//------------------------------// // Overture // Story: Knight of Equestria IV: Unmarked Time // by scifipony //------------------------------// You know you've arrived when clubs throughout ponydom allow you to ask to appear with little notice, to play whatever you want, and to program the evening of other DJs around you. Spur of the moment offers to play in the neighboring city, and a bizarre cascade of railroad outages in Equestria, herded me back to Canterlot. I had been working the summer in the south of Prance in the lodestar venues of the music world on the islands of Hearbreeza and Sandawhinney, and in the city of Cans (a city of buildings literally constructed cans, metal plates of shaped and rounded tin, aluminum, and steel). While the music scene there throbbed and buzzed, and the enthusiasm of the audiences could convince anypony to think ponies were crazy, the amount of bad behavior by too young to be so wealthy ponies quickly became grating. Hard cider, cheeky horseplay, and a string of stallions wasn't my thing, so I wasn't "in" with my peers who partied hard. I made the bits to rent a private beach, with one of those a white stucco cottages with a blue dome roof on the rocks above the surf, and the privacy to play my music or to silently listen to the gulls alone during the day after a night-long gig. When I received a letter from Sapphire Shores written on Eohippus Records letterhead the same week Big Hoofer sent me an invite to play at Hoofing It! in Canterlot, I was really in need of a change of pace. With the prodding of Countess Coloratura, Octavia Melody, and instrumentalists all over Equestria who wanted me to mix live with their music, I'd gone from being a DJ to a producer. I combined live music and recorded music, with loops and samples using sound processors to create a unique sound on the fly. I even sang. I'd been given a dozen bootleg recordings of my own work jamming with various artists, which I mixed in to further whet my creativity at the boards. I suspected I knew what Sapphire Shores wanted to discuss. This was how I ended up arriving on the 9:50 p.m. to Canterlot with enough time to set up for Luna's watch (2 a.m. to whenever) at the club. Sapphire Shores and I had planned to meet next week in Manehatten, but when I returned from Prance, I found my train rerouted from Horseshoe Bay away from the Big Apple while Sapphire Shores found herself unable to head northeast. Some sort of problem with the tracks, I presumed. Nopony had a straight answer. So I took Big Hoofer up on his offer, said goodbye to my parents in Ponyville, and took the evening train. Helping Hoof, my assistant, helped me unstrap my wagon from the freight car and insisted that I harness him up. "No," I said, "I'm not becoming fat like DJ Buttercup." The piebald earth pony was Dad's age, but had been a roady for Pink Cloyed and the manager for the Whinnyapolis 5, to name a few. He knew the business and helped me manage setting up, contacting other acts, and seeing to the lighting and sound checks. "The way you dance all night, that's not happening." The station manager came out of the depot as we rolled down the siding in a gathering mist. He said, "The 11:01 to Ponyville, ending at Dodge City, is cancelled." When waiting ponies groaned, he added, "As have all trains until further notice." Ponies began shouting, but he shrugged, returned to his office, and locked the door. "That's really strange," said Helping Hoof. "Maybe a magical rail-eating rodent is chewing up the tracks. In Equestria, you never know." "Dear me, I hope not." It wouldn't strand me in Canterlot. Ponyville Way ran from where it began on the Strand down the mountain and through Ponyville. We could walk the downhill in a few hours—after I met with Sapphire Shores. We were a couple blocks from Castle Way and Canterlot Castle on Alicorn Way when I saw what to me seemed an unusual sight. I lifted my mop-like fringe with a hoof and squinted at somepony purple. I'd met Twilight Sparkle long before she became a princess, the day of the 1000th Summer Sun Celebration when I had played my first paid DJ gig at the Golden Oak Library. The newly appointed librarian had understandably disliked the noise and bother, but, come dawn, had walked down from the librarian's bedroom and noticed me packing my records and turntables. She had looked like she was carrying the weight of the world balanced on her withers, head down, ears akimbo. But she had smiled at me nonetheless and told me that I'd better come because she "hoped" Princess Celestia would soon raise the sun. Hoped had echoed in my head. She'd known. She had known something bad would happen. I'd found myself drafted by Dad—who had been contracted to the clean Town Hall that night—to empty the rubbish bin outside in the back of the building. That's how I'd witnessed Princess Celestia ambushed and apparently murdered by her sister, Princess Nightmare Moon. Her consumption by a tornado of rainbow magic had looked like a murder to 17-year-old me. Confronted by the sinister black armored alicorn, something in me had snapped. I'd curtseyed but held eye contact with the monster and called her Your Royal Majesty. I'd reflexively recognized her as the new monarch of Equestria. She'd promised me knighthood in return. I very much remembered everything that night, the certainty that Twilight Sparkle had demonstrated in her body language that she understood what would happen and, later, her determination that she'd fix it. It was the color of her unique soul, her signature. Squinting, I recognized the princess now at