//------------------------------// // The new blood // Story: When worlds collide // by Derk396 //------------------------------// Rarity put up much more of a struggle than I thought she would have. But the results were the same, note to self; Don't wake rarity up, especially twice in the same night. We had gone back to Ditzy's house for some rest. And that was it, my first real day, well... night, in ponyville. Using my magic I closed the journal and set the pencil down, the guard took notice an walked up to my cell. "You done?" his gritty voice asked "For now," I said as slumped into the corner of my cell, I couldn't think about sleep, it was just another restless night, only one thing to do. My horn glowed and the guard tensed up, soon my body became limp as I drifted off into sleep, my wings curling around my body for warmth, it was just another night in the dungeons... I awoke to the first rays of sunlight beaming through my small, barred window. I used to welcome the sun, but it's infidelity plagued my mind and it brought nothing but pain and discomfort. "I guess I'll do another entry." I said aloud to my guard, he walked over to the cell and produced the journal and pencil, he slid them between the bars and I took them with my magic. Once again when my horn glowed he tensed up, I have been noticing this ever since I arrived. "Why do you do that?" "Do what?" he questioned "You tense up, every time I use my magic you get really tense, as if you expect that I am going to hurt you." "I never know..." "What happened?" "Nothing," "No," I said definitively "there is something, something happened, your nothing more than a statue for the whole day but when ever magic is used, you react. What happened?" I said with more authority. He sighed deeply, there was no hiding it. "my partner, long time ago..." his voice faded. "it was nothing more than a transfer, the prisoner attacked and used his magic to..." he fell quiet again, silent tears soon began to stream down his face. "The transport was blown up, I survived, but he didn't... The princess was furious, she discharged him dishonorably for failing her, then she wouldn't even give him a proper funeral." "Noted" I said quietly "how high up the ladder were you two?" "We were the elite guard... Best of the best, Captains. Now, recruits are doing more important things than I am." "What's your name?" "Rain runner," he said softly "You know what Rain runner? For every pony I meet, I realize how different their names are compared to my world. Either way, what was your partners name?" "Why... He's gone..." "I know, but if certain things happen, than it will be important." "C-Cloud... Dasher." Rain runner choked on the old name. I thought for a second, those two names felt odd, for some reason they felt... similar, Rain/Cloud similar, runner/dasher, even closer. Then it clicked, it all made sense "he... was more than your partner... wasn't he? Yes, he was..." "My brother!" He shouted, cutting me off "my little brother..." he wept to himself "why why why... Why couldn't it have been me?" his eyes streamed tears, not even attempting to hold back. "He died serving his kingdom, in my book, there is no nobler way to go, and I'm sorry for your loss. If you want to go and take a break, I promise I won't try anything... I don't want anypony else getting hurt." "Pinky Pie promise?" "what's that?" "Something I picked up in ponyville... It goes like this." he said before saying the chant with appropriate hoof movements. "It is something special that two... Friends can do. Because, it shows that I trust you, and according to Pinky Pie, when you lose a friends trust it is the fastest way to lose a friend forever." "Forever?" Suddenly there was the sound of water splashing from behind me, the two of us looked back at my water trough to see a soaking wet Pinky Pie "Foreverrrrr..." she said eerily as she sank back into the water. She was gone for a second before popping back out "Wait, who are you?" she said looking over towards me. "I'm Derek, I was hiding in ponyville for a while before I was captured... How did you do that?" "Wait... Ponyville?" suddenly she made a huge gasping sound. "Did I throw you a party!?" she asked now looking worried. "Ummm... No. Nopony even knows I was there... except for Ditzy." "No silly, everypony knows you after what Twilight did." she said cheerfully "What did she do?" "Weeeeeell" she remembered back to that day "She had just gotten her memory back and then she called an emergency town meeting, she told everypony about you and made sure that you weren't still hiding in ponyville. She was really worried about you, she thought you were going to hurt the Princesses so she even wrote a letter telling them about you." "SHE DID WHAT!" I shouted "I SAID," she spoke loudly, thinking that I couldn't hear her "SHE WROTE A LETTER TO THE PRINCESSES." "I heard you Pinky Pie, but seriously... how did you get here?" "Where?" "There!" I pointed a hoof to the water trough "I don't know." she then slowly sank back into the water. When she was gone I stuck my hoof in the water and swished it around, nope... She was gone. "Does that happen often?" "I don't think so," the guard replied "so will you promise not to try and escape?" "Yes, Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." I chanted with all of the hoof movements. "Good, I'll be back soon... I just need to go see him..." he sighed before slowly walking out of the room. "Back to the journal..." I said picking up the journal and pencil with my magic. DAY 9 So after we made rarity forget my visit we went back to her house for some rest, it was morning, the sun was slowly hovering above the horizon, I was naive and welcomed the warm sunshine... I got out of the guest bed that Ditzy had prepared for me and walked into the kitchen to find neither Ditzy, nor Dinky. I looked all around the house to find neither hide nor hair of either. I, at first thought that they were in trouble. I galloped outside and looked around, nothing. I started further into the street when I heard Ditzy. "Hey! Derek!" She called hearing this I looked