Common Ground

by LunasCaptain

Absence

"Where is Shining Armor?"

"I have no idea. I haven't seen him since the night before last. I assumed that Captain Claymore would take care of him after I went off-duty."

Endgame blinked in the harsh morning light, obviously exhausted. Cadance could see his armor recently piled in the small, Spartan chamber behind him. Out of it, he was much thinner than she would have expected, a dark green unicorn stallion with a slender build and heavy bags under his eyes.

"Well, do you know where Claymore is?" she pressed.

"Again, Princess. I have no idea." Endgame sat down and rubbed the base of his horn, closing his eyes. "Forgive me. It was a long night. Thirty different ponies called in sightings of our mysterious creature and it turns out that the wall guard are a bunch of featherbrains without Commander Damage."

"You mean they're leaderless?" Cadance asked in disbelief. A new thrill of fear arced up to join the rest of her anxiety. If the pegasi on top of the wall weren't organized, the city was practically defenseless.

And she couldn't handle that. Not now.

"No, they elected a new one with Damage gone, and that's actually most of the problem." Endgame peered up at her. "Do you need anything else, Princess?" His tone made it very clear that if she did, somepony had better be dying.

"Can you help me find Shining? Or Claymore?" she asked, mentally stomping on the tiny worm of guilt that wriggled into her voice. "It's important."

"Prime Factor's taken over on negotiations with the wall guard. He knows more than I do, Princess, and you should really ask him." He closed the door.

Cadance sighed deeply, turning and walking slowly out of the wing of the palace that the guards lived in. She had barely slept at all last night. The problem of the Changeling hadn't let her relax--she just didn't know what to do anymore. Maybe it was telling the truth, but she didn't trust it. So she should get rid of it, but what if it was telling the truth?

She had felt so alone in her chamber, curled up in the middle of the bed. Shining had never come in, no matter how hard she wished for him to, and neither had Twilight. Cadance had thought about going to look from them (or maybe calling in Ruffles to keep her company), but something stopped her.

Finally, just needing something to do, she had tracked down the captain of the guard and posted him outside of Carapace's door. Just in case. Though he must have been incapable of noticing anything going on inside the room--at about midnight, the Changeling had started literally bouncing off the walls. And, of course, Cadance was aware of every move it made because of that stupid tracking spell.

She was exhausted, just like she had been ever since the monster had showed up. Her horn ached, and her eyes felt swollen in her skull. Her wings were limp against her back and her mane hung greasily. She wanted to be able to sleep. She wanted Shining to hold her. She wanted somepony to tell her what to do. But that wasn't going to happen. Besides, didn't she already know what to do?

Cadance's people were in danger, and she knew that. She also knew the cause of it.

It was an easy decision. But that tiny kernel of doubt in the back of her mind kept her from summoning a member of the small group of active Lunar guards within the city--who, traditionally, acted as executioners in all the pony nations. It shouldn't. Not with the safety of her subjects at stake...but it did.

She needed to talk to Twilight.

"Excuse me." Cadance waved down a passing chambermaid, an earth pony pushing a cart of sheets and towels. "Can you tell me where Twilight Sparkle slept last night?"

The maid stopped, and gave her a strange look. "Who?"

"Twilight Sparkle...a purple unicorn with a magic cutie mark."

"Oh, her. I think Pillow Talk took care of her, Princess. She's on laundry duty today if you want to ask what she did with her."

The maid gave her cart a hefty push to get it rolling again and disappeared into the maze of crystal hallways. Cadance sighed and turned in the direction of the staircase that would lead her into the basement of the castle. It was a steamy labyrinth of rough crystal, just above the dungeons. It was home to the kitchens, the laundry, and the workshops that the guards got their armor and weapons from.

She hated it.

With another sigh, she lowered her head and made for the stairs.

---

"Step down? Are you kidding me? I'm doing a great job!"

"Downpour, the citizens are complaining..."

"Why? We're keeping them safe, aren't we?"

"You ordered your stallions to dive-bomb the Sapphire Society."

"They're a terrorist organization."

"They're a book group!"

Standing next to an earth pony stallion named Prime Factor, who was doing most of the talking, Shining Armor resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He and the other stallion were on the roof of one of the libraries, the second-tallest building in the city, with seven other Amore guards. Three of which were disgruntled members of the wall guard--including Pulse, the kirin medic that he had met the night he fought the monster.

