Chapter 40
3rd Person POV
64 awoke from his slumber and rubbed his eyes, seeing Celestia’s sunshine beaming through his window and straight into his eyes.
“Dammit Celestia… couldn’t it have waited a few more minutes?” 64 groaned, cracking his neck a bit. He looked around for Ghost, but remembered that he had stayed in Applebloom’s room along with Applejack. Instead of finding Ghost, he found a note on his nightstand.
“64. Come to Maxis’ Cell when you wake up.”
He nodded and tossed a shirt onto himself, walking towards the Dungeons. He had a clue what this might be about, but didn’t want to make assumptions until he saw what was going on. 64 opted for the stairs instead of the Elevator, not keen on being trapped inside of a slow descending claustrophobic box.
When he did arrive, he saw Shining Armor waiting in front of Maxis’ cell. “Hey. What’s this about?” 64 asked, walking up to Shining.
“Remember that deal you made with Maxis?” He asked 64, as he remembered that Maxis wanted some ‘alone time’ with Shura. AKA beat her to a bloody pulp time.
“Yep, I wanted to wait until she got a sentencing before we did that. We won’t have to worry some legal bullshit getting into the fray.”
“Well we’re doing it now. Unlock her cell.”
64 gave a confused look to Shining Armor, wondering what brought on this sudden aggression. “You ok Shining? What’s eating you?”
Shining sighed and shook his head, rubbing his mane. “Look… I’m just tense from what I’m going to have to do. I need to regain my ‘Psychotic Captain’ façade for the military, and I thought I should start practicing. I wanted to do this now, that way we won’t have to worry about her any longer. She was purposefully trying to send Equestria into a state of war, and I won’t have anypony threatening my home.”
64 grinned at Shining’s confidence, that same protective attitude coming back. Using the key that Luna gave him, 64 unlocked the Cell adjacent to Maxis’, swinging it open to find Shura cowering in the corner.
“Get out here Shura, or I’m going to drag you out.” 64 growled, but Shura didn’t comply. She tried to push herself deeper into the wall, but 64 grabbed her neck with his magic and pulled her out, tossing her to the ground in front of Maxis’ cell.
“Y-You wouldn’t do this to me!” Shura called out, her horn sparking uselessly thanks to the inhibitor ring around it.
“You fuck with me, I fuck with you, badly. Shining open the cell.” 64 ordered, and soon after it swung open. Maxis was standing at the back of the cell menacingly, a scowl on his face. Shura was pushed into the cell and the door slammed behind her effectively trapping her in with her Ex-Husband.
She turned around and tried to buck the Glass Door down, but it held with an impenetrable force. “M-Maxis! You don’t want to do this! Think rationally!” She pleaded, as Maxis slowly started to approach her.
The cell wasn’t very big to begin with, meaning that Shura eventually was cornered by the large stallion. She cowered onto the ground and covered her head with her two forelegs, waiting for the onslaught.
“Look. At. Me. NOW!” Maxis screamed into Shura’s ear, causing her to look up with tear filled eyes. She whimpered a bit as Maxis brought a hoof under her chin and lift her head up a bit, making her stare into his eyes.
“Don’t even try to make yourself look like the victim… masking your true appearance maybe your special talent, but it doesn’t work on me anymore, not when you are married for over 2 decades.” Maxis scolded.
“W-what do you want from me…” Shura sobbed, still curled up in a ball defensively. Maxis smashed his hoof into the wall right next to Shura’s head, causing the first layer of concrete to crack slightly. 64 made a mental note to repair it.
“I WANT 2 THINGS FROM YOU SHURA! TWO SIMPLE THINGS WHICH CANNOT BE GIVEN TO ME!” Maxis bellowed, still yelling into her ear. “1! I want my empire, the thing I built up from dirt, to be returned to its rightful glory. It is not to be feared, but respected, but you have spit all over that.”
“I tried to make things better! You can’t blame me for—“
Maxis shut her up by grabbing her by the neck and smashing the back over her head into the wall, causing her to yell out in pain.
“YOU ALONE CAUSED MY EMPIRE TO CRUMBLE INTO DUST! YEARS OF WORK DESTROYED IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE! ALL BECAUSE YOU WANTED PRODUCTION TO SPEED UP!” Maxis took a second to calm himself. “You… I knew of the affair with Red Wing…”
Shura, through her tear filled eyes, gasped in horror.
“I tried to be a better husband to you… but when I knew that all of my efforts were for naught, I decided to get even. Unfortunately for me, you felt as if you were in the right and decided to sell me out, even though you were doing the exact same thing behind my back…”
Maxis dropped Shura back onto the ground and turned around, walking to the back of the cell, far away from Shura.
“I have learned to forgive what you did to me… but I have not forgiven you for what you did to my empire, my sons, and what you put all of those parents through. Unfortunately for me… I cannot play Judge, Jury, and Executioner here. Just know... that for all you did to me… I forgive you…”
Maxis turned around and began walking back towards Shura, who proceeded to ty and cower into the wall.
“And the second thing I want… which has to be the 1 thing that will never happen in your lifetime… is nothing but an apology…” Maxis whispered, glaring at Shura. Her eyes widened as she threw herself at Maxis, wrapping her hooves around one of his forelegs.
