Murder

"Damn that was a close one" Pick gasped in relief, clenching his side from the pain of running very fast through the collapsing tunnels we'd just so narrowly missed. I think we should rest for just a moment" commented Luna as she too heaved heavily from the fastest twenty minutes of my life. "We should keep moving" I said between breaths, the Wonderbolts might have covered this side of the Mountains as well and I didn't want to hang around. "I'm ready when you are" said the Wonderbolt which had just so recently (twenty minutes ago really) been added to the small group of ours.

It was hard to see though the small cloud of dust ejected from the collapsed tunnels but it looked like it was hotter this side of the Macintosh Mountains and surrounding the mountains was a large almost bowl like valley with a small gorge far in the distance, it was very red as well although it might have had forests I couldn't tell with the sting in my eyes.

I looked at the Wonderbolt in a mixture of annoyance yet appreciation since we'd have never made it out alive had he not told us of the other Wonderbolts combing the area. "What's you name then flash?" I asked as I stopped panting and attempted to compose myself. The Wonderbolt looked at me curiously and answered "Soarin is my name".

I coughed a little and looked him up and down, his body was a pale and pasty blue and his hair was a jet black colour, he couldn't have been over twenty and he radiated youth and athleticism. However I recognised this particular pony, not just the way he looked but his knowledge of me before he'd been given the memories of the Observatory Ghosts freaked me out.

"Have we met before I hit you in the face?" I asked him, getting to the point. "Yes Sir, you were the Captain of the Guard when I graduated to a full member of the Wonderbolt's by Celestia, the way I recall it you stormed into the place, demanded your men have their swords returned and broke a lovely stained glass window before somepony came up and whispered something in your ears and you fled" said Soarin and I looked at him wide eyed.

"You mean…you were there that day?" I asked despite my memory recalling that exact same face as the one before me now. "I recall you also mentioned that my Corp was a complete waste of time and finances" said Soarin and despite the fact we were on the same side I couldn't help but mumble "It is a waste of time".

Soarin did not react kindly to what I had said but still did well to maintain his professional composure which must have come in handy for rich kid's parties and pretending to save the day every now and then. "I hope maybe that if I stay in your Company for the duration of this quest then I might change your view" he said diplomatically to my criticism.

I scoffed and told him straight "Kid the only reason you're here Is because Luna has a kind heart, me I was ready to cut your head from your body and be on my way, perhaps we wouldn't have had to run through those tunnels for our lives and now you are here, loyal to Celestia by the golden badge on your chest with knowledge in your mind that could break the kingdom and yet it took all of five minutes for you to switch sides in the name of righteousness"!

"What are you saying?" asked Soarin. "I'm saying that your loyalty might be put to the test during our travels, be they short or long and you might come to a time when you have to choose Luna or Celestia and I'd like to know if that time ever comes because I'll be waiting with a crossbow at your back to see if you pick the pony I know you'll pick" I said with my teeth mashed together.

Soarin's professionalism was beginning to crumble and he knew it as he got angrier and angrier. "I serve Princess Luna and Celestia, not the fake Clearwater who did such terrible things to her and this land" argued Soarin. "If you know so much from the Observatory ghosts then please, enlighten me about where these caves are then and what we'll find?" I asked patronizingly. "I can't just remember it all it just comes back to me my mind feels weird as it is and I don't need this right now" he said but I took this as him avoiding a simple question and asked "If you're going to be traveling with us then I want to see you prove some commitment to Luna and us" I said pointing at Soarin.

Pick and Luna could only look on as I got angrier and angrier over such a little thing. "Rip you badge from your uniform and renounce the Wonderbolt's" I said flatly and Luna barged in front of me and to my shame slapped me with the back of her left fore hoof and argued "No one will renounce anything for me, no one needs to die for me you are all here of your own choice and I will not force you into battle without giving you it".

"You could have told me that when you shoved me on a train you know" interjected Pick but nopony paid him heed, instead we all became locked in a small staring competition. Soarin eventually looked up and said "Fine" before he reached down with his teeth and clasped the badge which he'd probably been given upon signing up thanks to his parent's donations. "Soarin, you might be new but that's not the way things work around here, you don't need to do this" said Luna trying to stop him but he held up his hoof and looked at me and stated "It's alright…I want the Captain of Murder to know I'm on his side".

