//------------------------------// // New Plans // Story: Bound By Spades // by NewToThis //------------------------------// Ace’s senses slowly returned to him as he felt himself waking up. First was his sense of smell, he sniffed at the air and was delighted to smell that there was indeed breakfast being made, ‘That doesn’t smell like meat though. Guess I shouldn’t be surprised; I wonder if Twilight would make me some if I asked?’ His second sense to return was touch, he felt the soft blanket that covered him, the even softer pillow that was underneath his head, and the comfortable but not as soft couch he lay on. Birds made themselves known to him as his hearing returned along with humming coming from what he assumed was the kitchen. Ace opened his eyes and regretted how fast he had opened them when light flooded his vision, he muttered curses to himself as he wiped his eyes with his hands and sat up. He stretched his arms and got to his feet to stretch the rest of his limbs sighing in content as his joints popped one by one. Ace looked around the living room slash library and saw a doorway into another, tastier smelling room. He looked beside the couch searching for his hat, he found in on an end table and placed it on his head. As he walked into the kitchen he didn’t expect to see a small green and purple reptile at the stove. ‘Well that’s new.’ Ace thought. Spike had been hard at work preparing breakfast for him, Twilight, and their new guest. He felt somewhat reserved making food for something he had never seen before. When he woke up to start his daily routine and saw it on the couch he made his way back to Twilight as quickly and quietly as he could to tell her of the intruder. It took him a few minutes to get a response out of her and even then it all sounded like nonsense. The things he did understand all revolved around something about a nightmare and the thing on their couch and before Twilight could lose consciousness once more she told spike to make breakfast for three. So here he was working hard on making breakfast for Twilight, himself, and whatever was sleeping on their couch. He had been so focused he hadn’t heard the steps making their way towards the kitchen. Spike probably would’ve kept on working had he not felt a chill go down his spine, not something that happens to dragons often, Spike knew something was off. He stood stock still and strained his hearing to see if he could tell what was wrong. His skin crawled at the silence he heard, he knew he would regret it but with no choices left he turned around. A few seconds after Ace had let his sight take in the reptile it went rigid, Ace smirked internally as he saw the chill run through it. A silence filled the surrounding area as he saw the frills on the side of its head tilt to and fro. When the silence was all that greeted its ears its body went rigid once more and turned around in the blink of an eye staring at Ace’s black shorts. Confusion took hold of the reptile and it slowly began to dawn on the creature as he tilted his head upwards slowly until its eyes met his. Ace held a neutral look on his face as the it stared at him in shock, after a few seconds into their staring contest Ace decided to speak up, “So,” he said in a casual manner, “What are you exactly?” Spike would’ve answered had he not been struck silent by the things height alone, he was snapped from his freight as he heard hoofsteps coming from the stairwell and bolted towards the pony he knew was on her way. He didn’t bother looking back as he heard the thing mutter a simple ‘huh’. Twilight had just made it down the steps, mane slightly frazzled from having just woken up, when Spike suddenly tackled her legs and hid behind her. He regularly peaked around her legs towards the kitchen as Twilight tried to process what was happening. She rubbed her temple with her hoof lightly as she looked to the empty couch and finally pieced everything together. Twilight let out a light chuckle as she smiled at the small dragon and said, “Spike, Ace is harmless. You don’t need to be afraid of him.” As she finished saying this she picked Spike up with her magic and placed him on her back. “Now how about we go eat some breakfast.” Ace stood there contemplating what had just happened when he heard hoofsteps making their way towards the kitchen. A second later Twilight walked through the doorway with ‘Spike’. Twilight said her good mornings as she passed him while Spike only watched him with concern evident on his face. “Morning.” Twilight levitated Spike off her back and sent him back to finishing up breakfast for the three while she began to think about the first question to ask Ace. “So, Ace. If you wouldn’t mind, I have some more questions I’d like answered.” Before Twilight could ask her first question Spike called to the two of them to say that breakfast was done. It was at this moment that Twilight’s stomach decided to make itself heard and cause Twilight to blush as she rubbed the back of her neck rustling her mane even further. “Maybe after we get a quick bite to eat.” Ace eyed his plate with an unsatisfied stare, to his disappointment and expectations there was no meat on his plate. ‘sigh well, while it’s not surprising it’s still disappointing. Makes me wonder how offensive it might be if I asked for some meat.’ His plate had a sandwich, some eggs, and hash brown. He grimaced when he lifted the bread to find flowers inside, ‘That doesn’t look appetizing in the slightest.’ He mused. “So, Twilight, don’t take this the wrong way but you wouldn’t happen to have any meat by chance would you?” The second his request left his mouth Twilight’s jaw fell and her face blanched. “Y-you eat m-meat?” she stuttered, worry evident on her face. Spike narrowed his eyes and stared at Ace. ‘Welp, can’t say I didn’t see that coming.’ Ace sighed and rubbed his eyes, “Yes I eat meat but before you get the wrong idea just let me say that pony isn’t on my menu.” Twilight let out a sigh and her form sagged a bit. “Well this is going to make my stay very inconvenient for us both.” “I-if you want I can see about asking the princess about finding meat for you.” Twilight said as she eyed the table in a quiet tone. “I’m positive that she can find a solution to this problem.” She lifted her face and attempted to smile. “There’s not much else I can do about it then, clearly this place is different from my home and eating anything sentient sounds like borderline cannibalism and that doesn’t sound to appealing to me.” When he was done talking he opened his sandwich, took the flowers out, and put the egg and hash brown inside. “This’ll do for breakfast, but I dunno how long I’ll be able to go without meat.” The three of them finished their breakfast in relative silence. When they were done Twilight had asked Spike to send the Princess a letter asking if it was possible to get Ace some meat sometime soon. With his next task Spike marched off into another room and left the two. “So Ace, there’s a question that’s been on my mind since you said you were a pirate. How did you get to the old castle?” Twilight asked. “I’m not entirely sure, the last thing I remember before waking up in the forest was fighting Blackbeard.” “Who’s Blackbeard?” “Marshall D. Teach, captain of the Blackbeard pirates, was a former subordinate of mine before he broke one of the Whitebeard Pirates rules and fled.” Ace solemnly said with conviction in his voice. “What did he do?” “Blackbeard told me that the reason he had been with the Whitebeard Pirates in the first place was because he had a better chance of finding a special fruit known as a devil fruit. He was looking for the yami yami no mi, the dark-dark fruit. It gave him control over the darkness and it’s the ultimate reason I lost to him in our fight.” “What rule did he break?” “He killed fourth division commander Thatch and stole the yami yami no mi. When I asked him why he murdered Thatch in cold blood, he said that there was no other choice. When he saw the fruit he had spent his life looking for in his friend’s hand, he rationalized it to being bad luck for Thatch, killed him, took the fruit and ran. I’ve been chasing him since.” Ace finished with renewed vigor as he thought about Blackbeard. Twilight’s ears fell, eyes widened, jaw dropped, and her face took on a look of horror Ace hadn’t thought possible. “H-he killed his f-friend?” Twilight asked disbelief clear in her voice. “B-But how could he just do that?! Why would he murder his friend in cold blood for a fruit?!” Tears had welled in Twilight’s eyes as she asked with a slight confused fury. Ace never got the chance to answer as they heard a knock at the door. Twilight rubbed her fetlock across her eyes but kept her head down as she walked out of the kitchen and towards the door. “That must be the girls.” When all she got from Ace was a confused look as a response Twilight sighed and said, “When we were walking back towards Ponyville while you were lost in your thoughts we decided we should start looking for Nightmare Moon as soon as possible.” Twilight opened the door and let her friends in. “This is our first meeting for arranging the plans in finding Nightmare Moon.” Twilight turned to her friends, sighed, and thanked them for coming. “Alright everypony, we have no idea where Nightmare Moon is hiding but it’s up to us to find her. Now we may not have many leads if any right now, but I’m confident that we can do this.” All of her friends looked between themselves sharing worried glances before Rarity spoke up. “Twilight darling, is something the matter?” Twilight’s entire demeanor seemed to falter, her ears and face fell and her form seemed to slump a little. “Sorry girls, it’s just that I was asking Ace about how he came to be at the castle earlier. He said something that chilled me to the core.” Her head hung low enough that her bangs hid her eyes as she seemed to shiver slightly. All eyes were on Ace