A loud buzzing rang in my ears and a blinding light bit into my retinas, despite my eyes being shut as tightly as I could. I considered trying to lift my head from the rather comfortable pillows it lay on, and was immediately wracked by extreme fatigue and soreness. So I resolved to not move a single muscle, and did so carefully. The buzzing in my ears began to die down as I heard several familiar voices speaking nearby.
“I was afraid of this,” said a deep feminine voice that I recognized as Luna.
“What’s wrong with him?” whispered a barely audible voice that could only belong to Fluttershy.
“The damage is identical to the ponies I tried to control over a thousand years ago. Somepony has messed with his mind,” Luna stated.
A deep baritone voice whispered next to my left ear, just audible enough for me to make out the words, “Father, lord in Heaven, protect this kind man’s heart. Do not allow the darkness to claim him.”
While I generally put little value in Michael’s prayers, warmth emanated from him as he prayed. A warmth that was extremely soothing to my aching joints.
“But I thought that Celestia destroyed all the books that described how to do that,” said a clearly worried Twilight somewhere to my right.
“She did, so unless a unicorn has been doing a lot of experimentation, there are only a select few that could pull this off,” said Luna. “My sister and I would be capable obviously, but we’ve done no such thing.”
“The Red King, could he do this?” asked Twilight.
“That was my immediate thought, yes. But proximity is usually crucial when applying mental magic, plus…” A feeling of extreme cold washed over me as I could feel Luna’s power probe my consciousness, and then retract quickly. “There is no longer any force acting on him, his thoughts are now his own. So the question is how much damage did he suffer, and when was the spell implemented. Has he been showing any signs of undue paranoia recently?”
Hey, paranoia isn’t a symptom. It’s a way of life.
“He was a bit nervous yesterday in the Canterlot shopping center,” answered a well spoken feminine voice I assumed belonged to Rarity. “Plus he was a little rude to the clothing salespony of the shop where I found him.”
“Okay first, the shield thing I did in the Canterlot streets was just a precaution. Secondly that salespony was being a snob. My rudeness to him was justified,” I spoke to the room at large. “And did you just say yesterday?” There was a complete silence for a solid couple of seconds, as they processed my sudden awakening.
I cracked open my eyes and sat up a little in my bed, the aches of my joints having receded to bearable levels. The noonday sun shone through a nearby window to fully illuminate the room. I shifted so that my head rested against the headboard of the bed I was in, and I drew up the sheets so as to better preserve the modesty that my tail and hind legs offered while standing.
The room where I lay was clearly in the hospital wing of the castle. Though there was a curious absence of most of the medical supplies I normally expected in such a room. The only actual medical tools I could see were a small cart of supplies next to my bed. Around my bed stood several of my friends, Michael kneeled to my left, Twilight sat on a large cushion to my right, and Luna, Fluttershy, and Rarity stood at the foot of my bed. I assumed that Applejack, Rainbow, and Pinkie were off training somewhere.
Fluttershy was the first to snap out of her surprise and immediately moved to my side to begin preliminary examinations, knocking Michael aside in the process.
“Hey! Watch where you're sticking that thing!” I cried after spitting out the thermometer Fluttershy shoved into my mouth.
She murmured something inaudible in response and began wrestling with me in an attempt to get me to be still long enough to allow her to do nurse like things. She’d evidently become accustomed to having to treat patients that had to be restrained.
“Hey let go!” I cried out again as she used a combination of wings and hooves to pin down my forelegs.
“Please stop moving, I need to check your vitals,” she murmured, raising her voice to above a hushed whisper. It was the only warning I got.
“I’m fine! Get off me!” I responded.
“SIT DOWN AND BE STILL!” she roared at me, her voice momentarily becoming even louder than Michael’s was in Manehattan.
Her words completely bypassed my brain and went straight to the muscles controlling my limbs. While I was still ready and willing to continue trying to knock the mare off me, my body simply complied with her will and froze on the spot. Fluttershy pressed her advantage and positioned me into a sitting position on the bed and stuck the thermometer back into my mouth, before she continued doing technical nurse type things.
I glanced questionably at Twilight who was still busy gaping at Fluttershy’s sudden outburst. Twilight shook herself of her confusion soon enough and leapt at me, stopping at the edge of my bed.
