//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 "A Little Bit of Courage" // Story: Equestria Noir Case 18 "Back to the Present" // by Jacoboby1 //------------------------------// Chapter 4 “A little bit of Courage” “There comes a time in every life, where we find the heart we are looking for.” LeAnn Rimes “Okay,” I said to my adversary, “you’ve put up a good fight. I admit you are truly an honorable opponent, but something’s gotta give eventually.” I glared at my adversary and stated coldly, “You’ve been a thorn in my side for all of ten minutes. It’s time you learned that none can match Private Eye when he’s on a mission.” I pinched my teeth around the bottle cap one more time “Just open you stupid thing!” I growled while trying to open the soda I just bought. How in the hell did they open these things? Did everypony carry around crowbars or something? “Eclipse!” I heard a voice call. I looked around and saw Night Light running towards me. His face pale and his eyes frantic. “Eclipse, I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” “Hey Night Light, you all right?” I asked, putting my soda down and walking over to him. “You don’t look so good.” “I need to ask Velvet to the dance,” he shouted, but then his ears drooped in embarrassment “but I don’t know how.” “Keep your coat on,” I said, as I levitated the soda pop bottle over to me. “She’s over in the café.” I started twisting the bottle’s cap telekinetically, but no give. “How do you open this da-“ Night Light took the bottle in his own magic, put it over a small handle on the machine and suddenly the cap was open. I gave the bottle a small glare but took it with my magic. We walked down the street a ways before I asked, "So, what made you change your mind?” “Last night an alien, called the Doctor, came down from the planet Gallopfrey,” he recalled, visibly shaken. “He told me if I didn’t ask her out, he’d use his Sonic Screwdriver to unscrew my brain!” Dang, I guess it worked. I patted him on the shoulder and said softly, “Um, I would just keep the whole aliens unscrewing brains thing to myself, if I were you.” He nodded as we rounded a corner. I pointed to the café with my hoof and said with a smile, “There she is.” Velvet was sitting at a table in the café, talking to some of her friends. I slung my foreleg across Night Light's back and said encouragingly, “Now, all you gotta do is go in and invite her.” Night Light looked courageous for a moment, but it was quickly replaced by a look of panic. "What do I say to her?” Geez! Ember was easier to convince then he is! “Just say whatever comes naturally to you,” I said, “the first thing that comes to your mind.” He paused for a minute, and then shook his head. “I've got nothing...” I rolled my eyes and muttered, “It’s a wonder Twilight was even born.” He raised any eyebrow and said, “Huh?” “Nothing!” I said, taking a swig of the soda before continuing, “Look tell her, destiny brought us together. That she is the smartest, most beautiful mare you’ve ever seen in your life. Girls love that kind of stuff.” I looked and saw Night Light copying something down, and asked, “What’re you writing now? The Sequel?” “You’re saying some good stuff,” Night Light said with a smile. “You’re sure this’ll work?” “Yes, it’ll work.” When we got to the café I opened the door with my magic and commanded, “Now get in there, lover boy!” He walked in and just stood there stiff as a board. Velvet didn’t notice either of us entering as she chatted with her friends about some new band coming from Trottingham. I gave him a little shove and sat down at the bar. He slammed his hoof on the counter and said, “Scrolly! Milk! Chocolate!” A big glass of chocolate milk was sent his way and was gone the next minute. All right, the boy had his milk, his words, he was good to go! I watched him walk up, holding his notes in his magic, to where Velvet was sitting. He stood there, shaking a little but tried to sound confident as he said, “Velvet?” She turned her blue eyes to him, her friends wondering what the hell he wanted. “My, um,” he said, in an almost perfect impression of Fluttershy, “My, density has brought me to you!” She blinked and tilted her head, “I’m sorry?” He rubbed the back of his head and said, “Um, what I meant to say was that I um…” “Wait a minute,” she said, leaning forward and looked at him with a small smile. “I know you from somewhere...” “Yes!” he shouted, but then calmed himself down. “I’m Night Light, and I’m your density!” I wrote on my hoof, “Smack face here” and complied with the command. He blinked at his words and said shyly, “I mean, I’m your destiny.” She smiled a little, “Oh, that’s very…” “Hey, Night Light,” a voice shouted from the entrance. I turned and saw Graff with his gang of thugs. “I thought I told you never to come in here.” Night Light looked at him, his notebook landed on Velvet’s table as his confidence went with the wind. “Oh, hey Graff.” “You know it’s gonna cost ya,” he said, walking towards him. “How many bits are you willing to offer?” “Well,” he said in defeat, “how much you want?” I had enough; nopony was going to pick on my father in law on my watch! That’s going to be my job! I stretched out a hind leg and tripped Graff as he advanced on Night Light. Graff fell to the ground and glared up at me. Oh