One to Die For

by lunablue17

On the Royal Trail

The sky was clear today. A few scattered clouds here and there, but none the less, it was bright and the sun shone like blinding ball, as usual. The recruits and I were nearing Ponyville now, the place where this started. This horrific occurance is the only thing I can think about.

"Ma'am?"

Luna, I will find you no matter what happens. Even if I have to sacrifice myself, I will protect her.

"Ma'am!"

"Hmm? Oh yes, what is it Lightning?" Lightning Chaser. He was one of the best recruits I have trained. Finished top of his group every time. In my honest perspective, I never looked for a pony who could do better than the rest. I wanted one who could work well with others. I passed my whole group either way; they were all qualified under my supervision.

"We are nearing Ponyville. Is there any place in particular you would like us to start our search ma'am?"

The only place I could think of was the center of town where she first disappeared. The first pony to come to mind was Mayor Mare. She was the one who found the note that Princess Luna had left for her, so she was definitely our best bet. "I want you and Flare to go to the center of town. Ask around for a pony known as Mayor Mare. She what she knows about this note and then report back to me." It would be difficult for a pegasus to fly and hand things off to another mid-flight, but practice helped.

He took the letter Princess Luna wrote and saluted me before flying over to Bright Flare. That was a stallion who had guts. Even against Lightning, he would keep trying his best, even if the others would quit. I have my own admiration for his persistence. Now, two of the four had their orders. But where would I send the other two? Where would they go without causing much attention?

"Excuse me, ma'am?" Who could they talk to without being a guard? "Um, ma'am?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry Spark." Cloud Spark. The first mare recruit I trained. In my eyes she is still in training, but I know her just like I know the rest. She is my group's safe zone. Whenever one of my guys wouldn't keep up, she would stop and help them. She treats all of them like they are her brothers and sisters. Without her, I'm pretty sure most of them would have dropped out. "What is it you need?"

"Thunder is already at Ponyville waiting by Sugar Cube Corner. What do you want us to do?"

"I think it would be better if you two accompany me while we go and talk to a couple other ponies who live in this town. I believe that the missing ponies from before and the disappearance of our princess is tied together."

"Yes, ma'am."

All of them had their orders. It's hard to lead when under stress and pressure. If it was for Fyran, I don't know how I would have made it as far as I have now. I think he might be one of the captains now. Him and Shining Armor usually acted like old friends, but that was probably just showing respect.

Spark and I stopped for a moment on a nearby cloud that was directly above a giant tree that was in Ponyville. All I could think about was two things. Finding Princess Luna and figuring out what this weird feeling is. It has been haunting me since I walked outside of the castle. Come to think of it, it seemed to start soon after meeting with Silver Star. I'll need to head back once I'm done here. I'll have to ask him about this.

"Ma'am?"

"Yes Spark?"

"No offense, but are we waiting for something to happen ma'am."

Not everyday one of your recruits have to remind you what you were doing. "No, we aren't. I was just held up with my thoughts. Nothing to worry about, I'll sort it out later. Come on, we need to go get Thunder so we start with our rounds. You said he was at the place called Sugar Cube Corner?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Then lead the way."

"But um..."

"Is something the matter?" My trainees rarely ever questioned something. Spark was the exception though. She always made sure that all of them were in their best condition. However, this one seemed off. Her face doesn't seem right. It doesn't look like the Cloud Spark I know.

"Well, the problem is that I um...I don't know where Sugar Cube Corner is. This is my first time in Ponyville."

Well, now, there are still things I need to learn about them after all. So she is a Canterlot pony through and through eh? Who am I to argue? I am too. At least I think I am. I remember the streets of Canterlot. Waking up in that one alley night after night, all the other ponies passing me. They never stopped to even look at me. Every week or so, a guard would walk by and stop in front of the alley. I remember the first time I saw him. His brown face staring down at me. He was smiling. Every week I looked forward to seeing his smile. He even bought me some food when he would visit me. That pony was Fyran. He did get caught once; another guard walked by us in the alley and pulled him away. He came back later that night though. It is rare for me to share any sort of connection like that. He is the only one that I ever considered close.

Wait a minute, no. Stop remembering the past Night, focus on what is happening now. Okay, Princess Luna was kidnapped. I am on a cloud above Ponyville with Cloud Spark next to me. Yes, we were on our way to find Thunder Charm at Sugar Cube Corner. Okay, stand up Night, we need to get through this and find the princess. "Alright, come on Spark. I have been here before with Princess Luna. I think I can find whatever this place is." The two of us took off and headed for the giant tree.

It was only a moment later that we arrived in front of it. Wait, this was no tree. Well, it was, but the tree was a house. It has a door, windows, lights, and a doormat. What kind of pony would want to live in a tree? The door is opening, maybe whoever this is can tell us where Sugar Cube Corner is. "Spark, I'm going to ask this pony where Thunder is. Stay here for a moment."

"Yes ma'am." Please don't salute, please don't...and she did. I get tired of that. I know it's considered necessary, but we aren't supposed to draw attention to ourselves.

Ah here comes the pony. "Ehem, hello there. My name is Night Runner and I am..." This pony in front of me. I have seen her before. What was her name? Twilit? Twilight?

"Oh hey there, I almost didn't recognize you without your armor. I don't think I properly introduced myself when we first met, I'm Twilight Sparkle, student of Princess Celestia." Oh dammit. This is going to be a problem. She's Celestia's student? Even worse. This will not end well at all. "So Night Runner, what are you doing here again? Is it about Princess Luna? I don't really know how it feels yet to have Princess Luna disappear, but I have tried to organize a few ponies to go search for her."

