Chapter 3: Family man.

Dave sat outside a posh café, a small cup of tea next to him as he sat under an umbrella that protected him from the gentle snowing weather. His eyes switched from his envelopes to a large building that was a little further down the streets.

A few carriages were already pulling up outside the older looking building before the sound of a bell was heard and the doors opened to reveal a small crowd of fillies and colts that poured out of the building.

Every carriage was soon full and any of the upper-class children that weren’t met by parents made their own way home in small groups. Many had happy faces and only a few looked rather neutral.

Dave continued to watch the door until a grey colt stepped out and began to walk towards the café Dave was sat at. The grey colt had a light, fluffy mane and both a horn and wings, even though the wings were kept so tightly closed that they almost seemed to blend in with his fur.

The colt looked up at the human before a large smile broke out onto his face. “Dad!”

“Did you have a good day at school?” Dave smiled as the colt ran over and leapt up to give him a hug. “Alright Nox you can let me go now.”

The young alicorn released the human before sitting down in a separate chair. The colt looked around in confusion before his ears lowered, “Is mum not here?”

“No she is busy,” Dave noticed the colt’s nervous shift in personality. “What’s wrong?”

“N-nothing,” Nox avoided looking at his father as he stared at his hooves.

Dave sighed as he leaned on his shoulders and stared at Nox until he got eye-contact. “Listen, I have never gotten mad at you so tell me what is up with you.”

“I… got the result for my test today,” Nox’s ears almost fell completely down to his head as he tried to look away from Dave. “I… didn’t do very well.”

“Oh well did you pass?” Dave asked as he felt his heart sink looking at the sniffing alicorn. When Nox nodded slowly Dave gave a smile, “Well that is good enough for me.”

Nox looked up at the human opposite as he gave a confused stare, “B-but you wanted me to do really well and be the best in the class!”

“Did you try your hardest? Honestly?” Dave looked at Nox with an emotionless stare.

“Yeah!” Nox said loudly. “I really wanted to make you proud of me!”

Dave shrugged, “Well if you did your best then as a father I can’t be more proud.”

“Huh?” Nox rose a confused eyebrow.

“Well if you had passed but not put any effort in then I would have thought you had wasted your time,” Dave smiled as he reached over and ruffled his son’s mane. “So which bit did you find hardest? The theory?”

Nox froze as he looked down at his hooves again, “I did well in the theory but my practical magic test went badly.”

“How badly could it have gone?” Dave asked as he gave his son a reassuring smile.

“I was worst in the class,” Nox mumbled sadly as he looked down at himself in disappointment. “I just couldn’t do it as well as I thought I could.”

The human and colt sat in silence as Dave hummed gently. Nox looked away from his father in shame as he looked at the falling snowflakes.

Dave burst the silence with a small cough to clear his throat, “So what? You passed didn’t you?”

“W-well yeah but I am the worst compared to the others in my class,” Nox shuddered as he watched one of the carriages roll past with the sound of proud parents congratulating their filly. “I’m an embarrassment to you and mum.”

“Don’t ever say that again,” Dave said sternly as he pushed his drink aside and stared into Nox’s eyes. “You are mum’s proudest achievement and I could never ask for a better son.”

“B-b-but I…” Nox didn’t have time to stutter a response as a bowl of ice-cream was placed in front of him by a waitress. “Huh?”

“You passed,” Dave smiled. “Just think about that. You passed in one of the hardest schools in the country and nopony can take that away from you.”

Now looked at the ice-cream and then at Dave. “Y-you aren’t mad?”

“No,” Dave said with a small laugh. “I failed half my exams back on Earth and I think I turned out alright.”

“Was your dad proud of you?” Nox asked with a curious stare.

Dave lost his smile briefly before laughing, “I hadn’t met Strong Shield then so I wouldn’t know.” Dave allowed his smile to reassure Nox before looking into his warm tea. “Let’s relax for now then head home.”

Nox began to eat his ice cream as Dave placed the envelopes back into his jacket and looked up over at the castle that stood down the road. The tall towers watched over the entire city and pegasi guards could be seen flying around the castle as they attended their duties.

