> Human Relations - HR
>  by LucidTech
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter One
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Ledger leaned back in his seat, stretching out to each side with his arms and relaxing into the cushions that formed the chair behind him. He closed his eyes and let his head lean back, fully hoping to get the most of this comfort. His right arm brushed across the satin cloth next to him, moving up and down the rest of the bench that he sat upon. He smiled to himself, enjoying it as best he could with the occasional jolting bump that would echo through the wooden body of the chariot. He sighed softly after one such event, far too low for anyone to here him, and reminisced about cars.

He really hadn't cared about them before, his brothers were mechanics and they knew far more about them then he ever did. To him it was just a means of transportation. But he now found himself wishing that his current means of transportation was that of a car, instead of this carriage. Satin or not, the bumps would never let him enjoy it for long, and then there was entirely different matter of how it was so much slower. Of course, in his current line of work, he often wished for an even slower transport, just so he would have a little bit more time before he had to do what he was hired for.

His attire was a fine purple suit of excellent weave, but even beyond that it was enchanted. The cloth wasn't rough, but solid, and it had the blessing of his employer carried through the stitches. It was hungry, a leech of the Aether, and it would protect him from any force of magic that sought to harm him by devouring it whole. It was common attire among those who worked for the queen, but what had been a handicap to keep others in line turned into a powerful armor for him. A kind of armor that the queen would not let go unwatched. She'd bound a leyline of power through her spell, and with the smallest whim could pull it out and turn the suit into nothing more than colorful rags.

A fact that he was always quick to remember whenever he felt growing rage towards her. A bad temper he had inherited from his father, and one he fought to curb as often as he could. He had been quick to keep it hidden when he'd been hired though, after seeing what happened to those who didn't. He shivered and forced his mind away from that, back to the satin, back to the comfort, back to the sleek joy of this carriage, and far away from the outside world.

Then the carriage came to a stop, and Ledger was forced to come to terms with reality. He grabbed the log book from the floor of the carriage and tucked it under his arm. He pulled one black leather glove over his hand, then opened the door the carriage before putting the second one on as he walked. He saw the two ponies who had brought his carriage here, bound in reins to the front of the carriage. He wanted to thank them, but he was in the complete wrong position to do so. Truth was, to all the ponies, he was a monstrous slave of Nightmare Moon. And mere words would never change that fact.

He was walking away when he spotted a streak of blood along the side of one of the stallions, and he forced himself to stop. As he approached the stallion a look of horror went through his eyes and he instantly turned his gaze away. Ledger felt a pain in his stomach about the response, but managed to hide it behind a look of indifference. “Is something the matter?” He asked the stallion, wanting only to help.

“No sir, just not use to it is all, I'll make it though. I promise.” There was a shaky fear to the words. Ledger paused. His moral compass tugging him one way and his mind pulling him the other. 

“It's just chaffing sir.” Came the voice of the second stallion, and when Ledger looked at him he thought he looked familiar. “Just a dab of healing salve when we get back and he'll be fine.” 

A plan came to mind for Ledger, a small plan. A useless plan. But it might actually make a small amount of difference for his troubled heart. “Why not put it on right now?”

“Not allowed to sir, only when we're not working.”

“Well too bad!” Anger welled in Ledger's voice. Or, at least, he hoped it did. “I'm not going to be late on the return trip because some pathetic stallion has a bad chaffing! Put the damned healing salve on him or I'll do it myself!” 

“We don't have any currently sir. As I said, we can't use it unless we're not working, no point in packing extra weight.” 

“Damn it all Caramel! Go buy some in the town then!” Ledger tossed several coins onto the ground at Caramel's hooves and angrily stomped away, seeing a spark of surprise in Caramel's eyes before he fully turned away. It was, he supposed on his way past the wall and into the town, slightly cheating to use his knowledge of the show for an affect of fear. He also supposed, though, the he didn't care in the slightest due to the nature of his position and the world that he found himself in. Besides, he suspected that his act was certainly good enough to give the stallions pause before they thought of him as a good guy. 

He entered the town and immediately smelt campfire mixed with metal, a tell tale signature of a smithy. It was a piercing aroma, and it was certainly powerful, but it was far from the hardest thing to miss about the town. No, that award went to the giant tree house library that covered several houses in shadow due to the sun that was setting behind it. But then... the sun was always setting behind it. He'd been dodging this assignment for a long time now, at least half a year, and he wasn't looking forward to it anymore now than he was then. 

He'd been hoping for a long time that all the famous characters had moved away from here, but those had all died away one by one. Now the only thing he wasn't certain of was if Twilight was here, but he knew that the other five definitely were. Ponies pushed themselves to the sides of the streets as he approached, each one having heard that he would be coming, and as they opened up his path he also easily began to spot each of the buildings he didn't want to see. 

Sugar Cube Corner, or that's what it had been anyway, now he could see the forge outside it. Mr Cake fueled the flames while Roid Rage formed the steel. Mrs. Cake and Pinkie Pie, on the other hand, were doing their best to cook bread in the fickle flames that licked their pans and cooking materials, forcing sweat out from their skin as they braved the heat. Pinkie's hair, he noted, was short and flat, but whether it had been cut on purpose or burned by the fire was impossible to tell.

He walked past them, keeping his eyes on the road and his log book tucked snugly under his arm. He didn't know if they looked at him as he passed, he hoped they hadn't. Something about being a tool of Nightmare Moon in Pinkie's eyes... it just seemed disturbing and wrong. But, in the end, he was as much a tool of the queen as these ponies were. It occurred to him as he passed that he hadn't seen if Pinkie had her Cutie Mark and he slightly regretted not trying to look for it. For the most part, the cutie marks seemed to be unaffected by this strange world. But he'd seen a few of them take on different meanings, despite having the same image.  

He glanced to his right side for a mere moment before returning his gaze to the straight forward. The orchard was still in tact in seemed, he could see the tall bushy trees that he'd expected would mark it. He knew that it wasn't as vibrant. Even after only seeing the green he knew very well this is where the apples he ate came from. Colored like the red in them was dying. Closer to pink than anything else. His step picked up as he walked. He wanted out of here, and he wanted out of here as soon as possible.

Fluttershy's cottage was gone, but with the increase in attacks from the Everfree he knew she'd been forced to move inside the walls. She ran a small hotel, Cloud Zero, and it was the most accommodating hotel in all of Equestria. He'd been offered a room by Nightmare Moon before he left, and he knew she could have easily gotten him one, but he'd turned it down. He didn't intend to stay that long.

Absentmindedly he was looking for the cloud house now, or at least the shadow it would cast, but was interrupted as a warmth began to emanate from his right glove. Letting him know that Caramel had undone his harness. He allowed himself to smile softly for half a second before he forced it from off his face. It was good to know they were getting the help they needed and his heart seemed to ease itself out of the fit it had worked itself into.

He gave up on his search for the house. He hadn't expected to find it at any rate. Irregardless of her standing as captain of the guard, he doubted she'd be granted that much freedom. The queen, of all things she did, had everyone leashed securely. No one was truly free. And it was the kind of binding that would work under the skin of some ponies, and would lead them to a revolution. It was the light of his day to see Rainbow Dash and watch her try to hide what he knew she participated in.

Grimly, he looked towards the final destination of his walk, the tall building that loomed over him. It didn't matter really anyway, the revolution was doomed. The queen was far too strong for them and they didn't seem to grasp it yet. Nightmare Moon hadn't shown her full power in one thousand years, and they mistook the slivers of power she did display as the full extent of what she could do. It would be no surprise when Rainbow Dash would vanish one day, inexplicably. But he wouldn't be the one who caused it, he was determined that he would not make things worse than they already were.

Straightening out of his slump, Ledger knocked on the door to the boutique, and heard a shuffling inside. He waited patiently in silence, feeling the burning gaze of the town on his back as he waited. But it wasn't long before the door opened and Rarity looked out from the shrouded interior of her business with weary eyes. When she saw the large bipedal silhouette that stood in her doorway she was quick to back up and allow it entry, which he dutifully did. She'd been expecting him a while, he could tell, due mostly to the pristine tablecloth that had began to gather small specks of dust.

He sat down gratefully on the supplied seat and watched as Rarity did the same across the table, albeit far more gracefully than he had. He opened his log book and glanced down at it, he felt a tingle down his right arm inexplicably as he did so, but he ignored it, there were more important things than tingling arms. He sighed and looked across to her, ready to get the conversation underway. He looked at her and saw terror dancing in her eyes and nervous twitches shaking her body. He knew he was imposing to them, but Rarity wouldn't act this way. He knew it. He knew it without a doubt.

A soft out of place creak came from behind him and a tingle shot up his spine. He smiled softly to himself as he came to the conclusion only seconds before another tingle went down his left arm. The spell of protection was being stripped away by a powerful mage, and the cloth was beginning to feel rough, like a normal cotton now, that's why it had tingled. It was temporary, but it would be enough for an opening should they seek to bind him. He wasn't going to be conscious in a few minutes. Of course, there was nothing he could do with this knowledge. Because he was far too physically weak to combat any pony, especially without the enchantment on his suit. And they knew it.

It seemed some of the elements knew each other at least, and where would be the best place to capture him? In a small out of the way town. Nightmare Moon wouldn't expect him back for a week, they had set it up perfectly. If they didn't get the info they wanted in a few days they had more than enough time to get out and no one would the wiser as to who the culprits were.

He let a sad laugh out through his lips, and Rarity looked at him in fear, knowing he'd figured out the plan. She didn't see the terror that shook his bones or gripped his mind. “I'd been wondering where Twilight Sparkle got to.” His hand was shaking on top of the log book as looked at Rarity and smiled. “But I mean, since this is more of a brute force capture, I suppose Rainbow Dash is about to knock me out.” Fear fully encircling her eyes, Rarity nodded. 

And then the lights went out.

> Chapter Two
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        Blinking back the darkness, Ledger brought his ringing mind back into the world of the living. He felt a trickle running down his nose and sniffed subconsciously. His head was looking down, his neck limp, and he saw that he had been stripped of his clothing. Instead, a set of white undergarments covered him. A set that he hadn’t seen before. They lacked anything special, and were simply stitched cotton. He made a note to thank Rarity later.

        He felt something running along the middle of his nose, then he watched as a small red droplet tainted the white cotton. “Sorry.” He said immediately out of habit as he watched the pristine white get ruined by his blood. He raised his head from it’s submissive position and looked towards the surrounding room.

        He found it surprisingly empty of ponies, aside from Rarity, who was knitting in the corner. Or, rather, had been knitting. At the sound of his voice she had put the cloth down on her bench and moved closer to the human. “It’s no problem dearie, I don’t particularly want the cloth back.” Her face remained perfectly straight but his suddenly broke into a good natured smile. “What’s funny about that?”

        “Nothing Rarity, nothing.” He coughed to the side politely, “How’s Sweetie Belle doing?” 

        He wasn’t expecting the wild haymaker that hit him squarely in the face. His other nostril began to bleed and he blinked back the pain that spiked through his eye sockets from the hit. “HOW DARE YOU!” He wanted to apologize, though he knew not what for. “HOW DARE YOU THREATEN MY SISTER LIKE THAT?” 

“No I -” He watched as she turned for another hit and shut up immediately, flinching away from the hit. He heard the approach of hoofsteps from somewhere nearby, but he couldn’t pinpoint it. With face stinging, he watched Rarity slowly lose the desire to hit him. He let his head drop limp again and watched as another stain of red tainted the cloth. He didn’t apologize this time, even though that’s what he wanted to do more than anything.

A set of doors opened nearby and he heard the approach of several ponies, though he couldn’t count them by the sound alone and he lacked the desire to raise his head. He saw an orange leg and a hoof that raised his head to the eye level of the ponies. Applejack stared into his face, full of anger. “Were ya threatin’ Sweetie Belle just then huh?”

“No, of course not.” 

Another hit smacked him across the side of his face and he felt his lip split from the blow. “Don’t lie, or I’ll hit ya.” 

“For being the element of honesty you REALLY suck at knowing what’s truth.” He spat back angrily. She wound up for another hit and he stared at her, daring her to do it, and she would have, but she was stopped by a call from the shadows. 

“Don’t A.J. We need him awake.” Twilight stepped out from the darkness, her hair frayed and swept by some unknown chaos. A.J. stepped away from center of his vision and was replaced by Twilight. Ledger was kind enough to keep his head elevated without the support from the earth pony’s hoof. 

She stared into his eyes for a long moment, as if judging him before she spoke. “How do you know about the elements.” The words came out as a calm command, and he felt an urging in his mind to tell them the whole truth, just to see how they would react.

However, that plan was quickly scrapped in favor of one that involved more lying, since it was less likely to get him killed. “Do you really think that the queen doesn’t know about the elements? The one things that can destroy her and remove her power?” He tried to keep an edge of malevolence to the tone, since being a nice guy was clearly going to get him hit again.

“That’s not what I meant.” Her voice was calm and practiced. “I meant how do you know that we’re the elements, how did you know my name, that I was even involved, when even the queen herself has no idea?”

Ledger sat in silence for a minute, looking at her, then felt the need to blink back a set of tears that were welling up from the pain. “Lucky guess.” He said at last, all his thoughts coming up blank for an alternate answer.

He heard A.J. start to approach again, but Twilight spoke up and kept her at bay again. “Please, Applejack, he deserves a right to his answers until we know he’s lying.”

“Why’s that Twi? Why are ya defendin’ this thing?”

In answer she looked to Ledger once again. “Why have you never told the queen that you suspect Rainbow Dash as a revolutionary?” Each of the ponies looked to him for an answer, but found that he had his head leaned as far back as the chair he was tied to would let him, trying to stop the blood from running down and out his nose. Eventually he let his head slip back down to eye level again. 

“There was no reason to.”

“Oh?”

“This revolution of yours is doomed, I have no desire to help you all into shallow graves.” This time it was Twilight who hit him across the face, her face stone and cold with no mark of remorse on her features for what she'd done. Not that there would've been any, he knew he was going to get hit for that one, he just hadn't expected it from her. He smiled as the stream of blood from his nose started again, wider than it had been before. It traced a line down his face and meandered it’s way along his neck, turning the collar of the cotton shirt red.

A voice boomed from the upstairs and all of the ponies turned around in fear. “Mister Ledger of the Queen’s Court, where are your whereabouts? Mister Ledger?!” 

“Is that Caramel? The hell is that fool doin’ here?” A.J. Said angrily, as if expecting someone to answer her question that she didn't even have the slightest answer to. 

Twilight broke her gaze from the ceiling and turned it back towards Ledger again. She didn’t say anything as she looked at him. And as he looked back at her once again she saw a kind of tired fatigue in his eyes that she would've sworn wasn't there before. “You should get going, I don’t know how long I can go without shouting for their attention.” 

She looked back at the ceiling and began to back away from Ledger, the other’s following her lead. She paused in her retreat to look at him one more time before breaking into a full run out through the doors they had come in from, except for Rarity, who ran off in a different direction and disappeared around a corner. As soon as they were all out of sight, Ledger began to shout with all his might and it wasn’t long before Caramel, as well as the other stallion who had been pulling the carriage, came in from a different route.

The one he didn’t know the name of was the first one on the scene, and there was a moment as he looked at the helpless human, that he seemed to consider leaving him there. Ledger looked back at him and realized that, really, he wouldn’t blame him if he did, it was probably the smarter decision all in all, it would certainly save everyone a lot of trouble. Besides for Ledger himself anyway Caramel, however, rounded the corner soon after, and immediately began to untie him, surprising both the other stallion as well as the human. “Why are you helping me Caramel?” He asked sincerely as he waited for the ropes to loosen, his muscles already aching at the prospect of being free from their bindings.

“Because you’re a terrible actor sir, if you don't mind me saying” Came the reply and Ledger felt a grin meet his face. 

As the ropes went loose Ledger came to the sudden realization he couldn’t stand very well because of the crippling state of his mind and the ache in his legs. As he began to slide off the front of the chair the second nameless stallion was there to slowly ease him back into the chair. 

“Thanks Mr…” Ledger said as he waited for the pounding in his head to subside slightly. Even just a little bit. 

“Heartstrings sir, Guitaga Heartstrings.” 

“Nice to meet you Guitaga.” Making a mental note of it for later. 

“You too sir.”

A door was heard creaking nearby and both the stallion’s turned to face the noise. Rarity froze as she came into view, a small slumbering form on her back, wrapped in a blanket. The stallions looked to her, then towards Ledger. Doing his best to fight back the ringing, Ledger forced himself to his feet and looked towards the sisters.

“Curses miss Rarity, I haven’t a clue where those scoundrels went to. But I’m glad to see you managed to keep Sweetie Belle safe. I managed to distract them long enough for you to like, I dunno, do something I guess.” Ledger clutched his head in his hands. “Whatever, you get it. I just-” He stumbled slightly and placed his hand against the wall for support. “Mercy and crap.”

“Come on Guitaga, Caramel, we need to get back to Nightmare Moon and let her know that Rarity is in favor of the new tax law on cloth and attire, believing it to be better for small business, which in the end breeds better competition to grow from, while taking more from larger more established businesses that can afford it.” He glanced back at Rarity. “Correct Miss Rarity?”

When she nodded, Ledger was quickly out of the room, with unstable steps. He managed to find the stairs and began to haul himself up and out of the basement and onto the main floor, but began to stumble over them as he reached the top of them. 

As a growing feeling of dizziness hit him he was forced to sit down again and wait for it to subside, during which time he couldn’t quite place the whereabouts of the stallions. As his head began to clear again, he heard hoofsteps climbing the steps and smiled as Caramel offered him the clothes that he had been stripped of during the ambush.

He nodded and slowly meandered his way to the nearest bathroom, where he washed the blood from his face and wrapped the cotton clothes into a bundle. He took a length of paper towel and put it in his nose to stop the bleeding, also pocketing a fair length so he could replace it later. He washed the blood from his face and then paused to look at himself in the slightly grungy mirror. “Look at the monster, oh no, everyone better punch him in the face, oh he’s being helpful,better punch him harder, that’ll solve our problem.” He gritted his teeth, but said nothing else and he put his clothes back on. 

