Unforgiven Memories

by Hidden Brony

2.8 Science of Lies

Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did.

“Streak,” Rainbow Dash said, tentatively lifting her head off of her hooves, “are you okay?”

I took a deep breath, letting it out faster than I intended in a snort. “Okay? No, Rainbow Dash, I’m not okay. I want to kill something right now, but the real question is: are you okay?”

“I’ve had near thirteen years to get okay, I’m about as okay as I get,” she replied. “Come on, these are my problems, let them stay mine.”

I took another deep breath, this one held better, allowing me to calm down. I counted backwards from twenty, letting the breath out at zero. “Better,” I said. “These are not just your problems, though. I’m here to help you through them, if you need it. Know this, though: if I ever see your father, I’m putting his head through a wall.”

“Last I heard, he was living in Cloudsdale. Most of the walls there are cloud,” Rainbow Dash pointed out. “It wouldn’t hurt much.”

“Then I’ll bring him somewhere with metal walls and hit him against one until he goes through,” I growled. “That is not how you treat anyone, let alone a child.”

“It’s what it is,” she said. “I came to terms with it long ago.”

“You shouldn’t have had to,” I said, sighing. “That was just. . . wrong.”

She scoffed, “You tell me. I lived it.”

I just sat there, processing what she had just told me. As the tale she had spun like a spider spinning a web unraveled in my head, bits and pieces coming to the forefront before returning to the tumultuous mess that was my brain. Eventually, I started to sort things chronologically. I said, “Let me get this right. You were neglected, then abused, then got pregnant, your coltfriend headed for the hills, your daughter was taken away, and you were forced to move to another town.”

“Yep, that sums that up nicely,” she replied. Right as she said that, I felt something warm and furry press against me. A quick glance showed me bright cyan fur pressed into my side. I heard the crippled flier mumble, “You’re warm.”

“I am,” I said, confused.

“I didn’t expect you to be this warm,” she murmured. “I like it.”

I didn’t respond. Within five minutes, I heard her start snoring softly. It was a long day, I had to admit, and we were both tired. I decided to just relax and let her use me as a cushion. Closing my eyes, I felt the heat radiate off of her as her fur meshed with my own. She really was comfortable. Right as I started to drift off, I remembered that I had to get Star.

I slowly extracted myself from the sleeping flier so as to not wake her. I quietly slid across the bed, taking extra care to not shake Rainbow Dash. Right as I thought I had gotten away, I felt hooves grab onto my back leg.

I looked back to see Rainbow Dash with a pleading look in her eyes. “Stay, just for tonight?” she asked.

I hesitated, and she puffed out her lower lip in an adorable pout. Her eyes got huge and watery, and she made sure to make that bottom lip quiver. With a groan, I slid back to the center of the bed. Rainbow Dash gave off an uncharacteristically girly squeal of excitement and pounced on me as soon as I had gotten into position. Within a few seconds, she had her back pressed into my chest. We were laying on top of the sheets, not even bothering to pull them over us.

Again, I was interrupted right as I was about to fall asleep. The door creaked open, and I saw the comparatively large form of Gilda behind my daughter. Star walked into the room with a purpose, before being pulled back by the griffon.

“Hey,” Star exclaimed softly.

“Look at them,” Gilda said softly. “They’re adorable. Let them stay there.”

“She’s in my bed,” my daughter deadpanned. “I want to sleep.”

“Come to my room,” the griffon said. “I have an extra bed for you to use.”

Star sighed before leaving for the griffon’s room. Gilda lingered at the door, unaware of my ability to see her. I barely heard her say, “I’m glad you found someone, Rainbow.” After she had said her piece, she closed the door silently.

“We gather here to remember Snowflake,” the pony at the podium droned. He didn’t care. He was bored. This was his job. Just another day at the damn office.

