Star-crossed

by Belligerent Sock

Prologue

Prologue

A quiet night disturbed.

Ashes and intimations.

Dreadful connections.

* * *

An echoing sound beat its way through Shining Armor’s dreams. Blinking himself awake, he sat up wearily, listening as the noise drifted through the house. As his mind groggily caught up with his ears, he realized what it was.

Someone is using a battering ram on my front door.

He shook his head, chasing out the last vestiges of dream logic. No, someone was knocking on his door—loudly, and with a definite sense of urgency.

At that thought, his senses flared to full readiness. He looked toward the clock on the wall. For a summons to come this late—or technically, this early—something had to be seriously wrong.

As quietly as possible, he hauled himself out from under the covers. His horn glowed as he padded across the room; the door on the far side swung open without a sound. He paused on the threshold, sparing one final glance at the sleeping form still in the bed before closing the door behind him.

The knocking sounded again as he trotted down the stairs, taking care to avoid the squeaky steps. He felt a flash of annoyance. We just got back from our honeymoon! Give us a break!

His irritation evaporated as he glanced at his armor, hanging on its rack near the front door. Regardless of time or place, he had his duty. He breathed a sigh, composing himself as much as possible before opening the door.

He was greeted with the sight of a guard—a unicorn, dressed in the dark blue armor of the night watch—his hoof raised as if to strike the door again. He hastily brought it up to his forehead in salute.

“Sir! I-I apologize for the lateness of the hour—”

“No need, soldier,” Shining Armor said, “What’s the trouble?”

“Sir, I’m afraid it’s very urgent. There’s been a fire in the archives. Princess Luna requests your presence at the scene.”

Shining Armor felt himself tense up. Things were more wrong than he’d guessed.

“I’ll be right there,” he said, “In the meantime, get some more guards over here. There’s a station just up the street.”

“Yes, sir!” The guard saluted and galloped away.

Shining Armor closed the door, his mind racing. A fire in the archives… there could be any number of explanations. It could be an accident. Some idiot was probably using a candle for some late-night reading—no, the archives were magically-lit. Maybe they were trying an ancient spell and it blew up in their faces. Maybe Princess Celestia’s pet phoenix got loose again. Maybe—

“Shining?”

The voice shot through his clouded thoughts like a ray of sunlight. He turned to see Cadence standing at the top of the stairs. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

He gave her a reassuring smile. “Nothing, love. Princess Luna needs me at the castle.”

“So something is wrong.” Without another word, she started down the steps.

“It’s okay, Cadence. You can go back to bed. I’ll only be a moment.” A red-violet aura surrounded his horn; the pieces of his armor leapt from their rack and began fastening and buckling themselves around his torso. His helmet was just about to settle itself on his head when it was caught in a grip of light-blue magic. He felt a warm presence sidle up next to him, and turned to meet his wife’s gaze.

She looked back at him, her expression concerned. “Shining Armor, can you at least tell me what’s going on?”

He let out a sigh. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “There’s been a fire in the archives.”

Her eyes continued searching his face.

“I swear, that’s all I know!”

Her gaze softened. “All right, I believe you. Is there anything I can do?”

Stay safe from whatever trouble’s out there? “If I think of anything, I’ll call.”

Cadence smiled, reaching up to brush his mane out of his eyes. “I’ll be waiting,” she said. His helmet slowly floated down, resting softly on his head. She tilted her head up, planting a kiss on his lips. “Be careful, and hurry back.”

He flashed her a grin. “I will.” He turned, and, with one last glance at his wife, walked out the door.

A contingent of soldiers—two of each kind of pony—was waiting for him outside. The guard from earlier was with them; he clicked his hooves together and saluted.

“Detail reporting as ordered, sir,” he said.

Shining Armor returned the salute. “Good work, soldier. Now, I want you men to set up a perimeter around my house. No one enters until I return. Understood?”

“Yes, sir!” The guards sprang into action, the earth ponies and unicorns spreading out to the four corners of the building, the pegasi taking wing to patrol above the roof. Satisfied, Shining Armor turned to the remaining guard.

“Let’s go.”

* * *

Smoke was still wafting about the ceiling of the archives. The floor was slick and soaking wet. A pervasive smell of burnt paper hung in the air. Robed unicorns moved about the room, gingerly picking up waterlogged scrolls and laying them out to dry. A few helmeted ponies in black and yellow jackets checked the shelves for any loose embers. A shriveled old caretaker was busy mopping up the largest puddles of water.

It had taken a good ten minutes to get the fire under control. Being so old, this section of the archives lacked even a fire detector, let alone an automatic rain cloud system. The night watch, first on the scene, had had to carry water in from one of the fountains outside; they’d magically lifted buckets through a window and down the hallways, containing the blaze until the firefighters ran hoses up the stairs.

Now, Shining Armor stood amidst the chaos, trying to make sense of it all.

“—And as soon as you have it, come and find me,” Shining Armor addressed the same guard that had woken him up.

“Yes, sir!” The guard, his armor now smudged with a hint of soot, gave a salute and hurried off.