He patted it down and looked again, ensuring that he looked fine, other than the strip of paper towel that was slowly becoming entirely doused in blood. “Might have to get it looked at if it doesn’t stop soon…” He glanced at his glove, then back to the mirror again, a tempting thought worming through his mind, but he decided against it. He exited the bathroom and saw the two stallions waiting for him by the exit to the boutique. 

He approached and was stopped as Caramel held out a small cream colored vial to him. “A little bit of healing salve will cure that right up Sir.” Ledger smiled as he took it and applied a little of the mixture to the inside and outside of his nose, quickly blocking it back up with a paper towel after he was done.

“So, are we set to go back to Canterlot then?” Ledger said, handing the vial back to Caramel.

“I suppose so Sir.”

“Excellent, let’s go see how the queen’s meetings went this week then.”

“You don’t think the resistance will kill anypony, to get what they want, do you sir?”

“If they didn’t kill me, I can’t imagine they would kill anypony else. After all, I’m a terrifying monster, and you are the stallions who have the misfortune of following my commands. I’m pretty despicable, aren’t I?”

“Completely reprehensible sir.” Caramel smiled first, with Guitaga smiling only moments later.

“Excellent.”


   
> Chapter Three
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Ledger looked out into the assembled crowd, but didn’t recognize any faces, none of them stuck out as familiar, he wanted one of them to be recognizable, if only so he could remember them, know that someone he knew the name of cared. He struggled helplessly against the wooden bindings that held him, he was stuck tight, and he wouldn’t break free, he knew. 

        Some stuffed shirt was reading words behind him, but he didn’t know or care who it was. He didn’t care about the words either, he knew what’d he’d done, he didn’t have to be reminded of it. He struggled one last time, for old times sake, before he stopped and gazed out into the crowd, no longer caring about the gathered faces who had come to see his execution, only caring that they would remember it at least.

        He felt a brewing tragic feeling deep inside his chest, but it never met his eyes. No point in crying was there? No. There wasn’t. He still felt the feeling rise up through his throat, a threatening approach towards his eyes. He shook it back and looked into the crowd again, he needed to focus or he was going to make a fool of himself in these final moments.

        He noticed now two ponies there, on thrones, looking at him. On the left, Nightmare Moon, a dark apathetic gaze staring him down from under her night blue helmet. And on the right, Twilght Sparkle, a look of subtle anger betraying her normally serene face. That was the last he saw, as he heard the sickly sliding of metal on wood, as the blade dropped through the wooden frame and towards his neck. He abandoned all hope that he would be set free immediately. His fate would be swift and permanent. 





        Ledger’s eyes flashed open and he gazed wide eyed at the ceiling of the carriage, his heart pounding in his ears. His feet felt cold and his breaths seemed much more jitterey to him than they actually were. His body was held stiff by his petrified muscles, and he took a moment to try and calm down before he forced his way through the fragile mental barrier that had held him still. He breathed deeply, his mind leaving the nightmare behind, and allowed his body to sink into the cushions.

        They tempted him back to sleep, but his mind was far too busy to process the request, leaving him awake in the back of the jostling chariot. Time seemed to leak away through some unseen gap as his mind slowly fell into it’s normal patterns. Barely a moment after he was fully himself, the wheels of the chariot stopped their infuriating bouncing, and he felt a warmth growing in his gloves as the leaders of the chariot got out of their harnesses.

        He leaned himself forward and caught his head in his hands. “Okay.” He said to himself. “Just a nightmare, par for the course. Calm down. I can do this.” He breathed deeply again, allowing his breath to slip and fall out in a steady stream. “Okay. Okay.” He reached over to the carriage door and pushed it open.

        He looked out, and found himself surprised by what he saw. He shuffled to the edge of his seat and swung his legs out. He glanced around once more, then jumped fully from the seat of his chariot. He landed and stumbled for a minute, almost landing on his face, despite how flat and dry the earth was beneath him. His mind swirled angrily and after he recovered, he made every point to hold still until the sickness spilled away.

        “Are you alright sir?” Came the call from Caramel, and Ledger slowly raised his head until he stood straight up again. He looked to Caramel and offered a half hearted smile. 

        “Just… still recovering from the visit to Ponyville is all…” Ledger turned his gaze to the dusty town that surrounded him, and he couldn’t help but feel like he’d been drafted into a western film while he was asleep. “Caramel.” He paused so he could turn his attention to the apple family stallion again. “Where are we?”

        “Appleloosa sir.” Caramel replied calmly. He moved a step closer very casually, but something was wrong, Caramel didn’t look right. Like when someone gets a small haircut and you know something’s wrong, but you can’t quite place it.

        “I see that.” Ledger took a few steps away, but Caramel didn’t seem to care. “But why?”

        “Urgent business from the queen, sir. She sent a letter while you were asleep.” Caramel reached into a pair of saddlebags and handed him the letter in question, only after he had moved a few steps away did Ledger feel comfortable enough to retrieve the letter opener from his coat to split the wax seal that was impressed on the front of it.

        He was about the pull the paper from the inside of the envelope when movement caught his eye. He jumped backwards, only seeing Guitaga lunging towards him after he had done so, and barely managed to back pedal fast enough to avoid the tackle as Guitaga hit the ground mere inches from the toe of his shoe.. “God damn it Guitaga!” Came the outraged cry from Caramel. “I told you to wait!” Ledger took several quick steps back so as to get fully out of reach of the downed Guitaga and looked at them both in a state of complete confusion.

        Caramel sighed, and in that exhale Ledger heard sadness and regret, but also determination. “Damn it sir. I’m sorry for this, but I know you saw Applejack in that basement. And even if I’m a slave to the queen, and even if you are kind. I can’t give up family. If I let you go back to Canterlot, you’ll tell the queen, or she’ll find out, she has a way of finding out what she shouldn’t, and I just… I can’t risk it sir.” His eyes were pleading and he seemed like he wasn’t entirely certain that he wanted to do this, but Ledger knew that he didn’t have the charisma to convince him otherwise, not as an alien who works for the dictator and not as a friend.

        “I understand Caramel.” Ledger glanced down at the paper in the envelope, he could see it was blank now, it had been a clever ploy. If Guitaga had waited a few more minutes they would have had him easily, when he’d looked up in confusion, he wouldn’t have had the ability to do anything in time before he was pinned.

Caramel looked back hopefully, smiling kindly, as his muscles loosened, Ledger had always been kind to him, he figured, he had nowhere to run, and the man wasn’t physically fit enough to run away faster than a stallion. Ledger knew he was screwed here, there was very little reason to keep this going longer than it needed to.

Unless of course….

Ledger broke in a run and Caramel took a half second before he chased after him, having not expected the act from the man. The stallion had started to close the distance when the man suddenly ran into a nearby house, throwing the door open on his way in and slamming it shut quickly. He dropped a bar into the slots on the sides and turned around to see two ponies looking at him like he was insane. When they caught sight of his clothes and realized who he was, they quickly averted their gazes and began to chat amongst themselves about non-important things very nervously.

When the pounding came on the door their talk panicked and picked up speed, but Ledger was quickly gone from the room. “Sir!” Came the anger cries from beyond the threshold. “Sir! Just give up and come out!” Cries that fell on deaf ears. There was something he needed, and he needed it now.

He tore into the bathroom first, but instantly his heart sunk. No mirror. Of course there wasn’t a mirror, it was a frontier town, why would there be a mirror? Ledger began to berate himself. Now chances are things would be a lot worse than if he’d just turned himself in, now he had to go down, unlock the door, probably get physically beat up again. All because he decided to god damn try and do something different.

He smacked his head against the wall and cursed, preparing to go down and own up to his actions, but then, as he exited the bathroom, ignoring the pounding that echoed over to him from the front parlor of the building, he glanced further down the hall. There, at the end, was the bedroom. Maybe, if this was so much like those western films then there was still a chance…

He brushed the ajar door fully open and stepped in through the door frame, ducking his head so he didn’t smack it on the wood. A simple bed filled the room, a small nightstand on either side of it. He approached the closest nightstand and opened it. Inside was a beat up hat, and he knew he had the wrong one. He was about to slide the drawer shut again when he heard the wooden bar being lifted from in front of the door.

Leaving the drawer open he dived across the bed and pulled open the other nightstand, not believing his luck he quickly pulled his precious find out and held it in front of his face. He looked into the reflection and smiled, despite how much he hated his appearance. A hand mirror in a western frontier town, always. Remembering the urgency of his situation he swung his hand in front of the reflective surface and watched as it began to shimmer and shake like mercury.

Suddenly, it tightened and lay flat. Nightmare Moon looked at him from the other side of the reflection, and his breath caught in his throat. She always looked so angry and terrifying, even now, when she was his only hope of escape. “What is it Ledger?” The voice was intermediate but it always seemed to hold an emotionless edge to it, regardless of what the queen would talk about.. 

“I-”

“STOP HIM!” Came the shout from the direction of the door and Ledger spun around to look at the approaching forms of three angry stallions. The back two were Guitaga and Caramel, but the closest one was the owner of the house he had just busted into. All three of them held an aura that shouted quite plainly they fully intended to ruin his life. They closed the distance tremendously fast and before Ledger could get a word out of his throat the massive stallion at the front was already flying through the air to smash his form firmly to the floor. In all this approaching horror, he had completely forgotten about the mirror he held and the one whom he had contacted on the other side of it.

He was quickly reminded.

There was a flash of white, but it was over almost instantly, the blindness that struck all the ponies wasn’t the light truly, but the immediate absence of it after it left, that darkness that struck their eyes blind before they could recoup. Blinking it away, and pretending that there wasn’t a headache that felt like it had shafted his head, Ledger looked to the source and once again found his voice stuck.

The queen stood in the room, her form somehow taking up the entirety of it and none of it at the same time, her haunting tendrils of midnight hair swirled around in the air, as if completely devoid of any destination or cause, free and flowing in a beautiful dance of black. Ledger was awestruck when he saw her, the same as he always was, but he’d been trying to hide it, this absolute striking fear that followed the queen wherever she went.

He forced himself to tear his eyes away from the hair and realized he was seated firmly against the ground, he tried to move but felt an uncomfortable jolt of pain issue through his bones. He must have fallen down at some point when he was blinded, he didn’t remember it but his side protested to the truth of the fact. He groaned behind closed lips as he tried to get out of the pain, only to find it increasing, so he rested himself back against the wall.

“Ledger. Any wounds?” 

“Maybe a few, my queen. I can’t tell for certain.”

“We’ll run a check up back in Canterlot.”

“Thank you, my queen.”

“And then you’ll go to the dragon capital as my envoy.”

“Of course, my queen.”

She nodded and looked back at the stallions, her hair seemed to shift slightly in it’s endless waves and Ledger managed to catch of glimpse of the trio all held perfectly still, even their faces unmoving in the perfect stasis that the queen had put them into. When he next got a chance to see how they fared, however, they were no longer in the hall, having seemingly vanished without a trace. 

The queen stood still for a moment, looking down the empty hall, then turned to Ledger. “Can you remain conscious for a teleport to Canterlot?” She asked calmly, emptily.

He fought back the urge to gulp uncomfortably, he despised teleportation, but he certainly didn’t want to be riding back to Canterlot in that god forsaken carriage that managed to hit every bump on the road. “I will certainly try my best my queen.”

She nodded and a slow light began to build in her horn. It occurred to Ledger that she could probably teleport them immediately, without the build, and was wondering why she felt the need to build up the magic, but was interrupted when the queen spoke and shattered his thought process. “That’s all I ask Ledger.” Before he could respond he found himself encapsulated in the queen’s magic, held there, with her, as they moved through space. They traversed the distance from Apploosa to Canterlot almost immediately, but it felt… calmer than before, not nearly as gut wrenching.

The sphere faded away to reveal the familiar stone that composed the interior of the queen's magnificent castle, and Ledger instantly recognized the door he stood in front of, even without reading the sign off to the side. Medical wing. The queen was in a hurry to get him ready for this dragon capital business, but, of course, it wasn’t like she would be going. Not that he could really blame her for it.

When he looked around, the queen had already vanished and he was left alone outside those doors. He seemed to ponder on the emptiness for a minute before turning emotionless to the doors and entering the medical wing. He had to prepare for his trip to visit the dragons, and the first step would be to get back in good shape, how else was he going to get all the bones in his body broken if some were shattered to begin with?        


> Chapter Four
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        The ache that echoed off his ribs only amplified Ledger’s emotions, feelings of rage and guilt and betrayal mixed and swirled inside his mind and fought to vent outwardly in some kind of self-loathing anger. But despite all that, he was as to be expected. Rather happy to find that he had no fully broken bones, only host to a pair of cracked ribs that were charted to recover before he would even board the train to visit the dragons. 

The doctor in charge, however, had acted as if he were the most important case in the entire hospital, due to his position in the queen’s court. And it made Ledger sick to think about it. He knew there were at the very least two ponies who should have had a fair share of the attention given him, but had been passed over in favor of the queen’s pet human. Should they learn of it, they would undoubtedly hold a grudge against him for it, as if he had a say in the matter. 

Ledger knew there wasn’t any reason to be so mad about it, since there was nothing he could to change it, but it still held to his bones, always present, and his face showed it. It was frightening to the ponies to see such anger on the features of the man, though he tried to keep it hidden beneath a nonchalant pout. Ponies would move aside like he was on a warpath, and it only angered him more.

He paced the castle anxiously with a small pill bottle of pain relief grasped tightly in a fist. He passed his room for the third time since leaving the medical wing and started on another loop through the halls. Knowing that nothing of worth awaited him in his room, only preoccupied sitting and fuming. And he could do the second one while walking, so he saw no reason to relax and sit down. 

A couple ponies saw him passing again and moved aside, exchanging quizzical expressions in the wake of his footsteps, not understanding what drove the Relations Officer to such a fit. Nor would they. Ledger had an image to uphold, even if it was begrudgingly. Truth was, noone in the castle thought that the queen would actually hire someone to deal with relations, it seemed like the polar opposite to the queen’s actions. Not to mention the strange alien hardly fit in with ponies at all.

So, logically, everyone assumed the title was a front. Assumed he was actually some sort of deep dark agent, to spy on them, to gather info, and to report it back to the queen. Some extraterrestrial mercenary, working for the queen and her money. He’d tried, once, to do away with that rumor. In fact, it had only been a few days ago now, he’d tried to help one of the stallions who pulled his carriage.

Now look how things had turned out. 

He didn’t blame Caramel, no, Caramel had done what he thought was right. 

He blamed Guitaga. That dirt bag had turned on him for no reason, had tried to tackle him to the ground instead of attempting a peaceful capture. After Ledger had done all he could to help out Guitaga, for the very most minor thing, and Guitaga had turned on him instantly because Caramel has asked him too. 

It was very clear he was to always be the untrustworthy monster of the queen’s court. He could build an orphanage and solve world hunger and ponies would still suspect an ulterior motive, children would still panic when he passed by, and stallions would still flinch when he looked at them. His thoughts burned his mind with fiery anger, a force that singed his sanity as he kept it in check. In this fit of emotion he only barely recognized he was passing his room again, but he didn’t care. And he went for another loop around the building.

He tripped as he turned the next corner, stumbled over something he hadn’t seen, and he landed on his knees, sending a painful vibration through his injured ribs. He paused for a minute to wait for the pain to subside before he tried to stand again. “I’m so sorry!” He heard a female voice call from behind him, followed by a scrambling sound as she tried to make her approach. 

Ledger lifted himself off the ground almost immediately, not waiting for her help. “It’s fine.” he turned to face her, and blinked as he recognized her, he couldn’t place a name, but he recognized the face. It’d been so long since he’d heard it. He felt like she was one of the few who had received names from the fandom, but he supposed he could be wrong about that. But despite not knowing her name, he still wasn’t surprised that he recognized her face. Facial recognition had long since become cliche in his day to day life, and the surprise in seeing ponies he recognized had quickly faded away. And as he looked at her he saw the fear that began to find it’s way into her eyes. Something even more common than the familiar faces. 

        “I’m so so sorry!” She repeated, a renewed vigor in her words that had been missing before, confirming beyond a doubt that she had recognized him. “Very sorry sir! I’m such a clutz, didn’t watch where I was going, I didn’t mean to trip you sir. I swear it, I really didn’t.”

        “Shuuut up.” Ledger pled, a sort of agony in his words at the way she had begun to grovel for his forgiveness. “Just leave me alone okay? Then we’ll be even. Okay? Okay. Great, let’s do that right now. Good bye.” He reversed his direction, heading back towards his room. He really had no desire to deal with this right now. Or ever again, for that matter.

        He walked past her and he thought for a moment that he heard her take a step towards him, but she stopped almost immediately in hesitation. Not a moment later the air was filled with whispers that barely seemed to pass the teeth of their speakers, sounding more like hurried gusts than words, due to the fear they had of the biped. But he didn’t need to hear the words to know the topic.  

        He slammed the door shut behind himself as soon as he stepped over the threshold, only to flinch at the explosive sound it made when it collided with the door frame. With clenched teeth he walked over to the nearest chair and slouched over, his fingers knit together in a ball while regret consumed his mind, overriding the anger without killing it, letting the damnable fire char his emotions into a mess of black soot.

        His foot tapped relentlessly against the stone floor as he waited. He glanced at the clock, then looked away immediately, it was still a long while before he would be going to sleep, but there was nothing he wanted to do, nothing he could do, but sit here and fidget like a kid on a sugar high. His eyes darted over the room and he spied a pill bottle at the far end of the room. One that he’d had for a long time. 

        He broke his vision off the see through orange container and turned it to the wall. 

        And then Ledger counted the bricks.





