A Troll Through the Park

by Spanner


Chapter 5 (Part Two): Trust Issues and Dirty Politics

Chapter 5 (Part two of two): Trust Issues & Dirty Politics

(Twilight)

***

Twilight reread the tome in front of her after her message spell failed for the fifth time. She didn't know where the letters were going, only that they were not getting to Spike like she had wanted. After finishing the page, she realized there was some fine print at the very bottom.

It read, “If you don’t think of a target to send your message, letters may be transported to a random dragon within range of your spell.”

Oh, so you’re supposed to think of a target dragon when sending a letter by magic.

“Oops.”

***

A white stallion rolled around in a set of ivory bed sheets. The curtain that hung from the ceiling had been pulled around the bed, which was butted up against the wall. A generic framed picture of some Zappapple jam in a jar, lay above the head of the bed frame. The stallion’s constant tossing and turning had kicked the covers away, revealing the image of a dark purple shield and four stars on his flank.

He mumbled in his restless slumber. His body jolted briefly, before he groggily shifted around. Shining Armor lay on his side as he pulled the curtains back, facing the door. His eyes slowly opened, blinking a bit to adjust to the light.

“Oh my aching head. What happened?”

“Thank goodness you’re awake brother. You fainted and hit your head pretty hard.” He heard a voice from behind him.

The guard Captain smiled. “You know, Twily, you didn’t need to come all the way to Canterlot to see me.” He kept his eye on the door, a habit of paranoia.

Twilight giggled softly, doing her best to match her normal voice. “I just happened to be in the area. Besides, it’s been ages since I have seen my BBBFF.” She lay her white head across Shining’s neck and wrapped a gold clad hoof over his back.

“Wow, you sure have grown a lot.”

“You could say that,” she chuckled, moving her muzzle up his neck, and giving a playful lick on the cheek.

“Oh Twi... lestia!” He jumped up, throwing the princess off of him. He scampered frantically up to the head of the bed until he was pressed firmly against the wall. His chest rapidly rose and fell from hyperventilating, his forelegs out in front of him.

Twilight lost her balance and fell backwards, landing on her rump with an “umph.”

“What’s going on here? What have you done with my sister?”

“Shiny, it’s me. Don’t you remember, or did you get amnesia too?” Twilight said, rolling her magenta eyes. "Sorry, I just wanted to pull a little prank."

“That... that was a dream. Celestia wouldn’t er, maybe she, I mean you would. I don’t know what to think anymore!” Shining threw up his arms in despair.

Twilight rose and slowly approached the panicked stallion. “Just calm down. I can explain everything.”

Each time she stepped forward, Shining backed up further, until he fell off the side of the bed. Soon he backed into the corner by the door.

“This is madness! This isn't happening.” He formed a pink barrier which enveloped the corner of the room.

Twilight stopped. Her expression full of concern. “Why are you so uptight? Just calm down already!”Right, like saying that has ever worked on me before.

After a few minutes of waiting outside the barrier, it was obvious Shining wasn't letting her in. Breaking through her brother's barriers was nothing new. One of the reasons he was able to further master his shield matrices, was by challenging Twilight to analyze it's weaknesses. Normally she would analyze each layer of his spell and collapse them one by one.

Nearing the time she left Canterlot for Ponyville, breaking Shining's barriers could take her hours. This time, however, Twilight was curious about a using her new power for a more direct approach.

Twilight closed her eyes. The sunlight through the window seemed to absorb into her coat and strengthen her magic. A lance of golden magic materialized in front of her, the light particles gathered to form a deadly sharp needle. The tip of the spell clinked against Shining's barrier, eliciting a nervous cackle from her brother. Twilight refined the point even further. The tip so sharp that it seamed to taper into thin air.

This time, when the spell pressed against the outer matrix, she could feel it simply pass through. The layers of counter rotation failed he had placed, failed. A layer of immense heat and another of cold, failed. The needle passed through all eight matrices with less resistance than paper. All Twilight had to do next was expand the needle's radius and casually walk up to the terrified stallion. Wow, Celestia’s magic is strong. I could perform so many new spells in this body... Focus Twilight, brother is having a nervous breakdown.

Shining was shaking herder than ever. His bastion ignored by the alicorn before him. Twilight didn’t know what to do besides rush up and give him a hug. The surprise embrace caused the remains of magic barrier to shoot across the room, pushing everything into the walls. The large clattering symphony could be heard in the halls throughout the hospital wing.

