//------------------------------// // Ch. 15 Pegasus in the Throne Room // Story: North Wind: Earning your Cutie Mark // by BlackBonitaCherry //------------------------------// In front of the throne room in Canterlot Castle, one guard paced back and forth while the other tried to maintain his vigil of staring forward, before his nerves got the better of him. “Would you stop pacing already?” the idiot was going to get them in trouble with the Princess, and then Wind Scar would have their heads, his wings and the other’s horn for the black market. Making a deal with that stallion for promotion was one of his greatest regrets. “Do you think they actually sent a letter to the princess, identifying us?” Gleaming Helmet rolled his eyes, staring at the panicking stallion. “You idiot, we snatched any mail those program ponies sent and torched it, remember? The Princess is not going to find out,” sure they might have traumatized an innocent filly, though what she was doing traveling without parents he wasn’t sure, but in their defense, she was carrying around a suspicious-looking cart that was not in any of the registered catalogues. (The fact that it could’ve been designed and built by her did not occur to any of them.)  If they ended up finding that griffin that escaped last Hearth’s Warming, along with whatever chicks hatched, it might have smoothed over the stallion’s temper somewhat. The break in and the disappearance of his niece months later put him a terrible mood, and when the Ruby Dogs cut off all contact, it became even worse. Then the incident in Tall Tale had him going into a complete rage, especially when the Diamond Dogs involved were taken away by their fellow canines. But the destruction of the mine caused a fervor in him, as he was convinced his niece was responsible and with the rumors of the escaped griffin in the same area, he sent a squad to deal with it. Gleaming shivered, recalling the dark look in those blue eyes as the stallion heard their report, and the lack of any sighting of the filly. “You idiots, she’s obviously in some sort of disguise, you should’ve completely seized that cart,” their lieutenant made the mistake of protesting the fact there was no need to further distress the filly, and lost his head a moment later. Giving the rest of them the joyous task of doing a cover-up and hiding his body. Wind Scar left after that, muttering something about getting someone less conspicuous to find his niece. If Gleaming had any curiosity about what the man wanted with his niece, it was smothered with the reminder of what happened to those who got too curious about the former Captain of the Royal Guard’s past. They never lasted long. “You sure? What if Cross Shield himself comes to complain?” “He won’t, he’s too busy with that silly program of his,” that he chose to create his own program over becoming a trainer for the Royal Guard Academy still rubbed a few ponies wrong. He claimed it was a chance to improve the competence of every field, make it easier, and these Rangers were supposed to be able to do everything Guards could do outside of the Castle. Some took this as an insult, never mind that the Royal Guards rarely ventured out of the capital unless specifically sent by the Princess on a mission. ‘But you weren’t sent by the Princess’ a voice reminded him, he silenced it, glaring at the other till they returned to their post, before resuming his stance and staring down the hall. They were fine, the Princess was never going to find out, Wind Scar has been active for years and learned how to avoid the alicorn’s attention. So it should be fine. Fine. The doors behind them slammed open and both stallions spun, spears in their magic/wings respectively, only for an unimpressed alicorn to stare them down, a letter in front of her face. “Dear Princess Celestia, This is Amethyst Storm of the Rangers Program you approved with Cross Shield several years ago,” Gleaming Helmet felt all the blood leak out of his face, his fellow Guard didn’t look any better,  “I am writing to you to ask, if not inform, why it was felt necessary to send a squadron of Royal Guards to Vanhoover to harass a filly assisting one of our trainees. Not only did they ignore protests and behaved unprofessionally, they disturbed the ashes of the filly’s grandmother,  turning it upside down and spilling it across the station floor. Understandably, the filly and her sister who was also with her were quite upset, and despite being proved wrong about accusing a ten-year-old of theft, without even saying what was stolen, the guards did not even apologize. Luckily,  I stopped them boarding the train and harassing the filly further, but I wish to make you aware, if you aren’t already, of this miscarriage of Royal Guard authority. If you did send this squad, please send a reply if what was stolen was so important to involve this level of impropriety, Your faithful subject,  Amethyst Storm,”  The letter was smoldering at the edges, and the guards gulped as their ruler stared them down. Her mouth opened. “Inside now,” her voice boomed across the hall, sending paintings askew and shattering the vases in the hall.  