29. Reunion
As the city of Canterlot slept peacefully and Luna's moon reached its highest peak in the dark night sky, a lone pony stood on the Canterlot train station platform, silently awaiting the arrival of a train not listed in any schedule.
Specter thought back on the last few days with a scowl. His plan to use the pegasus and the remaining hitmen his boss had tasked him with retiring to actually take the mare had gone well enough; as predicted the clumsy group had left witnesses to their wrongdoings, leaving them primed to take the blame for everything. As he prepared to leave for the rendezvous point though, his luck took a turn for the worse...
That bodyguard of the princess's had tracked and attacked him, ironically suspecting him of a completely unrelated plot. He had thought her unusually skilled before, but having fought against her there was no doubt in his mind. Though she didn't wear the colors, she was definitely a Blackguard. The shock of yet another of his forgotten order showing up had nearly cost him as the mare almost captured him; only his own ingenuity had bought him enough time to escape. But with the threat of the bodyguard, not to mention the other mysterious Blackguard he'd seen tracking him again, he'd been forced to flee back to his hideout in Canterlot, foregoing the rendezvous and instead meeting the group here at the station.
He shook his head. He would have to deal with them eventually, there was no doubt. If anypony in this time knew anything about his forgotten memories, surely another Blackguard...
His thoughts were interrupted by the noise of a train with a single car pulling up to the platform and stopping. A few seconds passed by before the train car door opened and seven ponies emerged, the single mare unconscious and slung over the back of one of the six other stallions.
Specter approached the group and made his dissatisfaction very clear. "What in Tartarus took you all so long?!" he hissed angrily. "You were supposed to be here last night!"
"Hey, give us a break, mister four-left-hooves here almost got us caught about six times getting to the station." the pony carrying Starshadow's limp body said. "Anyway, here's the mare. Still don't understand why Polaris is risking so much for this cunt."
Specter couldn't help but flinch as the stallion dumped Starshadow's body roughly onto the ground in between them. The memory of somepony close to him being hurt by some unknown stallion managed to wander into his head, and though he couldn't remember anything about the event, he knew that it was real. The cries of the small filly began to grow louder as he saw the stallion approaching her, and he was powerless to stop him...
"...hey! I said, when are we gonna get paid?" one of the other stallions said.
Specter's focus snapped back to reality and he saw that all the ponies were looking at him expectantly with greed in their eyes.
"Yeah, and what about my pardon? You said you'd help-" Thunderlane started to say, but the gang leader roughly shoved him aside.
"Shut up, you twit! As far as I'm concerned you got your payment by cumming inside of that filthy whorse." he said.
"Yah, after all of you did!" Thunderlane snapped back.
Specter's eyes seemed to light up with red fury as he heard the last two statements. "You did what?!" he bellowed angrily.
Knowing that he had slipped up, the leader quickly covered his tracks. "Hey, Thunder-lame over here said we could do whatever we wanted, said you were okay with it. Besides, she ain't harmed at all, and she won't remember a thing." he said.
Thunderlane quickly protested the accusation, leading all six stallions to begin arguing over who was to blame. Specter couldn't care less who was to blame, he was sickened by the fact that they had all taken advantage of the mare he was tasked to bring back. There was a very faint silver lining to this matter though; he now felt no guilt about what he was about to do.
While the six stallions continued arguing, Specter motioned for ten other ponies to come forward. The noise of arguing quickly died down as the group found themselves surrounded by Luna's elite bodyguards the Lunar Guard, all of them heavily armed as if they were prepared for war. Their dark-grey coats and midnight blue armor made them all but invisible in the shadows, and even in the open they were difficult to detect on the darkened train platform.
"H-hey Specter, what's g-g-going on?" one of the surrounded stallions asked nervously.
Specter remained emotionless as he stepped forward. "Do not worry why they're here, I shall explain shortly."
Without a word, two of the guards picked up Starshadow and carried her off, leaving eight guards remaining along with Specter, who began to speak again. "Thunderlane, as I promised earlier, your crimes in Ponyville have been erased from the records of the Equestria Royal Guard."
Thunderlane's face lit up in happiness upon hearing those words, but his smile crashed as Specter continued to speak. "However, the guards here tonight are here to arrest you on five counts of murder."
