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Reacquaintance2,260 words

Origin

The city of Canterlot was as it always was. Extremely uneventful and dull. All the high-class ponies walked around as they usually did in the city. Maneshot scoffed from the behavior of upper-class. He thought they would never live his original lifestyle, a nomad pony living in the woods, gathering resources from the natural environment and bartering to survive. They would only find it barbaric and abnormal.

Clear Dawn and Maneshot continued trotting towards the castle. They discussed on how to break the news to Celestia, that an unnatural being that had been banished by her is coming back. It will be like another Nightmare Moon, except the Operator lived outside the boundaries of space and time. He had the ability to haunt whoever was unfortunate to come across him. He controlled a cult that followed his every whim. Maneshot knew that the Operator was coming. The only question his mind now, out of every single one he thought before, was when.

They finally reached the castle, and were greeted by a couple of Royal Guard ponies guarding the entrance. They stared at the two ponies that approached, and trotted up to them.

The first guard spoke. "Express your business."

Maneshot looked to the tall figures in front of them. They were not to be reckoned. "We need to speak to Princess Celestia."

"Under who's orders?"

Maneshot seemed nicked about that. "Under mine. The topic is for her ears only."

The guard ponies looked to each other. They both chuckled for a moment, then the second guard resumed the conversation. "And who, may I ask, are you?"

Maneshot was not going down without a battle, and hopefully, not a physical one. "My name is Maneshot, and this is Clear Dawn. We require to speak to her about a situation involving a being in the Everfree!"

The the guards scoffed at this remark. "Look, we are willing to send a message to Celestia addressing your situation, and she might be able to give you a solid answer in maybe a few days.

Maneshot stood there, mouth open. A few days? They probably didn't even have a few hours! The Operator could be summoning every one of his minions right now. He quickly moved to a tone of authority. "Look, we may not even have that long! We need to speak to her before it's too late!" He noticed a few ponies stopped to listen to him. "If we don't speak to the Princess, we might not be able to stop this threat from getting worse, if it has not already!"

The guards looked at him, surprise just marking their faces. The seemed to look somewhat confused at the current situation. They whispered for a few moments, and then proceeded to open the gate to the castle.

Now it was Maneshot's turn for a look. He didn't expect that to work, but it somehow did. He didn't question it further, and he and Dawn proceeded to the castle. Clear Dawn nudged him, chuckling a bit from the previous encounter. "You did a pretty good job there."

He thought otherwise.

_-_-_-_-_-_

The two trotted down the hall to the throne room. Both them were flustered about what to explain to the Princess. The didn't know if she would know about whatever the Operator was doing, or if she even knew about him. They continued their down, soon reaching the door leading to the throne room. A single guard blocked the passage to Celestia. Maneshot hoped he didn't have to use any of his 'cunning' arguments anymore. Fortunately for him, the guard seemed to provide not even a word before letting them through.

Walking down the beautiful carpet that led up to the seat that held Celestia, the two ponies seemed somewhat relieved that she was not doing anything important. The Princess just seemed to be reading a book at her throne, making notes by her side. She noticed the two ponies standing in front of her, and put down the book, smiling. Both Clear Dawn and Maneshot bowed to the Princess. No matter how urgent the situation, they both wished to be at their best behavior, and honored her by her true stature.

The Princess spoke, "Rise, my little ponies. How can I be of assistance today?" She seemed beautiful as the sun casted behind her, which made since, as she WAS the one he raised and lowered the sun. The white coat seemed to lighten from the sunlight, and her eyes sparkled...

Damn, Maneshot thought, I'm getting offtrack here. He assumed his standing position.

He looked to the Princess, and began to speak, "Princess Celestia, I have come to gain knowledge of a certain being in the Everfree. He... or.... it, seems to pose a threat to the town of Ponyville, if not the whole of Equestria." The smile that Celestia held seemed to fade as Maneshot went on. "And I ask of your assistance of how to stop it."

Celestia seemed overly calm, considering the situation. That made sense, as she was the ruler of Equestria. Even with a minor look of worry, she asked, "Well, do you happen to have a name to whatever this is?"

