> Bioshock Equestria
>  by Dawn Flower
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 1

It was a pitch black night and Luna’s celestial orb was nowhere to seen. Shining Armor could see nothing but the dirt road that lay in front of him and the dark, eerie, forboding trees that lay on both sides. Despite the pure black sky, in front of him he could faintly make out the dark silhouette of the large gatehouse looming over him a good distance away that marked the entrance to the huge, sprawling city of Canterlot. As Shining Armor walked trudgingly towards the city, his mind was running rampant. It had been six months since Twilight’s coronation and in that time, Equestria had changed.


---


It had been six months since Twilight had become an alicorn and Equestria’s newest princess and since then, she had been living in Canterlot once again. As a princess, she now had many new royal duties to perform and she needed proper instruction from Celestia in order to learn how to carry them out. She seemed to have adapted to the change very well, very quickly. She seemed to have grasped the understanding of the Equestrian political systems very quickly and in almost no time at all had introduced new policies that have revolutionarily changed Equestria for the better. Equestria now had more advanced technology, remarkable advances in science, better education, lower crime rates, a growing economy, bigger cities, towns and population and all around better lives for everypony.

However, there were also changes that were not so great. There was now heavier taxation on the pegasus ponies more so than others. Guards were now stationed in every city and town in Equestria, not just in Canterlot and they seemed to enforce the laws more heavily than before, making arrests for the slightest infracture. The richer areas of Equestria were becoming more exclusive to higher up ponies whilst the poorest areas were gradually becoming forgotten about and ponies simply chose not to notice. Some ponies were beginning to say that everything that was going on now, with all the changes and even the new princess herself were a part of a conspiracy. Most of these claims were simply brushed off, being called the fevered ramblings of a madman and these ponies were just ignored. However, as more and more ponies saw that they were no longer as equal as other ponies, more and more ponies began backing these claims. There was now violence in the streets and ponies seemed to disappear simply for speaking out against the princess. At this point, the capital city of Canterlot had become completely closed off to the rest of Equestria, now being a place only for the best of the best, like a self-proclaimed ‘Eden’, only for the chosen few. There was no denying that Equestria was changing and Twilight Sparkle was at the centre of it.

However, Shining Armor just knew that it was not his sister who was responsible. Shining Armor knew Twilight better than anypony else and while she has undergone a physical transformation, she would never mentally change like this and in such a short time too. Nothing about what was happening made any logical sense. Twilight would never discriminate against anypony no matter what the reason, she would never abandon anypony in need and most importantly, there is absolutely no reason why her friends would not be trying to contact her and want to help her out with everything that is happening. Shining Armor began to suspect that Celestia was involved in this much more than she let on. Shining Armor knew Celestia very well after his years of service and with his brief meeting with her at the coronation, he sensed something was different about her. Shining Armor would never think badly of the princess, but there was no denying that Equestria was in turmoil and if the only choices of who was behind it all was her and his little sister, then there is no question at all of who he would blame; and if Twilight is in any way in danger, he would do anything to save her. That’s how he’s always been. “I promise I’ll get you out of all of this; by any means necessary. I promise you, Twily.”


---


“Halt!” Shining Armor suddenly snapped back to reality as he heard a voice speak to him. He raised his head up from his thoughts and he was now standing directly in front of the gatehouse. It was huge wooden gate, at least five times the size of the stallion, with a large, orange gemstone at the centre with a yellow circle carved around it, and streaks running up and down the width of the door, with the most prominent at the centre, showing where the door opens up. 

Shining Armor turned his head around and saw a stallion about his size staring back at him. The pony was a white pegasus, clod in gold armour with a blue star on the front. He also wore gold boots and helmet with a blue hairstyle on it that matched that of his tail; short, straight and simple. He was also clutching a long spear in his left forehoof. Shining Armor recognised him as one of Celestia’s royal guards. “State your business here,” the guard continued in his stoic expression.

“I seek entrance to the city,” Shining Armor replied.

“Identification please.”

“I doubt that will be necessary. I am Shining Armor: Captain of the royal guard.”

The guard didn’t responded immediately this time. He just stood there staring at him for about five seconds and then finally responded, “Very well.” The guard then turned around to reveal a small, white, stone pillar with an orange gem, matching the one on the gate, only smaller. The guard placed his hoof on the gem and pushed it like a button. Shining Armor turned his attention back to the gate. The corresponding gem on the gate suddenly began to glow. The gem at the centre started to rotate like a clock hand. There was suddenly a bright, red flash in the sky and a loud foghorn that sounded at regular intervals. After one minute, the gem had made a full rotation. The yellow circle it was centred on jutted out a little and the gate began to open outward. As the gate opened, the guard simply said, “Welcome to Canterlot,” and then walked away out of sight.

When the gate was fully opened, Shining Armor looked inside and saw a bright, pink surface just ahead. Shining Armour recognised it as the same type of force field he had put around the city before to protect it from the changelings. However, this one was different. Firstly, this force field was much thicker than his own. He couldn’t even see the city on the other side. This force field was also exuding much more force than his. It felt as if it was trying to push him back. This force field must have been conjured by Celestia herself. She was the only pony in Equestria whose barrier spells were more powerful than his own. Shining Armor walked over to the force field, easily resisting its push and with only slight hesitation, he walked through it. 

As soon as Shining Armor walked through the force field, he could see nothing but pink. However, he just kept walking straight. As he walked along, he suddenly felt a lot of pressure on his body, as if he was being pushed down by something; like he was carrying something heavy on his back. He got a sudden pain in his head and he closed his eyes shut in pain. He was now hurting both physically and mentally, but he just kept on walking forward. He opened his eyes a little and he saw a bright light just up ahead. He started to regain his strength, he stood up more and he broke into a trot. He could make out shapes just ahead of him. He took a few more steps forward and then there was a flash of light. The bright light started to dissipate and he took a look around. He recognised the area as the city of Canterlot.


---


Shining Armor took a good look at his new surroundings. The first thing he noticed was that despite it being in the middle of the night outside, inside the city the Sun was shining and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Shining Armor suspected that this was Celestia’s doing seeing as how the Sun was her specialty. Perhaps its purpose was a way to keep her subjects always in her daytime and out of the night; perhaps to show how Equestria was changing and Canterlot was at the heart of it; or even as a sign that the chosen ponies of Canterlot were now above things like day and night. The city itself had also changed a lot in the six months since the coronation. It was now easily at least ten times bigger than it was before. You could no longer see the palace from the edge of the city as you could before. Unlike places like Ponyville or Fillydelphia, all of the buildings and streets in Canterlot were made out of clear cut, white marble stone. The roofs were all painted bright colours of yellow, aqua, white and others. This combined with the constant sunlight above gave the city a certain ‘Heaven on Earth’ feel to it. Perhaps that’s what they were going for.

Shining Armor looked behind him and the pink force field wasn’t there or anywhere around the city. He instead saw the sky above and the surrounding view that could normally be seen from there. He also saw what appeared to be a giant airship flying above the city. He raised his hoof to where the force field had been and a small bit of his hoof had disappeared. He quickly pulled it back and it was whole again. It seemed that the force field couldn’t be seen from inside the city.

Shining Armor turned back around. There were rows of houses on both sides with a straight stretch of road in between them that seemed to on for quite a bit. There were no other ponies in the area except for two guards just up ahead standing at opposite sides of the road, with their backs to Shining Armor. Understandably, this entrance was also an exit out of the city so it makes sense that they would be stationed here. Shining Armor walked forward towards the guards. When he was standing between them, he turned to one of them and asked, “Hey, can you tell me where I am?”

The guard he turned to turned his head to face him. He had the same armor and stoic expression as the guard outside and he simply said, “South entrance.”

Seeing that he was not going to get anything else out of him, Shining Armor turned back to the road and walked ahead.


---


As Shining Armor was walking along he could hear the sound of celebrating ponies up ahead. There were sounds of talking, cheering and singing. “Sounds like some sort of celebration. I should be able to find out more up ahead.”

As he was walking along the road, something caught his eye. He looked over at a nearby bench and he saw a strange gem sitting there. The gem was bigger than normal gems found in Equestria. It was blood red and it was giving off a faint glow. Shining Armor moved closer to investigate this strange gem and upon closer inspection he recognised it as a recording crystal. All gems in Equestria contained magical energies that ponies were only recently able to tap in to. Some gems had the ability to capture sound and replay it at a later time. Many ponies had taken to using them to record their private thoughts. However, the disadvantage of recording crystals is that they didn’t last long and were usually discarded shortly after they were used. Shining Armor didn’t know why, but he decided to touch the recording crystal to listen to what it said; maybe thinking there might be something useful on it.


Colgate
Physics is Magic
It’s been twelve years now that I’ve been studying physics. One would think that there would be no need for such a thing in a world where everything, even the Sun and the Moon rising each day is the work of magic. However, it’s quite the opposite. Physics can explain everything that happens in our world, even magic; but it’s the exceptions to this that are even more fascinating. Of course, that pink party pony is another matter altogether, there exist’ many types of magic in this world that physics cannot explain; but to somepony like me, and especially my mentor, these things are merely a challenge of our skills. After all, science without magic is lame. But magic without science is blind.

The recording did not seem to hold any useful information pertaining to his quest but for some reason he felt a strange feeling of satisfaction for picking it up. Shining Armor suddenly snapped back to the noises coming from up ahead and continued walking towards the source. He looked around as he walked and saw that there were many posters adorning the walls of the buildings. To the ponies that lived here and were used to everything by now, these would appear to be only colourful posters to brighten up the city. However, anypony not from around here would recognise them immediately as propaganda posters.






“If I wasn’t already sure that Celestia was up to something before, these posters would have assured me. But how does my sister fit in to all of this? I need to find her and get her away from all of this.”

Shining Armor turned away from the wall to continue moving forward and his eyes immediately widened at what he saw. There was a large column in the middle of the road. On it was another poster, but this one was different from the others. It read: ‘You shall know the Apocryphal by his cutie mark’. Directly under these words was a picture of Shining Armor’s cutie mark: A large blue shield with a purple star within it which strongly resembled Twilight Sparkle’s cutie mark. There were also three smaller, blue stars at the top, above the shield.

“What the hell?”

He then looked down at his body. He was wearing a long, brown cloak that covered his body and cutie mark. He had decided not to wear his armor so as to not attract too much attention.

“Looks like I made the right call there. But what does this mean?”

Shining Armor had no idea why the ponies here were calling him the ‘Apocryphal’. Apocryphal meant false or non-canon to what was happening. Did it possibly infer that he didn’t belong here? Shining Armor had no idea what any of this meant or even what this was all about; but since they wouldn’t be able see his cutie mark, he figured he would be fine. He walked past the column and continued towards the cheering.


---


Shining Armor eventually reached the end of the straight road and he was now in a big, open, square plaza. There seemed to some sort of celebration going on. There was confetti in the air and there were stalls set up in rows and columns all over the plaza. Some of the stalls had fair games. Some were normal games like ‘Pin the tail on the pony’, while others were stranger; they involved using a toy gun to shoot at cardboard pegasus ponies while avoiding other types ponies. Other stalls seemed to be selling things. The plaza was huge and full of ponies talking to each other. “Looks like everypony in Canterlot is here. There must be something really big going on. I should make sure not to attract too much attention to myself.”

“Excuse me sir, would you care for a free sample?”

Shining Armor suddenly noticed that that pony was talking to him. He turned to see a male earth pony, a little shorter than him. He had a light brown coat; a short, brown, unkept mane and an hourglass cutie mark. He was standing on three hooves, with his fourth holding up a tray with a bottle of blue liquid with a lightning bolt on the cover. Shining Armor recognised the bottle of liquid as a Quartz. Quartz's were a part of the improved science in Equestria. It was a brand new type of magic that could be used by anypony, not just unicorns. They were created from extracting the magic from gems and concentrating it into a liquid form. When a pony then drank it, it enabled them to use magic.

“Are you alright, sir? You seemed to have drifted off for a moment there.”

Shining Armor suddenly realised that he was still talking to this pony. A Quartz could come in handy if he gets into trouble. Also, considering that it’s free, it would look strange if he said no. “Yeah, I’ll take it.”

Shining Armor grabbed the bottle with his hoof, used his unicorn magic to take the cork out and chugged it down. As soon as he had drunk it, Shining Armor felt some crackles of electricity from his horn. He got an intense pain in his head, his vision turned blue and he raised his two front hooves as he yelled out in pain. He felt as though he was growing a new body part. After about ten seconds, everything returned to normal.

“Well, it would seem that you’re not dead. Very interesting. The first is always the hardest to take, but then again, there really is nothing quite like a shot of electricity now, is there? Now remember, your Quartz's run on geodes so you will have to stay stocked up on them if want to continue using them. Your unicorn magic, however, is limited only by your stamina so, you know, remember to eat.” With this, the earth pony walked away.

Shining Armor turned his attention back to the fair and he walked through the crowds of ponies. He passed by many young fillies and colts playing at the many fair games and many ponies who had gotten together to talk. As he walked through the crowds he overheard a few conversations.

“Can you believe the nerve of those rapscallion Shadowbolts? Running rampant in our fair city; even after all of our hard work to make it the greatest city in Equestria.”

“Oh I know. It seems that some ponies don’t know their place. I wouldn’t worry about it though. They’ll get what’s coming to them soon enough.”

As Shining Armor was walking through the rows of stalls, he passed by an empty podium and noticed a recording crystal at the base and decided to investigate.


