Chapter 8
64 POV
They absolute torrent of ponies rushing into the Palace to be the first to be greeted by Princess Celestia was crazy. The mares that looked as if they wouldn’t even want to hear the word dirt were pushing, shoving, and kicking to get to the front, while the stallions did the same to each other. I managed to break up a few of the fights and get people to proceed in an orderly fashion, but a few decided to ignore the “ugly monster” and continue with their scuffles.
I ordered a few of the guards to break up those fights, and another few to keep watch by the front door. I walked into the Palace and stood next to Princess Celestia, watching as ponies continued to push and shove each other. Luckily we put barriers on the edges of the of the wooden drawbridge so nopony was getting soaked.
“I didn’t think it would be this hectic right off the bat…” I said, making sure to keep an eye on all of the ponies walking up to be greeted by Princess Celestia.
“Yes well— Oh, Good evening, things usually— Good evening, welcome to the Gala, start to die down by— Welcome to the Gala, the 3 hour mark.” Celestia said, continually getting interrupted. A white stallion with a slick powder blue mane walked up to Princess Celestia, and accepted her greeting, but began to talk.
“Ah, hello there Princess, how are you this fine evening?” The stallion said, as I immediately knew I had to step in before he tried to start up a conversation.
“Excuse me, but can you continue along? We have a lot of ponies here wanting to meet the Princess tonight.” I said in a slightly rude tone wanting to get my message across.
The stallion suddenly reared back as if I had spit on him, and immediately putting his hoof to his chest.
“How dare you! Don’t you know who I am?” He asked, but I already knew a very extensive answer, and planned to freak him out a bit.
“Yes, Fancy J. Pants, born September 23, 1973. Blood type AB+, with a cutie mark representing your talent in lording over various ponies, thus it being three crowns. I know you very, very, well. Now if you’ll please excuse yourself you are starting to create a hold-up.” I said, keeping a straight face the entire time.
Fancy Pants eyes suddenly shot open, the monocle in his right eye falling out. He quickly shuffled out of the way, as the pony behind him sighed in relief, walking up to Celestia and receiving her greeting. This continued for quite a while, with only one or two ponies causing problems in the line. Some ponies were more middle class and were actually grateful they got to attend the biggest gathering of the year, unlike some others who were able to come by birth right. An asshole couple by the name of Jet Set and Upper Crust not only insulted what I was, which I can deal with, they had the nerve to insult Rarity’s perfect suit, saying it was ‘a perfect mess’.
I nearly wanted to light their incredibly oiled hair on fire, but I knew my place right now and if I did that, there would be trouble. I simply gave a sickly grin and made it seemed like my eyes were on fire, making them both back off before I did something I would regret.
An hour had passed of this nonsense, and I suddenly thought of something.
“Hey, Twilight and her friends haven’t shown up. Any idea when they are coming?” I asked, turning to Celestia as a lull in her greeting’s came.
“Wait for it…” She said with a grin.
“Wait for what?”
Suddenly music started to play out of nowhere, and choirs began to sing out. I looked around to try and find the choir, but I couldn’t find them anywhere.
“What the hell?” I asked, to which Celestia chuckled.
“My guess this is the first time you have experienced magical music?” Celestia asked. I quickly wondered about it and thought of one instance.
“Does playing music while destroying a bar with another pony’s body count?”
Celestia suddenly looked at me as I shrugged, going back to try and figure out where the hell the music was coming from.
“Trust me; it’s just in the air. It’s an oddity even I can’t explain. Ponies in the immediate area of exposure to musical magic will instantaneously burst into song, instantly knowing the lyrics to the melody being played in the air.” Celestia explained.
“I really hope I don’t experience that anytime soon, I don’t think my singing voice is all that great.” I chuckled, as I suddenly saw the ponies I had just asked about march in an orderly fashion onto the drawbridge, singing the words, “At the Gala!” over and over.
Spike suddenly looked incredibly excited as he jumped out from behind the girls, only to be left hanging in the dust as they all shot off in different directions. Twilight instantly came running up to us with a huge grin on her face, stopping just in front of Celestia.
“Princess Celestia!” Twilight said with a smile.
“Twilight! It is so lovely to see my star student.” Celestia said as the two nuzzled each other.