“Oh by the way I have to go to Manehatten tomorrow so make sure you are a good boy for mum ok?” Dave smiled as Nox looked away from his bowl of ice-cream, the colt having devoured most of it already.

“Why do you have to go?” Nox asked curiously before returning to his colt treat.

“Just have to follow up on a few things,” Dave kept the truth quiet from Nox and would probably have to keep it quiet from everypony else unless he found something.

The father and son both finished up at the café and made the short walk home together, Nox charging off to his room while Dave went down the numerous corridors and up the many stairs towards the princess’ towers.

Dave reached a corridor, stairs at one end took him towards Celestia’s chambers and the other end took him towards Luna’s. But a door in the centre of the corridor was the one Dave was heading towards.

The human unlocked the small room with a key and stepped into his own personal study. A small bookshelf was lined with maps, historical texts and books on law. Dave removed his envelopes from his jacket and placed them on a large wooden desk and dropped his jacket on a comfy sofa that was placed against the wall.

As Dave sat down he placed the reports and photos about Battering Ram and the humans in a small compartment hidden under one of the drawers. The train tickets and addresses were placed to one side as Dave leaned back to pull a map of Manehatten off one of the shelves and opened it out on the desk.

Using the address of the police station and of where Battering Ram’s body was found he planned an easy route to the police station whilst going past the crime scene. Dave looked at the layout of the city before pulling a little cord beside the desk.

A few minutes later there was a knock at the door and a maid stepped in. “You rang?”

“Yes, I was wondering if I could get a cup of tea and a newspaper please,” Dave asked politely.

The maid bowed, “Certainly sir.”

As the maid left, Dave began to look at his map again. A few moments later the door opened and a cup of tea was levitated onto Dave’s desk and a newspaper landed beside it. The human didn’t look away from the map as he sipped his tea.

“Thank you,” Dave called as he heard the door closing but froze as he heard hoovesteps approaching him. The human gave a sigh as he placed his tea down and turned to see a tall dark alicorn smiling at him.

The princess’ dark blue fur was matched with a flowing mane that looked like a clear night’s sky. A few dark pieces of regalia sat around the alicorn’s neck hooves and a crown sat on her head. “So you have been hiding here have you?”

“I only just got in Luna, I swear,” Dave rolled his eyes as he picked up the newspaper and began to read it. “Now why would I want to avoid one of my favourite mares?”

“I don’t know,” Luna walked around Dave’s chair and looked at the map Dave had laid out. “You are going away again?”

Dave flicked through the newspaper until he saw a story involving Manehatten. “Yeah just for something minor, I should be back soon enough.”

Luna nodded as she walked over to the sofa and laid across it and watched Dave work. The human reading a story about a new building being built that would tower above the rest and would set a new record for the city.

The building was only being constructed a few streets away from the place Battering Ram was found. If he was beheaded then maybe a tool was taken from there and used. Dave marked the location of the construction site and thought that he would have to investigate it when nopony would be around.

Dave paused as he looked over and saw Luna staring at him. “Uh… you bored or something?”

“Not exactly,” Luna hummed as Dave narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “It is just that you seem so focused when you work.”

The alicorn gave a bored sigh as Dave began to look back at his work. “This wouldn’t happen to be involved with a certain holiday you want us to go on would it?”

“Maaaayyyybe,” Luna said innocently as she levitated an atlas over to her and began to flick through the pages. “I mean you did promise that we could do something together and romantic once you knew Nox was doing well at school.”

Dave paused, “Yeah about that….”

“What’s wrong?” Luna turned serious as she heard the tone change in Dave’s voice.

“Nox only just passed his exams and is kinda nervous about failing,” Dave moved to sit on the sofa beside Luna. “He said it was the practical magic test he did badly in.”

Luna hummed, “I think I may know why he is… doing badly.”

Dave rose an eyebrow as he saw a small look of confidence in Luna’s eyes. “Care to tell me?”

