--Chapter 5--
Princess
Yet again, Falcon began to wake up, but this time, he was not greeted by the sunlight. The first thing he noticed was the stone ceiling above his head, illuminated by the light from a torch. He got up from the small bed he woke up in, examining his surroundings. He was inside a small room, excavated in stone and separated from a corridor with bars. The room had one more small bed on the opposite side but no one was there. Falcon quickly realized that he was in prison.
Great… Just great… He stood up, glad that this time he wasn’t naked, at least having his body glove on. He noticed that one of quadrupeds was standing just outside of his cell. This one was wearing an armor similar to those worn by their military, but the helmet covered almost its entire head; save for the muzzle and eyes, and the armor protected most of the body, unlike the original version. It would appear that this was supposed to be some special unit of sorts. “Hey, you.” The quadruped turned around but didn’t say anything. “Why am I here?” Falcon asked.
“Princess Celestia has ordered to imprison you for committing mass murder, causing psychological trauma to multiple ponies and illegal possesion of weaponry.” He answered and turned back to his previous position.
Is this a joke? “When am I supposed to get out of here?” Falcon asked again.
“Not fast. All you can do now is beg Princess for forgiveness, scum.”
“Mhm, and when can I expect her to talk to me?” He crossed his hands, leaning against the wall.
“She rarely bothers herself with talking to scum like you.” Falcon noticed the keys hanging on quadruped’s chest plate.
Falcon had no intention on waiting for her to come here, nor did he plan on begging her for anything, especially forgiveness. “And where’s my stuff?”
“It was confiscated and placed in the dungeon’s storage, don’t think that I’ll-“ He was cut off as Falcon reached out his arm through the bars and grabbed his muzzle. The clone pulled him towards the bars and wrapped his arm around the quadruped’s neck. The overly heavy armor made it hard for him to fight back, and it wasn’t like he knew what he was doing anyways.
Soon enough Falcon dropped his unconscious body on the ground. “Thanks for the tip, moron.” He reached out to grab the keys hanging on his chest, unlocking the way out of the cell. He grabbed the sorry excuse of a prison guard by the back of the armor and placed him inside the cell before closing it with a key. Now, let’s take my stuff back and go have a talk with that princess. The hallway was empty, even though there were more cells available, but Falcon still stayed careful.
It wasn’t to say that he doubted in his ability to defeat this bunch of idiots in a fight, but he preferred to sneak his way to the princess, rather than have entire castle going after him. He made his way to the end of a hallway, where he could see an open, wooden door. He peeked inside, noticing one more quadruped inside. From the looks, Falcon guessed that it was a female. Her fur was bright green and hair few shades darker.
He took a step back. “Hey! The prisoner escaped, I need help!” He yelled. Like he expected, she quickly ran towards the door with her armor giving out loud noises as she walked, letting Falcon know exactly how far away she was.
Just before she stepped out of the room, Falcon stepped out in front of her, and before she reacted in any way, punched her straight in the face. She was immediately knocked out and her helmet fell on the ground, next to her unconscious body. Falcon pulled her back into the room, hiding her in the closet after he took her set of keys and tied her up with a rope he found hanging on the wall. The punch left her with a bruised eye, but she was otherwise fine.
Falcon inspected the room he was in. It was about the size of the cell –maybe a bit larger- and was also excavated in solid rock. Other than the closet, there was a table in the middle of the room surrounded by three chairs, and another door were placed on the wall.
He walked over to them and looked through the hole. The other room was full of large chests, only one of which was closed. He opened the door with a key and walked towards the chest.
He tried every key he had available, but none could open the chest. Great, now I have to find something to break the chest with. He looked through the rest of the chests in the room, hoping that someone left there something solid he could use. There was however nothing to be found, so he moved back to the previous room. He opened the closed again, only to see that the female he knocked out earlier was waking up. She was barely able to focus on him, let alone speak, but she knew that he was there. “Sorry for all that.” He said. “I just didn’t feel like sitting on my ass and waiting for that idiot who put me here to come down and talk with me, so I decided to pay her a visit myself and explain few things.”
