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// Chapter 8 – Golden Ticket /  Golden Los 
// Story: Doctor of the Lance 
// by Silver Page 
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 Chapter 8 – Golden Ticket / Golden Los 




It had been two weeks since Spell Pact’s return from Canterlot. He was currently in Trottingham enjoying a cup of coffee while reading the daily newspapers. 
Seated on a park bench, Spell was treating himself to a little break. He’d spent many days cooped up in his laboratory, working on the Unecht Regenbogen and its effects. Storm Knife had been joined two days later by Shot Put, an Earth Pony Mare, and Glimmer Slim, a Unicorn mare, who’d both also escaped from the Manehatten prison. He been tracking down escapees to try and collect them for experiments, but most had been recaptured very quickly. He now had one of each Pony Race, but 3 Ponies a test group does not make. Still, he’d been focused for a while on this project and had taken few breaks, and he felt that showing his face to the town would be beneficial, if for no other reason than to remind them he was not dead, and they should not worry so much they have to try and break into his home to check on him.
Spell Pact sighed as he remembered that incident. It had been forty years ago, under his Spell Graft alias. He’d been in Prance, and some overly concerned Ponies had broken into his temporary house after he’d gotten too wrapped up in a project.
For a hundred and two year old granny, his housekeeper had surprised him by having the muscles of an ox, and the ability to rip a solid oak door off its hinges. Needless to say, he remembered to take frequent pauses after that.
“Spell Pact, how are you?” The doctor looked up to see a trio of mare approaching him. What had surprised the human at first was the abundance of females in the Pony species. He soon learned that he’d been mistaken, and just appeared near a town with a more predominant mare population. In truth, the gender ratio wasn’t too skewed. Overall, it was 3 mares to 1 stallion. Variants occurred, but it was the overall Pony male to female ratio of Equestria.
Still, it meant males were desirable, and both Spell Pact and his “grandfather” Spell Graft had been forced to fend off the advances of many mares. 
Smoothly putting a smile on his face, Spell Pact smiled at the mares. One was Milky Way, her oversized breasts shaking with every step. The other two were another Earth Pony, Leaf Fusion who owned the Herbalist store ‘Green Growers,’ and a Unicorn, Gold Link, who ran the pawn shop ‘Baubles ‘n’ Bits.’
Leaf Fusion had dark green mane and tail with a light green coat, and she wore tattered jean pants and a jean jacket of a white tank top. Her Cutie Mark was four brown tea leaves with steam coming off them. Gold Link’s mane and tail were dark yellow, while her coat was a rather surprising dull grey. She was far primmer than her compatriots, wearing a fashionable blue skirt and blouse ensemble.
“Hello there, dears. How can I help you?” Spell Pact inquired politely.
“We were on our way to the Spa to meet up with Rain for a nice relaxing soak. But we saw you, and just wanted to thank you for whatever you did up at Canterlot all those weeks ago,” Leaf said, while the other two nodded.
“The Canterlot Kitchens has been purchasing lots of my milk recently,” Milky said happily, practically bouncing.
“And I’ve been getting a lot of big orders for my special bitterleaf tea with rose extract lately, also from the palace kitchens. You did something and we’re both thankful,” Leaf continued, smiling a heartfelt smile at the stoic Unicorn.
“You’re too kind,” Spell said, trying to brush off their affections. Still, as they spoke, he was constantly reminded of their accents. They spoke with what could only be described as “British” accents, though they claimed it was “Bitish.” These horse puns would be the death of him…
“Incoming!” A voice screamed out from above, and the mares flinched and looked around wildly. Spell Pact just sighed and scooted to the other end of the bench. A grey blur shot past, and crashed behind where Spell had been sitting moments before. Had he not moved, somepony would have slammed into him full force.
“Morning, Miss Ditzy,” Spell Pact said in a bland tone, sipping calmly on his coffee. The trio of mares stared with their jaws open as a Pegasus mailmare jumped up, her uniform somehow untouched by any dirt or grime from the fall.
“Hiya, Spell Pact! Got more stuff for you from Canterlot!” the cross-eyed mare said cheerfully, rooting around in her pack.
“You’ve, um, met before?” Leaf finally managed to ask, and Spell nodded.
“She delivered the summons from Canterlot, and now seems to be delivering all of my mail that comes from the castle.”
“Yup, Ponyville is really close to Canterlot, so the Main Branch post office often sends stuff our way to expedite delivery,” Ditzy explained, still searching.
“Are you all okay?” A new mare’s voice asked, and the group glanced up to see another Pegasi descend. She had a black mane and hair, with a rich, dark brown coat. Her eyes were also brown, and she had an accent that was also familiar to the human. It was, to him, what he’d call a “black” accent. 
As he thought this, a small part of him wondered if that was racist. A larger, more rational part of him dismissed the idea on the grounds that, 1, he was the only human in this world, and 2, he’d been a Nazi, so fuck political correctness.
“Hey, Rain! No, nothing’s wrong, just a very dedicated mailmare,” Milky said, trying not to say anything rude.
Chocolate Rain landed, and she smiled over at the mares and gave Spell a polite nod. He returned it, and kept reading. 
“A-HA! Here is your letter!” Ditzy cried, and handed a thick envelop to the doctor. Spell Pact took it and opened it, revealing another progress report from Luna, but an unexpected second letter. 
“What’s that?” Gold asked after a moment, seeing Spell’s rather bemused expression.
“A pair of tickets and an invitation letter to the Grand Galloping Gala,” Spell said, not seeing the excited looks that passed over Milky, Leaf, and Gold’s faces. Rain had an impressed look, and the mailmare just looked confused.