“Harry you’re awake!” she exclaimed, and then her face became much more worrisome. “Are you okay? How do you feel?”
I waited until Fluttershy removed the thermometer before I responded. “Like I tried to tell Fluttershy, I’m perfectly fine.”
“I beg to differ, Dresden,” said Luna. “You’ve suffered a great deal of mental stress. You might not be thinking straight right now.”
“I know, and I am thinking fine at the moment. I’ll just have a headache for awhile.” At these words, Fluttershy plopped a bag of ice on top of my head. “Now, did somepony say yesterday? How long have I been in here?”
“You’ve been unconscious for almost a full day,” said Twilight. “You just started screaming and collapsed during your class early last afternoon. Do you remember how your head got twisted around?”
I nodded, “Yeah, and it wasn’t the Red King. I just… had a conflict of interests.”
“That must’ve been a substantial internal conflict then ,” Luna offered. “When I looked at your mind, there were signs of a great deal of damage.”
Fluttershy, satisfied that I was in good physical health, nodded me the all clear and backed off of my bed. I levitated the ice pack onto the bed and shambled off of it and into a standing position next to Michael.
“It’s complicated, and personal. If it’ll make you feel better I do want to have a quick talk with Michael,” I said, hoping to placate them. Michael smiled and gave me an approving nod.
Luna considered my offer for a moment, and then nodded her head in the affirmative. “Very well Dresden.” She turned her head to face Michael. “If you believe his judgment to be impaired, I trust that you will notify me accordingly.”
Michael nodded at Luna, “Of course.”
“Then I shall take my leave, I have some urgent business to attend to.” Luna looked down at Rarity. “Would you please accompany me, I wish to test your skill with those new gems of yours.”
It was only at these words that I noticed that Rarity was wearing a new set of belts that wound around her chest like Rainbow’s bandolier for her crossbow bolts. Rarity’s however housed the ten diamond knives that we’d purchased the previous day. Giving her look of something in between a gem focused fashion model and an assassin. I figured that the belts would most likely be covered when she donned her personal robes again.
A small factoid Luna had told me rose to the forefront of my mind and got me thinking. Luna’s chief job at the moment was to keep the general population calm. The only real reason they wouldn’t be calm would be if the Red Court presence was becoming increasingly noticeable.
So what was Luna busy with?
“Luna, are the disappearances still happening?” I asked solemnly.
Luna paused as she moved towards the door, one foreleg frozen in the air. She set it down slowly and turned around to face me, and I was forcibly reminded of how old she really was. Luna as I’ve always seen her has been very youthful, playful, and generally full of energy. The Luna I saw now was very nearly the opposite. Her eyes had become sunken, and several wrinkles caused by worry or stress had appeared all over her face. It was as though she had aged forty years in just a couple of seconds, although given that she’s a near immortal being that may not be a fitting description.
“Yes, I’m sad to say,” she replied, her voice becoming almost as soft as Fluttershy’s. “Though it has slowed, thanks to you and Michael, but ponies are still disappearing from almost all the surrounding cities.”
“How many?” I asked.
Luna’s head drooped a little lower. “At the latest estimation, since they first came here… How long has it been? I tend to lose track of time easily.”
No surprise there, beings that live for as long as Luna has tended to lose track of the passage of time.
“We’re nearing two weeks now,” Michael answered at once.
She nodded, “Then in almost two weeks, several hundred ponies have simply vanished from the surrounding cities.”
A shocked silence accompanied her words as the broadness of our situation sunk in.
“What about Ponyville?” Twilight asked, fear creeping into her voice.
“Ponyville has remained relatively untouched,” Luna offered. “They seem to be focusing on the larger populations, Fillydelphia, Manehattan and the like.”
This cheered up Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy immensely. While they were still in a certain amount of danger, the news that their loved ones back in Ponyville were still alive gave them some much needed relief. Fluttershy and Rarity each smiled and sighed contentedly, while Twilight allowed herself to sink back into the large red cushion next to my bed.
“Now if you’ll excuse me, I must make a statement for a local newspaper.” Luna moved for the door and called over her shoulder, “Rarity, come along.”
