The Immortal's Game

Chapters

Chapter 2: Contingency
Chapter 3: Labyrinth
Chapter 4: Allies
Chapter 5: Mindsets
Chapter 6: Chance
Chapter 7: Crypts
Chapter 8: Mending
Chapter 10: Showdown
Chapter 1: Escape
Chapter 9: Past

Chapter 2: Contingency

Chapter 2: Contingency plan

It had been a little under a week since I had arrived in Appleloosa, albeit my arrival was an accident. I had taken up residence in a small inn, and had used a fake name to cover up me being there. The town itself is quiet enough that I think that I had escaped attention. The only drawback was that the racial blend was a bit askew with the general population being earth ponies. There was a small bar on the ground floor of the building, and usually I just went down there to listen in on what was happening. Aside from the news of Celestia’s personal apprentice being administered to a hospital for mental trauma, not much had been happening.

I sighed in my bed, reflecting on the events on the train. Maybe I overdid it with the illusion? I know I acted quickly but she should have recovered by now. What exactly did she see? Part of my magic was to create base parameters. However, the subject it was used on created the entire event in their heads. I could, for example, make a pony have an illusion of making and then eating a sandwich. However, they would create a sandwich that they designed and eat it the way they chose to. It was so that they could think the events were actually happening. If something were wrong, like if they put lettuce on it but they never ate a sandwich with it but I had assumed they did, the spell could shatter itself. Thats why I let ponies make their own choices in those illusions.

The only reason that Celestia had not put out a bounty for me yet was because if somepony wanted to know exactly who they were dealing with, they would look for me in records. If they did that they would see that “Dream Walker “ was well over 200 years old. I had changed my name after faking my own death in Zebrica (long story, involving a noble girl, a chef and a plot to invade Canterlot). If they dug further they would find out about my immortality and the like. Some unicorns were good enough with magic to extend their lives twofold, so seeing a 200 year old unicorn would be odd, but not impossible.

I sighed as I thought about what to do from here. I couldn’t fake my death again, Celestia already knew that trick. About now she would have likely set up other spies in outside countries as to alert her to my presence and she was strong enough in magic catch me after that. I figured that I might as well go down to the bar to see if there were any updates, although I didn’t hope for much since this town was a bit slow on news.

I walked down the steps to the bar. The barkeep saw me first. “Hello, Dr. Glass. Will you be having hot chocolate again today?” I nodded in response to his question. I had been using the cover name of “Looking Glass” since my arrival. My cover was being a psychiatrist, and I had proven it when I made a pompous earth pony that had used some rather unsavory terms regarding unicorns cry. It really is a wonder what you can tell by forcing your way into somepony’s mind and rooting through their fears.

The bartender had grown used to me getting hot chocolate, as odd as it was for a grown stallion to be asking for it. The first time I had asked he gave me a look of confusion, asking whether I had a foal with me or not. I had explained that it brought me back to good times, and he accepted that. There is actually a side effect to becoming immortal. Those who become immortal generally have a craving for something they have had in the past that made them feel joy. For me it was hot chocolate, for Celestia it was cake. I never got a chance to learn what Luna’s addiction was to, since I generally avoided her when she had returned and I had come into my seat after she had originally been banished.

I listened in on the conversations around me, nothing really caught my attention until I heard something that concerned me greatly.

“Hey, did you hear? There’s that famous group of bounty hunters in town. You know, the golden horns? I hear they’re working for Celestia on something big right now. If it’s anything like the Scarlet Edge incident, I would hate for them to find their target here...”

“Seriously? I hear they leveled a whole block when they went after him. Man, if they’re here now that can’t be good for us. I just got done with paying off my loan.”

This was not anything good for me. The golden horns were notorious for their work, and the property damage they caused as well. They were composed of 5 unicorns, each specializing in a different form of combat magic. Their leader, whom they got their name from, Golden Stone was capable of using high level earth based magic. It was speculated if he got angry enough he could probably cause a sizable earthquake. The other members weren't as strong but they could use fire, ice, and wind. The fifth member had never shown what he could do, so it was a good chance that he could be the largest threat to me. He had only ever been seen using hoof to hoof combat, but strangely he was the one with the most headcounts on him.

I got up and decided to head out. If they were here then that meant that they were going to find me eventually, but I wanted to minimize the casualties by drawing them away from the town. If I had to fight them then I wanted it to be on my terms. Why the hell does it always have to be a unicorn? Honestly, Celestia has no taste in pawns.

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Twilight was laying in her hospital bed in Canterlot. After her fight with Walker on the train, she been stuck in a sort of semi-coma filled with nightmares. She thought about what Walker had said. “Thats what she said? She wants my head on a pike, Twilight. If you dragged my sorry flank back there I would only be executed.” She thought to herself for a moment. That doesn’t sound like the Celestia I knew. And Walker managed to take me down so easily. The Doctor came in shortly after she had woken up and explained what Walker had done to her. I was incapacitated, but he could have used magic to kill me. He was using lightning type magic and we were on a metal roof, all it would have taken would be one move and I would have died... So why didn’t he kill me?

The images he had put in her head seemed so real to her. For a pony to be able to do that so well made her magic skill look like that of a foal, at least in the refinement in it. Then she thought about what he had said later. “There are four immortals that you have met, Twilight. And there is one other that you have seen, but is trapped in stone”. That would mean Celestia, Luna and Cadence. Then there was the one in stone, which was a mystery to her. That left one other. Could Walker really be immortal? All the ones she had met were alicorns, but he was not. And she had never seen a statue of an Alicorn that was not a representation of Celestia.

Moments after she had started questioning this, Celestia came into the room. “Hello, Twilight. How are you feeling?”

Twilight looked up at her, a sad look in her eyes. “Not all that great, princess. Walker beat me and got away. He’s really powerful, but how come I never heard about him formally until recently?”

Celestia looked out the window in the room, thinking of how to answer her question. “You have another question that is far more pressing, am I correct?”

Twilight looked down at her sheets for a moment, but to her it felt like hours. “Yes. Is Dream Walker immortal?”

Celestia gave her a look that unnerved Twilight. “Yes, he is. I gave him that immortality using a rather... Potent spell. I gave him unending life shortly after Luna left, and charged him with her dream watching powers.” She sighed. “You must understand, that it is not something I want to really talk about, but know one thing; This is not something you should delve deeper into.”

Twilight gained an agitated tone to her voice. “Why didn’t you tell me this before? Don’t you trust me enough? Why wouldn’t you have told me something that important?!”

Celestia stared at her. I see. So Walker managed to get this deep into her head? He knew what my plans were for Twilight, so was he counting on me sending her? I need to recover this quickly, before this gets too far out of control. “No Twilight, I do trust you. But if I had told you that immortality could be obtained by somepony that was once so normal, would you have pursued him or would you have pressed me for more answers?”

Twilight looked down once more, silent. “No, I would have stayed and wanted to know more. It’s just... With somepony like that walking around and not be as famous as you, it makes me wonder how he has escaped notice for so long.”

Celestia spoke with a much more motherly tone than before. “Unlike me, he stays in the shadows. I guess that is another way in which he is like Luna, he prefers the night to the day time. On top of that he can pass for normal since he is still a Unicorn. There is also the fact that he has spent a large amount of his time outside of the court in distant lands.That is how he has escaped notice.”

Twilight was relieved that she had an answer and confirmation on what Walker had told her. However, she still had some things that made her wonder. She wondered how there could be a spell that granted immortality, that had not been made a well known. A single unicorn hiding from the public’s eye was easy, but a spell that made you live forever? How could that be missed? She decided that now was not the best time to be asking questions like this, so she decided not to ask. She did have one more question for her though. “He said that you would kill him if he were brought here. Is he telling the truth?”

Celestia reverted to the tone she had used when she had first. “I would. I have my reasons for doing so and they do not concern you, my apprentice.”

Twilight felt a chill run down her spine from Celestia’s words. The way she had said that felt so different from the way she normally talked. It was like a completely different side of her. This was not the Celestia that Twilight had admired and studied under. Was the the true Celestia? The one that Walker had been made immortal by? No. Twilight could not accept that as a possibility. This must have been the Celestia that is greatly stressed, after all there was a unicorn that betrayed Celestia that knew the secret to immortality running around. That must be it.

Celestia turned around and faced the door. “Anyhow, Twilight, I must be returning to the throne room now. Oh, and don’t worry about Walker. I sent a group out to find him. You should just rest for now and recover. You should know something though.” Twilight shifted her position so that she could hear the princess better. “Dream Walker was going easy on you. You fought him when he was calm, and not angered. Remember this, if you ever fight him again.

Celestia walked out of the room. Twilight let her words sink in. Going... Easy? Twilight felt a wave of fatigue wash over her. I should sleep. I won't be any help if I’m feeling sick and can’t do anything. With that Twilight laid her head down, and fell asleep.

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Walker looked around the corner, observing the 5 unicorns that were speaking with the mayor of the town. He couldn’t hear them, but from the expression of the mayor, he guessed that they were not wanted here. Well, thats one thing in my favor. He identified the 5 one by one. Golden Stone was in the middle of the five. Flame Burst, the fire user was to his immediate left. To the left of him was the wind user, Clear Scythe. To the right were the mystery pony known simply as Black. At the far end was the Ice user Cold Front. The talking continued for about another minute. Then black seemed to raise his head and looked directly at me. Crap! He must have seen me! He’s a combat specialist, not a reconnaissance! I facehooved for a my idiocy. Damn, no one knows what he does. It was foolish of me to think I could have known otherwise.

He turned towards his companions, pointing in my direction. Better run. But where to? I reviewed the map of Equestria I had studied so diligently in my head. To the north is Everfree, but that’s too far. To the east and west are woods, but that’s too close and I’m fighting a fire user. So that leaves the south and Macintosh hills. I headed on my way, thankfully the direction I was already going. I just need to get far enough away and then I-. My thoughts were interrupted by a hard blast of wind nearly hit me. Damn, he’s got range. Wind users had two advantages: Speed and range. If I was going to get anywhere quickly, he would have to go first.

I glanced over my shoulder, seeing Clear Scythe leading the group in the run. He’s rash. Lets try a little nightmare fuel, shall we? I focused my magic and it met its mark. I gave him the idea of being attacked by a swarm of bees. Eh, not my best work but it will do for now. He turned off to the side, screaming and likely having a rather bad hallucination One down, four to go. After about 5 minutes of hard running, then I reached a small group of abandoned buildings. This will do nicely. I looked around, seeing if there was anything I could use. One of the buildings had tape across the front.

I smiled to myself. Lets see who is smarter: me, or four unicorns working together. I used a light blast of magic and severed the tape while blowing it inwards. I continued to the side of the building across of it. The four unicorns stopped, thankfully they had fallen behind me and stopped to look around. They seemed to be frantic and rather pissed off about them losing me. Golden Stones gave commands.

“Flame, Cold. You check around the area. Black, go and check the surrounding buildings. I’m going to go and check out the building with the broken tape. Remember, there are five thousand bits riding on this guy. Double that if we don’t kill him.”

Really? Five thousand bits for me dead? Man, Celestia must really want my head on her mantle. I smiled as the four of them split up. Seeing as how their leader had now left and paired fire and ice together, I saw a chance for a little mayhem. I used my magic on them both, making them think that the other had just insulted them.

“What the hell did you just call me?” Started off Flame Burst, who obviously had a bit of a temper.

“Oh, you’re one to talk.” Responded Cold Front, with agitation heavy in his voice. “Nopony gets to call me that, ever!” He took several steps back and then used his magic to create a small blizzard and sent its fore towards his companion. Flame countered with a wall of fire, deflecting the blizzard into a nearby building, taking it down.

Wow, last time I underestimate an ice user. Flame took the existing wall he had created and sent it towards his opponent it hit him dead on, but it looked as if Cold had shielded himself just in time. He was sent sprawling into a building, smashing down one of the walls. I used my magic at a range to check if he was still conscious, he was out like a light. With him down and Flame still fuming over what he had possibly heard, I used my magic and knocked him out as well. Two down, two to-. The ground beneath my started to shake. And I’ve been found. Perfect. I jumped off to the side as a pillar of earth shot out of the ground, damaging the side of the building I was using for cover.

A voice came from behind me. “So, you’re the infamous dream walker. I see that you’re good enough to take down two of my subordinates. And on top of that you manipulated Flame into doing your dirty work. I’m not going to be quite so-.” I sent a bolt of electricity towards him, incapacitating him and knocking him unconscious.

I swear, every time someone boasts about how good they are I can just walk away or take them down, what kind of idiot would wait for a speech to be finished? I sighed. And then there was one. I tried to remember where Black had been sent off to. He’s going to be in one of these buildings, and it wouldn’t do me any good to let him be. He could still follow me if hes still awake. I continued onwards to one of the nearest buildings. I checked the entrance, and saw that the dust had hoof marks in it, but only one set heading in. So this is the building he’s in.

I headed into the decrepit ruin of what may have once been a business. These “frontier” buildings usually became abandoned, and with Appleloosa nearby it was a good chance that they would have been run out of business. I followed the tracks upstairs, getting ready for the fight to come. Where the hell is he? Despite his name, his coat was bone white. Some parents have a strange sense of humor, or possibly it was just a fake name that he had come to be known by. In fact, even his mane was white but possessed a single black stripe on it.

The room I was in was almost pitch black, good for me because of my darker coat. I turned quickly as I heard a sound to my right, I charged up my magic and fired a bolt. I could tell it didn’t connect with anything made of flesh, but before I could question what made the sound I was sent rocketing up into the ceiling by what felt like being bucked in the chest. I came back down with a solid thump. Okay, thats at least one rib broken... I stood back up clutching my chest from the pain. I had a little experience in healing magic so I used it to patch myself up quickly. I felt another hit, this time from the side that sent me sprawling. Where the hell is he? I used my magic to light up the room, and I caught sight of Black.

He was standing on the other side of the room from me, his magic aura a sickening color that made me feel nauseous just looking at it. A unicorns magic aura and its effect on ponies are generally a reflection of their personality, so something that could make me feel like this just by looking at it did not bode well. He gave a sickening smile. “What, wondering how I could get you like that from over here?” He tilted his head a bit to the side. “Here, I’ll show you.” The shadows on the ground in front of me sent an iron pillar heading towards me.

I quickly sidestepped and it continued on its path through the shadows on the wall next to me. He can move things through shadows? How the hell could you even... The pillar from before was launched again this time from the wall to my left. I jumped up and it narrowly missed me. I needed a way to take him down quickly.Alright, so how could I do this... I thought about how he was using darkness to his advantage. Theres no record of how he fights, because he can only fight in darkness. Darkness is magic.... Thats it! I began to pour a lot more energy into my horn than U really should have been, and created a bright flash of light. I had closed my eyes as to not blind myself, but Black was a little less fortunate. He raised his hoof to block the burst and I charged.

He gave another smile. “Got you.” Before I could even get halfway to him, a massive cage came down and captured me. He walked over to me, when he did I got a better look at him, his eyes seemed to lack any kind of true color to them, making them somewhat pale. “You would be surprised how many times ponies try and use that same trick on me. Heres the thing, I can’t see like most normal ponies can. I use the shadows to see for me, thats how I spotted you when you were spying on us. Funny how that works, being spotted buy the one blind guy.” He walked around the cage. “All I have are what the shadows show me and my thoughts. Now I’ll have ten thousand bits all to myself since you took down those idiots I work with.”

I grimaced. Damn, never saw that coming. I realized something that became evident, he wanted all of the reward for himself. I smiled with this newfound information in my arsenal. “Hey, did Celestia tell you why she wanted me?”

Black turned away and started to walk towards a chair in the room that had escaped my notice earlier. “No, not that it matters. Ten thousand bits and no questions asked, that's how I like it.”

“Huh, and here you could be richer threefold that.” I said with a bit of a mocking tone.

He gave me a quizzical look. “What exactly do you mean?”

I just rolled my eyes, playing my part with the finesse of someone that had lied his way out of more situations than anypony else in all history. “The reason she sent ponies like you after me is because I know something she really doesn’t wat known: how to get into the treasury’s vault and get out undetected. If you were to let me out I could tell you, and it would even be easier for you with your particular set of skills.”

He rubbed his chin with his hoof for a minute, contemplating what I had just offered him. He was smart enough to play me like a fool in our fight, but now was a time for a battle of wits. “Alright, tell me how an I’ll let you out of there.”

I had to hide my grin that would have otherwise ruined this event for me. From the fact I took out two of their members with my manipulative magic, I had assumed Celesti never told them what I was fully capable of. To Celestia, these unicorns were likely expendable. Celestia still had uses for Twilight, so she had warned her. “Alright, deal. It’s almost impossible to explain and you need a bit of foreknowledge, so it would be faster if you let me in your head and I transfered my knowledge to you.” Come on, take the bait like a fool would.

“Fine, go on ahead. Just know that my head is a dangerous place. I wouldn’t hang around in there for too long.” I used my magic and started to root around in his head. When you’re inside the mind of something, its memories play around you like a film. I surveyed what he had been thinking about, and saw the memories of his group being hired by Celestia. I observed them from where I was, as to see how much they knew.

“I would like to hire your group to hunt down and capture A certain unicorn that has caused a bit of grief for me. My reasons for his capture are my own, and I would rather not talk about them.” To the left of Black was Golden, he spoke next.

“Yeah yeah, it’s not everyday that you get a request from the ruler of Equestria. The last time you called us up was to hunt down a serial killer, so what is it this time and how much is the reward.”

Celestia kept her calm demeanor, acting as if she made this sort of request every day. “His name is Dream Walker, a unicorn with a dark purple coat, blue eyes and a black mane. He also has terrible taste in hats.” Okay, that hurt a little bit. “If you capture him dead, the reward is five thousand bits. However if you bring him back alive the reward is double, I would hate for there to be any bloodshed with him. Just know that he is quite dangerous and extremely intelligent. He managed to oust myself and the entire court guard.”

Golden gave a quick laugh. “Five thousand for him dead? My kind of job. Now do know where we can find this guy?”

“Knowing him, he is likely hiding out in one of the southern towns. I would check there first. Oh, and don’t screw up.” She walked away and the memory continued onwards.

Alright, thats everything I needed to know. I focused my magic and catapulted myself out of Blacks mind, but forced him asleep at the same time. I came back into my own body and used my magic to blast away the cage I was in, Black lie asleep on the floor drooling. I took a few extra minutes to erase his memory of what had happened, and that took alot out of me.

I left the building and started to head back towards town, I figured that I might as well get some sleep before leaving tomorrow. I walked into the bar, and was promptly greeted by the bar tender. “Hello Dr. Glass, How was your walk?”

I gave him a week smile. “Good, got a bit of exercise and taught a few upstarts who knew better a lesson. Now if you excuse me I’m going to sleep. I’m leaving to continue on my journey tomorrow.”

“Good to know, oh almost forgot to mention. You had a visitor while you were gone. Some blue earth pony with a slicked back mane. You know him?”

My eyes shot open, worry filled my mind. “Is he still here? Did he say anything? Did he happen to have saddlebags and a large book?” I knew there was only one pony in all of equestria who fit that description.

