They hadn't come close to his expectations in the slightest. No. The Servants of Shadow were so...so....boring. Much more so than Bright Spark had expected when he stepped into the foyer where the Servants had assembled. They weren't like anything he'd imagined. They weren't top secret mysterious figures cloaked in shadows. They were as ordinary as ordinary could get. A purple earth pony that looked sullen and reclusive in the corner. A dark blue pegasus that looked as if he'd topple over at the first sign of combat, and a little girl that could be no older than ten years old. This? This was supposed to be some legendary team? He frowned, shaking his head quietly. How? How did Celestia expect them to be successful? How they hope to stand up to the horrors of the abyss? Was that it? Part of the secret was that they weren't anything special at all? Let their reputation do the work for them? The unicorn frowned quietly, and scanned the four of them, at last coming across the reason he was here in the slightest: Full Plate.
The older earth pony dipped his head quietly towards the unicorn and a ghostly twitch of a smile caught his lip when Bright Spark made his way across towards him. The older stallion dipped his head and gestured to his side before resuming his motionless silence, watching over Luna's personal court. The three of them were silent as they inspected various pieces of armor and looked over themselves, muttering occasionally. The pegasus was wearing some sort of dark colored armor that seemed to protect his upper body specifically and leave his wings available for maximum mobility. A black carapace protected his chest and forelegs and he wore an iron mask over his face with slots for his eyes. To Bright Spark, he at least looked like he were ready for combat. He was the only other armored pony in the room, aside from Full Plate.
They were joined by a fourth. Another filly that looked to be about the same age as the silver filly in the room. He'd seen her before, as well. Dinky Hooves, who was always in the Castle Library, day in and day out. She too, was a Servant of Shadow? She approached the gathered team and leaned in close, muttering something that Bright Spark couldn't quite hear. Whatever she'd whispered had the dark pegasus laughing, and the other little girl pulled Dinky into a cheerful hug, much to Dinky's obvious dismay.
"Not a word." Full Plate whispered, holding himself at full attention when the dark pegasus finally let his gaze drift over The older pony and Bright Spark. Full Plate had instructed him to visit early in the morning, and while he had not fully disclosed the nature of why he wanted to meet so early, Bright Spark could only guess it was about what they'd discussed recently. A few brief thoughts of promotion flickered past the Unicorn's mind. Oh, he'd be working his tail off since joining the castle guard. Helping out with a specialty mission that involved the Servants of Shadow was just one more step on the road to becoming an elite member of the sun guard. Full Plate had once been a member of the Sun Guard. He'd seen all sorts of action in his day and had managed to secure a position a senior tactics advisor of the defense council in a relatively short amount of time. As far as the sun guard went, Full Plate held a lot of respect and Bright Spark was lucky enough to have garnered his interest enough for a mentorship of sorts. Being his grandson didn't hurt matter's any either.
"And what's this?" the dark pegasus 'Virga' asked eyeing Full Plate and Bright Spark over. Bright Spark offered a bright smile, but Full Plate remained staring straight ahead.
"I have been assigned to assist in the retrieval of Princess Luna. Private Bright Spark, First Class is my personal squire for mentorship and aid." He said briskly, not daring glance at the teenaged pony by his side, who looked utterly dumb-founded. Personal squire?! Him?! This would get him into the Sun Guard for sure!! He was beside himself, but swallowed down the smile as the dark Pegasus eyed him over.
"Celestia didn't say anything about assigning the sun guard to us... I suppose any help that we can get. "He said after a few seconds. He turned towards the purple earth mare and she produced a ratty looking scroll of paper. Bright Spark grinned and leaned into the large stallion.
"Thank you so, so so so much! I didn't know you wanted me to be your squire?! This is a top secret mission, right? Does that mean I get high-level clearance? Do I get to know about the secret plans Celestia gav-" Bright Spark began and yelped when Full Plate's hoof accidently collided with his own. The larger Stallion leveled his stare at Bright Spark and the smaller unicorn felt a chill run down his spine at the very silent, but very insistent suggestion for him to be quiet. The filly, Diamond Dancer was peering at them seriously, and her ears were twitching. Before Full Plate could mutter an excuse, the gothic looking mare gave a bone chilling cough.
"We must depart." The purple earth pony said suddenly, and as if on cue, the rest of them turned towards the side door of the room. They filed out of it, one at a time, and out into the frosty morning air. The mission had begun. Only Diamond alone stood peering at the two of them before she too turned her head and trotted from the room.
******
They were quiet as they followed one and other out into the town and towards the edge of the market. Full Plate, however, slowed his trot to a crawl when he reached the middle of the market. Here, where the hustle and bustle was its loudest, Full Plate slowed his advance to keep step with Bright Spark, and out of step with the rest of the Servants, where they might have a quiet little chat with one another.
Diamond frowned. She didn't like the way the two ponies in the back were whispering to one and other. She'd seen them before, earlier, when they'd delivered her to the castle in order to talk with Princess Celestia. And now, they wanted to tag along on a mission doomed for failure? She quickened her pace until she was next to Virga.
"Whats up with the love birds in the back? Did you know Celestia was gonna be givin' us help?" Diamond squeaked. Virga shook his head as he neared the edge of the market.
"They aren't here to help us." He explained quietly, much to Diamond's confusion.
"Whadda mean by that? Why would they be here then?" She asked. Virga chuckled. Ahh, the naivete of children.
"They are here, in order to make sure we follow through with Princess Celestia's request. There are a great many things that could go wrong and too few witnesses for a full story." He explained, tersely. Diamond looked baffled, and Dinky rolled her eyes.
"They're here to make sure we don't stage a coup or hold the princess at ransom or something." She huffed in an exasperated whisper. Diamond frowned and peered over their party at the earth pony and the unicorn in the back. They had said something strange before hoof...She shook her head, rejecting the thought from her mind. They were going to need all the help they could get, and paranoia would tear them apart. She groaned and pulled in a deep lungful of the crisp morning air. She was going to need to keep her head clear if she hoped to be successful on this mission. She didn't have time to entertain errant thoughts of crooked guards or wild conspiracies. The mission was still the same: Get Luna to safety. She'd see to it that was the case, despite any interference from the sun guard or not.
"Wheres the entrance to Tartarus, Nettleglum?" Virga asked as the stiff-legged pony lead them through town. Bright Spark noticed that while The other Servants had no problem keeping up with her, Nettleglum seemed to move only when he wasn't directly looking at her. Every time he glanced over at Full Plate, Nettieglum would be standing in the shadow of a shop somewhere, idly chatting while the rest of the group caught up. When he looked away and back again, she was across the market stalls entirely. When he opened his mouth to question her particular movements to Full Plate, the older stallion merely shook his head as if to say 'don't ask'. But now the questions were piling up. Why did Full Plate suddenly announce his squireship? Why were the foals not armored? Why were there foals in the group to begin with? He kept glancing at Full Plate, but the earth stallion refused eye contact. Was he afraid of the filly with the remarkable hearing listening in? He bit his lower lip. She didn't seem like she was paying attention. At the moment, she was chatting quietly with the half pony half wendigo creature named Virga who was looking over a map with Nettleglum.
"In the middle of the Bad Lands. Right about here. We'll take the train to Appolosa and we'll reach the Bad Lands by this afternoon. Maybe we'll get to Tartarus late afternoon, early evening. I do hope we can avoid the late crowd rush to get in." Nettleglum lamented quietly, staring off into the distance. Diamond winced faintly but didn't comment, instead choosing to patiently stand in line with Virga, who purchased six tickets to Appaloosa.
Diamond couldn't help but notice they were all one way.