Despite the uncomfortable circumstances, Jean was thankful that he could get a full, eight hour sleep without it being interrupted by visions or nightmares. Though he wasn't entirely certain if it could be classified as sleep if you passed out from exhaustion and pain.
Pain. During yesterday's rescue operation from the unexpected bank fire, he felt more pain than he ever did since he came to Equestria. At least in a physical sense. That alone didn't frighten him as much as he thought it would. If anything, it was a refreshing experience. Being in pain like the ordinary equines helped him feel like he was one of them. What frightened him was that he had no idea what was causing it.
His troubles were connected to his mysterious, shadowy stalker. Of that, he had no doubt anymore. There were far too many things happening around them to be a mere coincidence. Jean knew that once he recovered, his main priority will be tracking this entity down, finding out who he is, what he wants and if necessary - which more than likely will be - stopping him.
But when his body was shaken by another series of heavy coughs, he was uncertain how soon that recovery will be. Perhaps his main priority should be figuring out what disease has taken hold of him and treating it before going after the phantom. He couldn't hope to conduct a competent investigation in this state.
Jean felt like he had enough rest and was about to jump out of the bed when he was greeted by the disapproving and concerned face of Princess Luna. That's when he realised that he wasn't lying in his own bed or even a hospital bed somewhere in Canterlot. It was far too soft and comfortable for that.
He looked around and noticed the theme of the room. The dark blue curtains and bedsheets along with the circular rug in the middle of the room and the ceiling which both were enchanted to resemble the night sky. The vanity mirror next to the wall with the thestral shaped wooden frame.
He didn't need the detective skills of Batmare to realise that he was in Princess Luna's personal quarters. And it made him feel extremely uncomfortable. He was about to address the issue but the Princess spoke first.
"Tell me, what is the point of me concerning myself with your wellbeing if you are going to ignore my advice for its preservation?" The images of his saving of the construction workers from the burning Bank building quickly came back to him. Including the part where he burst through the bank door to save Wrecking Ball and being discovered by the ponies of Canterlot as being an alien superhero.
He looked down at his body and saw that he wasn't in the shape of Jean Jeans, loyal aide of Princess Luna. He was in his lunar shape. He looked at Luna in shock and the princess already knew what he was going to ask so she nodded in advance.
"You have made my life quite more difficult than it already is." Luna told him on a voice that made it obvious that she was not pleased with him. "I had to publicly reveal your existence to Equestria, explain in great detail why I kept you hidden in the palace and reassure the entire population that you don't intend to overthrow our government, enslave our stallions and claim our mares as breeding stock. Let me tell you, my sister was not amused. And frankly, neither am I."
Jean looked down in shame. But the shame was short lived as he remembered what happened in the bank. If he didn't intervene, those ponies would have surely perished. And that knowledge gave him enough confidence to look the alicorn in the eye without a hint of regret.
"I realise my actions may have been foolhardy. But I will stand by them. I still believe that ponies should not become overreliant on the help of superpowered individuals, but that will not stop me from saving them from imminent life threatening danger." The two of them held their stoic eye contact for several seconds until Luna's expression melted into a warm smile.
"I know you will. Which is one of the qualities I most admire about you." Jean was completely speechless. This was not the reaction he expected. "I have always known you as a noble, chivalrous and heroic stallion and I know you wouldn't stop from helping ponies in need. Even if the political backlash of this revelation is going to be felt for a long time to come." Jean felt his shame returning as he realised just how much inconvenience he caused his dear friend, but Luna merely waved his concerns off.
"But that can wait. For now there is a more important matter at hoof. And that is your wellbeing. How are feeling?" Jean wasn't as dismissive of the consequences of his reveal to Equestria as the Princess, but it was clear to him that Luna was far more worried about him, so he focused on that matter for now.
"I am..." Jean struggled with finding the right words. "...not sure. I am pleased with the outcome of my rescue of those ponies, but I am also concerned."
"About what?" Luna asked, shifting all of her worries around her friend. She got her answer right away when Jean began to cough again, just like in the ruined factory. "I see." She frowned. "This is getting serious, Jean. You need to get yourself looked at."
"I will" Jean assured her. "Eventually. But right now, I believe we have a bigger concern on our hoof." Luna raised an eyebrow.
"Bigger than your health? What could that be?"