once it was clear that Twilight was done talking about it. Two of the ponies glared at him while the other three had looks of concern on their faces. “What did you tell her?” Rainbow said as even as she could while she tried to hold back the anger she felt. “I told her what I remembered before waking up in the forest. I was fighting with a former subordinate of mine who had broken one of the Whitebeard Pirates rules. Marshall D. Teach, now also known as Blackbeard captain of the Blackbeard Pirates, killed his friend fourth division commander Thatch and stole the yami yami no mi, the dark-dark fruit.” All the ponies except for Twilight gasped. “I wanted to wait for you all to give a detailed explanation about Devil Fruits and I guess now is as good a time as any.” While Twilight still stared at the floor, her ears perked up so as not to miss any information. “First off, Devil Fruits are known as the hidden treasures of the Grand Line, there are three types of Devil Fruits, Paramecia, Logia, and Zoan. Paramecia type Devil Fruits give the users powers that can affect their body, manipulate the environment, or produce substances. Paramecia users are granted powers that can only be described as superhuman powers. My brother, Luffy, is a perfect example of a Paramecia user, he ate the gomu gomu no mi, the gum-gum fruit. It turned his entire body into rubber. Now this may not seem very useful but his body is near immune to all forms of blunt damage and weaponry and is completely immune to electrical damage. Paramecia is the most common type of fruit found.” “Zoan type Devil Fruits allow the users to turn into another species and inter-species hybrid forms at will. Zoan type fruits primarily improve physical abilities. The first Zoan user off the top of my head is the first division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, Marco the Phoenix. He ate a Mythical Zoan Fruit that allows him to transform into a blue flame phoenix.” “Finally, there’s the Logia type fruits, Logia type fruits are characterized by giving their user the ability to turn into a natural element or force of nature. The user can transform partly, or completely. If you hadn’t guessed it yet, I am a Logia. I ate the mera mera no mi, the flame-flame fruit, that’s why I wasn’t harmed by Nightmare Moon’s attacks. I changed my body into flames before I even stepped in and stopped her. With all the power comes a drawback though, naturally with Logia types they also take on any weaknesses their elements might have, and all devil fruit users lose the ability to swim.” “With that explanation out of the way, I had been chasing Blackbeard since he had killed Thatch and I had finally caught up with him on an island. We fought and I lost.” All present company excluding Twilight gasped again. “The next thing I remember was waking up in the forest.” As Ace looked at all the ponies faces, trying to determine their reactions to his tale he witnessed shock, anger, and worry in varying degrees. “Now that I’ve finished my piece, I believe you six need to start making plans on finding Nightmare Moon.” Ace walked away from where he had been standing and was now leaning on a wall close to where Twilight stood. Twilight let out a sigh as she refocused her attention on her friends, “Right, okay girls, like I said right now we don’t have any leads so we’ll probably start by exploring in the Everfree. We may not get anywhere even if we do explore the Everfree but it’s as good a place as any to look.” Twilight finished somewhat despondent. “Twilight, it’s obvious that the fact that Blackbeard killed his friend is bothering you a lot. Don’t you want to talk it through?” Pinkie asked her friend. “Maybe it’ll make you feel better.” “I’m sorry, I just don’t understand how someone could kill their friend so simply.” Twilight’s from sagged as she sat on the floor. “I now know the meaning of friendship and I just don’t understand how a fruit, even a devil fruit could be valued over it.” “Believe me Twilight, I know how you feel.” Rainbow said in a cold voice, “Hearing that made me sick to my stomach. If he were here right now I’d give him the thrashing of his life.” “I appreciate the sympathy Rainbow Dash but right now we should be coming up with back-up plans in case Nightmare either attacks or if we do end up finding her earlier or somewhere we don’t expect.” The six ponies made fallback plans and went so far as to have a few places they could meet in case they were separated if Nightmare attacked. Ace stood against the wall listening in on the plans, after all he was still helping catch Nightmare Moon. A few hours later and quite a bit of plans had been made. “Alright girls, we have plans in motion now, I suggest we explore the Everfree starting tomorrow. Now it’s about time Ace got a tour of Ponyville don’t you think?” Twilight asked her friends. “You know I’d join in but I barely got any sleep at all since you called us over so early. I’m gonna go catch