The Step

by Pointman

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Entrance to Canterlot Castle, 1520 hours

Twilight and Spike finally returned to the castle after their lunch to find Guards scrambling in and out of the Castle, alarms were sounding and gates were slamming shut, the grounds keepers were being shooed inside.

“What do you think has got them so spooked?” Spike asked rhetorically

“I have no idea, but I’ll find out” Twilight responded as she walked up to one of the door guards

As the guard spotted her, he ran up to her, with a look of relief on his face

“Princess Sparkle, we’ve been looking everywhere for you, we have to get

you someplace safe, immediately”

He turned to a pair of Guards running past

“You two, with me, we have to get the Princess and her secretary inside now!”

“Secretary?” Spike asked unamused

But before he could correct them one of the guards threw Spike on his back as the other two flanked Twilight and hurried them both inside past multiple layers of security to a room in the castles interior. Upon entrance, the guards blocked off the one entrance to the room and teleported a message confirming that Twilight was safe. Only then did Twilight get the chance to ask questions.

“What is going on here? Are we under attack!? Are the Changelings back?!”

“We don’t know Princess” one of the Guards responded

“There was a commotion at the main barracks compound and the alarm has been sounded

for a full castle lock down”

“What could have caused this?”

Suddenly the Guards bowed, at first Twilight thought that they were bowing to her but then

she turned to see that her mentor Princess Celestia was already inside the safe room.

She walked towards Twilight

“My most gifted Student, there are things that I must discuss with you in private”

Celestia turned to the guards.

“Take Spike to the southwest safe room, I wish to be alone with Princess Sparkle”

“Yes, Princess” the guards replied in unison as they bowed and then left the room

Spike followed them out “Seriously though…Secretary?”

Celestia barred the door after they had left and then when she felt the room was secure

she began to explain

“Last year, during the changeling attack, one of our elite teams from the 1st Asymmetric

Reconnaissance Battalion went missing and it was only after we sifted through the rubble,

did we piece together that they had actually aided the changelings in their attack”

Twilight stood there confused for a moment “So what does that mean? Are we under attack

NOW? What does this have to do with the lock down?”

“Well that’s the thing, the leader of this group, a unicorn by the name of Piercing Lance,

turned himself in at the Main guard barracks a few moments ago”

“But why would THAT cause the entire garrison to go on high alert? I mean for one pony,

that’s a bit excessive don’t you think?”

“Captain Lance was no ordinary unicorn and neither were the stallions under his command,

only the best of the guard were even on the list for consideration in the 1st Battalion,

90 percent of those chosen for selection do not even pass, and only the absolute best of those

stallions were even considered for Lances team…we are talking about stallions that know the

guard inside and out, they’re motivated and they, for whatever reason, are working to bring down

the Kingdom”

Twilight thought about all this for a moment, then being as logical as ever referred to her

knowledge of Canterlot emergency procedures to determine the next course of action.

“Alright, so our next step would be to have the prisoner interrogated, to find out what he knows,

as per regulation 45-b of the ‘Canterlot Emergency Management Handbook’ if memory serves”

Twilight said with a certain level of professional pride.

Celestia let slip a brief chuckle “Ever the student I see”

Celestia then looked over to a desk in the center of the room and levitated a series of files

from inside of it.

“These are the dossiers of Team 6, otherwise known as ‘The Silent Step’, I want you to conduct the

investigation of this matter on my behalf, along with the questioning of Captain Lance”

“The Silent Step huh? Spooky” Twilight mused as she took the Dossiers. She flipped one open,

just sort of glancing at it, then she looked back at Celestia “Consider it done”

“One more thing” Celestia added “well, three actually: First, no pony but a very select few in the

Guard, as well as you and my sister know the specifics of “The Step’s” crimes, most in the guard

assume that they’re deserters, dangerous deserters…but nothing more”

“Understood, my lips are sealed” Twilight crossed her heart and put her hoof up to her eye

“And the second thing?”

“I’m bringing in your friends, just in case we need the Elements of Harmony”

Twilight nodded in approval, her friends had all gone off to follow their own dreams and

she was looking forward to seeing them again.

“As for the Third: I’m bringing in a former member of ‘The Step’ to help you conduct your

investigation, he has experience with the Captain and will aid you with your investigation”

“Can he be trusted?” Twilight asked skeptically

“I’d hope so, you know him quite personally”

Twilight was confused, she didn’t know many in the Guard personally, and she was racking her brain for the possibilities and on top of that she wasn’t too keen on putting her trust in a pony who could still be loyal in some way to this ‘Lance’ character.

“Who?” she finally inquired

Celestia turned and replied without hesitation

“Your brother”

********

Later that night, 2245 hours, Princess Sparkle’s personal Library/bedroom

Twilight sat alone in her candle lit library looking over the files of the members of this Team 6; the “Silent Step” as they were known in the guard… and what she had read both scared and thrilled her. Their after action reports read like a Daring Do novel come to life; harrowing escapes, life or death battles often times with the fate of Equestria hanging in the balance...

