//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Plans Come Crashing Down // Story: Human // by DannyJ //------------------------------// "Second!" Twilight shouted. The human raised his head and looked at the six mares who stood before him. He gave a bitter chuckle. "I understand now," he said, "I understand everything." "An' just what IS it you understand?" asked Applejack. "I understand what I am. I understand how I came to be in this position. I know this now. It all makes sense. On a base level, I guess I always knew. It should have been obvious. But even as I stood in this land of ponies, I continued to deny what I was. There's no use pretending anymore. I can see it now. The invisible strings make it so." "Invisible whats now?" said Rainbow Dash. "They're what guides our destiny! I was meant to perish here. This was always how it was going to end. The moment I fell into this world, cast down from heaven into a land of mortals, my path was set. This is who I am." "And who are you?" asked Twilight. "I'm the bad guy. I'm the one you defeat. I'm who you raise your elements against and strike down with righteous fury so that you can save the day. It's nothing less than what I'd expect. Parts of time are cut out. They only see my attacks. They don't hear my words. I'm here now, because I'm the successor to everyone who you defeated before. The status quo must be maintained." He folded his arms and closed his eyes. "End it." *** "Dragon Punch!" Spike was knocked back by the force. The human somehow had enough strength in his legs to launch himself upwards at Spike's face from a standing position on the ground. Everything about it contradicted what the ponies knew of physics. It shouldn't have been possible, at least not without magic, but there it was. The dragon quickly recovered from the blow and brought a sweeping claw around at the human as he dropped again, grabbing him out of the air and slamming him into the side of on of the towers, where he embedded into the wall. The human was stuck there for a second, and began wriggling about, but he was forced so far into brickwork that he was having trouble getting out. He cringed as Spike drew his head back and let loose a powerful breath of ice. Chill winter winds accompanied a cloud of frost that shot through the air and covered the side of the tower that Second had been smashed into. The side of the tower became almost entirely white, and the point where the human had hit it was completely covered in an icy sheet now, showing only the slightest hints of a bump underneath to indicate where the body was. The dragon paused and waited for a reaction, trying to discern whether he had won or not. A crack appeared in the ice. "Oh no," said Luna. The ponies on the ground in front of the palace watched with widening horror as the ice began to break. Spike shot another stream of ice at the tower wall to suppress it, but it seemed to be doing no good. The guards were panicking, desperate for orders but knowing full well that they couldn't do anything if they tried. Captain Chain Mail was just curious, wanting to see how this fight would go. A pegasus shot at Spike out of nowhere and hit him in the chin. Luna recognised it as the guard that Sliske had jumped into just before Spike had showed up. He apparently needed wings right now, and had abandoned his unicorn host Dr. Heart Beat, who now laid on the ground nearby completely still. "Dude!" Spike shouted, "not cool!" Sliske dive bombed the dragon again. It was quite a sight to see. The single pegasus was like a fly compared to the titan he was fighting. This obviously wouldn't last long. Spike had once taken out the Wonderbolts by himself, when he was a quarter of this size and without his intelligence too. Sliske didn't look like a particularly menacing adversary for the Demon's Match. "Get away!" he said, "I'm trying to save Canterlot here! This is important! Stop messing around!" Luna chuckled slightly. Even after all these years, Spike was still the same little dragon he was before. The ice on the side of the tower exploded. Second was still stuck in the side of the wall, looking confused and disoriented. Spike noticed immediately and was about to shoot another breath of ice, but the human cut him off. "FUS-RO-DAH!" Sliske and Spike were both launched backwards by whatever it was the human did. Windows shattered and the guards suddenly screamed and covered their ears. The human propelled himself backwards too, at such a force that he went right through the tower and came out the other side. It's structure compromised, the top half of the tower began to crumble, and the bricks of the ancient castle fell off and scattered across the roof, leaving the formerly tallest tower of Canterlot at half it's original height. "Oh why?!" said Luna, "That was my room!" On the left side of the palace, Spike climbed back onto his feet again. Nothing had hit him back that hard for a good few hundred years, and that was a Kraken as big as he was. Second meanwhile had crashed far off to the right of the castle, and had formed a giant crater in what used to be the hedge maze. "Nice move human," Spike called, "But you should know I'm made of sterner stuff than that." The dragon flew into the air again and landed on the other side of the palace. He stood above the crater, raised a foot, and smashed it down into it. Luna and the guards could not see what was going on from where they were standing, but it didn't take a genius to figure out he was probably stomping on Second. The princess turned her attention back to the other side of the palace, where she saw the pegasus Sliske recovering from his ordeal. He was quite a distance away, but that wasn't a problem for her. Confidently, the alicorn reached out to him and enveloped him in a dark blue glow, pulling the creature over to them. The guards all backed away as she brought him in, and contented themselves with watching the battle between the human and the dragon while Princess Luna talked with the obviously much less interesting evil alien snake parasite. "Sliske of Seven Hundred Souls, it's been a long time," said Luna. "Likewissssssssssse." "What are you doing working with the human? How did you escape from your confinement in the archives?" "I essssssssscaped with hissssssssss help." Sliske raised a bruised and battered hoof to indicate he was talking about Captain Chain Mail. "Me?" said the captain. "Yessssssssss. After you killed the guard dragon, you crassssssshed into my vault. I wasssssssss able to take you over while you were dissssssssssstracted." Luna stared for a moment. "Wait, YOU killed the guard dragon?!" she shouted at Chain Mail. "Please ma'am, let me explain!" Luna turned her full attention to the captain. "Okay then, explain!" she shouted, "What did you kill the dragon for?! It was supposed to stop thieves! Or