//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Hunting // Hiding // Story: Truth and Reconciliation // by sincarnation //------------------------------// 9:00am, 11th of Viglyd, 6 Days After the Tirek Incident – Royal Canterlot Library “Umm Twilight?” started Fluttershy as she finished looking through yet another book. “Shouldn’t we be out looking with the rest of the girls?” “No,” started Twilight as she distractedly went through her 30th book. “Well yes, but I want to know everything I can about this Artemis guy before we find him. I think it will give us a better chance at dealing with him, but so far we can’t find anything useful. There isn’t a large section on the wolves and every book in it mentions their king, but none of them go into any detail about his abilities or personality.” Twilight was quickly growing frustrated with the lack of information on this former king, especially because she felt that he should’ve been something scholars were interested in studying. The section related to the wolves was relatively small, but they had already gone through each book at least three times. There could be other books in other sections, but she couldn’t search the entire library for answers. They already didn’t have much time, and her lack of sleep wasn’t helping her pace or attitude. “We could maybe try asking Princess Luna? She probably knows more about him than anypony, and that way we could save time without telling Princess Celestia.” “No, we can't. What if she asks why we are asking about Artemis or how we know about him? Or even worse we might alert her to something being wrong, and on top of that she is sleeping right now. You don’t want to wake Luna when she is sleeping.” Twilight shuddered as she recalled her brother’s recounting of the first and only time he woke her up. “Oh, right,its a shame there isn’t anypony old enough to know about him.” “Fluttershy you’re a genius! The only one we can ask isn’t a pony, Discord might know something.” Twilight’s sudden joy at potential information quickly died when she realized they had to get Discord to cooperate, but she didn’t think that should be too much of a problem considering how hard he had been trying to make up for aiding Tirek. Still putting up with Discord required a certain mental fortitude she wasn’t sure she had at the moment. “Oh that’s a wonderful idea Twilight, I’m sure he knows something, I’ll call for him right now.” “WAIT!” Twilight shrieked before remembering she was in a library. “I know Discord might know something, but I don’t have the energy to deal with him right now. I was just getting to sleep when the Princess’s summons came, and right now I need some coffee.” “Oh oh oh lets go to Joe’s,” said an eager Spike as he finished putting up the books they had gone through. “We haven’t been there since that first Gala, and I really want a donut. Please Twilight?” “Is that ok with you Fluttershy?” asked Twilight not wanting to overlook her shy friend’s opinion. “Oh of course Twilight, we can start asking about Arte-,” Fluttershy started but didn’t get to finish as she, Twilight, and Spike were teleported into a donut shop. Working in Canterlot you see some strange things, and Joe had seen a lot of strange things. None of them quite prepared him for the shock of having things suddenly burst into his shop out of thin air. After the magical field went down he easily recognized his long-time customers. “Hey Twilight long time no see,” Joe said while getting a slight case of déjà vu. “I see you don’t have all your friends with you today, what can I get for you three?” “Expresso, Quad Shot,” started Twilight as she sat down. “No, they are out searching the city, and before I can help I need some energy.” Twilight’s face promptly hit the table as she was having a hard time not falling asleep. “The old Sleepless Scholar eh? Sounds like a rough day ahead, but anything for you Twilight. What can I get for the young dragon and beautiful lady?” “Green Tea,” Fluttershy managed to squeak out from behind her blush. “Two donuts, extra sprinkles.” After a short wait their orders were brought to the table and Joe was back to baking, but not before he wished them luck finding whatever they were searching for. After draining half of her expresso, Twilight sighed bracing herself mentally for what was about to come. “DISCORD!!!” Twilight suddenly shrieked with the tone of a mother calling a child who had been disobedient. Right on queue a floating bathtub appeared in front of the table in a flash of light, and the off-key singing and shadow behind the shower curtain told them that the draconequus had indeed shown up. “Oh really Twilight, you should know better than to interrupt someone while they are bathing,” said Discord as he poked his head out from behind the curtain. “I’m mean really, I’m indecent out here.” “Ugh Discord, neither you nor anypony else wears cloths normally. We don’t have time for this, we called to ask if you had ever met the king of the wolves?” “King of the wolves?” repeated Discord as his bathtub became a large