//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 "Tales" // Story: Equestria Noir Case 16 "Among Alicorns" // by Jacoboby1 //------------------------------// Chapter 5 “Tales” “This has gotta be the stupidest plan I’ve ever heard!” “It’s the only way we’re going to get information out of her.” “Why can’t you do it?” “She likes grey ones.” “Your plan is completely asinine, no offense." “None taken.” _______________________________________________________________ I entered Titania’s room, noticeably separate from Oberon’s, and gazed in awe. Nature had almost completely taken over the place. Moss and vines covered the walls and grass covered the floor. I’m guessing this was made so that each guest would be comfortable in the castle. This grove almost reminded me of Fluttershy’s cottage. I looked at Titania as she rested in a bed of flowers. She looked almost ethereal in slumber. If I was going to get information out of her however, I’m gonna have to wake her from this late autumn dream. I walked to her and spoke in a quiet but firm voice “Your Highness?” She blinked open a mother of pearl colored eye. When she gazed upon me I started to feel uneasy. “Fair donkey” she said in a soft, melodic voice. “Why do you awaken me?” That’s right; Voidera’s brilliant plan was to turn me into a donkey. The process was rather painful and my tail kept hitting my legs. I usually have a cropped tail to keep it out of the way during cases. It was only with great restraint I was able to resist the urge to kick at something constantly touching me. I couldn't wait to get back to my normal self. I put on my most charming smile and said in a deep voice, “Forgive my intrusion, I simply wished to speak with you.” “Oh?” she asked, raising an eyebrow, “Perhaps we should do more than simply speak,” she said, running her tail along my flank seductively. I flattened my long ears, pretending to be bashful. “I am but a humble donkey, M'lady,” I said, staring at my hooves. “I find your race rather charming,” she confessed, circling me slowly. “I come from a land of beauty and perfection. ’Tis imperfection that fascinates me.” “Imperfection?” I asked. “Yes,” she replied, lowering her head to meet my eyes. “Where I'm from beauty is everywhere. Flowers, trees, and critters abound, but your kind has always been so strange. I find that endearing.” There was that look again, time to play the responsible one “Does your husband know of this?” I asked. “What Oberon doesn’t know won’t hurt him,” she snapped. “That stubborn fool constantly goes behind my back. Now I’m going behind his,” she cooed, tilting my chin up with her hoof. “Oh, so scandalous M'lady,” I said, narrowing my eyes playfully. “Quite, my dear donkey, I'm a very naughty Alicorn” she whispered, her face moving closer to mine. “Oberon is a fool for going behind you back,” I said. Maintaining my level of charm was difficult. For some reason I was having trouble thinking, and the room was starting to feel quite warm. “Indeed,” she replied, smiling at me. “Why just last night he thought he could sneak away in the middle of the night. He thinks I don’t notice when he gets up, but I’m smarter than he gives me credit for. He is the foalish one,” she continued, shaking her head as though amused by the antics of a small foal. I’m getting closer, Oberon left last night. That lines up with Thor’s story of there being an argument. The question was, where did he go after that? Now I just had to get her to tell me. “M'lady, so fair and wise,” I said, as I turned up the charm to ridiculous levels, “obviously deserves a stallion that won't sneak around on you.” She sighed, her mother of pearl eyes gazing at me longingly. “You are as wise as you are beautiful, my fair donkey.” Wait, my tail wasn't brushing my legs anymore. The spell was wearing off! I had to get the info fast. “Out of curiosity,” I said as quickly as I could, while maintaining my charm, “where could your husband have to go in the middle of the night? I can't imagine anything more important than being in bed with you.” I threw her my brightest smile. “After refusing to tell me where he went, he then sought to bring fire here!" Titania fumed. "That imbecile thought to use fire in our nature covered sanctuary! I ordered him to discard the thing down the garbage shoot.” I looked over to where she was pointing, there was a small shoot designed to send the garbage below the castle. If Oberon came back with Ember’s soul fire, then it probably ended up down in the caverns. Twilight told me how she almost got trapped down there with Cadence at her brother's wedding. If there was any place to hide a soul fire, it would be there. Oberon probably moved it after dropping it down there. Now I just needed to get out of here. “You’re obviously upset right now,” I said, turning towards the door. “I should get going.” “Wait!” I felt magic tug on my now regular length tail. “Your tail, it’s not like a donkey’s,” Titania said suspiciously. Crap! She’s going to see through my disguise! Think fast Private. “Um” I said, as she walked closer to me. “M'lady, you are obviously very tired!” She tilted her head and asked, “I’m sorry?” “I am clearly a donkey, and you seem to believe I am not,” I said with concern. “Perhaps you should rest before you start seeing me as a pony.” “You're right” she relented, with a big yawn. “I was up late arguing with my husband.” She walked back to her bed of flowers. “Perhaps you would like to join me?” she said