Really enjoying the feedback but I know that it has been a while since I had a chapter that was dedicated to Twilight and Trixie. I’m not too worried about that for the moment since I hope to focus back on then sometime in the near future.
Chapter 26: Cleaning Canterlot-Royal Guard Style
So it was with partial reluctance that Solarshield and Moonsaber separated from each other. Getting their minds back on the current situation was more important than expressing their attraction for each other…at least while there was a lockdown still in effect. Clearing their throats, Moonsaber turned to address everypony in the room by saying “Although we have managed to stop that group; there is still the possibility that another will be here at any moment.”
Solarshield nodded in agreement and added “We should make for Central Command. It’s one of the most secure parts of the castle.”
Shining Armor nodded in understanding but Twilight and Trixie looked somewhat lost. Twilight especially since she had never heard of a room called ‘Central Command’ while she was studying in Canterlot.
Moonsaber appeared to be pondering something and it was clear what that was when he said to Solarshield “It might be wise to create the Firewall Sol.”
Solarshield was puzzled for a moment before her eyes widen in understanding. Twilight and Trixie watched as the Champion of the Sun started to charge a rather large amount of magical energy. However, unlike normal unicorn magic, this magic felt unstable and wild like an out of control forest fire. Solarshield’s eyes opened and they saw that her eyes appeared to be showing a reflection of a well kept fireplace before she raised her horn to the sky and shot a beam.
The beam appeared to pass through the walls without leaving any kinds of marks and lasted for several tense moments before Solarshield canceled her magic and the last of the beam passed through the ceiling. Outside, ponies watched as a beam of magic reached a predetermine point in the sky before exploding in all directions. The beam now turned wave quickly covered all of Canterlot in what could only be described as a wall of fire.
At a nearby window, Twilight and Trixie watched in saw as the wall covered the outer limits of Canterlot. Behind them, Shining Armor gave a small chuckle before whispering to his younger sister “I never did tell you the pony who taught me that shield spell…well now you now.” He rose his voice slightly so that Trixie could hear and added “Commander Solarshield is considered the best defensive spell weaver in the entire Royal Guard. No pony has been able to crack her defense.” Shining paused for a moment and appeared to be lost in thought before saying “Well…except for one.”
Before Twilight or Trixie could ask who that one pony was, Moonsaber said “We need to make for Central Command. We move in diamond formation with me on point, Twilight and Trixie covering left and right and Solarshield watching out backs. Captain, make sure you have a fast response shield ready in case we run into trouble.”
Everypony nodded their heads and despite there being two untrained unicorns they were able to get the formation ready. Moonsaber got onto his hind legs again and said “Okay, we need to move as fast as we can without being reckless. The sooner we get to Central the sooner me and Solarshield can get the full picture of what’s going on and the sooner you two will be safe.” Once again he was greeted with tense nods which he returned in kind before turning his gaze forward and moving towards their destination.
Wither due to luck or something else, the five ponies managed to make it to the throne room without running into any more trouble. Not that the lack of trouble did anything to calm Solarshield and Moonsaber since that either meant they had already gotten whatever it is they were after or something else. The throne room was bare of all life when they entered and the confusing looks of Twilight and Trixie were enough to establish that they had no idea why they were here. Moonsaber didn't pay it any attention as he took a couple of steps before drawing Crescent Blade and sweeping the blade across the floor.
Everypony watched as the floor glowed for a brief moment before starting to collapse into a set of stairs. Twilight and Trixie could only look on in awe as they all started to make their way to what looked like a normal door. Moonsaber gave a series of what appeared to be random knocks before the door opened on its own and they all quickly stepped inside before it closed again and the floor returned to its original state.
Twilight and Trixie could only gape in awe as to what they saw. They were currently on a platform overlooking what could only be described as a massive assembly room. In the center of the Command Center was a massive magical representation of Canterlot with dozens of small squares flashing in different patterns or sometimes even disappearing for a brief moment before reappearing. Circling around the large magical construct were multiple tables all filled with unicorns that appeared to be in a deep meditative trance. Several times they would open their eyes and whisper something to a nearby pegasus before returning to their trance. Said pegasus’ were constantly flying around from one unicorn to another unicorn, acting as messengers.
“Beautiful in its own way right” Moonsaber remarked to them before making his way to the edge of the balcony where Solarshield was waiting for him. The two gave a stiff nod before Moonsaber shouted “Status Report.”
“Sir, codename ‘Molly’ and ‘Gamer’ are secured. Aegis Squad and Dynasty Squad are on site and providing close protection and overwatch.”
