The Royal Thief

by LTBroski

Chapter 4 - New Challenges

Chapter 4 – New Challenges

Az approached the castle gate without his armor for the first time. He glanced over his shoulder and bulging saddle bags to see the Princess and her five friends watching him intently to make sure he actually followed through with Twilight’s offer. Fluttershy was still hiding behind Rainbow Dash. He sighed and walked up to one of the guards at the entrance to the courtyard. First time I’ve seen it in daylight too, he noted; things definitely look different.

“I’m here to enlist” he told the guard, who began to look him over skeptically. While his frame tended to be small, his skills were honed enough to the point where he could render a squad of guards unconscious without breaking a sweat. “The Princess has recruited me for the Secret Guard” he continued, “who do I need to talk to?” The guard looked over his shoulder at Twilight, who nodded to him.

“Right this way.” Az followed the guard into the courtyard and turned left as soon as they reached the castle, rather than proceeding inside it. They walked along the length of the western wing of the castle and continued towards the granite wall, which stretched two stories skyward. Upon reaching the wall, the guard looked about, as if searching for something. Az noticed the notch in the wall before the guard did. Must be why he’s a palace guard. Not very observant is he? He tapped the guard on the shoulder and pointed at the notch. Nodding, the guard knocked on the spot three times at a precise interval.

A door formed itself out of the solid rock of the wall and swung open. The guard motioned for Az to enter. As he began to enter the new area, the door swung closed. Well that was disconcerting. He must not be allowed in here I guess. No light either, looks like I need to make my own. He reached into one of his saddlebags with a wings and retrieved a chemical glow capsule. He shook it, activating the chemicals inside it, and continued down the now visible corridor. The temperature dropped as he continued further down the passage, which he now noticed was sloping downwards. The sound of his hooves hitting the granite underneath him also seemed to be increasing in volume. Annoyed, he employed his wings to lighten his steps by giving a quick flap every so often. The sound of his hooves vanished. Heh, I’m too good at this.

The passage suddenly ended, the granite of the walls seemingly frowning down on Az as he looked around for a way to continue. They certainly don’t make this place easy to get to. Probably some trick to get in. He looked closer at the wall, only to find that it was slightly flimsy. There was a familiar smell to it too… Wait, seriously? Paper? He pushed through the “wall” only to find himself in a large room. Or what he thought was one, as the walls disappeared on both sides. The chamber lit up very suddenly, causing Az to close his eyes.

He slowly opened his eyes only to find himself nose-to-nose with a stallion clad in black plate armor. Quickly taking stock of his situation, the stallion was a pegasus, so he was likely pretty quick, although he was large so Az was undoubtedly faster. The plate armor would also slow him down. Az took a quick glance at the stallion’s cutie mark, where a red blaze of flame stood stark against the stallion’s black coat. Enchanted armor most like. All things considered, threat posed is minimal I guess.

Az returned his gaze to the stallion in front of him, meeting the new aggressor’s golden gaze with his own grey-blue. “How may I help you?” he asked coolly.

The stallion took a swing at him with an outstretched wing, which Az dodged easily. He shed his saddlebags and tumbled right, out of the attacker’s reach. While his knowledge of martial arts remained limited, Az had managed to cobble together enough styles to protect himself more than effectively. He assumed a low, crouching position, wings flared, ready to meet his challenger with a grin on his face. The stallion charged, and lowered his head in preparation for a tackle. Az jumped straight up, planted both back hooves onto the base of his attacker’s skull, flapped once, performed a somersault midair, and landed behind the stallion in the same position as he started. Upon looking at his attacker, however, he saw that he had summarily knocked him out.

“Better luck next time, bud.” Az picked up his bags and walked further into the room. It was composed of granite, much like the passages had been before. In the center of the room a small table made of, what else but granite, rose out of the floor. On top rested a note with his name on it in stylized writing. This is some sort of trap, I can tell. Better check things out first. The room was circular, with a domed top. A ring of mirrors adorned the top of the dome, and Az could see himself in each one as he looked around the ceiling. Something’s off about those. He flew up for a closer look. Sure enough, they proved to be one-way mirrors, as he could discern other ponies’ shapes behind some of the panes.

He rolled his eyes and dove for the floor, flaring his wings once he was no more than five hoof-lengths from injury. He trotted up to the table again, checked it over then opened the note.

Mr. Azure Wind, please allow me to be the first to congratulate you on your induction into the Equestrian Secret Guard (ESG). You come highly recommended and I cannot wait to see how you meet the challenges ahead.
Regards, Princess Luna

As he finished reading the note, a door rumbled open on the opposite side of the room, through which entered another black stallion, a unicorn this time, clad in the same black armor as the pegasus. He walked up to Az and regarded his work with the now non-aggressive attacker, who lay unconscious on the ground.

“Certainly made short work of him, didn’t you kid?” The stallion addressed Az, and turned his attention back to the unconscious pegasus. “Damn, none of our recruits been able to knock him out for years, much less with the speed you did. Proxis!” The last order he barked in the direction of his sleeping compatriot. No response.

The unicorn sighed. “Well in any case, I’m Captain Shade of Her Majesties’ Secret Guard. I’ll be in charge of training you and whatever other new recruits we pick up in the next couple of months.” He paused, looked Az over and chuckled, “or next few weeks, based on what I’ve seen so far. So what’s your name kid?”

“Azure Wind, uh, sir. Most people just call me Az though.” He began tucking the note into his saddle bags, but Captain Shade stopped him.