seductively, with a wink. I felt like Twilight was glaring at me from some far off distance. I smiled. “Perhaps we will meet again someday” I said, backing out of the room. I closed the door behind me just as my body turned all the way back to normal. I rounded a corner and there was Voidera smirking at me. I glared at him and said, “Next time, no donkey spells!” “It seems little has changed about Titania” Voidera said with a laugh. “So what did you learn?” I explained what happened and what I learned from Titania. Voidera frowned and asked, “Why take it to the caverns? Why not simply douse it then and there?” “Something isn’t right,” I said thoughtfully. “Perhaps somepony is going to hold Ember for ransom?” “Then why leave the body and not a note?” Voidera pointed out. “If I was the killer, I would dispose of the body.” “Maybe somepony is sending a message,” I speculated. “It would explain the threat; this jealous lover could be our culprit.” I noticed Voidera tense a little at the context of what I said. I decided that now would be a good time to ask the question that had been plaguing me. “Voidera, how do you know Onyx?” Voidera’s red eyes closed for a minute, then reopened as he began his tale “Fifteen hundred years ago, I knew him as Prince Onyx. He was 7 years older than I was. His father, King Brazier, was a good friend of Tia’s father, Lunard," he paused, looking sad. "He was the stallion who raised me in that tower.” “You sound conflicted about him,” I observed. “King Lunard,” Voidera said with a frown, “was a good king and valiant fighter, but even the greatest of us can fall to corruption.” He shook his head slowly. “He will always be the pony who raised me, taught me to control my magic, and how to use it for good.” “What happened?” I asked. Voidera's eyes glazed over as he continued, “You see, after I came out in the public eye, Lunard named me his chief warrior and advisor. One day he asked me to investigate a commotion going on in a small farming village. I went there and found out that a family was being harassed because they refused to reveal something hidden in their barn.” “What was in there?” I asked. “Dead bodies?” “A colt,” Voidera replied. “It was Adamus, the first earth pony. He was born the year Tia and I sealed Discord. Before Discord was sealed away however, he cast a curse upon the whole species of Alicorns. Their children would be born not as Alicorns, but as the three species of ponies.” “Why were the other Alicorns harassing them?” I asked. “Shouldn't they have been trying to find a cure for the curse?” “They were trying to cure it,” Voidera replied, his eyes flashing red for a second, “How?” I asked, with some trepidation. I wasn't sure I wanted the answer. “By killing Adamus,” Voidera said sadly. “That’s…” I didn’t even have the words for this. “Why?” “Alicorns are vain creatures,” Voidera explained. “For the longest time we were the most powerful beings on earth. Difference caused the Alicorns to fear. Adamus was a mark of change, and they didn't want things to change. So they allowed themselves to believe that killing young Adamus would cause the curse to fade.” “It wouldn’t have, would it?” I concluded. “No, Adamus was not the only pony born that year. I mentioned the other ancestors your people have. All six ponies were born the same year. Their families did their best to hide them away for the 4 years since Discord’s defeat. Adamus was simply the first one found.” “What did you do?” I asked slowly. It was another question I wasn't sure I wanted the answer to. “The townspeople and the commander of the soldiers that accompanied me wanted to slay Adamus,” Voidera replied, as he closed his eyes. “Adamus reminded me of myself however, cold, scared, calls for his blood when he'd done nothing wrong. So, I knocked out the other soldiers and took Adamus away. I knew they would report it to Lunard, but I was just focused on saving him.” “That’s admirable,” I complimented, “not many ponies would take the risk.” “I hid Adamus in a sanctuary Tia and I used during our journey,” Voidera continued. “Upon my return to the castle Lunard didn’t mention anything about Adamus. I thought for sure the other soldiers would’ve told him. I believed myself in the clear, and that weekend, I approached Lunard to get permission to ask for Tia’s hoof in marriage.” “What was his answer?” I asked. “He didn’t answer me at first,” Voidera explained. “Instead he told me of a task I needed to complete. He said he would give me his answer once I had completed it. He told me that the Firelands were having dragon trouble. The invading dragon was immune to their fire, and they asked Lunard for help. So, he sent me to perform this task.” “You had no qualms against slaying dragons?