"Come on, come on!" Midnight chanted eagerly. To the school house and back again; just a little more, just a little more...
With a double "oof!" Squeaks crashed into her outstretched hooves.
"YES!" Midnight cheered, throwing Squeaks up into the air, then flapped up to meet her hovering daughter.
"I... I did it!" Squeaks, huffing a bit from her first flight, said with a huge smile. "I... I FLEW!"
"Yes you did!" Midnight said, catching her in her forelegs again and bringing them back to the ground. "I'm so proud of you!"
"We all are," Sapphire said, embracing and nuzzling them both.
Arina, who’d been watching from her perch on Midnight’s head, hopped down and hugged the top of Squeaks’ head with a loud series of happy chirps.
Despite the ache, Squeaks continued to flap her wings happily. Ever since she'd met her mom she'd been learning how to fly and now here she was, able to go to the school house and back without ever touching the ground. She could fly!
"Alright Squeaks!" Ember cheered, jumping up and flapping vigorously, still only able to hover for about a minute herself.
"Now we just need to get you airborne," Long Spine said, catching his own daughter mid-air.
"Daaaaaad!" Ember whined, but giggled as he nuzzled her. The two of them were as thick as thieves now and he’d taken over her flight lessons, leaving Midnight to focus solely of teaching Squeaks. Given the results, the older kirin couldn’t complain.
"Well done," said Windrunner, coming over to hug her.
"Good job," Honey said, also hugging her.
Squeaks hugged Honey extra tight. She'd been helping her train whenever her mom, Sapphire, and Windrunner couldn't, like when they were working, working, or with other ponies. Even if it had been to just stay close by and pace her, Honey had helped her as much as any of the other three, and she couldn't even fly herself!
"I think this calls for something special," Sapphire said with a grin. "Say... a giant fruit salad?"
That got Squeaks' attention. "Really!?" she asked, her wings flapping vigorously again.
Sapphire nodded. "With watermelon, grapes, oranges, pineapple..."
Midnight waggled her eyebrows as her grin became more playful like Sapphire's. "And mangos and topped off with whipped cream with a cherry on top. Maybe even several cherries." Both mares had a strong suspicion that Squeaks would make the flight at some point this week and had gone ahead and ordered a large fruit salad to celebrate when it finally happened.
The little bat filly could only emit loud squeaks of joy as she shot back over to her mother, Arina holding on with all eight legs at the sudden acceleration, grabbing her hoof as she fluttered around her, her tiredness completely forgotten. "YesyesyesyesyesYES!" she agreed enthusiastically.
Midnight laughed and pulled her into another hug and turned to Sapphire. "In that case, let her eat fruit!" she declared. Sapphire laughed and Honey followed her inside. "And, before we stuff our faces, I just want it to be said that this doesn't mean you can just jump out the window or off the roof whenever you want, alright? Flying a few hooves above the ground to the school and back is one thing; jumping off the cliff is another."
Squeaks nodded. "No jumping off the roof, got it!" They nuzzled again.
Sapphire and Honey soon returned with one of the largest bowls Squeaks had ever seen (she was sure she could sit in it), filled with more fruit than she'd ever seen at one time, even up at Canterlot Castle! It even already had the whipped cream, with dozens of cherries on top!
Midnight scooped a large helping into a separate bowl and placed it in front of her along with a spoon. Squeaks dug right in, shoveling the fruit pieces and whipped cream into her mouth so fast it looked less like she was eating with a spoon and more like she was just sticking her face in it. "Slow down," Midnight said, laying a wing over her firmly. "This is for you; take your time and enjoy it."
Squeaks swallowed a large mouthful, nodded, and went back to digging in, albeit a tad slower than before.
Midnight couldn't fault her; she'd finally gotten the hang of flying and had been rewarded with a heck of a gift. If her own mom had presented her with a huge bowl of gems after she finally got the hang of flying, she’d have acted pretty much the same.
She heard Sapphire cough meaningfully and turned to look. The pegasus opened her wing slightly and the kirin could see a scroll hidden there with the royal seal on it. Doing her best not to frown, she leaned in close. “Did you open it?”
“No,” Sapphire said, “I only had time to grab it when Honey wasn’t looking.”
With a nod Midnight took the scroll. Waiting until Sapphire had placed herself to block as much of Midnight as she could, the kirin opened the scroll. Several smaller pieces of paper fell out and Midnight quickly gathered them up as she read.
Dear Midnight,
I would not have expected you to hear about this until now, unless Twilight has been telling every last pony in Ponyville, but Captain Shining Armor has asked Princess Cadance for her hoof in marriage. As you can guess, Cadance has agreed but as they only just returned from their diplomatic trip, only immediate family such as Luna and I and Shining’s parents and his sister knew about this already. Enclosed are invitations to the wedding for yourself, Squeaky Wings, Sapphire Breeze, Windrunner, and Honeysuckle, as well as a few extra for anypony else you would like to bring along. Both Cadance and Shining wouldn’t mind a few more ponies celebrating such a special day with them.
Before you say anything, Twilight and her friends will all be coming to the wedding as well, so I’ve made arrangements for the bearer guard to be housed here at the castle during the event. I know that this pretty much means you have to come to the wedding but I hope that, for this at least, your duties as a captain of the guard will not interfere with your celebrating this glorious occasion with friends and family.
Yours,
Princess Celestia.
P.S. – Please try not to argue with Shining before the wedding; he’s stressed enough as it is.
There was another page stating what the princess has asked each of the bearers to do to help out with the wedding so that Midnight could plan her guard’s shifts accordingly. Midnight read over the first page again to see how to repeat this to everyone without also giving away her secret orders, then turned back to face them.
She was met by quite a few curious sets of eyes. Even Squeaks had stopped her attempt to mimic a chipmunk and was looking up at her.
“Well, it seems we’ve been invited to a royal wedding,” Midnight said nonchalantly, hoofing over the scroll and invites to Sapphire as she made a bowl of fruit for herself.
