Section 2
Bad Things Happen
I wasn't happy that Murder had gotten away from us. I heard about him, he was insane. Enjoyed killing more than anything, he's been known to bath in the blood of his victims. He's a great assassin, and completely dangerous. I had been pacing all night in Twilight's hospital room. I've been keeping an eye on everything, listening carefully. I didn't want to take any chances or make any mistakes.
"Shouldn't you rest?" Synith asked as Twilight slept.
"Not while Murder is still after Twilight." I said looking out the window. "Really wish I had my armor."
"I was wondering about that. How come you wear a tie and a fedora when you’re a soldier?" Synith asked as she slumped down on the other bed in the room.
"I'm not a normal soldier, I wouldn't need my armor for myself, and I want it for Twilight. At least with it on her, she would be more protected." I said looking outside in the hallway.
"Why wouldn't you need it? What if you were stabbed in the chest and your heart was sliced. That armor could protect you as well." Synith said.
"I would be fine, now quiet, I need to listen." I said focusing on all the sounds around us.
"No I want to know, how could you live if your heart was cut? Why haven't you used any magic to protect Twilight?" Synith was starting to raise her voice.
"Because I'm not normal, I heal much faster. The wound I had this afternoon is now gone. I took the stitching off a while ago but left the bandage on, I don't want anyone to ask stupid questions. I don't need to use magic, now stop asking questions." I said pacing about. When we were able to leave the hospital I didn't waste time. I hurried us to the library. At least there we could barricade ourselves in. Twilight was annoyed with me; she had to let me push her all the way back in the wheel chair the hospital provided.
"I can walk from now on thank you." She said getting from the seat when we got to the library.
"Murder will come again, please stay here while I and Synith look around." I said pushing her down on the couch. I was stressed and sleep deprived. Synith flew in the high spots in the place and searched in the lower places. Twilight sat in the medical gown on the couch with an angry expression.
"Are you both done yet?" She asked after we searched around for 30 minutes.
"No sign of anything." Synith said with a sigh.
"Yeah I guess its okay." I said sitting on the floor forcing myself to stay awake.
"Okay good." Twilight said getting up and coming over to me. She slapped me, slapped me hard too.
"What was that for?" I asked confused.
"Go and sleep, you are beyond tired." She said with a stern tone.
"But..." She cut me off.
"No, go get some sleep; Synith will be here to protect me. If that Murder guy comes for me again, you'll be next to useless if you don't at least have some sleep." She was right, I've been on alert the whole time, been jumping at the tiniest sound. I got to my hooves and walked to my bed Twilight had for me. Once I had lain down I fell asleep quickly. While I slept nothing happened to Twilight or Synith, they even made me something to eat when I woke up.
"You back to your normal self?" Twilight asked when I walked into her study room. Twilight had been keeping up with her studies. It was good to see Twilight the way she was again.
"If you can even call me normal, yeah I suppose I am." I said taking a seat next to Synith.
"You are very odd." Synith said as she looked at the books around her. "Hey Twilight, what’s all the fun in reading?"
"There is so much fun in reading." Twilight said looking at Synith with a smile.
"How can you say that, everyone reads and everyone enjoys it?" I said giving Synith a confused look.
"Well I lived with a family that mostly killed. The only book I ever read was about a bunny....and it died in the end. I didn't have much of a life until I was a guard at the castle. Even there I managed to screw it up, so yeah." Synith said ashamed of herself.
"It's nothing to be ashamed of, I mean it's not your fault what your family does. You even tried to change what your family sent you out to be. Synith if you cooperate I can give you a chance to change your whole life." I said with a smile. She smiled back at me before she took off into the air with a big giggly grin. "I think that's a yes."
"I think so too." Twilight said with a gleeful laugh. It was quiet all through the time Twilight was studying. Synith was given a book to read, a copy of Daring Do and the Crystal Flute or something along the lines. I was able to think about my many stories I had floating around in my head. Being a guard and all that doesn’t leave much time for me to write or do anything. Well the fact that I'm right out of Basic and all that, I just jumped on the first mission that was given out. It’s a little unbelievable that my first mission was to protect someone.
"Hey, Ash you alright?" Synith asked me, I guess I must of looked odd to her. I had a frustrated look on my face, I looked at her and gave her a smile.