are you with the Brotherhood?!" "What! No!" the captain protested, "Look, my squad was attacked. We had two intruders enter from the upper levels and they fought their way down through us. I don't think they were trying to, but they killed at least nine of us anyway. Some foal thought it would be a good idea to release the guard dragon, but then everything went wrong." Sliske, who had until now been listening to the conversation with interest, was surprised when he then realised the magical field around him was gone. He stood still for a second, in case Luna noticed. "'Went wrong'? How so captain?" "The dragon turned on us!" Luna's eyes widened. "No..." she said, "You don't mean it started killing your squad?" "That's exactly what I mean! I lost twelve good ponies to that thing not minutes after it was released. Either way, the thieves escaped somehow, and eventually I was left alone in this chamber, on the bottom floor, with the dragon blocking the way to the exit." Sliske stood there awkwardly. Had they forgotten he was there? In the background, he took a look over to see that Spike was now on his knees and punching at the ground. Interesting. "So you killed the dragon out of self defence?" "More out of necessity," Chain Mail explained, "Given a choice between death by dragon fire and getting a scolding for killing Celestia's pet, I was more willing to take my chances with the latter. So I took the other stairway up to the control platform on the top floor, activated all the bridges at full speed and turned the archives into a giant blender. It probably wouldn't have killed the dragon, just knocked him about a bit, but he was something of an idiot and tried to destroy the pillar that the bridges were attached to. They fell down and crushed him." "And you were somehow launched into Sliske's vault when it fell?" "Exactly." "Well that explains how he got free. But Sliske-" The princess and the captain turned to where Sliske was before, and discovered that he was missing. "What the-?" said Luna, "Where did he go?!" "Uh...Your majesty?" "What?" "Look over there." *** Spike had began convulsing. A pegasus fell to the ground in front of him unconscious. His head hurt, but the dragon was able to react quick enough to catch him. Even if he was probably dying, he couldn't let an innocent pony get hurt while he could stop it. The dragon put down the pegasus and grabbed at his throat. Something was in it. It was crawling down into him. Spike felt his teeth growing at an incredible rate. He could hear an evil presence in his mind. "You are a strong one Spike the Eternal, but I will break you too!" "Sliske!" Spike thundered, "You're not taking me over! I won't let you!" "What can you do to stop me, dragon?" "I don't have to do anything! You're not strong enough to take me!" "Care to put that to the test?" "Try it!" Sliske changed into his gaseous form and went straight for Spike's brain. "AAAAAAAAAGHH!" The dragon clutched his head in pain and began to stumble around the clearing. Inside his head, a war was being waged for control. "You cannot stop me! I am Sliske the Scourge! I destroyed hundreds to get to where I am now! You will fall like all the others and become my most powerful host to date!" "The stronger the host, the more they fight back!" Sliske was getting frustrated. "Give in!" he mentally screamed at Spike. "Never!" "Surrender dragon!" "NEVER!" *** The city gates were unguarded. Soft Spoken and Gold Coin arrived to find a city in turmoil. Ponies rampaged through the streets. Stampeding crowds tore up the street ahead of them, leaving overturned carts and trampled civilians all around. Up at the palace, the dragon could still be seen, apparently suffering a traumatic headache. "So what now?" asked Gold Coin, "Have you got a plan?" "I sure do sonny," Soft Spoken answered, "I'm going up to the palace and handing this monstrous weapon of yours back to the princesses. Then, I'm going to find a place for me and Mystic to stay and wait until this whole human situation blows over." "Or," said Gold Coin, "You could not give the tyrant the only possible hope ponykind has for defeating her, stand aside, and let Lord Second do his job." The butler raised an eyebrow. "Once we find a place to stay, you and I are going to have a very long discussion about this whole 'tyrant' thing. You need help Mr. Coin. I don't think you're well." "There is nothing wrong with me!" Gold Coin shouted, "You're just ignorant! You can't see what the government's doing. They're trying to keep the common pony down!" "'Common pony'? Excuse me? Aren't you a multi-millionaire?" "That is besides the point! You know what I'm talking about! Explain this to me then. Two thousand years ago, Luna tried to bring about a serious end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it crisis. A millennium later, she tries to do it again. Then, the moment she is defeated, if the historical records are to be believed, she suddenly had a change of heart thanks to the 'Elements of Harmony' and was immediately accepted back by Celestia and given half the control of the country again. What does that sound like to you?" "The Legend of Nightmare Moon?" "No. It sounds to me like a tyrant showing favouritism, and a hardened criminal being let off the hook for having connections. Do you honestly believe she was possessed some evil spirit or something? If a murderer claimed that in court for his defence, he would rightly be told just how ridiculous a claim that is. I say that's all lies, made to cover her and endear her to the public again after her position was reinstated. Elements of Harmony! Pff!" Soft Spoken only looked confused. "Didn't you say you were from the Apple family?" he asked. "Yes. Why?" "Didn't your family actually get famous in the first place because one of it's members a thousand years back was one of bearers of the elements?" "Yeah. So?" "So why are you so sceptical about the whole thing? The elements all said that's exactly what happened. Calling, among others, the Element of Honesty a liar is a pretty bold thing to say." "Great Grandma Applejack was deceived just like the rest of ponykind. She defeated Nightmare Moon with her friends. I don't doubt that for a second. However, I know that Celestia was there the moment that mare was down. She could have easily covered for Luna and just told them she was possessed. The Element of Honesty would never state anything other than what she believed was absolute truth, but if she believed lies told to her, she could repeat lies unintentionally." "So is that the reason why you're rebelling?" Softy asked, "Because you felt Celestia went too easy on Princess Luna a thousand years ago? Because that's a terrible excuse for letting a being as evil as Second loose on Equestria." "No, it's not just that. We have plenty of evidence of Celestia's dark side, the