Later that afternoon, Connie was taking a lazy stroll through the mansion grounds, watching the practicing recruits. To her surprise, on the lawn across the main road, she saw three figures who by all means should not be there today. Anvil noticed her and stood to attention, quickly followed by Astray and Bubbles. Three more ponies, two unicorns and a pegasus, saluted her as well.
"I wasn't expecting to see you around on your day off," Connie approached, "Much less... what is this, squad combat training?"
"Yes, ma'am," nodded Anvil, "This afternoon was the only time I could schedule it for and both Anvil and Bubbles agreed with taking an evening off tomorrow."
"Yeah," Astray sighed, "I'll have to somehow explain that to master Antares later."
"Mind if I observe your practice?"
"No problem," Astray shrugged, supported by nodding Bubbles.
"Actually," Anvil hesitated.
"It's fine if you don't-"
"Actually," the minotaur continued, "I would like your opinion on my prepared tactic. I realize my lack of experience leaves a lot to be desired, and running straight at the enemy while screaming my lungs off is not optimal."
"Everypony, are your hooves cold?" Connie looked around.
"No, why?" answered Bubbles, examining her forehooves shoved almost into her muzzle.
"Because I think Tartarus just froze over."
"Very amusing," huffed Anvil, "I suppose I shouldn't have expected anything different."
"Alright, alright," Connie raised her hoof in apology, "What did you come up with?"
"We know one of them is a specialized mage, one is a battlemage, and one is a close combat fighter. As usual, Bubbles should flank and take the wizard out while I roll over them. Astray stays behind with a prepared pistol in case the mage uses some disabling magic on Bubbles, then supports her while she's out of action."
Connie rubbed her chin.
"I see the logic behind it, but you're still operating under the assumption that every wizard is Secret Seeker or Starlight. Spells that completely disable a target are difficult, slow to cast, and drain a lot of power. My suggestion is to trust Bubbles to do well on her own while you go in. Your own weakness is far more crippling - flying weapons. Astray should straight up cover your ass from those, your massive, round, bountiful, beautiful ass," she winked not-secretly-at-all at Astray, "You know you want to."
Taking a step backwards, she got ready for Astray's stuttering apology and Anvil smacking him in the head.
Nothing like that happened.
Astray did twitch at the words, but Anvil remained silent, thoughtful, eyes looking nowhere.
"Anvil?" asked the satyr.
"I was thinking about the combat!" the minotaur burst out, "ONLY about the fight. Nothing else. At all."
Contradiction's eyes bulged, darting from Anvil to Astray.
"Even HER? Really?"
"Even her what?!" Anvil gave her a fiery stare, "Enough chatting, let's ruin somepony's day! We'll do what she suggested."
Grinning, Connie sat down in the shade of the nearby tree, watching both teams square off against each other. The fighting part of Anvil and Astray against the earthpony and unicorn was fairly even, which was a definite nod to how much they've grown in the short time since joining the Order. However, Bubbles made the practice incredibly skewed, easily dodging every offensive spell and shrugging off common disabling magic. The recruit wizard simply didn't have enough power to deal with the demoness, and the resulting three versus two ended far too fast.
"Can I suggest something?" asked Connie after the massacre.
"What is it?" Anvil gulped down some water from her bottle.
"Stop training against the normies, there's no point other than mechanical weapon practice which Cross can do far better. The three of you should, from now on, practice only against Shadowstep's squad or other Order veterans like Bright Star."
"I'll think about that," the minotaur answered, "Thank you for the input."
"Anytime."
Having no idea whether Anvil would ever actually willingly seek Contradiction's help or not, the unicorn left the trio talking to the enemy team, and returned to thinking about today's date. Perhaps things would go her way for once?
Chuckling, she chided herself for the baseless optimism. She could still hope, though, couldn't she?
***
Astray didn't know how a cemetery in upper Canterlot worked due to the lack of soil and space in general, but when the burial ceremony started all questions evaporated from his head. The patch of land just by the walls separating castle proper from the main city was filled with thin gravestones. From what he'd seen so far, deceased Royal Guards did get their own plot, but their name was simply added onto a tall, thin glowing pyramid-like monument made of glass enchanted to bear the guards' names and cycle between 'pages' of names in a minute intervals. Now, though, there was only one name written in tall, glowing teal letters - Black Shield.
There weren't many ponies attending, but Astray knew the ones who were there would make Shield proud. With the help of a guardsmare called Petal who had come immediately after Astray asked for somepony who knew Shield, he had managed to spread the semi-true story about Shield's demise and vindication. However, he knew that without the help of the pony currently taking the stage to give a short speech it would have been impossible.
The satyr had been shocked that princess Celestia remembered him, and much more that she herself had polished his witness of all the events and spread the word.