“I can see why they put the city on lock down for the afternoon now” she mused as she

rubbed the sleepiness from her eyes.

Spike walked in with a tea kettle and cups on a platter

“Hey Twi, I figured you could use something to keep you awake”

Twilight levitated the tea kettle onto her desk, Spike looked at her confused

“Ugh…Twi, don’t you need-“

Spikes thought was cut off by Twilight drinking the boiling hot tea straight from the kettle

“Never mind then” Spike said to himself as he began to leave

Twilight put down the kettle and waved Spike back to her

“Check this out Spike, it’s the Dossier on Captain Lance”

Spike waddled over and hopped up on the desk

Twilight continued

“Honestly, if even half the stuff in this file is true, then even I might have something to worry about.

Graduated top of his class at the Guard Academy, one of the youngest Captains in the history of the

Guard at twenty, He was selected then for training with the 1st Battalion where he demonstrated

‘Incredible capacity for small unit tactics, evasion, and subterfuge”

Spike interrupted “And let me guess, he graduated 1st in his class?”

“3rd, actually” Twilight corrected

“Ah, go on”

Twilight resumed

“After the Dominion war he was head of Guard training for 10 years after which he ran

‘Team 6’, Celestia’s go to team for operations outside of the Kingdom, which he did until

my brother’s wedding when his team went rouge”

Spike thought about this for a moment

“Okay, but does it say anything about why he might have turned traitor?”

Twilight flipped through another set of files

“Well, from what I understand, observers in the guard noticed a change in his demeanor

after returning from a mission deep inside the Southern Nieghmazon Rainforest; an area which

boarders Changeling territory. This was just one month before the invasion”

“You think that the Captain and his team could have been replaced by changelings?”

“I can’t speak for his team, but we’ve had the Guard confirm that the Captain himself is not a

changeling…but what could have caused them to go rouge I wonder…”

“Well, couldn’t he be under some sort of mind control like your brother was when Chrysalis was

disguised as Cadence?”

“I’ve thought of that too Spike, but Shining Armor was in a weakened state and he lost most

of his ability to function once Chrysalis’s mind control was in full swing. But the Captain shows no sign

of Changeling influence on his mind.”

“Still, it could be a possibility, what does the report from the Neighmazon mission say?”

Twilight sorted through the mission files to find the last report, marked “Operation 476-I”

(Secret operations aren’t the thing you attach big flashy names to)

“Well, the report IS collated properly, there are no spelling or grammar errors-“

“But what does it say Twi?”

“Basically, it was a “Routine Recon” mission whatever that means, but I can’t trust what the

Captain wrote in this report, by this point they could have already been working for Queen Chrysalis…

but that’s not what bothers me”

“Hold on Twi…A team of Elite Guards going rouge and helping the Changelings take down

Equestria DOESN’T bother you?”

“What bothers me is their target location, the area where they were sent to survey is

…well…empty. Granted there’s some old ruins in that area…but it was surveyed roughly 40

years ago, it holds no tactical or political importance, and all the artifacts in those ruins are on

display in the archives…so why go there?”

“Hmm, I don’t know Twi…OH, Maybe there was ugh a…pack of pony eating manticores!”

“Manticores, Spike?”

“Yeah, and maybe they were sent to defeat them before they could gobble up more

innocent camper ponies”

Twilight face-hoofed “What am I going to do with you Spike?”

“Well” Said the dragon as he raised himself up “I think a Lordship would be in order, I’ll take

…um…half”

Twilight chuckled slightly, realizing what the dragon was trying to do; the day had been stressful, and tomorrow was only going to be more taxing on her… and Spike always did have a way of making her smile, even if it was at his own foolishness.

Spike hopped off Twilight's desk

“Well, I think I’m going to bed, a Lord after all needs his rest if he is to rule the WORLD! Mwahahaha!”

Twilight rolled her eyes at the dragon as he walked off to bed. Then Twilight remembered.

“Spike!”

He turned back to Twilight, awaiting instructions

“Rarity is coming to the Capital tomorrow, at around 10, and I’ m sure that she’d love it

if you were there to greet her”

But before she could tell him where to greet her the dragon ran off to make what preparations

he deemed fit.

