Essence of Life

Canterlot Castle, Grand Hall, 1:30 Luna Clock Time

"...And so i couldn't get in...." Red Shift finished his speech, He looked up to the princesses for their judgement and made eye contact, he then quickly looked back at the ground, The normal and annual celebration came to a end, the happy atmosphere was replaced by a much less happy emotion, Only the princesses and the all members of the FBAA Were there,

"This is disappointing news...." Luna said, After listening to the red Pegasus

"It is, You failed to capture the thief" Celestia said, "This would cause for you to be fired from your position"

Red Shift looked up to the rulers, "But that is for Royal Guards, and you are far from one, You and your friend here have one last chance, Do not fail us or this will hang upon you" She finished

"He is still at the club, He has a appointment at the train station in 30 minutes, Blue Harmony you will go to the Train Station" Luna said, Her horned glowed and the room went bright, Soon Blue Harmony wasn't where he was, She turned to Red Shift and her horned glowed, but with a delay

"Do not fail us, Failure will mean more than shame" She Said Soon a last surge of magic happened and Red Shift was not where he was

Club Pound, 1:35 Luna Clock Time

Luckily the bright light did not transfer to the club, Even if it did most ponies will mistake it as part of the on going concert, Red Shift looked around, he saw ponies dancing(Or at least he thought it was dancing) to the ground-shaking music, He looked up and saw RealX he was a fan of him but now his job mattered more than his likes

He searched around for a pure white earth pony and saw one quickly sitting at the bar, he quickly rushed to catch the culprit and grabbed his bright blue mane

"Hey get your Hoof's off of me!" A mare's voice yelled out, Quickly loosening his grasp allowing the wronged mare to turn around

"The heck are you doing!!!" Vinyl Scratched yelled, throwing her drink at Red Shift

"I'M SORRY! i mistaken you for somepony else..." he said, whipping away the liquid from his face, the sting of alcohol burned some parts of his eye causing him to hold onto his temple

"Don't mistake me again...." She said turning around to the bartender who was cleaning a glass encased in his magic aura "Another one please...." She rested her hooves onto the surface

"I think you had one to many, Miss" The Bartender Said, giving a concern look "I can call a cab if you like"

"I don't need a cab, Get me another drink!" She said, slamming one of her empty glasses into the surface, a red hoof appeared on her cup-hoof

"You've had one to much miss" Red Shift said

"I have not!,Go mistake other ponies for ponies they aren't!" She said turning to Red Shift who was seated to her right, He sighed and looked down and then backed up, he saw a white pony in the background he looked closer

Vinyl took note of this and looked behind her, she saw WhiteStar at the end of the bar, She used her magic to put on her glasses

"He was here the entire time?" She said, taking a sip of her new drink

"I guess so...." Red Shift said, getting out of his seat and walking to the culprit

He finally reached WhiteStar, he was checking all of his things and paid the busy bartender a few bits and went for the back exit, the drink seemed to ease his mind only a bit

"Hey" Red Shift said, Startling the Archaeologist

"Oh.......Heeeeeeey" WhiteStar said, opening the door very slowly and staring the FBAA Agent in the eyes

"You aren't leaving Canterlot with it you know..."

"A Stallion can try....Maybe i'll even surprise you"

"I will make sure-" Red shift was interrupted by Ear-Splitting sound of a fire alarm, Louder than the dubstep that was playing water poured down from the high roof and drenched the musician and his set of electronic instruments

RedShft looked back at the chaos and was soon pushed away from the door, making the only thing between him and the thief about 100 ponies rushing to safety from the ensuring rain

He ran into the crowd pushing everypony away in hopes of getting to the white pony, he then remembered he has wings and went up for a bird's eye view

He saw a white blur rushing down streets to the Station, He could not allow the chance of him getting to the train, He landed infront of WhiteStar, Hearing a crack, being happy it wasn't his bones but the stone street

He saw the thief pull out this magic glowing orb, it then wiggled a bit and released a small blade, Red Shift never been in armed combat but he better learn quickly

Instead of WhiteStar lunging at him with his orb-knife he cut himself

Red Shift was silent, he never even heard of a pony cutting himself let alone during a fight

He quickly saw the reason as a doppelganger appeared next to him,He was stunned and had to rub his eyes