Maneshot jumped from the question. Did she actually not remember about him? If Celestia was oblivious to the matter, he knows that the news might startle her, even break her. But he knew that it was for the sake of Equestria.

He felt like he swallowed golf ball, and finally presented, "The... the... Operator..."

Celestia's white coat immediately turned pale. Her mane lost all swirl. Her warm expression seemed to envelope into fear. She looked out to the Everfree forest, and looked back to Maneshot. Tears seemed to be forming from her eyes.

Maneshot felt that he might have ended Celestia. He quickly ran up to the alicorn and tried to comfort her.

Celestia wiped her eyes, and then quickly regained her thinking. She looked to the two ponies, her were now by her side. "I believe I have some explaining to do."

Maneshot quickly protested, but Celestia put a hoof to his mouth. "No... I have to. I know it spoke to you, and it must have told you about how I banished it, correct?"

The unicorn nodded.

The alicorn princess watched out to the sunset, the sparkle in her eyes returned. "It... he, more specifically, was just another pony, like the rest of us." Her coat returned to former color, but her mane stayed devoid of flow. "He was a known alchemist at the time, back in ponyville. He had made and even patented potions that cured common ailments today, including Tetanus, Equine Influenza, even Strangles", Her mouth cracked a slight smile, "He was a great friend of mine even, at some point even saving my life." A tear formed out of her right eye. Maneshot looked to Clear Dawn, who surprisingly held a stern look.

Odd, he thought.

The princess continued,"But then... he... changed. He began to come less often to the castle. He also seemed to close down his shop in Canterlot. He then resided in the Everfree forest, for what reasons are beyond me. I had not heard from him for about 5 years then. He seemed to just... vanish. Gone, without a trace."

Clear Dear seemed to cover her eyes. She appeared to cry.

Again, the princess resumed, "Then one day, I was returning from raising the moon for the night. I returned to my bedroom, and noticed a figure by the window, a tall stallion wearing a suit. I found this odd, since I wasn't looking for anyone... in particular", She blushed slightly, "I would have asked the guards to escort the man out the door, but then..." Celestia stopped to looked to look beside Maneshot. She held a questioning, but worried look.

He also turned his head to find his friend swerving around from where she stood. She was burying her head even more into her hoofs. She was muttering for something to stop.

The Princess called for the guards to restrain her. Suddenly, an blood-curdling scream spanned through the entire castle, and Clear Dawn dashed for the Princess. Maneshot immediately grabbed Clear Dawn with her magic, and threw her against a wall. The violet pegasus and dropped to the floor limp.

"Oh Celestia..." Maneshot squeaked, running to Dawn's side. He checked for a pulse, and fortunately, there was one. He grabbed the pegasus with his magic, asking the princess if there was a bed he could use.

"Um... y-yes, she can use mine." The princess still was gathering her thoughts about the events that had just occurred. The guards arrived by the call of the princess, but were told to prevent anyone from taking passage into the castle.

Maneshot was escorted by the princess to her bed quarters, with Clear Dawn levitating by his side. They reached the room, and Maneshot slightly lowered Clear Dawn to the bed. The princess closed the door behind them, ordering the guards to not let anyone disturb them. A flustered Maneshot was pacing in the room, checking back to Clear Dawn ever few seconds. He noticed the princess by her window, looking out to all of Canterlot, maybe even all of Equestria. Only Celestia knew, literally, what she was thinking. He then heard her voice say, "He was standing right here."

He turned and looked at the spot she was standing on. Since it was daylight, it made her look for charming rather then menacing.

"He was different. He told me that he had discovered a new way to control Equestria. He made a new potion that gave him the power of psychological manipulation. He had the power to speak to me through my head, since he lost his ability to speak..." Celestia could not finish her story.

"He was a monster..."

A single tear shed from her eyes.

"He was my friend..."

Maneshot saw a picture of Celestia with a stallion her height. A blazing white mane matched his coat.

"He was Der Ritter."

________________________________________________________________________________

Been a while. I know it doesn't seem to long. It's just a few things came up here and there and much of my focus was lost in the process.

I'll be getting on to a new one shot story after this chapter, while continuing on with this one of course.

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