Rarity nodded and then both Luna and Rarity shuffled out of the room. Fluttershy followed soon after to attend to whatever other patients she had on her roster, leaving me alone with Michael and Twilight. I shifted awkwardly in place as they were both looking at me expectantly.
“Uh Twilight, would you go and practice your offensive magic for a bit? I need to talk to Michael,” I instructed.
Her ears drooped slightly, “Are you sure? I’d like to help if I can.” She paused in thought. “Besides I already know how to manipulate lightning, fire, and raw force like you showed me.”
I rubbed a hoof against my forehead, just under my horn, “I swear I’m not going to be able to keep up with you at this pace. Just get creative. There are always new ways to implement your magic to specific situations. Think of a situation you’re not fully prepared for and try to think of a spell to fit it.”
Twilight got up from her cushion and slowly made her way to the door, “Alright, but I want to hear from you after you’re done. Okay?”
I nodded, “Sounds good. Just, please don’t start anymore fires. I’ve gotten enough complaint reports from maintenance already.”
Twilight looked at me with indignation and stuck her nose in the air. “Those were not fires, they were progress.”
I sighed and chuckled under my breath, “Well your progress is about to wallpaper my room with complaints.”
She turned and trotted out of the door, calling out over her shoulder, “Alright, I’ll keep the fireworks to a minimum. I’ll see you later Harry.”
Michael cleared his throat, unsubtly reminding me that we were the only ones left in the room. “So Harry, what’s troubling you?”
I opened my mouth to start what I’m sure would’ve been a fairly awkward conversation, but was interrupted by a loud growling coming from my stomach. Giving me just the excuse I needed to buy a little time to think about what I wanted to say.
“Talk about it over lunch?” I asked.
Michael heaved a heavy sigh and nodded his head, “Fine Harry, but let’s eat here. I don’t really feel like leaving the castle.”
With that we both walked out of the hospital wing and made our way back to the barracks. Michael, while always willing to give me some leeway, was determined to make sure that I didn’t actually slip away. He walked either beside me or directly behind me the entire way back to the barracks, determined to see me fulfill my promise.
We reached the large double doors of the barracks in good time and pushed through them into the central area. As soon as the doors opened I was greeted once more by the many clangs and bangs of different ponies sparing. Though as more and more of them noticed my presence, the noise died down as they watched me to see what I might say or do.
And why wouldn’t they? I thought to myself. In the span of two days, I’ve attacked one of my soldiers and had an apparent mental breakdown in front of my class. I doubt they trust me anymore.
This however was not the case. Though several of the guardsponies and soldiers there looked at me with varying amounts of skepticism, many more looked at me with apparent worry, almost as though they felt bad for their commander. This became more apparent when a pegasus mare approached me. The silver pentacle emblazoned on the small metal plate over her chest marked her as one of my battalion.
“Sir is there anything we can get you?” she offered.
I hesitated, completely thrown off by the apparent sympathy of those under my command. This was a vast improvement to the courtesy I’ve come to expect from the White Council. Granted having someone repeatedly spit on me to put me out if I was on fire would be an improvement from the White Council, but my point still stands.
I cast a sidelong glance at Michael who just shrugged and waited patiently beside me. “Uh sure, would you have somepony bring two pairs of lunch rations to my quarters?”
She smiled and chuckled, “No need.” She craned her head to speak to the sparring room behind her. “Hey Blockade, bring the cart around front!”
A familiar stout chestnut coated earth pony stallion pushed a food cart towards us. As the cart neared I noted that it was laden with several prepackaged meals for the guardsponies and soldiers. I opted to simply levitate two of the meals in the air beside me to spare Michael having to carry one in his teeth.
“Thanks,” I said to both of the soldiers.
“No problem,” Blockade responded. He then wheeled the cart back towards the sparring ground, followed closely by the pegasus.
The only possible reasoning for this apparent sympathy that I could see was that we got everypony through the nastiness in Manehattan. I suppose I did technically lead them through it, even if Michael was the one giving the orders. But this kind of loyalty was very odd to me, not unpleasant, just not the treatment I’m used to.
