Skeletons of the Past

by Sturrn

Revelry Denied

Chapter Eleven
Revelry Denied

This Chapter is pending a re-write.

I walked through the streets of Canterlot much worse for wear. ‘I killed him...’ That thought had been sending my mind into absolute disarray all night. I had been getting in almost non-stop fights with ponies since I woke up in this world, and now I would have to explain how I killed one with my own hands. I looked at the offending appendages as I neared the castle. When I finally got there I was a greeted by an actual Lunar Guard, wearing dark blue armor and saying a simple “Welcome to the castle.”

I thanked her and continued on to the castle entrance looking for the one pony that I could talk to about recent events. Luna probably would’ve been a better choice, but Celestia just seemed to have a better grasp on things than her sister, and she had made a bone pun in court so I figured she liked me. I asked a passing pony if he had the time, much to my annoyance it took him a second to calm down from being scared by the ‘monster’ as he called me. It was just past four thirty in the morning, and I was making great time comparatively to the start of the gala itself. I didn’t know exactly when it was supposed to start, but I figured that I was making great time nevertheless.

Eventually my efforts paid off and my search for Celestia came to an end in front of what I could have only guessed was her bedroom. A pair of heavily armored solar guards with halberds drawn were stationed at the door. I approached and tried to open the door, I knew they wouldn’t let me in that easily but I figured they might have been new on the job. “Halt!” The pair shouted unnecessarily as they crossed their weapons in front of the door. “Nopony is allowed to enter the Princess’ chambers right now.”

I gave a large sigh. “I need to talk to the Princess, and no, it can’t wait.” I said, my words dripping with venom.

He maintained his emotionless expression as he began to go over court hours during which I could visit. I tried to cut him off but he kept talking and his partner just stood there. Finally I just blew up. “Okay I get it!” I shouted making them tense up and bring their halberds closer. “I don’t care if I look like a tool, I’m pulling rank on this one.” I said only slightly calmer as I pulled out the twin amulets the Princesses had given me. “Now open the door.” I knew he was just jerking me around, Celestia had told all the guards about me, he was clearly hiding something if the guard was willing to pull that act.

They each took an amulet in hoof and examined them before silently opening the door. I quickly retrieved my possessions from them and walked through the door without a word before they closed it behind me. The room was large and likely well-decorated, but at the time I wasn’t really that interested in seeing what was in it. “Princess!” I called out. There was no answer so I searched around. After a few minutes I opened her closet, truly unthinking of the invasion of her privacy. It was a good thing I had, as the closet held a large trap door that was left open, and revealed a staircase completely devoid of any light whatsoever.

I slowly started descending the stairs, and several minutes later I finally came upon a light at the end: a single, large chamber. Standing in the well lit room, with plenty of science equipment surrounding her, was Princess Celestia. “Hello Rorke.” She said turning around to greet me with a subdued and gentle smile. “Welcome to my archive.” Her smile didn’t last too long though, as she took a closer look at me. “What happened to you?”

I didn’t see a chair, even if I had I probably would have still sat on the floor like I did. “Yesterday was hell, plain and simple.” She simply walked over and sat down on the ground next to me.

I began to describe the entire day in detail up until the first death. “The story doesn’t end there, but I would like to hear what you think.” I said calmly, even with my head abuzz with thoughts.

She put a hoof to her chin and pondered for a moment, her eyes closed in thorough concentration. A minute later they popped open. “This isn’t what I want to hear about my little ponies.” She said with a note of sadness. “Undead or not, you have helped Equestria in ways others could not. That isn’t what you want to hear though, is it?” I shook my head like a child wanting validation for their actions. “If you were wondering whether you would be charged for the crusader’s death, you won’t, there isn’t proof that his death even took place.”

“Why?” I questioned, even with the answer being rather obvious.

“He killed himself trying to kill you, even if you had killed the stallion yourself you wouldn’t have been convicted, not in my court.” She said firmly.

“Then perhaps I should tell the rest of the story.” I replied sadly.

I managed to get through the whole story, relaying my feelings as they had been throughout the events and immediately following them. “Every bastard in society gets a grave.” I noted. “Moroes didn’t deserve one, but I gave him one anyway.” I paused for a moment. “So, what happens now?”

