Chapter 68

Dave’s eyes slowly flickered open as he sat up, clean hospital bedding fell away as he lifted his arms. He looked around and saw he was in the medical wing of Canterlot castle, the other beds vacant and only a grey alicorn slept on a chair beside Dave’s bed

The human smiled at the sight and made himself more comfortable as he looked at his body. The blood stains had been cleaned away and he had been partially dressed with a pair of pants and a thin shirt. His left arm was wrapped in a white bandage and it had completely covered his mark, obviously hiding it away from anypony who might randomly come in with an injury

As Dave rubbed his hand along his head he felt a distinctive bump, his fingers found the source at his forehead, the scar split into two lines that Dave could trace with his thumb and index finger that reached over his scalp and ended at the base of his skull

“If we shaved that middle section and tattooed it then it would look like an eye,” Odio chuckled weakly as he floated through the door and over to Dave. “How you doing buddy?”

Dave stared at the fog before smiling, “I’m fine Odio, but… why am I in the infirmary?

“The vault must have pulled out an important bit,” the fog hummed. “What are the names of your lovers?”

Dave frowned slightly, he instantly knew that Odio must be wondering how much he remembered “Celestia and Luna”

“Shit,” Odio sighed. “You still remember that bit… ok… what is the vault?”

“The what?” Dave rose an eyebrow, he could keep everypony happy and away from him if they thought everything was happy and normal. “Is that some kind of wedding tradition here? Because I feel more comfortable talking to Celestia about it”

The black fog of hatred floated around Dave, “huh, you seem to be fine.” Odio paused before closing the gap between him and the human. “Tartarus?”

Dave’s expression turned blank, “No I am fine for Tartar sauce… What is with this interrogation?”

The fog hummed in thought, “All I am going to say is that during your… accident, you lost a small chunk of your brain”

“Lost some of my brain?” Dave’s jaw dropped, he scratched his chin as he thought of the next piece of his act. “Anything important?”

“Your head is full of useless crap so you didn’t lose anything important,” Odio commented before floating closer to look at Dave’s scar. “It appears to have slowed your healing but that should only be temporary”

Dave rubbed his head before he became lost in his own thoughts, “Hey Odio? Can you take Nox and go let Celestia know I’m ok?”

“Sure thing,” Odio carefully wrapped his fog around the grey alicorn as he continued to sleep. “I guess you need some alone time eh?”

Dave shrugged as Odio opened the door and left the room. Dave kept his smile until he was sure Odio had completely left before replacing it with a neutral expression, he climbed out of bed before peeking his eye out the ajar door and noticing two guards outside

He carefully closed the door before returning to his bed, “Alright, this certainly changes things,” he sighed as he scratched his chin. “Plan, plan, plan… need a plan,” Dave laid down as he pulled the bed covers up to his neck

“It is safe to assume that they don’t want me to remember Tartarus,” Dave mumbled as he tapped his feet together. “Ok, find out what happened to other part of my brain, until then, act dumb”

Dave didn’t have much time to start thinking of a backup plan before he heard hoovesteps coming his way, the sound of the guards saluting gave him a brief warning to sit up as Celestia and Luna stepped into the medical wing

“Hey,” Dave smiled as both the alicorns rushed to his sides and wrapped their hooves around his neck. “Woah! Ok, still need air you know!” He smirked as both the alicorns released their iron grips and sat next to the beds with their hooves holding onto Dave’s hands

“We were so worried when we found out that you went to… I mean, you had your accident,” Luna smiled, sending a nervous glance to Celestia. “Do you still remember that we became a um… item?”

Dave rolled his eyes as he squeezed Luna’s hoof, “Of course I remember, I think I can remember some smaller details now that I couldn’t before”

“Just don’t hesitate to ask if you feel a bit confused at any point,” Celestia smiled. “But Nurse Redheart insisted that you stay here until she clears you”

“Ok fine,” Dave groaned. “So will I come find you both later? I would hate to keep you both away from your duties because I had a slight mishap”

Celestia’s ears drooped as she stood up, “I have some things to attend to but I will see you later… I just hate leaving you like this.” The white alicorn leaned forward and nuzzled Dave’s neck, smiling as the human kissed her cheek

“I’ll be fine,” Dave smiled reassuringly, his hand stroking Celestia’s soft fur. “I’ll see you soon ok?”

“Ok,” Celestia kissed Dave before saying her goodbyes and leaving Dave alone with Luna

The dark alicorn shuffled closer to Dave as she smiled, “I don’t have anything to do and I am too worried to sleep.” Luna’s hoof seemed to hold onto Dave’s hand as she cleared her throat, “you don’t mind if I stay here for a little while do you?”

Dave held back the urge to groan and replaced it with a smile, “Not at all, so has anypony got anything planned that is coming up soon?”

“You did have that peace talk coming up between the gryphons and the changelings,” Luna tapped her chin. “I’m sure Celestia or I could take over for you”

“No, I will be fine by then,” Dave rubbed his head. “This is only temporary anyway… what kind of business does Celestia have at the moment anyway?”

