Chapter 28

The ponies’ tears continued to roll down their faces as they all slowly grouped around each other

Celestia continued to hold Dave in her arms as Spike turned to the group “I know he was a… good friend” Spike wiped his eyes

Strong Shield sighed as he opened the cell door before trotting away, he travelled up the stairs and into the abnormally busy barracks

Shining Armour stepped forwards “What’s happened?”

Strong Shield ignored him before trotting over to the bemused jailor “Why was I dragged from my break?” he grumbled

Strong Shield threw the keys back at him “You don’t deserve to be called a royal guard,” he said in disgust as he turned away

“Hey!” The slightly intoxicated guard got to his hooves “I am better than you, old timer!”

Strong Shield stopped and glared over his shoulder “I’m not in the mood, I suggest you sit down”

Shining Armour, who was looking down the prison stairs noticed the rising tension “Stand down both of you, that is an order”

Strong Shield saluted before regaining his calm composure but the jailor persisted

“No I want to see what this old git is made of” The drunken jailor lunged forwards with a hoof

Strong Shield rubbed his tired eye with his hoof before he spun around, grabbing the jailor’s hoof and bringing his own into the overconfident guard’s neck

The jailor fell to the floor unconscious, Strong Shield saluted Shining Armour “Apologies but it was self defence”

Shining Armour returned the salute “Unconscious for one hour again?”

“Yes sir”

Shining Armour’s attention was turned back to the dungeon stairs “What happened down there?”

Strong Shield almost looked sad if he was even capable “Dave has… isn’t moving, breathing, I didn’t even see his heart pound behind his chest”

“He’s… dead?” Shining Armour began to walk down the stairs “He can’t be”

Strong Shield trotted through the crowd of guards, following his superior, his ears almost drooped as he saw Dave’s body once again

“Twiley!” Shining Armour ran to comfort his sister, he chanced a look at Dave’s still chest “By the sun, is he?”

Celestia stroked Dave’s hair, she ignored everything around her “I’m sorry Dave for everything, giving the bracelet to Luna, for changing you into this for…” Celestia moved closer to Dave’s head “If I hadn’t of fallen for you then you would still be with us”

Spike noticed the princess’s whispers “You fell for Dave? As in Love?”

The princess turned her gaze to the purple dragon “I did” she sighed sadly as she nuzzled against his head “This is all my fault”

Spike looked over at the crying group of ponies that were being comforted by Twilight’s brother, then at the princess beside him, Strong Shield sat out of the corner of his eye

“What is going to happen to him now?” Spike lifted a limp hand and held it between his claws “Is there anything we can do?”

Celestia gently laid Dave’s head down before taking a deep breath “Everypony can we please go somewhere else?”

The ponies all slowly walked past Dave, Rarity threw herself across him “NO We can’t leave him!” she cried

Twilight and Applejack both helped Rarity to her hooves, her mane soggy from the tears from her and her friends

Celestia looked at her two faithful guards “Can you both take Dave to… to the…” She began to become teary again

Both the unicorns stepped forwards, the picked Dave up and laid him across both their backs and they removed him from the dungeon cell

Spike walked beside Celestia as they began to lead the small convoy of grieving ponies through the barracks and towards Celestia’s quarters

Dave’s body was carried through the barracks, through the infirmary and into a sterile and pure white room

“The morgue hasn’t seen much in a while” Shining sighed as they placed Dave onto a silver table, his feet hung off the edge

“Little crime, most theft, no murders” Shield walked over to a desk and removed a form, quill and inkwell “How do we even fill this in?”

Shining shook his head “Family members are required but…” he sighed, “can’t you leave it for now?”

“Could we get Princess Celestia? She is the closest he has to family here” Strong Shield floated a white sheet over and covered Dave’s body

The captain turned to his sergeant “You really don’t care do you?” he said irritably “Somepony has died and all you care about is paperwork!”

Strong Shield set the items down “I CARE!” he shouted angrily, his face finally showing any major emotion

Shining Armour was startled by the sudden outburst of emotion “Wha… You NEVER care, that’s what makes you the guard you are”

“The reason I am void of emotion and handle paperwork quickly is because it makes me effective” Strong Shield slammed his hoof into the ground “That is why I am good at my job”

Shining Armour watched as the sergeant collapsed to the floor “Why is this getting you riled up then huh? You wouldn’t give this two thoughts normally”

Strong Shield tapped his horn against Dave’s resting place “before I joined the guards, when I was little more than a child, the same thing happened”

Shining sat down opposite the sergeant “What happened?”

