//------------------------------// // Portentia sermonis I // Story: Division // by 5aszs //------------------------------// “We should arrive in a few minutes. Remember my instructions and follow your team to your designated role.” Among a chorus of obedience from the stallions in the first carriage, one pony was noticeably quieter than the others, and he nervously ducked his head to avoid being seen and pretended to adjust his armour. “What’s the matter Lejon? Should we call your mother to come and take you home?” Lejon tried to ignore the cacophony of mocking laughter and stared aimlessly out of the small window next to his seat. Contrary to the nervous anticipation that his fellow guard members felt, Lejon found himself questioning why he had even been chosen for this top secret mission alongside his more experienced colleagues. He had only joined the Royal Guard a year ago and had failed to advance from the lowly position of private. “Sir, why did you even bring Lejon here? He’s the weakest link in our group and you know it,” asked a red stallion sitting next to Lejon, staring pointedly at him as he asked the question. The other stallions remained silent, shocked that the red stallion had had the audacity to ask such a question. “How many years has it been since you were promoted, second lieutenant?” “.....It's been two years sir.” “Exactly. You've remained in the same rank for three years because you haven’t shown the growth needed to advance. This shows that you’re lazy, who isn’t really concerned about bettering himself. If anything, you could be considered the weakest link on Alpha Team. Don't insult your colleagues about not being promoted when you’ve been at the same rank for two years.” The carriage was deadly silent as Shadow finished lecturing the red stallion, who was clearly embarrassed by Shadow’s harsh truths, and he silently glared at Lejon, who continued to stare out of the window. “The reason you were both chosen is because you are the perfect unicorns needed to neutralise our targets when they try to resist arrest. Speaking of our targets……” The Royal Guard members at first were confused as to why Shadow had suddenly stopped speaking, but the reduced speed of the carriage and the polished concrete driveway that the carriage driver was turning into told them that they had reached their destination, closely followed by the second carriage. The ponies in the first and second carriage got out quickly and quietly and saluted Shadow before following their team to their designated position. “You two will be coming inside with me,” said Shadow as he took out a piece of paper from inside his armour. He slowly walked to the front door of Sir Capricornus’ mansion, quickly followed by Lejon and the red stallion. Upon reaching the front door, Shadow raised his hoof and loudly knocked the door three times. “Who could possibly be knocking on our door at this time of night?” Sunrise and Sunburst were sitting together in the living room where Sunrise had tending to her husband for the last few hours, and it hadn't been an easy task. Sunburst had been slipping in and out of consciousness for the last two hours, and for the few minutes that he was awake, he would thrash about and cry in pain. His current condition had made Sunrise seriously consider delaying their plan to allow Sunburst time to recover. But the fact that Celestia and Luna apparently knew about their plan was another reason as to why the plan shouldn't be delayed, and in between comforting her husband, Sunrise was beginning to panic about “You two stay there. I’ll see who it is.” Sir Capricornus yawned and shook his head before coming down the stairs. He stood at the entrance and silently watched his son and daughter-in-law for a few seconds, hints of concern breaking through his normally passive personality. He then turned away and slowly walked up to the door, looking through the keyhole to see who it was. “Just a minute. I'm trying to find the key.” Sir Capricornus quickly lit up his horn and lifted up a piece of paper and a quill that was luckily on the small table next to the door. He quickly wrote a few sentences on the paper before quietly walking back to the living room. “Sir, whats going-?” Sir Capricornus quickly lifted his hoof to his mouth to tell his daughter-in-law to be quiet. He then held up the piece of paper that he had written on, as Sunrise’s eyes became wider and wider as she read what was written on the paper. ROYAL GUARD ARE OUTSIDE. I WILL TRY AND DELAY THEM FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE BUT YOU AND SUNBURST NEED TO LEAVE THE HOUSE THROUGH THE BACK DOOR NOW. TAKE THE ELEMENTS WITH YOU AND GET OUT OF CANTERLOT TONIGHT AND LAY LOW FOR A FEW WEEKS. I WILL CONTACT YOU FIRST IN A FEW DAYS AND I'LL LOOK AFTER SUNSET FOR YOU. Sunrise sat silently for a few moments but the harsh knocking quickly snapped her out of her thoughts. “Come on Sunburst, wake up. We need to leave the house now.” whispered Sunrise as she frantically shook her husband to try and wake him up. Her efforts were successful and Sunburst slowly lifted his head up and used his