I threw him a wicked look and sharply asked "What did you say"? "I said Captain that you were the one to blame and I can see it in my head how you stood over her with the knife, how you stabbed her until she actually thanked you to stop and finally when she died how you didn't even shed a tear after so many years of being together you just walked away and visited the bar down the street" said Soarin with Menace.

Every single strain of my being was trying to not lunge at this little bitch of a Wonderbolt, I wanted to cut him in half and mail one half of his body to Celestia and the other half to his mother he just crossed a line that could never be crossed.

I think even he believed that as well as he immediately put his hooves over his mouth and turned red with shock visible in his still young eyes. Pick and Luna were wide eyed, jaws open and staring as well not knowing how to comment on what they'd just heard. I considered various options in the next few seconds.

I could draw my sword and fight this mere kid, I could try my hardest to explain but now all I wanted to do was go home to my shady little apartment on my shady little street and drink until I drowned in sorrow, guilt and age. So I untied my saddle bags and didn't even bother to take any supplies before I glanced up at the map and sniffed once.

Pick made to say something but I stared him down into complete silence. "Ok well Mr Wonderbolt can lead you from now on since this Is your democracy Princess, I'm going home to die like an old dog who has played all his tricks, don't follow me or talk me out of it because I swear to you that I will kill you without hesitation…according to Captain Flash over there I'm so good at it so good luck and goodbye" I said dangerously as I grabbed my sword and tied it onto my back and strode away.

Now that I thought about it after traversing five metres in front I came onto the kid harshly over his allegiance and for my troubles was questioned over mine and ended up being the one to throw down his sword. However when I thought about looking Luna in the eyes ever again I simply knew that it was probably for the best.

Although forty wasn't that old it was still the end of me and with years of drink against me and a lot of anger and regret I was broken, a rick monkey who had tried to do one last flip before he dies and instead was met with the bittersweet of it all. I wasn't young, I wasn't fit and I wasn't fast and Soaring was all of those, he'd be able to look after the Princess without me, especially now with a weapon.

I turned to look back and saw a faint blue bur in the distance of the scorching hard red rock of the Bad Lands and for a moment I thought it waved before it turned away and disappeared. I felt like crying but I remembered what Soarin had said and monsters didn't cry, so I kept on walking and put everything behind me and wished I had some cider, I'd sell my soul for some.

Everything passed in a blur and suddenly it was night and I was a full day's walk away from anypony. It was night and it had cooled down rapidly, so rapidly I actually felt a slight chill. The ground was warm however so I didn't build a fire (not that there were sticks or kindling materials around anyway). So I settled down to sleep with no food or drink and feeling very hot and yet cold I fell into a miserable and tired slumber.

"Congratulations you two, it was a fantastic Wedding and I hope you all the best of luck in the future" said Fancy Pants, a young and rather charming pony who had attended our wedding with the beginnings of one of the most epic moustaches that would later make him a lot of money just by standing still and getting offers for Ponies to get their photos taken with it. "Thank you Fancy Pants" I said bowing as he moved on to mingle with some other guests.

"You know I once tested his security system and broke into his personal vault" said my now beloved wife. "Really, other than a ton of gold what did you find?" I asked whilst waving to a few ponies in the crowd. "Oh well…let's just say the moustache isn't exactly true" she giggled. "No way, this must be a clever ploy you want me to try ripping it off his face don't you?" I asked looking at her with my freaky eyes. "Oh stop it" she said playfully "I'm just saying watch out the stuff he made it with looked interesting" she said pausing and frowning.

I'd decided by now I'd rather not know and decided to move along. Celestia had been kind to effectively lend us the castle this close to the Gala and perform the ceremony in front of many rich ponies whose names I didn't even know" "Still I was saddened how my Father wasn't alive to see me yet I caught sight of my mother and gave her a small wave.

My right fore hoof was wrapped tightly around hers in a binding if undying love, I had promised I'd never let this mare go no matter what and I meant it when I had vowed to live for her. I smiled and looked at her lovingly but I found her eyes were rather dull looking at that moment as they stared with an almost empty look right though into my soul.

