//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 - Cold Blue Menace // Story: A Thieve's Redemption // by Gsbrill //------------------------------// I knocked at the front door of the boutique. It was still early in the morning but the unicorn didn’t specify the time. What was her name again? Rarity I think. Maybe I should come again later. “Just a moment” A voice called from the inside and soon the door opened. “Good morning and Welcome to Carousel Boutique, what can I…” She stopped the presentation as she recognized me “Hi Steve, come inside! And please leave that ragged thing outside” She pointed at my cloak. I took it off and hid it in a bush near the door. As I walked inside I noticed dozens of mannequins with half finished clothes and fabric scattered all over the floor. “Sorry for the mess, Nightmare Night is coming soon so I’ve got hundreds of requests for costumes from all over Equestria, and I’ve been having a few problems lately, that’s why I need your help” “But Nightmare Night is still two months away; can’t you finish everything in time?” She lay down on a large psychologist couch I was sure that wasn’t there a second ago. “Not in my current situation .You see, I’ve been really stressed lately. With all the work piling up, more orders coming faster than I can finish and having to take care of my sister by myself really isn’t helping. What makes it even worst is the lack of any available colts in town to suit my current “necessities”” As I began to slowly move away from the chair, she got up and walked towards me “Look miss Rarity, I really don’t know what you’re getting at here” “You really don’t get it? It’s very simple, really” She kept on moving towards me, looking at me straight in the eyes. “I really have NO IDEA what you’re talking about” I stumbled on a roll of fabric and fell to the ground. “Don’t play dumb with me; you know why I called you here. I wouldn’t call you if I weren’t really desperate” “I really don’t know if I can do this” “Don’t worry, you just have to stay still and let me do all the work” “Look, I’m sorry but I already have somepony” “Oh, so you already did this before?” “Actually… no, but it feels like I’m cheating on her” “Don’t worry about that, nopony even cares about exclusivity or something like that, its normal to do it for many different ponies” I sighed. Enough is enough, time to give up already. “It’s my first time so don’t expect much from me” “Oh I know you’ll do just fine, don’t be nervous, modeling isn’t that hard” “Wait what?” “Modeling of course! I really needed a colt to help me with all these outfits, the mannequins just don’t have enough… expression, for something more complex. And every single colt in town is working. Except for you at least” “So… You want me to be your model?” “Exactly. What else did you think I wanted?” “LET’S GO TRY SOME OF THESE CLOTHES SHALL WE?!” I got up and walked past her, trying my best to hide my blush. /-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/ A few hours later we were finally done with most of the outfits. After trying more clothes than I have ever seen in my entire life and helping with adjustments in most of them, we were both exhausted. Rarity seemed to have a bit of an obsession with making everything “perfect” so we ended up taking more time than expected. While we rested and drank some tea she had made, she tried to make some small talk. “Say, I couldn’t help but notice that you don’t have a cutie mark yet” Here we go again. “Yeah, living in a big city, you don’t have much time to look for a special talent, and worry more about staying alive” “Hmm. You should meet the Cutie Mark Crusaders, they’re a group of kids here that are looking for theirs, I bet you could get along very well” Wait, that was it? No mocking or mean comments about me being a blank flank? And just as fast as she brought up the subject, it was gone. “So, you’re working at Twilight’s library now?” “Yeah, it was the first place I looked for work and the small dragon there seemed to be pretty eager to hire me. I wonder why.” “That was Spike, he was the one that worked there with Twilight before those unpleasant events with Discord breaking free again. He probably wanted to get back to her side as soon as possible, since they have never been apart for more than a few days ever since he was born. They’re just like brothers. Also, taking care of that library all by himself was probably pretty hard since Twilight has always been a bit paranoid about it. You too must have been having quite a workload lately” I remembered the huge parchment with my assignments, and remembered how I hadn’t even touched it. “Right…very busy with all the library… stuff. By the way, that’s the first time I hear somepony talking about one of the princesses so casually. Do you know her?” “It takes some time getting used to this whole royalty thing, she was just a normal unicorn a few months ago and now she’s the princess. She was one of my closest friends