The South Plaza Steps, a broad marble staircase that was the first of many leading up to the citadel, made for a good vantage point from which to observe the city. The squad of guards, general infantry from the palace garrison judging by their white and grey coats, a uniformity imposed courtesy of the glamor enchantments in their armor. Spearhead shuddered at the thought. Tactically, he appreciated the value of presenting an unbroken wall of gold, white, and grey to the enemy; intimidation was a factor never to be overlooked. But still… for an artist to look just like every other pony, like just one more cog in the Equestrian war machine…
His mind picked at the thought the way a food critic might analyze a morsel before ingesting it.
Cog in the war machine … small steam engine … forged from armor melted down … there’s plenty of old kit slated for scrap …
“Hey, Brick, I think I just thought of my next sculpture.”
“Bully for you,” groused Brick.
“What’s eating you? Our buddy’s getting married! You gotta be happy, bro!”
The earth pony shot him an irritated glance. “Well, I’m not. Alright? I’m not happy. And do you know why?”
“Naw, bro. I may be a sculptor, but even I can’t read minds.”
He enjoyed the look of confusion that flashed on Brick’s face. “What do those two things even have to do with each—,” Brick waved him off and resumed his forward gaze. “No. You know what? Never mind. I don’t want to know.” He sulked in silence.
Spearhead leaned over and nudged him with the butt of his polearm. “Come on, Brick. What’s wrong?”
“Don’t wanna talk about it.”
The lieutenant cocked an eyebrow. “I could make it an order, you know.”
Brick snorted. “Yeah, but you wouldn’t, Spear. You don’t pull rank like that.” His expression became thoughtful. “Now Argent, she’d do it. But you wouldn’t.”
“You’re right, bro,” agreed Spearhead, sighing expressively. “You got me. I wouldn’t pull rank on you for that. I suppose if you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to.” Then he waited. 3…2…1…
“We should be up there with him.”
Bingo. “Why, bro? You worried you’ll miss the wedding cake?”
Brick glared. “No I don’t care about the … okay, yes, I’ll be peeved if we miss out on the cake, it’s supposed to be amazing, but— that’s not the point, okay!” He pointed a hoof up to the distant citadel. “Our boy’s up there getting hitched, along with Princess Celestia, Princess Mi Amorawhatsit Credenza—
“Princess Mi Amore Cadenza,” corrected Spearhead.
“Yes her!” snarled Brick. “Shining, Celestia, and Cadence, and they’re up there with half the nobility and the Element Bearers. Oh, and Princess Luna would be there too, if she hadn’t been called out to an emergency summit with the buffalo tribes in Appaloosa this very morning! Which would be bad enough on its own, but that’s not even the worst of it, is it, Spearhead? Do you know what the worst of it is?”
“Why do you ask a rhetorical question if you’re just going to—
“No, the real worst of it, Spearhead,” ranted Brick, unabated, “is the garrison itself.”
Spearhead frowned. “Look, if you’re worried that Princess Luna took the Lunar Guard with her, it’s not like she left us high and dry. We have almost the full Regiment here: most every Company in the area got recalled. The Able Company’s a veteran unit, bro. Lots of REF retirees and old border guards in ‘er. Then there’s Bravo, Charlie, and Echo, all billeted here, and Dog and Foxtrot only a few hours march away.”
“Oh, sure, Able Company is a veteran unit,” snarked Brick. “With lots of REF retirees and old border guards. Able is a half a retirement post and everypony knows it. The other half has some younger blood, but a good chunk of them have never seen combat. Meanwhile the other three Companies are all fresh Academy grads, greenhorn spear-jockeys, and screw-ups who got assigned here so Shining Armor could keep an eye on ‘em.” He gestured to the passing squad. “I mean, look at those whitejobs down there! Their armor is so new I can practically see myself in it from here! They wouldn’t last ten minutes in minotaur territory! Sure, Shining Armor has plenty of veterans scattered through the ranks to keep the newbies in line, but plenty of them haven’t been to the line in almost a decade. Face it, Spearhead, our platoon is the only unit in the garrison that’s seen action in the last five years. That’s eighty ponies. eighty ponies in a garrison of six-hundred-twenty!” He tapped the head of his maul against the cobblestones, causing a small crack to appear. “And we’re down here, spread out across the city, nowhere near the citadel proper.” He opened his mouth as though to rant more, then sighed and let his shoulders slump. “I don’t know. It just feels wrong, you know? Like we’re just waiting for something to happen?”
