Chapter 15
64 POV
“Blu… Hey Blu…” I whispered, lightly rousing her from her sleep. She woke up with a small yawn, rubbing her eyes and looking up bleary at me.
“Hey, Applejack and I are leaving at 10, so I was wondering if you needed anything else before we go.”
She shook her head no and gave me a small smile, thanking me for checking up on her.
“Alright Blu, make sure to hold onto that ticket and get back to Canterlot next Friday. By then Ghost will probably make contact with us, so I’ll make sure to tell you what he’s up to.”
She nodded again and snuggled back into her pillow, obviously trying to soak up the last little amount of sleep she could get. I chuckled and brought her blanket up a little more, giving her a little bit more warmth. I patted her on the head and walked out of the door, Grey standing right outside.
“Ya know after you left she was talkin’ bout how you got her outta there. She said the deserts are a fucking killer.” Grey said, making me nod a bit.
“Yeah, it gets really dry really quick out there. I swear the water in my canteen was evaporating…” I replied, as an awkward silence settled over us. I simply walked down the hallway back to the front of the shop, stepping in front of the counter as Grey took his spot back behind it. Neither of us said a word for a while, until I spoke up.
“I can see why you did what you did, but all that matters is that she’s alive, and you aren’t messing around in the Undergrounds anymore.” I said, with Grey giving me a look of confusion.
“Uh… Underground?” He asked.
“Yeah, Underground. It’s where the criminal world does its dirty work. It’s just a nickname I gave it. Rapists, Thieves, Murderers, Extortionists, Smugglers, Dirty Politicians, yadda yadda…… they all do their dirty work in one place, The Underground. It’s my job to flush them out and bring them to justice. It’s never gonna be totally wiped out, but I try my best to keep it clean as I can.”
“Sounds kinda strange, I don’t see why some…one… like you would go outta their way to hunt those guys down. Why not jus’ leave ‘em be? You said it yourself they ain’t gonna ever leave.”
I shook my head and crossed my arms. “They will never leave, but for now I can try and stop them from doing any more bad than they already doing.”
We had another round of silence, neither of us saying a word as we simply began to think.
‘How the hell does somepony try and not get their cutie mark? I still don’t get this guy…’ I thought. I knew that it was a pivotal moment in a lot of young pony’s lives, but this guy didn’t want one. He thought it would make him a bitch to the universe, a phrase I still didn’t understand, but I knew there wasn’t anything I could do to try and change his mind.
“Well I hope that whatever you decide to do with your life, you stay happy.” I said, holding out my hand. He stuck his hoof out as we shook, giving him a smile he returned.
“And I hope that you never talk of this day ever again.” Grey joked, making me laugh as I walked out. Grey Streak was a good pony who just dabbled in the wrong crowd, and luckily he got smart and left before anything bad happened to him. Although he had 2 years more life experience than me, I still felt he could learn a bit from me.
“Now all I gotta do is get Applejack and head home… and then find some way to enjoy my ‘vacation’…” I grumbled, still not having a clue of what I could do for the next 6 days. I took a deep breath and sighed loudly as I walked down the now busy streets, breathing out a large cloud of smoke.
“Damn, with all this smoke I could breathe why the fuck can’t I breathe fire?”
That question sparked something in my head. With all the fiery magic flowing through me, why couldn’t I breathe fire? It sorta sounded weird to think, but I wanted to learn how to breathe fire, and the only one I knew who could breathe fire was… Spike…
“Well I know what I’m doing this week!” I said happily, now with the thought of breathing fire spiraling through my head.
I reached the home of the Orange’s and looked up at the building, seeing the balcony of the Orange’s State Apartment.
“Fuck it…”
I began to scale up the wall using the windows and balconies for grip, making sure to not scare anypony who happened to be looking out their window that exact second. Luckily I managed to make it all the way to the top without incident, pulling myself up the balcony and seeing its door closed and the blinds shut.
I walked up to the door and knocked twice, making sure to try and catch the attention of somepony inside. I heard the faint sound of hoofsteps on soft carpet inside, before the blinds were quickly pulled. I saw Uncle Orange standing there with a surprised look on his face, before opening the door and motioning me in.
“You know, we do have a front door…” He explained, making me laugh a bit.
“Yeah, but where is the fun in that? Anyway, the train for Ponyville leaves in about an hour. So I came by to make sure Applejack is ready for our return.” I said politely, remembering the Oranges were a bit ‘frilly’.
“Oh yes, I think she is in the guest room packing the last of her things. I would like to say 64, it was a pleasure having you come and visit, and I’m glad that even after all these years you still didn’t forget about my little Orange Grove.” Uncle Orange said with a smile, making me give one in return.
“Of course, and I’m sure that Applejack was glad to be back and see her family up here. She said she hadn’t seen you guys since she left back to Ponyville.”
