Chapter 36
I exited the conversation, allowing my consciousness to climb high. A hefty heart was what I gained by eavesdropping, as well as a sense of my youth. Luna and Celestia have been together for their entire lives, and I fell right out of the sky into Luna’s lap barely a week ago. I could understand that I was taking up time that would have been originally allocated for Celestia, hence her sadness. Truth be told, Luna was old enough to be my grandmother a thousand times over. But I would live just as long as her if something did not kill me first. I pondered this as I seemingly fell up, allowing my range of hearing to ascend. Being omniscient, it was impossible for me to know more about a certain situation by being physically present. I could comprehend everything, and actually using a physical form was useless. Physical bodies were only vessels of consciousness, and now I was free of my physical body. I suddenly grew a little bit frightened. If I knew everything, if I could be everywhere, if I could do everything, what kept me from never entering my physical body again? It frightened me, and I suddenly sensed my body. It was standing, eyes closed, in the shallow end of the of the Mare’s baths. A mare was actually walking to the baths with a folded towel draped over her back, and I felt amused as I imagined what she would see when she entered the room. A seemingly dead pony, standing in shoulder-deep water, with Princess Luna’s attire lying nearby. I wondered about Twilight when the mare in question screamed and ran for help. I had just enough time to get back to my body and get out of the baths before she came back with help. I quickly checked on Twilight. I was shocked.
Oh no.
I opened my eyes, flinging my head back, flipping my head, gasping for air. I had to get to Twilight. Now. I struggled to get out of the water, trying to lug my dripping tail behind me. I finally got out, scooping my shoulder plate up by the leather straps. I would put it on as I was going up. I rushed out of the door, trying to get my head through the leather straps. I ran through the halls, tracking wet hoofprints all over the lush purple carpet.
“Twilight!” I shouted, banging my hooves on the door to her room. She did not answer. I would have given her the benefit of the doubt and left, but I knew exactly what was going on.
“Twilight! This is Edwin! Open up!” I shouted again, trying to get her to open the door willingly. She didn’t, so I had to kick it open. I turned around and kicked it open with my hind legs. I walked into the room, suddenly getting a big whiff of something hauntingly familiar. My pupils dilated. My breathing rate rose sharply. I sniffed again. My heart thudded in my chest. My eyes. I could see everything. The air moving in currents. Tiny little droplets of water vapor. The eddies in the air that hinted at an aerosol. I felt slightly happy for Twilight, but I had to make sure that she didn’t hurt herself or anypony else while she was under the influence of ethyl bromoacetate. I looked around the room, trying my best to find her. I shifted my eyes to the left, and I finally found the pony right in my face, with her crazily dilated pupils and her slightly askew mane.
“Edwin!” She said unusually fast. Surprise blossomed on her face, and then faded away just as quickly to be replaced by suspicion.
“What are you doing here?! You’re letting all of the aerosol out of my testing room!” She said, slightly angry. A normal pegasus or earth pony was dangerous under the influence of ethyl bromoacetate because they could see any attempts to control them before you yourself did, but a Unicorn? I had no experience about how a normal unicorn would react to it. I had to take every precaution possible to make sure that she would not leave the room, interact with other ponies, or hurt herself. She was staring me down, backing me into a corner. I was still dangerously deep in the Flow, so I blinked and removed all of the excess ethyl from the room. My minutes were numbered, then. Twilight had time to inhale and then later metabolize a much larger dose than I had, with nearly five minutes of exposure compared to my few seconds. I would only be able to contain her unaided for a minute or two, but I theorized that it would take about thirty for her to come off of her symptoms. I could easily keep up with her using the Flow, but I did not want to use it for fear of harming her. The ideal situation was to have a team of four unicorns to create a chamber that could safely detain her for the duration of the dosage. Twilight’s head suddenly burred, and she shot off to the left of me to watch the book fall off of a shelf in seemingly slow motion. It was fascinating, with its pages slowly fluttering open as it fell, revealing the inky black text on the white paper. I was extremely interested by the book, but I had to concentrate. Nothing in this room would kill me. Twilight was physically capable of killing me, but I’m not sure that she couldn't do that on purpose. I tracked back through my thoughts.
“Twilight, where are your notes? For making the gas?” I asked, shutting and locking the door that I entered in with magic.
“Book.” She said in a slurred voice because she was speaking so fast, pawing the now-open book on the floor. I left her alone and decided to look for them myself. I turned away from the living area of the lab to the actual lab. Tables covered in beakers, glass instruments, tubing, those metal containers that held compressed gas. I could see a small stack of yellowed papers next to that little brown quill and inkwell that I used to write her the note that started this whole incident. I sighed, trying to find it. I finally found the notes, written in a strangely flowing script. I blinked. The notes suddenly popped out of existence, leaving a lone note fluttering down to the table. It must have been in between some of the other papers that did not exist now. I read it.
