The Vanishing Star
By NocturneD
note: long chapter ahoy!
My sister then stepped to the side and let a small purple colored lizard in front of her. She proudly introduced the lizard as her number one assistant; Spike the dragon. Apparently from my understanding she hatched him from an egg during an exam to the gifted school for unicorns. I looked over the little guy. Purple scales, green spikes, very big eyes, a bit of a charmer from what I see him trying to be suave with miss Rarity. A bit tubby but then again, he's a baby dragon. Oh good, a male around Synn's age to play with.
"Hello Mr. Fade Away." Spike raised his little hand for an appreciative hand shake. "or... Vanishing Star..." He turned his head to Twilight, "Wait Twilight what am I supposed to call him?"
"Va..." Twilight tried to say but I stopped her.
"Just call me Fade Away little guy." I smirked. To see Twilight a bit shocked for me still wanting to be hush-hush on the situation. What's the point already since I just revealed myself in front of the family awhile ago? Easy... Lorenzo, you just met him not too long ago. You can't be too careful around ponies like him. I really have no clue what he and his family were up to since the last time I saw them and like I said, you don't want to get mixed up in politics. Sorry... I'm being too judgmental as of lately, maybe he was not as crazy as I remembered him?
*Sigh*
I have a pretty bad habit of leaving ponies who I put some trust in, just leaving them be. Forget them and just go on with my way. I shook Spike's hand and introduced my party to the rest of Twilight's friends. And damn did the girls really pull Swan in fast into their own little group, leaving us guys... and Shining Armor... to fend for ourselves. Yes I considered Spike one of us before my brother, happy? Dick...
The younger siblings of the girls stayed behind, still looking over Synn's cutie mark and asking him questions on how he got it. Little guy is so bashful its just too sweet that I might die from diabetes. HNNNNNGGG... Nah I'm fine every pony. I asked around if there was a play area for the kids, honestly I felt guilty at times over the years when I had parties for benefits or other high-class reasons. For whatever reason I had guests come with kids and the poor things would just sit around looking bored. Would not be the first time either I would catch the kids running around knocking over table centers. So from then I prepared my future parties for whatever reason to have a play room filled with toys and games, that way no child is ever bored.
I caught one of the other guest's attention. Some elder posh unicorn, light purple fur, blonde curly mane. Very wrinkly. "Um excuse me ma'am I wa..."
"Well my, my. You're that Fade Away character that made the prosthetics?" The posh pony gasped, and smiled in my face.
"Uh yes." I still tried to ask for the play room, "I was wondering where there might be an entertainment room becau..." I looked back at the girls holding Synn down to get a better look at his cutie mark while he tried to pull away. "Well I got five kids here and I don't want them to be bored."
"Oh my. Well certainly there is a place because I dropped off my granddaughter not too long ago." The posh unicorn chuckled, well what did you expect a high society pony to talk other wise? "How about I lead you to the place where you can let your little ones so we can talk?"
"You know." I looked back at my brother. I had to admit, I really was not giving him much of a chance. He just stood there looking at me, his body and spirit showed that he was strong-willed. But as I looked at his eyes, something just rimmed of disappointment. He really felt like he wanted to make everything alright but all I did was just to let it slide with no serious talk about it. I just dismissed it, normally a pony who says we're cool now, usually relaxes at that point. Almost like he wanted to do more than just make up. I think he wanted to cry, wanted to hold his little brother one more time before I said goodbye. But this was not supposed to be about my brother, I was here to blend in and have fun, see what the rest of the Sparkle clan is known for and up to.
"Sure." I answered the older unicorn. "Lead the way." I hoisted Synn away from the girls and told them to follow me. So I followed this older mare through a couple hallways while she chatted me up about her son that came home from the war years ago, she introduced herself as Gleam. Apparently the poor colt shot in the spine and could not walk anymore, was left crippled for years until she heard about my prosthetic being made of the strongest material. Well, until you bash a certain ass hat in the face with it then you get your moneys worth. She put in to ask if we could somehow make a new spinal column for her son; Light. I told her the usual, we would look into the matter and she seemed like a real nice pony too. I dropped the kids off and had a talk with her son, I really was not in the mood to make crazy promises.
Until I actually got to meet Light; pretty strong-looking stallion but in a wheel chair. Pretty much was in his late thirties early forties, married from what his mother told me, made good money, had some good hobbies. Just seeing him like that as he smiled and chatted with me, it really got me going for a bit. This pony has been through war and it really shows with the scars. I gave him an honorable salute, Ghendi did as well. Shining who was still tailing me, I guess did one too. I saw two little fillies run up to him and gave him a hug, both pretty colorful and cheerful. Light; despite being disabled showed more motivation of life being cruel to him but never really thought of it being as bad. He got two kids, a wife and doing great. An excellent father as he excused himself to chase his daughters around the hall, even if our conversation only lasted a few moments. I had to hand it to him, I really admired his fatherly figure. Reminds me a lot about Big Tex... I told Gleam it was an honor meeting her, we exchanged information and told her we would look into the idea. I apologize every pony, my mind is just wondering.