Twilight held on tighter. “You were there when I magically lifted my first book, and flew my first kite... remember? You snuck into my room when you heard me having nightmares to guard me from the monsters. Mom would get mad at you for falling asleep at breakfast the next morning.”

There was silence for a few moments, before he finally returned the embrace. “Twily, I'm sorry...”

“No, im the one who should be sorry,” Twilight said in an exasperated tone. "I shouldn't have teased you like that. I don't know what got into me?"

“He, he, yeah... don't worry about it. But you have a lot of explaining to do,” he said as he canceled his shield spell. The furniture that had been mashed into the walls, finally slid back to the floor.

During the ruckus, neither had noticed the door opening. “I’ll say you do.” A pink alicorn stood in the doorway with a furious look on her face.

Nurse Joy Center, who had accompanied the irate princess, now stood dumbstruck at the destruction of the room. The site of the Sun Princess with Shining Armor in her tight embrace on the floor, only adding to her confusion.

The pair of perplexed ponies were joined by a pegasus, who tossed a scroll onto the brother and sister. “Here is the weekly council summons.” He stopped to take in the scene for just a moment. “I don’t want to know, too busy to care,” he nonchalantly said, before zipping away.

Twilight and Shining armor were frozen in place, still holding each other tightly. They just stared in surprise at the two at the door.

“Well?” Cadence all but demanded, tapping impatiently with a hoof.

The captain and the princess pushed off each other, simultaneously expelling an awkward chuckle. The door slammed in the pink princess’ face with a duo of gold and pink magic.

“What do we do now?” asked Twilight, as the door was getting bombarded by spells, hooves, and screaming.

“I don’t know Twily, but we better do something before she figures out she could just teleport in here.” She never thinks clearly when she’s angry. That can be a good thing and a bad thing.

Celestia’s form took on a look of concentration. Suddenly, the objects in the room began to rearrange themselves. In a few seconds, all was back to the way it was.

“That’s great, but I don’t see where this is going,” Shining said curtly.

“Now you get back in bed,” Twilight said hurriedly.

“Okay... wait. Are you thinking of... I can't wipe Cadence’s memory.” The captain shook his head.

“Why, because she’s a princess?” I can't belive I'm thinking of memory wiping a princess! I hope this power isn’t getting to me?

“Yes, let’s go with that.” His tone was not the least bit convincing.

Twilight moved closer to the door. “Fine, I’ll do it then. You open the door.”

“NO! I will do it,” He said frantically.

“HONEY IF YOU DON'T OPEN THE DOOR RIGHT...” Cadence could be heard from the other side.

Twilight and Shining released the door. Cadence and the nurse only had a second, before being struck by Shining Armor’s memory spell. They both stood with a dazed look on their mugs.

“How nice of you and Celestia to come visit me, but it really isn’t necessary,” The white stallion said, grinning like an idiot.

“I... um.” Cadence shook her head free of the sudden haze. “Nonsense, I always have time for you.” She started toward the bed when a crinkle under her hoof caught her attention. “What is this scroll doing on the ground? It’s seal says it’s for you.” She had a suspicious look in her eye as she floated it over to the sun princess.

Twilight read the scroll aloud.


This is a summons notice for the weekly council meeting. The meeting will be at the Main Conference Chamber at the usual time. In the event Shining Armor has recovered sufficiently to appear, he will be expected to report on the incident of earlier this day.

All the best,

Department of Royal Affairs


“Oh how exciting!?” she said, before rolling up the scroll.

Cadence chuckled. “I almost didn’t catch the sarcasm that time, Celestia. Well I guess you had better get going. I’ll keep ‘Shiny’ here company,” she said, nuzzling against the Captain's coat.

Twilight looked aghast. “Sarcastic? I'm never sarcastic about work.” Celestia took her work seriously, didn't she? What is with Cadence acting so... close to my brother?

Cadence let out a short burst of laughter, before composing herself. “Sorry, you’re killing me Auntie. I suppose I'll see you later. Those meetings are too much for me.”

“Wait! I'm going with you!” The patient threw off his head wrapping and slipped from the covers to follow the white alicorn out the door.
 
“Where do you think you're going? I don’t care how important you all are. Mr. Armor here has sustained a hard blow to the head and needs rest pending further examination. He should not be walking, let alone casting magic.” Everypony had nearly forgotten about the nurse. Her words were demanding, but her knees were shaking furiously.

Shining yielded to the complaints of the nurse and a concerned look from Cadence.

