9
The real Providence
Trixie took a deep breath, as she opened the door of Ponyville’s town hall, where, the Bearers of Harmony, plus Spike, Snips and Snails, were together, along with a very special pony. Rex Salazar was waiting for her, on the other side of the room, wearing a red tuxedo, with orange undershirt, that combined perfectly with his grayish blue fur. As for Trixie, she was wearing a beautiful wedding dress, complete with a silver crown and vellum.
And in front of him, Princess of Friendship Twilight Sparkle was waiting. Trixie blushed, and approached to her groom
The bounty hunter made a small nod to Twilight, who smiled to her, and began reading:
“My dear friends, we’re together on this day, to join Beatrix Lulamoon, and Rex Salazar in holy marriage. Tell me, Beatrix Lulamoon, do you accept Rex Salazar as your loving husband, to be at your side in life and death, in sickness and in health; in happiness and the bad times, until death take you apart?”
Trixie smiled, and answered: “I do.”
“And you, Rex Salazar, do you accept Beatrix Lulamoon as your beloved wife, to be at your side in life and death, in sickness and in health; in happiness and the bad times, until death take you apart?”
“I do!” said Rex, taking his bride’s hoof.
Twilight smiled widely to them, and finally said:
“With the power given to me for the Crown, I now declare you, husband and wife. You May kiss the bride.”
Rex embraced Trixie, and kissed her deeply. Trixie held Rex with her magic, and pushed him closer to her, making the kiss even deeper.
Their little audience chuckled quietly as they finally separated, looking into the other’s eyes.
“I love you, Trixie. Especially when you’re not speaking in third person.” Mocked Rex.
“Go to hell” smiled back Trixie. “But, yeah, I love you too, Rex Salazar.”
Then, the couple kissed again.
“Hey, Rarity,” said Rainbow to her fashionista friend. “I thought you say you would never make a dress for her, so, why did you?”
Rarity shrugged. “What can I say? I couldn’t say no to that amount of bits. And, you must admit Trixie looks radiant in that dress. And Rex’s tuxedo is simply spectacular, it makes his natural charm to stand out. And he paid me extra, to make sure that the outfit transform when he does.”
“I think they look fantastic!” cheered pinkie Pie. “Exactly like the cake dolls. I took extra effort to make it especially delicious!”
The little ceremony finished, with the two bounty hunters happily chatting with the guests, seeming truly happy.
Twilight was happy too, she couldn’t believe that Rex and Trixie accepted her proposal, but here they were, a couple of newlyweds married by no other than Twilight herself.
“Well, they look really happy” said Fluttershy.
“And, Trixie has change for good since she met Rex Salazar.” added Applejack.
It was true. And now that they were happily married, no one would separate them.
Finally, Trixie bowed to Twilight and smiled.
“Thank you so much, Twilight Sparkle. Letting aside our history together, you offered me a second, and even a third chance. I really appreciate you doing this.” Trixie turned to the rest of the girls. “And you, thank you for joining me today.”
“Hey, what are friends for?” asked Fluttershy.
Trixie froze for a few seconds, but at the end she nodded.
“Yeah, what are friends for?”
“Así me gusta!” cheered Rex. “Now everypony is in peace with each other.”
The girls chuckled.
“And what are you going to do now, Rex, Trixie?” asked Twilight. “Are you going to continue with the bounty-hunter business?”
Trixie nodded. “Yes, is an interesting career, and if you’re good, your profits are unbelievable. But first, we could use a rest.”
“We reserved at a resort on the beach for our honeymoon.” explained Rex.
The others just nodded in silence, even if they didn’t like Trixie and Rex’s chosen lifestyle, it was none of their business. And, Trixie was happy, so they let her be.
But, in the bottom of his heart, Rex was worried. Like everything he had lived in Equestria was nothing but a dream, and he could wake up any minute now.
…
The streets of Canterlot were peaceful, as any night. The guards were patrolling, even if they know nothing would happen. They were wrong.