“Yeah, he said he was a client of your’s and he went up to your room. He just said to tell you that he was here, and that he brought the final payment. Anyway, you want-.” I never heard what else he said as I bolted up to my room. Theres no way he got here that fast. There’s just no way. I opened up the door to my room, and saw him sitting there with the book in front of him open.

“Hello Walker, ready to die?”

Chapter 3: Labyrinth

“Hello Walker, ready to die?”

The blue coated earth pony with a black, slicked back mane sat in front of me on my bed. He had an open book that was covered in various hoof written runes. He had a quill and an inkwell next to him as well. He gave a wry grin. “Good to see you’re in good health. The last time you saw me was in Manehattan, if I remember correctly.”

I took up a more aggressive stance. Out of all the ponies Celestia could have sent, she sends this psycho? He spoke up once more, giving a light laugh. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. You know well enough of what I am capable of, and I only need to add one more little line and then poof, this building and the surrounding block are up in flames. It would be a shame if there were to be an explosion like that which killed a lot of ponies, like the ones downstairs..”

I stood down. “Rune. Last I heard you and the rest of Celestia’s reapers were in Griffonia, doing a little ‘business.” The pony sitting in front of me was one of 4 elite “soldiers” that Celestia had found. His name was Rune, and he was considered to be an abnormality amongst ponies. He was an earth pony that could use magic, but only in written spells. He was a complete monster, even by the sense of what he took care of for Celestia.

“Well, the rest of them are. I had to stay behind because of this wonderful book I was writing. It’s titled The slow death of a restaurant owner. I was inspired when an overly pompous restaurant owner refused to serve me because I wasn’t dresses up to snuff. I’ll spoil the ending for you, he was killed by his own dish when he poisoned it.” He gave a light laugh. “Not my best work but the prologue was excellent.”

His magic rested in words. However, I knew his only limitation. He had to know specifics. If he said “A rock flew out of nowhere and killed him”, it wouldn’t work. It had to be more along the lines of “The rock fell from on top the roof and caved in (insert target’s name here)’s skull.” Thankfully most of his works took a while to complete, but since he was here and was ready to finish his latest “chapter” I knew that I was stuck in a bit of a rut.

“What do you want, Rune. Knowing you and the fact I’m not already dead, you probably want something from me.”

“Oh where’s the fun in killing you? Besides, you know I don’t know your real name. If I did you would already be dead and gone, long before any of this had happened.” One of the few holdbacks on his magic was that he had to know what his targets name was, as to not cause unwanted deaths. Unless he was going to destroy the area like he was planning to do. “I want payback from when I first joined, and I intend to pay you back in full.”

I stared at him, seeing this was not something that I could get out of. I was there when Rune had first joined. He had been boastful so I taught him a lesson or two in respect and learning when to shut his mouth. I can see that I left a bit of an impression on him. “So what is it that you want exactly.”

He gave a cold smile. “I want your name.”

I grimaced. “Over my dead body, Rune.”

“Wow, thats exactly what I was thinking. If you refuse me one more time then i’ll have to continue with plan A: blowing up the surrounding area. If you tell me your name, i’ll consider sparing everypony from a grisly and painful death. No promises though.”

Damn, it’s clear that he sees civilians as nothing but dirt. Can I take him down quickly? I paused for a moment.Wait, why doesn’t he know my name? I know Celestia never told the Reapers before I left, but why not now? “I know that you won’t hold up and you will kill them all anyways. But I have one question, why is it you don’t know my name? Surely of all the ponies out there, Celestia would have told you my name.”

He gave a shrug. “I was in such a hurry to start writing I left early. But I think it would be no fun to kill you outright like she would have wanted my to. So, what will it be? Your name, or the lives of all those around you?”

I needed some time to think about my options here, but sadly that wasn’t a luxury that I had at the moment. I was left with 2 choices then, kill him or go full throttle with my magic. Seeing as how I wanted to make him pay for threatening the lives of all those innocent ponies around me, I opted for the second. “I pick option number 3.”

“Oh? And what would that be? I only offered you two.”

“Simple, I see what makes you tick.” I charged up my magic, putting everything I had into a single assault on the mental fortress of Rune. Despite my obvious aggression, he remained the same.

He gave another light laugh. “Ha! You honestly think that you can get inside my head? I already protected myself from your lighting and your sleep magic takes too long! What could you possibly hope to do in this situation?”

I smiled. “Kick your sorry ass.” I released the magic blast, which spread outwards in every direction. I immediately felt the strain of using almost all of my magic in one go wash over my body. I sent him flying backwards and he slammed into the wall, my magic spread to all the ponies around the area as well, but not affecting them in quite the same way. The magic I used knocked Rune unconscious and made just about everypony else drowsy.

I fell over, exhausted from my attack, but I knew I needed to get to work. I began to use what little magic I had left and reached out into his mind, using my borrowed power of dream walking as my conduit. Going into the mind of somepony this crazy was not going to be fun.

I opened my eyes to see what the mind of this particular stallion was like. Much to my surprise it was not completely disjointed and just a field of chaos like I was expecting it to be. I looked at where I was, at first it seemed like a hallway that spread off in two directions then split up again. Then I noticed there were various runes imprinted in the walls, like some kind of strange mural.

I started to walk off in the direction I had woken up facing, given the sky was just red and there was no sun or moon to guide me, I designated this as being north. I walked to the end of the hallway and came to a fork, one split off to the right and one to the left. These continued to split off once more. Then I realized the configuration of his dreamscape. Aw hell. It’s a maze.

Dreamscapes configured themselves in a few different ways. You could either have just a floating area of nothingness where you drift about, a memory of a building, a landscape, or something that is just fragmented memories. Then you had the complex ones like mazes and entire cities, which you only really saw in skilled magic users and ponies with high intellect.

“Welcome to my humble abode, Walker.” Came a booming voice around me. “I hope you don’t mind the state of it. I wasn’t expecting guests. On the bright side though I can have my fun and watch you suffer.”

“Where the hell are you hiding, Rune!?” I screamed, hoping that he could hear me.

“Me? Hiding? I’m right where I should be, Walker, in the center of this wonderful world of mine. Let’s play a game. You try and get to me and survive the gauntlet laid out before you, and I simultaneously try and rip you apart piece by piece.” He paused for a moment. “Otherwise you’ll be stuck here until I wake up and then everything goes up in flames. The clock has started, Walker.”

I looked up in the sky. There was a giant clock formed out of floating runes. My runic symbolism was a little rusty but I could see that he had made a sort of stop watch, I figured when it hit zero it would likely wake him up. A spell like that would hurt and takes some time to prepare, and it was obvious that as long as I was trapped inside his head he would make the most of it. I started running fast down the corridors, attempting to formulate a plan as I went.

Being as this was his home turf he likely had several times more power than me, so brute strength wouldn’t be a viable option. I glanced at the walls, then something caught my eye. The runes seemed to be organized by specific dates. I saw I was going in chronological order forwards. Could it really be as simple as finding today’s date? I continued to follow the wall until it came to another split. I checked the dates and stayed my course through his head.

I came to a multiple split that went off in about 6 different directions.Perfect, just what I need. I checked the dates and looked for the way to continue. I had just about gotten to my third when I noticed the runes starting to shift. I took a step back as they started to form together in the center of the intersection. Why can’t he just have a normal dream like everypony else?

The runes formed together to make a sort of shell-like rocky creature that vaguely resembled a minotaur. It towered over me, then reached down into the runes at it’s feet and began to pull a giant two headed axe from the ground. It pulled the axe all the way out then slung it over it’s shoulder, keeping one hand on it. It glared down at me, with runes for eyes that directly translated to “sight”. I gazed back at it, though I doubted that intimidation would really work. “So... A minotaur in a maze. This doesn’t seem cliche at all. You could have at least saved it for the end.”

He grabbed the axe with his other hand and swung down at me, I sidestepped just in time, but at the cost of my fedora falling off and being split in two. I gazed back at the behemoth that had just tried to kill me. I charged up my magic and blasted it through it’s chest, shattering it into the various runes that composed it’s body, labeled things like “Blood” and “Bone”. Jeez, glass cannon much?

The paths began to crumble one by one until there was only one path left. I decided it would be best to continue on and hopefully get to the end as soon as possible. It seemed like a straight hallway that continued on for some time and I stopped when i reached an open chamber that somewhat resembled a large circular library. The books that filled the shelves were likely Rune’s own works, penned to suit whatever deeds he needed done.

“Hello there Walker, i’m a bit sad that you didn’t get to see everything I had in store for you. Oh well, if I couldn’t kill you there i’ll have to kill you here.” He stood atop a pedestal in the center. What seemed to be a ring of books floated around him as he stood there. He began to walk forward and the books formed a raised pathway for him. “Now you see what I dream of. But I wonder, what fills your head at night?”

He paused about halfway through his walk. “Well, I guess it won’t matter soon. You don’t really need to ask that question if they’re dead. I find that Ponies’ minds are so much simpler when they’re dead.” He brought down a book and a quill began to furiously scribble across the page. The ground beneath me began to open up and I quickly began to run towards him. The ground folded up and made a wall, stopping my advance. “Oh? You thought getting to me would be that easy? Well it would be if we were in the real world, but here I am king.” Rune began to laugh maniacally as the odds of the situation set in.

I used my magic and catapulted myself on to the top of the wall. I began to charge my magic. “Then i guess it’s time you got dethroned, your royal highness.” I let the bolt fly, but it missed him.

“Ha! You thought you could defeat me with such a little spark? I had no idea you were so stupid!”

I smiled. “And I had no idea you were so careless as to not guard your memories.” I watched as the bolt connected with the books on the shelves and set them ablaze. They were memories of the books he had read, but a writer seeing all his works being burnt before him is one of the worst tortures they could experience.

He spun around screaming. “No! No, this can’t be happening! This is my head, my head! You can’t do this!” I ran forward and tackled him to the ground.

“Looks like this is the final chapter, Rune. You and all the reapers will pay for what you have done. All of it!” My hoof fell and connected with his face. I began to savagely beat him without mercy or restraint of any kind. I felt bone crack beneath my hooves, a stray tooth or two was knocked out as well. After what felt like the longest time I steadied myself on my hooves and looked at the bloody pulp that was Rune’s face. “And you aren’t going to get a epilogue.”

I forced my way out of his head, ripping apart his conscious mind with me. I awoke in the real world, looking down at the shell of a pony who had threatened innocent lives only an hour before. I walked down to the bar, looking for the barkeeper. “Hey, you might want to get whatever medical services you can down here. My patient just had a stroke and he needs to get sent to the hospital immediately.” The barkeep nodded and left the building. I walked back up to the room, where Rune lay on the floor drooling. I walked over to his book and ripped a page out. I quickly scrawled a note to Celestia on it and folded it in half, placing it in the front of the book.

I waited for the medical team to arrive at the inn, they asked me a few questions but I replied that I wasn’t sure what happened. I used the cover “We were about to go into session when he suddenly had a stroke!” The barkeep believed the lie that he was there as a patient, for which I was thankful that Rune had used that as an excuse rather than just sneaking in. As they were bringing him out I gave them his saddlebags with his book I told one of the medics that he worked for Celestia and that she should be notified. He thanked me for the information and continued onwards.

I sat at the bar and sighed deeply after removing my hat. The barkeep slid a mug of hot chocolate over to me. “Hey, don’t worry. It’s not like you could have done anything to stop what happened from happening. Hopefully he’ll recover from this and be back on his hooves in no time at all.”

I looked down at my drink, thinking about just how wrong he was about that. If he knew everything he would realize that his words stung worse than a manticore’s sting. “Hey, thanks for everything you’ve done. I’m leaving first thing in the morning, probably before the sun gets up. Should I pay in advance for the night or-”

The barkeep raised a hoof. “Don’t worry, you had a rough night. Have one on the house, and the hot chocolate too.” He turned around and went off to do whatever it was that he did. I walked up to my room and grabbed my things, which wasn’t much save for my saddle bag and the deck of cards that I usually hid under my hat. I walked back downstairs and left the town of Appleloosa for Dodge City. I had initially headed there after the train incident but missed it by a bit and wound up here.

I set off on yet another long journey that would hopefully bring me closer to my goal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Celestia had arrived outside the hospital after dawn, along with Twilight who had insisted tag along. She had barely recovered from her battle with Walker and was in no rush to fight him again. “Celestia, why are we here anyways? You don’t usually come out of the castle when someone is in the hospital, so who is this pony?”

Celestia looked forwards and continued walking through the hospital. “His name is Rune, and he lost in a fight against Walker.” Twilight looked at her wide eyed, wondering what had happened in the fight. They were stopped outside a room, where a doctor stopped them. “Move aside.”

The doctor looked up. “Yes, your majesty, but you should know that he doesn’t have a scratch on him and well... Let’s just say he won’t be answering any questions anytime soon.”

Celestia looked down at him with a cold glare that could freeze over tartarus itself. “What do you mean by that?” The doctor swallowed and then opened the door to the room. Twilight looked in to see a blue earth pony laying on a hospital bed with a saddlebag hanging over the side. He was just laying on a pillow, drooling slightly. Celestia walked over to him and used her magic for some invisible purpose. She looked back up, now with bags under her eyes. “He will be back to the land of the cognitive living in roughly a month, but his memories are gone.”

Twilight spoke up. “Celestia, what exactly did Walker do to him? He looked conscious to me.”

Celestia sighed. “Walker ripped apart his mind into a thousand pieces, effectively turning him into a vegetable. He also destroyed all of his memories. I used a spell that reassembles those fragments of personality, but it takes a while to do so.”

Twilight looked down and reflected on her fight with him. “Wow, so that’s him not holding back. I’m glad that he-”

“No, this is him still holding back. Fighting you he only used as much power as if you were to lift a book and move it from one place to another. Fighting against Rune he likely pushed himself to the limit in terms of mana usage, but he still held back.” Celestia looked over to the saddlebags on the side. She lifted Rune’s book from the bag.

Twilight looked at the book. “Why does he have a book that big? Was he a writer?”

Celestia looked back at her student. “Yes, in a way. He was a member of an elite sector of the royal guard dedicated to defending Equestria from the worst threats. They are called the reapers, and there are four in total. The other three are abroad on a mission but I can tell them to return quickly.” She opened up the book and began to read. “Rune was... Special. He could use magic, but only through writing.” She continued to flip through when a folded paper fell out and landed on the ground.

She put the book down and picked up the piece of paper, unfolding it.

Dear Tia,

Still too scared to fight me? Or are you still hiding behind your pawns like a coward player? You have a full chessboard at your disposal (minus one piece now) against one knight. I know what the other Reapers are capable of, and I will beat them. So, kiss my sweet purple flank, Princess Celestia. I’m not going to die quite yet.

-Walker

(P.S. I wouldn’t send Twilight after me again, it would be a shame if she learned how I became immortal).

Celestia read over the letter a few more times. Twilight interrupted her examination of the letter. “What’s the letter say?”

Celestia smiled then used magic to teleport the letter away. “Nothing important, just something Rune wrote before he was defeated. He had gathered a bit of information regarding where Walker would go after this. It’s not anything for you to be concerned about, Twilight.”

Twilight gained an agitated edge to her voice. “Tell me! I can handle him this time, i'm sure of it! I underestimated him the first time but I won't make the same mistake twice. If I know where he’s going I can stop him!”

Celestia looked at her student. “I’m sorry Twilight, I was wrong to send you against him the first time. He is powerful enough to face down an entire battalion of my finest guards by himself, and he has many times. Besides, you still need to recover a bit. Get ready to head back to Ponyville and rest for now, you’ll need your strength.” Twilight was about to argue, but was stopped by a single look from Celestia. Twilight walked out of the room, a disappointed look on her face, Celestia just looked out the window.

One month. I’ll have your head on a pike in one month Dream Walker.

Chapter 4: Allies

Twilight crept through the Canterlot library, using her magic as a light source as she wandered the shelves, searching for particular records. Everything in the library was chronologically ordered, so what she was looking for was at the far back. While she knew that none of the guards would really care if they saw her here and would think nothing of it. But she was disobeying Celestia’s orders. She wanted to find anything she could about Walker, and with his old name as a tool she might just be able to.

She had already checked about 500 years back, and had found his old name once or twice in reports on information regarding other nations, like that of the minotaurs and gryphons. But she decided to check back further and further. She saw that about 200 years ago his name had changed, with no given explanation. She continued back through the written time: 600 years, 700, 750, 800, 900. She found a final mention, or as it would technically be the first mention of him, roughly 1000 years ago.

He had come into service about a year after Luna had been banished, under his old name of course, at this time the castle that was in use was the one in Everfree forest. There was no mention of the forest itself, which seemed odd to her. She started going through and looking for the point at which it was abandoned, and found that it was first abandoned when there were strange reports of unnatural events occurring near the castle. Twilight recognized these as what defined the forest. However, she noted that these reports were within the castle itself. Not the surrounding area. This gave credit to the idea that Everfree was slowly expanding each year.

She never found anything relating to Walker becoming immortal, however she did notice after the leave there was a drop in those employed under Celestia. She had never heard of anyone not wanting to be a part of her court, but was relieved when she saw that their leave was attributed to a smaller castle and thus a lessened need for staff. She continued to read through many of the pages, seeing if she had missed anything important.

There was the sound of the door to the library opening, and Twilight shut off her magic glow to avoid detection. She wanted to see who would be in the library at this time of night, and hoped that it wasn’t Celestia. He fears were found to be true when she saw Celestia walk into the library, as well as a pegasus she had never seen. She had a pink coat with a yellow and blue-green mane. Her mane and tail were both curly, and Twilight was concerned about who Celetia would be meeting at this time of night in the library. Despite her every instinct to run off, she chose to stay to figure out what was going on.

“Rosy, it’s good to see you came back in one piece from your trip. How did it go? And where are the others?”

The pegasus, who Twilight assumed was Rosy, spoke next. “Fine, they are off taking a break. We had to restrain him again. For somepony so introverted and quiet he can be quite the troublemaker. We got what you wanted and the target was taken care of. May I ask where Rune is?”

Celestia looked at her. “That’s what I brought you here to talk about. Walker is on the run, and since none of you were available I had to use Rune. Now he’s recovering in the hospital from his fight with Walker.”

Rosy gave a light laugh. “You honestly sent Rune after somepony like him? If you wanted to take down Walker you would need a battalion... No, a whole army.” She paused for a moment, then started to walk around Celestia. “Or, one of us. And seeing as how the boys are both away at the moment, that leaves me.

“After all, would you really expect one of those blundering fools to kill off Walker?” Twilight shuddered at those words. Kill? Rosy continued. “I mean, sure you could send the others, but that would probably end up in a larger kill count of citizens and not with the demise of Walker, but if you send me I can turn the population against him. He’ll never see it coming, especially since I know he underestimates me.”

Celestia spoke in her colder voice, one that Twilight had come to fear. “He underestimates no one. Remember that he may be immortal, but because of the way he acquired his life span he has a different outlook on life.”

“What? You mean the fact he doesn’t kill? Please, the inability to kill shows that you’re weak. And the weak die quick deaths at the hooves of those that are strong. That is how survival works.”

