Sleeping in the Light

by Wheller

Chapter 29

Chapter 29

With the blink of an eye, Kelso found herself surrounded by open air. The sun was shining; there was a pleasant breeze on the air. The temperature was a pleasant twenty five degrees or so, and she could feel sand beneath her hooves. Were it not for the tropical jungle behind her, she would have assumed that they’d returned to South Island. Judging by the temperature they were somewhere in the Southern Hemisphere, making it late autumn or early winter. May? Or maybe June?

‘Where do you think we are? Salaya? Maybe?’ Kelso asked as she glanced around.

‘Possible, climate seems about right, same with the jungle over there… kind of far from Equestria though’, Viola said as she sat down on the beach and looked out at the ocean.

Sparky, Dizzy, and Hopely fanned out from the rest of their group, looking around for the focus of the memory. Who or whatever it may be was not apparent to them at the moment. Kelso found herself left alone with Viola, and sat down next to her. ‘You okay, Viola?’ Kelso asked as she leaned up against her friend and put her foreleg around her.

‘Hmm?’ Viola asked as she looked up at her. Viola looked exhausted, just like the rest of them. She’d spaced out for a moment, and looked at Kelso blankly. ‘Oh… yeah, I’m fine, really’, Viola said unconvincingly. Kelso frowned at her and shook her head.

‘Viola…’ Kelso began before being interrupted.

‘Oh, I’m tired, to say that for sure, but I can hold out a while longer. Honestly though? I think that was the point of all this’, Viola said with a shrug.

‘What do you mean?’ Kelso asked, raising an eyebrow.

‘You remember back to when the so called “Unknowable Mare”, said that she’d show us the events leading up to the founding of the Republic? Well, I can tell you she most certainly did not do it out of the kindness of her heart. We all saw what she did to Pinkie Pie, how she took pleasure out of it, I don’t know what she’s doing, or what her plan is, but whatever it was, I’m pretty sure she wanted us exhausted so we can’t do anything about it when she executes whatever she’s planning. Call me paranoid, Ana, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that this Unknowable Mare is malevolent’, Viola said with a look of worry on her face.

‘No kidding’, Kelso said with a nod. ‘Hell we’re friends with a rocket scientist to!’ she added, lazily pointing a hoof over in Sparky’s direction.

‘We’ll worry about that later though, now, I just want to know where we are’.

There was a rustle of jungle foliage, and Kelso and Viola turned around to discover none other than Rainbow Dash and Applejack dragging several bundles of bamboo with their teeth out into the jungle and into a pile on the beach. This had to have been where they had ended up after the sinking of the SS Canterlot.

‘Hey AJ? I know you and Rarity like to butt heads every now and then, but you think you can try to put it aside? It’s not helping, we’re all worried about being stuck here, and fighting isn’t going to make it any better’, Rainbow Dash said.

Applejack raised an eyebrow at the pegasus mare, almost as if she didn’t believe these words were coming from her. ‘Since when did ya become tha voice o’ reason?’ she asked dumbfoundedly.

‘Heh, yeah, I know right? You know things are tough when I’m the voice of reason around here’, Rainbow Dash said with a chuckle. In the distance, they heard a twig snap and they turned to the jungle. ‘You came back awfully quick Rarity; I hope you got plenty of food!’ Rainbow Dash cried out, her eyes growing large at the mention of food. However, Rainbow Dash did not receive a response. ‘Rarity?’ Rainbow Dash asked again, trotting over to the edge of the jungle and peering in. ‘Rarity? Where are you?’

Caught unaware by a winged figure, Rainbow Dash’s assailant was on top of her in a flash and forced a hessian cloth bag over her head. Rainbow Dash let out a muffled scream in surprise as the figure took her down to the ground as they tied the bag tightly around her neck. Applejack too, shared the same fate, but she did not go down without a fight. She instinctively kicked hard with her back legs, sending one of her winged assailants flying through the air and skidding to a halt mere millimetres from Kelso and Viola.

Several more of the winged ponies leapt at Applejack, knocking her to the ground and tying her legs together to keep her from struggling. While another one, seemingly the leader of the group jabbed at Rainbow Dash with a sharpened stick, forcing her to walk.

Kelso and Viola could only helplessly watch as the two mares were dragged into the jungle. This had already happened before, and there was nothing they could do about it.

