The Ringmaster

by HKS

Utopia Part.2

The oracle was a mysterious mare, nopony knew her real name or age. But the most mysterious thing about her, is the fact that she was an earth pony with powers. Something never seen before in Utopia. Her powers were also extremely reliable, she could predict the future and most of her predictions were correct. She was also known in the kingdom as a second mother to King Luz, as Luz's mother died on his teenage years. Luz got very attached to the Oracle, and on his more angst fase, even had a crush on her. Said crush quickly faded away, once he met Prodosia. But that didn't interfere with Luz's and oracle's friendship at all, she always helped Luz on his dates. More especifically, she would use her powers to tell him what not to do on his dates. It worked well, after all Luz and Prodosia married just two years after they first met each other. Even after five years of marriage, Luz would still check with the Oracle not only to have friendly conversations, but to also ask for advice on how to make his wife happier.

While laid in bed, King Luz was thinking on checking with the Oracle once again, to see how he could calm Prodosia down. As she was extremely nervous with Midas leaving the castle, in search for clues. But the Oracle's constant assistance was no longer an option...

Midnight at the castle.

A galloping sounds were echoing through the castle's walls, when suddenly...

*thump*

"My King! come quickly is an emergency!" Shouted a guard that busted through the King's room door.

"W-wa..." Said the Queen still half asleep.

"What is it!?" The King asks.

"Is the oracle, she sent us a message. Apparently somepony attacked her! Captain Ypoptos went ahead with a few guards. He sent me here to inform you!"

Without a moment to think, the King teleported himself to the top of the mountain. Once there the king falls to the ground exhausted. He never teleported so far away before, it drained nearly all of his energy. But he didn't let that stop him, he gathered all of his strength to rise up from the ground, then ran directly to the Oracle's cabin. The place was a mess....

"ORACLE!?" The King shouted.

He first looked around in her room, and then he looked at the kitchen...

"N-no...NOOOOOOOOO" The king Screamed as he starts to cry.

About two hours later, Captain Ypoptos and his crew finally arrived at the top. The King was sitting beside the Oracle's lifeless body, by the garden. The guard
approached with their helmets down...

"What was the message?" The King mutters.

"W-what did you say my King?" Ypoptos asks.

"I said, what was the message!?" The King asked.

"Struggle is what it was mostly heard, but at the end of the message, she screamed and said "G-guards! HE has a scar on his face!". After that we can hear a scream, probably the attacker's. And that..it" Ypoptos explained.

"So a pony with a scar on his face is our traitor huh?" The King said it as he looked directly at Ypoptos, who had a scar on his face, Below his right eye.

"This is nothing but a coincidence my King, i assure you i have no foul intentions against the kingdom. And i swear i will find and detain this traitor, even
if i die on the process!"

"I'll trust you...for now. As the most important thing now, is to investigate this place. Maybe she left some other clue behind." The King then looked at one of
the guards " You there! take the Oracle's body to the pathologist, i want a detailed autopsy!"

The guard nods and takes the oracle's body away.

Everypony started to investigate the place, just a few minutes later...

"My King, i found something." Said one of the guards, handing over a piece of paper.

It was a letter.

"Luz my dearest King, if you're reading this it means i'm dead. Now you might be wondering, why did i let myself get killed?, why didn't i contacted the guards when i made the prediction that i was going to die tonight? the answer is quite simple. I've lived for hundred of years, if not millions! to be honest i lost count. I was also unsure if i would ever die, thankfully i was wrong. You see Luz, being immortal sounds like a good thing to some, but in reality is torment. Outliving everypony you love, the pain gets quite heavy sometimes. That's why i decided to accept my fate, i just couldn't handle the pain anymore. You're a grown colt Luz, you don't need this old mare anymore. I wouldn't be able to rest in peace if i didn't helped you at least one more time, so i have two things to say to you. First, you're way too absent minded, you don't pay attention to details enough, try to keep that in mind. Second, i remember i once said that my birthmark was a mystery. That's not true, there's an old building in the middle of the mountains by the north. In there, there's a book that explains this "gift". It will be worth taking a look at, since your son will have this gift. Oh my precious Luz, i hope everything goes well for you and your wife. And i'm sorry for having such a sudden departure."

The king let out a deep sigh.