Before Thunderlane could attempt to run or question the charges, another guard hit Thunderlane in the neck with a poisoned dart. The potent poison quickly worked its way through Thunderlane's bloodstream, and within seconds the gray pegasus collapsed on the ground and was quickly dragged off to the side by two more of the lunar guards.
Once the annoying pegasus was gone, the gang's leader looked at Specter quizzically. "How are you gonna stick him with five charges of murder? That dumbass couldn't kill a fly, even if he sat on it."
"You're correct." Specter said, backing up a few steps. "We first would need five bodies to charge him."
It was only when the lunar guards began to slowly close in with weapons drawn did the five remaining stallions finally catch on to what was going on. Having left their weapons on the train, they tried to put up a fight with their bare hooves, but of course they were no match for the coordinated attack by Princess Luna's personal guards. In less than a minute all five stallions were cut down, their still warm bodies lying motionless on the train station platform as their crimson red blood began to spread all along the cold stone ground. Making sure their work was complete, the lunar guards slit each stallion's throat to ensure they had done their duty before they disappeared back into the night, as if they weren't even there.
With just two lunar guards left standing by, Specter levitated Thunderlane's body back over to the scene of the carnage. Making sure to get plenty of blood on his hooves, he then dumped Thunderlane's unconscious form a few feet away from the other stallions and placed a large knife right by him. Satisfied that everything was in place, Specter walked up to the locomotive and signaled the engineer that it was time. Specter handed the pony a pouch filled with hundreds of bits before taking his leave, teleporting himself away so the engineer could carry out his own instructions.
Stashing his pay in a safe, the engineer exited his train, took a deep breath and then started yelling for help at the top of his lungs. His instructions and prefabricated story were simple; he had been hired by five bounty hunters to bring back a known fugitive from Ponyville, but when he arrived at the station at the agreed meeting time he saw the captive Thunderlane fighting against them, and the gray pegasus managed to acquire a weapon and killed the upstanding pony citizens. Thankfully, two of Luna's guards heard his cries for help and arrived before the city guard could arrive and incapacitated Thunderlane before he could escape again.
Just as planned, the city guards on patrol around the sleeping city arrived just as Luna's two guards finished tying up the still-unconscious Thunderlane. Stunned by the horrific scene in front of them, it did not take much persuasion to have them secure the perimeter while Luna's night guard took control of the investigation or to let a squad of unknown griffon soldiers handle the disposition of the five bodies.
The faux investigation took less than thirty minutes, the two lunar guards declaring Thunderlane guilty as they saw him slay the final victim before they could reach the scene. Throwing the pegasus into the dungeons, all that was left was to select somepony to preside as judge for Thunderlane's trial. Of course, the judge was already selected; Polaris would preside over the trial as judge, jury, and in a sense, executioner. And though he would be found guilty no matter what he said, Thunderlane would be unable to attend his own hearing due to being deemed mentally unfit to be in public. This claim would be reinforced by slipping a certain item into his food and drink while he sat in prison; a small white pill with an 'H' stamped on one side.
The next morning found four ponies on the first train from Ponyville to Canterlot. Though they were all sitting in the same train car, all four ponies sat in silence, each one of them deep in thought about their own problems; Twilight about how Princess Celestia could not know about one of her closest advisors' whole family, Big Mac about where Starshadow could be, Octavia about Vinyl's porn video and her secrecy about it, and finally Nightshade trying to forget about her day spent foalsitting the three Cutie Mark Crusaders.
Once the train arrived at Equestria's capital and all four friends disembarked the train, Twilight turned to Big Mac. "Are you sure you wouldn't rather be back in Ponyville with Applejack? I know she's due to be released from the hospital tomorrow, but she's still going to need help for a few more days."
Twilight almost immediately regretted asking Big Macintosh that question as he looked at her in absolute fury. "Don'ya DARE ask me that again! You already stopped her from coming along wit' us today, but don't ever think of askin' me that question again unless you want to be bucked all the way back to Ponyville!" he yelled at her.
Everypony around them was stunned by Big Mac's response, and two nearby guards began closing in on the disturbance once they saw it was somepony yelling at Princess Twilight Sparkle. However, they were waved off by Twilight who insisted all was well, but it did nothing to lighten the mood. With no idea of how she could help lighten the mood for everypony, Twilight suggested that they make their way to the castle to see Princess Celestia.
