A Promise Not Forgotten

Dan:

I walked out of the dungeon and into the main barracks. Iron Hoof was standing guard at the door to the jail.

“Ya know, you really should hit the gym. You need to get back into shape,” Iron Hoof said.

I stopped and turned back around, “Oh really? Why, you expecting something?”

“I have a hunch, talk to Vis, he’ll explain more,” He said after making sure nopony was listening.

“Yeah, thanks. Hey on another note, we need to get Aidan out of here,” I said pointing a thumb back to the prison.

“And how would you go about doing that?” He asked raising an eyebrow.

I shrugged, “Meh, I don’t know, first thing’s first: talk to Celestia.”

“I assume that you need an advisor to your campaign?” Iron Hoof said.

“What you don’t like Aidan being in there?” I asked with a smirk.

“Nah, I just hate standing guard. Someone less able should do it,” Iron Hoof said as he started out the barracks.

We walked together through the halls of the castle. For six months the castle itself really hadn’t changed much. Nothing compared to the city outside.

“So, why is it that Aidan needs to get out of there?” Iron Hoof asked as we walked.

“He didn’t do anything to get in there, well –he- didn’t,” I answered.

“How will you convince the public?” He asked.

“Maybe the Elements could lend a helping hoof,” I said.

“Could be worth a shot. Whatever you do, you have my vouch,” Iron Hoof said as I looked out the passing windows at the giant towers. “I’ll get as many guards on my side as I can.”

“Thanks,” I said.

We met the large double doors to the throne room. I opened them to see Celestia sitting on the throne doing some paperwork. I guess that job isn’t so amazing after all. Celestia looked up from the large stack of papers and smiled. “Hello Dan.”

“Hey, Celestia, we need to talk,” I said, hoping to skip to the point.

Her smile faded and was replaced by a look of worry, “What’s wrong?” She asked.

“Celestia,” I said walking up the stairs and sitting on the top step, “What do you think about Aidan?” I asked.

Her face again changed to a look of confusion, “What do you mean?”

“I’m pretty sure you know what I mean,” I said raising an eyebrow, “I heard your little chat when he came back.”

The Princess of the Day blushed a little, “Oh, that…”

“Yeah, that,” I said leaning back.

“Well,” Celestia started as she levitated the paperwork away, “I don’t know what to think anymore. He’s just so… different now, before he was protective of us, and would never hurt us, but now…”

“Celestia, Aidan only did what he did because of Prophet. Do you really think he would do that?” I asked.

Celestia looked down and a look of sadness covered her face, “Of course not, he just…” Celestia continued to look down whether out of sadness or guilt I don’t know. Her face straightened when she realized what I was getting at, “We can’t take any chances, and Aidan will stay in the prison until further notice.”

I let out a sigh, “Celestia, do you really think that being alone in a prison cell will help his state of mind? Even I can see that he needs somepony.”

“Regardless, Aidan needs to be detained, it is for the safety of Equestria,” She said sternly.

“Heh, should have figured,” I said disappointedly as I walked down the steps and down the hall. I looked back before leaving only to see Celestia sitting on the throne starring daggers at me. Too bad, this could have been easy.

Colin:

The past six months have been rather productive despite the events that unfolded. Aidan is in the prison ‘to please the public’ to me it seems that she has some unresolved issues. Oh well, it’s not my business to be poking around in.

I spent most of my time working on the rudimentary plans for machines. Needless to say, it hasn’t worked out very well. Despite my knowledge of how machines work, I still have trouble getting them to work. Not saying Aidan is better than me at this, but he really could help. I don’t know if Dan would be of any use, but he is wrapped up in the whole coma thing.

Last I heard he was rallying up some ‘Free Aidan’ campaign. Seems like a waste of time. Most of the ponies here still fear or hate Aidan; none of them really love him except for that cult, which still creeps me out. Little is known about their goal, but I do know that it isn’t good. With their constant efforts to sabotage Celestia’s rule and free Aidan, I assume that many will jump on the opportunity to get him out. They might be a little more than pissed to find out that Aidan doesn’t want to end Celestia’s reign, let alone hurt her.

Recently I have been working on advanced defenses for the city. Turns out that Aidan forcing me to watch the Wedding in Canterlot episode paid off; the crystals beneath the castle not only are insanely strong, but also work as magic amplifiers. When a spell is shot through a crystal –reshaped into a lens- it is magnified tenfold. Simple fireworks turned into lethal explosives. One accident was all it took to find that out, I really am lucky I created that regeneration spell. Let’s just say that the Arcanum need to be, well, rebuilt.

The crystals are to be mounted on the walls as stationary defense turrets. Unicorns would operate them if need be. Prophet’s defeat and subsequent promise to return was unnerving to the guard, which is why I was put to work in the first place. Aside from odd jobs around the city, and the occasional Ponyville visit, I didn’t have much going on, so it was a no-brainer.

Equestria is actually more void of technology than I had originally anticipated, despite the architectural advances they made. With magic to aid them in construction, and countless other tasks they never spent much time on creating a useless technology. Recently I made the discovery that Equestria’s trains were created by Prophet himself, with the help of Mendax.