the end of the boulevard. She looked... shaken. I shrugged out of the harness and tack, then pulled on a black sweater from a drawer in my custom wagon. A thrice life-sized photo of me dancing with my signature pink bow at Burning Mare Trottingham adorned the van; inside, it held my musical kit, my lighting, and my wardrobe—everything in black. "Helping Hoof—" He too had been staring. His brown eyes focused on me. "Take the rig to the club. Set up. I'll be there presently." I could still hear the squeaking of the wagon as the princess walked down toward the train station at the end of Alicorn Way. She was very different from the other Princesses. Princess Luna never mingled in public. Guards always accompanied Princess Celestia, very discreetly. Princess Cadance, who could exude such an alpha mare aura that she could intimidate anypony, was always accompanied by maids and hoof-ponies. Twilight? Well, Twilight, when not accompanied by her friends would wander alone. Not at all like Queen Bliss More of Trottingham with her grand processions of ponies armed with pointy weapons. Mind you, nopony ought to mess with any lone alicorn unless you were usurping like Nightmare Moon had been, but still... Princess Twilight Sparkle looked vulnerable, worn out, her hooves clattering and echoing on the wet cobblestones. I stood near Earth and Field, a restaurant outside which a dozen middle-aged ponies chatted. It smelled of roasted corn and grilled vegetables. An artist's theater, The Freebird, let out. The ponies exiting saw Princess Twilight and kept their distance. Her head and ears down, I didn't think she saw me. My hooves clattered as I backed out of her path. I turned and escorted her quietly, our hoofbeats soon meshing in synchrony. After a block, I said, "You look like you could use a friend." She nodded. After a few moments, she added, "Yes. Yes, I could, but some things you must do alone." I could tell that she wasn't referring to walking alone. She glanced to her right at me, tall enough that she had to look down. She smiled before lowering her head. I remembered her as a bit of a runt, but becoming an alicorn had added more than just wings. I wondered why she wasn't flying. We walked a few blocks in what felt like companionable silence. As we did, I watched the other ponies out late. And, one by one, when they noticed me staring at them, they skirted us. Even passing carriages and taxis kept their distance. Clip-clop-clip. Clip-clop-clip. The princess sighed. "Thank you. Lieutenant Hart sent you, didn't she? You seem like a leader." "No, I'm not one of the Guard, but I do protect ponies when they need protecting." "I guess I would look like I need protecting. Not true. Not today, especially, but thank you for your kindness, nonetheless. You are?" "Flopsy Mopsy. We met the night of the 1000th Summer Sun Celebration. I DJ'd your unwelcome Welcome-Twilight-to-Ponyville-Party at the Golden Oak Library—" She laughed. "—and at Princess Luna's Welcome-Back-Little-Sister Party." "Pinkie Pie," Twilight murmured, shaking her head. "I remember you. You're the quiet filly who visited the library a lot." "I—I didn't tell you something." I hadn't told anypony except Princess Celestia. "I should have." "You didn't return a book?" I heard a series of dainty snorts as she chuckled. "I met Princess Nightmare Moon." A spiral of lightning arced up her horn, then cracked out of existence. She stopped, took a very deep breath, and looked at me. Her purple eyes glistened in the flickering gas streetlights as she appraised me from snout to cutie mark. Her mouth opened. "Rrrright, you followed me into Town Hall and were there with the rest of us." "Dad sent me out back to empty the rubbish bin. I saw Celestia ambushed. Princess Nightmare Moon spoke with me afterwards." "I'm so sorry I let that happen to you." "I should have told you that Princess Nightmare Moon was Princess Celestia's sister when I saw you in the library afterward. I didn't think it would make a difference, even though I had seen her spying on you." "That explains a lot." She said, walking again. She murmured to herself, "Our world is filled with monsters." "Innit?" I said, following. "And they make the ponies who face them stronger. Like you. Whatever it is that's bothering you, you'll face it. You'll come back stronger." "I hope so— If it doesn't kill me." Her tail swished; she thought of something specific she did not share. "A friend told me the same thing before the changelings attacked." "Did it? Make you stronger, I mean?" "I'm still alive." I chuckled. "You faced Nightmare Moon, too?" "Black armor, smokey mane, wolf-teeth and all," I whispered, still bewildered at what I dreaded to believe was my special talent. "And Discord in Ponyville." Despite him transforming me, I'd chased ponies away from him to safety and had even threatened him. "And the Changeling horde." I'd masqueraded as a shape-shifted changeling to guide ponies to safety. I'd seen Twilight afterwards leaving the royal physician's office with a small bandage and singed fur from her battles, escorting Princess Celestia. I'd thought of her as Celestia's paladin. "Sweet Celestia! I guess you know what you're talking about. I have no desire to be stronger, you know." "Sometimes you can't choose." Her horn sparked again, arcing with lightning. She cast a spell to light the tip of her horn and the sparking stopped. She said, "You do know what you are talking about. And I sure could use a friend, but right now having one isn't an option, and I can't explain. Ugh! Frustrating!" "Then trust you'll do the right