“I had to watch my father die in a burning building, the guards that arrived didn’t notice the window they could have flown through to rescue him” Strong Shield shook his head “This is the second time I have had to watch somepony die and I could do nothing but watch”

“That’s why you joined the guards” Shining sighed “So the guards could always find a way to save ponies lives”

Strong Shield nodded “emotions hinder decisions”

“Did you like Dave?”

“Yes, he was a good… human” Strong Shield chuckled “He could have done well in the guards”

“Sounds like you would have wanted every guard to be like him” Shining stood “how are you doing?”

Strong Shield saluted “Surviving”

Shining Armour laughed weakly “Aren’t you always? Shame you didn’t have a family, you would have been a good father”

“I would rather teach my kid formations rather than play” Strong Shield picked himself up “Anything you would like me to do?”

“No duties for you to perform, continue as… you wish” Shining Armour saluted and left the morgue, leaving Strong Shield and Dave’s body alone

“As you command… sir”

Meanwhile…

Celestia opened the door to her quarters, she allowed the ponies to sit themselves around the room, Twilight, Applejack and Rarity sat on the bed, Pinkie and Spike sat on a long sofa, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy both walked out onto the balcony, Celestia herself collapsed at her desk, her head hanging low

“So that’s it?” Spike held his claws out “It’s over? There is nothing we can do to get Dave back?”

Celestia shook her head “I’m sorry Spike, there is nothing”

Pinkie’s lip trembled viciously “We didn’t get to say goodbye” she allowed her tears to run down her dark pink face

Rainbow Dash wrapped her wing around Fluttershy who began to cry again, Rainbow forgot about the resentment she had against her friend “Listen Fluttershy, I know you and Dave said you were going to go out”

Fluttershy managed to look at the cyan Pegasus through teary eyes “You do?”

“Yeah but…” Rainbow swallowed before taking a deep breath to calm herself down “I wanted to brake you both up, I knew he wanted me but he was already with you”

“You did?” the yellow mare backed away from her “Why?”

“He was so… cool” Rainbow wiped the tears that began to form in her eyes “And I felt so guilty when I pushed him onto that glass I-I wanted to make him see that I did care”

Fluttershy frowned “What about me? Didn’t you care about my feelings?”

Applejack watched as the pegasi talked outside, she could not hear but she knew it was not good

Rarity took her eyes from the floor to look around the room, she looked at the heavily decorated furniture, her grieving friends, Dave’s watch and a silver bracelet that contained a sapphire

“Wait… Dave gave this to you?” Rarity trotted over and picked the familiar bracelet up “Why?”

Celestia sighed, “He gave it as a symbol of love”

Rarity’s jaw dropped and she slammed the bracelet back onto the desk “That’s impossible!”

“Because he was human and I’m a pony princess?” Celestia shook her head sadly

“No because he loved ME!” Rarity shouted loud enough to attract everyponies attention

“What do you mean loved you?” Twilight walked over “He couldn’t resist me!”

The pegasi ran into the room “No he loved me!” they said in unison before they glared at each other

Applejack chuckled “Y’all must be confused because me and him were special”

Celestia raised her head “all of you? You all love him?”

Pinkie raised a hoof “I just liked him as a friend”

“You knew he would never love a pony as silly as you so why bother” Rarity spat “And besides me and him almost shared each other before I was interrupted by Sweetie Belle”

“I don’t believe ya!” Applejack walked menacingly over to the white unicorn “I was about to mate with him twice! He would have never touched somepony as uptight as you are”

Twilight chuckled “oh and I suppose he would prefer some uneducated country girl like you rather than a talented unicorn such as myself”

“Psh…” Rainbow Dash flew over to the purple unicorn “You are always using your magic to show everypony how strong you are! Always teleporting short distances, putting a zipper on Spike’s mouth when he talks too much”

Twilight retaliated “Well at least my potential is recognised! The wonderbolts would never recruit somepony as brash as yourself”

“What did you say?” Rainbow Dash pressed her face against Twilight’s as they glared angrily at each other

Celestia stood “GIRLS!” she bellowed, “This isn’t like you, you should be mourning but instead you are throwing insults at each other like school fillies”

Fluttershy finally snapped “IT’S YOUR FAULT!” she screamed “If you didn’t change Dave he would still be alive you, you… MURDERER!”