"I'm fine, just a little stressed. But a little stress is good." It was getting late and Twilight was starting to put things back. She had written a letter, rolled it up and stashed them with others.
"The princess has been so busy lately, and with Spike not here I can't send my letters." Twilight said explaining the letters.
"There’s quite a few of them." I said.
"I know, and I haven’t received a letter in some time. The only one that I've gotten was the one that said you were coming to Ponyville. I haven’t gotten one from my brother, mother and father, or from the princess. It's as if the whole world is on lock down with the mailing system." Twilight said looking at Synith. She had fallen asleep a little bit ago; the book she was reading had fallen of the floor with the cover facing up.
"I noticed that when we went shopping. The shops were under stocked, I wonder why that is." I asked, it was a very good question. Sometimes mail and goods would get lost, but not to an extent as the princess not sending letters. She was able to send them with the medallion she has, even if Spike wasn't here, she should still receive letters. The pegues's mailing system was usually on its top game. It just didn't make much sense.
"Yeah I notice that too." It's like all of Ponyville is cut off from the outside world.
"A bloody mess if you ask me. I'm sure something happened to throw the mailing system off course. It should be back online soon enough. I'll be able to send out a message to my unit and get some help for us. Twilight, you cannot stay here. Everyone besides your brother thought the threat you received was a joke. I was sent down here to watch, if anything happened I was supposed to send out a message. But that didn't go well as you know." I said irritated.
"You thought it was a joke... Shining Armor, he would over react wouldn't he. Honestly I took it as a joke as well. I'm well known and have always been nice, so I don't know why someone would want to kill me." Twilight said sadly.
"I don't understand it either." I said shaking my head. I looked at Synith, she was knocked out cold. I went over and picked her up, placing her on my bed I had. She looked like a little child when she was covered, rolled into a little ball.
"You changed your bandages?" Twilight asked looking at my shoulder.
"Ah, yeah. Synith made my stitching bleed so I changed them." I said nervously.
"But there so loose. Here let me fix it." Twilight said untying the knot I had in the cloth.
"No it's fine really." I said stepping away. The bandages left my body showing my shoulder. There was no sitting or blood, nothing but my black coat.
"But...what?" Twilight was confused, that’s why I was trying to hide it. I didn't want to explain why I healed so fast.
"I'm just a fast healer." I said knowing she wouldn't go for that, she was smarter than that. I couldn't believe this just happened, out of all the most careless things I had to screw something up and show Twilight I'd rather hide.
"That fast...I was told it nearly touched your heart...how in all of Equestria is that possible." Twilight said a little freaked out.
"I used...magic, yeah I used magic to heal faster. You caught me." I laughed nervously, she was too smart for me to trick her.
"There is no magic that powerful, no something else happened. I haven’t even seen you use magic, how did a cut that deep heal so fast?" She asked looking at me with confusion.
"Look Twilight...I'm not normal. I hold allot of secrets that really shouldn't be let out. I heal faster, and I can think on a deeper level than normal. When I read a book, I don't forget it. It doesn't take me long to read a book, I have a big library in my head you could say." I said with all seriousness. "Please Twilight, just forget everything. Forget I healed and forget I told you anything, okay."
"...Okay..." Twilight said unsure of herself. I could imagine that she was confused and a little freaked out.
"Well hello again." I heard someone say before a rock was thrown threw a nearby window. Synith shot up with alarm as the rock nearly hit her. "Time to die!"
"Murder!" I said before I tackled him.
"And his friends." Said a green pony when he and another white pony climbed through the window.
"Oh just great." Synith said charging at the two ponies by the window.
"Twilight, get the hell out of here." I yelled before Murder kicked me in the face, my mind was clouded for a second. He climbed from under me and went for Twilight, who was running for the stairs. Synith flew in Murder's direction and tackled him to the ground.
"Ah, bitch!" He yelled, he had a knife strapped to his flank. He kicked Synith off of him and took the knife out and wielded it like he did before.
"This is bad." I said with worry. He went over to Twilight, threating her with the blade. I panicked and was able to run at the guy.