"Well that was an inspiration." My brother mentioned. "Surely you can do something for him right Van?"
"Maybe... I dunno..." I shifted my shoulders.
"Oh come now I'm sure you can whip up something." He replied as he put on that ever so happy big brother look.
"It's not that simple..." Thank Celestia I was not facing him as I was obviously rolling my eyes but disguised my voice that I was still caring. Some pony please gag me with a spoon.
"You were always a whiz kid." He chuckled.
"Yeah..." I nodded.
"Always trying to build your little gadgets and leaving them all over the place." He smiled.
"Or they were in a safe place and you would stomp on them regardless." I mumbled as I walked away, Ghendi closely followed.
I would feel better if my brother was not constantly trying to follow me. Come on, I told him I forgave him... somewhat and he's still thinking we're not cool. I seriously want to pop him in the mouth again if he does not back away from me. Give me some damn room! Let alone try not to butter me up when there is still a big mountain to climb! I peered a little behind myself and Shining was still close behind me. Geez go away! Go bother Twilight or your wife.
"So Van?" He tried to bring up another conversation.
"What?" I muttered.
"Um..." He stuttered, "How about a drink? You know... To welcome the night? Ease some tension?"
A few drinks never hurt anything. Oh no, last bar I went to had this ass hat hitting me upside the head for just showing his wife how something works. Not like I was mounting her there in public. You know what every pony, this is exactly what it looks like. Back there when the fight finished, I was sad. I was sad for this ass hat who couldn't move on, just his face alone makes me want to rip it off for all the crap he put me through back then. I was more sad for Ghendi having to fight my battle for me and I felt proud that he actually got the big dumb bastard onto his knees in front of the family and his wife to show that he's not the greatest thing. Call me self arrogant, I don't care. I hate him. I still do. Maybe I'm going a little too far into these thoughts as he offered, but I'm thinking of something else.
"Maybe later..." I frowned.
"Ah come on a little drink won't hurt." Shining smiled.
"No... I... I need to concentrate on making this go right." I tried reasoning with him.
"What's the point?" He scoffed then smiled back at me as I turned my head to look at him, "Main family is hard to impress anyway."
"Well maybe I want to try." I shot back. "And if you're making them out to be like they don't like anything, then I'm sure your success in marrying into royalty really gives bonus points."
"I never said tha..." He tried to bring up.
"Oh no, when I first walked in here you told me that dad was given a hard time by these ponies. I already theorize that they are only interested in success and royalty. You and Twilight are already covered, I got to prove myself." I frowned at my brother. He finally shut up. "I even got a plan." I raised the briefcase up to show him.
"It's not like that." He frowned.
"Uh... you're married to a princess, Twilight is a protegé to the ruler. You pretty much earned your merits..."
"You're right." He smirked, "I do have a sure-fire shot. That way, we can fix dad's honor and our side of the family does not have to be scorned at anymore."
My eyes slowly wandered to Ghendi's expression, pretty much he was not liking what he was hearing. I had to agree, "Shining. Let's say your SUCCESSFUL marriage to a princess does impress the elders or whatever they call themselves. Which is should I'll admit, what happens after that? Is there a grand prize to be given out?"
He just shifted his shoulders, "From what dad explained, more money to the favored family who brings in more success."
Then I froze. Wait. Money? You know what, of course it's about money. It was always about money. Little by little this started to make sense, probably why dad wanted me to work for and basically worship royalty.
I could not even fathom up any idea how this could even bring family together. I slowly shook my head in a disagreeing way, "This... this does not make sense."
"Seems like it would pit the families against each other than bringing them together." Ghendi narrowed his eyes, suspicion is really getting to him. First he ran into one of my old friends and I would have figured something was not right between them. I wanted to ask but something seemed a bit off. Then again, Lorenzo did not pose any threat to him or his brother. Only to the sound of his voice, sounded like he had enough. Who could blame him?
"If anything it rationalizes the family spending between each family, the family with more accomplishments gets a bigger cut." Shining really thought he was acting smart with this, but this was all bull. "At least from what dad told me." Dad was really willing to tell his own children about this sort of thing, probably because he wanted us to expect the worst if family duties ever pulled us in like he used to. The entire thought of a higher family judging and passing out money based on how well the other families do is rather insulting. To me at least. Why? What makes this certain family better than the rest of us? Well, we're about find out sometime by the end of the night. Hopefully...
"So..." I wanted to strike up a new topic, "Uh... How were the past few years for you?"
Somehow the awkwardness died between the two of us, figured I would at least give Shining Armor the chance to redeem himself with some good news. "Well, I received a promotion to captain a year ago and met some extraordinary ponies touring along side princess Celestia as well as some delegates. Helped prevent a changeling take over, married my wife Cadence who you had the pleasure of meeting a couple of days ago."
