The Alicorn Who Knew Nothing

The Alicorn Who Knew Nothing

Chapter 7

Curtain Call

The steady sound of the train rolling over the tracks was music to Ridge’s ears as he relaxed on his bed. He knew he should be asleep, but for the same reason that had caused him to faint yesterday, sleep was eluding his mind. He decided that getting some fresh air would do him some good, so he got off his bed and trotted out the door of his room and headed down to the end of the boxcar. As he reached the end of the corridor, he used his magic to slide the door open to the crisp night air. The sight that greeted Ridge was a retreating field that seemed to stretch on forever, with a railroad track forked straight down the middle.

‘Why does it have to be Canterlot?’ Ridge thought.

As the country side rolled by at a lazy pace, Ridge rested his head against the railing marking the end of the train. He unfurled his wings out along his sides and let the wind slowly flow over them, relishing the feeling of his wings being able to expand and release the tension they had built up over the day.

“I just want to be done with all this.” Ridge said to the wind.

“You never could ask for help could you Ridge?” said a voice from above.

Shooting his head toward the sound of the voice, he discovered he was not alone outside of the train that night.

“If you’re so worried about the princesses finding out you’re an alicorn why didn’t you just tell somepony?”

Ridge studied this almost invisible pony, unable to tell who the familiar voice was.

Suddenly the wind picked up, and for a moment the bright neon green mane of his visitor whipped around into the moonlight.

“M..Martha?”

“Congratulations! You win the guessing game; now scoot over so I can come down from up here.” Ridge rapidly moved out of Martha’s way so she could fly down from the roof of the train.

“H-h-how?” Ridge was too dumbfounded to even think of a question to as her.

“How did I know you had wings?”

Ridge just nodded in response to her question.

“It doesn’t take a genius to notice feathers inside a unicorn’s bedroom.”

Ridge blushed at his true secret being found out.

“H..How l..long have you known?”

“Well…” Martha’s snout scrunched up in thought as she recalled just how long she had known.

“…I would have to say, I knew about your wings a little after a week after you joined the circus.”

Ridge’s jaw formed an 'O' shape as he came to realize Martha had known he was an alicorn for months.

“You didn’t say anything to me? Why?”

“I just figured it wasn’t my place to confront you about it.”

Ridge’s mind was in torment now, Martha had known he was an alicorn all along, he was currently headed toward the city that would spell out his doom, and he was no closer to finding out who T.S. the mystery mare was. He was just a moment away from just crushing under the pressure of all this when a hoof touched his chest.

“Ridge, I’ve been your friend for a while now, and I can see that a lot is on your mind right now. Please, just talk to me I can help.”

Ridge decided that there was only one way out of this situation, and he knew it was going to involve telling Martha everything.

“Martha?... Do you promise not to tell anypony, about anything that you saw or heard?”

“Ridge I’ve kept it a secret this long, I’m not going to change that now.”

“O-okay, it all started with the accident…”

And so Ridge told Martha everything he knew about what had happened to him from the beginning accident, to Ridge helping him and even Dusty Scrolls. Martha patiently sat there listening to him, occasionally asking a question here and there, and after Ridge had explained everything he went over to the side of the balcony and sat down leaning against the railing.

“I’m sorry Martha its..its…I shouldn’t have kept it from you for so long.” Ridge was on the verge of tears; he felt relieved that he was finally able to talk to somepony about his situation, but he didn’t want to involve anypony else in hiding his secret.

Martha hated seeing Ridge like this and so she trotted over and sat down beside him and draped one of her wings over Ridge’s back.

“Ridge you did the best you could for your situation, don’t blame yourself.” Martha was doing her best to comfort the pony.

“I-I don’t blame myself for anything Martha.” Ridge knew what he was about to say was the very core of his problems. “I’m just scared of knowing nothing and knowing I can’t do anything to understand this situation... I’m just scared, I’m just scared.”

All he could do now was sob, after months of hiding behind this façade and the pain of having nopony to truly confide in since his whole ordeal had started. For several long minutes he cried onto Martha’s shoulder, letting out all the pain and anguish that his body had to give. Only after his body had no more tears left to give did he raise his head to look into Martha’s green eyes.