        It was somewhere between his fifth count and his sixth count that a knock came at his door. He approached it, his mind empty of the emotions that had tortured him earlier. He still felt a unquenchable black goo in his gut, but he tried not to think about it. He instead answered the knock. Behind the door was the mare he had tripped over, and in sudden clarity the name came to his mind. 

        “Octavia.”

        She looked at him, and her hesitant smile that he had only seen for a fraction of a moment disappeared. Her eyes narrowed. “How do you know my grandmother’s name?” Showing utmost practice, her tone hide her emotions, even when her face betrayed them. 

        Ledger exchanged glances with her for a fair while before he spoke again, wanting to see if a violent side came to light before he continued. “Would you like to come in?” 

        She flinched. Of course she flinched. Why wouldn’t she flinch. Ledger began to berate himself again. ‘Oh yea, sure, let me come into this room of the monster who yelled at me earlier, that sounds like a plan.’ He thought to himself, sarcasm covering every word. “Actually, the park. How about the park?”

        A pained grin crossed her face, and she nodded.

        The walk to the park was silent, Octavia, or at least, that’s what Ledger knew her as, she glanced at Ledger when she didn’t think he was looking, but Ledger didn’t bother glancing at her, he didn’t quite care enough to do so at the moment. 

        They arrived at the park, and sat in separate benches, facing each other on either side of some kind of jogging track. Birds were chirping, but Octavia was far too interested in this Relations Officer to care. She broke through the noise by repeating her last question. “How did you know my Grandmother’s name?”

        “Not your name?”

        “No, why do you ask?”

        “You look like an Octavia.”

        She glared at him as he said that and he felt a very faint sense of guilt for it. “My mother had considered it, but she didn’t in the end. Whenever I ask her why, she always tells me that the name carries bad memories for her. I imagine there’s something she’s not telling me about her death.”

        “My condolences.”

        “It was years ago, I’ve moved on with my life. I still visit her grave every year, but that’s the extent of it.” Her gaze narrowed again as she looked at him. “So how did you know it? You don’t look like the type to go digging through genealogy in your spare time.”

        “Lucky guess.” She frowned in response. “So what is your name then?”

        “Treble.”

        “Still gonna call you Octavia.”

        “Why?”

        “Oh who cares, we probably won’t see each other ever again, it hardly matters if i call you Octavia does it?” His face was impartial as he said it, then he stood up and began to head back towards the castle again.

        “Do you ever make any sense?”

        “Oh, better not insult the Queen’s pet monster, maybe one day it’ll grow some fangs.” He looked at her and grinned, purposefully showing off his canines. She flinched away in instinct and he continued his lonely walk back home to count the bricks again. “And maybe a backbone too, wouldn’t that be something.” His voice far too low now for anyone to hear him.

        Truth was, he was happy for Octavia’s visit. It took his mind off things for a short while. He was happy she hadn’t tried to kill him, but he very much believed what he had said about them not seeing each other ever again. His duties took him outside the capital quite often, so regardless of where she lived they wouldn’t see each other much. Which was probably for the best. He wasn’t entirely looking forward to death by cello after she decided to try and take him out of the equation just like his other 'friends' had.

When, at last, the sweet relief of sleep visited him that night, the lullaby was sung by aching bones and poorly tuned heart strings.

        

        
	
	

> Chapter Five
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        No matter how many times he did it, it was always the gloves that put it over the edge, Ledger felt. He should have felt the same way about the coat and the pants, even more so given how much more of a symbol of oppression they were, but it was something about the gloves. Something about the feeling of them on his hands and what they seemed to represent. They were tied into the restraints of his chariot, telling him when his servants had gone free, and they had the ability to call upon the Queen herself. But neither of those were the reason. Ledger knew they weren’t the reason. He just couldn’t quite put his finger on what was.

        He pulled them on over his hand, fitting perfectly over his fingers in such an immaculate way that he wondered how much time had truly been put into them. He knew trained tailors before he came here who couldn’t accomplish this. But ponies, who had never seen a human hand before, had done so. Obviously under the command of Nightmare Moon, but it was still amazing.

        Half parts awe and disgust were tucked away as Ledger tried to move his mind away from the gloves. But he lacked anything else engaging to think about. He was going on the train towards the dragons today, but there was no thinking to be done about that. He had packed and repacked everything over and over again to be sure he had everything he needed, but only that. Nothing redundant or niche.

        Everything else was up to the conductor, he just had to find a way to pass the endless train ride without going insane from lack of input. He glanced over at a small box that sat next to his mirror, he’d been debating on bringing it for a while, but suddenly reached over and grabbed it off the wooden counter on a whim. He sat down at the knee high table and opened the pack, taking the set of playing cards from within and splitting them in half, one in each hand, so he could shuffle them together.

        They would be close to pointless on his trip, since none of the ponies seemed to know how to play even the simplest game, and declined when he offered to teach them. There were a few single player games, but those always got tiresome quick. Yet... these cards were also one of the few artifacts that he’d somehow managed to bring into this world with him, and they had sentimental value because of that. Something about the jacks, the queens, the suicide king of hearts… something about the simple images resonated with him. 

        He shuffled a second time, nothing fancy, just your classic poker shuffle. He’d never learned any cool tricks with them, didn’t see the point in it, even now. It felt nice to just have them there. Without looking he dealt onto the table. A face down and a face up card across from him, and then two face ups directly in front of himself. He glanced at the cards and frowned. 

        An ace sat comfortably on the other side of the table next to it’s face down friend and a three and five sat on his own side. “That is horrible luck…” He said idly as he stacked the cards, not bothering to look at what the face down was. He’d never gambled, but blackjack was the simplest game he knew of and was more or less one player if you took out the money. 

        The dealer had strict rules they had to play by, with little to no room to do otherwise. So as to give some consistency to the hectic changing field. “I have no idea what the face down card is, or what the next card on the deck is, but I know what the dealer will have to do if he gets anything below a seventeen.” Which, of course, made it easy to play without the dealer at all.

        Ledger dealt again. The ‘dealer’ had a ten now, that was more reasonable. And he had an ace and an eight. Ledger tapped his jaw in idle thought while he looked at the cards. “Think I’ll…. stay…” He flipped over the face down and smiled. “An eight, yay, I win.” His voice was more sarcasm than excitement, and he slid the cards back together, shuffling once more, and opted to put them back into their package rather than deal again. 

He glanced at the empty place near the mirror for a moment before he tucked the cards into his coat pocket. He moved to the door and pushed it open with a twist of the knob. He closed the door behind him as he passed over the threshold and began to make a slow trip towards the train, having nothing better to do. His luggage was already aboard, there was no reason for him not to be on the train as well. 

The castle was mostly quiet as it was an early morning train departure. Only a few servants would be up at these hours, and they wouldn’t be in this part of the castle. He had the whole hall to himself to slowly swagger through, a privilege that wasn’t normally possible given how packed the castle always seemed to be. He followed the twists and turns thoughtlessly, already knowing the path. He had memorized these halls under the Queen’s instruction, that was something he could do at least. It wasn’t like he knew the castle like the back of his hand. There were still several off paths that lead to other things where he never needed to go to. Even if he did need to find out how to get somewhere, he knew the way to the library, where the map was.

        So, due to his knowledge, he got to the train still several hours before it would depart. He grabbed the handle and pulled the door open, letting it slide freely to the side for a moment before he let his arm go tense and stop its movement. He stepped inside and much to his surprise he found another pony already inside. She looked back at him, her face empty of emotion, like she was too busy to care about his arrival. She turned her attention back to the violin that lay on her lap and continued to tune it. 

        He pulled the door shut again and sat down across from her with folded his arms, he rested one foot on his knee and he sat there, letting his head fall until it rested against his chest. He listened to the soft plucks of the instrument and although he could tell when she moved on to a new string to tune it, he had no way of knowing how close she was to the note she was trying to get. He’d never developed an ear for the notes, despite all the time he’d spent listening to music before he came here.

        “Are you going to say ‘hi’?” Octavia asked him, but he couldn’t tell if she was looking at him or not, his eyelids had already slid shut in a mix of boredom and fatigue, he hadn’t gotten as much sleep the night prior as he would have liked.

        “Ladies first.” Came the muffled reply on a slight delay.

        She scoffed lightly at that in good humor before continuing her work. “So you’re going to see the dragons as well then? No doubt as part of your job.”

“No, I’m totally going there on vacation. I can’t wait to get punched in the face because I passed by a bar at any point in the day.” Ledger’s voice was lax, not as much sarcasm as simply boredom.

“Perhaps if their king cared for his subjects, their lives wouldn’t be in such a state. Where they spend every free moment drinking away all the problems that plague them day after day every week.” Ledger could tell that it was an issue that Octavia had a strong stand in, given how quickly she had brought it up. 

“Or perhaps they like to drink.”

He opened one of his eyes and glanced at her, she was frowning at him. “You mean to say that you think the king is justified in what he’s doing?”

“I never said that, I’m just playing devil’s advocate.”

“Deevile’s advocate?”

“Devil’s advocate, it means I’m voicing the other side of the debate even if I agree with yours. There’s no guarantee that removing the king would be beneficial. Especially with his sons still in the equation. Taking out the king would cause a power vacuum, his sons would all try and take the throne the second he was out of the way and we’d have a war on our hands before the day was out.”

“Yes, but the king allows the slavery of his OWN people! To other dragons no less. Not to mention the crippling tax rate and the police who can do whatever they like with utter impunity and the horrible treatment of the lower classes. I understand your argument but surely we could do something to help?”

“You think that maybe the queen could take over in his place?” The way he phrased it sounded like he was baiting her into agreeing with it. And she did, but it made her worry what his rebuttal was.

        “Well it’s certainly a better option than the status quo.”

        “No it isn’t. Queen takes over, dragons rebel. Maybe not immediately but fairly soon afterwards. The only reason the dragon king rules is because he’s proven his power to them and is close enough to strike fear into the populace with his simple presence. As soon as the queen takes over the dragons will want to revolt. ‘Who’s this numpty pony commanding us all from so far away? I say we strike a revolution.’ And they either all agree with that or it’s split. If the split is even enough there’s a civil war over it and if it’s one sided enough in favor of the revolution we get a war against us.”

        “I see you’ve put some thought into this,” Octavia said, frowning again.

“Used to, back when I thought I could change things.” Ledger rocked back and forth a bit, trying to get more comfortable on his seat. “I was so certain I could make things better when I first arrived. And I suppose a few ponies are better off since I’ve shown up, but all in all everything is exactly the same. You’d think a little kindness would go a long way. But it only makes you untrustworthy, people wonder what you’ve got planned.”

Octavia looked on silently, letting the man continue. He choked out a laugh before he started up again. “I remember this one time I gave a foal a donut. He was staring at it through the bakery window and you could tell he wanted it so bad, had his eyes locked on it. So I go in and pick up a few things, and I buy the donut. He looks all disappointed because he thinks it's gone forever now. So then I come out and give it to him and he looks up at me, totally confused. As soon as I turn my back, not even kidding, the dad of the kid throws it in the trash. Scared it might be poisoned. This kid looks at his dad like he’s insane, but then the dad just runs away with the kid in tow.”

“Just because you had one bad experience-”

“Oh don’t even.” Ledger cut her off, a sharp anger suddenly appearing in his tone, where before it had been completely apathetic. 

“What?”

“Don’t even say it. ‘You should give it another try! I’m sure things’ll go better!’ I have, okay, it never works out.” He shook himself once more, still trying to find some elusive spot of comfort somewhere in the cushions of the train seat. 

Octavia glanced at Ledger, but opted not to talk. She turned her attention back to the violin and began to double check and make sure it was tuned. 

“Sorry.”

She glanced at Ledger again, but that seemed like all he was going to say. She let a half smile onto her face and went back to finishing the preparations for her violin.

 
	
	

> Chapter Six
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Ledger felt the train jerk suddenly and found himself blinking and glancing around with blurry eyes, all the while stifling a yawn. Yet it still took him a few moments before he fully brought himself out of the drowsy sleep that had overtaken him, not even remembering ever being comfortable enough to fall asleep at any point on the train ride. The changes in his surroundings, however, told him he had done exactly that. Octavia was missing from her seat across the aisle and the train car was all but silent, the continuous clacking of the rails and wheels as they powered towards their destination told him that he’d been out far longer than he’d thought he had. 

        He felt out of sorts as he sat there, as one is wont to do in unfamiliar places. A strange alien feeling that only seems to become apparent when you’re tired. Ledger usually only felt like this when he was at a hotel, but it wasn’t out of the ordinary enough to warrant any concern. Ledger lifted himself from his seat, stumbling as his tired body got used to the moving train car that swayed back and forth ever so slightly on the rails.

        After he got his legs back under control he made his way for the car in front of him. He exited his current car and looked forwards across the small gap. A flimsy pathway had been added and there were guardrails that stretched between him and his destination, greatly reducing the risk in the traversing of the gap. However, it did little to quell the welling uncertainty that had already begun to grow. And all because of a foot long rickety pathway.

        He swallowed his fear and shimmied his way over the bridge. Overly hesitant steps stretched out his travel time to far greater than it should have been as he grasped the guard rails with white knuckles. When he reached the other car he opened the door with a bit of panic in his actions and stepped eagerly into the relative safety that it provided.

He breathed deeply through his nose to try and hide his panic as he regained his composure, only to realize there was only one other pony in the car to begin with. Relaxing himself, he approached the counter and glanced at the food options that he would have on this particular trip. 

Sandwiches, really, were the only food items on the board. Some sparkling water, gin and tonic, various other drinks were marked off to the side, but as far as food went, it was almost strictly sandwiches. And that made Ledger far happier than he normally would be. Because this was a train that went in between the dragon capital and the pony one, which meant there was meat on a select number of sandwiches. 

“Can I get a turkey and cheddar hogi?” Ledger said with a grin, excited that meat was back on the menu, as it wasn’t served in pony towns most of the time. Griffons and dragons were the only ones who made them, or the ponies who catered to them. So, naturally, Ledger got it whenever he could. 

The pony turned to him and smiled. “Ah, Mr. Ledger. Did your nap suit you well, sir?” While he waited for the answer to his question, the pony bussied himself with procuring the meat, cheese, and bread from around the small kitchen that he had been given.

“Yes, it was pretty nice actually.” Ledger returned the smile. “But I’m curious, how did you know? Did you pass by me when you boarded?”

“Nah.” The stallion returned with a lighthearted tone. “That young mare that came through mentioned it in passing.”  He turned around and began to allign the meat and cheese and the bread he had laid on the counter a moment before.

“Oh?” Ledger looked around the car to make sure he hadn’t missed anyone, and indeed, the car was completely empty of any other patrons. “Where did she end up getting to anyway, I don’t see her anywhere in here and she wasn’t back in the passenger car when I woke up. Not really anywhere else to go is there?”

“She was talking to a dragon bloke, they seemed to be discussing something when they suddenly got up and moved to the next car up.” The pony slid the finished sandwich across the table and Ledger pulled his coin purse from his coat pocket, handing a few bits to the pony to pay for the meal, and another one as a tip.

“What’s in the next car up?” Ledger asked before he took a hefty bite out of the sandwich, not bothering to hide his hunger in the least.

“Not a clue sir, this is the furthest one up that I ever go. No reason to go any further.” The pony was putting away the remnants of food that he hadn’t used for the sandwich, then placed the offered bits into a small tray at the back of the kitchen that slid into the wall. He promptly locked it as soon as he was done with it.

“Huh…” Ledger said with a mouth half full of meat and cheese, his eyes moving to the door to the next car and lingering on it even as he swallowed his bite. He was about to take a second one when the car jerked slightly and made him miss his food. He glanced at the sandwich and then to the door again. 

Ledger gripped the sandwich in one hand and nodded to the stallion in thanks, then approached the door, taking a smaller nibble of his food. He pushed the door open softly and looked to the next car. He bit into the sandwich again, but didn’t cleave through it, only holding it in his mouth as he grabbed the guard rails with either hand. He repeated the process he had done earlier, until he got to the other side, where he held back from flying through to the inside.

He placed his ear against the door and listened carefully, taking another bite of his sandwich now that he had a spare hand to hold it in. He heard angry mumbles coming from the other side, growing slightly in volume over the course of the time that he listened. He recognized Octavia’s voice, but he didn’t recognize the other one, undoubtedly the dragon that the kitchen worker had told him of. 

Eventually they seemed to come to a peak and Ledger, against his better judgement to just leave it alone, entered the car as nonchalantly as he could manage. Octavia and the dragon looked at him, he looked back and glanced around the car. The dragon that Octavia had been talking to was about Ledger’s height, covered in red scales and had a small overbite. When he smiled in greeting, he made full show of the sharp teeth that he held in his jaws. All in all, he looked very composed.

Octavia on the other hand, was everything but. Her hair seemed mussed and her jaw was set in stubborness. She looked at Ledger with mixed emotions, and he returned the same feeling. She seemed to be guiding Ledger’s eyes with her own, wanting him to look at something, but he had seen the object of her gaze moments after entering, it wasn’t like the dragon had tried to hide them.

A trio of dragons stood shackled together nearby with very clear looks of defeat on their faces. Two of them were about pony height but the third was even smaller, and looked familiar. Ledger attempted to hide the surprise from his face. He hadn’t expected to meet this particular member of the old group in quite this place. He hadn’t expected him to meet at all really.

“Hello sir, what brings you here?” Ledger glanced at the dragon and took another bite of his sandwich, using it as an excuse to think as to how he wanted to take this conversation.

“Not much else to do really, just taking a look around.” He looked at Octavia like he hadn’t seen her when he came in. “Treble, good to see you. How are things going?”

Octavia looked back at him with a face of burning anger, but neglected to answer. She was very clearly angry that this was occuring on a train that she had bought passage on, but it wasn’t against the law in the slightest, due to the fact that the dragon country was one of the destinations. And he suspected Octavia knew this, just that she didn’t have to like it. What she didn’t seem to know however was that she was not in a position to berate this dragon for his job, and that she should just let the situation drop.

