Ch. 9 Grand Theft Artifact
A few minutes after the mysterious reappearance of Zero's friend Speed Breaker, Twilight, no longer wearing the heavy armor, was looking at some books in the piles, while Zero went and followed Speed, wanting an answer to his question.
'Why is he even here?!' Zero thought.
Soon, Zero went beyond the red curtain to see a very basic, but very big bedroom that had the walls covered in equations and sentences with more books thrown onto the floor. The bedroom had multiple beds placed everywhere, but it was mainly Sprocket's bed that had all the books around it. Speed was looking at Sprocket as he was hiding under his bed as if that would save him.
"It's okay to come out, Sprock. They're not going to hurt you." Speed said gingerly, trying to settle Sprocket down. He stuck his head out and looked at Zero and immediately crawled back under his bed, as Zero was still wearing his armor.
"No! H-He's one of them! H-He wants to t-throw me into p-prison! D-D-Do you know what they do to ponies like me in p-prison?!" Sprocket stuttered.
'When Conner said he wasn't all there… I think he put it mildly.' Zero thought, putting his hoof to his face.
"Sprock, if they were here to take you away, how would the guards normally come in here?"
"T-they would've broken in through t-the windows a-and they would've b-broken down the door?" Sprocket himself wasn't sure.
"Right, yet these two came in through the door and didn't cause any harm. They are both unicorns like you and if they wanted to stop you from running, they could have just grabbed you and taken you away." Speed talked to Sprocket the way a parent would talk to their scared foal.
"O-okay…" Sprocket reemerged and turned to face Zero, who had finally taken the guard armor off. The collar was now in full view and immediately caught Sprocket's attention.
"Huh… I-I thought they'd upgrade their stuff by now. Got captured, didn't you?" Zero nodded with a chuckle. Sprocket's stuttering seemed to have calmed down to just a soft voice.
"Yeah…ha-ha…that's actually why we're here. I don't suppose you can get these things off of me and my friend?"
"Please, an amateur could get these off. G-Give me a second…" Sprocket's horn glowed yellow as did the collar. Before Zero could ask what he was doing…
*Click* *Thud*
The collar came right off in no time and fell to the floor. An astonished Zero stared at the collar that's been given him so much grief.
"N-Now where is this friend of yours?" asked Sprocket.
"Follow me, Sprocket." Speed then went through the curtain with Sprocket following behind him. Zero quickly snapped back to reality and followed them as well.
()()()()() A few minutes ago… ()()()()()
As Zero stepped behind the curtain to follow Speed to get Sprocket, Twilight found herself alone with her thoughts.
'Ok, we're one step closer to getting my magic back. I just need to keep calm, but Zero has been acting strange, even for him! Ever since Speed showed up, Zero hasn't made a joke or said a thing to me. What's he hiding?'
"Well, you must be Twilight Sparkle."
Twilight was snapped from her thought, startled by a female voice. She turned to see an ultramarine pegasus floating next to the open window with an intrigued look on her face. She had a ruby red mane and tail, with electric blues streaks and emerald green eyes. Her cutie mark looked like swirling white streaks, almost resembling a wind.
"H-How do you know my name?" Twilight was still on guard, as the pegasus landed.
"Tsk girl, every pony in the city would know your name if they saw that thing around your neck." She said, as she set a wanted poster on the floor with her name and Zero's, along with descriptions of them from the collars all the way to the color of the streaks in Twilight's mane. She also sat a three-day old newspaper with an article on a museum acquisition: The Savior's Fantasy.
"Although, I doubt they actually will be able to put two and two together. I'm Wind Ryder, by the way!" She extended her hoof with a warm smile.
"I-its n-nice to meet you!" Twilight bumped her hoof against Ryder's, as she returned the smile.
"So where is this Zero that I've heard about?" asked Wind Ryder.
"He went after his friend Speed to get Sprocket." Twilight pointed towards the red curtain.
"NO WAY! Zero is friends with Speed?!" a surprised Ryder then leaned closer to Twilight's face, causing her to jerk her head back.
"Yeah, but didn't Speed say anything about it?" Twilight questioned the Pegasus.
"I'm afraid not. He's been a bit distant to me lately…" The mare finally sat down on the floor and looked at towards the curtain, listening to Sprocket's incoherent shouting from under his bed.
"He mentioned he had a friend named Valor, but because of a falling out they ceased being friends." Twilight blinked in surprise.
"What? Zero…Valor never mentioned that." Twilight suspicion of Zero was now back and in force.
"I wonder why…" Ryder muttered, still gazing at the curtain.
