Chapter 31: Aftermath
My heart pounded in my chest as I flew above the buildings trying to reach the hospital as fast as I could. Once I could clearly see the Canterlot Hospital sign I focused my magic and teleported next to it. The ponies around were startled by my sudden appearance. There were gasps from some of the ponies at the sight of the injured stallion. I didn't hesitate to start running for the hospital's doors while the ponies stood in confusion and shock. I bust through the doors with the stallion in tow.
“This stallion needs medical attention!” I shouted. A few nurses and two doctors scrambled to get the proper supplies while others in the room watched with mixed expressions. Two nurses quickly brought over a gurney over which I place the stallion on.
Once my magic's aura faded they began moving down a hallway on the right while I took a moment to catch my breath and examine my own wounds. My head was pounding painfully, blood ran down my face and I had plenty of of cuts from Cyclone Shade's damn knives. Just as I was about to sit in one of the chairs a unicorn nurse came up to me. She had a typical nurse's uniform, maroon fur and a concerned facial expression.
“Uh, Sir, you should get some medical attention yourself.”
“I'll be fine, I just need―”
“If you knew what was good for you you'd take the lady's suggestion.” I looked to my left and saw a tan elderly unicorn sitting in a chair.
“Really, I'll be…” My head began to feel light and I began to lose balance as the adrenaline of the fight began to wear off. The nurse quickly went to my side and gave me support.
“Still think you'll be fine? Go get some bandages before you keel over.” Without further argument from me, the nurse began leading me to one of the nearby rooms. She helped me onto one of the beds then walked back into the hallway, calling a doctor over. The nurse went over to a medical cabinet while a unicorn doctor examined my injuries.
“What was the cause of these slashes?” he asked.
“Knives and some kind of hoof-blade.”
“And your head injuries?”
“Punches and being slammed into the pavement.” The nurse came back over to the bed with a tray that carried gauze, peroxide, cotton swabs and a washcloth.
“What kind of fight did you get into?”
“The kind that involves a professional assassin.” Both ponies gave me confused looks. “It's a long story.”
“I'm going to apply some peroxide to your wounds. It'll sting a bit,” the nurse warned as she poured a little peroxide onto one of the cotton swabs.
“I think I can deal with a little peroxi― OW!” I yelped when that cotton swab made contact with one of the cuts on my foreleg. The nurse just rolled her eyes.
“Tell me more about this… assassin,” the doctor said. I gave some details on what had transpired in the city while the nurse patched me up. I was thankful that the peroxide wasn’t as painful after the first time. I worried about what might be happening to Hofnarr since Cyclone Shade got away. At least I could trust that he wasn’t going to be killed, otherwise Cyclone Shade would’ve done that awhile ago.
I hope he’s okay…
When the nurse had almost finished with the bandages, the doors to the room opened revealing
“Princess Celestia!” the doctor said quickly as he faced and bowed to the princess, followed quickly by the nurse. Princess Celestia nodded to them as she, Twilight, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie entered the room. Twilight's injured leg had been bandaged and Pinkie's nose had been plugged. The princess looked at me with a stern, serious expression, which I found to be quite intimidating.
She walked up to me and asked: “What were you thinking going after and fighting Cyclone Shade all by yourself?”
“What was I supposed to do? I couldn’t just let him get away!”
“But you weren’t ready to fight him; he’s had decades of training and experience coupled with his weapons and poisons while you lack all of those things.”
“So I should have just stood and watched while that nutjob went free to do who knows what? His very freedom is a danger to others.”
“Yes you should have; Cyclone Shade is irrational, reckless, and would certainly hurt or kill others to make sure he’d get his way. And that’s exactly what he did; by giving him the need to defend himself in an area where others were around you put all of them at risk.” Princess Celestia released sigh. I could smell the sourness of her disappointment. “Let’s just hope that you and the other pony weren’t hurt too badly. Are you strong enough to walk?”
“I think if I feed a little I will be.” The doctor and nurse were confused by that. I could smell it. Princess Celestia stepped aside as the others walked into the room; seems I didn’t even need to ask. Though Twilight didn’t look pleased with my flying off after Cyclone Shade.
The nurse and doctor stood to the side, watching as I consumed their energy. The doctor elbowed the nurse then pointed to a wound of mine that hadn’t been bandaged, seeing it heal before their eyes. Princess Celestia also watched intently.
