The Royal Thief

by LTBroski

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

The next morning AZ woke up to a letter suddenly appearing in a flash of green flame and smoke above his face. He bolted upright, half expecting the hair around his nose to be engulfed in flame, only to let out a sigh of relief and chuckle at his own jumpiness. Wiping the sleep out of his eyes, he unrolled the letter to find Twilight’s assistant’s sharp penmanship staring up at him. While his eyes were accustomed to the low light from being asleep, it was not bright enough in the room to discern what each individual word actually said. Az sighed as he left his bed, looking longingly over his shoulder as he left the warm embrace of his blankets. Reaching the blinds, he pulled on a string, causing them to open and allowing the grey early morning light to fill his room. It was cloudy outside, with the appearance that a storm would be heading through within the next few hours. Resigning himself to remaining indoors for the remainder of the day, Az looked back to the letter and began reading.

Az,

Thank you so much for talking to your commander for me. The girls are excited to get a tour of the base and see whatever else you have in store for us. We will be arriving by chariot, much like Princess Celestia, Luna, and I arrived on during my last visit. As to which day is preferable, Friday seems to be a likely candidate as we can take the day off as an excuse to extend our weekend. Thank you again, and we will see you on Friday.

Your friend,

Twilight Sparkle

Az rolled up the parchment and looked back outside, where he could see raindrops beginning to fall here and there across the courtyard. He looked over his shoulder at the clock on the far wall it see it read six-thirty, thus affording him a little extra sleeping time. He was about to crawl back into bed when he heard a soft knocking coming from the door. He made his way across the room, and suppressing a yawn, opened the door to find a worried-looking Longshot standing outside. Upon seeing Az standing in the doorframe, she relaxed slightly.

“Hey, L, what’s the matter? You look pretty spooked about something?” he asked, wiping at his eye.

“Can I, uh, can I come it?” she responded in a small voice, her green eyes betraying a degree of uncertainty Az was not used to seeing in her.

“Uh, sure, yeah, come on in” he said, stepping out of the way. She stepped into the room and he closed the door behind her, following into the main living space. She gave a nervous chuckle upon taking in her surroundings. “What?” Az asked, cocking an eyebrow as he walked up next to her.

“It’s just messier than your usual living spaces” she replied, still in the diminished tone that gave Az pause. Regardless of his misgivings, he still snorted at the comment.

“I was pretty damn tired last night, er, afternoon. Staying up all night will do that to you.” When she didn’t return with a snarky comeback, his concern grew. He sat down on the bed and motioned for her to join him. She paused at first, unsure, but eventually made her way next to him, her ruddy green coat looking mud-like in contrast with the black covers. “L, what’s the matter? You’ve got me pretty concerned right now” he nudged her with a wing, snapping her out of whatever reverie she was in.

“I, uh, you remember those bad feelings I used to get before some jobs?” she asked, looking at the floor.

“Yeah, and then everything invariably went sideways?” He arched an eyebrow. “Why, are you getting a bad feeling or something?”

“I’m not sure, it-it’s just that sometimes when I think about the mission I feel like I’m suffocating. Like something really, really bad is going to happen and there’s nothing any of us can do to stop it.” She continued looking at the floor and Az could see her eyes beginning to glass over. “I don’t know why I feel like this!” she growled, clenching her teeth, as if trying to bite back tears. “I mean, I have you and the other guys and we’re going to be so well prepared, but I just feel, I don’t know, helpless or something…”

“Exactly” Az draped a wing over her shoulders to try and comfort her. “You’re going to have all of us with you, and I promise you, nothing is going to go wrong as long as I’m around, alright?” She nodded stiffly, before closing her eyes against what tears were there and sniffing loudly. “And hey, if everything goes wrong, I’ll be there to pull your sorry flank out of the fire. Again.” He grinned and prodded her in the ribs with an elbow, eliciting a small chuckle out of her.

“Heh, you’d like to think so, wouldn’t you?” she responded, a little more strength returning to her voice, although it still remained shaky. She cleared her throat and made to get off the bed, allowing Az to furl his wing back alongside his own body. As she hopped onto the ground, she looked back at him with a small smile. “And, hey, Az?”