Spearhead sighed. Much as he wanted to, there wasn’t a lot that he could do to refute his old comrade. The First Royal Infantry Regiment was an old unit, a unit so old, in fact, that the Colonel who commanded it was still referred to by the archaic designation of ‘Captain of the Royal Guard.’ It had a long and prestigious battle record dating back to the early years after Luna’s banishment, when rival kingdoms had seen Celestia’s transition to being the sole ruler of Equestria as a sign of weakness. However, as the years had gone on the First Royal Infantry had shifted to an increasingly defensive role as the more dangerous fighting on the borders was increasingly left to more specialized units like the Rangers and the Royal Expeditionary Force. The First became a posting to train fresh recruits and for older soldiers to ease into retirement while passing on their experience to the next generation. Their role came to be more about security than about warfighting as ‘whitejob’ recruits got their hooves wet and veteran ‘meat cans’ got a break from the borders. Generally, no more than two Companies were assigned to the city at any given time, while the others were scattered through the nearby garrisons running training exercises in preparation for being sent to the borders. Given their proximity to the capitol, it made sense for Shining Armor to recall most of the Regiment to its defense when the threat was made against Canterlot. It was just bad luck that, at the moment, the First Royal Infantry had few veterans assigned to it who weren’t approaching retirement age. And, with tensions between the Kingdoms of Griffonshore and Saddle Arabia at an all-time high and an outbreak of retaliatory violence looming in Kudanda, Celestia couldn’t well afford to recall many troops from the borders.
Which meant that Shining Armor simply had to work with what was on hoof. He’s lucky we were running wilderness training with Bravo and Charlie when the call went out. He tapped a forehoof against the cobblestones. Still, no point in dwelling on what we don’t have. “I’m sure Shining Armor knows what he’s doing, Brick. Dude made Colonel at his age for a reason. And Celestia wouldn’t have let Luna head to Appaloosa if she didn’t think she had it handled here.”
“I still don’t like it,” groused Brick. “I mean, why don’t we have more combat vets here, anyway? It’s the capitol for Celestia’s sake.”
“Exactly, dude. For Celestia’s sake. We’ve all heard the stories of what she did to the last guy that tried to raid Canterlot.”
Brick managed to chuckle at that. “I heard she mounted that dragon’s head on her bedroom wall after she sent his army packing.”
Spearhead snorted. “Naw, bro. The Sun Princess don’t roll that way.”
“She did kill him, though.”
“Yeah. She killed a full-sized dragon alone. And we’ve got most of the Regiment, and the Elements, and two alicorns, and the boss.” He shoved his fellow guard with a wing. “So stop worrying already, bro.”
“Indeed,” cut in Argent, stepping up behind them, her Canterlot accent pronounced as she joined her friends. “Worrying is my job, after all.”
Spearhead suppressed a deep sigh at that. Uh oh. Argent’s letting her accent show. “Alright, Argie, what’s wrong?”
Argent cocked an eyebrow. “And why must something be wrong?”
“Because you’re letting your accent out to play,” snarked Brick.
The mare huffed. “I fail to see what you mean by that.”
“He means that after years of associating with the broad menagerie of ponies found in the great melting pot that is the Equestrian Armed Forces, your Canterlot attitude has become so mellow that we almost don’t hear it,” explained Spearhead.
“Except when you’re torqued,” added Brick.
The captain rolled her eyes. “You two ruffians have no respect for rank.”
“And your ladyship is dodging the question. What’s up?”
Argent sighed, absentmindedly adjusting her combat harness with a tug of magic. “Does anypony else think that Cadence is acting a little…suspicious?”
Brick rested a hoof over his eyes. “Here we go again,” he muttered.
“Suspicious? Suspicious like how?” asked Spearhead.
She pursed her lips before replying. “Insisting on being called by her title, getting short with everypony, getting on my back about security, keeping guards away from the chapel because, and I quote, ‘their armor clashes with the floral arrangements.’ Well excuse me for trying to prevent your assassination!” The captain heaved an angry snort.
Spearhead chewed his inner cheek, pondering Argent’s words. Brick just chuckled. “Seriously, Argent? Is that it? Come on! You said it yourself: she’s just being a nag because it’s her wedding and she’s cranky and stressed. Celestia knows you get that way sometimes.”
