Chapter 57

Dave opened the door that led onto the large runway, waiting until Strong Shield had made it through before slamming the door shut. The black unicorn spotted the diamond dragon resting beside one of the walls, his two remaining apprentices were also sleeping nearby

“Adamas we have a problem!” Dave yelled as he ran over. Strong Shield’s horn glowed as his horn released a red spark. “What was that?”

“A high concentration of hate,” Strong Shield looked towards the castle to see a black fog burst through one of the windows. “To get Odio’s attention”

Adamas opened his eyes as Dave and Strong Shield stopped nearby, “What is the matter?”

“Battering Ram and Flux showed up,” Dave panted as he recovered his breath, he waited until Odio had flown over before standing upright. “They know where the key is so we have to move”

Odio groaned, “And I had almost killed Menendez”

Dave rose his eyebrow to the saddened fog, “Who?”

“You know…” Odio looked at Dave’s shrug. “MENENDEZ!” he yelled as he formed two arms and held them in the air in rage

“You play too many video games,” Dave sighed. “But seriously, we need to leave for Manehatten NOW!”

Adamas nodded, “Alright climb onto my back, Odio may have to place himself inside you Dave”

Odio winked at Dave, “Dave loves having me inside him”

“Shut up,” Dave groaned, a small smile grew on his face as he began to climb aboard the diamond dragon. Odio’s fog wrapped around Dave’s chest before it slowly seeped into his body, Dave’s vision went black before returning to normal

“Ew, gross,” Odio wined as he moved around Dave’s mind. “Can I delete these files labelled family?”

Dave rolled his eyes, “No Odio, just sit down and shut up”

Strong Shield hopped onto Adamas’ back and held onto one of the large crystal spines that poked from the dragon’s back. “Alright, take us to Manehatten”

Adamas flapped his large wings as he slowly rose into the air, “No getting into trouble young apprentices”

Blaze nodded whilst Zisha simply groaned. Adamas flapped a bit harder so he flew completely into the air and left the castle grounds. Dave and Strong Shield held onto the dragon as it began to pick up speed

The wind rushed past Dave’s ears as he looked back to the castle, he swear he spotted Luna standing on her balcony, stretching as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes

“Urgh, I forgot how you look at princesses,” Odio shuddered. “Can you look away now? Please?”

Dave reluctantly looked away from the castle and the city as he looked forward to see Strong Shield glaring into nothingness. “Hey dad, you alright?”

Strong Shield slowly nodded, “I’m fine, it’s just…” the black unicorn sighed. “I almost believed her”

Adamas looked back to give Strong Shield a concerned look, his gaze met Dave’s as they both slipped into silence. Odio continued to rummage through Dave’s mind without a care until he made a gagging noise

“What’s up?” Dave muttered as he adjusted his body into a more comfortable spot

Odio whimpered slightly, “Please don’t tell me you put your tongue where I think you did”

Dave rubbed his neck, “Well… I kinda got carried away”

“You get carried away a lot,” Odio sighed before groaning. “You have a lot of plans for your wedding”

“It is going to be important to me,” Dave frowned. “Don’t you dare think of ruining it for me or I swear to god I will…” Dave shook his fist to finish his point before returning his grasp to the dragon’s spine

Strong Shield looked over his shoulder to glance at the human. “Will you concentrate on the task at hoof?”

“We can’t do anything until we reach Manehatten,” Dave shrugged. “I just want to get this over and done with because everypony is saying how bad Tartarus is and I have to go in there”

“I’m going in with you,” Odio cheered as he swirled around Dave’s brain. “It can’t be any worse than being attacked by the elements of harmony when you have your… condition”

“Condition?” Dave rose an eyebrow, expecting Odio to reveal that he has an illness

Odio chuckled, “You are human, and your body resists the very world itself”

“I know about the magic, Nox was just a battle between my resistance and Celestia’s… compatibility?” Dave scratched his head as he tried to think, “Screw it, I’m happy so I don’t care”