"Yeah..." I rubbed part of my face as the memory still hurts.
"Went on a lengthy honeymoon after that, then helped purify the crystal kingdom and pretty much Co-managing it with Cadence. It was an honor being appointed to rule it as well, to watch over the crystal ponies to help rebuild their society." I let Shining go on for a bit longer, he really seemed to enjoy detailing out his accomplishments with Twilight's help. Wow, really my family did a lot during their years. Somehow makes me think that they really did end up carrying on without me, could not do that forever. Nor would I want them to sulk about me forever but a little inside it hurts to know that I was never there for any of that. I was too busy working by inventing and building a possible new future. Only time I ever seen any action was when I got to see the Black Suns go into an all out brawl with Equestria's enemies. Could say I was on the battlefield for a bit but as a civilian, not a fighter and I assisted with repairing a few of their big toys in a time of need. Why did I not mention this until now? Well... Not really proud of myself and still a little shaken up.
About three to five years ago...
I... And among other guests of honor at a royal peace conference in a neutral state on Equestria to promote a peace treaty in Saddle Arabia... I was one of Illusive Lorenzo's guests. It was typically another high brow party but there was much more on the line. Princess Celestia herself showed up to sign on her behalf and the ambassadors of Saddle Arabia as well. Why would even go to one of these things? I ask myself that time and time again but still end up just showing for good appearances and to please the crowd on good business.
Pretty much the building this all took place in was your typical embassy but suited for the culture. It was all fun, had drinks, ate food, posed for pictures. I even got to shake hooves with the ambassadors, even might given a wink to their assistant. Rather cute little pony she was... This was before Swan and I were dating so give me a break okay? But among some talk I overheard there was a lot of beef with Equestria from the ponies of Saddle Arabia's point of view, viewing it as the great Satan or something. Those are from typical radicals that threaten the innocent and want the nation of Saddle Arabia to one day have enough power to overthrow Equestria. Man, Equestria has a lot of enemies these days. Mostly from other envious nations, but from what grandma Lucrecia taught me. There are no bad guys, only monsters who wish to hurt and rule over their citizens.
So the nights festive was about to begin, a lot of security was put on hoof to make sure everything goes according to plan. I mean, what could go wrong? A lot of important ponies, zebras, griffons, every race was here to welcome Saddle Arabia as part of Equestria's united alliance. They would be receiving a lot of benefits for their ponies. How can no pony want that? Well, extremists don't, feeling that the ambassadors do not have the right to rule their land and sign away their names to flourish a hope for peace. I saw the videos on the news, some terrorist leader named, "Mahaz" wanted all actions of any peace towards Equestria to be terminated. I only know a little history on this pony, he apparently came from a generation that connected to royalty of Saddle Arabia until they took over. Years later the new royal family started to split and go into government jobs as politicians and delegates. Then a civil war happened, Mahaz's family deemed useless from then on out. So once a proud form of royalty, taken over by supporters that weasel their way in only to get it taken from underneath them. Muhaz himself had a pretty well-known war record and fought in some familiar wars. He was looked at as a hero and slowly redeemed the family name. He would take on many students in the art of war and peaceful thought. Then would have a right hoof pony named; "Malik" who was as cruel as they came.
Just from viewing the footage, he was a very aged earth pony, full beard and gray hair. Wanted the best for his ponies, he made mild threats here and there saying if Equestria does not stop spreading its influence, they will form an army of their own with magical items and weapons to terrorize us. But looking at him, he was an old pony, something just irked me that he was only making these threats to gain support among extremists. His motives don't match his expression, he seemed like a kind gentle pony and would seem like he would want peace at any time. He was nothing but making genuine threats but never really followed on them. Then the most unexpected thing happened, Mahaz was slain... by a royal guard from Equestria. Actually their entire village was under attack by Equestrian forces. From what they claim, they threw out undeniable evidence of showing Equestrian guard weapons and armor. This split the country of Saddle Arabia in half, saying that Mahaz was better off dead, the other wanted justice. And the latter is what we had to worry about but tonight a lot of forgot about the potential danger that would later come back to bite Equestria's politics in the ass.
That night, before the signing could take place within the couple of hours it was supposed to happen. Most of the guests were how could you say it? Taken hostage. A very clever but old ruse of disguising Mahaz's old regime as Celestia's royal guards among other staff and even some guests. An inside job you can call it. To make a long story short, I was tied up along with the other guests, even Celestia and bound by magic preventing our escape. Illusive Lorenzo was among us, also bound as well as the delegates. This moment went down in the media as, "Princess of Equestria and Saddle Arabia Representatives Held Hostage" all over, sure play it up. This, went on for forty eight grueling hours. Held at weapon point many times to show the media who was also among the hostages, when my face was shown I knew Big Tex was ready to have a heart attack as well as Betsy who was probably ready to commit herself to a mental ward if anything happened to me. I'm sure Sheen Lorenzo was pulling in a few favors if I knew better, Illusive assured me with a wink. Can't tell you how many times I was hit on the head and told to shut up by Mahaz's ponies, hell I'm calling them terrorists. There's no hope to redeem these ponies by the end of this sad story.
