Ghosts of the Past
Chapter Eight
After the memory was done, Princess Celestia asked, "So you were in possession of all that power from when you were temporarily linked to the Khala?"
The Ghost nodded. "As far as I know, yes. I have never been able to use its power before. I have only guesses as to why I could harness it there."
The Princess cocked her head to the side, evidently asking what he thought the cause was.
Exhaling, the Ghost said, "There's a reason why the Zerg have infested Terrans and not Protoss. The Khala prevents any form of infestation or assimilation to those within it. Since the Terrans have no Khala, it makes us easy prey. When they," he pointed at the six female ponies, "hit me with their energy bolt, I could feel its intentions: to recreate, rebuild, reshape. My guess is that the Khala reached out to protect me, thinking that the Zerg were trying to infest me, and gave me access to large amounts of energy in the process."
The Ghost raised a hand to silence the protest that came from the assembled ponies.
"I'm sure that you... meant well, but the Khala didn't know that."
The Ghost looked at the guard unicorn, trying to remember what he had discovered about him.
"Who are you?" he asked to the purple armour wearing unicorn.
"I'm Captain of the Royal Guard, Shining Armor."
The Ghost stared at him, trying to find the connection between him and Twilight. Finding none, he asked, "How do you know Twilight Sparkle? I saw fleeting images of her and another pegasus-unicorn when I forced you into unconsciousness."
"Another alicorn?" asked Twilight Sparkle, confused.
Shining Armor looked embarrassed from all the attention. "Twilight is my little sister and the alicorn you saw is my fiancé, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. I was hoping that both of them would be safe after you... disabled me."
"YOU'RE GETTING MARRIED AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME?!" yelled Twilight.
Shining Armor shifted uncomfortably underneath his armour. The Ghost found it rather ironic. "We only recently made the decision, Twily. I was planning on telling you later today, when we had some alone time."
The Ghost was amused by the siblings arguing over something as trivial as a wedding.
"Well... okay, that's a reasonable excuse. Who the hay is 'Princess Mi Amore Cadenza' anyway?" asked Twilight.
Shining Armor only laughed. "Twilight, I'm marrying Cadance, your old foal-sitter. Her full name is Mi Amore Cadenza."
Twilight's face lit up at the mention of her 'foal-sitter'. The Ghost had no idea what one was, but it evidently was a good thing if Twilight's reaction was anything to go by.
The Ghost looked back and forth between Twilight and Shining, trying to see any sort of family resemblance. Finding none, he shrugged, and continued on the topic that he wanted to address.
"Don't be ashamed of me knocking you out. You put up a better fight than any of the other unicorns." Shining Armor's chest swelled up a little at the praise.
"Speaking of which, how many of your Royal Guards have I permanently crippled?" he said nonchalantly, as if discussing the weather.
Shining Armor gave him a wry smile. "None. Each and every one is expected to make a full recovery." The smile disappeared. "Except for Lumen."
All but Lumen Shield? They must have advanced healing psionics. The Ghost thought back to the pony who's mind he had erased.
"Where are you keeping Lumen Shield's body?" asked the Ghost.
Shining Armor looked at him suspiciously. "How do you know his last name?"
"I read it off of a note that I found on his body, addressed to him from Celestia." The Ghost purposefully forgot to mention the fact that he had delved deep into the unicorn's mind and had learned far more about him than he had wanted to.
"He's in the medical pavilion, under the attention of the best doctors in Canterlot. Unfortunately, they haven't been able to coax anything other than a twitch out of him," said Celestia.
The Ghost thought for a moment. "May I go and see him? There may be some way to reverse the process. If there is any way that I can, I will."
The ponies exchanged nervous glances with each other.
Sighing, the Ghost said, "If it gives you peace of mind, bring a couple of contingents of guards. Earth ponies would probably be your best bet: they are immune to my psychic tampering and they are capable of going physically toe-to-toe with me."
Twilight's brother looked at the Ghost with a confused expression. "Why are you telling us your weaknesses?"
The Ghost smiled ruefully. "Think of it as a placement of my trust. After everything I have done, I figure it is a but a small step towards redemption."
Shining Armor stood there, undecided.
"I think that a Princess, the bearers of harmony, the Captain of the Royal Guard and a contingent of Earth pony guards will be more than sufficient in dealing with Ghost. Don't you, Captain?" said Celestia with a smile.
The Ghost couldn't keep a ethereal smile from his face. Sufficient for me without my suit and gun. If I had those... there isn't one bloody thing here that could stop me.