"Honey is there a problem" I asked smiling but suddenly her eyes seemed to get rigid and the room darkened as everypony turned towards us, their faces gaunt and with eyes that described the next thing they all said "Murderer" they whispered and I looked from side to side and suddenly knew this was wrong.

"What no…I didn't do it I swear please I can explain" but suddenly Celestia was in front of me and using her magic she seemed to rip a badge from my chest. It felt like being stabbed, I cried out in both physical and emotional pain and pleaded "Please don't take it, it's the only thing I have left now in this world you can't just do this to me I'm not guilty!" I yelled in anger but suddenly I looked in my hoof and saw a dagger of pure white steel in my hands and coated with a thick layer of treacle like blood.

I looked at my wife, my dearly beloved and saw the stains appearing all over her pale white and blue wedding dress, it started as a patch but it soon covered her entire form as it seemed she was a waterfall of blood. "Why" she asked me in disappointment and she collapsed into my hooves which were ready to catch her.

I looked over her limp body and vacant eyes and saw that truly she was gone forever, passed from this world like a discarded toy which would never work or be played with again only to gather dust. I tried to cry but I just couldn't and the more I tried the more I felt my anger build until I was practically frothing at the mouth. I saw ahead of me three little fillies, happy and playful all laughing and talking and then I looked at my knife and smiled "This is how now" I told myself "You can't change the past… but then again who'd want to change it really"?

I awoke with a cry as I felt my heart hammering away in my chest at over a hundred miles per hour and I looked around to see dawn breaking. I had been sobbing in my sleep and looking around for Luna the memory of what I'd done yesterday had all come flooding back to me as I remembered how I'd left and almost killed that pony, that Wonderbolt who was only doing his job for his Kingdom like me not so many years ago. What was I and why was I liking whatever I was.

"By Celestia have I not done anything right in my life?" I asked myself. Suddenly a small almost mirage appeared over my pathetic and still sobbing body and I saw that it was a pony that looked like a nicer Nightmare Moon. "Luna?" I asked almost not believing my eyes. "Yes Captain I have done it, I defeated that traitor Clearwater and saved Equestria no thanks to you, you have held me back from day one and now as your sovereign command ye to prove your loyalty by killing yourself!" she decreed.

"What this is absurd, you cannot be serious here I…I didn't mean to" I began but she stopped me with a toss of her flowing mane. "Oh you didn't mean to…admit it now that you did you can see it in yourself I'm sure the love of glory and blood in fact I'm sure you wanted to kill me multiple times over the course of the past week and now I ask you to prove your loyalty you protest" she said factually and somehow making a lot of sense to me swayed my judgement.

I had wanted to kill her, of course it all made sense but yet I still thought about how It didn't make any sense but in that time I had already drawn my sword and placed it against my throat. Some blood dribbled across the aged and very sharp sword which I was now ready to kill myself and never look back with.

"Yes that's it, kill yourself and save me from having to do it" said the visage of Luna which suddenly began to flicker. I paused from my delusions and snapped out of it, fully realising what I'd been about to do. I saw Luna's true form but somehow her soul looked evil and manipulative and very dangerous.

I turned the sword thought the air and leapt at the beast, not caring whether it could kill me or not but aiming for the head. My sword sliced through the image and it hissed as it disappeared into a million sparkles of stardust.

I collapsed, breathing heavily and feeling the sweat literally pour from my body. "What the hay just happened?" I asked in complete miscomprehension. Had I really just attempted to kill myself, to take my tortured soul and see what happened across the water if I got that far?

"Yes what just happened?" asked a sudden voice from behind me which made me jump in surprise and raise my sword. However my back had other ideas and my sword off balanced me and I fell over. God my back hurt, the last few days finally taking their toll on my body, I was aching and paining all over and now seriously questioning my already damaged mental health.

I looked up from my rather uncomfortable position on the floor at a rather old pony dressed in a cloak much like the bad lands soil with a dark grey beard and a similar desert coloured hat to match everything. He carried a sole saddlebag and a long staff with a twisted end and his eyes spelled wisdom and curiosity.