"Can you tell me what happened?" Twilight then leaned her head to Ryder's, allowing the pegasus to whisper to her ears.
"I don't know the full story, I'm afraid. Speed has always been scarce with his past before coming here about three months ago. No matter how hard I pressed him about it, he always avoided the subject. Although if you're given time to press Zero on the matter, he may spill the beans a little bit easier than Speed." Ryder broke her gaze from the curtain to look Twilight in the eyes.
"Then, if you can get me some time alone, that's exactly what I'll do." Twilight had a fire in her eyes, now determined to see what Zero was truly hiding.
*Muffled thud*
They both looked to the curtain wondering what the noise was. A few seconds later they see Speed and the now calm Sprocket coming through the curtain, followed shortly by Zero with his collar off.
"Hey Speed!" Ryder waved with a happy smile.
"Ryder? Back already?" Speed looked a bit off guard.
"Well it didn't take me very long to find what we're looking for. Would it kill you to read a newspaper every now and then?" She threw the newspaper she brought towards Speed's hooves. He read the circled article aloud:
Savior's Fantasy on display.
Now at the Mortis Museum of Ancient Artifacts.
See and learn about this powerful artifact.
"So that's what they're up to..." Speed said, as he finished reading.
"Looks like they know what we're looking for. It has to be a trap!" Twilight was expecting Zero's sarcasm, but got nothing from him. He seemed a bit too troubled with something…
"Of course it's a trap! It can't be anything else!" Sprocket's calm demeanor gave way to his paranoid behavior yet again.
"Calm down Sprock. We haven't fallen into any trap yet."
"Y-You're right…we'll come up with something." Sprocket walked over towards Twilight and took her collar off as well. It didn't really matter to her as it changed very little. Unlike Zero, who can now use his magic in full effect, Twilight still had no such luxury.
"So how are we going to make sure the trap fails?"
"Maybe if they were too focused on something else, they won't notice some pony taking the Savior's Fantasy."
"Like what?"
"Like me." Every pony in the room immediately looked to Zero in shock.
"Are you insane?!" Sprocket shouted back
"Jury's still out on that one." Speed raised his hoof to calm down Sprocket.
"Now, now, I think Zero may be onto something. If they busy looking at something else, they won't be watching Savior's Fantasy. Then Ryder and Twilight can just grab it." Zero nodded as his friend was right.
"That doesn't sound like a very good plan." Twilight expressed doubt on the plan.
"But it's about all we got, so it'll have to do." Speed didn't like the plan either, but knew the luxury of choice was not there for them. "While Zero and I keep the guards busy, you two will get the box and get right back here." Twilight and Ryder nodded.
"What about me?" Sprocket spoke up.
"Just stay here, it's safer that way." Sprocket nodded as well. "We'll leave after it closes in two hours."
Speed went back behind the curtains with Sprocket and Ryder followed to leave Twilight alone with Zero, just like she asked.
"Ok Zero, spill it!" Twilight immediately demanded from her friend.
"Huh?!" was all Zero could say, shocked by Twilight's angry demeanor. "W-What do you mean?!"
"You've been acting weird ever since we got here and now I find out why: you lied to me about what happened between you and Speed." Zero thought it'd be pointless to keep it up.
"You're right… I did lie." Zero looked visible ashamed which made Twilight soften up a little.
"But why Zero?! Why lie about something like that?!"
"Believe me, if I told you the full story, you wouldn't have trusted me at all. So I lied because I didn't think anypony from here would ever tell you. I'm sorry I lied."
Zero's shamed look was then replaced by a serious demeanor, something that Twilight is starting to become more accustomed to. His happy-go-lucky demeanor seemed to give way to a much more serious pony.
'Is this the real Zero?' Twilight thought. "How can I trust you if you won't be honest with me?"
"I'll tell you what: When this is all over, I'll tell you the full story. No questions asked."
"That's if we get out of this…" Twilight pointed out.
"I promise that whatever it takes, I'm going to help you get home!" Twilight just chuckled.
"You do that..." With that rather cold remark, she trotted off to join the rest, leaving Zero with his thoughts and his frustration.
'I'm. An. IDIOT!'
()()()()() 2 hours later… Outside the Mortis Museum of Ancient Artifacts: Twilight and Ryder ()()()()()
Twilight and Ryder were standing on a roof adjacent to the museum roof. Ryder was on lookout waiting for Zero and Speed to enter through a skylight.
"Ok, the boys are in position." Ryder said, looking through a pair of binoculars.
"So now it's our turn." Ryder picked up Twilight under her fore arms and flew (with considerable difficulty) to another skylight on the other side of the building. They peaked through to see the Savior's Fantasy, with only about twenty ponies guarding it.