"Did you have any luck finding her?" My voice, it's wavering, stuttering. This isn't good, why am I doing this? I am afraid? Nervous? What is it?

"No, I'm afraid not. Mayor Mare will not allow anypony to form a search party to locate the princess. She told us that Princess Luna doesn't want anypony looking for her and that if YOU showed up to look..." A pause? Pauses are rarely ever good news. "Well, we are to tell you to head back to Canterlot and let this play out on its own."

"But I can't let it play out!" No, stop shouting you idiot. "She doesn't know what it's like to lose somepony like her." Stop it Night, just stop you can't let your emotions control you, not now. Ugh, why does every single thing have its complications. "It doesn't matter what Mayor Mare said, I'm still going to look for her. I will just stay out of her way while I gather what I need to know. Alright, can you tell me where this place is? It's called um..."

"It's called Sugar Cube Corner ma'am." Spark, why do you have to come up now? "We need to know where Sugar Cube Corner is." I think she understood my look when I wanted to be casual.

"Oh Cake's place? It just over there, that house that looks like a gingerbread house. It isn't edible of course, but I suppose it still looks rather delicious." Well, a house that looks like candy. Somethings I never want to know how they were made. "Do you need anything else while you are here? I'm sure I have a couple books around..."

I put my hoof in front of her. "No, no thank you. We'll be fine for now. Thank you for giving us directions. Come on Spark, we need to go find Thunder." We turned around and began walking to the candy-looking building. Wait a minute, candy house? Why does it remind me of...no, it can't be her. At least, I hope it isn't.

"So, why didn't you say that you wanted us to act casual?" I looked over to see Spark's face holding a smug expression. "It probably would have been best to have told us before we split up. The other two are going to have a problem talking with Mayor Mare when they think they are still on duty."

"I'm sure they'll figure it out. I would not have split us up otherwise." I do hope they figure it out. I can't say whether or not they are that quick at figuring things out, but I'm sure Spark has that ability. "Come on, we need to get Thunder and find out what he learned. He has been here since Luna went missing, so I am sure he heard some things at best."

"I'll just follow you, ma'am."

I'm glad they still call me ma'am and all, but I prefer casual talk. Hated this stupid 'Yes, ma'am!' or 'No, ma'am!' stuff. It just seems too weird. Back to reality, again, the short walk took longer that thought. At least we got there with nopony asking anything. Now where is Thunder Spark. Oh right, I almost forgot his last name, Spark. Thunder and Cloud are brother and sister. How could I forget that?

"Hey ma'am, you alright?"

"Thunder!" I looked up from the dirt to witness a three day reunion between two siblings. "I missed you so much!"

"It has only been what, three days? You missed me already? Guess I shouldn't leave you alone at all, maybe even stay in the same room with you."

Spark shoved Thunder away and he landed on his back with a thud. "Now that's just disgusting. You're my brother, why would you even...wait, oh, you were being sarcastic. He he, whoops, my bad." Spark, sometimes you are just plain weird.

"Sorry if I am interrupting anything between you two, but we still have a job to do." I needed to butt in there. Most likely if I didn't they would have gone again into their back-and-forth jokes. "So Thunder, heard anything about her here in Ponyville?" I walked over to the table and sat down placing my hooves on the table.

Thunder got up and retook his seat next to me, but didn't make any eye contact. "Well, I'm not sure if what I heard would be something you would like to hear."

"Trust me Thunder, anything is good, no matter how bad it may sound." Best option, reassurance. Not going to get anything out of somepony without making them somewhat comfortable at first. Or at least bribe them with something.

"Okay, please don't kill me for saying this, but one pony was talking in the park. She was just talking a normal walk and Mayor Mare showed up. They were talking about Princess Luna. The mayor told her about Fluttershy and she said that Fluttershy saw her go into the Everfree Forest alone. Before they could say anything else, Mayor Mare stopped the other one and told the pony to go to her office with her." And he said his information was something I don't want to hear. I swear, my subordinates hold back a bit too much.

"I guess there is something weird going on. Princess Luna wouldn't go there without some plan or idea of where she was going or what she was doing. She doesn't like to go somewhere without knowing what will happen." I turn around and motion for all of them to follow me. "Come on, we have somewhere to be." Man, I hope we get there and get her to talk to us. What was that? A bird? Oh right, the bird in my mane, Snowball. I'm still surprised no one can hear it. I was sure that one of them would point out the bird chirping and say something about it.

"So ma'am, where are we going? Mayor Mare's office again or the other place?" Too many question Cloud, too many questions.

"We are going somewhere. You will be updated on a need-to-know basis. Same goes for all of you."

"Yes ma'am!"

Time to find out exactly what is going on, I just hope I get there in time. I get this feeling that something is happening right now, but I just can't tell what it is. Is it that feeling from back in Canterlot? Did something happen to Luna? Dammit, I need to find out. Organize your priorities Night: rescue the princess, ask Silver what this weird feeling is, and then....well, I haven't thought that far ahead. I'll figure it out sooner or later.

I looked at Snowball who was sitting under my mane on the back of my neck. Looking at the other guards, they were following me, but looking around like they were sightseeing. I leaned in close to Snowball and whispered, "Hey Snowball, I need you to do something." It's head perked up like it was ready for anything. "I need you to go to Fluttershy's cottage. Make sure that she stays there." The bird took off quickly. I couldn't help but let out a small chuckle as it flew away. I looked back at the others and they were looking at me with surprised faces. "Something wrong?"

Of course the first ones to say anything was either Thunder and Cloud Spark. "Were you just laughing?"

"Yea, something wrong with me laughing?"

"No ma'am."

"Then off we go. Don't want to be late for anything."