Chapter 11
“Then this big shadow being appeared. They called it the “High Shadow” and started to bow to it and they talked about Temor being the herald of King Sombra’s True Return,” Twilight rambled on as she paced in front of Celestia’s throne in Canterlot Castle.
Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie and she had rushed right over to the castle to report what they had witnessed. Twilight was now at the very end of her tale, having spared little detail for both Celestia and Luna, who could do little but listen. The other three mares stood to the side, but did look as agitated as their purple friend.
“The Order of Umbrum, True Return, High Shadow?” Princess Luna exchanged confused yet worried glances with her sister.
“Twilight, are you telling us that there is a secret order operating in Equestria that is working on bringing King Sombra back and that Temor is the herald of that?” Celestia looked back at her student.
Twilight stopped pacing and faced the two princesses. The unicorn still hadn’t really calmed down after their escape. “That’s exactly what I’m telling you, Princess.”
“This is worrisome. Umbrum is an old Saddle Arabian word for the dark ponies, King Sombra’s race. The High Shadow was a religious authority figure in the old Dark Pony Empire, a title held only by the queen,” the Solar Princess explained to the ponies.
“What should we do?” Twilight asked, unsure. Their one lead had almost led them to be captured by ponies loyal to a currently dead enemy.
“Continue to try and find Prince Temor. Luna and I will look into this Order of Umbrum business. It would probably be for the best if you go back to the Crystal Empire and rejoin the others,” Celestia advised.
Twilight and her friends nodded, bowed and departed the throne room. Just to be safe, Celestia asked a few guards to accompany them to the train station. Then she looked at her sister.
“Luna, have you seen anything in ponies’ dreams that might hint that they are members of a secret order?” she asked.
Luna stopped to think. She was still a little hesitant to go into the dreams of ponies, the memory of being Nightmare Moon was still fresh on her mind. However, she had started to slowly venture into them, focusing mostly on foals for now who seemed to be more accepting of who she was now.
“No, I’m sorry, sister. Dreams are seldom so simple. Some ponies have such vivid imaginations and can dream up such wonders that are in stark contrast to themselves,” she told her.
Celestia frowned as she considered this, then nodded. It had been a shot in the dark, she had to admit, not understanding the dream realm as well as her sister did.
“Then we have no choice but to start with those ponies Twilight and her friends told us about,” Celestia said. “You handle Wing, I’ll see about Mirage.”
Luna nodded and with a plan now, the two sisters left the throne room.
“All right Bright Spark,” Shining Armor said as he and the crystal pony entered his barrack’s office. “What can you tell me about this Order of Umbrum?”
“Not a whole lot, sir, but I will tell you everything I do know,” Bright Spark said, standing erect and refusing to look around.
Shining Armor couldn’t help but smile a little at how the crystal pony conducted himself. It was clear the guard wouldn’t easily leave the military mindset, even if a portion of his career had been under mind control.
“At ease, guard. Just tell me what you know,” he instructed and got seated behind his desk.
“The Order consisted of crystal ponies loyal to the king, guards and civilians alike, those who liked his reign, profited from it and didn’t require mind control to be subordinate.” Bright Spark eased his stance a little, but continued to stare straight ahead.
“It was formed by Prince Temor as a gift to his father. From what I could see, he instilled the same fanatical devotion into them that he himself had for the king. He would sometimes even test their loyalties by ordering them to injure themselves, never fatally, but still drawing blood.”
Shining nodded as he listened. This would explain Calcite’s actions. If she was so devoted to King Sombra, killing herself instead of surrendering to those she saw as his enemies fit in with this report very well. There was no doubt in his mind now that she had been trying to cover the prince’s tracks.
But by the report from the guards and Rainbow Dash, there were too many trails for just one pony. The others who helped her must have escaped. She must have been the last to leave the area, the captain thought.
“What can you tell me about this Prince Temor?” he asked. Hearing about the leader of this order might gain further insight into it, plus whatever information he could gain about the prince he could forward to his sister since she was supposed to be tracking him.
“Bright Spark?” Shining Armor noticed that the guard had gone silent for a moment.
“He’s the King’s greatest atrocity,” Bright Spark finally whispered and for the first time he looked directly at Shining Armor.
“I do not know where the King got that young colt, but he transformed an innocent child into his most loyal, dutiful servant - unquestionably devoted, just as cold and merciless.” The eyes of the crystal pony looked sad and his coat lost some of its sheen.
“Even though I had no control over my body or actions, I still could hear and see. I remember him suddenly appearing with that tearful, frightened boy. Sometimes I could hear the child scream in fear and pain. When my duties were to guard the door to the room the child was assigned to, I heard him cry bitterly, begging for his parents to come and take him away.”
