Edited by:
PieisGood4U
BlazinBlade7
dialgex
fireshadow11
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After leaving the office of a rather bewildered Steel Mane I quickly took to the alleyways of White Tail. Alleyways always appear in cities, though I have yet to discern the reason for them being there other than as meeting places for gangs of shadowy thugs.
Got to hand it to Steel Mane though, White Tail’s alleyway system was surprisingly crime free. Well, if you don’t count my presence there that is.
I moved quickly through town, flitting from shadow to shadow and avoiding any large groups of ponies. I didn’t know who Velvet had managed to turn against me so my best bet was trusting nobody at the moment.
Except the Captain of the Guard of course, but only a madman would do that.
Speaking of Steel Mane, I had promised him a distraction and a distraction he shall have. Like many females before her, Velvet wouldn’t be able to take her eyes off of me.
Hopefully.
Now I would just need someplace noticeable, preferably high up, from which I would be able to grab everybody’s attention. Someplace that everypony knew the location off and could easily congregate to, with plenty of space out front for a crowd.
My eyes began to scan the various buildings for the perfect spot yet they all fell short, they were all either too small or lacked adequate space for a crowd. Many of the roofs, angled to allow rain to run off as they were, were completely unsuitable for standing upon.
Disappointed I turned around, about to look elsewhere to find my stage, when I noticed the building whose shadow I had been standing in this entire time. It was a large, three-story, manor-style deal, with large columns and a balcony on the third floor. A sign out front declared it to be the offices of the town council.
“How the hell did I miss that?” I muttered to myself as I set off to find a way in.
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Meanwhile, in Steel Mane’s office, the Captain was locked in a heated argument with one of the most stubborn creatures he had ever run across.
“Look, you’re not coming with me. It could be dangerous.” Steel declared as he secured his sword to his side.
“You think I lived this long by being reckless? You’ll need me and you know it.” The striped stallion retorted, making his own preparations by strapping a bandolier of vials across his chest.
“You are a civilian and a fairly aged one at that. You’re staying here and that’s final.”
“You calling me old boyo? ‘Cus I’m not too old to smack a disrespectful youngster around. I’m sick of you lot treating me as if I’m made of glass. This zebra is made of sterner stuff than you’d think, I can handle myself.”
Steel Mane let out a sigh, there was no arguing with Zende. He was a stubborn old mule and, despite his irritation at the stallion Steel couldn’t help but smile slightly at the zebra’s behaviour. Zende reminded him a lot of his father, Celestia rest his soul.
“Fine you can come, but if something happens you get behind me and stay out of the way.”
“You ain’t gonna hear any arguments from me there. It’s only the young and the stupid who try to block swords with their skulls. The trick to surviving is learning how to dodge.”
Steel Mane nodded his head to concede this point, too many times had he seen young guards prance about believing themselves to be invincible. You either beat it out of them in training or they learnt in themselves in a far more violent way. White Tail was far out on the border and thus lacked the protection that the presence of the Princesses gave to the towns closer to the heart of Equestria.
Steel Mane and Zende quickly left the building, the Captain’s stern glance preventing any of his subordinates from questioning his destination. Say what you like about the combat abilities of the Equestrian Guard but their discipline was second to none.
The unlikely duo quickly made their way through the town, noting how conspicuously empty the streets where. Whatever that annoying fool had decided to do must have worked, not a single mare, stallion or foal impeded their progress to Swirling Runes’ house. It was actually rather unnerving for Steel Mane, who was used to his town being buzzing and full of life.
Zende seemed to adapt to the ghost town far easier, even going so far as to whistle a happy little tune as he trotted along. Whatever tension Steel felt that he was under seemed to have absolutely no effect on Zende, the old zebra acting as if this was just a stroll through the park.
The complete lack of traffic meant that they managed to reach Swirling Runes’ house surprisingly swiftly, the entire trip taking them barely three minutes. As they approached the front door they noticed some oddities about the place.
Mainly the complete lack of a front door.
Steel quickly discovered that this wasn’t entirely true. There was a front door it was just no longer attached to the building, instead it was lying on the street a good few feet away from its rightful place.
Clearly Ace was to blame for this.
The interior of the house didn’t look much better off. Holes the size of a pony’s head had been blasted in some of the walls, not even the ceiling had managed to escape this assault. The curtains and much of the furniture showed signs of severe fire damage which might have threatened to burn down the entire house and, Steel realised, possibly endanger Swirling Runes. Zende trotted sedately over to a burn mark and sniffed at it curiously. He then, to Steel Mane’s slight disgust, licked the black ash, swirling it around in his mouth as if it were the finest of wines before spitting it out.