“Sir, hallways A through Aa has been cleared. Checkpoints Alpha through Sierra is locked down.”
“Firewall is outputting at maximum power and is completely covering Canterlot. We've no indication of anyone attempting to breech it Sir.”
Moonsaber nodded in understanding and both he and Solarshield were pleased on the inside that all of that extra training was at last starting to show results. Sometimes it was hard to convince the Princesses that what they had would actually work and sometimes the best way to prove it work was to put it through a trial by fire. Moonsaber turned to his partner and gave a slightly concealed grin that showed his sense of pride and accomplishment at what they had achieved. Solarshield returned the gesture and felt that she could finally take a moment to catch her breath.
“Ma’am, Squad Nine hasn't checked in yet.”
“So much for catching my breath…” Solarshield mused before looking over at the communicator who reported the problem and said “What was their last known position?”
The communicator gave a quick salute before saying “Ma’am half of the squad was tasked with guarding the Royal Treasury while the rest were guarding the Hall of Harmony.”
“That can’t be good” Moonsaber mused before looking over at another one of the communicators and shouted “Get Halo Squad to check on the Treasury and Assassin Squad to look into the Hall of Harmony.” The communicator gave a swift salute before proceeding to send the orders.
As this was going on, Twilight and Trixie merely looked on in both awe and confusion. Shining Armor noticed the looks and gave a small chuckle before replying “Yeah I was pretty much the same way when I first came down here.”
“But what is it they actually do here?” Trixie asked surprised that Shining Armor was even talking to her. It was a big change compared to the cold reception she got back at their house.
Twilight also looked at her brother and said “It has something to do with mental communication right?”
To anypony else, Shining Armor would have been surprised by how quickly they were able to figure it out. However, considering that it was his LSBFF then all he could do was give a proud smile and replied “Partially yes. You see, the magic projection is actually the collective information from a system that Solarshield called the ‘P.T.I.S’. That system, from what we know about it, has the ability to collect, monitor, and store information on everypony that resides in Canterlot, maybe even in all of Equestria. This room was created for the purpose of accessing the information from the ‘P.T.I.S’ to show the location of Royal Guards, foreign diplomats, civilians, and even the Princesses themselves.”
“But that doesn't explain what those ponies down there are doing.” Trixie interjected, her mind slightly swimming from the information overload. She stole a glance at Twilight and saw that she had her mouth slightly open and there was a speck of drool hanging off her bottom lip. No doubt that being introduced to such a large amount of knowledge was making her act like a filly at a candy store.
Shining Armor gave an understanding smile, also noticing his little sister’s hypnotic focus, before clearing his throat and saying “I was actually getting to that Trixie. You see, every squad under the Royal Day Guard and the Royal Night Guard is assigned what is known as a ‘Support Operative’ or ‘S.O’ for short. It’s the job of the S.O to deliver orders and keep an eye on the squads they are assigned to. This, as Twilight was able to deduce, is done using telepathic communication.”
“Assassin Squad is reporting in Sir. Says he’s got something you need to see” shouted one of the communicators which effectively broke Shining Armor’s train of thought. Not that it really matter since he didn't have anything else to add.
Moonsaber nodded in understanding and said “Let’s get a visual.”
There was a brief moment before the image of Canterlot started to get fuzzy. The fuzziness lasted for another brief moment before a small screen appeared in front of them. What was on that screen however caused Twilight and Trixie to almost faint in shock, Shining Armor to look away slightly in silent anger, and, although appearing passive on the outside, the two commanders to feel both anger and sadness.
On that screen, in perfect clarity, were two ponies. One of the ponies was a bat-pony from the Royal Night Guard. However, the other pony was the one that was the source of their reactions. It was an Earth pony of the Royal Day Guard but fatally wounded. Blood was dripping from his lips and his eyes appeared to be unfocused and distant. His armor was torn apart, the helmet out of sight; and under where the armor had been were various cuts, stabs, and bruises that had been covered with bandages but did little to help slow the bleeding. Given the size of the blood pool the two ponies were resting in, the two commanders knew that he had lost too much blood to be save.
Solarshield had to bite the inside of her lips to prevent any tears from escaping her eyes. She knew that this line of work was dangerous and her teacher had told her that such a thing was bound to happen and she needed to steel her heart; and yet as much as she wanted to and as much as she tried, she just couldn't find it in her to act so distant to the rank and file. Many of those recruits came from backgrounds that were similar to her and all of them looking for the opportunity to protect and serve the country that they loved so much and to become something greater then what they left behind.