He noticed the sword on her side and grabbed the golden hilt. “I’ll borrow that.” He ran his finger over the edge, only to find it to be dull. He found it disappointing, but he wasn’t going to use it for fighting anyways. Falcon returned to the chest holding the sword and tried to open it. After a few short moments of wrestling with the chest, the lock gave out.
Along with the sword…
Falcon looked at the hilt of the weapon in his hand and at the blade lying on the floor. Either they can’t even make a sword right, or that chest was just very strong. I hope it was the chest… He dropped the hilt on the floor and looked at the open chest with a smile. His armor was there, and so were his weapons. He immediately begun to put everything on, leaving only the jet pack. Without fuel it would just be a dead weight.
Now fully equipped, he stepped out of the room, finding himself in front of the quadruped he had tied up earlier, with the rope lying next to the closet. They looked at each other in silence for a moment, before she spoke up with somewhat shaky voice. “T-thank you.”
Falcon looked at her with a surprised look on his face and took off Shaw’s helmet. “For what?”
“For saving me. Me my husband, and friends. Changelings surrounded us and killed a few ponies, then you showed up and saved our lives. I… I understand why Princess ordered to imprison you, but… I’m not going to sound the alarm.” She said and sat on one of the chairs. “That’s the least I can do.”
Falcon looked at her for a few moments, still surprised. He didn’t know if she could be trusted, but at the moment he could use someone on his side and shooting her with a stun beam won’t help him in building this society’s trust, so he decided to trust her words. “I appreciate it.” He put the helmet back on and walked to the door and turned around. “What’s your name?”
“Green Vail.”
“Falcon.” He almost walked out but remembered something. “Eeee, If you don’t mind, could you wake up that guy I locked up in my cell in about an hour?” He threw her one set of keys, they were both the same anyways. She grabbed it in her hoof, though she almost dropped it afterwards, and nodded. “Thanks.”
This time he walked out for real, turning on the map gathered by the probe. The display appeared on the helmet’s visor and Falcon slowed down his walk to focus on it. The Princess he’s looking for will most likely be either in the throne room, or in her room. Since he had no idea which one out of hundreds of rooms in the castle might belong to her, he decided to go to the throne room first.
The display showed him another large chamber, on the opposite side to the one he had already visited. It was on a much higher level than where he was at the moment, but he also could see the stairs leading there that were not that far from his current position.
He placed a miniature of display on the side of the visor and turned left, walking into another hallway with a door on the other side. As he walked there, he came up with an idea. The probe was still operational even though it was active all this time. He remotely turned it on, directing it towards the chamber he wanted to check.
The energy level of the probe was low, so he chose not to move it fast and turned off the unimportant systems, such as thermo-vision and most of the sensors and scanners installed in the machine.
As the probe continued to slowly move, Falcon was doing the same, reaching the stairs after a few minutes of slow walking. He hadn’t encountered other ‘ponies’ -strange name but its better then calling them quadrupeds- and he wasn’t planning to. The less of them knew about his presence the better.
After passing the first level, the rough stone walls turned into stone bricks. He still was in a part of the castle dug into the mountain, but it was nice to see the change in his surroundings, the caves always gave him creeps after the stupid Gundarks in some smuggler’s cave on one of his missions almost killed him once.
As he kept walking up the stairs, the probe reached its destination. He took over the control over the probe, moving it around with the eye gestures. Once he closed in to one of the stained windows showing the 6 female ponies from the day before shooting a beam at some strange looking snake. Behind the window, he noticed 2 ponies. Their looks were not easy to determine because of the window, but he could tell that they were both at least twice the size of an average pony, with the first one being pure white or very bright pink, while the other was much darker, black or dark shade of blue. They appeared to have an argument.
