Those months that letters passed were good, quiet...peaceful. Everypony was getting used to Copper simply wandering. He did that when he was stuck, taking a walk to clear his head. He always found himself going to the clock tower. Ideas of putting a workshop in the bottom of the clock tower had been rejected when Celestia's letter had arrived, telling him that it was dangerous to be so close to the Gem Cog. She wasn’t telling him everything she knew, she told him to stay away from it for his own safety. Lying to Horsh was bad, but he couldn't tell him. Couldn't tell him anything really. Rainbow Dash had been a big help, teaching him the basics of flight. But the wing, or Flyer as he called it now, couldn't handle the stress. There was just something about it that kept going wrong and each time it was something different; either a gear, some part of the structure, or some important wire.
But nopony had seen Copper in a few days and Dash was starting to get worried. “I don't know Twilight...he's not missed hanging out, ever.”
“It is unlike him to not be where he says...” She frowned slightly and stood up. “Alright, let's go check on him.”
She nodded. “Right. He spends all day in his house, except when he's flying or taking a walk... I don't think he sleeps much.”
“Yeah I've noticed that,” Twilight said as they walked down the street. “But he drops everything when there's an opportunity to do something with another pony.”
“Pinkie said he didn't answer the door when she went to visit him,” Dash said, she was lazily flying beside Twilight. “She thought he was out with somepony, but everyone I talked to hasn't seen him in days.”
“That is odd...” They came up to the door of his house. The curtains were closed, blocking any light that would have shone from within. Twilight knocked loudly on the door. “Copper?” Dash was trying to see inside one of the windows. “Copper are you there?”
“I...think I see him in there,” Dash said, using her hooves to shield her eyes. “Yeah, I think that's him.”
Twilight's horn glowed and the door swung open. The first thing that was noticeable was complete darkness. “Copper?” she said as her horn glowed and lit up the room. The entire place was trashed. There was blood in splotches around the room. And there, sitting on the floor, staring at the ground, was Copper. “Copper?”
Her and Dash move slowly inside. “Hey...Copper?” Dash said and then they spotted what was on the ground.
“I got him killed...” Copper said softly, staring at the paper in front of him. Twilight could only make out 'To Whom it May Concern' on the top of the letter. “He started asking around about it and someone killed him.”
Something went crunch under Twilight's hoof and she looked down at the bits of his workshop all over the floor, though nothing seemed to be really broken. “Copper...” she said softly, moving towards him. He was shaking.
Dash moved slowly next to Twilight, both of them walking towards him. “C'mon Copper...what's up?”
“I got him killed...” he repeated, his eyes could not be torn away from the letter. “He was asking around about that stupid cog and someone killed him...”
Now Twilight could look at him better. His eyes were red and puffy, there was dry blood on his hooves and a fairly large puddle of it around him. The letter was stained red around the edges. Twilight saw the words 'We regret to inform you-' but dried blood made it impossible to read the rest in this light at this distance. “Copper...” she tried again, hoping that his name would snap him out of it.
He finally managed to look up, staring blankly through Twilight as if she wasn't even there. Dash came and sat down next to him, looking at him. The floor was sticky with blood. “Copper...who's dead?”
His eyes slowly moved towards Dash and slowly focused on her. “Horsh...Horsh is dead...because of me...”
“Horsh?” Twilight moved to sit beside Dash, but decided against sitting when she felt how sticky it was. “The griffon you were sending letters to?”
He nodded slowly and his eyes returned to the letter. Twilight and Rainbow Dash read the letter, while Copper just kept staring right through it. “And you think that he was killed? Why?” Dash said, looking at him again.
“He was asking about the cog...and before this...I got that letter.” He pointed to a letter, which was stuck to the wall with blood.
Her horn glowed a bit brighter and the letter came unstuck before drifting over to her. Dash and her both read it and both frowned. “It does sound like he was in trouble...” Twilight said and then looked at Dash. “C'mon Copper...you need to get cleaned up...”