They followed her in, staring at the floor and trying to maintain their composure. Which was somewhat difficult when the Princess left black footprints in her wake, the smell of ash hitting their noses. Gleaming Helmet resigned himself, looks like he wouldn’t have to worry about Wind Scar’s rage. He would be scorched instead. ----------------------------------------- For so long she kept a lid on her rage, making sure none of her pony subjects saw how angry she could get. It had been difficult, dealing with nobles and trying to do what she can to keep Equestria running without the help of her sister. Making sure treaties held up, that there were no threats of invasions from those who refused to make a treaty with her. Dealing with the fear of Blessings going out of hand and making sure that panic did not consume the ponies. Earth blessings were the easiest, not many of them tapped into the potential beyond affecting plants or ‘psychic’ visions. Which reminded her of the Pie family, that family had a daughter with the Blessing right? They sent a letter to her about the filly figuring out what it gave her and the results made her smile sometimes. All Earth ponies had a connection to the earth, that wasn’t disputed, but the Blessing of the Earth gave them abilities common in races outside of the ponies. Like how the Jewel Dogs were able to dig through tunnels with ease. Blessings of the Water tended to pop up randomly, and she left that bit to Queen Nova to deal with, the hippogriff turned sea-pony having quite the extensive knowledge on the subject. After all, Luna wasn’t here to do it. Blessings of Fire made her hesitant, as the range of which it could be applied were never explored, some if not most practitioners frightened of their abilities. She was unfortunately one of them, being the oldest bearer, and it caused her some regret that she couldn’t give Sunset the proper instruction either. But that wasn’t even the Blessing she had the most regret with. The Blessing of the Wind always haunted her, its oldest Bearer having fallen out with her centuries before over her pacifist ways, calling her a coward when she refused to make things official, for fear of her ponies’ reaction. She didn’t deny it. Even when the Blessings became stronger in the recipients, causing them to accidentally lash out and hurt others, she only pointed them in the other's direction in the hopes of them learning to control it, and not to fear it. She never heard from those ponies again, but she figured that her contact ‘allowed’ them to live with them, or they never wanted to return to their homes. Today also happened to be the anniversary of their falling out, they day when they would’ve been married to one another, but she let her fears take over.  It was a day of many regrets for her, second to the anniversary of banishing her sister. It was not a good day for bad news of any sort. Then this letter came in. But the letter she read just now wasn’t all that had been written, the P.S. on the back caused what anger she had at the contents of the letter It was a good thing Twilight was at home with her parents, recovering from spell burn out after she decided to practice the same spell. Twenty times in a row. She could see Raven in the corner of her eye, the unicorn with a cup of tea and a questioning look, Celestia shook her head and flicked her ears, causing her assistant to pale somewhat before she nodded and disappeared behind the throne, leaving the cup of tea on a table next to her. Looking down at the pale guards, her lips thinned as she stared at them. “So, are you going to tell me who else was involved in this rogue mission, that I did not sanction?” the smell of urine hit her nose and with an annoyed flick of her magic she banished the mess, the embarrassed unicorn trying to avoid her gaze. The pegasus remained silent, and Princess Celestia centered herself,  “Right,” her horn glowed and there were three pops as guards in various states of undress appeared in her throne room. It didn’t take a genius to understand where they had been, and Celestia decided a bathtub full of water and scented bath salts would serve to get rid of the smell. If it ended up drenching not just them, but the other two, she didn’t care. Any protests from the summoned guards were cut off when they recognized their compatriots, and the angry look on their Princess’s face. They fell silent. “Now, is anyone going to tell me exactly what was stolen? Or should I have to guess?” while she had been given a name, revealing she knew who their leader was would make them lock up tight. And Wind Scar would end up disappearing and going underground. It was times like this that she wished she was on those peaks near the outside of Equestria, resting in the tranquil air and releasing their anger. Hm, she wondered if they received any new students. Their requirements were stricter than her own school. And far more dangerous. Even if a full grown dragon appeared at hers last year. But it would be nice to take a dip in one of their special steam baths, and to take in the lovely view. --------------------------- It was a lovely view, Zephyr could admit that. He just wished cleaning wasn’t taking away any enjoyment he could have.  -Reaching the peak through the fog had been a nightmare of dodging fallen rocks, avoiding falling into holes, and ignoring voices trying to lead him astray. It still ate into his time, and he cursed himself for ending up in that strange path that ended up leading him further down the path and having to start all over when the previous path closed up. The temptation to fly had never ceased, but he knew it would lead to his expulsion so he ignored the urge and kept his wings close. Then he came to a crossroads, three different paths leading from one peak to the other. One led directly the peak he’d been climbing, looking like polished marble with gems in the path. The one on the left was made of onyx and led to a peak he could barely see, with suspicious smoke coming in that direction.  