hoof to slowly rub his eyes. “Wha-what time is it?” “Sunburst, we need to leave the house now.” whispered Sunrise, forcing her husband to look at the paper that Sir Capricornus was still holding. “Open up! We know you're in there! Don't make me break this door down!” Sunburst jumped off of the sofa and quickly took out the Elements from underneath the sofa using his magic. He ripped it open and quickly placed the crown upon his head before levitating one of the smaller Elements onto his wife’s head. Sunrise quickly walked over to Sir Capricornus to give him a brief handshake before wiping upstairs to say goodbye to her daughter. “I trust that we'll see each other again soon?” “I know we will, son.” The father and son stood quietly in front of each other, before Sir Capricornus held out a hoof. Sunburst ignored this and immediately embraced his father tightly for a few seconds, before quickly following his wife upstairs. Sir Capricornus stood silently for a few moments before walking to the front door and opening it. “Good morning. How may I help you?” Shadow ignored Sir Capricornus’ attempts at pleasantries and read the paper that he was holding out loud. “By order of the Royal Highnesses Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, Sunrise Phoenix and Sunburst Solar of House Capricorn are to be taken in for questioning by the princesses. They stand accused of possessing powerful artefacts with intent to place Equestria under serious risk. They are not inclined to say anything but anything they do say in questioning will be taken down as evidence.” “And what artefacts are you talking about, may I ask?” asked Sir Capricornus. “They haven't been disclosed to me but I can assure you sir, this is a serious matter. Now, where are they?” “I'll just go inside and get them.” “We'll come inside with you, make sure that nothing else isn't going on.” Sir Capricornus opened his door properly to allow the three stallions inside and he led them past the living room and up the stairs to Sunrise and Sunburst's room. “They're probably sleeping right now, I'll wake them up and tell them what's going on.” Sir Capricornus stopped talking and knocked on the door three times and called out Sunburst and Sunrise’s names. When there was no reply, “Move out of the way now.” Shadow barged past the elder unicorn and bucked the bedroom door, creating a massive hole as the door as it slammed against the wall. The king size bed was empty except for a small piece of clothing in the middle of the bed. “Where are they Sir Capricornus? I'm not going to ask you again,” growled Shadow, baring his teeth. He moved closer to the elder stallion and was about to repeat his question when there was a loud explosion outside the house. Lejon and the red stallion rushed to the window next to the bed and saw one of their colleagues stumbling outside before collapsing to the ground, blood gushing from a large wound on his forehead. They looked at Sir Capricornus, who had an emotionless expression on his face. “Both of you, go outside and see what’s happening. I have to stay here and deal with this,” said Shadow, never taking his eyes off Sir Capricornus. The two stallions nodded and galloped out of the room. The soldiers outside were still waiting for Sunburst and Sunrise to come out. The team that were supposed to enter the house and prevent the couple from escaping had completely forgotten their orders and had joined the other team at the back of the house, and the thirteen stallions were currently hiding amongst the bushes. They had been waiting for nearly ten minutes when they heard the back door open and two ponies emerged from it. “They're probably nearby Sunburst, so we should expect a confrontation any minute now.” “Can I use the Elements then?” “No of course you can't. Besides we don't even need it, we can get past those guards with our magic and I'm sure that they won’t be too much trouble,” replied Sunrise, pulling the satchel she was wearing closer to her to emphasise her point. Sunburst was about to retaliate when he spotted a hoof sticking out of one of the bushes in front of them. He quickly pulled Sunrise back and pointed at the hoof. “Wait. why are they looking over here?” The stallion whose hoof was sticking out still hadn’t realised that it was him who had compromised the Royal Guard’s element of surprise, and he whispered to the other ponies in the bushes next to the one he was hiding in to remain quiet so that they were not found. Sunburst crouched and quietly walked over to the bush. Using his magic, he lifted up the hoof and with it the stallion the hoof belonged to, out of the bushes and a few feet above the ground. “Where are the rest of your colleagues?” asked Sunburst, using his magic to pull the stallion closer so that they were face to face. “There’s no other ponies here. It's only me,” said the stallion, refusing to cower. Sunburst stopped using his magic and allowed the stallion to fall head first onto the ground. “We’re going to ask you one more time. Where are the other ponies with you right now?” asked Sunrise, moving to stand with her husband above the