“C…Co…Commander…” came a croak voice that was slightly muffled due to the reception. Solarshield looked back at the screen and saw the guard, a private given the mark that was on one of the few pieces of armor left on his body, looking back at her with a face that showed both a pony ready to accept the cold embrace of death and one that refused to die without putting up a fight. No doubt due to his heritage as an Earth pony, who turned out to be some of the most stubborn ponies you could ever meet. A statement she knew all too well, having to deal with one on a regular basis.
She shook the rouge thoughts from her head and said in a quiet tone “Who did this to you?”
The private gave a violent cough and everypony was shocked to see more blood exiting his body. He gave a shudder from the sudden absent and the flash of pain that surely consumed his body and replied in a horse tone “Some…hooded th…things came and…talk…to my Sgt…then Sarge…he…he said” the private gave a loud groan of pain and his voice became noticeable quieter when he said “rest of squad…pull…weapons…tried…to…stop…them.” The private cough some more and finished with “So…tired…Com…commander…”
Twilight and Trixie were already a mess on the floor, both clinging onto Shining Armor for comfort and security. Not that Shining was doing any better as he tried to keep his own tears in check.
Solarshield shook her head violently, as if she was trying to wake up from this horrible nightmare. However, this was no dream and she couldn't stop her voice from cracking as she pleaded “Was there anypony else there that you could identify.”
The private’s eyes were almost shut and the rising of his chest was decreasing in tempo. Yet, despite being right there at the gates to the afterlife; the private used his last breath to whisper “Blue…blood.” His breath gone, the guard became lax in the embrace of the bat-pony who could only look up at her Commander in shame at unable to do anything to save the life of this brave pony.
Moonsaber knew what she was thinking and said “You did everything you could Corporal. I’m proud that you stuck with him and gave him comfort in his dying moments.”
The bat-pony nodded her head in understanding and began the work of cleaning his body of all blood. While she was doing that, the screen shifted to show a unicorn wearing the combat armor of an SSgt of the Night Guard and said in a slight gruff tone “Sir, we examine the Valet and it seems that a rather substantial amount of money was stolen. Also, there aren't any signs of the Royal Treasurer."
Moonsaber nodded his head before another screen appeared in front of them. This screen showed a rather distressed looking Lance Corporal of the Night Guard who said in a panic tone “Sir the Hall of Harmony has been compromised. Multiple explosions appeared to have been detonated in order to breach the door.” His eyes widen as the reality of the situation came in and said “The Elements of Harmony are gone Commander. I repeat the Elements of Harmony have been stolen.”
This day would no doubt be going down as the worst day in history for the guards; right up there with the Changeling Invasion and the weeks where Celestia went on what could only be described as an ‘all-cake diet’. However, unlike those cases, Moonsaber was determined to not let it end like this. He was not going to let Canterlot be robbed of its valued treasures and make Equestria seemed week in front of its neighbors. The despair and sense of failure were morphed inside of him, changing into an iron bar of duty and retribution.
Solarshield was in similar thoughts. Going from a simple investigation to a murder, betrayal, theft, and attempted assassination was pushing things too far. Whoever was behind this is probably laughing in merriment at how easy it was to sack Canterlot Castle. Well…that pony or whoever it was in going to be in for one very rude awakening.
The two commanders looked in each other’s eyes and could see the white hot fire of duty and honor burning in their visions. No words were said but they knew what they were thinking. Nothing else matter anymore, all red tape was gone. These, hostiles are about to realize what happens when you mess with the Guard.
They each nodded their head swiftly before focusing on what looked like an ordinary desk in front of them. The two commanders channeled their magic and each of them brought a key into existence. This was no ordinary key however, as the key in front of Solarshield was brimming with Solar magic while the key in front of Moonsaber glowed with Lunar magic.
Solarshield said in her best drill sergeant voice “This is Commander Solarshield of the Royal Day Guard to all guards. This situation has gone far beyond the need for any kind of discrepancy on our part. These…vermin have come to our castle, killed one of our brothers-in-arm, and have the gull to think they could waltz out of here like a warm summer day. I don’t think so.”
Moonsaber took over from this point “We are the Royal Guard, not some flashy dress up club. We are not going to just sit around and let them run around our castle like its Discount Week at the market. They attempted to murder not only Celestia’s prized student and the barer of the Element of Magic but also the life of an innocent pony.”