holes in the Nightmare Moon story are just one piece." "You need to drop the tinfoil hat and get out in the sun more," the old stallion replied. "You need to open your mind and stop being a grouchy old crank!" "You need to stop going for cheap shots about my age when I point out how much of an idiot you are!" "You need to live up to your damn name and not shout at me for once!" "You need-" Soft Spoken and his companion jumped aside just in time to avoid being trampled by another group of rushing panicking ponies. Mystic Chant almost fell off the old butler's back, and had to struggle to get back onto his position. "Maybe we should save the arguments until we get someplace safer?" the business pony suggested. The senior nodded in agreement, and the three of them soon disappeared down a quieter side street. *** At the bottom of a crater, Second's eyes fluttered open, and he looked up at the sight of a circle of guards glaring angrily at him, while Spike was still mentally battling Sliske in the background. A glance down at his own body revealed he was drenched in blood, and his clothes were stained red. That was never a good sign. He tried to say something, but just coughed up more blood on himself. "Ugh..." he thought, "I guess it makes sense that Spike is one at least...But that guard...How could he be? What does it mean?" He looked up the side of the crater, and saw a damaged barrel half way up the side. If he could get to it, he'd be safe. "Hah!" one of the guards sneered, "So the mighty human isn't so powerful after all! Hell, if the captain can hit you, so can we!" The guard brought a hoof down at Second. Without even trying, the human flopped like a fish, and the hoof just missed him. It was absolute agony. He wasn't even trying to avoid the blows. The way his body reacted with the world of Equestria just meant that he naturally swerved to avoid attacks. It wasn't intentional, he was just like that, and right now considering his injuries, he really wished he wasn't. "What the-?" The guard grabbed a sword in his teeth and tried to stab him. Again, he flopped out of the way, this time landing on what was probably a broken rib. "Gah...I deserve this for trying to win the fight with a Skyrim reference..." he thought to himself. If only he could reach that barrel... "Here, let me try!" The previous guard stepped aside to make way for a much bulkier one. This one had spiked horseshoes for some reason, and was clutching a mace in his teeth. He grinned evilly at his victim and lashed out at him, trying to trample him, hit him with the mace, and everything else he could muster. Still no luck. Second was getting absolutely filthy from the dirt and thanks to his wounds he was probably infected with something now, but not one of the blows struck him. "Damn...He's like a carnival attraction!" one of the guards commented, "'The Pony Who Can't Be Hit'. Hey guys! Let's make a game of it! Everypony put in ten bits, whoever can hit him gets the pot." The guards all murmured in agreement and reached for their wallets. Second could only whimper. *** The doors to Tome's study burst open as the old grey unicorn trotted into the room, followed by Sharp Mind and his auntie Arcane Arts. Around the room, the other members of the brotherhood who had stuck around after the incident with Mystic and Softy all stood or sat in various places. He glared at them. "I seem to recall that I said the study was off limits," he said, "What is everypony doing here?" "Sorry Tomey, you threw us out of the sitting room," Frosty explained, "We had to go somewhere, and this is the only other room with enough chairs for everypony. Aside from the dining room. Which is too cold." Tome frowned at her. "Too cold? Coming from a pony called Frosty Morning? Is she mocking me?" "Well...In any case, I've had enough of moping around here. I'll be honest with you all. I messed up. This is my fault. Gold Coin helped release my son Mystic, and I think Softy escaped on his own. They defeated me, because I was an idiot and I forgot that Soft Spoken has weird mind control powers." Some of the group members tried to speak up about this sudden revelation, but the grey unicorn raised a hoof to silence them before they could say anything. "Now the three of them are gone, and they've probably taken the Reaper's Horn with them. That's a problem, but it doesn't change the fact that we still have goals. Lord Second's enemy was always the princesses, so he probably made his way to Canterlot. I suggest we all go to the city and keep an eye out for him." "Well, when are we leaving sir?" asked Chameleon. "Immediately," Tome replied, "Everypony prepare yourselves and meet me at the station at Rainbow's Rest. We'll catch the first portal from there to Canterlot and save ourselves a walk up the mountain." *** Princess Luna ascended to reach eye level with Spike. The dragon was grabbing his own head and his claws were digging into it. He hadn't drawn blood, but it must have hurt. The princess recalled a spell, a very old spell, devised millennia ago to combat Sliske's influence over the minds of ponies. In regular ponies, the spell exorcised him. In Spike, it could only hope to bury him temporarily. Nevertheless, it would have to do. "Hold on Spike, I can help you!" she called. "Make it stop Luna!" the dragon moaned, "I can't hold him back!" "Just hold still..." The dark alicorn landed on Spike's nose and steadied herself. It wasn't ideal, but it helped for her to be grounded when performing the spell. It was a complicated one, and it took the greatest wizards of several ages to devise it. It normally took a team of unicorns to perform, at least two, but Luna was a goddess. Her horn was surrounded in a dark blue light which built up and fed into a magical field that surrounded Spike's entire body. The dragon stopped struggling and became calm. He opened his eyes again and withdrew his claws as he felt the spell taking effect. It wasn't over yet though. The princess continued to maintain the spell. As Spike's eyes opened, she closed her own, and felt his mind. Sliske was in there, and he was running. Luna's own consciousness entered the mental landscape along with Spike's, and she followed after Sliske. She pushed against him, trying to force him out of her dragon friend's mind, but she knew it was futile. The bare bones of the spell was getting her into the dragon's mind, but the energy behind it was all put into her, strengthening her own mind to give her the power to force Sliske out of his host's mind. Unfortunately, this was Spike. Dragons were so ancient and so powerful that their minds were far more developed than ponies, even if it didn't show in their behaviour. Sliske had plenty of retreats in here. Luna had to have a mental presence everywhere in Spike's brain at once, and she had to exert enough force over all of it to