"Equestria’s safety." Jean answered without hesitation. "I believe you were right, Luna. There is a powerful psychic entity coming after me. I saw him just before the fire broke out in the bank. It is more than likely it was responsible for it. As well as the infection plaguing me." Luna cast her narrowed eyes down. It was clear that she was not pleased by this development.
"If this is true, then not only did this entity endanger my country and my subjects but also my dearest friend." She growled with slowly growing fury. "I assure you, Jean, I will find it and make it answer for its crimes." But to Luna's surprise, the stallion merely shook his head.
"No, Luna! This is something I will have to deal with myself. For some reason, I cannot help but feel like this is a personal matter between me and my shadowy stalker. It seems to be particularly interested in me for some reason and if that is the case, I cannot allow you to get involved."
"While your concern is much appreciated, I would like to remind you that I am quite capable of taking care of myself." Luna replied, matter of factly.
"I have no doubt you are." Jean said dryly. "But I feel like this entity has something to do with my lunar heritage." Luna's eyes widened.
"What gives you that idea?"
"You remember the nightmare I told you about this morning?" Luna nodded. "This figure showed up immediately after that. Everything that has befallen me began when this phantom showed up. And given how my nightmare was about the destruction of my race..." Jean stopped for a moment, uncertainly taking hold of him. It was like even he knew what he was about to say was impossible. But he finally found the right words. "I believe it originates from my old home. The moon."
"How could that be possible?!" Luna exclaimed, shocked by the absurd claim. "You told me your entire race is extinct!"
"That is what I always believed." Jean answered. "But I could not say for sure. There may have been survivors for all I know, but I doubt our phantom friend is one of them. In fact... I suspect it may be the force responsible for our presumed extinction."
A terrible silence descended upon the room. It took Luna quite a few seconds to process this information. She was about to ask him why he believed this to be the case, but then the lunar stallion let out another series of coughs.
"This is why I believe so." He answered for her. "My illness began when the phantom first encountered me in your study last night. I felt the exact same symptoms when it first contacted me and they have only been getting worse."
Jean got out of bed and slowly walked up to the window. Celestia's sun was almost down and it would soon be time for his mistress to raise the moon. He didn't want to take up any more of her time but he needed to reassure her that he would be fine.
"For all my life, I have been wondering why my people disappeared. When I came to Equestria, I tried my best to move on and become one of you. But now that I have even the slightest chance to discover what happened to the lunars, I feel like I would not be able to live with myself if I wasted it. Not to mention all those ponies who could be pushed into danger with the phantom roaming free. I do not want a repeat of the bank incident."
"What about your illness?" Luna asked in concern. "You cannot face this threat in this condition!" Jean nodded.
"I realise that. But even though my secret is out, I still do not trust myself to the expertise of your physicians." He looked out the window in the direction of a very specific city. "At the moment, there is only one pony I trust myself to."
When Spike was about to lock the Atheneigh Library up after an exhausting day, he did not expect to meet a stallion outside, asking to see Twilight personally. Twilight was rather reclusive and he had known all of her associates, but this stallion was a complete stranger to him. And given all the dangerous ponies who might have it in for his caretaker, needless to say he was very hesitant to let him meet her.
But to his surprise, as soon as Twilight heard the name Jean Jeans, not only did she welcome him into the library with open hooves, but took him directly down to the Batcave! After they went down, Twilight told him to lock up the library and meet them downstairs.
And as if the end of the day wasn't surprising enough already, when he got down to the cave, he saw Twilight with a strange looking, hairless stallion lying on a medical bed inside the CT scanner they installed to inspect Twilight's body for any unseen injuries. It became a necessity with the increasing number of super criminals the Batmare had to face night after night.
"Uh..." Spike rubbed his head in confusion. "You guys mind filling me in on what the hay is going on here?" He asked.
"Spike, meet Jean Jeans." Twilight replied casually as she pointed at the alien she was scanning without looking at the young drake. "Royal aide of Princess Luna and the last known living member of an alien civilisation from the moon. He arranged for us and the other heroes to travel to the wedding and defeat the Changelings." She explained. Spike looked at the alien who gave him a small wave in return.
"A pleasure, Spike. Even though we already met at the wedding." Spike stared at him for a few seconds before shrugging.
"Alright, so what brings you here?" He said as he walked up to Twilight to help her analyse the results. Once Jean explained everything, Twilight and Spike knew exactly what to look for.