“But as the years passed, the corruption of the King took hold. The boy started addressing him as father. He would no longer cry. He took any punishment with silence. He was utterly transformed. His horn turned red, his coat and mane got darker. He became the King’s son in all but blood.” Bright Spark sighed and his eyes drifted downwards. “It was disturbing, sir, to see a pony transform like that. I was one of the first guards to see the boy when the King suddenly appeared with him and I couldn’t help but feel pity for him. Then to watch as he was slowly twisted into that thing...”
“I can only imagine,” Shining Armor nodded.
“There was one thing though, sir.” The guard looked at him again. “It’s the strangest thing, I can’t explain it.”
“Well by all means, let’s hear it.” The captain motioned for him to continue.
“When the Prince was still young and still resisting what was being done to him. I think he made a friend with one of the children of the slaves, Emerald, I think her name was. The thing was, Emerald would leave out gifts or a note in inconspicuous places, then I would hear her say, ‘Make sure Private gets it’ and a voice would respond ‘I will.’ The problem is, there was nopony there,” Bright Spark explained. Shining Armor arched his brow.
“The prince would also leave a note or a gift of some food in inconspicuous places, but he would not say anything. But somehow Emerald would get it,” the guard concluded the strange tale.
“None of this was reported to King Sombra?” Shining Armor found it hard to believe that if a guard was witnessing this, the king wouldn’t know about it.
“Unless directly ordered, those guards who were mind-controlled tended not to do much except guard an area. In our mind-controlled state, we would ignore the children unless they were going somewhere they were not supposed to. Only the guards who were not mind-controlled would probably act on something like this. That was another thing. It was like both Emerald and Temor knew to exchange notes and food when only the mind-controlled guards were around,” Bright Spark explained.
“So, someone unseen was helping the children who were friends?” Shining frowned in thought. That was interesting, but didn’t seem to be very useful information. Perhaps a servant was actively helping, but managed to remain unseen.
“So let’s go over what you have told me. This Order of Umbrum is fanatically loyal to King Sombra, even in his death, to a point that they will help Prince Temor no matter what, especially since he is their leader. The Prince himself is unquestionably loyal to King Sombra thanks to being condition to be so since he was a child.” The captain started jotting down notes. He also added the mystery with Emerald, even if he didn’t see it as really important, he figured his sister might want it since Emerald was also missing, possibly with the prince right now.
“Can you identify or name members of this group?” Shining looked up at Bright Spark who nodded.
“Well, not all of them, but I do know of some of the guards and some of the civilians. They always came to the castle to report to the Prince,” the guard said. He walked closer to the desk when the captain motioned for him to do so.
Shining Armor got a paper and put a quill in front of him. Bright Spark started writing the moment he was given a sign to do so. The guard had to stop to think few times, but soon enough he turned it around for the prince to see.
The unicorn looked at the note and noticed immediately that the guard had even done the names into a guard or civilian category. He already recognized some of the names; most of the guards were already under arrest for working willingly with King Sombra, some of the regular ponies were those reported missing. Obviously they had flown the coop once it was clear their king wasn’t taking back power.
“Thank you, Bright Spark, is there anything else you think you could tell me?” he looked at the guard again.
“I do not think so, sir, but I can report back if I think of anything,” Bright Spark offered.
“I think I can do better.” Shining smiled and grabbed another paper and started to write on it, then proceeded to stamp it and sign it with his name. Then he made a copy of the same letter before handing one over to the crystal pony. “Please report to the armory and get your uniform, then report to Sharp Spear for your duties.”
Bright Spark looked stunned as he read the, paper which was essentially a reinstatement of him into the Crystal Guards, by order of Prince Shining Armor, Captain of the Royal Guards.
“Thank you, sir… may I ask why?” the guard barely could believe this.
“We’ve already proven that you were working unwillingly under mind control and you have already given us quite a lot of information regarding this Order of Umbrum. Your list of names includes ponies we have under suspicion but haven’t been confirmed yet as being willing cohorts of King Sombra. In my mind you’re cleared of all doubt,” Shining Armor explained to him. “You’re dismissed.”
“Yes sir!” Bright Spark shook off his surprise, saluted and left the office.
Besides, I could just see the hatred in your eyes towards King Sombra when talking about Prince Temor. Shining Armor rose from his desk and walked over to the window. He had a view of the training area from there and he could see some of the guards doing drills.
“I’m sorry, your Highness. She said she was going out, but she hasn’t come back yet, which is unusual,” Mirage’s secretary told Princess Celestia where they stood at the reception in front of the office.
“Do you know where she went?” Celestia asked, mildly frowning and wondering if Twilight and her friends had been seen.