She looked away angrily and Ledger looked back at the dragons. The familiar one, purple and green, he wanted to make sure it was who he thought it was before he made a purchase. And if it was Spike he would make that purchase almost immediately. However, he wanted to do so in such a way that still made him seem aloof and seperate, which meant kneeling down in front of potential Spike and asking really nicely wasn’t an option. 

He took another bite of his sandwich as he thought, and when he swallowed that bite he had the basics of a plan forming. “What are the price tags?” Octavia stared daggers into his head as he said that but he pretended he didn’t care. 

The dragon smiled at the possibility of an early sale, then he wouldn’t have to pay the auction fee. “Forty bits for the taller ones and thirty for the runt.”  

Ledger tapped his chin and nodded as if in deep thought. “Do you have any paperwork to back up those prices?” In all honesty, Ledger had no idea if those prices were high, low, or normal. Which was why he’d asked it without any aggression, it made him seem curious to simply see if the price was worth it, instead of being outraged by it being too high or worried about why it was so low.

The dragon nodded eagerly and pulled a clip board from off the top of a box, handing it to Ledger. He glanced through it, making sure to spend time on the first two papers even though he didn’t care about them in the least. He moved on to the third and glanced at the name section of the paper. And, to his slight annoyance, there wasn’t one there. Glancing through the words, he came to a small, illegible footnote at the bottom.

“What’s this here?” He said, pointing at it and looking at the dragon. The dragon moved over to look at the paper and a smile broke out on his face as he saw what Ledger was indicating. 

“There’s a story on that there.” The dragon stepped back to where he was before. “So, the guy who sold us this runt right, he’s trying so hard to sweeten the deal, everything in his power that isn’t straight out lying.” The dragon adopted a laughing tone as he continued. “And so then, just out of nowhere, he’s like ‘This dragonling has magic powers!’. Not even kidding. And so he gets the dragon to come up and then he breathes fire and it’s just green fire. Normal fire, but green. And he’s like ‘See, told ya he’s magic!’ We still got him for cheap though, no one's gonna buy him for any high amount just because his fire is green!” The dragon was shaking with laughter by this point and Ledger was smiling kindly in response.

Ledger turned his attention back to the paper, waiting a moment before he announced his decision, merely so he didn’t seem rushed. “Ah, what the heck, I’ll take the runt.” He handed the papers back to the dragon, who was now wearing a very surprised look on his face. “Thirty bits right?” He pulled his coin purse from his pocket and took out three ten bit pieces. He handed them to the dragon and it seemed to take a moment for the dragon to realize that he was serious.

He got the key fairly quickly from a pouch nearby and undid the shackles to the smaller dragon, shoving him with some degree of force towards Ledger, who nodded in response, as if pleased with the action, and then graciously accepted the papers of ownership that were passed his way. He looked at Octavia, who still refused to give him any amount of eye contact, and headed back towards the exit to the car, finishing off his sandwich with a final bite. The small dragon followed dutifully, and after a moment they got outside.
        
        After he closed the door he stopped and gripped onto a nearby post, wanting to talk to Spike before they went back into another cart. He turned around and the dragonling flinched away, scared of the biped. Ledger, realizing how imposing a form he cut, crouched down as low as he could while remaining on his feet. 

        The door to the previous car opened and Ledger quickly stood back up to his full height before he realized that it was only Octavia who had come out. She, however, was full of rage. Upon seeing Ledger there, she slammed the door in a fit. With a deathly glare she closed the distance, looking as imposing as she could given she was smaller than he. 

“What was all that crap!?” She shouted angrily, Ledger keeping his face impassive as she released her verbal fury onto him. “Was all that just to spite me huh?” 

Ledger looked to Spike, who was gazing at Octavia with what could only be hope, as much as he could muster anyway, and Ledger looked back to Octavia. 

“You think that you can just pull that crap huh? You’re gonna support this slavery ring? Seriously? You are the WORST member of the queen’s court. None of them have dragon slaves, but you bought one on a WHIM. For NO REASON. You even did that whole stupid speech, like I was supposed to pity you for all that, but I can see now that you were just lying. You didn’t care about that foal, he probably doesn't even exist, you just wanted me on your side, huh? Get as many ponies in your corner as you can. I thought you had at least some self respect but clearly I was -”

She was silenced as she felt a smack hit her face, knocking her vision to the side. She paused for a moment before she got around to looking back at Ledger, not believing he had just hit her. She prepared to rant but was stopped as he shoved a roll of papers into her face. “What the heck is this?” She dropped her gaze to look at it briefly before looking at Ledger again.

His eyes were close to tears and his face was painted with rage. “His ownership papers. Since you're clearly so much better than I am, he'll be better off with you right?” She took them in surprise, and Ledger turned away, letting the two to be by themselves. He didn’t bother to grab the guard rail, or to ascertain his steps as he moved back towards the kitchen car. He didn’t care enough. As he was about to open the door, he stopped and turned around. “And don’t talk to me. Ever again.”

Then he left, closing the door to the kitchen carefully behind him. 

  

> Chapter Seven
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Ledger stood at the door, patient as always. His mind was assured of his belongings being safe back at his rented room in a nearby hotel. His errands had been taken care of, his to-do list all swept clean of the many things that had littered it for the day, each one taken care of in an empty and easy manner with skill and apathy. Visits with dignitaries and nobles had been taken care of one by one, visits primarily filled with empty and meaningless greetings accented by unimportant small talk that both sides had weaved into something that could be construed as a meeting. The dragons didn’t like him and he didn’t like them. Both sides knew it but neither spoke the words. It would have been impolite, after all.

         But now, finally, Ledger stood at a door.

        It was extracurricular. He still had other things to do under the queen’s orders during this visit, very important things, and he fully intended to do them of course. But there was a pony he needed to visit out here, one who had been removed and exiled from the boundaries of the queen’s borders in fear and anger. More the latter than the former. And, though she hadn’t spoken of her in the briefing for this particular trip, Ledger knew that his remaining time today would be better spent doing this than anything else.

        He heard the jingle of keys and looked around to the source, which just so happened to be quite easy to spot. An elderly dragon, a little shorter than Ledger himself, was approaching the door with a set of golden keys in his claw. He wasn’t hardly slowed by the age that was apparent on his form, and Ledger would have bet the dragon could beat him in a foot race if it came down to it. But his age still showed in his hair and his claws. Weathered tips, scratched by the passing of years, and grey hair that danced lightly with every step.

        The dragon reached the door and slid a key into the lock softly. With precise hands he turned it neatly, steady watchful eyes lingering on Ledger  as he did so. There was a soft click in response, not from Ledger but from the door. Both of them looked towards it but the old dragon didn’t open the threshold. Ledger raised an eyebrow as the seconds of uneasy silence stretched into an anxious minute. 

        The dragon faced him fully, the key hanging in the lock as he left it behind to hold a single digit of his claw up as he turned to the man. A threatening look adorned his face as he spoke, and Ledger was sure to listen, if only for his own safety. “Thirty minutes.” Came the almost raspy voice. “No more, no less.” 

        “I’m aware.” Ledger responded, his face unreadable. The dragon looked at him a moment longer, unsure if Ledger was being rude or apathetic, before he removed the key from the door and pushed it slowly open. “Thank you.” Ledger responded before stepping across the threshold and into the adjacent room, leaving the dragon and his keys behind.

        A quick glance around told Ledger it was more or less the same as it had been the last time he visited. And while he toyed with the idea of attempting to sight see, he found that he grew tired of the pattern of bricks and prison cells all too quickly to admire anything at all. He followed the path in his head, partially from his memory of walking, partially from the directions he’d been given the first time. It was simple enough, more or less a straight path.

        He moved steadily towards his destination until he could make out the mark of color against the sepia stained stone. Bright and vibrant in defiance of it’s surroundings. Ledger’s pace slowed slightly as he approached, and he drew the attention of the prisoner as his shoes clicked across the ground. She turned to face him, her features tainted with contempt and rage, as if she had already known he was coming and had prepared her visage just for the occasion. 

        “I see the Queen’s kept her pet human on his leash.” She said, looking over his clothing, every facet of her demeanor growing more angry and volatile with the passing moments.

        “Hello Cadence.” He responded half-heartedly.

        They looked at each other for a moment, the alicorn with anger, the man without care. They’d met about a year ago now. When the Queen had first sent him on this trip to the dragons, that time had been with specific instructions to visit her, to check and make sure nothing had gone wrong. 

        And, of course, nothing had. Nothing would. The queen had a deal with the dragon king. And Cadence would not be getting out anytime soon. As conceited as the king was, he wasn’t stupid. And pissing of the alicorn who controls night and day wasn’t something that wise men did.

        “I see you’re doing alright, all things considered.” Ledger said, offering small talk, almost absentmindedly as a bad habit from his meetings only hours or so prior. As he spoke he knew full well no matter what his words were her rage would only grow towards him. He had thirty minutes though, he fully intended to use them.

        “I see you’re still a soulless puppet of your Queen.” The sarcasm on the last word was almost unbearable, but it fully delivered her point to Ledger. Not that he needed a reminder what her thoughts were on the current ruler of Equestria. “You remember that I can see the feelings of your heart don’t you? You seemed to have guessed that the first time we met. And I doubt the queen told you. It’s all empty in there Ledger. I assume you know.”

        “I think being so far out of Equestria for so long has ruined your magic sense Cadence. Perhaps you see that I want to feel empty, but I can assure you that at the moment I don’t.”

        “I think you misunderstand your feelings. Or rather, the lack there of. Perhaps you should have spent some more time looking inward and less time being the lackey of a corrupted crown.”

        “Fairly certain you’re wrong, because I assure you, the scars I can feel with perfect agony. I can feel every betrayal under my skin like a razor.”

        “Wha-”

        “Cutting my veins, scarring my blood, corrupting me and all I have as they dig into my heart with each passing beat, latch onto anything, anything solid they can find as they are rushed through my system. Trapped in a loop just as I am, stuck like I am. In an inescapable pit of torture that never seems to end, caused by people who don’t even begin to think. To think that maybe I have emotions somewhere inside of me.”

        “I didn’t mean-”

        “It wants nothing but to be free of the never ending cycle, to spill out of my veins and at last find freedom in the abandoned cold of the ground. But it knows, like I know. That to find that freedom would mean death. And it would mean pain to more than just myself. So it politely follows the rules that bind it, the veins the cycle through me and carry it onward. Obeying and following orders. Knowing that one day it will all mean nothing and it will fade into history unremembered.”

        Cadance looked at Ledger, who returned an empty glare. She broke away from his faze first. “It doesn’t matter. Not for much longer. The true queen will be free soon, and she’ll take back the crown. Do you know why? Huh, Ledger? Has your queen told you?”

        “Because a long time ago, about a thousand years now, Luna and Celestia had a battle. Luna corrupted and angered by being underappreciated and Celestia unwilling to assuage her fears. And so they fought and, in the end, Luna won, empowered by her emotions. And she sealed Celestia in the sun for one thousand years. With that done she donned the mantle of Nightmare Moon and has ruled Equestria since, moving the sun and moon. Ruling each day in the same manner as her subjects. Slaves to an iron crown.”

        Cadance looked at Ledger bewildered and he continued. “I’m sorry, were you going to do that rant? Maybe with a little less fact and a little more righteousness involved?”

        Cadence looked at Ledger, her eyes searching him for something. “You’ve always known a bit too much. Even the first time. You knew me. Not just of me, you knew me.” Ledger blinked and glanced at the sun outside a nearby barred window, as if to check how much time had passed. “How?” She snarled the last words, leaning forwards to the bars, her muzzle peaking out past the confines but the rest of her trapped firmly within.

        “Lucky guess.”

        Cadence’s eyes narrowed and a look of contempt crossed her face as she stared him down. Ledger, however, seemed unperturbed

“Who’s side will you be on when the true queen comes? Will you cast away your sins for justice. Or will you stay by the side of that false ruler that’s owned you for these past two years?”

“I assure you I fully intend to stand with Luna until this all comes to an end.”

“Luna? A mare you’ve never known? You think there’s any ounce of Luna left in that twisted creature of darkness? I think you give her far more praise then she deserves. It’s very-”

“See,” Ledger said interrupting her, holding one gloved finger to his lips and looking up at the ceiling. “It’s funny you mention that, because right now, and I’m fairly certain you’ve noticed before but I’d like to remind you just to make sure, you’re in a jail cell.”

“So what?”

“Well, back where I come from, and I fairly certain it’s the same here too. There’s a large difference between a jail cell and a graveyard.” Ledger looked at her again, his eyes still unmoving. She didn’t respond for a while, and Ledger let her keep her silence until he heard a soft bell back the way he had came, indicating five minutes remained and he needed to start making his way back. “Besides, worst case scenario. I die. And, given how things have gone recently. Gotta say,” Ledger shrugged before he began to make his way back, “that’d be a pretty happy ending.” 

> Chapter Eight
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Black mist curled around Ledger’s ankles, brushing past as it moved on into the infinities on either side of him. He watched it move, it was far more intriguing than the utter blackness that surrounded him. It was a nice reprieve from what usually filled his sleep, even if the pony he would be meeting here was the origin of his night terrors. Ledger wondered if she knew she was doing it on purpose or if it was an unfortunate side effect from his suit or from repeated exposure to the Queen’s presence.

The hair on Ledger’s arm came to a stand and he felt a tickle sliding down his spine. Ledger looked up, looking for who was watching him from the darkness of this dream. No ponies would be here, but he’d heard a fair number of rumors about what lurked in the corners of the dream realm. As he spun around he found what he was looking for, it was hard to miss.

A splotch of light blue against the world. A small filly. He knew her. He’d known her for a long time. He hadn’t seen her yet though. He stood still, unable to move from surprise. She realized she’d been spotted and began to run away, he followed as fast as he could. He didn’t know why, but she looked like she needed help, he wanted to tell her he was there to do just that.

He tripped after several minutes, his foot hitting against the almost glass-like floor in his hurry. He fell onto his face and slid for a second before coming to a stop, it didn’t hurt. He glanced up and saw the speck of light blue against the black. She stood there like a star in the night, turning around to look at him. “I just… wanted to help…” Ledger managed, not sure what to say. Then, she turned away and ran, leaving him by himself on the ground. 

Ledger didn’t mind. He was used to it by now.

He laid there until he heard a sound like opening wings. A soft explosion. He forced himself to his feet and then he forced himself to the impossible doorway that had been conjured into existence a short distance away. He’d been waiting for it, it was late by his count. But he doubted the queen would say as much, she probably had a lot on her plate recently. Assuming Cadence hadn’t gone totally insane and knew what she was talking about. He suspected she did, everyone seemed to be about the right age.

He heard a knock come from the door, the one he’d been expecting, and he opened it. Stars and Malevolence met his eyes, both together, inexplicable tied together in some wicked dance, tethered to a single form that stood against the roiling blackness and gazed into his soul like only the Queen could. Celestia had oft been described of a being of inexplicable beauty, a trait that Nightmare Moon shared in an off putting fashion. She was gorgeous like a snake, and much more deadly.

She stepped forward. Ledger moved aside to allow her entry. Stunned far too much to do much else. He was just as much under her spell as anyone else. There was a story passed around that an assassin had come to kill her but was too off kilter by how she looked to kill her. Ledger knew he would have died before the blade ever reached her skin, but he still suspected the story was real. Evil and beauty are not the traits that are told together in stories.

She spoke and the spell was broken. Ledger reflected that it was probably for his benefit that he was stunned by her still, maybe it gave him another layer of disguise against her discerning eyes. Or maybe she already knew and was going to kill him here and now. It was up in the air half the time.

“How has your trip to the dragon kingdom been as of yet Ledger? Anything of note?”

“Nothing, your highness. I saw fit to go see the prisoner, I hope you don’t mind.”

“Did she say anything?”

“Just more empty words about prophecies your highness. She seems set in the idea that it’ll happen soon.” 

“Do you believe her?”

Ledger was careful not to blink, to show no sign of his response to that. It was a thin line between brown nosing someone and expressing faith in them. In all her time, Nightmare Moon had become adept at telling one from the other. However, one did not stay in the queen’s employ long without learning to walk a few tightropes. “It is beyond me to answer that, my queen. Only that I’ve yet to see any opponent present any kind of challenge to her majesty, and that you’ve never had to use more than a fraction of your full power in doing so.” 

Nightmare Moon eyed him. Then finished the discussion simply and resolutely. “Good.” The word was harder than any rock or gem and made it clear that this meeting, of sorts, was coming to an end.. “I must go, there is other business with which I must attend. I bid you good favor with the dragons.”

“Thank you, your majesty.”

The trick was not to answer the question. To instead set up a ‘straw man’ situation of similar likeness and answer it instead. He knew things that the queen knew he knew and he knew things that the queen had no idea he knew. It was pretending the former was the latter and answering to her favor that was the trick. She was having doubts about her confrontation with Celestia. Rightfully so given that the elements were still beyond her grasp. But all she wanted was to see if Ledger was for her or against her. She was far too preoccupied with the threats reviving around her to care about anything else.

Luna, Ledger knew, still had some strings she was pulling behind the scenes. Fogging certain memories and hiding certain thoughts. She was doing as much as she could. It was up to everyone else to prepare the show. Everyone else was getting their make-up done, and Ledger had put himself in charge of props. There was more in the dragon empire than diplomacy missions and bars, after all.

A thought which reminded him that he needed to get up. And he did.

The moon was high overhead, night time at it’s latest. It was a shame the sun never got the same pleasure of altitude, instead it was bound to whatever height the queen saw fit to give it. Often times not leaving the horizon. It was a rather brute force method of reminding the world who was in charge, and it worked very well.

Ledger forced himself from his bed, rubbing his eyes to try and stimulate them, hoping to easily get rid of the fatigue that plagued him, but easy was not something he hoped for anymore. Any thing that was in his favor to do would not be easy. He reflected that up to this point he could probably have made judgements based on which was the hardest course and he would have wound up in the same place. 