“Then explain how, despite his 1000 years of life, he has not been killed by a single other pony. Would that mean that he is the strongest? I have tried to kill him in the past, and I failed. Wouldn’t that mean that he is the most powerful.”

“No, it simply means that Walker is a coward that runs from those stronger. The fact that he has fled proves that.” She turned around and started to walk towards the door. “Now if you excuse me, I have to prepare for a fun little game of chess.” At these words, Celestia seemed to cringe a bit. Twilight decided that now would be a good time to leave. She retreated back into the library and teleported away. She laid down on the bed, knowing that she needed some time for everything to sink in, and decide what to do next.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After about three days of on and off walking from Appleloosa to Dodge City, I had finally arrived. On my way I had grabbed a cloak to help hide myself, seeing as how Celestia was getting more and more desperate to take me down. I figured that it wouldn’t be too long before she sent the remaining reapers after me. Since I was also wandering through mostly dry area unpatrolled by pegasi teams, it also helped to keep the sun from burning me.

I had arrived in town, quickly checking the notice boards to make sure that Celestia hadn’t put up wanted posters of me yet. If she had resorted to that I figured it may have been safer for me to leave equestria rather than stay. It had been almost a month since I had run off, and by now Celestia would probably be pretty annoyed at my refusal to be caught. I continued onwards, hoping to find a place to stay, but I was stopped. Have you ever had an urge to go somewhere, do something despite the fact that you can’t think of a logical reason to do so? I was experiencing that right now, and it wasn’t the first time. When you’ve lived 1000 years, you tend to trust this feeling.

I followed the almost magnetic pull, away from the edge of town where I would have prefered to be and towards the center. When I arrived I saw there was an impromptu trial going on. I figured I might as well stick around to see how it played out. I turned towards one of the purveyors of the scene. “What exactly is going on here? It’s been awhile since i’ve seen a public trial. Especially in a town like this one.”

“Her name’s Scarlet Wing. They’re saying that she stole from the sheriff's son.”

“Is there anything to support that? I can understand looking into it because it was the sheriff's son, but a full on trial?”

“The sheriff's kid says he saw her, and there’s a witness as well. I’m not sure on the details of what was taken but they say she had a hefty bag of bits on her when they found her. The weird thing is I know her personally and she’s as straight as an arrow. I mean, she came here with some nasty rumors but that’s all.”

I pondered what he had said. I usually don’t care much about this kind of thing, especially since it usually brings criminals to justice, however he defended her to a degree and my subconscious dragged me all the way over here. I went around, asking several others what they knew about her. They all agreed that she was generally a good pony, but had an unfortunate habit of making enemies with the fact she usually put troublemakers in their place. After that I found out that the other “witness” was somepony she had recently dealt with.

Although it went against my usual code of conduct, since I saw this as a bit of an abuse of power and position, I decided to step in. I moved my way through the somewhat small crowd, apologizing and excusing myself as I went through. I arrived at a small clearing, briefly interrupting the proceedings. Scarlet Wing, the red pegasi with a yellow colored mane. She was shackled to the ground and there were two similar looking earth ponies that I assumed were the sharif and his son.

“Hello.” I said, a smile on my face. “I have a question, is there anypony defending Miss Scarlet here?”

The sharif Grunted. “No, but if you feel like you could defend her good luck. Evidence is stacked higher than pies at an eating contest. But i’ve never seen you before, so who are you?”

I walked over next to Scarlet, who was eyeing me with suspicion. “My name is Walker. I’m just passing through the town and I heard that there was a trial going on. From what I gather this is a matter of theft?”

“Yeah, I gave my kid here something of mine to keep an eye on. Thing is almost priceless, even in it’s own right. Both he and one of his friends say that Scarlet was the one that took it, and I think that the large bag of bits she had on her proves that.”

“I told you already, I didn’t steal it! I got that money from working with the weather patrol here!”

“Well, it’s a shame that the captain of the weather team is out on vacation right now and can’t confirm that. So until then-”

“Excuse me, but this just seems to be word versus word. And if I’m not mistaken one of the witnesses has a bias against Miss Scarlet from what I hear. I would like to get this over as quickly as possible, so if you would allow me to borrow your son and allow me to use my magic I could have this settled in a matter of moments.” I interjected, stopping the already rising tension for a moment.

“How do I know that you won’t make him tell lies? I know how magic works, I didn’t just get this job because of my good looks.”

“If this were not a public spectacle and I had something to gain from this, honestly I was just going to continue on from this and I would actually need to know something about him. And I am a unicorn of his word.”

The sherif hesitated for a moment. “Alright, fine. But if I suspect that you did something to his memoires then I will shove your pointy little head into a cell with Scarlet too.”

“Thank you.” I walked over to his son, who now had a drop of sweat forming on his brow. I was gambling on him chickening out and telling the truth about this whole thing. From my skills as a spy I had already figured out he was hiding something simply from the way he was acting, but what that was exactly I wasn’t sure. I stood less than a foot away from him, then I focused my magic. I reached out and began to grasp his mental structure with an iron whoove. I made him experience intense fear for a brief moment, and threatened to make him feel that a thousand times over if he didn’t say what he knew.

He snapped out of it and fell backwards. “Alright! Alright I’ll tell the truth, just please, don’t do anything.” He got back up and calmed down. “I took the box and sold it for some fast cash to Sevens, (I figured that the other “witness” was Sevens, as he got a look of fear on his face when that name was mentioned) he said that he could get me the cash and he would take it, we just had to frame Scarlet for theft. I knew she picked up her pay once a month so I waited for that day so that she would look more guilty with a lot more money, it was luck that her boss was gone.”

Sevens looked at him with rage in his eyes that betrayed that he was telling the truth, the sharif looked on dumbstruck at what had just happened. “Well,” I said, “my work here seems done.” I walked over next to Scarlet again and just looked on. Sevens bolted and the sharif chased after him, with the keys to Scarlet’s shackles in tow. Aw crap... “Hey, Scarlet, if I were you I wouldn’t move. Lockpicking with magic can be pretty tricky.”

“Alright, fine. But after this you’ll have to explain who you are.” I spent about the next two minutes removing the lock on her shackles, by now the large crowd that had gathered was dispersed and the citizens of the town were back on their daily routines. I had Scarlet lead the way to wherever she was going, I chose to follow. We arrived at a small apartment and she led me inside. “Why would you help me? I don’t know who you are and you said yourself that you were just passing through, so why stop to help someone that seemed guilty of a crime?”

“I have no idea. I just did what I felt like doing and that happened to be helping you. That and I felt a strong urge to help you, like something was just egging me on. The more important question is who are you? Normally I can puzzle out a personality with a moment’s time but you seem... Different.” I wasn’t lying, I could pick out the one honest guy from a crowd of liars any day, but for some reason she wouldn't give up her secrets that easily.

“Just a normal pegasus that moved here to dodge city, nothing more than that.”

“Then why is your cutie mark a skull?” After I asked this question, she remained silent. I figured there was more to this than just a simple odd cutie mark. The only other ponies I had seen with marks like this were an undertaker and one pony I hoped would rot in a coffin forever. The thing that threw me off was that her mark was exactly his. Even down to the number of teeth on the skull. However, the previous bearer of the mark was long dead.

“It’s... Complicated okay? I don’t even know how I got this damn thing, it’s been there forever. Hell, I was sent off to an orphanage because of it, so I couldn’t ask my family unless I found them. I’m sick and tired of responding to this stupid question. Whenever I meet someone new, they always ask about it before anything else.”

“If I really thought it mattered, do you think I would have helped someone that was on trial with a skull for a cutie mark? I could care less about what a cutie mark means. Those who use it as an excuse for doing something are just fools. So unless you happen to be a killer I respect any job you took with that. Doesn’t really help that you share the first name of a serial killer, right?”

“You got that right. Anyway I didn’t catch your name, and what exactly are you doing in a dinky town like Dodge?”

“I’m just passing through. I pissed off the wrong pony so now i’m just going from town to town keeping a low profile. Oh, and call me Dream Walker.”

“Nice to meet you. And I don’t think schooling someone in a trial that badly is a very good way to keep a low profile. You said that you just got here, right? Do you need a place to stay?

“Yes on both account’s I was planning on staying at a inn or the like, but seeing as how you pointed out I just sent up a flare of sorts to my location I should probably leave soon.” I sighed, realizing that I had to change my plans once again. “How about we go get something to eat, my treat. You seem like you’ve been having a rough day.” Scarlet shook her head in response. She led me out of her apartment and towards a little cafe. We both sat down and ordered our drinks.

“Really? Hot chocolate? It’s eighty degrees out and you’re ordering hot chocolate?”

“Hey, I find that it helps and the temperature doesn't really bother me. Besides, it tastes good too.” Our drinks arrived, Scarlet had ordered something that she had called “her usual”, so what was inside the cup I had no idea. We ordered our food next, both of us just got sandwiches. After A while I struck up a conversation regarding the town's history, but we were interrupted when an older pegasus showed up.

“Thank goodness I found you Scarlet, I heard about what had happened. When they said you had been arrested for theft and you wanted my testimony, I rushed back. But it looks like you were proved innocent, correct?”

“Yeah, Gale. Thanks to this guy.” She hit me in the shoulder, despite her stature she had a lot of muscle hiding there. “He helped me out and pretty much proved my innocence in about 30 seconds, I don’t think you would ever find a better lawyer in town.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Eastern Gale. And you would be?”

“Dream Walker, and it was my pleasure to help out Miss Scarlet here.” Gale just looked at me silent for a moment, not saying anything and seemed to scrutinize me. He chuckled, and for a moment I was confused. “Something the matter?”

“No, it’s just that I thought of something that would be impossible. When I was young there was somepony with that name that looked just like you who saved me from some diamond dogs. But he would be long dead by now. Dream Walker wouldn’t happen to be a family name, would it?”

I distinctly recalled helping a pegasus from some who was being attacked by some diamond dogs some fifty odd years ago. I had seen him running and I stepped in, but I never expected to run into him again. “No, it must just be a coincidence. But funny how the world works like that.” I gave a reassuring laugh.

“Yeah, I guess so. Anyway, looks like my vacation was cut short. Well, that’s a hundred bits wasted.” He looked down and sighed. I was glad to see that there were still ponies out there that gave a damn about those close to them, even if they were just an employee.

“Wait here for a moment, I need to grab something.” I got up and started a quick run to the bank, and made a withdrawal for a hundred bits. I had enough money in my account’s to put most nobles to shame, most of my needs were provided for when I was at Canterlot so I never really spent my pay. I rushed back to the cafe and put the sizeable bag of bits on the counter. “Here, it’s a shame that you wasted so much money. I don’t really have much use for this so you might as well take it. Both of the pegasi at the table looked at me dumbstruck. I just smiled back. “Well, I better get going. It’s quite a walk to Baltimare from here.”

I turned around and started to walk towards the larger city. My work here was done, and it was clear that I already had put up the flag of me being here. “Hey, Walker, wait up.” The voice that had called to me was Scarlet, who was following right behind me. “I’m coming with you, whether you want me to or not.”

“Trust me, I may seem like i’m just a normal unicorn who’s walking from town to town. But I have powerful enemies that want my head displayed for all to see. Coming along with me could end with you in a coffin, or worse.”

“Well, I doubt it’s that bad. And besides that I have enough enemies here to last me a lifetime. I figure before Sevens decides to call out his gang to get revenge, I should probably get out of here. I can handle myself you know.”

“Then why come along with me?”

“Because I can tell that there’s a lot more going on with you than there seems. There’s not a single pony out there who would give up that much money without batting an eye.”

“Who says i’m not insane?”

“No one, you helped me out and you just gave a lot of money to a stranger. Everything says you are insane, but my gut says you’re just an idiot.” That last part struck a bit deep. But seeing that cutie mark made me worry.

“Fine, but only until Baltimare. Then we go our separate ways and you get out of my way. I have a lot longer way to go afterwards.”

“Deal, just one condition. You can’t complain when I save you from whatever bugs us. You egghead unicorns couldn’t fight your way out of a wet paper bag.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Celestia sat upon her throne, contemplating her rule and many of the laws that were going to be passed. But above all else her mind was focused on Walker’s movement. His first target seemed to be either Manehattan or Hollow Shades, after that he went all the way to Appleloosa. Why so much farther in an odd direction? She had just gotten a report that he had been sighted in Dodge City, helping out with a trial. By her logic he was heading north, so his next stop should be Baltimare or Manehattan. She was deep in her thoughts when there was an arrival in her throne room.

“Hello Rosy, are you ready to leave?” The pink mare shook her head. “Good, He’s likely heading for one of the northeastern cities. That’s where i’m sending you.”

“A lot of ponies in a tight space? Sound’s like my kind of place. Any restrictions this time?”

“Just don’t cause too much chaos. I don’t want any problems coming across my desk any time soon.” Rosy gave a sigh of disappointment at that. She turned around and started walking out of the room when Celestia spoke up again. “You do know that it will be much harder than normal, seeing as he is a lone wolf. You can’t turn friends against him.”

Rosy smiled. “Celestia, you know my better than that. I wasn’t going to turn one or two ponies that were his friends against him. I’m turning the entire city against that bastard.”

Chapter 5: Mindsets

Me and my newfound friend, Scarlet Wing, arrived at the outskirts of one of Equestria’s larger cities, Baltimare. Even though we had just gotten into the city itself, there were ponies going about their business in large quantities. Thankfully because of the large quantities of bodies here, it made it a lot easier to blend in. “Alright, Scarlet. Look’s like this is where we split up. I agreed to Baltimare, but no further.”

“Oh? That’s funny. Where would you be without me? You nearly got eaten by a timber wolf on the way over here without me.” During our little trip I had made a detour into the forest. Let’s just say that I wound up getting into a little trouble with the local wildlife, and Scarlet wound up helping me. I really didn’t need her help, but she ignored all my protests that I had it handled. “So I think i’ll stick around for a little bit longer.”

I rolled my eyes. “Fine, but just remember to not mention my name. I would rather not be found.” Scarlet seemed to mock me with an eye roll of her own. We continued onwards deeper into the city, we stopped by a food cart on our way and grabbed something to eat, then went towards the nearest hotel. We walked in and were greeted by a clerk.

“Hello. Would you like to rent a room? Only twenty bits a night.” He turned towards Scarlet and gave her a wink. “fifteen for the lady.”

“Do that again and that I won’t even hold back when I beat you down with a chair.” She said with a hostile tone. By now I was aware that she did not like being flirted with. I didn’t have any personal interest in her romantically, but I had a feeling that if she went to Canterlot there would be a lot more ponies visiting the hospital.

To ease the tension, and to get on with our day, I started talking. “Can we just get two conjoined rooms? Preferably one with a lockable door.” The clerk nodded and asked for payment. He had assumed we were a couple so he only charged us the base twenty, I gave him the bits and he gave us the key. We went up the hotel room and dropped off our stuff. Scarlet took the larger of the rooms, which also was the one you could lock the door from, and I took the smaller one. I levitated my bag off and laid down on the bed.

My room was adorned with a bed, a nightstand with a lamp on it and a few cheap paintings. It wasn’t the best place I had ever stayed but I had done much worse. I decided to take a quick nap to recharge, and I also decided to risk doing some dream walking since it was the middle of the day and Luna wouldn’t be on “patrol” until night came.

I figured I might as well just stick to going about the dreams of those who were in hotel, which was only a little filly and an elderly stallion who had dozed off reading the newspaper. Nothing seemed out of place so I decided I might as well sleep. And with my mind set on dozing off, I worked towards my goal full force.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Scarlet left the room, she decided that she might go out for a while. She was going to tell Walker, but had found him snoring on his bed. She quickly wrote him a note and left it on his table. She also grabbed some bits in case she got hungry. She walked up to the roof of the hotel, rather than the entrance, and glided off. After about a minute of flying around, she saw a nice little fountain where she could just sit and think.

She landed next to it, letting a bit of it’s spray hit her to help her cool off. She walked around, watching all the different ponies go about their days. There was a fairly even blend of races, but not as many pegasi. She figured that was because most pegasi lived in the east rather than the west. However, there was one pegasus that stood out. She had a pink coat, with a yellow and blue-green mane. She seemed to give off the air of a mare who would probably come out of any social event with a new “companion” for the night. Scarlet had been around enough of those kind of ponies to learn how to deal with them.

She was acting a bit strange though, and a lot more “friendly” with the locals than Scarlet would have expected. She was casually unfolding her wings and trailing the tips of them along the sides of the ponies around her, with no discrimination between either genders. Scarlet was a bit more female friendly, if you would. That’s why she got so aggravated whenever a guy hit on her.

The flirty pink pegasi started walking over to her, and Scarlet wasn’t exactly in the mood of dealing with somepony this flirty. She casually walked over to Scarlet, keeping her distance because of Scarlet’s glare. “Why hello there.” She began to circle around Scarlet, like a predator toying with it’s prey. “My name is Rosy, and your's is?”

“Scarlet, now would you please leave me alone? I came here to this park to relax, not deal with a flirtatious pegasus who seems to have crap taste in ponies.” Scarlet was actually self projecting with that, she always downplayed her own attractiveness and never really thought of herself as “pretty”. However her own thoughts about herself were countered by the amount of times she would get hit on. “But seriously, screw off.”

Rosy gave a slight pout. “Aww, but I was just getting to know you...” She unfurled her wing and dragged the tip across Scarlet’s side. Scarlet felt a shiver run down her spine and her body seemed to be telling her to get away.

“Yeah, if you could just stop that, that would be awesome.” Scarlet nudged away Rosy. “Look, i’m just going to leave now. It looks like you have your hands full with all these other gentlecolts here. So you should be content.” Rosy had a look on her face that resembled shock. “So, as I said earlier, screw off.” Scarlet began to walk away, attempting to forget that rather awkward encounter. She went to a nearby cafe and grabbed some croissants, one for her and another for Walker. She put them in a bag and then proceeded to return to the hotel.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was wandering in the vast wasteland that was my sleeping self's mind. It’s only population was that of ruins of lost cities, places i’ve been and lots of sand. I guess it was a reflection of my personality at times: dry, ancient and boring as all heck. I spend most of my time just wandering about, thinking about my past. However, even when i’m asleep there’s some aspect of my dream walking that places figments of those around me in my head, for better or for worse. Today I was accompanied by none other than Rune. He just sat there in the sand drawing words, generally the same repeated ones, over and over.

“You know, your hoof will cramp if you keep doing that.” I said, not really expecting anything. Most of the figments were just shadows, fragments of who they really are. I knew he was nowhere near me, so this was my mind just replaying recent events. He continued his drawing in the sand when I felt two more presences enter my mind. I couldn’t tell who they were but it was rare for two to show up at the same time.

I wandered away from Rune, and saw who I thought was Scarlet. It was strange though, her body was blurred and seemed more ethereal than flesh. She had something resembling A bag in her mouth, so I assumed she had gotten something to eat. There was still the second presence to deal with though. I walked up the dune, and saw a strange, yet familiar figment. Unlike Scarlet it was just a skull of a unicorn, laying there in the sand. It had piercing purple dots of what one could mistake for flame. I recognized it immediately and groaned. “Oh damn it, please don’t tell me you’re hijacking my dream again.”