Upon reaching the castle, Octavia and Nightshade opted to wait while Twilight and Big Mac sought an audience with Princess Celestia. Twilight hoped that Big Mac's attitude had calmed down since his outburst at the train station, and she at least withheld the suggestion that she meet with Celestia alone at first, but she was still worried over the possibility that something was going to go wrong. With a heavy sigh, Twilight entered the throne room first, and both ponies walked up to Princess Celestia and bowed before her.
"Oh Twilight, I've told you plenty of times, there is no need to bow before me anymore." Celestia said with a smile. "And Big Macintosh, it is wonderful to see you again. I'm sorry if I cut our meeting short, my sister and I were preparing to leave for Baltimare to oversee the opening of the new school there."
"You mean Proteus University is finally opening?" Twilight said excitedly. "I heard that the centerpiece of their new library is the five volume journal written by Proteus the Patient himself of his travels around the oceans, as well as all of his research on ocean life! Oh, I can't wait until I get the chance to visit it! Is it true that they're also going to have a replica of his ship built and a select number of students are going to recreate his journey around-"
"A-HEM!"
Twilight immediately went silent, a little embarrassed that her excitement of the new school opening had sidetracked her from her reason for being in Canterlot. "Sorry, Big Macintosh." she said before turning back to Celestia. "Princess Celestia, I'm here because we had a friend go missing, and we think that Polaris may have some answers. You said that you've known him for a long time, surely you must know his other daughter Starshadow."
"Yes, I have known Polaris for a long time now. He has been a close advisor as well as the lead instructor for all of my and Luna's guards." Celestia confirmed. "However, for all the time I have known him, I only know of his one daughter Starsong. I do not believe there is anypony named Starshadow in the Star family."
"He's lying!" Big Mac burst out, once again surprising Twilight and even Celestia. "Starshadow is his other daughter, and even Starsong confirmed that they're sisters!"
Twilight held her breath, afraid that Celestia would be furious at Big Mac's tone, but the white alicorn princess kept her calm. "Polaris has no reason to lie to me about his family. Are you sure that you did not mishear them? Perhaps they share a sisterly bond..."
Big Mac shook his head, standing firm. "Ah know what ah heard, an' those two are definitely sisters!" he reiterated.
Having stood by long enough, Twilight moved herself in between the furious stallion and her mentor. "Princess Celestia, I can confirm that what Big Mac is claiming is true. Starsong does have a sister who is named Starshadow. They even share a similar cutie mark, look." she said, projecting an likeness of Starshadow's cutie mark in the air for everypony to see.
While not exactly the correct shades of color, the image Twilight projected was unmistakably Starshadow's mark, minus the X she'd carved over it so many years ago. Big Mac nodded in confirmation as Celestia looked over it carefully. "Yes... this is definitely similar to their family cutie mark." Celestia agreed. "It seems... familiar."
Suddenly, the throne room doors were thrown open and Princess Luna poked her head inside. "Sister, are you not yet ready to depart? We were supposed to be leaving now!"
Celestia looked up at the grand clock on the wall and saw that Luna was correct. "I'll be there in a moment, Luna." she called out before the night princess retreated. Turning to face her visitors once more, she looked sympathetically at the two ponies before her. "Unfortunately, Polaris is occupied caring for Starsong and he's requested that he be left in peace. I believe he was scheduled to tour the northern cities to oversee some additional training with the Crystal Guard, but in light of the recent events your brother Shining Armor has offered to cover that task."
Twilight's eyes brightened when she heard that Polaris was still home. "Thank you Princess Celestia." she said, not wanting to delay her teacher any longer.
Celestia extended a hoof. "I hope you're able to find your missing friend. Speak to the detail sergeant if you need any additional help in your search." she said. "Good luck, Twilight."
After saying their goodbyes and rejoining the other two ponies, Octavia led the small group to Starsong's home. Twilight and Big Macintosh were astounded by the size of Polaris' home, not to mention how intimidating it was as they approached the front door. Twilight approached the doorbell alone, pausing right before she hit the button. "Well, here goes nothing." she murmured before pressing it, left with nothing to do but await the one pony with the answers they were looking for.
Slowly opening her eyes, it took a few moments for Starshadow to recognize the ceiling that loomed above her.
