Fallen Stars

by Zachurra

Chapter 24 - Tough Mornings

Dante gently swirled the black liquid in his cup as he took in the aroma. In all his years of living, he had not once ever tasted coffee before. He had seen people get addicted to the stuff, and even those that only casually drank it always had good things to say about the brew of ground beans, milk, and whatever else.

He inhaled deeply once more, taking in the scent of… Well, he honestly didn’t know how to describe the smell of coffee. It had a very unique and inviting scent that he couldn’t exactly place with anything else. He gently raised the cup to his lips, sipping only a small amount just in case it turned out to be too hot for his tongue. It felt warm and pleasant as it ran down his throat and into his belly, curing him of the chill he still had from the cool night air and the rain. A gentle sigh escaped him before a sound upstairs grabbed his attention.

A very tired and unhappy looking Twilight descended the stairs and made her way towards the table. She sat down and, with all the grace that Unicorns were known for, dropped her head on the table with a thud. Dante eyed her, noting the clear exhaustion in her eyes and uncharacteristically wild and unkempt mane.

“I take it you slept well?” He asked, taking another sip.

She glared in his direction, obviously in no mood to take his sarcasm. He couldn’t help but chuckle to himself as he stood and made his way to pour Twilight a cup of her own. With how much she had in stock, coffee was likely a daily ritual for the mare. When Dante returned with her drink she noticeably perked up. She took the cup in her hooves and, without much caring for the heat on her tongue, took half of the drink in one go. A warm smile was left on her lips as she lowered the cup to the table.

“Did you make this?” She asked, the dreary look in her eyes having all but faded already.

“Not bad for my first time, huh?” He said proudly as he returned to his seat. “I would have worn the apron too just to make it more official but it was a little on the small side.”

“An apron for coffee?” She snickered, trying to smother her giggles with her hoof as she imagined something that called itself a Demon wearing a “kiss the cook” apron.

“You say that now, but you haven’t seen me around an oven. I’m honestly not sure if my ban from the kitchens back home has gone away yet.”

Their laughter quieted as each took drinks from their cups. Before the silence could have a moment to settle in, a loud, drawn out yawn burst from the top of the stairs that led to the bedroom. Spike’s feet thumped against the wood. When he reached the bottom, he put his hands against his hips and stretched his back out. A loud series of pops followed his stretch.

“That’s disgusting, Spike!” Twilight scolded the young dragon. “If you’re going to do that, at least go in the other room!”

“It wasn’t me though!” He argued, hands still on his hips.

Twilight cocked an eyebrow before turning to Dante, who was still in the middle of rolling his neck. He let out a relieved sigh before noticing he was being watched. “What?” He asked innocently.

“Stallions,” she said to herself, rolling her eyes.

“My sincerest apologies for my rather uncouth behavior,” he replied, touching his hoof to his hat.

Her eyes rolled again, this time more playfully. “You’re inside, you know. You don’t have to wear your hat and coat.”

“I’m well aware,” he paused to take another drink while Spike moved to the kitchen to begin making breakfast. “However, I run into the issue of not quite having figured out how to get out of a coat using hooves just yet. Honestly, I’m not sure how you ponies do most anything you do without magic or opposable thumbs.”

“Trust me, it’s not as hard as you think. Anyway, what are your plans for today?”

“Well, besides making coffee good enough to make the girls swoon, I plan to go out and learn to golf, read up on Equestrian history, vandalize Canterlot with beautiful murals, play pirate with the youngsters, and end the day writing some steamy slash fanfictions.”

The Unicorn nodded, bringing her cup back to her lips as he made his silly list of daily activities. When he reached the end, she snorted and fell into a coughing fit. “O-Oh goodness! Who in Equestria would you think to couple together?”

Dante hummed, tapping his hoof to his chin. He didn’t know a great many ponies yet, so his options were fairly limited, all things considered. “I’m thinking… Applejack and Princess Luna. Just think about it: a touching episode between two hearts born on opposite ends of the social ladder. The tagline will read, ‘she’s seen as a ruler, she’s seen as a farmer, love sees them as mares.’”