"Typical Oracle...."

Something was bothering him."First, you're way too absent minded, you don't pay attention to details enough, try to keep that in mind."

(She wrote that for a reason, she knows who killed her thats for sure. Yet she gave no description, that must mean... that i probably already met the culprit. I just don't know who it is...) The king was thinking, when suddenly he remembered something.

<----A few hours ago----->

King Luz walked his way into the kitchen, explaining what is going on to the other residents of the castle. Telling them to keep their eyes peeled for anything or anypony suspicious. In the kitchen Luz started inspecting everything, until he finally found something...

"W-what is this thing?" Said the King with a slightly gray goo on his hooves.

The chef approached "Indeed what is this thing? i've never seen it before, where did you find it?"

"It's right beside the stove, on the ground right there." The King pointed to it.

"Weird, i swear i cleaned everything up yesterday before going home. I'm pretty sure this thing wasn't there" Said the chef.

<--------------------------------->

(Wait a second..yesterday? then that goo was just laying around there all day and nopony saw it? especially the chef? something is off...)

The King looked at Ypoptos.

"Investigate every corner of this place! there might be a trace left of the assassin. In the meantime, i need to check something."

|Timeline of events|

Upon coming back to the castle, the King ran directly to the residential area. Looking for the chef's house, he eventually found it. And with no
surprise, there was nopony inside. It looked like the chef and his husband left in a hurry, as there were a few clothes on the ground right beside an empty
wardrobe. The king started to investigate the place, seeing if he could find any clues to where they could've gone. Eventually, near the bathroom he found a train ticket to Equestria. Without a minute to think, the King started to run towards the train station.

After finally arriving at the station, he sees that the train is long gone, and there's nopony at the station. But he does find something interesting, another
ticket to Equestria. The king grabed it, and makes his way back to the castle. On the castle he meets the Queen, once again in tears.

"Don't worry my love, i promise i will figure this all out!" Said Luz while hugging her.

A few hours later...

"My King, we investigated the Oracle's place like you asked. We found signs of magical use just a few steps away from the Oracle's cabin, i can tell it was teleport magic." The Captain informed.

The King lets out a disappointed sigh.

"If that's all then send the guards to rest, we have an important mission in a few hours!" The King said as he hooves over the train ticket.

"Equestria? with all due respect my King, but what are we going to do in Equestria?" Ypoptos asked confused.

"I already have a prime suspect, is the chef from the royal kitchen! I found a suspicious substance in the kitchen, that apparently was there all day, yet nopony noticed. Not only that, but when i went to confront him about it, both him and his husband were gone. After investigating their place, i found a ticket. I then went to the train station, where i found this other ticket!" the king explains.

"So you think they went to Equestria, and you want us to go there look for them?"

"Not exactly, it might be a trap. Think about it, they "lost" both tickets, so they couldn't had taken the train. Or at least that's what they might want us to
think! they could've easily had another two tickets with them!" The King says it while walking back and forth.

Ypoptos was staring at the king with a concerned look.

"So here is the plan, by the morning we send guards to search around the kingdom. While we go to Equestria, just to be sure. Understood!?"

"Y-yes my King. I'll inform the guards about the situation and the plan." Ypoptos said.

By the morning, the King woke up a little earlier than the guards. He made an announcement to the kingdom, that there was a traitor among them, and the prime suspects were the royal chef and his husband. A reward would be granted for whomever finds the suspects first. After the announcement, the guards started the search, while the King and the Captain entered the train to Equestria.

In the train....

"So captain, do you know anything about this Equestria?" The King asked.

"Not much, what i do know is that Equestria is a rather new kingdom, if you can even call em that. They only got officially founded recently, and by recently i mean ten years ago. Apparently the land was having problems with some magical creatures named wendigos, after the problem was dealt with was when they started building and creating their own royal system. I'm not sure if said royal system has been completed yet though." Ypoptos explained.

"Interesting. Then even if we don't find the suspects there, this trip might not be a complete waste. Depending how this royal system of theirs, and what kinda of products they have. It might be worth making some commercial deals." Said the King with a slight grin.

After a few hours, they finally arrived in Equestria. The place looked like it was only a small village, and there were still quite a few ponies building houses.
Kinda showing the King that Equestria has not fully recovered from the wendigos attack yet. The king and Ypoptos started walking around, looking for some sort of authority figure. Eventually a grey unicorn approached them.