Frost Damage (better known as Commander Damage, leader of the wall guard) had been absent from her post for two nights and a day. That had apparently been enough time for the majority of her pegasi to forget the oaths they had taken, elect Downpour their new leader, and run--er, fly amok in the city. Negotiations with Downpour had begun at about midnight, and because Claymore had been nowhere to be found and Frost Damage was still in the infirmary, Endgame was elected ambassador.

When he had gone off-duty, the unicorns and earth ponies trying to reign in the rebel pegasi had pushed for Shining to take his place, but Factor (apparently some sort of minor tactical genius) had stepped up instead. To be honest, Shining was grateful. The Solar guards didn't have factions like this, and he had no experience with this sort of thing. And he hadn't slept more than five hours since Frost Damage was taken to the infirmary.

"It's obvious that you have no idea what you're doing," Factor called up. Downpour was crouched on top of the wide wall, peering down with his wings spread. "Just step down, and the officers can appoint a real temporary leader while Commander Damage is under observation in the infirmary."

"I'm a perfect temporary leader!" Downpour protested.

"Four hundred and seventy-two civilian complaints--"

"But nopony's actually hurt, right?"

"...no."

Downpour leaned pack and folded his wings, apparently satisfied. "I'll be back in an hour. I need some breakfast."

As he flapped away, the two earth ponies, four unicorns, and three pegasi on the library rooftop erupted into conversation.

"This is hopeless," Factor muttered, sitting down. He was a big, handsome stallion, with hooves, coat, mane and eyes in shades of coffee brown. "Seventy-five percent of the wall guard are terrorizing the populace, seven percent are AWOL, five percent are working with the ground factions, and thirteen percent--interestingly enough, the percentage closest to the palace--are still doing their job. Only thirteen percent."

He shucked the boots off his forehooves, took off his helmet, and massaged his temples. The other earth pony, a mare named Knife Trick, patted him sympathetically on the back.

"I still don't understand why we can't just hit them with a mass sleeping spell and get rid of the problem," Pulse said, flipping open her first-aid kit and shaking some headache pills into her hoof. She offered them to Factor.

"There are two reasons," he replied, accepting the pills and knocking them back dry. "The first is that even though they've disturbed the peace four hundred and seventy-two--"

There was angry shouting and laughter in the distance, and a pair of pegasi shot upwards, high-winging midair. The guards and Shining winced.

"--four hundred and seventy-three times, they haven't actually hurt anypony or damaged any property. Which, by the laws of the country, means that we as Amore guards and him--" a nod to Shining "--as a prince of the Crystal Empire can't use magic or force against them. It's a felony of the highest degree."

"What's the other reason?"

Shining took this one. "If three-quarters of the wall guard are asleep or incapacitated because of a spell, the city is practically defenseless. They're our first line of defense, our early warning system, our emergency messengers, and our air force. And we're especially vulnerable to attack right now. I assume you've all heard about the...uh...pest problem?"

The others nodded. Pulse, who was currently checking how Factor's eyes reacted to light from the horn of one of the unicorns, looked up.

"Doesn't Downpour have a friend? Fighting Chance. Maybe he would listen to him."

"Fighting Chance is on leave," the unicorn helping her replied. "He took his marefriend to Las Pegasus.

"Downpour seemed like a really good stallion when I met him a couple days ago," Shining said, slipping off his helmet. "I can't believe this."

"He's a delinquent, but nobody saw it coming," Factor agreed. "Nothing adds up to this, and there's nothing we can do about him. I just hope nothing plans on attacking us anytime soon."

---

A/N: Have some side story and foreshadowing!

In all seriousness, though, this is probably my favorite chapter to date. I needed a break from the Carapace POV.

As always, please comment.

Comments

[LunasCaptain]

1632601
twentypercentcooler.net/data/preview/2c/13/2c1301fc177b4034a695774cb2f34dee.jpg

In a slightly less-related subject, expect a PM later today or tomorrow.