“Oh, I'm so excited to be here! We have so much to catch up on. Oh, I’m sorry 64, it’s nice to see you too! You look wonderful tonight.”
I chuckled and nodded to her, “Thanks, you look awesome too, did Rarity do all of your makeup?”
Twilight nodded, “She did! Just right after you left she did all of ours. Maybe you could have gotten a small touch up too. I’m sorry, but that scar on your eye isn’t the most pleasant thing to look at.”
I brought my pointer and middle finger on my right hand to my right eye and touched the burn scar I had, feeling slightly insecure about it.
“Yeah, maybe… Maybe it’s one of the reasons I keep getting strange stares.” I said, as Twilight suddenly brought her hoof to her mouth.
“Oh no did I make you feel bad about it?” She asked me.
“No, No, it’s just that I got this through a series of unfortunate events I don’t really like to remember. Don’t worry; it’s not your fault.”
Twilight looked down and rubbed her left leg with her other hoof, as Celestia brought her attention back.
“Well Twilight, I want you right by my side the entire evening, so we'll have plenty of time together. Does that sound good?” Celestia asked, as Twilight’s downtrodden demeanor immediately perked up.
“That's just what I was hoping you'd say!” Twilight said, zooming to Celestia’s left side. I laughed at her sudden attitude change, before going back to observe the ponies walking up to greet the Princess and the ones simply walking around the main lobby.
I saw Rainbow Dash storm up the steps towards me and fall onto her stomach, her eyes looking as if she had been crying.
“Rainbow what’s wrong? Is someone giving you problems?” I said, kneeling down as Twilight and Celstia looked down worried.
“64! Please tell me you got the VIP passes! The Wonderbolts actually offered for me to come into the VIP section but the stupid Guard working the rope won’t let me in!” Rainbow said, as I suddenly remembered what I had in my coat pocket.
I reached into my jacket and pulled out the small laminated card, a seal from both Princesses stamped on the front. Rainbow Dash’s eyes suddenly lit up as she saw the pass, flying up to snatch it out of my hands squealing in joy.
“OH THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!” Rainbow Dash shouted, flying up to give me a hug. I returned it a chuckled a bit.
“It’s nothing Rainbow, now get going. I think the Wonderbolts are waiting for you.” I said as Rainbow nodded, flying away to go meet her idols. Celestia, Twilight and I watched as Rainbow Dash head to the VIP section with a large smile on her face.
“That was a very generous thing to do for her 64. Did you pay for that VIP pass yourself?” Princess Celestia asked me as I shook my head no.
“Nah, I swiped that one off of that Fancy Pants when he came up. I saw it sticking out of his coat pocket and remembered I needed one.” I said, as Celestia laughed and Twilight elbowed me.
A voice brought our attention back to the stairs, where a stallion wearing a fedora hat and Black trench coat stood there.
“What a lovely display of affection…” the stallion said, his voice instantly recognizable. Marescow. “Hello Princess Celestia, I can’t tell you how happy I am to be in attendance today.”
“The pleasure is all mine, enjoy yourself Marcus.” Celestia said, as the stallion continued to walk. I looked at him as he walked into the ballroom, leaving my line of sight.
“Marcus? Who the fuck was that?” I asked, already suspicious. Celestia glared at me as she explained.
“Marcus is Maxis Slava’s son. He is unaffiliated with the Slava’s and comes to visit his father in the Underground Prison every few months. I invited him tonight to enjoy some of the festivities, so don’t make a scene.” Celestia told me.
I didn’t like any of this. 2 days after I get back from imprisoning 4 members of the Slava drug ring the son of their Ex-Leader comes to the biggest event in Canterlot? This was too much to be a simple coincidence, and I needed to get to the bottom of this.
“I won’t make a scene. I’m just going to tail him for a bit to see if he does anything suspicious.” I said, walking in the same direction he did. A hoof grabbed my right sleeve to stop me, and I saw it was Twilight.
“Wait, just how are you going to tail one pony while you’re taller than almost everyone here?” She asked, to which I smirked.
“I’m going to take a position next to the Orchestra. From there I can see the entire Ballroom, and I’ll be able to keep an eye on him.”
Twilight slowly let go of my sleeve, taking her position next to Celestia.