The third path consisted of wood with rickety rope and seemed to be the longest one. He considered his remaining time, two hours and three minutes, and shrugged. Five minutes later “What is that idiot doing? The peak is right there!” the remaining campers stared at the crazy green colt, the pegasus humming to himself as he trotted leisurely down the wooden bridge, a creak here and there echoing through the mountain. Several went down the onyx path, while the majority went the shortest route, including the Blueblood type pony who somehow managed to get to the top despite his complaints. The remaining ponies shared looks, recalling their journey so far, and took the same path that the only colt who knew where’d he been going went. What could they lose huh? At the sect on at the top of the peak, several residents went about their days, meditating or sparring against one another. Griffins, dragons, and a few ponies of several races were there, having been there for years and long getting over any prejudice towards one another. “The deadline for the sect membership ends in five minutes, did anyone bet on newbies this year?” Greta the Griffin asked, dodging a strike from her dragon opponent and hitting him with her wings. “There has not been any new students for years, they all choose the other sects,” a pony with bat wings commented, looking sleepy, before covering his head with his wings and falling asleep. Those around ignored him, used to his random naps, and added their own agreements. Then the sound of groaning and shifting rock was heard, and they all glanced in surprise at the entrance of their sect, a dirty green hoof appearing over the edge, followed by a yellow mane as a pegasus colt pulled himself up and onto the ground. “Made it,” he gasped out, panting, before shifting as a few more ponies joined him, looking equally as exhausted. The sect members were silent, staring in surprise, before Greta coughed, wiping away the surprise on her face. “Right, good job newbies, there’s a spring to wash yourselves up and supper is ready as well, you’ll begin your first day tomorrow,” they weakly cheered before dragging their bodies in the direction they pointed. As soon as they were out of earshot, Greta grabbed her sparring partner and stared at him with wide eyes. “Does anyone here remember how we trained newbies in the past?” she hissed, they all shared looks. “Uh,” that was a good question actually. Which is how Zephyr now found himself cleaning various parts of the sect, his fellow trainees getting their own assigned parts.  They ended up sharing a room the first few nights while the student dorms were ‘aired’ out.  It didn’t take long to realize their new teachers did not expect any of them to make it, at all, or to choose the wooden bridge. Cleaning wasn’t the only thing, the dragon, Cyril, trained them in basic sword form in the mornings, and Greta was their martial arts instructor. The leader of the peak was in seclusion at the moment, but they were assured about meeting whoever it was at some point in their training. The bat pony, or Nocturne as he explained he was, was called Night Terror (he refused to elaborate why he was named that) was the ‘Doctor’ of the Peak and gave them each a physical on the first day, before plopping down on one of the cots and konking out. There were other members of the peak, but they were busy working the rice fields on the other side of the mountain, or on trips to other peaks to trade.  Apparently the other peaks had a different focus, and after hearing them, Zephyr was kind of glad he chose the wooden one, even if they seem to be making up training schedules as time went on. The golden bridge to the middle peak, lead to a sect called the Jinjiao or Gold Cult, that focused on scholars above all else, and maybe the occasional meditation here and there. From poetry to artwork, they were more of a literary sect than a martial one. They were involved in paperwork involving the other two peaks and required all their ‘newbies’ to read at least five books a day to catch up.  The other peak was the complete opposite, and their practices involved nothing but the martial arts, and meditation was a passing thought. Their sect was called Quiangpai, or Powerful Sect. It was also on a sleeping volcano and Zephyr was so relieved that he didn’t go that way. This peak was a blend of the two, though much less strict, and when they weren’t learning martial arts, they were allowed to choose between either learning poetry or some type of art to do.  This sect was called Yunhumen or Cloud Lake Cult. There was the promise of teaching them the language these sects used, and Zephyr wasn’t sure whether he was looking forward to it or not. Then he reminded himself why he was there and visited the library first chance he got to look at the books. His three fellow students seemed somewhat reluctant to enter the library, and he pegged them as being from Cloudsdale as well.academically The pegasus instructor on the peak saw their hesitation as well and gave a rueful grin. “I’m guessing Cloudsdale is disdaining as ever of scholars, most of the time, the other peak, Gold Cult, ends up losing their students within the first few months and have gotten so used to it they have a system in place for it. Now I am sorry to tell you this, but for however long you are with us, we will be expecting you to become a bit more academically inclined, any of you fans of Daring Do?” they all raised their hooves, he gave a half-grin, “Well you’ll be delighted to know that A. K. Yearling visited here a while ago and actually wrote a book based on our sects, the manuscript is in our library and she has promised not to publish it till our sect leader gives permission. But I’m sure she wouldn’t mind if our students, after being diligent learners to our satisfaction, will be able to read it,” the three shot into the library and Zephyr raised an eyebrow at the older stallion. “And what exactly is the level we have to reach for that to happen?” he got his mane ruffled before the stallion nudged him to the library. “Have fun reading,” staring after him, Zephyr gave a huff before heading straight towards the poetry section. There were quite a few fun ones that he wanted to reread.