[Percussor Armis]

I was gonna be really evil, then I read that it was your favourite Chapter and went .
Perhaps evil is the wrong word, I was ging to be 'highly critical' of this chapter, however, in retrospect I realise I was going to be horribly blunt and very inconsiderate, this made me a bad person, so I amended my comments.
I think you're taking Cadance's character a bit far away from base, like miles, like the distance between Edinburgh and the Andromeda Galaxy That was a joke. I know you put an Alternate Universe tag on, (which I view as unnesesery, but haven't seen the new episode so don't know) but was making Luna's Guard Exicutioners really nesesery (I know it's spelled wrong, being tired is my excuse.)? Also are there any particular reasons for making the amor guards this electoral bunch of completely useless idiots ? It was funny, and I'm trying VERY hard to keep that view, but my tiredness is making me see it as an attempt to butcher an excelent story just becasue you're bored with it. I appologise if that hurt, but it hurt to type as well, becasue this is a good story, and you're a writer that answers their commenters, making you a cut above the rest.
I respect you, such that I say what I see.
HOWEVER, I'm tired, and am a little compressed right now, work, college, lack of sleep, this is not an excuse, but it may be condusive to taking things the wrong way, and getting wires crossed.
Sorry
See you next time Cap, it's getting tense, trouble's around the corner. (Your judgement is Great btw, keep at it)
Honora Imperator

[LunasCaptain]

1659541
ALRIGHT. I ADMIT IT.

I had no idea what to write when I started this one. But I had fun writing it...and that's the only reason it's my favorite chapter. Please, don't hesitate to be blunt in the future, because more often than not, I really, really need to be yelled at.

Now. Allow me to reply to your criticism in what I hope is a well-adjusted manner. *cracks knuckles*

First of all, thank you. That's why I'm on this site--so people will correct me when I do something wrong. Instead of just, say, shoving everything I write at my lover and being mindlessly praised. I really appreciate your comments, which are really more like reviews--they really do help.

About Cadance. We have only seen her in two episodes, and she didn't get much screen time during either of those. Therefore, her character hasn't been very developed, and we don't know all the facets of her personality. (Feel free to read that as: I have no idea what I'm doing.) Granted, in the most recent episode (I know you haven't seen it, allow me to spoil a little part for you--sorry), she's exhausted from keeping a barrier between her people from an evil villain, and still manages to be polite to those around her. The situation is pretty much the same in my story, and I admit that I probably haven't been doing her justice. But I've been trying to take into account that Shining has vanished, she probably has some sort of (justified!) phobia when it comes to Changelings, and she's tired. But I will try to pay more attention to her character in the future, and plan her actions more thoroughly. The alternate universe tag was because of my design of the country itself, not the ruler.

Now, onto my portrayal of the Lunar guards. (WARNING: Massive speculation ahead.) Because Equestrian society relies so heavily upon peace and unity, and because the princesses encourage it frequently, they would schedule the few necessary executions for the dead of night. So that nopony has to watch. And Luna's guards, being on duty during the night, carried it out. So it became a tradition. This was actually an idea for another story I had in mind, but then I decided not to write it, but carried one of the basic ideas over because I liked it. There was no other reason.

The thing with the Amore guards was comic relief and filler--really nothing else. There was actually another reason for the defection of the wall guards, but I'd rather not post it here, because it has to do with a pretty big plot point later on. I needed to continue the side story of Shining-running-around-with-the-army because I felt that I had been focusing a little too much on Carapace lately, and I figured that having the different factions of the Cadance's army fighting among themselves would make for an interesting addition to the subplot. To be honest, I see these guys as more of a precaution than anything else on Cadance's part. Her tiny country very rarely gets in trouble, because its ruler is so good at calming down others, and when it does, her aunts and their massive military forces rush to the rescue. Amore guards probably don't have to fight too much, so the requirements for joining their ranks aren't all that hard to meet. There are a few (Claymore/Elytra, for example) that take their job very seriously, but the others tend to think of it as a joke. And so they fall apart the second their commander's back is turned. It was because of this concept (which was the result of designing the culture and history of my fanmade version of Cadance's country) that I decided to take a more humorous, less military approach with them. Admittedly, that may have been poor judgement.

And please. Don't apologize, my friend, your feedback was very welcome.

[DerpedRainbow]

1691208 Yeah yeah, still kinda extreme for a bow to make everyone quiver in fear.

[CommanderX5]

Wait, was not Twilight Sparkle a Celebrity in Crystal Empire and the one who saved it from King Sombra, how is it that one of main in Crystal Palance had no idea who she is, when did the most famous pony and national hero turned into a random pony no one know about ?

[erictheblue]

2651577 well, maybe that maid is a changeling?