The Immortal's Game

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.

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        “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.

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        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.

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        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?”