“And you need to eat...” Dash said as she stood up. “C'mon.” She touched Copper gently, but he didn't move for several moments. Then he nodded and stood up. “There we go,” she said, smiling.
He looked down at his hooves and the dry blood. He could not remember how many things he struck in his despair, but his hooves hurt. “Dash, you help him out and I'll clean this place up.”
Dash nodded and put her wing over Copper. “C'mon,” she said, as she started leading him towards the stairs. “Gotta get you cleaned up.”
It was a sort of fight to get him up the stairs, though it wasn't his fault. He was woozy from blood loss and his front hooves hurt a lot. But they managed to get upstairs and into the bathroom. He practically fell into the tub and Dash turned on the water, watching him carefully. She did not fill the bath, it would've all turned red with blood, but Copper did begin washing himself off. The water running off him turned red. It stung, but he hardly noticed it. He wasn’t badly injured, as nothing he struck had been sharp.
Dash pulled bandages out of a cupboard after a moment of searching. “Were you and Horsh close?” she asked, hating the silence that was filling the room once the water turned into mere background noise.
He hesitated. “I...I would like to think so... I've known him for a long time...and we worked together for a long time.” Though I don't know if we were friends as such, not in the way I see friendship now anyways.
She began helping him bandage his hooves. “I'm sorry... It's always hard to lose someone,” Dash said, as she washed her hooves off. They had a bit of blood on them.
“I've never lost anyone I cared about...” Copper said, adding internally, because I never cared like this about anypony, but now I do. Now I care about everypony I've met.
“That's good,” she said, sitting next to the tub.
“No...it isn't.” Copper leaned against the inside of the tub, away from Rainbow Dash, taking care to not get the bandages wet. “Before I came to Ponyville...I never cared about anypony but myself...there was no time...and worst of all...” His eyes closed slowly. “I didn't want to care.”
She crossed her hooves and placed them on the side of the tub, resting her head on them. “But you do now.”
“Yes... I care now...” He took deep breaths. “ And...and I don't know how I feel about that... I've never had friends...or at least I never thought of anypony as my friend. They were just...there...”
“But now it's different,” she said with a slight smile on her face.
“Yes...” He sighed, as his eyes opened and stared at the water. “Yes. Now it's different. Suddenly I find myself unable to not care. About everypony. About you, about Twilight. Pinkie Pie...Fluttershy...Rarity...” He paused. “Everypony.” He finished, realizing it would take too long to list them all. “Even ones I met a long time ago...I wonder how they are doing...what they're doing...where they are...”
“Then find out? Send them letters.” Her smile widened a bit. “That's pretty obvious.”
He smiled a bit and nodded. “Yeah...I'll...do that.” The water felt good right now and the blood had come off, though it had stained a bit in a few places.
Dash looked at him. “What's this cog thingy you were talking about?”
“Oh. It's...something in the clock tower...” There couldn't be too much harm in telling Dash, could there? She was his friend and he needed to talk. “It's...well it's a cog made of a gem. Or, well...from what we know it's a gem in the shape of a cog.”
“Hm. And you think Horsh got killed because he was asking too many questions about it?” She looked quite thoughtful. “Sounds like some bad ponies really want it. Or don't want ponies knowing about it...”
He nodded slightly. “I think he must have found out something else... Something that he really shouldn't have...and I want to know what it is.” He sat up straight and then his stomach growled, which was amplified by the tub. He cleared his throat. “But first...something to eat.”
~
The train ride was going quite smoothly and the seats were quite comfortable, Copper mused. He had been on quite a few trains, but this was probably the nicest one for the amount it cost. And it cost very little. Beside him, Twilight was looking fidgety. Copper looked at her. “You didn't have to come,” he said, looking at her. The Flyer Mark V felt oddly comforting underneath his cloak. But he was a tad worried about using it as it had not been tested.
“I can't just let you barge in on the Princess without warning,” Twilight said.