After a few seconds, I ceased feeding and checked my wounds, seeing how much they had healed. I noticed right away that most of the pain I was feeling was gone, and I saw that the slashes across my body had healed enough to stop bleeding, though they probably still needed bandaging. However, what they probably needed wasn’t enough to convince me to stay put. I was still in pain, but at least I didn’t need adrenaline to keep moving.
“I’ll ensure that all expenses are paid for the both of them,” Princess Celestia told the doctor.
“Will you be needing anything else, your majesty?” asked the doctor.
“Can you take me to the pony that Fragment brought here?”
“Of course! Right this way, your highness.” Princess Celestia followed and motioned us to follow.
“What’s this pony’s name?” she asked as the doctor said something to the mare behind the entrance desk. She gave him a clipboard which he flipped through quickly before underlining a name with his hoof.
“His name is ‘Cog Weld.’ Suffered a deep stab wound to his foreleg and chest from knife and a leg blade in a street brawl.” He glanced at me then began walking down a hallway. “He’s in room three-ten,”
he said as we continued to follow him.
“How are the two of you holding up?” I asked Pinkie and Twilight.
“Alright, I guess; my cuts weren’t too bad and Pinkie just had a bloody nose. Though I’d be lying if I didn’t say that this cut make walking hurt.”
“How did Cyclone Shade even escape his cell in the first place?”
“We don’t know yet,” Princess Celestia said. ”But I told Shining Armor to investigate before we went out looking for you.”
“Do you think you’ll be able to track him down along with Hofnarr?” Fluttershy asked.
“I don’t know if Hofnarr will be with him, but we’ll definitely find Cyclone Shade. Remember that tracking spell Hofnarr suggested putting on Cyclone Shade’s equipment?”
“You used it?” I asked with a spark of hope. Princess Celestia smiled slightly.
“I enchanted his vest with a tracking spell, so as long as he’s wearing it we’ll know exactly here he is. He may have escaped his cell but he hasn’t escaped us yet,” she said confidently.
“Let’s hope that we’ll get him to tell us what happened to Hofnarr,” said Twilight.
“Hey, how did all of you find me so fast, anyway? I’ve only been here for a few minutes.”
“When we went into the city to look for you we heard someone talking about a fight that had happened where somepony was taken to the hospital,” Twilight explained. “We weren’t sure if it was you or not, but since fights are pretty uncommon, we figured it had something to do with you or Cyclone Shade.”
The doctor stepped aside, opened the door for us, and bowed to the princess again.
“Thank you,” she said with a smile as we walked into room three-ten, where the stallion who probably saved my life was laying in bed with a nurse attending to him. Upon seeing the princess his green eyes widened.
“Y-your highness!” Cog Weld said. He tried to lean up but fell back to his pillow and put a hoof on his bandaged chest wound. Princess Celestia approached him as he stared in awe.
“Hello, Cog Weld,” she began. “You put yourself in grave danger to protect Fragment, something that I am sure he is grateful for.”
I nodded in confirmation.
“And while I can’t say that what you did was smart, Fragment might be dead if not for you. So I thank you for helping him.”
“Ah, it was no big deal.” Cog Weld looked at me. “I wasn’t gonna just stand by and watch after you saved those ponies’ lives. You’re a hero for crying out loud!”
“Thank you.” I gave an appreciative smile.
“I have also informed the hospital that I will be paying for all of your expenses,” Princess Celestia told him. “It’s the least I can do.”
“Thank you, your highness.” Princess Celestia nodded to him then turned to leave, the girls and I stepping aside for her. “Hey, uh. Fragment.”
I turned to him as the others stopped. “Yeah?”
“There were plenty of other ponies around, so why didn’t you have one of them take me here while you went after that pegasus?”
“I… I didn’t think of that; I was kind of under pressure and bleeding. Plus at the rate I was going I probably would’ve lost that fight.” Cog Weld nodded in agreement. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I believe it’s time to go. Thanks again for helping me.”
We then left the room. Once we were done at the hospital Princess Celestia lead us back to the castle as fast as we could manage, catching the eyes of many along the way. Some merely glanced at us before returning to their lives while the rest of the onlookers stared, unsure of the sight of Princess Celestia a changeling and three other seemingly random ponies going through Canterlot. I might have been bothered by the looks I was getting were it not for the fact that only a few of them were unpleasant; most seemed to recognize - or at least assume - that it was me.
Within a few minutes we had returned to the castle, where we could faintly hear shouting aways into the castle.
“What’s going on?” Princess Celestia asked a guard as we walked further inside.
“It’s Captain Armor, your majesty.”