Adamas stopped flapping as he allowed himself to glide, “We shouldn’t take too long to reach Manehatten”

“Good,” Strong Shield looked back at Canterlot to see the large city begin to disappear behind the horizon. “Drop us off just outside the city and keep an eye out for the Daedalus”

“What does this Daedalus look like?” Adamas glanced over at his passengers

Strong Shield hummed, “Streamlined, black train… probably bursting through a side of a warehouse”

“Whoa what?” Dave leaned forward, his eyes open from shock and concern for his own safety

“The Daedalus runs on one track and only one track,” Strong Shield adjusted his position as the diamond scales began to feel uncomfortable. “My theory is that the track was designed to stay in one piece and shift with the moving ground”

“So the track could go underground?” Adamas hummed. “I will fly straight for Tartarus after I drop you off”

Dave tapped the dragon with his foot, “Hey why can’t we just go to Tartarus now?”

“The outer fortress is impenetrable, the walls are strong enough to withstand a millennia of earthquakes, erosion and other causes,” Strong Shield called back as the wind suddenly picked up, causing Adamas to adjust. “But the Daedalus is designed to enter without leaving a gap for anypony else to slip through”

Odio pushed a small amount of his fog out of Dave’s face and his burning eyes blocked Dave’s vision. “Is there anything else you care to share?”

“Well we may have to stop the Daedalus once or twice,” Strong Shield tapped his chin, quickly replacing his hoof as Adamas began banking to one side. “If I recall correctly, the Daedalus requires somepony to drive it at all times”

Dave nodded, “I suppose it would be best if we were both rested rather than have one sleeping and one tired”

“If Flux and Ram showed up I would prefer it if we were both prepared,” Strong Shield frowned again as he looked down at his reflection in the diamond scales. “I still can’t believe I fell for that ruse”

Meanwhile…

Matrix walked down the castle steps in his shining gold armour with slightly more enthusiasm than Night Stalker who was in his normal ebony armour. “So where can we get the most arrests?”

“We aren’t trying to arrest anypony,” Night Stalker groaned as he walked down the steps and began walking alongside his new partner. “We are simply trying to prevent crime, not wait for it to happen before we do anything”

The hybrid sighed, “Fine, I’ll be good”

The pair of guards walked through the main castle gate as they began walking down the main road. Matrix had trouble keeping a straight face as he heard the small clunk from his armour every time he took a step

The more experienced guard slowly moved his eyes to look down side streets or glance into shop windows. His eyes constantly moving as he indicated to Matrix that they should move down one of the busier streets. The broad street had restaurants along each side, various forms of cuisine were on offer as ponies had afternoon meals

“So how long do we keep this up for?” Matrix whispered to his colleague

“About two hours,” Night Stalker narrowed his eyes at a pony that looked slightly more than tipsy. “You will normally do shifts during sunrise or sunset to see if you work better at night”

Matrix had to hold back a gasp, “So if I eat more carrots can I become a night guard?”

“It doesn’t work like that,” Night Stalker glanced at Matrix out of the corner of his eye. “But if you show to me that you perform well in dark conditions then I will place a recommendation”

“Thanks,” Matrix had to work harder to keep his smile in check. He looked back around the streets before he noticed the sound of a loud groaning crowd. “What was that?”

Night Stalker looked towards the sound of the noise, “It is coming from the nightclub Shade”

“We should investigate,” Matrix shrugged as he saw Night Stalker’s unamused look. “Well somepony might be in trouble”

The lieutenant reluctantly nodded and he led the private in the direction of the nightclub and they nodded to the bouncer as they reached the door. The silence from the club concerned both guards as they stopped at the entrance

“What happened?” Night Stalker asked the bouncer

“Just the music system, the speakers have probably blown again,” the bouncer rolled his eyes behind his dark shades. “Last time Miss Vinyl pushed the volume too much we had a brawl”

Matrix nodded, “We are just going in to make sure Nopony starts anything”