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at his wings. “The dragon that impregnated my mother was different from modern ones, or even the ones I'd slain. They've stopped being the wise beasts they once were. Now most are simply greedy monsters that preyed on the innocent. Your friend Spike is an example of how the dragons used to be, before becoming mindless beasts,” he said with a small smile. “So what happened when you arrived in the Firelands?” “After learning where the dragon was, Brazier sent me to face him. It was a long and difficult battle; I had to use most of my magic to defeat the dragon. After his death, I was greeted by several of Brazier’s Vulkyria. They planned to slay me.” “He doubled crossed you!” I shouted in disbelief. “He used the dragon so that you would be weak enough to kill! What reason could he possibly have for such treachery?” “It was all part of his plan from the beginning,” Voidera looked down sadly. “Lunard never intended for me to marry Tia.” “He set you up,” I said, realization dawning. “Yes,” Voidera replied, his wings drooped a little. “Tia was intended for Onyx, not me.” “Why not simply refuse you?” I asked. “Why go through all that trouble to kill you?” “It was because I saved Adamus,” Voidera explained. “He knew all along what I'd done. He was paranoid that if he just had me executed his people would hate him. So he wanted it to all look like a terrible accident.” “That’s cruel.” “Yes,” he said, his red eyes flashing. Uh oh. “Voidera…” I said warily His red eyes were suddenly aglow, his voice a terrible and fearsome roar, “IT was cruel! I went back to that bastard Brazier and he said that Tia had no choice in the matter! They treated her like nothing more than a pawn on a chess board! She was no object for them to play with!” “Voidera, calm down, you’re going to lose it.” Voidera let out a breath and looked at me apologetically, “Forgive me; it is a terrible memory to relive.” “Did you kill Brazier?” I asked, recalling Onyx’s words. “No,” Voidera replied, as he shook his head. “After I arrived to confront Brazier and he told me about the plan, he tried to attack me. Adamus and I managed to stop him, however.” His red eyes were somewhere else. “Adamus didn’t care that he could’ve gotten hurt, he just couldn’t stand the fact I was lied to” “What did you do to Brazier?” I asked. “I spared his life, but not his pride,” Voidera said firmly. “I defeated him in combat with Adamus, and then I left. Tia and I went to find the other children. When we eventually reencountered Onyx, he was the king and he claimed me a murderer. It turns out; Lunard was actually the one who killed him. Brazier witnessed Adamus, and Lunard would have no witnesses.” “Onyx believes you killed Brazier,” I said. “Lunard must have manipulated events so that Onyx would witness you fighting him, and then come to the conclusion that you were the one who killed his father.” “That or his pride kept him from thinking I fought honorably.” Voidera shook his head, “Know this, Private, I would never intentionally harm an innocent. If I felt threatened by Onyx I would’ve faced him myself. I would never resort to trickery and deceit.” His red eyes seemed honest, and I couldn’t blame him. He reminded me too much of Potso. At least his current circumstances did. Voidera was being wrongly accused on account of loving Celestia. Potso was set up for getting half of the girls in class to fall for him. Either way, I couldn’t condemn him. “I need to get to the caverns,” I concluded, “and Celestia's probably looking for you by now.” “Thank you for listening, Private,” Voidera said, as he turned away. “Celestia was right to put her trust in you.” __________________________________________________________ “This leads down to where the caverns begin," Twilight said, pointing down the stairs in front of me. “Private, are you sure about this?” “It’s the best place to hide a soul fire,” I said. “It hid you from sight, remember?” “Right, just be careful all right?” Twilight said, as she put a hoof on my shoulder, “The talks are beginning soon,” I said, brushing her cheek with my hoof. “You should get ready.” “In a minute,” she said, then pulled me into a loving and tender kiss. I kissed back with all the love and care as I held for her. I hated leaving her behind, but she had work to do, as did I. I broke from our kiss for a second, gazed into her eyes and said, “I love you Twi, know that, no matter what happens.” “I love you too,” she said, nuzzling me on the cheek before walking off. “I’ll send Spike to come and find you when he’s done analyzing that rock of yours.” I nodded and descended into the caverns below. _____________________________________________________ I walked the twisting caverns below the castle for about ten minutes. My horn illuminated my path ahead but it helped little. These caverns were so confusing that it would take forever for somepony to navigate them. I had to hurry, if Prince Ember wasn’t found soon, then I can’t imagine what could happen. I stopped for a second, I thought I saw something. I walked to a nearby crystal; unlike the other crystals on the walls this one was black. I tilted my head, where had I seen this before? Curiosity got the better of me so I tapped my horn on the crystal. Then the biggest pair of green eyes flashed before my eyes! I fell back, tripping over a rock, and tumbled down a slope rather unceremoniously. Landing on the cavern floor, I saw something glowing. It was a small yellow light being kept in a lantern of some sort. The fire was the same color as Ember’s coat. I heard a voice speak as I approached it, “Private wait! Don’t come any closer!” Suddenly I was hit in the back by a fireball that came out of nowhere. I fell forward, landing where the lantern was sitting on the cavern floor, and a ring of fire formed around us. I looked inside the lantern, there was a mini Ember trapped in it. “Thank Celestia you’re alive!” “Private! We have to get out of here!” I heard an evil laugh come from behind me. I slowly turned and gazed upon the true mastermind. “Like cockroaches your kind survives no matter what disaster befalls the land, but, even a cockroach can still burn…”