“Yeah?” He ruffled his wings, feeling that some of his feathers were out of place.

“Thanks, I really needed that. I mean, I’m not usually this much of a basket case. I don’t know what it is.”
“Hey, don’t mention it, that’s what friends are for, right?” He looked back at his wings, searching for the offending feathers.
A thought struck Longshot and her eyes snapped wide open before narrowing to look at Az who, in turn, wore a surprised expression on his face because of her change of attitude. “You better not tell the others. I just got them to start talking to me, much less liking me.”

“My lips are sealed” he chuckled back at her, ruffling his wings again.

She smiled at him before turning towards the door. “Alright then I’ll let you get back to sleep. See you at breakfast or something.” He scoffed, causing her to turn around, confused.

“After all that? I’m wide awake now, not to mention I’ve been sleeping since early afternoon yesterday. I’m thinking I might do a couple dozen laps around the courtyard, I’ve been getting lazy since I got here.” She rolled her eyes and continued walking towards the door.

“Just don’t hurt yourself,” she called over her shoulder, “we need you in top shape for the weekend, you know.” He chuckled as she left the room and quietly closed the door behind her. Once he heard the click of the latch, Az stretched his wings again, and, furling them, hopped off his bed towards the window. He pushed it open and placed his forehooves on the ledge and took in a breath of the cool morning air before leaping out of the building, opening his wings as he did so. Az banked as close as he could to the wall before leveling out and following the perimeter of the base, flapping just enough to get his heart rate up. A few dozen of these ought to set me right he thought. Longshot doesn’t scare easy, I’ll need to be sure I’m ready to go once we leave, gotta keep her safe. He paused in his train of thought, thinking over the rest of the team. Gotta keep them all safe.

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After completing two dozen laps of the courtyard, a combined length of twelve miles, Az landed in front of the long house. Upon entering the room, he was greeted by the scent of freshly cooked breakfast foods, and walked over to the counter where Hammer had just finished serving Clear Sky, who, after muttering a few words of thanks, disappeared up the stairs and into her room. Hammer watched her go and shook his head, a wry smile on his face.

“Yeesh, that kid never stays around to chat.” He turned his attention to Az, who had also watched Clear Sky disappear out of the room. “Anyways, what can I get ya? Oh, wait, don’t tell me. Toast and fruit?” he asked with a grin.

“You got it” Az replied, grinning back. Hammer disappeared behind the swinging doors to the kitchen, leaving Az to look around the main hall to try and ease his boredom. I would wonder why Clear Sky is so antisocial if I hadn’t seen her teammates being so mean to her myself he mused. Maybe I can talk to Flow about it, see if he can work something through Iron Feather. He could see that he would need to wait for that, however, as he was the only pony in the room at the moment, and likely would be for the next hour. Hammer returned with the tray of food, a simple meal, but more than enough to get his day started. I may even get to eat it this time too. He thanked Hammer and made his way over to one of the benches where he sat down to eat.

Fortunately, his breakfast went uninterrupted by flaming mail. As he finished the last piece of fruit, he stood up to return the tray to Hammer, who managed to pass the time by reading over the daily newspaper, The Manehattan Times, which he inexplicably managed to receive on time daily. Hammer looked up as Az placed the tray back on the counter and, folding up his newspaper, got up to retrieve it and put it in the dishwasher. Az started to walk away before Hammer stopped him by clearing his throat.

“What’s up?” he asked, turning around.

“You got a little bit o’ time on yer hooves?” Hammer responded.

“Until about noon. Why, what did you have in mind?” Az arched an eyebrow, and walked back towards the counter.

“Yer team’s doin’ equipment checks today, right?” Az nodded. “Then I need to get the new equipment to everypony and you’re in charge of doling it out, since I’m goin’ to be workin’ all afternoon in the forge, tryin’ to figure out how to make that black metal.” Hammer walked towards a door to the side of the counter and left the kitchen, leaving a “be back in 15” sign up in the open window. The pair walked to the forge in silence, which Az was thankful for, given the increasing heat and dryness of the hallway as they continued towards the ruddy orange glow at the end of the tunnel. Upon reaching the forge itself, Az noticed it looked remarkably different than it had when he and Flow had visited the previous week. Where once swords and armor adorned the walls, notes and pages copied from the ancient Guard tomes now covered every square inch, up to the height where Hammer could see them easily without the benefit of wings.