-----------------------------
The train ride up to Canterlot was an exceptionally noisy affair, with the bearers, Spike, and the CMC gushing over their roles in the wedding and Squeaks, Ember, and Autumn all talking a mile a minute about how grand it would all be. The rest of them all spoke in more agreeable volumes but with no less excitement at the idea of a royal wedding. Summer, Orange, Autumn, Forest, Spine, and Ember had all been invited along as plus ones.
Oddly enough, Twilight was the only one not celebrating or was even in a good mood. She was sulking in the back corner of the car as if something bad had happened.
“What do you think is wrong?” Sapphire asked Midnight, eyeing the unicorn. “You’d think she’d be happy her brother was getting married.”
“No idea,” Midnight said, leaning contentedly against her.
“Maybe you should go talk to her,” Sapphire suggested.
Midnight snorted. “Why me? The ponies she should be talking with are Shining and Cadance. What am I supposed to tell her?”
“Well, what if it’s something about the wedding she doesn’t like but knows one of them does? Having somepony to talk to could make a world of difference.” She laid her head on the kirin’s shoulder and blinked pointedly.
Midnight rolled her eyes and sighed. “Fine, I’ll throw my two bits at her, but don’t blame me if she goes running into the next car.” Sapphire smacked her with a wing but the kirin only snickered at her and made her way over to Twilight. “Hey,” she said when she reached the seat, getting the moody unicorn’s attention, “mind if I join you?”
“Go ahead,” Twilight said, motioning at the empty spot next to her.
Taking her new seat, Midnight watched Twilight go back to brooding. “So,” Midnight said after a minute of awkward silence, “you wanna tell me what’s up?”
Twilight looked up at her. “What do you mean? Everything’s fine. My BBBFF and the best foal sitter in the world are getting married; why wouldn’t everything be fine?”
“Your… what?” Midnight asked.
“My BBBFF,” Twilight said again. Midnight only blinked. “Big Brother Best Friend Forever? Why does nopony get that!?”
“One, because I only have a little sister, and two, because normal ponies just call each other “brother” and “sister”. Either way you do it is an unnecessary mouth full.”
“No it’s not!” Twilight defended.
Midnight only raised an eyebrow.
“Why’d you come over here anyway?” Twilight snapped.
“Because you’re brooding when you should be the most excited pony on this train.”
“BEST WEDDING EVER!!!” Pinkie screamed.
“And Pinkie is setting a high bar.”
“I’m not-!” Twilight started but gave up her rebuttal with a defeated sigh. “I’m just a bit upset that neither of them let me know about them getting married until I got the invite. I mean, he’s my brother and I’ve known Cadance for over half my life! You’d think one of them would have told me something about such a big decision!”
“Hmm, that is weird…” Midnight said, rubbing her chin with a hoof. No matter how busy either of them would be, Midnight had the impression that neither of them would forget something like telling their families they were getting married. “Well, maybe the letter got lost in the mail? They were traveling outside Equestria when he proposed after all and the mail service from where they were may be more unreliable than they we’re used to.” She couldn’t help thinking about a certain grey pegasus.
“I guess…”
“Look,” Midnight pressed, “I’m not going to pretend like I know your brother or Cadance like the back of my wing, but from the few times I’ve met them they don’t seem like ponies that would deliberately forget to tell someone as important to them as you they were going to do something as big as getting married. When we get to the castle, just find them and tell them what happened. More than likely they’ll shoot out a stream of apologies, hug you, ask for your forgiveness, and then everything will be back to normal. If you consider a royal wedding normal,” she added.
Twilight nodded. “You’re right, it was probably just a misplaced letter. Thanks for the pep-talk.”
“Next time it’ll cost five bits,” Midnight quipped, making to head back to her original seat.
Before she could hop back down into the walkway, a pinkish wall of magic ran through the car, quickly passing over everyone before they could react to it. Just as fast as it appeared, it was gone.
Senses now on high alert, Midnight looked over everyone on in the car. Seeing the rest of the guard on alert like her and no one looking hurt, Midnight gently pushed Twilight out of the way and opened the window. Sticking her head out, she could see that they were now in Canterlot and beginning to roll into the station. Looking back the way they came, Midnight could see an even more solid wall of magic back the way they came. Following it around, the kirin could see that it was in fact a giant pink bubble surrounding the entire city. Grunting and not wanting to hit her head on anything as the trained slowed down, she pulled her head back in and went towards Sapphire.
“What was that? Twilight asked, unable to look outside herself now that they were in the station proper.
“I think your brother is doing something,” Midnight told her. When she reached Sapphire, she bent close so only the pegasus could hear. “Something’s up.”
-----------------------------
Midnight’s feeling of something not being right might as well have been an air raid klaxon going at full blast by the time they were shown into the castle. The train station had at least double the guards it usually had, half the numbers of patrons as any of them were used to seeing, and each guard seemed to be on as high alert as the bearer guard. They’d even been stopped by one of the guards who demanded to know why they were there. It had taken Twilight’s and Sapphire’s calm explanation, Midnight’s growling, and Hazelnut’s authority as a sergeant combined to finally get them through the station. Once they were outside the amount of guards in the street had also grown, increasing significantly until they reached the castle.
Then things got really interesting.
It was like somepony had taken Pinkie’s party cannon, filled it with guards and sticky batter, then shot it into the side of the castle until the structure was completely covered in them.
“Anypony else notice how many guards are out here today?” Rainbow asked.
“Way too many,” Midnight agreed. It was all she could do to keep her wings folded to her sides and not let them fidget too much with all the eyes on their party.
“Well a royal wedding is sure to bring out the strangest ponies,” Rarity said, “I’m sure they’re just taking the necessary precautions.”
Sapphire shook her head when Midnight shot her a quizzical glance. “An immediate, temporary guard is established and this is the first time in history an alicorn is getting married but I can’t see the princesses ordering this many, well, let’s be realistic here, practically all the royal guard onto the detail. Something else is going on.”