But for all the troubles, Ledger wouldn’t have it any other way. Or, rather, couldn’t. Ledger had a moral compass that seemed to put him in handcuffs half the time. He always felt coerced into doing what was right. It didn’t help when it backfired and he was left to deal with the situation. He didn’t like being the good guy, he liked having done good things, no mistake, but he despised what he had to go through to accomplish even the smallest thing.

Right now, he could’ve been asleep in bed. Instead he was up in the middle of the night planning a grand theft against the dragon king. Ledger was not the kind to steal, not because of his moral compass though as thievery can be extremely beneficial under certain circumstances, he simply didn’t have the physique for it. Which meant, of course, he needed help. More help. He’d already used a few favors on this gambit, he just needed one more.

A bag was slung over his shoulder and he trudged through the darkness with no particular destination. He hardly remembered bringing the bag with him, despite it’s importance with the upcoming exchange. This last individual would find him before he found them. He just needed to make himself known to the darkness. Luckily, being a tall bipedal dressed in a suit is rather unique on a set of empty streets in the middle of the night.

He stopped as he felt eyes on him. He held perfectly still, waiting, until he heard the voice from the darkness. “I ssssssee you’ve come to collect.” It hissed at him. “Well, that’sssss thrilling, but I hope you don’t intend what I ssssussspect you do.” He dared a glance to his left where he saw a set of slitted eyes staring at him from the darkness.

“I do, actually.” He turned slowly to face to form fully hidden in the shadows. “And I’ve got something. I’m sure you know the look of what you’re taking?” He lifted the bag off his shoulder and placed it onto the ground. The eyes glanced at it before looking at him.

“I do, but you shouldn’t.” The voice replied. “Ssssso, what’sssss in the bag then?”

“You know I have knowledge of things I shouldn’t. I just needed a refresher on some of them. Inside the bag is a copy of what you’re going to be stealing. Replace it and don’t get caught.”

“A refresher?”

“It’s a simple mind spell.”

“One that you can’t casssst.”

“That’s…. correct.”

“Ssssso, who did you let look inside your sssskull. Hmmm? Missssster Ledger? I didn’t think you had enough trussssst for anyone to do that.”

Ledger only looked on in silence. They were getting on a tangent now, answering questions, even in vague manners, would only serve to lengthen the distance to the actual topic. The owner of the voice seemed to recognize his tactic and changed the subject.

“Ssssstill, it ssseemsss like a hard bargain you drive Mr. Ledger.”

“It’s a large favor.” Ledger said simply. The unknown being remained silent for a moment at that, thinking it over. 

“Tell you hwhat.” It said breathily. “After I return the item to you, you tell me who you trusssssted sssso much. I’ve been looking for ssssomeone with ssssimilair qualifications, you sssssee.”

Ledger smiled. “She would appreciate the business, I assure you that it’s a deal.”

“A deal indeed. I shall sssssee you on the morrow Ledger. I hope that’sssss not too late?”

“Thank you.” Ledger said, turning his back on the eyes and the bag, knowing they would both be gone if he turned around. “That’s right on time.”

 

 

> Chapter Nine
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Ledger’s bones ached under his skin and he paused at the door to his room, taking a moment to lean against the wooden archway before he entered, part of him hoping the pain would ebb away until he could banish it with the painkillers he’d gotten after his last altercation. Instead, as he came to a rest, he only felt the pain settle in, as if preparing for a long stay. Despite the renewed ache, it was still several moments before Ledger forced himself to open the door and go inside.

        As he reached to open the door he caught a glimpse of the purple bruises that adorned his knuckles, and he paused for a moment, looking at the wounds he’d gathered during his visit to the king’s court. The gloves that normally covered them had been abandoned when the bruises had caused too much discomfort against the cloth. He wiggled his fingers, the purple skin flexing and contracting with the movements. They felt tight against his joints, stiff and wrong. He forced his gaze to the door instead and entered.

        The light was on inside, and Ledger lingered at the threshold in response. He’d turned the light off when he’d left. He stood there silently and looked around the interior of his apartment with keen eyes, doing his best to ignore the ache that lingered in his head. But nothing was out of place, at least not to his eyes. He knocked on the open door and took a step inward. “Is anyone here?” He asked, moving in. “I won’t try and stop you if you try and leave.” He continued, but there was only silence in response.

Cautiously Ledger advanced into his own apartment, fearful that someone else had taken it up during his absence. He left the small room that was at the immediate entry way and he took a few steps until he passed the second door that led into the greater part of the apartment. He glanced towards the kitchen, where it hid in an alcove to his left, but then his gaze snapped front and center as a loud thump issued forth.

A pony was tied up and bound on his front room table. He immediately recognized her and realized who was waiting for him to come home. He sat down at one of the seats around the table and recieved a dark look from the prisoner on the table, he did his best to ignore her and instead relaxed into the welcoming cushions of the chair.

“Did everything go okay then?”

“Ah, Misssster Ledger. I didn’t hear you come in. Sssssorry.” The voice came from the kitchen, and it took a large portion of Ledger’s remaining will not to look there. 

Instead, Ledger leaned back as far as he could and closed his eyes, trying to forget the pain that ran through his bones. “Do you have your contacts in?” He said, changing his question now that his suspicion had been confirmed fully.

“Not at the moment, unfortunately. I came here sssstraight from the job. Assss you can ssssee, there was a ssssmall issssue.”

Ledger opened his eyes a slit to look at Rainbow Dash again, who’s look had gotten even darker while his eyes had been closed. “Yea, I wasn’t quite expecting a visit captain, you’ll have to excuse the lack of greeting. Didn’t have time to put the tea on.” She glared evilly at Ledger.

“Oh, don’t worry Missster Ledger. I assssure you. I’ve been a proper hossssst.” Ledger remained silent, but he did allow a small smile to come to his lips, though it didn’t stay very long. “Now, before we get into the nitty gritty of the deal, I musssst ssssay, I didn’t exxxxpect your ‘disssstraction’ to be quite ssssso… physssical.”

“Neither did I.”

“Sssso, you did do it for her to essscape. Alwayssss full of ssssurprisssesss aren’t you? Picking a fight with the king’sss ssson issss not to be taken lightly, as I’m sssure you found out.”

Ledger saw the memory flash against the black background of his closed eyes. Octavia, always so caring. She’d shown a bit too much kindness to Spike after she finished her performance for the king. The king’s son and his ale found it an offense to treat the lessers so well. There’d been a fight. And Octavia had escaped with Spike while Ledger had played pin cushion. Ledger wasn’t sure where they’d gone, but he hoped they’d gone there quickly. The king and his sons were not forgiving individuals.

“Sssstill, I sssuppossse you’ve garnered a favor from her should you ever need it.”

“I needed a distraction anyway, helping her was just a unexpected benefit.”

“Jusssst because I forced you to take a favor from me doessssn’t mean that everyone elssse will do the ssssame. You do have to learn to take what’sss yoursss occasssionally Missster Ledger. For your sssake asss well asss everyone elssesss.”

“I guess you’re right,” Ledger paused and rubbed his temples, only manging to stir up more pain instead of massage it away. “But it won’t matter much longer anyway.”

“Oh,” The voice sounded far more engaged than it had all night. “How do you mean?”

“Nothing. Just… nothing.” He didn’t sound convincing, and judging by the silence from the kitchen his conversation partner wasn’t convinced either. “It was… just a name right? Name of the pony that I got my mind reading done by?” Ledger leaned forward and grabbed a pad of paper and a pen from the table next to Rainbow Dash, the dark look having shifted to one of confusion.

He jotted down the name on the paper and held it behind his head. It was snatched away by some unseen hand almost immediately. Rainbow Dash had forced her eyes closed and Ledger kept his gaze firmly forward. Ledger sat still, waiting to hear the door close, or to hear the farewell, but only silence was there. 

It remained like that for several minutes until a strange cane came into view, an unseen hand holding it from somewhere outside Ledger's field of view. The wooden cane was carved with the pattern of snakes crisscrossing over every inch of it’s surface. “What’s-” Ledger started, before being interrupted.

“A gift from the Ssssnakehair clan, Missster Ledger. Asss thanksss for ssserviccess rendered.”

“I- I couldn’t-”

“Take the cane missster Ledger. And don’t die would you? That would be a horrible wassste of potential.”

Ledger reached out and grabbed the cane. It felt warm in his hand, comforting. “I can’t make that promise,” Ledger said immediately, not wanting to convey any kind of assurity he didn’t think he could back up.

“Yessss, I thought you might sssay that.” Ledger waited for the cane to be taken back, but instead he heard the door to the apartment swing closed. Ledger glanced back slowly, carefully making sure that the owner of the voice had indeed left.

He then looked towards Rainbow Dash, who cracked her eyes open as well. “Well then, let’s get this over with too.” He stood from the chair and deftly untied the knots that had kept her bound on the table. Undoing the gag on her mouth last, desperately trying to put off the next round of talking for as long as he could.

“What was-” Rainbow asked immediately, standing up on all fours again. Ledger interrutped.

“Don’t.” He said simply, reaching for a bag that rested next to the table and picking it up. He lifted a round stone out and held in front of Rainbow Dash. “You were after this right?”

“I wasn’t after anything, I was just patrolling-” Every word sounded fake and Ledger interrupted again.

“No, don’t give me that. You were looking for something and you got in the way and that’s why our mutual acquaintance had to gag you and move you here. So I’ll ask you again.” Ledger rotated the sphere in his beaten hand, showing off every angle of it. “You were after this right?”

“I should have known the Queen was on to us!” Rainbow shouted immediately, rage boiling to the surface of her skin. “How did she know we were after the elements huh? Do you have any idea how much effort we’ve put into keeping it a secret?”

“Shut. Up.” Ledger said, rubbing his temples again as a headache began to form. “So you have the others then?”

“You would know!” She continued yelling. 

“I had this hope that this conversation would go smoothly, I can’t believe how deluded I was.” Ledger said, rolling his eyes. “Look, I don’t want to have to deal with moving this through customs without anyone finding it. Can you fly it back to Canterlot and get it to Twilight for me?”

“Ha, what? Is there a trap there waiting for me? You think I’m just gonna lead your flunkies to the resistance’s headquarters? How stupid do you think I am?”

“I’m gonna try and not answer that question.” That got him a dirty look from her. He continued. “Look, I admire your loyalty to your friends. I really do. But I need you to take this to them, it’s the only thing you’re missing.”

“Shows what you know, we’re missing two.”

“Magic doesn’t count. It’ll show up later.”

“Wha- So you have been spying on us!”

“I don’t know why I said that, it’s a really stupid thing to say in hindsight.”

“Yea, just like you and all the Queen’s minions!”

“You know what? Fine. I didn’t want the world saved anyway. Why would I go through the trouble of tricking you into leading us to the resistance when I could just have you imprisoned? The elements only work with all six. If you were out of the equation we wouldn’t need to worry. Not to mention that we have one of the elements with us as well. so that firmly kills off your rebellion. Heck, what if we kill you? I’m sure you’ve been told that I knew you were in the resistance since the start, if I really wanted to destroy your chances why didn’t I have you killed?”

“I-” Rainbow stopped as she thought about it.

“Look, don’t take it to them right away, I don’t care. Sneak it to them in a pie for all that it matters to me. Just please.” Ledger handed the element to her. “Please get it to Twilight.”

Rainbow looked at it carefully, then to Ledger with narrowed eyes. “Alright,” She said, taking it and placing it in her saddlebags. “But if this is a trick, I’m gonna make you wish you’d never been born.” She left before Ledger could reply, dashing out an open window and leaving him alone in his apartment. 

He watched her leave until he couldn’t spot her in the darkness any longer. “Too late.” He said to the darkness, then closed the window. He grabbed the decorative cane from where it leaned against his chair and made his way to the bathroom to get his pills. 

“Gee Mr. Cane. What do you think? I feel pretty rough. Should I up the dose?”

“Well I see no harm in upping it a little bit Mr. Ledger, you’ve had a bad day after all.” Ledger moved the cane up and down spastically as he imitated a different voice. 

“Thanks Mr. Cane, You’ve always got my back.”

“More like I’ve got your side. Hahahaha.”

Ledger glanced towards the mirror as he did the fake laugh and then let it slowly die away. He coughed slightly and leaned the cane against the wall. “Right, less of that Ledger. Try not to go insane quite yet.”  

He took the pills and stared at himself in the mirror, his eyes half lidded in exhaustion. “Just gotta make it a few more weeks is all. Then it’s all smooth sailing.”

> Chapter Ten
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        The world was dark, all except for a singular isolated table and a biped that was strapped tightly to it. The one on the table was lost, all the surroundings were drowned out by the spotlight that flooded his eyes and kept them from looking into the shroud that surrounded him. He tried to sit up, but to no avail. The bonds on the table kept him from moving. He saw movement stir in the black and lay still. The light beat down on him for minutes, unabating, as wisps writhed just out of sight.

        A solemn face came out the darkness, looking at him with all the emotion of a dead fish. The light was too blinding to make out the features, until at last the head moved between him and the light, casting a menacing shadow. Caramel looked down at Ledger, his face visible in a silhouette. “I wanted to avoid killing you in Appleloosa. I didn’t want any blood on my hooves. I only wanted to save my family.”

“Caramel I-” Ledger tried, only to be abruptly cut off. 

“But then you escaped. I thought you would come peacefully but you escaped. You put everyone in danger, just to save yourself. I had you all wrong.”

“Caramel no, it- I needed to-”

“Don’t make excuses Ledger. I won’t listen to the lies that come from your lips anymore, you taught me better than that last time.” Caramel moved away from the light, disappearing into the darkness again. “I’m going to kill you Ledger, to save my family. They’re in danger every moment that you’re still breathing. Still talking. But, before I do that, there are some ponies who wanted to talk to you, seems they want some answers.”

A unicorn walked into the light, a soft glow emanating from her horn. She was too hard to make out, the light was making Ledger’s eyes water. Luckily, the voice identified her. “You killed my parents.”

“Twilight?”

“You killed my parents and my brother and all of them didn’t you? We weren’t even given the bodies for a proper funeral service, we were denied even that. The queen’s guards showed up and whisked them away in the midst of the night with hardly a word… but you remember that don’t you? You were there, after all.”

“Twilight they’re still-” Ledger felt a knife slice into his hand, a sharp fresh pain that burned and forced more tears from his eyes. He clenched his teeth in pain and did his best not to shout. Glancing down through watery eyes Ledger saw the handle of the knife sticking out of his hand, the blade buried into his skin and the table beneath.

“Don’t lie to me Ledger, I’m not in the mood.” She said coldly before vanishing into the shadows.

The next pony started at the point that Twilight ended on, and he felt the knife immediately pierce his other hand. He wasn’t prepared enough to stop himself and let loose a muffled scream as he tried to ignore the pain. As he blinked out the tears he saw a familiar silhouette above him, the hair gave it away.

“Cadence I don’t know what-”

“What don’t you know?” Came the simple question. He felt a knife pierce into his shoulder, and he let loose a scream in response, she twisted the blade a little, moving his joint in the socket before letting it rest. “Well?” She asked as Ledger tried to cope with the pain. “What don’t you know?”

“I don’t-” Ledger breathed in tightly, trying to ignore the pain that hit him from his limbs. “know what to say.” She looked back at him, he thought he saw the shadow of jail bars on her face, but it could have been a refraction of the light as it passed through the layer of tears that was coating his eyes now. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m not.” Came her curt reply and she disappeared into the shadows as well. There was a long pause, stretched on eternally by the excruciating pain that pushed Ledger as close to death as it could without pushing him past it.

The next face he knew immediately, it seemed exceptionally clear. And when he saw it he knew there was no way it could have been anyone else. “Octavia please.” He begged, seeing her already approaching with a knife in her hoof, ready to drive it in with pure earth pony strength and not unicorn magic. 

“Let’s get this over with.” She said simply, bring the blade down as strong as she could.

Ledger clenched his eyes in preparation for the fear. After several minutes with a startling lack of sharp pain he felt someone shove him on the shoulder, he waited a moment before he carefully and slowly opened his eyes. Octavia stared back at him gravely and he lost whatever will had kept him from fighting his bonds, he pushed away and found that his hands followed easily.

He felt a board behind his back and glanced around in panic. It took a moment before he remembered. Train car. He was on a train car. He put his hands over his eyes to hide the fear that was still fresh in his mind, phantom pains lingering in his limbs. He sat there in silence, waiting, hoping it would fade from his mind.

“Ledger?” Octavia said, looking at him strangely, having just seen him back away from her in panic. “Ledger are you alright?”

“Fine, Octavia.” he said, moving his hands from his eyes to his hair, running them once through it before he looked back at her. “I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?” Spike piped up from nearby. “I mean I could go get some warm milk from the food car if you needed it.”

“No Spike I’m fine, thank you but I’m fine.”

“You don’t seem fine.” Octavia said with a disapproving tone from nearby. “Quite the opposite in fact.”

“I’m hoping that if I keep telling myself that I’m fine I’ll start to believe it.” Ledger said simply. “Why do you care anyway, I’m probably just faking it to get you on my side anyway right?” 

“Ledger I’m sorry for that…” She said, glancing at the ground, and then to Spike who looked back her with a face like her own.

“Yea, that’s nice. I’m glad you’re sorry for insulting my integrity, my character, every aspect that I pride myself on and thinking I was in it because I wanted a slave, makes me feel completely over it now that I know you’re sorry for it.”

“Why do you-” She bit back angrily before sighing. “What can I do to make it up to you?”

“Nothing, Octavia.” She looked at him with a mixture of annoyance and rage, only to see him looking at his hands solemnly, the white gloves covering up his skin. “Did you know that the queen has other ways of keeping people in check besides the clothes?” He said, seemingly idly.

“I didn’t.” Octavia responded, unsure where he intended the situation to go. “What other ways do you mean?” The light trickled in from the window behind Ledger, the sun barely high enough to peak over the horizon.

