//------------------------------// // One Last Piece // Story: A Wish That Could Be // by Faithful Brony //------------------------------// Each day holds a surprise. But only if we expect it can we see, hear, or feel it when it comes to us. Let's not be afraid to receive each day's surprise, whether it comes to us as sorrow or as joy It will open a new place in our hearts, a place where we can welcome new friends and celebrate more fully our shared humanity. -Henri Nouwen The day was winding down and the sun was reaching the end of its daily journey across the sky. The princesses were having dinner with the group when Applejack and Rob came walking through the door. The group greeted them as they got closer to the table. The new arrivals chose seats right next to each other. Rob pulled out the chair for Applejack like a gentleman. She blushed majorly before simply saying thank you and siting down. Rob sat down right after and looked lovingly at each other. They then noticed the group staring at them almost shockingly. "What, what are ya'll staring at? Do I got something stuck to my teeth or on my face, Applejack asked as she was confused by the looks they were giving. "Why darling if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were in love," Rarity said dreamily to her. "What, I-I don't know what your talking about," Applejack said now a little flustered as she stumbled on her words. This cause the group to see right through her lie. "Yeah you do, when you were back on that mountain. you and Rob kissed majorly and couldn't stop hugging each other. Your definitely in love AJ," Pinkie Pie said as she took a huge bite of her food. "How did you know all of that Pinkie, you weren't even there? You couldn't possibly have known that," Applejack said shocked. "Pinkie sense," she responded simply. Everyone else face palmed or in ponies case, face hoofed. "She is right though, you are terrible at lying. Oh my stars, this means you two are an item now. That is simply marvelous, and romantic. Oh I cant wait to make you two proper matching suits for the Grand Galloping Gala tomorrow." Rarity started talking about different designs when the two decided to pipe in before things got out of hand. "We only kissed twice, one of those was after we got the artifact and got out of the cave. It was a spur of the moment thing, it doesn't mean we're official yet or anything of the sort. We just happen to like each other enough to explore the possibility," Applejack said as she placed her hoof on his hand. he held it in response. "We've just noticed that we share things in common and some similar interests. We're going to wait until we know for sure," Rob finished for her as they looked at the group. "Oh, well you two keep sitting there staring at each other like a couple of love birds. We'll be waiting to hear about it when you decide. In the mean time, I'm going to fix you two up a matching clothing sets for the Gala. Maybe I'll even come up with some concepts for your wedding clothes as well," Rarity said as she started giggling. Applejack and Rob both turned at the same time and said No quite loudly. This didn't bode well or help their situation and made everyone Laugh. The group commented on the adorableness of the two which only prompted Rob and AJ to blush simultaneously. "So how was the excavation by the way? Did anything interesting happened while you two were out with Russel collecting the artifact," Twilight asked after calming down from laughter? She was definitely intrigued by this unforeseen turn of event with the unlikely couple. "Well it was interesting to say the least. It was freezing cold for one, I could barely feel my fingers I was so cold. However that was the least of our problems," Rob explained which Applejack nodded her head to. The ponies listened closer to the rest of it. The two explained how they got captured and how Russel quickly saved them before they became a changeling meal. About the puzzles they had to solve and lastly the battle and their escape. The whole time the group was showing looks of excitement, worry, and confusion at the different legs of the story. Twilight had a deeper question though. "You said Russel went to give the item to Daring Do after he sent you back here. Did he say where he was going after that," Twilight asked further as part of her task by Celestia? "No, he didn't actually, maybe he went to find the next Artifact. I reckon he's more determined than ever. He may even be close to collecting the last piece by the looks of it. What does he have now like nine or something," Applejack said as she took a bite of the food that was brought to her during the story. "I think he has ten now according to my math. He has two more to go," Twilight said correcting her. "Well according to the big stone dragon chair with the weird symbols he deciphered. It gave him some clues about the next artifact. It was being all vague about it though. It said that the next artifact was an amulet that was capable of magnifying power. Like it was meant for Unicorns to use. It makes them stronger instantly, but it has side effects. The