for unusual displays of magic or physical prowess.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well when a pony gets the piece, their life force is increased tenfold. For example, a unicorn could do incomprehensible magic or a pegasus can fly faster than it should be possible.”

Luna looked at him and gravely stated, “I couldn’t have said it better myself. There is something that makes the whole situation more pressing though.” Twilight looked up and so did the guards, unsure of what she was going to say. “Without being in control of a Lunar Morsum means I will slowly lose my link to the moon; and with that, my life.” She left out that it had already become a struggle to move it at dawn and dusk. For a second, everypony else in the room paled at the thought.

Clearly not having heard this yet, Havoc jumped out of his seat. “Why didn’t you tell us earlier?! We could have worked twice as hard on finding it!” Spectro must have also been angry because she didn’t even scold him. Before Luna could respond a knock sounded at the door. Twilight was reluctant to leave the room, but she excused herself to see who it was.

A disheveled Rarity almost surprised her as much as the news she had just gotten. The fashion obsessed mare had never looked as horrible as she did now; there were circles under her eyes that wet from tears, and her mane was jaunted in different directions. She smiled tearily, “Hello dear, can Opal and I stay here for the night?” The cat poked his head out of her saddlepack.

Twilight nodded her head and silently lead her friend to the guest bedroom and as curious as she was, she didn’t ask any questions. When she came back to the kitchen, the other guests wouldn’t even look at each other. “My apologies, a friend of mine needed a place to sleep. Princess Luna, what about the second half?”

She sighed dejectedly. “After you defeated me as Nightmare Moon, Celestia took it and put the stone into a temple that moves every two weeks. The only way to locate that is by using the other piece as a tracker.”

The unicorn looked at her Princess in deep thought and quietly said, “And Princess Celestia took it away because recreating the Dentritus is what corrupted you in the first place.”

Luna recoiled a bit and then slowly nodded. “Yes; sometimes I think you’re too smart for your own good.”

“How did Princess Celestia best you in the Lunar Rebellion?”

Instead of answering, she got up from her seat. “I would stay to tell you more, but I must leave at once if I am to lower the moon.” She walked towards the door with the two guards trailing. “Please let me know if you find anything.”

~

Rainbow Dash awoke to a morning much better than the previous. A gentle sunlight streamed through the grand room’s windows, and she could tell it was still early morning. Ganymede had taken her to his room after she destroyed her own, even though it would be better to describe her’s as a prison cell. While Rainbow’s mind was on him, she wondered where he went off to sleep.

Breathing was heard to her left and she looked over to see the now not-so-majestic stallion lying on the tile floor, covered by only a thin blanket. She smiled as he moved in his slumber to pull the sheet over his head some more.

Taking in the room for the first time in sufficient light was breathtaking. An arch of stained glass windows stretched on the wall on the head of the posh bed, and mementos covered the sandy brown walls; the color was very similar to the inhabitant’s coat. There were glass doors on either side of the arch that lead to a balcony overlooking the Everfree Forest. Glancing around, she noticed a mirror on the wall opposite from Ganymede and went over to check her reflection against her usual self. The mare staring back looked a mess. She didn’t know why she cared so much but Rainbow fixed her hair and tried to improve the image. Nothing really helped. She gave a frustrated grunt and walked back to the bed before climbing back in.

“You’re up early,” Ganymede stated matter of factly. Rainbow smiled down at him until he finished with, “for once.” She looked ready to give an angry retort until he appeased her by saying, “I’m just teasing!” and laughing.

She giggled back at him. “Well I did get a ton of sleep these past few days, and I guess enough of that can make miracles happen.” They shared an even louder laugh at that.

“Want to get something to eat? You’re not supposed to be roaming yet, but I can convince them you were let out early on good behavior.”

Rainbow glared and grumbled, “You make it sound like I was in jail for something I did wrong.” Her face lightened up and she stuck out both hooves like she was wearing cuffs, “C’mon Mr. Parole Officer, escort me to the kitchen’s.” Behind her mask she thought: being nice and friendly to him might just be my ticket out of here.

The pair walked the hallway talking and laughing softly to each other. He was a fun stallion once Dash got to know him; she just wished they could have met on better terms. When the smell of food was potent in the air a red pegasus was pushed out of a side door by an angry pony dressed like a chef, who slammed it shut right afterwards.

He shook his yellow mane wildly and turned around to yell at the closed door, “Can’t you spare just one more apple?!” Getting no reaction, he grunted and turned around to find Ganymede standing with Rainbow. “Oh, didn’t see you there.” He grabbed one of her hooves and kissed it in mock formality. “The name’s Dragon Fang, my lady,” he whispered in a dramatic way.

Ganymede scowled as much as the cook a few seconds ago and said, “Fang, don’t be an ass.”

She just laughed out loud. “Nice to meet you Fang, my name’s Rai-…actually you don’t need to know that.” Dragon Fang looked confused while Ganymede sullenly stared at the ground. She was so close to revealing it, too!

“Hm, well that’s fine I guess.” The red pony’s face perked up. “This is great! I bet they’ll let me in now if I’m with you two.”

Rainbow looked at him with interest. “Do you get kicked out of the dining hall often?”

He and Ganymede made eye contact and chuckled. “You could say that; how about we talk about it over some grub?”

She had been sitting quietly watching the two friends talking for almost an hour. Rainbow commented on occasion and as much as she liked to talk about herself, it was more entertaining to observe Ganymede and Dragon Fang. They mainly spoke of past events shared with another friend of theirs, but they never said his name; just ‘he’ or ‘him’.

Fang got up after shoving another piece of pizza in his mouth and balancing a stack of plates on his wing. He tried to say something but it only came out like: “Hom nom nom hom nom.” He turned to Rainbow and gave a little curtsy. “Hom nom.” The red pegasus slowly walked to the kitchens with the short stride of somepony who ate more than they know they should have. Right as the swing door closed the sound of an angry staff member yelling was clearly audible.

Ganymede laughed a bit at her raised eyebrow. “Fang’s got a voracious appetite and isn’t really that polite about it, but he’s loyal until the end.”

She looked away and grumbled “I know a thing a two about loyalty.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t quite catch that, what’d you say?”

“Oh nothing; he’s cool.” In truth she found him a little too cocky. Her friends told her that she also  was at times but there was a difference: Dragon Fang only thought he was awesome while she actually was.

Pleased by her answer, Ganymede got up and pulled out Rainbow’s chair for her in a very gentlecolt-like manner. “Come on, there’s something I want to show you.”

Ganymede quietly closed the door to his guest’s new room. She had actually seemed very happy when he showed it to her (except for the jokes about her last room) and that made him feel a lot less guilty for holding her captive. Even after the time they had spent together, the bonding they had started; she still wouldn’t tell him her name!

Turning around, the smile melted off his face. Doctor Forehoof stepped forward from the corner he was half standing behind and said in mock surprise, “I wasn’t aware of the fact that I gave permission for her to be unshackled, or even allowed to roam.” The unicorn adjusted the monocle always on his left eye and instantly went serious. “I hope you know your priorities, Ganymede. It would be a shame if you ruined the plan now after we’ve come so far.” As if waiting for a response, he tightened the pinstriped suit around his silver coat. Ganymede opened his mouth for a response but The Doctor abruptly walked away, white mane in perfect form even after walking by an open window.

The prince’s shoulders tightened with anger as he watched his patron until the high class pony turned a corner. He had to calm himself down; sure The Doctor was controlling at times, but he still had given Ganymede a chance for redemption. More importantly, that was the pony who was going to create a perfect world where no being would be put through the anguish that had befallen himself.