Michael and I made our way up the nearby staircase to the second floor and our quarters. As we reached the second floor Michael’s ears gave a definite twitch and he moved his head to look down the hallway opposite our rooms. A slight frown appeared on his muzzle and he moved to go down the hallway.
“Hey, where you going?” I called after him.
Without even slowing, he simply said, “Down here.”
I sighed and shook my head, “I don’t get you sometimes.” I chased after him, the two packed meals zipping along behind me.
After several seconds the long hallway finally ended by opening into a large balcony overlooking Canterlot. The balcony was several times larger than was strictly necessary. The center was a large open area serving little purpose other than to offer a lot of room to move around, at the outer edge of the balcony stood a several tables with a couple seats around each. I looked down either side of the balcony and noticed that several similar balconies dotted the wall on either side, and then I realized the purpose of these oversized platforms. They provided a great view for anypony that wanted a scenic meal, but more importantly they offered large take off and landing zones for pegasi teams.
Michael swept his gaze over the balcony, and then over the land outside of Canterlot’s walls. He sighed, shook his head in annoyance, and moved over to one of the nearby tables.
I followed him and set down the packaged meals on the table. “So, balcony picnic huh?”
Michael’s ears continued to flick around as though trying to find the source of some noise. “Sorry, I thought I heard something.”
I shrugged and took the seat opposite him, “Whatever, it’s still a nice view.”
There was a slight pop as I flicked the lids off the meals. Within the little plastic case was a fairly standard military meal, one large apple and a generous amount of grain. My stomach grumbled again and I greedily dug into the grain.
Michael hadn’t moved an inch as he just sat on his seat and watched me, like a large white marble statue. “Harry, I’m waiting.”
I swallowed my mouthful of grain and sighed before I got to the matter at hoof. “Michael, what do you do when you don’t know what to do?” I asked, already guessing at his answer.
Michael’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, but quickly returned to their normal steadiness. “I have faith Harry. I believe that things will work out as they are meant to.”
I wasn’t surprised by his answer, and I wasn’t satisfied with it either. “That’s not what I meant. I mean how do you, Michael Carpenter, make a… difficult decision.”
Michael’s eyes narrowed. “You’re being evasive.”
“I’m trying to be evasive.”
“What is it that burdens you?”
“Note the above ‘evasive’ comment,” I mocked.
Michael heaved a heavy sigh, realizing that he wasn’t going to get anything concrete out of me if I didn’t want him to. “I don’t know what it is that’s going on in your head, but I do know that at least you’re back to normal. Only you would be this stubborn when someone’s trying to help you.”
I flashed him a wide smile, “Thank you, I take pride in that.”
Michael straightened his back and chose his next words carefully. “As for whatever it is that’s on your mind, I only have this to offer: Follow you heart. Whatever you do, do it because you believe it to be the right thing to do. So long as you do that, you’ll never stray too far from the light”
That sounds like some stupid fortune cookie and is about as helpful, but still…
I looked down at my hooves, deep in thought. “What I think is right…” I muttered under my breath.
Michael waited to see if I would ask for any other advice, and when I didn’t he finally dug into his tray of food. The rest of our lunch passed in relative peace, only the occasional passing pegasus broke the silence. Within a couple of minutes we had both finished our meals and sat contentedly in our seats.
As I was just about to get up and thank him for his time, Michael’s ears went crazy again. Michael frowned and turned his attention towards the hills south of Canterlot’s walls. He narrowed his eyes in concentration even while his ears continued twitching at the slightest sound.
“Something’s wrong,” he grumbled.
“Get some bad rations again?” I asked. Memories of getting a funky apple during my first week here and of what happened immediately after swam to the front of my mind. “I keep telling the cooks that spit shine doesn’t work on bad apples.”
“No,” Michael mumbled, only half listening to what I said. “Something’s just, wrong.”
I felt a slight prickling on the back of my neck as the fur there stood on end. My instincts warned me to pay attention to what Michael said.
“Wrong how?” I asked, a sinking feeling dropping into my recently filled stomach.
“I don’t know,” he responded. Michael whipped his head around and got up from his seat. “I need to get some supplies. I’ll see you later.”