unicorn that wears it is corrupted unless they have the proper magical shielding. It didn't really give him any specifics on the location of where it is though. So he could be a while," Rob said explaining what Russel had stated to him and Applejack. "I cant think of any artifact that does that. Did it at least give a description about what it looks like," Celestia asked deciding to become a part of the conversation? "If it did, we didn't see it. Russel was the one that was figuring out the language on the chair. We were busy keeping an eye out for anything that might pop out at us. Its a good thing to because we were ready for that ambush," Rob said before yawning. "I'm just glad that we are back now. I like the adventure that we get to go on as a group, but I still prefer the simple part of my life more. I'll stick to bucking apple trees for right now," Applejack said as she finished eating her dinner. The group continued chatting for the better part of an hour before everyone started to feel a little tired. "Well, I think that's enough excitement for me for one day. I'm going to bed, Applejack said as she said good night to the group. Before she left Rob walked up to her, caressed her face gently, then laid a passionate kiss on her lips. They held the kiss like this for what seemed like forever even though in was only a few second in reality. They finally parted and Rob could see a glazed look in her eyes after reveling in the feeling. "Sweet dreams AJ," Rob said lovingly as she finally shook the effect out of her head. "I definitely could get use to that," Applejack said as she caressed his cheek too before leaving. The group gushed at them some more before they said good night and went to their respective rooms. Celestia and the Elder Dragon Remained behind however as he seemed to have something on his mind. "What is it Elder Rockjaw, is something bothering you," Celestia asked wondering what was the matter? "All of a sudden, I feel like something is off. Its strange, its almost as if I'm sensing a bad storm but I don't know where its coming from," the Elder Dragon said in a worried tone. "I don't think anything bad is going to happen. We are scheduled to have clear sky's for the next few days because of the treaty re-signing and the Gala. We will both be presenting it at the Gala Tomorrow and the royal guard will be on full alert. Nothing bad is going to happen to anyone as long as this event continues," Celestia stated trying to ease the dragons mind. "I don't know, maybe your right. It could be that I am just use to getting these feelings. My race has been under constant threat of attack, I'm going try and get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow Princess," Rockjaw said as he headed for his room. Princess Celestia bid him good night and went to her room too. The feeling the Elder Dragon was having was still their even as he entered his room and laid down. It mostly surrounded his student but he couldn't quite explain why it was there. He tried to push it to the back of his mind though and fell asleep soon after. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Russel had teleported to Daring Do's museum like he had done so many time before. When he arrived he could see more of the exhibit setup now laid out perfectly. Daring Do seemed to have it coming together quite nicely. When she finally came out from behind a frame she was setting up, Daring noticed his presence. "Hello again stranger, so how goes the hunt? Did you find anymore artifacts," Daring Do asked excited to have another piece secured. "Yeah but I also have a couple of questions I need answered too." "Shoot, whats your question," Daring Do stated as Russel handed her the armor piece. "I found some ancient draconian text written in the ante chamber I found that in. It talked about one of the other pieces specifically an amulet. The bad news is I don't think its in some dungeon waiting to be found. It gives reason to believe that the ponies who made that burial chamber took the amulet for testing. They were trying to figure out if it could be used for a different purpose. I think it may now be somewhere on the pony market. Maybe in a pawn shop or even some ponies collection possibly. Can you to talk to your sources and see if an amulet designed to increase magical power has come up on the market recently?" Russel waited for her to finish setting in the next piece. She soon returned to him with another bag of bit in hoof. "I've seen and heard about a lot of different amulets. That ones going to take a bit of research to figure out. In the mean time, I found the location to the helmet. Your probably aware that Commander Hurricane was leader of Cloudsdale. It was called Pegasopolis before being changed a century or two after the princesses were crowned leaders. A few years after his death, a hall of heroes was erected in the Cloudsdale Museum to honor fallen Pegasus warriors. In the center of it all is his armor which is still highly coveted by them. His helmet happens to be the other artifact piece I need. It doesn't help though that I've asked if I could examine it