“Magical fire.” The zebra stated. “Fast burning but short lived. We’re lucky it didn’t reach anything explosive or we wouldn’t have much to search, just a jar full of ash really.”
“Runes is in here somewhere and you’re saying that she could have been blown up. You really know how to comfort a guy don’t you?”
At hearing this statement Zende stopped his searching and cast a curious look Steel’s way.
“What is she to you?” He questioned.
“What are you talking about?”
“How do you consider her? Is she just a citizen under your protection or is there more to it? Is she a friend? A lover?”
Steel Mane stopped and whirled on Zende, staring down the old zebra who didn’t even flinch under his gaze. A gaze that had caused many new recruits to shake in their armour.
“I don’t think that’s any of your business.”
“Fine, don’t talk about it. Your choice after all.”
Steel Mane was suspicious of this, so far Zende hadn’t backed down from a single argument. However he tried to put the zebra’s words out of his mind and continued his search, looking for any trap doors in the floor. The two worked in silence which slowly extended, becoming more and more awkward. Finally the pressure became too much for Steel Mane.
“Fine! I like her okay! I think she’s a really nice mare! Now will you stop with all the pressuring?!” He blurted out.
Zende looked slightly surprised by this outburst before his face relaxed into a rather smug smirk of triumph.
“I didn’t say anything, that was all you. So what do you think's going to happen here? You rescue the girl and she immediately falls for you?”
“…Maybe.”
“You best hope she doesn’t immediately swoon at your hooves. Celestia knows that has happened to me in the past but all those relationships were shallow. Real relationships take a lot of hard work and communication, they can’t just be based off of one heroic act.”
“So what do you think I should do?” Steel inquired, honestly curious for the wise zebra's advice.
“Ask her out. Get to know her and understand her, then you might have a chance in a relationship. You ever talked to this mare before?”
“Well…not really…”
“You ever tried to?”
“A couple of times but…I just end up freezing up and going into ‘Guard Captain’ mode. I don’t think she even sees me as anything more than my job.”
“Then give her a chance to! Let her see you outside of your official duty and let her know the real you whilst you get to know the real her.”
“Yeah…yeah! I will! Thanks Zende. You’re alright you know that?”
“Of course I know that! Now let’s find your dream mare.” With newfound purpose the search began in earnest and it wasn’t long until Zende uncovered the door behind the bookcase.
Steel Mane joined him and inspected the door. It was sturdy, far sturdier than the front door had once been, and the lock on it looked like it belonged in a bank vault. The hinges were another matter entirely.
“Stand back old man, I’ll show you how the Guard handles a problem.”
“By bashing your head on it repeatedly until you have serious brain damage?” Regardless of his quip the old zebra moved out of the way, allowing Steel Mane full access to the door.
The Captain approached the door and gently ran one hoof over the hinges, assessing their quality and making some quick calculations in his head.
“You gonna do something or are you just gonna give it a massage?”
Steel gave Zende a sharp glance before grinning. He then spun around and, with just the right amount of force, slammed both hooves into the door’s lower hinge. The hinge, being the weakest part of the door, was unable to handle the strain and buckled under the kick, breaking into two parts and leaving the door hanging lopsided off of only its top hinge.
Zende’s jaw dropped as the Captain smugly assessed his handiwork and examined the final latch. He then turned and took a few steps away from his next target before spinning round to face the door again. After pawing at the wooden floorboards once he charged forward, leaping up at the last moment and spinning in the air to strike the final hinge with a flying buck. Like its lower counterpart it too shattered under Steel’s strike and allowed the door to fall backwards.
“What do you think old stallion? Pretty impressive right?”
“Not bad, not bad at all.” The zebra said, although he said it rather begrudgingly.
They both headed down the stairway that had been concealed behind the door, Steel Mane going first with his sword drawn as they descended into the darkness. The shadows surrounded them, consuming any light that dared to enter their domain.
“I can’t see a damn thing, we need to get a torch or something.” Steel declared.
“You youngsters, always rushing into situations unprepared.” Zende replied, before reaching into his bandolier and withdrawing a vial of green liquid. Holding the glass tube in between his teeth he shook his head back and forth, the liquid inside reacting to the violent movements and beginning to light up. Pretty soon a pale green light illuminated the darkness, pouring out from the vial held tightly in Zende’s mouth.