With everyone’s enthusiasm now thoroughly checked, their party was led into the throne room antechamber/waiting room. There were very few petitioners there and most of those that were looked very nervous. Midnight was sure their discomfort was all the hostile-looking guards patrolling in and out at a near constant rate. Midnight was incredulous when their own escort, who they had gotten after a good deal of explaining who they were and why they were there at the gate, just marched off and joined one of the patrol groups passing through.
“I know Celestia asked me not to bother Shining but after everything that has gone on since we got here, compared to how we’ve been treated before, I’m ready to bite him.” It was telling how much Sapphire didn’t like the situation either when she didn’t scold Midnight but scooted a little closer to the kirin. Squeaks, who had become more and more nervous at the looks the guards were giving them, was already wedging herself between the two mares. Arina kept her perch on Midnight’s head, albeit looking the other way, just in case.
Sweeping her gaze around the room once again, the kirin finally saw a familiar and possibly helpful face. “Acting Captain Holly!” Midnight called out, quickly getting up, sweeping Arina from her head onto Squeaks’, and briskly trotting over to the unicorn when she saw her passing through the chamber with a few other guards. Those guards with Holly moved as if to block her but Midnight ignored them. “Or is it back to First Lieutenant now that Captain Armor is back in town? Anyway, how are you?”
Holly looked the kirin up and down with an unimpressed eye. “I’m sorry, but I’m not a recruiting station. If you want to enroll in the guard, I believe there’s a recruitment office just outside the castle gates, or you can ask Princess Celestia when you see her, since that’s why you’re here, I assume.”
“Ah ha ha, enroll in the guard, you’re such a kidder,” Midnight said with a forced laugh. “Seriously, lieutenant, since we’re friends I thought you could at least tell me why I can’t take two steps around here without tripping over a pony in armor.”
“That’s need-to-know information and we don’t like civilians sticking their muzzles where they don’t belong,” Holly replied coolly, she and the guards with her easing into more combat ready positions.
‘Oooookay, she’s obviously in a mood,’ Midnight thought as she stared the ponies in front of her down. With her resistance to unicorn magic, taking them on shouldn’t be a problem. What was a problem was that there was a problem to begin with. What in the Makers was stressing them out so badly?
“Midnight!” Summer hissed, getting between the kirin and the guards and pushing the kirin back slightly. “What is it with you every time we come up here!?” She turned to Holly. “I am deeply sorry for how my daughter is acting.” She turned back to Midnight. “First disrespecting the princesses-“
“I wasn’t.”
“-and now harassing the royal guard!”
“I’m not.”
“They have important work to do! How would you like it if somepony came up and bothered you while you were chopping wood?”
“I’d be more concerned about why they were in the Everfree Forest than interrupting my work,” Midnight replied, “and this is Holly, you know, the acting captain we met the last time we came up here?”
“That doesn’t mean you can just walk up to her any time you like!”
“First Lieutenant Holly!” A familiar voice rang out. “Where are those reports I asked for!?”
All the guards spun and saluted Shining Armor as he marched into the room. “I was on my way to deliver them to you when I was accosted by this civilian, sir!” Holly said, motioning to Midnight.
“I’ve got something to say to you, mister!” Twilight called out, marching over and stopping Midnight from saying something she was probably going to regret later.
“There you are!” Princess Cadance said, appearing from another hallway and descending upon them. “Shinning, I’ve been looking all over for you! We still need to go over- Twilight! You’re here!” Cadance moved to embrace the young unicorn, but the librarian stepped out of the way.
“How could neither of you tell me you were getting married!? And to each other!?” Twilight snapped.
Cadance blinked in confusion and looked over at Shining. “But… I thought we sent out letters to everyone right after you proposed! Your parents and Aunt Celestia and Aunt Luna all got back to us; didn’t Twilight as well?”
“I did send them out and I thought she sent a letter back,” Shining said. “I just noticed yesterday it was a separate letter from my mother.” He turned back to Twilight, “I was going to send you another letter but when Celestia said she sent you and your friends a request to help with the wedding directly, I figured I’d just bite the spear and hope that would make up for it a bit.”
“We’d never forget to tell you something so important Twilight,” Cadance said. “Please forgive us? I know I want you to be there,” her grin turned cheshire, “and I know if you’d gotten his letter, you’d be over the moon about being his best mare.”
Twilight’s eyes lit up. “Best mare? You want ME to be best mare!?”
“That is what I put in the letter,” Shining said. Midnight noted that his tone was a bit off. That, and he seemed to be a bit standoff-ish with Twilight, like he was angry or disappointed with her for some reason.
“Oh, yes, yes, yes, YES!” Twilight chanted, starting to hop about.
“I’m glad you’re here as well, Midnight,” Cadance said, turning her attention to the kirin.
“I’m not being the flower filly,” Midnight said, “Thank you, but no.”
Cadance chuckled and for the first time Midnight noticed how… haggard she looked underneath the smile she was sporting. There were bags under her eyes, her wings, Tartarus, her whole body was a bit limp, and her mane and tail had a noticeable frazzle to it. “We already have some fillies in mind. Actually, it’s Auntie Celestia who wants to see you. Something about a… issue, if you know what I mean. You’ll have to ask around; I don’t really know what part of the castle she’s in right now.”
Midnight looked meaningfully at the throne room.
“She hasn’t held court since… well, better let her tell you everything someplace private.”
“Of course,” Midnight said. “Let me just get everypony settled in and then Sapphire can lead me to wherever the princess would like to see me. Congratulations, by the way.”
“Thank you, now I’d better get together with Shining over a few things before he sneaks away again.” After calling over another guard to lead them to their rooms, she flapped over to where Shining, Holly, and several other guards were already moving down the hall he’d come in from.
“At least you know how to be respectful to somepony around here,” Summer said, turning back towards her husband and younger daughter.
“Gee mom, thanks so much,” Midnight grumbled, but only with a little venom. At least she’d be getting answers soon if she understood Cadance correctly.
Sapphire came up and stood next to her, watching the others leave. “Secret meeting?” she asked.
