Unforgiven Memories

by Hidden Brony

2.5 Less Than Nothing

Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did.

Flight From Memories Chapter Five:
Less Than Nothing

The three of us had boarded the train with no problem. They didn’t even check for illusion magic, which would have been the first thing I would have done if the only criminal in jail had just been broken out by a trans-dimensional being. Maybe it was because we were heading straight toward the last place an escaped criminal wanted to go, since I saw them doing random checks on other trains.

Sloppy. Undisciplined. Lazy.

Currently I sat next to Star and right across from Rainbow Dash. She looked quite uncomfortable sitting next to her seat partner, who I assume she knew at least in passing. It was odd seeing the usually brash pegasus reduced to complete muteness, even if it was by necessity.

I really needed to talk to Rainbow Dash, but if she knew the pony next to her, having her talk could be an issue.

Actually, I had an idea. I winked at Rainbow Dash. "Hey, babe. Why don't we head to the nearest secluded corner to... Talk?"

I really hoped that she was going to understand what I was going for. Star spoke up, lip raised in disgust, "Eew! Dad! You couldn't have at least waited until you two got to the hotel room?"

Now it was just time for Rainbow Dash to play her part. After a brief pause, she lowered her eyebrows in the most sensual stare I've ever seen, and I saw the looks the alicorn of love threw at her husband on the train to Canterlot two years ago. She stood up, beckoned to me, and walked with just the right amount of sway in her hips to keep me from looking anywhere else. I sat there, staring, until Star coughed. I turned to the pony sitting across from her, "You don't mind looking after Star for a little bit, do you? Thanks."

"What? But I-" By that point I was gone. I heard him faintly sigh, "Fine."

I walked up to Rainbow Dash, who was glaring at me. "What?" she demanded curtly.

"We're talking. You know something about Star, and I'm going to figure out what."

Her glare intensified exponentially, and her lip rose in a growl, "My past is my own business, not yours."

I held my ground, "it became my business the second it involved my daughter. What do you know that she doesn't?"

Rainbow Dash moved to push past me, "That's my own damn business."

I felt my hooves start to shake and my heart beat harder in my chest. My hoof shot out an inch in front of her, slamming into the wall and blocking her path.

She growled at me, “This is my past, a past that I am all too happy to forget. I’m not going to tell you a damn thing.”

"I'm not fucking around, Rainbow Dash!" I shouted. Both of us froze. We stared at each other for a second, then stared at the ponies around us. They stared back at us. I spoke up, "We'll meet you there?"

She nodded, spread her wings, and dove out the nearest window. I quickly went back to where we were sitting. Star had that look on her face that women get when you do something stupid. You know the one. Our companion looked at us with wide blue eyes.

“That was Rainbow Dash?” he spoke up. “I thought she was in jail!”

“Was being the operative word,” I quipped. “She’s not anywhere around anymore, so don’t get any ideas.”

He shook his head, making the dark brown mane on his head get even messier. “Oh, no. Never that.” He brought a hoof up and pushed his mane back into place. “It just surprised me that she would break out of jail and head straight to Canterlot.”

I shrugged, “It was more of a ‘I broke her out of jail and she just went along with it’ type of deal.”

“You seem fairly open with this information,” the stallion mused. “How much of it is true?”

“Curious one, aren’t you?” I asked. “Why do you have so many questions?”

“Suspicion is good. I like you, so I’ll answer. Understanding the enemy is the first step in defeating them.” He grinned. “You seem like you’d be a worthy adversary for my queen and our new ally.”

My eyes narrowed. “Explain yourself. Now.”

His grin widened. “Now why would I do that? It is much more fun to keep you guessing, and to keep changing the board around you while you flounder around, struggling to learn the rules.”

My hoof went to his throat, slamming him against the wall behind him. Star’s horn lit up, but I glanced at her. “Why don’t you go get something to drink. You look thirsty.”

She powered down her horn. “If you want me gone, just say so,” she grumbled, leaving the train car.

“Now,” I growl, “get talking.”

The stallion let out a burbling laugh. His eyes flashed green before being replaced with pure blue pools. “A good agent doesn’t reveal all of his secrets. Just enough to get you cooperating.”

A growl rumbled in my throat as I slammed him into the wall. His smile just widened, and he even started laughing. “If you can hurt me like that, I’ll tell you everything.”

I wasn’t playing his game. I was tired as hell of being a pawn in the schemes of one superpower or another. I picked him up, and smashed his head through the window. When I pulled him back, though, he didn’t even have a scratch on him. He still had that insufferable grin on his face. “I see that you were a good choice. I’ll tell my queen immediately that some ponies in Equestria still have spines on them and are willing to put up a fight.”

“You aren’t going to tell her anything, about me or otherwise.”

“She already knows. In addition, wherever you go, I will follow, like it or not,” he chuckled. “You have been chosen. You will never be out of our sight.”