In her defense, that was a good thing, because that's what Copper would have done. “I merely want answers. She obviously knows things that she isn't telling us...and if all else fails, Luna will help me.”
“And what makes you so sure of that?” Dash said as she came back from the dining car, still chewing on something. She swallowed it before speaking again. “I mean, yeah Princess Luna is pretty strong, but Princess Celestia...”
“She's got a thousand years on her sister. I know,” Copper said calmly, looking out the window at the scenery sliding past. “But what I'm after is information. It won’t end in any kind of confrontation.” He paused. “I hope... I don't want to have to do anything too drastic...”
Twilight stared at him a moment, as Dash took her seat beside Twilight. “Like what?” Twilight asked. She was almost glaring at him.
“I know things, that's all. I'm not going to make threats,” he said, turning back and seeing Twilight's expression. “I am not a pony for making threats.”
“The train’s empty,” Dash said, looking the way she didn't come from. “Or at least, I haven't seen anypony on it.”
“Is that odd?” Copper said, looking around. They were the only ones in the car.
“That is pretty odd... And the one going the other way seemed very full...” Twilight got up from her seat. “I think I'm going to go see if I can find anypony on the train.”
“There's a few ponies in the dining car, but they work here.” Dash got settled in her seat as Twilight trotted towards the dining cart.
Something was bothering Copper. Some sort of basic instinct in him was saying something was wrong. “I don't like this...” he managed to say after a moment.
“Don't like what? Trains?” Dash had not been paying attention, staring out the window.
He shook his head. “I just...feel like there's something wrong.” He had that feeling a lot. Maybe too much. That feeling practically drove him crazy. But it had not been wrong yet.
~
“You know not of which you speak, outsider!” The large black horse stood on the other end of the hall. A huge space filled with horses was between him and Copper. “You dare come in here and attempt to accuse me, Sirrah Al-Faras, King of Saddle Arabia, of murder?”
“Not only I,” Copper said. This was a big crowd and he had to speak loudly just to be heard over the wave of murmuring. “I have proof, that you, Sirrah Al-Faras murdered the late King Al Khamsa.” A worried expression passed over the black horse’s face, one that Copper could see clear from this side of the room. Somepony had better seen that or he was going to snap. Yesterday’s negotiations had gone so poorly, that Copper had chosen to change tactics. “Furthermore-”
“Be silent!” the King screamed, but the whispering had turned against him. “What proof do you speak of?”
“Your own flesh!” Copper yelled, pointing his hoof at him. The crowd parted several hooves in order to get out of the way, as if it would destroy everything in its path. Copper took this chance to approach. “Sirrah Al-Faras, you murdered him.”
“No!” he shouted back, but there was fear in his voice and everypony was backing away. “You have no proof! No evidence!”
“I have better than evidence. I have a witness! Who saw you murder the king, Sirrah Al-Faras. Your own flesh and blood.”
Behind him, he could feel Safanad walk closer to him. “You, Safanad? After I spared you, you dare commit such treachery?”
Everyone looked past him at Safanad. “Do not speak to her!” Copper screamed in rage. “You!” He pointed his hoof at the king, who visibly shrank. “You only kept her for your perverse ideas of incest!”
“How- How dare you!” There was no one beside him now, everyone was backing away from him. Their eyes were showing hate already.
“You do not deny it!” Copper was now at the bottom of the stairs, glaring up at him. Safanad was behind him. He could feel her fear. “You murdered her father. And threatened her mother if she did not remain silent!” Even Safanad looked at him in shock.
“H-how did you...” Safanad spoke softly, unable to find words.
He looked back at her and gave her a soft smile. “It is what your mother told me.” He turned back to to the king, who shrank under that gaze. It was like seeing the sun for the first time. It hurt to look at, but it was impossible to turn away. “You disgust me.” He was no longer shouting, but his voice carried in the silence. “You murder her father, with intent of taking the kingdom and her.” The silence seemed to thicken. “Who will follow you?” The king looked around frantically. Even his guards were glaring at him. “Who will come to your aid?” He looked past him at Safanad.