“Secret meeting,” Midnight confirmed. “Can you find out where Celestia wants to meet? Apparently she’s everywhere in the castle but the throne room.”
“I’ll ask around after we get Squeaks and Honey settled in.” They nuzzled but Midnight couldn’t help feeling that things were not going to be as nice and easy as Celestia’s letter implied.
-----------------------------
“I don’t believe this,” Sapphire said as they neared the conference room Celestia was supposed to be in. “I had to ask three maids and two secretaries just to find out where the princess is and that’s not counting all the guards who stopped me and asked what I was doing in the halls!”
“I thought everypony knew everypony else who worked in the castle?” Midnight asked.
“They do! The guards are saying it’s some new policy tied to that giant bubble over the city. At least few looked properly abashed.” She leaned into Midnight. “Why are things suddenly so stressful?”
Midnight slowed her pace and nuzzled her marefriend, giving her a tight hug with one wing. “Convince Squeaks to sleep over with Autumn and Ember, draw a warm bubble bath for two, order a large ice cream sundae?” she proposed with a wag of her eyebrows.
Sapphire chuckled and gave her a sultry look in return. “Deal,” she agreed.
Picking up their pace again, they made it to the conference room doors and gently pushed them open.
“Ah, Midnight! Sapphire! Please, come in; it’s been too long since we last saw each other.” Celestia’s voice was as regal as ever but now it, too, held a note of exhaustion Midnight noted as they trotted inside. At least they hadn’t had to ask around for her whereabouts again.
Moving fully into the room, the two of them could see that she certainly looked fine. Her eyes were bright with energy as she looked at the kirin and pegasus. “Unscheduled adventures will do that,” Midnight said, bowing her head in respect before taking the seat nearest the alicorn with Sapphire doing the same on the kirin’s other side. Closer now, Midnight could see that her magically waving mane and tail didn’t look as neat and kept as it usually did.
Celestia breathed out slowly and her grin became more genuine. “I completely agree. How was your trip to the dragon migration? I don’t suppose…?”
Midnight shook her head. “My father wasn’t there. Alas, his verbal beat-down will have to wait for another time.” She went on to talk about the trip she and Spike took to get there, her being almost attacked by nesting dragons, Spike’s trials to prove he was a real dragon, as well as the letter he belched up during one of them.
“So Twilight didn’t get the letter then,” Celestia said, rubbing her chin with a hoof. “I hope she’s not too upset; learning about her brother’s wedding from an invitation like that must be making her feel horrible.”
“She was ticked,” Midnight confirmed, “but we ran into both of them outside the throne room. Apparently being made the Mare of Honor made everything better.”
Celestia sighed in relief. “I’m glad to hear it. Please, continue, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
Midnight continued with Spike meeting Spine and the journey back. “All that said, I did find out something interesting,” she concluded.
“Oh?” Celestia said.
“The dragon that more or less kept me from losing a chunk of my hide to those nesting dragons, she said she was familiar with the Storm Clan. She said she knows my dad, Windstorm, and she said that his father is Firestorm, who you said is the head of the clan.”
“He was, the last time I saw them,” Celestia said, letting that information seep in, then leaning forward and examined the kirin more closely.
“Um… Celestia?” Midnight asked, leaning back slightly.
The princess pulled back. “I’m sorry, I had only thought it a coincidence when we first met… and your colors threw me off… Midnight, may I try something?”
“What, exactly?” Midnight asked wearily, leaning back further.
“It’s nothing dangerous, I only wish to confirm something. I want to change your coat, mane, and eye colors,” Celestia said.
“You want to change my colors?” Midnight asked.
“Only for a moment, yes,” Celestia confirmed, “you look like somepony I knew once.”
Midnight looked at Sapphire, who only shrugged, then looked back at the princess, who almost looked… pleading. “A moment,” Midnight stressed, then sat as still as a statue.
With an eager nod, Celestia’s horn glowed golden bright and the same colored aura surrounded Midnight.
Midnight wouldn’t have noticed it even happened if she hadn’t brought up a hoof to look and when she was finished she looked at her reflection in the vase on the table. Her coat was now an emerald green and her mane was the same jet-black as her coat had been. It was weird, seeing her body a completely different color than what it had been all her life but otherwise it didn’t seem any different than if she’d dyed herself.
“Makers…” Celestia breathed, leaning close again. “You look exactly like her, well, with the right mane cut.”
“Who?” Midnight asked, once again leaning back away from the staring alicorn.
“Firestorm’s sister, Storm Vine. Your great aunt, if the dragon is telling the truth. She was one of the original kirin; their unofficial leader, in fact.”
“Oh,” Midnight said, not sure what to say to that. For her whole life she’d known nothing about her father’s side, then in the span of a few weeks she’d found out that not only was her grandfather the leader of her clan, his sister and her great aunt was a kirin and their leader. It was a lot to take in and it made Midnight realize that finding her clan was now as equally important as finding her dad. Of course, their whereabouts were as equally a mystery as her father’s.
“There were no pictures back then but I’m sure I have a portrait of some kind of her somewhere here in the castle…” Her horn lit up again and she teleported out of the room.
Midnight felt a weight press on her side and she turned to find Sapphire pressing up against her, her wing wrapping supportively across her back. “Your eyes are yellow,” she said simply.
That got the kirin out of her mental funk. She nuzzled the pegasus, then turned her head and spit out a small stream of fire. That was still the sapphire blue it had always been.
“What are you thinking about?” Sapphire asked innocently.
“How I want to know more, not just about my dad but my clan and about how elusive both are.” She nuzzled Sapphire again. “Is it too much to ask for both to fall into my lap after all this time? I’m not leaving you and Squeaks again unless I know for sure where either one is.”
“And we appreciate it,” Sapphire said, “and we’ll deal with that when the time comes. I know you’ll find them both.”
Midnight wrapped her wing around Sapphire and pulled her close. Makers knew how such a wonderful mare made it into her life but she wasn’t about to complain.
“What’s going on in here!?”