“You’ve been busy” Az remarked with a low whistle, looking around at the walls.

“You could say that” Hammer responded with a low grunt. He retrieved a piece of paper from across the forge and studied it carefully before looking back up at Az. “Now, lessee here. Ya’ve got Flow, Longshot, Lightning Shift, and Wise Guy on yer team, right?”

“Right.”

“Alright, so I only have three things for ya, since I haven’t been able to work out how to modify our crossbows to the old materials quite yet.” He walked to the opposite side of the forge, where Az could see him looking through a crate that presumably held the weapons that they had picked up on their mission. “Two daggers and a sabre” Hammer called across the forge, catching Az slightly by surprise.

“Who’s the sabre for?” Az asked, walking over to Hammer.

“Flow, he was some kind o’ big hotshot fencer at the University or something, likes it better than using a crossbow.” Hammer pulled his head out of the crate, two daggers in tow in his magical aura. "Well here’s these, give me a sec to find the sabre.” He walked over to another crate and poked his head back in. Az took a moment to inspect the blades, they appeared identical to the one that he was initially given by Hammer when he first arrived at the base with the sole exception being their coloration, black metal with a black grip, inlaid with the crest of the Guard, also in a matte black color. He looked up as Hammer emitted an “aha!” from inside the crate and removed his head, followed by a long, thin sword with a slight curve to it.

“Alright, so here’s the deal, kid” Hammer started, giving Az the sabre. “The two daggers are identical to the ones you and Lightning carry right now, so ya should be all set as far as fitting them into yer sheaths. The sabre, however, is very different than the one Flow already has, so ya tell him to make his way down here later on today to get a scabbard made up for it.” Az nodded, looking over the blades with interest. “And the members of yer team with plate armor pieces need to come by to get outfitted too, sooner rather than later.” Az nodded again, looking up from the blades. “Alright, good, now the hell outta my forge.”

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Az absentmindedly toyed with his dagger, spinning it around on its point, effectively drilling a hole into the table’s surface. He sat alone at a table in the main hall, his armor’s contents arrayed in front of him as he waited for the rest of his team to show up. The sabre and other dagger sat on the table across from him, waiting for Flow and Lightning Shift to take charge of them. The blades did not reflect any light, rather they seemed to suck it in, much like the dark corner of a room in the middle of the night. Az had been toying with names for the mystery metal, ranging from simply black steel to hard shadow. While not seriously contemplating what it should be called, he needed something to do to offset the boredom of waiting around for three hours.

Longshot was the first to join him at the table, placing her hybrid plate and leather armor next to, but across the table from, Az’s. She plopped down on the bench on the opposite side of the table and rubbed her temples with her forehooves before looking up at Az with a small smile.

“Hey there bud, feel better after your workout?” she asked.

“More or less, what about you? Still getting those feelings of foreboding helplessness?” he answered, putting his dagger down on the table. Lightning Shift walked up and threw his armor on the table next to Az’s.

“Longshot’s getting a bad feeling? Shit, the last time that happened was right before the Changeling invasion.” He sat down next to Az, who passed him the new dagger. “Ooh, new stuff!”

“It’s nothing” Longshot said quickly, suddenly very interested in the table. Lightning Shift made a noncommittal grunt, carefully studying his new blade. Flow then walked up with Wise Guy, each carrying their armor behind them in their respective magical auras. Wise Guy was chattering on about something that obviously was unable of holding Flow’s attention for any extended amount of time, and was simply reduced to background noise as he continued towards Az, Longshot, and Lightning Shift at the table. He put his gear down and eyed the sabre suspiciously, then looked at Longshot who directed his attention to Az, who had returned to twirling his dagger around on the table.