stallion. The stallion refused to answer and instead lept up and snatched the satchel that Sunrise was wearing, surprisingly managing to rip it away from her. He was able to take a split-second look inside before it was snatched back off him by Sunburst. “You're gonna regret doing that,” snarled Sunburst. He pushed the stallion very hard in the chest and he stumbled backwards, struggling to stay on his hooves. Sunburst charged up his horn and fired an orange bolt at the stallion whilst Sunrise used her magic to construct a shield that surrounded her and Sunburst. Sunburst’s spell resulted in a massive explosion that threw the stallion back several metres, and he lay on the ground unresponsive, blood gushing from a large wound on his forehead. The explosion sent the rest of the soldiers into action and they lept out of their hiding places, as the unicorns charged up their horns and the pegasus and earth ponies used their hooves and the power of their wings to try and break down the shield. Luckily for her and Sunburst, Sunrise had managed to hold the shield spell despite the several cracks that were appearing on the outside of the shield. “We have to use the Elements! We can't hold them all off with the shield, there's too many of them!” yelled Sunburst. The shield spell was starting to take it's toll on Sunrise and she closed her eyes and gritted her teeth in an attempt to keep the shield up for as long as possible. Sunburst took one of the Elements out of the satchels and quickly wore it around his neck. Nodding at his wife, Sunburst crouched and charged up his horn as Sunrise prepared to release the shield spell. “NOW SUNRISE!” Sunrise stopped using her magic and in doing so the shield disappeared, exposing her and Sunburst to the Royal Guard. At the same time, Sunburst used his magic to cast a disabling spell on all of the unicorns so that they were unable to use their magic, but the power of the Element that Sunburst was wearing meant that the spell had the unintended effect of knocking out all of the unicorns. “Surrender now!” The pegasus who had yelled the command raised a hoof and the remaining soldiers charged forward, the pegasi taking flight as they all prepared to neutralise Sunrise and Sunburst once and for all. Sunburst fired a large orange bolt at all of the ponies and they were all thrown backwards at the same time. When the smoke had cleared, the devastating effects of Sunburst’s spell were revealed. There were several small pools of blood flowing from the bodies of the injured and some streams ran together to form a much larger pool. One stallion had ended up losing a hind leg and he screamed as he tried to crawl forwards towards his hind leg, desperately trying to reconnect the limb to the rest of his body. The other ponies lay unresponsive on the ground and Sunburst quickly checked that they were all still alive. When he reached the stallion that was furthest away, he quietly stood over him for a few moments, before using his magic to check for a heartbeat. Lejon and his colleague had arrived at the scene moments before Sunburst and Sunrise’s attack had begun and luckily for Lejon, he had not been affected badly by Sunburst’s spell since he was stood far away. He clamped his mouth shut when Sunburst roughly pressed down on the wound just above his cutie mark. “This one will recover quickly. He’s probably gotten away with the least injuries.” “Come on Sunburst, let's go. The rest of them are probably going to come outside now.” Sunburst stood still for a few more seconds before listening to his wife and galloping with her around the mansion to the front. Once he was sure that Sunburst and Sunrise had left, Lejon opened his eyes and slowly stretched his hind legs, making sure that he did not aggravate his wound. Lejon slowly dug his hooves into the concrete ground and extended his arms, pushing himself off of the ground. He walked past his fallen comrades and stuck his head out from behind the wall next to him, where he could see Sunburst and Sunrise galloping towards what appeared to be one of the two carriages Lejon and the rest of his colleagues had arrived in. I’m the only pony that’s fit enough to follow them. I have to find out what they’re up to. Lejon lit up his horn and teleported to the front of the Capricorn mansion a few moments later. He quietly watched Sunburst and Sunrise drive off in one of the carriages. He waited for a few minutes before getting into the second carriage and following the first carriage. “Sir Capricornus, you are under arrest for-” “Whats going on? Where’s Mother and Father?” A bleary-eyed Sunset yawned and rubbed her eyes as she walked into her parents’ bedroom. She quickly noticed her grandfather and the Royal Guard soldier standing in front of her and she became even more confused. “You're really going to arrest me when I have to look after my granddaughter?! Whatever my son and daughter-in-law are up to has nothing to do with me!” exclaimed Sir Capricornus, pulling his granddaughter close to him. “Grandpa, I found this next to my bed. Did Mother write this?” asked Sunset, holding up a small piece of