Celestia fell to her flank again “But…” she hung her head in shame

“You know what?” Rainbow flew towards the balcony “I hate you all and I hope I never see any of you again!” with that she quickly bolted away

“Me too I hate all of you!” Twilight growled, “Agreeing to stay in Ponyville in the first place was the greatest mistake of my life!” she hurried out of the room

The other ponies all yelled final insults before leaving their separate ways, leaving Pinkie, Spike and Celestia alone in her quarters

Pinkie and Spike gave each other shocked glances before hurrying over to the now crying Princess

“Princess Celestia are you ok?” Spike asked

Celestia levitated over the silver bracelet “No Spike, I’m not” she said sadly as she allowed the bracelet to fall to the floor

Pinkie Pie allowed Celestia to hug her as she craved comfort “It will be ok Princess, they are all just really sad at the moment”

Spike indicated that he was going to leave and Pinkie nodded, Spike quietly left and headed back into the castle, he picked up the bracelet and placed it beside Dave’s watch

Meanwhile…

Dave’s eyes cracked open “What happened?” his voice echoed through the blackness he was floating in

“You died” Odio’s red grin appeared “Properly this time”

“H-How?” Dave clutched his head in disbelief

“The pain of you changing back to a human caused your brain to stop, very nasty” Odio’s smile faded as the blackness swirled

Dave saw the cell he was locked in, his friends and himself changing “Why are you showing me this?”

“To see how painful it was” Odio appeared behind him, a large black tendril wrapped around his shoulders “I would sympathize but unfortunately I am incapable of such an act”

Dave rubbed his eyes “If I am dead then how are we talking?”

“YOU died, I didn’t” Odio flipped the world to a classroom, a brain sat on a desk “This is your brain” Odio smashed down on the organ with a black claw and it splattered across the desk “But with me…”

Odio removed his claw, leaving a red section of brain, it pulled the other pieces back to it and the brain shook as it melded together

“So you chose to heal me?” Dave scratched his head “But I thought if I died you did too?”

Odio roared with laughter “I am eternal, it took the tiniest drop of energy to keep me sustained for a good three thousand years”

“Good for you” Dave crossed his arms as he focused on a happier place “Ah, better scenery than my old biology classroom”

Odio walked alongside Dave, his height towered easily over Dave’s “I was fascinated when I read your mind about zoos” Odio leaned down to tap a lion’s cage “Such strong creatures reduced to… captivity”

“Zoos help endangered species” Dave walked past a panda “Why do some people see them as completely bad?”

Odio shrugged “If you wanted to help those creatures leave them alone, those that can’t survive obviously shouldn’t be allowed to exist”

“Anyway” Dave turned to see Odio resting a claw on a giraffes’ head “Made a friend?” Dave joked

Odio pushed the giraffes’ head down, shortening its neck “Did you say something?”

“Why would you?” Dave gawped as the giraffe fell over “How did you heal me anyway?”

Odio walked away from the giraffes’ body “Your mind is resistant to influence, but to extending not so much”

“So you rebuilt my brain?” Dave rubbed his head to see if he could feel anything different

“No when I attached myself to you I left an… imprint, an extension of me which can both absorb and release energy” Odio used a long tentacle to lift Dave’s head to look at his grin “I used it to repair your brain, your mind has made it your own and it is more a part of you than it is me”

Dave pushed the black tentacle away “What kind of energy?”

“Some…” Odio’s smile disappeared and he froze on the spot

“Odio?” Dave attempted to poke the giant but his hand passed through the fog

Odio flashed red, then again, and again, each pulse was more intense and the redness made him swell in size

Dave ran as Odio became a huge ball of black smoke, red lightning crackled across his surface, his arms and legs disappeared, his mouth split and changed into two huge red eyes

“YES!” Odio roared as his eyes seemed to bleed pleasure “You will like this news Dave” Odio chuckled and it shook the ground Dave was running across “It shouldn’t be much longer until I can leave you”

The ground cracked open and Dave fell into the red liquid within “What’s happening?” he called out as the sky swirled with Odio’s fog

“I can‘t use you dead can I?” Odio laughed as he wrapped Dave in blackness

Meanwhile…

“First name… Dave” Strong Shield filled in the document to the best of his ability “Next of kin… none”

Strong Shield had not left the morgue or Dave’s covered body since he brought him in, he had spent most of his time sitting next to Dave’s body talking, no particular subject just… talk

“I wonder if you have ever seen an eclipse, I would have liked to have shown that to you” Strong Shield paused from scribbling on the paper “also I would have liked to teach you how to properly disarm a magical opponent”

He smiled as he thought of his childhood with his father “I wonder if I missed out on having a child of my own? What kind of mare could bear to live with me?” Strong Shield chuckled

Strong Shield sighed, he placed the form down and put the quill and inkwell back inside the desk and he shook his head “Get it together, you haven’t gone senile yet” Strong Shield forced his mind back to normal

As he turned to leave he saw the white sheet was sat up, it slowly moved up then down, breathing

“Dave?” Strong Shield pulled the sheet down and was met by a blank stare