“Be careful Project 64, if anything happens it will be at your own risk. I will not be held accountable.” Celestia warned me.
“I understand Princess. Don’t worry; I won’t do anything unless he acts first.”
I followed Marcus into the Ballroom, ready for anything.
3rd Person POV
The Ballroom was full of ponies conversing and some actually dancing, if you could call it that. It was simply taking one step forward then one step backwards while each pony rested their heads on each other’s shoulders. The orchestra was playing what could only be described as the average “rich pony” song, Luigi Boccherini’s Minuetto, but they didn’t look too excited about it.
Pinkie Pie could be seen hopping back and forth throughout the crowds, but often interrupted the ponies she tried to make friends with. As she bounced along 64 grabbed her dress and pulled her back onto the ground, as she giggled.
“Aww, what’s wrong 64? Does having to stand there all night and not being able to dance make you all grouchy?” Pinkie said, to which 64 had no choice but to smile to.
“Not exactly Pinkie. Look, this isn’t like most parties you are used to going to. This is what I like to call a frilly gathering. Ponies just hang around trying to make it seem like they’re more successful than everypony else. No real “partying” happens. I’ve had to go to more than one of these before while on other jobs, so just try to keep to yourself and some other friends, okay?” 64 said, kneeling down to Pinkie’s height.
“Ohhhh… I get it! So it’s like a showing off party! Well don’t worry 64! I’ll be the most showingest off pony in the Gala!” Pinkie screamed, zooming off before 64 was able to grab her.
“Wait, Pinkie no! Fuck…”
Turning back to everypony else in the room, 64 scanned for any sign of Marcus. He had checked the coat room to find he had hung up his Trench coat and Fedora, which meant he must have had a different set of clothing or something.
Marcus had a red coat with black mane, did up to look a bit bigger than it really was. He was the spitting image of his brother, whose mane was just a bit shorter, and coat a shade darker. It was almost as if they were twins, but Marcus was usually much more calm and collected, not lashing out to the smallest insults directed towards him.
“Where could he be?” 64 asked himself, his eyes peering throughout the crowd as he tried to locate his target. 64 could send a pulse of magic out to get a more widespread view of the entire Ballroom, but that would cause every Unicorn in the building to probably shit themselves at the sheer malicious intent of his magic.
A tinge of red caught 64’s eye as he saw a pony grabbing themselves some Whiskey, the ponies description perfectly matching what 64 had seen in the Main Hall. Marcus now wore a grey suit, and looked as if he was bored o the entire event already.
64 decided that his was the perfect point for him to do some eavesdropping. He nodded to a guard across the way and held his hand up in a fist, giving a signal. He then mimicked the act of drinking from a glass then gave up a 3 fingered symbol for red.
The guard nodded and drew his attention to the beverage table, seeing the red Unicorn Stallion to which 64 was giving notice about. He moved closer to the stallion and took position just behind him, making sure to listen closely for anything the pony might say.
64 grinned at the Guards actions, glad that he was able to understand with the quick briefing he had in silent symbols.
“Good, now we just gotta make sure that he doesn’t do anything funny.” 64 muttered to himself turning away from Marcus and doing a quick sweep over the rest of the ponies, making sure everything was alright.
“AHH!” A voice yelled, as 64 turned towards the source. The Guard 64 had just assigned to watch over Marcus was now doubled over on the ground, tears flowing from his eyes and body shaking furiously. 64 quickly made his way to the incapacitated Guard and grabbed him, trying to calm him down.
“CALM DOWN! Where did Marcus go?” 64 asked, as the Guard continued to shiver and quake.
“T-They… t-they w-were all… d-d-dead… I-I-I couldn’t… c-c-couldn’t help…” The guard whispered, as other guards gathered around and tried backing the onlookers away. 64 held the guard down to keep him from thrashing and looked around for Marcus, who seemed to disappear the second he heard the scream.
“I knew that son of a bitch was up to something, I gotta find him and stop him before he does anything else…” 64 thought, before grabbing the nearest Guard.
“You! Get me this guard’s service report. Now!” 64 yelled, as the guard he grabbed ran off. 64 wanted to check if this guard had any history of anything that would make him act like this. If Marcus was able to do this to him and disappear in a matter of 2 seconds then there would be a serious problem on 64’s hands.