Originally, only he and Connie were supposed to be here, but for some reason she had requested the presence of both Bubbles and Anvil. Not that he minded, their presence gave Shield's funeral somewhat more official look. A short distance away from the group stood Petal herself, accompanied by an official looking Royal Guard who had to be Shield's commanding officer and two ponies who had to be Shield's parents - a small grey pegasus mare and a well-built brown earthpony. Of course, the pony currently stealing the spotlight was the solar princess herself:
"My little ponies," the princess began, "I wish I could see all of you under better circumstances, but I am happy you made it on such short notice. We are here to pay our respects to one of us, to a hero who had, despite being hit by misfortune we can barely even imagine, never lost herself and eventually brought her murderer to justice. Black Shield, this young, blooming mare was taken from us by a unicorn whose name I am not going to utter here not to tarnish this moment, and yet, after losing her freedom, she never lost her will or desire to protect those she swore to keep safe. After hearing the whole story from those who helped Black Shield get rid of her burden, I award her the status of an honorary paladin. She had gone through a test worthy of the best of the best, and passed with flying colours," Celestia's horn glowed, and the evening sun rose up just enough to bathe the cemetery in golden light, "Rest in peace, Black Shield. You have earned it thousandfold."
When princess Celestia left the small podium, a coffin with Black Shield's body brought from the caverns by Bubbles was lowered into the hole. After a moment of silence broken only by sniffling of Shield's parents, Astray heard hoofsteps and somepony nudged him. It was Petal, Shield's friend.
"Thank you for not telling her folks the whole story," she said quietly, "This way they'll remember her just as a hero, not a criminal. And one more thing," she wiped her eyes, "The night Shield died... it was me who was supposed to go check the disturbance out. If she didn't take it instead of me, then..."
Hanging her head, Petal walked away. Astray wanted to say something comforting, but in truth he had nothing.
"Astray," Contradiction returned to the satyr sitting in silence on a bench from her chat with Shield's commanding officer.
"Hmm?"
"I confirmed your report with the guard. The whole thing really was reported by Arcane Hex."
"Yeah."
"His name is appearing far too much to be a simple coincidence. I have a clue to check out here in Canterlot."
"A clue?"
"You know the best that Shield found a way to confuse Seeker's control spell. She left me a note with an address. At first I thought it was a trap of sorts, but after what you said she did when we left you two alone... I think it might be important."
"I'm in... if Anvil's okay with it, I mean."
"That's why I called her and Bubbles here as well. Take as long as you need here, then meet us by the main gate."
"I'll be out soon. Just... a minute or two."
"We'll wait."
***
"Here we go," Connie double-checked the near-destroyed piece of paper, "Two Hazel Street. Third floor, I guess?" she looked upwards at the mountainside apartment complex. This part of Canterlot hosted the less-blessed population, and the pristine white buildings had given way to peeling paint and solitary ponies returning from their long shifts a while ago.
"Can we just barge in?" asked Anvil.
"Oh we definitely can," Connie chuckled, "but I'd like to avoid that. Let's see what Shield left for us."
After nearly giving the landlord a heart attack, they were let inside the building. Anvil was an excellent universal key even when she didn't use force directly.
"W-w-what do you want?" the chubby unicorn was so shocked by the unusual group that he completely forgot all politeness and diplomacy.
Connie flashed him her Silver Sun badge.
"Official investigation regarding a murdered Royal Guard. We would like to know who lives on the third floor of this building."
"Umm, I, well, give me a moment," the pony darted back into the first door in the hall. A moment later he returned with a binder levitating next to him, "Night Aegis, a batpony. I think he works in the castle or something. We don't allow any overnight visits here so it's a single pony per apartment. Puffcakes, a zebra baker. She's got a plot to die for even for her age. Crush, an earthpony. I think he's a bouncer at some bar. Shift, a changeling. I don't really hold with bugs being around, but as long as she pays the bills I can tolerate her. She dances in a club by the west gate, Red Lust was the name, I think. Then there's Secret Seeker, a unicorn wizard. He doesn't socialize with the others much, but he's never caused any trouble and he pays on time, which is something I can't say about all unicorns that live here. Last, there is-"
"Thank you for the information. We would like to visit Secret Seeker's apartment."
"How about some official document? You come here, flashing some sort of a badge that might or might not be real-"
"Secret Seeker is the guy who murdered the Royal Guard I mentioned," Connie shot him down instantly, "He is dead."
"Hnnngh!" the unicorn started sweating and breathing as if running a marathon. He recovered after a moment, trembling down to his horseshoes, "I- I have to come with."
"Of course," she gave him a pleasant smile, "Any assistance by a law-abiding citizen is appreciated."
"Me no break anytink?" rumbled Anvil.
"AAAAAAAAH!" the unicorn tossed a key to Contradiction and slammed the door to his apartment shut.