Princess Celestia
Equality
All ponies of our fair land know the credo of Equestria well: Love and Tolerate. It’s burned into our minds when we’re fillies and colts. However, there is also the lesser known but still just as important credo: All ponies work together for the greater good. The humble earth ponies who work tirelessly in the fields to grow our food; the mighty unicorns who lift the Sun and the Moon every day to bring about the day and night; and the all-powerful alicorns who maintain order. But what do the pegasi contribute? Controlling the weather that the unicorns do faster and better? Living on high where other ponies cannot? Flaunting their speed which they believe makes them better than other ponies? It’s the work of arrogant ponies who only think of themselves. My pegasus guards are amongst the noblest of ponies that I have known in my long life. It is because they selflessly give their time and energy for the betterment of society with no question of reward. See my little ponies; anypony can be truly great and all it takes to do so is action. Nothing worth doing ever gets done without a little push in the right direction.

After listening to the recording, Shining Armor turned back around and continued walking through the crowds of ponies, listening to their conversations for anything that might be useful.

“Today is the perfect day for the celebration, don’t you agree? Bright, sunny and not a cloud in the sky; and this spot gives us the perfect view of the palace too.”

“Oh, I know. Our new princess is probably looking down at us having the time of our lives right now.”

Shining Armor reacted to this immediately. He turned his gaze to where the ponies were looking. In plain sight, right in front of him, he could see the palace. It was huge. It loomed over the city, but it still looked like it was still quite a distance away. “So that’s where they’re holding her. That’s where I need to go.”

Shining Armor turned around and started walking towards the far corner of the plaza. From what he remembered of the cities layout before the expansion, he still knew how to get to the palace from here. He walked along the side of the plaza and he reached the opposite side from where he had entered. There were two pegasus guards standing in front of a locked gate that led out of the plaza towards the direction of the palace.

“Hey, can you let me through here?” Shining Armor asked. “It’s kind of an emergency.”

The pegasus guard responded, “Sorry sir, this passage is closed off until further notice. Nopony gets in or out.”

“Don’t you know who I am? I’m…” Shining Armor was about to continue, but he suddenly remembered that the royal guards of Canterlot were divided into two groups: There were the unicorn guards that he presided over and then there were the pegasus guards that served under the princesses and answered only to them. “Damn it. It looks like I’ll have to find another way around.”

Shining Armor turned around and walked back towards the plaza. He walked along the side, so as to avoid the crowds of ponies and as he approached the centre, he saw an especially large crowd of ponies gathering around a stage. Shining Armor turned his head to look and his eyes immediately widened as he saw the pony on stage addressing the crowd. It was a young, white unicorn with a purple, stylish mane and three diamonds on her flank. Suddenly only one thought came to him; “Rarity?”

Rarity walked towards the front of the stage and began to speak. ”Welcome everypony, to the Summer Sun Celebration. I know that you are all well aware that this is the biggest celebration in all of Equestria, but this year however, it is so much more than just longest day of the year; it also marks our succession from the rest of the slovenly, boorish Equestria and the establishment of our new perfect world. We are the chosen few, led by are new princess to this paradise.” She stopped talking briefly and took a moment to pause. She closed her eyes and exhaled calmly. She then opened her eyes again and continued to speak. “And know, for the moment you have all been waiting for; let us now commence with the Summer Sun Celebration raffle.”

Upon seeing Rarity here, Shining Armor’s head was filling with questions, but before he could contemplate any of them, he heard a voice calling him. “Hey mister. Over here.” Shining Armor turned to see a pony over by the crowd gesturing to him, so he walked over to her. She was a young unicorn with a light to dark brown coat and a dark pink styled mane similar to Rarity’s. She had three yellow freckles on both sides of her face and she was holding a basket of numbered balls strapped around her neck.

“Sorry, I don’t have any bits,” Shining Armor responded.

“Oh, there’s no charge for the raffle, silly.” The pony giggled as she gave a filly-like smile.

Shining Armor reacted awkwardly and then he reached into the basket and pulled out a ball. He looked at it briefly and then showed it to her. “77.”

“77. That’s a lucky number. I’ll be rooting for you.” The pony gave him a wink and a smile and he reacted awkwardly again.

The pony walked on stage and everypony in the crowd started cheering. 

Rarity began to speak again. “Just look at her everypony. Perhaps the second most beautiful unicorn in this city,” she said pridefully with a mixture of laughter. She then reached into the basket and pulled out a ball. The cheering stopped and the crowd fell silent. “And the winner is…” she paused for a moment for dramatic effect. “Number 77.”

The volume of the crowd rose again as ponies ruffled about and spoke quietly to each other. Suddenly, one pony screamed out, “Hey, over here. He’s the winner,” as he pointed to Shining Armor.

The ponies around Shining Armor began to back away so that everypony could see him clearly. As soon as Rarity got a good look at him, her face changed immediately. It wasn’t a look of happiness or nostalgia as he was half expecting, but rather a mixture of surprise and anger. She suddenly looked behind her and gestured with her hoof to the two guards standing at either side of the stage. The guards immediately jumped down off the stage and grabbed Shining Armor by his two front hooves.

“Hey, let go of me. What do you think you’re doing?”

Before he could say anything else, the guard to his right grabbed his cloak and ripped it off him. Suddenly there was a gasp of surprise as everypony saw his cutie mark.

Shining Armor turned back to the stage to face Rarity, who stuck her face out at him. “Don’t you know that that mark makes you the backstabbing, snake in the grass Apocryphal?” She then pulled her face away from him and moved to speak to the crowd. “He has come to take our princess away and destroy everything we have worked so hard for. So tell me everypony: Are we just going to sit back and let him do that?”

Everypony in the crowd then shouted in unison, “NO!”

The guard to his left suddenly opened his mouth and a ball of fire was forming inside of it. He was about to use a Quartz. Time seemed to slow down. Thinking quickly, Shining Armor looked back to the ball in his right forehoof and threw it up into the air. The guard holding him on his right looked at this. Taking advantage of this distraction, Shining Armor broke free from his hold, grabbed the guard to his right and shoved him in front of the other just as the fireball was released. The fireball exploded, with the two guards caught in the blast, but Shining Armor was unaffected. He then shoved the guard into the other and they both fell to the ground dead. After that, Shining Armor looked around. All of the ponies that had been in the plaza had run away and Rarity was nowhere to be seen.

Shining Armor turned around and the two guards from the gate were running towards him. Shining Armor instinctively activated his horn; it became enveloped in a pink aura and he shot a beam at one of the approaching guards. It hit him squarely in the head just underneath his helmet and he fell over dead, blood dripping from the spot he had been hit. He repeated this again with the other guard and he died before he reached him. With them dead, Shining Armor ran over to the gate, now open and exited the plaza, into the next lane.


---


There was an alarm sounding and more guards were coming towards him. They began shooting Quartz's at him. Shining Armor quickly ducked behind some crates to avoid incoming fire. A few seconds later, he jumped out from behind the crates and readied his horn. This time, instead of becoming enveloped in a pink aura, he generated a few blue sparks. He then shot a blast a lightning from his horn and it hit three guards that were standing close to each other. They were shocked and they couldn’t move. Shining Armor then summoned magic into his horn again and shot three purple, bullet-like beams at the stunned guards. The lightning had made them weaker and the beams killed them instantly, even through their armor.

Aside from the alarm ringing, the area was now quiet. Shining Armor decided to take advantage of this temporary cease fire and searched the nearby crates for supplies. Inside the crates, he found some geodes. Geodes were small, edible rocks that restored your Quartz supply; and he needed them after just using it like that. He also found some bits and some hay to eat, which he also needed as he was starving and that battle had taken its toll him. After he had eaten, he felt some of his strength return. He also found a recording crystal and he instinctively played it.


Filthy Rich
Royal Opportunity
This royal alicorn twist a week ago sure caught all the little ants running about their lives off guard. Heck, I hear it took even her family by surprise. Charming. The gal is gonna be a little political leader. What will change? I don’t know. I don’t get politics. But I do get business, and business says that another royal alicorn equals another royal merchandising opportunity.

After the recording crystal was finished playing, Shining Armor continued walking along. For now, there weren’t any guards coming after him, so he decided to take this moment to plan out how he would get to the palace. He turned his head to the right and he could see the palace looming over the houses and other buildings. The road he was following made a left turn up ahead and led into the alicorn museum.

“Alright, let’s see. If I cut through the museum, I should able to make my way to the palace from the west. Right now, I don’t have time to come up with another plan. I don’t know how they knew that I was coming or why they’re calling me this, ‘Apocryphal’, but all that matters to me right now is that I get Twilight away from here.”

Shining Armor made his way forward and turned left. He was now in front of the alicorn museum. He opened the door and stepped inside.

To be continued…

> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 2

Shining Armor was now in the alicorn museum. Inside it was very dark; the surroundings looked almost dark blue. The windows were all boarded up and only a few rays of light shone through the small spaces between the pieces of wood. There wasn’t a sound. The whole building sounded deserted. The museum was seldom visited as most ponies had little interest in such things. The museum had gained a bit more popularity in the last six months because of the new princess; but overall, it was still rarely used.

Shining Armor looked to the right and saw the entrance desk. There was nopony there. He then looked to the left and walked in that direction. Just in front of him, he saw some sort of display: There was a statue of a white unicorn with a pink mane behind a glass box. In front of the display there was a button to activate it. Shining Armor pressed the button to activate it. Two wings suddenly folded out from the statues body and the unicorn became an alicorn. There was then a voice recording to go along with it. It said, “Alicorns are ponies that have transcended the boundaries between unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies and become something new. An alicorn is the most regale sight in all of Equestria and so, anypony who becomes an alicorn, becomes Equestrian royalty. In Equestria, all alicorns are royalty, but not all royalty are alicorns.” The recording stopped. Shining Armor then turned to the right and continued walking along.

Shining Armor walked quietly and carefully down the corridor, in case there were any guards hiding around here to catch him off guard. He looked around as he walked. As a museum, it had a rather posh atmosphere about it. There were large oil paintings of alicorns on the walls. They didn’t seem to be of anypony in particular; they were apparently just painted from imagination. Not exactly the type of thing you would expect to see in a museum. There were also poufy benches for sitting on and some small drawers next to them. On one of the drawers, Shining Armor saw a recording crystal. Its faint glow made it immediately noticeable in the dark corridor. Shining Armor picked it up and played it as he continued to move forward.


Colgate
Alicorns, A History
Most of what’s known about alicorns has been lost to time. The Royal Sister’s origins go back almost before recorded history. Yes, there’s also the Crystal Princess; but strangely there seems to be even less known about her. There is almost no record of her before she became an alicorn. It’s almost as if she came out of nowhere. If you can trust the legends, it is said that alicorns are chosen by the world itself in times of great need. If everything that has happened lately really is all because of divine providence; then I am left asking just one question: Why now?

Shining Armor turned a corner as the recording finished. Directly in front of him was a stallion. He wasn’t a royal guard. He was a big, grey unicorn with a short, brown mane and a white cloak covering his body. Not wanting to jump directly into a fight, Shining Armor approached the pony and simply said, “Hey.”

Upon hearing this, the pony immediately turned around. He took one look at Shining Armor and he shouted out, “For the glory of the princess!” and then he suddenly disappeared in a flash of what appeared to be bats.

The swarm of bats started flying towards Shining Armor. He reacted just in time and jumped out of the way. He quickly got back to his feet and turned around. The swarm of bats turned back into the unicorn and he then shot at Shining Armor with a magical blast. Shining Armor was still trying to take in what was happening and he took a direct hit. He took some damage but he was still standing. He then readied his horn and shot a magical blast of his own at the unicorn, but he disappeared into a swarm of bats again before it made contact. The bats again started flying towards Shining Armor. However, he had learned his lesson from the last time and he was now prepared. He quickly moved out of the way and turned around ready for the unicorn to turn back. Indeed this is exactly what happened and before he could attack again, Shining Armor’s horn began to crackle with electricity and he shot a bolt of electricity at the unicorn. The unicorn was stunned by the blast. Shining Armor then quickly shot at him again with his unicorn magic and after a few shots, the unicorn fell over dead.

Shining Armor went over to investigate the body. The white cloak the unicorn was wearing had a symbol of a pair of black, demonic wings on it; with ‘The Brotherhood of the Wings’, written underneath it. Shining Armor then looked down and saw a bottle clutched in his hooves. The bottle was undoubtedly a Quartz; however, unlike the first one; this one was filled with a black liquid with a bat on the cover. Shining Armor picked it up with his hoof, took the cork out and chugged it down. Shining Armor felt a sudden pain in his head; however, it was nowhere near as painful as the first time. His vision turned black. He suddenly felt really weird. He then raised his hoof up in front of his face and suddenly it had turned into a couple of bats. They started flying around him for about five seconds, then they came back to him and his hoof returned to normal. His vision started to return to normal as well and the pain stopped. Shining Armor then continued on his way. As he was walking, one thought came to him. “I don’t think that that was a sample.”

Shining Armor moved cautiously in case there were any more of those ‘Brotherhood’ ponies around. He opened the door in front of him and he was now in what appeared to be a foyer. There was a big staircase right in front of him and two rooms to either side that seemed to connect at the back. Shining Armor decided to investigate before moving on and he walked over to the room on the right.

As soon as Shining Armor walked into the room, he noticed a truly disgusting smell in the air. The long table in the middle of the room was covered in rotten food and there were dozens of bats flying around the place. Shining Armor placed his hoof on his nose and let out a snort of disgust. However, there were more ponies in white cloaks in the area and they heard this. They rushed into the room from the opposite side, completely unfazed by the smell and they attacked Shining Armor on sight. These ponies weren’t turning into swarms of bats; they were simply shooting magical blasts at him from their horns. Shining Armor quickly jumped behind the table to dodge. He then jumped back out and hit them all with a blast of electricity. The other ponies were all standing next to each other and they were all caught in the blast radius. When they were stunned, he then shot at them with his own magical blasts and killed them.