Meanwhile…

Strong Shield stared vacantly at his cell wall, his eye blinked occasionally and his rising and falling chest was the only indication that he was still alive. In the cells opposite the unicorn’s were Battering Ram and Flux

Flux sat near her cell door and watched Strong Shield breathe, “We are so sorry for everything we did, you shouldn’t blame yourself”

“Why shouldn’t he?” Celestia frowned as she stepped into the dungeon. “He forced Dave to go into Tartarus for his selfish needs”

Battering Ram walked over to his cell door and stared at the white princess, “Strong Shield never forces anypony to do what he can at least attempt”

“But he knew that Dave would try to do something for him,” Celestia glared back at the ponies. “Dave is too kind and will always do anything to protect his family, something Strong Shield took advantage of”

“What are you going to do?” Battering Ram flared his nostrils. “If you try to hurt Strong Shield then I will stand in your way because I am not losing him again”

“Strong Shield is going to have all his accomplishments taken away, struck from the record books,” Celestia moved her gaze back to the unicorn. “He dedicated his life to the guards so I will take away what he almost took from me”

Flux shuddered as Strong Shield didn’t respond, “Please Princess Celestia, Strong Shield has done more good than anypony I know”

“I don’t care,” Celestia snapped. “He tried to take Dave away so I will take revenge”

“Then you should abdicate you hypocrite!” Battering Ram snarled, his anger remained even as Celestia moved to stand in front of his prison. “You killed Dave before, sent him to fight dragons, used the elements of freaking harmony on him and you aren’t allowed to be punished?”

Celestia’s horn glowed as she glared at the earth pony that was only a tiny bit shorter than her. “I suffered, I spent night after night crying when Dave was gone!”

“Then look at Strong Shield!” Flux pleaded. “He is broken, he doesn’t show emotion because it is his way of coping and I hope he never changes because I am afraid that if he feels guilty for one thing then it will all come back to haunt him”

“And how would you know what Strong Shield is really like?” Celestia snarled

“BECAUSE I LOVE HIM!” Flux yelled as she threw herself at the jail cell door. “He did everything for the guards, he did everything for Dave, he stood up to you once before and you still haven’t repaid him even after it was your mistake!”

The princess of the sun stepped closer to the lavender Pegasus, “Strong Shield sent Dave into Tartarus! That is unforgiveable!”

“Strong Shield isn’t yours to punish,” Battering Ram barked angrily. “If Dave suffered that much then get him down here! Don’t go assuming what Dave wants!”

Strong Shield turned his head to look up at Celestia, everypony went silent as the unicorn shuddered. “I’m sorry… if I had known then I would have… I’m sorry,” Strong Shield closed his eye as his body visibly shook and he began to gently cry, “I didn’t want him to get hurt, I thought he could handle it… I thought… I thought… I’m sorry”

Celestia stared in wonder at the unicorn, even Battering Ram and Flux stopped to look at Strong Shield as he slowly slid down the wall and curled into a ball on the dirty floor of his prison cell

“I have known him for over thirty years,” Battering Ram shook his head in disbelief. “This is the first time I have seen him cry”

The princess regained her composure as she turned around and headed for the exit, only to be stopped by Flux’s wing. “What is it?” Celestia snapped

“I don’t know anything about Dave before he came to Equestria, nopony truly does,” Flux pointed to the emotionally broken Strong Shield. “But I know that Strong Shield is his father, without a doubt in my mind that Dave would have insisted on helping if Strong Shield had tried to deter him”

“But he didn’t,” Celestia sighed, “He just let Dave waltz into Tartarus and didn’t think what effects Dave would suffer from, didn’t think if he had gotten something wrong”

“Like how you got Dave confused with Odio because of one magical blast?” Battering Ram shook his head as he walked over to his stone bed and laid down. “I am ashamed to have been a guard if this was the princess I was protecting”

Flux began to ignore Celestia as she tried to reach a wing across the corridor and towards Strong Shield. “Don’t cry Strong Shield, you don’t cry… you shouldn’t have to cry,” Flux’s head dipped as Strong Shield dragged himself over to a corner of his cell and huddled his good eye into a hoof whilst his scar remained on display

Celestia looked into the cell with Strong Shield before she resumed snarling, “I will deal with you all later, and don’t expect any pity”

Meanwhile…

“YEE HAW!” The amber pony smirked to his slightly larger treasure hunting friend. “I told ya that there were ancient ruins!”

The stallion with the pick axe cutie mark gawped at the large broken, black dome. “That doesn’t look that ancient”

The scrawnier pony shook his head, “Ya just don’t get it do ya?” he brushed the dirt from his shovel cutie mark. “Ya gotta trust treasure maps, they lead you to wondrous treasures!”

“Like that skeleton that turned out to be Prince Dave?” The larger earth pony frowned. “All our money literally walked off, you kept running down random tunnels that turned out to be an abandoned mine shaft AND you lost half your blood to that pony the other night”

“Ahh, Fang was such a nice mare,” the scrawny pony sighed happily

“She was a bucking vampony! She would have killed you if I hadn’t got her with a wooden stake”

The scrawny pony waved his hooves as he walked over to the large dome and saw the entrance to a large courtyard beside it. He skipped over with the bigger pony in tow as they stepped into the courtyard and saw the large three headed dog retreat to a corner as it briefly sniffed a small mound on the ground

The scrawny pony ran over to the oddly coloured object and hopped on the spot, “Ancient alien bones!”

“That looks like a carapace for one of them quarray eels, only smaller,” the smarter pony frowned as he got closer. “And those look like dragon scales, changeling horns, gryphon claws… everything is here”

“Woo hoo!” The scrawny pony cheered. “We are gonna be rich when we sell this abomination to some lab somewhere”

The mass suddenly lunged and two large rows of fangs stopped short of the ponies. “Kkkkaaannttaarrlllllooootttt” it gargled loudly as it dragged itself closer to the terrified treasure hunters

“Umm… that way,” The larger pony pointed the way he had just come. The mass of flesh crawled away as the ponies let out a sigh of relief. “That was close… what the hay are ya doing now?”

The scrawny pony was using his hooves to scratch Cerberus’ tummy and was smiling to himself as the dog laid on its back and all three heads looked happy. “I reckon we could sell this to a pet shop somewhere!”