“I think it’s obvious.” She said as her horn flared with light and I was pulled to my feet. She accompanied me on my vertical ascent and when we hit the peak of my height something I wasn’t expecting happened. She reared onto her hind legs, putting her just a head taller than myself, and gave me a strong hug. “Griffin may be able to do it without thought, and so may many of my guards as well, but it takes a real stallion to feel the bite of guilt after taking a life. Those like Griffin just take the life and block it out until they can’t anymore, and though I wish it didn’t have to be, the ponies within the guard are trained to do the same.” She released me and used her hoof to raise my gauntlet up. “If we may venture a thought for a moment, I would like you to be better able to handle yourself in a fight.”

I raised my gemmed metal glove out of her hoof and looked at it closely. The gemmed knuckles twinkled just a bit as I stared at them. “How?”

“I’m going to take the lock off of your gauntlet.” She said as she walked over to a bookshelf.

I stopped her mid-stride and leaned down a bit to give her a quick hug around her neck. “Thank you.” I said quietly as an honest-to-god blush spread across her face.

“You’re most welcome.” She replied before turning back to and pulling a book from a nearby shelf with her magic. “If you would hoof me your gauntlet, I’ll begin.” I pulled the armor off my hand to reveal the wrappings I had placed there yesterday. Her magic took hold of it and she began, while I merely stood in silence behind her, waiting. Several minutes later the gauntlet was returned to me and Celestia looked drained as a result of her efforts.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

She looked at me happily. “I am, removing the ward wasn’t a problem, but I took the liberty of filling up your gems with new magic. I forgot how much work Rorke put into making that glove what it is. The charge those gems can hold would probably power the ‘Liberator’ for months, if not a whole year.”

I felt a question creep up. “Doesn’t that mean that the gems would have to be huge, like the one powering the guard forge?” She left my question hanging in the air, unanswered.

“I will be giving you a basic speed course on how to use magic.”

I wasn’t really sure how to respond to the statement. Was I supposed to be excited? How did non-unicorns use magic? I heard that pirate had managed to do it. “How?” I asked plainly.

She pulled another book down from the shelf and turned back to me. “There are several types of magic as you may know. Enchanted items for instance don’t require a unicorn to create. A passive magic user can make them, and in fact can sometimes imbue stronger enchantments on an item than magically active races can. The scripture on your gauntlet is a list of spells, written in the anubites’ holy language.”

That lit up a whole new line of thinking for me. “What do you know about religion? Sturrn said that back in the day ponies used to worship you.” She had a little smile on her face.

“It’s true.” She explained. “Long ago my sister and I were held aloft as goddesses of the day and night, but eventually it felt like we had actually lost touch with the fact that we weren’t and still aren’t. We are just long lived mortals.”

“I was never really a religious person back on earth, I remember that much. Please,continue, you were talking about the script on the glove.”

“Of course. A caster like you would normally use words as a catalyst to do magic. However I don’t actually know the words that Griffin uses and what kind of training is required to do it, so until a time comes when I can learn his technique you will be learning the unicorn way.”

“Does that mean magical kindergarten?” I asked haphazardly.

“No.” She said solemnly. “I wouldn’t subject you to that kind of treatment. The institution in charge of magical kindergarten only does what is absolutely needed to instill concentration and discipline within the young ponies.”

I got a feeling that I truly didn’t want to know what went on in those classrooms. “Okay, then what?”

She conjured a guard training dummy and placed it a few feet in front of me. “You will repeat the words on your gauntlet and bring your will forward to attack the target.” She patted the dummy with a hoof.

“One problem, I can’t read this stuff, it’s just a bunch of squiggly lines.”

She squinted at the lines. “I’m afraid I can’t help you on the actual translation beyond telling you the meaning of the precious few words I can remember.” She strolled across the smooth stone floor and took a long look at my glove. “I’m afraid many of these words are lost on me, not even the archeologist of today could translate this, but this first phrase here,” She poked a set of squiggles right in the middle of the area where the wrist part met the hand. “Means ‘earth’, but I’m afraid that is as much as I remember, they didn’t teach it to those outside of the church. The only reason I know was because Rorke took the time to actually teach me a bit. There was also a severe hindrance when learning to speak it, the language absolutely requires an anubite tongue to form the words properly.”

“What do you mean it requires an anubite tongue!?” I exclaimed angrily.

She was quick to respond. “The words simply do not form correctly without one. It seems you have it under control though.”

‘What is she talking about...’ I thought silently for a moment before unanimously deciding through a mental vote that I was an idiot. “I have a tongue.” I said slowly.

“It seems you obtained one during your hospital visit, do you know how?”

“No, but I have a feeling it has something to do with a dream I had.”

