A Hole To Fill

Chapter 10

  When Char opened his eyes the cottage was dark. He stood and walked over to the window. The moon was high in the night sky so it must have been around midnight. He walked into the kitchen area and opened a cabinet revealing a large amount of rations. He grabbed one and started to eat. Bread and jerky what a great meal, a knock at the door surprised him. He walked over to the door and opened it on the other side was Luna. “Luna? What do you want?”

“Have you seen sister? I haven’t seen her all night.”

“Wait how did you know I was awake?”

“I went to visit you but the doctors said sister took you home. So when she didn’t come home I came here.”

“Are you sure she isn’t in the castle?”

“Her room was locked but the guards said she wasn’t in their when they broke the door down.” He nodded and walked out of his cottage.

“Take me to the castle. Wait you can teleport us there right?” She nodded and her horn started to glow the same effect happened and they appeared in the castle library. He walked out of the library up to Celestia’s room the door was still missing. He walked into the room. It was a mess books lay scattered across the floor. She was here she must have came in without anyone noticing. A bottle sat on the floor, the label read it as some sort of alcohol. She was drunk when she came here too great. He walked into a small bathroom bile was spewed all over. “Damn…” He covered his nose with his arm at the stench. He turned back and continued to search the room. Nothing of use or any kinds of hints to the whereabouts of Celestia, he left the room and went back to the library. Luna looked up from a small table, “Char come here you may want to look at this!” Char walked over and looked down at the books. They were old spell books from what Char could tell. He noticed odd markings all over them. “Uh…Luna I can’t read Equish.”

“The spell on this page is a transformation spell it can turn other beings into ponies.”

Char immediately looked to Luna, “Why the hell would she have something like this?” He started to mumble to himself. Luna looked at him with confusion. He walked out of the library and down to the courtyards. He looked to the mountains, there was an odd glow emanating from them…Wait is that smoke? His eyes went wide when he saw the glow and the smoke coming from the direction of his cottage. “LUNA!” She appeared next to him from the balconies above, “What?”

“Get us to my cottage now!” Her horn lit up.

“Why?”

“Just do it!” Effect of teleportation and they appeared in front of the burning cottage. The flames nicked at Luna and Char causing Luna to jump back with a yelp. “Dammit!” Char was looking at the ground there was a picture with a message.

We have Celestia and say goodbye to Luna.

Char picked up the letter and looked to Luna. “Luna get help…Tell Twilight Sparkle about everything that happened. I’m gonna save Celestia.”

“You know where she is!?” Suddenly he disappeared in a flash of purple smoke. Luna scowled and took to the air. A teleportation spell with the caster not being next to him, they must have been watching us she thought as she flew back to Canterlot.

When Char reappeared he was surrounded by ponies all of them armed. He raised his hands, “This time I don’t have any explosives I promise.” He gave them a sly smile as some of them shudder. Some of them had to have seen the explosion or at least the rubble.

“So you’re the infamous Joesph Char?” A voice came from behind all the ponies. They parted slightly and a unicorn walked into the circle.

“Déjà vu” Char muttered but the unicorn continued as if he said nothing.

“I am Commander Stormfront. As you can tell my men and I have captured your princess and now you. We plan on releasing her…if you’re willing to cooperate.” He gave a sadistic smile.

“Cooperate with what?”

“You will be told later so will you cooperate?”

“Looks like I don’t have a choice.”

“Alright throw him in with the Princess.” Two ponies came from behind Char and poke him with their guns.

“Get moving.” He started to walk and the group started to dissipate. The two guards lead him through the halls to a door made of steel. One opened it and the other led him in. Celestia was lying in the corner when she heard the door open and saw the guard lead Char in. She looked at him in surprise but didn’t move. The guard opened the gate and Char walked into the cell. When the gate shut and the guards left the room he rushed over to Celestia kneeling next to her. “Celestia?” Her eyes were closed but they slowly opened. “Oh…Hey Char when did you get here?” He let out a slight chuckle.

“You must be on one hell of a hangover.” He sat down next to her and she closed her eyes again. He slowly descended into deep thought. What the hell am I going to do? He looked to Celestia and he heard her breathing. “At least I found you…”

Luna on the other hand was explaining everything that happened to the Elements and a few of their children. “Then he was teleported away and then I came here.”

“We have to help him!” Most of the ponies seemed to have squealed those words. The ponies looked to Luna.

“What?”

“Um we thought you would have had an idea…” Luna shook her head.

“I don’t best thing I can think of right now is we call the guards and find them.” Suddenly Luna let out a large yawn, “But I think it would be best if we all got some rest.” The ponies all nodded and left to get some sleep.

When morning came, the guards were scrambling Topaz was yelling at a large group of them to get their asses in gear.

“Come on move it! We got a princess to save!” The guards finally got everything ready and Topaz looked to Luna who was watching.

“Ma’am we are ready to go!” He saluted. Luna looked to the mountains, “Any word from the pegasi teams?”

“No Ma’am.” Luna sighed and continued to stare at the mountains. Soon Twilight Sparkle and the Elements showed up with Keyes.

“Why is he here?” Twilight asked from the group of guards.

“Because we can use all the help we can get that and he knows how to use a gun.” Keyes brought the pistol Char had given him during the attack.

“Alright Twilight do you think you can find him with that spell you told me about?” Twilight Sparkle nodded and her horn started to glow. After a few moments her horn dimmed. “I found him they have him and Celestia locked up in another compound hidden deep in the mountains. Is everypony ready?”