Shining Armor was feeling weak after two intense fights like that with no rest. He needed to eat something to get his strength back, but there was absolutely no way he was going to eat the food in here. He walked to the back of the room to investigate the rest of the area. He then saw one more unicorn in front of him. He prepared to shoot him with a blast of electricity, but he wasn’t able to. “Looks like I’m out of geodes. I’m gonna have to find some more.” As he said this, he was hit by several magical blasts from the unicorn and he took some serious damage. Shining Armor mustered all of his remaining energy and shot at the unicorn in front of him as many times as he could. When he ran out of energy and stopped shooting, the unicorn was dead.

Shining Armor was now feeling very weak. He moved along slowly, investigating the area. When he didn’t find anything, he returned to the foyer and walked up the stairs. As he opened the door at the top of the stairs to leave the area, he was feeling very upset and he grunted, “I should’ve just moved forward.”

Shining Armor was surprised at how weak he felt after just a few battles. He was the captain of the royal guard because he was one of the strongest ponies in Equestria. He shouldn’t have tired so quickly. It’s something that he didn’t notice until now but he felt weaker ever since he entered the city. It wouldn’t be good for him to lose his strength now when he needs it the most; but if he stays stocked up on food and geodes, then he should be just fine. His magic is still strong enough to defeat enemies quickly; he just needs to be careful when taking damage.

Shining Armor opened the door and he was now in a big room with a large, circular table at the centre and several chairs placed around it. On the wall to the left, there were two huge murals about twenty feet tall that stretched from the ceiling to the floor. The first was of Twilight as an alicorn. She was simply facing forward with her wings stretched out. She was wearing her new royal attire with her Element of Harmony as her crown. Her mane was also styled differently, ending in a curl. The second mural was of a large, white alicorn. She looked a bit like Celestia, but noticeably different. She was a bit taller than Celestia; an impressive feat considering Celestia was the tallest pony in Equestria. She also had a long, red mane with a tail to match. Her cutie mark was a quill dipped in a phial of ink. Shining Armor recognised this alicorn as Lauren Faust; the pony that someponies worshipped as God. There was also a projector situated at the centre of the table projecting the same symbol from the ponies cloaks onto the wall, just to the right of the murals. Shining Armor was walking around the table to the door on the other side, when he noticed a recording crystal on one of the chairs. Shining Armor picked it up and played it as he made his way out of the room and walked down the next corridor.


Diamond Flash
The Princess Twilight Cometh
“For lo and God said that she would send her daughter upon us and guide the chosen ponies to paradise.” Ponies all over Equestria know this prophecy well; however, sadly there are many ponies who are confused as to whom this prophecy refers. Many ponies ignorantly believe that this daughter is Celestia; however, we few brothers know the truth. It is not Celestia, Luna or the Crystal Princess. The true daughter of our Lord is unmistakably Princess Twilight Sparkle. For over a thousand years of Celestia’s rule, Equestria has faced such calamities as, the fall of a great Empire, a rampage of chaos being unleashed and even the corruption of the royal blood. And how has Celestia responded to these events? She either made everything worse or just postponed our suffering for another time. Yet it was our Princess Twilight Sparkle that saved us all time and time again, even without her glorious wings; the symbol of our devotion to her. Even more, in just six months of her new rule, she has fixed all of Celestia’s many mistakes and truly she has guided the faithful to paradise. Equestria is now in a golden age of new rule; and yet all is not right. The False Princess, Celestia, keeps our beloved princess locked up in that infernal palace like a dog on a leash. She wishes to use our princess to serve her own selfish ends. However; we, ‘The Brotherhood of the Wings’, shall not let this go on much longer. We have established a base in the alicorn museum; the shrine to our princess and all that she is, was and will become, right on the doorstep of that damnable prison of a palace. Our numbers continue to grow and soon we shall descend on the palace and take our princess back. Celestia’s puppets will not stop us. Soon we will take our destined place at her side as the shepherds that will guard her on her way to her destiny. Also, there is word amongst the guards that the Apocryphal is on his way here to take our princess away. Normally I wouldn’t believe one more of the False Princess’ lies after the countless catastrophes that she has allowed to befall us time and time again. Regardless, anypony who attempts to stand between our princess and her destiny shall all share the same fate. If the Apocryphal truly is coming here; then he will die by own hoof. I swear this on the wings. For the glory of the princess.

As the recording crystal was playing, Shining Armor made his way down the next corridor. It was deserted and silent, just like the rest of the museum. As he was walking along, he found a lot of food on the benches and drawers, like hay, apples, cupcakes, cotton candy and some soda. He also found some geodes. He ate everything that he could find to get his strength back. By the time the recording crystal had finished, he had reached the end of the corridor and his strength and his Quartz supply had been restored. Feeling much better, he opened the door in front of him.

He opened the door slowly and peaked into the next room before going in. The room was very big and open. It was also much brighter than the rest of the museum. There were windows on the walls, not boarded up and the light was shining through. Shining Armor opened the door a bit more and he saw two more of those cloaked unicorns standing with their backs to him facing the door like they were expecting something. Shining Armor opened the door a bit more and quietly entered the room. The two unicorns hadn’t noticed him come in and he decided to use that to his advantage to launch a sneak attack. Shining Armor summoned power into his horn and shot at one of the unicorns in the back of the neck and killed him instantly. The other unicorn noticed this and turned his head to the side to see his ‘Brother’ lying there dead; however, before he could turn around to see what had caused it, Shining Armor shot another blast at him, killing him instantly. Shining Armor had decided not to use his Quartz and instead save his supply for when he really needs it. Shining Armor looked around the room. Nothing immediately caught his eye and he decided not to spend time investigating, remembering what happened last time. He simply walked over to the door and opened it. He was now outside.


---


As soon as Shining Armor stepped outside, he suddenly took in a lot of light. He closed his eyes shut and raised his hoof up between his eyes and the Sun. His eyes hurt a bit, but he was still glad to be outside again. After his eyes had readjusted to the light, he took a look around. The palace loomed over him, just over the line of buildings to his right. It was huge; and he could tell that it was nearby. He turned his gaze forward again. Ahead of him was a short, empty, straight stretch of road between two rows of small buildings. The road turned at a forty five degree angle up ahead. Shining Armor started walking ahead, knowing that the palace would be right in front of him when he turned the corner. He slowed down a bit and decided to use the time to come up with a plan for how he was going to get inside. The palace would no doubt have high security; especially since they knew that he was coming. He didn’t know exactly how many guards would be waiting for him, but he knew that he had to get passed them to rescue his sister. The odds were going to be against him; however, his resolve didn’t waver. He vowed to rescue Twilight and get her away from here and that’s exactly what he was going to do. He didn’t care how many ponies stood in his way or who they were. He would go through them all. Shining Armor turned the corner and his eyes widened a bit at what he saw.

Since the cities expansion, the palace was now located at the centre of the city. The already huge structure was sitting on top of a raised platform. The stairs that lead up the platform were on every side. The platform was shaped like a jagged cone where the stairs were, with the top cut off where the palace stood. The platform was about sixty feet high. There was an entire battalion of guards waiting for him there; all stationed in rows along the steps. There were easily at least one hundred guards there and there were no openings that he could slip through. However, Shining Armor’s expression didn’t change at all. He had a look of determination on his face. He came to rescue his sister no matter what and he didn’t care how many guards he had to fight against. Somehow, someway he would find a way through, even if he had to fight them all. His gaze rose up slowly as he surveyed all the guards that stood between him and his sister. At the top of the platform, he saw one guard standing alone, above all the others. He looked almost the same as all the other guards but he was slightly bigger. Despite the similarities, Shining Armor recognised him immediately; Biggs: one of Celestia’s personal bodyguards that accompanied her at all times. For him to be here, Shining Armor knew now that Celestia was hell bent on making sure that he didn’t reach Twilight. His stern expression began to slip a bit. He knew that one hundred guards would be a tough challenge, but deep down he was still sure that he could do it; however, with Biggs here, it was another story altogether. Only the strongest guards became Celestia’s personal bodyguards; Shining Armor was even at one time expected to become one and Biggs and Wedge have both held that position for years; meaning that no guards in all that time were stronger than them. If it was just the two of them, then he might be able to take him, but with another hundred guards covering him it would be absolutely impossible.

Suddenly, the long silence was broken and Biggs began to address the other guards. “Men. We make our stand here. We must stop the Apocryphal before he reaches our princess. These orders come directly from Her Majesty, Princess Celestia herself. All units shoot to kill.”

On cue, every pegasus guard in the area began charging up a Quartz. The entire area in front of Shining Armor looked like a canvas of orange and red from all the fireballs forming in their mouths. Shining Armor began looking all around him. “Think. Think. There’s got to be something I can do to get passed all of them.” As he surveyed the area, his eyes immediately widened at what he saw. Just then, all of the fireballs were released and shot right towards Shining Armor. He quickly turned back to see this. With the fireballs fast approaching, Shining Armor quickly did the only thing he could do to survive this attack.

BOOM!!! There was an enormous explosion. As the smoke cleared, all of the guards watched closely to make sure that he was really dead. When the smoke had finally cleared, exactly where Shining Armor was standing, they all saw a swarm of bats. Many of the guards suddenly broke their usual stoic expressions and were legitimately confused at what they saw. Then suddenly, the swarm of bats disappeared and Shining Armor reappeared. Everything fell quiet again and the only thing that could be heard was Shining Armor muttering under his breath, “There is absolutely no way I’m using that Quartz ever again.”

“What are you men waiting for; an invitation?! Start shooting again!” Biggs yelled, with a clear look of frustration on his face. A very rare occurrence for him. He almost never showed any signs of emotion; even more so than the other guards. All of the guards quickly regained themselves and began charging their Quartz's again. As soon as they did, Shining Armor’s horn became enveloped in a pink aura. However, he didn’t shoot a magical blast or use a Quartz. Instead he suddenly rose into the air and darted face first to the right. All of the guards cancelled their attacks and tried to follow where Shining Armor was going and then they all noticed that he was using the transport line. Since Canterlot was now so much bigger, it was more difficult to send deliveries around the city; especially with the way they were treating the pegasi. So scientists invented the transport line: a long steel line that went all over the city. The lines were strong enough to hold up dozens of large crates which were attached to them with magic, like magnets. Since it was attracted to magic, that meant that some unicorn ponies were able to ride them too if they knew the right spell and Shining Armor was one such pony. The line rose up and Shining Armor felt himself being raised high above the guards below and he was sailing towards the palace.

“What are you men waiting for?! Attack him!” Biggs screamed at the top of his lungs. By this point, he had lost all of his regular composure.

The guards suddenly snapped back and began hurling their attacks at Shining Armor. However, he was moving too quickly and they couldn’t hit him. Shining Armor looked down at Biggs who had a look of pure anger in his eyes and his teeth were snarling at him. Shining Armor then turned around to face the palace. The transport line had drifted very close to it, lucky for him. Shining Armor then saw an open window beneath him. “Perfect.” As he was passing above the open window, his horn stopped glowing and he threw himself towards the open window. He fell quite a distance down but he still landed on his feet. He was now inside the palace.


---


Shining Armor looked around at where he was. He was currently in the palace stairwell. To his left was a blank wall with the window he had fallen through right above it. To his right, there were two flights of stairs: one going up and one going down. Shining Armor decided to go up since they were most likely holding Twilight on the upper floors. Also, Biggs and his guards were most likely coming through the front entrance right now and Shining Armor had to stay away from them.

Shining Armor made his way over to the stairs going up and he noticed a recording crystal on a small surface between the two flights of stairs. He picked it up and played it as he walked up the stairs.


Time Turner
Science and Magic
Ever since I was a young colt, I was fascinated with learning why things were the way that they were and not some other way altogether. We live in a world where everything is dictated by magic; a force that can supposedly make anything happen; and yet, it is science that is the supreme force in our world. It is the one absolute force and magic serves as a tangent to that force. We cannot break the laws of the universe, but we can bend them to our liking from time to time. Indeed, this is exactly what magic is. Simply a tool for expressing our will upon creation and altering what we perceive to be possible. However, even magic cannot do the impossible: something that goes against science. However, the earliest rule of the universe that I learned in my life is that there are exceptions to every rule. The answer of how to do so simply lies elsewhere; in science, not magic. My parents always thought that I was a very odd child; for an earth pony to be interested in magic, or for a scientist to link science with magic. I however, saw it as a perfect opportunity to begin a career in physics. With this one theory that I created as a young colt, I pursued a career in physics in order to unravel these mysteries. In time I had become the most renowned physicist in Equestria. I had made numerous contributions to the field and unravelled many mysteries of our world; but I was still searching for the answer to that one theory I created as a young colt. Then one day, Princess Celestia herself comes to me personally saying that she needs my assistance with a project of hers. Now I’m not entirely sure what this project could be, or what she hopes to accomplish with it; but I could tell from the expression on her face when she spoke, that it is something big. I’m still not entirely sure what this project is, but my scientific curiosity will not allow me to walk away from this opportunity; however there is another reason: I cannot explain it but something tells me that this very project may just hold the answers that I have been searching for. Perhaps this force guiding me along… is magic.

As Shining Armor walked up the stairs, he noticed that there were no guards around. Normally, there were royal guards patrolling every inch of the palace. All of the guards were probably stationed outside. Celestia most likely didn’t expect somepony to get in with the transport line. This would make it easier to get through and look for Twilight, however, Shining Armor still decided to play things safe and move quietly just in case. He still had to move quickly however, since the guards from outside were coming for him and they knew exactly where Twilight was.