"No get away from her!" I yelled tackling Murder. The knife slide away, Murder and I fought for control. Synith was handling the pegasus and the other green pony was chasing after Twilight. I kicked Murder away and ran after the green pony. I tackled him and we both slammed into the ground hard. The impact knocked him out, lucky for me. But Murder had jumped on me cutting me deeply. Twilight was hiding under her bed. Synith and the pegasus were flying in the air and crashing down on random spots in the room.
"I'll cut you open and see what you have!" Murder said laughing. I pushed up and made him fall forward. I grabbed his neck and squeezed as hard as I could. The knife went into my flesh again as he was losing blood to his head. I got about twenty stabs in me before he finally passed out. He pushed him off of me and tried to get to my hooves. Nope wasn't going to happen, I had taken too many cuts and I had lost a lot of blood. I laid there listening to Synith and the other pegasus fight. The next thing I knew Twilight was by my side panicking.
"Oh Celestia, what should I do?" She asked not knowing what to do. She was so smart, but to her this many cuts and blood loss would kill a normal pony. Well thankfully I wasn't normal, but sure as shit I wasn't immortal. I could die, if I wasn't normal. It also helped when I felt her touch me. Her touch sent something threw me, it gave me strength to get up and tackle the damn pegasus who was flying low to avoid Synith. My body hit the ground and thanks to my weight knocked the pony out cold.
"How is it you’re the only one hurt here?" Synith asked flying next to me.
"Because I have all the luck." I said back feeling light headed.
"We need to get you help Ashura!" Twilight said frantically.
"No, I'll be fine Twilight. I would like to tie these three up and see what they know. My mission is to protect you and find out who is doing this. That is my priority, nothing else but keeping you safe and stopping this.
"Don't be stupid!" Twilight slapped me hard across my face. Stung like a bitch I say that much, wasn't pleasant. "Oh Celestia, I'm so sorry."
"Twilight calm down." I said to her calmly putting my hoof on her shoulder and offering an encouraging smile. She smiled back, but tears were running smoothly down her face. Made me sad to see her cry. Synith started to laugh. "What?"
"You’re bleeding and have a thousand cuts and you’re having a moment. How cute!" Synith said in a high pitch voice.
"Synith can you and Twilight go in the other room while I deal with these three?" I said to her calmly.
"Good idea, I don't think Twilight should see what you’re going to do." Synith said implying I was going to abuse them to get answers. Obviously it would be her idea, but no I wasn't going to hurt them while they were defenseless.
"Yeah, right." I said before Twilight and Synith went into the other room. I tied them up so they couldn't move. I tapped Murder's head and he stirred. I tapped his head again and his eyes opened. Once he saw me he tried to attack, but the binding stopped him from doing so. "Calm down."
"And why should I do that..." He said instantly calming.
"You okay?" I asked.
"No you idiot..." He said looking away from me.
"Money is not your motive is it? I would say it's these two guys here." I said looking at Murder. The guy looked at me, his whole outlook changed. He didn't seem deranged or crazy, he looked like someone who was worried.
"How the hell would you know that?" He asked looking at me dead on.
"Not normal, I should be dead from you stabbing me. I can read things from people, you were a lot more careless with these two about." I said looking at him.
"They are my family." He muttered.
"Adopted I'd say, big brother I'm guessing?" I asked already knowing the answer.
"Yes, and the bastard threaten them...how could I not do what he said. I failed the first time and I was punished for it." He looked away from me, clearly ashamed of himself. "I was poisoned."
"What?" I asked.
"I failed and was injected with a poison, only he had a cure. I only had tonight, my brothers...they don't know. I tried so hard...I tried to get us away from my old life...after I found them." He drifted off into silence.
"You’re more of a father than anything. What's your real name?" I asked him. He looked at me with tears in his eyes.
"Polly Knife...I was a baker...before...oh Celestia forgive me." He said crying. The two ponies next to him stirred.
"Polly, I'm sorry but there is nothing I can do for you. I'm so sorry." I said to him feeling useless.
"I'm so sorry." He cried to me. "I just didn't want to see my family dead...not again..."
"Polly, I won't let that happen. I'm sorry for the poison and how you were forced into this, but I can help your brothers. They will be save in Ponyville. No one will know their here." I said looking at him, he was still crying. The two stirred again.