Back in the cell…Celestia’s eyes opened and she shook her head. “Where am I?” When she saw the bars she instantly remembered everything. She looked to her left and saw Char sitting there his head cocked to one side asleep. “Well at least he found me…” She settled back into the corner hoping Char would have a plan. She leaned over and nuzzled his chest. His eyes slowly opened and he noticed Celestia nuzzling him.

“Um…Mind telling me what you’re doing?” She looked up at him as if she didn't expect him to wake up.

"Um..." She brought her head away from him and he stood.

"Celestia? What was with the spell about turning other beings into a pony form?"

"I was just looking into it."

"Bullshit you and I both know that what you just said is utter bullshit. Tell me the truth."

"I was thinking about turning you into a pony..." He started to respond but Celestia cut him off by continuing, "But that was before you let yourself get shot by Rainbow Dash and you were being accepted a little bit more." Char glared at her for a few moments then let his face relax.

"Alright I guess that would have helped...I would have still been the same person, hell I think they'd be more outraged if you did that." He chuckled. She looked at him smiling in her head sighing in relief that he believed her and that he didn't find out about her feelings. She still beat herself up on the fact she even thought she had feelings for him. He was a soldier he could die at anytime and it would be heart breaking. No she didn't give a damn about that she could care less if he died as long as she got to spend time with him and see him happy unlike his father...Maybe this is what this was, trying to make him happy and make up for her so called failure to Frank.

“So what?”

“What are you going to do?”

“Honestly Celestia I don’t have any way out but give in to their demands. Let’s just hope they let you free.” Suddenly they heard shouts and the guards came in. “You two come one it seems somepony found us.” Char shot Celestia a look and a small smile. Well time to break free. As they were lead out the door Char grabbed the first guard and broke his neck. The second guard started to react but Celestia bucked him into the wall. They heard a quick and loud snap. “Alright let’s get going.” Char grabbed one of the two rifles and lead the way. They stopped for a second in a side room to catch their breath after wandering aimlessly for a good ten minutes. Char checked his boot his knife was still there. “So what are we going to do?”

“We need to get outside and to the rescue team.” Celestia nodded and Char stood taking a deep breath. He opened the door and they started through the halls again.

Luna and the Royal Guards were outside fighting. Well the guards were fighting Luna sat back with the Elements. Topaz was shouting orders to the guards when a small flash erupted from across the yard a rocket whizzed past his head and impacted into the hill showering dirt everywhere, “Fuck!” He dived back down as more bullets whizzed over him.

Celestia and Char continued down the halls but finally found what they were looking for a stairwell. Char went down first rifle up and ready. They were on the third floor when he saw nopony waiting for them they ran down the last flight of stairs and into the halls of the first floor. They ran and finally ended up in a large entryway a set of double doors at the far end. “Seems easy…”

“Quite to easy in fact.” The pony who was talking with Char before stepped out of the shadows with a few of his men. “Seems we have to kill you.” His guards dropped each with a few rounds in them.

Char dropped his rifle, “There you are no more hiding behind guards eh?” Char reached for his knife in his boot and the pony pulled a knife seemingly out of nowhere. They slowly closed in on each other and the pony lunged at Char. The pony brought his knife down but Char rolled out of the way. Char knew that the pony had a speed advantage and range with his magic but Char had experience. Char decides to go on the offensive after the pony lunged at him a few more times, when the pony lunged at Char he dropped down and slide under the pony. The pony reacted but was still nicked by Char’s blade. Blood slowly oozed out of the wound. Soon they end up in a deadlock in the middle of the room their blades held against each other. Each side pushed with all their might. Char’s face was covered in sweat, he couldn’t keep this up but neither could the pony it was a matter of who gives in first and that would probably be Char. He looked to Celestia who was standing off to the side unable to do anything watching with fear in her eyes. Char looked at her and smiled letting his knife go. The pony pushed forward stabbing his knife into Char’s chest. Celestia’s eyes went wide and her horn immediately started to glow as she grabbed Char’s knife out of the air and used it to stab the pony in the throat. She brought it all the way across in her rage a slit across his throat appeared blood poured and he fell. She ran to Char who was coughing a small bit of blood was spilling out of the side of his mouth. The doors burst open and the Royal Guards rushed in. Topaz came in first seeing Celestia over Char’s body he ran over concern across his face. “What the hell happened?” He asked Celestia as the few medics that came with the team ran over to Char.

“He was fighting…him…” She quickly looked to the dead pony, “They got into a deadlock and he just dropped his knife allowing him to stab him and I must have grabbed the knife and killed him.” Topaz looked to the body which was now lying in a rather large pool of blood. “You killed him…? Are you gonna be ok?” Celestia looked at him with a confused look.

“Why would something be wrong?”

“You killed a pony don’t you feel anything?” Celestia sighed.

“This isn’t the first time I’ve dealt with death Topaz you’ve only been alive for fifty years…” Her voice trailed off as they carried Char out of the room. The Elements walked in as they carried him out, “Princess you ok?”

“Sister!” Luna came running in and hugged her sister.

“I’m fine Luna calm down.” Luna let her go and stepped back. “Now I just want to go back to Canterlot and get some rest. Twilight Sparkle you and your friends can go home as well no need to stay here. Topaz?”

“Yes Ma’am?”

“I want this place cleared out and everything you confiscate that is human bring it back to Canterlot. Arrest all the ponies who are alive in this place.” She walked out of the room.

“Yes Ma’am!” Topaz shouted to the guards and they went deeper into the main building. Twilight Sparkle and the Elements looked to Luna once again. “So…what did you need us for?”

“I don’t know why except to help find Char and Celestia…”

“Maybe you just wanted to have some friends around you?” Luna turned to see Fluttershy had spoken her voice was soft.

“Yes I do believe that might have been it. It’s hard to get over all of this.”