"Sit down Ventas, this isn't a court martial."
"With all due respect sir, I feel like I am in one."
"Make sure to thank Celestia later it's not a real one. Raise your right forehoof and repeat after me: 'I vow by the Princesses of Equestria'..."
"'I vow by the Princesses of Equestria'..."
"'to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth'..."
"'to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth'..."
"'else may I be condemned to the depths of Tartarus.'"
"'else may I be condemned to the depths of Tartarus.'"
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"Let's get right down to business, then." Lieutenant Captain Shining Armor crisply states, magically levitating a notepad and charcoal "pencil" to take notes on what Ventas would tell him. Ventas, stripped of his Lieutenant's commission and his self-respect in the aftermath of the previous night's events, just awkwardly stares down at his hooves, the magic suppressing ring on his cream-colored horn a further indignation he had to suffer.
"Question one: Are you Java Jive's father?" Shining continues, scratching the tip of the pencil on the notepad as he speaks.
Ventas is silent for a moment, then gives a sigh of resignation, as if recognizing that further delaying is useless. Finally, his answer comes out slowly and carefully: "For all of her life, I have raised her as my own filly. But whether she actually is or not, I do not know for certain."
"Her paternity is disputed? That is why the Captain wanted to run the test?" Shining now asks.
"Yes, sir. And let it be stated for the record I have already promised full cooperation in that matter." Ventas answers.
"Done." Shining affirms, writing on the notepad as he speaks. "However, I still need an answer for why the dispute exists in the first place."
Ventas gives another sigh before replying: "Well sir, it goes all the way back to my first year out of field training. That's when I first met Star Dancer. It wasn't long after Moon Dancer was born, I guess. It was at a Hearth Warming's Eve party. We were both... we both had too much that night..."
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"Oh! Oh goodness, are you alright ma'am? You almost fell flat on your face!"
"Yeah, I'm, hic, fine. Guess I had more than I should've, huh?"
"Where's your, uh, escort, ma'am?"
"Mate had to work over the holiday. I'm a big, hic, strong mare, came all by myself!"
"Well it's cold out! And in your condition..."
"Well, I... hic, don't really want to make a fool of myself again. You wanna take me home, big boy?"
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"So you offered to take Star Dancer home because her mate was working over the Hearth's Warming holiday?" Shining asks, scratching again on the notepad.
"That's correct, sir." Ventas affirms. "You're probably well aware of the standing..."
"Standing order to offer an escort any full-grown mare that doesn't already have one, yes. Go on, what happened when you two got to her apartment?"
"Well sir, it went something like this..."
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"Here ya go, ma'am. Safe and, uh, hopefully sound."
"Really appreciate the effort, sir. With my mate being gone over the holiday..."
"Just my job, ma'am. You're looking at, uh, freshly-minted Guard Upper Class!"
"Oh, aren't you, hic, moving up in the world? And you gotta go out in that cold again? Tsk tsk tsk..."
"Duty calls, ma'am. Nothing I, uh, can do about it."
"Are you sure you don't wanna stay for the night? Stay nice and warm?"
"Well... I am off for the holiday. I can stay for one night without getting in trouble with the superiors."
"Then come in! You can get nice and toasty by the fire, and one night oughta, hic, be OK 'cause mate won't be back 'till day after Hearth's Warming. He doesn't have to know anything about it."
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"So you took Star Dancer up on her offer? I'm guessing Moon Dancer would've been too young to remember your first visit..." Shining asks, shaking his head as he wonders why a mare would leave a very young filly all alone to go indulge in too much Apple family cider at a Hearth Warming's Eve party.
"That's correct, sir. We snuggled up together by the fire, one thing lead to another..." Ventas explains, awkwardly looking away as he does so.
"You already told me you were both very drunk. And I imagine that next thing you know you're waking up on Hearth's Warming sharing the same bed and wondering what exactly you two did the previous night." Shining comments, taking Ventas' subsequent, blushing silence as an affirmative answer.
There is an awkward pause as Shining catches up with his note taking, and his next question can't come soon enough for Ventas: "So I imagine you both were terribly embarrassed, wanted to keep what happened between the two of you only?"
"That's correct, sir. We made a promise to tell nopony else what happened that night." Ventas forces out, the blush on his face quite deep at this point.
"And it held for a while, I trust?"
"Yes, until I heard about three or four months later Star Dancer was pregnant. I was worried, because of the timing..."
"Mm-hmm, I would've been as well. Did you have a chance to discuss with Star Dancer about the foal?"
"No, we kept apart for the sake of both of our futures. Had I or her told anypony else what had happened, it would've meant the end of my Guard career and probably her marriage as well. Moon Dancer would've been too young to understand any of this, of course. Probably is barely old enough now..."
"Of course. What happened next?"
"About a week and a half after learning Star Dancer was pregnant, her mate took that fatal fall off the wall. The report was that the pegasus was drunk and didn't see him before the impact, but..." Ventas answers, trailing off after the last word.
"It wasn't really an accident. I can believe that. The Agents of Chaos have covered a lot of stuff up, and we're still trying to unravel their webs of lying and deceit." Shining comments, giving another sad shake of his head as he continues writing on the notepad with the charcoal pencil.
"During the mourning period, a rumor sprung up that the foal Star Dancer was pregnant with was the product of an affair and that somepony had put a 'hit' on her mate to help cover it up."
"Do you know who started this rumor?"
"No I do not, sir."
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At this point, Shining pauses for a moment to let the unspoken implications of Ventas' testimony sink in before continuing on to the next question: "If the rumor was true, eventually you would've been implicated, investigated and likely court-martialed, or at least given a quick dishonorable discharge. How did you avoid that happening to you?"