She ushered for me to keep talking as the alicorn trotted over to the bookcase once more. “Well, I usually end up watching moments in Rorke’s life when I go to sleep, like a movie.” She had pulled out a book, but when I said that she placed the book back and walked over as I continued. “One of Rorke’s gods, I think it was Ra or something, gave me, as in ME not Rorke, a prophecy to complete.”

“And what was the prophecy?” She asked with apparent interest.

“Seek the spire of sand and wind” I said with barely any effort at remembering. “bring life to the barren land, claim the sun and earth. With those task done I’m supposed to ‘stand against those that would herald the end.’”

She stood for a moment in contemplation. “I’m unsure of what the prophecy specifically means, but I know an aspect of it I will be telling a certain griffin when he arrives today. That’s enough distractions though. Take a stance and just speak out what you think the word looks like, remember it isn’t an actual word though, it is merely a series of enunciation.” She instructed as she pointed to the dummy.

‘What does that even mean?’ I thought to myself. ‘If it isn’t an actual word, what is it? Do I just growl and hope I fling a rock at it?’ I stared down at the ‘word’ and tried to say it without actually saying a word. regardless of my efforts it didn’t work, it didn’t work that time, or the next, or even the one after that. One hundred and twenty six attempts later I finally felt that I was getting closer. The more I tried, the more it sounded like something Rorke would say, the gems seemed to agree as they released a feeling of pressure around them. I tried to remember what Rorke sounded like when he was fighting that creature in the temple. It took me a while to do so, but after sitting in memory lane for a bit I lifted my gauntlet and gave it my all.

My best wasn’t good enough though, not by a long shot. I stopped trying after that.

“Have you been in contact with Twilight lately?” I asked out of the blue.

She looked up from her papers. “Every week or so, why do you ask?”

“Actually I want to know about Spike. You know about his love for a certain white unicorn. Extremely generous, somewhat obsessed with fashion?” I hinted.

“You’re speaking of Rarity, correct?” I nodded. “Yes, I am aware of his affection for her.”

“Has anything come of it?” It was strange why I was doing it, but I hoped beyond hope.

She looked a little surprised at my line of questioning but answered anyway. “I’m afraid not. It seems that after the other Elements and her tried to capture Griffin when he was a wanted criminal, she finally understood that she did not return Spike’s love.” Just like that my nerd moment that wished for a happy ending between those two went up in flames, she didn’t notice and continued on. “After returning to ponyville she told the young drake. Twilight tells me he was extremely upset but he managed to dig himself out of the sadness.” Her smile beamed as a scroll was brought into existence next to her and floated it over to me. “He even wrote me a friendship report on the subject. He has grown into quite the mature one.” She said, each word filled with motherly pride.

‘She did help raise him, I can’t blame her.’ I thought as I read the report silently. “He’s a bigger man than I. My reaction would have amounted to sitting in the corner and crying for days.” She laughed without a trace of malevolence.

“Yes, love can hurt, but they have a wonderful friendship that has only grown stronger as a result. I must ask though, why did you want to know?”

“A happy ending is all anyone can really ask for. If I send you a letter would you be able to forward it to him?”

“Of course. And Rorke” She said, stopping me from going up the staircase. “the ‘Liberator’ leaves in two days. The ship is moored at the Manehattan dockside district. They have instructions to wait an extra day there for you, should you become lost on your way there, but please try and get there on time.”

“Do you have a map I can use?”

“Not here I’m afraid, talk to Sturrn and he should get you ready for your trip.” With that done she returned to her work and I started up the overly dark staircase. It just seemed strange to open a trapdoor and come of Celestia’s closet. A clock on the wall said six forty five as I walked out of the room and past the pair of guards. I almost felt them drilling holes in the back of my head with their stares as I passed them on my way to Sturrn. Unfortunately Sturrn had told me to ask a guard for the location of his office, so I grudgingly turned around and approached them again.

“Do you happen to know where Captain Lash’s new office is?” I asked in the most agreeable tone possible.

The left one answered first. “Take this hall down to the area marked ‘Dawn’ and find the giant painting of Princess Celestia. Take a left from there and his office should be right down the hall.” I thanked him and continued on my way. True to his word, I found the painting and took a left straight to his office. I opened the door slowly and peeked inside. Sleeping on his desk was the new Captain himself... with a bottle of what else but ‘Stalliongrad 100% pure Grade A vodka’. I began thinking to myself whether or not he had a problem. He’d been getting wasted almost non-stop lately. A drink from time to time was okay, but getting smashed on a daily basis, that’s another thing entirely.

