//------------------------------// // Chapter 10 // Story: Loose Ends // by TheCrazedTurkey //------------------------------// Chapter 10 October 11 Not much has happened since the last time I wrote. My parents sent a letter congratulating me about my promotion, and I carried out the duties I now have as captain. In my position, I normally just fill in everypony about the day’s agenda and oversee various operations. Nothing too big happened until just yesterday. A few days ago, somepony was captured, only that pony… was a dog. He was the leader of a small band of thieves called the “Diamond Dogs”. He was charged with theft and kidnapping. I was going to observe the interrogation and take notes regarding the mental health of the one being interrogated, evidence that could be used against him, and stuff like that. Yesterday was the day of the interrogation. We were going to use the “good cop, bad cop” system here with Vigil being the bad cop and Bolt being the good cop. I sat behind a one-way glass window with a note pad and quill while the suspect sat at a table at a table in a room on the other side. I observed him. He wore a red vest and a spiked collar. He had a massive lower jaw and his eyes were a greenish color. He looked… familiar… The door to the room swung open and in walked Vigil and Bolt. Before the interrogation began, I looked at my notepad. Already written across the top were the words: Notes for the interrogation of suspect: Rover. I looked back into the room and spoke into a microphone connected to speakers in the other room, saying, “You may begin.” Almost immediately, Vigil shouted in Rover’s face. “Alright, punk! Did you do it or not?” The dog just sat there, looking at both of them. Vigil stepped away from Rover a bit so that Bolt could talk a bit. “Listen, friend,” he said, “I just wanna help. I can’t help you if you won’t admit to anything. True, you might not have done it, but if that’s the case, you need to give us some proof, or point us in the right direction.” He stepped back and Vigil waited a bit. The dog remained silent. “Still won’t cooperate, eh?” Vigil threw a punch at the dog and hit him dead in the face. Rover reeled back, but didn’t show any signs of pain. He just sat back up and smirked. “Fine,” he said, almost jokingly, “You want the truth? I’m guilty. All of the evidence points that way. There were six witnesses, not to mention the poor little unicorn we kidnapped. The useless bitch…” He trailed off, looking off into space. I quickly wrote in my notebook: Suspect confesses to the crime immediately and points out the evidence against him. Suspect appears uninterested in the matter, however. Just as I looked back into the room, I was met with Rover’s greenish eyes. He was sitting at the table, looking directly at me. He shouldn’t have been able to see me, though; I was hidden behind the one-way mirror. Still, I can’t shake the feeling that he was looking me in the eye as he said, “But that’s the least of your worries, isn’t it?” “What are you talking about?” Vigil seethed, only the slightest hint of uncertainty in his voice. Rover let out a cold, mirthless laugh, the kind that makes your blood run cold. The kind that I had heard only once before, at the Academy… Once he had finished, he looked back at me and said, “Shining Armor, is it? I believe we met at this year’s Summer Sun Celebration.” It took me a few seconds to realize what he had meant. Suddenly I remembered that dog Juggernaut had saved me from. “H-how are you alive?” I stammered. The dog pulled back part of his vest, revealing a scar on his right shoulder… a bullet wound. “A word of advice: if you shoot to kill, make sure your target’s dead,” he said, grinning. He cackled again, obviously enjoying this feeling of uncertainty he had created. I stared at Rover, incredulous. He continued to observe me through the one-way mirror. “W-what…” I stammered into the microphone before he cut me off. “Am I doing committing petty thievery when I’m supposed to be a dead terrorist?” He said, “Well, you could say that, like many others, I’m biding my time. Speaking of which…” He looked at a clock overhead. “13:00,” he said aloud, “I believe there’s a good friend of mine paying your family a visit right about now, Bolt.” Bolt froze when he heard this. His face was blank. Suddenly, he leaped at the dog, continually trying to punch him with his front hoofs. Vigil had to hold him back, and he was barely succeeding. “If anything happens to them, you son of a bitch, I swear to Celestia I’ll…” He said, continuing in his efforts to inflict any sort of injuries he could on the diamond dog, “…I’ll kill you!” “Then for my sake, you’d better hurry!” Rover sneered. Bolt sighed and got back onto all fours. He looked to where he thought I’d be sitting behind the mirror. “Go to them,” I said through the microphone. Bolt nodded and sprinted out the door, closing it behind him with his magic. “Vigil, I need you to alert the princess. I’ll finish the interrogation,” I continued. He saluted and ran out the door