//------------------------------// // Part 8: Clair de Lune - Something Sweeter than Wine... // Story: MLP-Destiny's Play // by The Bricklayer //------------------------------// Fluttershy walked home that night, quite solemn from the day’s events. Even after leaving Sugarcube Corner things hadn’t gotten much better for her really. As you could imagine, her friends weren’t exactly the only ones who’d gotten wind of Kiva’s ‘misdoings’ thanks to those newspapers. Or really, rather one newspaper in particular. The Ponyville Chronicle. If Fluttershy were in a better state of mind she might have cast a thought to how the newspaper suddenly popped up fifteen years ago exactly, the same year Fluttershy became Kiva but sadly she was too consumed with her thoughts on what Ponyville thought of her. “Did ya hear? Kiva struck again last night! Found that distinctive insignia inside the hospital, for shame of it!” Carrot Top whispered out in a hushed tone of voice, fearful Kiva was somewhere in the crowd waiting to strike. To be fair, she wasn’t entirely wrong about that at least but Kiva wasn’t really going to go after her. “The nerve of him!” another pony, somepony Fluttershy vaguely remembered to be Amethyst Star and Ponyville’s premiere organizer at least before Twilight came to town hissed out. “He returned to the scene of the crime, just to gloat! Can’t believe the Royal Guard aren’t doing anything about it, they’ve even got a branch in town for crying out loud!” Fluttershy had been walking through the local marketplace, hoping just to get some carrots and other salad supplies for Angel Bunny when she’d heard the first whispers. Seemingly inescapable they were really. Ponies she’d known for years, turned against her if not unknowingly. She wanted, and I do mean she wanted to hate them and never forgive them after this but she knew it wasn’t their fault and if she did hate them her father would probably never forgive her for that. He’d always preached that the unknowing were the truly unfortunate ones, the uninformed. They were the ones who were usually in need of the most help at times. So Fluttershy said nothing, at least for the moment. Someday, they’d learn the truth and all would be well. She only wished Night Light was here to help, but sadly like her father before her Twilight’s own dad had fallen to Fangire hands. The Sungazer Fangire, managed to kill him a few years before. She did owe Tempest a thank you for dispatching him, because if Fluttershy had faced off with the monster she honestly didn’t know exactly what she would have done. “Yeah!” Carrot muttered. “I mean, what are they all doing, sitting on their asses waiting till Kiva does something really major, like killing Princess Twilight? If you ask me, she’s paying them way too… much.” Carrot had stopped her grumblings and both she and Amethyst shared a look of fear as they saw in the crowd one Tempest Shadow giving them a particularly nasty look as she leaned up against a stone wall. Fluttershy gave her a grateful relieved smile, something Tempest was only too happy to return. That was another thing she owed the mare. Still, one mare wasn’t exactly going to change the ponies minds about what or who Kiva was. Honestly, Fluttershy suspected that at this point, she’d just have to fight from the shadows and endure the scorn of the townspeople. Luna couldn’t help, not really. Not if she wanted to be the cause of mass panic and rioting, possibly lynch mobs. Fluttershy had asked her once why she couldn’t do anything, and that was the reason she gave. It was much the same story as Twilight really, both of them were too afraid of the consequences of turning ponykind’s world upside down to actually take a stand for just one mare. The needs of the many, in this case, they outweighed the needs of the one. “Still…” Carrot trailed off. “Okay, let’s assume the Royal Guard is investigating the whole Kiva scenario. If so, why haven’t they said anything? How do we even know they have a suspect?” “For all we know, they don’t,” Octavia pointed out as she walked up, rolling her eyes and giving Carrot Top an annoyed expression. “Still, then again maybe they do. Think about it, if you were the Guard you wouldn’t want to exactly release to the public that you think you might know who Kiva is, unless you wanted to make him -or her- for that matter fleeing for their lives never to be seen again.” “Good… Good point,” Carrot mumbled to herself. “Still, what’s with this ‘her’ nonsense? I mean, unless there’s something you know that we don’t…” she stated before she and Amethyst narrowed their eyes