That's when I came face to face with this "Malik" character. Stood very tall, a slick dark mane and cold eerie red eyes, his fur was more of a burnt red color as his body and fore legs was covered in bandages, almost like he was sort of a mummy and let me tell you. He was not a very nice earth pony, Mahaz was nothing but threats. Malik on the other hoof is pretty damn ruthless as he took one of the hostages who was a female unicorn and... sliced her horn off with a blade that just somehow shot out of his fore arm, almost like it jutted out. Just to show Celestia that he was not a pony to trifle with. That poor female, cried as she rolled on the floor, she was going to have a lot of head aches in her future even if she got that thing re-attached with magic or not. Celestia was not amused by the leader of her captors.
"Well... Well... Well..." Malik paced slowly towards Celestia. "The princess of the sun, all tied up." His voice was reminiscent of a snake almost, almost like he was hissing as he finished his sentence. How annoying that was going to be for the rest of this story. "The Great and Wise Mahaz warned you over and over to stop spreading Equestria."
I continued to watch as we were all huddled up in a line. Celestia was in the middle somewhere, I was not too far off. Celestia was not in the best of moods, her eyes narrowed and her voice sounded in a commanding tone, "Mahaz has his reasons but is blinded by his own visions. His regime is over, so is his politics that ended years ago. It's dead..."
Slowly the burnt stallion pressed his face against the princesses, breathing heavily almost like he wanted her. Celestia only stretched her neck back, turned her head away in disgust. Lorenzo was not taking this so well, since his forever crush on the princess I found out about I knew he was going to tear Malik's head off if he could. Sadly, we were all bound by powerful magic. Looking at Malik, his burnt fur I mentioned was so nasty to look at if some of the bandages ride up or parts of his magic proof vest slides around. Gag... No doubt he was a napalm spell survivor and it really showed. Something just twiddle my brain, thinking that his fur is still sizzling.
"Oh no... The old pony might be dead, his threats and promises were... Empty." He hissed into her ear, "I'm the solution of what the family needed, I'm the pony of action. I was a loyal guard of the regime, what I want is to show Equestria is that if you mess with Mahaz's family and everything he worked for..." He hissed like a cobra, tongue and all, "And what better is to show an example by taking the princess every pony so loves to the cameras and forcing them to watch you get humiliated... You are going to pull your army out of my land and let me rule it the way I want it. Your army drops whatever magical items they have and give up their provisions... or I'll carve up that pretty face of yours..."
The princess heaved in disgust. I took a good look at the other hostages, Lorenzo was next to me along with a few others that were from all over the stretches of Equestria. "Atleast Mahaz lead his ponies with intentions, you just want to rule with an iron hoof."
"Is that right?" Malik smirked, the blade that jutted out of his hoof slowly crept up to Celestia's neck, almost like it was some sort of blade fetish fantasy going on. "Oh no, no. I got my agenda, I got deals from other nations that want to put an end to your little fantasy of a rainbow shining nation. You have monsters of your own running around princess, even your own ponies question your leadership. Trust me, I know."
"Ugh..." Celestia turned her head away in disgust again.
"Equestria is not a land of lies and corruption!" I heard a voice that belonged to a prodigy. One that I thought I would never see ever again and thought I left for good. I turned my head and looked further down the line of other hostages and saw... something I dreaded, any family member would ever fear. Down next to Celestia herself, was her faithful student. A lavender unicorn with blue hair and violet eyes. My bucking Celestia... there was no way. It could not be. "Princess Celestia leads with kindness and fairness!"
That lavender fur and blue hair really seemed familiar. How the daring young unicorn was trying to stand up to face her captors, the princess hissed at her to stand down. Malik took a little interest, "You know... Back in my land, ponies who speak out like that without being referred to get punished..."
"This isn't your land!" The lavender unicorn grunted. And with that, she got back hoofed across the face and fell to the floor again. The poor unicorn moaned in pain, her jaw must have killed her. She moaned as she writhed on the marble floor, just seeing a young unicorn like that. That's when something fell out from her dress, something small, something brass or copper tinkered on the floor. From my distance I could not make out what it was, something that was probably a memento. Malik looked at it while he picked it up, inspected it at all angles and just brushed it off by dropping into on the floor in front of her. Slowly the lavender unicorn reached for it to get it back.
"What's your name?" Malik frowned, pressed the blade that was already out against the unicorn's throat.
"U...uh... T... Dawn Light." The lavender unicorn shivered, she almost recovered it. Just inches away, if it's from her family then that's what she should have to keep her hopes up.
"Keep it... Going to be your last possession once Mahaz's regime rises to power." Malik chuckled as he kicked the memento back to Dawn, then unexpectedly summoned another blade from his forearm and dented the marble floor in front of the princess and unicorn again for intimidation.