shit, I’ve done it now. He got up and glared down at me, yelling, “All right punk, I have half a mind to-“ “What the hell is that!?” I shouted, pointing behind him. The idiot turned and found a left hook ready to greet him. He fell onto a table behind him as I turned and ran out. I had to get these guys away from Night Light! I ran outside and looked around for some mode of transportation. I couldn’t run forever, I saw a board lying next to the café and got a crazy idea. I remembered experimenting with the concept back when I was learning magic. I levitated the board just inches of the ground. I climbed on it, and stared riding on it with my hind legs. I don’t know how Lyra finds balance walking around like this. Using my magic I propelled myself forward on the makeshift board and moved down the street. I looked behind me and saw Graff riding on a carriage with his goons pulling it. I needed speed! I grabbed with my teeth onto a passing carriage and used it to get the speed I needed. I balanced precariously on the makeshift board and held on for dear life. I passed the café and waved at a shocked crowd. Geez, you’d think they’d never seen a guy hovering around on a board. I looked behind me to see Graff’s crew about to trample from behind me. They were getting closer! I looked forward and saw that the pony driving it was a ginger maned earth pony. I recognized him from the clock tower protest! He aimed a strange weapon at me, the same one from last night! What the hell is going on? I opened my mouth to express my shock and found myself almost getting bit by one of the goons pulling the carriage. Okay, so I go forward and get shot at, or I go back and get beaten up. Or, I just give them all shit… I leapt off my board and flew over the shocked group of goons. The ginger earth pony veered suddenly with his carriage, narrowly avoiding a cart full of… “Shit!” The goons shouted as they crashed into said wagon full of, well you know. The manure fell into the carriage and covered the goons in the most disgusting substance known to pony kind. A large crowd of onlookers gathered around to see what happened, but I saw no sign of the ginger maned pony from before. Where’d he go? I shrugged and tossed the board to an impressed unicorn colt. Who knows, maybe it’ll be a cool toy in the future. ____________________________________________________ We managed to move the Tardis from its place in the woods over to the Doctor’s large garage. It was the best place for it to be as he could keep an eye on it. I opened the door to the interior and the Doctor stood there creating a painstakingly realistic model of the clock tower. He looked up as I entered. “Ah, Private!” He lifted a pair of goggles from his eyes and informed me, “I just finished up with the plan!” “Was painting it really necessary?” I asked, looking the model. “I mean you didn’t have to.” “Think of it as a souvenir,” He said as he set a model of the Tardis in the center of where the park was. “Okay, this is us when we’re ready to go. You’ll be inside the Tardis once everything’s set up.” He then wrapped a cable around the Tardis and attached it to the clock tower “Now, this cable will run inside the Tardis and be connected to its main power supply.” “So, when the lighting strikes,” I asked, pointing at the clock tower, “it runs into the Tardis and starts her up?” “Precisely,” he replied with a smile. “Now, how did the matchmaking go?” “Listen, before we talk about that,” I said, “tell me about that blaster?” “Well,” he replied, walking to a small work bench with the blaster on it “It’s definitely Martian tech, like I said before, but heavily modified. I ran through some search engines and found out only one model matches this one in the whole universe.” “What model was it?” I asked. “It belonged to The Corsair,” he explained as he pointed to an Ouroboros symbol on the gun. “A good friend of mine from long ago. He had this custom made a long time ago when he first visited Mars.” “What happened to him?” I asked slowly “Is he…?” “Yes,” he replied sadly. “He was a time lord, and he died when his Tardis was devoured.” “I’m sorry,” I sad with concern, “I didn’t mean to bring up bad-“ “It’s no big deal,” he interjected, suddenly cheerful. “This just means we have a monkey wrench in the whole system. While you’re galloping about,” he continued, laughing at the pun, “I’m going to investigate why it’s here.” “How many did the Corsair have?” I asked slowly. “Two were made,” he answered suspiciously,“why?” “I think I know the other one’s whereabouts,” I explained. I went on to tell him the events of today and how that ginger maned pony tried to kill me. He blinked in deep thought and mused, “Now, why would he try and kill you? It doesn’t make any sense. Why have it frozen too? It’s not like anypony cares what temperature their weapons are so long as they can fire.” He started pacing “Could it be Martian? No, they discontinued their sonic weaponry after I proved it to be rubbish.” He continued along in the vein until we heard knocking. Both of us walked outside and the Doctor looked through the peep hole in the garage door. His blue eyes turned to me, now pinpricks in shock, and exclaimed, “It’s Velvet!” “How’d she find me?” I asked, my own eyes growing wide in shock. “It doesn’t matter!” He ran to