“Thank you Martha, I just needed to let that out. It just has been building up for so long, I just don’t know what to do.”

Martha looked back into Ridge’s own eyes and calmly stated.

“You just needed a close friend to talk to, that’s all.”

Martha moved closer to Ridge and slightly rolled to the side so she was partially lying against him so the heat could be shared between the two, staving off the cool night air. For several hours they just lay there in each other’s company talking about whatever came to mind and ever so slowly began to appreciate each other for what they truly were, great friends. As Ridge noticed the landscape transform into a more mountainous region he knew their time together was almost up, and Martha also noticed their time was short for the sun was just starting to tint the sky a lighter shade of the dark.

“We should probably go inside, it’s getting pretty early.” Ridge said.

Martha felt a twinge of pain knowing that they would have to end this moment of closeness, but she also knew that what he said was the truth.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Let’s walk back to your room together.”

As they left the air of the outdoors, they trotted their way back through the train in silence and all too soon came to stop at Ridge’s door. Slowly Ridge put a hoof under her chin, bringing her face up to eye level, and softly spoke,

“I can’t thank you enough for helping me tonight, you’re the closest thing to a best friend I could ask for.”

Martha moved her face closer to Ridge and wondered why she couldn’t look away.

“I-it’s no problem Ridge. Anytime you need help, don’t hesitate to come to me.”

Ridge was blushing knowing that he could count on Martha for anything, and that she was okay with what he was going through.

“I promise Martha, I will do exactly that if I ever need help again.”

Slowly their snouts came closer to each other, mere millimeters apart now.

“And Martha?”

“Yes, Ridge?”

“This is a special thank you, for being my friend.”

Quickly, Ridge moved his snout to the side and gave Martha a quick peck on the cheek causing her to flinch on instinct.

“Goodnight Martha.” And with that, Ridge turned around and retreated back into the darkness of his room. Martha just stood in silence, left to her own thought in the hallway. Slowly coming out of her stupor, she turned toward her room and began the long trot back to her bed.

“Goodnight…friend.”

She returned to her room, slowly opened the door, and stared into the lonely blackness that greeted her; and right before she closed her door for the last time, a lone tear fell from her face.

Canterlot in all its glory loomed in the distance, the train Ridge was aboard was a mere hour away from the regal city. Ridge sat atop the train watching the city loom in the distant, drawing closer with each passing moment. He knew he should be inside getting ready for the show tonight, but he couldn’t get his ponyself to move from his perch atop the train.

‘The Princesses will be there tonight. They will sense another alicorn from a mile away.’ Ridge thought.

He had absolutely no idea how he was going to hide himself in the presence of the princesses, let alone perform his routine across the tightrope. Even now he could just barely sense two powerful sources of magic in the direction of the city.

“Oh goddess what am I going to do.” He argued.

Thump.

“Huh?”

Thump, thump.

“What the buck is that?”

THUMP, THUMP, THUMP.

Ridge realized it was coming from below him inside his room, so in an amber flash he teleported to the inside of his room.

“Circus? Was that you doing all that banging?”

“YES! GUESSWHATIFOUNDINTHISBOOK!!!”

Circus yelled and then shoved a thick dusty book straight into Ridge’s face the moment he realized his friend was inside the train.

“I don’t know! Now calm down and get out of my personal space.” Ridge used his magic to gently push Circus backwards away from his snout.

“You know how the princesses can sense each other’s presence even though they can’t physically see each other?”

'Yea, that’s the whole reason I want to jump ship right now and run away.' Ridge thought to his ponyself.

“I guess.” He said to circus, wondering where he was going with this.

“Well I figured, after you fainted that one day, that I would do some reading on Alicorns my ponyself and I came across this…”

Circus then proceeded to open the book and pass it to Ridge with his telekinetic magic. As Ridge looked at the book he saw the page was on the how the Princesses could sense each other.

“It seems that their connections to the celestial bodies give off a certain magical ‘aura’ and because you don’t have a connection with anything like that, or so far as I know, your magic shouldn’t be as easy to spot.” Circus was beaming at his discovery of this trivial information; Ridge however was completely lost at how this could help him avoid the magical findings of the princesses.

“But, the princesses will still be able to sense my ‘aura’, so how does this help me?”