“Oh that… She gave us the biggest scare after she left! Thankfully Granny Smith sent us a letter shortly afterwards explaining the situation. We nearly sent out the bloodhounds in search for her!”
We both had a laugh at his recollection, and Applejack walked out of the room.
“64! Where the hay have ya been? We didn’t see ya come in last night.” AJ said.
“Don’t worry, I’ve been safe. Remember when I was on the run I told you about some of those ‘outposts’ I had? I have one of them here, so I holed up there for the night.” I explained, chuckling slightly at how worried she looked.
“Well then ya shoulda told us! Who know where ya run off to in the dead of night!” Applejack grunted, turning around and throwing her saddlebags over her back. “Well ah’m ready to go, all jus’ say the word and we’ll vamoose.”
I nodded, “Alright, Mr. Orange? It’s been a pleasure.” I said, sticking my hand out for a shake. He accepted it with a grin and I waved for Applejack, who was giving her Uncle a goodbye. We walked out the door and made our way down the stairs, heading back to the train station where we would head back for Ponyville.
3rd Person POV
64 and Applejack were back on the 10:00 for Ponyville and sitting quietly in their cabin, both lying across each other from in their bunks. Both simply enjoyed the light vibrations of the Train moving at top speed, which wasn’t nearly as fast as 64 wanted it to be.
“Ugh… can’t I just run to Ponyville? I can get there 3 times as fast as this big clunker!” 64 complained, making Applejack scowl.
“64, can’t ya jus’ relax for a bit and enjoy yerself? If ah had ta guess then this is the first yer first vacation!” Applejack joked, making 64 simply stare blankly at her. She noticed his stare and stopped chuckling; realizing that what she had said was truth. “Oh… never mind then…”
64 grinned and waved off the statement. “Nah, it’s alright. I’ve never had time to simply relax, so this is a nice change in pace. I was always running or fighting, so sitting around and doing nothing for a while sounds like heaven…”
Applejack still had another question she didn’t want to ask the day before, due to her nerves getting the best of her, but now she wanted to ask.
“64, ah know ya already explained about how Celestia and you aren’t at each other’s hides anymore, but it seemed like that wasn’t tha whole story. Was there anythin’ else ya had to say?” Applejack asked. 64 cracked his neck and sighed a bit.
“There was a bit more… but it really doesn’t stack up to what she told me. I guess it helped, I mean… he helped a lot… I mean Ghost, he helped a lot…” 64 explained, as he slightly shifted on his back. “He… he was like the thing between us that prevented the friction from me and Celestia from building up into an inferno, which is possible with my powers…”
64 sat upright and rested his elbows onto his knees, facing towards Applejack’s bunk.
“He was the thing that finally pulled out the wedge between me and Celestia…”
FLASHBACK 3 MONTHS
64 POV
I was covered in soot and ash, stomping through the hallways of the Canterlot Palace. Ghost was in the same condition, and I knew that this was the finally straw; Celestia had gone too fucking far with this. I reached the doors to the Throne Room and saw two Pegasi Guards acting sentry, their spears crossed in an X.
“STOP. No one is to see the Princesses for the remainder of the day.” The guard on the left ordered, causing me to check him with a right hook and throw his body into the other Guard. I kicked the doors open and saw Celestia standing there, scowling down at me.
“64! Why do intrude us? I’ve ordered no one may enter—“
“I don’t give a fuck what you’ve ordered! Why the fuck didn’t you tell us about the damn Dragon Raiders hiding out in that city!? You told us it was a few break ins, and when we arrive, 10 adolescent dragons are razing that place to the ground! You knew from the fucking start and you sent us in there without a damn clue! You’ve been doing this ever since Ghost came into the picture, deliberately trying to get him killed. Don’t even try to lie to me!” I screamed, every breath I was taking causing a cloud of smoke to plume out of my mouth.
Celestia growled and stood up from her Throne, advancing towards me as Princess Luna watched with a frightened face. She finally walked all the way up to me, our foreheads nearly butting.
“You dare question my actions?! I sent you with the confidence that you would be able to handle anything that was thrown at you, and by your obviously less than harmed state, I can say I was right. I am NOT deliberately trying to kill Ghost, I am seeing what he is capable of!”
“BULLSHIT! If you wanted to see what he was capable of you would’ve put him through the same testing course you make the Equestrian Knights go through! You are just sending him so he could—“
“ENOUGH!”
A small voice broke mine and Celestia’s attention of our arguing, and both our heads were turned towards Ghost, who’s horn was glowing in anger.
“64! I don’t care why she’s doing it, all I care about is the bad guys get taken care of! If it’s too hard for me, you’ll be there to back me up! Celestia has given me a new purpose in life, and she gave you one too! So I don’t think you should be so mean to her.” Ghost yelled, making both of the fires in our eyes dim a little bit.