Midnight growled and Sapphire grimaced as they both looked up to see Shining Armor and a few guards enter the room.
“We were told Princess Celestia was here. Where is she and who are you two?”
To Midnight’s surprise, it was Sapphire who got angry first.
“Seriously!? I’ve known all of you since before I moved to Ponyville! What are you all thinking!?”
Shining glared at her. “I don’t appreciate your tone. We are the royal guard, charged with protecting the princesses, and any suspicious activities or ponies need to be questioned and, if necessary, detained. Right now, you two are in a room that’s supposed to have Princess Celestia, yet she’s nowhere to be found and you two don’t have any guards escorting you.”
“I AM a guard you stupid plot-hat!” Midnight roared, flapping over the table to get nose with Shining. “And not just a guard, a captain, WHICH YOU KNOW! As for tone, I like yours even less, so unless you want to get married with chunks ripped out of you, how about you explain what’s going on!?”
“The only kirin I know is Midnight Storm, and she is black with a blue mane and eyes, not green with a black mane and yellow eyes!” Shining shot back, his horn vibrating with magic. Sickly green magic.
Midnight face-hoofed. “Oh, for the love of- Celestia! I said only a moment!”
As if they’d heard her, Celestia and a very tired looking Luna suddenly appeared in the room.
“I’m sorry, Midnight, but it seems that everything was left back at our old castle, or so buried away here that it’ll take a while to find it. Luna can back me up, though. Luna, doesn’t she look like the very image of Storm Vine?”
Luna squinted at Midnight with blood-shot eyes. “Verily,” she mumbled. “May We return to our sanctuary of slumber and speak of this again at a more agreeable time?” With a yawn and without waiting for an answer, she teleported out of the room.
“Luna! Oh, well, she’s been under a lot of stress, too. Anyway, as I was saying…” She turned back to find Midnight and Shining Armor ready to rip into each other. “What is going on here?” she demanded. “Captain Storm, I specifically said to give Captain Armor support during your time here in Canterlot, not threaten his wellbeing!”
Midnight waved a hoof at Celestia. “THERE! There’s your makers-damn proof you moron! And could you please turn me back to normal!?”
“Princess Celestia!” Sapphire said, “What is going on!? All day we’ve been harassed by the royal guard like we’re complete strangers! Now Captain Armor has just threatened to throw us in the dungeons!”
“I said we needed to question and possibly detain suspicious ponies; you two were the ones who were getting hostile!”
“I’ll show you hostile!” Midnight snapped.
“ENOUGH!” Celestia yelled in the Royal Canterlot Voice. Everypony present, even Midnight, flinched at the alicorn’s outburst. “It would seem that I was distracted from my main reason for calling you here, an error which I will fix immediately.” She gestured Midnight back to her original seat, which the kirin slinked back to, still glaring at Shining. Celestia returned Midnight back to her original colors before continuing. “A short time after Shining and Cadance returned, a threat against the capital was made. We are unsure who they are or who they are affiliated with but we cannot ignore such threats.”
“What kind of threat?” Midnight asked.
“All we know is that one of the maids stumbled upon somepony doing something suspicious in one of the halls. They attacked her and when some guards came running after the commotion, they escaped into the shadows yelling “Canterlot will soon fall, enjoy it while you can!” A search of the castle turned up nothing.”
“And the maid couldn’t describe who attacked her?” Midnight asked.
“She received several blows to the head from her attacker,” Celestia explained, “she only remembers seeing the pony, then a frantic and painful fight, then being carried to the infirmary.”
“So what does that have to do with everypony in the guard acting like they don’t know us?” Sapphire asked.
“For all we know, this might just be an agent working on the inside for whoever is behind the threat. The shield around the city is one I made to keep them from getting out or any of their conspirators from getting in. Everypony who works in the castle has been alerted to the incident and has been told that, as far as we know, the suspect could be anypony.” Shining explained.
“Anypony outside the Lunar or Solar Guard, you mean,” Midnight growled. “I haven’t seen any of them being questioned.”
Celestia flared her wings for silence. “Captain Armor, I believe that, while you had the best intentions in mind, you should suspend your current methods to find the suspect in favor of a new one immediately.”
Shining nodded, although reluctantly.
“Captain Storm, now that the situation has been made clear to you, I trust things will run much more smoothly between the guards?” Celestia asked.
“There won’t be any problems from the Bearer Guard,” Midnight said evenly, though her point was clear: we’ll play nice as long as you do.
Satisfied that peace, or at least a semblance of it, had been restored, Celestia nodded. “Then, if there are no further questions and the situation is fully understood, I will allow you all to get back to work.”
“Why is the wedding going forward?” Midnight asked. “If there’s a threat then it should be called off until the suspect is found.”
“Absolutely out of the question!” Shining snapped. “With such a threat we must show our enemies a strong front. Going forward with the wedding is that front. That and my shield will give us more than enough warning if there is a major attack.”
“And what if everypony involved in the threat is already in the city? You’re putting everypony attending in danger! Your fiancé, Princess Celestia, your parents, your sister, the bearers, my family and friends, and who knows how many innocent ponies!? This is idiotic!”
“She does have a point, Captain Armor,” Celestia said. “There are quite a few eggs in one exposed basket. Perhaps postponing the wedding is the best idea.” By her tone it sounded like she’d talked with him about this before.
“And many of those eggs are Equestria’s greatest defenses, which should make anypony think twice about attacking. Now, of you will excuse me, I have wedding details to go over with Cadance.” With that he left the table and marched out.
“Stupid,” Midnight growled.
“You both make good arguments,” Celestia said. “And he’s already convinced Cadance. We may not like it but we must give them both our support until this is all done.”
Midnight took a deep breath and bit back her first response. “I will do my job and defend the bearers,” she finally said.
The alicorn and kirin held each other’s gaze for a full minute before Celestia nodded. “Very good, Captain Storm. I will not keep you from your duties any longer.”
Midnight nodded in return, then got up and left, Sapphire following close behind her.