"By the looks of your attire, i can tell both of you aren't from around here." he said it with a slight grin. "Welcome to Canterlot my friends, my name is
Starswirl the bearded, and you folks are?"

"Name is Luz, and this here is Ypoptos. We came from Utopia."

"Utopia? i think i've heard of it before, if i recall correctly is the wealthiest kingdom in the world! Why would anypony from such place come here?" Starswirl asked.

The King looked around and saw a few ponies staring at him.

"Are you an authority figure around here?" The King asked.

"Not really, the one in charge here at the moment is Princess Platinum. I'm just an adventurer, i stopped by to see an old friend." Starswirl responded.

"Then you know where can i find this Princess? i need to discuss some things with her."

"Define "things"." Starswirl responded.

The King ignores Starswirl, and started to walk away.

"Wait! she is the friend i mentioned, i know where she is, i'll take you to her." Starswirl approached. "But i want answers when we get there."

Starswirl then lead them to what i looked like a small café. They were greeted by a unicorn mare holding a baby.

"Welcome back Starswirl, looks like you brought some friends with you." Said the mare with a cheerful smile. "Please come in and make yourselves comfortable."

Following the mare's request, the King came in and left his coat on a nearby coat hanger. From the corner of his eye, the king saw a beautiful white unicorn mare, wearing a luxurious robe and hat. That took the King by surprise. (This whole village looks really.... modest, would it really be possible to find such clothes like that around here?) the King thought, and proceeded to approach the mare, but Starswirl went first.

"Good thing you're still here Platinum. These folks here say that they got some "things" to discuss." Starswirl said while pointing at the King.

"Hum.... doesn't look like they are from around here. So what do you two want with me?" Platinum asked.

"My name is Luz, this here is Ypoptos."

"Luz!? you mean like.. King Luz!?" Platinum asked.

"King!?" Starswirl and the mare behind the balcony asked.

"Yes, but please avoid speaking about it in public." Luz responded.

"W-why?" Platinum asked.

"That's what i want to discuss with you, i'll make explanations quick. We are currently having a problem with a traitor back in Utopia. But the prime suspect disappeared, according to the clues we found there's a possibility they came to hide in Equestria."

"So you want my help to find them?" Platinum asked.

"Not exactly, but it would be appreciated. What i really want is permission to investigate the village, without anypony interfering."

"Without anypony interfering you say? strange." Starswirl pointed out. "Some random pony, comes out of nowhere saying he is a King, and that he wants to
"investigate" the whole village without anypony interfering. Surely that sounds a little suspicious, don't you think?"

"Fair enough, then this should be enough proof i'm not lying." Said the King as he puffs up his chest, and moves a little bit of fur, showing a mark on his skin.

"The royal mark... hum then i suppose you are indeed telling the truth." Platinum said.

"Royal mark?" Starswirl asked.

"The royal mark is something created to identify those of true royalty, only true Kings and Queens possess said mark. As the methods of getting them are unknown to the public, is very unlikely that this one is fake." Platinum explained. " With that in mind, i suppose i can grant you permission to investigate the village with nopony to stop you. But, with one condition."

"Ok, what would that condition be?" The king asked, as he sits down.

"Even though you got here not that long ago, you must've noticed our situation right?" Platinum sat down. "And let's not forget that Utopia is the wealthiest kingdom in the world, surely you must know were i'm heading with this?"

"You want to make a commercial deal with us, that's no problem. I was thinking of doing this anyway, depending on what source of products you can offer."

"Well... currently we don't have much, besides apples. We got a iron mine, although... with the amount of mercury that the miners have been finding
lately, it sure makes it more of a mercury mine than anything *giggles*. But mercury is ver....."

Platinum gets interrupted.

"Did you just say mercury!?" The King asked.

"Yeah, we got tons of it. If you're interested in we ca...."

Platinum once again gets interrupted.

"Can you tell me where this mine is!?"

"Uh.... sure, is all the way to the north of the village. Big entrance you can't miss it." Platinum said it with an annoyed look.

The King ran to the door. "Consider the deal done, let's go Ypoptos."

