A Bad Day to Fish

by FlashKenshin77

20 - Lyin' Eyes

Martin grabbed the door knob and opened the door, Mike asleep on the ground. All his wounds were healed and a pair of glasses sat on a bed table. Something felt off about him though. He looked around the room, nopony else inside. He walked up to his sleeping friend, the armor clattering. He bent down and looked at his friend.
Mike groaned, opening his left eye. "Martin? Why does my head feel like I got hit by freight train?"
He helped his friend up. "What happened? Where are the others?" Martin asked, his voice muffled through the helmet.
Mike blinked and opened both eyes. Martin fell backwards as Mike's fake eye was now dark blue instead of green. It dilated with the light in the room. "Whoa… I can see. I can see out of my right side!" He yelled, waving a hoof in front of it.
Martin looked at him more closely. "How is that possible?!" He paused. "Where are the others though?"
"I-I don’t know. Princess Luna took me here as the guards took the others to the throne room and we talked for a few minutes." He scrunched his face as he tried to remember. "Then she was saying something about a prophecy… then nothing."
Martin tilted his head. "A prophecy?"
"Yeah, I don’t remember it much. Ugh, it's all hazy, like I was in a dream." Mike's eyes widened as he hopped to his legs and charged the door. "Fluttershy! I gotta make sure she's ok!"
Martin ran after him as fast he could but the armor slowed him down, the clattering echoing in the corridor. Mike sped right past him, flying down the corridor. He was a lot faster than before, making it to the end of the hall in around five seconds. He flung the door open, startling everypony inside. He went to Fluttershy and gave her a hug.
"Fluttershy…" He muttered, burying his face into her neck.
She eeped, surprised at his sudden appearance before hugging him back and resting her head against his. "Michael, there you are. I was worried."
They heard Martin's approach before they saw him walk into the room in the armor. They took a few startled steps back as Fluttershy grabbed Mike tighter, squeaking in fear.
Martin looked at them. The only thing they could see was his eyes.
"M-Martin, is that you?" AJ asked, walking up to him. Dash watched him warily.
He looked at her and smiled, even if they couldn’t see it. "Yes it's me."
"What in the world are ya wearing tin cans for?" She asked.
Fluttershy eeped again and looked at Mike, noticing his two colored eyes. "Michael, what-what happened to your eyes?"
"I'm not wearing tin cans AJ, its armor." Martin replied before looking at Mike. "And you still haven't told me how come you can see in both eyes."
AJ walked up to the armored human and tapped it with her hoof. "That's tin if ya ask me." She said with a smile.
"Like I said, I don’t know." Mike said, looking at everything. "So this is what it feels like to have two eyes…"
Twilight walked up and shot a magic beam at him. "Everything seems to be fine… he has a right eye again." She said, thinking.
"Bu-but how can that be?" Fluttershy asked, looking closely at it.
"I don’t know." Mike said, his green eye looking at Twilight. "Is everything alright with it?"
Twilight nodded. "The only problem is we don’t know where it came from."
Mike nodded. "Neither do I…" He looked around. "So what now?"
"Maybe we should talk to Empress Celestia about it." Martin said, his voice still muffled.
"That’s a good idea." Mike said, holding a hoof out for Fluttershy.
Everypony agreed. "Alright then, I'll lead the way." Martin said.
Everypony nodded, Fluttershy grabbed Mike's hoof as Martin led the way back to the inner sanctum of the throne room. As they entered, Celestia gave Mike a horribly sad look for a split second before a mask covered it and she looked at the assembled group. "Yes?"
Martin kneeled down to greet her. "Empress Celestia, there are matters we'd like to discuss concerning Michael."
She raised an eyebrow. "Indeed?"
Martin looked at her. "It appears Michael has gotten his right eye back but we don’t know who or what caused this to happen."
She looked at Mike and got off the throne, walking up to him. Everypony lowered their heads in bows but she quickly motioned everypony to rise. "Let me see this new eye of yours." She asked.
Mike opened his right eye and she stared at it for a moment before turning around.
"So…?" Martin asked.
She smiled at them. "It seems his eye was a gift from Luna." She looked at the night monarch.
"Indeed, I felt after everything he's been through, he deserved to see." Luna said, looking at Mike with a small smile.
Martin looked at his friend. "Congratulations Michael…"
"Y-yeah…" He said, looking at Luna with a smile before bowing to her. "Thank you Princess Luna."
She motioned for me to rise. "It's alright Michael; I think you've earned it."
Silence hung in the room. "So what happens now?" Martin asked.
Celestia looked at him. "You all return to Ponyville. Martin, you're on leave till I need you."
Martin bowed. "Of course."
"Then I'll see you all later." Celestia said, nodding to them as Twilight ran up and gave her mentor a hug. "I do miss your friendship reports Twilight." She whispered with a smile.
Twilight smiled back at her. "I'll send you one as soon as anypony learns something about friendship."
"Thank you." She said as Twilight went back with the group. "Now I'd suggest hurrying or you'll miss the train."
Martin turned around and led the way out of the throne room. "Let's get crackin' everypony."
Everypony nodded and they rushed to the train station. They sighed in relief as they made it on time and sat on the train, waiting for it to leave.
"Back to Ponyville, aye Michael?" Martin asked.
Mike nodded his head, resting against the back of the seat. "Aye, it'll be good to relax and finally not have to worry about anything for awhile." He said, leaning forward to stretch.
Martin hit him on the back, forgetting about his new strength. "Aye my friend!"
Mike tumbled off the seat and face plated onto the metal floor. "Ouch you dingus!"
Martin looked at him surprised. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."
Mike grumbled as he got up, shaking his head. "That kinda hurt you know." He said, walking over to sit near Fluttershy.
Martin watched him leave and shrugged, closing his eyes as he leaned back.