“My brother?” Twilight asked with a confused expression. The guard nodded to her.
“He started shouting a few minutes after you left. One of the guards from that area came by here and we asked what was going on, but all she said was that the captain found something he didn’t like.” We looked at each other with uncertain looks before Princess Celestia refocused and began heading towards the dungeon.
When we got there, there were two guards nervously standing by the dungeon while Shining Armor could be heard shouting commands at other guards.
“I want you two to run background checks on everypony in this castle! I want to know where they come from, what jobs they had and who their family is, NOW! If you find so much as a smudge on their file, tell me.” Shining Armor’s voice sounded strained and slightly hoarse, likely from constant yelling. Two guards hastily made their way out of the dungeon and rushed off as we made our way in.
“What’s going on here?” the princess asked. Every guard was relieved that Princess Celestia was here, though they still seemed uncomfortable with Shining Armor’s anger. Shining Armor himself was so red in the face that it showed passed his fur. Though I suppose white fur wouldn’t hide it as well as a darker color would. Shining Armor took a deep breath before responding to the princess.
“After you told me to investigate I came here immediately and started looking around, but as soon as I got to Cyclone Shade’s cell, I found this.” Shining Armor’s horn lit as he levitated something from the side of the room. I was surprised and confused when I saw that it was Cyclone Shade’s flask that had been found.
“Cyclone Shade’s flask?” asked Twilight.
“I found it in his cell… with these inside it.” Two thin, iron lockpicks were magically pulled directly out of the flask. Shining Armor’s anger grew as he looked at them. “I talked to the guards who went over Cyclone Shade’s gear and lockpicks weren’t among the items. After that we examined the flask and found that there’s no special compartment or anything where these could have been hidden, which means there is no reason why these weren’t found once we took his gear; I made sure that it was thoroughly examined and cataloged after he had it.”
“Do you have any ideas how he could’ve obtained them?” the princess asked.
“I think somepony smuggled them to him. First of all these are enchanted; some kind of muffling spell was placed on them. Secondly, how exactly did his flask get in here in the first place?”
“We brought it to him,” Twilight said. “He had said that Hofnarr was an orphan and we wanted to know how he knew that. He told us that he wouldn’t tell us unless we brought him his flask and some wine.”
“They asked me before going through with it and I told them it was fine,” Princess Celestia explained.
“It was just the four of you and Hofnarr?”
“No, Blast Shield was with us.”
“Wait…” I said. “After you told us that we could take Cyclone Shade’s flask and give him some wine, Blast Shield suggested that he get the flask while we got the wine and meet up back at the dungeon. You don’t think that he…”
On the inside I was in absolute shock at just the thought of it. I mean, he wouldn’t really help Cyclone Shade escape, would he?
Would he?
“You don't really think that Blast Shield helped Cyclone Shade escape, do you?” Fluttershy asked.
“Well for now he's who we need to talk to; he was the one who got the flask, so let's ask him about it,” Shining Armor said. He headed for the dungeon exit with us and two guards following him.
“I must return to the court, but I want you to tell me everything you've figured out by the end of the day.”
“Yes, Princess.” Princess Celestia then left and began heading to I'd guess the throne room. I turned to Shining Armor and asked,
“Where is Blast Shield right now, anyway?”
“He should be in the infirmary.”
“How badly did he get hurt?”
“Apparently he only got knocked out and a broken nose, which seems like nothing compared to what usually happens in a fight with Cyclone Shade.”
“Well they didn't really fight; when we found out that Cyclone Shade was free it was when he came to us at the training room. Hofnarr and Fluttershy were helping me learn to fly when there was a knock on the room's doors; Blast Shield opened the doors and was almost immediately knocked out by Cyclone Shade.”
“Either way, he should be conscious by now and able to answer our questions.” We fairly quickly made our way to the infirmary, none of us saying much along the way. There wasn’t much to say at that point with everything going on.
I kept going over everything Cyclone Shade had said prior to his escape, seeing if he had slipped anything that could tell where he was going or who he was working for, but I didn’t recall anything that could’ve been useful. I wound up thinking about that private party he had told me to go to; Frost Meadow Manor.
Filthy Rich… The pony who had been invited whose place I could take. If I really intended to take his place I would need to learn who he was and how to act like him, at least to an extent. Assuming of course that I would have learned shapeshifting by then.
A few minutes later we got to the infirmary. Blast Shield was laying in bed with a bandage on his nose and an icepack on his head.
“S’up?” he said flatly then pressed the icepack to his head harder.