“No, I’m sorry your Highness, I figured she had just gone out for a quick lunch.” The mare smiled apologetically and shifted nervously where she stood.
“What can you tell me about your employer?” the Sun Princess asked, easing her frown. She didn’t want the poor pony to think she was angry at her.
“Uh, very nice and accommodating. A bit eccentric, but not oddly so. Really loves talking about her family, especially her granddaughters,” the secretary started counting up.
“Oh, she has children?” Celestia smiled now. Maybe locating them would help her investigation into Mirage.
“A son who lives in Fillydelphia with his wife and daughters. I think his name is Barricade. Her husband died many years ago in an accident on a dig,” the secretary explained.
“Thank you for your help. I might come by later and see if your employer has returned. Maybe she is just running late,” the princess said and turned to leave. The secretary nodded and went back to work at her desk.
Celestia quickly departed the building. There was no doubt in her mind now that Mirage and those other ponies Twilight and her friends had spied on had seen them, or at least suspected they had been watched. Mirage was probably long gone into hiding.
My schedule doesn’t allow me to go all the way to Fillydelphia… then again. Celestia frowned. She did have a few meetings to attend to soon. If what Twilight told me is correct, then Prince Temor is Mirage’s son. I can’t reach Mirage, but I can find out where her other son lives.
No, Celestia, you can’t just abscond from your duties just for your own private investigation that ran into a dead end when the Crystal Empire vanished. The princess sighed. She spread her wings and took to the air, intending to return to the castle. On her way she met up with Luna.
“Sister, I went to Wing’s house, but it was empty. I also went to his store, but it was closed and nopony was around,” the Moon Princess reported to her sister as they flew side by side.
“Then Twilight was seen or they at least suspected being spied on.” Celestia shook her head. This was becoming more mysterious by the minute. “Mirage has apparently not returned to work either.”
“Then what do we do?” Luna wondered.
“I got one lead on Mirage. She has a son and granddaughters in Fillydelphia. The son is named Barricade. However, I must soon return to my duties so I can’t follow up on it,” Celestia said and sighed in dismay, wondering if she would ever have a slow day.
“I can go,” her sister offered, seeing the disappointed expression on the Sun Princess.
“Are you sure? It’s only been few hours since you awoke and I know you wanted to get some practice done.” Celestia glanced at her sister, unsure.
“That can wait. We must get as much information as we can on this Order of Umbrum and High Shadow. You go attend to your duties sister. I’ll head off to Fillydelphia,” the Moon Princess assured her and was already starting to change direction on her flight.
“Very well, but be careful,” Celestia relented, chuckling a little when seeing that her little sister was already heading into the direction of Fillydelphia.
The Sun Princess continued towards Canterlot Castle and landed on the balcony that led to the throne room. As she entered, she met with her own secretary, who immediately gave her a sealed scroll.
“Excuse me, your Highness, but this arrived for you after you left,” the pony explained.
Celestia arched her brow and took the scroll with her magic. She broke the seal and unfurled it. As she read the contents, the alicorn started to frown.
“Dear Princess Celestia.
I am the High Shadow, the temporary leader of the Order of Umbrum, sworn protectors of His Majesty, King Sombra.
Sister Mirage and Brother Wing are safe, but I felt it was necessary for their privacy for them to take a temporary leave of absence. Much like you protect and care for your subjects, I too protect and care for the members of the order.
I know your spies were spying on my meeting with them, I do not fault you for this, you do, after all, view the King as an enemy.
However, things are not as they seem. I have planned for the True Return of the King for a very long time now. I foresaw his destruction by your agents and though it pained me to see him so brutally slain, I knew it would be temporary.
I know of your interest in his son. I know you have sent the same agents that helped murder his father to look for him. Let me thus tell you that I will protect the Prince from them. The True Return WILL happen. Call off your agents and all will be well. Do not and I will not be held responsible for what might happen.
The High Shadow”
Celestia crumbled the scroll in her magic, her frown not easing one bit. Without a word she summoned a scroll and a quill and started writing her own letter.
“My dearest student Twilight Sparkle.
The High Shadow is aware of our investigation into Prince Temor. I’m afraid you were spotted when spying on them. Proceed as planned, but be careful. My sister and I will continue our investigation into the Order of Umbrum.
Your teacher, Princess Celestia.”
The princess rolled up the scroll and sent it away using her magic. Remembering that Twilight had sent Spike home, she made sure it would be teleported straight to her student. Then she looked at her secretary.
“Raven Inkwell, cancel all my meetings for today,” she ordered the confused unicorn.
“Um, you have many meetings scheduled, your Highness. What should I tell them?” Raven asked as she produced her clipboard.
“That I’m attending matters regarding national security,” Celestia said and headed straight for the doors of the throne room.
End chapter 11