“What’s the deal with the sabre?” he asked Az, who looked up from his spinning blade to see Flow beginning to pick it up in his magic.

“Courtesy of Hammer. He said you need to get a new sheath though, your old one apparently won’t work with it. Oh, and those of you with plate armor you need to see Hammer to get outfitted with the new stuff.” Flow nodded, placing the sabre back on the table.

“Alright, let’s get the gear check going, see if we can’t finish up early today. Longshot, why don’t you start?” She nodded, shifting her armor on the table so that everyone could see it.

“Alright, same armor as I’ve been using, leather and small bits of plate, nothing too fancy. I carry three separate quivers, one with my sniping bolts, two with smaller hoof-cannon crossbow bolts. I keep sleep darts in a small pouch under the sniping bolt quiver.” She picked the armor up off the table and placed on the floor in front of her, underneath the table. Her horn flared, and three crossbows materialized in front of the group. The largest Az had seen before, it was her specially made sniping crossbow, capable of hitting a target accurately at half of a mile. The two smaller crossbows looked as if they were designed for griffons, since they were able to be held in a clawed grip. They were significantly smaller, but still capable of delivering a killing blow at a short distance. “Alright, here are my toys, sniping crossbow, and two hoof-cannons, pretty self-explanatory.” Her horn glowed again, and the weapons disappeared.

“Good. Lightning Shift, why don’t you go next?” Flow said, nodding. Lightning Shift sighed, nudging his armor into the center of the table.

“I’ll make this painless” he said quickly. “Standard issue leather armor, lets me be quick on my hooves. I keep my dagger under my left wing, also standard issue.”

“Thanks for the brevity” Flow said, chuckling. “Wise Guy, you’re up.” The unicorn shoved his armor into the center of the table.

“I have the same deal as Lightning. Standard issue plate armor, minus a few unnecessary pieces, standard issue crossbow, bolts on my left side.” He shifted his armor off the table with a small flick of his horn.

“Alright, I’m up next” Flow said, placing his hooves on the table and standing on the bench. “I have plate armor, set up for maximum protection when fencing, enlarged left side pauldron and the like.” He shifted the armor off the table. “I carry a sabre instead of a ranged weapon since I’m more effective with a sword. I also handle the defensive spells.” Az looked around the table to see Lightning Shift, Wise Guy, and Longshot staring off into space, each apparently bored beyond comprehension. “And that leaves the pony with a thousand pockets. Az, you’re up.”

Az chuckled as his teammates seemed to perk up given the occasion to actually garner some new information. “Well, as you said,” he said, looking at Flow, “I kind of have more pockets than I know what to do with. A lot of them are for storing stuff I’ve stolen, but some actually contain useful mission items. Primarily,” he placed five small orbs, each varying in color, in front of him, “these. They’re impact-reactive grenades, each with a different function.” He motioned to the one on his far left. “White is flash, it makes a bright, blinding light. Next is grey, these produce a lot of smoke. Yellow are what I like to call flash-pop. Bright flash of light, accompanied by a deafening pop.” His teammates were paying close attention and nodding along with each explanation. Attentive crowd for once. This usually never works… oh wait, I’m thinking of trying to explain it at a bar he thought bemusedly. “Green is tear gas,” he continued, “and red is incendiary. That covers the grenades.” He placed each in their respective pockets on the armor.

“My armor is custom made, and is inlaid with a number of different runes that offer me protection from any number of things, the most important being that it can’t be manipulated by magic.” He produced his signature ebony dagger. “This is an ebony dagger, honed beyond razor sharp, it stays in a sheath in my right breast pocket.” He pointed out the pocket in question. “My standard issue dagger sits between my wings so it doesn’t get in my way during a scuffle. At least that’s how Hammer described it.” He shuffled through the remainder of his preparedness equipment, from emergency light sources to a host of different antidotes and poisons to help with most jobs. As he placed the last item back into its pocket, he looked over at Flow, who nodded and produced the blueprints of the complex.