paper. Shadow swooped forward and snatched the piece of paper off Sunset before she had a chance to give it to her grandfather. He cleared his throat before reading the note in a sarcastic tone. “Sunset, your father and I are going to Manehatten for a few weeks to see your grandmother. Your grandfather will look after you in the meantime. Lots of love, Mother and Father. Why would they be leaving canterlot now? It's obvious that they're hiding something,” retorted Shadow. Sir Capricornus remained silent. Shadow brandished a pair of handcuffs and took one step forwards. Sir Capricornus quickly realised that he wouldn't be able to avoid arrest without compromising Sunrise and Sunburst’s escape, and so he willingly held out his hooves. “Arrest me. I have nothing to hide.” As Shadow fastened the handcuffs onto Sir Capricornus, Sunset jumped in front of the two stallions. “You can't arrest him, he hasn’t done anything wrong!” “Unless there’s somepony that can look after your granddaughter, she's going to have to come with us. The princesses will be able to sort out some emergency accommodation for her,” said Shadow, ignoring Sunset as he finished putting the handcuffs on Sir Capricornus. The three ponies left the bedroom and went down the stairs before quickly leaving the house through the front door. As they approached one of the two carriages that were still parked outside, there was another massive explosion and Shadow, Sir Capricornus and Sunset were roughly thrown to the ground. Sunrise and Sunburst emerged from the back of the mansion galloping and the thirty seconds it took for for the three ponies on the ground to recollect themselves was just enough time for them to jump into an empty carriage. “Take us to the Canterlot checkpoint. Now.” A blood-stained Sunrise roughly pushing her hoof against his throat was intimidating enough for the carriage driver to immediately begin to escort Sunburst and Sunrise away from the mansion. After making sure that Sir Capricornus and Sunset were alright, Shadow spotted that one of the carriages had disappeared. He quickly put Sir Capricornus and Sunset inside the other carriage (making sure that they couldn't escape by handcuffing them to their seats) before galloping to the other side of the mansion, where to his complete horror he found nearly all of his men on the ground, either unconscious or writhing around in pain from their wounds. “Sir, I don't know what sort of spell they used but it was obviously powerful enough to take us all out,” said the red stallion, taking a few seconds to catch his breath. “It's really bad back there. Nearly everypony’s been injured in a bad way and-” “We don't have any time to talk about this. I need you to take these two-” Shadow paused to point at the carriage that Sir Capricornus and Sunset were still in “to the palace. Now.” “Yes, sir,” replied the red stallion before entering the carriage and driving off to the palace. Shadow galloped to the back of the mansion and a few minutes later, he saw for himself just how badly things had gone. He trotted past the injured stallions to see if he could find anything that could help and to his surprise, he found an old carriage lying horizontally on the ground. Shadow bent down and used his strength to tip the carriage back to it's right position, before entering it and driving it towards the injured stallions. “My leg, MY LEG! Please somepony help me get my leg back, please!” sobbed the three-legged stallion, who was still desperately pushing the disconnected limb against a large hole in his body. Shadow carefully picked him up, trying his best to avoid touching the gaping hole where one of his hind legs used to be, blood still flowing profusely from the wound. “DO YOU WANT TO LIVE TO SEE THE SUNRISE?!” yelled Shadow, dots of saliva flying from his mouth and landing on the stallion’s face. The stallion’s sobs were reduced to whimpers and he shut his eyes and quickly nodded. Shadow snatched the his hind leg off him and threw it into the bushes. Shadow quickly walked towards the carriage with the stallion in his arms and he carefully laid the stallion down on the biggest seat inside the carriage. Over the next ten minutes, Shadow placed the rest of the injured stallions inside the carriage. The ponies with the more serious injuries were placed in the larger seats whilst the ponies with the less serious injuries were squashed together in the smaller seats that were at the back of the carriage. After making sure all of the ponies were secured, Shadow leapt into the driver’s seat and set off for Canterlot hospital, hoping that he was able to get there quickly before anything else went wrong. “They weren't supposed to know so soon. How could they have found out?” “It's obvious. They probably decided to assess the Elements and they found that they weren't what they were expecting.” Sunburst and Sunrise had been travelling in the carriage for the last twenty minutes towards the Canterlot checkpoint and they were currently discussing their next moves. “We should've thought this through more carefully Sunburst. Looking back, what would we have done if