I walked over to the sleeping stallion and pulled the bottle from his hooves causing him to mumble something in his sleep. I didn’t waste any time waking him up. His eyes creeped open very slowly before they shot up and he stared at me. I had expected his eyes to be bloodshot from the late night he had probably had. “Rorke? What do you want?” He said without a hint of slurring or anger for waking him. “What time is it?”

“I would say about six fifty.” He immediately sprang up and started moving about in a hurry. “Why? What’s going on?” I asked with a bit of surprise at his immediate movements.

He grabbed several papers and shuffled them into a variety of folders as he trotted around his office. “I’m supposed to be taking the recruits out on patrol at seven. I haven’t even given Princess Celestia my status report on how they’re doing yet.” He exclaimed franticly.

“Actually the Princess just sent me over here to get the stuff for my trip. She said to ask you about it.”

He was still scrambling about like someone had a match over each of his papers and he needed to get them all before they set on fire. “Rorke can I ask you a favor?” He said as he swept through the office on his wings just to speed things up. “I need you to go on patrol with me. We’re pulling a double shift city sweep before the gala. I’ll get your stuff after the gala is over.”

“Okay, did you get anymore info on the anubites? Maybe a translation guide to equestrian?” I grasped at the only hope I had of figuring out the glove’s magic, but nothing came of it.

“Sorry.” He said slowing down from his frantic pace. “The papers from yesterday were actually the only thing on record that weren’t sealed with royal privileges. Only Celestia or Luna could get those documents. Even Princess Cadance couldn’t get a hold of them.”

“Should we get to the barracks then?”

“Yeah, let me just grab my helmet and we’ll leave.” Soon we were out of his office and walking through the halls of the castle, his shiny helmet gleaming in the light coming through the windows, when a question popped into my head.

“Sturrn, what would you have done in Celestia’s place? I threw myself at her mercy, as a corruption of life no less, and she made a pun about it, during court. What would you have done, had you been Prince Sturrn?” What followed after that could only be known as a deafening silence that echoed throughout the halls.

Several minutes later, he still hadn’t answered me and seemed to be finding the tiles on the floor increasingly interesting as we walked along. “Well?” I asked, verbally snapping at his heels.

“I can’t answer that.” He said pitifully.

“Don’t give me that line Sturrn. You would have killed me, right?” I said in a calm matter of fact tone that caused his head to shoot up from its’ low position, his eyes full of surprise.

“You’re not angry?” He said, like his decision to ‘kill’ me would actually upset me.

“Not really, I would have killed me too. I‘m not sure how you could kill me but I came real close to finding out last night.”

“What happened last night?” He asked.

I would have started to regale him with my mediocre story telling skills but there were guards up and down the hall that would be listening. “Actually I’ll tell you after patrol.” He seemed content on the postponement. We picked up the pace and made it to the barracks with just a minute left for him to put the rest of his armor on. The new recruits were already outside and in line. I walked over to my bunk and opened the foot locker. ‘Why do they call it a foot locker here, if they say hoof for everything else?”

I contemplated on that strange question as I pulled the top half of my robe off and put on my chain mail. It was strange actually seeing my bones with just a thin bit of metal covering them. I pulled my robe back on and reached back into the chest. Inside was my helmet-crown, blade spear, and sword. Something was different though, inside the chest was a piece of flat metal with some snapping loops and a belt on as well as a sword sheath. “Hey Sturrn, what's this?” I asked, holding up the metal bit.

He ran over in a new set of Captain’s armor. “Oh, that’s a set of loops that let you put your axe on your back, and a sheath for your sword. I had them made so you can keep your hands free on patrol.” He took the loops and popped them open. “See? Just pull your weapon and they will pop open like the loops on a paper binder.”

“That’s great! Let’s get going though, the recruits probably don’t like us standing here chatting.” We walked out of the door as I started putting the two weapon braces on.

He strutted over to the line of recruit in a self-superior manner that just didn’t fit him. “Listen up recruits!” He barked loudly. “Corporal Chardstone and I will be leading a double shift city sweep before the gala tonight. The rest of the Solar Guard are already out in the city in pairs of two, you will be going in squads of four.” He started organizing squads and listening patrol routes but I was thinking about being called a Corporal. It was strange to actually think of it but I never had a title before.

“Rorke!” Sturrn must have been talking to me because all the recruits were gone and only the two of us and four recruits were all that was left. “You ready?” He asked.