"Do you have it?" Ryder asked, opening the skylight.
"Of course I do, Ryder!" Twilight reached into the saddlebag Zero gave her to pull out the Trickster's Nightmare. "Now we wait…"
*Boom… Boom… Boom…*
"What was that?!" One of the guards shouted.
"Come on! That must be them now!" The majority of the guards ran
"We have to touch the two together and you should have your magic back in force! I'll be right back!" Ryder whispered as she flew down and landed next to the case. Inside the case was a white cube studded with various colored gems. The pegasus walked right behind a nearby guard as silently as possible. She then stole the key to the case and unlocked it. "Thank you boys so much."
"HEY! STOP RIGHT THERE!" the guard ran for the wall and pulled down a switch with his mouth.
*BEEEEEEEEEEEEEP BEEEEEEEEEEEEEP BEEEEEEEEEEEEEP*
"Uh oh!" Ryder muttered, as she quickly grabbed the cube and flew as fast as she can to the open skylight.
"Finally, this nightmare is one step closer to being over." Twilight said, as she had both jeweled cubes now.
"Yeah, that's all well and good, but we need to get out of here!" Ryder shouted, as she threw both of the cubes into the saddlebags and picked up Twilight to make their escape.
"Wait! What about Zero?!" Twilight asked Ryder.
"I'm sure he's fine! From what you've told me, he should be able to think of a way to get away!"
Before Ryder could say much more, a large group of pegasus guards swarmed them from all directions, surrounding the duo. It didn't help that Ryder was carrying Twilight under her hooves, making it impossible for her to outrun them.
'How are we going to get out of this?!'
Suddenly ,the two cubes began to glow in Twilight's saddlebags and created a giant pillar of light that blinded every pony that looked at them. The pillar then changed into the shape of a dome around the museum before dissipating, teleporting Twilight and Ryder away from the museum and back to the upstairs of Paradise, causing Sprocket to nearly have a heart attack. Twilight and Ryder looked around in shock and confusion.
"Huh? How did we get here?!"
"D-Did the cubes just teleport us halfway across town?"
"Y-yeah… I think they did." Sprocket had finally calmed down enough to ask what happened and got the full story from their end.
"But what happened to Zero and Speed?" The girls lowered their heads, as they began to worry. After ten minutes of waiting, Zero teleported in before collapsing; he looked like he been through a very long fight.
"Zero!" Twilight ran to Zero's side first.
"Where's Speed?" Ryder asked concerned.
"*Heavy breathing* I…don't know…I think he…might have been caught…" With that he passed out.
"Oh no…" was all Ryder could say.
"Come on. Help me with Zero!" The three carried Zero to a bed where he fell asleep.
If only they knew…
()()()()() 30 minutes ago: Zero and Speed ()()()()()
"Zero, you ready?" Speed asked, as they stood next to the now open skylight.
"As ready as I'll ever be." Speed flew down, landing silently on the floor, while Zero jumped and used his magic to stop his decent just before landing.
"Ok, it would be best if we split up to distribute the work load." Speed whispered.
"Right." The two then split up down different hallways. 'Ok, I just need to create a giant diversion. That shouldn't be that hard.' Zero thought, as he galloped into a large but unguarded hall. There were multiple artifacts that Zero had some knowledge, but the rest just mystified him. The hall also had a second and third story to make room for the biggest attention grabber in the room: a giant stone statue of Dux Mortis. Zero stopped to look at the statue.
'That statue… If I can make it fall, then every guard in a square mile will come to see what happened!' Zero smirked to himself. 'A well placed concussion blast should do the trick!' As began to charge his blast to take out the legs…
*Boom*
"Huh… might take more than one."
*Boom… Boom…*
"Well, I didn't think you'd fall for it. Maybe you're just as dumb as I thought." Zero stopped charging and looked around for the voice.
"Up here!"
Zero looked up to the second story of the room to see Blacklight waiting for him all alone. Blacklight, still clad in his full-body armor, removed the helmet that obscured his face. He had black fur, orange eyes and no mane and a scar over his muzzle.
"You got a face only a mother could love and even she hates it." Zero said with a smirk
"Still the jokester I see. Tell me something: Why do you fight us?"
"Huh?" Zero tilted his head to the side in confusion.
"We are very fair to our citizens when they obey us. Those who break our laws should be punished, right? So why would you fight alongside those who would rather live in a world of chaos with no rules to keep them in line?" Zero hung his head to the ground and began to chuckle to himself.