"We would have an easier time with this if we had a clue what your physiology looks like in the first place, Jean." Spike said.
"But we compared the cells we found inside your body to every disease known to ponykind and we did see several similarities between some of them." Twilight added as she ejected Jean's bed from the CT scanner. The stallion walked over to the computer screens and saw the results of the scan showing an image of his cells, along with the virus being highlighted with red lights.
"So this is what is slowly killing me." Jean noted somberly. Twilight nodded.
"The good news is that the spreading appears to be very slow." Twilight explained. "We have only discovered a few infected cells but we don't know how the virus works exactly. Something might accelerate the spreading or we could even find a way to slow it down even further. Or maybe to stop it completely. We're not exactly medical experts, but we could run a few tests to see how it reacts to certain situations." Jean nodded.
"I believe that would be for the best. There was another thing I wanted to discuss with you anyway."
"And what would that be?" Twilight asked. Jean began to feel uncomfortable as he recalled how he lost his powers during the bank rescue. He didn't want that to happen again. Twilight keenly listened to the story he told, trying to pick apart every minor detail in her head to realise what would be the best approach to unroot the problem. By the time Jean finished, she already had a plan.
"I think we should put you through a few tests, Jean. To see if your powers are fully restored and we might even discover what causes them to suddenly go out like that. Are you feeling fit enough to start?" Jean nodded. That may have been a lie. He wasn't particularly well, given the infection he was exposed to, but he didn't want to waste any time. He wanted to get to the bottom of this entire mystery as soon as possible.
"Good. Then let's start with your most commonly used ability. Can you shapeshift right now?" In response, Jean merely closed his eyes and the two observers watched in awe as his body began to mold like clay and change colour. When the transformation was over, an exact replica of Twilight Sparkle was standing in front of them.
"Yes. That ability seems to be working just fine." Twilight said as she picked up a clipboard and wrote something on it.
"Cool!" Spike marveled at the sight. "Can you do me to?" He asked with a huge grin, making Twilight chuckle. Her little assistant may have been very mature for his age, but he was still an adolescent. Jean closed his eyes again and morphed into the dragon's mirror image. Spike went up to him to get a closer look and Jean didn't seem to mind. "Is this really how the scales on my back look?"
"Focus, Spike!" Twilight reprimanded. "And set up a few targets for Jean in our training area, would you?"
Spike quickly did as he was instructed. The Batcave's training area was upgraded to swiftly set up practice dummies and other sort of obstacles. Another necessity with the increasing number of supervillan activity in Manehattan. Spike just had to press a button on a computer panel and three wooden ponyquins sprung up from the ground.
"Go ahead, Jean." Twilight instructed. For a few moments, the stallion wondered which of his powers he should use first, but in the end, he settled on blasting the targets to pieces from afar with his heat vision. "Heat vision seems work fine." Twilight noted as she wrote some more onto her clipboard. "Carry on."
Jean took off into the air and began to float around the training area to test his flight coordination. Twilight and Spike shared a small smirk as they decided there was no reason to make this too easy for the alien. Spike pressed a button on the panel and a few steel walls popped up from the ground, right in front Jean. The lunar hero was surprised but he managed to react just in time to avoid them.
"Flight and reflexes work impeccably." Twilight wrote. "Jean, could you land? I wish to test something else." The lunar granted the request and Spike made four steel walls surround Jean and he closed down the gap at the top with another one. Jean quickly realised what Twilight wanted him to do and punched a hole through the wall before jumping through it.
"Super strength, check." Twilight noted.
"And replacing that broken steel plate will also cost a nice cheque." Spike remarked dryly. "What's next?" Jean thought for a while.
"Could you raise some more walls? With only slight gaps between them?" Twilight and Spike looked at each other in confusion at the odd request.
"Sure, but what for?" Jean smirked.
"You will see." With a shrug, Spike did as Jean asked and surrounded him with a series of steel walls with barely enough space between them to peek through. Jean closed his eyes and began to concentrate. Twilight and Spike watched keenly as the stallion's body began to stretch like rubber.
They watched in wide eyed astonishment as Jean effortlessly squeezed his way through the tiny gaps, stretching and flattening his body like he didn't even have bones.
"I don't believe it!" Spike exclaimed. "Is there anything this guy can't do?" Twilight was no less shocked and it took her a few seconds to get over it.