here in Ponyville. I still remember all we did together. But now she doesn’t even need us to use the Elements anymore. We are still in contact, but most of the time it’s just letters, she even taught me a spell to send them directly to her” “Wait, you’re one of the Elements of Harmony?” “Yes, me and my friends were the six elements. I believe you’ve met them all already” “Wow, I never thought… wait, Pinkie is one of the elements?” “Of course, she’s the element of Laughter” “Hmm. Makes sense. Still, there is one thing I that still bothers me. About this whole incident involving Discord, I really don’t understand what happened and how did the ponies accept her so fast. I mean, she killed Princess Celestia right?” “I believe you don’t read many newspapers do you? Alright, I’ll tell you what happened. There has been a lot of rumors about a coup or something like that but I’ve known Twilight for too long. The truth is, Discord took over her mind and forced her to kill Princess Celestia. Then, she got into a shock state that we had to help her out of, so she recovered and then Celestia gave her her own powers so she could fight Discord, who is now trapped on the moon, and now Twilight is an alicorn and the new princess of the Sun” “So she did kill Princess Celestia” “Sort of, she says that she is still alive inside of her. I don’t really understand it but I still believe her” “And what about her not needing you as the elements anymore?” “She fought Discord and used the elements all alone, we also don’t know how but she says it was thanks to us. That’s the real story, don’t go trusting anything else you read. Well, there is more to it but at least you know what happened and I don’t want to keep you too long, you look like you could use some rest” She was right, after all I had helped rebuild the clinic yesterday, and also had to wake up early today to come here. She still had work to do so I left after chatting for a few more minutes. The idea of going back to the library for some sleep sounded great. I walked away from the boutique and towards the library. On my way there I spotted many stalls selling various types of food on the center of the town, and so I decided to take a look. I hadn’t even bothered to get my cloak back, but at least most of the ponies were too busy chatting, selling or buying to pay attention to my wings, and I didn’t see any known faces. Except for one. Even in the middle of the other ponies I could recognize that pink mane from a mile away. She was buying apples at one of the stands from a red colt that could easily pass for a bull. She noticed me just as she walked away from the stand, and in the blink of an eye she was right before me. I didn’t even bother asking how she did that. I was a bit more worried about the green lizard attached to her head. “Pinkie... There’s something on your head” “Oh him?” She pointed towards it with a hoof “That’s just Gummy” “Just? I think he’s chewing on your head” “Don’t worry, he has no teeth. So, have you tried flying again since yesterday?” She pointed at my wings. “No, not yet, I’m still learning how to control these things, I nearly burned the bed in my sleep, good thing I woke up before the fire spread” Actually, good thing Quill woke me up. I looked around wondering what happened, he hadn’t said a single thing since yesterday. I looked up and saw him flying above my head with a quill and parchment, writing something. He noticed me looking up. “Don’t mind me, go on” “Is there something in the sky? Is it a UFO!?” Pinkie asked excitedly. I smirked. “No Pinkie, there’s nothing there, don’t worry. So, what about you, what are you doing here?” And so we went on for a few hours, walking around the market and chatting about nothing in particular. I was happy with the way things were. The two of us, talking and laughing, it just felt right. Except for one thing. It hurt every time I heard her call my “name”. I felt sick, lying to her like that. I stopped walking and she did the same, looking at me with curiosity. “What happened? Steve?” “Pinkie, I need to tell you somethi…” “IS THAT AN ICEBERG?” She shouted suddenly, cutting me of completely. I turned around to see what was wrong. A block of ice, nearly as big as a house, had simply appeared in the middle of the town square. A large part of it was hollowed, making it look exactly like a stage, and a few ponies stood around it, wondering what it was. “What the hay is that thing?” “Let’s go take a look!” Pinkie looked more excited than usual; she darted towards the crowd without even thinking twice, and I followed as close as I could. Looks like my confession will have to wait. “Call the Batman! Mr. Freeze is taking over!” Quill had finally looked up from the parchment and looked just as confuse as I was. “Just keep writing Quill” Turns out a mare was indeed using the “iceberg” as a stage. I couldn’t quite make out its features but the blue coat and light blue mane, the rest was mostly covered by a blue