My hoof slammed into his forehead. Damn that was tough. He laughed at me, “You just don’t get it, do you? You can’t hurt me, not with our ally’s spells protecting me. It would be easier to kill Celestia herself.”

There was a green flash, and the stallion was no longer under my hoof. He saluted me, eyes back to their normal appearance. “Do have fun, now. We will always be watching.” His piece said, he calmly walked out of the compartment.

I quickly moved to follow him, only to find nothing. There was nowhere for him to have gone. I sighed as I walked back into the compartment to sit down. I needed to hit something, or maybe get a drink. Yeah, a drink sounded great at the moment. I started heading to where Star was, since even though the train doesn’t supply alcohol, it was something to do.

“Always,” the smug bastard said from behind me. I whirled around, only to see nothing. Yeah, I really needed that drink.

I spent the rest of the ride sitting with Star. Neither of us talked, me because I had nothing to say, and her because she could tell I was thinking. What was that stallion? He was tough, but he said that was because of a spell. Also, I had never heard about a queen of anything, and on that topic, who was this “new ally” he talked about?

I wasn’t going to get any answers as I was, sitting on my ass. I sighed in relief as the train pulled into the station.

“We need to move fast. Head straight for the castle, and lie our way in?”

“That could work. Hopefully, Dash catches up with us on the way.”

Plan decided, we put our hooves on the road and walked towards the palace with purpose. Halfway there, Rainbow Dash landed next to us. "You're not hard to pick out of a crowd, Premier."

"Good. So far the plan is to bullshit our way into the castle and go on from there."

"Do you ever have a developed plan in place, or do you always just wing it?" she deadpanned.

"I don't do too much winging, Rainbow Dash," I chuckled. "But you're right. I rarely use some complicated plan with dozens of moving parts. The simpler the plan, the easier to adapt."

She sighed, "Fine. We'll go in and bullshit a plan. Worked great for the changelings."

I cocked an eyebrow. "Changelings?"

"Nasty bug creatures. They take the form of somepony you love and gain power by feeding off your love for them," she said, lip turned up in disgust.

"Truly? Odd."

“Yeah. They invaded a few years back. Almost won, too. Shining Armor managed to get off a spell charged by Cadance that threw all of the changelings out of Canterlot. Security was pretty tight for about a year.”

We approached the castle without incident. As we walked up, I sized up the guards in case we needed to fight our way in. There were four guards visible, two on each side of the door. Most likely there was at least double that number inside, if what Rainbow Dash told me about an invasion was true. Each guard wore gilded armor that seemed more for show than protection or intimidation. Two of them were earth ponies, and they wielded spears. They appeared to be of a ceremonial nature, however, and lacked a tip that could punch into anything tougher than paper. One guard, a unicorn, had a sword strapped to his side, and carried himself as if he knew how to use it. Swords, if I recalled correctly, were reserved for unicorn use since they were nearly impossible to use without magic. The final guard, being a pegasus, had no visible weaponry. However, I knew from experience that blades could be hidden inside the plumage of your wings, and with the right training could be thrown at incredible accuracy at nigh-impossible range for any other weapon type.

One guard, the unicorn, hailed us as we approached. “State your business.”

I made sure to keep eye contact as I spoke up, “We are here to report to the Princess.”

He looked at Star for a second before looking back to me. “She seems a little young to be in the service of Her Majesty.”

I decided to lie in truths, a difficult prospect for anyone, “She is more talented than any I have seen before in matters of magic.”

He nodded slowly before indicating Rainbow Dash. “And her?”

“Listen, I don’t have the time to engage in idle chit-chat. This needs to get done ASAP, and I need to get back out of the city. You’re in the way of my business.”

“Now listen here—” the guard began, before the pegasus walked up to his side and whispered into his ear. He pointed at my foreleg before whispering something else. The unicorn nodded, and the pegasus stepped back. “Welcome to the castle, Justicar. I apologize for the interruption. Nopony has seen one of your kind in nearly a decade.”

I nodded, “Understandable.” I turned back to my companions. “Red,”—Rainbow looked up—“I need you to carry Star and check the castle exterior. Guard,”—I turned back to the unicorn guardsman—“I need to be directed to a waiting room of some kind. Make sure they are directed to me as soon as they return.”

“Now wait a second, what do you need them doing that for?” the guard exclaimed. “There are no assassins waiting on the outside of the castle!”

I raised an eyebrow as I looked at him, “There have been unconfirmed sightings of changelings around Canterlot. Given what happened last time, it is safe to say that I’m taking precautions.” I turned to the other two. “Check for any targets. Look on the walls, through windows, inside towers, whatever you feel you need to do.”

Looking back to the guards as Rainbow Dash and Star took off, I continued. “Luna is not to be informed of my arrival here. This is strictly my business.”

They looked at me skeptically, “Why not inform Princess Luna of your being here if you are going to talk with her?”

