//------------------------------// // Chapter Three: From Down And Under // Story: Gems II: Dawn of The Princesses // by Pen Dragon //------------------------------// Chapter Three: From Down And Under Three days after the Aftermath It had been a very long, tiring journey for Midnight Blaze. His former friend had betrayed him, and his body had been beaten from a high-explosive blast dealt by a pony whom he’d never met, nor cared to know. Neither of those things mattered, however, in light of the loss of his beloved. Taken away from him mercilessly by the false princess in an act of bloody hatred, at least from his point of view. When he regained consciousness, his coat hair torched and the sting of multiple internal fractures apparent, he managed to pull himself out of the crater and survey the post-battle area. Many of his troops were dead or missing, he assumed, although no one was left around except for himself. Since there were no bodies or dropped equipment, Midnight limped away from the scene, perfectly happy to be thought of as dead or missing. He didn’t make it more than a good mile away before encountering the memorial Watcher had hastily constructed, the miserable tombstone had already started to tilt in the soft mud where Stardust was buried. “I… I’m sorry, Stardust,” he said softly, the emotional pain surpassing the physical, “I couldn’t save you. Nor could The Order...” With what little magical strength he had left, Midnight pulled the monument upright and refilled the base with fresh dirt from a drier spot. He noticed that Watcher had failed to list Stardust’s birthday, only her name, and mustered the energy to drive a beam of arcane energy into the stone, carving her year of birth and death. She celebrated her final birthday with him just two weeks before this had happened, yet another event Watcher wasn’t invited to. Watcher. That name made him grit his teeth in personal agony. Yet, Midnight found himself unable to completely blame him for his lover’s demise, nor the princess that had dealt the final blow. “None of this would have happened if The Order hadn’t messed up their intel and sent us into a damn meat grinder,” he said to himself, still staring at the cold hard grave in front of him and trying his best to suppress his tears, “so let them think I’m dead as well.” He turned around and walked away slowly, giving one final glance back, “I’ll kill that faker for you, Stardust. Her and Watcher. Not for The Order, but for us! I swear by it.” As he slowly wandered away, he finally permitted himself to cry silently. ‘Rest easy, Stardust. I love you.’ Two miles into his walk, the fatigue in his limbs finally started to catch up, and the pain made keeping his eyes open hard. On the muddy road to Everfree City, the unicorn collapsed from his injuries, and slipped into unconsciousness again. An unknown amount of time later, a set of hooves walking along the road, soon lifting his unconscious body in a golden aura. “You my boy have… powerful magic… And so much hatred… You could be the key to my ambitions, but before any of that… I need you to be in perfect health.” Was all that could be heard by Midnight’s ears as he would glimpse every often of the figure that stood above. The only thing he took notice of before passing out completely was that it resembled that of dark grey goat. Present Day “Celestia! Where are you!?” Watcher shouted in the halls of Umbra’s mansion, noticing a trail of water all over the floor, believing that either Celestia was getting out of the shower, but that didn’t make sense since her room obviously has one already, meaning that something either happened in her bathroom or possibly a prank being prepared. Either way, Watcher knew that the mare was up to no good. “Celestia!?” He figured that it would probably be best to follow the obvious trail of water to find where it ended, but as he followed the trail, not paying attention as to where he was going, he soon bumped into somepony, causing a yelp to be heard and a box full of old books spilling everywhere. He soon noticed that he had bumped into Aura. “Oh, sorry about that… I didn’t see you there. It’s Aura, right?” He said, offering his hoof for the mare, unsure if he got her name correct, but gave her a gentle smile to which she gladly took it without hesitation. “Thanks, so how are you enjoying your stay here at Umbra’s home?” She asked, noticing Watcher’s horn glow bright red as he levitated all of the old books she had dropped back into the box and returned into her hooves. “It's… an interesting experience to say the least.” He said, still recalling the events from the morning, still upset that the mare before him ratted him out to his hostess and was nearly smothered in Umbra’s hooves and grapes. “I’m looking for my friend Tia… She was supposed to meet up with me so we could discuss something in private.” “Oh ho ho, is she your maaaarefriend perhaps?” She asked, giving the stallion a coy grin, which made Watcher turn beat red as he glared at the little pegasus now hovering above him with her wings. “That would explain why you tried avoiding Umbra this morning~” “N-NO! She’s my friend like I said!” He responded, waving his hoof in disagreement as she continued to maintain her coy grin, before flying past him with the box in hooves. “Anyways! I’d appreciate it if you helped me find Tia, if you don’t mind that is.” “How hard could it be to find a mare like her?” she joked, “She’s as obvious as you are, Watcher.” “Trust me when I say she is full of surprises,” answered the stallion, clearly annoyed, “now will you help out or what?” “Okay, okay,” Aura said, rolling her eyes, “have you tried calling her name out yet?” Watcher turned red a bit, leaving him open to a followup by the peagsus, “Oh, wait, nevermind. You’ll give away your position if you do that. You are a very wanted stallion in this household, after all, and I’d hate for you to get caught. Again.” “Well