"You know I once met a pony who tried to kill himself by eating over five thousand muffins in the space of one hour it was amazing how much he wanted to die, reached muffin 4121 before he finally gave up and became the owner of Baltimare's Muffin Production Line" said the old pony as he found a rock and dusted it off.

He proceeded to sit down and looked me over as I got to my feet; he sighed and looked at me with heavy eyes. I understand you don't sleep well" he said (although how he knew I could never have guessed) "Well I guess I also have trouble sleeping although nowadays my body too tells me that I'm past my time".

"Listen old man, I'm not in the mood for pointless prattle, I've got to get to Manehatten" I said jutting my hoof at his chest and pushing past him. He sighed and took out some small black pellet and dug a hole in the barren soil before he put the pellet into it and then pulled out a flask of water and watered it" Was this crazy pony seriously gardening in the middle of nowhere, also how did he get that water and did he have more. At that exact moment I was actually feeling overwhelmingly thirsty and I considered taking some.

He looked up at me with his smiling face and remarked "You know I saw the formation of peace whilst serving as the court Wizard for the Unicornian Royal Family and I'd say that nowadays in order to get a drink you need only ask friend" said the old one handing me a flask of water from his saddlebag.

I didn't know what craziness he was talking about but I didn't really care and greedily took the flask and gulped down the precious life giving liquid. He looked on as I drank it all and remarked "You're going to get stomach pain you know". He was right, I began to feel the pain in my stomach and I clasped it in pain and collapsed.

He kept on smiling and watched the ground where the flower was growing. "You know forty is still young, you can still do a lot that you could do ten years ago maybe with less energy now but replace with a drive and experience which I know you have and you've got yourself somepony who could make or break an empire" he said as he poked me in the stomach with his stick.

This Pony seemed to me like a pony I should know and then all at once it hit me and I exclaimed "Starswirl the Bearded, the pony Clearwater murdered"! He tipped his hat and his horn sparked a little and suddenly a tiny fanfare of magical red sparks danced before my eyes like confetti as he confirmed my little puzzle. "I have been waiting for the day when somepony would free Luna and now you have a choice like the flower I just planted" he said sticking his staff in the soil.

I was confused so he explained "Somepony can help you start off with combat training and a direction in life but then you're on your own like the plant which I just watered and for a time it will be ok but then age weighs on you and you tire but if you push through you can still operate better than you had in the past forty years and save the Kingdom I worked so hard to help create and a student I so much loved" said Starswirl as the plant miraculously grew before my astonished eyes.

"Oh well I suppose a little help won't hurt" he said as he touched my snout with the staff and suddenly my vision went blank and I believed that he'd made me blind. "Damn what the hay?" I yelled but then my vision returned and looking around I saw I was lying in the dark of night on the warm sand once more and I wasn't dead and in fact felt pretty good. In fact I felt better than I had in about five years almost like I was a thirty year old stallion again.

I trotted on the spot and did a cartwheel just to see how good I was and was rewarded to find I could do it. I wasn't sure if I looked younger, probably not since I still felt my beard but I didn't care, right now I had direction and looking at the plant growing by the rock I was assured of what I had to do to ensure the continuation of Royal rule and the more or less harmony of Equestria.

I grabbed my sword and squinted to make out my hoof prints in the night moon. I looked up at the stars and located north and set off in a gallop, feeling lighter than I had in years and rejoicing in it. The Bad Lands weren't so bad after all, I might have nearly killed myself and abandoned my cause but now I was very much alive and despite the sorrow in my heart I swore a life contract binding oath to protect and now I was galloping across the rocky red surface of the Bad Lands to find Princess Luna and her entourage who without me might already be dead.

I was stupid to leave, I had been acting like a disgruntle colt in distrusting the Wonderbolt and I'd been zapped in the rear and ran away crying like a little filly which I knew in my heart I wasn't. So as I raced I knew that it was going to get infinitely better and it was until I trod on something shiny and metallic.

I bent down and picked up the cold and flimsy metal. I struggled to examine it in the poor light but found that it was the golden badge of a Wonderbolt which signified him as a leader. Nearby there was blood and a few buttons from what must have been some jacket on the rocky floor.

In front of the buttons were hoof prints and to my alarm also drag marks which made me certain of what I already knew…Bandits.