I just watched confused as Michael disappeared back into the castle. I looked in the same direction that he glanced at. The rolling hills were as green as ever and everything looked relatively serene. A few pegasi were drifting lazily across the sky while a train pulled into the Canterlot station. Celestia’s sun was just beginning its descent over head, casting a slight orange light over everything. By all accounts it was an extremely peaceful view.
So what did you sense?
Given that Michael’s inherent luck was in itself driven by his faith, I could only speculate as to what troubled him. But I haven’t survived this long by ignoring possible dangers, so I got up and moved as fast as I could towards my room.
I galloped down the long hallway, rounded the corner, and burst through the door to my room. I walked over to my storage chest as the lid popped open in a flash of red energy. The various books, bags, and random trinkets within floated into the air in the same red nimbus as I searched for my prize. I found what I was looking for folded neatly under my saddlebag.
I dropped my thick spell layered overcoat onto my back and locked the clasps over my chest into place. I relaxed a bit at the knowledge that I was now slightly harder to rend into pieces. I unceremoniously dumped the rest of the chest’s contents back inside.
I was about to close the lid when something caught my eye in the chest. I levitated the curious object back into the air and recognized it as the Smarty Pants doll I got for Twilight.
I thought back to when I bought it the previous day. I remember getting it in the hopes that it would make Twilight happy. I wasn’t really in my right mind at the time, but the thought of seeing her happy still made me smile.
Hmmm, maybe I should just go ahead and give it to her.
A sudden realization of where this particular logic train was going made me almost drop the doll.
“Nope nope nope,” I muttered to myself. “Keep your head in the game. Find vampires, kill vampires, go home…” I sighed heavily, “and fight more vampires. I’m starting to think my life kind of sucks.”
I levitated the extra roll of linen I’d also bought and wrapped the doll inside it. I then set the wrapped up doll at the bottom corner of my storage chest.
“There, out of sight out of mind.” I threw the rest of the chest’s contents back in, closed it, and made my way out of my room. I went back down stairs and into the main sparing center of the barracks.
The room was bustling again with the sound of clangs and bangs as the soldiers and guardsponies were finishing up their lunches and went back to their training or duties. I searched for Twilight among the throng, but to no avail. I assumed she must be in one of the smaller practice rooms, waiting for me to come in and start another lesson.
In the corner of the room I saw the rest of my little group that wasn’t in the hospital wing with me. Applejack, Rainbow, and Pinkie were all eating their own late lunches and laughing over some random story one of them had said. I didn’t want to disturb them so I left them alone and instead stopped one of the random soldiers walking around.
“Hey, hold up,” I called to a rather slender unicorn stallion. The silver pentacle on his chest plate marked him as another of my battalion.
He immediately snapped to attention, “Commander.” His gaze turned curious as I drew nearer. “How are you feeling today, sir?”
“Like I want you all to stop asking me that,” I retorted. “Anyway, have you seen Twilight Sparkle around?”
“The firebug? Yeah, she’s in that practice room.” He pointed towards closed door in the far corner of the sparing center.
Firebug? That’s a little harsh. She’s started a few fires sure, but not that many.
“Thanks.” I turned and almost left for the door he’d indicated, but Michael’s odd behavior reminded me of a possible threat. “Hey wait, can you send a message to whoever’s in charge of the guardsponies?”
“What do you want me to say?” he asked.
“Tell them to increase the guard tonight. To get whatever guards they can spare and have them patrol the city streets and the air above them.” After a second of consideration I added, “And tell them to pay a little extra attention to the southern approach.”
“What if they ask ‘why’?”
“Let’s just call it a hunch,” I responded. “Or if that’s not good enough, just make up a reason.”
“Anonymous tip got it.” He saluted once more, and then galloped off to carry my message.
With my paranoia sated, I turned around again and walked up to the door of Twilight’s practice room. I knocked a few times before I finally pushed it open and stepped through.
“Alright Twilight, now what did you want to practice…” I froze in place after I moved a couple of feet into the room. Some survival instincts taking hold of my legs as I gaped at the sight before me. “Holy mother…”
In the center of the room was a dragon, just slightly taller than Twilight. It looked fairly typical for a dragon, it had a long jaw line with several mean looking teeth, it had long claws and sharp spines running down its back, and it even had a pair of large wings. Judging from the lengths and placements of the joints in its legs, I guessed it would be able to move on two legs just as easily as four.