The whole idea of a Prophet-Mendax friendship now seems far-fetched. From what I have researched Prophet treated Mendax like dirt, but I suppose that’s what best friends do. Aidan and I used to do the same thing back on Earth. I am actually going to go visit Aidan, I had better go see if Dan wanted to go.

Dan:

I walked through the hallways with one thing on my mind: Luna. With her title as princess she might be able to persuade a few ponies to join my cause, anything to get Aidan out of that hole. It should be about noon by now. I really hate waking Luna like this, she should really be asleep now, being princess of the night and whatnot. The real question crossed my mind as I walked: How was I even going to get her on my side?

As I approached the double doors leading to Luna’s private quarters I noticed the two guards wearing dark armor. They must be the night guard, makes the most sense anyway. “Hey, I need to talk with Luna real quick, ya mind?” I asked the guard on the right.

The Pegasus guard on the left spoke up quickly, “Princess Luna is not to be disturbed during the day.” She spoke without breaking his gaze at nothing.

“Oh really?” I asked crossing my arms.

“Yes, sir,” The guard on the right said with the same stare as the one on the left. “You will have to come back later, sir.”

There we go! Gettin’ a little respect! ‘Bout time these guards found out who I am. “And what’s stopping me?” I asked with a grin.

The pegasus on the left broke her gaze at nothing and looked at me, “What are you implying?” She asked with narrowed eyes.

“Wana find out?” I said with a smirk.

The guard growled in response and got ready to charge when the door opened, “What in Equestria is going on out here?” a tired Luna asked. I stood with a smile as she noticed the guard in charging position. “There’s no need for that, Rain Dasher. Please, Dan, come in.” I walked into the room after shooting a look at Rain Dasher. She grunted as she returned to looking at absolutely nothing when I walked into the room.

I walked into the room and the doors shut behind me. “Why are you here at this hour, Dan?” Luna asked rubbing her eyes with a hoof; don’t ask me how that’s possible.

“I need some help, actually,” I said as I took another step into her room. It was a big open room, but surprisingly small compared to the guest rooms we were given. This had a more, I don’t know, permanent feeling. Being in hotel rooms makes me feel like we are going to leave. While that isn’t the case, it still is a weird feeling. Come to think of it, we don’t really have a home.

“Are you ok?” Luna asked, noticing my absentmindedness.

“What? Oh, yeah. I just came here to talk about Aidan,” I said a little embarrassed that I zoned out like that. I don’t really do that often, it’s more of an Aidan thing to do.

“What about him?” Luna asked raising an eyebrow as she sat on the edge of her bed. That old way of speaking is gone now; she must have ironed out the kinks while we were out.

“Well, I assume you know that he is in jail?” I asked. Luna nodded tiredly in response. “Well, he doesn’t deserve to be in there. He should be out here with us.” I said with my tone growing softer with each word.

“Dan, you know that the public wouldn’t like that one bit.” Luna said.

“Damn it! I know!” I said angrily. “I just want more for him. First he is possessed, and then shunned by the whole world for something he didn’t do! It just isn’t right,” I said as I sat down on the bed next to her.

“Dan, we all have our reasons for keeping him in there,” She started.

“I know why he should be in there; I just don’t want him there. Luna, Prophet isn’t in him anymore. He is different now,” I said as I looked to the princess.

“I know, Dan, but some ponies just won’t accept that,” She said.

“Grrh, why do you have to care about them so much? Don’t you care about Aidan?” I asked.

“Of course I do,” Luna said as she down.

“Don’t you miss those little talks?” I asked. I hated doing this to Luna, but I have to get Aidan out.

Luna looked up to me, “More than anything. Dan you don’t understand.” She said as she started crying. Ugh, why do I have to do this to ponies? “He was the only one who understood,” I buried my face in my hands in frustration. “The only one who cared enough to talk to me.”

“I care, Luna,” I said as I sat up and looked her in the eyes. “But right now, Aidan needs us. Please, help me get him out of there.”

Luna looked away as she dried her eyes, “Have you talked to my sister?”

“Yeah, she wants to keep him in there.”

Luna stood up with a determined look on her face, “Then we don’t need her. Let’s go,” She said as he took a step forward and tripped.

“Jeez,” I said as I shot forward and caught her. “You can’t go out like this! Get some rest first. Come get me when you’re ready.”

“But won’t you be asleep by then?” She asked still being held.

“Don’t worry, I was a security guard back on Earth, I worked the night shift. I can handle a little sleep deprivation,” I said.

“Uhh, Dan, want to put me down now?” She asked with a smile.

“Right,” I said quickly as I set her down, “Sorry.”

Luna giggled, “Thanks, Dan. And…” She said as she trailed off a little.

“What?” I asked as I started for the door.

“Nothing. I’ll come get you later,” She said nervously.

That was weird.

“OI!” Colin said as I was walking down the steps from Luna’s room. “I’m gonna go see Aidan, wana come?”

I let out a sigh as I scratched the back of my head, “Why not, I got some spare time.”