Shining Armor reached the top floor that these stairs went to. He opened the door and entered the palace hallway. The hallway was lined with a beautiful, red carpet all the way along. The walls were painted white, with gold candelabras built into the walls. There were also red banners hanging from the ceiling with two yellow stripes running straight down at either side. As Shining Armor was walking along, he noticed a recording crystal strewn on the floor. He picked it up and started playing it.


Princess Celestia
Day, Night and Twilight
While I try to do the best for MY country, my dear sister Luna appears to be less… interested in the greater good of the nation. Considering how we share legislative power, Luna can easily veto all of my rulings. If only it wasn’t just the two of us, then maybe… if I had another alicorn under my influence in this power struggle, all of my decisions would go through. Luna may very well be planning the same against me! If there is anything I’ve learned about conflict, whether it by combat or by a battle wits, is that those slow to act will never act at all. Perhaps it is time for a certain faithful student to join her mentor…

As Shining Armor was walking along the hallway, he noticed that the door to one of the adjoining rooms was open. He peeked his head in. It was a very small room, completely empty except for some sort of console at the back. The console had several screens on it which seemed to be displaying feedback from cameras somewhere. Shining Armor moved closer to investigate. One screen seemed to be showing the inside of a library and another one was showing the edge of a forest. There was also the inside of a bakery, a town square, a train station, a town hall and a farm of some sorts. Shining Armor didn’t recognise any of these places, but if he had to guess, it was probably Ponyville. His suspicions would be confirmed when he turned to look at the last screen. His eyes widened at what he saw. It was a big, colourful bedroom. The architecture matched that of the palace. There was a table mounted mirror with a star shape around it. There were what appeared to be mannequins all over the room, each wearing a beautiful outfit. There was a huge four poster bed next to the window where light was shining in. On the bed, there was a young, purple alicorn wearing a beautifully crafted yellow, white and pink outfit. She had golden hoof shoes with purple stars on them. Her mane ended in a stylish curl and she was wearing a tiara on her head. The alicorn was lying on the bed, reading a book, occasionally lifting her head and looking around. Shining Armor fell silent and his mind went blank except for a single thought. “Twilight. I finally found you.”

Shining Armor was overcome with joy seeing his sister, even if it was just through a monitor. He recognised the room she was in and he knew exactly how to get there from here. He proceeded to turn around to make his way out of the room when he noticed a recording crystal on the console. He picked it up and played it as he made his way out of the room.


Time Turner
The Leash
The girl seems to be displaying remarkable growth. In just three months since the transformation, her powers have increased by over two thousand per cent. It seems that the princesses weren’t joking when they said that she had the potential to become the most powerful alicorn in history. Now her powers have surpassed even Celestia. However, this also presents a bit of a problem. Should the girl have enough of all this and want to leave, I’m not sure that we can stop her; and I can tell that Celestia worries about this as well. She really should work on keeping a straight face when we speak. What we need right now is a way to keep the girls powers under control until we can be sure that it’s safe; like keeping a dog on a leash until it’s trained. Hmmm, I believe I may have an idea of how to do just that; and perhaps also a way to keep the rest of the ponyfolk happy at the same time.

Shining Armor made his way through the palace hallways. Everything was completely silent. This meant that the guards from outside weren’t close to catching up with him yet, since he knew exactly where they were heading now. However, there could still be other guards stationed inside, so he made his way around quietly and carefully. While the city of Canterlot had changed a lot in the last six months, the palace had remained relatively unchanged. This was a stroke of good luck for Shining Armor. He knew his way around the palace perfectly from when he was captain of the royal guard and he knew that Twilight’s room was close by. As he walked along, he noticed another recording crystal just lying on the floor. He picked it up and played it.


Princess Mi Amore Cadenza
Grieving
Well, Shining Armor is gone. I’m all alone now. I knew that I would have to deal with this eventually. After all I’m an alicorn and he’s a unicorn; but I never imagined that it would be this soon. (Sigh) I wasn’t prepared for this.

Unlike previous recording crystals that he had listened to and then just forgotten about; after hearing this one, Shining Armor was in serious thought. “Cadance. I am so sorry that I left. You will always be the most important thing in the world to me; but so is my sister. I promise you that I’ll find Twilight and get her out of her. Then we’ll head back to the Crystal Empire together. I swear this on my life. I swear it.”

Shining Armor lifted his head from his thoughts as he turned a corner and looked ahead. At the end of the empty hallway, was the room that he had seen Twilight in. What puzzled him was that right in front of the door, there was some sort of glass chamber with an iron door in front of it. Shining Armor galloped over to the iron door as quickly as he could. On the walls on both sides of the hallway, Shining Armor saw what seemed to be warning signs. They read: ‘Contact with the subject is absolutely prohibited without level five clearance’, and ‘Everypony must be decontaminated before and after contact with the subject’.

Shining Armor approached the iron gate. It had a wheel lock. He opened it and stepped inside. He tried to open the door into the room but it wouldn’t budge. Shining Armor then remembered what it said on the warning signs. Shining Armor turned around and closed the iron door. As soon as he did this, a thin green mist entered the glass box and a voice recording said, “Decontamination commencing.”

Shining Armor didn’t like it that his little sister was being referred to as a subject and that everypony has to be decontaminated before seeing her; if they were even allowed to see her. Before Shining Armor could think further about this, he noticed a small monitor above the door. It seemed to be transmitting a close up of Celestia’s face. She seemed to be sending him a message.

“Shining Armor. I knew that you would come here. My sight proves out yet again. But tell me; why exactly have you come here? To take your sister away from here? Do you even know why you’re here? To rescue your baby sister from the terrible danger that this city is wrought with? The only danger in this city is that which you have brought here yourself.”

Shining Armor barked back at the screen, “You can’t fool me Celestia! I know you too well!”

Celestia just continued with what she was saying. “Tell me, Shining Armor: Do you really know me as well as you think you do? Tell me, what are you going to do if you can actually get Twilight out of the city? Do you really think that my guards and I are the only ones who need Twilight to stay here? No! Everypony in Equestria needs their new princess to stay here. It’s how they have always been; and they are all willing to lay down their lives if it means preserving their way of life. It’s the only life they know. So tell me now, Shining Armor; what are you going to do? Will you take on everypony? I promise you that this will all end in blood. It always ends in blood for you, doesn’t it?”

Shining Armor suddenly got an intense pain in his head; his vision became blurry and began to shake for a second. He raised his hoof to his face and he noticed that his nose was bleeding. “What the Hell?”

He then looked back at the monitor and the light above it turned from red to green. The voice then said, “Decontamination complete.” Shining Armor then tried to open the door again and it worked. He opened the door and stepped inside. There, standing directly in front of him with her head looking towards the window was his little sister, Twilight Sparkle.

Upon hearing the door open, Twilight turned her head around to face the door. She had a look of absolute relief on her face. “Shining Armor.”

“Twily.” Shining Armor then reached out and embraced his sister with a big hug. After about five seconds, he pulled away. “I’ve come to get you out of her, okay?”

“Of course. I knew you’d come. You’re always there for me when I need you.” Twilight and Shining Armor both just stood there smiling at each other, but then, all of a sudden, they heard an alarm of some kind. It was different from the one Shining Armor had heard before he reached the alicorn museum. The lighting in the room suddenly got darker as well. “Oh no, she found us,” Twilight said as she quickly looked around the room. She then turned back to face Shining Armor. “She knows you’re here.”

Shining Armor then heard the sound of galloping hooves. He turned around to see what it was and as he feared; through the door and the glass box, he could see that Biggs and the guards had finally managed to catch up. His eyes widened as he saw this. He quickly went back to the door and closed it again. The decontamination would slow them down, but they didn’t have much time.

“Shining Armor, what are we going to do? They’ll be here any minute.”

“Don’t worry. I know a secret way out of here.” Shining Armor then galloped over to a bookshelf in the far corner of the room.

“What are you doing?” Twilight asked inquisitively.

“This used to be Cadance’s room. I remember… I used to visit her here when we were younger. There should still be a secret passage behind this bookshelf.”

Shining Armor began pushing the bookshelf to the side and just as he had said, there was a secret passage behind it.

“Come on Twilight. I’m getting you out of here.”

Shining Armor gave Twilight his hoof and helped her through. The bookshelf was very heavy and he could only open it out a bit. When Twilight was through, Shining Armor climbed through as well. They were now in a narrow passageway of stairs that led straight down.

“Come on Twilight. Follow me. I know the way.”

Shining Armor and Twilight ran down the stairs as fast as they could. The bookshelf couldn’t close from their side and the guards would be there soon and come after them. The stairs they were running down just kept going straight. Shining Armor could hear that the guards were in the room now and had no doubt already seen the open bookshelf; however, he didn’t want to say it out loud in case Twilight might worry.

The stairs in the passageway stopped and they were now on the floor. They probably went down about twenty floors. Shining Armor saw a turn up ahead.

“Twilight, the exit’s just up ahead,” Shining Armor said as he pointed his hoof forward.

Shining Armor and Twilight ran ahead and turned the corner, but then the worst possible thing happened: a dead end.

Shining Armor walked up to the wall. “Dammit. Dammit. Dammit. Dammit,” he said as he repeatedly pounded his hoof against the wall. He then slumped down in front of it. Twilight had a worried expression on her face; however, this quickly turned to fear as they heard the guards approaching.

Twilight regained her composure and stepped forward. “Shining Armor; stand back.”

Shining Armor raised his head in confusion. “Huh.”

“Just do it.”

Shining Armor could hear the guards getting closer, but he complied with his sister’s request. He stood up and walked back. Twilight walked closer to the wall and bowed her head down. Her horn started glowing in a magnificent purple aura. Her facial expression showed that she was concentrating really hard. Shining Armor tried his best not to disturb her, but he couldn’t take his mind off all the guards that were now right behind them. There is no way that he could take them all on, especially when he was in this cramped space and protecting Twilight.

Suddenly there was a flash of light from Twilight’s horn. Shining Armor looked at the wall and there was now a giant hole covering most of the wall. The other side looked just like the side they were on now, however, it looked completely grey on the other side. The hole itself looked more like it was a hole in the fabric of space more than just a hole in the wall.

Twilight quickly jumped through the hole and she was perfectly fine. “We don’t have much time. Come on.”

Shining Armor did as she said and jumped through the hole. When he landed on the other side, he turned around and saw the guards on the other side. Now it was this side of the hole that looked normal and the other side that looked grey. Just as it looked like the guards were about to jump through the hole too; Twilight activated her horn again and the hole suddenly disappeared and the wall was back to normal. He couldn’t even hear the guards on the other side.

The only thing that Shining Armor could say to what just happened was, “What just happened?”

“I’ll explain later, but right now we really have to go.”

Shining Armor agreed and the two of them continued running along. Shining Armor edged out ahead of Twilight just as they turned a corner. Shining Armor suddenly felt the ground disappear beneath him. He looked down and he saw that he had run right into a hole in the floor. He tried to back up but he had already fallen too far in and started falling down the hole.

Everything was black and he couldn’t see the bottom. After about seven seconds of falling, Shining Armor finally hit the ground. He lost consciousness immediately.

To be continued…

> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 3

Shining Armor regained consciousness and opened his eyes. He was already standing up on all four hooves and he looked around at where he was. He was now out on the balcony at the Crystal Empire Palace. Everything around him was grey. He turned his head to the left and he saw Cadance standing next to him; facing forward and looking out over the Crystal Empire. She had a blank look on her face.

Cadance closed her eyes briefly and gave a short sigh. She then turned her head to face Shining Armor. “So… your mind’s really made up then?”

Shining Armor turned his head away from her and looked out over the Crystal Empire. “I have to. The change in Equestria reaches even here now. With everything that’s been happening lately, I just know that Twilight’s in trouble. I know my sister and she would never do things like this of her own free will. I just know that something or somepony else is behind it all.” Shining Armor sighed. “I have to save her! And on the off chance that it really is her behind everything… I need to know why.”

Cadance hesitated slightly to say what she was about to say next. “You know; I don’t think that you’ll be able to just walk into Canterlot, take her and walk out. Ponies everywhere are becoming more obsessed and violent lately. Even my magic can’t reach their hearts anymore. If you try to take their princess away… if they hurt you…” Cadance looked down at her feet, her sad frown growing bigger. “I don’t know what I might do.”

Shining Armor turned back to face Cadance and put his hoof around her shoulder. “Cadance.” Cadence turned to look up at him. “I promise you that I’ll come back. I swear it on my life.”

Cadance took in what Shining Armor just said. She then smiled and leaned in and kissed him on the lips.

After kissing for ten seconds, Shining Armor pulled away slowly and looked her in the eye. “You’ll see. I’ll come back; and Twilight will be with me.” Shining Armor then turned around and walked into the throne room. Cadance followed soon after to see him off. When Shining Armor had reached the entrance to the throne room, he placed his hooves on the giant door and pushed it open. Suddenly there was a big flash of light and everything turned white.

“Shining Armor? Shining Armor. SHINING ARMOR!” Cadance screamed at the top of her lungs. Soon even this faded away and everything was white and silent.


---


“Cadance. Cadance. Cadance.” Shining Armor called out her name repeatedly.

Shining Armor’s vision was blurry but it started to return. He was able to make out the image of a pink pony standing over him. “Cadance? Is that you?”

“No. My name’s Lightning Flicker. Are you alright?”

Shining Armor’s vision returned to normal and he could see clearly again. The pony standing over him was a pink pegasus pony. She had a long, lime green mane tied back in a ponytail. Her cutie mark was of a dark storm cloud with three thunderbolts on it. She was kneeling down, with one of her hooves behind Shining Armor’s head, helping him to sit up.

“Yeah. I’m fine,” Shining Armor responded.