"Please...just help them." He pleaded to him. "I'm so sorry."
"Polly, it's alright I understand alright. No one is hurt and Twilight is still alive." I said giving him a smile.
"That mare...she is so nice. I don't..." He let out a sigh and he fell to the side. Polly Knife was dead, and that was thanks to me. I cut off his blood to his head, and when I let go it all rushed in with the poison. It killed him quicker then what it was supposed to. Shutting off his brain. About fife minuet later the two woke up.
"Murder..." The green one said looking at his brother on the ground. His eyes were still open, it made it a sure sign he was dead. "You killed him!"
"Yes and I am very sorry for that. I didn't know he was poisoned at the time." I said looking at the Pegasus and then back to the green one. The green one tackled me and punched me over and over in the face. The pegasus pulled him off, allowing me to get up and wipe the fresh blood off my face.
"You killed him! I...I...Oh Celestia." He said starting to cry.
"He went out in good faith. You didn't know he was poisoned, and he didn't tell you why or what was going on. Being your older brother you followed him without question. I'm here to tell you now, you are safe."
"Hardly likely." The pegasus said.
"I forgive him for what he did, he went out in good faith my friend." I said to the pegasus, he kind of troubled me. He had no emotion on his face, except for one. Hatred was spread out through his face.
"No, I don't forgive that asshole. He gave us nothing to go on. Said we would die if we didn't follow him. He threaten us you god damn idiot!" The green pony looked at the pegasus and backed away toward me.
"He, he protected us. He was our bigger brother." The green one said not understanding the pegasus's hatred.
"Our brother! He...he was nothing. I should have ran away from him, but I couldn't leave you. Chance I couldn't leave you." The pegasus said.
"Berry...Polly was our family...why?" Chance asked not understanding.
"Before you joined us, I was just a god damn play thing to him. He abused me god dammit...He deserved to die" Berry said angry.
"No he was our brother! He looked out for us!"
"He hardly did that and you know it Chance!"
"No I don't, and fuck you!" Chance said before running out of the room. Berry followed after them. I didn't see them after that. I sent word to Mayor Mare about Polly. His body would be sent to his closest family. One less thing to worry about, but there's always something to come after words.
"Are you alright?" Twilight asked me when she came outside. It was nearly midnight now. Twilight had a small polyester blanket on, when she should have a jacket on.
"No I'm not actually. I think I know who is after you, I'm just wondering why all these games." I said looking the stars. They were wonderful in this world. Reminds me of a loony man I know. But they also reminded me of home. "I came here to escape."
"From what?"
"Not necessarily a what, bit who. His name is Atom. He was like a brother to me, family. It pained me to see those three today. Polly was a brother who had made mistakes. We make mistakes, that's normal I suppose."
"The world is full of mistakes. It's actually what makes it go round. We learn from our mistakes and progress from our teachings." Twilight looked at me with worry. I avoided her stare.
"Sometimes there is nothing to learn from a mistake, but to only forget." I said before looking at Twilight. I gave her a small smile and began to walk inside the library.
"What do you mean Ash?" Twilight asked looking at me concerned.
"Forget so you can survive, so you don't end up killing yourself." I said giving her a smile. That was the end of that, she knew I didn’t want to talk about it. So she left it where it was. I was grateful for that, I really was. Didn’t really sleep that well though. Mind wouldn’t rest, so it was going to be a rough day. But it actually wasn’t. Twilight had planned a picnic with her friends. She was delighted to see her friends again. All of them were in Ponyville this time, and they were enjoying their time together. They had set up a picnic a little out of town. Synith and I accompanied them, not like we had a choice. It would have been nice if I could have stayed out of site, but that really didn't work. Synith was enjoying making new friends. Why do I always get surrounded by females?
"So Ashura, where were you born?" Pinkie Pie asked me excitedly.
"Well, a small town far, far away from here." I said, a secret I didn't want others knowing.
"What's it called Darling?" Rarity asked curious. All of them were curious about me, and it was embarrassing actually. I came to protect Twilight, not make friends. But it seems I'm not getting a leeway in this, I had to be friendly and answer their questions.
"Been a long time, I don't remember the name of it." I said lying through my teeth.