“We need to ask you some questions,” Shining Armor informed while I took a seat next to his bed. Shining Armor stood at the foot of Blast Shield’s bed while Twilight, Pinkie and Fluttershy stood on the left side. I was surprised by how much he had calmed down since we were at dungeon.
“Okay, but can you ask them nice and quiet? My head’s killing me.”
“You were the one who took Cyclone Shade’s flask from confiscation, correct?”
“What, no ‘how’re you feeling?’” Blast Shield joked. “Yeah, I got it so that he’d tell us what he knew about Hofnarr. Why do you ask?” He was calm and a little annoyed, but I sensed nothing strange or suspicious with his emotions.
“And did you notice anything… odd? In the storage room or with the flask itself?” Shining continued.
“No…” Concern rose in Blast Shield.
“I found lockpicks inside Cyclone Shade’s flask,” Shining Armor finally said, Blast Shield’s eyes widening as the words were spoken.
“Wha― How could― That’s― What?!” Blast Shield stuttered. “Well… how… how did they get in there?”
“I was hoping you might have an idea. Are you sure that you didn’t see anything out of the ordinary?”
“N-no. Everything looked fine when I got it. The only pony I even saw at storage was the door guard.”
“What was the guard’s name?”
“Uh… I believe it was Bracer, sir.”
“I’m going to talk to him and see if he saw anything suspicious. You get your rest.” Without another word, Shining Armor left the room. I was a little confused by him just leaving; I had expected him to bring up the fact that Blast Shield was a suspect or something. I decided it would be better to leave it aside for now.
“So how are you?” Blast Shield chuckled at my question before cringing at the pain in his head.
“I’ve been better. Kinda wish I wasn’t sobering up though; might help with the pain. How about yourselves? Aside from the pegasus, none of you look too good.”
“We should be fine,” Twilight told. “We’re just lucky that Cyclone Shade didn’t cut anything vital.”
“Did anyone aside from us get hurt?”
“At least three other guards were knocked out, but no pony was hurt too bad,” said Fluttershy.
“What about Hofnarr?”
“Cyclone Shade took him.” Bitterness seeped into my sentence as I recalled seeing Cyclone Shade flying away with Hofnarr in his grasp.
When I find him, I’ll make him tell me what he did with Hofnarr, I mentally reassured myself. Blast Shield was saddened to hear that and was silent. All of us were. As we stood quietly, it dawned on me that he had managed to escape just as he said he would. Obviously whoever his employer was had someone sneak him those lockpicks, and now he had both Hofnarr and his freedom.
“So… what now?” Twilight asked.
“Is there anything we can do?” I asked as I walked over to a window. “Cyclone Shade’s in the wind with Hofnarr, and we don’t have a clue where he might’ve gone or who he was working for.”
I sat down and rested my chin on the windowsill. Not a moment after I did had Pinkie Pie hopped her way over to me, placing a hoof on my shoulder while smiling brightly.
“Hey, cheer up, Fragment; Princess Celestia and Shining Armor are on the case, and they’ll track that meanie assassin down. I mean, cooooome oooooon, it’s Princess Celestia we’re talking about.”
“I hope you’re right, Pinkie…”
“You don’t think that’s enough?” Fluttershy asked.
“I think it’s enough to capture him, but not enough to get information out of him, and that’s half the reason we’re trying so hard to get him.”
“Isn’t there a spell somepony could use to just pull the information out of him?” Blast Shield asked.
“There probably is a spell that could do that, but just taking thoughts out of somepony’s head like that seems kind of wrong,” Twilight answered.
“Wrong because it’s an invasion of privacy or wrong because taking a look into that guy’s head is a risk to our sanity?”
“It’s probably both,” I said before Twilight could answer.
“I don’t think I’d really want to know what he knows anyway,” Fluttershy threw in. Twilight seemed to be getting annoyed by us not letting her talk.
“You were going to say, Twilight?”
“It’s wrong because it’s an invasion of his privacy and there’s no telling what that kind of magic could do to him.”
“Who cares about his privacy and unless that magic could give him super powers I don’t care what it does to him,” Blast Shield stated flatly.
“He has a right to privacy, Blast Shield, and even if he didn’t I still wouldn’t condone using potentially harmful magic on him for information; it would be the equivalent of torture!”
“Hey, why not give him a taste of his own medicine? He brags about doing horrible things so why not give him some in return?”
“Because it’s immoral! Just because he’s tortured others doesn’t mean we should do it to him; if we did what would make us better than him?”