As the king bolted out of the building, Platinum and Starswirl looked at each other with a confused look.

"Well... at least we are going to make some good bits in a few days." Platinum said.

"I sure do hope so, the café has been pretty quiet lately." Said the mare behind the counter. "With the amount of bits i've been receiving, i'm afraid i wont be able to keep paying for Celestia's school."

"Oh come on Gloom, i already told you that if necessary i could mandate the school to stop charging you." Platinum said.

"And i already told you, that i don't want to have any special treatment. Just because i'm your friend, doesn't mean i'm special." Gloom answered.

"I can help you too, you know? i can stop charging you for my babysitting services." Starswirl said.

"Really? i mean it would help me quite a bit, but... what about you? of course you need money too." Gloom said.

"Don't worry about me, as a nomad i'm used to not have bits. But i can live just fine." Starswirl responded giggling.

"Are you sure you don't mind taking care of the girls for free?"

"Of course not, they're absolute sweethearts. And i can already tell that Celestia is going to be a great mare in the future." Starswirl responded.

Meanwhile on Canterlot's iron mine entrance.

"This is strange, there's nopony here." Ypoptos said, as he look up to the sky. "It is still afternoon, do these ponies only work at night?"

"Well everypony could be inside, either that or something happened. Let's get inside." The King responded.

The inside of the mine was quiet, all that could be heard were drops of water echoing from the depths of the mine. As they walk along the mine's tunnels, they could see a greyish goo oozing out of cracks from a few rocks, clearly Platinum wasn't lying, the place was indeed full of mercury. Eventually they saw a strong light at the end of the tunnel, they quickly picked up the pace and trotted towards the light. After being blinded for a few seconds, they found themselves in a huge open area, with a massive hole on the ground. Yet they still couldn't see anypony, but they did see the entrance to another tunnel. They decided to go in, however this tunnel seemed a little different than the first one. All lanterns were turned off, the tunnel was not pitch black, but it was still pretty dark.

"Maybe we should go back from here, looks like there really isn't anypony around." Ypoptos said concerned.

The King agrees. But before they could even turn around, they saw a figure running in the tunnel. Without thinking, both of them rushed to the tunnel. However, not long after getting in, they found themselves in a bifurcation.

"Darn!..." Luz shouted.

Suddenly, Ypoptos got pulled over to the left, by a mysterious force. Luz tries to catch up, but the force that was pulling the captain was way to strong, and eventually Luz could no longer see Ypoptos. But he kept running, until he finally found him. With a terrified look King Luz saw the captain's body slashed in half, and on his very last moments alive Ypoptos shouted.

"DUCK!"

Luz did just that, and just barely avoided a boulder heading towards him. But the boulder hitted one of the tunnel's support beam, and the tunnel started to collapse. Luz ran away as fast as he could, after getting outside. He was near the massive hole, when another boulder came flying towards him, he dodged and used his magic to create ice skates, and he slided his way down the hole. Nearing the ground, Luz jumped and landed terribly, hurting one of his front legs. When he looked up, he let out a surprised gasp.

"I-it can't be..." Luz said.

He was looking at a yellow mare, with the same sparkle "birthmark" that the oracle had. Just a common earthpony, Luz was stunned for a second. His first though was that this mare was just super strong, but she quickly proved him wrong. She jumped in the hole, with her back faced towards the ground, she then stared at the place's wall. She then made a gesture with her head, and to Luz's surprise, the big chunk of the wall she was staring at, flies out towards him. Luz panicked, but he manage to create a magic shield at the last second, the shield broke and so did the chunk of the wall. A piece of the broken chunk of wall, managed to scratch Luz on his back, he lets out a grunt in pain. Before he could heal himself up, the mare was already on the ground, staring at him, she once again made a gesture with her head, and Luz got pulled towards her with extreme force. When he was close to her, she started doing the gesture again, Luz saw that and quickly teleported away. He teleported to her left, he was planing to do a surprise attack, but she saw him. Luz noticed that her face got covered in mud, it looked like she pulled a piece of the ground towards her face.