Shining Armor took a deep breath, turning to face down one of the aisles. At the far end, a pile of ash marked the spot where the last shelf had once stood. The surrounding shelves were burned almost as severely, their blackened skeletons just barely recognizable.

Straightening up as much as possible, he started forward at a cautious pace. He hated being the bearer of bad news, especially if he was bringing it to his liege.

Princess Luna didn’t respond as he moved closer. It was only when he had drawn up alongside her that she stirred.

“How many?” Her voice was barely above a whisper.

Shining Armor tried to sound as professional as possible. “The archivists estimate that at least three hundred documents have been lost.”

“Three hundred…” Princess Luna hung her head sadly.

“We’ll know for sure in the morning, once they’ve finished the tally.” Shining Armor forced a note of hope into his voice. “We may be able to salvage some of them.”

Princess Luna didn’t respond, her gaze drifting back to the blackened bookshelves that had once housed some of the most ancient scrolls and tomes Equestria had to offer. Shining Armor recognized the look in her eyes. He’d seen it when he and his sister were both foals, when she’d crashed his favorite kite into a particularly jagged tree. It was a look he empathized with.

“Now, Princess,” he said quietly, “don’t blame yourself for this.”

“It happened under my watch,” Luna said simply.

“Princess, if I told you half the things that have gone wrong on my watch…” he paused. All-too-recent memories sprang unbidden into his mind; he forced them away with a laugh. “Well, let’s just say some stories from my early days in the Guard aren’t fit for royal ears.”

Luna was silent a moment, but she looked better when she turned back to face him. “Thank you, Shining Armor. Your understanding means much to me.” She lifted her head high, regaining her regal air. “Do we know the exact cause of the fire?”

“Well…” he hesitated, “No. The fireponies raised an interesting point, though. From what they’ve been able to determine, the last shelf there burned all at once.”

Luna’s eyebrows went up. “Burned… all at once?”

“Yes. Whatever—no, whoever started this fire, they didn’t use a match, or a torch, or anything like that. They just lit the entire shelf on fire.”

The Princess’s expression turned dark. “So we not only have an arsonist on our hooves, but one with access to magic.”

“That’s what it’s looking like.”

Luna turned back to the ruined shelf. Reaching out with a forehoof, she pawed the pile of ash. “The problem,” she said, “is that it didn’t just burn; it was incinerated. You see how fine the ashes are? They must have burned white-hot.”

Shining Armor bowed his head in thought. “…And that sort of spell would take a very powerful caster to perform.”

Luna suddenly perked up. “Or dragon fire, perhaps?”

Shining Armor blinked. “Well, yeah. That would do the trick, all right.” He chuckled. “But if that’s the case, I’ll have to fire the entire night watch for letting a dragon loose in the castle.”

“Of course,” Luna shook her head, “The thought simply occurred to me.” Her expression turned pensive again. “What was in that shelf? What was our arsonist attempting to destroy?”

“Well, they call this wing ‘The Unreadables’ for a reason. All of the manuscripts kept here predate the Equestrian language. They’re simply too old to be read.”

Now Luna was deep in thought. “This is most puzzling. Why would anyone want to destroy texts that cannot be read?”

Shining Armor straightened up a little. “We’re going to find out, Princess. Anyone who enters the archives has their name magically recorded, and I’ve already sent for the logs. I’ve also put the guard on high alert; we’ve got additional patrols checking the grounds for any signs of forced entry, and the watch will remain doubled for as long as I see fit.”

The princess nodded. “Thank you, Shining Armor. You’ve done all I could ever ask. Now, please, get some rest. I’m sure your wife worries for you, as well.”

Shining Armor stiffened. Cadence. He wanted nothing more than to return to her embrace, but… “Thank you, Your Highness, but there’s still work to be done. I want to personally inspect the security details at the very least.”

“I understand. If there’s anything I can do…”

“The Guard won’t let you down, Princess. I’ll make sure of it.”

“Excuse me, sir!” The guard from earlier scurried up to them. “I have the archive log here.”

“Good work, soldier.” Shining Armor took the book in his horn’s magical aura, flipping through the pages. “Let’s see who we’ve got…”

His eyes widened, his breath seizing in his chest. He nearly dropped the book.

“Shining Armor?” Princess Luna stepped closer. “What is it?”

He didn’t hear her. His mind was racing, the pieces falling all too terribly into place. A powerful spellcaster, one interested in “unreadable” manuscripts. One with access to dragon fire… He read the name again, to make sure he wasn’t seeing things, but it was there, plain as day.

“The last person to access the archives,” he took a deep breath, “was Twilight Sparkle.”

Comments

[JL-Hero]

Well, this is nicely written, BUT, there is something I must point:

How does an "archive log"? how does it registered Twilight? and is some sort of security system?, since it automatically registered Twilight (or that is what it seems)

but, overall, your story is good so far, and for some reason i am already seeing it on the FEATURED BOX

[Cellin]

“The last person to access the archives,” he took a deep breath, “was Twilight Sparkle.”

DUN-DUN-DUUUUUUUUUN!
Nice start so far. Keep it up.

[Cellin]

1366995 magic. *snort snort*