“The fact that we don’t make a living off of it and that we’re not doing it for fun,” I said. Twilight had a shocked expression. “It might not be right or moral, but it’s definitely something he deserves. Plus if it helps us find Hofnarr then I really fail to see a significant downside.”
“Why are you even defending Cyclone Shade? I doubt he’d appreciate it, much less change his ways.” Twilight was becoming more agitated with Blast Shield and I.
“I’m not ‘defending’ him, I’m defending what’s right; there is no excuse for what he’s done, but there isn’t one for us doing it to him either.”
“Twilight’s right; how could we say what he does is wrong if we did the same thing?” Fluttershy added. “No matter what Cyclone Shade did, it isn’t right to torture him. I think the reason you two said those things is because you’re understandably upset; he got away and hurt a few ponies along the way.”
“And almost killed you,” I reminded. Blast Shield was astonished to hear that.
“Wait, he what?!”
“He held her as a hostage to make us give him Hofnarr, which is one of the reasons I might seem in the mood for revenge.”
“Nothing good comes of revenge, Fragment. What you should want is justice. Lawful justice.” Twilight felt very strongly about this moral debate; I could tell she didn’t like Cyclone Shade anymore than the rest of us, but she along with Fluttershy still remained level headed. Pinkie Pie was oddly quiet throughout the discussion.
“Well let me change the subject somewhat,” Blast Shield said. “Assuming that there was a spell that could get information out of him and there were no side effects, positive or negative for him, would you use it?”
Twilight thought about that. I could tell that she still wanted to protect his right to privacy, but she considered the idea with what was on the line.
“I… I don’t know; if he really knew where Hofnarr was, who hired him to take him and all those other questions, then it’d probably be for the best. But I still don’t like the idea; I don’t want to know what made him this way.”
I was reminded of when Cyclone Shade told Princess Celestia about how his father abused him. I wondered if that was the only thing that had influenced him, which seemed unlikely; he killed his father a long time ago so why would he still be killing? He told Princess Celestia that he kills for fun, but was that the truth?
“Ultimately Princess Celestia will decide if something like that is done, and I’d bet she won’t use magic like that,” Blast Shield concluded. “So as far as flight training goes what’re you going to do now?”
“I don’t know. I guess I’ll just have to work with Spitfire to learn whatever I can. Though to truth be told I think I need a break from all of this.”
“What do you mean?”
“This past week’s been really stressful; with Gezähnt, Cyclone Shade and everything that’s happened in between I haven’t exactly been relaxing.”
“Hey!” Pinkie said. “I have an idea; why don’t you come back to Ponyville with us?”
“What?” we asked.
“You could take a week long vacation or something! We could play all kinds of games and hang out and other stuff! Think about it; it’d be a nice way to unwind, wouldn’t it?”
“Certainly sounds better than here, but how would everyone in Ponyville react to there suddenly being a changeling wandering around?” Pinkie frowned a little.
“You shouldn’t worry so much about what everypony will think of you. You’ve done a lot of good since the attacks and if ponies give you trouble for what other changelings did, then who needs them anyway?”
“I suppose you’re right, and guess it’s the best place for me for me to go to get away from things. At least for a little while.”
“Won’t you need Princess Celestia’s permission or something before you leave Canterlot?” Blast Shield asked.
“I don’t think that’ll be too difficult; after all that’s happened lately I think she’d understand.” I turned to the girls. “If it’s alright with you, I’d like to talk to Princess Celestia about this sooner rather than later.“
“Well we’re pretty much just waiting around at this point anyway, so we could go talk to her now,” Twilight said while a smile formed on her face.
“You want to tag along, Blast Shield?” I questioned.
“Nah, I’m going to let this headache die down before I get out of this bed. You go see the princess about some R and R.”
“Will do.” Twilight was the first to start for the door with us following closely behind. In less than five minutes we reached the throne room, where Princess Celestia was addressing a few reporters about the street brawl and everything else. We patiently and quietly waited for her to be done with them, which took about ten minutes. She mostly spoke of Cyclone Shade; who he was and what she believed he was up to. When they asked her about the safety of Equestrians she explained that there was likely little to worry about because he almost always stays away from Equestria, however she had sent notifications to every large city telling guards to keep their eyes open for him.
“Do you really think Cyclone Shade will just leave now that he got Hofnarr?” Twilight asked as we approached her throne, bowing once we got close enough.