“You...you bastard!” The king charged him. But Copper had been waiting for him. He charged up the stairs and with a quick outstretch of his wing, the king’s legs buckled and snapped.
Copper stood a few steps down from the top, looking at the crumpled body of the late Sirrah Al-Faras. The light glittered off the metal on his wing and he tried to retract it, it didn't. “Damn it,” he said and sat down on the step. It took him a moment of fiddling with it before it finally bent. “Well, there goes my dramatic pose.” He sighed as headed down the stairs. He stopped in front of Safanad and knelt down. “I believe, the kingdom is yours, your majesty.” But something felt wrong.
“You killed the king.” His gaze snapped to the side, to see Amira moving out of the crowd. “He's murdered the king!” she shouted and suddenly the guards were everywhere.
“I...I'm sorry...” Safanad said softly, looking down at the ground.
“Ah... I see how it is.” He stood up abruptly and several guards flinched. “One betrayal for another, eh?” He smiled softly, his mind racing. “Diplomatic immunity,” he called out, walking past Safanad. “Killing me, means war with Equestria.” The guards hesitated and then looked at Amira, who blinked.
Then it was Safanad who smiled. “He is right. The only thing we can do, is banish him from Saddle Arabia.”
Copper thought, as he headed towards the large doors, this had been a plan. A large plan. But it didn't matter what their plan was. His job had been to put Safanad on the throne and he succeeded. Nothing he had said was a lie, not with her reaction. Or with how her mother had cried. Everypony was staring at him. It was obviously Amira's plan and Safanad had gone along with it. But he had grown on her and she wanted him to get away.
~
That didn't feel the best example of it truly helping him. He would have to write a letter to Safanad and see how things were. “I'm sorry, what did you say Dash?” He looked at her.
“I said, that I think you're right. I don't like how things have been going lately...” she said, frowning at him. “It's weird when you do that. You get this far away look...” Her gaze slowly moved out the window.
“What do you mean?” Copper asked, as he watched Twilight come back with a worried look on her face.
“We're the only passengers on the train.” Then Copper noticed that her horn was glowing and there was a rolled up newspaper following her. “And this is why.”
She tossed the paper down. Copper read the headline. “'Manehatten attacked. Advanced airships bomb city!'?” He turned the pages quickly and his heart almost exploded. “Those are my designs!” he screamed, standing up in the seat.
Twilight and Dash both blinked and then looked at each other. “Your designs?”
“Yes. Mine. The...the ones that Horsh had taken...and...” He laid down and closed his eyes, putting his hooves over his face. “And I sent him the most important page...I wanted to show him that I truly meant what I said and... Oh Celestia this is probably what he was killed over...the designs...” He pounded his hoof against the chair. “The cog be damned...”
“It says here...that ponies are fleeing major cities, in case they're attacked as well...” Dash read on, looking over the paper. “But Celestia is assuring ponies that it was an isolated incident, but if they are truly worried, Canterlot is the safest place.”
“But, then why are ponies leaving it?” Twilight said, looking over the page.
“Because it'll be the next place to be attacked,” Copper said, lifting his hooves from his face. “There's nothing between Canterlot and Manehatten besides Hollow Shades and they wouldn't be able to find that in the trees... Manehatten was a system test.” He stared at the picture of the airship. It was his design, or close enough that it was impossible to tell the difference.
“A...a system test?” Dash sounded exhausted, staring at the paper. “They...they attacked Manehatten, to...test?”
Copper nodded slightly. “They wanted to make sure that everything worked...to make sure that they couldn't defend themselves... If they can take out Manehatten with ease, then Canterlot would be the next target.”
“You seem to know an awful lot about their plan.” Twilight's voice was a bit harsher than she probably would have liked.