thing." "I don't always do that, either." "Really?" I said. "Not from the results I've seen." Princess Twilight just shook her head, but she'd picked up her pace with her ears perked forward and her tail held high. Her funk seemed lifted. I kept pace, feeling connected, sharing the sound of our horseshoes in the misty night. When we were a block from the train station, I remembered. "Um, they canceled all the trains, tonight." She stopped, looking at the mauve-painted building and at the train that normally would be smoking and maintaining a head of steam. She said, "Of course they did," and suddenly hugged me, wrapping her fore-legs and wings around my back. I tentatively reciprocated despite my shock. I didn't deserve it. "You've been a real friend, Miss Flopsy Mopsy. Thank you. Don't worry. They'll run a special for me because I'm the one who ordered the train service stopped. I'm certainly not up to flying under the circumstances." "You're welcome. I-I've got a gig to prepare for," I said, pointing a pinion uptown. "In a sense, I have a performance to prepare for, too. Keep yourself safe," she said and trotted off. I let her last words repeat in my head as I flew back uptown, flying above Alicorn Way. Princess Twilight Sparkle had a habit of communicating inadvertently and indirectly about things she didn't want to talk about. I remembered being in the Golden Oak Library, as if it were yesterday, when she had said she "hoped" Princess Celestia would soon be there. She had known something would happen. So what did "keep yourself safe" mean? Instead of turning to the night club, I flew all the way to the castle. I landed at the entrance that had been closed with an iron portcullis. Two uncharacteristically unfriendly guards in armor stared past me. I cleared my voice and said, "I walked Princess Twilight Sparkle to the train station. To catch a special train to Ponyville." They continued ignoring me. "She seemed a bit preoccupied. Do you know of anything that happened that might have upset her?" They continued ignoring me. I reached under my sweater and took a small gold medallion out that I kept on a black silk ribbon. Most ponies thought it merely inconsequential bling, but, if you looked at it closely, it displayed Princess Celestia's royal seal, a Canterlot horseshoe-C over a solar cutie mark, and the number 107. I waved it in front of the eyes of the blue-feathered pegasus on the right. She stiffened. "I can demand an answer." The Princess had dubbed me a Hero of Equestria after the Canterlot wedding, and though I'd refused the honor for doing what my heart had led me to do, she'd told me it didn't change the fact that I was one. Bloody bother, I thought. Now was the time to see if the medallion was worth more than its gold weight. "Ma'am," the guardsmare said. "I can't answer that." "Who can?" "The captain of the watch." She rang a gong and the portcullis rose with much clacking of gears and clanging of chains. Another guard took her place and I followed her inside down a mildewy smelling hall into the firefly lantern-lit guard station. There I met a familiar face, and a muscular flank I'd had to kick midair to keep him from giving us away to the changelings. "Oh, you again," the ginger-haired red pegasus said, looking at me with narrowed amber eyes from beside a mahogany desk littered with paperwork. He had not appreciated my lesson on how to think under combat pressure, me being a civvy and what not. The portcullis guard whispered something and he frowned. He waved her to wait by the door. He opened his mouth before his eyes settled on my medallion. I stepped forward and tapped to two silver bars centered on his brass breastplate. "Nice. Looks like you got a promotion, Riverdale." He lifted my medallion with a wing tip and nodded. "You, too, Dame Flopsy Mopsy. Well deserved." I shrugged and scoffed. Like I said, difference of opinion. Something inside me was broken and I didn't like calling attention to it—even when it made me do odd things like sticking my bloody muzzle where it didn't belong, like tonight. A physician had joked and called it Princess Compulsive Disorder. To Tartarus with him. Looking into his amber eyes, I said, "Princess Twilight told me 'keep yourself safe.' So what's got Princess Twilight Sparkle's knickers in a twist?" He didn't even blink at my Trottingham trash talk. Officer through and through, that one. "For you, I can say only that she met with the three other princesses. We've been on lockdown since. I'll add that's all anypony knows. Princess business. Leave it at that. Royalty can be inscrutable. I wouldn't worry. I'm not worrying." Most ponies, in my experience, didn't worry about bad things before or after they happened—unlike me. Like I said, broken. "Let Equestria's newest princess worry instead?" "I heard you're appearing at Hoofing It! I'm off duty late. I'll see about checking out the performance. Best that you get about it." I could tell I'd get nothing more. "Tell any server your name and your first round will be on me." I smiled, bowed my head, and let the blue pegasus lead me out. My hooves echoing on stone, passing through the Bailey wall, I thought perhaps I was imagining Twilight's discomfort. Still. She'd stopped the train service. All over Equestria? Nevertheless, the changelings had literally been blown out of Canterlot—by a wind that had incidentally blown me about also. Twilight had got her brother and future sister-in-law together to ignite their magic. No monster would have the audacity to attack the Equestrian capital after hearing about that, right?