The skull spoke. “Maybe I am, but seeing as how I have to reach out this far you know it’s serious. I don’t know if you remember what’s coming up soon, but I have a feeling that you’d better take care of Celestia quick.”

I just stared down at him (yes, I am aware that it’s a skull, but it belonged to a male. Therefore, him). “I hate how you can read my thoughts. Why do you even have to say things like ‘do you remember’, you already know the answer, Mari.”

“Okay, I told you about five hundred years ago to stop calling me that. It makes me sound like i’m a mare. And on a separate note you might want to wake yourself up. Things are about to get interesting for you.” He disappeared from my mind without another word. I woke myself up from my sleep, figuring that Scarlet was going to show up in the room soon.

I got up from the bed, hearing the sound of somepony knocking at the door. I walked over and opened the door, and Scarlet walked in. “Mmph mmph mmph mm mm mmph.” She said, with the bag still in her mouth.

“Scarlet, put the bag down and then say whatever the hell you tried to there.” She gave me a quick glare then walked over to the bed, putting the bag down.

“I said I got you a croissant. Geez, a thank you would be nice.” I grumbled thanks then went over, using my magic to remove the baked crescent. “Man, I had a weird time during my little walk. I got hit on, again.”

“Wow, you must be cursed or something. So how many of the guy’s bones were broken?”

“Okay, for once I actually got hit on my preferred sex. And the bone count was zero.”

“Wait, you’re gay?” She shook her head to confirm my question. “Dang, I must be losing my touch. That would explain all your threats towards guy’s hitting on you. So what happened exactly?”

“This creepy pegasus chick decided to hit on me. Heck, i’m pretty sure she was hitting on everypony in the entire park. She even did this weird thing where she trailed her wing tips along my body.” She shuddered a bit. “I really hope I don’t run into her again.”

As she was retelling her story, some of her story began to click into place in my mind. Like gears in a massive machine. If i’m right, then Rosy’s here to kill me now. “Say, she wouldn’t happen to have a pink coat, would she? And a somewhat curly mane and tail?”

“Yeah,” she turned around, heading towards her room, “how’d you know?”

I began to charge up my magic. “Oh, no reason. She just matches the description of a powerful pegasi who can control the mind of those around her if she touches them. Did I mention she’s likely here to kill me? And If I remember you said she touched you?”

“Yeah,” she started to turn around and began to face me, “she did and... You were about to blast me with lightning, weren’t you?”

“No, that implies I didn’t go through. I’m still going to zap you.” I sent out a slight jolt of electricity. She flinched but the lightning didn’t knock her unconscious. As a matter of fact it looked like it didn’t affect her at all. We just looked at each other awkwardly for a moment. “Well, I can see that you aren't trying to rip my throat out right now, so that means that her magic didn’t affect you like it should have. Yet at the same time I just tried to kick your flank as quickly as possible but my magic just kind of flopped. Mind explaining?”

She looked at me, shocked at the fact that I had just tried to electrocute her. “I’m not even sure, nor do I think I would want to talk to a unicorn who I barely know that just tried to kill me with lightning.”

“I wasn’t going to kill you, just knock you unconscious until I sorted some things out. But now I see that i’ve made an incredibly awkward moment here, and i’m guessing you want me to explain?” She shook her head, giving me a glare. “Fine. The pegasus that you just met is named Rosy Skies. She works for Princess Celestia, who currently wants me dead for running off with important information.” She raised an eyebrow at me. “Yeah... I know sounds pretty bizarre, especially since Celestia is such a ‘nice and kind’ ruler who thinks about nothing but how her ‘subjects’ are feeling.

“I was her royal spymaster, in charge of checking out other places and specific ponies. Rosy is one of four specialists that Celestia has trained to deal with problems that arise that are outside her jurisdiction. Most of these end with a lot of dead bodies, many at the hands of Rosy herself.” Scarlet gave me a look of worry, but said to go on. “As I said, there are four specialists, called the Reapers. Each one is especially gifted and all can use magic, albeit in different terms than unicorn magic. I’ve already taken down one of their members when he tried to kill me. Now they’ve sent another Reaper after me.”

“Alright, so what makes her so special exactly?”

“She emits a very light magical field around her that mingles with the fields of magic that surround all equestrians. Unicorns have larger ones that are like a field, pegasi have them as well and that’s what allows them to fly; despite the lack of hollow bones. Even earth ponies have it, that’s why they are generally physically stronger than other races. She can manipulate those fields and make them her slaves.” I refocus my attention on her, I had started to walk around during my explanations. “Which brings us to my next thought, why are you not under her spell?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve gotten though the odd fight with a unicorn or two, but I always thought it was pure luck. But considering what you just said and the fact you just tried to electrocute me, maybe i’m immune to magic?”

“No, if that were the case you wouldn’t be able to fly period. You wouldn’t even be able to glide, you’d just plummet like a rock. I think it’s something that’s got me worried big time. Your cutie mark, you said that you don’t remember how you got it?”

“Yeah, I don’t remember how I got it. So I must have gotten it really early in my life.”

“Well, here’s the bad news. I know that mark all too well, and you’re not going to like my explanation. There was a unicorn from a very long time ago, with the same mark and unique... affliction as you. He was unstoppable in a fight using magic because almost all magic, save for something the caliber of that used by Celestia, couldn’t even scratch him. He was the first of the Reapers, and was a monster if there ever was one.

“I knew him personally, and he never recalled getting his cutie mark either. We found out later that it’s a curse, and whoever has it is resistant to magic. His was amplified because he was a naturally strong unicorn. Yours is likely weaker because you’re not a unicorn.”

Scarlet didn’t say anything for a while. “What... What happened to him? And what was his name?”

“His name was Dark Scythe. He’s where the legend of the Grim Reaper comes from and, as I said before, was the first of the Reapers. He was a friend of mine, until he went mad with power. There were three of us, the original set of reapers that is. He was the leader and after he went mad with power the other member and I hunted him down and wound up killing him.”

I walked to the door. “Now seeing as how I ran into someone with the same affliction, i’m worried about something.”

“What?”

“Things are coming full circle. Now if you excuse me i’m going to go off and kick some flirtatious flank. Just stay here, I don’t want you to get hurt.” I opened the door and prepared to leave, but Rosy spoke and stopped me in my tracks.

“You didn’t say I could come along with you just because of the situation, didn’t you? You recognized my cutie mark and were worried that I would become a killing monster like Dark Scythe, didn’t you?” I didn’t say anything, knowing that I had already damaged the trust between us when I tried to take her down. “I’m right, aren’t I? And there’s something else you’re not telling me. You said you knew him personally, and that he was what made the legend of the Grim Reaper, but that legend is older than most cities. That would make you centuries old, Walker. Who the hell are you?”

“Just a unicorn trying to fix a problem.” I closed the door behind me and continued onwards, thinking of where a maniac manipulator of the masses would be gearing up to find me. I had no plan, no idea how many she had amassed, or if I could beat her. But I knew the longer I waited for her, the larger her army would be. Each Reaper had a quirk, and Rosy’s was that she loved being able to be as high as physically possible wherever she was, which was what brought her to Canterlot in the first place.

I walked around outside, looking for where she could be hiding. I kept a low profile to make sure that I wasn’t spotted and called the horde of minions to me. I looked up, seeing a rather large building, still under construction. It was taller than any other buildings in the area, and a construction site would definitely be filled with minions to take over. I started to walk over, wary of what may happen.

I started to walk towards the building, and attracted the attention of various ponies. They were turning their heads and stared at me. Not a single one made a move against me, so I figured that they knew I was heading for Rosy. I walked in through the building, and saw Rosy sitting on an assembled pile of pillows. “Oh, hello there Walker. You wouldn’t happen to be looking for an incredibly attractive pegasus who has a small army?”

“Yeah, actually. But it looks like they’re not here. So I guess i’ll just keep on with my day and beat you down.” I knew from past experiences that she could only control minions as long as she was conscious, but I was in charge of a few odd training sessions for when new Reapers joined. She knew about my capability to make ponies sleep, and she had prepared her minions as well. Apparently when you’re under her spell it’s like a trance where you’re just forced to watch and can’t fight against it at all.

“It’s a shame really, I wonder what would have happened if you didn’t run. Maybe Celestia would have spared you.”

“And maybe Celestia is actually a guy who’s actually not a terrible monster responsible for mass killings that are just covered up on a whim. I’m going to stop you, both the Reapers and Celestia.” I began charging my magic, a plan in mind. “If I were you, I would duck right about now.” She looked at me and quickly moved out of the way, possibly under the idea that I was going to attack her directly. I sent the bolt upwards, damaging the ceiling and causing it to collapse.

Most of her minions were buried in the resulting rain of material, however she had survived it. I had guessed she just used one of her pawns as a shield against the fall and I started to run, needing some more time to think up the rest of my plan. I dashed up the half constructed staircase, making my way up the building. Rosy was close behind me, and I glanced out the holes in the wall to see some pegasi ascending with me, likely to assist Rosy in taking me down. The terrain was easier for her to navigate since she could fly, and I knew that if she touched me she could easily make me a slave.

I continued to jump between gaps in the floor and various paths up to the top. By the time I arrived at what I assumed was the tenth floor, I was exhausted. I stood at the top, panting heavily from my run. There was a gap in the floor that had been bridged by wooden planks, she stood on the opposite end of it. There was no more room for me to continue running, unless I suddenly became an Alicorn.

“Aw, does the Millennial Dreamer have nowhere to run?” Two rather beefy looking pegasi landed on either side of her. “Looks like you’re cornered, alone and practically dead. I’m going to enjoy watching Rogue torture you until you beg for mercy, even death. And I know that that will take a long time, so all the more to enjoy.”

“What? You think that backstabbing liar of a boyfriend you have could make me crack? Please, you’ve clearly never had to deal with Minotaurs. And besides, i’d rather die than go back with you.”

She began to slowly walk across the beams. “True, but I know you hate watching ponies die. I have dozens of ‘adoring’ Equestrians all at my wingtips that would all end their lives with nothing more than a word from me.” She took a few more steps on the beam, placing her directly on the center of the gap. She raised her voice, merely to accentuate her point. “You said it yourself Walker, Celestia has a whole board of chess pieces, with the addition of many more pawns. You’re the last piece in the game and you have no chance of winning whatsoever. It’s one versus a hundred Walker, you’re already dead!”

I was worried that this could very well be the end of my one man rebellion against the Princess of the Sun. I was about to become a slave to a complete bitch. I considered jumping off, just to end myself early and spare myself the humiliation of ending like a plaything. We heard the deafening screech of a megaphone sound over the entire construction site. One of the cranes above roared to life. “Attention Bitchy Skies, you’re attempting to kill off someone that’s helped me out, and if i’m not mistaken you’ve killed and manipulated you’re way straight to him.”

“And who the hell are you?”

“A pegasus with a bigass crane.” She swung the crane arm back, with the hook hitting a wall of a building nearby which knocked a few bricks loose. She swung it back around towards where we were standing. Rosy and I both watched as the hook came sailing towards us.

“Oh you have got to be bucking kidding m-” The crane arm swung full force towards Rosy, and it connected. I heard the sound of metal connect with bone, and the sound of said bones snapping from the impact. Rosy was catapulted off the side of the building and she fell down into the half constructed building below. The pegasi that had been standing by her earlier collapsed, and I stood there in shock at what had just happened.

Scarlet drifted down next to me. “Sorry, but I heard what she had said and I didn’t want you to die. It’s clear you know a lot of things, stuff I want to know badly. If I hadn’t killed her you would be dead about now. That or enslaved.” We both looked down at where she had landed, she was laying in an unnatural position with her wings bent at odd angles.

We walked back down, and I wiped the memories of all those she had controlled and anypony who may have seen what happened. The last thing I wanted was for there to be more trouble on our heads. I quickly found another piece of paper and scrawled down yet another note to Celestia. Scarlet and I set out again, planning on where to go after this. We stopped at the train station and waited for the train to arrive. I knew we would have to connect again in Canterlot but seeing as how Celestia would be focused on Rosy being killed here and my history of continuing on foot, I was making a dangerous gamble by going straight to the heart of the den. I was just hoping the cards were in my favor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Celestia sat in her throne room, having just received a report stating that Rosy had nearly died in Baltimare. Evidently many of her bones had been crushed and she had suffered a great fall at a construction site. Her wings were heavily damaged, so far as to the point that the doctors that had operated to save her life all agreed that she could no longer fly, nor was she likely to ever again. Celestia had assumed that Walker was in that area, however he did not kill and an attack that was this gruesome was not in his bag of tricks. And Rosy had said that there was somepony who had hit her with a crane. This meant that Walker now had another "friend", one who was not afraid to kill.

There were no witnesses to the event, although Celestia suspected they had simply had their memories erased. Following his course of he was going on, he was likely heading towards Manehattan for one reason or another. Given its large population it would be easy for him to hide there, and with Rosy down Celestia couldn’t easily turn the city against him.

A note was also found near Rosy, one addressed to her in purple ink. She had yet to open it, but from what happened to Rune, she already knew who wrote it.

Dear Celestia,

Hope you don't mind me taking down another one of your chess pieces. I will tell you one thing though, you've lost one piece and I've gained another. There's only three ways for a game of chess to end: forfeit, checkmate, or a stalemate. And if the last one means I have to take down every single piece you have, just so that this comes to an end, I'll be happy to oblige. I'm going to show you one more of my cards though, I don't intend on losing any of my pieces, and I plan to get more. Let's see who will win this little game of ours, o' Princess of the Sun

She sat upon her throne and continued to ponder what Walker was up to when she heard somepony clear their throat. During her thoughts she had failed to notice Twilight had entered the room, saddlebags in tow.

“Oh, hello Twilight. Are you heading out now?”

“Yes, Princess, i’m going to be heading back to Ponyville. If you need me for anything i’ll be at the library. Although, I do have one question.”

“And that would be?”

“I want to know how Walker become immortal. I’m almost certain that he wasn’t an alicorn, and i’ve never heard of any spells that can make one immortal. So would you be willing to tell me?” Celestia thought about this, the truth may turn Twilight against her, but at the same time a lie could cause even more problems.

“Walker’s immortality was a... Mistake of sorts. What gave him his immortality was a very potent spell, one that requires more energy than what naturally exists in a unicorn, even one of you strength. It has certain... Repercussions for it’s use. And Walker was not my first candidate for using it. There were others but they were all killed by one of Walker's associates. Because of that Walker was my only choice.

“Were it not for his associate there could be a very different story here. I hope that answers your question, given that I can’t outright tell you how the spell worked. Otherwise you may be tempted to try it.”

Twilight thought about what Celestia had just said. If Celestia wasn’t lying to her, Walker had gained his immortality through assassinations of those preceding him. If that was true then why didn’t Celestia stop those assassinations since she knew about them? Or give the immortality to somepony completely random? Whatever the case, Twilight still suspected there was more to this story. But now was the time to head home and relax. Twilight said goodbye to Celestia and headed towards the train station so she could board the train to Ponyville.

Chapter 6: Chance

I sat with my head on the side of the train seat, groaning with annoyance. After we had arrived in Canterlot, I had planned to board a train bound for Manehattan. But during the layover I had taken a quick nap, which was less than pleasant for me. The memory was still fresh in my head.

V^V^V^V^V^V^V

“Mari, you can’t be serious. I’m not going back there after what happened the last time. I nearly was brutally devoured by the wildlife, and that is not a pleasant experience for those of us with flesh and blood.”

“You’ll need me. And besides, that was before the train system was set up in Equestria. Hollow Shade’s crammed between two mountains and in the middle of a forest, and Celestia still thinks I’m resting at the bottom of the ocean. Unless I directly contacted her she would never find me.”

I got a headache from the continuing conversation, which was a bit bizarre given I was currently in my head. “Yes, but is it safe to even bring you along? You’re like a gigantic magical flare given the fact you’ve been sitting on top of a convection of several ley lines of magical energy for a couple of centuries. Hell, even dropping you could end in mass destruction.”

“I know, but I have a plan for that.”

“And what is your plan this time? Given your track record and almost perfect score with plans I’m curious how you’ll get around undetected.”

“That mare you’ve been traveling with. Her name’s Scarlet, correct?”

“Yes. And she seems to have a link to Dark. She has a slightly weaker version of his affliction, but I’m not sure how much weaker. She even has the death mark, as one would expect from an “afflicted”. What about her?”

“When we were tracking Dark down, it was a pain in both our flanks because we couldn't find his magical signature. So I’m wondering if we could hide mine by staying close to her. Until now the only thing keeping me hidden are these damn ruins, and I can restrain my field enough to not drive her insane, I think.”

“You think or you know?” He remained silent at my question, but I knew that he was not likely to answer my question. He was the one to figure out how to beat Dark, so he knew the limits of the affliction. I knew I wasn’t likely to defeat Celestia without his help. “Alright, I was planning on heading to Manehattan to see if I could get some of my stuff from past jobs that would help. But if you think this could work I’ll head right over.” The dream dissolved around me and I woke up, telling Scarlet that there was a change of plans in our destination. Which brought us up to our current time, right after boarding the train.

“I’m glad this is the earliest train we could board. But you seem down, something’ wrong Walker?”

“Aside from the fact that this is stopping in Ponyville then doubling back to Hollow Shades? Or the fact that I’m heading back to a place that does not exactly bring good memories? Totally fine.” I sighed and levitated my fedora off my head and removed the deck of cards magically attached to the top.

“What are those? Some kind of magic playing cards?”

“No, just a memento from an old job I took.” I smiled recalling how that night in Las Pegasus had gone. “I was just going to practice some old tricks to pass the time and take my mind off of everything that’s happened recently, and what’s to come.” I shuffled the cards using my magic. “Alright, pick four cards.”

“All four queens.” I raised an eyebrow at her almost immediate answer to my question. “They’re my lucky cards whenever I play poker.” I removed the four queen cards and showed them to her, then placed them on top of the deck and began to shuffle.

“Well, I suppose I might as well answer some question you have for me, like who I am exactly.” I started to place the cards down in piles of four, and she shook her head in response. “You already know most of the story, like my name and what I used to do.”

“Royal spymaster, right?”

“Right.” I placed more and more cards on the pile. “And from my little slip up regarding Dark, you already figured out i’m much older than you thought I was. Truth be told i’m immortal, mainly due to Princess Luna being banished.” She looked at me with a look of disbelief and skepticism. “Oh don’t be like that, you just killed a pegasus that controls other ponies with touch alone and you’re resistant to magic, an immortal unicorn shouldn’t be that odd given there are other immortals in public.

“Luna came back and Celestia lost her need for me.” I said simply. “On top of that, I know things about her that would hurt worse than most torture.” I flipped up the first card, the queen of diamonds. “Luna wasn’t around for the thousand years I was in her stead for dream walking, so for all I know she could be either bitter for me ‘taking’ her place, or happy that someone carried on her work while she was gone.” I flipped up the second card, the queen of clubs. “There’s also Cadence, but she’s not really involved in this. I’m not sure what’s going on in her life right now but she probably doesn't even know I exist.” I flipped over the third card, the queen of hearts. “And then there’s me. The immortal who hides from the light, in more than one sense. I avoid publicity just so I can keep working for Celestia, but that’s over now. And that’s all the living immortals.” I flipped up the fourth card, which was the joker.