I just could not let that slide, it just irked me, "Such a big pony for attacking a bound mare."
The other hostages just looked at me like I was insane for saying that. Almost like I wanted to get Malik's attention, suddenly I got kicked in the back of the head by one of Malik's own ponies and landed face first into the floor. Oh man did that hurt. Ugh... Think that knocked out a couple of my teeth. I was met with a simple, shout session in my ear saying how dare I question their leader and one more swift kick to the side of the face did it for me.
I must have been knocked out for hours. Questioned myself, why they have not killed me already. Now we were all placed in another room, still had the camera ponies filming us and the terrorists watching over our every move. Lorenzo was still next to me, he shielded me and made sure they did not try to kick me again while I was down. Still we were bound by this strange spell that prevented us from moving entirely free. Lower fore legs like they were bolted to the ground.
"Hey..."
My eyes widened, that voice belonged to Lorenzo alright. I looked at him, he only nodded to me.
"Yeah you heard right."
I blinked, he did not even move his lips but I still heard his voice in my head.
"I'm talking to you with my thoughts."
I squinted my eyes and felt my throat was dry, "Wh...how?"
"Well psychic or telepathy... call it whatever you want but I have certain talents too." Lorenzo smirked. "Since I'm a unicorn, I can talk to other unicorns using this technique. I was doing it since we were first held hostage..."
I groaned and writhed on the floor some more. Lorenzo continued, "It's best to not say anything out loud like you just did back there a couple hours ago. Oh... if you want to say anything back, just think with your mind. I'll pick up on it just fine..."
"Now this is just creepy." I thought, "Could you always do this?"
"No... not always. I was put under special training as a child because my patriarch saw potential in me, pretty brutal..." Lorenzo continued but I came up with a sudden thought.
"How are you using this technique when the bound spell is preventing us from using magic?" I asked.
"I never said this technique required magic, just a friendly bond link between ponies. That's why I took the liberty of getting to know each of the guests here." Lorenzo smiled.
"So... You can read minds? Can you read other ponies deep dark secrets?" I asked using my thoughts.
"No... and be glad. Even I have limitations..." Lorenzo continued to smile, nothing more, nothing less.
"So anything happen while I was out?" I asked.
"A number of things." Lorenzo replied sternly, "Turns out that this character; Malik really did bring an army to carry out this devious plan to make Celestia cease her proposition with Saddle Arabia. Stationed everywhere in this embassy, plus Malik placed a barrier around the embassy with some item so the royal army can't get in. Already got Lieutenant Shining Armor out there barking orders and trying to negotiate the situation out, so far not doing very well. So that leaves only one option..."
My face froze once he mentioned my older brother's name, so he finally became a guard after all and actually ranked up. I would be spouting for joy right about now but I could not let Lorenzo's thought bubble technique see through my thoughts. Just don't know if he is lying about that or not. "You don't mean..." I wanted to ask for his approval.
"That's right, I'm calling in my father's strike force. They'll easily take care of these fools." Lorenzo chuckled in his thoughts.
"Does Celestia know you're going to use them?" I asked.
"She's the one who approved of it." He chuckled. Slowly I looked at princess Celestia who had the Dawn Light unicorn next to her, cuddling her like she was her own child. Felt really bad for that Dawn pony after getting smacked across the face like that by that Malik pony. "But I need your coöperation. My father somehow sent a sleeper agent here, I made contact with him a little while ago while you were knocked out. He's still hiding somewhere and is looking for that item that is holding up the barrier."
"So how did this agent get through the barrier?" I asked.
"My father pointed out that there is a secret escape route just half a mile away from this building. The agent snuck in through that way but..." I interrupted him.
"But what?" I asked.
"Turned out that he triggered an alarm and now they know our ace in the hole is in the building somewhere." He explained, "So security has been tightened. But do you have any abilities besides your magic that we can use?"
There was so many questions I wanted to ask, but this was the best I could come up with. Not really my thing to share what I can do but it was worth a shot to help every pony here. "I can turn invisible." I smirked.
"You're Joshing me right?" He asked.
"I'm serious, if these bounds were not holding us down I would totally show you." I smirked. "I can keep it up for a pretty good while if I concentrate."
"Think of something then... Like ask to go to the bathroom, he'll make a guard go with you giving you enough room to get away from the bound spell and while you're inside you work your magic." Lorenzo smirked.
"Wouldn't that just make them go crazy on finding me?" I asked.
"Yeah but you're invisible, my dad's agent needs all the heat off his back." Lorenzo explained.
"What if I run into that agent?" I asked again. "What am I supposed to do when I go invisible?"
"Don't worry, I'll tell him ahead of time you're coming." He smiled confidently. "Just concentrate on finding that item. It has to be here somewhere, if you find it, break it, smash it, do something to make it turn off!"