"Well, I guess we're about to find out, aren't we?" She then turned to the stallion who just finished squeezing himself through the steel maze. "Anything else in your superpower repertoire?"
While Jean was normally a humble individual, he would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy the attention and the amazed reactions he got from the two onlookers. They had no idea what more he was capable of but he would enjoy showing it off. Instead of an answer, he closed his eyes again and turned himself invisible in front of the unicorn and while he didn't see her reaction, her loud gasp was enough for him to imagine her current expression.
"I take it that is the same trick you pulled on me outside Donut Joe's shop when you revealed yourself to me." Twilight said, looking around in an effort to spot anything that might give Jean's location away.
"Correct." She heard from behind herself, jumping in shock before turning around to see Jean becoming visible again. "I made my body reflect the beams of light falling on it, hiding myself from the naked eye."
"Remarkable." Twilight said as she wrote some more onto her clipboard.
"At this point, I don't think anything you can do will surprise me." Spike added. Jean apparently took that as a challenge because he decided to amaze his audience with another trick. Before the two could say another word, the stallion phased through the floor and reappeared behind the young dragon.
“Are you sure about that?” Jean mused, making Spike jump. Twilight was impressed.
‘Super strength, flight, invisibility, intangibility, polymorphism… Amazing! Not even Applejack has such a wide range of abilities.’ She thought as she wrote more notes.
“Well, Jean, it seems to me that all of your powers are working just fine at the moment. What do you suppose could have made you lose them back in that bank?”
“I cannot say for certain.” Jean replied, putting a hoof to his chin in thought. “Perhaps it was the virus. I was already infected by that time.” But Twilight shook her head.
“Highly unlikely. As I said, the infection is still very minor. Even if it does affect your powers at a more advanced stage, there’s no way it could now. The virus is simply not widespread enough.” Jean went back to his thoughts. If not the virus, then what could it possibly be that caused the loss of his abilities? He rewound the events of the bank rescue in his head and no matter which part he remembered, one thing was always constant in his memory fragments.
The fire. There was fire everywhere and the closer he got to the flames to rescue the ponies trapped behind them, the weaker he felt. He winced as he recalled the feeling of the heatwaves on his body. Could it be that his weakness came from something so basic as one of the four elements of nature? There was only one way to be sure.
“Can you make a fire in the training area?” He asked suddenly. Twilight nodded and retreated behind the computer panel with Spike who pressed a button on it. Jean found himself surrounded by a circle of flames. His first instinct was flying away, but when he jumped up to take flight, he fell back on the ground like a piece of rubble.
The flames came closer and closer to his body and he once again felt his strength completely leave him. Though he knew it was useless, he began to blow at the flames. His breath would be powerful enough to put the flames out by itself, but just like the rest of his powers, they weren’t working at the moment. There was not a shadow of a doubt in him at this point. Fire was the cause of his weakness.
The flames were almost completely upon him and he collapsed onto the ground. His body felt like it was weighed down by hundreds of thousands of tons of rocks from above. He couldn’t lift any part of his body. The fire was only inches away from his face when he heard Twilight’s voice from afar.
“Spike, shut it down! Shut it down NOW!” The flames suddenly disappeared, but Jean still felt like a sack of rocks in the bottom of a lake. He felt Twilight put one of his front legs around her neck and carry him out of the training area. As the unicorn carried him off, he found enough of his strength returning to crack a joke.
“Well, I suppose now we know what causes my powers to leave me, don't we?” He chuckled.
“Not the time, Jean.” Twilight said as she placed the lunar on the medical bed.
“It's never the time with her. “Spike added. “Don't try to appeal to her sense of humor. She doesn't have one.”
“Shut up, Spike!” Twilight told him curtly before turning back to Jean. “Are you alright?” Jean nodded.
“I am significantly better, thank you.” He replied as he sat up. “With the fire gone, my strength is returning.” To prove his point, he floated up into the air, but the group's relief was short lived as he erupted into another coughing fit.
“What's wrong?” Twilight asked in concern. The lunar stallion floated back onto the ground but he couldn't answer. He was still coughing heavily. Twilight quickly realized that this must be the result of the virus inside his body.
“Spike, get him back inside the CT scanner!” The dragon ran off to do as he was told and Twilight sat behind the monitor to check the immediate results. What she saw was frightening to say the least. The viral infection has gone through a significant spread.