“Why?” Rain asked, and Spell shrugged.
“Apparently to thank me for my work with Princess Luna.”
“Oh my gosh, could you imagine what it’d be like to attend?” Gold Link said, a far off look in her eyes.
“It’s the fanciest party of Equestria!” Leaf said, and Milky nodded.
“Just a bunch of stuck up nobles that are also probably inbred,” Spell snorted derisively. He was ignored, though Ditzy had an amused look.
“You know, the way you three are acting is similar to how Twilight and her friends reacted. ‘Course, they almost caused a riot for the tickets, but still.” Spell’s ear perked at that.
“Did you say Twilight? As in Twilight Sparkle? Isn’t she the Element of Magic?” After the fiasco with the Summer Sun Celebration, and after Spell Pact’s examination, a number of news articles had been run about the exploits of the Elements of Harmony and their new bearers. He’d learned a bit about the sextet of Ponies, but aside from a meeting with Twilight some years back, knew next to nothing about them.
“Yup! She got it so all of her friends could attend,” Ditzy said, and Spell Pact began to think. This would be an excellent chance for him to learn about the Elements. He needed to know if their bearers had some sort of power as well, or were just mere vessels for the harmonic magic.
“I think I’ll go as well,” Spell announced, and three pairs of eyes turned to him. Belatedly, he realized that he’d have to choose somepony to go with him, without ostracizing the others.
“Now, before you say or do anything, hear me out,” Spell Pact said, placating the mares. They waited, arms folded.
“…Good day!” Spell Pact teleported, vanishing in a clap of displaced air.
Reappearing outside his home, he sighed. One thing after another. All he wanted was a peaceful summer break. Still, he had, if nothing else, a chance to learn about the Elements of Harmony directly from the source. 
Spell Pact double checked the ticket, confirming the date; the last night of Summer, leading into the first morning of Autumn. He tapped his chin. A little more than two weeks to prepare. He’d need a suit, of course, and have to pick a guest that wouldn’t make the snubbed mares rip him apart. There were many ways to die, and Spell Pact had no desire to have it be “torn to shreds by emotional females.”
“I wonder if the Princesses know I hate social gatherings, and this is payback for what I did to Princess Luna,” the doctor mused. As he’d pondered, he’s made his way to the secret lab, and was getting ready. 
Johan plucked the Unicorn’s horn from his coat pocket, and inspected it. Using teleportation was not easy on the grisly artifact, and he’d learned that Unicorn horns could crack and break if they performed spells their users in life had been unable to do. Using too much magic at once also damaged the horn, and if cracked, the spells would have a great chance of failure or miscasting. As such, finding a horn that could endure multiple teleportation’s was difficult, and acquiring it just as bad. Grave robbing was one of the few methods he could get away with when finding this specific tool. 
Thankfully, this horn was still good, taken about a decade ago from a rather potent Unicorn noble. The noble in question had died a century ago, so it wasn’t as if they needed it.
As he thought about this, his mind wandered to the things he could study with a live Unicorn’s horn. After a while he was fully dressed for medical work, and walked into the cage room. The three mares cowered at his presence, many days of torturous experiments having conditioned them well. 
“Come along, Glimmer Slim. It’s your turn today.” He held out the horn and unlocked the door to her cage, before attaching a purple chain to her collar. He then led the Unicorn out into the testing room. However, he instead brought her to a new room; a mix between a small firing range and a wrestling rink. Here, he could test new spells, either on his own, or with the help of his experiments. A hex that turned blood into acid was hard to test unless you had a live specimen. 
It was very useful for more physical activities as well. Sometimes he’d pit two or more specimens against each other and make them do various acts, often with handicaps. A Pegasi can move clouds, so he wanted to see if they could do it without wings? Go to this room. An Earth Pony able to bend metal with her tongue? Go to this room. Want to see two Unicorns fight using only their horns? Go to this room.
“Today, my dear, we’re going to do something new. For you, at least. I am going to force you to cast magic. Now, if you behave, and are a good little mare, I’ll let you have a shower when we are through. Understood?”  Glimmer Slim nodded hastily, and so Johan carefully popped the collar off. 
The Unicorn fugitive coughed and rubbed her throat, as if to alleviate some pain. Glimmer Slim was an odd looking Pony. She was thin as a rake, even before the captivity, and had four tone mane and tail. One stripe red, one stripe blue, one stripe green, and one stripe yellow. And worst of all, her coat was a garish hot pink color. 
If there was any color Johan hated, it was undeniably pink.
She raised her purple eyes to Johans, a desperate look in her expression.
“Please, let me go,” she begged softly, falling to her knees and grabbing at his pants legs. “I’ll do anything you want, just let me go. I won’t do anything bad again, I’ll even turn myself in. Please, no more.”
Johan leaned down, cupped her chin in his left hand, and stared into her eyes.
“I’m afraid not. You see, you’re mine now, Glimmer Slim. And I will never let you go. You know why? Because you are too valuable to me. I want to learn everything in the world. The lust for knowledge drives me mad, yet I willingly submit to it. You are a tool for my goal and desire. And I will never let you leave. You will die down here, my poor little animal. That is the sad truth.” He suddenly reached out with his free hand and grabbed her horn. She yelped in pain and her eyes watered.
“But rejoice! For your sacrifice brings more knowledge forth, more data to glean. And in the end, what does one life matter when held up before the greater good?”
Johan lifted her up onto her feet, and manhandled her into the firing range. As he did he whispered in her ear the motto and creed of his family.
“For the Good of Many, some Sacrifices are necessary.”
Her sobs were soon drowned out in a buzz of raw magic.