Sighing, the Captain relented. "All of your safety is my priority, but if the Princess thinks that that is enough to stop Ghost, that's good enough for me."
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Princess Celestia, the bearers of harmony, Shining Armor, a contingent of Earth ponies, and the Ghost arrived at the medical pavilion after a few minutes of walking. The Ghost had to forcibly slow his steps down to match the pace of the smaller ponies, as he was never one to dawdle. Looking at Princess Celestia, he noticed that she did the same. He thought it was funny; the ruler slowing down instead of the others increasing their pace.
The group entered the pavilion, which was still full of Pegasi and Earth ponies that the Ghost had injured more severely than the others. The unicorns had woken up completely fine, save for a bit of drowsiness. The unicorn doctors were rushing to and fro, but all of them stopped abruptly and bowed when they saw Princess Celestia. The Ghost, tall as he was, was not hidden by the ring of Earth ponies that had circled him and he was given furious glares by the patients and doctors alike.
After enlisting one of the nurses as a guide, the group was ushered into the small room that contained the comatose form of Lumen Shield. There wasn't enough room for the Earth pony guards, so Celestia had instructed them to stand outside. Needless to say, this did not go over well with her Royal Guard Captain. Only after much persuasion from the Princess and his sister did he finally cave in.
The Ghost walked over to the pony. If he didn't know any better, he could've sworn that Lumen was simply sleeping. Extending his mind outward, the Ghost mentally reached towards the unicorn.
He felt nothing. Not a memory, not an emotion. Just an empty void.
The Ghost kept trying to reach the unconscious pony. He probed as deep as he could into his neural cortex, looking for any shreds of the unicorn's former self. Just as the Ghost thought he felt the mind start to awaken, his concentration was broken by someone nudging him and saying, "Lumen has visitors."
The Ghost was going to respond in anger at the pony for disrupting him when he'd been so close, but his retort died in his throat when he saw who the visitors were. In his last memories, Lumen Shield had thought of his wife and daughter. While the Ghost didn't recall their names, he had their images mentally scarred into his brain.
And there they were. A pegasus and a young unicorn. Lumen's wife was protectively holding her daughter close with one of her wings. She saw him staring and said a couple of words to the child under her wing in hushed tones. The Ghost watched her silently as she approached him. She walked right up to the Ghost...
...and kicked him in every male's weak spot. Wincing and gritting his teeth with pain, the Ghost managed to say, "I deserve that." The Ghost saw Shining Armor about to subdue the angry pegasus, but the Ghost shook his head.
The pegasus wasn't done yet. She turned around and bucked the Ghost in the ribs. He felt several of them crack from the impact. The Ghost fell to one knee and coughed up blood. Wheezing, he said, "I deserve that too."
Still not satisfied, the enraged pegasus bucked him one last time, this time square in the jaw. Stars danced in front of the Ghost's eyes as he was launched backwards. He barely had the chance to open his eyes before his vision was filled with the angry eyes of Lumen Shield's wife.
"I should end your pitiful existence for what you did to my Lumen, you brutal, cruel, homicidal monster!" screamed the pegasus.
The Ghost stared back and said in a monotone voice, "You could. You could kill me right here, right now, and I would let you." The pegasus' eyes blinked in surprise. "It would make you feel better— for a little while at least, but it wouldn't bring back Lumen Shield. What then? With your revenge sated, what would happen next? Would your daughter see you as a hero—" The Ghost coughed violently, which had the side effect of letting his words sink in.
"—or as a monster, no better than me?"
The Ghost saw tears on the pegasus' face after his tirade. "I... I..." she sobbed.
In an act of compassion that the Ghost didn't know he was capable of, he wiped a tear from the pegasus' face and said, "I know you hate me. That hate is justified. You may continue to hate me, for as long as you want, but please save it for later. Now, I must try to bring your husband back."
The sorrow and anger on Lumen's wife's face was slowly replaced with a new emotion. Hope.
"You... you think you can?"
The Ghost weakly shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. But I can try."
The pegasus took her hooves off of the Ghost and said, "That is all I can ask of you."
Struggling to his feet, the Ghost slowly walked back to the bedside, his broken ribs grating against each other with every step. The Ghost closed his eyes and opened up his mind once more. Floating back into the void, the Ghost felt a small spark from deep within Lumen Shield's consciousness.
A spark is all I need.