Spike walked in with a large plate of pancakes, setting it on the table before pulling up a chair for himself. “I can’t tell if he’s being ridiculous or has a legitimately good idea.”

“That’s always the question when it comes to genius, isn’t it?”

Twilight and Spike both shook their heads and began to dig in to their breakfast. The Unicorn commended her assistant for his excellent culinary skills just as she did every morning. Neither of them noticed the stallion across from them pressing his hoof against the fork beside his plate in vain attempts at picking it up until they were halfway through their first pancake.

“Does Spike need to cook your meals and feed you too?” Twilight asked with a smirk.

Dante deadpanned at the mare, already reaching for his gem. “That won’t be necessary.”

---

“Really dear, you absolutely must let me make a new outfit for you sometime.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Vice replied as he wrapped his crimson stained scarf around his neck, tucking the gem that gave him his new pony form into its folds as he made his way to the door of Rarity’s boutique, prepared to leave for Canterlot. “You let me stay for the night, and that was generous enough of you.”

“Please darling, generosity is my reason for being.” Rarity smiled as she sipped her morning tea, a small piece of toast on her plate. “And no offense dear, but don’t you think all of those straps make you look like a bit of a… masochiste?”

Vice stopped and turned towards the mare, an eyebrow cocked. “You know, if the words are already close enough in spelling and pronunciation, saying it in a different language doesn’t make it less offensive.” He turned to reach for the door knob before realizing his error and twisting back around, “Not that it was offensive, mind you. If anything, I’d be more concerned about your leniency towards the material.”

The Unicorn nodded and sipped her tea once more. “Your concern is understandable. However, what kind of designer would I be if I did not take a look at all walks of fashion – especially the most controversial? While I may not agree with using such material, I know it has its uses and I won’t judge those who choose to take advantages of those uses – assuming, of course, that it was obtained legally.”

“I assure you that it has been.” Vice pulled the door open, causing the bell above him to jingle. “If it makes you feel any better about it, we humans are the only sapient beings.”

“I will take your word for it, darling. Have a safe trip!”

Vice gave the mare a nod before finally stepping out into the open air, letting the door close behind him. His eyes turned out towards the distant mountainside city of Canterlot. It would take time, but he supposed he could simply fly there on his own. If he was going to be staying in the form of a Pegasus, it would prove useful to know his capabilities in flight. On the other hand – hoof? – it would also be beneficial to travel to the city the same way most every other pony did, via the train, if he intended to learn how to properly blend in with the public.

Of course, the first step in blending in was looking the part. Unfortunately for him, ponies were not the kind to openly carry weapons. Clothing also seemed rather uncommon amongst most, meaning he would only be able to carry a few concealable knives at best. He let out a short sigh as he began making his way towards the train station. For some reason only certain articles of clothing remained whenever they changed form, leaving him little room to hide things. Dante got to keep his hat, coat, and sword. War kept his entire suit of armor, though now it was more catered to his equine form. He, however, only kept his scarf – thank god – as well as every single one of his thirty seven knives. Yes, he counted.

Before he knew it, he was at the station. It certainly wasn’t extravagant by any means, but it was simple and served its purpose. He ascended the few steps before him and approached the stallion behind the window. White fur and a short mane hidden by a blue cap with gold lining; the amount of darkness under his eyes meant that he had not gotten much sleep the previous night, but still enough to keep him from failing to do his daily duties. He held a newspaper in his hooves – Vice made a mental note to ask one of the ponies just how they held something in their hooves like that – which bore the date from two days ago. Being a local newspaper, its production was likely brought to a temporary halt due to recent events. Despite this, he seemed quite distracted by what he was reading and did not even notice Vice approach, leaving him vulnerable to any kind of attack, even –

Vice shook his head free of such thoughts. This wasn’t Hellion, he didn’t need to see every passerby as a potential threat. At least, he hoped these ponies would not become potential threats. It almost felt nice to be able to relax from time to time.

“Excuse me,” the Demon said, “I need to board the next train for Canterlot.”

“That’ll be three bits,” the stallion replied, choosing to finish the line he was reading first before looking up and blinking a few times. “Hey, aren’t you one of the fellas that fought against the Changelings”

Vice nodded, hoping this conversation was going where he thought it was going. “Yes, I am. I was the one who took out Madora.”