It started like a flash, with a red light that appeared on the skies, alerting both civilians and guards. Then, a black metallic structure appeared, followed by another, smaller one. All the unicorn guards made their horns glow, as the pegasi extended their wings, ready to fight.
The doors of the metallic giant opened before the terrified ponies, and a squad of strange bipedal creatures marched out of the ship. Strange beings they were, wearing strange black bodysuits, dark gray boots and vest. And, on their backs, the bipedal creatures carried strange cannons, that they prepared ready to face the enemy.
The unicorns shot several magic blast; and the bipedal answered by shooting laser beams. In the meantime, the pegasi gathered electricity-charged clouds that they threw against this new enemy. That was more effective, and several of the black creatures fell to never move again. But, strangely enough, the remaining guards seemed indifferent to their fallen partners, and continued shooting like nothing happened.
Both sides prepared for a bigger fight, when suddenly a female voice commanded:
“Hold your fire!”
The creatures in black stopped, and slowly moving away letting pass to their leader. It was a dark violet mare, with gray mane covering the left side of her face; who wore a black suit, black boots and a long black cape.
“Let’s avoid unnecessary confrontations. I can assure you, my intentions are not hostile. All I ask is an audience with whoever is in charge.” said the strange mare.
“And how can we tell you’re telling the truth?” asked Hylian Shield, the new captain since Master Sword was now under gryphon custody.
The purple mare grinned. “What about this? You can destroy all the soldiers you want, and they have strict orders to not to respond.”
“Yes Black Knight!” answered the soldiers of Providence.
The mare grinned to the astonished guards, when, suddenly, a tall shadow appeared above Black Knight.
“So, for you, your soldiers are nothing but objects. Nothing but shells who doesn’t have their own hopes, or dreams?” asked a voice.
The Black Knight looked up, and grinned to Princess Celestia, flying right above her.
“They are indeed objects. Nothing but machines. Human mistake cannot be tolerated in our forces. That’s why we use robots.” explained Black Knight.
“Machines? Human mistake?” asked Celestia landing before the Black Knight.
The violet mare bowed respectfully.
“It’s my pleasure.” said Black Knight.
“Who are you and what are your intentions?” asked the Princess.
“Again, I’m no hostile to this territory or your people. We’re here in a rescue mission. And, as who I am, they call me Black Knight.”
“Rescue mission? Black Knight?” asked Celestia.
“Yes, a rescue mission. A few months ago, an anomaly in the space-time fluctuation, sent one of our few human soldiers to this lands. After several months of hard work, we managed to locate him, and create our own anomaly, anomaly, that we used to get here. Once we get our man, we’ll go back where we came from. That’s a promise.”
“It’s unbelievable that you move this amount of personnel only for one person” said Celestia.
“I only brought the absolutely necessary. Besides, this soldier is very important to us.”
After a few moments of silence, Celestia made a sign to Black Knight to follow her to inside the Palace. As for Black Knight, she made a sign to another, smaller ship; cylinder-shaped, with insect-like legs coming out of it.
The little ship landed aside the big one, and opened its doors. A single earth pony came out of the ship. His fur was olive green, and he had black mane and tail; with brown, smart eyes. The green earth pony bowed respectfully to the alicorn, and followed his leader, Black Knight.
In the Throne Room, Princess Luna raised an eyebrow to the two visitors, but she limited to greet them with a nod.
“So, what is this all about?” asked Princess Luna.
Celestia simply looked at the strange ponies. “Apparently this two are here to locate one missing friend. Mostly I would understand, but their entrance was a bit unnerving.” Then she turned to the two ponies. “Now, you two, whatever you need to do to locate your ‘man’, do it in front of us. And, for your information, my sister and I are prepared to stop you in case you do something that could harm our little ponies. Understood?”
Black Knight bowed. It was true that she didn’t wanted to conquer Equestria or do any harm to the ponykind. In fact, the less she was in that world full of colorful equines, the better.
“As you wish.”