Oh, and the entire thing was on fire. I don’t mean that somepony simply set it on fire, no its flesh was created out of pure flame. This thing was a magical construct.
“Look at what I made!” cried Twilight while waving a hoof excitedly at the construct.
Suddenly that firebug title doesn’t seem too far off.
“T-Twilight, what is this?” I stammered.
Evidently she was too wrapped up in her accomplishment to notice my completely rational fear. “I found a book about magical constructs in the military wing of the royal library a little while ago. I’ve been flipping through it and toying with the formulae until I could create this.” She gestured at the construct again. “I modeled it after Spike during his greed binge. I figured it’d be useful in a fight, though it doesn’t last all that long. It saps too much energy from the environment to sustain itself, so at most it’ll last a couple of minutes.”
The dragon had evidently just noticed my presence and had decided to position itself firmly between me and Twilight.
“Twilight, what’s it doing?”
It lowered itself to the ground and dug its claws into the hard stone floor.
“Uh, it’s… Oh no,” Twilight muttered from the construct’s other side.
“Oh no? What’s ‘Oh no’? I don’t like ‘Oh no’!” I shouted as I took a few steps backward. My flank bumped into the wall behind me. The construct’s eyes tracked my every move.
“Well it doesn’t have an actual consciousness. It’s just a series of programmed responses.”
“So why is it looking at me like I’m food?”
“Well I programmed it to protect me from enemy threats, but I don’t think I did the ally recognition right,” she said in an increasingly frantic voice.
“Then that would make me…”
“A threat,” she completed the statement.
The construct chose that moment to hurl itself at me, flaming claws and fangs extended to rip me apart. I let out the manliest shriek I could muster and began racing around the room, doing whatever I could to keep ahead of the construct.
“What do I do?” Twilight shouted at me.
“It’s your construct, reprogram it!” I shouted back.
“That’d take time, and I need it to hold still for the entire process.”
I shot a wave of force at the dragon, tripping it up momentarily. I probably could’ve simply held it in place for a time if I had to. But if I tried, and it was too powerful to be held down, then when the spell failed would be the chance it would need to charge at me. I put that plan in the ‘last ditch effort’ category.
“Can you cut off the source of its energy?” I asked.
“No, it’s a construct. It’s driven by the power I’ve already given it and the energy in the immediate environment,” she responded. “It won’t last much longer, just run down the clock!”
“Why don’t you try it then!” I shouted as the construct regained its footing and returned to chasing me.
The dragon closed several feet and launched itself at me again with the aid of its wings. I made a sudden sharp turn and continued running in the opposite direction. As I ran past the construct I noticed that something was obscuring its vision. I saw that its head was enveloped in a strange thick black fog, right before it slammed headfirst into the wall I’d just turned at.
I didn’t question the good luck and pressed the advantage. I stepped forward and bound the construct’s forelegs/arms and it’s head with simple force magic. Twilight appeared next to me and did the same to its hind legs and tail.
It struggled against its bounds, but couldn’t break through our combined power. It thrashed and roared in a strange modulated tone that sounded more like rocks grinding against each other than an actual roar. After about thirty to forty seconds the clock finally wound down and it lost the energy necessary to hold itself together, that is to say the entire thing exploded as the energy in its form was released. A wall of force and thick smoke hit Twilight and me, and I had the great misfortune to open my mouth at the exact wrong moment.
I staggered around for a bit coughing and spitting soot from my mouth while my vision cleared. I looked over myself to address any possible damages. To my relief I wasn’t hurt in any serious manner, though I was covered from head to hoof in black soot. This wasn’t really noticeable in my already black mane and tail, but it gave me a coat to match.
Twilight was having similar issues. She too was now colored pitch black all over her body. Her mane was also blown backwards and was sticking up in the air in random directions, as though she’d just been skydiving with Rainbow.
I began laughing at the absurdity of her appearance, not caring at all about my own. She merely frowned at me and began trying to scrub off the soot. I continued chuckling to myself and tried to control my breathing as the adrenaline left my system.
“Well now, that was exciting,” said a feminine voice that came out of nowhere.
I craned my head to look around the room, searching for the source of the noise.