“Are you sure? You look like you’re in pretty bad shape.” She held out her other hoof to help him up.

Shining Armor swatted her hoof away. “I said I’m fine!” he said in a slightly aggressive tone.

Lightning Flicker pouted. She then stood back up and walked away.

Shining Armor stood up. He still had a slight pain in his head, but he just ignored it. He then surveyed his new surroundings. He was currently in a large, old, run-down room. The wood in the floor was creaking with every step. The windows were boarded up but there were still small gaps that let light in. There was dust all over the floor and there were lots of what appeared to be barrels covered with blue sheets. There were also strange posters on the walls. Shining Armor recognised them as the same type of posters he saw when he first entered the city. However, these were noticeably different than the others.








Shining Armor looked away from the posters and examined the rest of the room. He also saw several pegasus ponies around the room. Some were treating other ponies injuries; others were organising bottles of what appeared to be Quartz's.

The room looked like an old storage room. Buildings in this condition in Canterlot were few and far between. There weren’t many places he could be right now, but one thing he knew for certain was that he wasn’t in the palace anymore. Suddenly, his eyes shot open. “Hey. Where’s Twilight?”

“Do not worry Captain,. She is perfectly safe,” said a familiar voice from across the room.

Shining Armor recognised the voice that he just heard. He turned around to discover that his guess was correct. Right behind him, kneeling down next to Twilight, who was playing with a pegasus filly, was none other than Princess Luna. Luna stood up on all four hooves and walked over to Shining Armor. When she was standing right in front of him, Shining Armor gave her a curt bow. He was still willing to acknowledge her as princess.

Princess Luna smiled as he did this. “Now Captain, there is no need to be so formal.” She then raised her hoof to her mouth and giggled slightly.

Shining Armor rose back onto his feet again. “Thank you, Princess Luna. How did we get here anyway?”

“My guards found you unconscious not too far from here. Twilight Sparkle was draped over you, crying and scared that she couldn’t do anything to save you. She was so relieved when we came to offer assistance.”

Shining Armor’s expression then changed to one of confusion. “But why do you want to help me?”

Luna’s smile started to fade and she let out a sigh. She then turned her head to the side. “In these last few months, our Sister has changed; ever since Twilight Sparkle became an alicorn. No, it was even before that. She has become like a pony possessed. Every time we meet to conduct royal business, she just completely shuts us out and tells Twilight Sparkle to agree with everything she says. All of the new policies that she has introduced lately… well, you saw how that has turned out.” Luna then looked down at the floor. “We have tried to speak with her privately about everything, but she refuses to speak with us. I cannot even fathom what she is thinking about all of this. If we try to speak our minds about it anyway, then she immediately cuts us off and barks at us that ‘It’s for the greater good of the nation, Sister. Never forget that’.” Tears began to form in the corners of her eyes, but she also wore a strong expression on her face; like she was trying to stay strong and hold back her tears. “However, we could not just stand by and watch what was unfolding before us. I took my guards with me and lent my support to the pegasi, these ‘Shadowbolts’ as the public has come to call them by. Naturally, our Sister has used this to turn the public against us and accuses us of high treason.” Her strong expression began to slip a bit and her tears were making their way down the sides of her cheeks. “My Sister; I do not know why she is acting like this or why she is doing all of these horrible things and saying that it is all for the greater good of our country. No future can emerge out of all this blood.”

Princess Luna was obviously very sad. She had even stopped using the royal we. Shining Armor took notice of this and decided the jump in. “Princess Luna; I can tell that you care deeply for your sister. I care for mine too and that’s why I have to get Twilight out of the city.”

Luna sighed and lifted herself up. She then wiped away her tears and responded to what Shining Armor just said, suddenly in a more serious tone. “I am afraid that that will be impossible. Tia has set up entire armies at the four exits of the city to stop you. You will not be able to simply walk out.”

Shining Armor paused for a moment after hearing this. He then suddenly remembered something. “Then why don’t we fly out? I remember seeing an airship when I first arrived in the city. We could use that to get out.”

Luna smiled. “Yes, that is Tia’s personal airship. She uses it to keep watch over the city. However, you will not be able to reach it.”

Shining Armor stomped his hoof on the ground. “I don’t care what it takes. If it means getting Twilight to safety, I’ll do anything.”

“Captain, you should not be so reckless,” Luna responded immediately in a straight tone. She then closed her eyes briefly and let out a short sigh. “Please, aid our cause. With your help, we will be able to stop my sister’s tyrannical ways and lead Equestria back to the way it was before: A country where everypony is happy and treated equally. Please, we need your help; and you need our help as well.”

Shining Armor looked his princess and aunt-in-law in the eyes. He could see both strength and sadness, but also a strong resolve and motivation. He then looked over at Twilight, who was playing with a young pegasus filly, trying to cheer her up. A smile began to form on his face. He then turned back to look at Luna. “Alright, I’m in. Just tell me what I can do to help.”

Luna began smiling right back at him. She turned to her side and gestured with her hoof to get Shining Armor to look around the room. “As you can see, the Shadowbolts are too few in numbers to stand up against our Sister. My Night Guard have joined them to lend assistance; however, we are still too few in numbers to fight against Tia’s royal guards.”

Shining Armor interjected. “Alright, so how do I fit into this?”

Luna turned back around to look Shining Armor in the eyes. “Your unicorn guards too support our cause and for that, our Sister has accused them all of treason and locked them up in the Canterlot prison. If you can go to the prison and release them; then we will have the strength and numbers to fight back at last. We can return Equestria to the way that it was and then you shall have your airship.”

Shining Armor thought that these were agreeable terms. “Alright, I’ll head out now; Princess Luna.” He then gave Luna a salute.

Luna responded in kind and saluted back. “Farewell, Shining Armor.”

Shining Armor walked passed Princess Luna and made his way towards the door. As we walked through the room, he noticed a recording crystal on the table. He picked it up and decided to play it.


Princess Luna
Concerns
My sister… I hope you know what you are doing. Twilight Sparkle… she has the potential to be the most powerful alicorn in history. This… coronation… is my sister’s way of guiding her… of containing her… hmmm… evil forces still exist out there… forces that vie for the end of ponykind. Forces that transformed me into… bah. If such forces ever take control of Twilight Sparkle… Sister… I hope you know what you are doing.

As he came closer to where Twilight was, he turned his head towards her and said, “Twilight, I have to go do something right now. You stay here. I’ll come back and get you later.”

When Twilight heard this, she stopped playing with the filly, stood up and turned around. “Shining Armor, I want to go with you.”

Shining Armor responded immediately. “No Twilight, it’s too dangerous! If anything happened to you, or you got hurt because of me; I could never forgive myself.”

Twilight suddenly threw herself at Shining Armor. “Please, let me go with you. I was apart from you for so long and I was so scared. I couldn’t bear to see you go again.”

Shining Armor looked down at Twilight who was clinging to him. “But Twily…”

Twilight let go of Shining Armor and backed away from him a bit. “You don’t have to worry about me getting hurt. You saw me back at the palace; I can take care of myself; and I can help you if you get into trouble. Besides, the guards won’t attack me.”

After hearing this and looking at his sister, he could see the look in her eyes. She was obviously scared, but he could also see strength and resolve. She reminded him a lot of himself. “But Twilight, you’d stick out immediately. It would be impossible to remain inconspicuous.”

Twilight looked back at Shining Armor, a smug look suddenly appearing on her face. “Don’t you worry about that.” She then activated her horn and her dress came off her. She then levitated a brown cloak on one of the barrels over to her and draped it over her, covering her body; her wings and cutie mark included. She then kicked each of her hooves in the air and her shoes flew off. “See? Now no pony will recognise me.” She then twirled around and gave a filly-like giggle.

This made Shining Armor smile a bit; and she was right. Nopony would recognise her like that. He then gave her a quick once over just to make sure. His expression then changed a little and he pointed at her head with his hoof. “Uhhmm, Twilight…”

Twilight had a bit of a puzzled look on her face. She looked up at her head where Shining Armor was pointing and noticed that she was still wearing her Element of Harmony. Her expression then changed again to match Shining Armor’s. “Oh, yeah. I guess it’s pretty noticeable, huh?” She activated her horn again and levitated her Element of Harmony off her head. She then turned around and looked at the little pegasus filly that she was playing with earlier. “Here, why don’t you hold on to this for me for a while? It will make you feel like you’re a real princess.” She then levitated the crown into the filly’s open hooves.

As soon as the crown touched the filly’s hooves, she gazed down at it quizzically. She then raised her head up towards Twilight and smiled. “Okay, I can do that.” She then placed the crown her head and her smile grew twice as big. She had to raise her head back so that Twilight could see it all. Twilight then smiled back at her and patted her on the head. The filly then turned around and skipped away, á la Pinkie Pie.

Twilight turned back around to face Shining Armor. They looked at each other, both with a determined expression on their face. Twilight then pulled up her hood to cover her face and said, “Let’s go.”

Shining Armor nodded while not changing his expression. “Right.” They then both made their way towards the door. As they walked along, they passed by many pegasus ponies of all ages. Some were huddled together, reading books, eating what looked like rations, treating injuries and organising supplies.

Just before they reached the door, one of the pegasi stopped Shining Armor. “Here; if you’re gonna help us fight then you’re gonna need this.” The pegasus pony held out a Quartz for him to take. This Quartz was filled with an orange liquid with a fireball on the cover. Shining Armor grabbed it, took the cork out and chugged it down. Shining Armor suddenly felt a minor but painful pain all over his body and his vision turned red. He raised his hooves to his face to examine his body and he saw that he was on fire and parts of his body were being burned to the bone. He let out a scream of pain. After about seven seconds, his body and vision returned to normal and the pain stopped.

Twilight and the pegasus both looked at him. Twilight then asked worriedly, “Are you okay?”

Shining Armor turned his head to face her, and responded, “Yeah I’m fine. But dealing with these Quartz's is becoming a real pain. I hope this one was worth it.”

The pegasus pony glared at him after he said this. He then turned around and walked away. Shining Armor and Twilight then took a few more steps towards the door and opened it. They were now outside.


---


Once they were outside, Shining Armor took a look around at his new surroundings. The room that they were just in was on the second floor of the building. Directly in front of them was a small flight of stairs that went straight down onto the street. Shining Armor took a better look around when they had walked down the stairs and they were on the street. The entire neighbourhood looked completely run down; a very rare sight in Canterlot for Shining Armor. This must be a part of the new expansion. The pegasus ponies were now being paid almost nothing compared to the unicorns and earth ponies and were now living in run-down neighbourhoods. The houses here were made of wood instead of concrete and they were all in bad condition and falling apart. Parts of houses that had already collapsed just laid there in the streets. Trash had spilled out from the trash cans and was lying in the street. The roads and pavements had been worn down and torn up. There were other ponies walking around in the streets; all of them pegasus ponies. Shining Armor then looked up into the sky. He couldn’t see the palace at all from here. They must have travelled quite a distance while he was unconscious.

“Just look at all of this.” Twilight had suddenly broken the silence. “How can some ponies be made to live like this?”

Shining Armor then turned to face her. “This is what most of Equestria is like right now. It’s even worse than this outside of Canterlot.”

“What?” Twilight said in a manner of legitimate confusion. “How? What? When? Where? Why?”

Shining Armor began to look almost as confused as Twilight. “Didn’t you know? Things have been changing like this all over Equestria. It all started shortly after you became a princess. You mean you didn’t know what was going on?”

“No,” Twilight said in the manner of a scared and innocent little filly. “In the last six months, since I became an alicorn, I’ve never once been outside the palace. The only time I even left my room was when Celestia needed me to attend to my new royal duties.”

“What kinds of things did that comprise of?”

“Celestia just gave me some forms and told me what to agree with. She didn’t even let me read them to let me know what I was agreeing to. She just told me that it was for the greater good of Equestria. Was I really agreeing to all of this?” Twilight now almost had tears in her eyes.

Shining Armor reached over to Twilight and put his hoof around her neck. “Twilight; none of this is your fault. You had no idea what you were agreeing to and you truly thought that it was for everyponies happiness.” He then moved closer to her and placed his other hoof underneath her chin. She then lifted her head up and looked him in the eye. “Now do understand why I came here to get you?”

Twilight perked up and smiled a bit. “Yes. To be honest; I did suspect that something was wrong. For some reason, everything that happened to me in the past few months felt forced; like I didn’t have a choice. I wished that somepony would come and save me; and deep down, I knew that that somepony would be you. And I was right.”

Twilight continued to stare at Shining Armor with what were now happy tears in her eyes. “Twily.” Shining Armor raised his hoof up and touched her face. He then wiped away the tears from her eyes. Twilight closed her eyes as he did this. “I promise you that I will get you away from all of this. You can go and see all of your friends again and have fun just like you used to. And you’ll never have to cry again. I promise.”

Twilight opened her eyes again and stared back at him. Her tears were gone and she smiled. She then moved in closer and wrapped her big brother in a warm embrace. “Thank you, BBBFF.” Hearing this warmed Shining Armor’s heart and he smiled as he returned the embrace right back.

After Shining Armor and Twilight had had their little moment, they continued on. They walked along the ruined streets, passing by many pegasus ponies, though they also passed by some unicorns and earth ponies. They were most likely ponies who sided with the Shadowbolts and believed that the pegasus ponies were truly being treated unfairly. It was good to see that there were still some ponies uncorrupted by Celestia’s words. Quite a few of the ponies around here were young fillies. Strangely, they didn’t seem to be suffering and were actually having fun playing with each other. They were too young to understand what was really happening right now, but that was probably a good thing. The worst thing to do right now would be to involve children in all of this.

As Shining Armor was walking, he suddenly felt himself staggering along. It seems that his fall from back at the palace had taken its toll on him.