floating throne. “Hmmmm, was he a large wolf with a grey coat and green eyes? Walked on his hind legs? He liked to disguise himself as a unicorn?” As he said this he conjured up an incredible life-sized likeness of what Celestia described. “Yes! YES! You know him?” “I’m sorry, I don’t know anything about him,” said Discord innocently as he created a swimming pool of coffee for a newly animated pair of donuts. “What? You’re lying, you described him perfectly,” accused Twilight as the stress of the situation and Discords antics were quickly wearing out what few nerves she had left. “What are you hiding, are you helping him?” “Discord,” said Fluttershy sternly as she chastised him with just her stare. “What? No, I’m telling you the truth I swear. I don’t really know any more about him, I saw him disguised one time in passing as a statue. I learned of his true form by eavesdropping on Luna one time, and she seemed very interested in him. I’m not helping any other evil beings, I’m innocent here.” With that the donuts and coffee returned to normal as a halo appeared over Discord’s now bulging puppy-dog eyes. “Sure you are Discord,” said Twilight as she rolled her eyes. “You aren’t telling us everything.” “Alright fine, I admit it. I eavesdropped on Luna a lot, but still I don’t know anything about the wolf king,” cried Discord as the shop began to fill with his tears. “Hey hey hey, what the heck is goin on in here?” cried Joe as he burst in from the kitchen only to see two unicorns, a pegasus, a dragon, and a crying thing. “Why is my shop flooding? Girls, I’m going to need you to leave if you can’t stop him.” “There there Discord, it’s ok. We believe you,” said Fluttershy as she comforted the seemingly distraught draconequus. “Oh, I know you do Fluttershy, but the Princess doesn’t.” “Ugh fine, just stop with the tears, and clean up this mess up.” With a snap of his claws the water vanished leaving everything bone dry afterwards. “Why the sudden interest in a long gone king?” asked Discord as he slid in between his friends in the booth. “We can’t say, pinkie promise,” said Twilight as her face once again hit the table. She wasn’t quite sure why she had expected much of anything useful from Discord. “Well is there anything else I can help with?” asked Discord as he took a sip of Fluttershy’s green tea. Twilight thought of what happened last time they sent Discord to search for somepony, and opted not to accept his help. “No,” sighed Twilight as she started to doubt there was any more information on Artemis. “Thank you for offering though,” said Fluttershy sweetly. “We probably won’t get back to Ponyville this weekend, would you mind watching after Angel and staying out of trouble? “Me? Cause trouble? I’m hurt you would even suggest I might cause trouble, a little chaos on the other claw. Of course I will take good care of your precious Angel, enjoy your weekend I will take good care of the castle while you two are away.” “Wait I never said anything about the cast-“started Twilight as her head bolted upright. Unfortunately Discord had already vanished leaving only the likeness of Artemis behind. “DISCORD STAY OUT OF THE CASTLE!” yelled Twilight knowing that her words had fallen on deaf ears. “Great now we are going to have to deal with whatever he does to the castle." “If you don’t mind me asking, what has got you so stressed Twilight? If it is another test I’m sure you will do great, you always do.” “I can’t say, pinkie promise, but let me know if you see any pony like this in the city,” she said as she pointed to the likeness of Artemis. “Oh him?” he said as he looked over the strange hologram. “Yeah I saw him earlier this morning, a lot of ponies were ducking into the shop to avoid him. I haven’t seen that many ponies cower from somepony since Buck Norris visited.” “Wait you saw him? What was doing? Where did he go?” started Twilight as she bolted upright again. Now she suddenly had a lead to work off of. “Uh yeah that’s what I said, and he was just walking down the street looking angry. I don’t think he actually did anything to anypony, and I don’t know I didn’t really track him after he walked by. I had customers to take care of first. What, is he dangerous or something?” “Not sure yet,” replied Twilight which was only half-true. She knew he was potentially dangerous, but not if he was a threat. “Thank you though, it isn’t much but it is more than we knew before we came in,” said Twilight as she suddenly hugged Joe. “Uhhh not a problem, anything for you Twilight.” “Now I just need to tell the girls. Spike get the bill, my bits are in there,” said Twilight absentmindedly as a minor rip in space appeared. Twilight was focusing all of her attention to finding her friends in the city, which would’ve been more difficult if the elements weren’t all inextricably linked. “Girls, Artemis is in the city. This isn’t a wild goose chase, so be careful he is here somewhere. Remember when you find him don’t do anything alone or without all of us.” 10:00am, 11th of Viglyd, 6 Days After the Tirek Incident – Canterlot