“Looks like you screwed up your little trick. And what do you mean ‘living’?”

“Okay, for one I did my trick right. Check under your left roof.” She lifted her hoof and there was the queen of spades. “And when I say ‘living’ I’m referring to the immortals who currently have a beating heart. There’s a draconequus trapped in stone, and one of my friends. that’s who we’re going to visit.”

“Is he trapped in stone too?”

“No, he cursed himself to be a spirit attached to his own skull, then he killed himself and uses the magic that naturally exists to keep himself ‘awake’. So he’s technically not alive.” She looked at me like I was insane. “I know, bizarre. He was a powerful necromancer by the name ‘Marionette Strings’. However, now he’s supercharged with magic and can barely control his own. By now he’s likely on par magically with Celestia, but lacks the refinement that she’s perfected.”

“As I said, Dark was the first reaper, Marionette and I joined later. Mari got his job because he was naturally talented in such a difficult magic, and I got mine because of of a skill I used to have. When I got my immortality it was stripped from me though.”

“What was it?”

“Well, I used to be able to have the odd glimpses of the future. But I was stripped of that after I became immortal.”

“What did you see in your glimpses?” She asked.

“Nothing but death, it was like watching everyone I knew die. All I could do was just sit there and watch as everything around my crumbled to non existence. I didn’t realize it until after about a century later, but I saw me becoming immortal and watching everything disappear. I refuse to believe in fate, and what’s made me immortal were my own choices and a little ‘assistance’ from Celestia. Fate is something only fools and Cowards hide behind.”

Scarlet said nothing in response, and I could see she felt sorry for me. “What about the current set of reapers? Who was the one you already took down?”

“That was Rune, he’s an earth pony who could use magic through written words. He threatened to blow up a decent chunk of Appleloosa but I stopped him. I shattered his mental being into a thousand tiny pieces, so it’ll be awhile before he’s back in the game. Then there’s Rosy, who you already know about. There’s also Raze, a unicorn who can live up to his name. and Rogue.”

“What’s Raze’s deal?”

“Most unicorns are like self recharging batteries, we have power and can run out of it if we aren’t careful. Raze is more on par with an entire power plant. He has far more power than Celestia has, but he’s terrified of everything and can’t normally acess his power. His mana seems to have a life of it’s own and protects him if he get’s in danger. It also acts this way when he’s extremely angered.”

“And Rogue?”

“He’s a bat-pony, like Luna’s personal guard. He can bend the natural magic around himself to become invisible to both the eye and spells that detect magic. In a sense similar to your curse. He’s the leader of the group and also Rosy’s coltfriend.”

Scarlet sighed. “That’s a lot to take in. Hey, Walker?

“Yeah Scarlet?”

“I think I’m going to walk to the food car and get something to eat. You okay with that?”

“Yeah.” She said thanks and walked out of the compartment, I laid myself down and used a quick spell to temporarily change my coat color in case there was a surprise train inspection. With that I drifted off to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight sighed as she sat at the counter on the train, waiting for her sandwich to arrive. She had boarded the first train to ponyville available, and in doing so had to miss lunch. She was still curious as to what Celestia could be hiding from her. She had seen the newspaper on her way to the train station, the pegasus that Celestia had been talking to that night was on the front page, and it said that she nearly died in a flying accident, but if you coupled that with what Twilight had heard, you could easily figure out that she had fought Walker.

Walker was a puzzle to Twilight, she had been told that Walker never killed, and that he didn’t like violence. Nearly killing her seemed out of character. She sighed, knowing that there was no way she would be able to figure this out on an empty stomach. She face-tabled from waiting for so long, then heard the sound of somepony sitting in the seat next to her.

“One apple salad please.” Twilight looked up to see a red pegasus sitting next to her, a smile on her face. “And a glass of water as well.” The waiter shook his head and started on her order, shortly after placing Twilight’s sandwich in front of her.

“Finally, i’ve been waiting forever.” Twilight started eating her sandwich, enjoying the taste. She looked over at the pegasus, who had lost her happy demeanor. She now had a look of sadness on her face. “Hey, something wrong?”

“Huh? Oh, not really. I was just talking with a friend of mine and he was telling me about his past a bit. My name is Scarlet Wing, and your’s is?”

“Twilight. Twilight Sparkle. Are you heading to Ponyville too?”

“No, a friend of mine is taking me to see one of his old friends. Actually, now that I think about it he’s more of a teacher than a friend to me. Even just today i’ve learned quite a bit of history from him. Although he can be a bit... Difficult at times. We’re heading to Hollow Shades, and he didn’t want to wait so he got on this train. It doubles back to Hollow Shades after Ponyville.”

“Ah. I can kind of relate to the whole ‘difficult teacher’ thing. My teacher has become more and more evasive to my questions. I think she’s hiding stuff from me. It’s starting to drive me crazy. She finally sent me back home after I recovered from one of her ‘assignments’.”

“What kind of assignment could get you injured?”

“She asked me to track down this unicorn, we got into a fight on top of a train and he pretty much kicked my flank. I wasn’t hurt, just a little shaken up. I honestly was thinking of walking back to ponyville because of the event. Then I realized I was being silly.”

There was a short pause, and Scarlet’s lunch arrived. She ate it wordlessly and thanked the server. She spoke up again, restoring the conversation between Twilight and herself.

“Hey, Twilight?”

“Yeah?”

“If you saw your future, would you embrace it or run away from it? Even if you knew that there would be a lot of death in it?”

Twilight thought about what Scarlet had just said. “It depends, if you caused the death you should run from it. But if it wasn’t you that caused it then you should embrace it, knowing it was inevitable. Fate is fate, after all.”

“And if you didn’t believe in fate? What then?”

“Well, if you see the future and those things come to pass, how can you deny the existence of fate? Evidence saying it exists was given first hoof. It would be like looking up at the sky and seeing the moon, but saying it’s day. I mean, look at cutie marks, we get them from doing what we’re meant to do in life. I’d say that’s proof enough that there’s fate.”

“You might be right. But that’s not the case with me. I’ve had my cutie mark since I was born, and i’ve been told that it’s a curse. So does that mean that i’m not bound by the chains of fate that have ensnared others? There’s an exception to every rule. And now that I think about it, my teacher may be in the same boat as me.”

“It does make me wonder about what the future holds for me. Maybe I’ll meet Walker and beat him this time.”

Scarlet was confused when she heard Walker’s name used. “Walker?”

“Oh, right. He’s the unicorn I got in a fight with. I was told that he had betrayed my teacher, Celestia, so I was sent after him. He’s pretty tough in a fight. Who did you say your teacher you’re traveling with was again?”

Scarlet knew that it would be a bad idea to say it was Walker, and given the circumstances she wasn’t sure what to do. Twilight seemed to think that Walker was an enemy, and saying he was here could end terribly. But at the same time Scarlet saw her as a new friend and didn't want to lie to her, so she was torn. “Uh.. His name was Joker Spades. He’s my teacher and is pretty good at card tricks, which I think was related to his old job.”

“Huh. Well, if you want to talk with my i’ll be at the front of the train. Maybe we’ll meet again, Scarlet!” Twilight walked out of the car and towards the front of the train. Scarlet let out a deep breath of relief. She made a mental note to ask Walker about Twilight later. She continued towards the back, where she found Walker sleeping. She figured that Walker needed his sleep, and he had hidden his coat color, disguising himself. She laid down and went to sleep, hoping to get some rest after everything that had happened recently.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marionette Strings sat (or shall we say rested) on his pedestal, deep within a crypt in the quiet town of Hollow Shades. He reached out through the ley lines and mingled with the thoughts of many ponies, using them to observe the world. Walker was on the run from Celestia, and a pony that could be seen as Dark’s heir was with him. He hoped that she was only like him in her affliction, and not personality. Walker was playing a very dangerous card game here, one with stakes not even he could fully fathom. Only a being so in tune with Equestria, much like himself, could feel that something was wrong. And it had been for hundreds of years. He had tried to explain it to Walker, but he always shooed him off because Marionette had made grave mistakes and nearly killed Walker on more than one occasion, not on purpose of course.

Were he able to, he would go out there and smack Walker for being an insufferable idiot, despite his vast knowledge. Marionette was aware of Walker’s use of a chessboard metaphor in his campaign against Celestia, and Marionette saw it quite fitting. Although this chess game was on a timer, and Walker was running out of time. Marionette sighed to himself. “Walker, you’re playing against an opponent who’s not afraid to cheat, yet you play by the rules. What is it you hope to accomplish?”

Chapter 7: Crypts

Celestia sat upon her throne, awaiting her remaining Reapers. Rogue was furious for what Walker had done to Rosy, who had slipped into a coma after giving the information regarding her fight with Walker. Rogue had gone to visit her and was not exactly in the best emotional state to fight somepony like Walker. That left Raze to go after him. Rosy was a decent friend of his, so Celestia was bidding on his rage being great enough to fuel his magic into action.

Celestia heard a knock at the door, it was soft so she assumed It was Raze. “Come in.”

The door opened slowly, and a white unicorn with a light blue mane and tail walked in. “Hello Miss Celestia. Did you ask for me? One of the guards came to get me.”

“Yes, Raze. As you know Walker’s on the run from me. And so far he’s hurt Rune and Rosy very badly. As you could guess, Rogue is in quite the angered state so I don’t want to trust him with something like this in his current mindset. I believe that Walker is going to be somewhere in Manehattan, and I want you to go there and attempt to stop him.”

“I’ll try, Miss Celestia. But you know I’m not that good at controlling my magic. He’s not violent so I don’t think I would be able to do much since he wouldn’t fight me unless he has a reason to.”

“I know, Raze. I wanted to suggest that you put all the anger from him hurting your friends to use and think about how he’s hurt ponies like Rosy. Because of him she probably will never fly again. Just stop for a moment and think about that.”

Raze looked down at the ground, his brow furrowed and he became visibly angered. His mana began to swirl around him, forming tendrils of energy, one lashed out and carved into a pillar within the throne room like it was a hot knife through butter. He blinked and then yelped, severing his use of magic. He looked at the damage he had just caused and gulped. “Oh no! I’m so sorry Miss Celestia, I’ll clean this up right-”

“Don’t worry about it, Raze. The next train to Manehattan leaves soon. You should probably get going if you want to catch it.” Raze nervously shook his head and headed to the door. As he was about to open it, the door shot open, revealing a clearly aggravated Rogue.

“Celestia, we need to Talk. Now.”

Celestia glanced at Raze. “Leave. I guess I’m going to have to deal with this. And give a message to one of the guards that I need to have a meeting regarding setting up a public bounty.” Raze walked out of the room, clearly distraught for what he had accidentally done. He left the room and Rogue stepped forward.

“I want to go after Walker.”

“No, Rogue.”

“Why? He’s already taken out Rune and Rosy both. Raze is about as unpredictable as rolling a pair of dice. Sending me after him is a death sentence in and of itself. I have a little score to settle with that bastard for what he did to Rosy.”

“Rogue, I know you visited Rosy yourself and that she told you about her being defeated and nearly killed by a new associate of Walker. He’s not the reason Rosy may never fly again.”

“I know. But I have a plan. I’m going to make Walker suffer for hours, no, days at a time. I will find out who it was that hurt Rosy, and I will make them suffer so much more. I’m heading to Manehattan to capture Walker.”

“No. You’re not. If you go after Walker in Manehattan, I will be forced to suspend your rights within the castle. I will also take direct command of the Reapers. Do I make yourself clear?”

Rogue was furious. His position was quite precarious already in the whole scheme of things. He was not exactly loved by many of the nobles, being a bat-pony and all. One wrong move could end badly, and as much as he wanted to watch the life drain out of Walker slowly, he couldn’t risk it. He had other things that could be just as fruitful in his life. He began to walk out of the Castle, a path plotted in his head. It was time to head to Hollow Shades.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We arrived at the Hollow Shades train station, after an overly-long train ride. I had a crick in my neck from sleeping weird and Scarlet seemed to be in a bit of a happier mood. Hollow Shades was a bit of a sleepy town, not too much happened here over the years, given it was so isolated. In a way it was like Ponyville, if there was an air of depression hanging over the whole of the town. Back when Mari was first “buried”, there was nothing more than a few odd shops. He was in a set of ruins that could restrict the magical powers of anything inside it.

This hides him from ponies like Celestia from noticing he’s still alive when he should be dead. The ruin entrance was made a very long time ago, and looked like an elaborate tomb. To a degree it actually was a crypt, given it’s only resident was not actually alive, persay. Hopefully Scarlet’s natural affliction would keep his magic hidden and we could have him tag along with us. I doubted that Celestia even knew about the tomb, and if she did she wouldn’t dare go in because of the inability to use magic inside.

“Alright, time to go meet Mari. I think he’s anxious to meet you, Scarlet.” I started leading her to the crypt entrance.

“Hey, so who is this guy exactly? I mentioned that he was one of the Reapers like you and Dark. He was a necromancer as well, right? Isn’t that a banned magic to study?”

“Yeah, we were the original Reapers. Dark was the leader of the group, with Mari and I being there for ‘support’. He was a pretty powerful mage, and was one of the reasons the study of necromancy might have been banned. What he did was difficult, and if he had failed at it he would probably just be dead, without his spirit attached to a corpse. And it’s more so just controlling the movement of something from a distance, and he could summon spirits to possess bodies. Because of that he was a lot more varied in how he worked instead of just “raise the dead.’

“He was also one of my close friends, and he was incredibly smart. However, he lacked common sense some of the time. He’s the only one that knows how to take down someone with your ‘affliction’ using lower level magic.” We continued on our merry way through the graveyard and eventually found a rather large tomb with a singular coffin inside. It was ornately decorated with various scenes of death and destruction. By the stars did Mari have bad taste in decor. “Alright, help me move this lid.”

“We’re defiling his tomb? Is that really a good idea?” Scarlet asked.

“Well, it’s not so much a tomb as it is a home. Well, I guess one could call it a tomb since he’s technically dead. However, he’s also “alive” so really anything from a grave to a home would work. And this is just a lid, his real abode is deeper in. Hope you like spiders.”

“Sometimes, I wonder if you can read my mind just to mess with me. I hate spiders almost as much as I hate guys that hit on me.” I was about to reply to that when she continued. “And yes, that is a physically possible thing to surpass.”

We began to descend into the tomb/house/grave and navigated through the passageways, careful to avoid any of the traps that had been installed. We came across a couple of skeletons, likely adventurers who’d thought this place contained treasure. It was a labyrinth which could have even put Rune’s mind to shame.

Scarlet and I didn’t talk much, aside from my occasional instructions on getting through traps. After all was said and done, we got through to Mari’s room with little more than a few singed hairs and an inch shorter tail on Scarlet. She was panting lightly after out running a rolling boulder that she had accidentally triggered when she had sneezed. “Honestly, what kind of psycho would have something like that installed?”

“That would be me, Miss Scarlet.” Came a voice from the center of the room. “And I would like to think of myself more as an artist rather than a psychopath, thank you very much.” If he was actually offended, he couldn’t show it.

“Walker. I have one quick question.”

“Yeah?”

“Why in the name of the stars did you forget to mention that his eye sockets are ON FIRE?”

“Because it didn’t really matter all that much? He’s already a thousand year old talking skull who was one of my best friends, and after all that you’re concerned about the fact that he has purple flames coming out of his eyes?” Scarlet remained silent at my question, so I decided to continue. “Alright, Marionette Strings, meet Scarlet Wing. Scarlet, meet Mari. Oh, and despite anything he says always call him Mari, he loves that name.”

“No I don’t. Anyway, we should probably get going. I’ve been mulling over your adventures, Walker, and I think I know why our dear employer is so different now.”

“Wait,” said Scarlet, “you mean she hasn’t always been covertly hostile?”

“No, she actually used to be quite nice. But this isn’t the place to relay stories about who she used to be. We need to get going.” I shook my head in agreement then used my magic to levitate him into the empty pocket of Scarlet’s saddle bag.

“Hey, would it be appropriate to recite Flankspeare or would that be pushing boundaries?”

“Okay, he stole that entire play from me. So yeah, it would be pushing the boundaries on two fronts. Anyway we really should get out of here as soon as we can.” I walked over and pushed an brick in the wall, opening a hallway. “Especially before the spider trap activates.”

Scarlet rushed ahead of me without another word. I knew there was no spider traps, but I figured that it would get her moving quickly enough. Being a thousand years old doesn't mean that you’re mature or wise, it simply means that you’re a thousand years old. I followed behind her. As soon as we exited we would test if Mari’s theory was correct. I was confident that this would actually work and we’d be closer to defeating the tyrannical Celestia.

We got to the top of the passageway, which had been just barely inclined even though it seemed straight. Scarlet was waiting at what looked like a dead end. “Hey, why didn’t we come in here this way?”

“It’s a one way passage, for the sole purpose of leaving.” I pressed another button on the wall and it opened into a cellar. We continued forward, albeit with Scarlet bearing a confused impression. The door closed behind us, blending seamlessly with the wall. We went up the steps out of the cellar and arrived at a bar. Several heads turned our way as we had just come out of the employee’s only door. “Excuse us, just passing through.” We exited the building and then stopped outside.

Scarlet looked back at the bar. “The Fancy Hat bar? Walker, please tell me that you’re not the one that named this.”

“Hey, I needed to make sure that the exit would be in a sensible place that somepony wouldn’t accidentally stumble upon. So I had this bar built. And if you say it’s a terrible name I will make you go through the crypt again.”

She smacked me over the head. “Walker, you’re a jerk. You do know that, right?” I gave a slight chuckle and we began to walk back towards the train station. “So, where to next?”

“I’m not quite sure yet, I was thinking that we should probably head-” I felt a blow to my chest, like Black had just hit me with another one of his pillars. I was sent flying and landed hard against my shoulder.

“Walker!” Scarlet screamed, alarmed at what had just happened. A laugh filled the air, sending a chill down my spine as I clearly remembered it.

“Well I’ll be damned. I come down to this little haven of darkness to see if I can get a dark mage to fix Rosy’s wings, and I find the guy I was hoping to beat to death.” I felt pressure against my neck, like a hoof that was using me as a step. No, not like a hoof, it was a hoof.

“Show yourself, Rogue.” I said through a somewhat strainful manner.

“If you insist.” There was a shimmer of magic in the air, and a gray-brown bat-pony with a golden mane and eyes stood above me, his hoof was pressing hard against my neck. He had a sort of studded gauntlet on his hoof that I recognized as his weapon of choice. “Now, shall we get down to business?”

“Get away from him!” Out of the corner of my eye I saw Scarlet rushing towards him. I needed to warn her that he would defeat her, but the pressure that Rogue was applying was far too great. I mentally linked with Mari, telling him to warn her. He quickly relayed it to her who Rogue exactly was and she stopped. “You’re the leader of the Reapers, aren't you?”

“Yes, I am the one named Rogue. Now if you excuse me I have a few bones to break here.” He raised his hoof and brought it down on my side, cracking a few ribs. I knew that was going to really hurt in the morning, assuming that I actually survived this.

