Chapter 20: "Epilogue."
I settled into my chair with my tea. I had been dying to finally put my hooves up in my hotel room, since the party we threw over at Gold Digger's mansion to celebrate. She had told me that she would stay in touch, and hugged me as she thanked me for being her friend. I knew I would see her again.
Dr. Seastone told me she would be returning to Equestria with me, and that she had a lot of new research to go through concerning the supernatural. She laughed as she assured me she would let me sleep on the flight home.
Ralah had to practically be pried off of me as she hugged me nearly to death. Salah even gave me hug and congratulated me on a job well done. When I asked, If they were done being thieves, they both laughed quite heartily. They assured me that I would meet The Phantom again some day.
Lastly was Goldbloom, who had just gotten done speaking at Maregold's funeral. She had been promoted to Head Inspector, and told me she was glad that Maregold had been a good guy all along, and that she would miss him, along with the rest of Mareposa. She hugged me as she told me she would be seeing me again, and when it came down to it, that she knew she could count on "The Smartest Pony In The World" to help her crack the case.
So now here I was, sitting in my room, my bags all packed, enjoying a hot cup of tea as the rain slowly came down outside. Finally, everything was normal in the world again.
At least until I heard a knock at my door.
I got up and answered it without even thinking. In the doorway stood a tall and beautiful unicorn mare, a coat the color of cream, and no mane nor a tail. She was adorned in a pressed striped beige suit with a red pocket square. Her smile was haunting, as if she held behind it, secrets I couldn't even begin to imagine. She was tall and slim bodied, and looked at me with absolutely piercing crimson eyes that never widened even once, appearing half closed, and making her look quite disinterested in anything.
"Ms. Morning Meir. It's a pleasure to finally meet with you."Her voice was deep and elegant. The kind of voice that addressed politeness, mystique and absolute mannerism.
I set my cup down on the table. "T-Thank you...and you are?" I asked, already suspicious of my mysterious visitor.
She bowed her head slightly in respect. "Of course, how deeply rude of me."
Then she smiled at me. "My name is Nair. And, yes, Ms. Meir you have indeed heard of me."
Gold Diggers words resounded in my ears like I had just heard them. "Other than me and Tex, just a bunch of stuffy bureaucrats who are too scared of The Grand Master, to not do what he wants....and then there's Nair."
"Grand Master's right hand mare. Just as scary as he is. Maybe even more so. Never shows up to meetings, never talks to anypony. Never needs to. It's way too weird."
My breath caught in my throat, as I moved to close the door, slamming it in her face and locking it as many times as I could. I took a step back and breathed a sigh of relief.
"This is quite the room you have, Ms. Meir."
I spun around, and my jaw nearly hit the floor as I now saw Nair standing in the loft of my hotel room looking around like it was a perfectly normal evening.
I struggled to speak. "D-did you just teleport into my room?"
Nair gave a small chuckle. "As if I would need to use such parlor tricks, Ms. Meir." She then approached me slowly, making me back up nearly against the wall. "Look I'm warning you-
"Save the hostilities Ms. Meir. Despite what you have heard, I am not your enemy."
"Yeah? And why should I believe you?"
"Because I was a friend of Maregold. We both had gone undercover to ensure that Debelle and her ilk did not succeed. I was.....quite sad to hear of his passing."
I studied her face, and she chuckled. "There is no need for that, Ms. Meir. I have no reason to lie to you." Her body language did not waver even slightly. She was very much telling the truth.
I lowered my guard as I backed out from the corner. "Who was Maregold really? Who are The real Circle, if Debelle and her cronies only stole the name? And who is this "Goddess" that Maregold was talking about?" I asked, relaying far too many questions to keep track of.
Nair smiled at me. "I don't have to tell you who The Goddess is, Ms. Meir. You already know her."
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
"You don't remember? She spoke to you in the ruins. Told you how to block out the whispers of The Dark Ones. And again on the rooftop, do you recall a voice telling you to remember the blind statues?"
My mind flashed back to the rooftop, as my body was being manipulated by The Dark Ones, I had indeed heard a voice. A soft voice, as gentle as spring, but more powerful then I thought even Celestia could've spoken. It had come from nowhere, yet I heard it like somepony was standing right over me. It had overshadowed the maddening voice of The Dark Ones. Overshadowed the pain and the fear. For that instance, she was all I heard and felt.
Had that really been her?
"I...I don't understand. Why would she talk to me like that? I don't know anything about her. I'd never even heard of her until Maregold talked about her."
Nair shook her head and smiled."You didn't need to. You have more than proven yourself. You are ready." She said confidently.
I was only more confused now. "Ready? Ready for what?"
Nair put a hoof on my shoulder and softened her intense gaze. "All in good time, Ms. Meir." She smiled at me again as she made her way to the door. "For now, though, you should return home to Equestria. Enjoy your time to relax, and when the time comes...you will hear from us again. And when we do...the forces of evil will once again have risen. And will need to be stopped. Until then take care."
As she opened the door I stopped her. "Hey! wait a minute!"
Nair turned to look at me. "Yes?"
"I won't deny that what I did was amazing. But I'm still only a doctor. I'm not some supernatural crime fighter or something! I can't save the world on a daily basis." I exclaimed.
I gestured to my cutie mark: A cross of hearts. "This means I was born to be a doctor. Its my special talent! So unless it magically transforms into a picture of me punching a demon in the face...sorry. But I'm not the mare you think I am."
Nair suddenly laughed. Not chuckled, but full blown laughter like I had told the funniest joke. "Hey!' I yelled, "What's so funny?"
Nair stopped laughing and beamed at me. "Are you sure that's what your cutie mark means?" she asked slyly.
I rolled my eyes at her. "Yeah. What else could it mean?"
At this, Nair turned and lifted up her suit jacket so I could see her cutie mark. My eyes nearly popped from my head, as words failed to function for me anymore.
She had the same cutie mark. But hers was much more elaborate, with large silver hearts instead of small and pink, and emblazoned on a gilded looking golden cross on a shield.
I was utterly speechless.
"There is so much you don't know, Ms. Meir. So much you don't know about yourself. What you can really do. This was only the beginning for you."
She put her jacket back up and straightened the creases in it. "Now then, as I said, you will be contacted by us again when the time is right. Until then....Have a pleasant evening Ms. Meir."
And then she left, leaving me just standing there, with more questions then anything in this case could've brought up.
I had no idea at the time how right she was. This had only been the beginning for me. And it was only going to get stranger from here on out.
THE END