“Yeah, sorry. I was just thinking.”

He ran over to me and started to whisper. “Actually I can’t promote you so just act like an corporal for today.” He turned and started barking orders to the recruits once more, we left the castle soon after and started walking about the city. The recruits managed to make as little sound as possible but Sturrn and I began chatting up a storm.

I saw plenty of things during the walk. A massive airship that gleamed like the sun was docked at the castle. My guess was that the ship was the Griffin’s ride to the party. There were also scattered reports of something big making its way inside the city, Sturrn said the regulars among the guard would handle it if a threat was found. After that not much else happened and it didn’t take long for Sturrn to dismiss the recruits back to the barracks. We made our own way to the castle, albeit in a much slower fashion.

“You wanted to know what I did last night, right?” He perked right up when I mentioned it.

“Yeah, what happened? I heard you took that nurse out to a bar.” He said as I started guiding through the streets. ‘How does everyone know about that!? Do they have gossip ninjas patrolling the streets?’

“I don’t really want to go over the whole thing again-”

“Again!” He cut me off. “Who did you tell?”

“The Princess.” I deadpanned. His anger got a cold bucket thrown on it and he apologized.

I just continued with my outrageously lengthy explanation. Sturrn kept walking in a state of comprehension as he tried to work through all the data. I could almost see a loading bar over his head. I didn’t want to wait so I poked his face with my pinkie claw. ‘Is it still a pinkie though? I only have four fingers now.’

“Ahh!” He yelled in surprise. “Don’t do that! I almost had a heart attack.”

I managed a chuckle as we continued on before I redirected us. “Actually, let’s go back to the castle. The party should really start kicking into gear about now.” I contemplated my next move fairly carefully before going ahead with it. “Do me a favor too, don’t get drunk off your rocker this time. I don’t want to carry you through the halls trying to find a place to put you down before you throw up.”

“I take offense to that, I don't get drunk easily.” He said hastily.

“Riiiight, so you didn’t get drunk twice with your friends and Soup Spoon. You didn’t get drunk last night either, with a bottle of vodka between your hooves.” He stopped in his path and stared at me.

“That was water!” He yelled despite the fact that we had stopped in a residential neighbourhood. “I didn’t want to waste the bottle so filled it with water last night and fell asleep working.” He had explained rapidly as we began walking again.

“Hey, I’m not calling you a liar but your ‘truth’ could use a little more work.” He just groaned as I laughed. Eventually we made it to the castle again and the whole place was pounding with music. We both greeted the sad looking lunar guard at the front gate, we got a simple and depressed. “Welcome to the castle.”

He didn’t look too happy being out at the door when all the fun was being had inside. We were just passing him when I turned back around and pulled my ticket out of thin air. ‘Don’t think about it, don’t try to understand it.’ I walked back to the guard and bent down to his height. “What’s your name?” I asked him.

“Morning glory, sir.” He said, making a slight effort at a salute.

“Put your hoof down, here.” I handed him the ticket. “I can just walk in. You look like you could use some fun though.” He looked like a child I who just won a toy store. What happened next I wasn’t expecting though. How many could honestly say a Lunar Guard in full armor and suit glomped them with enough force that they fell to the ground?

He was squeezing me so tightly in fact, that my ribs began to tighten as he thanked me over and over again. “Glory” I started. “if you want to thank me you can let go, please.” He stepped off of me with a awkward blush across his face.

“Sorry about that, I’m a huggy kind of stallion.” He said as I got up. “Thank you for the ticket.” Another quick hug later and he ran off to join the gala.

“You know, you could have sold that ticket for a few thousands bits right? Any of the lower class nobles that didn’t get an invite would have easily paid 3000 for it.” Sturrn remarked.

“Would they have used it like he’s going to? To enjoy themselves instead of just trying to garner favor from the Princesses and the elite nobles? The thought would never cross their mind.”

“I would have sold the ticket.”

“Yeah but you have to ‘eat’ I don’t. How much is three thousand bits worth anyway?” I asked with a slight laugh.

“You could start a business for that much.”

“Damnit.” Was all I could muster as a response. ‘Did I really give away a ticket worth that much?

“You screwed up big time. Come on, lets go get me a drink.” He said walking into the main hall.

“Of course he would want a drink.” I said to no one at all.

I walked over guard checking tickets and tried to get in but was rebuffed. “Sorry, you can’t go in.”