So we put our plan into action. I asked to use the bathroom since I was out for so long, Malik at first was going to let me suffer but maybe a little compassion took over, he ordered a guard to follow me around and remained outside the bathroom door. I went in, did my business, went to the sink and splashed some water on my face. Looked in the mirror and tried to recall all my past mistakes. How sorry I was for doing some stupid stuff in the past. I could not believe my long lost brother was just outside this embassy trying to work out a deal with the terrorist leader. In a way I was glad to hear his name, but still dreaded it. All those painful memories of him towering over me, beating me down and calling me names. I never understood why he hated me so much back then, was it because I did better than him in studies? That was stupid though, he was practically a teenager while I was little. Did I steal his thunder?
*Sigh*
Maybe I'll never find out. Maybe it was for the better. Maybe it was best that I ran away and never learned what became of him. Then again, that Dawn Light pony seemed a bit familiar. How do I keep getting myself into bad situations? I took a big gulp of water out of the faucet. The guard banged on the door for me to hurry up. I took one last look at myself in the mirror and used my magic... To cloak myself. No longer could I see myself and hopefully I could pull this off. The guard got restless outside and stormed in, he took one look around and yelled for me to come out. He started kicking in stalls while I stood there, I took my chance and walked out before the entrance door fully closed. I tried to keep my cool now and then but what the hell was I doing here? I'm not a trained soldier, I'm just an inventor. Yet still, I'm on a mission to find this magical item that could make barriers.
I walked down almost every corridor to this Faust forsaken palace and could not find any leads. I resorted to listening on conversations from the guards, soon word got out that I have not returned to the hostage room so now an alert has been issued to find me. Oh bucking great. More and more I wandered, the more I got nervous. The more I walked through the halls, the more innocent bodies I saw, more innocent ponies I saw being beaten and tortured. Remembering back to what grandma Lucrecia told me about view points. Between two forces, each side sees each other as the bad guy and their own side as good, no matter what their reasons there will always be followers. After seeing what Malik could do and what he controlled, what his motives were. They were simply to hurt others just for his own cause, that might have worked in the dark ages but not today where every pony at least has one brain cell. He was a monster you would not want to believe in, he was the definition of monster. He could shoot blades out of his fore arms and hooves and can keep summoning them, almost like he had an infinite supply inside his body. He was a walking weapon of pain and feeds from fear.
My mind wandered more and more until suddenly I heard a guard shout at me. Before I knew it, my concentration was broken as my emotions could really affect how my ability could work. I gasped and hid around the corner, but they open fired with their magical weapons and firearms anyway. I escaped with a few scrapes, the wall sure as hell got blasted to bits. But to my luck, I ended up falling for a trap by stepping on some trigger alarms. Gah! Soon a guard around the corner in front of me saw me and shouted to the others of my place. Maybe I could take on one but not while I'm out numbered, my fighting style really is not suited for this occasion. Could say its more of a brawling type and not disciplined like grandpa used to make it back then. This time, I was back into a corner. Worried that I was going to get my head sliced off by Malik's blade or worse, executed right then and there.
*Cock, cock, cock, ka-chink, cock, cock, ka-chink*
I heard the guns cocked in my direction, all the gruff guards lined up in front of me. Ready to fire. I said a little prayer in my mind and made my peace with the mother goddess; Faust. Lasers slowly raised to my face. I took one last chance to reflect back on my life. Thinking back, all the way back how much I wondered what my original life would have been if I had not run away, I was so conflicted back then. Remembered my mom rocking me back and forth in her fore arms, humming me a tune. Dad taking me out to fish for the first time. Then playing baseball with Tex, eating Betsy's birthday cakes. Playing and minding my friends. Oh man am I scared. My only hope is to throw up my barrier spell, but the time that I actually formed one would be too late as it only takes a second to pul a trigger. My eyes wandered, hoping for anything for me to turn the tides...
Until...
*BOOOM*
That entire line of bad guys that were lined up in front of me ready to blow my brains out? Looking from the left of me, the entire hallway was almost burnt to a cinder. To my right, the bad guys were knocked out at full force, so hard that it tore huge hole into the next set of walls. Think I see daylight from just looking that way, that blast caused those ponies to be launched outside the embassy. I look back to my left and saw who could have done something like this.
At first, I thought it was a unicorn pony that was a kid in his late teens or early adult years. Was rather small on the body size with white fur, well slender but yet very agile. Dressed entirely in what seemed to be somewhat Ninja ware, or spandex with what I suspect was a Black Suns logo on his sleeve. I saw medium length dark hair with blue tints, goggles that covered his eyes. I caught him when he was pull what looked like a scarf over his mouth. I just sat there, too amazed and too scared of what just happened. I almost got blown out of the building myself.