The Ghost conjured up the unicorn's memories that had been passed to him through their battle. He brought up each image and feeling that was rightfully Lumen's and forced them into the spark. He slowly fed the spark all of the images and feeling, causing it to grow. Finally, the Ghost called forth the last emotion that Lumen Shield had felt.
Love.
The Ghost gave back Lumen the love of his family. He gave him the joy and happiness that he felt just from thinking about them. The Ghost gave it all back, turning the spark into an ember. From the ember came a blaze, and from the blaze came forth a torrent.
The Ghost's mind was forced out of Lumen's mind as he awoke from his deep, deep slumber. Dazed and confused, the Ghost fell backwards and landed on his rear. He heard a sound of pure, unadulterated joy from his right.
"DADDY!"
With a smile on his face, the Ghost passed out again, thinking: Perhaps the blood can be removed from my hands. I just need to try and wash it off.
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The Ghost woke up in yet another bed, coughing blood onto the clean, white sheets. He sluggishly checked his ribs. Still cracked.
They must not have noticed. Perhaps they think that I'm stronger than I actually am.
Drawing a breath through gritted teeth, the Ghost psychically healed his ribs. While the fusing of marrow and bones hurt like hell, he knew it would be less painful in the long run. With his chest sufficiently repaired, the Ghost took a quick glance of his surroundings. He was in yet another white room.
What I wouldn't give for some nice, grey corridors.
Sighing, the Ghost tossed the bed covers off of himself and checked his chin for any fractures. He didn't find any, but he did find a line of short stubble forming on his cheek and underneath his jaw.
"The hell? My hair follicles got burned out of my face years ago. How the hell are they growing back now?" asked the Ghost aloud.
Grumbling to himself, the Ghost exited the bed. It was rather dark in the room he was in: even his optical implants had trouble seeing in the near pitch black. Stumbling to the nearest door, he was about to open it when he felt a shiver down his reinforced spine. He had a funny feeling about whatever was on the other side of the door.
Concentrating, the Ghost cloaked himself. It was significantly harder without his suit: he could only keep up the cloak for around fifteen minutes without it, while his suit allowed for practically unlimited cloaking.
Dammit. I miss my suit. I haven't been without it for this long for years.
The Ghost reached out an invisible hand silently opened the door a crack. He squinted through the small slit and into the advanced darkness. He could discern various pony-sized shapes around the room along with what appeared to be a table loaded with bowls, plates, and glasses of varying shapes and sizes. Closing the door, the Ghost tried to decipher what it all meant.
An ambush? He quickly brushed the thought aside. They wouldn't need to ambush him. They could've done whatever they wanted while he was unconscious.
What the hell are they doing, waiting for me to wake up? Is this some sort of social gathering? The more the Ghost thought about it, the more convinced he was. What is it for?
More curious than suspicious now, the Ghost opened the door, this time without trying to be stealthy. He was blinded when a bright light suddenly lit up the room and nearly concussed from the loud screams of "Surprise!". Instinctively crouching down to make himself a smaller target, the Ghost assumed his fighting stance once again as he waited for his vision to clear.
Instead of the ambush that he had been certain of from the flash of light, he saw...
To be honest, he had no idea what he saw.
There were twelve ponies in the room: Celestia, Luna, Twilight and her friends, Shining Armor, and Lumen Shield and his family. They were all smiling and cheerful, looking at him expectantly.
The Ghost, realizing it wasn't an ambush, stood up straight and asked uncomfortably, "What... what is going on here?"
Princess Celestia stepped forward and said, "We all thought you deserved a 'Welcome to Equestria' party, Ghost. Well, Pinkie Pie thought of it, but we all agreed." Celestia looked at the Ghost, noticing his discomfort. "What's wrong?"
What's wrong? What's wrong!?
"How... wha—...w—why?!" stammered the Ghost.
The odd pony that the Ghost had labelled 'psychotic and possibly damaged' gasped. He figured that she must have been Pinkie Pie. "Why?! Because you're new to Equestria, silly filly! Everypony new needs a 'Welcome' party!" She paused for a second, thinking. "Well, you're not a pony, but your still new! And to Equestria as well!"
The Ghost looked around at the brightly coloured decorations. There were streamers, ribbons, and many other things that the Ghost had no name for. He rephrased his question.
"Why? Why would you do this for me after everything I've done?"
Princess Luna stepped forward and said, "We believe in peace and tolerance here, Ghost. In Equestria, we strive to treat everypony equally..." Hearing this, the Ghost looked down to check if he had spontaneously shrunk and grown hooves.