“She’s very fond of nightmares. She has a spell she likes to use, gets in your head, knows what you’re thinking. If you start doing things she doesn’t like it gets worse, has a little bit of her consciousness in it, she saves it for important ponies in her service. The more you go against her wishes the more real the nightmares.” Ledger was busily rubbing his hands now, again and again as if he wasn't quite convinced by the story his senses told him, constantly rubbing his palms as if checking to make sure they were intact inside the gloves. “They’re… really quite frightening.”

“Oh… I see.” Spike looked between Ledger and Octavia, eyebrow raised in curiosity, not quite sure what they were talking about. “So… like Captain Dash then? She would have one of those on her?”

“Yea… I suppose she would.” He said idly. “Saw a mare get institutionalized from trying to fight it, ended up in the asylum ranting about shadows. Not the kind of thing that a pony wants to get into, not if you value your sanity anyway.”

“What about a not-quite pony?” Octavia pressed on. “What would a not-quite pony do?”

“I imagine he wouldn’t want to get into either. But, we all have to do things we don’t want to every now and then don’t we?”

Silence hung in the cabin for a long moment as Octavia thought. Canterlot showed itself on the horizon, not more than a few more minutes away from where they were. “Ledger… why are you telling me this?”

“Well, you know… I hear there’s a concert going on in Ponyville this upcoming week. It might be good for you to get out of the town before the celebrations for the queen’s birthday begin. I hear they’ve got quite a venue there, lots of variety.”

        Octavia glanced worriedly at Ledger. “What about you?”

        “Well, I’m under the queen’s employ. It would look bad if I left wouldn’t it? Besides, there’s still plenty of action that’ll be going on in Canterlot. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

        “Yea… well I’ve heard that parties like that can get pretty wild, especially if things start to get too frantic. Keep yourself safe okay?” Octavia gave Ledger a half smile and Spike, for his part, seemed to be catching on to all the subtext that had been thrown around him.

        “Ha… I wish I could make that promise…”

 
	
	
> Chapter Eleven
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Trixie tilted her head slightly, she steadied the rose with care. It rested in a blue vase and rested against the lip as if tired from some unknown journey. The vase itself rested on a small wooden stool, and trifling worry rested on Trixie’s mind. Trixie knew the feeling of wanting nothing more than to lean languidly against something solid. She straightened it up. “Come now,” Came the pony’s voice, a touch of annoyance lacing and tracing each syllable. “If Trixie can do it so can you. Stand up straighter.” 

The words seemed to help, the rose moved just as Trixie wanted it to, the stem of the flower holding it up, letting the petals face upwards in the light. She loosened her magic slowly, making sure the rose was going to stay, and it did. “Thank you.” Trixie said simply, the words were kind but the tone was loose and she walked away, closing her eyes briefly and nodding as she went.

        When her eyes opened she saw the rose and its blue vase in front of her, sitting on a table. She glanced back to the stool, only to find it empty. When she looked to the table again she found the entire table was gone, the stool was there now, flower perched on top of it. Trixie felt a waft of magic on her senses and she built a small protective spell in her horn. “Is anyone there?” She asked carefully. The shadows seemed to shift slightly, she wasn’t sure if she imagined it. “Anyone?” The spell in her horn built stronger.

        “I’ve come to ssssee a lady about a memory.” Hissed a voice from the dark. Trixie let loose her spell, a blinding flash, but the darkness didn’t budge. It was like a vast dark wall and it stood resolute against her attack. “Now now, let’ssss not get fidgety. Ledger sssent me to chat.”

        “Ledger? How…” Trixie’s face faltered briefly, but she brought up a stern expression when she noticed she’d slipped. “Trixie knows nothing of why this ‘Ledger’ sent you to talk with me, he is naught but a rude servant of the queen!” 

        “Oh pleasssse, cut the ploy. I know you’re worried about showing compasssion for sssomeone but there really isss no need for all thisss cloak and dagger businessss.”

“Trixie seems to lack both a cloak and a dagger, while you might as well have both. Hard to trust someone Trixie can’t even see.”  

“It’s far better that you don’t sssee me, if you can believe that. But that’sss bessside the point. I thought I’d tell you ssssomething important about Ledger that you might want to know. Heavensss know that knowledge about Ledger ssseemsss to be a preciousss commodity. I don’t have very much mysssself.” The shadows seemed to shift again, now the speaker was standing in the dark directly across from the flower.

Silence crippled sound as Trixie thought, she kept a neutral look about her, not wanting to betray herself more than she already had. She was, in fact, very interested about what this stranger might now about Ledger. However, she was far more interested in why it was so intent on telling her of all ponies.

“What’s in it for you?” Trixie posed to the empty room. “Why do you want to tell me about Ledger?”

“Well, firssstly, I imagine that itsss driving you up the wall. All thossse little shardsss in your head from when you were trying to find the one memory he wanted. All of them nothing but little broken puzzle piecesss and no way for you to put them together. I’m not claiming that thisss will sssolve any of them, but I do think it’ll help with the closssure.”

“And Secondly?” Trixie responded, not waiting for silence to take it’s place again while she thought. She regretted it but out of all the memories she’d dived through, Ledger’s made the least sense. It was like… a lot of different puzzles that somehow all fit into one. When she’d seen his memory of the element, she wasn’t even sure he was experiancing it. It was like a… like a photo he’d seen. But… not…. And there were other ones too. Different kinds. Different photos… and none of them real.

“Sssecondly, asss I sssaid, I’ve come to sssee a lady about a memory.” There was a moment of caution before the voice continued. “There’sss a memory that’sss been ssslipping away, as memoriesss are wont to do. I’m ssssad to sssay I think I need a refresher.”

“So you’re using this knowledge of Ledger as a form of payment? Don’t you have any money?”

“I have plenty of money. I have more money than I know what to do with, despite my bessst effortsss. I can certainly pay you if that’sss what you want. But… well… what’sss really of more value to you? I am fine with the transssaction either way.”

Trixie paused, she glanced around the room. The darkness was oppressive but it only seemed to linger wherever the speaker stood. The rest of the room was bright, the candles had been untouched. She wasn’t sure if she could trust whoever it was, what she did know is that whatever stood in that darkness held immense magical potential, and it was being more or less unused. It almost seemed more like a monster hiding away than any thinking thing.

She glanced at it, as best she could. There was darkness, there was magic, there slyness, but there was no malevolence in that cloud of suffocating black, and though she thought about it for quite a bit longer, it was that knowledge that eventually led her to her answer.

“Trixie accepts your deal. A reminder in exchange for this knowledge you have.”

“Excellent. Now, what isss it you need me to do for this ssspell of yoursss? I haven’t had much dealing with unicorn magic. Isss there a blood circle involved, for example?”

Trixie snorted in disdain. “Of course not, who do you think Trixie is? Some two bit sideshow? Trixie only needs to know what shes looking for in your memories, and if there’s anything I need to avoid in there.”

“Sssimple enough… You’re looking for a bright day. Sssunny. There’sss not many of thossse memoriesss, it shouldn’t be too difficult to weed out. Asss for the latter… avoid anything crimssson… there have been dark daysss that I imagine you'd rather avoid.”

Trixie nodded and closed her eyes, the spell was difficult to grasp. A large part of the spell could simply be conjured by her magic but there was another part that required a lot more trickery. Any spell that dealt with time was unstable, but Trixie had found a way to hold it together, it was simply time consuming to put it together.

Eventually, she opened her eyes again and looked to the congealed darkness. “Are you ready?”

There was a strange pause, Trixie wondered if she should ask again, and was about to do so when the voice responded. “Yesss. I’m ready.”

The spell ripped out and cut through the darkness, searching for the mind it sought to read. The web widened as it went until at last it found what it was looking for. All the magic collected itself in a ball and flooded through the memories. Trixie was overcome with visions as the spell carved its way through memory after memory, bits and pieces floating around.

 Darkness, darkness, stone, darkness, voices, darkness, statues, darkness, stone, Ledger, darkness. Wave after wave of shards fragmenting across her mind, Trixie waited for the spell to find its target. Darkness, stone, stone, stone, darkness, voices, crimson. Trixie felt the need to lurch and gag, though she didn’t know what it was she’d seen. luckily, it seemed a stand alone, and the spell continued on its way without another incident.

The spell continued on and on for what felt like ages, looking and searching through countless memories. Trixie began to worry. She wondered if she should cancel the spell. It was taking a long time, a very long time. She was worried what might happen if she stayed here too long, what her mind might collect from these images of stone and darkness.

Daylight burst so suddenly that Trixie felt blinded, and it took her a moment to recover from the faux flash of light. The spell stopped, recognizing its target. There was a pony in a field, the grass was impossibly green and the world seemed impossibly sharp. The pony looked familiar, but Trixie couldn’t place her. She was smiling and running, then she was looking at the grass, sharp blades poking out of the dirt. It took Trixie a moment to realize the owner of the memory had tripped. 

As the vision rose to look up towards the pony turned around worried. “Are you okay?”

“Of course.” Came an unknown voice, childish and innocent and prideful.

The pony smiled. “Well then, let’s go!”

The memory collapsed and faded, the spell finding itself coming to an end. Trixie blinked in surprise at the brevity. “That was it?”

“That wasss it.” The voice seemed… reflective in the darkness. “I’d almossst forgotten her coat color.”

Even now, having just seen it, Trixie realized she couldn’t place it either. None of the colors she thought of matched what she’d seen, and she couldn’t remember what she’d seen to match it with a color.

“But I do think I owe you your payment now. Don’t I?” Trixie snapped herself out of her daze to pay attention, in the interim her curiosity had only grown, after all, and she didn’t want to miss out on what she was about to be told. “Have you ever heard the sssaying ‘who sssavesss the sssavior?’”

Trixie blinked in surprise. “No… Trixie doesn’t think she has.”

“Ledger’s throwing a bit of a party for the queen’sss birthday coming up. I think you should go cccelebrate it with him. Though, I think he might have hisss handsss full.”

“Trixie… doesn’t quite understand what you mean. Trixie thought you were going to tell her something about Ledger’s past or personality. Not about what Ledger was doing.”

“Well I sssuppose you’re right… You know, dessspite the fact that Ledger ssseemsss quite the hero… All he really wantsss are some friendsss. Ledger hasss a lot on hisss mind and no one to share it with, and come the Queen’sss birthday he’ll have far more than mossst people have to deal with in their entire livesss. One way or the other.

“Oh… I see…”

“Besidesss, asss it turns out, you owe him. Mossst people he talksss to owe him for sssome period of time, of courssse, but I imagine thisss would make you both fair and sssquare.”

A pause preceded the next few words as Trixie reflected on the idea of Ledger overthrowing the Queen.“It was never about debts.” Trixie said, her tone thoughtful. “Neither of us cared about who owed who.”

“Then, perhapsss… you ought to tell him that in perssson. That way he can crosssss you out of the little book of hisss.”

“Yea, that…. that doesn’t sound like that bad of an idea.”

> Chapter Twelve
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Ledger’s hands slipped over the smooth laminate backs of his playing cards, skin to plastic, unadorned by gloves. He hadn’t dealt the slight pieces in a while; he’d been shuffling them over and over as he stared at the wall. He’d shuffled the night away, only interrupted by occasional trips to the restroom and to take snacks from the cupboard. He was far too afraid to sleep given the sharp turn his nightmares had taken as of late.

Preparations had been made, Spike and Octavia had left Canterlot, and the Queen’s birthday was coming to fruition, but that was barely the beginning of what was unraveling today. To the subjects, it represented another anniversary of iron rule. To the Queen, it was a day for remembrance of foes destroyed. To the Resistance, it was perhaps a day of hope, but to Ledger, it was something else. 

        Ledger glanced towards the door, bags lining his eyes. There was a knock; one that he answered. A servant looked at him in surprise, not expecting to find Ledger so absolutely fatigued, but delivered the message he’d been given all the same. 

“The queen wishes to speak with you, after you’ve finished your morning routine.” 

And then he left, trying to hide the deep urge he had to run. Ledger, in response, moved to the bathroom. He dipped his hands in the sink, one full of cold water that he’d left out overnight. He felt a sharp panic in his bones to pull them out in response, but it amounted to nothing more than a plea of mercy to the weary, drowsy mind that moved them.

He waited for a few brief moments as the makeshift bowl of his hands filled with water,  then he threw it over his face. The startling temperature invigorated Ledger’s mind, repeating the process a number of times before he decided it wasn’t going to help any more. He rubbed his eyes and stared into the mirror, hating the reflection it showed. He fought back the urge to stash it in the corner closet like he had so many times before. 

After all, it wouldn’t matter much longer anyway. 

He glanced at the small pair of bottles that rested on the sink’s edge. The first was a white bottle, one he’d gotten during his time in the dragon empire not too long ago, whose pills didn’t come in any larger doses. It was perhaps the least of the annoyances that plagued him, and it was far from unbearable, but he still wished it had been otherwise. He took a handful of pills from it, perhaps a few more than was recommended, and downed them with assistance from a cup of water.

The second bottle however, filled with a strange liquid that sloshed to and fro as it was moved, was placed into an inner pocket of Ledger’s coat. Out of sight and within easy reach. He seemed content with this and left the bathroom, heading for the door. 

Before he left, he paused at the threshold. A small book rested on a waist high stand, and Ledger reached to grab and read it. He flipped through the pages delicately, but with haste. Names were written in one column, dates in the next, and short descriptions in the last. 

He paused at one, taking a pen from a pocket and hovering it left and right over and entry. “Crystalline,” he muttered. He knew her; they’d met for the first time a year ago or so, and for the second time just yesterday. His eyes skipped the date and moved to the last column. “Illegal brewing. Questionable potives. Stolen equipment.” Ledger uncapped the pen and placed it neatly at the start of her name. 

With the container in his coat heavy on his breast, Ledger drew a straight line across the page, marking void all the information he had just read. Then, above it in bold, he wrote simply Paid in Full. 

The page was covered in similar entries, all crossed out. Ledger moved to close it, but stopped again. With careful hands, he opened it fully once more, glancing only briefly at the page of his edit. Then, with practiced movement, he flicked a few pages more. Each entry was singular and complete, name and date and description, all of them struck through with his pen, until he came to the last page he had written in. Two entries rested there, unsullied by a mark through. The first was simply Trixie, the description was blank, and the date had been removed. Ledger placed the tip of his pen at the tip of her name. It fell easily into the horizontal imprint that rested by itself, its path across the entry discontinued many many times before, and Ledger did the same this time, pulling the pen away without any further marking.

The second entry simply bore whitespace as a name. It was a name that Ledger knew, but hadn’t felt comfortable putting down. The date was marked as that of his last trip to the dragon empire, and the description held only the word Quarry. That was enough of a reminder, and Ledger needed little else to put in that column. He tapped the pen to the side of the page for a moment before he closed it again, laying it to rest once more on the stand.

With no more delay, Ledger left his room. There was one more place he needed to go before he visited the queen, and at this rate, he would have to work quickly before arousing her suspicion. His steps were paced but speedy as he moved through the castle, avoiding the eyes of the ponies around him. Crowds of party planners, decorators, designers... They all moved through these public parts of the castle, and Ledger was eager to ignore each one and even more eager to ignore the cacophony that followed them around.

He slipped through a set of doors and found quiet. He would have loved nothing more than to enjoy it, but he had no time. The castle’s kitchen rested up ahead, and Ledger pushed himself onwards again. There were far fewer ponies in these halls, as the public was prohibited from entering this part of the castle. It was home to the guard ponies, and once to Ledger himself, until he’d been moved away; he was bad for morale, apparently, and led to his current abode down the hall from the Queen’s throne room.

Guards watched him pass, but they did so with a stony gaze, the same look they gave to all passersby. It was, perhaps, the only time Ledger didn’t feel out of place. He was worried about that, but there were always more important things to worry about, and he did his best to ignore it.

He arrived, at last, to the kitchen and entered with as brisk a manner as he could, receiving a few passing glances. A queue stretched its way along the counter, then along the wall, guardponies lining up as they waited for food. He’d arrived in time, barely. Ledger looked at each of them in passing as he drifted by them. His steps faltered ever so slightly the more and more of them he passed.

At the head of the line, he took the position of the first customer. He saw angry glances all at once, as he heard grumblings and curses half-hidden in sighs, but none of them moved to stop him. Ledger hadn’t expected them too. The voices had only barely begun to fade away when the kitchen opened, the unicorn at the counter appearing in a flash of light.

“Hello, everyp—”

She stopped as she spied Ledger at the front of the line. Her eyes shifted between the man and the line behind him, a frown adorning her muzzle, before shaking her head slowly. Ledger, for his part, pretended not to notice. “Hello everypony! Today’s meal is potatoes and celery in a soft soup!” she said with another glance to Ledger and slowly settled herself behind the counter. A simple clay bowl levitated across the counter to him, full to the brim.“Here’s your bowl, sir.”

Ledger stood there with the bowl for a second before he took a sip. It tasted divine to him, even without a touch of meat. It was so delicious and soothing, it felt like it would drift him away. And he wanted for all the world to say that to her. He wanted more than anything to tell her how good it tasted, but he forced the next words from his mouth all the same.

He placed the bowl on the counter and stared at the unicorn, eyes steely and cold. “This is the worst thing I’ve ever tasted,” he said at last, clenching his teeth in both an effort to look menacing and an effort to keep the truth behind his tongue.

She stared at him dumbfounded. He heard murmurs from the ponies behind him. They would be a lot louder by the end of this. Ledger stared at her and swung his legs over the counter, forcing her to back away and give him room to approach. It also put him in the kitchen proper, the large pot that held the meal for the day resting under the counter, where Ledger remembered it would be from his time in this part of the castle.

“I said that is the worst thing I’ve ever tasted,” he accused, jabbing a finger towards the meal. The words, however, were far more bitter to his tongue than the meal would ever be. “Do you have anything else?”

“I-I...” she stumbled, backing away from Ledger, even though his approach had stopped at the end of the table. 