The white unicorn slowly walked up to me as I just sat on the floor, too shocked to move. When he finally approached me I looked up at him. He looked down and asked if I was alright in a questionable tone. He didn't seem like a heartless warrior I pictured in my thoughts, he sounded young. I just said yes and he helped me up. He told me that Lorenzo told him that I would be around so I would have to be a high priority target to protect if we ever met. This was the agent? Rather...? He introduced himself as "G" and only that name, I just told him I was Fade Away. That's when Lorenzo started talking to us in our thoughts again, asking us where we were. G filled Lorenzo on everything but on Lorenzo's end it was not good. Malik was getting restless and knew that we were running around, that explosion they heard upstairs did not help things tide over any easier. The rest of the Black Sun squad was ready to take action outside, had a pretty hard time siding with the royal guards to allow them to take over. Typical, always cutting down on one's authority they feel they're not one to deal with the situation, even with the Black Suns approval there was a lot of doubt.
G and I just ran to the item he pointed out earlier in another room. Just as Lorenzo said, some sort of magical item. A gold box just rotating on top of a pedestal, floating as I watched in amazement. G explained he tried using a dispel but apparently his was not good enough, so I tried mine. I concentrated, as a little experiment I tried moving it but under no circumstances could I even figure out how to turn it off. We must have tried for maybe ten minutes while looking over our shoulders to make sure no pony was looking for us. Then it hit me, if the item was making a barrier, what if I put a barrier around the item?
You know where this is going. Let's fast forward this a bit. The barrier surrounded the embassy started to wane and the Black Suns finally got in. A fire fight happened, I heard spells going off, I heard gun shots, I heard radio chatter. While it was a good attempt Malik, you ended up being so full of yourself. Or so we thought as he planted a bomb that was big enough to blow up the entire state. G made sure I got to a safe zone while we were still in contact with Lorenzo in our thoughts. That's where I met G's commanding officer, Commander Hero. Rather redundant huh? Pretty much your poster boy for the Equestrian army. A tall, light brown earth stallion dressed in the standard Black Suns military uniform, more modern compared to the standard Canterlot guard.
And boy let me tell you, he really shined in the midst of battle. He told his ponies to go in and make sure the hostages are secured while he deals with Malik, probably had some history together. He took G along with him and Shining Armor for a three pony squad. Shining Armor did not argue with the idea, he said some pony important to him was in there. And with that, I didn't blame him. Then I heard Malik was holding a fraction of ponies as personal hostages now, Celestia was a no brainer. She was the reason he was there, then camera feed showed the lavender unicorn had a blade close to her throat, there were more ponies her age still bound. This just got me angry and decided to go in myself, no way an innocent young mare like that or any of the hostages have to go through that, she just wanted to see how politics worked and this happened. Of course, the guards would not allow that but I used my cloaking spell again. This time I was determined.
Luckily the firing stopped, Malik's forces were dwindled down to few as they either were captured, surrendered or ended up getting casted on, or dead whatever you wanted to call it. I managed to sneak through a few hallways and got back into the main room where it all started. Malik had them at knife point, saying how he still had this won even if they kill him right then and there.
"I sill have this won..." Malik laughed like a maniac. "I still have that bomb."
"Oh... that bomb?" G held up a rifle up his own using his magic, "The one in the sub basement?"
"..." Malik raised an eyebrow.
"Command walked me through it and I dismantled it." G lowered his scarf over his mouth and smirked.
"Good work G." Commander Hero had his rifle raised as well, nodded in G's direction for approval.
"And the Black Suns and Royal guards are working together to rid of it." Shining Armor cocked his own firearm, somewhat Canterlot issued.
Malik was beyond frustrated beyond this point.
"Face it Malik. You lost." Commander Hero stepped forward. "Let the princess and her students go."
"No..." Malik growled. "I'll cut the princess up before I give up."
"You're leaving yourself open Malik." Shining Armor pointed out, "Just let them go."
At that point. Malik was just laughing, apparently I was missing something.
"You idiot... I've been showing up my powers all day, I've been shot at already, had pleasure fighting your ponies. My bones are made out of thick material call Adamantium. I'm indestructible! You can shoot me! Burn me! I'll keep coming back!"
I shook my head, your skin is practically burned off what happens when its all gone? What's holding your organs in place? But still the adamantium seemed fascinating. The situation was getting hotter. Shining Armor demanded Malik to let the hostages go and was really pushing him too far, Commander Hero told him to stand down and let him deal with it. G... just stood there, almost like he knew I was here somewhere. I was still invisible and picked up the nearest, heaviest object... and bashed Malik over the head with it. And gave him the strongest kick I could give into the direction of the three heroes. The fight was on, I risked undid the bound spell and the hostages were free. Other Black Sun members escorted them out.
"NO!" Malik was not happy, and he took out his anger on Hero, Shining Armor and G with a huge fight. And boy did he really give those three trouble. Malik would slash and slash anything in his way, cutting through marble, stone, shields, protection spells. Shining Armor must have raised barrier after barrier just for Malik to slice through them with great force. Malik was a monster now, demanding satisfaction. G would use his fire blast spell from his mouth to make Malik back off and give them some breathing room, but still did no good. Commander Hero just decided to open fire and go suicidal since none of their tactics were working. I went with the rest of the hostages to safety, this fight was getting too intense.