“Alright, folks. Show and tell time is over. Time to start planning how we actually bust into and out of this joint.” He unrolled the plans and smoothed them out, while Lightning Shift and Longshot pinned down the edges with a dagger and a crossbow bolt, respectively. Flow and Wise Guy secured the other end of the blueprints in a similar fashion, and five heads leaned in to get a better look at the plans. After a few minutes of close examination, Flow leaned back away from the group. “So, ideas?” he asked them.

The group was silent for a moment, before Longshot garnered their attention by clearing her throat. “Well, we could always go in through the window of the room.” She looked around at her compatriots, hoping for a reaction.

“What about neighbors?” Wise Guy asked, looking closely at the blueprint.

“Not an issue,” Flow answered, “the whole complex is surrounded by a fifteen hoof tall wall.

“What about patrols in the yard?” Az asked, looking up from the document. Flow opened his mouth but closed it quickly, contemplating his response before actually answering. “Actually, I should have asked what the yard looks like, where we’ll be landing, stuff like that. I’m guessing we’ll need a wide open area?”

“No, actually” Longshot answered. “You and Lightning can land wherever you want, and we” she motioned to Flow and Wise Guy, “can simply teleport down.” She refocused her gaze on Flow, who was rummaging through a saddlebag to find the layout of the complex.

“Then that brings me to my initial question, what about patrols? Three unicorns teleporting in will create a lot of light. Not exactly stealthy.” Flow had found the plans and laid them on top of the blueprint. Wise Guy leaned in, scratching his chin.

“What about this stand of trees here?” he pointed to a smaller courtyard in a corner of the greater complex. “These could give us enough cover if they’re packed tightly enough.” Longshot leaned in to examine where Wise Guy had just pointed.

“Perfect,” she said, “it’s a bamboo privacy shade, pretty common in Tigra actually.”

“So will it give us enough cover?” Flow asked.

“Easily” she answered. “Then all we need to do is sneak past whatever patrols are around and make it in through that window, copy the plans and get the hay out of there.” She leaned back from the map with a satisfied grin on her face.

“Um, hate to be a Negative Neighncy,” Lightning Shift said, clearing his throat, “but what if we can’t get in through the window?”

“What do you mean?” Longshot answered, suddenly troubled.

“We need to have a contingency plan, something I learned in the Wonderbolts training camp” he answered. “Two contingencies, preferably, we need alternate means of getting in and out given the window is barred or something.”

“Sounds like a good idea” Flow said, nodding. “So let’s say we need to use the back door over here, right next to the window, and if all else fails, the front. Because if one window is barred, it’s probably safe to say they all are.” He pointed to the aforementioned spots on the map. “This just means I’ll need to tweak the fleshing spell to include the yard as well.” He looked over the scope of the entire area. “Or I could call in that favor Solemn Chant owes me” he muttered to himself.

“Who’s that?” Az whispered to Lightning Shift.

“Leader of Magelight, pretty heavy duty spellcaster as far as Guard members go” he answered quietly. Az nodded in understanding, returning his gaze to the map.

“Alright, so here’s what we’ll do” Flow said, bringing his gaze to bear on the group. “We’ll go out now and do a few run-throughs, see which way is fastest from each door. Tomorrow we’ll start full-armored practice runs, starting with the airdrop in. From there, that’s how the rest of the week will go.” He looked at Az, and remembered the visit that would be taking place later that week. “Oh, right, you have some visitors coming in at the end of the week.” He began grinning, causing Az to scowl at him before turning to address the group.

“Right, the Elements of Harmony are coming in on Friday. I guess I’ll be the one touring them around, so that’s going to take a chunk out of practice time.” He could see Longshot beginning to get giddy in the corner of his vision. Sighing, Az continued: “Captain Shade suggested that we use them for practice though, intersperse them throughout the building and sneak around them.”

Flow’s smile lessened slightly, his eyebrows furrowing as if in thought. “That sounds pretty helpful, actually. Friday you said?” Az nodded. “Ok, we have some work to do between now and then. Let’s get this done.” He stood up from the table, magically rolling up the blueprint and map and stuffing them in his saddlebags. After picking up his armor, he led the rest of the group outside, and dropped his belongings alongside the side of the long house. Flow walked up to the frame and touched his horn to the wooden beam itself. As he did so, his horn flared, and he frame responded in kind by flaring up, appearing similar to an aurora. After another flash, brighter this time, solid-looking white walls stood where once there was nothing but a clear view of the rest of the courtyard. Flow straightened up to admire his work before turning to the group. “So, shall we get started?” he asked, grinning.