cloak and hat, both as nearly as worn out as mine. Pinkie was already positioned near the stage and when I caught up with her I could see an angry expression on her face for the first time. “So, have you come to bow down to the might of the Great and Powerful Trixie? Have you Ponyvillians finally recognized my grandiosity?” I was starting to understand why Pinkie didn’t seem to like the pony on the stage. It was then that somepony threw an apple at the stage that things started getting ugly. “Get out of here!” “Yeah, you’re just a fake!” I could hear many of the ponies in the crowd shout at her, clearly angry at her for some past event. I couldn’t be more clueless about what was it. “So that is how it is going to be then” I could feel the repressed anger in her voice, a feeling I knew quite well “Once again you try to humiliate me, just as that damn unicorn did. Twilight Sparkle. She was the one I should have my revenge on. But since she is now out of my reach, I shall show her what it is to lose all that you hold dear, starting by her friends and home” “Wow, can you see that Ember?” “No Quill I can taste that! What the hay is she?” Most of the ponies were running in terror except for me and Pinkie. I don’t really know about her but my legs were shaking like crazy. The amount of raw magical energy she was channeling was absurd, and even an earth pony (with recently acquired wings) like me could feel it. With a sudden scream, she unleashed the accumulated energy in the form of an ice wave, freezing everything in the area but the ponies. She turned her look towards Pinkie. “Say, weren’t you one of Twilight Sparkle’s friends who encouraged her to face me?” Pinkie didn’t have much time to react, as she was grabbed like a ragdoll and tossed into a nearby tree. I felt the force of the impact as I saw the frozen tree shatter. “YOU BASTARD!” I screamed and charged towards her without thinking twice. She also took me to the air with ease using her magic, but instead of throwing me she held me in front of her face, turned upside down. “I don’t believe we met. New in town perhaps?” “I’m going to kill you!” “So brave, so foolish. So you really think you can stand up to me? I, the Great and Powerfull Trixie? Well, just so you know, these jewels aren’t just for show” She held up her necklace with a hoof and I saw that there were more than twenty stones attached to it, each one of a different color and size, but none smaller than my eyeball “Since my previous failure here in Ponyville, I looked for ways to become even greater, if that was by any means possible. So I stumbled into a book by a pony you just might know, his name was Starswirl the Bearded. And in it there was a very interesting spell. You see, each one of these stones contains the soul of a creature. And of course with that comes its power, which is, in turn, transferred to me in the form of magical energy. Most of them are unicorns but you see, the jewel of the crow is this one” She pointed to a red one, as big as my hoof “This one is from a dragon, a real, full grown one. So understand this, you’re not facing just me, you’re facing a dragon, and a battalion of unicorns. Amongst other creatures” She spoke with a cold tranquility that was really getting in my nerves. But there was nothing I could do from my current position, being simply held above her head, without a way to fight back. If only I had more power. If only I was stronger. If only I could use magic. I felt a sharp pain on my head, a pain I recognized, and which only grew in intensity. The unicorn seemed to have gotten tired of me as she threw me carelessly on the ground, a few feet away from her. I got up and faced her, trying to ignore the pain. All I knew is that I wasn’t just going to let her hurt Pinkie like that. “Look kid, you better leave before I start hurting you” “I’m going to kill you!” “Oh for Luna’s sake, is that all you know how to say?” I charged towards her once again. The pain was becoming unbearable, and running was starting to become a chore. She tried to grab me, the magic glow surrounding my body again, but seeing as it failed, she casted a long ice spike towards me. I had to stop and dodge, and we were both now about a meter away. “Weird, it seems like I cannot grasp you with my magic anymore. I demand you explain this to me” I felt the sharp pain of skin ripping and flesh tearing as I continued to charge towards her, and I could feel my head getting warm and blood flowing down my face. I didn’t know what was happening but I could see a look of terror on the unicorn’s face, which had to be a good thing. She cast another ice spike, but it was torn to bits by a light that seemed to have come from me. Before I could get close enough to hit her, she teleported away. “Interesting, so you are an unicorn as well” “Am I?” I stopped and raised a hoof towards my head, touching something that wasn’t supposed to be there. Now, where used to be just my mane, grew a white horn. Looks