force Sliske all the way out. Unfortunately, even she could not do that. For now, all she could do was harm Sliske and send him into slumber somewhere in the recesses of the dragon's mind. She did that just that. The lunar princess poured every ounce of strength into her attack. Sliske felt a crushing mental pressure the likes of which he hadn't experienced since the old days. For a moment, he feared he may be forced out after all, but eventually the assault let up. The princess was trying not to stress herself too much too early into the fight. Being a creature born to take over the minds of others, Sliske was endowed with great mental fortitude. He pushed back against her. Luna responded with an attack of her own. She had magic on her side and a presence in the physical world to back her up. The worst Sliske could do was force her spell to fail and send her back into her own body, but she could do the same to him, and he had no body to return to if he was forced out of Spike. He'd just be atoms in the air if he left his host, and then he'd be even more vulnerable. "No!" Sliske cried, "It won't end like this!" Eventually, Luna overcame him. The struggle ended, and Sliske was almost crushed under the much stronger will of the ancient alicorn. He hadn't been kicked out. As expected, he was merely dormant, but he was beaten for now, and he'd stay beaten for a while. Feeling weak, Luna retreated. She felt back for her body in the physical world and cut the spell. In an instant, she was pulled back from the surreal darkness that was Spike's mind, and opened her eyes again. Spike smiled at her. "Thank you Luna." *** Rainbow's Rest was a stopping point, a station situated between the major cities of Canterlot and Ponyville, which served as being the half way point of many portal travellers. The technology behind the portal system was a recent innovation, only just invented nearly a hundred years ago, by one of Ancient Tome's relatives no less, but it was dead useful. The system had almost completely replaced trains by now. The portal stations all used to be stopping points for trains, but they no longer served that function. Now instead a series of five or six generators would produce portals to pre-determined destinations at certain times, and passengers and cargo could just walk or be carried through them and arrived instantly at the destination. Due to energy requirements, portals could only be open for a few minutes at a time, and most of them only went short distances, but it was instant transport, which was hard to criticise. Thanks to being short range though, ponies often had to go through multiple portals to reach a far away location. Portals between Canterlot and Cloudsdale for instance required one to go through a few other small settlements first. Similarly, to get from Canterlot to Ponyville, one had to pass through Rainbow's Rest, named as such because the town hosted the final resting place of former Wonderbolt and Element of Loyalty Rainbow Dash, whom in her final years had insisted having a memorial that could be seen from space. Whether it really was or not was a question to be answered when ponies achieved space travel, but it was big enough that a town had sprung up around it during construction, so that was something. "Come along! We haven't got all day!" Tome shouted. "Can't we just wait for a second Tomey?" asked Iron Hoof, "Ze!zar is having issues at security. We have to wait for him!" "By Second's singing, how long is this going to take?!" "He's got nothing on him, so they have to let him through, right?" asked Frosty. Ancient Tome sighed and put a hoof over his face. "I'll deal with it. You two go ahead and find the others." The old grey unicorn turned away from his friends and walked back to the security checkpoint, grumbling to himself. Upon arriving, he found the zebra being harassed by three ponies in uniform. "Come on punk, take off the costume," one of them threatened, "You're making all the old folks nervous." "Officers, please, let me explain," the zebra pleaded, "This is my natural colour! I am a zebra. We all-" "Yeah right!" said another, "You ain't fooling anyone with that getup kid. Take it off before I arrest you for disturbing the peace." "Kid?!" Ze!zar replied indignantly, "I am forty three years old! How dare you! Now let me go you ruffians! I have done nothing wrong!" "Why you-!" "What is going on here?" asked Tome. "Tome, please explain to these jobsworths that I am a zebra! They're not listening to me!" "You're not getting out of this with made up words sunshine!" another of the officers snapped, "Honestly, what the hell is a 'zebra'? You think you can just make up a race of ponies? We're not that stupid!" "Zebras aren't ponies! They're a different species altogether! And how have you not heard of us before? There are literally millions of us!" "Never heard of them," the first officer answered. "Nope," said the other. "Nu-uh," agreed the third. Ze!zar just stared at them all. "How don't you know about us?!" he practically screamed, "There's an entire nation of zebras! United Zebrica?! It's about the size of Equestria and it's just across the ocean?! It's full of sand and deserts, and is divided into several sub territories?! They built the damn pyramids there! Please tell me you've heard of the pyramids?!" "Can't say I have," said the first officer. "Me neither." "I still think you're just making things up." Ze!zar looked over to Tome again. "Help?" he silently begged. "You'll uh...have to forgive my friend here," said Ancient Tome, "He fell into a vat of chemicals a few years ago, and it dyed his coat this colour. He's very sensitive about it, so he just tells ponies that he's this so called 'zebra' so they don't think he's a freak." Ze!zar spluttered. "No, no, it's alright Zeddy," Tome interrupted, "You're with friends here." "Hmm," said the second of the officers, "I guess that makes sense." "Yep," agreed the third one, "He does sort of smell like industrial solvents." Ze!zar looked offended. "I dunno..." said the last officer, "I think that's pretty suspicious. He fell into a vat of chemicals and just happened to come out looking like that?" The first officer rolled his eyes and put a hoof around the dissenter's neck. "Jimmy," he said, "Tell me. What's more likely? That this poor pony here fell into a vat of random industrial chemicals and came out with black and white stripes, or that he's from some made-up country full of all black and white striped ponies that we've somehow all never heard of?" 