'This... this is... my old room.' she realized. Glancing to her left and right, she confirmed that she was indeed back in her old room in Canterlot. Back in Polaris' house. The last place she ever wanted to be.
Sitting up, Starshadow groaned as she stretched her aching muscles. Her head still throbbed from the lingering effects from the hoofies, and with another groan she lay back down and threw a pillow over her face. "Not here... this has to be a bad dream." she mumbled.
Starshadow didn't move the pillow from her face as she heard her bedroom door open and then close, nor did she move as she felt somepony sit down on the bed next to her. However, her breathing stopped as she felt somepony start to gently rub her stomach while humming a familiar tune...
"M-mom?" she finally said, tears already beginning to well up in her eyes as she slowly lowered her pillow to see who it was. Before her was an light gray unicorn mare with a pale blue mane, her piercing blue eyes meeting Starshadow's with an unusual calm. Starshadow instantly recognized who the pony was, and ignoring her still aching head she sat up and hugged her as tightly as she could. "Mom!"
Starshadow couldn't hold back her tears any longer as she hugged her mother tightly. Silver Veil simply smiled as she embraced her daughter back, gently stroking Starshadow's mane as she consoled her daughter. The two mares remained in their long overdue embrace, Starshadow pulling back after almost fifteen minutes to finally wipe her eyes.
"You look so much better." Silver Veil commented, looking her daughter over. "So much better since..."
Silver Veil's voice trailed off, but Starshadow knew what she meant. They hadn't seen each other since Silver Veil bought and rescued her from the underground sex slave market, and even then Starshadow didn't recall that event at all. Unfortunately, due to her state of mind at the time she didn't remember anything, making her last memories of seeing her mother back before she first ran away from home so many years ago.
"I've missed you." Starshadow said before embracing her mother again. "I missed you so much..."
"I've missed you too, my little miracle." Silver Veil replied. "I hope you've been safe and happy all these years."
Starshadow thought back to her past. Her time after being rescued and living with Starsong had been rocky at best, and her time living alone in Cloudsdale had almost caused her to revert back to her entirely submissive nature. However, as soon as she thought of her more recent memories, starting her career, meeting Vinyl and the other mare inviting her to Ponyville, and spending so much time with Big Mac, a genuine smile crossed her face. "Yeah, I am. Well, was... Mom, what am I doing back here?"
Silver Veil's heart sank as she summoned the courage to tell her what was going on. "Your father brought you back." she explained. "He has been talking about how he can still salvage the family legacy by bringing you back home, but wouldn't elaborate with me any further than that."
Starshadow's gut wrenched as she heard that Polaris was still obsessing over her cutie mark and the family's destiny. "Celestia, why can't he just leave me alone?! I was happy in Ponyville. I had all my friends there with me, and I got to spend almost every day with my special somepony..."
Silver Veil's ears perked up as the words Starshadow just said registered to her. "You have a special somepony?" she inquired with curiosity.
Starshadow blushed, still not used to hearing that word associated with her, especially from her own mother. She shyly nodded yes, but her mother still showed some slight concern.
"He's not, you know, one of those types, is he?" Silver Veil asked cautiously.
It took a moment for Starshadow to understand what her mother was asking. "Wha- oh, no no no! It's not like that!" she quickly reassured her. "We're just... I mean, he and I are... what I mean is... I, er... "
Starshadow paused to consider her next words carefully. What was Big Mac to her anyway? She called him her special somepony, but what did that really mean? All the confusion of the previous weeks and months flooded into her mind at once; she shut her eyes and tried to will her swirling thoughts to clear. Through all the chaos a single figure began to come into focus; she felt her heart swell as she focused in the figure's strong rugged body, his warm green eyes focused on her, his powerful comforting embrace.
She nodded slightly, her doubts immediately vanishing as quickly as they'd surfaced. The blush on her features deepened considerably when she finally spoke, assured that the words were the truth. "I love him."
Silver Veil was elated to hear Starshadow say that. "Oh my Celestia, that's wonderful!" she exclaimed in absolute jubilation. "Who is he? Is he from Canterlot? Do I know him?"
Starshadow couldn't help but smile at her mother's enthusiasm, but explaining how everything happened was going to be extremely tricky; she obviously had to leave out certain parts of her story. "Well, I met him when I was setting up for a concert in Ponyville..."
