//------------------------------//
// Chapter Twelve: The Alicorn Amulet. 
// Story: The Manehatten Project 
// by Ddraigtanto 
//------------------------------//


*   *   *


It had begun to rain as the train from Manehatten rumbled along its tracks in the direction of Ponyville. Back in Manehatten, there were regular television broadcasts to inform ponies of the schedule of timetabled conditions for the weather, as set out by the MEoW (Manehatten Engineering of Weather) Office. However, Ponyville lacked such extensive coverage; farmponies and government knew what the weather would do, and it was practically down to word of mouth to spread the schedule from there.

For Otto and Starlight, a private train car had been arranged, as Ashfeather had promised. It featured large, comfortable sofas and large, cloth-covered tables lined with silverware and candles. A rich wooden panelling lined the walls, and the windows were covered with velvet curtains; night had fallen, and so there was very little to see outside of the train, and besides: Otto only had eyes for his fellow passenger anyway.
"...Why do we even need wings for flight?" The pair had been flowing from one conversation to another, namely between their plan, and other things. "Unicorns have a levitation spell, and spells for walking on clouds... I think I could use my magic to levitate myself."
"Well..." Otto nodded, spooning a small mouthful of soup from a silver bowl into his mouth and eating it before speaking. "...I suppose it helps if one isn't too heavy." He paused, seeing Starlight's face and realizing his faux pas. "Erm, not to say you're... Erm, heavy. Of course not! I, I mean I doubt I'd be able to do that, for instance."
She scoffed. "Not if you keep eating like that." She retorted. "Besides, I'm not fat. I once saw this pony in Canterlot. I swear to Celestia, she was the size of a hay bale, with these tiny little legs under her... Hm, strike that: She was more like a tavern beer barrel."
"Heh, you're joking."
"Am I?" Starlight smirked. "The best bit? Her cutie mark was a picture of herself, in a little star!" She looked about ready to laugh. "You know where I stand on cutie marks, but sweet Celestia, that was one which just had me scratching my head."
"I can imagine.." Otto smirked. "I think you could handle levitation quite well. Have you ever tried it?"
"I've dabbled. Once I got my cutie mark, whether I like them or not, magic and spellcraft just seemed to fall into place. It was almost effortless, most of the time."
The white unicorn pulled a face. "Go on then. Levitate. This'll be good."
"Alright, fine." Starlight gave him a look right back, before getting out of her seat.
There was plenty of space in the private car for her to test out her abilities, moving aside a few sofas and chairs with her cyan-coloured magic. Otto set down his spoon, turning to watch. Starlight took a breath, and her horn began to glow... Then she began to glow. Slowly, her hooves left the ground, hovering in place. She lifted a little higher off the ground, sitting in the air, as if upon an invisible stool. She folded her forearms and sat back, reclining with a smug look on her face.
He couldn't fault her: That was pretty impressive, clapping as she, rather than returning to the ground, floated herself around a bit more, and hovering over to sit next to Otto. "Ha! Well played..." Otto smiled. "Yep, definitely got stamina... How long do you suppose you'd be able to maintain a spell like that?"
"Please, that was nothing. I could keep a spell like that going for much longer than that." she replied, still looking pretty pleased with herself.
"Heh, how many other cool spells have you got to teach me?" Otto asked. "I'll have plenty of room to experiment once I have the Alicorn Amulet."
"A good many." Starlight snuggled up next to him. "You're just lucky we're both on the same side."
"And our side is going to have a lot to think about once we win..."

Otto hadn't realized how much he loved it when Starlight did that. There was a far softer, more affectionate pony buried under the hard, disciplinarian shell she'd built around herself; those few moments she let the mask slip were precious to him: He loved that mare dearly, he couldn't help but question just how he was able to win the affections of a mare like Starlight Glimmer. Perhaps there was more to her than first appeared. No, that much went without saying, and Otto felt stupid for thinking it as thought it was a revelation. He'd have to make special effort to make sure he was still appealing to her. It wasn't something he was too worried about, but it lingered in the dark annals of his mind...

Time passed, and the train rumbled into Ponyville's rather small, rural railway station. The night still hung over Equestria, and the station platform had been occupied entirely by Captain Ashfeather and her cronies from before. Otto noticed as he climbed from the steps that the grey griffiness looked especially pleased with herself.
"Captain Ashfeather." Otto spoke in greeting as they left the train.
"What in Celestia's name happened to you?" Starlight asked, before Otto could notice, she herself had seen the scratches on Ashfeather's normally immaculate armour... And the fresh cuts and bruises from on her and her men.
"That IS a good point." Otto raised an eyebrow, frowning. "What did you do?"
Ashfeather smirked. "I thought I'd hurry along the process for you." She answered, producing a small, wooden box, which she offered to Otto. "I know you didn't much care for it, and neither did Jarhead over there, but we made our way to Zecora's. Got her to help out after some... Persuasion."
Otto went very quiet, his eyes narrowed as he took the box, openning it, and seeing the amulet. He looked up again, his eyes meeting with Ashfeather's. "What. Did. You. Do?" He looked to the other soldiers. "Well?!"
"So, we went to see the zebra. She attacked us, and we fought back..."
"Three of us did." Scopes snorted. "...Jarhead refused, as he'd suffered a head injury on the way there, and Flemming stayed with him."
"There was three on one, and you invaded her home!" Starlight barked. "What did you expect her to do?!" She marched up, using her telekinesis to snatch Ashfeather's baton, pulling it out and twirling it around with her magic. "...You beat her? Zecora?"
"She tried to kill me with a spear."
Scopes scowled, sensing he was in fact going to be punished for the mission, he turned on his captin. "Oh, that is it! That spear broke against your armour like a twig! So you smashed her legs and her chest with a metal rod... You, you jammed the spearhead into her dislocated shoulder!"
"What?!?" Starlight blinked. "You tortured her... You tortured her!?"
"Oh, come on." Ashfeather snorted. "And you didn't abuse people in Ourtown?"
"That's not the same!" She protested. "Sure, I locked up ponies, I did desperate things to ensure people would honour the equality I tried to bring about! But I never, NEVER, hurt my ponies!"