“I know what you’re going to say,” Midnight said once they were a little ways down the hallway, “I shouldn’t have gotten nasty with Shining or Celestia.”
“Maybe not with Celestia but Shining deserves a few teeth marks.”
Midnight groaned. “I think I could go for that bubble bath right after I tell the others what’s going on.”
Sapphire looked away. “I’ll add a basket of gems to that list.”
Midnight raised an eyebrow at her. “Alright, I’ll bite; why?”
“…I think we should see Eden Rose. Let me explain,” Sapphire said before Midnight could object. “Two reasons: she and her ponies are trained spies who can possibly find out who made the threat and with her connections she can also get eyes in other nations to help look for your clan. I know that after the Hybrid Ball you weren’t exactly happy with her…”
“Understatement,” Midnight muttered.
“…but she is still willing to help you out. And what happens when her son is found? Are you really going to try and stand between them?”
“No,” Midnight admitted. “I just don’t want to be used again. Not without knowing, at least.” She sighed. “That better be a big basket and with nothing but sapphires.”
-----------------------------
“Well, I certainly see the issue,” Eden said, daintily setting her tea cup down. They were once again in the enclosed patio in Eden’s mansion, this time with several of the windows open to allow the mild spring breeze in. This also allowed the various scents of flowers and a few early fruits to waft in as well, making the room smell pleasant and inviting. As before, Sunny and Dancer were standing behind their employer, ready to serve or defend her at a moment’s notice. “And I can understand your frustration. However, this sounds like official guard business, not something a civilian, even a noble, should get involved in.”
Midnight bit back her growl into a groan and took a sip of the coffee she’d been offered, with just the hint of mint and chocolate. An obvious ploy to get on her good side that was only slightly working. Sapphire also took a sip of her tea and discreetly stroked her with a wing. “I’m fully willing to host another ball in Ponyville in exchange for your services,” she groaned out. This was the stupid political favors play she’d been afraid of ever since first getting that letter from Eden back at Hearth’s Warming and she still hated the idea of taking part it. If it wasn’t for the fact that Eden’s son was a kirin and still needed finding, that immaculately kept front lawn would be a nice charcoal black by now. As it was, Midnight had known this was coming and knew exactly what Eden would want and so she’d swallow her pride and give it to her. Oil-covered cheese balls, as well as other flammable foods, weren’t that hard to get a hold of after all. That or Arina, who was back at the castle with the others, would find herself a new nest for that evening.
Eden clapped her hooves together. “Oh, that’s wonderful! I was wondering when we could get together for another one!”
Midnight groaned again. “Seriously, Eden, I just want to know who made the threat and why.”
“Only “who” and “why”? Not also “when”?” she asked, genuinely curious and dropping the act.
“When is obvious: the day of the wedding, if not the very hour of. Shinning is playing right into their hooves like the stubborn idiot he is and I’ve got to head it off before that. I find out who, I can stop them in a few minutes.”
Eden tapped her chin with a hoof. “You’re not giving us a lot of time. The wedding is only in a few days, isn’t it?”
“That’s why I’m coming to you; Shining’s little internal investigation is falling flat on its face. Can you do the job or not?”
“We’ll get the job done,” Eden assured her, “just be sure to come by after the wedding so we can get that second ball started.”
“Right,” Midnight said, finishing her coffee. Beside her, Sapphire also finished her cup. “How is the hunt for your son been going?” she asked, trying not to leave on a hostile note.
For the first time that visit, Eden’s carefully crafted smile fell. “Not well. We’ve found out that he was taken south but that’s about it and he could be anywhere by now.”
“Well, it’s more than you had before,” Midnight said, getting up. Sapphire followed suit. “Thank you for hearing us out.”
“Of course.”
Before they stepped out, something flicked across Midnight’s mind. “One more thing, if I may,” Midnight asked, turning back.
“Yes?” Eden asked, curious.
“Can a unicorn change the color of their magic? Captain Armor’s is a sickly green now, not the pink it used to be,” she turned to Sapphire, “I saw it when we met with Celestia.”
“Now that you mention it,” Sapphire said, “I saw that, too.”
“It’s not common,” Eden spoke up, drawing their attention, “but it can happen. A unicorn could take a supplement to keep their magic going longer than usual and abusing such things have resulted in weird side effects, including changing the color of their magic. You said everypony is stressed; maybe he’s imbibing to keep himself at full strength in case the attack does come at or before the wedding.”
“And still getting tired by the minute,” Midnight mused unhappily, then nodded at Eden. “Thank you.”
“So?” Sapphire asked as then left the estate a few minutes later.
“So, I’m going to start poking around the local places that sell pick-me-ups. If I can find proof that Shining is using stuff to keep him going like he is, that should be enough to convince Celestia and Cadance that he’s taking this too far and put a stop to it until the pony that made the threat is found and whatever they’re planning stopped. Then we can have a proper wedding.”
“Where do you want to start?” Sapphire asked, looking ready.
“You are going to keep an eye on everyone while I go out like I’m looking for some myself.”
“But-!” Sapphire started, her wings flaring out.
“Our deal was that I teach you self-defense and you use it to keep yourself and others safe if somepony comes after you, not to go looking for trouble, remember?”
“And let you go snooping about on your own!?” Sapphire asked. “What if you get into trouble!?”
“First of all, if I get into that much trouble, I can always transform into a wyvern. I’d like to see the guard handle me like that even on their best day. Secondly, if the manure hits the fan that hard, I don’t want you anywhere near it. Third, somepony needs to keep up appearances while I’m gone. The last thing I need is Shining, Celestia, or, Makers forbid, mom finding out what I’m doing and try and stop me.”
Sapphire pouted but gave up when Midnight laughed and nuzzled her. “Can you at least take Windrunner or Wild Mane with you?” she asked.
“No, they’ve got work to do.”
“And you don’t?”
Midnight puffed her chest out. “I can do anything, I’m a captain of the guard.”
“Like Shining?” Sapphire quipped.