'Jimmy' considered this for a while. "I guess I can see that," he eventually answered, "All right you, you're free to go." Before Ze!zar could say anything more, Ancient Tome put a hoof around his neck too and dragged him away from the security checkpoint. "You're lucky I didn't leave you behind," Tome scolded, "You've been holding us up for seven minutes." "It's not my fault the police here are dumb as bricks!" Ze!zar snapped, "I shouldn't have to paint myself a single colour to go out in public! I thought zebras were common knowledge now! There are zebra politicians, zebra sports stars, zebra actors, zebra writers, zebra scientists, zebra doctors, zebra teachers...How sheltered must one be to have never even heard of us?! Or Zebrica for that matter?! It's only an ENTIRE CONTINENT that they've somehow never heard of!" "Z, I know. Please, just forget it and follow me. We're going to miss our portal." Ze!zar sighed loudly. "One of these days..." *** It was later in the day when Celestia descended into the dungeons once again. Since the attack on the palace at lunchtime, she had spent the day talking with everypony involved trying to get a picture of what happened. Spike was resting in what used to be the ball room, but it had been cleared out to give him a place to sleep off the after-effects of Sliske's mind control. Dr. Heart Beat and Private Skysword, his two most recent hosts, had both awoken and been questioned about the incidents too, which unfortunately revealed nothing as they both lost their memories of the previous few days. Luna had also been quite drained by the incident. Trying a spell like she did had taken a lot out of her, and she had needed time to recuperate as well before she could begin to tell Celestia exactly what happened. Captain Chain Mail was also questioned about the incident. The princess was quite surprised to hear that he had managed to actually strike the human. She had only ever known of four individuals who had ever struck Second, those being Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Spike and Pinkie Pie. Even when the human was laying helpless on the ground earlier today, an entire company of trained soldiers had been apparently unable to hit him, even with money on the line. "I wonder what it is about certain ponies?" she thought to herself, "Is there some kind of innate ability some ponies, or some dragons I guess, possess that allows them to hurt humans?" It was certainly odd. She had originally thought it was because of the Elements of Harmony that Twilight's friends had been able to hurt Second and First. Of course, Spike and the captain hitting him disproved that. This would need further research. And here was where research was being done. In the dungeon, the princess passed by a cell containing the red machine that Second had used to ram the front gates of the palace grounds. It looked damaged now, but it could still be dangerous. They had no idea what it even was, other than the fact it was probably not organic, and they wanted to keep it well away from other ponies until they could study it a bit. Eventually, the princess came to a door leading into another corridor. This was the newer part of the dungeons. The machine was stored in the old parts right now, but all the prisoners were kept in the much cleaner and smarter looking new dungeons. Walking up to a side door, the princess noted the cell it was connected to and wandered in. It was just like the observation room she and Luna had been in when they were questioning Explodey McGee. It was completely featureless except for a single window into the room beyond. Normally, the room beyond would be called the interview room, because it was where prisoners would be questioned rather than kept, but for this prisoner they didn't trust him to not find a way out by swimming down the toilet or something, so the interview room had been converted into a cell instead. Beyond that window, there was an entirely empty room. Aside from the prisoner, one table, one chair and the window, there was nothing in that room. Not even a door. The door had been magically removed, and the walls and the window itself reinforced a thousand times over so that no living thing could escape from it. If Celestia put the sun in that room the walls would hold. Air was periodically teleported into the room so that the prisoner wouldn't suffocate, but aside from that, nothing got in or out. The prisoner was utterly, completely, inescapably trapped. *** Soft Spoken and Gold Coin walked through the ruined gates of the grounds to Canterlot castle. They were currently unguarded, so the two proceeded straight through. If they came across any guards they'd explain what happened. Mystic Chant was back to walking again now, and followed after the two older stallions silently. The entire journey had been one big adventure for him, and he was looking around at all the sites of the palace. He had been here now a week ago with his class, looking at Lord Second in the statue garden. A lot had changed in a very short time. "Now, we'll just go in, drop off the Reaper's Horn, and be on our way," said Soft Spoken, "No need for us to get involved." "You're not going to hand me over to Celestia are you?" asked Gold Coin. "I don't think I need to honestly. I've been announcing my intention to hand over the Reaper's Horn to the princess since this journey began, and you haven't even tried to stop me." "Well you're holding it," Gold Coin pointed out, "If I tried to take it you might use it on me." "You know I wouldn't," the old brown earth pony replied, "Come on Mr. Coin. What's the real reason you haven't tried to stop me?" "...I guess I just don't want to?" "But you do still want to overthrow the princess?" "Of course." "And yet you don't want to stop me, even though me giving this to the princess could foil all the plans you, the brotherhood and Second have ever made against her?" "I have more faith in our plans than that. Second can kill the princess even if she does have the Reaper's Horn. He'll find a way. I just don't think it's right to harm you or Mystic to ensure those plans run smoothly. That's why I abandoned the brotherhood. I don't agree with Tomey's methods." "That's a good one. You still let the human loose, I remind you." "All for the greater good. He'll only harm those two nags on the throne. Nopony will die needlessly. You'll see." "I don't share your confidence." "That's because you lack faith. We of the brotherhood know the true nature of the human. We know it was right to release him, and we know why. Trust me, everything will be fine." "The fact that you still believe that tripe even though you've left the brotherhood worries me Mr. Coin. I'm on the fence about whether or not to actually turn you in. For now, I'll keep quiet and only give the names of the other twelve, but you had better not betray me." "You have my word that I will do nothing more than observe. From hereon out, I'm just a spectator in all this. Consider me off the chess board." Soft Spoken nodded. Behind them, Mystic Chant spoke up for the first time in a while. "Softy, what's going to happen to us?" he asked, "I'm scared." "Scared of