at the cellist. “Hey, how do we know you’re not Kiva?” Fluttershy’s breath caught in her throat about then, as both Amethyst and Carrot approached Octavia, and she saw Tempest look nervous as well. This was exactly what they’d both feared if too much information got leaked, possible mobs leading to ponies getting either hurt or something much worse. “Please,” Octavia replied dryly. “If I, hypothetically was Kiva, I wouldn’t be so stupid as to drop hints in public. I’m just commenting on the fact that Kiva’s armor is so bulky, we don’t know who could be hiding under the mask. And considering Ponyville has a skewed number of mares to stallions…” “True enough I suppose... “ Carrot trailed off as both Tempest and Fluttershy let out breaths neither of them had realized they’d been holding. “I mean, the only way I know it’s Tempest under the IXA armor is it, is because of that cracked horn of hers. You know the one, looks like a chipped tooth. I mean, the point is Octavia you’re exactly right. That armor does hide a lot!” “And this mare with the chipped tooth horn as you so kindly call it,” Tempest stated dryly as she loomed over both Amethyst Star and Carrot Top from behind, making both jump in fear and let out little yelps. Tempest’s horn was crackling in anger, quite put off by today’s events. Bad enough she’d been dealing with Fangires full-time now, including another attack at the hospital. Now she had to pile on classic pony stupidity on top of that. “Would like to remind you that just because of the fact that Kiva may very well be a mare, doesn’t mean you should start ganging up on other townsponies.” Quite quayed by the intimidating Captain of the Guard, both Carrot and Amethyst silenced themselves for the time being even as Fluttershy took her leave. Fluttershy let out a small sniffle as she sat down on her bed, grabbing a handkerchief to dab at her eyes. “Why… Why can’t it ever end…?” she whispered to herself. “Why can’t I just find Rook and kill him, and make all this madness end?” “You know perfectly well killing Rook won’t stop this madness,” Vinyl’s voice sighed as the mare, dressed in only a tank-top and panties walked into the room and sat down next to Fluttershy before slinging an arm around her friend’s shoulders. She’d decided now to stay at the mare’s cottage full-time, given the recent treatment of her by her friends. Oh sure, they were blaming Kiva not Fluttershy for the attacks but that still didn’t mean the white-furred DJ couldn’t see what sorta affect their words were having on the pegasus. “He’s just one member of the Checkmate Four. Sure, he’s powerful amongst the Fangire Ranks, but there’s still the Bishop to deal with.” “Right,” Fluttershy whimpered shuddering slightly for the day that would eventually come when she would have to fight Rook once more. She’d barely lasted a few minutes in her last fight against the leonine fangire, and that was only with a touch of luck. Even then, she’d only survived the fight, and not won it. It was Rook’s own game rules that sent him into retreat. “But… But I just want this to be over, that way… I won’t have to listen to my friends think of me as some sort of killer!” she whispered, hot tears stinging her fur even as Vinyl hugged her friend tightly, placing a calming hand on Fluttershy’s back as the pegasus started to sob into her shoulder. Vinyl let out a low growl in remembrance at what brought this whole thing on. “Element of Loyalty my ass!” Vinyl thought to herself angrily as she remembered the words of Fluttershy’s supposed ‘friend’ Rainbow Dash a few days before. “Celestia above, I’d like to go ahead and punch that bitch in the face.” She sighed, it couldn’t be helped. Even as much as she hated Rainbow right now, she couldn’t do anything against her for two reasons. One, she was Fluttershy’s friend and she’d never hear the end of it if Vinyl put the mare in the hospital like she wanted to and two Rainbow didn’t know any better. Neither did the rest of Fluttershy’s friends for that matter. Well, exempting Twilight and Tempest. Fluttershy did tell her they were now wise to the pegasus’ little double life. Twilight had even been considering teaching hemokinesis or at least a form of it to Vinyl in hopes that she might become more than that mare who keeps the hearth warm for Fluttershy. Tempest had smacked her Princess about then, telling her paying evil unto evil -As hemokinesis was considered very dark magic- was something they never should resort to unless as a last resort. And even then, Tempest was against it. However, speaking of blood Twilight had poured