The mare, then, turned to her partner.
“Go on, Doctor Salazar. Do it quickly.”
César Salazar obeyed, he unfolded what the Princesses thought it was a normal suitcase, but in reality, it was a laptop, where César began to look for Rex’s signal. All he had to do, was to detect the small amounts of selenium Rex emitted every time he activated one of his machines.
But then, Luna looked at César.
“Did you said Doctor Salazar?” asked the Princess.
Both Black Knight and César Salazar turned to the Princesses.
César smiled to the Monarchs.
“Huh, I guess you already met my little brother. Yeah, someone with his unique abilities doesn’t stay unnoticed for long. How is he? Out of trouble?”
“On the contrary, I would say.” said Celestia. “He associated with a troublesome pony, but it doesn’t matter now. Since the very beginning, I knew he didn’t belong here, not only because of his abilities, but because his aura answers to a different world.”
“But, there’s an issue.” added Luna. “He haves no memories of his past.”
César frowned. “Yeah, Rex’s amnesic episodes are pretty common. That would make the process a little more difficult, but isn’t something we haven’t deal before.”
“But it is okay, we take Salazar back?” asked Black Knight.
The Princesses nodded, unaware of the recent events on Rex’s and Trixie’s lives.
Finally, the computer made a beeping sound, and César went to check it.
“I get him!”
Then, the two ponies left the Palace, getting into their respective ships.
“You know Rex doesn’t trust me, Doctor Salazar. And, even if he’s amnesic, he can suspect of me. I leave this on your hands.”
“Technically, are hooves now.” joked César. “But don’t worry, we’ll bring Rex on time. That’s a promise.”
“I trust your capacity, Salazar.”
César smiled, and closed his ships’ door, and, before anypony could tell what was going on, he was crossing the skies.
“You heard that, right?” asked César, turning to the bunch of people he brought without telling Black Knight. “This won’t be easy, Rex may not even recognize you.”
It was a white mare, with black hair, tied in a bun, and green eyes; who wore a lab coat. A gray pony with dark-brown hair, triangle-shaped beard, and sunglasses. And finally, a chimpanzee with strange clothes and an eyepatch.
“I trust in the boy.” Said Agent Six, with confidence. “He will recognize us, eventually.”
“Always saying complicated stuff.” mocked the chimpanzee. “I’m fine with knowing he’s okay.”
“But, most important, Rex is the last hope of mankind.” finished Doctor Holiday. “And we must do what we can to save that hope.”
César grinned. “Okay, enough of the emotional chit-chat. We’re here!”
Thanks to the speed of César’s lab, they arrived quickly to the beaches of Maréxico. A popular destination for newlyweds. And, most of the visitors were enjoying the beautiful night that Princess Luna had gave them.
Trixie was lying on the beach along with her new husband, Rex Salazar, and she embraced him tightly. This was just their second night on this beautiful place that Trixie enjoyed almost as much as her companion. Almost.
As for Rex, he cuddled with Trixie. Nothing could ruin this moment for them. Nothing.
Or that’s what they thought.
Rex stood, suddenly alert.
“Rex? What’s going on?” asked Trixie worriedly.
“Something isn’t right. Not right at all.” said Rex looking around.
Still unsure of what was going on, Trixie stayed alert too. Did the enemies of Providence had found about their little vacation? Well, considering the amount of captures and their skill, that was certainly a possibility. But no, something else was going on; the couple knew that on the bottom of their hearts.
Them, they both looked up, to see the strange metallic structure over them. Trixie and Rex jumped backwards, read for a fight.
The structure landed, and opened its doors. Four figures came out of it, three ponies, and a chimpanzee with clothes? What the hay?
Rex prepared his Smack-Hands ready for battle.
Trixie gulped and looked at her husband. “People you know?”
“Yes, I’m certain we’ve met before, and even if I can’t remember them properly. But, what I do remember, is that I never wanted to see them again.”
Trixie nodded, and let her magic flow through her horn. A new battle was about to begin.