“Anything that doesn’t put others in danger,” Midnight amended. “Come on, let’s get back to the castle; I’ve got an assignment for Arina I want her to start right away.”
-----------------------------
“I want teams Alpha and Delta patrolling the East Wing and teams Epsilon and Omega patrolling the West Wing,” Shining said as he and Holly marched through the corridors.
Holly, clipboard in hoof, nodded as she wrote down the orders. “What about Captain Night Skimmer and his patrols?”
“We’ll be meeting him in my office to discuss that,” Shining told her.
As the two ponies made their way down the hall, neither of them noticed the small shadow on the ceiling skittering along behind them. When they stopped, it stopped, and four blue eyes narrowed as they spoke quickly with a passing guard. Midnight’s orders had been to tail Shining Armor and report back anything odd or that would shine the Captain of the Solar Guard in a bad light and Arina had taken on the task with a will. It was boring, to be sure, but the spider also knew her master wanted her to do this for a reason, so she scuttled from shadow to shadow, never once letting the other guard captain out of her four-eyed sight. First Lieutenant Holly had just recently joined him and now they were going to meet Captain Night Skimmer.
In her spidery opinion, Night Skimmer was a nice stallion, if a bit weak for his post, and First Lieutenant Holly was an even nicer mare, if a bit gruff at times, but Captain Shining Armor was a jerk who disliked her master, so Arina disliked him in return. Today he seemed like even more of a jerk to her, barking out orders and never even trying to be nice to anyone else. Oddly enough, Holly was kind of acting that way as well. It probably had something to do with why all the other ponies were either excited or stressed, something about two ponies doing something together?
A few more minutes found them at the door to Shining’s office with Skimmer waiting outside. Oddly, the three ponies didn’t do more than nod at each other before slipping through the door. Arina barely had time to realize how fast they were moving before the door was quickly closing behind them. Almost letting out a chirp of alarm, she bolted of the swiftly shrinking crack and squeezed through, almost catching the tip of one of her back legs. The room itself was brightly lit and the spider almost panicked again when at first she didn’t see any close shadows for her to duck into. A quick look straight up showed a large tapestry hanging from the wall with just enough room for her to squeeze behind and she shot up to it, hiding in place for a few seconds to see if she’d been noticed. When she didn’t hear screams of alarm or the tapestry being ripped from the wall, she hazarded a peak back out.
“… and two more patrols in the North gardens,” Skimmer was saying.
“Good,” Shining said, rubbing his hooves together with a wicked grin. “That’s over half the Solar and Lunar Guards taken over, not to mention most of the staff. I still can’t believe Celestia had so many undercover guards at her disposal and yet they couldn’t catch us. Fools!”
“With our numbers this large, we could push to take the rest of the guards before the wedding. With the bearers taking control of the preparations, they won’t miss a few of the staff,” Holly added.
Shining grimaced. “No, not with them being as alert as they are. That idiot Thorax!” He hit the top of his desk. “If that moron hadn’t slipped up, we wouldn’t have to tread so lightly! The entire hive could have snuck in! Is he at least doing his new job properly!?”
“Yes, he’s guarding the prisoners below as we speak. Not one issue so far,” Skimmer said.
“At least he can be useful for something. For now we stick to the plan and take over as many guards as possible. Once the wedding is done and we get that little pink alicorn out of Canterlot, I’ll get the shield down and we can take over the entire city and every pony in it!”
“What about Captain Storm and her guard? Should we infiltrate it as well?” Holly asked. “And that noble, Eden Rose? She and her ring of spies might become a problem.”
“No,” Shining said, “she’s off chasing rabbit trails, with our help of course, and her guard is made up of undisciplined, second rate guards and those playing at being guards. They won’t notice a thing until it’s too late and then they won’t be much of a problem. As for Eden Rose and her spies, we’ll take care of them like we will the other one. I’m more concerned about how to deal with the princesses.”
Arina blinked in amazement at what she was hearing. Shining, Holly, and Skimmer were all talking about taking over the guard and the city, betraying the princesses, and hurting her master and her friends! This had to be what her master has wanted her to find out. Building up her magic, she blinked to form the link that would show her master all this.
When her eyes opened again, her entire field of vision was a bright green.
The spell hit her dead on and she fell off the wall onto the stone floor, her entire body numb and twitching, the link severed before it could be fully established.
“Well, well, Midnight’s little pet,” Shining said, coming around his desk and looking down at the paralyzed spider. “Did you really think we didn’t notice you scurry in behind us or that we’d let you tell your mistress about our plans once you heard them?”
Arina only twitched in response, and that was involuntary.
“What should we do with it?” Holly asked, her horn flaring a sickly green as well.
“Get rid of it,” Shining snorted in disgust. “By the time Midnight realizes she’s gone missing, we’ll already have won.”
Arina tired to move a leg, chirp, blink, something, but to no avail. She could only watch as Holly’s hoof came down on her.
-----------------------------
“Thank you for your patronage, please come again!” The slammed door that followed this didn’t speak well for the truth of those words but Midnight shrugged it off. She had her evidence, proof that Shining was using, and possibly abusing, magical supplements in the form of eye witness testimony of him buying them as well as other guards, along with the supplement itself with a list of side effects, one of which was the change in color of a unicorn’s magic aura. This meant they could postpone the wedding from tomorrow to sometime after the threat to Canterlot had been dealt with. It might mean that Celestia would put her in charge of the investigation but she was confident that she could handle it better than Shining was at the moment. If that was the case, it might be better to have Celestia formally announce her guard’s existence finally. Needing to keep the guard a secret was starting to cause more problems, both personally and professionally, than it was solving. Maybe keep a few members secret just in case.
Of course, finding the evidence she needed this close to time of the wedding also made her worry. Neither Arina nor Eden had contacted her yet, something that was setting off several alarm bells in the kirin’s mind. Eden she could see, with the pony who made the threat possibly going to ground more effectively than any of them realized but Arina being silent for so long wasn’t like her. Sure, she’d been out for days when they’d been looking for Ember but she’d still connected with Midnight at least once each day and night as a way to report in. As of right then, she hadn’t seen or heard anything from the spider since she’d sent her off to tail Shining to see if they could catch him in the act of taking the supplements or tripping up the investigation on some way.
