//------------------------------//
// Chapter 9 
// Story: Sniper in Equestria 
// by no sh*t sherlock 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 9


San Antonio, Texas

Beep.........beep.........beep.........beep.........beep.........beep.........beep.........beep.........beep.........beep

Daniel was seated with his head buried in his palms. The constant soothing beats of the heart monitor was enough to make him feel drowsy. The drive to the hospital, while it wasn't too far away, hadn't helped either. But despite his fatigue, he knew now was not a time for sleep. He shook away his tiredness just as the arguing outside the door picked up again. Daniel tried to tune out the two voices outside and focus on the reason he was here. 

Finally the door burst open and a man in a white coat came in. "Jackass." He muttered under his breath. He stood up and the man turned to him. "Daniel, good to see you again." He extended his hand. 

Daniel put on a smile and took it. "Hey Dr. Moore. How're you doing?" 

He sighed. "I've been better, I'll admit, but lets move to how hes doing." He pointed to a bed where a man laid. "Thats why you're here, no?" 

Daniel shrugged. "Pretty Much." He admitted. 

"Well then." He walked around to one side of the bed and Daniel followed to the other. "We had him declared comatose two weeks ago as he gave no response to stimuli of any kind. Now after that, nothing about his condition is normal. When we checked his pupils they gave evidence of something like a heroin overdose."

Daniel was taken aback. "You're saying he was on drugs?" He asked astounded. 

"Thats what it appeared to be, but then we did a blood test, and guess what? No traces of drugs other than the ones we were giving him. So after that we've been looking for possible answers as to why he's like this in the first place."

He looked to the guy's head which had two big, dark marks on his face and forehead. "What about these?" He pointed. "They look like bruises on his head."

"Right you are, however we deemed that the trauma was't great enough to cause a coma." Dr. Moore then pulled up the mans sleeves. "You can see most of his cuts and scratches healed on their own, although he did need a couple stitches for a nasty gash on his chest."

"Oh, Was it infected?" Daniel asked. 

"No, thankfully not." He moved over to a computer and motioned for Daniel to follow. "You see this?" He asked as he pointed to an image on the monitor. "This is a brain scan from five days ago. Now if I only had this to go by, I'd see a completely conscious person."

"A lot of activity?" Daniel inquired.

"He's got a huge amount of brain activity." The doctor expressed. "Not common in comatose patients."

Daniel sighed and shook his head as he moved back over to the side of the bed. He knew sooner or later Dr. Moore was going to get to the bad news.

"Daniel... There asking about him about him again."

Yup, here we go. He thought. "Is that what that was out there?" He asked and Dr. Moore nodded. "Damn. What do they want now?"

"Same as last time." He sighed. "They really want to find out what happened to him on that mission."

"Well so do I." Daniel said like he knew it wouldn't be so bad.

"They saw the results of his scan. They want me to try to give him more stimuli to try to get him up. Daniel...they want to try more painful stimuli." He said.

"Thats absurd!" Daniel exclaimed. "They can't do that can they? Can you stop them?"

"They've been at this since he came in." He started shaking his head in defeat. "I don't know if I can hold them off this time."

Daniel sighed. "Damn." He looked to the unconscious man in the bed. "Come on, Tyler. You have to come out of this."

********************

Twilight Sparkle slid out of bed. The Canterlot hospital bed wasn't nearly as comfortable as the one in her home, but unfortunately it had been some time since she had spent a night there. She wanted so desperately to leave, to get back to Ponyville, but Celestia assured her that there was still work to be done here.

She quickly brushed her mane and scratched at her bandages. She wanted to get going quickly, today could be a very big day for her. Today she was finally going to ask.

A Few Minutes Later...

"Twilight, I do not think that to be a good idea." Luna shook her head. 

"I have to know Luna. I need to know." She said firmly. 

"My sister will not approve of this." Luna said. "It's not safe and with the other elements gathering in the city..." Twilight turned her away, she knew what followed. "There are not many things that require all six of the elements."

"So Celestia really plans to do it?" She asked. 

"Yes." Luna answered. "As soon as Rarity can get here." 

Twilight began to get angry. "Thats not fair!" She said louder than an inside voice. " I was the one who got hurt, I deserve to know who did it."

Luna sighed. Inside she somewhat felt that Twilight was right. "Fine." She said finally. "I will ask my sister, but I'm sure she will decline."

"Thank You, thats all I want." 

********************

"Fine, You win Twilight." Luna said coming back into the room. "My sister has given you fifteen minutes. I suggest you make the most of it." 

"Thanks, Princess Luna." Twilight gave a slight bow before leaving the room. 

The Canterlot dungeons had been cleared of dozens of what Princess Celestia called "Unavoidable Casualties". Now only two ponies remained down here. Celestia, or very occasionally Luna depending on the day, and the captured unicorn who she'd been after weeks before. Princess Celestia had been very skimp on his details, only telling Twilight and her friends that he was a bandit who had stolen from her years before.