Fantaisie Café “Oh come on now Rarity,” said an exasperated Applejack. “You can’t be that tired, we’ve only been searchin fer a few hours. Heck Twilight already found somethin out; it shouldn’t be long till we find him.” “True, but not all of us are so accustomed to running around so early in the morning,” said an equally exasperated Rarity. “Plus I don’t usually begin my mornings without coffee.” “Well while yer takin a coffee break, that Artemis feller could be getting closer to the Princess. We don’t have time for stuff like this.” “My thoughts exactly my dear Applejack. We can’t possibly search this entire city by hoof before tomorrow night without alerting somepony. So I got to thinking, and a stallion like Celestia described couldn’t possibly make it through Canterlot without drawing at least some attention to himself. I’m sure he has or will been noticed on some social medium eventually, and all we have to do is wait for it,” said Rarity as she started going through her phone. “So you want us to sit here and wait until somepony else notices him, and decides to announce it to the whole world? That has got to be the laziest thing I’ve ever heard, I’d expect that out of Rainbow not-” “Found something,” said Rarity with a triumphant and slightly cocky grin. “The trending story for the past couple of hours has been that the renowned DJ, Vinyl Scratch, was ponynapped by a mysterious unidentified stallion. They even have pictures of him, and I think it fits Celestia’s description,” said Rarity as she showed Applejack her phone. “It is a shame though; anypony close enough to get this photo could’ve tried to stop him.” “Can’t say I blame em neither, shoot he looks bigger than Mac. We already knew he was in the city, but who knows what happened to Scratch.” “Yes, but I can’t help but wonder how Octavia is dealing with it, she must be devastated.” “Octavia?” “You really should make more of an effort to be in the loop on social matters or any sort of pop culture. Octavia is an equally renowned classical Cellist, and she is Vinyl’s marefriend. Their relationship was a big deal, especially considering how musically gifted they are. They got playfully accused of monopolizing musical talent, I’m surprised you haven’t heard anything about it.” “You know me, if it ain’t about my friends, family, or apples it ain’t important.”. “Yes, well first things first I want to check up on Octavia to make sure she is doing alright. Then maybe we could figure out some sort of way to track Vinyl through her and find Artemis at the same time.” “Well should we tell Twi about this?” asked Applejack as they both got up to leave the café. “Not yet, we still don’t know if this will lead anywhere, and it would be better to let her and the girls continue their search instead of wasting time on a potential dead end,” said Rarity as they started off from the café. “Besides I’m not the closest to Octavia so it might be strange for the elements of harmony to show up suddenly, and either way we will need Twilight if there is any chance of tracking Vinyl.” “Woah woah wait, I thought you were friends with this Octavia charcter?” “I didn’t say we were friends. We are errr *ahem* on speaking terms.” “Speakin terms? There is more to it than that ain’t there?” “Well we have had our disagreements and confrontations in the past, but we smoothed it over after we both became more well known in Canterlot. We haven’t really talked much since a comparatively minor fiasco the night after the Gala, and you remember how the gala turned out for everypony involved. I don’t really know who she will react to be quite honest.” “Disagreements?” “One does not attempt to navigate the social ladder without making a few rivals along the way. In the past we may have said some less than tasteful things at each other, but that is in the past now,” said Rarity as she waved a dismissive hoof through the air. “Alright then,” started Applejack sensing Rarity’s desire to avoid that topic. “So what are these two like, and why do you think Artemis would ponynap this Vinyl character?” “Well Octavia can be a little cold at times, but that is just from dealing with the ponies in her line of work. After you get to know her she supposed be very sweet, and wouldn’t do anything to harm somepony she liked. She is most well-known for her cello play which could make mother nature herself weep, but that should be no surprise since she was invited to play at the Gala. Vinyl is a bit of a wild one, she is a very accomplished DJ and supposed party animal. Unfortunately I know far less about Vinyl, and I have no idea what Artemis could want with her.” “Well how far does Octavia live?” “Right here,” said Rarity as they turned a corner only a block away from the café. While Applejack was staring slack-jawed at the impressive luxury apartment complex, Rarity went to the board to find Octavia’s building. She was a little more accustomed to the over the top nature of the Canterlot elite, which tended to be more extreme than the castle in some places. “Ah, her place is up the stairs on the left,” said Rarity as she went to rouse Applejack from her awe. “Wow, it is crazy what some ponies will spend their bits on.” “Well when you have a lot to spare you start to care less about what it is spent on,” said Rarity as they approached the door with the plaque reading Octavia Melody. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves before she raised her hoof, and she rang the doorbell. 11:00am, 11th of Viglyd, 6 Days After the Tirek Incident – Canterlot Castle It didn’t take Artemis long to reach the outer wall of the castle from Octavia’s apartment, but what had stopped him was the massive magic shell put around the Castle. The spell required an impressive amount of magic to maintain, and it did take him a solid 15 minutes to study and feel out the spell without alerting the caster. However what he discovered was severely disappointing, for the spell had an obvious gaping hole. It was a spell designed to only allow ponies to pass through to the castle, and it prevented magical travel through the barrier. He made a note that any form of hybrid pony creature could easily slip though the barrier on the premise that it wasn’t designed to keep ponies out. “Wow Celestia certainly has stayed lazy when it comes to security,” Artemis thought to himself as he followed the wall to a section no pony was watching. Since the barrier wasn’t any issue he just dug his claws into the stone walls and began his ascent up to the top. Though as he neared the top he felt a decent surge of anger, and it was coming from Vinyl. It was just anger so he didn't think it was life threatening, but he made a note to double check as soon as he got to a place without guards. As he climbed over something unexpected happened, he felt his disguise peel away revealing his true form to any pony that would’ve happened to look his way. “Of course there is more to the barrier,” chuckled Artemis. “Alright, I underestimated the cunning of her spellcaster, but I’ll be sure it doesn’t happen again.” Artemis had been taking a couple moments to make sure he didn’t overlook anything else in the spell when he suddenly heard a dozen guards running from below. “Somehow they noticed something. No matter, it’s not really an issue,” he thought as he cast an invisibility spell. But nothing happened. “Twice I have underestimated this magical field,” Artemis sighed to himself as he noticed his still completely visible body. At this point the guards were coming up the stairs, and would be able to see him soon. “Guess I have to do this the fun way,” he grinned as he leapt from the wall into one of the many trees in the courtyard. “It has been long since I have experienced any form of the thrill of the hunt., to hunt and be hunted at the same time certainly makes things more interesting.” The guards reached the top of the wall only to be greeted by nothing, as they looked around in all directions. “I would’ve sworn I heard something scratching at the wall,” said one guard right before a hoof smacked the back of his head. “Be more sure next time, and don’t make such a big deal out of something you aren’t sure of. All right back to your posts, false alarm.” Artemis loved the thrill of the hunt, but he was only experiencing a fraction of the thrill he missed. Even now he was very aware that this hunt posed no real danger to him. Sometimes he longed for the old days of conflict, nothing made him feel more alive than fighting on the verge of death. His days fighting the other world powers were some of the best times of his life before he mellowed out. It was highly unlikely that any of those guards could injure him let alone bring him anywhere near death, and he only avoided them to not cause an unnecessary scene. Artemis waited till they all had started down the stairs before he bolted for the inner wall. Since they left their posts to look for him, it would temporarily unguarded. As he ran he felt a sudden unknown presence enter his mind, and out of instinctive reactionary fear he immediately grabbed hold of it, not allowing it to back out. While he had halted the probe, it had distracted him long enough that he couldn’t make it directly to the inner wall. Artemis could hear the guards getting closer with every moment. He cursed at himself mentally before he opted to duck into the garden maze. He couldn’t allow his presence to be compromised yet, so he knew he had to deal with this invader sooner rather than later. He found a dead end in the maze overlooked by the tower that held the Princess’s bedroom. It was the perfect spot, he could see his goal, and it was just out of the way enough for him not to be disturbed. Artemis took a deep breath to steel himself, "Vinyl can wait for a moment. Even when I'm not focused on it, my mind is well guarded whoever got in is powerful, but the fact that I can hold them probably means their power and experience aren't on the same level. The most dangerous type of magician, ugghh," groaned Artemis as he crossed his legs and prepared to deal with whoever had the talent and arrogance to invade his thoughts.