“Well? Do you?” 

“I might have something in the back—”

“Then go get it!” Ledger demanded with a burst of fake anger. His menacing appearance more than covering up the stuttering he felt at the tip of his tongue. She looked at Ledger for barely a moment more before she ran into the back of the kitchen. 

With her in the backroom and his back to the counter, no one saw as he took the bottle from his coat and tipped it hurriedly into the pot, making sure to not turn around a bit, lest he give away his charade. In the silence, he heard ponies murmuring. He heard his own name in there, along with several other words often associated with himself. It wasn’t anything new. He stoppered the bottle with a few drops lingering around the edges and put it back into his coat.

Ledger knew he would have to quit this act soon. The guard ponies would only take so much of it before they hit him in places where no one would see the bruise, so he was excited to see her return, managing to disguise it with an eye roll. She held to her side a preheated bowl of the meal the day prior, her magic grip holding it aloft. Some kind of vegetable stew, it seemed. She handed it to Ledger carefully. He grasped it, restraining himself from snatching it up too eagerly, and took a bite.

The bowl was still hot from the warming spell she’d cast on the food, but the food itself was cold in the middle. She’d obviously rushed to get it out to him, not that he could blame her for it. He would have liked to take back the bowl on the counter, the warm and inviting soup, but he knew that wouldn’t do. Not after the show he’d put on. So, he sighed a very real sigh for a very fake reason and looked at her. “It’ll have to do.”

Ledger clambered back over the counter, leaving with his bowl in hand. Not wanting to waste food, the unicorn poured Ledger’s serving back into the pot and stirred it for a moment. She scooped out a new bowl for the next guard. “Sorry if it’s not to your taste…” she muttered with a voice that fluttered off as she handed the bowl across to the hungry guard.

He took a sip and smiled at her. “It’s as good as ever, Rosie. Don’t listen to that snob. He may be all but second in command, but he sure as heck doesn’t have a taste for food.” Ledger wanted to apologize, but knew it would be far too late anyway. “In fact, I think I’ll have two bowls to start. We’ll all have two bowls to start! Ain’t that right, boys!”

There was a resounding cheer that was cut off as Ledger let the kitchen door swing shut behind him. He ignored the squirming of his stomach and continued on; he had to cover all the ground back to the Queen. Yet, just as he pushed open the door to the public part of the castle he paused in surprise. The blue unicorn who stood there turned to look at him, the doors telling of his arrival.

“Hello Hendrick,” Trixie said calmly, barely managing to hide a smile. “Long time no see.”

> Chapter Thirteen
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Ledger scrawled easily on the paper with a practiced hand, but his writing was uncertain. It got the point across, but it wasn’t as fluid as he would have liked. He was under a little bit of stress with the arrival of Trixie and what it meant for him. It was only with muscle memory that the note was signed, the author only half paying attention to what he was writing. He glanced it over once to make sure there were no glaring errors like his last two drafts and then moved to the door.

        He opened it and looked out into the passing waves of ponies until he spotted one with white saddlebags. He whistled lightly to get the pony’s attention, who then moved towards him, trying to hide how much he really didn’t want to deal with Ledger. When he got there all he got was a letter, and he was happy that it was going to be a simple delivery after all.

But just as he was going to let himself get excited over a simple errand, he remembered who he was dealing with and his heart sunk. A letter from Ledger would only be going to one place. The servant glanced uncertainly at the folded paper that Ledger passed to him, then at Ledger himself. 

“Could you take this to the Queen for me? It explains the reason for my lateness and I don’t have the ability to pass it on to her myself right now.” The servant glanced back at the paper and took it lightly in their teeth, nodding curtly and walking away, the door closing behind them as Ledger turned to deal with his unexpected guest.

        Trixie stood passively among the simple furniture of Ledger’s living room. She looked with glassy eyes towards the far wall of the room, the beige paint upon it offering up no secrets or answers for her. It was only when Ledger had closed the door that she stirred slightly from her thoughts, but Ledger couldn’t tell if she was happy to be rid of them or not.

        “Trixie’s—” She coughed. “Sorry, old habits.” Ledger smiled at her as he took a seat on the couch, Trixie opting to remain standing instead. After Ledger was settled, she tried again. “I’ve always wondered… and I couldn’t really ask you the first time we met, everything was going by in a blur then, but now I think we finally have some time to chat.” Ledger glanced anxiously at the clock, then looked back to her. For some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to correct her.

“Why did the Queen ever hire you? I mean, I understand why she hired you for the job, no one in our world would’ve done the job. But I mean, why did she open up your job in the first place? When did she start caring about the troubles of the everymare and why?” Trixie turned to face Ledger, who seemed to be thinking about how to respond. In the silence, she continued her thoughts.

“It was right around your arrival that she completely changed her approach. She was warmongering and completely iron-fisted, more so than she is even now. Out of the blue, she reduced weapon production, signed several uneasy peace treaties, and hired you on as someone who could talk with us ponies about our problems, try and work through them. The system was corrupt already though. What you could offer didn’t always help much, but that’s beside the point. Did you cause it? Or were you a symptom of it?”

Ledger sighed and rested his head in his hands. There was silence for a moment before he raised his voice enough to be heard. “Trixie,” he started, but paused again, as if he had been cut off by something. “Trixie, I wish I could tell you. It’s not that I don’t trust you; it’s just that things are very fragile now. I don’t know how much would change if I told you the entire truth.” Trixie made to speak, but Ledger continued after his brief pause. “Trixie, there’s a… statue. It’s… a very powerful statue. It used to be kept in the garden, but she moved it to the basement recently. She was very worried about all the chaos she was causing; the statue, it…. She locked it away while she worked on a plan, knowing that would only delay it at best. That plan involved getting me, or someone like me. And it involved less aggression.”

There was silence for a moment as Trixie stared at Ledger. She desperately wanted him to continue, but suspected he was finally done with the subject. She hated him sometimes; she couldn’t recall one time she’d been given a straight answer. It was… infuriating to say the least. “I’ll make sure to keep my eye out for a very powerful statue, then,” Trixie said with the bite of sarcasm lacing her words. 

Ledger let his hands fall away from supporting his skull, leaned back in his chair and glanced off towards the door. He knew he was a horrible friend to Trixie. He suspected the only reason she kept coming around was because of her curiousity. She wanted to know the answers. Ledger tapped the armrest of the chair in thought. As his finger fell for the fourth tap, he stopped. His face went tense for a moment, but it was so short a time that Trixie failed to notice it.

“So you came straight here, no stops?” He asked, an idle tone to his words. Trixie nodded in reply and Ledger continued. “You must be starving, then.” He pulled himself out of his seat and made his way to the kitchen. “I’ve got a salad with some nice light dressing hanging around, would you like it? I’m never gonna get around to eating it.”

Trixie seemed torn, not wanting to impose but also being cripplingly hungry. “Well, if you’re sure you don’t want it…” she said eventually. 

Ledger smiled as he moved into the kitchen, more a tacked on addition to the front room than anything else. He moved towards the fridge, cooled by some sort of magic. Ledger hadn’t been entirely certain how refrigerators worked back where he came from, so he put forth no effort to understand these ones, deciding it wouldn’t be worth the time. 

He reached into the fridge and pulled out the promised salad as well as a glass jar of white salad dressing. He placed it on the counter facing away from Trixie. She watched with an eyebrow raised as he put the dressing on the salad. Something wasn’t right about how he moved, but Trixie couldn’t quite put her hoof on it. He seemed to note her suspicions. 

“Can’t seem to get the lid off of the dressing,” he explained. After a few moments of fumbling he brought it out, and she saw she had no reason to worry. It was only dressing and salad, just like Ledger had said.

He handed her the bowl and a fork, which Trixie eagerly grabbed in a telekinetic grip. She began to eat, commenting only briefly about the strange but enticing flavor of the dressing. It wasn’t long before she’d devoured the entire meal, licking her lips to get the lingering dressing off. She hadn’t thought she’d been that hungry, and she smiled slyly. “Sorry,” she offered, but Ledger smiled and shook his head.

She smiled as well, letting the silence take the room. Then, she caught sight of a very strange bottle. It was entirely empty on the kitchen counter where Ledger had applied the salad dressing. Immediately next to it was the salad dressing. Ledger followed her gaze and stood from where he’d taken his seat. “Ledger… what was in that bottle?”

“Nothing important,” Ledger said, sounding just like he always did. Which, as Trixie had found out, meant he was lying.

“Ledger,” Trixie said sternly. “If it’s nothing important, then tell—” She cut herself off with a yawn. And while she had every intention of continuing, she stopped. She felt fatigue working its way into her bones, her mind started to blur. “You drugged me!” she shouted angrily. 

“Trixie, calm down.” Ledger said calmly. “It’s just a sleeping potion.”

“JUST A—!” Another yawn wound its way through her body. “I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU’D—!” She pounded her hoof on the ground, upset at the interrupting yawns she could not control. Her anger was starting to slip away now, but it was swiftly replaced by more anger generated by that fact. She moved threateningly towards Ledger, loathing in her eyes. He matched her gaze with a pair of uncaring eyes, but it was only a moment before he looked away. Unfortunately, her anger couldn’t completely negate the potent potion. Her steps slowed. She stumbled a bit. She swayed as she walked, but she put every ounce of determination into continuing forward. 

But it was not in the stars. Her walk turned into something more akin to a drunken swagger, and her back and forth moments exaggerated more and more until she threatened to fall flat onto her side. She knew how big a fool she looked, and was ready to impact the carpet as she tilted too far. She felt the fur on her withers shift, her fall was stopped, and Ledger’s hand gently corrected her gait. She looked into his eyes for the first time in the longest time and saw regret. She suspected that was all that had been there for a long time. 

“Just why, Ledger?” she asked as he guided her to the bedroom, anger gone entirely now.

“I’m sorry, Trixie. There’s a lot happening today, and I need everything to go just right. There is no leeway for mistakes or unexpected outcomes.” Ledger helped her onto his bed before he turned and left the room. He wasn’t even sure if she’d even heard him, or if she’d remember it, but it didn’t matter anymore. Ledger stopped in the bathroom and checked to make sure he looked his part.

He left the bathroom, but stopped at the door frame, the sound of Trixie’s snores piercing his conscience again. He went once more into the bathroom and filled a cup with water, downing a few more pills before he marched purposefully out of his room and into the hall. There wasn’t long now. It was almost over now, and that was the only thing that kept Ledger going, guilt and sleep deprivation more than taking their toll.

“Just an hour longer,” he mumbled under his breath, gazing down the hall towards the Queen’s room. “Just an hour longer.”





 

> Conclusion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Ledger’s fingers slipped into his cuff, pinching together and pulling the sleeve taut. Then, absentmindedly, he repeated the process on the other side. He rolled his shoulder blades and frowned, hands twitching slightly in a desire to scratch his shoulders. He grabbed his shirt unceremoniously and pulled it downward, only for it to spring back up again. Glancing around, Ledger tucked the loose fabric into his pants and pulled his pants up higher, revealing his socks. He sighed in frustration.

        “I know someone who might be able to tailor that for you,” came a voice from the window. Ledger turned to see Rainbow Dash squirming her way past the stone frame and into the room Ledger had occupied by himself for the past, sparse moments.

        “I’m glad to hear it,” Ledger responded, pulling his pant legs down to cover his socks and restraining himself from messing with his shirt anymore than he already had. 

        “She is VERY good with clothes, if you can believe it,” Rainbow continued, rolling her eyes with a smile a bit too wide on her face. “Don’t know why she decided to get into sewing.” 

        Ignoring the latter part of the conversation, Ledger continued the discussion. “Well, these were given to me by the queen. Is she good with such delicate matters?”

        “Eh, I dunno. She’s right outside if you wanted to ask her yourself.” Here, Rainbow’s words took on a strange stricture, much against the actual words themselves. “Or she might come in here in a couple minutes, whichever.”

        “Ah, I’ve got to meet with the queen unfortunately, so it might have to wait.” Ledger glared sidelong at Rainbow. “Unless she also has a meeting with the Queen too, of course.” Here, Ledger smiled, his words sounding almost humorous.

“Who knows, right?!” Rainbow nudged Ledger with her elbow. “Anything’s possible today.” Rainbow’s smile looked much like Ledger’s, forced.

Ledger nodded once, and Rainbow turned and left, leaving Ledger to his thoughts and his need to scratch a spot between his shoulderblades. 

The door in front of him was opened and a pony waved him in, setting Ledger’s mind to more important issues. He entered, cautiously, and approached the throne, seating himself in the cramped chair that had been provided, happy to have somewhere to sit at all. From the chair, there was little choice but to face the throne, with a massive iron gateway leading to the courtyard a couple paces behind him.  His eyes darted to the mechanism that could open the portcullis, a simple wheel with a chain strung through a set of pulleys. Then, with a deep breath, he looked to the Queen.

She was seated high on her throne, her gaze drifting lazily over a set of papers by her side, formalities and bills that had been piling up over the week. Eventually, she looked to Ledger, who had been making a conscious effort to not wring his hands from anxiety.

“I do not like being kept waiting, Ledger,” she began, her eyes narrowing. “This, I trust, you are aware of. I would hope, after all, that you’ve managed to put that together in the past two years you’ve worked in my employ.”

All signs of uncertainty seemed to vaporize. Ledger’s tone was calm as he leveled his gaze to the queen, his face indecipherable. “I do, Your Highness.”

“And you are aware, doubtless, that you have been keeping me waiting, aren’t you?”

“I am, ma’am.”

“Well then? What excuse do you have for me. I’m sure it’ll be something worth hearing.”

“I was drugging an old friend so that I could get away from her and come here in a—” Ledger closed his jaw, his eyes narrowing in anger for a moment.

The queen raised her eyebrow in curiosity, but seemed to decide it wasn’t worth her breath to ask. Instead, with an air of apathy, she simply said, “Continue.”

Ledger breathed, if just barely. His words slowed. “And come here in a reasonable amount of time, Ma’am.”

“I see.” She glanced away to write on a paper, making a note of some kind. In his unobserved moment, Ledger clenched his hands tight, his fingernails trying to dig through the gloves and into the skin beneath. “You’ll have to excuse the truth spell, Ledger. I have reason to suspect there are traitors among my staff.”

“Of course, ma’am.” The guards at the entrance to the room looked at Ledger with a pair of shocked expressions, having heard his outburst in full. He glared at them in return, breaking them from their disbelief and scaring them into feigned disinterest. “You can never be too careful these days, can you?”

“I suppose if you're drugging a friend simply to expedite your arrival in my court, you must have some degree of loyalty to me. However, as you are supposed to be helping these ponies trust my rule, I would ask that you refrain from continuing such acts.” Even with her writing long since done, the queen’s gaze still did not leave the papers. “Am I understood?”

“Of course, ma’am.”

        “Good.” She glanced to Ledger from the corner of her eye. “Speaking of, how have your meetings with my ponies been going? The latest status report you submitted was quite a ways back, before that… unfortunate Appleloosa incident.”

“Unfortunately, I haven’t had the opportunity to meet with any ponies in an official capacity since then, due to my trip to the dragons. The last, I believe, was with Miss Rarity in Ponyville.”

“Ah, yes. You’ve changed a lot since then. I remember you used to be very soft with your subordinates. I expect that business with your previous two coach hands changed your mind on that?”

Solemnly, Ledger nodded. The queen turned her attention away again to the papers, and silence settled into the hall. After a tense moment a soft ringing, like a chime, swelled in the silence until it filled the room. The sound brought the Queen’s gaze to Ledger once again. He had turned to look behind himself, also curious to the sound. Frowning, the Queen stacked her papers together. 

“Time grows short, Ledger, so I will ask you plainly. Know that should you try and lie, my spell will pull truths from your lips in untold number. So I ask you, Ledger, have you at any point in your employment, both in terms of the present moments as well as for the entire length of your career, sought to depose me from my throne?”

Ledger, heart beating like a nightclub music set, turned back to face the queen. “No, Your Highness.” Ledger was forced to bite his tongue as it moved to pronounce the entire truth of his statement.

She seemed surprised, briefly, by his answer, but quickly hid it away. “Good. Now—” 

A blinding flash filled the room, taking several moments to fade before Ledger was able to discern shapes. Two, as it turned out, one white and one black. The black he could only guess was the Queen. 

“Ledger,” came the Queen’s voice, “move to the back of the room please.”

Doing as he was told, Ledger made his way to the far wall behind the throne, his vision beginning to clear with each moment. Slowly, the forms grew sharper until every aspect of their presence grew crystal clear. There was, of course, the Queen, terrible and deadly as always. But now there was another, with a coat of brilliant white. 

Ledger, of course, knew what to expect from the new arrival, but his breath still caught. She looked more… real than he had expected her to. But while he could barely drag his eyes away from the alicorns to make his way to the gate controls, they in contrast, seemed to not pay him any mind at all.

The white one, Celestia, Ledger knew. She breathed deeply. The air crackled with tension as Ledger began to turn the well-oiled wheel, raising the gate a couple inches in painful silence. He moved slow, not wanting the movement to catch the queen’s attention, though he suspected she saw anyway. Taking a metal pin from his coat, Ledger jammed the wheel, forcing it to remain open as he moved back to the far wall.

All this was done in silence as the two alicorns stared at each other with determination set in their features. Carefully, Celestia moved a step closer, tears rimming her eyes. “I do NOT want to fight you sister,” she began. “Please do not force me to.”

The Queen’s face gave away no sense of emotion. She took one step back, maintaining the distance between them, and planted her hooves firmly. With a flash of her horn, she summoned a blade of the darkest black, but sparkled with pinpricks of white. She leveled it at Celestia and spoke. “I will not surrender my fame to you. I will not surrender my power. I will not be forgotten in your shadow again, sister.”

Celestia blinked once, slowly, and stepped away. Her own sword was brought to bear, a blade of fire and guilt. “Then I regret that I will have to shoulder the grief of your death,” She said simply. Their blades hovered before them ready to cut the other. But before that, the sisters gave a practiced bow to their opponent.