Astray bit his lip to stop the incoming fit of laughter. Bubbles was grinning so wide at the wall the wallpaper shook in horror. Anvil just raised an eyebrow while giving Connie a smirk so smug even Discord would clap.
Few staircases later, the group unlocked the door of Secret Seeker's supposed apartment and turned the light on.
The apartment was neat, simple, and spartan with the only exception being shelves of books everywhere.
"Basics of unicorn telekinesis," Connie read few titles at random, "Necromancy for Beginners. Digging and You: Shovels for dummies," she left that particular shelf alone, "That doesn't really seem too advanced," the other shelves yielded something more interesting, "Essence of Soul. Sanguine Sacrifice," she flipped few pages, "Ooookay, that's WAY over my head," her eyes fell on a more familiar title, "Elemental Chants, now that's something you don't just borrow from a library."
"I can smell Black Shield all over the place, especially in the bedroom," Bubbles returned from her sniffing trip, "There was a book on the carpet where the smell is the strongest. It's called - Elemental Understanding of Magic: A non-unicorn guide."
Connie nodded. It made sense now. The simple books were for Shield. After all, Seeker couldn't just deactivate her or force her to sleep whenever not needed, that would make her mind deteriorate, resulting in a simple, useless golem. So, Seeker gave her something to read from the library of School for Gifted Unicorns, probably. Perhaps she should check the simple books for some library stamps?
Nah, no reason.
So, Shield had provided her with the location of Secret Seeker's home. Was that all? Connie couldn't shake off then nagging feeling that Shield wouldn't lead her here just for that. It was possible, though. At that point in time, even a clue like Seeker's apartment would have been a blessing.
"Oh crap?" she heard Astray's voice from the bedroom, "Contradiction, can you come here? I think you were right."
"What is it?" the unicorn walked over, "Ohhhh... the coincidences are just piling up, aren't they?"
In his hand, Astray was holding a photo of two ponies - Secret Seeker and Arcane Hex. In its corner, a message was written, reading:
"To my best and brightest student - may your thirst for knowledge never be sated."
"Do you really think mister Hex is behind this? He was so friendly and he helped me find you in the mines," Astray said hesitantly.
"More like - led you right to Black Shield alone, how about that?"
Astray hadn't looked at the event from that side. Could Arcane Hex have been trying to kill him? But everything that had happened was Astray's doing. Hex hadn't wanted to use the spell, it had been Astray who insisted.
"I still doubt that," the satyr shook his head, "All this feels too... lucky."
"Even the best of us can be sentimental and make mistakes," Connie levitated the photo from Astray's grasp, then shoved it inside her saddlebag, "Just in case. I wouldn't like somepony messing with our memories just like the wizards said."
Five minutes later, the group were done with the apartment. There were books of the darkest and the most complicated sort, and that was pretty much it. Finally standing in the growing darkness outside after returning the key to the terrified landlord, Connie came to a decision.
"Anvil, I know this is your decision, but I'd like to request Bubbles' assitance."
"Oh?" the demoness perked up, feeling a little more useful.
"What do you need?" asked Anvil.
"I need somepony to keep tabs on Arcane Hex."
"I know where his quarters are inside the School," volunteered Astray.
"You also stick out like a sore hoof, same goes for Anvil. On top of that, I have no doubts Hex lives in some tall tower, and Bubbles can actually climb without risking death. She also looks mostly like a pony so that if somepony spots her she can just say she's a chimney sweep or something."
"I'm against sending one of us somewhere alone, it has yet to end well," Anvil crossed her arms on her chest, "But I guess this isn't exactly our official mission, rather us assisting you. So, Bubbles, what do you say?"
The demoness looked at each hesitant pony before forcing a stern and serious expression.
"I'll do it! I have to learn more than just chase and catch. I don't mind heights either."
"There you have it," Anvil shrugged. There was a hidden, worried undertone in her voice.
"Alright," Connie returned to her commanding voice, "We'll be staying in Canterlot tonight, so after Astray shows Bubbles where to go, you two are free to do whatever you want. I'll be sleeping in Cromach's office in the castle so you can find me there in case anything happens. I'll figure out what to do next by tomorrow, I hope."
"What should I look for?" asked Bubbles.
"I have honestly no idea. Just stay as close as you can, listen and observe. Maybe you'll get lucky and hear something about the rings or... I really don't know."
"I'll be like a ninja from the comic books. Unheard, unseen, all-seeing, awesome," Bubbles' grin grew.
This was going to be so much fun.
"Hey, Astray," Anvil pulled the satyr away from the two before they split up, "When you're done, how about you meet me in the tavern we passed on the way from the funeral here? The Thirsty Traveller, was it?"
"Mhm," he nodded, "Sure. It'll be cheaper to get a room for two for the night."
"Yeah, exactly," she patted his back.