In all honesty, that bothered her, too. Spying on colleagues like this, hoping they’d mess up so she could swoop in and point it out, felt too much like political scheming the nobles did and she hated that. The only thing that made her feel better was that she was doing all this, not to take his job or even to get him fired, but as a splash of cold water to the face so he’d stop and think for a bit. He was getting too worked up between the threat and the wedding to think straight and it was going to get somepony hurt. Even Twilight was starting to question his decision to keep moving forward with the wedding. Midnight had spotted them in a side hall the day before, not exactly arguing, but speaking heatedly with each other and she’d caught the words “wedding”, “exhausted”, and “something wrong”.
About the only thing that would disappoint Midnight about the wedding being postponed would be not being able to see Sapphire and Squeaks in the dresses her mother had picked out for them as soon. She also had picked out a dress for Midnight and to their collective surprise, Midnight was looking forward to wearing it. “How many times do I have to tell all of you, I have no problem wearing a dress when it’s appropriate!” she huffed as she’d been looking herself over in the mirror. “Sapphire, Squeaks, how much complaining did I do when getting ready for last year’s Grand Galloping Gala?”
“None,” had been both their responses. As her mother finally realized that her daughter was actually letting her dress her up nice (even letting her fix up her mane!) and was going over what jewelry she should wear (nothing with gems; she was sure Midnight would just end up snacking on those when nopony was looking and she was kinda right) Midnight had caught Sapphire blushing whenever she looked her way.
“You look good,” Sapphire said when Summer had gone off to check her room for more jewelry than might suit the kirin.
“Just good?” Midnight teased, pulling her close with a wing and nipping her ear playfully.
Sapphire successfully, though Midnight could tell also unhappily, killed the mood by asking how things were going with finding either the pony who made the threat or evidence to get Shining to postpone the wedding. Just as unhappily, Midnight had told her that there’d been no progress on either front and she was getting worried about not hearing anything yet, even just to say they were still looking. Sapphire had tried to tell her not to worry, that each knew what they were doing and they would hear from them soon, but Midnight was still bothered by the silence and lack of progress.
So much, in fact, that she’d pretty much ignored Honey when the unicorn had tried to talk with her about something that morning. She would have to make it up to her when she got back. Right now, she had to bring all this to the princesses and get the wedding stopped.
As she entered the castle, she caught sight of First Lieutenant Holly at the same time she saw her and the unicorn made a beeline for the kirin. “Captain Armor needs to see you in his office immediately,” she said.
“It’ll have to wait; I need to see the princesses,” Midnight said, brushing by her and continuing on to the throne room.
“It’s very important; the Captain wants to see you right away!” Holly said, catching up with her.
“And what I have to say to the princesses is very important, so whatever it is can wait!” Midnight snapped back. She didn’t know what Holly’s deal was but ever since that first meeting when they arrived, the unicorn seemed to act more and more like Shining’s lackey, a far cry from the competent second in command Holly struck her as the first time they met.
Holly pulled ahead and moved in front of Midnight, blocking her path. “This is not a request; it’s an order,” she said in a threatening tone.
Midnight stopped, bent her head down, and bared her fangs. “He doesn’t order me to do anything. Obviously, the two of you have forgotten that I’m a captain, just like he is, so whatever stupid thing he has to say can wait.” Out of the corner of her eye, she could see other guards moving in on them. “Really? You’re really going to try something like this? Here? Now?” She'd put on her armor that morning when she’d gone out, mostly at Sapphire’s request since she was going out without back up. She didn’t think she’d really need it, but now…
“Ma’am, Captain Shining Armor is head of security here in the castle. Even if you disagree with his methods, you are still bound to act accordingly to the rules he sets down to keep the castle safe. This is a matter of security, so we will do this here and now if you don’t come with me.”
Midnight continued to glare at the unicorn, still considering whether or not to activate her armor. Shining had to know, somehow, that she was on to him, but was he really willing to take it this far? Then again, having his guards attack her would be proof enough something was wrong with him and a kirin roaring at the top of her lungs was sure to get Celestia and Luna to come running and demand explanation.
“Try meee!” Something slammed into her rear right leg, leaving it with that pins and needles feeling one had when one’s limb was coming back from being numb. She didn’t go down but when she looked back to see who and what had hit her, she saw Night Skimmer there, a sickly green glow above his head like he had a unicorn horn. “Skimmer, what-?” she asked bewildered, before the rest of the guards around her began hitting her with green shots that sent the rest of her body feeling like pins and needles.
Things weren’t making sense. How was Skimmer able to use magic? How were the rest of them able to do anything to her with unicorn magic? Why wasn’t her armor responding!?
Her rear legs finally went down, numb from hoof tip to cutie mark. Her front legs weren’t much farther off but she defiantly kept herself up. Taking a deep breath, she got ready to blast a few of them with her fire but just as she was about to open her mouth, another sickly green aura surrounded her muzzle and pressed her jaws shut. The fire came up but with no place to go backed up and came out her nose instead, flaming harmlessly to the sides.
“You really are hard to put down, aren’t you?”
Midnight looked back over her shoulder and saw Shining Armor approaching, his horn glowing that odd sickly green that every other guard around was now sporting, unicorn or not. With her jaw now firmly shut, all she could do was growl at him. ‘How the TARTARUS is he doing this!? How are ANY of them doing this!? WHY!? Don’t tell me these things he’s been taking drive ponies crazy, too!’
“And just too nosey for your own good,” he continued. “Don’t worry; I’ll take care of everypony for you while you’re away.”
Midnight lunged toward him but another volley of stunning blasts put her down completely. As she looked up defiantly at him, desperately trying to focus on activating her special talent and damn the consequences, he smiled wickedly back down at her and his magic grew brighter. The world became engulfed in a painful green before it all went black.