=

"Ponyville Station!!" The conductor yelled, getting everypony's attention, the train station not that far away. The train slowly came to a halt; smoke filled the air as they got off. The station was less crowded as everypony's jaw dropped at the sight of the armor leaving the train. Martin looked around before making room for Fluttershy and Mike. He waited for AJ and helped her off the train. Twilight was looking around nervously, the guards watching him closely.
"Um… maybe we should go back to the library?" She suggested.
Mike looked at Fluttershy. "What would you like to do?"
She hoofed at the ground. "Umm… I still have to check after Angel and the others…" She said quietly.
"Would you like me to come with you or would like some time alone?"
She nuzzled his cheek. "I'd like you to come with me."
He smiled. "Then I will." He looked at Martin. "I'll see you later?"
"Aye!" Martin said, patting his friend on the back carefully.
He chuckled, walking away with Fluttershy in hoof as they made their way back to the cottage.
Twilight looked at Martin. "So I see that you survived."
He nodded. "Yep, I'm now the only living member of the Agathor Order."
Dash flew up into his face. "That still doesn’t mean I won't be keeping my eye on you." She said, glaring at him before flying out of train station.
"I'll never get her to trust me, aye?"
Twilight shook her head. "Probably not for a long time…"
He sighed and took off the helmet as they made their way to the library. Rarity had to leave to finish some orders, making her way to the Boutique. As they got to the library, they heard Spike snore, in the middle of one of his naps. Only Pinkie, AJ, Twi and Martin remained as he set his helmet on the coffee table.
Pinkie looked at the clock. "Oh whoopsies daisies, I gotta go back to Sugarcube Corner. The Cakes are going to be super duper worried, see ya later!" She said, hopping out of the library.
Martin sat on the couch, his shield and sword leaning against the back. "So what now?"
"Ah'm not sure." AJ said. "Ah do gotta get back to the farm…"
Twilight looked at him. "What about Forge?"
He got up again. "Course." He looked at the clock. "I better go tell him about everything so he doesn’t have to worry."
They looked at him. "Well, Ah'll be headin' back to the farm, so Ah'll see ya around." AJ said, walking out of the library.
Martin waved goodbye before he got ready to leave. "I'll be at Forge's, see ya later."
"Bye." Twilight said, thinking about what happened as several book levitated towards her.
He attached his sword to the belt and grabbed his shield, walking outside. It was sunny and there wasn’t a single cloud in sky. "Ok, better get going." He made his way through the crowded town, made easier by his armor. Ponies stared at him and backed away. Guards never seemed to look away as he made his way towards the shop.
The door was shut and had a 'Closed' sign hanging off it. Martin sighed and knocked. "Forge, you there?"
The door opened and Forge glared at him. "What do you want?"
"I just came to tell you I'll attend work as usual."
He looked at the human. "And why would you do that? You nearly destroyed my shop, beat a pony to near death, and now you're wearing weird armor."
Martin sighed. "Listen, I'm really sorry about everything but I wasn’t myself."
Forge stared at him. "And I should just believe that?"
"That’s up to you; all I can do is hope you will."
He glared at the human for a moment. "One more chance." He opened the door. "Re-polish the weapons and clean up the mess you made; I'll be in the back." He said, walking away and left the door open.
Martin sighed in relief as he walked inside. He took off most of the armor and put it the back room with Forge. He walked back into the shop and started the tasks he gave.
A few hours later, he finished re-polishing the weapons and paused, looking at the damage and Mike's blood on the floor. Fragments of Mike's glasses were strewn across the floor. Martin bent down and scooped them up, looking at them sadly.
"Never again." He muttered before throwing them away.
He continued to clean and the sun was beginning its descent when he finished. He looked at his handiwork; the shop was back to normal. Forge opened the door and looked around.
"You did well, looks just like it was before." He said, tossing Martin a brown bag. "You were trying to give that to your friend before everything went to Hades."
Martin caught it and opened it, reaching inside and pulled a green eyeball out. They stared at it in horror. "What in the name of the Order?!"
"The name of Celestia is that?!"
The slimy eyeball stared blankly at the human. "It-it's an eyeball."
"Why is it in my shop?"
"I don’t know!"
"Then get rid of it!"
Martin hesitated for a moment before putting it back into the bag and walked outside. "I'll get rid of it, I'll be back later."
Forge nodded. Martin quickly walked through town, the ponies seemed to be used to him. The guards still kept a careful eye on him. He reached the library and walked inside.
"Twilight?" He yelled once inside. No pony responded. He walked further inside. "Twilight?!" He yelled louder.
"Martin?" Spike's voice came from upstairs.
"Spike where are you?"
"We're in her room!" Spike yelled.
"Spike, you don’t need to yell." Twilight said, her voice getting stronger as he got closer.
"Well maybe if you weren't wrapped up in your books, you'd hear Martin yelling for you."
Martin stood in the doorway, the brown bag in his hand. "Twilight, what are you doing?" He asked, opening the door.
She blushed as she saw him as at least twenty books floated around her. "I've been trying to figure out how Princess Luna gave Michael his eye back, but I can't seem to find anything."
He walked towards her. "Um… yeah, anyways I wanted to show you something." He showed her the bag. "Discord wanted me to give this to Michael."
Her ears perked up. "What did he wan-" She screamed, throwing the bag with her magic and backing up to the headboard. She took a few breaths before looking at him. "That’s… that’s a g-green…"
"I know, I know." He said, picking up the bag.
She shivered, her face going pale. "I-I didn’t think he'd ever do that…"
"Wh-what do you mean?" He asked, confused.
She took a shaky breath. "For as long as I've studied Discord, he has never done anything as… dramatic as this. Sure he'd mess around, turn things on their heads and cause chaos but never like this."
"I still don’t know what you're talking about, it's just an eyeball."
She sighed. "How do you think he got an eyeball that matches Mike's so perfectly?"
He looked at it before throwing the bag away in disgust. "Ewww… Oh god…"
"Exactly…"
"Aw Jesus, what do we do now?" He asked, picking up the bag and holding it as far away as possible.
"I'm-I'm not sure. Something is definitely going on." She looked at him. "And it seems to be centered on you two." She paused. "I've never heard of the 'knights' until Celestia mentioned them today."
"Really?" He asked, his eyebrow raised.
She nodded. "In all the books I've read, which includes all these here and the Canterlot library; I don’t recall ever hearing their name before."
He thought for a moment. "I don’t know what to say about that. Well now you have, aye?"
She looked at the bed and sighed. "I just don’t like it." She seemed to disappear into her own little world.
He looked at her. "Twilight, Twilight? Twilight!" He yelled after getting no response.
She blinked. "Huh? Sorry, I was lost in thought I guess." She blushed.
"It really shouldn’t bother you too much; it doesn’t matter if there's something that you didn’t know about."
"But something this important and I'm only hearing about it now, doesn’t that sound fishy?"
He shook his head. "It was thousands of years ago…"
She looked at her books. "I just wish I could find something."
"I'm sure you will…" He replied, slowly making his way out of the room. "I'll leave the bag here, ok. Yep, see ya later." He quickly vanished, the door shutting.
She looked at the bag and sighed. "Spike, don’t touch or look in that bag ok? Not until I figure out what to do."
The little dragon looked at the bag curiously and sighed. "Ok Twilight."