“Snowflake was an exceptional individual. . . .” I stopped listening at this point. I knew all of this. I looked around with my eyes, but being in the front row didn’t lend itself to a good view of the room. I was able to see the ponies sitting on the same bench as I was. They were some of the locals. I’d heard that they came to every soldier’s funeral to pay their respects.

On the other side of the isle, Snowflake’s friends and family sat. I wasn’t over there because Sunny was there, shooting daggers at me. I didn’t want to cause a scene, especially at Snowflake’s funeral, so I stayed on the other side of the room.

Standing next to the preaching pony was Celestia in all her radiance. She had a solemn expression on her face, as was fitting for the situation. She didn’t seem to be faking it, though, like I would have expected before yesterday.

The funeral was fast and closed-casket, like all other soldier funerals. The mortician said some words, and the casket was thrown into the back room to be buried at a later time. We were in and out within fifteen minutes.

As we were exiting, I saw Sunny walking over to me with purposeful strides. Her glare intensified as she got closer. “You have some nerve coming here, Streak,” she said loudly. All eyes turned to us.

I didn’t reply, just kept walking towards the exit. She jumped in front of me, blocking my path. “I said you have some nerve coming here, Streak,” she reiterated.

I sighed, “Look, I’m sorry I couldn’t save him, but I have to leave. We’re holding up the line.”

“Why are you here?” she asked in an accusatory tone.

“To pay my respects," I replied simply. "The same reason everyone else is here."

She opened her mouth to say something, and by the look on her face it wasn't flattering. However, before she could say something she was interrupted. "Miss Day," Celestia said from behind me, "I'm going to have to ask you to leave Streak alone."

"Or what?" Sunny growled.

"Or you'll spend a few days in prison. Consider this a restraining order."

Suddenly everyone around me stopped moving. Colors faded to greyscale, and the air seemed to still itself, as though it didn’t want to offend something. Or someone. Looking down at myself, I was back to my regular demon self. Something was wrong.

“So this is how it began,” a voice echoed throughout the building.

“Show yourself!” I shouted, spinning around frantically to look for the speaker.

“Be calm, Streak,” the voice said to me. “I am a friend.”

“Friends don’t leave friends in the dark,” I said, looking around again, to no avail.

The scene around me faded into a hazy dark silver fog. Inside this fog was thousands of thousands of tiny sparkles floating around in erratic patterns. The fog parted as I was put face-to-face with an alicorn. I immediately recognized her blue fur and ethereal mane of dark blue, studded with miniature representations of the stars.

“Luna,” I said, glaring at her. “What do you want?”

“Such hostility!” she exclaimed, looking hurt. “What have I done to deserve this from you?”

“I can’t trust anyone of power in Canterlot right now,” I said, glare not diminishing. “Celestia had a helper, therefore my work is not done.”

Luna sighed, settling down on the ground. “I should have known it was you, Streak.”

“Say again?” I asked.

“That killed Celestia. Cadance was trying to convince me that it was you, but I didn’t believe her,” the alicorn of the moon said. “I understand it needed to be done and why, but she was still my sister.”

I nodded, “You still loved her, no matter what she had done. I was the same.”

“How did you do it, then?” she asked me. “If you loved her, how did you find the strength to put a dagger into her throat?”

“I reminded myself that she wasn’t the Celestia that I fell in love with, and that that Celestia would want me to kill this one,” I said truthfully, settling down near—but not next to—Luna.

We were both silent for a few minutes before the diarch said, “Come back to Equestria, Streak.”

“No,” I said simply.

“No?” she asked, confused. “Why not?”

“I just told you that I can’t trust you, Luna. I can’t trust anyone but Rainbow Dash and Star right now, even if I were in Equestria.”

“Your daughter,” Luna said more than asked.

“Yes.”

“So you will remain in the Empire until. . . what?” she asked. “What is there for you to stay?”

“Deposing of an idiot Emperor,” I said. “I got here just in time. He was about to get the Empire to declare Blood Feud on Equestria.”

Luna shook her head, “Whatever for? Celestia?”