The look Argent gave him would have killed a lesser stallion. “Sergeant Brick, pray keep your mouth shut on matters about which you know nothing. You barely know Cadence save through Shining Armor’s descriptions of her. Spear and I actually knew her from our academy days.” She shifted her steely gaze to the pegasus. “And no doubt he’ll agree with me that she’s not behaving like herself.”
Shifting uncomfortably, Spearhead tried to avoid making eye contact. “Brick kinda has a point, Argie. Wedding’s are stressful. I mean, you want to see a real nag, you shouldda seen my sister-in-law the week of her wedding. She’s super chill most of the time, but that week I thought she was gonna spit fire and start hording gold.”
Argent growled. “You stallions are all the same. Can’t see what’s right bloody well in front of your muzzle! Do you remember Twilight Sparkle?”
Brick rolled his eyes. “Do we remember the chief Element Bearer, Celestia’s prized pupil, and Shining’s precious baby sister? Um, yeah, Cap. I think we remember her.”
“Well, did you know that Shining Armor dismissed her from the wedding party?”
That got the stallions’ attention. “What?!” exclaimed Brick. “Why?”
“Yeah!” added Spearhead. “Shining adores his little sister! Those two go together like paint and canvas! He’d never kick her out of his big day!”
“Well, he did. Apparently Twilight got into a row with Shining and Cadence last night. Accused Cadence of mind-control or something. The princess left in tears, and our fearless leader dismissed Miss Sparkle on the spot.”
Brick shook his head. “I can’t say I blame him. Talk about being over-possessive.”
“That’s just it!” hissed Argent. “I don’t think that’s what happened!”
“How do you mean?”
Argent adjusted her harness again. “Something about this whole business just feels off. What if Twilight really did see something? What if something is amiss with Cadence? A curse or magical affliction of some sort? We’ve seen stranger things beyond the borders. Celestia helped General Zipporah crack down on the practice of forbidden voodoo in Zebrica recently. Maybe they’ve done something to Cadence. We don’t fully understand how their magic works, especially not voodoo, and it would account for her odd behavior.” She sighed. “I don’t know. Twilight always struck me as having a solid head on hers shoulders, not given to wild accusations. Call it mare’s intuition, but I fear that Twilight wasn’t as far off the mark as we’d like her to be.”
The trio was silent for a time as each digested the other’s words. Spearhead wanted to assure the others that their fears were unfounded. It was what was expected of him, in many ways. He never blew his stack, never lost his characteristic chill. But what if they’re right. Cadence has been acting odd. So has Shining, come to think of it. He’s never struggled to keep a shield like this up before; not with so much ambient magic from the city to channel into it. And he’s been forgetting things too…
“Well, dude and dudette, look on the bright side,” he said aloud, as much to distract himself as anything else. “You couldn’t ask for a nicer day. I mean, just look at Celestia’s sun.” He thought about how that statement might be taken. “Er, well, not directly at it; you might burn your eyes out like my cousin Coconut, but…” The others snickered and he smiled in spite of his embarrassment because he’d succeeded in making them laugh.
Argent gave a dry smile. “I suppose you’re right, Spear. It is a rather beautiful day for a wedding. Scarcely a cloud in the sky.” She glanced up as a shadow passed overhead. “Though there are an awful lot of birds.”
Spearhead looked up, thinking to identify the species. Growing up as a pegasus on the coast, he’d gained an early appreciation for different kinds of avian life, and was curious what sort might have taken to the skies in such numbers.
He saw, and frowned.
“Oh, cripes, now Spearhead’s frowning!” exclaimed Brick. “What’s wrong now?”
“Chill, bro,” replied the stallion with an assurance that he didn’t feel. “It’s just not normal for that many birds to be flying this time of year…to the point that they’re almost blotting out the sky…and not flying like birds are supposed to.”
The three soldiers stared at the massing avians. Argent cleared her throat. “This might seem to be a rather insane theory, chaps, but, well, what if the birds are the threat to Canterlot?”
“I’m having flashbacks to Hitchcart moving picture,” said Brick uneasily.
Spearhead snorted. “I’m gonna fly up for a closer look at—
Whatever else he might have said was cut off by the cries of alarm and the flash of sickly green light from the direction of the chapel. A flash that was echoed thousands of times over by the ‘birds’ that now hovered over the shield. That now ‘swarmed’ over the shield, corrected Spearhead’s subconscious helpfully.
Ever eloquent, Argent put word to what they all were doubtless thinking.
“Well... horseapples.”