“What do you mean I can’t?” I asked the stoic guard. “I’ve been living here for a week now and the Princess herself invited me. Why can’t I go in?”.

“We don’t allow criminals into the gala.” He said matter-of-factly.

“You don’t let criminals in? That stupid pirate got in and I can’t?” My voice rising a bit.

He let the snootiness flow with his voice. “He was given an official pardon by Princess Celestia, you didn’t get one.”

“I wasn’t convicted.”

He broke his stoicism for just a moment and he poked my thigh bone. “Then maybe you shouldn’t have punched me in the face and wrecked Auburn so hard. The rest of the guard would leave us alone about getting beaten so badly.”

I just stood there looking all the way down at the armor pony. “You attacked me just as I’m about to leave, and wanted me to give up what was mine. How is any of that my fault?”

He snarled at me but retained his composure. “You put my friend in the dungeon. Now get out of the way, the ponies behind you actually have tickets.”

I looked behind me and saw several ponies dressed in top hats and dresses with plenty of frills. I turned back to him but he was already absorbed in letting the ponies in. I muttered a good amount of sailor like words as I left.

I wandered around for a few minutes until I came to rest within the garden. The animals there avoided me like the plague.I didn’t really care too much, except for this stupid vulture that would leave me alone. I sat there for nearly half and hour stewing in my anger and swatting the stupid bird away until a familiar voice spoke up. “Bird troubles?” I ripped myself from my thoughts and saw Pain Killer staring at me. “Well?” She asked but I hadn’t heard her and I continued not to. I was looking at her dress, it was slim and black with a white line going down the side, she pulled it off really well. “HELLO!” She shouted right next to my face. “Equis to Rorke, can you hear me?”

“Yeah sorry, what were you saying?” I blabbed out.

She gave a tremendous sigh and repeated herself. “I asked if you wanna enter the gala now? The party is really jumping with the pirates being here.”

“I can’t, I gave my ticket to a sad guard and the guard in charge of entry hates me, he won’t let me in.”

“Are you kidding me.” She replied in exasperation. “Let’s go talk to him, I’m sure this can all be worked through.”

It definitely COULDN’T be worked through. Half way through the unsuccessful negotiation the guard, whose name I still didn’t know, chose to described Killer as “So easy, even a mutt could do it.” That didn’t go over so well with her and she ended up decking him with buck strong enough to make Big Mac jealous. Unfortunately, the rude stallion took the both hooves to his face and the only thing that kept his head on was his poor helmet. His body flopped to the floor in a heap a few feet away, and Pain freaked out. “Oh Celestia, I didn’t mean to!” She cried out before turning to me.

‘Okay, situation assessment time. Guard turns me away, Killer tries to get us in, ends up kicking him in the face and knocking him out. He can arrest her but then I can go after him for barring me from the gala and misconduct. We should probably just leave.’ I grabbed Killer and carried her away as she squirmed in my grasp demanding to be let go. After we were a good distance away I explained my line of thinking to her and she agreed. We weren’t going to be anywhere near the gala that night. “This sucks.” She admonished.

“Yes it does, look on the bright side though...” I tried to search my mind desperately for a silver lining but nothing came of my search.

“Exactly.” She went limp in my arms and huffed out deep breaths. “Want to go back to my place and listen to my new Dj-Pon3 record?” Her words sounded hollow and emotionless. ‘I just helped ruin her entire night, think Rorke think.’

We walked in silence before I took an abrupt turn toward ‘Idiots-with- too-much-money district’ it was actually called downtown but I looked at some of the prices when we went through it. Anyone who could afford a sandwich there was made of money. “Where are we going?” She asked.

“We’re going to a club Sturrn seemed to like, it’s called capital, little c big a.” She must have known what I was talking about because her whole attitude turned around completely.

“You mean the Capital.” She said, still being carried by me. “The biggest bar and nightclub in Canterlot?” I was tempted to say ‘Eeyup’ but knew I would hate myself for it later, I just settled for a yes. “How are you going to get us in? The line is always a mile long with VIP's.” She noted.

“Where are all the big names in Equestria going to be tonight?” I asked, setting the answer up for her.

She thought on it for a second before realization dawned on her. “The Grand Galloping Gala is going on right now, why go to some club when you could go to the castle.” Her smile lit up across her face and all her previous sadness retreated. “Great thinking. You know, for a diamond dog you’re really smart. I-I mean you’re really smart in general, not that dogs are stupid-”

I interrupted her before she dug herself into a hole. “I know what you mean.” I didn’t bother saying I wasn’t a dog because that would have drawn a million questions I was sure I wouldn’t have known. Another minute of walking and the club came into sight and just like I thought, there was less than six ponies waiting to get in. I walked up and stood in line, not even bothering to put Killer down but she didn’t mind. After a few minutes we were about to go in when the bouncer put a hoof out and stopped me.