“That is what he said, although I suspect he has another reason,” I replied. “I just need to figure out what.”

“You’re being very forward for someone who supposedly doesn’t trust me,” Luna said.

“You’re in Equestria, I’m in the Empire. There are currently three ponies in the entire Empire, Luna. If you enter we will know, and you won’t find me.”

“I could if I wanted,” she said simply.

“Try me,” I challenged.

“You are currently on the fourth floor of the castle at Eyrie. You are on the right side of the bed, and are the big spoon to Rainbow Dash’s little spoon. I’d congratulate you on your achievement, but nothing untoward has happened—which is an achievement on its own, in a way. Star is three rooms down sharing a room with Gilda, and. . . .” She trailed off, before saying, more to herself than to me, “I haven’t seen that essence in a long time. So that’s where you have been hiding.”

“Wait, what?” I asked, confused. “First off, how could you know this, and second off, what essence?”

“I am one of the Guardians, Streak,” Luna said smirking. “I have magic on my side. To answer your second question, your friend Murphy is more than he seems. That is all I’ll say.”

“More cryptic bullshit,” I grumbled. “Why can’t I ever get a straight answer?”

“Because you are in way over your head,” Luna answered. “You have been since the war. First there was the war itself, then Celestia, then you died. After that, you exposed Celestia again, then died again, then killed Celestia. So far all of your activities have revolved around the Guardians. That is a lot for a mortal to have to deal with, especially since we keep so much to ourselves.”

“Not to mention the damn Librarian,” I mumbled.

“I don’t like her more than you do,” she said, “but she’s a necessity of our world. She shouldn’t have interfered as she did, but what’s done is done. Fixing what she broke would take the Weaver himself.”

“The Weaver?” I asked. “I’ve heard the name, but not much about him besides the fact he made everything with the Librarian.”

“That’s pretty much it,” Luna said. “There is more to it, but I cannot tell you. I hope you understand.”

“Understand?” I growled. “I haven’t done anything but be left in the dark for the last thousand damn years!”

“I cannot tell you, on the Weaver’s orders,” Luna said. “I would if I could.”

“Whatever,” I waved her off. “I don’t know why I even expected answers from anyone at this point, especially you.”

“I’m sorry, Streak,” she said and it sounded like it was truthful. I had dealt with Celestia, however, and know just because it seems like something doesn’t mean it is anywhere remotely close. She looked up, seemingly looking past the fog above us. “Someone is trying to wake you up. You should heed her call.”

“Streak,” I heard in my half-delirious state. “Streak, wake up.”

“Muh,” I said eloquently.

“Streak,” the voice said again, “I understand that I’m comfortable and that I let you be the big spoon, but I’m not a teddy bear.”

“Huh?” I said, opening my eyes. My first sight was dark pink. I blinked in surprise, slowly expanding my vision to see cyan around the pink. With a sigh, I pulled my head back to take in all of Rainbow Dash’s face. She had a playful glare aimed at me. That was about the time I noticed that I was wrapped around her like a blanket in winter, and she couldn’t move.

I let go of her with a small blush, not that she could see it anyway. “Hehe, my bad,” I said.

She stood up and flexed her uninjured wing. "Gilda came by about five minutes ago, but you were pretty conked out," she said, hopping off the bed

I rose and joined her on the floor. "Luna talked to me through a dream," I informed her. "She wants us to go back to Equestria."

"Hot damn!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, jumping into the air. "Let's get this done fast so we can go home!"

"I'm not going," I said.

She whirled on me. "What.”

"Celestia had a helper," I explained. "There are a grand total of six beings I have met who I know have the strength to open a portal to the Void. Celestia, Discord, Chance, Twilight, Star, Starswirl, and Luna."

"And you think it was Luna," Rainbow Dash stated.

"Who else could it have been?" I asked. "Celestia had no magic, Discord is sealed in stone, Chance has been missing, and Star has been in Tall Tale. That leaves two options: Twilight or Luna."

