Chapter 7: The Arrival
NightFlower and Fleetfoot trotted up to Cannon Fodder as he walked down the hallway.
“Well, that didn’t take up as much time as I thought it would have. So did she tell you where Trixie was?” NightFlower asked innocently, having watched the whole thing from behind a two-way mirror.
“No, she didn’t know anything. I want to know why we didn’t find that out a week ago,” Cannon Fodder demanded.
“Well she wasn’t cooperating like the others did! She wouldn’t talk without a lawyer, and she refused to listen to anything we said,” NightFlower said, trying to look anywhere other then at the Commander
“No excuses. The next time you get an uncooperative pony, you make them cooperate by any means necessary. Do I make myself clear?” He scolded.
“But, even if it means breaking protocol and denying ponies their basic rights?” Fleetfoot questioned.
“Fleetfoot, we are not the Guard, nor are we officially part of the Wonderbolts,” Cannon Fodder said. “Therefore we are not bound to their protocols or rules. We do that which must be done, for the greater good, even if it means doing horrible things.”
“But,” Fleetfoot tried to argue.
“That is what we do, solider. It is the very reason our organization exists. If you don’t like it then you can go back to the Wonderbolts and fly races for the unicorn elites amusement,” Cannon Fodder said. Fleetfoot was taken back a little looking at the floor trying to take in everything she had just seen and heard. Cannon Fodder then stepped back and looked at both ponies. “So do I need to repeat myself, or am I understood?”
“Understood commander,” both mares said in unison.
“But while we are on the topic of Lightning Dust I think we could definitely use her future applications,” NightFlower added.
“In what way do you refer exactly?” He questioned with a sigh.
“It took us over a hour to catch her, and that was with her intoxicated. I can only imagine what raw talent she has when sober.”
“So your suggesting we recruit her?”
“Not just her, in fact many of the pegasi she has been traveling with show great promise,” NightFlower proposed.
“But, if I’m not mistaken, were they all not rejected from the Wonderbolt academy for one reason or another?” He countered.
“They were, but the Wonderbolts loss is our gain,” She added. “After all, a great pony once told me that there’s more to flying then speed and agility and that it’s a shame to let such potential go to waste.”
“And who told you that?” Cannon Fodder asked.
“You did.” She batted her eyes at him. “Way back when you recruited me when this organization was still in its infancy.”
“Commander.” Another younger pegasus approached and interrupted the conversation. “I have news for you.”
“Please tell me its good news.” Cannon Fodder seemed hopeful. It was possible they had just now found Trixie and the Crystal Heart. Unlikely, but one could still hope.
“In a way I suppose, Princess Cadence and Princess Sparkle have been spotted on the horizon. They will be here in mere moments,” The young pegasus finished.
Cannon Fodder growled in frustration as he slammed his head against a near by pillar. “Great. Just… Great.”
He had failed, despite all his efforts and all the power given to him by his princess, and still he could not find one measly little unicorn. The worst part, is that it not only made him look bad, but also made his entire organization look incompetent. It was there first mission and it wasn’t supposed to be a hard one: Look after the Crystal Empire while Cadence was away. It would appear that the Shadowbolts would fall from grace long before they ever got the chance to really fly.
“Well, there’s no point in delaying the inevitable anymore,” The commander said with a defeated voice. “Lets go meet them on the balcony.”
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Cannon Fodder waited on the balcony. He could feel the air temperature suddenly rise to a more pleasant degree as he witnessed the blue barrier reestablished itself. The sight was a sign of hope and relief for most ponies in the city, but for the commander and his Shadowbolts it was a sign that he failed to fix the problem themselves. He sat next to the Captain of the Crystal Guard, whose name the commander never bothered to remember. He didn’t look very happy either, as he and his team also failed to reclaim the Crystal heart in their own searches.
The two sat there as the pretty pink Princess and her purple Princess friend floated down and landed on the balcony. All the ponies in the Crystal Guard bowed. The Shadowbolts did not. Candace looked back to inspect the barrier to make sure everything was alright, and then turned back to address the two ponies she had left in charge.