However Twilight had both seen and felt his power first hand and thought him to be much more skilled than a common thief. What the pony had done a few weeks ago, Celestia thought deserved one of the highest punishments she could give and Twilight at least wanted a chance to find out who the pony was before that happened. 

When Celestia opened the door, the first thing Twilight noticed was how terrible she looked. And it was easy to understand why. Celestia wanted him under constant watch by either herself or Luna, but most of the time she had elected to watch him herself. Now she'd been down here for a week without relief. 

"Twilight, I don't like this at all." She said, failing to hold in her angered tone. "But I will give you your  fifteen minutes, but I will not leave this chamber. If he so much as moves in a matter than I find threatening, I will move in."

"Understood." Twilight said. She thought that it was bit unlike Celestia to say, but said nothing of it. She just wanted to talk with the unicorn.

"He's down there." Celestia pointed a hoof to the far wall of the room.

As Twilight got closer, she saw that the pony's cell was an energy barrier from Princess Celestia. She had made the confines so cramped that the pony had to contort just to fit inside. His head was locked near his legs and his back faced outward. 

However Twilight felt herself caring little for his space. It was something she couldn't explain, but in her mind she felt he deserved this for all of the things he'd done. But the pony she'd remembered was not the one she found in the cell.

This pony was obviously very sick. His brown hair had fallen off in clumps leaving dozens of patches of pink skin all over his body. He constantly shivered in his confines even though Twilight thought it was a pretty comfortable temperature. She now realized why Celestia wanted to go ahead with her plan; this pony might not have long left.

Twilight had now been standing silent in front of the pony for a few minutes examining his conditions. She finally took a deep breath. Its now or never. She said to herself. 

"Bandit. Bandit!" She called firmly trying to sound authoritative. The pony stirred a bit, shuffling his hooves. After a while he rearranged himself so that his bald pink head was facing her.

The pony gave a few dry coughs before responding. "Is that supposed to be me?" He asked casually.

"Isn't it?" She said keeping her tone." You're a thief aren't you?"

"A thief?!" He asked surprised, his voice dry. "Is that what I'm known as now? My how my status has decreased over the years."

Twilight was confused. "So you're not a thief?" 

"Oh no, I definitely am, but I'm just saying there's other things you could call me besides just thief." He said perking up and giving a few more coughs.

The pony was messing around and Twilight didn't have much time. "Celestia says you stole from her." She said and the pony nodded like he was proud. "What did you steal?" 

"I stole many things from Celestia." He said proudly. "Many of them right under her nose!" He yelled loud enough for Celestia to hear. "Her knowledge, her scrolls, and the big one: her gift." 

Twilight could now understand why she was so angry with him. This pony had taken so much from her and seemed to not have a care in the world. "How did you manage to do all that, you would have had to be very close to her."

"No kidding." The pony said with a chuckle. "Princess Celestia was kind enough to take me in after my parents were literally worked to death by a certain well known unicorn. Celestia taught me many things about magic and for a while I was happy. That was until I went through the portal."

Twilights ears perked up. What did he just say?! She asked herself. "A portal?" 

"Yeah a portal." He said in her tone mocking her. "Im not sure how it happened the first time, but I know what it felt like. I was taken to a whole different world. Saw things you couldn't even imagine. But something else happened to me while I was there. I realized my parents had been killed and the pony who did it was not met with justice but with praise for all he had accomplished from standing on their graves. From that point on I dedicated everything Celestia taught me to planning my revenge." 

"So then you started stealing."

"I realized that what Celestia was giving me wasn't going to be of help, so I started teaching myself." He said smiling. "The Canterlot Archives, or the restricted area of the Canterlot Library as it was known back then, was very easy to steal from. The forest outside of the castle provided a great training ground. I was able to master many spells on my own and even gained knowledge of portals. After a few months, I was able to open them at will. But the more times I went through, I always came back feeling different. I felt incomplete, I wanted-" 

"You wanted more." Celestia voice came from behind Twilight. Twilight was went silent as Celestia came up from behind her. "After everything I gave you, It wasn't enough."

"And I got more didn't I, Celestia?" He spoke much louder now, anger much more apparent. "You knew I was getting too powerful for the things you were teaching me. You have always feared power, thats why you keep her down like you tried to do with me." He couldn't point so he tilted his head towards Twilight instead.

Celestia's eyes glowed with rage. She pushed Twilight to the side and rammed herself against  the barrier. "You murdered Star Swirl and imitated my immortality!" She yelled. "Your essence poisoned my sister and twisted her into something monstrous!"

"Stop." Twilights voice came from the foor where Celestia had pushed her. When she saw her, she snapped back into her self and felt incredibly guilty. She helped Twilight up and apologized. Twilight didn't really mind the push though. She was more disappointed her plan had crumbled around her. She had so many questions about what she had just heard that she couldn't ask them all in a lifetime. But she would sure try, however before she would even start she had to know one thing first. "Who are you...really?"

The pony sighed and coughed. "You see Celestia, we've gotten off topic." He turned to Twilight and gave a sly wink. "I'm Time Fire, Princess Celestia's first student."

End chapter 9