=

The rest of the day was normal as Mike helped Fluttershy with her animals and cleaning the cottage, finally able to give it a good cleaning since Winter Wrap Up. The animals seemed pleased to have them back, minus one rabbit, who'd seemed to disappeared. They were resting as Fluttershy played with a pair of mice. Mike sat off to the side, staring off into space. Fluttershy nuzzled the small mice before walking up to him, sitting down next to him.
He didn’t notice, tears slowly leaked out of the corners of his eyes.
She looked at him concernedly. "Michael, Michael are you ok?"
He finally seemed to come out of his world, blinking as he looked around.
She grabbed his hoof. "Michael are you alright?"
He looked at her. "I lied Fluttershy, I'm a terrible person…"
She looked at him, surprised. "W-what do you mean?"
He stared at the floor. "Luna forced me to swear an oath to make sure Martin doesn’t step out of line again."
She was still confused. "I-I still don’t understand."
He pointed at his right eye. "She-she gave me this eye then had me swear an oath that said that if Martin overstep his powers, I have to do everything I can to stop him." He looked at her. "I didn’t even know what she meant till it was too late." He looked at the floor. "I-I'm a terrible pony…"
She looked at him. "No you're not…"
"I-I betrayed my best friend so I could see just like everypony else…"
She put her hooves around his neck. "You wanted to have something that was taken away from you. I-I can understand."
He began crying. "But was it worth it?" He looked at her. "She said that if she finds out I didn’t do my duty, she'd send me back to Earth."
She hugged him, resting her head against his. "Don’t worry, whatever happens, I'll be here."
"Thanks Fluttershy but you should just leave now before I suck you into this too." He said, closing his eyes.
She pushed his face up, looking into his eyes. "No, I'll stay with you." She smiled at him before she gently kissed him.
They broke the kiss, staring into each other's eyes. "Are you sure? I'm pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to tell you. Can you live with lying to them? I can completely understand if you told them."
She shook her head. "I won't tell anypony." He nodded as he scooted closer to her, burying his face into her chest, crying. She ran a hoof through his mane, gently rocking him back and forth. "Shh, it's ok."