Celestia and Luna decided to look at the Elements in front of us?” “I don't know, but what I do know is where we're going tonight. Detrot.” “The Renaissance City?” “Of course. Not only is the population made up of mostly unicorns, but there are a few ponies from university that we can stay with whilst we figure out our next move.” “We obviously can't go ahead with what we were going to do on Equestria Day.” “I know. Maybe we’ve been approaching this all wrong. If we did take over on Equestria Day. how would we consolidate our power? The only other noble house that would support us is Leo, maybe Cancer if we struck a deal with Sir Cranco. The rest would be against it and i know House Aries would never support us.” “Who’s the current mayor of Detrot?” “A stallion called Soldi. He’s distantly related to House Gemini but from what I’ve heard, he acts as if he’s a member of the family.” “We should meet with him, find out his belief on whether Celestia and Luna should rule, and we’ll see where we’ll go from there.” “But how will we secure a meeting with him? We obviously can't go as ourselves.” “We are in charge of education remember? We’ll just disguise ourselves and say that we’re representing Sunburst and Sunrise and we would like to discuss reforms for the admissions process for Detrot University.” “Look, we’re here Sunburst.” Sunburst closed the satchel he was holding and Sunrise quickly tapped the driver on the shoulder to signal that they had arrived. The carriage quickly came to a stop and the couple quickly jumped out. The driver also came out of the carriage and he quickly lost the little composure he had when he saw a yellow aura surrounding Sunrise’s horn. “I promise that I won't tell anypony. Please don’t hurt me, I have a family and I have to provide for my sons,” pleaded the stallion, tears streaming down his face. “After our meeting tonight you will never remember me, let this night be wiped from your memory.” Sunrise lowered her head and a small dot of yellow magic travelled from her horn and landed on the driver’s head. The driver lifted a hoof and quickly tried to rub the small yellow dot from his head. But his efforts proved futile as the yellow dot went through his skin and a few seconds later, he collapsed to the ground. “When he wakes up, he’s probably going to wonder why the hell he fell asleep next to the checkpoint,” smirked Sunrise. The Canterlot checkpoint was a compulsory place that all ponies leaving the city had to go to. It's purpose was to make sure ponies weren’t carrying any illegal substance. The checkpoint was currently being manned by an elderly guard who was currently asleep in the small shed that was next to the gate. The large sign above the gate read ‘WE HOPE YOU ENJOYED YOUR STAY IN CANTERLOT.’ Sunrise carefully used her magic to take out the gate keys that were underneath one of the guard’s hooves. She used her magic to toss the keys to Sunburst, who was already standing next to the gate. He selected one of the keys at random and twisted it a few times in the lock, and he was surprised when the lock clicked and the gate opened slightly. Sunburst threw the keys back to Sunrise, who slowly slid them back underneath the guard’s hooves. On the other side of the gate, there were two carriages that could usually be rented if ponies were travelling to a distant city and were not taking the train. They also had special number plates on the front so that they couldn't be stolen by the ponies that used them. Sunrise quickly clambered into one of the carriages whilst Sunburst quickly tore off the number plate and threw it away before closing the gate and setting off with Sunrise for Detrot to plan their next move. Nearly twenty minutes after Sunburst and Sunrise had left Canterlot for Detrot, Lejon arrived at the checkpoint. He had purposely taken his time so that he could follow Sunburst and Sunrise without being detected. He jumped out of the carriage whilst it was still moving and ran to the shed at the checkpoint, where the elderly guard was still awake. Lejon roughly banged the window so that the guard “Wha-what the hell.. are you playing at?” mumbled the guard, trying (and failing) to narrow his eyes at Lejon as he pressed a button that opened the window separating the two ponies. “The two ponies that came to you twenty minutes ago. Where did they say they were going?” Noticing Lejon’s Royal Guard uniform, the guard quickly sat up and took out a sheet of paper from the massive pile next to him. “What in Equestria are you talking about? The last ponies that left Canterlot came to me before sunset.” “No no, no. There were definitely two ponies that came here. How else were they supposed to leave the city?” insisted Lejon, his voice becoming louder and louder. “Look, I don't care if you're part of the Royal Guard, you don't come to me in the middle of the night yelling about ponies leaving when that isn't even possible without me knowing about it!” countered the guard, hovering a hoof over the button that closed the window. Lejon yelled in frustration and was about to lose his temper with the guard when he spotted the