“You heard that right?” I asked Twilight. “Or have I finally lost it?”
“No, I heard it too,” Twilight responded.
In the blink of an eye, Rarity just appeared in front of us. One second there was just empty space, the next there was a white unicorn smiling at us, completely untouched by the soot. It took my adrenaline drunk brain a second to shift gears and process what just happened.
I smiled widely at her, “Nice veil, Rarity.”
Rarity raised a hoof to straighten her mane. “Thank you Dresden. It’s something I’ve been perfecting with Princess Luna. I can’t really spread it to anypony else for too long, but I can hold the veil over myself with minimal effort.”
Twilight stopped in her futile effort to clean the soot off and peered suspiciously at Rarity, “Why were you hiding under a veil?”
Rarity stuck her nose in the air at Twilight’s accusatory tone. “It was a demonstration. I’m supposed to keep Dresden up to date on my lessons.” She smiled and chuckled a little, “Plus I wanted to watch your lesson. That was quite the show, and I only intervened when it was necessary.” I thought back to the black fog around the construct’s head.
Rarity’s answer clearly didn’t satisfy Twilight. Twilight continued frowning and grumbling at Rarity as she returned to trying to remove the soot from her fur. Now I don’t know that much about women, in fact what I do know about them wouldn’t even fill a tea cup. I have however been around enough angry women to know some of the warning signs. The carefully controlled face that Twilight was wearing practically screamed at me to either try to diffuse a situation that I knew nothing about, or run like Hell itself was on my tail. I chose the latter.
“Okay well that was... exciting,” I said while carefully back stepping towards the door. “Rarity, keep up the good work. Twilight, we’ll pick this back up later today.” My flank finally came in contact with the door. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go jump in a lake. Bye!”
I bucked the door open with one of my hind legs and hopped through it before it closed again. In the few seconds before the door closed I looked back inside. Rarity was still curling her mane with her hoof, and Twilight looked back at me with a certain amount of confusion in her eyes. When the door finally shut I let out an audible sigh of relief.
I dodged that bullet.
I turned around with the intention of going to the nearest shower, but stopped short when I realized that entirety of the sparring room was staring at me. Even Applejack, Rainbow, and Pinkie broke out of their conversation to gape at me. I became acutely aware that I was still completely covered in black soot.
I cleared my throat and tried to keep a straight face as I spoke to the entire sparring center. “Twilight learned a new spell.”
Several of the ponies nodded in comprehension and continued on with their various duties. I smiled and made my way towards the barrack’s showers.
I spoke to one of the guards still staring at me as I passed by them, “Tell the janitorial crew that they have some work to do.” I paused and added as an afterthought, “You can also tell them to put their complaint letter on my desk with all the others.”
With that done I trotted off, leaving a trail of black hoof prints behind me.
Despite the fact that I’d been unconscious for fully half of the day, I still felt like I had a full and busy workday. The rest of my day after the fiasco with Twilight’s construct went along like I was back on my established routine.
I sorted through any of the personal requests of those under my command, most of which involved requests for additional fire safety gear. I watched as Applejack, Pinkie, and Rainbow continued in their respective sparring sessions. I even took to the track to try and work on my cardio, though I didn’t dare go into any sparring sessions against my team. I’m not a bad in a scrap, but I rely heavily on my magic for any kind of actual combat. My general philosophy was that if something is big enough to get through my magic, then I don’t want to be anywhere near punching distance.
I spotted Michael a few times throughout the day, but couldn’t get him to slow down long enough to finish a conversation. Whenever I saw him he was busy galloping off somewhere, checking equipment, or organizing the soldiers. Just before I went to dinner I spotted him talking to a large group of the guardsponies that had been reassigned per my request.
I still had no idea what had him so nervous or how he was keeping up the pace all day. I can have my paranoid periods too but they don’t last this long, not usually anyway. I was on board with Michael for a bit, but after the relatively peaceful day even I couldn’t keep up my vigilance. As the day shuffled on my thoughts drifted more and more towards my soft bed and the books on advanced magic that I hadn’t got around to yet.
My day only began winding down when Twilight met up with me after dinner to continue her favorite pastime, using me as a sounding board for her ideas of new spells.