I brushed past him and through the gates, “Because I’m here to talk with the Princess, not Luna.”

A look of confusion passed over the guardsman’s face before one of the earth ponies shook his head. I heard him say lowly, “Justicar business is not ours. He’s got the stripe, so we’re not to question him.”

The unicorn guard sighed, walking up to me, “This way sir.”

I was directed into a waiting room of some kind, where I was for the next two or so minutes before they brought in Rainbow Dash and Star. They nodded at me, and the guards left.

"I can get us there," Rainbow Dash said, indicating a door behind me. "It's this way. Follow me."

We walked down many hallways that, frankly, looked all the same. Thankfully, none of the guards thought it prudent to stop us and ask our business.

We approached a reinforced door with a multitude of guards outside. Rainbow Dash nodded and stepped back in a clear sign that it was my turn to take the lead.

"Halt and state your business," the lead guard stepped forward. Ah, I knew this one.

"Shining Armor, stand aside. I have business with the Princess."

"Then check the throne room, that's where she would be this time of day."

"We both know who's up in this tower, captain." I said, trying to walk past him.

A pink wall popped up in front of me. Shining Armor glared at me from the other side of the wall. "This is a restricted area. I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

I tapped the wall, and it shattered as I ate the magic holding it together. "I have business with Princess Celestia. Don't stand in my way."

He stepped back in surprise at the ease I collapsed his shield. I could feel the strength in the matrix as it collapsed. He was impressive, to say the least.

The three of us walked past the guards with no problem. However, half way up the tower, alarm bells started ringing. From below, I heard someone start yelling, "Shining Armor, sir! Rainbow Dash is inside the castle! She's got an unknown stallion and a filly with her."

The three of us sped up our ascent. "Wait, does she have a red mane and travel with a black stallion?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Shit. Guards, get up there now! First priority is Cadance, then Celestia."

I turned to the other two as we reached the door at the top of the stairs. Hooves could be heard advancing up the stairs.. "You need to hold off the guards while I kill Celestia."

Star nodded. Her horn flashed, coating the stairs in a shiny substance. "Grease spell."

"Stay out here. Both of you," I instructed. "As soon as I'm done, Rainbow Dash, fly Star away from here. If it's safe, come back for me. If not, go to the Griffin Empire and beg for asylum."

I stepped into the room to find two alicorns. Cadance stood protectively in front of her aunt. "Stay back."

"Celestia, your time has come," I said stepping forward. "For too long your crimes have gone unpunished. I'm here to ratify that mistake"

"Unpunished?" Cadance scoffed. "She has been stripped of the use of her wings and magic, as well as her position. How is that unpunished?"

"Are you not going to defend yourself, Celly?" I asked mockingly.

There was a pause before she asked quietly, "Streak?"

I removed Star's second spell, taking extra care to keep the spell hiding the rainbow stripe in my mane concealed. I heard Cadance gasp as I reverted mostly to my natural coloration. "Streak died two years ago, Celestia. He was slain by your assassin. My name is Premier."

"So you've come to finish your job, then? You're here to kill me."

"Yes."

I winced as Cadance growled, "Over my dead body. You’ve caused enough pain already."

"Cadance, let him past." Celestia waved her hoof in a dismissive gesture. "Grab him a knife from the kitchenette." Cadance's jaw dropped. "Come on now, Cadance. He doesn't have all day."

I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. She was up to something. This wasn't a case of guilt, she had no conscience.

A knife floated over to me wrapped in a blue aura. As soon as it was in my hoof, the aura dissipated.

Within a fraction of a second the knife was pressed up against Celestia's throat. It would be so easy to end it all now. Just a twitch of the leg, and Celestia was dead. My friends would be avenged. I would have justice.

So why couldn't I do it?

Celestia smirked. "There's still a part of you, buried deep, deep down, that still loves me, Streak. That's why you can't just end it. That's why I win."

My hoof started shaking. I brought my hoof back, and grunted as I swing the knife forward, only to stop at the last second. I tried again, to the same result.

I sighed as I dropped the knife, "You're right."

Author's Note:

I'm a rat bastard. I had this cliffhanger planned for three chapters. Tell me what you think is going to happen. If you get it right, you get an internet cookie.

Also, I almost didn't get this chapter finished in time, so there will be some problems with grammar and word choice. Please point them out in the comments so that I can fix them. That is all.

-HB

Comments

[Hidden Brony]

3277581
Still haven't answered this dude's question, HB!
M-Maybe next chapter?
Yeah, sure, Pinkie. Next chapter.

... Almost spoiled the beginning of next chapter. See what I had typed is

█████████ You mad bro?

and that would have ruined the whole next chapter. Ah well.

[gwojo]

I hope celestia with get hers painfully and slow and long death wait no death is to good for her something worse much worse HEHEHHHAHHAAAAAAHA BLOOD AND VENGENCE?