“After Cyclone Shade killed his father, he fled Equestria and the last time he was here was almost thirty years later. This is the first time he’s been here in a very long time; maybe it’s because such crimes are rare here or maybe he just doesn’t want to be in Equestria, but for whatever reason, he has stayed away, so I do believe he will leave with this job done.”
“Let’s hope he remains elsewhere,” I remarked.
“So what brings all of you here?” I stepped forth.
“I wanted to discuss the possibility of taking a vacation to Ponyville.” Princess Celestia paused and thought.
“Wanting a vacation is certainly understandable,” she began. “But how long were you planning to be gone?”
“Pinkie Pie suggested a week and I had no objections.”
“Well I think you’ve earned more than that. You take as long as you think you need.” I was caught by surprise with that reply.
“Really?”
“You’ve learned a lot in your time here; about magic, Equestria and yourself,” she began. “You’re adept at learning and have made a few friends here. I think that you have gotten all the help from me that you need, and that you’ve proven yourself trustworthy to be allowed in Equestria without constant supervision. However, if you would like to return at some point for further training or anything, feel free to do so.”
“I’m honored that you trust me so much, I’m… not sure what to say, really.” Princess Celestia rose from her throne and walked down from it to me.
“Say that you’ll show Equestria that changelings can be as nice as anypony else,” she told me with smile. I couldn’t help but bow to her again, to which she chuckled a little. However, I then sensed her mood turn more serious.
“But there are two things I want you to do when you leave.” I stood back up and listened closely. “The first is I want you to return to Chrysalis and tell her about the attempted assassination. I want to make peace with her and this is something she needs to know about, even if she doesn’t want a treaty.”
“How am I supposed to find her, though? I don’t remember where the changelings would’ve gone.
“We can show you the way!” Pinkie exclaimed. “We went there a few days ago to save Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Applebloom, remember?”
“Well in that case that’s resolved, but what’s the other thing you want me to do?”
“I want you to write to me every few days and tell me how well ponies are treating you. Can you do that for me?”
“It’s the least I can do after everything you’ve done for me,” I said as I nodded in understanding. Princess Celestia smiled confidently as I then heard the doors open. We all looked to see who it was and saw a dark grey unicorn guard standing in the doorway.
“Captain Armor sent me, your highness.” Princess Celestia frowned, seriousness claiming her emotions.
“What’s going on?” Twilight asked.
“Shining Armor will be questioning Blast Shield about his possible involvement with Cyclone Shade’s escape.” She walked around us and towards the door. Twilight was the first to start following her, the rest of us quickly following suit. The guard lead us to the interrogation room where we were directed to the observation portion. Upon entering it we saw that Princess Cadance along with a guard I didn’t recognize were staring into the currently empty interrogation room.
“Is Shining Armor really sure that Blast Shield is our best lead?” I asked.
“The guards that were in the dungeon when Cyclone Shade escaped said that all of you and Blast Shield were the last ones there before his cell opened and he knocked them out. That flask was the only thing that was brought to him aside from his lunch.”
“What if Cyclone Shade wanted us to think it was a guard that helped him escape?” Twilight suggested. “Shining said that all of the confiscated items were taken, so why would those be left behind? It’s not like he couldn’t use them again.”
“True, but Cyclone Shade has been known to betray his associates for a laugh, so he could’ve left those behind to get his jailbreaker caught,” Princess Celestia replied.
“Maybe he’s doing both!” Pinkie said. “He could have taken the picks and flask if he wanted to use them again and if he wanted to get whoever got him out in trouble he could’ve told us how it happened, so if he wanted us to spend time trying to figure out how he escaped while at the same time backstabbing his partner, like a meanie, obviously the best way of doing that would be to leave behind crucial evidence!”
We were all surprised by Pinkie Pie’s idea, both because of it being her’s and that it wasn’t impossible at all. We didn’t have much of a chance to think it over too much before the interrogation room’s door opened, giving entrance to Blast Shield and Shining Armor. Blast Shield still held an icepack to his head.
“Why isn’t Sinistar helping with this?” I asked.
“He’s been rather overworked lately, so Shining decided to let him get some rest,” Princess Cadance explained. Shining Armor and Blast Shield took their seats across from each other while Shining Armor cleared his throat.
“I spoke with Bracer once I finished talking to you. He confirmed that you were the only one who came to storage after Cyclone Shade’s equipment,” he stated.
“Well then how did Cyclone Shade get those picks?” Blast Shield asked.
“I don’t know, but I think that you might have some ideas,” Shining Armor replied, leaning forward a little. Blast Shield raised a brow and said
“Are you implying something, sir?”