The moon was just starting to rise as we both sat in my personal room in the barracks. I lay on my bed with a small stack of mail that I was sorting through, while Twilight had pulled in several supplies to set up for the idea bouncing session. She had pulled in the same large red cushion I’d seen in the hospital room earlier and set it a little away from my bed. She’d also brought several library books and piled them on my desk, and even set up a small whiteboard for her to scribble on. Twilight was sitting on the large cushion and was engrossed in whatever book it was that had caught her eye.
I took the opportunity to try and get through my stack of mail. Predictably, the very first letter was from the janitorial service of the castle. I skimmed over it, looking for any important details. There were only the usual complaints about “unsatisfactory work environments” and “undue property damage”. Near the end of the letter were a few vague threats at unionizing. I threw the letter into the nearby trash bin.
The second letter was an official note from Luna. It stated that after Luna had a talk with Michael, she had seen fit to return me to active duty. Although why I was getting this letter now, as opposed to earlier in the day when I was already working was beyond me. This too, went into the trash bin.
The rest were ‘thank you’ letters from the families of the ponies we’d rescued in Manehattan. I opened a few and skimmed them, stopping a few times to smile at their appreciation. These letters went into my storage chest.
It was around when I was wrapping up my second ‘thank you’ letter that Twilight took her nose out of her book and finally spoke. “Okay so if we take the basic teleportation spell and focus it through small rings of attuned crystals, then we could in theory create miniature point to point portals. But maintaining the portal is going to be tricky.” She looked back at me, “Any ideas on how to stabilize it?”
I shook my head, “Twilight, I can’t even begin to wrap my head around what you just said. I haven’t even touched on the complexities of teleportation yet.”
She smirked at me, “And here I thought you were supposed to be my teacher.”
“When did that happen? The other day you said I was your assistant.” I smiled back at her.
“In that case why don’t you fetch me that book on ancient magic, assistant,” she said, trying to suppress a fit of the giggles.
I levitated said book over and plopped on top of her head like a hat. “There you go, your book and a new hat all in one.”
She laughed and set the book on the ground. “Hey Harry?”
“Hmm?” I grunted while pulling one of the other books closer.
“What’s your home life like?” she asked. “I mean you’ve told us about your job back where you’re from, but what about when you’re not working? What do you do then?”
I rubbed a hoof over my neck, “There’s not much of a noticeable difference. My work life and my personal life run a close parallel and often intermingle, so it’s really just more of the same. That is to say large amounts of prep work broken up by the semi-regular occurrences of pain, fury, despair, and if I’m very lucky a happy moment before the next horror shows up to ruin my day.”
Twilight’s eyes grew large with sympathy at my words. She looked away before muttering, “I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright,” I responded. “You’d be surprised what you can get used to when your daily allowance of weird is high enough.”
Talk about your case in point.
Without making the conscious effort, my eyes traveled over to my storage chest and to what I knew to be hidden inside. I considered the value of the doll I’d placed there, and what it could represent if I let it out.
“Twilight, would you mind if I asked you for some advice?” I asked.
She turned back to face me, eager to hear what I had to say. “Please do.”
I hesitated for a moment, unsure of what exactly to ask. I decided on a generic, if relevant philosophy question. “If you could change who you were for the better, would you?”
Twilight considered that for a long while. “Well I suppose that would depend heavily on the circumstances of the pony in question. Though I guess I-“ She was cut off before she could finish her thought.
Alarm bells began ringing. Loud piercing notes reverberated throughout the castle and into my room. Several cries and howls could be heard in between the ringing of the bells, the cries were loud and sharp. They instilled an instinctual fear in me that only a predator can create.
Without missing a beat I jumped off of my bed and bolted out of my room, with Twilight chasing after me. We galloped down the long hallway leading to the balcony as fast as our legs could carry us. We reached the end of the balcony and stopped to see what all the commotion was.
My blood turned to ice as I looked upon Canterlot, vampires were everywhere. There were more vampires than I had ever seen in one place before. More hoarse cries were heard as several black shapes simply clawed their way up and over Canterlot’s walls. Several more began pooling at the base of the walls and started moving into the city.
The Red Court had launched an all out invasion of Canterlot.