like she was right. I had no idea why this stuff keeps happening to me but it seems like it’s for the best. With a newfound strength and the pain slowly reducing, but never leaving my head, I ran towards her. She kept sending bolts of magic and ice attacks towards me, but somehow I deflected them. The spells just flowed to me naturally, like breathing. But still, I was inexperienced, and I had never fought like that. She managed to keep me at bay, also defending all of my attacks with ease, while I was completely exhausted after just a few minutes of combat. Then, in just a few more seconds she had me pinned down, with an ice stake going through my left fronthoof and all of my hooves frozen to the ground. “It seems like you have some skill. But it is all futile, for the one you are facing is no other than The Great and Powerfull…” “AH WOULD YOU SHUT UP ALREADY!” A rainbow colored streak crossed the sky and struck the distracted unicorn. I could see Rainbow Dash Standing on top of the unicorn, pinning her down with her hooves. “Another one of Twilight’s friends? You’re making this too easy for me!” With another shine of her horn a pair of shackles formed on Rainbow Dash’s legs, who was then slowly lifted from the ground until she was just above the unicorn. “Too bad I finished the first one too fast but this time I’m going to enjoy it. You see, there is a reason I like ice magic so much, it’s just so versatile. It’s not like other unstable elements like fire or such, I can actually mold it into very… interesting shapes” Her voice remained cold and calm, but still retaining all of her arrogance. She used her magic to form a large coffin, with the exterior shaped like a standing pony with its fronthooves crossed in front of its body. The coffin opened and dozens of spikes could be seen inside. “I saw this in a circus once, I think it’s called… iron maiden. But no, this isn’t going to work, your wings won’t let you fit. Let me just get them out of the way for you” Her magic began to pull on Rainbow Dash’s wings, as she winced in pain. But Trixie was too distracted to keep an eye on me. Despite my exhaustion I still managed to cast a small bolt of energy onto the ice on my hooves and break it. I ran as fast as I could towards her, despite my wounds burning like fire. She only noticed me when it was already too late. With all of my remaining energy, I made a half spin with my entire body, using the momentum of my short sprint and craved one of my wings into Trixie’s chest. She dropped Rainbow Dash immediately and tried to free herself without much success. I focused on my wings and tried to recall the sensation I had when I flew for the first time. The flames returned, this time in the form of a wave, that burned the unicorn’s body to ashes. I fell on the ground in a state of pure exhaustion. My whole body hurt by at least the threat was gone. I felt my consciousness slip away, but then I remembered the whole reason I got into this fight. “PINKIE! Wait here Dash, I need to help her, I’ll be back with help soon” I darted towards the shattered tree, and there she was, unconscious on the ground next to it. A small line of blood came from her mouth and her breathing was erratic and weak. “No no NO! I’m not letting anything happen to you!” I looked around completely desperate, looking for somepony to help me out. There was nopony around, they all had run away in fear. “Quill! Help me out here! What do I do?” “I don’t know! Maybe you could try a healing spell, you have a horn now remember!” Right. Focus. I never did this before;heck, a few minutes ago I hadn’t even ever casted any kind of spell, and now I was about to try something that could save or end the life of somepony. The pain came back and my head exploded, I felt like something was being forced into it, like the knowledge of the spell being shoved into my mind. Without another word, my horn began to glow and the glow surrounded Pinkie’s body. I could feel her broken ribs, one of them had pierced a lung and she was very weak. Slowly but steadily I placed the bones back in their places and fixed the tissue. I had no idea of how I had just done that, but I couldn’t care less, after seeing her open her eyes once again and mumble. “Steve… is that you? What’s that on your head?” She was still smiling, despite being visibly weakened by the wounds despite the healing process, and she spoke with a faint voice. I was very close to fainting again, all of my strength leaving my body, but I still had to do this. “Pinkie, I need to tell you something. I was lying to you, to all of you. My name is actually…” “Ember! You are hereby under arrest for robbery, murder and crimes against the crown!” A powerful voice announced from behind me. I looked back only to see Twilight Sparkle in front of me, with two guards by her sides. Up close she looked even taller than I thought she would be. I fell down to the ground and let the darkness envelop me. I was too tired for this crap.