“You were that last one to touch that flask before it was given to Cyclone Shade, none of the guards at the dungeon could’ve given him anything without the others noticing and no pony was with you when you were bringing it to the dungeon. You tell me where the evidence points.”
“Well how do you know it wasn’t Bracer? He was the only one at confiscation for who knows how long, he would’ve had plenty of time to place those picks in it.”
“Except there are two problems with that theory. The first one being that Bracer wasn’t alone in storage, Chase was there too. Neither of them could’ve slipped those lockpicks into the flask because one would’ve seen the other, and more importantly, neither of them even knew that the flask was about to be brought to Cyclone Shade. Of all the ponies in this castle only a few of them knew about that little exchange, and you are the only one who both knew about it and was alone with that flask. What do you have to say in your defense?”
“I would never help somepony like Cyclone Shade evade justice, for any reason.”
“I hear bits can change that kind of thinking,” Shining rebuttaled.
“I’ve been in the guard for more than a decade and you think that I’d turn my back on it for some bits?”
“I think somepony in this castle helped Cyclone Shade escape and you’re the one who had the best chance to do it.”
“I couldn’t have done something like this!” Blast Shield’s agitation grew.
“And why ‘couldn’t’ you?”
“Because it’s Cyclone Shade’s fault that Striker’s dead!” None of us were prepared for that. Shining Armor leaned away from Blast Shield a little bit while Blast Shield went on. “If he hadn’t broken Hofnarr and the other changelings out, Striker wouldn’t have been bitten, wouldn’t have been poisoned and would still be alive.”
“You hardly even knew Striker, so why―”
“I knew him well enough. I knew that he had a marefriend that he loved greatly and I knew that he was going to ask Lightheart to marry him the next time he was on vacation.” Blast Shield glared at Shining Armor as his breathing slowed to a calmer pace. “Now unless you intend to arrest me, I’d like to take my leave.”
Shining Armor motioned to the door, signaling for Blast Shield to depart. The moment the door closed behind Blast Shield, Shining Armor released a sigh and stood up, preparing to leave as well. I looked around the room and found that everyone had the same unsure and surprised look, save for Princess Celestia, she seemed to be pondering the whole situation and didn’t really display a particular emotion. Shining Armor entered the observation room and was instantly met with our stares.
“What do you think?” Princess Celestia asked simply.
“He seems sincere, but so can any good actor. I think we need to investigate further before we make a move against him.”
“Agreed. But I want you to give him two weeks of paid leave while you investigate; if he did have something to do with this then he’ll likely try to cover up any tracks he may have left behind.”
“I’ll have him off castle grounds by noon tomorrow and I’ve already ordered background checks on everypony in the castle.”
“Then I suppose we’ve done all we can at this point. I’ll use the tracking spell to find out where Cyclone Shade is and where he’s headed, then I’ll have a platoon of our best guards after him. I can only hope that no more get hurt while Cyclone Shade’s in Equestria,” Princess Celestia concluded. Shining Armor nodded as he and Princess Cadance left. Princess Celestia then turned to us. “I don’t know what other plans, if any, Cyclone Shade has while he’s here, but I want all of you to keep an eye out. I don’t think I need to tell you how dangerous he is.”
“What should we do if we see him?” asked Twilight, worry clear in her eyes.
“Stay away from him and alert the nearest guards. For now that’s all that you can do.” Fluttershy spoke next.
“What if he tries to hurt somepony?” Princess Celestia paused.
“Do your best to prevent anypony’s death but do not try to fight him. That isn’t a risk that you should take.”
“What about Blast Shield? What happens to him?” I asked.
“Exactly what Shining Armor and I agreed, he’ll be given leave while we investigate. If he helped Cyclone Shade escape he will pay for it. If something important involving Cyclone Shade or Blast Shield comes up I’ll try to notify all of you as soon as I can.” Princess Celestia and the accompanying guard left, leaving us in a somewhat awkward silence.
“You said that your train for Ponyville leaves tomorrow, right?” I asked.
“A little after noon, yes.”
“Well, we’ve got a lot of time to kill before then, so how do you want to pass it?”
“OH! OH! We could tell you about ourselves!” Pinkie hyperly suggested. “You know what we’re like but you don’t really know us!”
“Doesn’t sound like a bad idea to me,” Fluttershy stated.
“Sounds good to me.” Pinkie quickly exited the room with Fluttershy behind her. When I began to approach the door, Twilight got in the way.
“Are you going to be okay?” She held an empathetic expression.