"Twilight hasn't gone to Canterlot in months," she reported.

"That leaves us with only one option. Luna," I said. "Plus, Luna had been co-ruling Equestria for years with Celestia after finding out what she had done."

"So you think it's a trap?" she asked.

"I don't think," I said, "I know."

"Hey lovebirds!" Murphy called from the hallway. "We have to leave soon, so if you'd get out of bed, that would be nice."

I shot a glare at the door, knowing that he wouldn't see it. Sighing, I moved into the hallway. Murphy was waiting right outside the door with a smug grin on his face. I wiped it right off with one sentence. "Luna says 'hi' "

"It's going to be one of these days," he mumbled as he walked off.

"What was that?" the crippled flier asked, walking up from behind me.

"Luna knows Murphy," I said. "She said that he's more than he seems."

"Isn’t everything nowadays?" she mused to herself.

"C'mon, Streak!" Murphy called. "You don't want to be late."

Senator Sicarius was waiting for us at the doorway. He had a blood-red robe on over his light grey feathers, and had placed a golden circlet on his brow. "I assume you're ready, then?" he asked.

"Let's do this," I said with much more confidence than I felt.

"Now there are some things you should know about Senate meetings," he said as we walked into an entry room. "These are proud traditions that haven't changed in a thousand years."

"Then I know not only the letter, but the spirit of them," I said.

"Yes, your alleged help in founding the Empire," he waved a claw in dismissal. We stopped by the door inside, and he kept talking, "First, the speaker role passes from the right side of the room to the left. You don't speak out of turn unless the Emperor gives you permission."

"Yes, yes. This is all fine and dandy, but I don't give a damn," I said. "I want in that room, and you're in the way."

"You could try to be nicer," my bunk-mate said. "He's trying to be helpful."

"He's trying to make us late," Star piped up.

Sicarius held up his claws in between himself and us, saying, "I would never. If you want in, go in."

I brushed past him, attempting to pull open the door. It didn't even budge. I felt some magic radiating off of the offending portal, and—after a moment of resistance—devoured the locking enchantment. Once that was done, I ripped open the door. turning to the senator. I saw that his jaw had dropped. "I have no time for your games, senator."

Turning into the room, I could tell this door had not been opened in a long time. There was a thick layer of dust over everything that must have taken centuries to accumulate. I saw a modestly sized plain coffin made of a plain white stone. It was flat on all sides, with a single message carved on the top. I walked up to it, leaving tracks of displaced dust in my wake, and, with a single wipe of my hoof, revealed the message.

I felt my eyes mist up when I saw there was another, smaller coffin right next to his. A shaky swipe later, It read:

The senator tried to say something, but it came out more like, “I–what?” than anything intelligible.

Rainbow Dash walked up from behind me, leaving a second set of hoofprints in the dust. She paused a moment, reading the coffins. I sat for a moment in awe. “You never think that you will be reading the engraving on your own coffin, but here I am,” I said quietly.

“Look at the wall, Dad,” Star said, pointing at a point behind me. I hadn’t even noticed her walking into the room, too.

I looked back and saw a hastily carved message written in erratic, fast writing marring the wall behind me. It read:

If you’re reading this, then you have earned the trust of the last true Guardian, for only his magic could open the door. Open Streak’s sarcophagus and retrieve the armor he wore during the Discord war. It has been enchanted by the last true Guardian. Even if you can’t use it, find one who can. One you trust explicitly.

She has finally come for me. I will die fighting, if only because Streak surely did, too. There is not much fight left in me after these eighty years, though.

I will see you soon, friend.

-Gil

“How did you open that door?” the senator exclaimed. “It was sealed a thousand years ago, and not even Celestia could open it!”

I ignored him. Walking tentatively up to my grave—that was so weird to say—I looked it over. It was a fairly simple coffin, looking to be in two pieces. The lid looked like it was designed to slide right off. With a shove, I did just that.

