Mysterious Alicorn

Chapter 21

By Aponymous

It was a slow week. Not to say that there wasn't anything to do, there was a lot of rebuilding and repairing to do, but it was dreadfully boring. We did not however, have anypony try to murder us so I suppose no news was good news. There was however, one interesting thing that happened. I had a date with Fluttershy, that's right, this Stallion had a date, I could hardly believe it either.

We were all staying at a hotel in the undamaged part of town and at just before dusk I went to Rarity's room, hoping for some "Spruceing up", nothing special, just some basic grooming and preening. I hadn't noticed how dishevelled my feathers had become and once properly cared for I must say they looked really nice, all shiny and... feathery...

That's besides the point though. After we finished with the grooming Rarity handed me a bouquet of flowers

"Trust me, mares like this kind of stuff, I do at least."

I looked at her appreciatively, silently hoping the flowers doesn't come off as to formal. After a curt goodbye and a wordless thank you I left for Fluttershy's room, only a short way's down the hallway. The hotel was quaint, the hallways were fairly plain and dimly lit. I barely noticed it though, for some reason I was really nervous. I could feel sweat dripping down my brow, upper torso tensing.

After what seemed like an eternity of walking I finally arrived at Fluttershy's room. Once there I stopped and took a few deep breaths, trying to calm myself, assure myself that it would be fine, that I'd be fine. I hesitated for a moment before giving the door a knock, brandishing the flowers so the open heads would face her when she opened the door. After a few moments of waiting, Fluttershy opened the door. Needless to say she was breathtaking, she always was, even when she's not trying to be.

She smiled and took the flowers, placing them somewhere inside of her room before I gestured for us to depart. We left wordlessly, falling into the same comfortable silence that had filled the air for so much of our time together. You know, it's very hard to make conversation when one pony can't talk and the other doesn't want to. It wasn't so bad though, neither me nor Fluttershy seemed to mind.

Long story short, we got dinner at a fancy-pants restaurant before having a nice walk and returning. Light conversation happened as best as it could. I'm not sure Fluttershy was used to having to take charge of a conversation, but she did a good job. After we finished at the restaurant we had a quiet walk back to the hotel where I walked her to her room and we exchanged a brief kiss before parting ways.

Well, that's the story of my first date, roll credits, game over, go home and good day to you sir!

You didn't think my story ends there? No, it doesn't, unfortunately.

The night of the Grand Galloping Gala was upon us, to most ponies attending it meant socializing, meeting new ponies and free food. To me, the Gala mean't meeting the God-Queen of the whole country to determine the identity of whoever wanted me and my friends dead. Needless to say it was a significantly more stressful experience for me than most.

The act of getting prepared was in and of itself relaxing, gave me something to busy my hooves, something to keep my mind off the task ahead of me. I got dressed in the newly repaired outfit that Rarity made me a few days ago and took a seat in one side of my room. The room itself was fairly bare, only a bed and small desk for furniture. I hadn't spent much time in it, the whole week I had felt like it was important for me to help the rebuilding process. Whenever I had spent time with any of the Mares we'd meet up outside of the hotel or in one of their rooms so tonight was the first time I'd had company in my room you see, Spike was getting ready with me.

It hadn't been a very sociable experience, we really only started conversation once we'd finished getting ready.

"After they left the Gala they found me at a doughnut shop, the night started to pick up, then the princess showed up and told us it was her favourite Gala ever!"

The description of the previous Gala spike had given me was not encoraging, I was about to respond as best I could when the there was a knock on the door

"I bet that's them." Spike opened the door and the six mares walked in, looking stunning.

The dresses they wore were perfect, each of them matched their various personalities perfectly. Rarity didn't seem very pleased though

"I know, their terrible. I had to order the supplies and make them during the week, it took a lot of time and they still didn't turn out the way I wanted them!"

I did my best to quiet her, wordlessly assuring her that her dresses were astounding, she didn't seem very assured, but thanked me for the compliment anyway. Everypony complemented everypony on their attire and we set off for a carriage to take us to canterlot. Twilight smiled as we got in.

"Al right everypony, no splitting up this time, we're going to enjoy this night if it kills us."

The others nodded and we set off. I have to admit, riding in a carriage was relaxing, the gentle bump, the swaying of the carriage as it rolled along the road. I almost forgot my troubles, almost. The closer we approached Canterlot the more tension I could feel mounting in my spine grew larger. My mind was at ease but my body knew that whatever I would find out tonight, it wouldn't be pleasant.

Needless to say it took a little while to get to Canterlot, but once we did it was a sight to behold, Celestia had spared no expense on her castle, every window was stained glass and every tree was perfectly formed and trimmed. Finely dressed ponies were marching up the stairs into the main hall. Spike was the first to speak

"Can we not break into song this time?"