“He is the only alicorn in his school and the son of Princess Celestia,” Luna smiled. “He is just scared of what he could do.”

“That doesn’t sound like an easy matter to solve,” Dave noticed Luna’s smile lower. “What do you mean ‘scared’ anyway?”

Luna tapped her chin, “Well if you had the potential to move buildings and throw them about, wouldn’t you be afraid of accidentally doing it to your entire school?”

“So he is afraid that he might hurt somepony so he doesn’t allow himself to do as well as he could do,” Dave slumped into the sofa as he rubbed his face. “Well that is a relief, for a moment there I thought he was being bullied.”

Luna smiled as she rested her head on Dave’s chest, “So now you have one less problem on your mind, how about you tell me your little trip to Manehatten?”

“Meh, just a bit of non-sense that dad wants me to do for him,” Dave felt a pair of hooves land either side of his head. He opened his eyes to see Luna had placed herself above him with a shocked expression.

“Your father?” Luna shook her head. “Every single time you do something for him you end up getting into some form of trouble. You know what he is like with scheming things.”

Dave wrapped his arms around Luna and allowed her to sit on his lap. “Hey he always has good intentions, he is getting old and this is… different.”

“How so?” Luna stared at Dave.

“He has been completely truthful,” Dave sighed as he sat up and kissed Luna’s cheek. “Trust me, nothing bad is going to happen.”

Luna sighed, “I wish I could believe that.”

“Hey,” Dave said sternly as he pulled Luna against his chest. “I promise that I will go on our own private vacation.”

“Do you really mean that?” Luna looked down at Dave’s serious eyes. “How do you know that nothing bad will happen and you will run off again to stop it?”

Dave rested his head under Luna’s chin, “Because even if I do run off I will run back twice as fast to be beside you again.”

Luna blushed as Dave looked up and planted a kiss on her cheek. The alicorn’s face turned red as her horn glowed gently and a loud click rang out.

“What was that?” Dave asked.

“I locked the door,” Luna smiled as she reached down to give another kiss, this time on Dave’s lips. “We don’t want to be disturbed now do we?”

Meanwhile…

Hank stood amongst a small group of humans, the rest that were in the room had long since left for their next destination. The only remaining ones were Sasha, Mike and two others.

“Alright, by now rumours should have spread back to Dave Shield,” Hank looked at the humans. “Now all of you are to do exactly as you are told otherwise you shall be punished more than you can imagine.”

The final words were followed by a short stare at Mike, who nodded in response. “What are we to do?”

“Mike, you are to head to Canterlot immediately and wait for Sasha to contact you with further orders,” Hank commanded as he looked across at Sasha and teenage girl. “Sasha you and Sarah are to wait in this city for Dave to find you and then proceed with the plan, make sure you are careful.”

Sasha looked up at the older girl, the one called Sarah. She had a long auburn pony tail and an attractive face that would have caught the attention of most men. Sasha nodded but pointed at Sarah, “Why does she have to come along?”

“Because we are supposed to pretend we are sisters lost in the city,” Sarah spat at Sasha. “One of us is to stay at Dave Shield’s side while the other operates and I doubt Dave will be interested in you.”

Hank held up his hand and the girls quickly fell silent as his attention shifted to the other man beside Mike. “And you Steven, you are to wait for the perfect moment to attack Dave, the more time you buy for Sasha and Sarah the better so kill him quickly.”

“If I had more information about him it would be easier,” Steven smirked as he bowed his head to Hank, his long black hair swung in front of his eyes and he brushed it aside with one of his long fingers. “But this task shouldn’t be a problem for someone like me.”

Hank nodded before looking back at Mike a small growl began to linger beneath the tone of his voice, “Mike, you aren’t allowed your powers back until you prove your worth so do not fail us again.”

Mike nodded as he glanced across and saw collective sneers aimed at him. “I shall try my best to please you and Discord.”

“Good,” Hank nodded. “The next time we meet brothers and sisters we shall be one step closer to gaining the glory we were denied on Earth.”