“You can drop the sir crap, we don’t use it around here. What have you got there? Ah, a note from the Princess. She must have sent it down after I left. Impress somepony did you?”

“In a roundabout way I guess. Princess Sparkle put the recommendation in for me.”

“Is that so? Not even a week in office and she’s already sent me the best recruit I’ve had in years. Drop your bags, I gotta do a run-through for contraband.” Az complied, and the Captain began pulling items out. “Big stuff first I guess. Nice armor, really light, and lots of pockets. Very good, you know what you need in this line of work. What did you do before the Princess found you?”

“Have you heard of the “Black Dagger”?”

“Yeah, that you? Very nice, very nice indeed. So where is this dagger for which you were named by those idiots in the golden armor?” Az produced the ebony blade out of one of the pockets in the armor. “Useful for utility I imagine, maybe an assassination or ten, but not for all-out combat. We’ll need to get you a metal one for that sort of duty.” Captain Shade continued looking through Az’s saddlebags. “Distraction stuff, good. Infiltration gadgets, nice. Well, what have we here? Horseshoes, enchanted I’d presume.” Az nodded and the Captain put one on his right fore hoof. He let the hoof fall to the ground tentatively, and when no sound was produced nodded approvingly. “How long it take for you to afford a full set of these?”

“Two, maybe three month’s work I think. The dealer refused to give me a discount, even after I brought him a, um, shipment of new goods. Otherwise, they would have run me three weeks’ or so earnings.”

“Just as well, I’m going to need to hold onto them while you’re in training, for as long as that lasts. That looks to be it.” He loaded the contents of the bags back into them. “Most of the operatives you’ll meet prefer the plate armor like I have on, but you seem to prefer mobility to a rigid defense. Your armor should do just fine.” Az put the saddlebags back on and watched as Captain Shade enveloped Proxis in a cloud of grey telekinetic energy and began walking towards the far exit. “So, Az, everything you had to do to get down here was a test, an entry exam if you will. You showed quick thinking skills when confronted with the darkness of the tunnel, skill in stealth by moving through that volume enhancing area, intelligence with our paper wall over there, and combative abilities with poor Proxis here.” A small chuckle rose out of the Captain’s chest “he likes to think he’s one of our better unarmed fighters. Too bad you just showed him up pretty soundly.”

“Um, Captain, who were the ponies in the observation area above the room back there?”

“Princess Luna was in the one you rolled your eyes at. Don’t worry, she laughed. Aside from her, I was in there, as well as Captain Shining Armor, the commander of those golden-shod nincompoops, and Captain Vampris, the Lunar Guard’s leader.” He looked back at Az, who was sporting a confused look. “What, Vampris? Those bat-ponies always get weird-ass names, don’t ask me.”

As they continued through a tunnel identical to the first, the light began to look more natural, and the air began to feel warmer. Must be heading back uphill and outside. Secret base maybe? Funny how I’ve never heard of this before. Mentally, Az went through his catalogue of books. Nope, never heard of anything like this. Always something new around here I guess. They eventually emerged outside in a large courtyard, if it could be called that. The “walls” were composed of tightly planted trees that extended upwards fifty hoof-lengths before the canopies blended in with the surrounding forest. In one corner of the base was a large building reminiscent of the cider hall in Canterlot. Directly next to the building stood a large obstacle course, complete with sections designated for stealthy approach as opposed to speed.

“Welcome to your new home” Captain Shade stated. “And here come the other judges.” He bowed as Princess Luna walked up, and Az followed suit, albeit awkwardly. Captain Shining Armor and Captain Vampris, a female bat-pony, to Az’s surprise, followed close behind.

“Rise.” Princess Luna began looking over Az critically, with a frown on her face to match the one on Shining Armor’s. Az raised an eyebrow and glanced over at Captain Shade before returning his gaze to the Lunar Princess. It only lasted for a few moments before she began cracking up. “So, you were the one who stole Tia’s – ehem, my sister’s tiara.” A grin spread across her face. “I’ve been trying for years, but have never been able to do it. I am curious as to how you managed it.” Shining Armor’s frown deepened.

Az, who was seeming stuck to the ground with shock, finally found his wits and grinned at Luna. “Well, your highness-“

“Luna will suffice.”

“Very well. Well I snuck in through her window, flew onto the dresser where she kept her arraignment grabbed the tiara, and flew out through the open window. One of my easier snatch-and-grabs actually, she sleeps pretty soundly. There may have been snoring involved.” Luna was having a hard time looking dignified. She had since begun to bite her lip and gave a small snort at the mention of snoring. Az gave Captain Shade a glance only to find him grinning at his newest recruit. Shining Armor and Vampris, on the other hand, were frowning.

“Mr. Wind, after what Twil- Princess Twilight told me about you, I would have soon thrown you into our deepest dungeon. However, at her request, I will not be doing so right now.” Shining Armor continued frowning at him.

“Dungeon? My guard would have” Vampris looked Az straight in the eyes, “taken care of you if they had caught you any given night.”

“Believe me they tried, Captain. But your guards seem especially sensitive to smoke pellets” Az replied. “Plus, they apparently need to learn how to fly in something other than a straight line. All I needed to do was turn once and I lost them.” Luna had resumed smirking, and shot a small glance over her shoulder at Vampris. Shining Armor turned to leave, and Vampris followed after fixing Az with a withering glare.

Captain Shade glanced at Az, and after bowing as Princess Luna left, he barked out a laugh. “You’re going to fit in real well here kid.”