Chapter 17
64 POV
I opened my eyes as I came out of my deep sleep. I had an uneasy feeling about Princess Luna, due to her being so close to Celestia and Knight, but eventually if I did find her trustworthy, she would make a fantastic ally.
“Well that’s one thing you and I can agree on.” Vi said, startling me slightly.
“Why would you agree with me on that?” I asked, wondering what she was getting at.
“We have a willing ally, who is incredibly close to Celestia, who will have to talk with Knight from time to time, and we have a completely untraceable communication line! We have hit the metaphorical jackpot with Princess Luna!”
I still was unsure about all this. Although I showed her some memories of what I have had to go through, I had no idea if she would be loyal or not. Given the chance she could be give information about my plans straight to Celestia, and I would be caught quicker than I could say another sentence. I sighed, and looked out of the Cottage window.
The Sun was still down, and I looked at my watch really quick. It was only 3:43, a perfect time for me to grab the Rhyolite Crystal and escape to the Everfree before the Sun even came up.
“Vi, I need a reading on the Rhyolite Shard within Ponyville, read it within at least a 50 meter radius.” I said, grabbing my Brown Cloak and opening the window.
“Remember 64, Twilight Sparkle saw you within that Cloak, and so did that mare Pinkie Pie. Hopefully Fluttershy will stay quiet about the whole ordeal, but we don’t know who Twilight told about you and that Cloak.” Vi said, warning me.
“Everypony should be asleep by now, so if anyone is awake I can just stick to the Darkness, just like I’m used to.”
I took a step onto the Ceiling of the Cottage, making sure to keep my footing, and quickly leapt to the ground, rolling to cushion the impact of the dirt road. Donning my hood, I started to run into Ponyville, making sure to keep the noise down to as little as possible.
As I thought, not a single soul was awake at the moment, giving me a perfect path towards the area the Rhyolite Energy was coming from.
“Vi, the energy reading is getting bigger as I walk Northeast, do you have an exact location yet?” I asked, wanting to get out of here as fast as possible.
“I can’t get its location exactly, but I can tell it’s inside of a building about a quarter-mile from this location. You might need to pull off some good old fashion B&E.” Vi said, giving me a Locator Line for me to follow.
“Awesome, one of my specialties.”
I eventually made it to a Park area, and saw I needed to cross to get to where the Rhyolite was. I looked around, noticing the obvious lack of cover if I was seen, so I opted to simply go into my crawling stealth form, sacrificing speed for camouflage.
I began to crawl through the Park when I realized just how big the Park was. It took me a whole 15 minutes just to cross, losing me a whole lot of time to do what I needed to do. Luckily once I crossed the Park, the Rhyolite reading was incredibly close. I looked in the direction of the Energy reading, when I saw the building in particular it was in.
“Vi, can you get me a scan of this place? It looks average sized, two stories, but it might also be some sort of shop, because there is a closed sign on the front window.” I quietly asked, slowly sneaking up to the building.
“From what I can read within the building, it seems to be some sort of Tailoring shop, with a multitude of Sewing machines and mannequins inside. The bottom floor looks as if it is strictly for business, and the top floor seems to be nothing short of an apartment, complete with two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a small living room.”
Pleased with Vi’s extensive response, I began to look for any obvious entrances I could utilize. After checking all windows on the bottom floor to see if they were unlocked, but no luck was to be found. I looked up to the top floor, and saw a window opened a very small amount, almost invisible to someone who wasn’t really looking.
I saw small ledges along the sides of the buildings I could use for a quick climb, but they looked very thin, and would probably break the second that I applied pressure to them.
“Vi, I think I might need a bit of wall walking here. That window on the second floor is my only entrance in, and I can’t grab any of these ledges without breaking them.”
“Ok, put your right foot on the wall.”
I did as she told, and I felt gravity in my feet shift to the wall as Vi’s magic coursed through my feet. I was able to lift my left foot up to the wall too, and I slowly walked up the side of the Tailoring Shop. I finally reached the window, and I saw the inside of the small bedroom.
There was an occupied bed, a small filly by the looks of it, a chest, and a large closet. Waking up the filly would be a problem, along with Vi scanning throughout the entire building trying to find that small crystal of Rhyolite. I put my hands on the window and slowly opened it, wincing slightly at the small creaking sound it made.
I pulled myself through the window, and put myself in my crawling position. This would not only help me stay smaller in a more condensed area, but also help me stay quieter while moving around.
“Ok Vi, start up the scanner, get me as close as you can to exact.” I said, already going outside of the room and into the upstairs hallway.
I saw Vi’s Locater lead me downstairs, so I followed it, but stopped when I heard a light switch go off behind me. I quickly looked and saw that inside one of the rooms a light had been turned on, so I quickly but quietly hurried downstairs, and saw about 4 Sewing Machines scattered across the back room I was in right now.
The Locator line led to a chest in the room, but I saw it was locked, so it would take a bit of lock picking to get the thing open.
“Damn, who puts 3 locks on a single chest?” I thought, pulling Peacemaker out of my waistband and making a small spike, the main utility I use when picking locks. I jammed the spike into the first lock, and opened it forcibly. It simply snapped right off, but I didn’t take into account its weight, and it slammed into the ground loudly.
I swore as I looked to the stairs, waiting to see if anypony came down to see what I was doing. Luckily I heard no movement, so I continued to pick the next lock with a bit of skill this time.