into her father’s notes and had found a spell for tracking Fangires. She hadn’t perfected it quite just yet, but when she did finding Bishop and Rook was first on the agenda. But that was when she perfected it. Not if, when. Twilight had been quite specific on that matter, saying there was no spell she couldn’t perform or cast and she owed it to her father to complete this one. He’d taken the first few steps in striking down the current Fangire leadership by creating this spell, and Twilight as she put it intended to finish walking down that path. She’d told Fluttershy she wasn’t alone now, and she never should have been. It was only her own stupidity and short-sightedness that had caused that in the first place. “...I just don’t know Vinyl,” Fluttershy replied after all the tears had finally been spent. “I mean, let’s presume Twilight does finish her dad’s spell. What then? Rook’s powerful, even for a Fangire and Bishop even more so!” “Hey, they’re not unbeatable are they?” Vinyl replied. “I mean, you said it yourself. Luna took down the friggin’ King of the Fangires! If she can do that, I think Twilight and you, and Tempest for that matter can take down the last of the old guard.” “Yeah, but Luna… She had to use a power that could have destroyed the world to bring down King!” Fluttershy replied. “I… I’m nowhere near that level. Twilight’s powerful yes, but still…” “You worry too much, if you ask me,” Vinyl told her sternly. “You’re not alone anymore. I mean, Friendship is Magic, right? And between you, Tempest and Twilight I’d like to think that not even King, if he were still alive, would be able to stand against the three of you!” “You’re… You’re right. Friendship got me this far. With that by my side, there’s nothing I can’t handle.” Fluttershy whispered, hanging her head in shame for ever doubting herself. In Castle Doran, the embedded sword in the wall stirred a bit more, shifting slightly in the stone. “No, nothing we ca-” Vinyl started, before stopping herself as her breath caught in her throat. No, she’d said too much really. “Nothing we can’t handle?” Fluttershy finished blinking slightly in shock as her eyes widened in realization. “Vinyl, you…” “Yeah, I don’t know when it happened but I… I like you. As more than just a friend. Goddess above, I’m so bad at this.” Vinyl muttered in self-disgust. “For the record,” Fluttershy replied, her heart beating faster than the norm as she closed the gap between them. “So am I.” Lips touched, and with a small giggle Vinyl tossed her top aside as she and Fluttershy fell into the bedsheets, Vinyl taking extra care to shut the curtains as Fluttershy’s hands became entangled in her blue mane. Meanwhile back at Twilight’s castle quite unaware of how two of her friends were definitely more than just companions by now the Princess of Friendship had been contacted by a most unusual sort indeed. “A… A Timberwolf?” Twilight whispered out, her eyes widening in shock as she saw the animal pad into her room, limbs creaking out as it did so. Oddly, it seemed to bear no ill will towards her unlike most of its species and even more unusual it wore a pair of sunglasses and this leather jacket of all things. Twilight’s brain then remembered something as she tore herself away from her father’s old spellbook, setting her reading glasses aside for the moment. “Wait… You’re Jiro aren’t you?” Twilight had been introduced, with no small amount of vigor by Fluttershy to the inhabitants of Castle Doran. Like her father before her, she’d jumped in shock and fear at the sight of Riki -And that wasn’t even taking in her reaction to Ramon and his backstory- but eventually had calmed her nerves with a cup of tea the Arms Monster had handed her. Made a very good butler it seemed, even if Twilight admitted only to herself something a little stronger might have been required at the moment. “Yeah, what gave it away?” the timberwolf deadpanned, smirking and letting his full display of teeth become visible. Twilight yelped again. “...C-Can you please not do that?” she whispered out in fear. Jiro sighed and facepawed. “Right, Kivat does keep telling me I need to work on my social skills. A consequence of not leaving the Castle much except under special circumstances I suppose…” the wolf mused. Twilight harked an eyebrow. “And I’m assuming this is one of those special circumstances?” the mare asked. “Well, suppose you could call it that,” Jiro remarked. “What, wishing for a gentleman caller in the night? I heard all Princesses cooped inside their castles or towers love being serenaded, and rest assured I can definitely