So intense that the embassy somehow got split in half and collapsed. It was hopeless, Malik really was unbeatable. I saw tanks ram him into the wall only to get cut into fragments. I saw helicopters open fire on with heavy machine guns firing magic bullets, nothing! Nothing could stop this pony! I sat near the lavender pony as she huddled away under her teacher's wing, tired from all the emotional pain she went through. I watched on and on, the battle was not going in our favor. We actually met a monster that day, a real bad guy worse than comic book and movie villains put together. I check up on Dawn Light again, tired still but her eyes half way open. Medics were doing their best and checked her wounds, still breathing and that was fine by me. She had her little trinket out, playing a little song, probably a lullaby. But it wasn't playing like it should, almost like some pieces fell out of place.
"Just rest my student." Celestia pressed her snout against Dawn's forehead to help her relax.
"No... no princess... I... figured it out." Dawn said weakly.
"What? How?" I asked.
"Just... keep burning him... He doesn't have a lot of skin left to hold his organs in." Dawn slowly shut her eyes and went to sleep.
"Of course..." I thought, what good was having strong bones without the support? "HEY KEEP SHOOTING HIM WITH FIRE!" With no time to spare, fire spells were launched from unicorns, flamethrowers were used, napalm. It was an ugly sight but Malik finally was brought to his knees. G finally used another fire blast from his mouth to hear the agonizing scream of the terrorist leader. Was a sight that I did not wish to see ever again. Smell of burnt flesh, organs spilling out, eyes melting out of Malik's eye sockets. But still he was moving, kicking with his arms and legs he was still hellbent on killing. Shining Armor held him down while Commander Hero dislocated Malik's fore arms and legs. And Shining Armor, finished the act with stomp to the head causing the brain to paralyze so there would be no chance for this pony to ever walk again. Call it pay back, or karma. It was finally over...
What happened after that, the Black Suns were now a special branch of the Equestrian military. Hostages were given psychological help provided by the princess, mighty kind of her. Tex and Betsy visited me every week, glad I was not dead. Since I was not affected as much, I got to leave early than planned and went home. Still... it haunted me that I was confronted by a real monster. But before I left, I got to know the others who were caught up in this incident. Mostly rich folk, then there are some students who considered dropping out of the school of gifted unicorns.
Dawn made a decent recovery, she had a lot of books with her to help her tide over. I got to know her a little bit and during my time, we really bonded like brother and sister... And I really enjoyed that, from what happened she still seemed like in good spirits. I envied her a little for that, I was practically shot at but... you know, she had it bad too. I retract that. We talked about books... and family. Somehow, I don't think Dawn Light was her real name but she liked me calling her that. So we stuck with it. Surprisingly, G would stop by and visit me still in uniform. We would chat, learn about each other, well as much as he was willing to give. Then I noticed he and Dawn were bonding as well, almost like they knew each other, I did not think anything of it. Probably were friends for a long time, he would bring us in books he would take out of the Black Sun's library for us to see.
Later, I was one of the ponies that was given a medal for heroism. I felt conflicted on accepting it but seeing how I made it out alive. For the princess to think of me and the others, it felt honorable. And I had another chance at life... I would leave the hospital and go about my business, I never really talked to Dawn ever again and figured, why really spend any time with another pony if this was just going to make her think of the bad things? But still, that adamantium that Malik had on his skeleton... was one of the key factors of making my prosthetic... I'm... sorry I didn't mention this before... Now you know...
"Fade?"
I blinked...
"Fade? Hello?" Ghendi waved his hoof in front of me. "Any pony home?"
"Oh..." I snapped out of it. "Sorry... I was thinking back on something."
"Well... it's time to meet the main family." Shining Armor waved me over.
"Alright." I waved back at him, then looked back at Ghendi, "Thanks... Thanks for getting me out of that situation." He just smiled in appreciation, thanks to him. I wouldn't be standing here. I guess you could say Ghendi was like a guardian angel sent... probably by grandpa to watch over me.
"I'm glad you just came into that alleyway that day." Ghendi sighed, then went back to smiling.
"So...? Can you teach me some fighting moves someday?" I asked. "I kind of got lazy over the years."
"Sure..." He chuckled.
"Don't go easy on me." I warned.
"Okay then." He smirked.
"Hey Van!" Twilight ran up to me and started pushing me with her head, "Come on, mom and dad are waiting! We need to see the main family!"
"Alright alright! Jeez..." I sighed. As my sister pushed me, I noticed she gave a little wiggle to my guardian angel. Heh... And gave him a perverted anime nose bleed.
"Twilight?" I asked as she pushed me across the floor. By at this rate my butt could wax the floor.
"Yeah?" She giggled.
"The name Dawn Light not suiting you anymore?"