“Sorry ma’am, no weapons inside.” The pony said, he looked like a humanized bouncer pony. Blue short cut mane, grey fur, with muscles like bags of turtles contained in the overly tight shirt he was wearing. His cutie mark was a velvet rope which almost seemed cliche. “I can put it in the back if you want.” He offered.

I took a breath through where my nose would have been, breathing through there instead of my mouth didn’t make me go into a coughing fit. “I’m not a ma’am, first of all. Second, I’m not letting you have my weapons.”

The stallion at least had the decency to get embarrassed over his slip up but was adamant over the weapons.“I’m sorry about the confusion sir, but I must insist that your weapons be away from the rest of the club goers.”

I reached for the medallions that had helped me a couple times already and handed him the one from Celestia. “I’m part of the guard, I need the weapons to stay with me.” I insisted, Killer just languished through the debate as she laid in my arms.

“You can have your weapons but can I at least request you put the giant axe thing behind the counter?” He asked with a nervous smile.

‘At least I’ll have my sword and glove.’ I took the weapon in question and handed it to him, he took it in hoof but struggled with it for a second. He mustn’t have been expecting the titanium blades to weigh so much. The bouncer disappeared into the club for a few seconds before returning and he opened the door for us. “Enjoy your visit to cApital.”

Pain Killer and I both thanked him and walked in. I had to duck almost a foot underneath the doorway to get in but the ceiling was fine. The club’s decor was very... techno. They must have put a noise canceling spell on the place because as soon as we got through the doorway we were assaulted with wubs.

My hearing, from what I could gather was much better than a ponies. It was a double edged sword though, I could hear quieter stuff better but loud things rendered me deaf, if I was alive my ears would have been bleeding at that point. “This club is awesome!” Killer shouted at me. I walked over to the bar and put her on the seat next to me. No one would have believe me if I told them I was only about eighteen or so. ‘That’s sad, I don’t even know how old I am. That’s what happens when you don’t wake up for almost a year.’

The bartender walked over and got an order from the nurse but I waved him off. “Rorke, why don’t you try one? I promise you’ll like it.” I turned and there she was, with a smile on her face and drink in hoof.

“I’m good.” I shouted over the music, pushing the drink back to her. She just drank it down and ordered another. Another bartender came over with her drink, a fruity little martini, to the the mare’s credit she didn’t give me more than a raised eyebrow. That much couldn’t be said for the rest of the ponies behind me, I could feel their eyes boring holes into me.

A cycle seemed to have formed at the bar. Killer would buy a drink, attempt for me to try it, fail and then she would guzzle it down. After the ninth drink she wasn’t looking outstanding but was still able to walk by herself. We just sat at the bar until Pain sprung out of her seat and dragged me by the belt straight onto the dance floor. She got right into my face. “If you aren’t going to drink, you’re going to dance.” Menace was evident in her voice.

If there was one thing I could it was, athleticism wasn't my style but I could break dance like no other. Being second lead on the dance team at high school would do that for a person. I got to my feet and was ready to start the routine I would use during competitions when the song changed. What came on next could barely be described. Every pony in the club began tap dancing, which seemed easy for them due to the hooves. The music kicked in and every pony in the place, even Pain, started dancing. I had only learned a bit of tap to help with leg work but it looked like I was going to put it to use. I scowered my memory for the right technique but only came up with half of them. I just followed their lead, the uncovered bone tips of my feet clacking on the floor. "Puttin on the Ritz!" Everyone shouted in time with the song. The whole ordeal was unnerving but I managed to pick up the dance fast, half way through song the ponies around me formed a circle and began watching me intently. I didn't notice and kept on dancing , when I finally did notice I almost tripped over my own feet. I kept going though and after another minute of nervous dancing the song ended. Every pony in the circle around me cheered except Killer. She was posted up at the bar cheering.

I walked over to her as the various ponies around me kept cheering. When I reached the heavily inebriated mare another more club appropriate song began playing loudly. "You did great Rorke!" The nurse exclaimed loudly over the music, the alcohol in her system completely un-affecting her. "and that griffin says dogs are bad, HA!"

"Why does a dance club have a song like that even in stock?" I asked.