“I hope so,” was all I said. She remained concerned but stepped aside. Once we were in the hallway I saw Pinkie had already gone down it some while going on about some kind of “changelings are decent ponies” party in Ponyville. There was plenty weighing me down, but I had quite a bit to look forward to. I just hoped that there would be enough in Ponyville to keep me from being too depressed.
Theme Song
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I'm ready. Sooooooo ready.
Dragon san
5425402
i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/131/432/tumblr_lmcc4ne7Sv1qh6yt5o1_500.jpg
How've you been?
man i bet hofnar is like royalty or something.
5425433
Good so far. Trained a bit so my body is ready for chapters to come.
And by the way thank you for adding my Nick the knife story to your liked folder.
Hope you're doing good yourself.
Dragon san
5425612
What makes you say that?
5428314
you dont usually send a high level assassin to kill a family unless they are important. most stories revolve around changelings acting like a bee hive, queen > soldiers > workers. there is always 1 king, maybe hofnarr is the replacement king. but someling wanted him dead.
5429515
Whoa. This is just... well... deep.
I know, right? Deeper than my own philosophies.
I'm actually confused now.
It's 'kay. Just eat the golden apples from that chest over there.
Anyway, this was a great and confusing chapter!
5429515 LE GASP! MUST LOOK OVER THEORY!
5430869
Thank you.
I really hope Blast Shield isn't playing for the bad guys. Hopefully the Ponyville trip produces some lighter moments, this one is getting rough.
"Nothing good comes of revenge"
Truer words rarely spoken.
It's still being revised or is abandoned?
5691689
Revised, but only certain parts of certain chapters. I'll write more shortly after that. Rest assured, I am far from done with this story.
A bit of advice one the whole "revision" thing: get someone else to do it so you can focus on writing the story. I can understand it if it somehow gets your creative juices flowing, but if you can, I would reccomend getting someone else to proofread your shit before and/or after making it available to the public eye.
You may find that it helps.
By the way, I'm too lazy to look this up. Before I forget, does anyone know if Screwball (Discords apparent daughter) is an official pony or not? It'll help with a story I'm writing because if she is real, and I put her in one part of my story, I'll have to put her in a later portion otherwise it would be pointless, and I really want my story to be as similar to the actual show as I can get.
5892734
I do have someone edit and proof read before the chapters are posted, but I've been revising them myself because I want to rewrite some parts and my editor wouldn't know what lines would be ones I'd want to fix. However, you should be aware that I've stopped revising and resumed writing chapter 32.
Someone knows, but that someone isn't me.
5957986 It's been a long time since I've read this story, but weren't changelings only supposed to eat emotions? How can this one digest pancakes?
5959756
I believe that concept is up for debate.
5959773 Even so, I believe it was stated earlier in the fanfic that they could only eat love.
5963046 Just so you know, humans can eat solid pieces of metal, but can only gain sustenance from actual food. Changeling can be the same way, only with emotions.
Any idea roughly when the next chapters coming? 'Tis been way too long since the last update and this story have gotten really far, it'd be a shame if it wasn't continued. Here's for hoping a new chapter comes soon.
6914645
This story will not die unless I do. I have done some work on the next chapter (I've been planning out a lot about the next 3 chapters) but I can't seem to make any real headway. Not to mention YouTube videos and working on getting my driver's license. Though I will say this: chapter 32 (Return to Ponyville) will be out before summer's end.
6914666 Well, perhaps we have the same problem? Too many ideas and too many distractions. It's nice to at least have a proximate release date, and I hope that it goes well on your other projects.
7023830
I did?
Great Story so far really hope that you will finish it someday, would be sad after all the work and effort you put in this till now.
Of course there are a few spelling errors but let`s be honest as long as the story is good nobody should mind that few errors.
It is exam week here, and still I did read the Story in 4 days. I blame you for my test results
PS: Why do they even have guards don`t look like they can guard anything to me
7872015
I'm hoping to have chapter 32 out within the next 100 years. :v
I blame you for blaming me for your test results. Git gud, m8.
Because Cyclone Shade needed target practice.
Yeah a promised deadline for the next chapter.
New primary goal survival
7872195
Option A) Eat healthy, get/stay in shape. Hope for anti-aging drug.
Option B) Vampirism.
7872209
more please
8320668
Ah. I just searched up the word and found translations and synonyms, and decided “sawtooth” sounded most like a name, so I went with it.
And here's where this story sadly ends.
I knew it.
Years later...
11184570
But nobody came…
-Flowey