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The rest of the week was spent running practice drills, trying different avenues of approach to the compound, and continually attempting to move faster and faster throughout the building itself. During their downtime Flow could be found studying the instruction manual for the auto-landing sequence, Lightning Shift did time trials around the courtyard, continually attempting to set a new speed record, Wise Guy disappeared to nap, and Longshot spent her time scoping out the building with Az for possible locations for traps. Friday consisted of nothing but downtime until the Elements of Harmony showed up, so Az and Longshot walked around the framework, this time accompanied by Lightning Shift, who was on detail with Az to intercept the chariot as it approached the complex. The morning sun, while not particularly strong, still managed to bake them within their armor, causing them to continually tug on the loose openings to get more airflow.

“So I think we’ve covered every single possible trap location in this building” Longshot said with a small note of satisfaction. “Unless Tigrans managed to up their security since the last time either of us were there, I think we should be all set to take care of whatever comes our way.” She closed her notebook, a small flip-top pad that contained all of her notes on potential threats and locations that could cause the team difficulties. To Az’s surprise, she somehow managed to fill up half of the book. Between her endless scribbling and drawing, it was a wonder her pencil was still more than just a paper-thin piece of wood and graphite.

“You certainly did a good job documenting it” Az said, and Lightning Shift nodded with bemused agreement. “How many other notebooks like this do you have?”

“One for every mission like this I’ve done” she responded matter-of-factly, blinking in confusion, “why?” Az was about to respond when sirens started going off around the base.

“Just wondering if we should be concerned about you wasting paper or something” he said quickly.
“Looks like that’s our cue” Lightning Shift said, spreading his wings. Az followed suit after pulling up his mask and hood, and the two took off in unison, leaving Longshot standing in the middle of the wooden framework.

“Oh, he was mocking me” she said in sudden realization.

Meanwhile, Az and Lightning Shift sped towards the incoming golden dot. As they approached the chariot, they spotted a separate dot, more brilliantly colored, yet smaller than the chariot, and speeding along the treetops instead of staying with the group. Az called over to Lightning Shift and pointed towards the wayward flyer. Lightning Shift nodded and sped off towards the separate dot, static electricity following him as he increased in speed. Az continued on coursed and pulled up to a hover two hundred or so yards in front of the advancing chariot.

“Halt! Who goes there?” he called out, mimicking what he had heard Proxis call the last time he was on escort duty. The chariot detail pulled up to a hover to mimic his fifty hoof-lengths away, and Twilight looked over the side to the chariot, past the heads of the Royal Guard, to answer.

“Princess Twilight Sparkle and the Elements of Harmony, um, minus one” she grinned sheepishly at Az who arched an eyebrow in confusion. Before he could open his mouth, however, Lightning Shift flew to his side, escorting a rather put-out looking Rainbow Dash back to the chariot where she sat down with a humph. Twilight coughed out a nervous laugh and forced a painful-looking grin at the two black-clad ponies, one of whom wore a full-faced mask to hide any semblance of expression. Az and Lightning Shift shared a look, and Az began chuckling once he could no longer contain himself. Lightning Shift shared in his amusement after a moment.

“If you don’t mind me askin’, what’s so funny?” Applejack asked, stepping up next to Twilight along the railing of the chariot. She shot Twilight a nervous look, who returned the expression with even more apprehension.

“Hm? Oh nothing” Az replied. He pulled back the hood and lowered his mask, smiling. “Good seeing you again, Twilight, girls, elephant” he looked at each of them pointedly, finishing with Rainbow Dash, who snorted in reply. Twilight shot him a glare before shaking her head with a bemused grin. Her friends shared expressions varying from confusion to indignation. The sole exception being Pinkie Pie, who could barely keep her hooves on the chariot’s floor she was so excited.