“-ow could you do this!?” The darker one said. “This human not only saved your life, but also your student’s, her friends and many ponies along the way here, and all you did was throw him into a dungeon!? Is this how you show gratitude nowadays!? Because I don’t think so!” The sound was a bit fuzzy because of the window, but the probe cleared it out so that Falcon could understand everything.
“Luna, I’m not going to repeat myself. You know the reasons why he’s in the dungeon right now, and I’m not changing my mind.” The other one sounded much more in control, but she was on the edge of her patience.
“Those ‘reasons’ of yours are completely irrational. You know very well that changelings were not hesitating to kill and that our ponies had no way of defending themselves thanks to you and all those bans you pushed for. And don’t even get me started on the pathetic excuse of an army you’ve created. This would be unthinkable in the past!”
“The past is no more! The times are different now, we’re not surrounded by enemies but allies, the ponies don’t need violence introduced to their lives.” She argued, losing her temper for one moment.
“We’re not surrounded by enemies? Do you even listen to yourself? This attack proves that we DO have enemies, enemies who are willing to take lives to gain what they want. And ponies don’t need violence? Life is violent! It always was and will be. Did you even move that fat ass of yours and see what ponies think after the invasion?”
“They’re scared, crying over their lost friends and loved ones-“
“And willing to make sure something like this won’t happen again.” The dark one finished. “You probably wouldn’t believe how many ponies changed their way of thinking about all this since yesterday. I’ve never had so many applications for joining the Guard in just one day, and if the ‘training’ they’re going to receive stays the same, then no matter how many of them will join, any trained army will defeat us.”
“Don’t you even think about suggesting that!”
“Because what!? Because I want our ponies to be able to defend themselves? Because I want them to be strong and fearless? See through your own lies sister! That human could have probably taken over this castle by himself and you know it!”
“I’m not going to let that monster near any of my little ponies. Have you seen what he did to poor Abuyin? To the foals that saw him slaughtering those changelings?”
“And have you thought what would changelings do if it wasn’t for him? Do you really think those bugs cared about the lives of the foals? Please sister, you can’t be that naive. That actually brings another point, why do you have such a grudge against humans?”
“Because they are against everything Equestria stands for. They are a violent group of hateful monsters that are only meant to kill. I will not accept such a monstrosity to walk freely among us.”
“That sounds exactly the way you described griffons after we first made contact.”
“And was I wrong?”
“No, but you gave them a chance to change didn’t you? Why can’t you do the same for this human?”
“Because he just proved that even after all those years nothing has changed. He killed tons of changeling without a second thought, Luna. There is no redemption, or mercy for him.
“Mercy? Why would he have to ask for any mercy? He did nothing more than defend himself and others from a truly violent race. If anything, he should be praised by it, and I know for a fact that many ponies do see him as a savior, including your student.” She turned around and opened the door with the blue aura. “Think about all that sister, because someday it may be too late.” She closed the door, leaving her sister behind.
In that moment the power cell of the probe begun to fail. Falcon landed it safely on the edge of the window, leaving it there to allow the battery to gain some energy from the sun to be able to reclaim if later.
By the time the talk between the two sisters -he assumed they were both princesses- ended, Falcon was almost on the level of the castle he wanted to get on. Through the entire walk he was cursing about the stairs and the serious need to introduce those ponies to the concept of elevators.
He reached the right level and opened the door to the hallway. He was immediately spotted by a lone guard who was walking by and they both froze, looking at each other. After a few seconds, the guard did what Falcon thought was unthinkable. He slowly raised his hoof and saluted to the Commander.
Falcon returned the salute, somewhat hesitantly, and the guard walked away in silence. Falcon kept looking at him until the guard disappeared from his sight. He heard more guards coming from the higher levels and quickly left the doorway, heading towards the throne room.