what?" asked Gold Coin. "Of the human. Of the dragon. Of what's going to happen to you and father and Auntie Arts and Auntie Morning and Uncle Iron. Is everypony going to be okay?" Gold Coin looked briefly at the Soft Spoken, who shook his head quickly. "Of course we are kid," he answered, "Nothing bad will happen. You'll see. Once this is all over, we can all go home, and your family will be back to normal." Mystic smiled slightly. Soft Spoken knew that he could probably tell it was a lie, but the three of seemed to be much better for it anyway. "So much for honesty," he thought. *** The sky was red as the sun set in the distance. In a small alley off the side of the larger streets, the remaining members of the Brotherhood of Man all met. They had gathered in a circle to conduct their meeting, something they had done so often now it was almost a habit, and Ancient Tome was explaining the whole plan to them. "Now I suggest that we divide and conquer for this next stage. Lord Second is being held somewhere in that palace, and we need to rescue him. Now obviously, not all of us can just march into the palace and act like we own the place...Well...I can, but you guys definitely can't." "So what's the plan, boss?" asked Ze!zar. "Right, Iron! You're a royal guard, so you'll be able to walk in anyway. Your job will be to negotiate a way in for Sergeant Justice. Justice, I want you in there for backup. This could easily end in a fight and we'll need all the support we can get." One of the green earth pony twins and Iron Hoof both nodded simultaneously. "Auntie!" said Ancient Tome, directing his attention to the lavender unicorn, "You and I know the princess. We can use our status to gain entry. We'll be heading elsewhere from the others though. We'll talk with the princesses personally. If Gold Coin and Soft Spoken have beaten us there and have tried to sell us out, we'll be there as damage control." "And who's going to be actually breaking out Second?" the old mare asked. "That will be Iron and Justice's job," Tome replied, "Remember though, that there is an element of infiltration to this. Assuming that this escape plan will work perfectly is ludicrous given our track record. So if we fail to free Second, at least some of us need to still be around, undercover in the palace and ready to enact our plan B." "What about the rest of us Tomey?" asked Frosty. "You'll all stay here in the city as our support crew," Tome answered, "We can't sneak the entire brotherhood into the palace. Except you Chameleon. I want you to get in too. Pick an identity and use it to follow Iron and Justice. You're going to be a part of the rescue team as well." Chameleon saluted with her hoof. "You heard him soldiers!" Iron Hoof barked, "Move out!" *** The solar princess looked intently through the glass. On the other side, Lord Second sat back in his chair, the ghost of a smile on his face. His clothes were still bloodied, but he was wearing less of them now. Just a thin shirt and trousers. They had him thoroughly searched when he was brought in. If he was carrying anything on him before, he wasn't now. Unlike with Explodey's cell, this time the window did appear to be one way, as Second was not looking in her direction, instead merely staring at the table. The princess knew he couldn't actually hurt her without the Reaper's Horn, which he didn't have, but he was still capable of knocking her around if he got angry. As insurance, the princess decided to instead just project her image into the room. It would look and sound like she was there, but she had no physical presence. Celestia's avatar popped into the room, just on the other side of the table from Second. "Hello Second," she said, "It's been a thousand years since I last saw you." Second's weak smile spread into an outright grin as he saw the princess. "Celestia," he answered, "I haven't seen you in a thousand years either." "Naturally. Though, being trapped in stone all that time, it must feel like just yesterday to you." "Oh no. Quite the contrary. I was conscious the entire time." That statement gave the princess pause for thought. He wasn't supposed to be conscious the entire time. That sounded like quite a horrific experience, but the human kept up his cheerful demeanour nonetheless. She'd have time to contemplate his fate later. For now she needed to continue talking. "...How...Unfortunate..." she replied, "You have my sympathies for that, but I'm afraid we have things to discuss." "Get everything out of me you can princess," said Second, "I'll be out of here soon." "No you won't. I know you better than you think. You can cancel out magic directed at you, but you have no effect on spells on objects or the environment. The enchantments on this cell are strong enough to hold even you." The human rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair. "Whatever you say princess. I can get out of here any time I want. I'm just waiting for my injuries to heal." "Yes I heard about that. Weren't you bleeding to death just a few hours ago?" "I was. But I have an insane healing factor, so it's all good." "Of course you do. How could I forget? What I want to know though is why it is Captain Chain Mail and Spike were able to hit you when not even I can? What makes them special? Why can they do it?" Second sighed. "Princess, when I said all those years ago that I couldn't tell you anything, I really meant it. The secrets of humanity mean a lot to Equestria. I could tell you the truth about your world. I could tell you all about my people, about myself, what I am and what you are, and what ponies are and what Chain Mail and Spike are, but it would drive you mad. It might make you cry, or make you scream, or it might just shock you into silence. I don't know. If what I tell you ever leaves your lips though, that's Equestria over and done with." "Then tell me what you can!" Celestia begged, "I don't need to know everything, just enough. Please, let me understand this!" The human drummed his fingers on the table as he thought it over. "...I suppose I could give you a few hints," he said, "Though, for your own sake, don't try to solve the puzzle with them..." *** Getting past the guards had been a pain. They had a lot of questions. While the grounds were not very well protected, security was tight around the palace itself, but that was reasonable given recent events. It had taken a lot of pressing, but eventually Soft Spoken had talked the guards into letting them see Princess Luna. The night was just beginning now, so they would be first in line to see her for the night court. Soft Spoken sat with Gold Coin on a bench just outside the doors to the throne room. They were the only ones present for the time, save for Mystic Chant who was wandering around the room looking at things. The little colt was currently inspecting a suit of armour over by