“Yes I thought of that, because your magic is weaker than theirs it should be easier to conceal by means of other magic. And

I also happen to have a book about changeling spells and how they transform into the ponies they replace, magical auras included.”

Ridge’s eyes widened at what his friend had said.

“You don’t mean…” Ridge tried to ask but Circus cut him off.

“No I don’t mean using the changeling spell, I mean using part of the spell. The part where they can conceal their own magical aura with the aura of the pony their replacing.” Circus said with a smile.

“Oh…” Ridge said in a sort of understanding kind of way.

“You don’t get it do you Ridge?” Circus asked.

“No, not really, can you just cut straight to the point please.” Circus nearly facehooved at how his friend wasn’t getting the importance of this information.

“The long story short is that you can enchant an item to use the modified changeling spell that I made, to conceal your own magical aura under a different aura. So the princesses won’t be able to find you...” Hopefully Ridge would finally understand why Circus was so excited at this information.

“You...You mean…”

Circus’s face turned into a grin as he realized that his friend had finally gotten why this was so important.

“Yes, Ridge you can hide right in plain sight, right under their snouts. But there’s one catch though, the item that you choose to enchant has to be worn at all times.”

“Okay, that shouldn’t be a problem let’s hurry up and do this before we get any closer to Canterlot.”

“Alright Ridge just calm down, no need to rush things, now I already had a small item picked out that you can use for the enchantment.”

“Okay, where is it?”

This is where Circus got his crazy mad pony smile that always made Ridge nervous.

'Buck'

Ridge thought, knowing nothing good came from that smile.

Screeeeeeeeee…., hissssssssss the trains wheels screamed as they came to stop at the central Canterlot train station. Steam billowed from underneath the platform, causing the doors of the train to be obscured from the sun for a moment. As the steam cleared, several ponies could be seen walking from within the bowels of the train. All the ponies marveled at the tall buildings and the grand architecture of the magnificent city. Ridge stepped through the steam and into the light of day, so he could finally get a look at the city everypony had practically been jumping for since they heard the news; the news that had caused him fear and anguish over the past few days, they were going to perform their circus for the princesses of Equestria. Ridge knew he should help the other performers unload the train, but first he wanted to look around the platform for any surprise ambushes from royal guards.

'Circus, if this doesn’t work I will personally end you.' He thought.

Now that Ridge had entered Canterlot he could easily pinpoint the magical energies of Celestia and Luna, Celestia was 50 meters to the north and about three stories up in the castle. She seemed to be moving from one room to another doing whatever sort of business she usually does during the day. Luna however was about the same distance away as her sister but she was in one of the castles uppermost floors and wasn’t moving, Ridge guessed that she was sleeping in preparation for the night and the circus. Tuning out both of their energies he turned his attention back to his saving grace, the item he and Circus had enchanted last night so he could walk through the streets without being found out. A small golden ring, this ring placed at the base of his horn would have matched his coat perfectly if it wasn’t for the luminescent quality it gave off in the sun.

“RIDGE!!!! GET YOUR LAZY PONY BUTT OVER HERE!!!” Yelled Circus from across the platform.

Ridge knew that arguing with Circus now wouldn’t be worth his weight in bits, considering he had just gave him one of the best gifts he could’ve asked for.

“ALRIGHT CIRCUS!!! I’M COMING!!”

Ridge left his thoughts to drift with the wind and went back to help with the unloading of the train.

“Did you get everything from your room Circus?” Ridge asked.

“Yes, now quit asking me that.”

Currently both of them were leaving the room the royal guard had assigned them while they were staying inside the castle, Ridge had objected this notion at first but after a talk with Circus saying that it was perfectly safe he had relented. Ridge was planning on taking the back route toward the common area where they were going to finish setting up the tent and main stage, but Circus had talked Ridge into going a more direct route that wouldn’t take as long.

“I swear Ridge you are on pins and needles, nothing is going to happen to you, just be yourself.” Circus was growing tired of Ridge doing absolutely everything he could to stall them from getting downstairs quickly.

“I’m just being cautious; I don’t want to get ourselves in trouble with the guard.” Ridge said trying to defend his ponyself.