Both guards thanked the bouncer before walking down into the club, a few ponies were making their way out but moved aside as the guards walked past. Night Stalker and Matrix looked around the busy nightclub, spotting the DJ beside one of the large speakers with a pony up to his waist in the depths of the machine, obviously trying to repair the damage

The guards made their way through the irritated crowd as they stopped beside the DJ. “What’s the problem?” Matrix asked, his partner watched the crowd as some were too keen to have a good time and were putting away drinks one after the other

The white unicorn raised her shades as she looked at the guards, “oh hey, the speaker broke again and we have a bit of a tough crowd tonight”

“I can see,” Night Stalker glanced at the flank that was poking from the large speaker. “Who are you?”

The pony jolted and bashed his head as he climbed out of the speaker, his cutie mark of a hammer and nails was more easily visible against his dark purple body. His deep orange mane was slightly messy and it partially covered a small cut in his ear

The new unicorn rubbed his horn as he looked at the guards. “Ow, uh… hey, I’m Fixxy, well… Fix It but my mum calls me Fixxy but I um…”

“Nervous around guards?” Night Stalker looked back to the restless crowds as Fix It shook his head

“No, but I said I could fix this speaker because I can fix absolutely anything!” Fix It laughed nervously until he pointed at the crowd. “But they will have my head if I don’t fix it quick enough”

Matrix tapped him reassuringly on the shoulder as he allowed him to get back to work. “We will keep an eye on the crowd don’t worry”

“Thanks,” Fix It called from his depths inside the speaker. “I am normally a lot friendlier but… I feel kinda uncomfortable around a large group of ponies that want to beat my flank in”

Night Stalker spotted an earth pony by the bar slam his drink back down as his drunk eyes moved towards the unicorn that was fixing the speaker. “So why are you in a nightclub if you dislike loud and large groups?”

“Cheap drinks and my friends said they would be here,” Fix It groaned. “Unfortunately they didn’t show up and now I am I risk of being murdered in a speaker”

“I’ll buy you a drink for helping out,” Vinyl Scratch tapped the speaker as she turned to the guards. “You don’t mind waiting until this gets fixed do ya?”

“Not at all,” Matrix nodded to the DJ. “So long as Nopony causes a problem we should be…”

“HURRY THE BUCK UP!” the drunk earth pony Night Stalker had his eye on had finally stood up. “I came here to party but all I got was some unicorn stuck in a speaker!”

Fix It poked one of his hooves out, “Not stuck! Just fixing!”

Night Stalker rubbed his eyes, “Please don’t let this drunk try something”

“I outta teach this unicorn about how to fix something that is broken!” the earth pony began to stagger towards the speaker and the two guards. “Git outta my way!” he barked at the two pegasi, obviously oblivious to the fact that they were guards

Matrix prepared to move into a fighting stance but Night Stalker had already stepped forward and jabbed the earth pony in the neck, cutting off his air supply as he passed out and collapsed

“Well he certainly got his chance to get down on the dance floor,” Night Stalker chuckled before looking back at Matrix and Fix It. “What?”

“Do you normally say something witty every time you hit somepony?” Fix It asked as he climbed out of the speaker and sealed it up. “I’m done by the way”

“Thanks!” Vinyl Scratch climbed back behind her turntables as the speakers began blasting out music again, the beats got the crowd cheering as Matrix and Night Stalker lifted the unconscious earth pony

Fix It followed the guards with a smile, “mind if I follow you outside? I have nothing else to do”

“Sure, we need a witness report anyway,” Night Stalker looked around at the dancing ponies. “Let’s go before something big drops”

As the Pegasus finished his sentence the beat dropped and the ponies began to dance even harder. Matrix and Fix It both looked at Night Stalker as he shrugged

“You are smooth you know that?” Fix It chuckled

Matrix glared at the unicorn, “What about me?”

“Your stripes are cool but I haven’t seen you do anything,” Fix It shrugged. “Nothing personal”