As they rose, their blades moved in a flurry, strikes and parries and thrusts barely visible to Ledger as he watched the battle fall underway. Yet, despite the speed of the attacks, they held power as well. Each collision sounded like an explosion, and their frequency gave the illusion of a never fading echo. Ledger, holding his hands over his ears, slid slowly down to the floor.

Barely able to see the fight, it wasn’t until the Queen took another step back that Ledger was privy to how the battle might be swinging. Then she took another, and another, her hooves always on retreat. She met the first step up to her throne and stopped. Her eyes were narrow, her attention at its most. “You always were the better duelist sister,” she said in a dark tone, her phrase barely registering with Celestia before both swords were evaporated in a terrifying explosion of magic. 

Celestia now backpedaled, behind her starting point, as the wave of dark magic chased her away. The Queen stared at her with a blank face as Celestia was forced, at last, to simply stop the spell with force. She did so with barely a thought and landed easily back onto the stone. 

“It was a fun skirmish,” the ruling sister said, “but unfortunately, I have other business to do, so I think I will have to end this quickly.” 

Celestia’s eyes narrowed, but she did not voice a disagreement. She did not have to. Six figures slipped in underneath the gate Ledger had propped ajar, each one save the foremost bearing an ancient stone. 

The Queen stared to each of them, for a moment questioning her complete control of the situation. Then, with a blink, summoned an army.

It was strange, given the atmosphere, to watch so many armored stallions flop unconsciously onto the stones. Even those who were present scarcely believed the unexpected humor. The Queen began to show some emotion, all consuming rage of course, but an emotion at least.  

        “What?” The question hissed from her clenched teeth. “Poisoned, I suppose. You work quickly don’t you, Elements?” She spat the last word to the six, who were just as confused by the situation as she was. Ledger, meanwhile, wore a face of composure and apathy.

        “That’s right, Queenie! Prepare to be deposed!” Rarity suddenly shouted, brandishing her stone over her head. The other elements followed suit, only to find that, much like the Queen’s army, it was a very anticlimactic moment. Each stone solidly did exactly what rocks would do in that situation, which is to say, nothing at all.

        Each of the elements looked to their leader, Twilight, for a solution. All save one. Rainbow Dash instead looked to the solemn form of Ledger. It was a look that did not escape the Queen’s attentive gaze. 

“I suspected as much of you, Ledger,” she said out of the side of her mouth, her eyes still fully on Celestia and her cohorts. “You don’t seek to depose me, do you? You did indeed tell the truth. You merely want to see me dead.”

There was a moment of unsure silence from all parties as they tried to determine their next move. A silence that, all the same, was suddenly punctured by a roaring beam of dark energy. It moved too fast for any normal person to follow as it barreled towards the elements. Only to collide with a shimmering yellow shield that stopped it dead in its tracks.

Celestia, faster than any spell, had stepped in to repel it. And as each of the elements realized they had been attacked, they were already being spoken too. “You must leave, honored bearers, or you will be destroyed!”

“But,” Twilight began, “you…”

“I will hold her off. You must find a way to activate the elements; it is the only way to defeat her!” Celestia shouted over the crashing laser against her shield. “Go!” It was this word that hurried the elements into their escape, but they were forced to leave single file through the gate as only one place was protected enough by the shield.

One by one each of the elements left. Fluttershy first, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash. But as Twilight moved slowly to exit, spending her concentration to reinforce Celestia’s shield with her own magic, Ledger had already reached his destination unnoticed. He waited until Rainbow had fully left before pulling the pin from the wheel, collapsing the gate closed and locking Twilight inside. 

The resounding crash brought all eyes to him. He stood there, face unreadable, as he held the pin in his hand. The calls from the elements were a cacophony that almost beat out the volume of the battle between them. Cries of “Betrayer!” and “Spineless!” reached him, but he did not show any reaction to them. 

Even as a thin tendril of black smoke curled across the floor and wrapped itself around his still unmoving form, he didn’t seem to care. Even as the same smoke hung him upside down like a bat in front of the terrifying eyes of the queen. “You think this will grant you forgiveness?” Even as the queen began to laugh madly. Even as streams of green smoke began to flicker around her eyes and a gaping maw formed beneath Ledger, he stared on in apathy. “All those who betray me will pay!”

As the darkness consumed him, he made no move to fight back. He passed into the mouth, and only the solitary metal pin he had pulled from the portcullis’s wheel made it to the floor on the other side.





It was black. Ledger was surprised it was anything. He’d been very firmly footed in no afterlife, and was surprised that it was even empty void, that his consciousness still existed at all. 

Up ahead a single pinprick of dim light shone. But in that blackness, it was as brilliant a light as any. With nothing else to do, Ledger closed the distance. 

It went quicker than he expected, and when he got there he found a small blue filly looking at a shining screen. “She thinks she killed you, you know? I made that spell up long before she did; she doesn’t get what it does. But she’s never been trapped in her own mind before, so I don’t think she ever will.”

“So why did you never get her to use it before.”

The filly looked to Ledger with a frown. “I can’t get her to do anything. I can only mess around with her thoughts a little, but I can’t get caught or she shoves me down. I’ve gotten pretty good at it.” She looked back to the screen. “Besides, I never wanted to trap anyone else here. The only reason I slipped the spell into her mind was because your alternative was dying.”

Ledger sat on that thought for a while.

“So you’re Luna, huh?” he eventually asked. 

“We’re both Luna. She’s Luna. I’m Luna. Together, we’re Luna. Apart, we’re Luna.” She looked at him again, and Ledger wondered if it was a new frown or if she had never stopped the old one. “But you’re not even supposed to know our name.”

“Lucky guess,” he offered, falling into a crossed legs sitting position next to the filly.

“You have an awful lot of those,” Luna said simply before looking back to the screen. “Why did you close the gate?” 

“Kinda hoping I would die honestly.”

“That’s never it with you.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s always that you want to die, but it's usually for some other reason, too.” 

“I don’t always want to die, just most of the time.”

“Regardless, why did you close the gate? You’ve trapped Twilight in the castle, they can’t break the portal protection spell on the castle grounds, and they can’t lift that gate. So she’s going to die here. Without her, the other elements won’t EVER work.”

“What are the other elements doing about that?”

“Nothing. They’re yelling at her, and she’s trying to get them to leave her to die, but they won’t. You’ve killed them all with that move.”

Ledger laid down on the darkness, stretching his limbs. “That’s good.”

She looked to him again, confused. Same frown, Ledger decided. It was most definitely the same frown.

“So why’d you save me if you knew I’ve wanted to die?”

The filly gave him a passing glance before turning her attention back to the screen, watching the moments unfold from the Queen’s perspective. “Because.”

“Because why?” he responded immediately, his eyes gazing into the eternal darkness above him. 

“Because you didn’t deserve that. She’s lied to you about finding a way to send you back home. She’s lied to you about eventually letting you go free from your position. You’ve been constantly seen as a villain by the very ponies you try to help. You’ve done every task you’ve been given even at great personal cost. All of that to save me. To save the Queen. To save the both of us” She looked to Ledger again, her frown finally letting up. “You didn’t deserve it.”

Ledger let the silence stay its time, gazing up into the empty black. Slowly, eventually, Luna turned her gaze back to the screen. Then, slowly, light began to fill it up. “Wait, what’s…”

“That’ll be Twilight,” Ledger said, almost a disappointed tone to his words. “Princess of friendship.”

“You— What?” She seemed to pour over all her information again as the light of the Elements began to pierce the prison. Then, her eyes widened in realization. “Of course! She’s… but, but you knew! You knew that she needed to realize they were her friends, not just her allies! How?! How did you know that?!?”

Light began to fill the black room, first from the screen, but then more so as ever-widening  pinpricks of light broke through the eternal dark around them. He had barely opened his mouth to speak when Luna stole the words from his mouth. “Lucky guess, huh?”

“Lucky guess,” Ledger confirmed as the light encased them.
> Epilogue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Ledger wished he had brought some pain pills as he gained consciousness on the stone floor of the throne room. Not only did a headache ravage his mind, but an all too real pain pounded on the back of his skull. From his peripheral vision, he saw Luna run to her sister, both of them embracing the other. From the middle of his sight, he was aware that the hand he had reached to the back of his skull had come back covered in blood.

        He let his hand drop to the floor and stared up at the ceiling, unable to motivate himself to do much else. Eventually, a silhouette cut off his vista, a familiar and angry unicorn. He squinted a little, unsure of which of the two it was. His question was answered as the familiar voice of Twilight Sparkle met his ears.

        “You betrayed us,” she said calmly, hiding her anger from all but her face. “We counted you among our allies and you tried to kill us all to save your own skin.”

        Ledger responded by blinking at her once, slowly, his face empty. 

        “You may play the quiet game as much as you like, but we were all witness to your treachery. I don’t know who this filly is, but the Queen is dead. That, at least, I am sure of.” Twilight glanced briefly to Luna, then returned her ire to Ledger. “We have fought and bled for this victory, and we will make sure that the remains of the Queen’s empire is reduced to naught but dregs and ash. We will build a new empire from the dross.” Twilight reared onto her hind legs, her front hooves moving threateningly in the air over Ledger’s head. “That starts with her envoy of fear.”

        As her hooves descended through the air to strike the killing blow, she was knocked aside by a bolt of magic. A concussive blast of little strength, but strong enough to move her a foot away from the man. Both Twilight and Ledger looked to the new arrival, though Ledger’s blank expression remained.

        Trixie stepped into the room, determination set in her brow. “There is no envoy of fear in this room.” She moved closer to Ledger as Twilight gazed at her, sizing her up.

“You oppose the rebels?” Twilight asked, her voice beginning to sound of fire. 

“If the rebels support senseless death, I do.” Both unicorn’s eyes were locked with each other. Ledger gazed up at the ceiling once again, gazed past it almost, his eyes cloudy. 

“He betrayed us to the queen. We need to assure he will not interfere again.”

“The queen is dead!” Trixie shouted, her hoof clashing against the ground. “He is no threat to your new kingdom, nor your reforms. His power came from the queen. Without her, he can do you no harm.”

Twilight stared intently at Trixie; Trixie stared intently back. Luna spoke. “She is correct. Ledger brought your victory to you. He locked you in so you could know your allies as friends, so you could summon the sixth element to you. Without him, we would all be under the Queen’s control.”

“He couldn’t have known that!” Twilight said, spinning to her new verbal opponent. “I didn’t know that! The Queen destroyed all her books on the elements. It was only through sheer luck I found mine.”

“Well... actually…” Everyone present turned to Rainbow Dash, save the person of their debate. “He did mention a sixth element when he gave me the fifth back in the dragon kingdom. He said it would summon itself when the situation was right.”

Twilight, slack jawed, stared at her friend. “He… did?” she eventually managed to say, a rebuttal not coming to mind. Rainbow Dash nodded in response and Twilight fell silent.

“Ledger does things occasionally that he means well by. Even if it doesn’t seem like it sometimes,” Trixie stated matter of factly. “But I know he would never try and hurt anypony if he could help it.” Twilight looked solemnly at the ground in response, wordless at last. Recognizing the sense of defeat in Twilight’s actions, Trixie turned her attention back to Ledger.

“Ledger?” She asked, getting his attention. “Are you alright?” His eyes moved to her, but he didn’t seem to focus on her. “Something isn’t right,” She announced to those present, though she meant it more for herself. “Ledger?” She looked him over, her gaze stopping at his hand, palm up and covered in blood. “No no no.” She lifted his head, cautiously and slowly, and spotted the pool of blood that had begun to form on the stone. “Ledger!” she shouted, panic beginning to take her and her mind racing through what to do. He looked past her still. She turned wildly to the others present. “Ledger needs help!”

“What?” came the call of Rarity, more out of disbelief than confusion.

“He did take quite a fall when the elements brought him back…” A.J.’s voice trailed off as she spotted the blood stain on the stone, implications clear.

“We need to get him to the medical wing. Does anyone know where it is?!” Trixie asked, already lifting Ledger carefully with her telekinesis. 

“I do!” Luna supplied, already running towards the door. “We’ll have to do it on foot so we don’t make the bleeding any worse.”

With no words, Trixie did as she was told, pulling Ledger along in a steady grasp. After some shared looks between the Elements, they all followed as well, leaving only Twilight and Celestia in the throne room. Silence took it, a welcome change from the cacophony that had echoed through it only moments before.

“I owe him, don’t I?” Twilight asked, looking sidelong to Celestia. 

With a worried, soft smile she responded, “I spent most of my time ruling owing debts or being owed debts by somepony or another. So much, in fact, that I almost had to get someone to keep track of them all for me.” Twilight turned to look fully at Celestia again, a look of confusion plain on her face. Smiling still, Celestia clarified. “You get used to it, is what I mean.”



  

Ledger flipped carefully through the pages of his soft yellow book, empty and welcoming. It had been given with an offer, a promise. He had tried to shrug it off, but it remained lodged at the front of his mind. With a sigh, he leaned in the doorway to his room, happy that Celestia had allowed him to keep it, and waited for his head to stop swimming.

A noise from inside, a soft scuffle, caught his attention and he sighed. He had hoped she’d be gone before he got back. Putting it off no longer, Ledger pocketed his book and opened the door to his room.

Trixie, only half noticing his arrival, looked deeply into the pages of his old book, his namesake. The pages themselves were unmoving, but it kept her attention all the same. Laid out on the table were two face-down cards, opposite the table from Trixie herself. Ledger took his seat next to them.

“You used to smile and mean it. Whatever happened to that?” Ledger didn’t answer the question. He stared at the two cards, almost attempting to hide himself behind them as he picked them up and looked at what he had been dealt. “Look at you now, a plan two years in the making and absolute success, can’t even bring yourself to grin.”

Ledger frowned instead. He’d been dealt a five and a six. Knowing full well what he was walking into, Ledger made the logical call. “Hit me.”

She did. It echoed in the room.

Ledger rubbed the right side of his face as he recovered, trying to ease the pain. Trixie flipped him his ten to complete the winning hand. 

She looked at the book silently as Ledger stacked the cards together again and shuffled. He glanced up at her for a moment before looking away again. “I’m sorry, for what it’s worth.”

“I know.” He had expected anger, rage, loathing. He could understand those. Instead, what he got was frustration. He looked to her again as she stared into the book. “I just…” Trixie sighed heavily as Ledger dealt her two cards face-down, then dealt himself one face-up and one face-down.  

She looked at them, judging them. Then, after a moment of thought, closed the book and picked up her cards. “You could have dealt them face up.”

“Then you wouldn’t have closed the book,” Ledger mentioned idly. “I don’t want you obsessing over the same debts that have consumed my past two years.”

She levitated the cards apart to look at Ledger between the gap she created. “I just wanted to let you cross off that last name you never got around to. But you wouldn’t let me pay it off.” Trixie tapped the table twice in succession and Ledger dealt her another card.

“What are you talking about?” Ledger shuffled the deck mindlessly as he waited for Trixie’s next move. “You don’t owe me anything.”

“Oh? Then how come my name’s in there, untouched, huh? No ‘paid in full’ or anything.” She tapped the table again, Ledger dealt again. As she collected the card, she glanced at it only momentarily before throwing her hand onto the table, upset. 22.

Ledger grabbed them and began to shuffle again. He seemed ready to deal, but stopped. “Because I never paid off my debt to you. I’ve been up to my neck in debts to you and I haven’t paid off a single one.”

        “What? If either of us owes the other, than I owe you a favor.”

        “Our very first meeting was you saving me with a teleportation spell.

        “Well, sure, but—”

        “And then I sent a powerful shadow… thing person to your house so you could read his mind.”

        “I guess…”

        “And then you came to help me and I drugged you! How could you possibly owe me?”

        Trixie sat in silence for a moment. Ledger did much the same, waiting calmly as he moved the plastic cards between his hands, his gloves long since discarded. Then, at last, Trixie spoke.  “If it weren’t for you, I’d still be on the streets.”

        “I’ve done nothing,” Ledger said, his teeth clenched. He stopped shuffling and held the deck in one hand. His other moved to his temple in a vain attempt to curb a developing headache.

        “You’ve done plenty.” Ledger looked to her again, his gaze tired. She looked back much the same. “You’ve done more than anyone else did. I thought I could get you to see that. I thought I owed that to you.”

        Both present let silence take the room, neither one having anything to add. Time seemed to blur as they sat there, and it wasn’t until a knock echoed on the door that the world shifted back into focus.

        Before Ledger could stand up and open it, it began to swing inwardly. “I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” Octavia entered the room, Spike following diligently behind, holding a large cake over his head. “I just got back from Ponyville,” Octavia explained, not hearing any objections from either of them. “A couple ponies in the cafeteria wanted to deliver this cake to you. Apparently, they heard you helped take down the Queen, wanted to give you something for it.”

        Ledger glanced to Trixie for a moment, both of them remaining silent. “Oh crap, I did interrupt, didn’t I? I can just leave this here if you want. We can always talk later or—”

        “No, no. Please, stay. I was just finishing up a conversation with an old friend.” He smiled to Trixie. It wasn’t quite real, but she could tell he was trying. He grabbed the book from the table and flipped it open to the final uncrossed name that it held. Removing the pen from his pocket, a careful hand drew a solid unflinching line through the name. “Does that sit well with you?”

        “Yes,” Trixie said almost immediately. “Yes it does.” She returned a smile. 

        “Well then!” Ledger said excitedly, a color to his voice that Trixie hadn’t heard in a long time. “The queen is dead and we’ve got a cake here to celebrate!” He scooped the deck of cards from the table and pocketed them, giving Spike plenty of room to slide the desert onto. “So let’s celebrate!”

        The two mares and dragon echoed his enthusiasm, each of them helping to grab drinks and a knife from the kitchen. 

That was the last night that week Ledger stayed up far too long. But this time, at least, it was for an entirely different purpose.