carriage that was on the other side of the gate. “Look! There’s only one carriage over there and there are normally two right?” asked Lejon, pointing to the carriage he was talking about. “What are you talking about? Nopony’s even needed to use the carriage today,” said the guard, opening the door to his side and coming out of the shed to see what Lejon was talking about. “See, ponies have passed through the checkpoint tonight,” said Lejon, watching the guard’s shocked reaction. “Bu-but that’s against the law! We have to find out where they went! We-we-” “I will deal with this. Do you have an Equestrian map and a quill on you by any chance?” The guard nodded and ran back inside the shed, coming out a few moments later with the map and quill in his mouth. Lejon used his magic to take the map and quill from the guard and he opened it up, circling Canterlot with the quill. If I was Sunrise and Sunburst and I wanted to get out of Canterlot undetected and quickly, where would I go? There’s Manehatten. It's the closest and it also has a lot of hotels. No, that would more likely to expose their identities. Detrot is the second closest. They also probably have scholar friends they could stay with since House Capricorn is in charge of education and they both attended Detrot University. Yes, they probably went to Detrot. Lejon folded up the map and threw it back to the guard. “If the Royal Guard or the princesses ask about me, tell them I went after the targets to stop whatever they’re doing. They’ll know what I’m talking about.” The guard barely had any time to respond before Lejon lit up his horn and teleported to the other side of the gate and set off in the second carriage for ‘The Renaissance City.’ “I'm sorry Your Highness, but we were unable to capture the suspects.” “I’ve already been informed.” Princess Celestia remained silent for a few moments and Shadow gulped as the silence in the hospital waiting room became deafening. He had passed over Sir Capricornus and Sunset to Princess Luna who was waiting at the palace and immediately returned to Sir Capricornus’ mansion with a fleet of ambulances to tend to the wounded soldiers. He had travelled with them to the hospital, where Princess Celestia was waiting for him. “Deputy Captain Shadow, you are the second most senior member of the Royal Guard after Captain Ivory Thunder, and I'm beginning to wonder if I made a mistake honouring you with that position.” Celestia paused to take a deep breath before continuing and her voice became a lot louder. “I trusted you to pick the right team to bring Sunburst and Sunrise to me. Judging by the amount of injuries these poor stallions have suffered, it's clear that you didn't make the right choices!” Shadow felt a flash of anger when Celestia reminded him about his position behind Ivory Thunder and that anger continued to grow as Celestia began to yell at him. “Not only did you fail to capture Sunburst and Sunrise, but there are also eleven soldiers in hospital. Some severely injured, that will not be working for the next few weeks, and Equestria Day is only two days away. The guard that lost his leg is currently fighting for his life in the operation theatre and he will never work in the Royal Guard again because of your bad decision-making. We need all of the guards for the celebrations in case anything goes wrong!” “Your Highness, I was not the pony that crippled him, we both know that it was Sunburst and Sunrise,” said Shadow quietly, looking straight into Celestia’s eyes. “I know it isn't much of a consolation Princess, but we have taken Sir Capricornus and Sunset Shimmer under custody. They're currently with Princess Luna at the palace and I’m sure that they’ll be able to tell you what we need to know,” continued Shadow, desperately trying to keep his anger under check in front of the princess. “You're right, it isn't much of a consolation, but I suppose it's better than nothing.” “I know.” Shadow stared at Celestia for a few moments before walking away from the princess and towards the hospital exit to visit a corner shop to have a cigar. Once outside, he punched the wall three times, drawing blood from his hooves, and he leaned against the wall to catch his breath. How dare she criticise me for not arresting Sunburst and Sunrise when it should’ve been her responsibility to bring them in? She didn’t even thank me for taking all of those stallions to the hospital! She knew that they were so powerful. If anything it’s her fault that nearly everypony on my teams are here tonight. Fuelled by his anger, Shadow forgot about buying his cigars and he stormed back into the hospital to give Celestia a piece of her mind. When he couldn’t find her in the waiting room, Shadow asked the receptionist where Celestia had gone and she directed him towards the operating theatre. Shadow found Celestia standing next to the chairs that were next to the door of one of the operating theatres, waiting for news on whether the stallion who had lost his leg would survive. Shadow’s anger dissolved in an instant when he found Celestia, and any plans of a planned rant at the princess faded away as