Viola glanced down at winged pony at her hooves, studying him carefully and taking in every detail. He was most certainly not an equestrian pegasus. ‘Cheval?’ Viola asked, raising an eyebrow at the scruffy figure of the unconscious cheval before her. That was everything she needed. The tropical island, the scruffy inhabitants… Viola knew exactly where they were. ‘Sainte-Hélène! The prison island!’ Viola cried out as the memory around them began to fade.

…

The scenery of the jungle island faded away, the natural scene was gone and was replaced by an artificial one of steel and concrete. They were in a workshop of some kind. Standing at the far end of the room, hovering over the workbench was a schäferhund, Heinrich Büchsenmacher himself.

Kelso trotted up to him to take a look at what he was working on. She noticed that there was a large metal collar around his neck, and jaunting from the side of it were two manipulator arms that he controlled with his teeth and the movement of his head. Before him, lying on the work bench was a half assembled submachine gun, and the schäferhund gunsmith worked with such meticulous precision that it would not be long before he had the weapon assembled.

The way that Heinrich assembled this weapon was certainly not an easy one. Kelso was amazed that he could pull it off at all. She figured that it had to have come from lifelong training to enter this profession. She didn’t know why she was surprised; he was a schäferhund after all. Kelso smirked, if only Otto could be this useful.

It dawned upon her; Otto’s surname was Büchsenmacher as well. This couldn’t possibly be... could it? She turned her head back towards Viola and the others and opened her mouth to speak. ‘Viola? Hopely? What was Otto’s grandfather’s name?’ she asked.

‘Hell if I know, I don’t pay that much attention to him’, Hopely said with a shrug. ‘He’s a mostly useless slacker’.

Viola merely nodded her head in agreement. She was not sure, but everything seemed to point to this being Otto’s grandfather.

‘Heinrich?!’ Twilight Sparkle’s voice called out as she entered the workshop. Heinrich opened his mouth and pulled away from the manipulators and turned to her, offering a small smile.

‘Ja? Twilight?’ Heinrich asked as he turned to face her pushing the manipulator arms out of his face.

‘Have any cigarettes?’ Twilight asked as she trotted up to him. ‘I’ve run out’.

Heinrich merely shook his head. ‘I had intended to get some next time I went out, but I have not had the opportunity’, Heinrich said with a frown, knowing that Twilight would not be pleased to hear this.

Twilight frowned at him and shook her head in disappointment. ‘Looks like I’m going to have to be the one who does everything around here’, Twilight said with a huff of annoyance. ‘I’ll be going out to get more; I’ll be back in an hour or so’.

Heinrich merely nodded his head in affirmation. ‘My wallet is on the table by the front door, take as much money as you need for them’, he said with a smile as he turned back to his work.

Twilight said nothing, but turned her away from the schäferhund and headed out of the workshop to the front door. Kelso and company were quick to follow. As they reached the front door, Twilight spotted where Heinrich had left his wallet and opened it up with her telekinesis, taking all the money from it and pocketing it in her saddlebag. ‘Humph, idiot’, Twilight said, rolling her eyes as she took all of Heinrich’s money without a second thought.

‘Wow’, Dizzy said with a frown. ‘What a bitch!’

Kelso had never seen a more horrible sight in her entire life. From what little she had seen of Heinrich Büchsenmacher, she could tell that he was a genuinely kind individual who put far too much trust in others, and here was Twilight Sparkle, robbing him blind.

Twilight pushed open the front door and headed out onto the streets of Trotterdam and let out a sigh of annoyance. ‘What a sap!’ Twilight cried out in frustration. ‘I could put a gun to his head and demand his entire life savings, and not only would he happily give them over, he’d tell me he loves me while doing it’.

Sparky raised an eyebrow at Twilight, all of them were wondering who Twilight was speaking to, and then she glanced over to Twilight’s bulging saddlebags. The Tome of Alhazred was poking out the top. Twilight was talking to the book.

‘I don’t know what worries me more, the fact that Twilight Sparkle’s a complete bitch that talks to inanimate objects, or the fact that she ended up being the first Prime Minister of the Equestrian Republic’, Hopely said with a frown.

‘I wouldn’t call the book inanimate; it most certainly has a will of its’ own’, Dizzy said with a shrug.

‘In any case, they most certainly left this part out of the history books’, Sparky said as the group continued to follow Twilight down the street, walking past a payphone and into an alley.

‘Like you know what’s written in the history books, Spark’, Hopely said with a grin.