As they argued, Otto slowly levitated the amulet out of its box, staring in awe at the beautiful silver and ruby necklace which hovered before him, admiring the quality of the work; a red-eyed pony's head protruded from the top of the amulet, a horn protruding from its forehead, and wings flared wide at its sides. The necklace of the amulet was made up of a series of tightly linked silver plates, forming a collar, which would form a solid ring via a lock at the back of the necklace. He felt a wave of excitement creep up his back as he continued to stare at the necklace. Finally, he made a decision: The necklace floated to his neck; as soon as the amulet rested against his chest, the bands of the necklace seemed to move of their own accord within Otto's magic, swooping behind his neck, connecting, and snapping shut with a sharp click. As soon as the amulet had locked itself onto Otto, he instantly felt a massive inject of of strength and power rocket through him, it felt like a kick to the chest... But, good, really good! Never in his entire life had he felt so wonderful, so healthy, great and powerful! It was as though he had been born again...
...He looked up, smiling as he tucked the amulet under his shirt and tie. He saw Starlight and Ashfeather continued to argue, and he remembered what she'd done to get the amulet... And in that moment of recollection, Otto was furious.

His horn glowed, engulfed in red magic; a similar red ring of light appeared around Ashfeather's neck very suddenly, quickly tightening. She started gasping and wheezing, clawing at her neck as Otto's magic lifted her into the air.
"I told you." Otto spoke, his tone dangerous. "Do NOT attack the zebra. You heard me, you said you wouldn't..." He tightened his grip. "But you deliberately disobeyed me."
"Otto, what are you doing?" Starlight gave him a look of shock as Otto continued to choke the griffin captain. "Stop! You're killing her!"
"Ot... Otto..." Ashfeather wheezed. "She... Ze... Zecora... Please. I have to... Tell you something. It... It's urgent." He continued to squeeze, the plates of armour around her neck crumpled and bend, sharp peices of metal starting to pierce into her throat, causing little bleeds all around. "Paver... She's... Alive..."
Ashfeather fell to the floor with a heavy thud; the air grew tense, even the silence was feeling uncomfortable with its presence.
"...What?" Otto spoke. It took a long while before Ashfeather could speak, her breathing was sharp, loud and laboured as she clutched her throat, choking as air returned to her lungs and swallowing hurt.
"Zecora..." She panted. "...She told me that Paver Goldstreets survived your assassination attempt..."
"What? How?!"
"She must have teleported out of the lake." Starlight suggested.
"She'd danced all the way from Lake Manehatten to Ponyville, she'd nearly drowned in quicksand, but one of the princess' friends found her... She left Ponyville hospital a couple of days ago..." She went quiet.
"But, but the shoes..." Otto frowned, pacing. "She'd have no control over her own movement! What happened?! I put the binding curse on the shoes, she definitely WORE them, I saw it all happen! Flim and Flam PROMISED that..." He suddenly fell silent, realizing his stupidity: He TRUSTED the Flim Flam Brothers. "THOSE BASTARDS!" He shouted aloud. "Those bastards conned me! Of course, it all makes sense now..."
"Otto?"
"For Celestia's sake, Starlight! THINK!" He shouted. "There are prank spells out there which, when applied to the legs, make a pony dance uncontrollably. There are also spells which, as long as the caster maintains the spell with their horn, the victim will keep dancing. That's the dangerous one... I should've known the Flim Flam Brothers couldn't maintain a spell like that on something like shoes. They duped me!" He paced up and down, snorting and scowling.
"But, does it matter?" Starlight offered. "You're mayor now. You've got the power, you were sworn in. There's nothing she can do now."
The white unicorn stood there, breathing heavily as he worked things through in his head, supressing dark thoughts of murder and second assassinations, he sighed. "...We, we continue on anyway." He finally said. "...I've got the Alicorn Amulet now. We need only two things now. We need to stoke the Manehattenite ponies into a rebel sentiment, and... And I need to do more research... It's clear to me now. Sombra wanted to become an alicorn, and he obviously couldn't ascend the way Twilight did. Twilight and Cadence needed the Blessing of Celestia herself to make it happen..." They were done here, so he climbed back aboard the train, Starlight following behind as he had his epiphany. "...He must have gotten close, as the princesses only intervened when he was at the height of his power..." He breathed out and sat back in his train car, his calmness returning, his anger burning into a new sense of drive. "...I know now what I have to do... I need to finish what the king started..."