“I-I’m sorry Maxis! I’m sorry I did all of those terrible things to you! I swear I’ll make it up to you!” Shura pleaded, but Maxis brought his hoof up and struck her violently across the face, causing a cut to form over her left eyebrow.
“A SINCERE APOLOGY! ALL YOU ARE DOING IS BEGGING! I want you to feel the regret! The pain and suffering of knowing that you backstabbed the only stallion in Equestria that will ever love you! And that… will never happen in this lifetime…”
Maxis looked up at 64 and brought his hoof across Shura’s cheek one last time. “Get her out of my face…”
64 opened the cell and grabbed Shura by her mane, pulling her out and dragging her back to her cell as she was reduced to a sobbing mess. The human was actually surprised at how tame Maxis acted, thinking that he was going to ask for a closed curtain encounter involving tools.
“He made a smart move… long lasting psychological torture rather than short lived physical torture. Never thought he would actually go easy on her.” Shining Armor commented, making sure to shut Maxis’ cell tight.
64 shoved Shura back into her cell and locked the door, leaving the sobbing mare to her own devices. He looked over to Maxis and grinned. “Was that all you wanted?”
“Yes… now if you’ll excuse me… I think I have a long time left in here.” Maxis sighed, lying onto his stomach and closing his eyes. 64 shook his head and started for the staircase, waving Shining Armor to follow him.
“C’mon, you still have that army to build.” 64 reminded, as the two ascended to the Palace.
64 POV
After the… strange… to say the least encounter with Maxis and Shura, Shining Armor began to teach me the basics of leading a large army, which was 10x harder than I thought it was going to be.
“Ok… so Commander Hurricane ordered the retreat, but flanked around the Gryphons to completely surround them?” I asked, looking at a large map in the War Room marked with red and blue flags, Red signifying Commander Hurricane’s troops, Blue signifying Governor Talon’s troops.
“Yes. When Commander Hurricane ordered the retreat, Talon’s gryphons advanced thinking that they had the Pegasi on the run. Unfortunately for them, hubris was their mortal enemy. Eventually the Gryphons were surrounded on all side by the Pegasi, and were slowly picked off.”
I stared baffled at the map, wondering how that was possible. “But, this strategy seems a bit too basic to trick someone as battlefield hardened as Governor Talon. I know that military tactics weren’t very advanced over 2000 years ago, but c’mon.” I sighed, leaning back in a chair.
“Talon’s troops outnumbered Hurricane’s by over 30,000, yet they were defeated. The numbers don’t lie 64, this strategy works.” Shining said, enclosing the Blue flags with the Red ones.
I was still trying to wrap my head around how something like this could be used today. “Alright, but now with Pegasi, Earth Ponies, and Unicorns no longer locked in a territorial dispute, how can we modify this tactic for modern use?” I asked, resetting the board.
“Hmm… Gryphons have the advantage of flight, but not much else. Earth Ponies and Pegasi would hold the line in front of the Gryphons, while the Unicorns teleport behind the Gryphon army to flank them. Pegasi would also need to create a canopy over the Gryphons so none of them would be able to escape, just like Commander Hurricane did. That answer your question?” Shining taught, causing me to nod thoughtfully.
“Shit, now that you put it that way it sounds really smart. Surround the enemy, cause confusion, attack from all sides. Perfect strategy against more brutal fighters like the Gryphons.”
The board was once again wiped clean, with Shining Armor resetting the flags into starting positions. “Ok, let’s review…”
After the cramming of military tactics, I felt that I had a fairly amateurish amount of knowledge, knowing that even becoming the most novice of Military tacticians took years of training.
“Alright, same time tomorrow. And make sure to bring a pencil and paper this time!” Shining scolded.
“C’mon Shining, its Nightmare Night tomorrow! Plus I’m already planning to escort Luna to Ponyville anyway, so I can’t study.” I explained, stuffing my hands into my pockets.
“Oh… damn I forgot! Cadence wanted to go fit our costumes! I gotta get to her Quarters before she gelds me!”
Shining ran off in a panic, leaving me laughing my ass off. “Good luck Shining! Haha!” I started the walk back to my quarters still laughing, wondering how much trouble Shining was going to be in. I knew Ghost was still at Applebloom’s room, because she was going to be released today at about 2. It was only about 11, meaning that I still had time to get a costume together.
I remember that I had drawn something up and that the Royal Tailors already had all of the materials, meaning I could just go down there and borrow them then give them back.
“Hey mister! Come over and say hi to my dad!” Crescent Rose said happily, coming around a corner and dragging her dad along. Wilt honestly looked better than the last time I saw him. He no longer smelled like he had soaked in sour alcohol for hours, he now had a haircut and a shave, and actually looked presentable.
“Crescent honey, we’ve already met. He came to our house after you got kidnapped, and that’s why daddy looks different now.” Wilt said, happily grinning at his little filly. She looked up at me and smiled, running over to me and wrapping her hooves around my legs
“Thank you Mister! It was so scary in there!” Crescent cried in mock fear, making me chuckle.