the opposing wall. As the two waited, Gold Coin sighed and pulled himself back so that his spine rested against the back of his chair, and let his legs dangle off the side. He closed his eyes and seemed to almost fall asleep. The elder stallion stared at him as he did, wondering what would possess a pony to sit like that. "Excuse me?" said Soft Spoken, "What the hell are you doing?" "Praying," the yellow earth pony replied, as if that was all that needed to be said. "...What?" "This sitting position imitates that of the human. The Brotherhood of Man believe that it brings us closer to him in spirit and helps facilitate communication." Soft Spoken blinked. "I think I preferred it when all I knew about you guys were that you were crazy conspiracy theorists. I did NOT need to know that you were a cult as well." Gold Coin flicked an eye open. "And I do not need you being judgemental." The doors opened nearby, and one of the night guards stepped out to greet them. "Princess Luna will see you now," he said, "You may enter." Gold Coin slid down out of his seat easily and landed on all fours. The butler had a harder time getting down, but nevertheless vacated his seat and trotted over to join his companion. Mystic Chant, as always, walked in just between the two of them silently. The group followed the guard into the throne room. Princess Luna waited at the far end. The chamber wasn't very well lit, just a few candles here and there, but everything could be seen clearly. Moonlight spilled in through the windows to brighten the room, somehow from all directions at once. Neither of them being unicorns, the two older ponies had no explanation for how that worked. Mystic also had no clue, but for different reasons. The three eventually stopped at the bottom of the steps leading up to the throne. The princess of the night gave them a curious look, evidently waiting for them to speak first. Soft Spoken tried to think of something to say, but decided instead that now was one of the times that silence was more appropriate. Instead, he wordlessly reached over his back and grabbed the Reaper's Horn. The device had been strapped to his back since a little while after they entered Canterlot, as it had a habit of falling off during their journey up the mountain. The string that held it before snapped, and the old butler pulled it out to show the princess. Her eyes went wide as she saw it, and he gently placed it on the ground in front of her. Luna turned to look at her guard. "Leave us," she said. The guard complied and galloped out of the room. The doors slammed shut behind him as he left, and in the dim light of the throne room, Luna levitated the weapon up to her and inspected it. "...Where did you find it?" she asked. "I took it from it's previous owner after he tried to kill my friend here with it," the butler answered. Luna turned the weapon over and looked at the other side. "I see. Who was the pony you took it from?" "Sir Ancient Tome, ma'am. I'm the butler in his household, Soft Spoken. He is the leader of the Brotherhood of Man. The little unicorn with me is his son Mystic Chant, and the other pony here is Gold Coin, a friend of his. They both rebelled when they discovered the truth, and we escaped together with the Reaper's Horn." "Yes, I know Mr. Coin already," Luna replied, "He's been a recurring face at many of my sister's charity fundraisers, and quite a frequent contributor." Soft Spoken gave a wry smile to the younger stallion. "You never told me you knew the princess Goldie." "...Must have slipped my mind." "I have to say though, I am surprised to hear that Ancient Tome is in on this," Luna continued, "I'd have never really thought it of him. He's from the House of Sparkle if I remember correctly. They were always such great supporters of ours." She paused to look at Gold Coin. "And you're from the Apple family, aren't you?" "Yes ma'am," he answered, "Current head of finance for the Apple Corporation, and next in line for CEO." "Hmm, curious," Luna commented, "Two out of six...Would either of you happen to know the names of any other members of the brotherhood?" Gold Coin was about to make some excuses why he didn't know, but Soft Spoken stepped forward to give the names instead. "Lady Arcane Arts, Private Iron Hoof of Celestia's day guard, a pegasus called Frosty Morning, a former racing celebrity called Sun Rise, and a yellow unicorn mare called Chameleon. Those are just the ones whose names I know. There were twelve of them in total though." "Oh wait!" The three older ponies all turned their attention to Mystic Chant, who was now bouncing up and down excitedly. "I know some of the others!" he cried. "Well little one? Tell us their names," said Luna. Mystic stopped for a moment to recall them. "There was a zebra!" he said, "He said his name was Ze!zar!" Luna raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry little one, could you repeat that?" "Ze!zar." "Ze!zar," the princess repeated, trying out the word, "It's meant to have a clicking sound in the middle?" "Yep! He said it's Zebrican." Luna looked at Soft Spoken again, who just shrugged. "Anypony else?" "Yeah! One of them was my old school teacher! He's a unicorn, and he's called Sharp Mind!" "That all?" "Yep!" Luna smiled. "Thank you Mystic. You've been a very big help. As for you two, you have sincerest thanks for bringing this back to me, and for bringing me the names of these brotherhood ponies. They will all be taken into custody soon enough, and I will discover the names of the other four." Soft Spoken and Gold Coin both bowed in thanks. Mystic stumbled to imitate them. "Just doing our civil duty your majesty," said Soft Spoken. "Well. While we're glad for the help you've already given, I think some further questioning will be in order. Tomorrow, of course. If it's not too much trouble, would you mind both staying in the castle tonight? The three of you will be granted a brief stay in the guest bedrooms, and the servants will be at your beck and call. You can consider it your reward." "It would be our honour your highness," Gold Coin replied. "Good. You may rise." The three ponies climbed to their feet again and faced Luna. "Go tell the guard outside, and he'll show you to your quarters. And thank you once again." *** "You and First. You're not the only ones, are you?" "No." "So there are more humans? How many?" "Billions. There's a planet full of us." The construct remained expressionless, but behind the window, the real Princess Celestia nearly had a heart attack. She was glad she actually wasn't in the room. The last thing she wanted was letting her worst enemy see her have such a reaction. She quickly regained her composure and continued her line of questions. "Are they all as powerful as you and First?" "No. Back home, humans are about as powerful as most ponies are. Most of my abilities are