to prove my theory and they turned me down. I went back several times and even with all the contributions I've made to their establishment they still wouldn't let me touch it. I need you to go to Cloudsdale to confirm that it is in fact the piece I believe it to be," Daring Do requested. "And if it turns out to be genuine," Russel asked plainly. "Then I need you to lift it while no pony is noticing and bring it back here once you've secured the piece," Daring explained. "Do you think that if a random creature that most Ponies hardly see, walk right into the museum and takes one of their most treasured artifacts that its going to go unnoticed? I'm big and clunky and invisibility only helps so much. There's a pretty good chance that I could get caught. Not only that but even if I succeed, somepony is going to be suspicious that you got a helmet that look exactly like the one that just so happened to be missing from their museum. How do you plan to get around that," Russel asked seriously questioning the plan? "You will take this one which I had made to look exactly like it and replace the real one with this. That way no pony is the wiser and no real harm is done," Daring Retorted. She hoofed over the replica and Russel left with the bit and helmet in hand. he shrunk the helmet and put it away before depositing the bits into another bag on his armor belt. As he took flight he mulled over and thought, what bad luck it was to be in this situation. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX several hours later in Cloudsdale, half way passed midnight Russel now sat outside a very big museum that had a very Greek like building style. The Pegasus building style was really reminiscent of that type of society. It was all made to look very big and imposing but he had seen much bigger architecture. He had been watching the guards movements ever since he got there and had figured out there passing schedules. He saw a half a minute gap where he could teleport to one of the doors and sneak in before the next guard passed around. When the next opportunity came up, Russel teleported to the door and turned invisible before entering. He began creeping through the halls of the public building which was closed down for the night. It didn't help that there were a ton of guards patrolling the buildings inside and the vicinity around it. The section that he needed to be in wasnt all that hard to find to be honest. They must have really respected their hero's by the looks of things as the section looked completely immaculate and dirt free compared to the rest of the building. Russel was making sure to be as light on his feet as possible but it was hard to do so as he was big and wearing bulky armor. As he round a corner he nearly ran right into a guard. Russel was barely able to back-step before he got to close. As the giant hybrid maneuvered around the passing pony, he waited for the pony to leave before heading further down the hall. He took a right like he had been instructed to then proceeded through a door at the end of the hallway. Sure enough when Russel went through, there was the majority of the Cloudsdale's champions on display for the world to see. There were many Wonderbolt costumes as well as proud military figure and heroes in the Pegasus race. True to what Daring had said, at the far end in the most flashy, gaudy display he had ever seen. The armor sat on a ponnequin that was carved to look exactly like Commander Hurricane down to smallest feature. There was a thick glass display case surround it. He slowly went to lift it as to not produce to much noise. When he got the glass case removed he set it to the side and began gently removing the helmet but without knocking anything loose. He finally got the helmet removed after fidgeting with buckles for several minutes. Cursing the unfortunate side effect of being a giant and having huge fingers, he shrunk the helmet and put it away. He then pulled out the replica and placed it on the Ponnequin head, fastening it on. After putting the replacement on, Russel picked up the glass case and slowly put it back on while trying to make as little noise as possible. Once he was finished, he turn to leave only to start to feel lightheaded. His eyes flashed green and went completely stalk still. After a minute he turned back to normal and shook it off feeling dizzy as he came to his senses. The voices were louder and really close now as he could see shadows coming towards his location. He could not leave the room now as he would be caught so he did the only thing he could do and turned invisible. He found the most secluded spot behind one of the displays and ducked down. He listen as a couple of ponies came through the room talking to someone behind them. "We're happy to host you and give a tour of our fine museum. Its not every day we get a princess in here your highness," the ponies said as the princess in question came through the door behind them. It was none other than the princess of the night. "The pleasure is mine, my sisters say I must catch up on the several hundred years of history that I missed. This museum