Twilight took notice of this and began to speak. “Shining Armor, are you all right?”

“Yeah, I’m just a little sore from the fall back there at the palace. I’ll be alright.”

Shining Armor noticed Twilight’s expression change a little, but it then immediately changed back and she responded, “I’ll keep an eye out for anything to help you keep your strength up. The last thing I want to be is a burden.”

Shining Armor took note of this and he was happy that she was starting to cheer up. They continued walking along; Shining Armor took any food he could find to get his strength back. He found some, apples, hay and some geodes, however, he didn’t take any food that belonged to somepony else. With that in mind, it took a little longer but after a while he felt himself back at full strength. He also noticed that nopony seemed to recognise Twilight in her disguise. As he was walking along, he noticed a recording crystal in the trash can. He fished it out and played it as they continued walking along.


Dusk Shine
Two Lonely Ponies
Oh… uhhmm… is it on? Does the flashing glow mean that it’s recording? Okay. Hello Mister Recording Crystal. My mummy tells me that you can record what I say and other ponies can hear it later, even if I’m not around. I think that that’s incredible. You should be very proud of what you can do. Unlike me, you’ve already found your special talent. I wonder what a recording cutie mark would look like. Anyway, I would like for you to give the new princess a message from me. Everypony says she spends all of her time in the palace; all alone. It must be very lonely in there; and that makes me very sad. I know what it feels like; to be all alone. I don’t have any friends either and I’m lonely as well. Maybe the princess and I can become friends. We could talk to each other about being alone. That way, neither of us will have to be lonely again. Please tell the princess what I have told you Mister Recording Crystal. That is my wish. Thank you. Now how do I turn you off?

When the recording crystal was finished playing; they turned a corner and they could tell from the buildings that they were now at the edge of the slums. There was a security checkpoint up ahead with a dozen guards checking ponies for identification before crossing the border. One of the guards then began addressing the crowd. “Everypony make sure that you have a valid form of photo ID before entering the city proper. Remember, this is for your own safety to insure that those Shadowbolts don’t cause trouble for the innocent.”

Shining Armor began looking around. “There’s got to be another way through. I can’t risk causing an uproar here.” Shining Armor then noticed the back door to a building on the other side of the border just to the right. He and Twilight made their way over to the door without looking too suspicious. When they were there, Shining Armor tried to open the door but it was locked. He tried to force it open, but it was locked up too good. “Dammit.”

“Shining Armor, stand back. Let me give it a try,” Twilight said from behind him. 

“I don’t think that you can do it. It’s locked up tight.”

“Don’t be so quick to judge. Remember I saved us before.” Shining Armor was confused, but he did as she said and stepped aside. Twilight stood in front of the door, bowed her head down and her horn started to glow. Shining Armor then realised what she meant. There was a small flash of light and another strange hole appeared on the door. Twilight jumped through and gestured towards Shining Armor to do the same. As soon as he had jumped through and turned around, the hole had vanished and the door returned. He then turned around again to face Twilight. “This building looks pretty deserted. We should be able to find our way through and reach the streets without any trouble.” She then started walking forward with Shining Armor following close behind her.


---


The building they were in was dark. There were no windows and no light at all, but they could still navigate through it easily. There were pieces of misaligned furniture all over the room such as sofas, tables, dressers and such. There were also some metal pipes stacked against the walls and the paint on the walls was peeling off. This was most likely an old storage building. They left the room that they were in and entered the hallway. They made their way towards the front of the building.

Since they weren’t running for their lives anymore, Shining Armor just had to ask, “Twilight, what was that you did just now?”

Twilight gave a short sigh and began to explain. “I’m not entirely sure myself. Ever since I became an alicorn, I felt like my magic has become even more powerful. At first, it happened on its own. I would open doorways like this all over the place. But after a while, I seemed to have more control over them and I only opened them when I wanted to.”

“Sounds like quite a useful trick.”

“Yeah, but there’s more to it than that. These doorways… they don’t just go through walls. I can open up doorways to anywhere. Anywhere at all, in the blink of an eye.”

Shining Armor’s eyes suddenly shot open when he heard this. “Well then, what are we waiting for? Just open up a doorway to the Crystal Empire and we can be done with all of this.”

Twilight lowered her head and sighed. “Sorry, but I can’t. When I first discovered that I could do it, I could open a doorway to anywhere. Anywhere that I wanted to go; but for some reason, I always wanted to come back. But then one day, I suddenly couldn’t do it anymore.”

“Why not?”

“Who knows? Maybe on some subconscious level, I didn’t want to leave; I don’t know.”

“I bet Celestia would know.”

“Sorry, I didn’t want to get into anything. I just wanted you to know.”

“That’s alright. It was worth a shot.”

Shining Armor and Twilight spent the rest of their trek through the building in silence. As Shining Armor was making his way along, he noticed a recording crystal on a table. He picked it up and played it as they continued on.


Strong Steed
Years of Service
I am a pony who has dedicated his entire life to the greater good of the world. I gave half my ear and my right eye in service to this country. Every drop of blood that I spilled or took was all to protect those that I held dear. But does Princess Celestia see things that way? No! She called me a barbarian; a mindless killing machine that has no place in her ‘perfect world’. Never mind that my actions and those of those like me are what have protected Equestria in her time of need. She had me stripped of my rank as Captain and dishonourably discharged. But even this was not enough for her. As long as I was alive and free, I would continue to speak out against her rule and sully her good name. She will not rest until I’m sealed so far beneath Canterlot even the diamond dogs couldn’t find me. Even now her mindless puppets are coming for me. But I will not give them the satisfaction. I have established myself in the Canterlot prison along with my brothers in arms; the true protectors of Equestria. We will all die before we surrender to somepony like her; and we will not die to her mindless puppets. If Celestia wants my life than how about she steps off that high throne of hers and comes for me herself. If I could take just one drop of her blood… then I could die happy.

When the recording crystal finished playing; they found themselves at the front door of the building. Shining Armor pushed the heavy door open. They were now outside.


---


As soon as they emerged, the intense sunlight hit them hard. Twilight had her hood up to shield her eyes. Shining Armor closed his eyes tight and raised his hoof up to his face. Once their eyes had readjusted to the light, they looked around at where they were. This area was very different than the slums. The buildings were all made of sturdy concrete and they were painted bright and cheerful colours; even the building that they were just in. They seemed to be in the market right now. There were lots of small stalls around selling things like apples, carrots, corn, muffins, cupcakes, geodes and more. There were many other ponies here as well, mostly unicorns, going about their daily lives. They didn’t seem to take much notice of Twilight or Shining Armor; or that they just exited out of a locked building. Shining Armor knew that he wasn’t wearing a cloak like he was before. The guards would recognise him without it now anyway. Also, if the citizens saw that he wasn’t going to attack them, then it might make them change their minds about him. Although, these ponies didn’t seem to notice him at all.

Shining Armor looked around at the skyline to try and figure out where he was right now and where the prison was. Just over the roofs of the buildings to the north, he could make out only the highest turrets of the palace. It looks like they were transferred a long way from the palace. Since these ponies didn’t seem to recognise him, he decided to ask for directions. He stopped a mare with a light yellow coat and a green, beehive shaped mane with a cherry blossom branch for a cutie mark, who was passing by and asked her, “Hey, can you tell me how to get to the prison from here?”

“Oh yes; just follow the road straight ahead and then there’s a gondola that will take you right there.”

Shining Armor turned his head in the direction she was pointing. Straight ahead, far off in the distance was a very large building. Normally there is virtually no crime at all in Equestria and so there would be no need for prisons. This prison was undoubtedly a part of the expansion, so Shining Armor would know nothing about it. Shining Armor turned back to face the mare that helped him. “Thank you for your help.” He then turned back to face Twilight. “Let’s go.”

Twilight gave a curt nod. “Alright.” She then turned to face the nice mare that helped them. “Thank you again for helping us.”

“Oh, think nothing of it dears. I just pointed you in the right direction. Now, be safe you two.” She gave them both a smile and then turned around and walked away. Shining Armor and Twilight then went on their way, in the opposite direction.

Shining Armor and Twilight continued walking down the road. The other ponies in the area didn’t seem to notice them at all, despite the fact that Shining Armor’s cutie mark was on full display. Perhaps word of the Apocryphal hadn’t reached this far yet. They could only hope. As they were walking along, they suddenly spotted an advertisement on a billboard for the ‘Carousel Couture’, with Rarity’s likeness on it. This suddenly reminded Shining Armor of when he saw Rarity in the plaza during the celebration. Why did she seem like she was on Celestia’s side? Before Shining Armor could contemplate this any further, his thoughts were suddenly interrupted by Twilight talking out loud. “Wait a minute. Rarity’s here in Canterlot?”

Shining Armor’s eyes immediately widened when he heard Twilight say this. He was legitimately surprised to hear this. “Wait, you mean you didn’t know?” he asked inquisitively.

“No. I haven’t seen any of my friends since the coronation six months ago. I really miss them.” Twilight frowned, but then she suddenly snapped back. “Wait a minute. You knew that Rarity was here before now?”

Shining Armor suddenly tensed up. If there was a possibility that Rarity was in league with Celestia, then it would be best if he didn’t tell her about what happened in the plaza; and they definitely shouldn’t try to make contact with her. Twilight’s facial expression changed to show that she knew that Shining Armor was hiding something. He then decided to just make up a story.

“Yeah. Back when I first came to the city. She was at her new store surrounded by dozens of ponies. She looked really busy at the moment so I thought that I should wait until I found you before going to see her.”

Twilight didn’t seem to see anything suspicious with that story. “Well then, why don’t we go see her now? It would be great to see one of my friends again.” She smiled.

Shining Armor responded immediately. “No. We have to stay focused on the mission right now. Once we have the airship, then we’ll go see her; and all of your other friends as well.” Shining Armor knew that what he said just now would seem suspicious, but by mentioning all of her other friends, he was certain that she would go along with it.

“Oh, okay”, she said in a somewhat sad tone. She then perked up a bit. “You’re right. We have to focus on the bigger picture right now.” Twilight then faced forward again, a smile on her face and she continued walking along.

Shining Armor faced forward as well, however, his face was blank and he was deep in thought. “Twily. That’s the first time in my life that I’ve ever lied to you.”

They eventually reached the end of the road and they were at the gondola station. The gondolas were carriages that were carried by the transport line. They were used for travelling quickly around the huge city. No doubt Celestia could use that as more fodder to use against the pegasi; now all ponies could fly and the pegasi were even more useless. Shining Armor opened the front door and they both stepped inside.


---


Shining Armor and Twilight were now in the gondola station. Directly after the front door, there were about ten steps that led straight up. Shining Armor and Twilight walked straight up the stairs. The gondola station looked bigger than it looked on the outside. The main chamber which they were in right now was a small room with polished marble tiles, several seats made back to back for waiting for your ticket. Over to the right was the exit to the gondolas. At the back of the room was the ticket office. It was a small cubicle on the other side of the wall at the back of the room with a hole in the middle for talking to the ticket master on the other side. While the gondola station does seem small, it looks even smaller on the outside. There were about eight other ponies in the room, not including the ticket master in the cubicle. They were all white pegasus ponies dressed in formal attire.

Shining Armor turned to Twilight. “I’m gonna go get our tickets. I should have enough from the bits I found in that crate.”

Twilight just responded politely, “Alright.”

Shining Armor walked over to the cubicle on the other side of the room. The ticket master was sitting inside behind a sheet of glass with a small hole at the bottom. He was currently going through some paper work. Shining Armor rang the bell to get his attention. “Hey, can I get two tickets for the gondola please?”

“Just a moment sir,” the pony responded immediately without looking up from his paper work. The ticket master was a white earth pony with a short, brown mane.

Shining Armor looked behind him briefly and then turned back to face the ticket master. He rang the bell again. “Can you hurry it up please?”

“I’ll be with you in a moment sir,” he said again without looking up from his paper work.

Shining Armor was beginning to get frustrated. “Goddamit.”

The ticket master suddenly decided to address him now. He looked from his paper work, finally. “I’m very sorry about the delay sir. Here, let me HELP YOU ALONG!” He suddenly pulled out a large knife and stabbed Shining Armor in the hoof.

Shining Armor let out a scream of pain. However, at the same time, Twilight also let out a scream. He turned around and saw Twilight being grabbed by several white pegasus ponies. He can see now that they were actually royal guards in disguise. He turned back around and shot the ticket master in the face with a blast from his horn. He didn’t die; he just got scarred on his face and then crawled underneath his cubicle to a safe spot. Shining Armor then grabbed the knife and pulled it out of his hoof, very painfully and blood splattered everywhere from the force of removing it. He now had a gaping hole in his right forehoof, however, that was the last thing on his mind right now. He turned around and he saw Twilight struggling to get free from one of the guards grips. The guard was gripping her tightly and forcefully pulling her away. This sight made Shining Armor incredibly angry. He opened his mouth to scream at him, but instead, a ball of fire began forming in his mouth. He quickly released it and fired it at the guard holding his sister before he could even think about what was going on. The fireball hit the guard with such force that when the fireball exploded, it had blown the guard’s head off completely. Blood splattered from where his neck now ended right onto to Twilight’s face. Everypony in the area stopped what they were doing and Shining Armor calmed down enough to see what was going on.

Twilight suddenly started screaming. “Get away from me! All of you!” She then ran to the exit to the gondola. That passageway was now blocked off by a barred gate, but Twilight was small enough to squeeze through the bars.

Shining Armor looked to his left at where his sister was running. He held out a hoof and yelled out to her to wait. He wanted to go after her, but then, suddenly the rest of the guards started attacking him with Quartz's. Shining Armor just screamed at them, “I don’t have time for this right now!” He then shot at all of the guards with one big blast of lightning and proceeded to finish them all off with his unicorn magic.