the Tardis and threw a blanket over it. “Help me hide her! There’s no time to turn her invisible!” I threw some more blankets over the Tardis, thoroughly covering her from any onlookers. Once she was successfully hidden The Doctor ran to the door and opened it politely. In stepped Velvet, a saddlebag on her, filled with books, I might add. When she saw me, a blush filled her cheeks. “Hello, Car- I mean, Eclipse,” she said with a nervous laugh. “Uh,” I said, “Hi Velvet, how’d you find me here?” “I, um, followed you here,” she admitted, then spoke frantically. “Not that I was stalking you or anything! It’s just nopony knew where you went after you, I mean…” She blushed even more, very much like her future daughter. “Um,” I pointed to the Doctor and introduced him,, “Velvet this is my uncle, Doc- I mean, Dr. Clockwork.” “An absolute pleasure,” the Doctor said, shaking Velvet’s hoof politely. He then pretended to be occupied with some junk in the corner as Velvet walked towards me. Her blue eyes didn’t meet mine for a second, she spoke nervously, “Um, Eclipse, I know I might sound a little forward,” She looked down at her hooves for a second, “but I was wondering, if you’d be available to go to the dance with me this Saturday?” “The Dance on the Ocean Floor?” I asked, pretending to not be in the know. “Yes, that’s the one,” she said with a nod, smiling widely. I blinked in shock; although not the kind of shock she’s probably thinking I’m feeling. “You mean, nopony’s asked you?” She shook her head a little glumly and said, “No, not yet. I kind of scare other guys away, what with being a bookworm and all.” I noticed her saddlebags were pretty full. Something tells me they weren’t all filled with textbooks. So that’s where Twilight gets that part of her… She noticed me staring and blushed even more, I decided to try and fix history again. “What about Night Light?” I asked. She raised an eyebrow. “Night Light?” She gave it a thought and answered slowly, “Well, he is kind of cute and all, and he did say some nice things back at the café.” She turned her gaze to me. “However, I think a stallion should be strong,so he can protect the mare he loves.” Was this why Velvet had a sour marriage in the future? Was it because of Night Light’s confidence issues? A plan started forming in my brain. It was a long shot, but it could save the future for all parties involved. _______________________________________________________ “I still don’t get it,” Night Light said, as I helped him fold his laundry. “How am I going to the dance with her if she’s going with you?” I explained for the fifth time as I folded some dry shirts, “She really wants to go with you. She just doesn’t know it yet,” I explained, giving him a confident smile. “That’s why we gotta prove that you, are a fighter at your core. Somepony who’s going to stand up for what he believes in. Somepony who’d be willing to fight Nightmare Moon if she tries to hurt Velvet.” “Well,” he said, pulling down a pair of dry coats. “I’ve never picked a fight with anypony in my life. Let alone a mythical monster that gobbles up colts when they don’t eat their carrots.” “You’re not going to pick a fight,” I explained again. “You are going to be the brave hero coming to her rescue!” I said dramatically. “Like a knight in shining armor, you will save her!” I finished folding the laundry and said, “Okay, let’s go over the plan again, 8:55 where are you going to be?” “I’m going to be at the dance,” he answered. “Right and where am I going to be?” “In the carriage with Velvet,” he replied. “Okay, so right around 9:00 she’s going to get mad at me,” I explained. “Wait,” he said, looking at me, “why’s she going to get angry with you?” “Well,” I rubbed the back of my head, “nice girls get mad at guys when they try to um…” I tried to place it delicately, “take advantage of them.” His gold eyes grew wide with shock, “You mean you’re going touch her…” He pointed at his flank. “No, no!” I said firmly. “It’s all an act, right?” “Okay,” he said reluctantly, “So long as she doesn’t get hurt, okay?” “That’s where you come in my friend,” I gave him a light tap on his chest. “Round 9:00 you’re strolling through the parking lot, and then you hear the commotion from the carriage. You walk over and see us struggling.” I pointed at him. “You as the great knight in shining armor say?” I waited for him. He understood and spoke in a semi confident voice at an invisible foe, “You! Keep your damn hooves off her!” He blinked and looked at me quizzically, asking, “Do I have to swear?” “Yes, Night Light,” I nodded firmly. “Celestia-damn it you’d better swear!” I went on with the scene. “You yank me out of the carriage; punch me in the stomach, and I'll go down. Then you and Velvet live happily ever after.” “You make it sound so easy,” he said looking down. “If only I wasn’t so scared.” “There’s nothing to it, Night Light,” I said, smiling warmly. “All it takes is a little bit of courage. A great stallion once told me, that if you put your mind to something, you can accomplish anything, all you need is those ten-seconds of stupid courage, and the rest is history.” “Who told you that?” he asked. “He sounds like cool guy.” “If all goes well,” I said with a smile, patting him on the shoulder. “someday you’ll meet him.” Hopefully as an in law…