Solarshield’s temper was on fire right now and she shouted “No more mister nice guard. Now” she couldn't resist the haunting smile on her face before she continued with “we get to show them what it really means to protect, serve, and fight for our homeland.”
Guided by their magic, Solarshield and Moonsaber inserted their respected keys into their locks and turned them at the same time. A small part of the desk slid open to reveal two buttons, one with the sun emblazoning on it and the other with an icon of the moon. Solarshield and Moonsaber moved so that they were hovering over one of the buttons and there was a slight pause before Moonsaber said “We are no longer on lockdown. The castle, nay all of Canterlot is now…”
Solarshield chose that moment to enter in and her voice added with Moonsaber as the two commanders said in a voice of finality “on DEFCON PURGE!”
In sync, they pressed the buttons at the same time. At first nothing seemed to happen but it didn't take long before a monotone voice of a mare said “WARNING COMBAT INHIBITORS SHUTTING DOWN.” The voice repeated the message as all over the castle and Canterlot, guards were groaning in mild pain as waves upon waves of combat experience were reintroduced to them like meeting a long lost friend. Their muscles became harder, their senses sharper, their skills reformed.
Moonsaber was lost in thought for a moment before saying “Metal Gear Squad. I need you to find Blueblood. He may be the only connection we have to uncovering the truth.”
There was a paused before a rather quiet and somewhat scary voice replied “Are we going in quiet or loud sir?”
Again Moonsaber paused before responding with “You have full access to the G.D but I think that discretion is needed for the moment. Just be prepared to make a lot of noise.” The quiet voice responded with a quiet affirmative and the Command Center returned to its usual self, with the major difference being that the S.O’s were now working at a more frantic pace and the pegasus were moving at a faster pace most of the time not even bothering to land.
A few minutes passed with various, minor reports coming in to break the tension. Moonsaber and Solarshield were clearly in their element, making orders and commands sometimes before the communicator could even finish what they needed to say.
It was all well and good, until Solarshield suddenly screamed out in pain as she felt something like a drill tunneling in her brain. The shock of the pain became too much and she collapsed on the ground. Shining Armor and Moonsaber were quick to her side and the Captain of the Guard said “What’s going on Commander?”
Solarshield, trying to fight against the pain cried out “Something attacking the Firewall…something very powerful.”
It was at that moment that the soft voice said “Sir, I have Intel that a train is stopped near the Firewall. Its destination was unknown.”
Moonsaber didn't need to hear anymore and shouted “Get to that train now Metal Gear.” Moonsaber turned his attention to the screen and shouted “Somepony get me a visual of that train.”
A moment passed before a voice said “Coming on screen now.”
Everypony looked as they saw what appeared to be a normal passenger train. However, the major difference was that there was a rather nasty looking laser coming from the train and hitting the barrier. It was at this time that what could be implied to be the leader of Metal Gear Squad responded with “Sir, we have visual on the train. I can see Blueblood along with what appears to be a gryphon politician in the second to last car, your orders?”
Moonsaber took a deep breath, knowing that his partner was in no shape to offer advice while that laser was still on. He knew that he had to give the go ahead but that would mean having to kill that gryphon, a move that would surely put a strain on the Gryphon-Equestria relationship. Besides, even though Blueblood was there, that wasn't any indication that the stolen money or the Elements of Harmony were also there. This could be in fact another ruse designed to throw him and Solarshield off the trail. But if he didn't do anything, then Solarshield would have to drop the Firewall and the Elements of Harmony and the money were sure to be gone.
“Do I take this chance?” Moonsaber mused to himself, lost in his own mind and barely aware of what was happening.
Really hope you enjoy your daily supply of cliffhanger goodness.
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…not!
Moonsaber made his decision. Despite what the day has proved so far, he could not ignore any inconsistency nor could he allow doubt to form in his mind. Steeling his resolve, Moonsaber turned back to the screen and said “Metal Gear Lead, your orders are as followed:
1) Capture Blueblood…alive for questioning
2) Rescue any and all hostages
3) Recover the money
4) Secure the Elements of Harmony and
5) Eliminate all hostile forces, including the former members of Squad Nine
“You are free to use any and all methods to complete your objectives.” Moonsaber finished with finality, knowing in his heart that they won’t fail him.
A few moments passed before everypony jumped in fright upon hearing what could only be described as a very loud and sudden crack.
Hope you enjoy the chapter and sorry about that false ending. My mind end up wondering if people actually paid attention to what I write here or if they use it as a clue that the chapter is over.