When all of the guards were dead, the gates opened up and he galloped over to the exit as fast as he could. It was kind of painful because of the stab wound on his hoof, but he just kept running. After he passed through the gate, he noticed a recording crystal on the other side. He picked it up quickly and then ran off after Twilight.


Cherry Blossom
The Apocryphal is Coming
The Apocryphal is on his way here. Everything that Princess Celestia has predicted has come true; even the betrayal of her sister. Now even the Princess of the Night has turned against us and has allied herself with those rapscallion ‘Shadowbolts’. Perhaps that whole Nightmare Moon fiasco was an ill omen; a portent of doom. It seems that the unthinkable has happened and harmony has been truly broken. However, I still have full faith that our new princess can restore everything to the way things were once again; she always does. When we finally take in the Apocryphal, we must be careful not to harm the princess. If any harm were to befall her due to my own actions, I could never forgive myself; and I would not expect to be forgiven either. I just wish that they would show up already. This waiting is unbearable.

As the recording crystal ended, Shining Armor turned a corner and he could see the gondola and Twilight just up ahead. “Twilight, it’s me! I’m alright!”

However, he didn’t expect what Twilight said next. She screamed out as she continued running. “Stay away from me!” She then ran into the gondola.

“Twilight! We need to talk about what just happened!” When she didn’t respond, Shining Armor picked up the pace. He had to get inside the gondola before she activated it. Fortunately the gondola wasn’t moving yet even though it should be by now.

Shining Armor ran up several flights of stairs and made it into the gondola. Twilight was desperately trying to move the lever to start the gondola. When Shining Armor stepped closer and held out a hoof to comfort her, she then ran from the lever over to the window. Shining Armor lowered his hoof in disappointment and let out a sigh. He then pulled the lever and the gondola started moving.


---


The gondola sailed over the city about a hundred feet below. Before Shining Armor could move to say anything, Twilight cut him off.

“I can’t believe you did that. You killed those ponies. Not just fight them, but killed them.” She then turned around from the window to face him and she shoved him away. “You’re a monster. I hate you. I thought I knew you.” Twilight then backed away again and started crying. There were tears crawling down the sides of her cheeks.

Shining Armor moved closer to Twilight. “Twilight. What did you think would happen? Did you really think that all these ponies would just let you waltz out of her? You’re an investment to them.”

Twilight turned her head around slowly to look at him. Her face stained with tears and blood, wearing a look of pure anger. “Why? Why does it have to be me? Why can’t they just find somepony else to be their princess?!” She placed her hoof over her chest as she spoke.

Shining Armor responded immediately. “I don’t know. I have no idea what they want. All I know is what I want; and I want to keep you safe. Safe from everything; and I’ll do anything if it means accomplishing that goal.” Twilight’s angry expression started to fade; her face now showing only worry and fear. “Today, I got careless; and I made a stupid mistake.” He then raised his injured hoof and looked at it. “But I swear: that’s the last time anypony gets the drop on me.”

All of Twilight’s anger seemed to have evaporated. She walked slowly over to Shining Armor. She lowered her hood and took the ribbon from her mane. Surprisingly, it still ended in her stylish curl. “Here, let me help you,” she said quietly. She then wrapped the ribbon around his wound. Shining Armor gave off a slight grunt of pain. “Sorry about that… and I’m sorry for what I just said too. I shouldn’t have called you a monster or said that I hated you. I should have known that you were only trying to protect me. I’m just so sor…”

“Forget it,” Shining Armor interrupted. Twilight looked up from wrapping his wound in confusion. “Your reaction to what you saw was expected. I was just being selfish and wanted you to understand. Trust me; there are details about my life that you’re better off not knowing. I just want you to know that when I said that I wanted to keep you safe, I meant it; with all of my being.”

Shining Armor and Twilight both just stood there staring at each other for about thirty seconds. Suddenly they were interrupted by a ringing noise. The gondola had come to a stop. The door to the gondola opened and Shining Armor stepped out. He then turned around to face Twilight, who was still standing in the gondola with her head bowed down. “Come on Twilight. Once we finish our mission here, we’ll be able to help everypony in Equestria; and you’ll never have to feel this sad again.”

Twilight picked her head up and smiled again. “Right.” She then walked out of the gondola towards Shining Armor.

Shining Armor then took his hoof and wiped her face clean of blood and tears. His hoof had stopped hurting by now. He then backed up a bit and took a good look at her. “Let’s go, Twily.”

Twilight then perked up completely. She put up her hood once again and she and Shining Armor made their way off the gondola station. They were now standing directly in front of the gates to the prison. They then said together in unison: “Let’s do this.”

To be continued…

> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 4

Shining Armor and Twilight were now standing directly in front of the Canterlot Prison. The atmosphere was eerily quiet. The Canterlot Prison is very isolated from the rest of the city. The prison is situated on top of a plateau, built into the side of the mountain, high above the city below. The palace is directly across from the prison area, on the other side of the city, on top of another raised platform, above the rest of the city. From up on the high plateau, you can see the entire city between them.

The prison area consists of the building itself, the gondola station that connects the prison to the rest of the city and a small stairway that connects the two. The prison itself is just one big building. The prisoners are all held in cells, where they stay all day long. Their meals are brought to their cells and there isn’t any exercise yard for the prisoners to go out into during the day. The prisoners here never leave their cells. Shining Armor opened the door to the prison and they both stepped inside.


---


Shining Armor and Twilight were now inside the Canterlot Prison. Shining Armor looked around at his new surroundings. The prison was quite dark, with only faint streams of light, filtered in through the windows. The prison consists mostly of one massive room that makes up most of the building. Just to their right, there was a steel, ridged gate to a small room on the other side. The gate is locked down right now and it looked like it opened up somewhere else. Just ahead of them, the walls on either side of the massive room jutted out from the wall, which is where the prison cells were located. The prison cells were built into the walls and were lined up in rows of ten. There is about fifty feet separating the sets of cells on both sides of the room. There are five different levels of cells on either side, built on top of each other. On the upper levels, both sets of cells are connected by two steel walkways between them, at the front and back of the line of cells. At the back of the room, there is a small set of metal stairs that lead up to the steel walkways and the higher levels of the building. Directly across from where the two of them were standing, at the very top of the room, was the warden’s office, which overlooked the entire prison.

As Shining Armor was looking around the room, he was suddenly interrupted by somepony calling out to him. “Captain?!” Shining Armor snapped back and looked over to the first cell on his right and he saw a unicorn motioning to him with his hoof, through the bars of his cell, to come over to him. Shining Armor quickly galloped over to him, with Twilight following close behind him.

When they were both standing in front of the cell, Shining Armor got a good look at the pony who had called him over. This pony was one of his unicorn guards. He was the exact opposite of Celestia’s guards. Whereas Celestia’s guards are all white pegasi, Shining Armor’s guards were black unicorns. They wore the same gold helmet, boots and armor with the blue star shaped gem on the front as the pegasus guards did, but the hairstyle on their helmets and tails was white instead of blue. The guard’s facial expression was also less stoic than the pegasus guards. He also looked slightly confused at seeing Shining Armor. When Shining Armor was directly in front of him, the guard snapped out of his confused state and gave him a salute.

Shining Armor saluted back to him and stated simply, “At ease soldier.” He then lowered his hoof again. “What’s the situation?”

The unicorn guard then lowered his own hoof and took a breath before he proceeded to speak. “Sir, the situation here in Canterlot is critical. Our oaths to protect the ponies of Equestria are in jeopardy. Princess Celestia’s orders now include ordering us to attack civilians. Many of us still remain loyal to you and your teachings. We refused to carry out those orders given to us, and for that, we have been locked up.”

After the guard was finished speaking, Shining Armor quickly looked behind him and he noticed that several of the cells were empty. He then turned back around and asked this guard why this was so.

The unicorn guard responded, “Sir, Strong Steed has taken control of the prison. He has released all of the soldiers that were in his division, but kept the rest of us locked up.”

Shining Armor’s eyes went wide and he took a step back at the mention of that name. That was a name he was not expecting to hear again. Before he could think about this further, there was suddenly a noise over a loud speaker that seemed to be coming from everywhere.

“That’s right, Shining Armor,” the voice said over the prisons intercom. 

It had been years since he had last heard that voice, and it sounded a bit muffled over the intercom, but Shining Armor still recognised it immediately. “Strong Steed!” he shouted out to nowhere in particular.

Strong Steed continued to talk over the loud speaker. “So, you still remember my name? Not many ponies in all of Equestria can still say that; even after all I have risked and lost for them.”

“Strong Steed. I just want to free my guards and take them with me.”

“And I shall give you what you want, Shining Armor. But only after you have given me and my men what we want.” Shining Armor winced for a moment, trying to wonder what that means. “Celestia’s puppets are coming for us, but we will not die or be taken prisoner by the likes of them; not after everything they have done. YOU are going to give them the deaths that they deserve.”

Shining Armor barked back at him. “I have no quarrel with these men. I don’t want to kill them.”

“You don’t have a choice if you want to free your guards. My soldiers are going to be coming for you, and I have given them an ultimatum: Either die at the hooves of a mindless puppet, OR A REAL SOLDIER!”

The transmission cut off, and suddenly, the steel door over on the right opened up and three soldiers came running out. The soldiers were all grey earth ponies with short black manes. They were all clod in grey, light armor, which provided better speed and manoeuvrability at the expense of protection. They all immediately charged at them, two of them clutching steel swords in their teeth, the other wielding a bow.

As soon as they began charging towards them, Twilight immediately ran behind Shining Armor to get out of the way. Shining Armor turned around to face them and he immediately summoned power into his horn. His horn began crackling with blue electricity and he quickly shot a bolt of blue electricity at the approaching earth pony guards, hitting two of them. His horn then began glowing in a pink aura and he shot a magical bullet at one of the two guards, killing him instantly. Before he was able to do the same thing to the other guard he hit, the one that he missed had loaded an arrow and fired it at him, dealing some damage. Shining Armor winced in pain as the arrow hit him; however, he remained standing on four hooves. Shining Armor turned to face him. He then charged up a fire ball in his mouth and quickly shot three of them at the pony, roasting him alive. He then turned back to face the one remaining pony, who had managed to recover from being shocked; however, before he could move, Shining Armor shot lightning at him to stun him again. Shining Armor’s quartz supply was running dangerously low now.

“Shining Armor, I found some geodes,” Twilight called out from behind him. He turned around to face her and she threw a jar of geodes at him.

Shining Armor reached out with his hoof and grabbed it. “Thanks.” He then very quickly used his unicorn magic to take the lid off, raised the jar up and swallowed the contents. He then turned back around to face the stunned earth pony and quickly fired a single magic bolt at the exposed part on his head, just under his helmet. He died instantly.

As soon as the three ponies were defeated, there came a noise from the loud speakers again. “You see that, little filly? That’s what a real soldier is like. You don’t have to give him orders and expect him to blindly obey; just put him in a life or death situation and he’ll do whatever it takes to survive. They don’t make soldiers like him anymore. That’s what a real soldier is like. Remember the Battle of the Hive, Captain?”

Shining Armor barked back at the voice that was coming from all around them. “Strong Steed! I don’t want to fight these ponies! I just want to free my men and get out of here!”

“And I will give you what you want; but first you’ll have to give me what I want. Come; find me in the warden’s office. Let’s finish this.”

As soon as the transmission cut off again, Shining Armor immediately turned towards the back of the prison, and he and Twilight started walking along, in front of the cells on the right side of the room, making their way over to the narrow, metal stairway that led up to the next level. Twilight was walking behind Shining Armor, her face a mixture of different emotions. She then suddenly decided to speak up.

“Shining Armor? What’s all of this about? Who was that pony talking over the intercom just now? What was ‘The Battle of the Hive’?”

Shining Armor glanced back at Twilight as they made their way along. He gave an exasperated sigh before speaking. “It all happened about ten years ago, during the changeling’s first invasion of Equestria. They had established a hive in the west, just passed Los Pegasus, and they had foalnapped a lot of innocent ponies.”

Twilight had a confused look on her face after hearing his explanation. “That’s so strange. I studied everything there is to know about Equestria’s history, and I never heard anything about that.”

“You wouldn’t have,” Shining Armor responded immediately. “The whole thing involved a lot more bloodshed than Equestria’s used to. So, Celestia decided that the whole thing would be covered up. Soldiers from every branch of the military were sent in to attack the hive; I led the unicorns, Wedge led the pegasi and Strong Steed led the earth ponies. Every soldier was sworn to secrecy, and we were forced to kill every living thing in the hive…” Shining Armor let out a brief sigh. “… And that included captured ponies.”

Twilight visibly recoiled in horror at what she had just heard. “That’s awful.”

“Orders were orders.”

Twilight simply scoffed at the response. “And you think that justifies the murder of innocent ponies?” she stated bluntly, her angry expression deepening.

Shining Armor kept walking forward as he spoke, his serious expression not falling for a second. “When orders come down from the ruler of the country, you don’t get to speak out against them. You don’t question orders, you simply follow them. That’s what it means to be a soldier.”

Twilight harrumphed. “And I suppose everypony was rewarded handsomely?” She asked in a sarcastic tone.

“Yeah, that’s right. After the battle, Wedge became Celestia’s personal bodyguard, and I became Captain of the Royal Guard.”

“What about Strong Steed?” she asked; her angry expression had fallen, and now she was legitimately wondering.

“He suffered serious injuries in the battle, and since the whole operation was covered up, he was removed from active service and stripped of his rank as Captain. Nopony heard from him after that.”