Cadance said, “Can somepony please tell me what has been going on? I mean seriously, I’m gone for two weeks and almost everypony freezes to death. This is the last time I do Luna any favors.”
“My apologies your highness,” Cannon Fodder spoke up. “The situation is completely my fault. We underestimated this Trixie Lulamoon, and she was able to steal the Crystal Heart right from under our noses. Despite our best efforts we have not been able to locate Trixie or the Heart, but we do have reason to believe that they are still in the city somewhere.”
“Yes, but only because this psychopath quarantined the entire Empire,” The Crystal Captain pointed his hoof at the Shadowbolt Commander accusingly. “He shut down the train station and refused to let any pony leave. A few more days of that and we would have ran out of things to burn just to stay warm.”
Cadence’s special talent was love, and with it she could tell what anypony was feeling at anytime. She could tell that the Cannon Fodder felt guilty about the situation and blamed himself for everything that had happened, maybe even hated himself for failing to fix the problem. If there was only one thing Cadence hated, it was seeing hatred in others, especially the self-crippling hatred one can feel towards themselves. “Now, now Commander. Don’t beat yourself up so much. I can tell you tried your best to fix things and I appreciate it. It’s not your fault anyway, and even though the situation is not ideal, I understand accidents happen.”
“But your highness, he,” The Captain tried to counter what the Princess had just said.
“No, I will have none of that right now dear, Captain,” Cadence was quick to cut him off. “What’s important right now is not casting blame, it’s finding Trixie and returning the Crystal Heart. I can’t keep this dome up forever.”
“Which I believe I can help with,” Twilight said. “I’ve dealt with Trixie before, and here I thought she had changed, too,” She sighed. “So which areas have you already looked?”
“My pegasi have searched the entire city, surrounding country side, and the tundra the stretches from here to the nearest town in Equestria to the smallest detail. Several times.”
“And my Crystal guards have been searching the castle grounds. No traces,” The Captain said with his hoof raised.
“My pegasi have also searched the castle, inside and out, from top to bottom. No signs anywhere.” Cannon Fodder added.
“What‽” the Crystal Captain shouted. “I told you the castle was our jurisdiction, you had no right to search it without my authorization.”
“Well you clearly hadn’t found Trixie so I took matters into my own hooves, just to make sure you didn’t miss anywhere,” the Commander snarled.
“Why you little…” The Captain dragged his hoof on the ground ready to attack.
“That’s enough out of both of you,” Cadence raised her voice. “Fighting with each other won’t get us anywhere.”
“Especially since neither one of them are correct about completely searching the castle,” came a new voice to the conversation.
A voice that Cannon Fodder recognized. All eyes turned to the new comer as he walked into the room: it was the greasy lawyer, Pro Bono.
“You,” The Crystal Captain said through his teeth.
“What did you mean neither of us are correct? I ensure you that my pegasi are very thorough,” Cannon Fodder defended his team.
“Oh, I’m sure they are,” Pro Bono said. “But the fact of the matter is there are rooms in this castle that only unicorns can access, specifically unicorns willing to use dark magic. And since all of your ponies are pegasi, and all of the Captain’s ponies are Crystal ponies--which are still technically earth ponies--that means it is impossible for either of you to fully search this castle.”
“That’s impossible,” The Captain tried to argue. “I would know of any such hidden rooms.”
“No he’s right,” Twilight interrupted the Crystal pony. “That’s how I found the Crystal Heart the first time I came here, through one of those secret rooms. But how do you know about them?”
“I was one of the very few ponies under King Sombra’s rule that was granted the luxury of entering the castle on a somewhat regular basis. So I was able to see him use a few, but I only know of a couple. There may be many even I am not aware of.”
“That okay,” Twilight reassured him. “Just tell us about the ones you know, and that should be more then helpful.”
“Ok well the first one I know of is in the throne room, but that leads to the top of the main tower, so the Commander would have found her if she was there. The second place is in the library, and I don’t know where that leads to.”
“Wow, I wish we had talked to you the last time I was here!” Twilight laughed. “Things would have gone a lot faster.”
“Can you show us exactly where in the library the secret room was?” Cadence asked.
“Of course, Your Highness. Just follow me,” Pro Bono said. He then lead the way to the library.