“Meet me later in the west wing of the library, alone,” said her not so big brother, looking over the shoulder of Cadence. He put a hoof to his forehead, feeling a new headache coming on. I can’t believe my little sister is in charge of the country.

“Sounds like a good plan to me. I have some questions for you anyway,” Twilight said with a scowl while pointing at the big pink alicorn in the room.

***

Twilight had never been in the Main Council Chamber before, but she did know where it was. She still remembered a vast majority of the rooms and corridors from her days of living in Canterlot. Her mental map of the shortcuts could almost allow her to pop in and out of rooms like Pinkie Pie.

Whenever she followed her mentor to her meetings, her guards would stop and station themselves by either side of a large set of double doors. These towering doors led into a grand hallway, with marble columns and a finely crafted red carpet. The carpet was adorned with depictions of the many species of Equestria, such as sea ponies, hydra, a giant turtle, and of course, all the races of the world nations. Large glass paned windows and self lighting candles lit the hall. At the end of the hallway, stood the entrance to the Main Council Chamber.

As a filly, Twilight remembered the apologetic gaze of her mentor as she explained the meeting room was for grown-ups. She often stood staring at the doors waiting for Celestia, much like a puppy. Inevitably she would fall asleep. She would pretend to stay slumbering as the Sun Princess lifted her onto her back and carried her off to bed.

Even now, she felt dwarfed in front of the large gilded doors, despite being a full grown alicorn, and leader of the nation.

“Oh this is so exciting,” she whispered. No matter how much I read and studied about Equestrian affairs, I have never been allowed in. Tantrums didn’t work either. This time however...

She was just about to open one of the doors, when she heard some voices inside. That’s weird. Stone Wall did say I was earlier than the usual time. Well, I hate to eavesdrop, but I really want to try this new spell. Twilight paused to look behind her for any spectators. Who is going to stop me anyway?

Twilight gave a soft chuckle, before bypassing the magical sound barriers on the door.

“No matter what happens at this meeting, tonight we will meet in the third hidden chamber of the east wing of the library.” It sounded like a relatively average male voice.

“What time should I meet you there?” A second speaker could be heard asking from behind the doors. It must have been from a larger being, judging by the sound of it’s deeper tone.

“At 8:00. Now quiet, she'll be here any minute now. Are you ready?”

“Yes, just sit down.”

Twilight waited a few moments before entering.

The room was as breath taking as she imagined. As far as Twilight could tell, during the day the hall would be lit by sunlight through the large stained glass windows. Windows which towered several feet above most beings. During the night, magically charged crystal chandeliers emanated a bluish light which complemented the moonlight.
 
The tall chamber was an octagon, with wooden bleacher like seats around the walls. The image of the two princesses’ cutie marks were merged into a circular mosaic in the center of the room. Being so large, the mosaic was barely obscured by the round table and finely crafted chairs around it. The acoustics of the chamber would allow you to hear a pin drop, hence the dampening spell on the doors.

Twilight took a seat at the chair that adorned the mark on her flank. It was situated beside an absent chair marked with a crescent moon. At the other end of the table, a heavily military-decorated pony sat a few seats away from an even more fancifully adroned griffin. She easily recognized the stallion as a general of some sort, but was unsure about the griffin. These had to be the source of the two voices I just heard. 

Several minutes later, the room started to gather more occupants. Being a weekly council meeting, the room was very far from packed. However, she still couldn’t recognize everypony, everygriffin, or minotaur. She noticed there were no Dragons or Diamond Dogs present, which made sense, as they did not yet extend delegates for the council. Luckily, a snooty looking unicorn sat poised and ready to sate the title of each speaker.

The Court Announcer unfurled a scroll and began. “To start off with Canterlot affairs, the Fiscal Advisor, Mr. Fancy Pants shall speak.”

A white unicorn removed his monocle and gave it a quick polish. “Your Highness, we simply don't have the funds for all this construction and retrofitting.”

“Your Highness Celestia may now respond,” said the unicorn holding the scroll behind a podium.

“Sure we do. That is, if we cut away from the military budget and restructure tax allocations. I mean, where is all that money even going? Are you practicing with gold cannonballs, equipping a secret army?” Her gaze turned to the guilty looking pony general, who promptly jumped up to defend himself.

“The Major General, Double Edge, may proceed.” He was a white unicorn stallion, like most of the guard. He had a black mane, with a few grey strands here and there. He seemed past middle-aged. His cutie mark were two swords crossing in an x, appropriate as he carried a sword on either side.