“My name is Scarlet Wing. I’m the one that hit Rosy with a crane in Baltimare.” He was bringing down another strike, but after Scarlet had finished her sentence he had stopped inches from my spine.

“What? You’re the one that put her in the hospital?!” It sounded as if Rosy had survived, which was a lucky break and a very, very unlucky break for us. Scarlet, what have you done?! He slammed his hoof into my jaw, dislocating it and stepped away from me. “Well, it’s just raining wishes for me today, isn’t it?” He turned invisible again and I quickly lost track of him

Scarlet backed away, not sure how to handle this new foe. Rogue was the only Reaper to ever beat me one on one in close quarters combat, and I was sure he had gotten better at it since. I looked at her and then saw a grey blur appear in the air next to her, it stopped moving and I saw Rogue frozen in the air with a strained look on his face, ready to strike. He was catapulted backwards and hit the ground sliding.

I wasn’t sure what exactly happened there, but I was glad it was. I tried to stand up but I fell over again. Rosy rushed over to me, seeming not to have noticed what had just transpired with Rogue. I knew he had been in her blind spot when he had become frozen, but I would have thought she’d notice. Mari, what did you just do?

I didn’t do anything! I’m not exactly the best at defence and i’ve never seen magic like that before. “Scarlet, bring me closer to Walker. I think I might be able to-”

“Alright, now I’m pissed off!” Shouted Rogue, now back on his hooves. He bucked a tree, splitting it in two. He began walking over to where Scarlet and I were. “And by the creator will it be FUN to watch you two suffer.”

“You see, that’s where you’re wrong, Rogue.” Said Mari, hidden from Rogues view in Scarlet’s saddle bag. “There’s three of us here and you will most certainly not be watching us suffer.” A circle of magic energy and runes began to swirl around us. “Now farewell.”

I felt us being launched a great distance via teleportation magic, although I couldn’t tell where we were going exactly. I felt us stop, so I tried to look at our surroundings. I saw a small bright-green building with a caduceus symbol on top. Oh creator, not here.

An elderly mare with a green coat and a blue mane stepped out. “What’s going on out here?” She looked down at our little group and gasped.

“Cross, I know this is kind of an awkward time to ask this,” said Mari, “but we sure as all of tartarus could use your help.” The mare looked at us shocked, then motioned for Scarlet to help bring me in. For the first time in three centuries, I had lost a fight.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A unicorn in an ornate top hat and a black tie sat on a bench in Los Pegasus. He was sitting contently and thinking about his recent winnings at the poker table.Man, what a bunch of suckers. He figured he might as well see what was going on in town so he went to the notice board at his hotel. He usually took odd jobs now and then since he didn’t really feel like constantly cheating the casino.

He took his hat off got to the board and began searching for something at least mildly entertaining to do. There were a few requests for body guard duties and freelance photagraphers to get pictures of a star or two, but he’d done those things in the past and wasn’t a big fan. Then he caught sight of a bounty poster and began to read out loud. “Wanted, Dream Walker. Reward given dead or alive, five thousand bits. Crime: attempted assassination of our beloved ruler Celestia.” He smiled to himself and put his hat back on. “Well, looks like I’ve got something to do for the next couple of days.” He began walking towards the train station. “Now, let’s see if I can figure out where that old colt is.”

Chapter 8: Mending

“Celestia, Rogue has returned. And he bears... Interesting news.” Said the guard, standing before the Princess.

“Oh? What exactly is the news, if I may be so bold.”

“He says that he encountered Walker while he was running a personal errand to Hollow Shades. We’re not sure on the details exactly, but he claims that he badly injured Walker in the fight and that Walker escaped.”

Celestia scowled. “Bring him in. Now.” Celestia began tapping her foot while she was waiting for Rogue to come into the room. After all, she had said he still fought Walker. He would likely have to be punished for this.

Rogue entered the room, a smug grin on his face, “Sorry for the wait, Celestia. I know you said not to go after Walker, but I hadn’t intended on finding him. I was in Hollow Shades to see if I could get somepony to repair Rosy’s wings with magic, and I happened to stumble across him and his companion.”

Celestia’s eyebrow rose. “So you met Walker’s companion? Tell me, what are they like?”

“She’s a red pegasus with a mane that’s similar in color to mine. She called herself Scarlet and she’s the one that injured Rosy in the fight.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “But even by the standards of some of our odd jobs, that fight was weird.”

Despite Celestia’s minor displeasure at Rogue fighting, she was intrigued and was curious as to what had happened. “How exactly was it weird?”

I was hidden during an attack on Scarlet, but when I got close my magic was canceled out and I was catapulted backwards and away from her. Then she got close to Walker and they teleported out with the help of a pony I didn’t see, but definitely heard.”

Hollow Shades, an unknown helper and a teleportation... “Tell me, was there anything strange about the teleportation or about the group in general.”

“Scarlet had a stuffed saddlebag, and the teleportation was a circle of magic that looked like purple flames.”

Celestia shot up, fully attentive. “You’re sure they were purple, without a doubt?”

“Yes. It seems like you know who this was, dear Princess. You wouldn’t mind telling me who this was and what kind of teleportation magic that was, would you?”

“Walker was saved by the most powerful corpse in known existence. You saw a ley line teleportation that was only ever mastered by one pony, the Second Reaper: Marionette Strings.” She got up and began walking towards the door. “Walker actually poses a threat to me now. Guards!” She yelled, “Increase the reward for Walker by 10,000 and have the information that he’s highly dangerous added to the wanted posters.” Celestia turned back towards Rogue. “And you get in contact with Raze, tell him to meet you back here. I think it’s time for us to release him.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

Scarlet paced back and forth near the entrance of the building Mari had brought them to, which appeared to be a sort of old-timey doctors office for only a few patience at once. Cross walked into the room with a blank look on her face. “So, how is Walker doing, Madame Cross?” Asked Scarlet, worried about Walkers health.

“Hell live, but it’s been awhile since I’ve seen him in this bad of shape. Although this is the first time I’ve seen him lose a fight. Most of the time he shows up here he’s usually been chased off a cliff or had the stuffing beaten out of him by unhappy poker players that had been cheated by him.”

“Wouldn’t that count as a fight? He just lets them beat him?”

“Walker is a strange pony, even if he wasn’t immortal.” She smiled and drank her tea as if being immortal was just a common term, like being a colt or a filly. “He avoids fights if he can, and if he’s sure that his life wouldn’t be in danger he doesn't fight back.”

“So, you knew that Walker was immortal?

“Yes, when I was very young he helped my family with some trouble we had run into. My brother had been abducted and Walker saved him. At the time I didn’t know he was immortal, but a few decades later he shows up at my doorstep asking for my help. He hadn’t aged a day. Even the immortal need a doctor, Scarlet.”

Scarlet sat and thought on who Walker truly was. He seemed to not like violence, so why did he continue this fight against Celestia if he could run off to wherever he felt like? “So wait, why did you know Mr. Strings?”

“Thats what you’re calling Mari? Eh, nevermind. To each their own, as they say. One time walker came in with a serious illness and I needed medical records to see if there was anything I could really do. When you’re 1,000 years old medical records aren’t that reliable. He got me in contact with Mari and he told me what I needed to know. I never knew he was just a skull though.”

“Speaking of Mr. Strings, where is he?”

“I put him next to Walker on the bedstand. I don’t know what you’ve gotten yourself roped into Miss Scarlet, but I hope you know there’s no more turning back after what happened in Hollow Shades.” She sighed. “And Walker is not the only one around here that needs some rest. You should go to sleep.”

“I should keep an eye on Walker to make sure everything is fine, not sleep while there’s a homicidal maniac after us.”

“He’ll be fine by morning... More or less. But Scarlet, do you even know where you are?”

Scarlet paused and thought for a moment. In the whole rush of things she never even bothered asking Mari where they were. “No, actually. Where did Mari bring us?”

“Well, then I guess I should formally welcome you to Vanhoover.”

“We’re in Vanhoover? Isn’t that all the way on the other side of Equestria? How does that make any sense?” Cross shrugged then got up, leaving Scarlet to her own thoughts. Scarlet knew Cross was right and that she needed sleep, so she laid her head down and began to drift off into the world of dreams.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Walker, you need to think out what you’ll do next. Scarlet is a known factor now. She’s in danger as well. You’re practically in a coma and you likely won’t even wake up ‘til tomorrow morning.”

“Don’t chastise me Mari! I know damn well what’s happening. I wouldn’t have had to deal with this if you hadn’t gotten me to drag my flank all the way to that stupid crypt of yours just so that I could drag you out. You’re lucky Cross is good with containment magic, so you get to do what you always did. Sit in one place and just talk about how I screwed something up.” I ran my hoof through my mane, noting I had lost my hat at one point or another. I missed Geoffrey.

“Look, now is not the time to be at each other's throats. You saw what that guard was dreaming about, there’s a bounty on your head now. You might be able to change your coat but anyone that’s looking for a pony with as large of a reward as you have will accuse just about any unicorn with a dark coat if they can.”

“I know. Celestia has finally gone to those lengths and it’s a problem for everyone in our little group.” I thought on what we could do from this point. “Alright, since I don’t have any ideas that have even half a chance of succeeding, you have any ideas?”

“Remember back at the crypt that I said that the Celestia from our time is different from the one that rules over the world?” I nodded my head in agreement. “Well, I thought that was strange, so I checked a few things out. She’s not a changeling, so thats kind of good for us. But something in her seems... Broken, to put it simply.”

“I kind of know what you mean. Before I left I rummaged around in her head for information, and it seemed more like a brooding tyrant’s mind than the benevolent ruler that picked us as Reapers.”

“Okay, so you’re aware of that. I’m hoping you recall how you came to get your rather long life?”

“If I forget then I might as well forget everything that makes me what I am.”

“I think that’s the night she changed. The night we dragged Dark back to her after a month of chasing him down. I don’t remember anything after we brought him in, but I’m sure that’s when he changed.”

I started walking around, not exactly in the mood to think about that night when I heard coughing from behind me. I turned around to see Scarlet half stuck in sand. “Uh, a little help please?” I rolled my eyes then pulled her out with my magic. “Thank you. Where are we?”

“Welcome to Walker’s head. It’s a bit boring but you get used to it.” Said Mari. “We’re having a conversation here regarding what exactly to do. You want to put in your two bits?”

“Aside from getting this over with? Not really. So, this is your head Walker? It’s not really what I expected from you.”

“What were you expecting, then?”

“I don’t know. A giant machine of some kind filled with a library? I just didn’t think it would be this... Barren.”

“There’s actually quite a lot here, but it’s just spaced out. Would you like to see what yours is like?” I could see that Scarlet was thinking about whether or not to take the offer I had presented. She looked back at me and gave me a nod of approval, I felt us being moved from one mind to another. We arrived in Scarlet’s mind, which looked like a singular room with a bed in it.

“Wow... It’s my old room...” Scarlet walked around her room and looked at all the things that were there, doubtlessly she was familiar with them.

“I’m a bit impressed myself,” I said, “most of the places i’ve been in aren’t this well held together. But it still fairly small.” I looked around the room, curious as to what it contained myself. I saw plenty of things I expected: trophies, awards, momentos, books like that. My eyes continued to wander until I saw a old style chest on the ground. I walked towards it and saw there were words written on it. Property of Ruby. I looked back at Scarlet and spoke. “Hey Scarlet, who’s Ruby?”

Scarlet stopped. “Ruby? I don’t know anypony named Ruby. Why do you ask?” I motioned for her to come over to where I was and she looked at the chest. “This was never in my room. This isn’t something of mine at all.” We both looked at eachother and then back at the box. She began to reach for the box, and as soon as she touched it I felt a shock wave rip through her mind, expelling me back into reality.

I bolted upright from the shock, I could see it was early morning outside and I felt sore all over. Scarlet stumbled into the room, sweat dripping from her head. “Walker, I know what I got my mark from.”

I looked at her in disbelief. The mark she had was a curse, not something earned. So how could she have gotten it? “How? It doesn’t work like a normal cutie mark, it’s something given not earned.”

“No Walker, it’s a mark that’s earned the moment a certain action is taken, and doesn’t work like yours or other ponies would.”

“Then how do you get it?”

“By killing a family member before you get a cutie mark.”

I continued to stare at her. Scarlet? A Killer? No, she had attacked Rosy but only to save me. But why would she kill her own family member? “Just tell me what happened after you opened that box, Scarlet.”

“I... I got a memory back, It was about my twin sister. Her name was Ruby. It was terrible, we had gotten into a petty squabble over a stupid toy, then I pushed her down the stairs and she died. I was so terrified, then a stallion came to me. He had one red eye and one blue eye. He said that he could make everyone forget Ruby ever existed, including myself. I only had to forfeit my ability to get a cutie mark in exchange. He said the memory of our talk would go away if I declined, but I was so terrified of what my parents might do that I accepted. Then he just laughed and said he’d see me in Tartarus.”

Scarlet then collapsed onto the ground and began to sob. “Walker, what do I do? I can’t just go on living knowing I killed my sister. I just want to die now.” She got up then began to walk over to me. “Walker, just put me out of my misery.”

I looked down at Scarlet, shock on my face. That’s how Dark got his mark? I’d seen him fight, but I didn’t think he’d had it in him. He was brutal, but not brutal enough to kill of a family member. I couldn’t just let Scarlet go on wanting to die. She’d lost her drive in life and wanted nothing more than the cold embrace of death now.

“What are you going to do, Walker?” Asked Mari from where he sat. He probably already had an idea of what to do that would bring her back to her senses and make her go back to her joking self. I swallowed as I made my decision.

I pushed her back onto the ground then pressed my hoof against her throat, poised to kill her. It made me remember my fight with Rogue, but this was different. “You want to die? Fine by me.” I pressed down and began to cut off her airway.

She began to choke. “Wha... What are you doing? Why are you trying to kill me?”

“You asked to die and I don’t have a use for a mopey pegasus that won’t help me. So I’m granting your wish.”

She coughed out her words of response, barely able to breath. “I... Don’t want... To die...” I released my hoof and she began to cough. After she stopped she wiped the tears from her eyes and calmed down. “Thanks... Despite the fact that you almost killed me there I’m thankful that you helped me. But why do it like that?”

“If you really wanted to die, you wouldn’t have complained. And I know that it’s better to let a pony like you suffer with something like that on your shoulders for a long time. Trust me, I know how it feels, and it took me centuries that you don’t have to recover from it on my own.” I put Mari back in his saddlebag and levitated it to Scarlet. “Come on. We need to leave.” I walked towards the exit and saw Cross standing in the doorway.

“While I don’t agree with your methods, Walker, I have to admit you do a good job of getting others back to their senses. You did good. Are you sure you’re good to go?”

I sighed. “Yes Cross, I’m fine. A little sore, but I’ll manage. Thanks for the treatment, I’ll remember to tell pay you back next time.”

“That’s what you always say then you show up half dead and make the same excuse after I save you from death. Where are you off to now?”

“Ponyville, I have something I need to talk about with a certain pony there. I’m not happy that I have to do it, but it’s necessary.” Scarlet stood behind me and we walked out of the building, thanking Cross one last time. We began our walk towards the train station, and I hoped that this wouldn’t be the last time I saw Cross.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight sat in her room, a candle lit next to her as she read through books on magic theory. She had already tried to figure out Walker’s immortality and failed, so now she was just looking into how she could better herself if she had to face him again. Her she looked up and decided to stretch since she’d been at this since noon, and the sun was already starting to dip below the horizon. She had seen the wanted posters for Walker around town, but she was suspicious of them. Walker hadn’t attempted to kill Celestia, and she was wondering how far some ponies would go to catch him.

She walked over to the shelf and pulled out her copy of “unusual application for magic” and set it down on the table. She figured she should get this out of the way as soon as she could, knowing her friends were coming over later. Her eyes scanned over the text, while she absorbed the information as quickly as she could. Her eyes began to drift off as she came to a section she had read many times before and she started to gaze into the flame of the candle.

Memories of what Walker had made her see flashed through her head, the sight of a simple accident with magic killing all those ponies had been seared into her head like a hot brand. She was horrified as she couldn’t do anything but watch as they screamed in pain and died. She eventually heard a voice urging her to get up and snapped out of it. She saw the concerned looks on her friends faces as they all looked at her. She got up and brushed away her tears that had accumulated. “S... Sorry guys, just having a bad day.”

“Bad enough that ya were on the ground curled up in a ball and cryin’?” Said Applejack, clearly one of the most worried in the group.

“Yeah... I just had a memory from when Celestia called me out for help. And no, I still can’t tell you what happened.”

Rainbow Dash spoke up next “Look Twilight, we’ve all had some pretty rough times and the others have always been there to back us up. We’re all here for you if you need help.”

“Thanks for being so worried. Now, how’s ready for something to eat?” All the mares gave an approval, although Twilight could still see they were worried. She walked out of the library with the others and thought about how they would handle the mere concept of Walker. Celestia had already made her promise not to breath a word about it. Twilight was fully aware this could be something that ruined her friendship, and wanted to ask Celestia if she could tell them about this as soon as possible.

Twilight let out a deep sigh. Even after i’m done fighting him he’s still beating me. I need to end this soon, before things go wrong.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So, why aren’t we teleporting all the way to Ponyville like we did to get here?” Scarlet asked, curious as to why they had to take this seemingly longer route.

“Mari’s only good with teleporting along the ley lines, and there aren’t any heading through Ponyville around this area. So, as a result we have to take the train.” We continued to walk towards the train station until they came to the ticket booth, and acquired the necessary tickets. Then we began our long wait for the train to arrive.

Mari got the groups attention with his mental link magic. “Something’s wrong here.”

“What?” Scarlet and I both replied in unison.

“It’s the middle of a Sunday afternoon and there’s not a single pony in the station.” I looked around and saw that he was right. There wasn’t a single soul around. We got up and began to move towards the center of the station. A voice sounded all around us.

“That’s far enough, Dream Walker.” A burly earth pony stallion stepped out from the exit. Other guards filed in and surrounded us within moments. I tried to communicate with Mari.

“Any chance we happen to be standing on a useable ley line?”

“Unless you want to go for a swim in the ocean, the answer is no.”

“Dream Walker, you’re under arrest for the attempted assassination of our ruler, Princess Celestia. Any attempt to resist on your part will be met with lethal force. Do I make myself clear.”

These kind of ponies really got on my nerve. But before I could answer his question with a witty retort I was cut off by a vaguely familiar voice.

“Mares and gentlecolts, may I have you attention please?” A gray unicorn wearing a black tie and top hat walked in, and I immediately knew I had about a fifty percent chance of walking out of this alive. “My name is Hat Trick, and I have a question for all of you before I let you continue on your business.” He took off his hat as he walked towards us.

“You’re interrupting an arrest of great importance. I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” Said the leader of their little group.

“I said I’d let you continue after you answered my question. It’s quite a serious one I assure you.” I twirled the hat around. “Who wants to see me pull a rabbit out from my hat?” He looked at the guards as they all gave him a glare, however one of the younger looking ones raised his hoof. I already knew where this was going.

“Walker, who is this guy?” Scarlet asked.

“If he doesn't accidentally kill us, I’ll tell you.” I raise my hoof as well, knowing that Trick was all about the spectacle. Scarlet followed my lead.