“Hey, my friend Ghost is the one that got you out. If you should be thanking anyone it should be him.” I explained, messing up the little filly’s hair.
“He was really nice to us, but he looks kind of scary with those eyes.”
It’s true that Ghost’s eyes probably made a lot of ponies uneasy, what with them being a shade of icy blue. With his morphing abilities he could literally change into any form he wants, but he often decided to use his actual form rather than hide behind a disguise.
“Well he can’t help it if those are the way his eyes look. But they helped him see in the darkness of the cave, so they can’t be that bad can they?” I pointed out, as Crescent brought her hoof to her chin thoughtfully.
“I guess when you put it that way… Alright mister! Thanks for making my daddy take a bath!” Crescent joked, skipping down the hall happily. Wilt and I followed her a t a slow pace, allowing her to skip and bound around happily.
“Ya know she’s masking her true feelings with all of the happiness right?” I pointed out, seeing a still terrified filly behind her silver eyes.
“Yep… I… I don’t know what I can do to help… I’ve already cleaned up my cesspool of an apartment for her. Got myself checked into a free rehab clinic for the alcoholism. Hell, even got another job… but I still don’t know what to do about Crescent…” Wilt confessed, as my eyes slowly widened. He had managed to do all of that in a week!?
“Well that’s terrific Wilt. Once you start to improve your quality of life, Crescent’s will improve as well. And as for Crescent?” I said, looking over at the filly who was admiring some artwork on the wall, “Just make sure that she feels safe. Tuck her in a night, read her a bedtime story. Do what makes her feel safe.”
Wilt nodded at my suggestions, a smile growing on his face. “What do you know about raising foals Project 64? I doubt you have any children.” Wilt chuckled.
“Nope, I just take a look at my childhood, then I do the exact opposite.”
3rd Person POV
64 was in his room sewing his costume together, making sure to take a look every now and then to see if he was getting his measurements right.
Ghost on the other hand was in Applebloom’s room, the both of them drawing in a few coloring books. “Why are we doin’ this thing again?” Applebloom asked, looking at her picture of Princess Celestia.
“Because this infirmary usually doesn’t have children staying here, so they don’t have many things for them to do. I’ve have to stay here a few times before, and whenever I did I usually had 64 bring me comic books or something. Maybe I can go find a board game or something.” Ghost answered, getting off of the bed and starting to walk towards the door.
“Wait no! Ah-ah mean… i-it’s alright just doin’ this. Ya don’t have to get anythin’ else.” Applebloom called after him, blushing a bit after she felt she called out too quickly. Ghost stopped in his tracks and simply shrugged, turning back to Applebloom.
Applejack watched the exchange with a smirk, barely able to stifle a chuckle. “Well aren’t you two the most gosh darn cutest thing ah’ve ever seen.” Applejack joked, causing the pair of foals to blush, Applebloom more than Ghost.
“Sis! Don’t be talkin’ like that!” Applebloom cried out, making Applejack burst out laughing,
“Alright! Haha! Alright.”
Applebloom turned back to the coloring book still blushing, before she thought of something to say. “G-Ghost? Ya said somethin’ about bein’ in the hospital before? What for?” Applebloom asked, making Ghost’s wings buzz thoughtfully.
“Well… when 64 first brought me back to Canterlot, my wings were really, really weak. I know they look like nothing but a few flaps of skin, but they actually can lift more than most Pegasi’s can. I had to go through Physical Therapy for a few weeks to get them back into shape, and when they were, 64 started to teach me to fight.” Ghost explained, letting Applebloom feel his wings.
As Ghost described them, they looked nothing more than a few flaps of skin, but to the touch they felt like strips of leather bound together tightly.
“Wow! They feel so cool! But how can ya fly with them? They have a bunch of holes in them.” Applebloom asked, poking at the wings.
“Those don’t matter when I create lift by flapping them. The holes actually make me a bit faster in the air. Creates less drag!” Ghost said happily, buzzing the wings.
The two foals laughed and continued to talk, as Applejack watched with fascination at the Changeling. Changelings had never been that much of a problem before, but there were a few cases of Changeling attacks on smaller cities. Applejack had always heard horror stories of killer Changelings that pillage and destroy, and have no emotional connections to anything.
The small Changeling in front of her was solid evidence that none of that was true. He was laughing and giggling with her sister, who she swore to protect on her mother’s deathbed, and he was the one who helped protect her in the end.
“I’m gonna go see if 64 needs help with anything. I’ll be back before you guys leave back for Ponyville!” Ghost called out, jumping off of the bed, and walking towards the door. “Bye Applebloom! Bye Applejack!”
“Bye Ghost, see ya later!” Applebloom called out from her bed, putting the coloring books aside onto the nightstand. Once Ghost left the room and closed the door, Applebloom failed to stifle a small sigh that left her lips, before she blushed at Applejack’s smirk. “W-What are ya lookin’ at?!”
Applejack laughed and put her hat onto Applebloom’s head, covering her entire head. “Aww… my little sis is growin’ up! Now, ah think it’s about time that we had a little talk. Ya ever hear of the story of tha birds and tha bees?”
Applebloom’s eyes widened as she gulped.