It was there when Luz realised, the terrifying power he was facing against. If he didn't had teleported at that moment, he would've had the same fate as Ypoptos. For a second he thought about escaping, but he decided to stay and fight. The mare smirked and charged towards him, and he did the same. When they were close to each other, she once again started doing the gesture, this time instead of teleporting, Luz just jumped out of the way and tried to hit her with a magic beam. She quickly changed the direction of her gesture, pulling a rock towards the magic beam. The rock explodes creating a small grey cloud, the mare used the cloud for her advantage, and manage to kick the King in the stomach. In the fall, he hitted his back on a rock, letting out a shout in pain. The mare smirked once again and started doing the gesture, ready to finish him. But at the last second, Luz teleported beside her. And the rock that Luz fell on, was pulled towards her face, she couldn't dodge in time, taking the hit right on her face. While she was stunned, Luz used magic to make his horn as sharp as knife. And he proceeded to stab the mare in the stomach, and with her belly stuck on his horn. Luz ran towards a wall, and slammed her body against it, as she lets out a scream in agony. Luz finally pulls his horn out of her, and her body falls to the ground.

"Who the hell are you!?" Luz asked.

The mare giggled. "Somepony you were not supposed to know...*cough* The hell are you even doing here King?"

"I'm the one asking questions here! now tell me, what's the reason behind all of this? is the chef really trying to sabotage my kingdom!?"

"*cough* *cough* You really expect me to just tell you?" the mare grined. "Fuck you, and your kingdom, it wasn't meant to be yours anyway *cough*"

"Don't you care about your life!? if you tell me the truth, i can reduce your penalty in jail."

The mare started to laugh. "Keep dreaming *cough* if there is one thing i'll tell you is that.... i really could care less about you and your shitty kingdom,
i was actually paid to kill the chef you're looking for. *cough* *cough* The chef was supposed to come here to "start a new life", but apparently he messed up his part of the plan, and he wanted to come here earlier. *cough* *cough* Of course our boss didn't like that, so he sent me here to kill both the chef and his husband. But the plans changed when he got the information you were coming here instead, and he wanted me to kill you, as it could be beneficial for him. *cough*"

Luz took a step back, he had so many questions.(What happened to the chef? how did the traitor knew i was coming here? how can my death be beneficial to him?) But it was clear that she wouldn't answer any of them, Luz took a deep breath and thought of a question she might answer...

"What is you name?"

She stares at him blankly for a few seconds."Aurora Lunamoon." right after that, she takes Luz by surprise and does the head gesture once again. Pulling another rock right at her face, this time it got her good, and she died with the impact.

Luz stares blankly at Aurora's dead body, until his adrenaline finally drops and the pain of his injuries kick in. He used a spell to create temporary wings,
and left the mine. In Canterlot, the King was making his way to the train station, as someponies stared at him. Suddenly a white unicorn filly went to talk to
him.

"Are you okay mister?"

"I'm fine, now go back to your mother, is getting late."

"Are you sure? you look like you're in pain."

"*sigh* I said i'm fine."

"You're clearly not!" Starswirl showed up. "Celestia, be a good girl and come back to you mother, i'll take care of him."

"Okay mister Starswirl." she says it, and troted away.

"Now you there, better get that cut on your back checked, an infection is no joke." Starswirl said.

"*sigh* I can already tell, you're going to annoy me to death if i don't go to the medic."

"And if you don't tell me what happened in the mines, now let's get you treated before that cut infects."

The king and Starswirl made their way to the medic in silence, and after Luz wounds were treated, he explained the whole situation in detail to Starswirl. After that, Luz was thinking about his next step, Starswirl said he should wait for Midas return and see where things go from there. While Luz wanted to found more information about Aurora, but Starswirl pointed something out...

"That name "Aurora Lunamoon" doesn't sound like a utopian name, you guys still use quite a bit of your ancient tongue to name yourselves."

"Now that you mention it, you're right. That doesn't sound like a common name on my land at all, now i'm even more intrigued by her." Luz responded.

"I'm intrigued aswell, this whole situation is intriguing. I think i might look up for information about Aurora myself."

"That would be of great help, i'll be sure to pay you for your time. It's getting late i should be going back home, before my wife gets too worried. I'll be sure to follow your advice and wait for Midas." Said the King walking away.

"Safe travels." Starswirl said.

It was late at night when the train finally arrived, the king was exhausted, it's been years since he fought somepony. He laid down in one of the train's couch, and received his desired rest.