“Good, I have three yes and zero no. Seeing as how the rest of you haven’t said anything I think I’ll start.” He pointed the open end of his hat towards the guards, and I watched as a large cylinder the length of a fully grown pony erupt out of the hat, On it’s side were the words “White Rabbit” painted in white paint. Several of the guards stepped back at the sight of it and others fell down. “And now, I’m giving you all thirty seconds to leave before I make you all disappear.

There was a fuse near the base of the cylinder that made me realize it was a cannon, he lit it and I watched as it slowly shrunk. I guessed that it was a thirty second fuse from his earlier statement. The majority of the guards ran off as the cannon was pointed at them, even more when the fuse was lit. Only the guard who had told us to stop and a few others continued to stand there. The train pulled up as we reached the ten second mark.

Hat Trick looked back at me and smiled. “You hop on, I’ll catch up in... seven seconds.” He looked at the guards who were trembling in fear. Scarlet, Mari and I boarded the train, we all looked back at Trick. “Any last words, guards?” The leader was about to open his mouth when he was rudely cut off by Trick. “Sorry, time's up.” He refocused his aim in the last few seconds. He pointed it directly into the face of the capitan. “Bang.”

Magic energy erupted out of the cannon and blasted the guards a few dozen yards at least, and there was smoke coming from the cannon barrel. It retraced back into the hat and Trick put it on his head with a flourish before boarding the train.

I gave him a look of contempt before I decided to introduce him. “Alright, Scarlet Wing, meat Hat Trick, one of Equestria's dirtiest conponies and an ex Reaper candidate.”

“Wait, ex candidate? What happened?”

“I punched Rogue in the face.” He flashed a smile before seeming to remember something. “Oh, right, I found this while tracking you down, Walker.” He took his hat off and levitated my hat out from inside it, along with my deck of cards. I thanked him for bringing it back to me and I put it on my head. He looked at Scarlet. “Hey, you’re kinda cute. Maybe we could go out for-” I had to restrain a laugh as he was promptly cut off by Scarlet’s hoof colliding with his face and he fell to the ground.

Chapter 10: Showdown

I felt my head throbbing as soon as I began to wake up. I could see from where I got up that I had been tossed clear across the car, along with Trick who was currently missing his hat. Scarlet was on the ground and was in the process of regaining consciousness. I didn’t see Mari anywhere though, which worried me. “Hey, Mari! If you’re still in one piece, mind telling me where you are?” I heard a groan coming from a pile of luggage in the very corner of the room.

I walked over to the pile of suitcases and proceeded to rummage through and pulled out a rather grumpy Mari. “I’m never riding a train again for as long as I live.”

“This was your first time riding a train, that and you’re technically not even alive. You can’t really complain since it’s your first time and it went horribly due to something beyond your control.” I looked looked towards the front of the train and saw other ponies getting off of it. From what I could tell nopony died in the wreck, so I was relieved.

I felt a magical presence that had me worried, especially since I knew he wouldn’t be here on his own. “Mari, please tell me I’m not the only one who feels that.”

“You mean Raze? Or do you mean Rogue, who’s also here and probably ready to kick your ass?”

“Yeah. This ought to be fun.” I turned towards Trick and Scarlet, who were both up. “Hey, we have a couple of problems on our hands.”

“Aside from the train being wrecked?” Said Scarlet, who was clearly in pain.

“Yeah, Rogue and Raze are both here. And I’m willing to guess neither one are very happy right now.” I said. I was worried more about all the civilians in the area more than the upcoming fight. “Scarlet, Trick and I will take on the Reapers. Since i’m a wanted criminal and have my face on just about everything I don’t think they’d listen to me if I told these bystanders to run, can you take care of that? And take Mari with you.”

Scarlet nodded in response. “Where should they go?”

“Tell them to go to the other side of the train. That would probably be best. And Trick, grab your hat. I have a feeling that this won’t end well for either side.”

“Just saying this now, I call dibs on kicking Rogue’s ass.” Trick said as he put his hat on, a determined look in his eyes and a smirk on his face. We started our walk towards the front of the train, prepared to face the Reapers that Celestia had sent. The train itself didn’t look like it would be going anywhere anytime soon, since most of it was derailed and the engine was mostly destroyed, presumably by Raze.

Trick and I arrived at the front of the wreck, with a welcoming committee of two somewhat insane ponies. “Why hello there, Walker. I see you brought a meat shield with you this time.” Said Rogue, sitting on top of the wreckage of the engine. “Afraid to die?”

“No, not really. Last time I wasn’t really expecting you but this time it’ll be different. And he’s not a meat shield, he’s the guy who punched you in the face then danced away.” Rogue looked at Trick for a moment, then Trick did him the honor of taking off his hat. I could see that Rogue became instantly aggravated.

“Oh, it’s you. The only pony stupid enough to turn down being a Reaper. I guess it’s time I pay you back for that punch.” Rogue hit the metal of the engine with his armored hoof, denting what was left of the train. “With interest.”

I turned towards Raze who had been off a ways from his superior. “I see you’re still alive, and I’m going to assume you’re the one who did all this?”

Raze stood in place, motionless. “Where’s the one that hurt Rosy?” I could feel a pressure coming from him, emanating in my direction.

“Sorry to say, but she’s a bit busy right now. I’d be happy to take a message then beat you senseless.” Replied Trick, who I assumed had begun to take a “liking” to Scarlet. I needed to remember to tell him she was a lesbian after this, otherwise things could get a bit awkward.

It seemed that this was a battle that could very well get out of hoof. Since Scarlet and Mari were elsewhere it was a two against two fight for supremacy. I took a more offensive stance, while Trick took off his hat. Raze’s eyes began to gloss over and a light blue glow took over and spread to the rest of his body, while Rogue hopped off the remains of the train and cracked his neck. The area we had derailed in was a lightly wooded area, with mostly flat terrain, which meant there wasn’t many places to hide.

Trick turned the top of his hat towards himself, and from the opposite end which he had pointed towards Rogue came a large multi-chambered device. “You’re mine, Rogue.” The device began to spin and small blasts of energy came out of the contraption. Rogue began to move as to dodge the blasts and quickly became invisible. Trick began to turn himself and his hat in the direction that Rogue had been moving in, hoping to hit him.

I focused on Raze, whose energy had become almost crushing by now. I saw that it was scorching the earth around his hooves, leaving nothing but ashes. I began to charge my own magic, although I already knew it wouldn’t be much help this time. His energy formed a long tendril that looked quite nasty. If there was one pony I would not want to piss off, it would probably be Raze. The tendril seemed to move on it’s own accord, and given Raze’s general workings I knew it probably was. It wrapped itself around a tree’s trunk and pulled it out, roots and all.

The tendril whipped itself at me, releasing the tree. I dodged to the side quickly, glancing back to see what had happened to the tree. It had half buried itself in the ground near the train. Well, at least it doesn’t have to get replanted now. I loosed a bolt of lightning towards Raze, only to see it dissipate before it even got within a foot of him. With as strong of an aura as he had, I was worried that I wouldn’t even be able to so much as scratch him.

I looked back at the train, noticing some jutting pieces of metal. I used my telekinesis to pry a long rod from the shell of the train then hurled it with towards Raze. More tentacles formed, although not as thick as the one that had been used to fling the tree, and shielded him from the missile. They collided against the shell of energy and clattered harmlessly against the ground. Well, that’s disheartening. I grabbed more of the pieces of metal and began to lob them one after another, like an archer unloading his quiver. Each met the same fate as the last.

I risked a glance over at Trick, seeing how his fight against Rogue was proceeding. Quite a bit of the terrain surrounding Trick had been torn up by his magic attacks and he was panting heavily. I saw a bit of blood on the ground several feet from Trick, which meant that he had hit Rogue at some point or another. The device from before had disappeared from his hat, but his hat was still off of his head. Rogue was nowhere to be found.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I stood there, exhausted from burning through so much of my magical energy so quickly. Rogue was annoyingly slippery. If I used Smoke anymore I would pass out fairly soon. Perhaps I should elaborate on what’s going on, my name is Hat Trick: professional showpony, gambler and master manipulator of space. “Smoke” is my faster firing version of “White Rabbit”, although it’s shots are much weaker. Walker was busy fighting Raze, and from what I could tell he wasn’t doing so well.

I collected my thoughts and worked out how I was going to deal with Rogue’s annoying invisibility, which he had refused to drop since our fight began. From what I knew, it was his natural field bending light around his body itself. I kept my hat at the ready, but if I didn’t want to pass out mid fight I needed to hold back on using magic. That left only “Mirror”, my sword which could cut through magic and my hooves as weapons.

I went through a list of possible ways I could get Rogue to show himself. He wasn’t very honorable so calling for a “fair fight” wouldn’t work. I looked at the ground around me, noticing that it was rather dry, which gave me an idea. I began forcing my magic outwards in every direction, stirring up a lot of dust from the dry earth.

I watched the area around me, where the particles of dust had begun to float around freely. I watched the particles float gently down, perceiving any and all changes that were made. The dust to my right began to move rapidly, which signalled the approach of the invisible Rogue. I pulled Mirror from my hat and moved the flat of the blade to slam it into Rogue, only to be met with the sound of metal hitting metal.

Rogue’s invisibility dissipated, revealing it’s user whose armored hooves were pressed against my sword. There was a burn along the upper part of his left foreleg, presumably from where I had hit him while using Smoke. “So, you figured out where I was. I’m actually impressed.”

“Don’t be, messin’ around with space is my specialty.” I said with a smirk on my face. Rogue was putting all his weight into pushing Mirror back towards me. I swung the sword around, causing him to drop his hooves to the ground. I took Mirror and did an overhead swing with it, attempting to cut Rogue. He quickly raised his hoof, deflecting Mirror back upwards. The sound of the metals colliding jolted my focus and made me lose my mental grip on Mirror. I watched as Mirror buried itself halfway in the ground.

“Now would you look at that, the knight’s apprentice has lost his blade. Both you and Walker are weak, and I honestly don’t know how you’ve survived this long. You see it’s my belief that those who are weak die quickly, and those who are strong rise to power and continue to live. There’s no need for the weak who only take up resources and space, so why not get rid of them all the quicker?

“You had a chance to become strong by becoming a Reaper, so why in the name of all the stars would you ever give up that chance?”

“Because I’m not really a fan of becoming a raging asshole who kills off anyone that’s not deemed as ‘necessary’. That, and you guys are all insane. You shouldn't kill off those who are weak, you should help them survive.” I grasped Mirror with my magic once again and yanked it from the ground, swinging at Rogue.

Rogue simply grinned as he swatted Mirror away, sending it spinning skyward. I smiled and began to charge up my magic. “Why do you look so happy?”

“Well, simply put you’ve forgotten why I was a Reaper candidate in the first place.” Rogue gave me a confused look. “I’m a badass when it comes to manipulating space.” Rogue’s eyes shot open and he looked up to see Mirror disappear into a rift, created by my magic. I opened the other end of the rift directly above him, sending Mirror clean through Rogue’s body. His body split in half, killing him instantly. I pulled out a pair of sunglasses from my hat and put them on. “Man, I didn’t even have enough time for an awesome pun.”

I looked over at Walker, who was still fighting against Raze. The fighting stopped as soon as they both looked over at my battlefield, and more specifically it’s bloody result.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I watched as Raze looked over to where Trick and Rogue had been fighting. It seemed that Rogue had lost, and the penalty was his life. Normally, I would be pissed off that he had been killed, but given the situation I was more worried. Raze was fairly close with Rogue and he wasn’t exactly “stable”, so seeing a friend of his cut in half could mean trouble for anything involved.

Raze gave a primal scream of rage, and the energy around him intensified. All the plants around him began to die and the ground was scorched black from all of the energy he was outputting. In this state Raze would likely be able to take on Celestia herself and would probably have a decent chance of winning the fight against her.

Trick swung at Raze with his sword, yet despite the fact that it was designed to cut through magic it was blocked by one of Raze’s tendrils of unfiltered magic. Trick continued to push against the tendil in hopes of breaking through, but his attempts were only met with Mirror being snapped in half.

“That... Can not be good” Said Trick, now looking at his damaged sword. I had to agree with his assessment of the situation, so far luck hadn’t been on our side if Raze was able to become this wild. Neither my magic nor Trick’s could touch him, and those tendrils stopped any physical attack from the outside. The chances that we would win this fight had been reduced to almost nothing.

I looked around for something, anything to help me win this fight. I looked at the remains of the engine and began to formulate a plan when my thoughts were interrupted by a yell from above. I looked up to see a red pegasus descending with great speed from above. Scarlet? What the hell is she... I realized what exactly she was planning to do with all that speed. She was coming down faster and faster, and was aiming straight for Raze’s blindspot.

Scarlet fell straight on top of Raze with as much speed as she could physically muster and delivered a drop that ended with a sickening crack from Raze’s spine and a yell from his throat. His energy dissipated quickly from the sudden shock and I took the chance to plunge into his mind.

There was so much chaos and rage, it was almost unbearable to be in there. I worked my magic and erased his mind, leaving behind only a block to seal away his immense power. Finally, the Reapers were defeated. I returned to my own mind and fell over exhausted and panting from over exertion. Trick was taking deep breaths while leaning against a nearby tree. “To be fair, he did sort of deserve that. He did break a mirror after all.”

I gave Trick a glare. “After all that you are seriously going to make a joke as bad as that one?”

“Gladly.” Responded Trick with a smile. I gave a smile in response, now the only thing left for us to do was run or fight from Celestia. After all, she was out of pieces to play now. Rogue was dead, Raze and Rune were brain dead (and Raze was probably paralyzed from that attack by Scarlet) and Rosy wasn’t much of a threat with her wings crippled.

“Walker, what do we do now?” Asked Scarlet.

“Not sure. Depends on how we want the future to be. If we run we can all be safe and out of Celestia’s reach, but if we fight we can help everyone but we’d probably die.” I laid out the options to her plain and simple. I’d rather not fight, but we could possibly win.

“I vote,” said Trick, “we knock down Tia’s door and kick her flank.”

“I second that vote”. Replied Scarlet.

“Does the talking skull get a say in this matter?” Questioned Mari from inside Scarlet’s saddlebags.

“Sure, why not”

“Then I vote for the offensive option as well.”

I got up and smiled. “Majority vote, it seems. Even if I wanted to run I couldn’t just leave you three to fight her yourselves.” I looked towards the south-west. “Next stop, Ponyville.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Celestia tapped her hoof on the ground of her chambers. Rune, Rogue, Rosy and even Raze had all been beaten by Walker and his ragtag team of consorts. She was certain that they were coming for her next, and there was very little else she could focus on other than how she was going to destroy them entirely. She considered calling upon Twilight again, but after her fist humiliating defeat by Walker, she wasn’t sure if she would be able to combat the combined forces of Walker’s group. With the rewards up, Walker couldn’t move too freely and he wouldn’t be able to get very far with a herd of guardsmen after him.

Celestia gave a frustrated sigh, It seemed to her that she may just have to stop holding back on Walker. There were some things even she was able to hide from the Royal spymaster.

Chapter 1: Escape

Celestia and her guards walked down the hallway of the castle, heading directly for the royal spymasters room. She arrived at the door and tested the handle with her magic. Locked, like it always was. She focused her magic more intently and blasted the door into splinters, and her guards marched into room. Empty. She searched around and saw that Walker, the spymaster, was gone.

She checked the bed and there was a note on it, addressed to her specifically.

Dear Tia,

Figured that you would be coming for me today, since you decided not to ask me for a report yesterday. I decided to turn the tables and check up on you while you slept. So, there’s that. I would also like to point out that I have enough money to keep me going... Well pretty much forever. Funny how that works, given our similar situation. Lets play a waiting game, shall we?

P.S. I might have taken all of my files. Wonderful thing, compression magic.

Celestia glared at the paper, and with her wrath at what had just occurred, she accidentally burnt the paper to a fine crisp. Dream Walker... Your head will be mine. She threw down the ashes, still held by her magic. “Guards, search for Dream Walker, he can not be allowed to escape. When he is found throw him in the dungeon for treason.” She inhaled deeply. “And if he resists kill him.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My name is Dream Walker, I used to be the royal spymaster working for princess Celestia, but now she wants me dead. Why? Simple enough, I have lost my use to her. I took over for princess Luna when she was banished to the moon for a thousand years. And I mean the ENTIRE time. Thats right, I’m immortal, like Celestia and Luna. A thousand years of walking through ponies dreams is an interesting way to spend your massively extended lifespan. So, now that Luna is back i’m pretty much useless to her. She has her job back and i’m out of mine, at least as a watcher of ponies dreams. I could still be a spy, but because I’m immortal and have this much knowledge, I am a threat to her. Now Celestia is plotting my death. I will say one thing though, I would like to see her kill me. She tried once before, and that ended in a town getting leveled.

Anyways, I know all of her tricks and I know all of her plans. I know what places and ponies she has been manipulating for a very long time so I know where I should hide if I need to. Honesty, i’m not even afraid of her. The only ponies I fear are Luna and Twilight Sparkle. Luna is the only one with as much experience in dream walking as me and could easily take me down while i’m asleep, but Twilight Sparkle is a different case entirely. Celestia has been manipulating her, grooming her to be a successor. Her power far exceeds that of Celestia. Anyway, I’m already a step ahead of Celestia and heading off to an extended vacation. I pretty much have a thousand years of pay set off to the side that Celestia can’t access.

Back to reality, I guess. I leaned forward in the seat and relaxed a bit, levitating my fedora off. Off to Manehattan it seems. I gave a small smile to myself, wondering what was going to happen over the next several days. The beginnings of a story are always the most interesting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Celestia paced back and forth, waiting for her apprentice to arrive at the castle. She was fully aware that she could use Luna to hunt down Walker, however that would only be if he was asleep and ifLuna could find him. Walker had forced her hoof to take a measure that she was not happy about having to use. Twilight was not aware of who Walker actually was, she had seen him around during her time at the castle, she had assumed that Walker was just another unicorn who was part of Celestia’s court.

She began to regret giving him immortality, like hers. The reason she had given him it was because she did not want to constantly hunt down a successor for him and she believed that if the power of a dream walker were to constantly be changing hands, it could only lead to disaster. Therefore she had picked one of the most skilled unicorns in her court to take on those responsibilities. On top of that, she did not just want her only companion to be a pheonix. She later decided to use his ability to spy on those she suspected of crimes or of hiding something from her, thus he became the royal spymaster.

Now Luna was back, and Celestia knew that his allegiance was waning since her return. He was afraid that now the original holder of his job was back, Celestia would have no need for him to have his power or his immortality. And he was right.

Celestia needed to have him brought back to her, dead or alive as soon as possible. She had picked the usage of Twilight for two reasons, the first being Celestia had forbid Walker from entering her dreams. She did not want her to become a weapon used against her were an event like this to transpire, and the second reason was because she was powerful enough to handle him.

An hour later Twilight arrived at the castle. “Princess, you sent for me?”

“Yes Twilight, I need you to find a certain unicorn for me. He has something of mine that was taken. I normally would have asked a group of guards to do this but i’m not sure I could trust them fully with this task.”