as well, leaving it open for me. I got in as fast as I could, closing and locking the door behind me. “Just you and me,” I muttered, sitting down in front of the dog. “Why were you working with the changelings?” I asked quietly, trying to contain the feeling of shock that I was still trying to cope with. “Those infidels?” Rover scoffed, “They are not welcome among us. However, you know the saying: ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’.” “So…” “All of us, the zebras, the griffons, the dogs, all but the changelings were united for one sole purpose that night.” “Wait…” “We are the Disciples of Chaos.” I was silent for a few moments. What was he talking about? “What are the disciples of chaos?” I asked. “I believe you are familiar with Discord, the god of chaos?” Rover said. “Yes…” “We are his servants. For eons now, Discord has been trapped in a prison of stone. We exist to carry on his legacy. The changelings follow a different deity. We both attempted to aid in the rule of Nightmare Moon, but for different reasons: we simply wished to cause disharmony in His name, but they just carried out those acts in the name of their precious queen.” I didn’t speak. Minutes passed. Eventually, the door flew open behind me. In walked Princess Celestia, who was accompanied by two guards, who both went to restrain Rover. “What has he told you?” Celestia said with much intensity in her voice. I told her everything I had learned from Rover. I thought I heard Celestia swear under her breath before she ordered the two guards to imprison the Diamond Dog and all of his accomplices. She then turned to me and looked me in the eye. “Do you know where Bolt lives?” she asked with urgency. I nodded before she continued, “Go to his home at once. There, you will meet your friends.” “Why do I…” I started, but Celestia interrupted me with, “You’ll know when you get there.” Having known the princess for quite some time now, I knew it was best to just do what she said without question. I ran out of the building and left the base, galloping through the streets of Canterlot. I pushed through the crowds of ponies going about their daily business. Eventually, I made it to the lower-class section of the city. This area was run-down and nearly abandoned; almost everypony in Canterlot was living it up in one of the fancier parts of the city. This, place, on the other hand, was home to those who could afford live in the city, but not much more. In short, everypony here was barely scraping by. I slowed as I passed each sagging, gray house. A feeling of foreboding slowly came over me. I made the turn onto Bolt’s street not knowing what to expect—not wanting to know, in fact. I approached his address. It was still obscured by an old shop and two houses. It was then that I noticed smoke. I nearly stopped, but there was no stopping at that point. I was too close to turn back. I approached Bolt’s house, slower than before. I finally arrived. I’ll never forget what I saw. Bolt lay in front of the pile of embers that was once his house, sobbing. “N-n-no… this can’t be happening…” he uttered. That was when I saw that he was cradling a small colt in his front hooves. As I approached, I saw that he was cradling the corpse of his brother, Coil. His body was covered in third-degree burns, except for a small, bleeding lump on his forehead. His eyes were still wide open, gazing blankly at his older brother, an expression of terror forever engraved on his mutilated face. I continued to survey the scene, and I noticed Vigil searching through the wreckage. Eventually, he pulled out the body of a frail unicorn. Bolt’s mom. I threw some wood out of the way to allow him to pull the pony out of the rubble. “I notified the guards,” he sighed, “It looks like Fritz might be alive; Bolt said he hadn’t visited in months.” I just nodded and trotted off to talk to Bolt. He was still sobbing over the corpse of his younger brother. I patted him on the back. Eventually, Bolt got a hold of himself and stood, placing Coil on the ground and shutting his brother’s eyes so that he could rest in peace. He stared down at Coil, tears no longer streaming down his face. “Today would’ve been his eighteenth birthday,” he said, his voice shaking. He stood still for a few moments, then turned to me, a look of anger suddenly in his eyes. “I’m going to kill them, whoever did this,” he told me. His voice gradually rose in volume until he was screaming as he said, “I’ll kill every single one of them. Those bastards are going to wish they’d never been born! I’ll make them beg for death! They…” I slapped him across the face. “Bolt, you’re better than this,” I yelled, trying to be the voice of reason, “You’re better than them! We’ve got to do this by the book! We’re not savages!” I looked him in the eye. “I promise you that there will be justice. Anyone involved with this’ll get what they deserve,” I said in a reassuring tone. “And we’ll be here to make sure that happens,” Vigil said, standing beside me. We just stood there until other guards