He almost glared at her, almost. “I spent a lot of my time thinking like a bad pony...” He hesitated. “And I've done a lot of bad things. But I never designed those for weapons...” It was hard to not study and actually appreciate the design. “It was supposed to be for transport...supposed to be quick...to be-” he froze and placed his hooves on the paper, spreading it out. “No...” He pulled his goggles down and twisted the right one, the glass distorting his eye. He looked down at the paper. “That...” he said, pointing his hoof at what looked like a smudge.
“What?” both ponies said, leaning in to see what he was pointing at.
“A smudge?” Dash said, squinting to try and see something.
“No...that's an airship. A very, very big airship...” He untwisted his lens and pushed them back up. “It's...well it's called God. I...I can't believe that they actually got it flying...”
“God?” Twilight said, peering at the small blotch.
“It's hard to tell, but if it is not God, then it is an airship designed off of it...with the same shape I mean...” Copper was rubbing his eyes, he was tired. He had not slept in days, again.
“Or it could just be a smudge,” Dash said, looking at him. “Cus to me it looks like a smudge.”
He paused and then nodded slowly. “Yes...it could be a smudge...or some gunk that had been on the camera...but...” He paused again. “I have a feeling, all right? And when I get this feeling, it's never wrong.”
“Never?” Twilight said, looking up from the smudge.
Again he hesitated, trying to think. “No,” he said slowly. “Never. I can't remember any time that this feeling had been wrong, anyways...”
Twilight nodded. “Then that's good enough for me.”
“Me too,” Dash said, giving him a smile. “So, what are we going to do about it?”
Copper remained motionless a moment and then shook his head. “I have no idea.”
There was silence, before Dash said, “That's a bit anticlimactic, isn't it?” Nervous laughter spread amongst them.
“Perhaps, but I'm not the pony with the plan anymore. I don't wanna be that pony anymore...” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “No. We talk with Celestia. Find out what's going on and see if she'll tell us anything about the cog.”
It was a few more minutes before the train came to a stop in Canterlot station and the three of them were greeted by several guards, all of them heavily armored and armed. “What is your business?” said one of them, as he stepped forward.
“We've come to see the Princess,” Twilight said and most of the guards relaxed.
“Ah, Twilight Sparkle... It is a relief to see you. Please, come this way.” They headed towards the inner castle.
But Copper was hesitant. This felt wrong. All wrong. What was going on here that gave him that feeling? He looked off into the distance, back towards Ponyville. His gaze traveled a little farther north, where Manehatten was and hopefully, still is. Suddenly he felt exposed. It was not much of a distance off the path from Manehatten to Canterlot to make a stop in Ponyville, was it? There was a feeling of dread. “If you don't mind, Mister Feather...” He looked, Twilight and Dash were gone and he was alone with a dozen or so armed guards. The guard removed his helmet. How many of them could Copper take out? Not all of them. How many would he need to take out to escape. Two? Three at most. “I want to say how much of an honor it is to meet you.”
Copper blinked, staring at the helmet-less guard. “Honor? To meet me?” Suddenly, part of him would have preferred to fight his way out of this. “I think you have the wrong pony...”
“Of course! You're Copper Feather. Celestia's right hoof. Where she could not go, she sent you.” The pony was grinning at him. “It is truly an honor. Your deeds are legendary.”
Blinking owlishly, he managed, “Deeds?”
“Oh yes. I know most of your exploits. Of course, Travis here knows every last thing you've done, dontcha boy?” The pony had pulled forward a very young looking pony. Certainly he could not be old enough to be here, could he?
“Well... Not even I know everything I've done,” Copper said slowly, unsure of how much was rumor and fact.
There seemed to be a shared laugh about the group of guards as they all began heading towards the castle. “I know it's tough to distinguish from the lies and the truths, but either way, you've done some very impressive things, Mister Feather.” There was suddenly a feeling in the pit of his stomach. “And it is regrettable that things went this way.”
Then everything went black.