He snuck past a few groups of the guards without much of a problem and eventually got into the corridor with the massive door to the throne room guarded by 2 guards. Those two had the same armor as the moron that was supposed to keep him in his cell, and from the talks he overheard before, they were Princess’ personal guards.
If they were anything like the one he took out earlier he could easily take out those two and just walk in, but that could alert the princess and bring in more guards. He inspected the castle’s scan again, looking for another way in.
He found only one other way to get inside. The entire castle was full of small passages hidden inside the walls, and one such passage led into the throne room. The map showed the entrance to be hidden in a corridor behind him on the left. He turned around and walked over to the spot where the passage begins. He used his force pike to lift the stone tile, revealing his way in.
Falcon heard someone approaching, and hid inside the passage. “I just can’t believe what she did!” He heard a female talking. Soon enough the group of 6 ponies he saw earlier walked into the hallway, heading towards the throne room. “He saved our lives, even her life, and she just threw him into the dungeon for murder. That’s so stupid!” He saw the purple one saying as she led the rest of the group. Her side was wrapped in bandages.
“Well, he did kill quite a lot of those bugs, but Ah see where yer coming from Twi. He hadn’t even had a fair trial.” The orange pony wearing a hat said.
“Yeah, that was so not cool.” The rainbow haired one said, flying above the rest. “Especially with how cool that guy was fighting. Seriously, I wouldn’t mind cracking hooves with him at some point.”
“It’s not just about that girls.” The group stopped. “Changelings were ready to not only steal love from us. They had… other uses for us too…” She lowered her head and looked at the floor. “They wanted to kill us and the princess punishes the only one who could stand up to them. Because let’s face it, Royal Guards have no idea how to fight.” They walked away, still talking about something but they were too far for Falcon to hear them.
He began to walk through the passage, keeping his head low to avoid hitting the ceiling. The passage had no source of light in it so Falcon used the night vision more in Shaw’s helmet. It was obvious that the passage was designed to allow the Princess to escape if necessary, if it was meant for normal sized ponies he would probably have more problems with passing through. The passage was connected with other ones as well, but he knew where his target was.
He reached the other end of the tunnel and silently lifted the tile above him. Two more guards were inside, and the princess was sitting on her throne, deep in thought and unaware of Falcon watching her. Moments later, 6 ponies he overheard before stepped into the room. Princess looked at the expression of the purple one and ordered her guards to leave, standing up and walking towards the group. “Twilight, I-“
“How could you!?” Twilight yelled, startling the rest of the group and also the princess. “Why is it so hard for you to understand that they were trying to KILL us!? How can you look at all the ponies who did die and say that we should push for peace with them!?”
“There’s no need to yell Twilight, I can hear you just fine. And yes, I did push for peace with the changelings, and that’s because I believe that if we learn to live with them in harmony we can only be stronger by it. What this human did was unacceptable and he already received his punishment.”
After hearing that Twilight lit up her horn and levitated something out of her bag. And that something was a vibroknife. Falcon knew that this had to be salvaged from since they are not on the technological level sufficient to built such a knife. She smashed the tip into the floor. “Well, I killed a changeling in self-defense too. Are you going to throw me into a dungeon with him?” The princess didn’t answer. “Why? Just tell me why?”
Falcon stepped out of the hidden passage before the princess could answer. “Because she’s a pacifist.” He said, bringing the attention to himself.
“W-WHAT!? How did you escape!?” The Princess yelled in surprise.
Falcon took off his helmet as he closed in. “You’re saying that as if that was supposed to be hard.”
She lit up her horn. “How you did this is not important, you’re going back there anyways.” She shot a beam of energy at him, too fast for him to dodge.
He didn’t have to do this however, as the beam was stopped by the purple force field. “No. He doesn’t.” Twilight said, stepping between Falcon and the Princess.
“Twilight, step away from this monster, you don’t know what you’re dealing with.”
“Oh, I assure you, I know perfectly well what I’m doing.”