"Ya'll must have moved soon after your birth." Applejack said taking a bite of her sandwich.
"What's your cutie mark mean?" Fluttershy asked softly.
"Well." I really didn't get anything out before Pinkie Pie interjected.
"It's a '13'?" She pointed out confused.
"Yes it is, not just any thirteen. It was the thirteen I had drawn before I got it, when I was very young. It has different colors in it corresponding with myself. My cutie mark is me, difficult to explain really, and to some to understand. But it makes sense to me." I said feeling proud.
"Can you tell us about it?" Fluttershy asked shyly.
"Oh, we have been talking about me this whole time. How about switching the subject." I said trying to avoid any more questions. It didn't work.
"Come to think of it, you’re like a stranger to me. You haven't told me much about yourself, now's your chance." Twilight said with a sly smile.
"Yeah no kidding." Synith said agreeing with Twilight. I took in a deep breath, there was no getting past this.
"Each color is part of my mind itself. As my mind moves in different way as I see the world. I cannot exactly tell you what each color's meaning is. But to my skills and to my interest, I think my cutie mark has a lot hidden in it that I don't know about. I guess I'll have to wait, in some ways I still don't have my whole cutie mark." I said trying to explain it the best I could.
"Can you tell us more about yourself?" Twilight asked. "Not just you're cutie mark, your actual self."
"Well...I lived a life alone really. When I was young I didn't have an actual friend to really call a friend. I thought I had a friend, but he betrayed me. I made worlds you could say in writing, it was my way of escaping the real world. I was happy as I was writing, but as the times went on I found friends close and dear to me. I grew a strong connection with my family and it drove me to joining the guard. I wanted to protect my family and friends." I paused for a second. It felt good yet bad to remember this. "I wanted to do great things, be known throughout the world. But the harder I tried the more it felt like I was sinking back into being something invisible. It was only fitting actually, anywhere I went I wouldn't hardly be acknowledged. Even in Basic Training, I was a ghost."
"Sounds annoying." Synith said with a scoff.
"Sounds lonely." Pinkie said looking depressed.
"It was lonely, very lonely. There was a time where I just didn't care anymore, where it didn't matter if I died or lived. I was just a robot, a shell of my former self. Just going through the motions, I stopped writing and drawing. I stopped being who I was, but then I found something that lifted me from my dark and void depression." I said with a smile.
"What was that?" Rarity asked taking a sip of water.
"My best friend." I said with a big smile.
"Really, what was his name?" Applejack asked finishing her sandwich.
"I don't remember actually. There is a gap in my memory, it's like I can't remember anything about him specifically. His name, age, what he looks like, but I remember everything we did and all the good and bad times we had." I said feeling depressed.
"Do you know what happened?" Twilight asked grabbing a sandwich out of the basket in the middle of us.
"Someone named Atom." I said turning down Rarity offering me some salad.
"Didn't you tell me about him?" Twilight asked taking the sandwich out of its wrapping and taking a bite.
"Yes I did, and he's a very dangerous pony. If I didn't witness it myself I would have said it's impossible. But the Amulet of Alicorn increased his magic and corrupted him." The looks on their faces confused me at first.
"But Zecora has the Amulet right now." Rarity said confused herself.
"Oh yes, she probably does. But it still had an effect on him, something happened when he put the amulet on. Just as fast as he put it on, it was taken off just as fast. The next thing I knew he was terrorizing the whole town we were in. That was the day he got his cutie mark too." I really shouldn't be telling them this by, I guess it couldn't hurt.
"So it bonded with him and lingers. Is that even possible?" Synith asked looking at Twilight.
"I guess anything is possible." Twilight said before she ate the rest of her sandwich. I couldn't help but watch her eat, she was just. No, throw that shit away god dammit, I have a job to do.
"Ya'll alright sugar cube?" Applejack asked me, I must have been giving a specific facial expression. I looked at the orange furred mare.
"Yeah, just that memories suck." I said with a chuckle. The other laughed too, honestly I felt a little awkward, but everyone else seemed comfortable. Especially Synith, it was great to see her making friends. Maybe there was hope for her, maybe Atom isn't after Twilight. Just maybe I'm wrong, and if I'm not, then we are royally fucked.