“He’s probably going to dye his scales” She mused aloud

Twilight then turned back to her stack of reports, she hesitantly grabbed for one that she knew involved her brother: Shining Armor. She had been hesitant to look at the ones that made mention of him for fear of reading about him being in peril, but if she wanted to gain some insight on what his relationship was with the Captain she had to read them. She levitated a file in front of her open:

Operation 9057-K

Objectives-Primary: Extract Vital Information package from Gryphon Dominion military instillation

(Designate: Wheat Mill)-Status: Successful

Primary: Avoid detection at all avenues of Operation- Status: Failure

Primary: Avoid implication of Kingdom in any actions taken against The Dominion-Status: Successful

Primary: Extract Kingdom sympathizer (Designate: Hawk-eye) - Status: Failure

Team Manifest:

Captain Piercing Lance-Royal Guard- CO (U)

Lieutenant Shining Armor-Royal Guard-XO (U)

Master Sergeant Arsenal- Equestrian Marines (E)

Staff Sergeant Phalanx-Equestrian Marines (P)

Flight Sergeant Blitz Sling – Equestrian Air Navy (P)

Communications Specialist Grape Vine- Equestrian Signal Corps (U)

Sergeant “Chemist” Trotsky- Equestrian Air Navy (E)

Guard Corporal Wind Flare-Royal Guard (P)

The approach to the “Dig site” was simple enough, the underbrush surrounding the site was thick

enough to hide the whole of the Kingdom under it and still have room to spare, clearly the Griffons

didn’t expect anyone to approach from the south, personally would have cleared the area in a 300

meter perimeter. Sloppy. Upon reconnoitering the surrounding area my team split in 2,

I (Captain Piercing Lance) lead three of my stallions to retrieve the “package” while the remaining

stallions under Lieutenant Armor made their way to extract the defector: Doctor Felipe Nightwing,

archeologist responsible for the excavation. The extraction on our end was flawless,

Team 2 however ran into problems. First the team was apparently spotted during infiltration by

one of the maintenance crew who then alerted the legion detachment. Upon the entrance of team 2

to the doctor’s quarters they were set upon by an estimated 5 Griffon legionaries. Flight Sergeant

(FS) Sling suffered a cracked rib and Sergeant Phalanx a mild concussion, the Doctor along with

Lieutenant Armor and Sergeant Trotsky were un-harmed in the scuffle. Lieutenant Armor withdrew

his team with the Doctor en-tow, back towards the rendezvous point. Upon hearing the alarms and

realizing that team 2 had been compromised I sent Corporal Flare and MSG Arsenal to light the

match on an explosives payload that we had crafted out of local materials mostly consisting of a

local ignition compound and our own fecal matter…incredibly crude, but efficient, in order

to provide the Lieutenant’s team a few extra moments to escape. However, in the course of

attempting to escape LT Armor had to make use of a bridge to escape the pursuing guards as

their primary route was split in two by a griffon platoon. Unfortunately, the super structure of the

old iron bridge collapsed as they attempted to cross it, and while my team was able to climb off the

bridge and onto he opposite side; Doctor Nightwing became trapped beneath a section of the

iron superstructure of the bridge and was unable to escape plummeting to his death. LT Armor was

unable to react in time to save the Doctor due to having to pull up FS Sling who had also gotten

trapped in the iron of the bridges super structure. We would spend the next 2 weeks evading patrols,

eventually leading them to dragon territory where they ceased their search.

Overall evaluation of the mission: “Package secured”, mission successful…

but sometimes even the best leaders can’t save everyone.

NOTE: Lieutenant Shining Armor requested transfer to Capital guard detachment:

request was granted.

NOTE: Presence sanitary: Griffons assumed we were bandits seeking a quick ransom,

no links to the Crown but this report.

Twilight put down the report with many, MANY questions, but her foremost thought was simply

“What WAS so valuable to the princess that she would risk re-igniting the war with the Griffon

Dominion to claim it?”

Twilight filtered the options in her head: It couldn’t possibly be anything of monetary value,

the Dominion military would not have had jurisdiction over their gold mining, so that was out.

Simple artifacts and most magical charms and amulets were out since they would have required an

on-site Magical Historian to head up the project and not an Archeologist…so what could possibly have

been excavated there?

Twilight racked her brain as to the possibilities but was unable to think of anything that made sense…

perhaps she could get a better picture from her brother tomorrow.

“He’s got a lot to answer for” Twilight yawned “But for now, I think it’s time for bed”

Twilight reached down under her desk for her study pillow, cleared the reports from out in

front of her, put her pillow on her desk and drifted instantly into sleep.

Canterlot Catacombs
That very same night

Beneath the Castle, under the hooves of the citizens of Canterlot, Three black crystal sat in position, dormant since they had been placed, they began to pulsate and glow…their revival and re-union with the ‘Whole’ was moving ever closer …it was now simply a matter of time…

Author's Note:

Soooo, we're starting to get to the meat of the Story, i decided to edit the next chapter immediately after the 1st because i had nothing better to do on a Saturday...any whoooooooooo, i threw some back story at y'all and the war with the Gryphon Dominion will be expanded upon later...but i hope you like this chapter and the next one should be out around next week after its edited, Travel well folks <3