Just as Shining Armor and Twilight were approaching the stairs, a door just up the stairs and to the right suddenly opened and two more earth ponies came running out. One of them stopped at the top of the stairs and aimed a bow and arrow at him, while the other marched down the stairs, clutching a spear in his teeth.

Shining Armor quickly snapped back into his fighting position, and focused on the pony coming right at him. He quickly charged up electricity in his horn and fired a bolt of lightning at him. At the same time as this pony was struck by a bolt of electricity, the other pony had shot Shining Armor in the side with an arrow. Shining Armor moved just in time to have the arrow graze his side instead of piercing him. He elicited a grunt of pain, but he tried his best to ignore it. He then activated his horn again and it began glowing in a pink aura. He then fired a beam of magical energy at the stunned earth pony and killed him. He then quickly turned to face the other pony, who was reloading another arrow. Shining Armor quickly opened his mouth and fired three fireballs at him, killing him. His scorched body then fell backwards, over the railing, on to the ground just ahead of them.

When they were both dead, Shining Armor quickly charged up the stairs, turned right and entered the room that the two earth pony guards had come from. He was now in another small room filled with big crates. Another earth pony poked his head up from behind one of the crates and quickly fired an arrow at Shining Armor. He caught him off guard, and he was hit square in the chest, again causing him to grunt in pain. Shining Armor’s horn began glowing pink again, however, the earth pony quickly ducked back behind the crates before he could fire.

Shining Armor was now feeling a bit weak and he fell down a little on his left side, but he remained standing on all four hooves. He then ducked behind a crate on his left and pulled the arrow out of his chest. The wound wasn’t that deep, and it only bled a little. Twilight finally caught up with him and knelt down beside him. Shining Armor’s horn started crackling with electricity and he poked his head up again. The earth pony across the room also poked his head out, but before he could fire another arrow, Shining Armor released the electricity that he had been storing and hit him square in the face. He then immediately fired another magic bullet and killed him while he was stunned.

Shining Armor then stepped out from behind the crate and took a quick look around the small room to make sure that there weren’t any more soldiers.

“I found some more geodes,” Twilight called out from behind him. He turned back around and she threw the bottle of geodes to him. He grabbed it and quickly replenished his quartz supply. Shining Armor then turned back around and decided to search the room for anything else that he could use. The room was incredibly cramped and full of large crates. All of the crates were sealed shut except for one. Shining Armor trotted over to it and looked inside. The only thing of value that he could find was a recording crystal. Shining Armor picked it up and played it as he made his way back out of the room.


Strong Steed
Princesses
I was just contacted by Princess Luna. Apparently she has now turned against her sister and become an enemy of the state. She’s sticking up for the pegasi, saying that all ponies deserve equal rights and that there shouldn’t be any fighting, and yet she has already allied with the Shadowbolts, and is now outright defying her sister’s own military in open combat. She’s still lacking in a proper army and simply needs more bodies in order to rival her sister; and she thought that with how much I despise her sister, that I would just hoof her the lives of my men, to use as pawns to further her own goals. How stupid could one pony possibly be? A princess even? I’m not surprised though; they’re all alike. Luna tries to pretend that she’s different from her sister and simply wants peace and equality for everypony, but in truth, she’s no different from her sister. She simply wants her out of the way so that she can be on top. She is a politician after all; she’s well versed in manipulating others and telling them what they want to hear in order to sway them. She’s even had over a thousand years in order to perfect her skills; and yet she’s still being so blatantly obvious that it hurts. But she can’t fool me; I can see right through her deceptions. When it comes down to it, the only difference between Celestia and Luna is how you spell the name. All of the Princesses are the same. Celestia, Luna, even that new princess that’s in the up and up; they’re all alike. It must be in the wings. Naturally, I told her she could go buck herself. That’s the sad truth of the world we live in: There are no true rulers in this world.

When the recording crystal ended, they were walking down the first metal walkway, in the direction of the front door of the prison. To their left, there were the rows of cells for this level of the prison. Some of the cells were empty, while others held more unicorn guards.

Suddenly, two earth ponies ran down the stairs from the level above on the walkway on the opposite side of the room. Shining Armor didn’t want to have to use more of his quartz supply; so instead, he simply summoned his unicorn magic into his horn and shot three magical, purple bullets at the enemies on the other side of the room. One of the bullets that he shot had missed, but the other two struck one of the two earth ponies, the force of the blow knocking him over the railing, on to the ground below. The force of the blow and the fall caused him to die as soon as he hit the ground.

The other earth pony stopped and shot an arrow right at Shining Armor. Shining Armor quickly tilted his head to the side at the last moment and avoided the attack. He then summoned magic into his horn again and shot at him three times. Every shot hit him and he fell over dead.

Shining Armor was now feeling very weak after using up so much energy. He continued walking along the walkway and made to the end and turned to walk over to the walkway on the other side of the room so that he could go up to the next level. Shining Armor looked over at the cells on the other side of the second level of the prison. Most of the cells held his unicorn guards; ponies that he had fought alongside with before. Several of the cells were empty, most likely belonging to the earth pony guards that Strong Steed had released. They were from his division after all, so they were still loyal to him, even after Celestia had stripped him of his rank; just like Shining Armor’s unicorn guards were still loyal to him, and Wedge’s pegasi were still loyal to him. Loyalty is a funny thing sometimes. Loyalty may be an Element of Harmony, but it can also be dangerous if it’s just blindly followed.

Twilight looked ahead at Shining Armor, with a worried expression on her face. He was looking very weak and she hated seeing him like this. She then looked around, trying to find something to help him get his strength back, though she wasn’t really expecting to find anything like that just lying on a steel walkway in the middle of a prison. It was just wishful thinking; nevertheless, she continued looking.

Suddenly, there was a crackle over the loud speaker and Strong Steed started to speak again. “Do you see how these soldiers fight Shining Armor? They fight using nothing but their bare hooves and the tools that they create themselves. These earth ponies are real soldiers. They are born without magic, they fight without magic and they die without magic. These ‘Quartz’s’; this special magic that anypony can use is just another machination of the tyrant Celestia and her puppets. We will fight without her help just as we always have. Celestia may be the one who points the army and shoots, but she has never actually fought on the front lines like we have. She knows nothing of fighting for honour and death.”

Shining Armor just yelled out at him. “Strong Steed! I don’t have any reason to fight these ponies. Just release my guards and I’ll leave with them.”

“Reason? A reason to kill someone is just an order to carry out like a mindless puppet. That’s what Celestia is doing to these ponies. She is taking away their ability to think for themselves. That’s what makes you and I so different, Shining Armor. We kill to survive, not because we’re told to; the way a pony should act, and to Tartarus with how we are told we should act.”

“I’m nothing like you!” Shining Armor shouted out.

“Oh, no?”

Shining Armor turned to look up at the warden’s office, where Strong Steed was watching from. He then opened the window and threw a Molotov cocktail down at him. Shining Armor quickly backed up and just missed as the area in front of him caught on fire. The steel prevented the walkway from catching on fire, and the flames died down quickly. Shining Armor held his hoof to the side to protect Twilight. He then looked back up at the warden’s office, several floors up from where he was. Shining Armor’s eyes narrowed as he caught sight of Strong steed again. The earth pony then withdrew back into the warden’s office again. Shining Armor then faced forward again and rushed up the stairs to the next level of the prison, with Twilight following closely behind him.


---


Shining Armor and Twilight continued fighting their way up the steel walkways of the Canterlot Prison. Twilight found plenty of supplies in the open, empty cells to keep her brother strong and rearing to go. Many more earth pony guards attacked them as they made their way up, but Shining Armor cut through all of them. It was just like Strong Steed had described; he needed to survive, so he killed anypony who tried to kill him. Twilight still wasn’t quite sure how she felt about that.

When they had reached the fourth floor and all of the guards had been dealt with, Twilight finally asked her brother what she had been thinking about ever since she first saw him kill somepony. “Shining Armor; why do you kill?”

Shining Armor turned his head back to face her. “Simple; I don’t want to die.” He then faced forward again and continued making his way along the steel walkway. Twilight hung her head down and simply followed after him, in silence. “Also,” Twilight suddenly perked up. “Because there’s something I have to protect.” After a moment, Twilight smiled a bit and continued walking behind her Big Brother Best Friend Forever.

They eventually reached the warden’s office, at the top of the prison. Shining Armor opened the door to the warden’s office and immediately turned to the right. Strong Steed was lying, injured against the control console. He was a very large earth pony, almost twice as big as Shining Armor. He had a dark pink coat and a grey mane and beard. He had multiple scars on his face and all over his body. He was wearing an eye patch and he was also missing a piece of his right ear. He was obviously Shining Armor’s senior by a several decades, and his many wrinkles clearly showed it; however, despite his age, he still looked very strong. He was currently wearing a Captain’s set of military barding that covered up his cutie mark. He had his head down, clutching a big wound across his chest with his right front hoof.

Shining Armor walked over to him. When he was standing directly in front of him, he then looked up at the control console and reached out a hoof to open all the cells.

Suddenly, Strong Steed woke up and jolted upright. He immediately grabbed Shining Armor by his horn and forced it right up against his forehead. “You’re not done yet, soldier! You have to finish it!”

Time seemed to slow down for Shining Armor as he tried to decide what he should do. On the one hoof, Shining Armor didn’t want to kill him and he had no reason to. He has already defeated all of the soldiers in the prison. He can just open up all the cells, free his unicorn guards and leave. Strong Steed is wounded and is too weak to come after him. He also doesn’t want to kill somepony who can’t fight back; that’s just not right. On the other hoof however, Celestia’s guards are on their way here right now to take him prisoner; something he clearly doesn’t want to happen. What should he do?

As time seemed to return to normal, Shining Armor suddenly put all of his energy into his head and…

He pulled his horn away out of Strong Steed’s grip.

Strong Steed immediately shouted back at him, “You’re a puppet now! A PUPPET!”

Strong Steed had pulled his hoof away from his open wound when he grabbed Shining Armor’s horn, and after physically exerting himself after screaming at him, he fell over onto his side, clutching his chest in pain. Shining Armor looked down at him briefly and then turned back to face the control console. He walked over to it and pressed the release switch. Shining Armor then stepped up to the window so that he could look out over the entire prison. All of the cells opened up and the unicorn guards all stepped out.

Shining Armor turned back around faced Twilight. Her face was currently a mix of emotion, but when he nodded to her that they should leave, she simply nodded back at him. As they were leaving the room, Shining Armor stole one final glance at Strong Steed, as he lay there. He then turned back around and made his way out of the warden’s office. Twilight also glanced back at the earth pony as they left. She didn’t know exactly how to feel about Shining Armor’s decision, given the circumstances, but she was still happy that he had decided to spare his life. She then turned back around and followed her brother out of the warden’s office.

Shining Armor and Twilight made their way back down to the ground floor of the prison. All of the unicorn guards had been released from their cells and they had all gathered on the ground floor alongside them. When everypony was together, Shining Armor opened the front door of the prison and they all stepped outside.


---


Shining Armor, Twilight and all of the unicorn guards stepped out of the prison one by one. Shining Armor walked over to the edge of the plateau and looked down at the city below in thought, while the rest of the unicorn guards were coming out. After about five seconds, he then looked up into the sky and his eyes immediately widened at what he saw.

The sky was filled with dozens of pegasus guards flying towards them. It looks like Celestia’s guards finally managed to catch up.

“Sir.” Shining Armor turned back around to face one of his unicorn guards. “You get out of here. You’ve already done enough here. Leave this battle to us.”

The unicorn guard then lowered his head and his horn started glowing in a green aura. Shining Armor felt a spell being used against him; however, before he could ask this guard what he had just done or react in any way, the unicorn guard suddenly raised his head again, lifted up his two front hooves and pushed Shining Armor off the edge of the plateau.

Shining Armor started falling off the plateau, hurdling towards the city below. The Canterlot prison was becoming smaller and smaller as he fell further down. After about ten seconds of falling, he finally hit the ground. However, strangely, he was not dead and the fall didn’t even hurt him.

Shining Armor rolled over on to his stomach and he picked himself up on to his four hooves again. As he stood back up, he tried to figure out how he had just survived that fall. He lifted his front hoof up to his face and he saw that his hoof looked ghostly and ethereal. “What the hell?” He then looked down and saw that his whole body looked that way. After a few seconds of trying to figure out what was going on, he suddenly realised that that unicorn had cast a ‘Become Ethereal’ spell on him so that he would survive the fall. After a few seconds of just staring at, or rather through his hoof, his body returned to normal as the spell wore off.

Shining Armor suddenly heard a thump from beside him. He turned his head to see what it was and he saw Twilight lying on her back, in the middle of the street, with an ethereal appearance as well. Shining Armor was glad to see that his sister was safe and with him once again, however, he was also a bit angry at the thought that somepony had just shoved her off a cliff.

After a few seconds, the spell wore off and Shining Armor helped her back up on to her hooves again. Twilight rubbed her head and smiled back at him. She then asked, “What do we do now?”

Shining Armor looked back up at the prison area, high above them. He was able to make out the figures of ponies fighting. He then turned his head back down, glanced quickly at Twilight and then faced forward again. They were now in the middle of a street with small, stone buildings on each side, and the cliff face of the plateau right behind them. He then looked out at the path in front of them and he was just able to make out the docked airship far off in the distance, behind some buildings.

Shining Armor then turned back to face Twilight. “We upheld our end of the deal; now it’s time for Luna to hold up her end. We’ll leave the fighting to the Shadowbolts from here. Let’s just make our way to the airship and leave this city.”

Twilight looked back at him, smiled and nodded. “Alright, let’s go.” They then both faced forward and started walking along.

To be continued…