would be a great method towards completing that. So teach me what you know," Princess Luna said reserved but slightly enthusiastic at the same time. "Well than this next stop will be perfect for that. This is the Hall Of Heroes, a room dedicated to the greatest examples of the Pegasus race throughout our recorded history. This hall houses weapons, armor, and the equipment of some of our warriors, and heroes. It even has its own section for the Wondebolts. We have all the different styles of suits as well as a lot of original memorabilia. However our proudest piece is that of Commander Hurricanes battle armor. This armor protected him through many battle and brought him countless victories. It is said that the helmet was forged in the earliest forms of pony magic and it seemed to give him telepathic power. Whenever he wore it, he was able to read the minds of his opponents and predict their moves before they made them. Of course some of us believe that it was just a natural ability he possessed and that the armor has no real power. We don't know however because it has never been tested," the museum tour guide said as they came to a halt at the display. Luna looked up at the grand display and examined it for a couple of minutes before saying anything. "This doesn't look all that impressive, why was it never tested," Luna asked wondering why nopony ever thought to try? "Because after Commander Hurricane died, his armor was considered a national treasure by the Pegasus that were around at the time. They locked it up for a long time, saying anypony that was not Pegasus was not allowed to touch it. a couple hundred years ago was the first time any pony from another race was allowed to see the artifact under the condition that nopony was allowed to touch it. we would like to get it tested now though but that would have to get approved by our superiors first. they own the museum, the tour guide said as he stared at the piece himself. "Well, I guess I will have to talk with them about that the next time I get the chance. I would now like to see your Wonderbolt Exhibit," the princess requested as she pointed to the section she wanted to see. "Ah yes, we got many fantastic pieces in there. Right this way," the guide said as he led her down a hall to the side of the room. Luna stopped and looked back for a minute as if she sense another presence in the room before brushing it off and moving on. As soon as they were out of ear shot Russel let out a long breath that he didn't even know he was holding. Relieved that he didn't get caught, he quickly ran off in the direction he needed to go to get out of there. He took flight after he got out of there and flew full speed back to the Daring Do's own museum. When he finally arrived back at her building, she was standing outside about to lock the place up when she noticed him. "Wow, that was fast, I thought you would be gone for at least another day or two. Did you get it," the explorer pony asked not bothering to know the details. "Yes, and nopony will know its gone. It wasnt easy to get either, I was almost caught. Now did you happen to locate the amulet while I was retrieving this," Russel asked as he pulled out the helmet and quickly drained its magic before handing it over to her. "Yeeeeah, about that, the trail is about as cold as a Windago. After you left I sent letters to several pony while I skimmed through some historical records. The only thing I was able to learn was that the amulet somehow after traveling through many hooves. After that it ended up in a shop called Antique Oddities. I sent a letter to the shop and when he wrote back, he said that he might have had something fitting its description. However about a year ago he sold it to a cloaked unicorn. He sold it to somepony wearing a cloak and that all he could tell me. I couldn't find anything else after that except this article in the Ponyville Inquiry," Daring said as she handed him the article. After that she hoofed him his payment then flew off to go home. Russel looked at the article and immediately recognize one of the ponies on it when he watched the first season of My Little Pony. It was Trixie except it looked like she was facing off against Twilight in a magic duel and winning. He then noticed the amulet on her neck and read the article. When he finished reading it he learned that it was discovered shortly after he came here. More importantly though, he now knew where it had to be. "If Twilight took it from Trixie after their encounter, she more than likely would have given it to Princess Celestia. after seeing the amulet she'd definitely sensed the incredible power coming from it. Celestia would locked it up in a place where no one could get it. The safest place in that regard has to be the castle, looks like its time to for me to go back. I just hope she'll be willing to give it over to me," Russel said as he took off into the air again. He headed back to the castle, ready to end his search and get the last item. Soon his goal would come to fruition and that gave him a sense of calm knowing that his life long mission would soon be complete.