“If I may ask Princess, what exactly did he take?”

Celestia cringed for a moment. “Information that is very sensitive. Honestly all I want you to do is find him and bring him in for me. I will warn you though, when you find him he will likely put up a fight, and he is no pushover.”

“Alright... But who exactly is this unicorn that you want me to find? Is it somepony I know?”

“You have met him, but I doubt that you would really know him. He was the royal spymaster, Dream Walker. Do you remember him?”

Twilight though for a moment, recalling some memories from her early days at the Castle, learning under Celestia. “He was a purple unicorn with black hair and blue eyes, right? And his cutie mark was a magnifying glass?”

“Yes, thats the one. However, he was not always called Dream Walker. Its just what he goes by today. Back when he first joined my court he was called Scrying Knight. So there is a good chance that he is hiding under that name.” Celestia sighed. “If i’m not mistaken he is likely on a train to somewhere as we speak. You should check the station to see if anypony under those names or his description has been seen leaving.”

“I will, princess. So, what should I do if he does not come with me?”

Celestia turned around and stared off into the distance. She answered the question in a rather chilling tone. “If he resists, kill him. This is one thing that you are not to argue with me about, is that understood?”

“But princess I... Yes, your majesty.”

“Oh and one more thing before you set off, he is skilled in using magics on the mind of a target. Manipulating them or putting them to sleep. So it would be best if you warded against that.” She started walking off to her chambers. “Don’t fail me Twilight.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I got up from my seat and decided to see if I could get something to drink from one of the food cars. These things always had great hot chocolate. I always thought that there was something magical about the liquid confection, so I always got some wherever I went. I proceeded onto the dining car and ordered my drink, while it was being prepared I decided to do what I did best. Observation is a key skill for a spy, a crack in the wall that you could peer through, a facial twitch to tell if somepony is lying to you or even if something in your room is out of place.

I sat there, enjoying my cup of cocoa, and thats when I heard the sound of somepony teleporting onboard the train. “Oh well, shame this train has a decent chance its going to be a scrap pile in the next five minutes.” I smiled and put three times the bits I owed on the table. The server looked at me in surprise. “Give the next two ponies that come in here a little treat. Wouldn’t you?” The server just shook his head in acknowledgement. “Perfect, see you later.”

I slid off the chair and continued onwards to the next car, just in time to see a certain lavender unicorn trot on into the car. Perfect timing, now to see if she gets sidetracked by my little gift. I need a little time to think. The server called her over, telling her that a unicorn had decided to pay in advance for the next ponies in the car. Thankfully she decided to take the bait since, according to her, no sane pony would ever jump off a moving train. Sadly, that was not my plan. I began to spin the wheels of thought around and picked where we were going to have a showdown.

I opened the door after about a minute of her drinking some tea. “Hey Twilight, long time no see.” Her concentration faltered and she dropped the tea on the ground and shot to her hooves off of the chair.

“Walker!” She said, giving me a glare.

“Look, I’m not going to be taken in by you so that means you either have to subdue me or kill me.” I smiled. “But first you have to catch me.” I slammed the door shut with magic and started to move my way to the top of the train, careful to keep my hat on. Time to get this party started.

I stood on top of the train, above an empty car as to minimize casualties. She came up on top of it as well in under a minute. “Good to see you could make it, Twilight. Hope you enjoy the wind.” The wind was whipping around us, I had to put a hoof on top of my fedora so that it was not ripped from my head by the force. “I assume that Celestia told you who I was?”

Twilight spoke over the sound of the wind. “She said you have something of hers, and that she wanted it back and you in the dungeons. She wanted you alive Walker, and said I should only try and kill you if you resisted.”

I chuckled, finding her ignorance of the situation funny. “Thats what she said? She wants my head on a pike, Twilight. If you dragged my sorry flank back there I would only be executed.” I took a moment for myself and for what I had said to sink in. “And besides, the only thing I took was my own work. And we both know that you wouldn't kill anypony, at least not without your own reasons or to defend yourself.

Twilight stood silent, looking down at her hoofs. I spoke up once again. “I’m going to give you two choices, Ms. Sparkle. Either leave the train or fight me here and now.”

Twilight began charging her magic up for an attack, so I readied my magic. Might as well see if she’s unprepared. I used my magic on her, attempting to put her to sleep so that I could minimize the damage. My magic was blocked by her own. “So I see she told you about my powers. Good thing she was always too lazy to do any of her own information gathering on specific ponies.” I charged up my magic again, this time going for a bit more aggressive tactic.

A jolt of electricity lept from my horn, heading towards the mare I was facing down. It barely missed her, but only because I meant it as a warning shot. She fired her own bolt of magic energy, which unlike mine was in beam form. I hopped to the side as it flew past me, punching a hole through the raise in the car behind us.

“Man, you need to work on your aim. I wasn’t even that bad of a shot at your age.” Clearly my words had a better effect that I had hoped. A general rule of magic was to not let your feelings get the best of you, or else you lose sight of what you meant to do.Ah, a shot to the pride works wonders. She fired another bolt, and once again I dodged it. “I can keep this up forever, Twilight.”

Twilight panted from the magic exertion. “What do you mean, forever?”

“You mean that Celestia never told you? Wow, she must not trust you enough. You have power, but lack enough experience to face down an alicorn by yourself. Whereas I have experience but not that much power. There are four immortals that you have met, Twilight. And there is one other that you have seen, but is trapped in stone. Do some math and you should figure out what I mean.”

Good, her emotions were running rampant and I was making her think. Now would be a good time as any to finish this. She thinks Celestia doesn’t trust her, she's questioning what she knows and I’ve pissed her off. I charged up my magic, for my final assault.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight stood there, attempting to figure out what he meant when he had said that. She knew only three immortals, Celestia, Luna and her old foal sitter Cadence. So who else did she know that was an alicorn. Then it struck her, she already knew 3 off the top of her head, and if she included somepony she had just met, like Walker, that would make 4. Her eyes widened as she came to the realization of what she was up against. Dream Walker is... Immortal?

She charged up her magic to quickly incapacitate him, but he sent a full fledged bolt of lightning at her. It connected with her squarely and she could feel it electricity flowing through her body. She was not about to be beaten so easily when she was distracted. She fought through the pain and forced magic into her horn, readying a blast to wipe him off of the train. She was about to fire when the wind hit her full force and sent her toppling over and she released the magic blast through all of the cars behind her.

She stood up in horror she watched the train cars go up in flames, and heard the screams of ponies being burnt alive from the fires. No... This can’t be happening. She had a look of terror in her eyes, and Walker stood there laughing.

“This is what happens when you try and fight somepony like me, Twilight. Ponies die from your carelessness and you can’t do anything about it.” Twilight just stared, and saw what was happening and just curled up in a ball, wishing for this all to be over. She just started muttering to herself,

“No, no, no, no...”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight lay curled up in front of me, muttering to herself the word “no” over and over again. I just stared at her. Rule number one of combat magic, never drop your guard. Thats when I can do what I do. I decided that a few mental scars were better than a dead body, so I just made her imagine killing innocents and failing Celestia. I knew it was cruel, but I hate violence. Heck, I have hemophobia. Thats why, when I have to kill, I fry them with lightning rather than other sorts of combat magic.

“Oh well, I guess you’ll have some thoughts to work out.” I turned around and jumped off the train, using my magic to cushion myself. I sighed. Damn, there goes Manehattan down the drain. Next stop Dodge city it seems.

Chapter 9: Past

“Alright, so tell me about who the Reapers were. We have the whole of the train ride ahead of us and Walker is busy catching Hat Trick up on all the shenanigans that we’ve been through up until this point.” Scarlet said as she sat with Mari on the train. Walker and Trick had retreated into their own little bubble of catch up session on the other side of the car.

Mari considered Scarlet’s request that she had given him. She, almost more than any other pony, had the right to know about the history of the Reapers. “Alright, fine. I’ll tell you how most of this came to be. Where would you like me to start from?”

Scarlet though on the answer she was about to give Mari. Both Walker and Mari had been around long enough to fill libraries with what they had seen, and she would have passed away if she said “everything.” She decided that what would be important now is Walker’s past and Dark. “How about what the Reapers were like when Walker joined? That seems like a good story. And what about this ‘Dark’? I know he’s important but I want to know why.”

“Normally, I would shoot down a question like that, but seeing as how you’re quite wrapped up in this whole series of events you might as well know what happened about a thousand years ago.” He paused for a moment. “Now, would you like to hear the story or see it?”

Scarlet thought for a moment. “I guess i’ll see it. Why read a book when you can watch the movie?”

“Because they usually leave out the important and good bits when you watch the movie.” Mari replied. Scarlet wondered if Mari had actually ever even seen a movie, or if he just saw them through others memories and thoughts. “Place your hoof on top of my skull. You’ll feel a bit nauseous for a moment but the feeling should pass relatively quickly.

Scarlet did as he instructed and placed her hoof on top of what remained of Mari. She began to feel as if she was being pulled somewhere and then her head exploded with pain, she doubled over from the excruciating agony. When she awoke she was on a cold stone floor in a dimly lit room. She pushed herself to her hooves and looked over, only to see a massive purple flame and screamed from shock.

“Oh don’t be like that. It’s hard to narrate a good story when you can’t point out the intricacies of what’s happening.” Scarlet took a double take of the flame and saw that it was shaped like a pony, and the flames enveloped Mari’s skull. He almost looked as if he were wearing nothing but a cloak made of fire. “Now, we should begin this story with a bit of background, namely the day that Walker joined our ranks as a Reaper.”

Mari waved his hoof in front of him. Bodies began to form from nothingness and three ponies inhabited the once barren room. On the throne sat a white alicorn with a flowing pink mane, that Scarlet assumed was a much younger Celestia. Along side here were two unicorns, one was a gray unicorn with a dark blue mane and a skull cutie mark that Scarlet immediately picked out as Dark. The other had a purple mane and a brown coat. He seemed a bit frail and had a puppeteer’s cross for a cutie mark.

“That scrawny one over there is me, before I became a disembodied head. I used to look half decent and I could probably pick up a girl nowadays. Every one of them always went after the kind of colt that Dark was.” A young looking unicorn walked through the door that Scarlet assumed was Walker.

“Ah, good to see that you made it here, Mr. Knight.” Said the younger Celestia. “I was afraid that you wouldn’t come.”

Scarlet felt confused; surely that had to be Walker that had just entered, so why did Celestia call him Knight? “Hey, isn’t that Walker that just came in? What’s with that name?”

“Oh, pardon me, I forgot to mention it earlier. Walker’s original name was Scrying Knight, he only changed it to Dream Walker recently after a series of events. He’ll be called by that name throughout our little presentation.” Mari gave a light chuckle. “And to think, that was the Walker that the story of the knight in shining armor cliche came from. One little incident with a bucket and a friend of his needing help and he becomes an icon of chivalry for ages to come.”

“It’s an honor to meet you, Princess Celestia. When you send that many messengers after me it’s hard to refuse. Why was I brought here, anyhow?”

“You’ve been selected to be part of a special portion of the royal guard, called the Equestrian Reapers Assembly, to serve under me. You are one of the most talented mages in Equestria, and your ability to catch the odd glimpse or two of the future would greatly benefit us. Although I am not forcing you to join, your acceptance would be greatly appreciated.” Celestia gave a warm, happy smile that Scarlet knew was honest, not a lie used to cover up true intentions.

Walker spoke next. “Alright, it sounds like a little more than just guard duty though. What are the risks that come along with this job? And what exactly would I have to do?”

“The main point of your job, for now at least, is to hunt down the demons that were released by my sister. They still roam freely across these lands and could cause unknown devastation if they have free reign. I am busy recovering from what has happened, so I am in no shape to fight against them. If you die, it would likely be that you are ripped limb from limb by these terrible monstrosities.”

Walker seemed to ponder his answer, Scarlet and Mari both already knew what his answer would be, but there was still a bit of anticipation for his answer. The Walker in front of Scarlet looked like he may have been in his late teenage years, or possibly his early twenties.

“No,” Walker said, which astonished Scarlet. “I will join you, but there’s not a snowball’s chance in Tartarus that I’m going to get killed by some demon.”

The room remained silent, all the ponies, even Scarlet, were shocked. Then the pony Scarlet assumed was Dark began to applaud. “Well, at the very least you have some courage. Let’s see how long that lasts though. Now, I guess I should introduce myself. My name is Dark Scythe, and I’m the captain of our little group. This bare bones fellow over here Is Marionette Strings, but he prefers to go by Mari despite what he says.

“Now, I know we may not look like much, but we were all selected to eliminate this plague. Were the top of the ladder when it comes to magic, and that’s precisely what is needed to fight things like the demons. We should probably get going, we already have a job to take down a winged demon that has a nasty little habit of becoming invisible and ripping apart ponies with green coats.” He began to walk towards the door. “Hope you like wearing green, Knight,”

The scene began to change once again, this time they were on near top of a mountain that looked quite a lot like where Canterlot now stood. “The royal castle used to be where Everfree is now, that will be important later in our story.” Said Mari, who likely knew exactly what Scarlet was thinking. “And that was the Dark that Walker and I knew, before he became a homicidal maniac. This was the day that he changed, I’d like to think. This is about two years after Walker joined us, and was the last demon we had to take down.”

More apparitions began to appear off in the distance. Scarlet watched as Walker and the other Reapers began to walk towards her. Mari had a scar running along the side of his face that wasn’t there before, and Scarlet noticed looking back at the undead version of Mari that there was a scratch along the side of his skull that she had never noticed. “How much longer to the top, Dark?” Asked the young Walker.

“Shouldn’t be that much further. Now remember, we don’t know that much about this Demon, unlike our usual. He is big, though. Mari, just keep doing what you usually do. Knight, try attacking him mentally, but since we don’t know if that’s how he fights you should be careful.”

“Will do, sir.” Replied Walker, giving him a half hearted salute.Walker gave a sigh, then his eyes shot open and darted around wildly. His nose began to bleed and he fell down onto his knees.

“Of all the times to have a vision, you pick now?” Mari rushed over to Walker and began to help him back up. Walker’s hoof was pressed against the side of his head and he was groaning in pain. “What was it this time? Anything about the demon?”

“No... This one was different from my usual cryptic visions... I saw Dark, standing over a bleeding Celestia, just laughing like a mad-pony.” He glanced over at the group’s leader. “For once, a vision was somewhat clear. I’m not sure what it means but-”

“Hey, don’t worry about it. The visions you usually have are off, or sometimes you just misinterpret them. What possible reason would I have to attack Celestia? She’s the one that helps put food on the table for me.” Dark said, giving a smile. “Now back on your feet, we need to take that thing down and be done with these shenanigans.”

Dark began to march off to the distance once more and the scene shifted again, this time moving them up to the peak of the mountain. A massive demon that resembled something between a chimera and a dragon was fighting against Dark and Walker. Mari was on the ground with a gash along his side. Scarlet assumed that he was still conscious, given that these were his memories.

Walker had a look of strain on his face, and it was obvious that he was hard pressed to hold off thie demon. His magic seemed to be going full strength, but since Scarlet was a pegasus she wasn’t sure. Dark was attacking the demon with a large scythe that looked like it was made of energy. The demon swung its tail, swatting at Walker who had a lapse of concentration in order to avoid the attack.

The demon turned it’s head towards Dark, and it’s eyes glowed with a evil sort of energy. Dark, who was lunging towards the demon at the time, fell to the ground. Walker said something, but Scarlet couldn’t understand what it was. The area around her began to darken, then turned wholly black. “What’s going on?”

“I passed out about this point. Since I was just barely alive the memories are a bit... faded to say the least. I’ve watched this memory hundreds of times and I’m still not sure what happened.” The area seemed to lighten up, becoming brighter. “And here’s the point Walker slapped me awake.” The image came back, and Scarlet saw Walker standing over Mari. Dark was on the ground near them.

“Whew. I thought you were gone for a while. Glad we don’t have to bury you. I have a feeling a funeral for you would be awkward.” Walker looked over his shoulder as Dark began to stir. “And looks like Darky’s back. Our final job and everyone get’s to live.” Walker turned around to Dark, offering a hoof.

Dark had his hoof to the side of his head, with a grimace on his face. He got back up and smacked his hoof away. “I’m fine, thanks for asking.” His grimace turned into a smile. “In fact, I’ve never felt better. Now, let’s head back to our wonderful ruler and tell her the news.” He began to walk away and the scene faded once more.

“So that was your final battle? Seems like it went pretty well, given that it was supposed to be the whole ‘final boss’ kind of showdown.” Said Scarlet.

“No, this wasn't the so called ‘final boss’. If anything, that was just cannon fodder compared to who we had to fight in the end.” The scene shifted again, back to the castle. Scarlet saw Dark with his scythe in the throne room from when these memories were first shown to her. There were several dead guards on the floor, and both Mari and Walker were in front of a badly wounded Celestia.

“Why would you do this?! Why kill all these innocents?! You’re a good guy, Dark!” Said Walker, clearly furious. “My vision was right! You were going to attack Celestia!”

Dark gave an evil laugh. “No, I wasn’t going to. But after I started thinking about your vision I figured ‘why the hell not? I can take her.” Dark swung his blade around, blood flying off of it. “And who says that I’m the bad guy in this story? I’m doing the world a favor by taking out the only Alicorn. All that will be left after you’re a corpse are Unicorns, Pegasi and Earth Ponies. No more Celestia, no more division. Why don’t you just let me kill her now?” He gave a smile as if he were just giving a friendly hello, not as if he was on the verge of drowning in a sea of blood.

“Dark, you’ve gone insane.” Mari said simply. “You weren't like this before, why go after her now?”

“Why?” Dark scratched his head with the end of his scythe, causing a bit of bleeding. “I don’t know. I guess I just opened my eyes for once and realized we’ve been living a terrible life, with all this separation.” Dark stopped talking and his eyes seemed to wander aimlessly around the room, then paused and gave a light chuckle. “I’m sorry but it seems I should go now.” Magic began to enshroud him.

“Don’t you dare run from this fight, Dark!” Yelled Walker.

“You want me that badly? Then give chase, O’ brave Knight. Chase me down and bring me to justice for doing what is right!” With those words, Dark disappeared in a flash of light. The surroundings began to fade and Scarlet found herself back in the train cart with Mari.

“What? You’re seriously going to just leave it on a cliffhanger like that? I wanted to know what happened between Walker and Dark. Did he hunt him down? Was there an epic fight? Or... or maybe it-”

“Sorry, holding a spell like that for so long isn’t exactly easy. I would have loved to give you a full history lesson, but I need a while to recharge.” He gave the best impression of a sigh that a skull could. “Given that I just showed you all that I can’t imagine you’d be fine with a verbal only recounting. May I have a raincheck on telling you later?”

Scarlet gave an agitated whine. “Fine, but you better not skimp out on this.” Scarlet began walking back towards the end of the cart. She suddenly felt as if something wasn’t quite right, then felt herself being flung through the air She looked around and saw the other occupants of the cart and all the articles that were not held down accompanying her in the flight. The cart seemed to be at an impossible angle, as she could see the landscape outside was perpendicular to the window, not parallel as it should have been. She stopped thinking about what was happening, then everything went black.