he heard the shouts of the doctors in the theatre. He sat down next to Celestia and they waited together for nearly five minutes before one of the doctors came out through the door. “Well?” asked Celestia, quickly standing up. The doctor took off his mask and the sorrowful expression accompanied with a slight shake of his head told Princess Celestia and Shadow what they needed to know. “This has officially become a murder case,” muttered Celestia, before string at the operating theatre’s door. “Can you at least tell me when I'm going to see Celestia?” “My sister will return from the hospital soon. Until then, you are under my watch.” Sir Capricornus and Sunset had been waiting at the palace for over half an hour for Celestia to interrogate them. As soon as they had arrived at the palace, they had been escorted by two guards to a run-down interrogation room. Once they had arrived at the room, Sunset had been taken by another guard to find out if she was able to spend the night at the palace. A guard suddenly entered the room and loudly announced Princess Celestia’s arrival. Luna glared at Sir Capricornus one last time before leaving the room. Sir Capricornus quickly rehearsed what he was going to tell the princess and just as he was in the middle of this, the door slammed open and the elder royal sister entered, holding a leather satchel with her magic. “Now, can you please tell me why I'm still handcuffed?” asked Sir Capricornus, hoping that his pleasant tone would convince Celestia to release him sooner rather than later. “I'm not in the mood for your pleasantries, not tonight.” Celestia's tone shocked Sir Capricornus as he had never heard the princess this angry before, and he began to reconsider how he was going to answer Celestia's questions. “A stallion has died tonight because of Sunburst and Sunrise. Dead. And who's going to have to break the bad news to his family? Me. I have to be the one to tell that poor stallion’s family that he was murdered.” “My son and daughter-in-law are not murderers. I'm sure that what happened tonight was an accident.” “ACCIDENT?! You make it sound as if nothing serious has happened. They killed him. Snuffed his life as if it meant nothing to them. But that's not what I came to talk to you about.” Celestia paused and took a few moments to compose herself before speaking again. “Now, we both know why I've called you in here tonight. Your son and daughter-in-law have the Elements of Chaos in their possession and there are preparing to put this country in danger and use them against myself and Princess Luna. Is that true?” “Wha-what are you talking about?! They would never do anything to harm this country!” Celestia let the satchel drop onto the table between herself and Sir Capricornus, and seven coloured jewels fell out. “Do you know what these are?! They're the so-called Elements that Sunrise and Sunburst gave to us a few days in the Canterlot court meeting. They planned for months and you know it!” “I-I genuinely don't know what you're talking about!” retorted Sir Capricornus, his voice matching Celestia's in volume. “STOP LYING TO ME! THEY’RE PLANNING TO OVERTHROW ME AND YOU HELPED THEM!” Sir Capricornus fell backwards on his chair and onto the floor due to the force of as Celestia stood over Sir Capricornus and yelled unintelligibly at him. “THROW HIM IN THE DUNGEONS!” Celestia dragged Sir Capricornus off the floor and pulled him by his mane out of the room, where two guards were already waiting. They took Sir Capricornus and roughly pulled him along the hallway to the the underground dungeons. You're nearly there Lejon. Just…..keep your eyes open. Lejon stifled a yawn and used a hoof to quickly rub his eyes whilst he was driving. The four-hour journey from Canterlot to Detrot was coming to an end and just as Lejon’s eyes were about to close again, he spotted the Detrot checkpoint in the far distance, the black gate illuminated by the rising sun. Lejon pressed his hoof down on the pedal to make the carriage go even faster and before he knew it, what appeared as a small gate in the distance loomed largely over him. Lejon slowly removed his hoof off the pedal and turned to throw his Royal Guard uniform (on the passenger seat) in the back. Nerves began to build up inside of Lejon and he nervously waved at the guard standing next to the gate. “Good morning sir. May I ask why you have travelled to Detrot today?” The guard’s pleasant manner set Lejon’s nerves at ease and he felt more confident about his mission. “I'm supposed to be coming here for a family visit with my cousins but they left ahead of me. When did they come through the checkpoint.” “They came through about half an hour ago and they said that they were going to stay in a hotel in the middle of the city. Was that your plan?” “Yes of course, thank you for telling me. Those silly ponies forgot to tell me in their rush to leave Canterlot.” “Well, I hope you enjoy your stay in Canterlot,” said the guard, taking out a key and opening the gate to allow Lejon to pass through. Now I just have to find the hotel they're staying in and stop whatever they're planning.