“By sneaking around the castle!? Or how about lurking around like you hoof-napped a jewel? Loosen up Ridge, with that ring I can guarantee you’re in no danger.”

“I…just careful?” Ridge was losing his composure.

“Walk around like you just got a job performing for the princesses, be a stallion about it.”

“You sure?” Ridge asked.

“Buck yeah!  Come on we got a circus to prepare for.”

“Alright! Circus we can do this! We got this in the bag.” Ridge beamed.

Ridge felt better about the upcoming performance now that he had that little pep talk, and so they trotted down the corridor toward the stairs that would lead them to the main stage.

As they came out of the exit that marked the last flight of stairs Ridge froze in place at what feeling had washed over him. Circus didn’t see Ridge stop and got about two pony lengths ahead of him before he noticed that his friend had stopped.

“Everything alright?”

“Hallway….look left..”

Circus turned toward the hallway that Ridge was talking about and heard several voices talking, along with hooves that indicated several ponies were coming. One voice in particular came through that Circus knew immediately.

'Celestia'

The thought flashed through Circus’s mind and within the same instant he ran next to Ridge and whispered into his ear.

“Be a stallion…”

As her majesty her ponyself came around the corner, Ridge and Circus bowed in respect to her.

“Hello my little ponies, how are you this fine afternoon?” Celestia asked.

“Just fine your majesty, were just getting the final preparations done.” Circus said, knowing Ridge would be unable to respond.

“Excellent, may I trust that your group will be ready by tonight Mr. Ringer?”

“Yes, Princess we will all be ready, and we will not disappoint you in the least!” Ridge boasted.

Circus was shocked that Ridge was being calm and actually excited about talking with the princess.

“Oh, Is that so? Well I certainly am looking forward to tonight now. What is your name now Mr.?” asked the princess.

“My name is Ridge Mountain ma’am.” Ridge calmly stated.

“Well Mr. Ridge, I certainly applaud your enthusiasm; now if you will excuse me I must get my sister for tonight. Good day Gentlecolts.” After the princess had turned the corner at the end of the hallway, Circus walked up to Ridge and asked,

“How...?”

“Simple Circus, it’s like you said…”

Ridge trotted forward a little ways then turned back over his shoulder to look back at his friend.

“….Got to be a stallion.”

Ridge then ran off toward the main stage leaving Circus to just sit there confused as to how his friend just calmly talked to the princess like that.

Ridge peeked through the curtain separating the main stage and the back stage area.

'Full house tonight' he thought.

Ridge saw that the workers had set up Circus’s announcing stage below one of the main tent poles where he was supposed to begin his tight roping act. Ridge left the curtain and trotted a short distance to where Circus was getting everypony ready.

“Hey Circus, what is with the announcing booth? Why is it underneath the main pole?”

Circus turned away from the gaggle of ponies and leaned closer to Ridge’s ear so he could be heard above the noise.

“They needed all the seating space they could get. It was the best location they could put it. Why do you ask? It’s not in your way is it?”

“No it’s not, I always teleport to the landing. I was just curious is all. Okay, see you after the show get everypony in their place it’s about to start.”

Ridge left Circus to deal with his own devices, and he was about to trot outside onto the stage before he heard someone call for him.

“RIDGE!!!”

He turned around in time to see a brown blur tackle him to the ground.

“GACK!! Martha what are you doing!”

“Just wishing you good luck. Now be sure to break a hoof out there. From here on out we all are going straight to the top.” Martha jumped up and sat silently waiting for Ridge to respond.

“Geez Martha if you wanted to get my attention you could have just asked.”

“Yea…true. But Ridge where’s the fun in that.” Martha said.

“Alright, alright I get your point, thanks for he wishes. And good luck to you too.”

Ridge handed his hoof out to Martha, but she grabbed it and pulled Ridge into a rib crushing hug.

“Ack!…Matha!…can’t!…breathe!…saddle is crushing me…”

After Martha let go of Ridge she sat back and had a slight blush on her face.

“Hehe.. sorry Ridge. I forgot about the saddle on your back, anyway good luck.”

After Martha said that, she ran off back toward the box of snakes that she was supposed to be getting ready.

'Geez, what’s with her lately'. He thought. Ridge figured he could ponder the greater mysteries of her mind later, he had to get outside now the show was starting.