if you must know, Umbra is at a telephone conference at the moment, plus she knows not to interfere unless it has something to do with our mission.” The stallion responded, the redness of his cheeks beginning to dissipate. “So tell me, how did you come to know Umbra anyways, last time I checked, she wasn’t quite a fan of pegasi after dealing with a bunch of them egging her apartment two years back.” This question changed Aura’s tune immediately, the mare’s facial expression going neutral, “Oh. Well, it’s… complicated.” “Everything is complicated in my life now,” Watcher responded, raising an eyebrow, “so go on, Aura.” Realizing she wasn’t going to get out of it, she took a deep breath and explained carefully, “I’m actually a clothing designer from Manehattan, Watcher. Didn’t even know Umbra existed until a few months ago. My brother and I worked closely with some enchanters from our neighborhood in the city to create clothing that appears totally normal, but can stop the most dangerous rounds of ammunition out there.” “And in this world that makes sense,” he interrupted, nodding. “Right, so… we were kind of the victims of our own success,” she continued, her ears beginning to droop back from the stress of talking about it, “we tended to vet our customers, my brother and I, just to make sure nopony crazy got a hold of it. But we never asked if they were in direct opposition to The Order.” Watcher was surprised, he had thought The Order would have surely figured out sooner and been a huge customer for Aura’s business, “So what happened?” “One of our customers became a politician who spoke out against The Order. An assassin ran up to him while he was giving a speech one day, and discharged a crossbow straight into his chest. Our line of dress shirts shattered the bolt like it was a toothpick, of course, but The Order had spies watching their hit,” she said, giving a detailed report as her mood sank further, “soon after that, we were approached by higher ups from the government, asking that we begin producing uniforms for their troops.” “You said no, and they ran you out of town,” Watcher concluded, feeling the commonality, “and Umbra decided to take you in.” Aura scolded him, “She didn’t take us in like an abandoned dog, Watcher, she helped us relocate here so that The Order wouldn’t kill us or our employees!” “Well… The Order wants any advantage they can get to win against the rebel troops up north. It’s good that Umbra came out to help you, have you thanked her yet?” He asked, wondering if she had thanked the dark unicorn and if she had, he wondered what Umbra’s reaction would have been. “She wouldn’t take our thanks. Or our money. Or anything. Just told us it was the right thing to do,” she said, trying not to snap at him, “she really is a good mare, Watcher. Not that you’d figure that out, I guess. Anyways, there’s your explanation. We drop by because she tends to see strangers as friends. Happy now?” “That’s Umbra for you… Always finding ways to make friends, even with a pony like me. Also Umbra doesn’t see strangers as friends per say, she just has a knack for telling who's a good pony and who isn’t. Besides from the look of things, you and your brother don’t exactly act like strangers from what your describing. Especially after your little… stunt this morning. Which I intend to fully pay you back for,” he explained, giving the pegasus a smirk as he trotted past her. “Good luck with that,” she shot back, just as he got out of her line of sight. Watcher ignored her and followed the water trail he spotted earlier to its end. Right at the place where the trail stopped, he saw a door opened a crack, and took note of the water dripping from the edges of the door and looked up, seeing a bucket right above the door and a devious smirk formed across his face, before turning to Aura. “Hey, I think she’s in there Aura, but knowing her she’s fully expecting me. So why don’t you go in first and I’ll take those books off your hooves.” “Sure,” she said, setting the books on the floor, “let me see what’s going on in there.” The pegasus carelessly walked up and opened the door with her wing, setting off the booby trap placed above. A bucket of water fell from the top, nearly landing on Aura’s head, but splashing her with a column of cold water. She stood there, feathers weighed down with water and dripping wet, slowly turning around to face Watcher. “You’re dead to me,” she said clearly, her eyeshadow running, “and your friend’s a terrible prankster. This joke sucks.” “Yet… You fell for it… Consider this payback for what you did this morning to me.” He stated, trotting inside only for him to receive a pillow to the face. “You were supposed to be the one getting soaked! Not her!” She shouted, coming out from the closet door and ran up to Aura. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t expecting him to have… well company considering I’m the only friend he has now.” “Wow… A low blow Tia.” Watcher responded with a deadpan stare. “Oh, I don’t blame you, other than you shouldn't have used a metal bucket since the weight could easily cave in somepony’s skull,” Aura said, taking Celestia’s side, “of course, Watcher has made a very unfun enemy just now.” “You became my enemy the moment you threw me under the carriage, with the Beast~” He said, jokingly as he continued to grin at the two mares. “Did you hear something Celestia?” asked Aura sarcastically, looking at Celestia and pretending he didn’t exist, “Oh well, must have been nothing. Anyways, I can take a joke, let’s forget about it and go get some tea or something after I go dry off.” “It’s fine, and I actually have spare towels in my room if you want one. From there we can plan our… revenge against he who shall not be named,” Celestia responded, taking Aura’s hoof and leading her out of the room, turning to Watcher with a devilish smirk. Watcher could only stare in disbelief as he let out a loud groan, kicking the bucket hard enough for it to receshy back at his head, causing the stallion to groan in pain as he rubbed his forehead with his hoof. ‘Fantastic… So now I have two kids to deal with… And I still need Celestia so we can talk about our next move!’ Umbra’s Dining Room  Watcher sat silently as he waited for Celestia and Aura to arrive for their discussion of what they should do. Not doing anything for a long period of time wasn’t something he was quite fond of due to him being cooped up a library for months. With no other purpose but helping the former princess restore peace to Equestria was something of a second chance for him to do something useful, but remaining within Umbra’s estate with nothing to do frustrated the stallion. “What’s taking those two so long?” He muttered quietly to himself. “Aww… do you want some companionship, Watchy?” Spinning around from his seat, he noticed Umbra standing at the entrance of the doorway with a coy grin across her face as she batted her eyes seductively.  “N-No… I’m fine Umbra.” He stuttered, clearing his throat as he looked back at the grey unicorn with a glare. “Umbra, I want to talk normally with you, so could you take this just a bit seriously?” “Only if you say please~” She said, trotting up to him, grinning still as she watched the stallion’s face turn a dark shade of red. Groaning in annoyance he took a deep breath before replying. “Please… take this a bit seriously?” “See… that wasn’t so hard now was it?” She replied, patting his shoulder as she trotted past him and making her way around the dining table and sat across from him with her hooves under her chin. “Now… What is it you want to talk to me about?” “This concerns Celestia and the other princesses that are scattered across Equestria. I want to help her find them,” He replied, taking a seat across from the sly mare, waiting for her to respond. “And you want me to help you? That’s sweet that you’ve thought of me instead of those other two you spent so much time with. Speaking of them, where is that charming friend of yours and that… lovely mare you care so much about?” Dead silence overtook the room when Watcher let his eyes wander to the floor, his demeanor changing instantly. Umbra’s strong emotional intelligence had failed her, for once. “They’re dead, Umbra,” he said with pain in his voice, “when Tia raised the sun, The Order put a huge hit on us, and everypony was out to kill us. Including them. Turns out no one is your friend if the state decides you are the enemy.” “Oh… um,” Umbra stuttered, guilt trying to take over her mind, “Watcher…” “It wasn’t the worst. Midnight started dating Stardust and took her away from me in the first place,” he went on, a lump in his throat as he tried to rationalize what had happened, “so it just makes sense he’d follow that up with trying to cut me down. We ended up fighting just outside of the forest, the two of us versus them, plus reinforcements. That coward was going to have us shot up by his mages instead of facing us himself!” Rather than add anything, Umbra sat silently to let him finish his story, knowing the only way she could help was to let him get it all out at once. Watcher looked up at her, tears running down his cheeks, “Before things hit the fan, I told myself that if just Midnight died, we would be able to think it was self defense and get on with our lives. But during the fighting… Stardust… Celestia somehow managed to kill her. She killed her right in front of us, Umbra! Didn’t even hesitate.” The unicorn wouldn’t flat out bawl, but he let his running teardrops express the emptiness inside. His friend continued to hold her tongue, despite the dozens of questions sailing around in her mind. “Techorse managed to get us out of there, I guess. I’m kind of glad he was the one to finish off Midnight. At least I didn’t have to put an old friend down,” he continued, drying himself off with a hoof and sucking in the phlegm, “not that it’s any better for him, either. It was truly the worst day of my life, Umbra. Nothing matters now, except finding those princesses, and making The Order pay.” Umbra finally worked up the courage to place a hoof on his shoulder, “Watcher… you’ve lost everything, haven’t you? I couldn’t imagine the pain and suffering you’ve experienced. Even though I hear every single day in my line of work that it is ‘just the way things are now’, no one deserves to have to go through those kinds of things. You are welcome to spend as much time here as you need to recover… I will try to be a better host, honest.” “It’s fine… Honestly all of this chaos has kept me distracted from thinking about them… I just wish that I had a chance to explain to them everything. Or if I could have at least prevented their deaths.” He replied, feeling tears drip from the side of his face again, but before he could get a chance to wipe it, he felt Umbra’s hoof wipe it for him. “Let’s try not to think about the past for now… You’ve done all you can and don’t you forget it okay?” She said, smiling to him, trotting past him, “You’re doing the right things, and you should not blame yourself. Take all the time you need to grieve, but value your happiness.” “Thank you Umbra… I really needed to hear that.” He said, rubbing his eyes with his hoof, but as he was about to say something to the dark unicorn, the doors to the dining hall opened wide with Celestia entering with Aura behind her. “Sorry for taking so long Watcher. Aura and I needed to have a talk about something important.” She replied, taking a seat at the table with Aura sitting across from her. “So Watcher, what did you want to talk to Celestia about?” Aura asked. “R-Right… We need to start thinking about what our next move is everypony.” Watcher said, trotting to the front of the table, Umbra taking his seat and shooting him a wink, with only Celestia taking notice of it. “It’s time we figured out… How to find the other Princesses.”