“Well then!” The stallion said with a hearty chuckle, “I ain’t usually the kind of pony to go and condone killing, but I don’t have much sympathy for that murderous ghoul. Say, go ahead and forget about the ticket fee. It ain’t much but I doubt I’d keep my job long if I gave you the whole train too! Ha!”

Vice simply gave the stallion a small smile to keep friendly before taking the little blue ticket that was slipped forward and slipping it under his scarf. After a quick nod in thanks, he made his way out onto the main platform. Looking around, the Demon it to be rather empty save just two others. The first to grab his attention was a pale yellow mare with crimson mane that stood near the edge of the platform by the tracks. No, not crimson… there was too much of a pink to the color. Raspberry? That was a color, right?

Besides her was an older stallion sitting on a bench adjacent of the entrance to the platform. While most of his body was covered by an old tan coat with a high collar and hat that made him look more like a cliché from a private investigator story, a rather odd getup considering the warm weather. His coat was a deep ocean blue with a black but graying mane. Assuming their bodies worked like that of a human – similarities that were becoming more and more prevalent the longer he observed these ponies – than Vice felt it was safe to say the graying was from stress rather than age. His eyes were closed but his posture gave away that he was still awake.

Vice shrugged it off as simply another oddity of Equestria. Surely enough he looked even more alien to them than they did to him.

Time seemed to travel slowly from that point. Perhaps it was simply because nothing was happening. The mare near the edge of the platform barely moved a muscle and the stallion the coat had done just as little save for checking the pocket watch in his coat. The man-turned-Pegasus was beginning to wish that he had some sort of watch on his person. The sun had noticeably moved in the sky since he had begun waiting for the train and he was considering going back to the ticket desk to get an estimated time of arrival.

As he rose to his hooves to go and get some answers, the sound of a far off whistle filled the air. There in the distance was a train steaming down the tracks, but with his trained eyes, and knowing how things generally looked in this world, it did not seem like what he expected a commuter train to look like. It was large and black with multiple billows of steam coming from its engine and seemed to have no intention of slowing down unless it had some awfully powerful brakes.

“Don’t get your hopes up,”

Vice looked to the stallion that had been sitting on the bench all this time. He was looking towards the coming train, squinting his eyes. “Looks like nothing more than a freight train. Probably just passing through town.”

“I see.” Vice shrugged and returned to his seat with a short sigh. Perhaps it would simply be better to fly out after all? Since he didn’t have to pay for the ticket, he wouldn’t have to seek out a refund or anything-

An even louder whistle broke the Demon’s thoughts. The train was just entering the humble town and it seemed the stallion was correct in his statement. It showed no signs of slowing down and was on its way to some city given the number of freight cars. Vice turned his attention away, adjusting his scarf and flexing his wings. The train ride would have been preferable but he simply did not have the time if planned to be there when the fate of the Changelings was to be decided.

Another whistle as it came to pass through the station. He paid it no mind as he prepared to take to the air. At that moment he blinked and there in front of him he saw the mare at the edge of the platform move. She turned her head towards the coming train and he saw the shimmer in her eyes from the sunlight. Her hoof moved forward and his eyes widened and, without so much as a single thought, he flapped his wings with as much power as he could muster. His Demonic strength revealed itself, shattering the wooden bench with the force of his legs kicking off as he shot forward towards the mare. His body collided with hers and the two flew right over the tracks. To Vice, the world seemed to be moving in slow motion and he felt his tail be brushed by the train as it passed. He twisted his body around just as they neared the ground, gritting his teeth as he put himself against the ground and held her above him.

Time resumed as they slid to a halt. He bit his lip to hold back the pain. As it would seem, his pony body was not nearly as durable as his human one. This was made even more apparent as he felt a sudden and sharp sting against his cheek. He opened his eyes to see the mare above him, her hoof looking ready to strike once more.

“Why?” The mare asked as a tear fell from her eye and onto his cheek, “Why did you have to save me?”

Author's Note:

Happy New Year!

P.S. Has anyone actually written a good LunaJack fic? I can't recall ever seeing one