do that!” he teased. Twilight glared at him. “No thanks. Besides, my interests lie elsewhere.” she deadpanned in return. “So please, skip the howling.” “Fine, fine. But just saying, you’re missing a mean version of Suede Hooves’ Hound Dog!” Jiro laughed. “But then again, you really are quite caught up in that Tempest Shadow mare, edgeladiness at Esquire!” “You need better jokes,” Twilight stated, not really impressed by the timberwolf. “Who said I was joking?” Jiro returned. “Seriously, the sexual tension between you two is so thick I doubt even a knife could cut it! You two, one of these days need to stop bouncing around each other. It’s getting ludicrous!” he exclaimed looking skywards as if pleading to the deities for some help with these two. “C-Can we just get on with this?” Twilight stammered out blushing red as a tomato. “Yes, sorry about that. Needed to have a little bit of fun. Riki’s so serious, and he never gets any of my jokes. And Kiva-La, oh don’t get me started on her. Got a stick up her ass so far that…” Jiro trailed off before he cleared his throat. “Anyways, got to digging about in the castle library soon after your little visit and I found something that you might be interested in. Or not, just thought I should probably return this to you.” With that, he tossed six medal-like objects towards Twilight each with a different animal depicted on them before digging into his satchel and pulling out a very familiar belt that seemed to have slots for three of these medals. “This is…” Twilight whispered before her breath caught in her throat. “No, this can’t be. Can it?” she asked in shock as she looked over the belt and then the medals. Her eyes went back to the belt, and then the medals. This process was due to repeat itself several times. It was really all rather comical in a way. “Happy Birthday Twilight,” Jiro deadpanned. “Yep, that’d be the Taka, Kujaku, Condor, Same, Kujira, and Ookamiuo medals,” the wolf continued, counting them all off on his claw tips like one would do with fingers. “And this I presume, would be the infamous OOO Driver?” Twilight asked, gesturing to the belt in front of her and Jiro nodded in confirmation. “But why are you giving them to me? I mean, Fluttershy’s father Eiji was the one who wore the Driver and used these medals not my father!” Twilight exclaimed. Jiro held up a claw to stop her before Twilight went off on one of her by now well-known rants. “Yes, that may be true but your father was the one who recovered the Taka, Kujaku and Condor medals so they’re technically his spoils of war really if I understand pony laws correctly,” Jiro replied. “And anyways even if I have got the laws wrong and I probably do as I don’t really pay much attention to things like fine print, I’m doing this to you as a favor. I know you’ll track down Bishop eventually and when you do I think you’ll need that little extra help. Not that I don’t doubt your power Princess but call it a safeguard.” “Ah, I see…” Twilight nodded. “If it were anyone else, I’d suspect there was a catch involved but you’ve been so loyal to Fluttershy and her family for so long well… Yeah. But one thing I don’t get is why you’re so loyal to anyone even mildly related to Fluttershy. Just why? That’s the one thing I don’t get about you.” “Simple fact of the matter is,” Jiro replied. “Well, both your father and Eiji were able to look past my beastly instincts and appearance and were willing to take in someone who was almost constantly on the run from the Fangires. I owe them a debt, and I intend to see it repaid. There’s no catch to it, just simple kindness. Eiji taught me that,” “Right… Right, with his hand extended out and grasping for help thing. I gotcha,” Twilight nodded. “Yeah… Even if I never had the chance to meet him for myself so caught up in my studies I can definitely tell he was Fluttershy’s father with a saying like that…” she trailed off, wiping away a tear before raising a glass of water high in remembrance. Jiro was soon to follow. “To those lost,” he said. As he left the room, he turned back to look at Twilight who was getting back to work on finishing her father’s unfinished spell. “Just keep my advice in mind Princess in mind okay? Goddess knows you’ll need all the help you can get against Bishop.” “I… I will.” Ironically, a spell wasn’t even needed for Twilight to actually track down the Bishop. Despite his name, his job wasn’t a minister of some church as one might think his name would imply. No, that would be too obvious really. In actuality, the Swallowtail Fangire did something quite different. Remember