A chorus of laughter erupted from the group and we made our way through the crowd and into the hall. Once inside we found the main hall to be even more awe inspiring than the gardens. Everything was ornamented with suns or moons, representing one princess or the other. We made a beeline for Princess Celestia who was greeting ponies. Twilight's excitment was clearly visible and she was the first to speak once we made it within speaking distance with the princess

"Princess!"

Celestia seemed almost as happy to see Twilight as Twilight was to see Celestia

"Twilight Sparkle! It's great to see you again"

Twilight approached Celestia and hugged her while the others kneeling. I stood there for a few seconds before catching on and kneeling. After a few moments embrace they broke contact and turned to face us, Celestia adressing me

"You must be Shadow Horn, I've heard a lot about you"

I wasn't sure how to respond, so I just put my hoof out, offering it for her to shake, hoping I wasn't committing some kind of social faux pas. My fears seemed to have been in vain however, as she took my hoof in hers and shook it polity.

"Unfortunately, I have my royal duties to attend to so I'll have to talk to you at greater detail later on in the night. I suggest you socialize until I can find time to work these troubling events out with you."

With that we said our goodbyes and proceeded into the main hall. The next two hours were a living hell, any attempt to socialize was squashed by my lack of ability to speak. There was one Stallion in particular that didn't seemed phased by my lack of ability to converse.

I had approached the bar to get a drink when he approached me. I had just ordered one of the drinks I had gotten when I went drinking with Rainbow when a voice rang out from behind me

"I'll have one as well"

I turned to find who had spoken, as it turned out it was a well dressed brown stallion unicorn. He introduced himself

"I'm Baron Praxus, and you are?"

I gestured at my throat and made talking motions, still completely silent

"A mute?"

I nodded

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you, Mister Mute"

I smiled and offered my hoof, which he took and shook firmly. We got our drinks and began conversing, something I seemed to have been getting better at. After we finished our drinks he got up to get another round. It was after about a minute and a half that I realized something was wrong, the world was spinning and my vision was bluing. I felt my head slam against the ground and the world went black.

Hello.

That voice seemed familiar, it belonged to Baron Praxus.

How are you today?

Slowly my vision blurred back into clarity, revealing the stallion himself standing there smirking , the only thing in a sea of white, as though everything had been whited out but him.

I wish I could say i'm doing well, but I've lost a rather valuable artifact. You see, in your attempt at escape you stole something rather important to me.

He gestured at my horn

Now, I could kill you to recover it. But this was much easier, you see, my line of work require precision, timing and I'm going to be honest, you could destroy my entire operation with that horn and I had one window of opportunity. I could have poisoned you, or I could have given you a mind-control agent. You see, conditioning somepony to control the raidiation that horn gives off takes a while and I simply don't have that kind of time. You see, that horn of yours is a weapon, one that can kill gods, and there's only one of them. Haven't you been wondering why you can only destroy with it? It's because your a weapon. Born and raised a weapon.

He smiled as the last few words came out of his mouth and I tried to respond but I didn't seem capable of forming coherent thought

Doesn't mean I can't have any fun before hand though. He suddenly took a much more sinister tone and you did cause me an awful lot of trouble.

He approached me, leaning his face so that it was inches away from mine and lowered his 'Voice' to a whisper

I want you to know, after you wake up, I'm going to have you kill your friends. The Princesses to, their all going to die by your hooves and you get to watch. You'll rip them in pieces like you did those ponies at that timid pegasus's house. Speaking of which, I'll ensure you'll spend extra time with your precious "Fluttershy. Show her a good time.

The rest of the world began to fade into exisitance and he began to fade out, I could feel my mind clearing, I heard voices of concern and what may have been most satisfying of all, Baron Praxus looked like he had just been punched in the face. Shocked and, although he hid it well, terrified.

God damn those Princesses

"Are you ok? Please be ok! Don't die!"

It was Fluttershy. Alive, ok and worried. I opened my eyes blinking the blur out of my vision. Trying to process what had happened, what this 'Baron Praxus' had said. The more I sifted through the mess that was my mind the more infuriated I became.

"Please say something, just this once. Just once"

Fluttershy was in tears at this point

I heard Twilight filling the others in

"He must have been poisoned, the Princesses healed him though, he should be fine in a bit"

Fluttershy's tears where slowing but still there

"Please, just this once, say something."

I never knew I could have sounded menacing, but as it turns out, I could.

"I'm going to kill Baron Praxus."

He spoke!

I got the idea for that name from a video game :D

I hope that wasn't to bad, we're nearing the end now :D As much as I'm enjoying this Fic, I can't wait to get started on my next one :)

-Aponymous