The two of them were still there, One holding the orb knife, The knife retracted into the orb, the other in a battle stance, one of them quickly rushed pasted Red Shift, causing him to look back and quickly fall to the cold stone ground by a kick to the head

He was dazed for a few seconds and quickly got up in a fighting stance

The clone he was looking at seemed to flicker ever so often, he didn't know what it meant but it was probably something that can help him he sent a barrage of punches at the clone, all of them falling through the hologram

he quickly turned around to throw another punch but he was face to face with a hoof, but his muscles were already in motion and threw a punch for it's face, this caused the hologram to flicker for a quick second, Red Shift's Punch went threw like it was air but the hologram's punch also went through

Red Shift was amazed and got ready for another punch by the hologram, It came and he punched at the hoof, Once again dealing no damage to either party, he didn't harm the clone but he found a way not to get hurt

They went on trading non-collective punches, like a stallion and his shadow fighting, they seemed to mimic each other fighting style until they were almost identical and in a loop. then something happened

In the midst of fighting and copying each other during a punch it connected with the hologram, it was a small jerk and then it went through but Red Shift surely felt the surge of feeling in his hand of connecting to a solid object, Either the hologram was getting "Tired" Or it was nearing to be destroyed

It didn't happened again the next time he sent a mirror punch, it just passed through, he tried to remember what he did differently, nothing, he did the exact same thing the past 30 times, nothing different, the hologram was messing up and getting "Sloppy"

He kept trading blows with the hologram, he didn't understand the reports of the guards when they said the hologram was hard, Maybe they were fighting the real one? He didn't know, maybe he was different that the grunt guards....

He wondered how his friend was doing, he didn't know how many clones the thief could make, maybe one, maybe one hundred,

He noticed as the hologram started to flicker more often, it went from from a flicker every ten to fifteen seconds to every three, he wondered if it was because of him connecting a punch

The fight seemed to have no end, Red Shift did not have another moment where he was able to connect a real punch to the Hologram Clone, But the Hologram Clone did have chances to hit Red Shift, He was getting tired, feeling pain in various joints and all over his face, His mimicking of the Clone seemed to be delayed from the pain that he was feeling, allowing him to get hit again, Making him delay his attacks longer

Red Shift stopped fighting for a second and leaped back to get some ground between him and the Hologram Clone

"What are you"He plainly said, breathing heavily, trying to regain some of his energy before his next skirmish

The Hologram looked at him with his fake eyes, other than the dust on his white outfit he was perfectly fine, the same could not be said for Red Shift, he had dirt, scratches and blood almost all over the front part of his body,

His mouth did not move, only his legs to finish the fight, Red Shift didn't think it though and threw a punch instead of dodging and...... it connected! he sent a barrage of punches with his new found adrenaline, each of them connecting and not going through the non-existent body

Finally the Hologram began flickering more often, from three seconds to half of one, and then......light, a beacon of light rose from where he was and then exploded, leaving only Red Shift with temporary blindness

He stayed there for a second to regain his strength, he didn't know how to feel after defeating a hologram who nearly beat him Ecstatic? No........not that happy, he felt no emotion really, the Princess words wanted the real thief, not a dead fake one

He looked around to see if the fallen foe had dropped anything,

Nothing, Not that he really expected a hologram to carry real items, The only remains of the battle was the wounds on his body and the crater in the street, He continued to the Train Station to catch up with WhiteStar, He didn't know how much time he had to get him before he reached Blue Harmony, he might pull the same trick and Blue Harmony not might be able to fend them both off

He extended his wings and sent a wave of pain through his body, bouncing off every point and sending another surge, the hologram must have hit more to his wings that he must have though, it's only going to be walking now

So he walked, Even walking sent small bits of pain around his legs but it was better than flying

The Moon seemed to hang over him as if he was being watched, which he was, the princess were looking through their telescopes to find the thief, but finding a small dot in the middle of the largest town in all of Equstria proved to be much more complicated than anything they have done,

He was somewhere, Celestia, Luna,RedShift,Blue Harmony, all four knew he was still in the city, the train station was the only way in and out of the city, White Star knew it as well, He knew that at least three people where trying to stop him, And he was about to meet the fourth, He wondered if the hologram beat the Pegasus, Which he had no doubts it took out a group of Royal Guards he knew it would be able to take out some normal pony

How Wrong He Was