Steel had thought that the hidden door would lead to Runes’ basement, or perhaps a wine cellar. However, his expectations were proven wrong when the green light reflected off of roughly hewn walls of stone and illuminated the uneven dimensions of the cave they found themselves in. The cavern wasn’t a large one, barely the size of the house, yet it exuded an foreboding air that chilled both stallions straight to their bones. The walls of the cave appeared to be coated in some kind of thin green slime which extended down and on to the floor, squelching beneath their hooves. Steel Mane looked down at the sludge in disgust before raising one hoof up and sniffing it. His nose crinkled up and he reared back, looking like he was about to vomit.
“This place is sickening!” He exclaimed loudly, drawing an irate glare from his companion for the volume of his shout.
“Do you want to alert the Changeling or something?” The old zebra grumbled before beginning to search the cave.
The search ended up being both repulsive and fruitless. The only thing that the cave seemed to contain was the revolting ooze, no sign of any mare in distress. The lack of results were clearly wearing on Steel Mane’s nerves, causing him to rear up and prepare to shout in frustration. As soon as he looked up however, he noticed something strange about the ceiling.
“Hey, Zende…what’s that?”
“Looks a bit like one of those weird Changeling thingys…what’s the name of it again?”
“A chrysalis?” Steel guessed.
“Thought that was their queen?”
“It is, it’s also the name of the weird gel pods they put ponies in.”
“Huh, wonder which came first. Is she named after the cocoon or is the cocoon named after her…”
“I feel it’s best we wonder about the horrifying implications of that later and instead focus on GETTING RUNES OUT OF THERE!”
“Keep your voice down you young idiot! I got this.”
Placing the light-emitting vial carefully on the ground, Zende proceeded to grab another vial from his bandolier. This one was a dark yellow in colour and sloshed about happily inside its vial. Holding the glass container in his mouth he craned his neck back as far as it could go, taking careful aim whilst he did so. Once he was sure he had calculated the trajectory correctly he swung his head forward, releasing his hold on the vial as he did so.
The vial sailed through the air, almost majestically as it travelled along its arc. Its graceful flight was cut short as it smashed into the chrysalis, shattering upon impact. For a moment nothing seemed to happen, the yellow liquid simply sinking into the organic structure. As soon as all the yellow fluid had been absorbed, however, steam began to rise from the pod and an acrid stench filled the air. Slowly, the acid burned away the cocoon, evaporating it in mere seconds, revealing its contents. The form of Swirling Runes dangled from the ceiling, the last of her prison desperately trying to hold on to her even as it was burnt away.
“She’s going to fall!” Steel Mane cried in alarm.
“Then catch her you fool.” Zende replied, managing to remain completely calm despite the circumstances.
Even as he spoke these words the last few strands of the chrysalis were burnt away, allowing Runes to fall headfirst towards the stone floor. Steel, with the reaction time gained from extensive guard training and a resolve born from something far more powerful, leapt forwards, catching Runes in his forelegs. Cradling her like a babe, he twisted around in the air so that he would take the brunt of the fall, his armoured back slamming into the floor and driving the wind out of him.
Zende quickly hurried over and assisted the bruised Captain back to his hooves before checking Runes over for any damage.
“She seems fine, if a bit malnourished. We need to get her out of here though.”
Steel firmly agreed with this and quickly manoeuvred the unconscious unicorn onto his back before heading to the exit of the cave. As they reached the surface and left the dilapidated house, an unusual sound reached their ears. A sound that Steel had hoped never to hear in his town.
The screams of terrified ponies.
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Okay, I'm perfectly willing to admit that somewhere along the line things stopped going to plan.
Ponies below me screamed in terror as I hung off the edge of the three story building, the changeling above me smirking in delight at my predicament. Velvet slowly raised a holed hoof above one of my hands, which were desperately clinging to the edge of the stone roof. Bringing it slowly down she began to grind my knuckles painfully, the shock shooting up my arm and causing me to let go.
Now I was hanging on with only one hand, a slight breeze causing me to sway dangerously. The malicious changeling raised another hoof, allowing it to hover over my only remaining lifeline. Knowing that she held my life in her hoof she looked down at me, allowing a cruel grin to cross her muzzle.
Before she had a chance to gain the satisfaction of slamming her hoof down onto my hand, I let go of the building, releasing myself into freefall.
I have got to stop doing stupid shit, it’s going to be the death of me.
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Yeah, so I decided to do something a little different this chapter. Leaving my main protagonist's head to have a wander about and see what the side characters were up to. Did you enjoy it? Do you think it added to the story?
I will take any advice/criticisms. Part of why I am doing this, other than liking the story, is to improve my skills as a writer. So don't be afraid to rip me a new one if you think it will help.
Thanks for reading,
Barrel-of-fun