up on my naps, but I’m trusting you all to keep him in check okay.” Rainbow Dash walked out the door and flew off after glaring at Ace. “Don’t you worry Ace.” Pinkie said as she held a hoof out to him, “Dashie will come around eventually. Now how about we get started on that tour!” Pinkie threw both her front legs up and confetti exploded from behind the couch and from the kitchen doorway startling the ponies. Twilight was first to act as she dived onto the couch and looked over the back followed by racing into the kitchen at full speed. She came out a few seconds later and eyed pinkie, “When and how did you get cannons into my house Pinkie Pie?” All Pinkie did was let out a giggle and start hopping towards the door. “It’s better to not ask Twilight.” AJ said. “It’s just Pinkie bein’ Pinkie.” Twilight gave Applejack a flat stare but after a few seconds her face fell with a sigh. “I’ll just figure it out later. Alright Ace it’s time we started your tour of Ponyville. Spike! The girls and I are going to start our tour of Ponyville would you mind cleaning up this mess? Thanks!” Twilight was out the door before she heard Spike’s response. Celestia sat on her throne drowning out the rambles of the noble before her. He had come to her complaining of some insignificant thing or another. There were so many more important things she could be doing right now, right off the top of her head she could be helping find Nightmare Moon’s location if not out searching in pony. Instead she was forced to sit and be subject to all the pony’s problems, while there were actually ponies with important problems they were few and far apart. Most were nobles looking to fill there bit pouch just a bit fuller, this was one of those ponies. He had come spewing this and that about demanding reparations for inconveniences placed upon him caused by reconstruction in areas close to his home. “While I am sorry it takes you a few extra minutes to get home I don’t see how it entitles you to any bits whatsoever.” She replied in a monotone, boredom having taken its toll on her these last few hours. “Now if you’ll excuse me I have more important business that needs attending to.” She stood from her throne and made her way to the doors, once outside she addressed the ponies still waiting in line, “I am sorry to inform you all that that was everypony I had time for today, but there is some important business that I must attend to.” Celestia retired to her quarters and walked onto the balcony, enjoying the light of her sun on her coat. ‘I should not be stuck in court while Luna is out there in the Nightmare’s grasp. I have to help find her.’ Celestia lowered herself and laid on the balcony resting her head in her hooves. ‘I will bring you back Luna, I just hope you are willing to.’ Celestia’s thoughts were interrupted by a voice alongside her on the balcony. “This was all your fault. You realize that yes?” “Have you only come to taunt me?” Celestia asked not turning to the source. “Hmph. As much as we’d like to, no. Tis not the reason we are here.” Nightmare Moon said. “Our reason for being in this dreadful place is because of Portgas D. Ace. Thou must know despite his current affiliation alongside your bearers he poses and even greater threat than we do. Don’t take this parlay as anything more than it is, you are still our enemy. We will still destroy you. Thou shall only have to wait longer if we must go through him as well.” “Even if Ace is a bigger threat than you I feel he’ll do the right thing Nightmare. I have the utmost confidence in Ace.” “Tch. Then it will be your fault once more when your kingdom and ponies are engulfed not in eternal night but an unforgiving inferno.” “Even the elements sensed good within him. As you know the elements have always protected this land. If he survived the storm he deserves my trust.” Once it was clear to Celestia that Nightmare was opting silence as her response she decided to speak up. “Why Nightmare? Why do you hold my sister prisoner?” “Twas your doing, Celestia. Your neglect and naiveté drove a wedge between us. Now we take what should have been ours all along.” Nightmare replied. “You realize that now with the elements back it’s only a matter of time before we… before I get Luna back right.” Celestia said as her horn started to glow. “Why drag out the inevitable?” “Please, as if thou stand any chance against us as you are now. You could not best us in your prime and now you’ve only softened with age.” Nightmare hissed. “When next we meet, it will be your downfall. Goodbye dear sister.” Nightmare ended with venom in her words as a light went off and all was silent. Celestia sighed and willed her magic away. “Don’t worry Luna,” Celestia said with a small smile, “With Twilight and her friends on our side we’ll free you from the Nightmare before too long.” Celestia closed her eyes and set her head back down on her fetlocks opting to rest for a while longer before her duties tore her away again.