The guard came back running a minute later, holding a small folder in his mouth. 64 snatched it out and began to look at his medical records. A few problems with breathing, broken foreleg, concussion...
“Maybe, but I’ve gotten plenty of concussions before and they aren’t the reason I freak out sometimes…” 64 muttered, standing up and pointing to two guards. “You two, get this guy to the medic station. I’m gonna find out how this happened.”
The guards picked up their incapacitated brother and hauled him to the medic station, as ponies surrounding the commotion began to disperse back into the crowd. 64 saw one who was still staring, and pointed to him.
“You, did you see a Red Stallion wearing a Grey tuxedo here before this happened?”
The White stallion nodded, his blonde hair bouncing up and down. “Yes, the ruffian was muttering something under his breath before the guard began to convulse on the floor. After that there was a small flash and the stallion in question was gone! I was petrified to see that he had spilled some of his drink on my fabulous suit!”
64 saw this stallion as incredibly strange, wondering why he would worry so much about the suit he was wearing.
“Umm… ok… thanks for the tip Mr….”
“Oh, Blueblood. Prince Blueblood. And it must have been a pleasure to have me assist you in this.” Blueblood said in a cocky tone, to which 64 had to restrain himself for sending a jab into his jaw.
“Yea, whatever…” 64 said, before seeing Rarity walk up to him.
“My word 64, what was that terrible commotion? I could hear it from all the way across the Ballroom.” Rarity asked.
“I think we may have a dangerous party crasher. I gotta find him before he does anything else. I’ll be seeing you Rarity.” 64 said, standing up and walking back to the main halls. He briefly saw Blueblood start to flirt with Rarity, but disregarded it and left her to deal with the egotistical ‘Prince’.
Walking back to Celestia and Twilight, he saw that they were once again getting swarmed by visitors wanting a greeting. Stepping in front of the wanting ponies he spoke loudly.
“I apologize but I must have a word with Princess Celestia in private. It will only be a moment so don’t get your knickers in a bunch.” 64 said, as a chorus of groans made themselves heard. Not bothering with them 64 pulling Princess Celestia both the hoof aside and brought her close, annoying the Sun Goddess.
“64, what is the meaning of this? Why are you pulling me away from my subjects?” Celestia asked, to which 64 grunted.
“Look, a guard was just attacked by what I believe is a Nightmare Spell, and Marcus was seen quickly leaving the scene the second the Guard made himself heard. If that doesn’t scream suspicious then I don’t know what will. We have to find Marcus and find out what he’s up to.” 64 answered.
That made Celestia curious. “What do you mean by Nightmare Spell? Do you mean spells similar to the designs of King Sombra?”
“Yes, I don’t see any reason why the guard would suddenly lash out like that. He had no history of mental health issues, nor any signs of PTSD. Once again, there is no way Marcus isn’t the culprit here.”
Celestia looked down pensively, before looking back up and nodding. “You may seek out Marcus, but unless you see him actually doing anything malicious, do not engage him in combat. You may speak to him if you wish though.”
64 sighed and nodded. “Yes Ma’am. I’m gonna look around the Underground first. If this might be a prison break that’s where he would go.”
Walking away, many of the rude ponies still waiting for their Princess yelled obscenities at 64, to which he just flipped them off and continued walking away.
“Alright, if I’m gonna be sneaking around I don’t think this tux is gonna cut it, I gotta change first…” 64 said, making his way to his room to change into his stealth clothing. It was a simple camouflage jumpsuit which had a chameleon spell on it, able to blend in to any background. It was perfect for any kind of Recon mission, and this technically counted as one.
Reaching his room, 64 shed the suit and carefully hung it up, not wanting to ruin such a nice outfit. Pulling out the white jumpsuit next to it, 64 slipped it on quickly and channeled a bit of magic through it, making him partially transparent.
“This was damn worth going through the black market to get this.” 64 said, pulling the hood over his head and the mask over his mouth and nose. It was light enough to move quickly in, and sturdy enough to take a few hits thanks to the built in chain mail.
“Alright, gotta find the final Slava Son. Let’s just hope things don’t escalate any higher than they need to…”