‘Piss off Hopely’, Sparky said rolling her eyes at the earth pony mare. Twilight continued on her way without much more than the occasional mumbles and complaints over Heinrich, before she rounded the corner and bumped head long into a passing cheval.

‘Watch where you’re going!’ Twilight cried out, looking angry enough to bash the unfortunate sap in the face with her hooves.

‘Je suis désolé’, the cheval said, giving a respectful nod and taking a step aside allowing Twilight to walk by him. Twilight said nothing, merely giving an annoyed huff at him and continuing on her way.

Sparky’s attention turned towards the cheval, however, and she gave him a good look over. He wore his jet black mane in a spiked up fashion, his tail was cropped short, his coat was a dark grey, and the cheval’s dark green eyes did not sway even a millimetre away from Twilight as she walked away. He wore a dark brown overcoat with many pockets on the outside, the cheval opened up his overcoat and pulled a cigarette out and light up. Sparky’s eyes widened as she discovered a Police Internationale badge on the inside of his coat.

The cheval took a long drag on his cigarette and began to follow Twilight, making sure to stay back out of her sight.

There was something off about this cheval, the look in his eyes was cold, harsh, unforgiving, Twilight may have been a terrible person under the influence of the Tome of Alhazred, but she didn’t have any say in that matter, the Tome was controlling her, and as the passive observers continued to study this cheval, they knew one thing for certain.

This cheval meant her harm.

He rounded the corner, and stopped in front of the payphone. He pulled a small coin out of his pocket and slid it into the slot, picking up the receiver headset and placing it over his ear.

‘Opérateur, un message pour La Police Internationale’, the cheval said, waiting for a moment as the operator connected him. ‘C’est Inspecteur Pierre La Roche, je l’ai trouvé’, he said before hanging the phone up.

Kelso and Sparky turned to Hopely for translation; she was the only one of their party who spoke cheval. Hopely looked at her friends nervously and the glanced over to Twilight as she walked away from them. ‘Oh Twilight… you have no idea what’s coming after you’, Hopely said with a frown.

Comments

[Gerald Greytalon V]

1.bp.blogspot.com/_3IjRgoGWUBo/ShMvNg-BQaI/AAAAAAAAALo/jordPZiBlfg/s400/first-post.jpg

This story is kinda getting a little confusing

[Matigno]

Yeah ! A new chapter ! I thoight it would never be released
And by the way, : "Pierre La Roche, je l'ai trouvé" --> "je l'ai trouvée" , 'cause Twilight's a girl

[Ghrathryn]

861964

Well, I don't know exactly what's happened to the Princesses at the moment, but Dash, AJ and Rarity obviously survived the sinking of the ship and ended up on what would become the prison island used by the Republic, captured by the locals.

Meanwhile Twilight's had her head screwed around by a book that's got some dark enchantment on it and she's currently out of Equestria and probably starting to make 'allies' for a take over attempt. We know from when the group encountered the RIs (replicated intelligences) of the Mane 6 beyond Pinkie that she does end up killing her brother and sister-in-law and from hints about the history that she is one of the early presidents of the Republic so she obviously survives getting grabbed by the international police that now know where she is.

It's likely that Cheval plays some fairly major part in the foundation of the Republic... and if this is in order, Twi's biological grandmother from when Equestria had 1940-1960's era Earth tech has been found, played her part and had her RI disconnected from everything else already.

[KingOfTheMuffins]

862056

Wait, is Emerald Sparkle by chance related to Twilight? Reading stuff with minimal sleep doesn't exactly help making connections easy.

[Ghrathryn]

862091

Yeah, a gods alone know how many greats grandmother. I'm guessing that family tree is kinda complicated given Emerald was alive before Luna went war happy and got herself a millennium on the moon, but if you read the Emerald Sparkle stuff it says she had a foal that she left behind when she locked herself in the facility under what would become Ponyville.

[SuperPinkBrony12]

Just what does it take to get rid of that book, I hope no one else falls victim to its corruption.

[KingOfTheMuffins]

862192

My suspicions have been confirmed...

[Wheller]

862091

Emerald Sparkle is Twilight's Grandmother^15

[Zero Moment]

Sometimes, I feel like I'm the only one who has read the whole series.

[Spiffers]

862465 That's only one and a half generations every hundred years... I would've expected it to be more along the lines of 25 to 30... at least. Unless the influence that Celestia put over Equestria also allowed ponies to recreate later and live longer?

[Davidp1522]

881927 I know right?