Before the situation could escalate, a flash of blue light appeared above them and the dark blue princess fell on the ground with a thud. “That’s enough sister, step away.” Falcon’s eyes shot wide open. I’ve heard this voice…
The white princess growled at that. “No Luna, this thing is going back where it belongs, and you’re not going to stop me. He is sentenced for murder anyways.”
“Sentenced? Sentenced by whom? There was no trial as far as I remember.” Luna said.
“Besides, any sentence can be cancelled under agreement of either both princesses, or one princess backed up by all Elements of Harmony. And you can sure expect me to be on board. Girls?” She turned towards her friends.
After a moment of silence the rainbow haired one spoke up. “I’m in.” She jabbed her yellow-furred friend. “M-me too. That is, if you don’t mind…” Shortly, the rest of them agreed as well. Luna looked at her sister.
“Well, that’s it then. The human is free, and you can’t do anything about it.” She said. The only response she received was a death-glare as her sister left the room in a flash of light.
All eyes turned back to Falcon. “That’s… not how I expected this to go, but… thank you. I really appreciate you putting trust in me.”
“The least we can do after you saved us.” Twilight said.
“Well, I probably would get out of that goo and kicked those bugs’ butts, but you sure made it interesting to watch. So thank you, I guess.” Rainbow one said.
Twilight pulled the vibroknife from the floor and levitated it towards Falcon. He grabbed the weapon and inspected it. Few clones in his battalion have used vibroknives, but this one didn’t belong to any of them. The hilt was red and had a small power cell installed in it, he pressed the button on it, releasing electricity into the blade. The blade itself was 15cm long and extendable from the hilt. It was black and probably composed out of Chrometium, leaving no doubt that it didn’t belong to a clone and was custom made.
Chrometium was one of the most rare metals in the galaxy and one of few that can resist the lightsaber blade. The only two known sources of the material though Falcon’s knowledge didn’t go further.
Falcon looked at the weapon for a few more seconds passing it back to Twilight. “You can keep it, it may save your life someday.” Somewhat hesitantly, she levitated the weapon back into her saddlebag.
“I believe I said something about taking their belongings.” Luna said.
“You said, I’m not to take their equipment, and this clearly doesn’t belong to any of them.” Twilight replied.
“I can confirm that.” He looked at Luna. She did the same and the moment their eyes met, Falcon felt something really strange, not in a bad way but strange nonetheless. Something about her was very familiar, as if he knew her his whole life. “Have… have we met?” He asked.
“Not personally, but I have accompanied you in your sleep during your recovery as well as guided your dreams.” They spent another moment in silence.
“It is strange, but I feel like I’ve met you somewhere.”
“Don’t worry, I had problems with understanding this as well.” She smiled warmly. “I sensed you were coming hours before your ship crashed on my moon, and ever since you were placed in the hospital I could feel something connecting us. I have yet to discover the nature of this link, but it’s there. You can feel that too, can you not?”
“I… I definitely feel something, but I’m not sure what it is.”
“I think we will discover what it really is in due time.” She said. “Now, there is one thing I wanted to ask you about.” He motioned her to continue. “Like you’ve pointed out, my sister is a pacifist, and a very dedicated one too. For years she had ruled on her own, and as a result the equestrian army was turned from a force to be reckoned with, into a pathetic scarecrow army, good only at looking intimidating in numbers. I can’t force her into agreeing with me on the matter and the parliament won’t do a thing as well.
This is why I want you to train a group of ponies in secret, create a real army in the shadows. In return I will provide you with anything you need to go back home.”
“And where would I be training them?” He asked.
“The old castle in Everfree forest will do. I will make sure to get a group of ponies to prepare a house in Ponyville for you and others I have managed to save from the ship on the moon. You will be able to work outside of my sister’s sight. Do you agree?”
Falcon thought about it.
And thought.
And thought.
“I agree.”