She just laughed and laughed until I poked her and brought her mind back to the question. "Sorry just a funny memory, at the last gala one of the elements of harmony made the musicians play the pony-pokey. A lot of nobles were upset but a fair number liked it and one just happened to be the owner of this place. He decided to put a bunch of new music into this place and everypony grew to love it."

"They like tap dancing in a nightclub?" My disbelief showing.

"YEAH!" She shouted. "It's Canterlot, we like that kind of stuff. They ran a newspaper article about it, that's how I know."

'Makes sense.' I waved the bartender over to get the time but there wasn't a clock in the entire place. I turned to Killer and found her slumped over the counter, completely blacked out. Apparently the liquor hit her harder than I had thought. So with a wave goodbye to the bartender and bit of cheering from a group of mares, I picked up my friend and walked out of the club, collecting my blade spear on the way out. The bouncer smiled at me so I decided to ask him the critical party question. "Why do I always have to carry the drunks out?" He just kept smiling and shrugged his shoulders.

I walked away from "cApital" and into the darkness, my last night in Canterlot. 'The Liberator awaits.'

---------------------------------------

Edited by: Salacar, proofreader extraordinare

This chapter was so hard to make and it still came out bad. I had seven ideas to use for this chapter but a change of opinion destroyed two of them, and the other five were either substantially more boring than the three I used for this or were destroyed by the official gala collab. Initially it started with Rorke searching all the time for a way to get in the party and eventually making it in only to be thrown out a window by Ember the dragon. I would have done that but it was really clunky writing the events up to it and seemed a little contrived. This chapter was more about some character development than any real action.

I will be rewriting 8 or 9 of the chapters that lead up to and including this chapter. It won't be happening now or anytime soon really, unless I get a massive amount of free time. I want to get on with the main plot and that starts with the Liberator.
Thule has helped immensely with this part and his contribution will increase the quality of the chapters to come and decreased the time it takes to write them. 'keep saying that yet they still take two weeks to updated...'

The new cover art... my contact on that decided he wanted to stop returning my inquires on it, so I'm not sure if I can deliver the art I promised but I'll try. That's all for now.

-Sturrn
P.S. Sorry Salacar for writing that last part about the dancing and not showing you, it was spur of the moment.

Comments

[Thule]

yay! Good to see that not all the time goes to idea probing.

[Sturrn]

1328889
Oh god, how many times I wanted to stop writing and flesh out more ideas. The only thing that stopped me was the fact that they would never be used if I hadn't got that chapter out of the way.
-Sturrn

[Salacar]

No worries, it turned out pretty good, better than the original I'd say

[Corona Blaze]

“It’s true.” She explained. “Long ago my sister and I were held aloft as goddesses of the day and night, but eventually it felt like we had actually lost touch with the fact that we weren’t and still aren’t. We are just long lived mortals.”

HOLD UP!

Either Celestia's lying[entirely possible] or some miscommunication has occured, as it's canon that celestia and Luna are, in fact, goddesses, eith their mother having become the will of Equis and source of all magic in Equestria.

Plus,s eriously, you're not a 'long lived mortal' if you're over 30,000 years old and have been juggling a goddamned star since you were a kid.....

Edit: Also, I plan on overhauling a few GGG chapters, so if you edit this, feel free to mention Kngihtmare, as I plan on mentioning Rorke. Hell, why not join the insanity?

[Sturrn]

1330824
There's a reason why she said what she said.
-Humility? She doesn't want to be thought of as a goddess because over time that would alter her perception of the world and make her aloof from her citizens.
-Sense of normalacy? If she were considered a goddess then her ponies would eventually grow to rely on her more than they rely on themselves and that would backfire horribly.

-The simple truth is that she lied to Rorke's face when she said that. The reasoning behind that will be made evident much later, when things start coming full circle. I'll be leaving little bits of rope dialogue all over the story that once the end hits will all be tied together. I'll tell you this now, Celestia won't be best pony for Rorke by the end of this story, not by a long shot.
Thanks for pointing this out.
-Sturrn

[Corona Blaze]

1332666 thanks for clearing that up, and if you'v seenhalf of what we've got planned.....

yeah....

there's alot of s*** gonna go down, and Celestia will STILL be best pony for Kngihtmare.

[AppleTank]

assaulted with .: it or sound

cool story bro.

[Kotushk Fier]

1329143
It's scoured, not scowered. The part where he was trying to remember tap dancing. So... yea... That just irked me a little haha.