around, she had to have been able to see me... but where was she? "Up here! We're on the roof!" "the..." I said to myself looking back at the house to find both Ditzy and Dinky lying on the backs watching the sunrise. "Why the roof?" I called back "Why not?" I pondered this for a second and couldn't think of any reason why they shouldn't be up there. "I'll be inside if you need me." I said before heading back into the house. I watched from a window as the sun was clawing it's way up the horizon and once it was past the horizon I heard muffled talking coming from the roof. I strained to listen to the conversation, but it was no use, I couldn't clearly make out what they were saying. Soon the pair stopped talking and made their way to the ground, with Dinky on her back Ditzy flew down, ever so softly. They both walked inside, laughing. "How was it?" "Very pretty" Dinky's small voice replied "that's good to hear, back when I was little, my dad would take me out once a week and we would hike up a really big mountain, then we would camp out and watch the sun set. For some reason, he liked sun sets over sun rises. He said it was because once the sun went down and it's beauty ended, the night would begin and would bathe you in starlight." "Luna would be happy to hear that" she commented "Why?" She looked up at her mother and then told me he story of the mare in the moon. "She did all that because she thought that ponies didn't like her night." "Well that's just crazy, when I go see her, I will tell her how much I love her nights." "Please keep my mommy safe on the trip, okay?" She said with small tears welling in her eyes. "I will make sure that nothing happens to your mommy." I looked up at Ditzy "so... I assume you told her?" "Nope," she said with a big smile "she's one smart filly, isn't she?" "wow, yes... She's really smart." "She gets it from her father..." she got quiet at the mention of her deceased husband. "Ditzy? Are... Are you okay?" "Fine." she sniffled as a tear rolled down her face. "I-I packed for the trip... It's a long journey by hoof, we should get going." "Wait... did you get a sitter?" "Why?" "For Dinky." "She's a smart filly, like I said, she can take care of herself of a while. She does all the time when I need to go to work." She said with a confident smile, she turned her head towards dinky "Wheres the food?" "In the pantry." she replied "and the water?" "there's a bucket and pump outside, just use my magic and pump the water." "good, and if somepony tries getting into the house?" "Use the spell twilight taught me and then run to town square and call for help." "See?" she said looking back up at me. "What spell did twilight teach her?" "it actually came from the book she gave you, it puts the other pony in a stasis and allows for an easy get away." "Amazing," I looked down to Dinky "Dinky, if anyone asks, I was never here, I don't exist, okay?" "Okay. Please be safe." "We will muffin, you take care of yourself okay?" Ditzy said "yes mommy" "If that's everything, than I think we should go Ditzy." "yes," was all she said as we departed. That, was the start of our journey to Canterlot. "Rain runner, I think that I'm done for today." "Actually, your not." I shot him a confused look "what?" "You have a visitor," "Who?" "It's me" a familiar voice rang from the darkness, it was cool and relaxed, peaceful just like the night... Then it hit me, I bowed down as princess Luna stepped into the light. "Rise, you have no reason to bow to me." "Maybe not, but since I am here in your kingdom and you showed me kindness, it does show that I respect you." "Still, I had some tests done and I have some news... Your royalty." "what!?" "Yes, the tests confirmed that you, Celestia, and I have the same blood and nearly the same DNA structure, you have the 'royal blood'" she tried to make air quotes with her hooves as she finished. "Technically, this makes you a prince, a true prince... unlike Blueblood." "So does this mean, that I can go free?" "Yes, and no... You see, since you are a prince you receive better accommodations than this, but you are still not excused from the crimes laid against you." "I see, so how will this work?" "Well, sister and I thought that something like this would happen and we had a third private chamber built, once I found out that you were indeed a prince, I had the room cleaned and prepared." "Thank you, does Celestia know?" "Yes, and she wasn't happy. Look, the main reason I came here was to tell you how you can escape." "What?!" "in one week time, you will be brought to Ponyville for a party that Pinky Pie insisted on throwing for you. It's your late welcome to Ponyville party." I couldn't help chuckling at this, "So... How am I going to escape?" "Well... The details are being worked out but, I will find a way." "So, since I am a prince, does this mean I get my personal guard?" "Of course, although... they are nothing more than some extra recruits, Celestia knew we had to protect you, but..." "She didn't want good protection?" "no." "Well then, could I make a request?" "That depends, what is it?" "That Rain runner, becomes the leader of my guard." "But, he has to be a captain in order to lead others, and be in the elite guard, Celestia has already chosen a leader." "And for some reason, that doesn't make me feel safe, couldn't you give him back his title and rank so that he CAN lead?" "I... suppose... but... okay, I don't see any issues there." She turned to Rain runner and he bowed down "I, Princess Luna, hereby decree that the pegasus known as Rain runner is officially re-instated in the Elite guard of Equestria, and the rank of Captain will be returned, furthermore, I hereby appoint Captain Rain runner of the elite guard to lead the royal guard for Prince Derek. You may rise." Rain runner rose "Thank you Princess Luna, and Thank you Prince Derek." "It's no problem, but if you wouldn't mind... I would like to be let out of this cage." "Oh! Sorry sir!" he said as he picked up the key and unlocked the cage. "Thank you Captain, now, shall we go and see my chambers?" "And meet the new troops." he added.