Miss Sparkle-
CH2BrCO2C2H5
-Edwin
I blinked again, and it too popped into that strange realm of not being. I turned back to Twilight. She scared me, because she was literally right in my face. I could feel my small dose of Ethyl leaving me. I didn’t notice her approach
“I can hear you see, Ed. What is this stuff?” She said quickly, with an air of extreme interest.
“It’s dangerous. You can’t use it again.” I said.
“Then why did you give it to me?” She asked aloofly. I grimaced a little bit, not sure about
what to say about that.
“The Princess told me that you were working on a chemical to increase respiratory capacity. This chemical does that very very well, but I didn’t take into account the side effects, and- Twilight, don’t do that!” I shouted at the very end, because Twilight had hid herself somewhere in the room with her lightning speed. I felt a wave of the Flow rush through me, strengthening my limbs and bolstering my mind. I thought about it for a moment. Twilight could be anywhere in the room right now. There was a tiny little window in the room with wispy curtains, and I could see that it was open. I cursed myself and ran over to the window, looking out of it. I could see nothing except for one of the many gardens jutting out of the Palace. I climbed back inside of the window, shutting it. I walked back to the interior of the room, and plopped myself down. I heard a faint whisper from the Flow, alerting me to Twilight’s presence. She was hiding herself with magic, rendering herself invisible. I suspected that she was keeping her sample of ethyl safe from me.
“I’m not going to destroy it, Twilight. It’s your discovery.” I said, and I felt a flutter of magic as she became visible once more. She looked rather sheepish, holding a graduated flask filled with a translucent pale yellow liquid between her forehooves.
“You promise?” She asked sheepishly.
“Yeah, but only if you do exactly what I tell you to do.” I said. Twilight hesitated a little bit, but then reluctantly agreed.
“Okay.”
“Good. I need to go find one of the Princesses, so you need to do a few things. You need to stay here until a guard named Antony or Princess Celestia comes to see you. You cannot open this door for anypony other than Captain Antony or Princess Celestia. Don’t open that flask Okay?” I asked to clarify. She nodded. I smiled.
“It’s good to see you again, Twilight.” I said, and then turned to walk out of the door. I nearly fell to the floor, extremely relieved to be away from that situation. I decided to try and see if I could find any food. The one place that was always filled with food was the Dining hall, so I decided to go there. I also decided to walk rather than just blink my way over there, I really needed the interaction with the other ponies in the Palace. I actually passed a few. One pony was just murmuring to himself, with an assemblage of scrolls and quills following behind him like a parade. They were writing something, but I had no idea what. I passed a few other ponies who asked me about Equestrian events, and I was embarrassed to find that my knowledge was very limited. I said what I could, and I inserted opinions that I thought would belong, and it worked out rather well. The ponies that I talked to just smiled politely when they asked my opinions on something. I had a feeling that they didn't quite agree with them. Oh well. Things were like that for me back when I was human, too. I was never registered with any political party, never voted, because I could never find another person who I completely agreed with doctrinally. Back in the real world, the ponies I talked to would excuse themselves, claiming duties in other parts of the Palace. I replied with a pleasantry, and we went along on our separate paths. I finally found myself in front of the colossal wooden doors of the Dining hall. I felt slightly dreamy as I pushed one of them open with my pale hoof. I could immediately tell that something was wrong. There was nopony in the room. Not a single one. The long benches, the clouds, everything. It was completely barren. I walked up to the table, which still seemed to be filled with food, and stopped in my tracks. Spitfire was sitting on my right, on the opposite side of the lead table. There was some odd shape in front of her. She was staring at me intently with her bright red irises.
“How kind of you to join me, Mister Shell. Would you care for some fruit?” The Angelic asked, gesturing with an orange hoof to a nearby bowl of peaches. My mouth began to water, but I could not accept.
“No.” I said stiffly. The Angelic tutted in a warm, masculine voice.
“That’s no way to show appreciation to a Host. Well, I do suppose that it isn’t that necessary for you to indulge. I need you focused.” She said in that strance voice that didn’t match her features, with that horrifyingly articulate mouth with the pointed fangs.
“See, Edwin? I even brought some food so that I would not be tempted to eat you. I consider that to be very accommodating of me, so you should appreciate what I have to say.” The angelic retorted, gesturing downwards with his lips. My stomach heaved as I figured out what it was.
“You... You...” I whispered, trying to find a word sinister enough.