arrived to investigate. I informed them on what I knew and what they were to do. Once I had caught them up, the three of us began to head back to the palace as the sun began to set. As we entered the gates, we saw the night guards take up their positions. Halfway back to the barracks, we passed Princess Luna. She stopped and opened her mouth to speak, but the three of us walked on, not acknowledging her. I can’t speak for Vigil and Bolt, but after all of the death she had caused, I don’t think I’ll ever forgive her. I know that she’s changed, that she means well, but still… On a brighter note, the Gala is next month. I’ve heard that Cadence will be there, too! At least I’ve got something to look forward to. November 11 Today was the day. Tonight, Vigil Bolt and I went to the Gala. The preparations were pretty boring, mainly consisting of us mocking each other’s appearances as we put on our red dress uniforms. Living right outside of the palace, we made it there extremely early. Celestia greeted us brightly, and the three of us proceeded to the ballroom. Inside were a few other ponies who idly stood and talked as the ponies who’d be providing the music prepared their instruments. Vigil waved to Octavia, whom we had encountered on one of our nights at the bar long ago. She waved back, obviously recognizing us and then went back to tuning her cello. So, the three of us stood by the buffet, joking about (although Bolt hardly spoke). Time passed, and slowly, ponies started coming in and the music started playing. Bolt decided to go outside and Vigil and I had some of the fancy foods they had to offer, which we both spit out immediately. “I sure could go for some apple pie right about now,” Vigil sighed. He looked up at a nearby clock and said, “Hey the Wonderbolts will be performing soon. You wanna come?” “Nah,” I replied. “Suite yourself,” he said, going outside to where the flight show was supposed to take place. Alone, I decided to walk out to the foyer, where Celestia was greeting the guests. Once I was out there, I noticed a purple unicorn standing by her. I began to approach my sister, but just as I did so, I heard a familiar voice from behind me. “So how’ve you been, captain?” I turned around to see Cadence standing before me, grinning. I couldn’t fight back a smile. “I’ve been well, your highness.” We both stood there for a while, just looking at each other and smiling. Eventually, Cadence broke the silence. “So, you wanna surprise Twilight?” she asked. I looked to my sister. She looked bored out of her mind, standing there next to her teacher. I made to speak to her again when a guard approached me. “Sir, we have a situation in the ballroom!” he said. I looked at Twilight again, but decided that she could wait just a little longer. “Alright, what is it?” The guard took me into the ballroom with Cadence following close behind. When we were inside, I couldn’t help but chuckle a little. On the stage where the musicians played was a familiar pink pony wearing one of the craziest dresses I’d ever seen, singing the “Pony Pokey”. I looked at Cadence, who was smiling and humming along. “What course of action shall we take, sir?” The guard said, not amused. “Let’s just wait and see what happens.” I answered. When she finished singing, the crowd scolded her, and almost immediately she pulled a turntable out of nowhere. She started playing the records on it and began jumping around the crowd when another familiar pony came in, pushing a cart with a delicious looking cake that looked about twelve feet tall. The pink mare jumped onto the cart, sending the cake flying at the biggest douche I’ve ever met, Prince Blueblood, who hid behind another familiar looking pony who took the blow head-on and began yelling at the prince. The events that followed caused one of the larger statues in the room to topple over. A rainbow-colored Pegasus caught the statue, but it began to wobble, knocking over all of the columns in the room like dominoes. At this point, Cadence and I began to head toward the exit. I saw Vigil and Bolt, beside themselves with laughter, and motioned for them to come with us. They followed, still laughing. I was just about to open the door when Celestia and Twilight walked in, surveying the seen. Almost immediately, another familiar Pegasus burst through a door as animals from the garden flooded the room. It was then that I opened the door and we left the palace, heading for the Green Dragon. The four of us stayed there until midnight, just hanging out. Even Bolt seemed to be in brighter spirits as we drank and laughed. At one point Vigil and Bolt started drunkenly singing to Pony Pokey as I watched along with Cadence and the bartender. We didn’t leave until the chandelier that Vigil had gotten onto collapsed and he started calling it a cunt. I really need to talk to him about his drinking problem. Anyway, Cadence told me that she would visit more often, which is awesome. I’m still disappointed that I didn’t get to talk to Twilie, but even so, tonight was a night to remember.