“You know that really wasn’t necessary? You had us pretty concerned” Twilight said.

“Yeah, couldn’t help myself though” Az replied with a shrug. “In any case, you girls already know me, but my compatriot here is Lightning Shift, one of my teammates.”

“Wait, you play well with others?” Applejack asked. “I thought you ran a one-pony show or somethin’.”

“It’s a new me” Az replied with a wry chuckle. “Now if you gentlecolts will follow us” he addressed the Royal Guard ponies, who nodded stoically and took off after Az and Lightning Shift towards the courtyard a half mile out. Az dropped back so that he could fly next to the chariot while Lightning Shift remained in the lead. “You’d think that one of you would remember that my armor had a hood and mask attached to it” he commented towards the chariot.

“Of course I did, darling” Rarity responded. “I was just surprised nopony else noticed it was you. I mean, Twilight, dear, you spent quite some time talking with him, how did you mistake is voice for somepony else’s?” Twilight grinned sheepishly and blushed under the scrutinizing stares of her friends.

“Well he sounded different yelling” Twilight explained with a nervous laugh.

“Yeah, whatever” Rainbow Dash interjected. “Hey thief, did you say that your buddy up there’s name is Lightning Shift?” Az shot her an annoyed look, and was pleased to see Applejack shove an elbow into her side drawing a small yelp from the technicolor-maned mare.

“Yes I did, why?”

“Like, the Wonderbolt number one candidate that disappeared Lightning Shift?” Her voice was steadily growing more excited.

“Uh, I think so, you could ask him yourself you know.” She had zipped out of the chariot before he could finish the sentence. Rolling his eyes, Az continued flying alongside the chariot as they approached the base, which was now showing signs of population since guests would be arriving soon. Az could pick out Captain Shade standing at the end of the landing strip, and had donned his new armor, which refused to shine in the bright sunlight like his last set had.

“Ladies, if you would please be seated for arrival, we would appreciate it” one of the Royal Guard said over his shoulder. The five Elements sat down as requested, causing Az to roll his eyes.

“Somethin’ we should know?” Applejack asked accusingly after spying Az’s reaction.

“Just that our landing strip is the smoothest in the nation. Not sure why you need to worry about jarring your legs on landing” he replied nonchalantly.

“Why, because the kind gentlecolt asked us to” Rarity cooed. Az arched an eyebrow but said nothing, and peeled off to allow the chariot to land without incident. He alighted next to Captain Shade and Lightning Wind did the same on the other side of the pony-in-command. A flash of green light later, and Longshot stood next to Az, looking over the landing party with a degree of bemusement.

“Don’t you even start with me” Az grumbled to her out of the side of his mouth.

“Why, that’s no way to treat your fellow tour guide” she retorted chucking. Az’s eyes widened and he turned to look at her, as she continued staring straight ahead with a grin plastered across her face. “What, you didn’t think I’d let you be alone with six mares, did you?” She looked over to see Az slack jawed and reddening and chuckled again. “Plus, I know more about this place than you do, remember? Liven up, it’ll be a good day.” Az’s surprise turned into a small scowl as he turned to face the chariot again, now half-empty, given the Elements of Harmony had begun disembarking onto the runway. Rainbow Dash had ceased in her efforts to pester Lightning Shift and had rejoined her friends, now looking almost as giddy as Pinkie Pie.

As the final member of the party, Applejack, departed the chariot, Captain Shade moved towards the group, flanked by Az, Lightning Shift, and Longshot. He cleared his throat to get their attention, but found that he was largely ignored while the mares jabbered on about their new surroundings. He rolled his eyes and cleared his throat again, louder this time. This caught Twilight’s attention and she quickly quieted her friends, who turned their attention to the four black-clad ponies now arrayed in front of them.