environmentally based. I'm only like this because I'm in Equestria. I think my immunity to magic is genetic, though I can't be sure. There's no real way to test it." That calmed down the princess a bit. The news that Second was just a special case brought her some comfort. "Why does being in Equestria give you such powers?" "Confidential." A forbidden question. Okay. Try something else. "Where is your planet?" "Confidential." "How did you come here?" "Confidential." The princess sighed. "Okay. Luna and the captain said that when you were outside, you claimed that you were responsible for creating ponies, and among other things, doorknobs, guitars and teacups. Can you elaborate a bit?" Second bit his lip and thought for a moment. "Confidential," he said eventually, "I shouldn't even have told you that much. I just have a big mouth." Celestia let out an exasperated sigh. "You have allies this time," she said, "Sliske, the Brotherhood of Man, and that Explodey McGee. What are they to you? How do you know them, and what have you got planned for them all?" The human leaned back in his chair. "The Brotherhood? Never heard of them. If you're talking about the ponies who freed me, I don't really give a damn either way. I woke up in what was probably their headquarters some time ago. When I was released I had a bit of a temper tantrum, since I was conscious for all my time inside the statue, and once I was out of it I just needed to sleep it off. After waking up, I really didn't want to stick around. Canterlot was where I wanted to be. I have no interest in the brotherhood or it's goals or motives. I'm not even curious. I just don't care. Sliske I have a slightly more personal relationship with, which I can't tell you much about because it's also confidential and he doesn't even know, but I ultimately just know him as another enemy of yours. While I was in the country outside of Canterlot, I discovered from some old newspapers from a few days ago that Sliske was released. So I tracked him down and recruited him." "How did you find him?" "Confidential. And Explodey...Well...Let's just say he's a special case." Celestia frowned. "Can he really self destruct and survive it? Why did you send him here? Where did he come from?" "You found out that was me then?" asked Second, "Fair enough. Yes, he can survive blowing himself up. It's a natural talent of his. I sent him against you to destroy the annex and throw your palace into disarray before I arrived. I wanted to make a grand impressive entrance while you were still picking up the pieces. That didn't happen though, and that makes me sad. I wanted to come in singing, like in the old days. I was thinking maybe 'I can't decide' by the Scissor Sisters." "I'm glad you didn't actually," Celestia answered truthfully, "I could never stand your singing." "What? Princess you wound me," Second replied, putting a hand to his chest, "I have a beautiful voice!" "But where did he come from though?" she pressed, "Who was Explodey before you brainwashed him or whatever it is you did?" The human bit his lip. "I made him." Celestia tilted her head. "You?" "Yes." "How? Can you just wish up new ponies?" "Basically. Though I need certain tools to do it," Second explained, "I designed Explodey, named him, gave him a special talent and matching cutie mark, gave him a set of false memories, and let him loose. Really, the plan failed spectacularly. I should have just made an outright minion instead of an oblivious fool, but what can I say? I wanted to go for comedy value." "Hmm," the princess replied, "So he's not really working for you then? He's just been tricked?" "Yep. I suppose he didn't just come in and bomb the place? What did he do?" The princess smiled as she remembered. "He came up to me and asked to destroy the annex," she recounted, "I tried to tell him that we had never hired him, but he just started crying. I had to go comfort him and try to calm him down." "...Hmm..." said Second, "In hindsight I guess it makes sense that a pony only a day old wouldn't be very emotionally mature..." "I came into his cell here earlier and found him playing party games with one of the guards." Second chuckled quietly. "Kids grow up so fast..." The human's moment of laughter was brief. Startlingly quickly, he lost his smile and positive demeanour, instead adopting a grim and serious look. Celestia found the suddenness of the change quite jarring. She played his last statement back in her head, and connected the dots. "Second? Did you ever have kids?" He smiled weakly at her. "Yes I did princess. I had a sixteen year old son." Oh no... "He was called Anthony." END Author's notes: I'm a little worried that the POVs might have getting a little much in this chapter. I tried to keep the focus on just a few different characters, but Luna suddenly became important, and for the fight scene at the beginning I didn't want to take a side in the POV and tried to make it from the view of a spectator...I don't know how well that came across, but you've got to experiment. Now, I read over the comments I got on chapter 3 to see what I had to work on. Some people on EqD gave some really in depth critique, which I did try to work into this. The main complaints I've had so far are about Ancient Tome, and I'm really not sure if I can please either side with him. Some people complained it was out of character for him when he went crazy in chapter 2 and threatened his son and butler, and some people complained that the characterisation was inconsistent when I tried to portray him showing remorse in chapter 3. Really, Tome's character is hard to pin down for me. He is a father, but he's also a crazy cult leader, and he has to be both those things at once. Bear with me guys, I'll get this eventually. Just let me try and intergrate those two sides. This may take a while... Other complaints I've had concern the OCs. Really, as far as OCs go, I'm trying to leave the unimportant ones out of the spotlight. The Brotherhood aren't all major characters, just Tome and Gold Coin. If that isn't clear to you, tell me how to make it clearer, because if I need to tell you that in the authors notes for you to get it, I'm clearly not doing my job. And of course, there are the standard complaints about Second. Thankfully, I've found less comments saying that he's annoying, but people still think he's overpowered and some also feel that he's very irresponsible with his power. While he is meant to be both those things, I can at least try to tone those aspects down. This chapter establishes some of his weaknesses and limitations, and these will come into play later. As for his personality flaws? Eh. I'm keeping them. If Second was a really good guy, he wouldn't have become public enemy number one in the first place. Thanks again for reading, you're all great, and I love every single one of you.