that newspaper I mentioned, the one Fluttershy probably should have turned her suspicions towards a long while back? Well, Twilight’s eyes had wandered to the Ponyville Chronicle’s doings and more precisely to their boss’s dealings. Nothing out of the ordinary, no underhanded back-alley deals but the fact remained the paper had sprung up out of nowhere seemingly just in time to report on Kiva’s doings. Now of course they reported on other matters as well, probably to deflect suspicion, but the simple fact remained that whenever Kiva/Fluttershy appeared the Chronicle was the first to know of it. Maybe it was entirely possible they had good reporters and sources but there were too many coincidences lining up for Twilight to even believe that possibility for a moment. She, like her father simply didn’t believe in coincidences. So that was why she found herself marching into the boardroom of the building’s headquarters in Canterlot. She wasn’t alone, no. She wasn’t that stupid to do this if what she suspected was true. She had backup, hidden behind a disillusionment spell. When she gave the signal, they’d be there. One of those members of the Royal Guard with her normally would have been Tempest, but Twilight against her own better judgment had ordered her to stay in Ponyville. The town still needed protecting after all, and with Fluttershy currently in no mental state to fight the fangires Twilight was fighting a war on two fronts. IXA for the time being needed to stay in Ponyville. However, if a Rider’s power was needed then there would be a Rider. Taking Jiro up on his advice, Twilight had brought the OOO Driver and three little red medals along. Her horn aglow in a strange red light, Twilight followed a misty trail towards the boardroom as the completed version of her father’s spell sought out Bishop. Kicking the boardroom doors open, a stallion in a nicely trimmed black suit rose alongside two other ponies that presumably functioned as bodyguards. Their forms shifted, and were swiftly replaced by monsters that resembled a seamoon jellyfish and a beetle respectively. “Really should keep a better eye on your boys… Bishop,” Twilight commented, as the fangire in question let out a growl and shifted into his true form which was that of a creature resembling a swallowtail butterfly. He looked furious, and not just because of his bodyguards blowing his cover wide open. No, in her hands Twilight held the very same sword Luna had used to dispatch King all those years ago. The Kingslayer. It was a simple enough name, but it got its point across. “Also, if you’re going to play the lead villain you really should make yourself less obvious. I mean really, reporting on Kiva’s doings and framing her? You might as well have put up some big neon sign above your head saying: “Kiva, look here I am!” Twilight stated quite unimpressed by the current Bishop. As the Bishop blew a small cloud of gold dust that exploded in Twilight’s face, the mare lost her grip on the OOO Driver and the medals making them clatter to the floor. One of the medals rolled into a vent and fell down it. Wiping some blood off her face and swearing quietly to herself, Twilight snapped her fingers and the disillusionment dropped revealing Star Hunter and Flash Sentry, who pumped the seamoon and beetle fangires full of arrows. Bishop had pulled out a blade of his own and was dueling Twilight atop the boardroom table blades clashing and ringing out as sparks flew. Twilight got lucky, and slashed the Bishop across the chest several times before lunging forwards with Kingslayer and impaling the monster up against a wall sword going clean through his body. “The Fangires… They will rise again!” the Bishop coughed out. “Not under your rule they won’t,” Twilight stated before pulling out Kingslayer and the Bishop’s body shattered into a million little pieces. “Checkmate.” “What… What the hell were those things?” Flash Sentry stammered out in fear, the young pegasus looking at the glass shards littering the floor as he forced himself to re-evaluate who was the enemy and who wasn’t. “Fangires.” Twilight stated simply as she left the room. High atop a rooftop that overlooked the boardroom, a stallion in a leather jacket growled before letting out a roar as he shifted forms into Rook. “So, it’s a war she wants is it?” Rook thought to himself as his paws clenched and his gaze turned to Ponyville. “Well, if that’s the case then she shall have it. Both her and Kiva.” He let out another roar before leaping off the building. Twilight had heard this and gripped her blade tightly. So be it.