//------------------------------// // Chapter 12 (part 4) // Story: My Little Pony: Isk is Magic // by keyan88 //------------------------------//         Keyan leaned on the table, staring at the pouting Luna. She was currently resting her chin on the table and staring at Keyan with a look of resignation.         “Fine, be sure to purchase a copy of tomorrow's news paper to frame it,” Luna said with a sigh.         Keyan ruffled her mane,         “Oh come on Luna, don’t pout.”         Luna batted his hand away and glared at him,         “I am not pouting.”         Celestia’s voice suddenly spoke from behind them,         “He does have a point Sister. You do look rather… sulky.”         Luna sputtered and rounded on her sister,         “Why are you taking his side?”         Celestia stepped closer and nuzzled her sister.         “I heard about your bet, and I’m sorry that you lost. But a bet is a bet and you must pay up.”         Luna let her head drop to the table with a small thud. Celestia turned to Keyan,         “Her announcement will be the headline in tomorrow's paper. I suggest you frame a copy of it.”         With her business finished Celestia bid the two of them goodbye and trotted away. Keyan turned back to Luna with a grin,         “You heard your sister. I want “LUNA DECLARES KEYAN BEST ALIEN” in big bold letters.”         Luna gave Keyan a death glare, which was somewhat diminished from her heads position on the table.         “Why are you leaving your head on the table is it comfortable?”         Keyan put his chin down on the table across from Luna. The grin on his face matched the scowl on hers.         A polite cough interrupted their staring contest and two sets of eyes turned to take in the newcomer. Cadence was standing there in her wedding dress with a small smile on her face.         “Captain, you’ve been here for hours and haven’t felt the need to say hello to the bride?”         Keyan chuckled awkwardly and turned to face her.         “My apologies, I have been rather busy today. Meeting politicians and dealing with nervous grooms are pretty taxing activities.”         Cadence chuckled knowingly,         “Do these activities include causing this?” she said motioning towards the still brooding Luna.         “Nah, She lost a bet and isn’t acting her age.”         Cadence took another look at Luna. Apparently deciding something in her head she walked up to her and jabbed her in the side with her hoof. Luna let out a yelp and tumbled to the ground. Keyan couldn’t help but break out in laughter.         Cadence trotted over and whispered something into Luna’s ear. They both took a glance towards Keyan before whispering to each other again. Keyan raised an eyebrow as they both stood up and trotted over to him.         “I apologize Captain, I must borrow Luna for a little while. I hope you can entertain yourself for a bit.”         Keyan looked at the two of them skeptically, his conspiracy alarm was going off the charts.         “I’m sure I could manage. And Princess, call me Keyan.”         Cadence gave Keyan a small nod and the two princesses trotted off into the crowd. Keyan watched them go with no small amount of trepidation.         He shrugged,         “Women”         ****         A short while later Keyan found himself in the main ballroom where tables full of food were set up and a crowd of ponies were happily gorging themselves. Keyan was currently holding a plate piled high with food and was happily munching his way through some apple dish that Applejack had made.         Spinning on his heels Keyan made his way to a table. He gave the ponies he passed by a polite nod. He pulled out a chair and sat down with a sigh. He reached down and took a bit of some other apple snack.         “Hey Key!” A voice called out above the din.         Keyan swallowed his bite and looked to see Rainbow, Scootaloo, and Fluttershy making their way towards him. He smiled as they took a seat next to him. Feeling a poke on his legs Keyan looked down to see Scootaloo looking up at him with puppy dog eyes.         Rolling his eyes Keyan picked up the filly and placed her on his shoulders. She now had a wide smile plastered on her face. He turned back to the other two. Rainbow quickly smothered a weird look and Fluttershy had a small smile.         “So how are you guys doing?” Keyan asked.         “Awesome!” Rainbow exclaimed, “this party is insane!”         “Pretty good…” Fluttershy replied in a small voice.         Keyan turned his gaze to Scootaloo,         “And you? where are the other two?”         “Sweetie Belle is with Spike, and Apple Bloom is with her sister. Rainbow said she was trying to find you so I decided to tag along.”         “So Key,” Rainbow began, “how in the hay did you learn to dance that good? Rarity hasn’t shut up since.”         “Alliance balls. I hate them, but if you want to make some connections they’re the place to go. And Rarity isn’t shutting up? I find that hard to believe.”         Rainbow snorted.         “Did you see me darlings? Me and Keyan were positively glorious out there,” she said in a rather good imitation of Rarity’s voice.         Keyan choked on his drink sending out a spray of water over the table before collapsing in laughter.         “Hey easy!” Scootaloo said as she struggled to remain on Keyan’s shoulders.         “Sorry,” Keyan muttered as he calmed himself down, “but either way its good to know she doesn’t want to kill me anymore.”         Rainbow waved her hoof,         “Nah, she considers you a friend. She’s just frustrated cause you’re “rough around the edges” like me and AJ.”         Keyan shrugged,         “I guess that makes sense.”         He leaned back i his chair,         “I’m pretty amazed how nice this place looks, you would have never guessed there was an invasion a few days ago.”         Rainbow shrugged,         “Magic helps alot. And Chrysalis got what was coming to her, that jerk.”         Keyan raised his glass,         “Well, to her credit she was going to surrender and prevent that whole mess, but that other guy stepped in and well…”         Rainbow and Fluttershy looked down at the table.         “Yea, I guess you have a point,” Rainbow said, “Betrayed by the ponies you trust, must suck.”         “I wonder how she’s doing.” Fluttershy said softly.         “Well, I have her on my ship, you can ask her when we’re done here.”         Both Rainbow and Fluttershy stared at him with confusion,         “What do you mean?” they asked in harmony.         “Well, I got a tractor beam on her before she got too far away and put her in a guest room on my ship. Aura worked out a way to keep her fed with some weird radiation. Its not the love she normally feeds on but it’ll keep her alive.”         “So you helped the enemy!?” Rainbow said, her voice dangerously low.         Keyan slammed his hand on the table and stared at Rainbow,         “Believe me Rainbow, if she was your enemy you would be dead. Think about that for a while.”         Rainbow sank down into her seat, thoroughly cowed. Keyan cleared his throat,         “Sorry Rainbow, I didn’t mean to yell. Just believe me that there are worse things out there than her.”         Fluttershy reached out a hoof and laid it on top of Keyan’s hand.         “Its okay Keyan, we understand.”         Her smile was to cute to not return.         Keyan felt someone tap him on his shoulder and turned to see an official looking pony.         “Prince Blueblood requests your presence sir.”         Keyan felt Rainbow and Fluttershy stiffen next to him. Obviously they had some bad experience with him in the past.         “Umm, sure,” he lifted Scootaloo off his shoulders and put her on the ground, “if you want you can go get Apple Bloom and the others and go play in my shuttle if you want.”         Scootaloo  threw her legs around Keyan’s leg in a hug and shouted,         “Thank you!” before scuttling off, her tiny hooves clopping on the tiled floor as she went.         Keyan turned back to the pony,         “lead the way”         ***         Keyan followed the pony to another table in the corner of the ballroom. Sitting at it was a larger than average unicorn and 2 mares. Judging from the expressions on the mares' faces, they did not want to be there.         Keyan sat down at the table and the unicorn flipped his blonde mane out of his eyes,         “Captain, it sure is your honor to me me.”         And Keyan already wanted to kill him.         “As it is yours to meet me.” he replied.         The unicorn chuckled as if Keyan had made a joke.         “Yes yes, but onto more important matters,” the unicorn leaned back in his seat, “I have a business proposition for you.”         Keyan raised an eyebrow,         “Well, I’m sure such important matters shouldn’t be discussed more privately.”         “Ahh, yes of course,” Blueblood turned to the mares, “you may go.”         They both shot Keyan a look of eternal gratitude as they all but sprinted away.         “Now, what is this offer?” Keyan asked while lifting his glass to take a drink.         “Well, I’m buying your ship of course.”         For the second time that night Keyan discovered that laughing while drinking is a bad idea. Blueblood soon found himself on the receiving end of a mouthful of water to the face. He looked positively horrified.         In between great bouts of laughter Keyan managed to choke out,         “You honestly think, that I’m going to sell my ship?”         Blueblood’s eye twitched as one of his attendants used his magic to clean off the prince.         “Maybe I wasn’t clear enough. It is not really an offer per say, it is more of a one sided agreement.”         Keyan took one look at this idiot trying to act tough and broke out in another fit of laughter.         “You fucking idiot. Do you even realize how astronomically expensive my ship is?”         Blueblood waved a hoof,         “You will have enough to have a modest life in Equestria. No more, no less.”         Keyan wiped a tear from his eye,         “Well, the offer certainly is appreciated. But my ship is not for sale. And that is final.”         This time Blueblood laughed,         “You can’t say no. I’m royalty and you are nothing but a petty commoner. Your word means nothing.”         Keyan rolled his eyes,         “Well, I’m certainly not royalty thats for sure. But, I’m a capsuleer, not a commoner.”         “And what, pray tell, does that mean?”         Keyan exaggeratingly looked around, as if checking for eavesdroppers, before leaning in close to Blueblood,         “It means…” he looked around one last time, I. don’t. give. a. fuck.”         A satisfied Keyan leaned back as he watched the prince’s eye twitch. Surprisingly he managed to control himself and took a sip of his drink.         “What you think doesn’t matter. I have already sent my men to acquire your “shuttle” as you call it. They will have already made it to your ship and assumed command.”         Keyan was going to laugh at the absurdity of that statement but suddenly froze.         Scoots         As if an answer to his thoughts he heard Scootaloo’s voice rise above the din of the crowd,         “KEYAN!! HELP!!”                  Keyan immediately stood up,         “SCOOTS I’M OVER HERE!”         A few seconds later Scootaloo burst out of the crowd and jumped into Keyan’s arms. A greasy looking stallion quickly froze in front of him. Keyan glared him into silence and his gaze shifted to Scootaloo,         “What happened Scoots?”         Scootaloo sobbed into his chest,         “We were playing in your ship and left the door open! And these guys came in, even though we told them that you wouldn’t like that, and forced us out. A few of them grabbed us and forced us into a corner. But Spike blew fire at one of them and they dropped us, I ran to get you and I think they’re still in the courtyard.”         Keyan felt his hackles rise.         By this time a crowd of ponies were forming around them, Twilight and the girls were in the front row, their expressions were a mix of confusion and anger.         “Look at me Scoots,” Keyan said softly.         Slowly but surely Scootaloo raised her tear stained face to look at Keyan. And there it was, a cut under one eye and a bruise forming around the other. Keyan felt something snap. He calmly walked over to Rainbow and handed Scootaloo to her.         “Hold onto her for me okay?”         Rainbow nodded dumbly.         Keyan turned back to Blueblood. He coolly walked over to the table where Blueblood was staring at him with nothing short of disgust.         Faster than anypony could follow Keyan’s hand shot out and wrapped around Blueblood’s horn. With a resounding CRACK! Keyan slammed his face into the table. Blood wept from Blueblood’s broken snout as Keyan lifted his head back up. Ironically, Blueblood’s blood was not blue.         CRACK!         CRACK!         CRACK!         Everypony winced with every impact. Music died down as the sound reverberated throughout the room and silence reigned as the echoes died down.         They watched as the enraged alien reached into his coat and pulled out a horrific hunk of metal. It was L-shaped, rust colored with orange lights. Twilight immediately recognized as a smaller version of his autocannons. and judging from the size of it, it could put a sizeable hole in Blueblood’s head.         With a THUNK! Keyan slammed the gun onto the back of Blueblood’s head. This proved to much for the table to handle as with a loud CRACK! it split down the middle. Depositing Blueblood on the floor in a bloody heap.         Hardly slowing down Keyan flipped Blueblood onto his back and raised his pistol for another strike. He stopped halfway down as he caught site of Scootaloo staring at him with wide eyes. Keyan felt his anger slip away from him.         He picked up Blueblood by his mane and pressed the barrel of his gun to the stallion’s temple.                  “The only reason you’re alive right now is because she’s here. If you ever touch her again I will blow your brains all over the fucking wall.”         Keyan didn’t wait for a response as he tossed Blueblood back to the floor.         He turned on his heel and started walking towards the exit.         Twilight and the girls quickly fell into step next to him,         “His goons have Spike, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom in the courtyard.”         By the time they made it out into the hallway they were sprinting.         ***         30 seconds later they burst out of courtyard doors. They frantically looked around for Spike and the others, but a flash of green light quickly gave them their answer.         Keyan leading the way they ran around a corner to see Spike in a corner, standing protectively in front of a huddling Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. Whenever one of the goons would take a step forward Spike would send a spout of fire their way, hissing and growling as he did so.         Keyan fired his hand cannon at the wall next to the three goons in front of them. A rain of marble peppered the goons as a new hole appeared in the palace. The real shocker to Keyan though was Twilight.         Her eyes were glowing white as her horn glowed a magnificent purple. A wave of energy lifted the goons off their hooves and brought them in front of Twilight.         “SLEEP!” she commanded as the goons immediately drifted off.         Keyan was impressed.         Twilight casually tossed the goons aside as her eyes returned to their normal color.         Spike was almost immediately afterwards enveloped in a crushing hug by Twilight, the other members of the CMC quickly found themselves in similar situations.         Keyan felt a hoof poke him in the side and looked to see Rainbow with a whimpering Scootaloo on her back. With her head she motioned to the quivering filly.         Keyan delicately cradled Scootaloo in his arms and sat down in the grass with a thump.         Scootaloo buried her face in his shoulder and Keyan buried his face in her mane.         “Never again Scootaloo, never again.”