“This is bad!” She muttered in horror. Jean had thankfully stopped coughing, but his immune system could only take so much. Twilight had to do something. Since she didn't have a better idea, she administered a vial of antibiotics into Jean's body.
It was a big gamble since she had no way of telling how it could affect his alien biology, she only hoped that the similarities between the virus affecting him and equine diseases would mean that it would react the same.
The gamble paid off as Jean's coughing fit stopped and to Twilight's delight, the infection on the monitor was beginning to be pushed back by the injection. Even if only slightly.
“How are you feeling?” The mare asked. Jean took a gulp and a deep breath before answering.
“A little better, thank you. I do not know what you gave me, but it worked.” Twilight sighed in relief.
“Sadly, it did not cure you. It managed to push the infection back, but not by much.”
“Can I pull him out now, Twi?” Spike asked.
“Not yet, Spike! There's something I want to check.” She then turned back to Jean. “What do you think caused this sudden burst of the virus?”
“I am not certain. Maybe it was the fire. If it can cause me to lose my abilities, it could have other negative effects.” He replied.
“Would it be okay if we tested that?” Jean nodded in approval. Twilight gave Spike a matchstick and the dragon lit it with his breath before going up to Jean and waving it above him. Even the small flame was enough to make Jean feel weak, but he did not feel his health worsening.
“I think we can rule that out.” Twilight said, taking some more notes. “Spike has been doing that for a minute and there wasn't even a cough. But if it wasn't the fire, then what was it?”
“It could have been anything!” Spike said as he put out the match. “He was perfectly fine before the cough kicked in. Even his powers worked with no issue whatsoever.” Twilight’s eyes widened as Spike’s last line gave her an idea.
“His powers? Jean, did you say you believe the virus is an artificial creation to destroy lunar lifeforms?”
“Yes. Given to me by the mysterious phantom stalking me.” Jean replied.
“Could you use one of your powers while in the scanner? Just for a few seconds?” Jean closed his eyes and used his shapeshifting to change his appearance to the one he wore in public as Luna’s assistant. Twilight looked back at the screen and her suspicion was confirmed.
“Stop it! Right now!” Twilight cried, making Jean abort the shapeshifting process and revert back to his Lunar appearance. “It is as I thought. Whenever you use your powers, the infection rate accelerates. I hate to say it, but you were right. Whoever designed this virus designed it specifically for your kind. They knew about your special abilities and they wanted you to die the faster you used them.”
Jean processed this information slowly as he was ejected from the CT scanner. Twilight and Spike watched him as he sat there, deep in his thoughts, staring ahead of himself with an unreadable expression. They looked at each other, not sure what they should say. Eventually, it was the dragon who found his voice first. He was a lot better with social interactions than his caretaker.
“Are you alright?” He asked, putting a claw on Jean’s shoulder. His words managed to snap the lunar out of his thoughts.
“Now that I know what has happened to me, I will be.” Jean replied, jumping off the bed with a look of determination. “And now I also know what I will have to do.”
“What?” Twilight asked curiously.
“I will fight the phantom.” Jean replied simply. He was about to leave the cave, but Twilight stopped him.
“How will you do that? We just discovered that using your powers accelerates the infection. It could kill you.” Before Jean could answer, Spike did it for him.
“The way I see it, if he just sits around and does nothing, that will kill him all the same. He needs to find this guy to get the antidote.” Twilight raised an eyebrow at her dragon assistant.
“Spike, this is an extra-equestrial virus developed solely to wipe out an entire species. Why would the developer bother to make an antidote?” Spike just smiled in response.
“Villains always have antidotes! They’re funny that way.”
“While young Spike’s reasoning may be flawed, I believe he does raise a good point.” Jean replied, “Even if there is no antidote, if the developer possesses the knowledge to make this virus, he knows how to make one. I have to find him.”
“Still the same question.” Twilight asked. “How?”
The question was good. Jean is going to have to use his powers sparingly from now on given the recent discoveries, but there was one of his skills the virus would have no effect on. His mind. He looked up at the wall to see a poster - no doubt hung up by Spike as decoration - showcasing a fictional detective even he read some stories about, The Question. As he observed the figure’s attire consisting of a fedora hat and trenchcoat, an idea hit him.
“Leave that to me, Miss Sparkle.”