Smiling, the princess of the moon continued. "...Even if they aren't a pony." Her face grew sad as she lowered her voice. "Believe us, Ghost. We know how it feels to be absolved for something that we thought unforgiveable."
The Ghost felt the pain and sorrow behind her words. He wondered what crime she had committed, but put the question aside. These are the most kind, peaceful, forgiving people that I've met. The Ghost realized he had called the ponies 'people'. You know what? They are people. They are better people than any Terran that I've ever met.
"Alright," said the Ghost after an awkward pause. He rubbed the back of his neck in anxiety for what was going to happen next. "I don't know how to... party."
Pinkie Pie appeared next to the Ghost. He had no idea how Pinkie did that: not three seconds ago, she was standing over by the table, nearly twenty feet away. The Ghost figured he would get a migraine trying to determine the how's and why's of what Pinkie Pie did.
"It's easy!" shouted the curly-haired pony. She somehow whispered in his ear even though he was several feet taller than her.
"All you have to do is..."
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The party went along smoothly and lasted throughout much of the evening. The Ghost had been only been unconscious for a couple of hours after his mental repair of Lumen Shield. Harnessing Pinkie Pie's black arts of partying, the Ghost was... somewhat approachable during the social gathering. Even Pinkie's mastery of the talent couldn't entirely disregard the Ghost's lonely nature. Everypony wanted to spend some time with the Ghost. He had catalogued the three types after the party was over. Some wanted to ask questions, some wanted to learn more about the Ghost and his race, and some just wanted to be pleasant company for the super-soldier.
Twilight and Shining Armor made up the first category. While Shining Armor had asked many questions regarding the Ghost's species and combat talents, Twilight had asked hundreds of mind-numbing questions, from how do your spaceships work to how big do humans get. The Ghost had been fine with the first few questions, but he had been growing more and more agitated the more questions he was asked. At one point, the Ghost had become so fed up with her questions that he simply turned invisible and walked to the opposite side of the room before decloaking.
Rarity and Rainbow Dash had made up the second category. Rainbow Dash was more interested with how strong and fast the Ghost was while Rarity couldn't help doting over the Ghost's suit. She was fascinated by the material: it was strong, stretchy, comfortable, and soft. The Ghost was not comfortable with all the attention to his clothes. When Rarity had finally asked if she could get him to come to her shop to experiment on the material, he accepted instantly, hoping she would go away.
Fluttershy, the princesses, and the Shield family made up the last category. Fluttershy was as shy and timid as always, but it didn't bother the Ghost. He liked the quiet. Princess Luna and Celestia had each came to him at least once over the course of the party, asking polite questions and making small talk. The Ghost thought that they wanted to ask him more, but wanted to wait until they were in a more secure location.
Finally, as the party was winding down, Lumen Shield and his family had approached the Ghost. The Ghost had no idea what reaction to expect out of the guard. Based on how differently the people were, the Ghost had only guesses.
Lumen Shield walked right up to the Ghost and raised his hoof to him. Surprised, but expecting something similar, the Ghost grasped the limb and shook.
Smiling, the unicorn said, "Nice to finally meet you. The real you."
The Ghost snorted. "Just when I thought I had you ponies figured out, you go and say that."
The white unicorn chuckled. "What I mean to say is, thank you for bringing me back." He looked behind him at his wife and child, causing the smile on his face to grow even larger. "They mean the world to me, and you brought me back to them."
"No. They brought you back. It was your memories of their love that brought you back," replied the Ghost.
"You're alright, Ghost," said the unicorn turned around and walked back to his family. "By the way," he called out. "You should write down some poetry. You seem to have a knack for it."
The Ghost didn't know what to say to that.
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Realizing it was getting late, the princesses excused themselves saying they had 'Very Important Business' to attend to. After the princesses left, Lumen Shield and his family left along with Shining Armor. Slowly but surely, the remaining ponies retired to their guest rooms. Eventually, only Twilight and the Ghost were left.
Bashful, Twilight apologized to the Ghost. "I-I'm really sorry for annoying you earlier. I sometimes get carried away with my questions." She smiled sheepishly.
Sighing, the Ghost gently patted her head. "It's fine. I can't blame you for wanting to know." He walked towards the door to his guest room. As he opened it, he smirked and added, "After all, I am a very interesting person," before closing the door and heading to his bed.
"Yes. Yes you are," she said to the door.