There was a loud thud that echoed throughout the room. A plume of dust shot into the air as the lid displaced the air over it in a rush of wind. I heard the other three start coughing to clear their lungs of the invasive dust, but I just ignored it. I only breathed out of habit at this point, so I just stopped. Even if I hadn’t stopped voluntarily, I would have when I saw the contents of the sarcophagus. The armor I was given as a general a thousand years ago was now staring me in the face in all of its modest glory.

It wasn’t bright gold, like the armor of the modern royal guard. It was a tarnished silver, having been made of steel enchanted to not rust and not gilded to make it look fancy. It was plain, being designed to lay flat over my body, providing the fewest possible additional points for an enemy to grab. The helmet was as unadorned as the rest, having not horns nor plumes.

I reached in and grabbed the helmet in my hooves. As I touched it, faint blue runes in some language I couldn’t understand flashed across the surface of the entire suit of armor, before fading to black, and finally vanishing altogether. I looked at the others, and they had looks of confusion on their faces. I put the helmet on, and that’s when it happened.

The entire suit somehow glowed a midnight black and picked itself up out of the coffin. The pieces of armor whipped through the air around me. I stayed perfectly still, not wanting to mess up whatever they were doing. The first piece to break the dance was the breastplate. It whipped at me from the front, slamming into my chest with a paradoxically simultaneously heavy and light hit. It felt as though I had been bodyslammed by a dragon—not for the first time—while at the same time, I didn’t move, nor did it hurt. It was just pressure, then a feeling of rightness. The rest of the armor attached itself to me in the same way. The whole process took mere seconds, but felt like hours.

As soon as the last piece attached itself to me, the entire suit faded into nothingness. All that was left was a small amulet in the shape of a black heater shield with a rainbow stripe bisecting it, just like my cutie mark.

“Woah,” Rainbow Dash near-whispered, sounding unnaturally loud in the silent room.

“Yeah,” Star said in agreement.

“That was new,” I muttered. I turned to the senator. “Now, to the real senate room, if you would?”

He nodded dumbly, eyes wide. He swiftly turned around and led us right to the proper door. There was a clock right outside reading 11:58. Right on time. I threw open the doors, shouting, “I have had enough political games to last me another lifetime!”

Throm jumped into the air in surprise at my sudden entrance. “Ah! Streak!” He exclaimed. After a moment he cleared his throat and began again, “Ah, Streak. You weren’t late. Good.”

“Not for lack of trying,” the rainbow maned pony mumbled, glaring at Sicarius as he passed.

The shifty senator whispered into the Emperor’s ear, and I watched Throm’s eyes widen considerably as he went along. “I. . . see. This is a complication,” the Emperor said after Sicarius finished his tale. After a slight pause, the griffon said, “No matter, we will address this later. For now, we must start the meeting. Senator Incipiens, if you would?”

An older-looking griffon stood up from the group surrounding Throm. He cleared his throat before beginning. “This pony claims to be one of the founders of our great Empire, but nowhere in our records do we have a mention of a pony until the near-war with Equestria nearly eight-hundred years ago.”

Another griffon, likely a member of his entourage, spoke up timidly from behind the senator, “Uh, sir? In the west wing—”

“Is the history of our Emperors, isn’t that right?” the senator said sharply.

“Ye–yes sir,” the page said, shrinking into himself. So that is how this is going to go.

The next senator stood up, “There is no mention of a ‘Streak’ in Gil’s personal journals, either, nor is there a mention of a war with Discord.”

I just smirked, already seeing the holes in their lies. One massive hole behind a sealed door.

“I have found no evidence of a war with Discord in our historical records, nor any mention of the name ‘Streak’, either modern or ancient.”

“There is not a single use of the word ‘Streak’ as a name in the great library, save one story labeled under ‘Fiction’. Daring Doo and the Rainbow Racer.”

I decided to break protocol. " 'Here lies Streak A great stallion taken too early. May he rest in the Empire he helped build in spirit, even if not in body. You are missed.' "

"You dare speak out of turn?" Sicarius exclaimed.