Ventas sighs again, then pauses a moment before answering: "Once the rumor got in full swing, I was visited on my rounds inside the castle by a strange stallion completely covered in a cloak and stockings."
Shining's eyebrow goes up at hearing this, the charcoal pencil scribbling furiously. "Agent Snake, maybe?" he asks with a curious tone.
"I don't know if it's the same pony, this was many years ago, sir."
"Do you remember the conversation you had with him?"
At this, Ventas gives a haunted look in Shining's direction before replying: "Yes sir, it will probably be burned in my mind for the rest of my life..."
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"Guard Upper Class Ventas?"
"How do you know my name? Who are you? Why are you sneaking around the castle?"
"It is my business to know things about ponies. In your case, I know that Star Dancer is carrying a foal of yours, not that of her mate."
"... Did you start the rumors around that?"
"I did not start the rumors, but I know how to end them. To save your future in the Guard. To make the whole unpleasant business go away."
"... Start talking, stranger."
"Star Dancer has already made a deal about the foal she carries. Now you must make one as well..."
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"And what were the terms of this 'deal'?" Shining Armor asks after Ventas finishes relaying the content of his conversation.
"Upon Star Dancer giving birth to the foal, I would declare myself the foal's legal guardian and deny being the biological father, regardless of whatever the truth really was, with support of a forged public statement signed by both myself and Star Dancer. In turn, I would raise the foal alone, with Star Dancer providing financial support only. It would satisfy the gossips because even if I wasn't the father, the real father wasn't around to care for the foal." Ventas explains.
"... I don't see how it could be enforced, though." Shining comments, frowning as he looks down at his notes.
"That's because there's another wrinkle in the deal. The payments from Star Dancer would be delivered by Aten. He was another freshly-minted Upper Class at the time, we served in the same squad. I had to confide in him the deal in order to make sure I would get the payments from Star Dancer."
"So that means he had to learn from Star Dancer as well." Shining comments again, writing some more on the notepad. "I certainly have reason to believe his ambition and ruthlessness was enough to keep things going. He made his name by squealing on two unicorn Lieutenants, you could've just as easily been another victim of his had you not kept your part of the deal."
Ventas nods somberly, but stays silent. Shining sees from his expression that he still has more information to share, so he decides to press further: "Were you inducted as an Agent of Chaos?"
"Yes, I was Agent 12. After Aten was given a Lieutenant's commission, I stayed with his squad in order to be sure the money would keep flowing, even though Aten stopped doing that himself after getting the commission."
"Who replaced him in delivering the money to you?"
"I don't know his identity, I never met him directly. He just dropped the money off in a package with my rations, once a week."
"Alright that's good enough..." Shining comments, looking over the notes on the pad in an increasingly awkward silence. He does not feel the need to go over Ventas' consistent support of Aten in the "pegasi affirmative action" movement - he knows from the other unicorn's increasingly uncomfortable shuffling that Ventas was feeling plenty guilty of that record now and that it did not need to be hit over the head how wrong it was.
"One more question: Star Dancer was sending you payments, with the Agents of Chaos doubtless taking something off the top for their own uses. Did the two of you mutually agree to stop payments, and why?" Shining asks to break the silence.
"Yes, it was mutual agreement." Ventas answers. "Once Nightmare... er, Princess Luna came back and Twilight Sparkle left, we realized that continuing to associate with the Agents of Chaos could turn very bad very fast. Star Dancer saw what was happening to Moon Dancer, and didn't want to turn to my connections to help her. She wanted your help instead."
"Agent Snake definitely would not have liked that. Whatever they set up, it was never really meant to help anypony else. It was all about control, and they exploited the old mistake you and Star Dancer made to control the family that was created. And now you can see for yourself the consequences of trying to break free from that control!" Shining Armor explains in an almost preacher tone, and Ventas slumps his head down in total defeat - there was no way he could deny the truth of what was being said.
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There is more awkward silence that follows for the next few minutes, except for Shining Armor continuing to scribble on the notepad. Ventas does not dare to break that silence, fearing he was risking making a bad situation worse by doing so.
When the silence is broken, it's by Shining again: "No more questions will be needed - I've made my decision about your fate."
"You have?" Ventas asks tentatively as he looks up at Shining again, trying not to betray too much hope in his expression.
"Yes, indeed. Effective immediately, you are 'locked' Guard Lower Class, Canterlot night shift." Shining answers. "You are to take Star Dancer into your care during her recovery, and after the paternity test comes back you are to sign a public statement affirming the results, regardless of whether they are consistent with the previous assumptions of paternity or not. Understood?"
Ventas has to think a moment before giving his answer - being "locked" to a certain rank and shift meant that would be his assignment for the rest of his Guard career, he would not ever be eligible for transfer or promotion again. But he also knew that he was not likely to get any better terms by looking elsewhere. His acceptance came as a silent nod - it greatly pained him to have to submit to "Celestia's favorite", but after all he had witnessed and been involved in there was no other honorable path forward.
The tension in the room eases a bit after Ventas' acceptance, and Shining Armor dares a small smile for the first time. There were still many broken fences, some of which that could only be mended by his sister, but Shining had done the best he could in the scenario he found himself in. The damage already inflicted would be blunted, and the cracking of Aten's inner circle would have bigger consequences long-term than short-term. Most importantly, he had not pushed Ventas back into the sympathies of the enemy.
"We'll go to the Captain, give the report together. Follow me." Shining says, beckoning Ventas with a forehoof as he proceeds to leave the room, notepad and charcoal pencil levitated beside him. Ventas slowly follows behind, the resentment and embarrassment on his expression slowly eroding into a resignation, then a hope. A hope that maybe, just maybe, there was a point in the future he could give real atonement for the sins of his past...