“I think if she is really trying to do what you are saying, then let’s prove her wrong and accomplish those missions, and if she really isn’t then we should just do the jobs because they are our responsibilities. We shouldn’t hold it over her head if things go wrong during our missions, because she might not know any better.”
I was shocked to hear Ghost’s explanation of what he thought was going on. I thought he was going to be just as mad as I was at Celestia, but here he was defending her. I didn’t understand why in the name of Equestria he would be defending her, especially since I knew for a fact Celestia had been trying to kill him, but here he was.
I didn’t want to push things further. I knew that Ghost could handle himself, but I just wanted him to stay sheltered and make sure he wasn’t growing up too fast, but it was obvious that I had failed in that department. Still, he looked ready…
I turned back to Celestia, who was still standing there with a scowl on her face. I dropped my sneer towards her and nodded.
“Alright Celestia, I believe you… But… but please take into account Ghost’s young age. I prefer if her didn’t go on such high risk jobs so early in his career, ok?” I asked, Celestia slowly dropping her glare. She looked a bit pensive at my request, but eventually nodded.
“Very well… I will assign Agent 65 onto lower risk jobs when he must perform on his own, but he will still accompany you when the time for High Class Missions occur, understood?”
“Understood.” Ghost and I said in Unison, nodding slightly at the Princess.
“You are dismissed.”
Ghost and I both turned around and started walking away, and although I was still incredibly pissed, I knew that Ghost’s way of thinking was better. Just suck it up and do the job anyway…
FLASHBACK END
3rd Person POV
“Ever since then I tried looking at things through Celestia’s eyes. Could she have really known about those Dragons? Was she really out for Ghost’s blood? I don’t really know, I just felt really protective of Ghost and felt he needed to be protected, but that obviously wasn’t the case.” 64 finished explaining, as Applejack looked at his with wide eyes.
“Wow, that’s some story…”
“Want another? I got hundreds… like the time I had to cauterize myself with the tip of a spear head?”
“No! No thank ya… Ah’m not sure ah need another one…”
The two passengers finally fell into a state of comfortable silence, simply letting its prescience wash through the room. 64 yawned and decided to catch up on the sleep that he had missed out on when the sun shined in his face that morning.
Applejack saw him dozing off and decided that she should do the same, even though she really wasn’t that tired. She was thinking about 64’s story and wondered about his Changeling companion. She had heard about how they needed to feed on love to survive, and they often used trickery and deceit to get it.
“Ah wonder…”
She dozed off shortly after, letting the Train’s gentle vibrations lull her to sleep.
64 POV
I woke up to the sound of the Train’s horn suddenly blowing, waking me up from my nap. I looked at my wristwatch and saw that it was 12 noon, meaning the Train ride here was a bit shorter than the ride there.
“Hey AJ, wake up we’re here…” I groaned, getting up from my bed and shaking Applejack.
“Hmm… 5 more minutes…” She grumbled cutely, trying to snuggle back into her pillow.
“Hey, 5 more minutes and you’ll be on your way to Tall Tail, now get up.”
“Fine…”
After our wakeup we both stepped off of the Train and were back on the platform, and I was surprised to see Twilight and all her friends were waiting at the Train Platform for us. Of course Pinkie Pie was the first one to come leaping over the group and tackled me to the ground.
“Oh my gosh! We heard you went to Manehatten with Applejack from Big Macintosh but we didn’t know when you were getting back and we’ve been here since 8 because that’s when the first Train from Manehatten came in an— MMPH MPHHMH MHPHM MMPH MMPH!“
Pinkie Pie wasn’t able to finish her ranting because Twilight had now magically zipped her mouth shut, allowing me to get up from my position on the ground and dust myself off.
“Sorry about that. Big Mac told us how you and Applejack went on a trip to Manehatten to visit her family, but he didn’t know when you were coming back.” Twilight explained in a less frantic tone which was much easier to hear.
“Sorry about that, it’s just we both had business up there. For me it was reuniting a brother and sister, but for AJ here it was to visit the Orange’s after what happened when she moved over there for a little bit.” I explained.
“Well now that you’re here, does that mean you’re gonna stay here for your vacation?” Rainbow Dash asked me, making me nod.
“Until Celestia calls me back, or something big happens, but this seems like a pretty quiet town. I’m sure I’ll be able to have a pleasant week of peace in this place.”
For some reason, the girls around me began to laugh crazily, making me wonder what was so funny.
“Uhh, can I get an explanation here?”
“64. You’ll learn pretty quickly, nothing in this town is peaceful. Something is always going on no matter what.” Rarity said, making me laugh a bit.
“Don’t worry, anything that can happen here, I’ve probably tangled with worse.”
I didn’t know I could be so wrong…