“Thank you, Princess” Captain Shade said, with a small nod. He turned to address the whole group, straightening up to look more commanding. “Now, ladies, I understand that you all wished to visit us here due to one of my agents, is that correct?” The group nodded as a whole, some more emphatic than others, causing Shade to look over his shoulder with a ghost of a grin at Az, who instantly felt his stomach drop. “Quite the fan club you have here, kid” Shade said teasingly to Az. “So, I’ll leave it to you to show these fine mares around the base for today. Oh, and before I forget,” he turned back to the Elements, “I’ve decided to have you all participate in a bit of an exercise later on today, if that’s all right with you.” The six mares exchanged nervous-looking glances before Twilight turned back to Shade.

“Uh, what would we be doing?” Twilight asked him and shot a questioning glance over at Az.

“Just acting as guard stand-ins, nothing dangerous. Nightstalker will fill you in once they start the exercise with you” Shade answered nonchalantly.

“Nightstalker?” Fluttershy asked in a small voice, and took the opportunity to hide in her mane when Shade looked over at her.

“Oh, sorry, I forgot you’re not spun up on what that would necessarily mean. Nightstalker is one of our teams here, the team your friend Mr. Wind is on, in fact.” Az took the opportunity to step forward and prevent any further damage or insult from occurring.

“Right, I’ll take it from here, Captain” he said, shooting Shade a slightly annoyed look, resulting in the Captain returning a bemused grin to him.

“I’ll be in my office you need me kid” Shade said, turning back towards the long house.

“I’m, uh, gonna go see if he needs help with anything” Lightning Shift said, after shooting a quick, nervous glance over in Rainbow Dash’s direction. Az nodded, grinning slightly, and turned his attention back to the group in front of him.

“Alright then, welcome to the base, all of the ponies you’ll see around today are highly trained members of the Guard, so please don’t go poking around away from the rest of the group.” Six multicolored faces looked back at him, with expressions ranging from friendly familiarity to cold skepticism written across each separate visage. Twilight, alone, showed confusion more than anything else.

“Wait a second, you said the Guard, as opposed to the Secret Guard, which I had heard Luna say before” she said, cocking her head to the side.

“That’s because this organization is significantly older than the Guards that you are familiar with” Longshot said, stepping forward. “The Royal, or Palace Guard only came about after Princess Luna was banished to the moon. The Lunar Guard is only two or three years old.”

“And you are?” Rainbow Dash interjected. Rather rudely, in Az’s opinion.

“This is Longshot” Az responded, shooting Rainbow Dash a quick glare. “She and I go way back, but only started working together again after I got recruited here.”

“And here ah was thinkin’ criminals didn’t have any friends” Applejack drawled with a stern gaze. Longshot took a step back, as if she had been struck, and a hurt expression crossed her face for a brief moment.

“Applejack!” Twilight shouted at her friend, surprised.

“Ah’m just callin’ it like ah see it, Twi.”

“Well you don’t even know what she did before she got recruited, or how she and Az met!” Twilight fumbled over her own tongue trying to come up with more explanations.

“Well what did she do then?” Rainbow Dash asked heatedly. She looked at Longshot who gazed back at her, expressionless. “Huh? What sort of job did you have before you came out here?” Az looked over at Longshot and instantly grew more cautious. She was showing several of her typical tell-tale signs that she was about to attempt to murder somepony. Her eyes held an expressionless gaze, the right side of her mouth curled up in a miniscule, almost indistinguishable smile, and small sparks had started forming at the base of her horn, indicating she was about to bring her crossbow to bear on the rainbow-colored pegasus.

Deciding to intervene before Longshot did what she typically was best at doing, Az stepped between the two and glared at Rainbow Dash and Applejack. “I thought you were here to vet me, not my friends. Longshot has been here for nearly a year and a half, and has probably saved each of your lives a few times when you’ve been around the capital.” He turned and gave Twilight a quick pleading glance before looking back at the two offending mares. “Whatever she did before being recruited here doesn’t matter, nor is it any of your business.” Before either of them could retort, Twilight’s horn flared and Rainbow Dash and Applejack’s mouths were sealed shut magically, rendering them silent.

Twilight smiled sheepishly and let out a nervous chuckle as she turned back to face Az and Longshot. “So, about that tour?”

Author's Note:

Long chapter is long (at least for me it is)

Thanks for reading!