On the other side of the house, Polaris had locked Specter and himself in his office. Though Specter's mission was complete, Polaris was furious at his assassin for hire.
"You foal, you let those impudent worthless sacks of flesh hurt Starsong!" he yelled at Specter. "Their foolish actions almost got my daughter killed! It was your duty to oversee this operation and make sure there were no slip-ups!"
Specter stood emotionless as always. Polaris's yelling didn't faze him, especially knowing that his office was magically sound proofed. Besides, this was not the first time Polaris had yelled in his presence. "Sir, it was an unforeseen error, I had no knowledge your other daughter would be present." he said calmly.
The explanation didn't have any effect on Polaris. "It is still absolutely inexcusable! Your error caused me to have to show my face in that cesspool of a town Starshadow was hiding in, not to mention it forced me to confront Princess Twilight Sparkle! And on top of everything you were a day late and forced me to call in some valuable favors some of the guards owed me!"
"My apologies, it won't happen again." Specter said, kneeling down momentarily.
Opening his desk drawer, Polaris tossed a burlap bag over to Specter. "There's your pay. You certainly don't deserve the full amount, but you're lucky that those damned drugs won't have any permanent effect on Starsong." he growled.
Specter nodded in thanks but didn't touch the bag of bits, remaining rooted to his spot. Polaris looked over at the assassin with a cold glare. "You're dismissed." he said coldly.
Specter didn't move. "Sir, there's a matter regarding to the fine details of this last mission. I'm afraid I wasn't able to bring Starshadow to you unharmed."
Polaris raised an eyebrow. "What in Tartarus are you talking about?" he asked.
Specter took a deep breath before reporting his information. "Sir, while your former agents were stranded between Ponyville and Canterlot, they raped Starshadow."
Polaris remained silent for a few moments before speaking. "And?"
Specter found himself actually caught off guard by Polaris's answer and in a rare slip for the hardened pony, let his emotions out in his response. "Sir, they raped her! They raped your daughter. How could you not care about that?"
Polaris let out an impatient huff. "Fine, I'll be sure my doctor gives her a potion to prevent her from getting pregnant. Now get out, I have more important matters to attend to."
Specter was at a loss for words, but he obeyed his employer despite the bad taste left in his mouth. As soon as he had stowed away his pay and left Polaris's office, he headed out the back door and teleported himself to the Canterlot train station. Perching himself on the rooftop, he was given a commanding view of the platform below him. The grisly scene that had stained the platform had been cleared up, and no signs of the massacre were left as the ponies below went about their day.
Putting his head down, Specter tried to figure out why this last mission of his was bothering him. As a Blackguard he had been able to perform any task given him without the weight of emotion interfering; even now with those emotions returned to him, as a professional he prided himself on being able to separate himself from them. Not once had he held any regret or sympathy for anypony involved in his work... until now. He felt no guilt for Starsong being caught up in the abduction; unforeseen casualties were always a factor in this line of work... no, what was bothering him was Starshadow. But he couldn't put his hoof on why...
The ringing of laughter below caught Specter's attention. Looking down, he saw a group of guards returning from their leave, the four stallions having just returned from a fishing trip on the west coast of Equestria. One of the guards had their fishing equipment thrown over his back; four fishing poles and a shiny metal fishing hook...
The glint of Celestia's sunlight off of the hook triggered something in Specter's mind. All of a sudden, the memories of a long forgotten event came surging back into his mind; a run-down boat shed with a stallion and a small filly inside, the stallion wielding a fishing hook one moment but then lying dead on the ground with the hook in his eye. The scene quickly changed to a nightmare; the interior of the shed covered in blood and body parts strewn all over the floor. The small filly from before stood alone in the middle of the shed, her coat soaked with blood but her face still had a unsettling smile on her face. Suddenly, the filly looked up straight at him and spoke only one word;
"Brother."
With a start, Specter's mind brought him back to reality. He was out of breath, as if he had just run five miles at full speed, and with an uncharacteristic sense of panic he teleported himself back to the safety of his hideout just outside the city walls. Securing the door shut, he made his way to his bed and curled up, still extremely troubled by what he had just seen in his mind. He realized that what he had just seen was part of the elusive dreams he had every night, but what troubled him the most was that he knew it was somehow connected to Starshadow. Exactly how, though, was still a mystery.