“R-Rarity? You down here?” I heard a whisper up the stairs. I froze as I recognized it as the filly sleeping upstairs, obviously calling downstairs to see what that loud noise was. I simply continued to pick the lock, speeding up so I could make a quick escape.
“Rarity?” The voice whispered again. The lock came off as I used Vi’s magic to stick to the walls again, climbing up to the ceiling and hoping she didn’t look up.
I heard the small pitter patter of hooves walk downstairs, and saw the little white filly look around for a bit, before shaking her head and going back upstairs to her bedroom. I let out a sigh and silently dropped from the ceiling, continuing my work on the last lock.
I once again threw caution to the wind and forcibly opened the lock, making sure to catch it before it took a dive to the floor. I quickly opened the chest, and my jaw dropped at what I saw. Dozens, maybe hundreds of Crystal were inside of this Chest, including yet another Rose Ruby!
“Holy shit Vi… Jackpot!” I thought loudly, as I saw a mental image of Vi rubbing her hand delightedly.
I quickly grabbed the Rose Ruby, before making the search to find the important Rhyolite Crystal. I sifted and searched, but in the low light it was tough to find the small white Crystal amongst all of the other gemstones.
“Vi, a little help maybe?” I asked, as I saw the Crystal I needed light up Red in the chest, and I quickly grabbed it.
“Ok, now time to leave, and not a second later, the Sun is going to rise in about 20 minutes.” I said as I walked to the front door and unlocked it from the inside, allowing me to make a quiet escape.
“Ok, now if you could as quickly as possible get to the Everfree Forest, that would be terrific.” Vi said, getting very anxious about what the rising sun meant, or more importantly, who was the one controlling it.
“Change of Plans. I’m headed to the Clock Tower; they won’t think to look twice there. The Everfree Forest is the first place they will start looking, remember, that’s the last place those three mares saw me run into.”
Vi stayed quiet for a few seconds, as if she was pondering my decision.
“I hate it when you’re right…..” Vi grumbled, obviously ticked off I was able to make a valid point.
I continued to crawl towards the Clock Tower, making sure to stay down as a few ponies were already up and about at this time of the day. I was able to make it to the small hill the Clock Tower was on, and slowly opened the door, making sure no one was there when I entered and stood up, cracking my back at the stress it went through in that uncomfortable position.
I fished the Bow Scope out of my pocket, and slowly adjusted the lenses to see all the way to the home of Twilight Sparkle. I knew I had to expect some sort of show going off when Celestia arrived, and I wanted a front row seat.
I walked to the window and opened it up a bit, trying to get the best view from the highest inside floor of the Clock Tower. The view I had was able to see the front door of the Library, and a bit of the inside through a couple of windows.
“Well Vi, ready to see what happens this fine day?” I asked nonchalantly, waiting for the sun to fully emerge and Celestia to get wind of yesterday’s events.
“I could never be ready for something like that. You should attach that scope to the other Bow you have in Outpost #2, and maybe have a ranged weapon at your disposal.”
“That bow isn’t fitted to hold a scope, and even if it was I think it would be a bit too cumbersome for that smaller bow.”
I turned back towards the small room and decided a few Z’s were in order after that job I had just pulled, and I walked over to the small hay bale I had once used as a bed, and threw myself unceremoniously upon it.
“Ugh… Night Vi…”
“Night, Project 64.”
Twilight Sparkle POV
“Ugh… why does Princess Celestia wake up so early…?” I grumbled as the sunlight was able to get a direct beam straight into my eyes, effectively waking me up. I tossed the blanket I had off of me as I rose from my bed, before spreading the blanket over the mattress, remaking my bed for tonight’s sleep.
I quickly remembered the small letter on my nightstand, especially the contents of the letter. I needed to get that letter to Princess Celestia and hopefully get her assistance in the matter at hand. That strange creature could have been dangerous, and won’t have something like that running amok.
I walked out of my room, and went downstairs to see if Spike was feeling better than he was yesterday. He was standing on a stool cooking our daily breakfast of eggs, pancakes, and toast, and looked a sight much better than last evening.
“Good morning Spike! How are you feeling?” I asked, trying to sound as positive as I could.
“Oh, much better, I guess I just needed to sleep it off a bit. I bet when Princess Celestia gets here the entire thing will be wrapped up so fast, Rainbow Dash is gonna have trouble keeping up.” Spike said with a laugh.
I was glad he was back to his old self, cracking jokes and laughing himself silly.
“Well, how about we have some breakfast before we get started with our day, alright?”
Spike nodded and set plates for the both of us, and we began to start eating in a comfortable silence as my mind reeled with what that strange creature could have been. It seemed to know who I was and my relationship with Princess Celestia, and wanted more answers than I was more than comfortable giving.
As me and Spike finished up breakfast and washed our plates, I went upstairs to grab the written letter. I walked back downstairs with the letter in my magic grasp, and saw Spike standing in the middle of the Library, waiting for the letter to be sent.
“Ready Spike?” I asked carefully.
“Ready as ever!” He said confidently.
I tossed the letter over to him, and he shot his magic flames mid-air, igniting the letter and sending it straight to Princess Celestia.
Good, now all we have to do is wait.
64 POV
Good. Now all we have to do is wait.