"Something funny?" Blacklight asked, arching an eyebrow.
"You know, I actually don't care about your government or your queen or what she's done." Blacklight was surprised by this answer. He was expecting something more heroic and cliché.
"Then why do you still fight us?!" Blacklight demanded.
"Easy: it seems to be the only way for me to leave this stupid country!" Zero replied
"You mean…you just want to go home?" Blacklight looked at Zero with incredulous.
"Well…I don't want just me…." Blacklight eyes squinted a bit in interest. "Twilight Sparkle…I lied about what I had done in my past, so I made a promise to her that I would do whatever I needed to do to make up for what I did. And I'll start by getting her home!"
Blacklight's eyes were now wide open. "I always keep my promises, Blacklight and if you're in my way…" Zero's horn was now glowing brightly, ready for battle.
"Tough words from some pony that can't move." Blacklight chuckled.
"What?!"
Suddenly and without warning, Zero was bound by powerful magic. He was lifted up, until he was standing on his hind legs. Zero looked to Blacklight but noticed his horn not glowing.
"Well Val, I never thought you'd be this dumb." Zero turned his head in shock towards the familiar voice…to see Speed. Zero was at a loss for words.
"What's this? No clever comeback? No stupid quips?" Suddenly all the guards that heard the concussive blasts from Zero came running in before being stopped by Blacklight.
"Huh…YOU FOOLS!" Speed shouted at the guards running in.
*BEEEEEEEEEEEEEP BEEEEEEEEEEEEEP BEEEEEEEEEEEEEP*
Suddenly the alarm sounded, causing Zero to smirk.
"Great works girls!"
"Get back there now! A few of you stay here!" Blacklight commanded, as a major bulk of the guards ran to the Savior's Fantasy exhibit.
"S-Speed… why…?" Speed just laughed.
"*sigh*You still don't get it, do you Val? Speed…"
Suddenly, Speed let out a flash of light and transformed into something else…a unicorn. His fur, mane, tail, were all jet black, and his eyes became fire red. His cutie mark was almost unidentifiable as it too was black but a lighter shade.
"…IS NO MORE!" Now Zero was truly confused and shocked.
"I would like you to meet Shadow and I couldn't find a more fitting name! You see Valor, Shadow here has mastered a pretty useful spell. He can switch the exact appearance of any pony and learn everything about them, down to your suppressed memories!" Zero gasped.
"I see you figured out what happens now. Shadow, he's all yours." Blacklight turned and walked away.
"It would be my pleasure!" Shadow walked up and placed a hoof on Zero's forehead and his heart. Then his horn began to glow a dark red.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Suddenly a searing pain shot through Zero's body, engulfing him. As Shadow began to take the information he needed, his appearance began to change, until he looked exactly like Zero.
"When he's done, take what's left and get rid of it." Blacklight ordered what's left of the guard bulk before leaving the room. Zero's cries were suddenly silenced as Shadow began to probe his memories.
'I can't let him win! Fight Zero!'
'He's resisting. I can't get a good read on his memories. Just blurs of pictures… He's a determined one.' Just then, a bright pillar of light appeared from the other side of the building and formed a dome around the building, distracting Shadow from what he was doing along with the guards watching.
'Now's my chance!' Zero took immediate advantage and let out an all-or-nothing concussive blast in all directions, knocking Shadow into a nearby pillar, launching every other pony into whatever was behind them and weakening the legs of the Dux Mortis statue, causing it to crumble and take out a few chunks of the second story, making the third floor and roof to begin collapsing.
"...I… need…to get… out of here…" Zero managed to speak as he pulled himself to his hooves. He dragged himself outside and walked a few feet before he collapsed, blacking out soon afterwards. The last thing he heard before that was voices…
"Well lookie here…"
"That pony doesn't look so good…!"
"You're right… Let's see if we can help him…"
"Hurry! Before any other ponies show up…!"
()()()()() Meanwhile ()()()()()
"Sir we have a problem!" "Zero" said, as he ran to Blacklight at one of the few places collapsing: the front door.
"What happened?!" Blacklight tried not to show too much emotion to keep his troops moral up.
"Zero managed to stop me. I couldn't get everything I need."
"What are you missing?!"
"The only recent memories I have are from his first two days with Twilight, nothing more."
"That will have to do. Where is Zero anyway?"
"I don't know. He could be anywhere by now."
"Well, you let me worry about him. Go and take care of our other guest. Make sure she has your undying trust and bring her to the capital." "Zero" bowed his head and teleported away.
"Sir… what now?" a lone guard asked, as Blacklight turned to leave the building.
"Find the real Zero… and end him…."