I ignored him. "That is the engraving on my sarcophagus. You can find it right next to Gil's."

Throm scoffed, "We all know that door was locked. Not even Celestia could open the door."

"It really wasn't that hard," I said. "I left it unlocked, if you want to look for yourself."

The assembled senators started murmuring amongst themselves. Throm exploded from his seat and shouted, "Now you add another lie to your crimes! First you claim to have been a founder of the Empire, a fact impossible due to your lack of being over a thousand years old!"

"I'm going to stop you there and remind you of something. I'm damned undying. I don't age, I don't deteriorate. I am eternal. Yes, I'm over a thousand damned years old."

"You claimed to have known Gil personally—" he said next.

"Buried right next to him," I said. "Written on my grave is a nice message about being missed."

"—and now you claim to have opened the unopenable door and seen Emperor Gil's grave."

"I'm serious about the whole 'leaving the door open' thing, I'll have you know."

"We have heard enough to reach a verdict," Throm announced. "His charge is lying to the Emperor on a matter of national security."

Senator Incipiens stood up. "Guilty." After he said his piece, he sat back down.

I see.

"Guilty," the next senator announced the same way.

That's is how it's going to be.

"Guilty."

Well, I'm not about to stand for this.

"Guilty."

Bullshit.

"Guilty."

More bullshit.

"Guilty."

That smug son of a bitch knew this was going to happen.

"Guilty."

That's why he wasn't worried.

"Guilty."

He owns the senate.

"Guilty."

"Alright, you son of a bitch," I growled, "let me get one damned thing straight. You aren’t as in control as you think you are.”

“Really?” Throm said. “I look pretty in control here, if I do say so myself.”

I saw the nervous page stand up from behind the senator. Choosing to ignore him, I continued the conversation. “You don’t have control, you have influence. They are massively different.”

“And how so?” he asked me smugly.

The page spoke up, “Because we can still choose not to follow your directions, if we wish to.” He turned to me with a smirk, eyes flashing green. “I told you we are always watching.” That smug bastard. The changeling smug bastard, not the griffon smug bastard.

I need new words to describe people.

But I digress. There was a bright green flash where the now-revealed changeling was standing, accompanied by a near-simultaneous flash right by where my two companions and I were standing. The changeling—now out of his griffon disguise and back in his pony one—stood next to me as he projected a translucent green hemisphere reminiscent of the barriers Shining Armor used back in Canterlot around the four of us.

There was a burst of bright blue in the center of the room as a pony appeared. He was a dark purple, but that’s all I could tell at the moment. He was covered head to tail in a brown cloak, allowing only the tip of his horn to stick out of his cowl. He said not a single word, choosing instead to let his actions speak for him. And what they said.

Throm stood up in anger. “What is the meaning of—”

That’s as far as he got before a beam of bright blue speared through his chest. His eyes widened as he looked at the new feature in his anatomy, then crumpled forwards without a sound. One of the other griffons stood up, and suffered the same fate.

At this point, all of the assembled griffons—seven dozen, conservatively—launched into the air and charged. With two more blinding flares of light, nearly a third of the congregated senators and aides were dusted. By the time their ashes floated to the ground, there was one more massive ball of light that expanded from the mysterious cloaked pony, engulfing the surviving griffons. When the blue light hit the green dome, I heard the changeling grunt in exertion. Cracks riddled the surface of the shield, and I was worried for a moment that our only protection was about to fail.

The glow faded, and there was nothing left of the griffons, not even dust. Five seconds after the first spell was cast, there was not a single living being—or even formerly living being—left in the entire senate, save the four inside the dome and the one in the middle.

He turned to me, giving me a salute. I hesitantly returned it, and with a quick flash, he was gone. Not a second later, there was another burst of light next to us, and the changeling disappeared.

I stared at the now-empty room. “What the hell just happened?”