“Monster?” The Angelic supplied, “Abomination? Offence against Nature? Everything must eat to survive, Edwin. Don’t condemn me for having tastes that differ.” He said, leaning down with his head to take a big bite. He grabbed the lower part of the leg with his hoof, stabilizing it as he ripped a big chunk out with his fangs. I could see the cutie mark of a musical note getting torn between the flesh in the mouth and the flesh still on the leg. My stomach lunged into my throat as I watched what was once a pony being eaten before my very eyes.
“What was their name?” I asked quietly. Spitfire looked up at me, her red irises betraying a strange confusion.
“Do you ask a tree from which you take your peach its name?”
“That is no answer.” I whispered calmly, trying to rein in my emotions. The Angelic in Spitfire arched his neck back and gulped, his head bobbing several times as he tried to swallow the meat. He coughed a little when he finished.
“When I killed him, somepony nearby shouted ‘Blues’, but there is no way of knowing for sure, at least not now.” He said offhandedly, pushing the mutilated blue limb away from him.
“Edwin. It is your job to annihilate our species. Genocide is the reason that Numbereds exist.”
“For good reason.” I said, shuddering with anger.
“A debatable issue. But, as the leader of my race, I implore you to consider something.” He said. I said nothing in reply, so he continued.
“One of your species, The First, is cold and dead. His body no longer carries the passion that shattered our first attempt at a life of our own making. His scorching, genocidal fire is something that Equestrian eyes shall never see again.” He stated bluntly, “Your kind is at a disadvantage. My race is countless, legion. Your race has only four specimens. You can obviously see your fight to be a losing one. Drop your cause. My kind has agreed to be less aggressive, to limit their consumption. All you need to do is walk away.” He said calmly, reaching down with his head to rip another chunk off of the leg. I had to look away while the sounds of ripping meat and crunching bone resounded through the empty hall. I shuddered every time I heard bone snap. He finally finished, and I turned to him. He had a little bit of gristle stuck in his mouth, and I shuddered slightly as I noticed.
“Think about it like this, Edwin. Either you stop killing Angelics, or Angelics start killing a whole lot more mortal ponies. It’s quite a simple choice, really. If you truly care for the mortal populace of Equestria, as the Numbereds often proclaim, it is a simple choice. You must stop attacking Angelics. You must.” He reasoned. I was loathe to go with him on this.
“What if I don’t agree?” I inquired suspiciously. The Angelic scoffed.
“The rivers of Equestria will run red with the blood of mortals.” He said, and then stood from his sitting position. He kept Spitfire’s body in good order, it looked very clean. There were bags under her eyes. He leaned down with his head to grab the limb.
“You have until the night of the Grand Galloping Gala to decide. We will come for you.” He said, and grabbed the cold limb, biting down. I flinched as the bone crunched. Spitfire spread her wings and flapped, rising into the air. She flapped again, and her body with the dead blue leg in its mouth soared out of an open window. I felt suddenly cold. I had to do something. I had to tell somepony. Luna? No. What would she be able to do? Celestia? No. She would do something drastic. The Doctor? Maybe. Alucard?
“Alucard.” I whispered. I had to tell Alucard. He would know exactly what to do. But I had to find the Doctor first. My mind was so jumbled. I had to get out of there. I turned and ran.
“Luna!” I shouted, banging on the door. She opened up immediately, but with a rather annoyed look on her face.
“Ed, I’m a little bit busy with Tia, I-”
“When is the Grand Galloping Gala?” I asked her hurriedly. She looked like I just said something rather shocking.
“It’s in about two weeks, but I thought that you didn’t want to-” She said, but I turned away from her before she could finish.
“Ed!” She shouted. I turned back to face her, saying nothing.
“What’s wrong, Ed? You... You’re never like this with me...” She said very softly, and I immediately felt extremely sorry that I treated her like this. I walked back up to her, getting very close. She looked up at me and I raised a hoof up to her face. I just rested it there, and she leaned into it. Her eyes closed slowly.
“Ed...” She whispered, her eyes still closed.
“Luna.” I whispered back, “I wish I could tell you what was wrong. I really do. But you don’t need to worry about things like that. You and Celestia have a kingdom to run. I have a species to protect. I’m so sorry. I’ll try and tell you tonight. We’ll go flying together.” I said. Luna smiled.
“Really?” She asked, opening her eyes just a little bit. I leaned down and kissed her. There wasn’t the heat or rushed feeling of out other kisses. This was slow, controlled, and gentle. We finally split. I stood there, resting my muzzle on hers.
“Really.” I said. We stood there together, and for a few blissful moments, Equestria and all of its worries did not exist
“I have to go, Luna.” I said, pulling out of our embrace. Luna shuffled a little bit awkwardly.
“Promise we’ll fly together tonight?” She asked. I giggled a little bit.
“Promise.” I said, and turned. I trotted away, and after a moment, I broke into a gallop. I would save Equestria. The Angelics do not deserve to live in my world.
And I’m going to prove it.