He turned toward the curtain, and with one last calming breath stepped through it and into the crowded tent. As Ridge looked at Circus’s stand he saw that he was about to announce him early so he wouldn’t have time to teleport up to the pole before he started talking, so he decided to wing it tonight and start from ground level for a change.

“WELCOME EVERYPONY, TO THE MAGICAL LAND OF CIRCUS’S CIRCUS!!!”

'Still a show off', he thought quickly.

“NOW TO BEGIN OUR MAGICAL EVENING I GIVE YOU THE TIGHTROPE WALKING RIDGE THE UNICORN!!!”

The spotlight pony faltered this time expecting him to already be on his pole, but quickly recovered seeing Ridge was on the ground.

'Alright let’s do this'

Ridge reared up on his hooves and gave a slow and purposeful bow. Ridge was rewarded with a round of applause that boosted his confidence. In a flash of amber Ridge teleported to his perch atop the high pole, the spotlight quickly found him and he basked in its warmth.

‘Alright let’s do this perfectly.’

Ridge put his first hoof first onto the wire and began the saying he used every time he began his act.

‘Alright your only one inch above the ground’

With precise and controlled movements Ridge began the painstakingly slow trot across the taught wire.

‘One inch…one inch…one inch’

Ridge had reached the halfway mark when for some unknown reason his mind decided to glance toward the stands, as he glanced toward the sea of ponies he saw everypony staring up at him with bated breath. As he looked to his left he could instantly find where the princesses were sitting Luna was sitting on her throne to the left, to her right on her own throne sat Celestia. Ridge was about to look away from the princesses when a flash of purple caused him to do a double take towards the princesses, sitting to the right of Celestia leaning against her side sat a mare with a purple coat and a mane that had a single pink stripe through it.

“T.S.”

This one thought was all that Ridge’s mind could think of, he had finally found her after all this time of searching, he had finally found the one and possible connection to his former life. As his mind worked in slow motion, his body betrayed him and it started moving forward of its own accord. The next step his hoof took without concentrating it landed on the wire a fraction of a hoof too far to the left, and it slipped.

The entire audience gasped.

Falling… he started falling toward the ground but before he could tumble past the wire he caught his ponyself by the waist.

‘BUCK,BUCK,BUCK,BUCK.’

‘Why did I look away, why couldn’t I just keep my stupid eyes closed.’ Ridge pleaded.

He knew there was only one way out of this situation he would have to fly down if he wanted to save himself. He quickly moved one hoof to remove the saddle that was tied around his body, but before he could fully undo it he realized that the buckle was the one item holding his body on the wire.

Quick and fast was what needed to be done he surmised.

So he pulled the saddle free and sent it down toward the earth, but this also caused his body to start its decent as well. He saw the wire sail past his face, and as it did so it caught in the crook between his forehead and his horn. The momentum of his body caused the wire to grasp the ring and pull it up and over the apex of his horn and head.

Somepony screamed in the audience.

Momentarily panicking his hooves found their way to the knot that held the magic cloth in place, moving with ludicrous speed he managed to unwind the knot enough to where the cloth started to flap open. His time was up, only several ponies high from the ground Ridge sprang his wings out in desperation trying to avoid killing his ponyself on the ground. His left wing opened fully and it seemed that he was going to be able to pull out of the fall, but the blanket held his right wing partially closed. With only one wing fully open, it caught the air and caused his body to begin a tumble roll toward the ground.

As his body collided with the earth he hit at an angle causing his ponyself to start rolling over, and as his body tumbled he winced in pain as his wings were folded back at weird angels. After tumbling side over side for what felt like eternity he felt himself come to rest against one of the walls that separated the circles inside the ring. He knew he was still alive because his wings were on fire and his body was being pumped full of adrenaline. That’s when he felt the stares, he immediately jumped up to his hooves and darted his gaze back toward the crowd and immediately regretted it. Everypony was stunned silent; his gaze came to rest on the two princesses one of which had the look of utter shock shared by almost every pony in the tent. But Celestia didn’t, she had this small knowing smile across her face.

Ridge didn’t care anymore, all he could thank of right now was his secret was out, and he had to get away.

“Buck.” Was his response.

And then he ran for the exit.