“You can’t cut funding now! Not when we're so close to... I noticed you didn't sign the war contract. I brought another, in hopes you would reconsider.”

“Your Highness Celestia may now...”

“Excuse me for a second Major General.” The purple eyes of the princess focused on the unicorn mare announcing the names. “Do you have to do that every time? Everypony knows I'm one of two princesses, and that my name is Celestia.”It felt more strange saying that than I thought.

“Look, I have one job in this lousy council! It might be stupid, but I'm going to do it, okay!”

The mare clasped a hoof to her mouth, already regretting her words. She waited for whatever severe punishment the Solar Princess would subject her to. The rest of the council at the table and the audience stood poised for Celestia’s response.

“Ughhh,” Twilight sighed and slid a hoof down her face.

Everypony thinks I'm going to destroy them.

 She gently swept her off the floor and set her back up on her podium with her magic. The Court Announcer stood shaking a little, but nodded up and down slowly.

“Now, about the budget cuts. You were saying you were ‘so close to’ something before you changed the subject to the war contract.” Twilight floated a scroll over to Fancy Pants, who began to skim over it with his monocle.

“I didn’t change the subject. If you cut the funds, how will we be prepared for war?” There were gasps throughout the chamber. “I was simply saying the way the Diamond dogs are infiltrating pony and griffin lands, they must be close to invading the surface. Why waste money on dams and toilets? How do we know your little tax plan will work? Besides, how can you turn down an alliance with the Griffin Empire, let alone all those potential gem resources?”

Fancy Pants interjected, adjusting his monocle. “Actually Major General, I'm looking over Celestia’s notes on the tax budget plan, and it appears solid. We may be able to gather all the funds we need for the projects in a few years, without raising taxes on the working class. The new projects would also create a lot of new jobs. I fancy the name Canterlot Conservation Corps,” Mr. Pants continued silently reading the scroll and Twilight took over again.  

“I don’t feel that forming friendships in the face of violence is appropriate. Wouldn't you agree?” She looked straight at the griffin general a few seats away.

The court annoncer glanced at Twilight, who nodded for her to continue. “The Legatus Legionis, also known as Legion Commander Swift Claw, may proceed.”
 
The griffin shuffled his wings, before speaking. “I can understand your position your highness, but who knows when Emperor Razor Wing will extend his claw again? With our aid at the borderlands, our lines would be impenetrable.”  

The Solar Princess sighed in slight annoyance. “The Diamond Dogs are hardly equipped to take on our forces, even now. They are a relatively neutral race. What are they going to do with sickles, hammers, and rock picks, against armored unicorns and pegasi?” I barely have a clue about the Diamond Dog military forces, but the crowd seems to buy it.

General Double got up from his chair and began pacing around the table. “What do you know of war? You just know these walls. Sure we could defend the castle, but then they could just regroup and attack again. We need to get in those caves and flush them out!”

Double Edge looked pleased at the seed of panic he had planted amongst the politicians. The crowd was restless as the white stallion continued his rant.

“Celestia may be able to stand by while leaving this country vulnerable, but we can still overrule her signature in a vote. So, raise a hoof to a new alliance and preservation of our lands!” General Double took his seat while the vote proceeded.

The count was done, and exactly half the room had raised a leg, then one more.

The Major General is right about one thing, I know nothing of war tactics... however.

“According to voting rules, there are ten minutes before the vote closes. A tie means the document stands.” I'm so glad I read all those books on royal proceedings.

“You don’t have another vote Princess. You have lost.”

“What would violence get anypony? Aren't you suspicious as to why he so determined to start a war?” Twilight’s words caused a few to avoid her gaze, but paranoia was winning the crowd.

He can’t just be after the gems? I couldn’t live with knowing I failed to stop a war. Celestia would never forgive me for letting her little ponies come to harm. 

Twilight spotted Luna sitting quietly in a set of bleachers nearby and got an idea.

“Ha... ha ha ha.”

“What is so funny, Your Highness?” The aged stallion looked slightly intimidated.

“Sorry, it’s just that I have been around for thousands of years, and you don’t think I have picked up anything about warfare? I’ll humor you. Let's say that I am ignorant in the subject.”

That hurts to say.
 
“I do know somepony in this very room who does know something about the subject. Right Luna? What do you vote for the future of this land? Is our security that bad.”Hopefully this doesn’t backfire.

“Your Highness, Princess Luna, may approach.” The announcer gave a wincing glance towards Twilight. To be fair the princess had been gone for one thousand years.

The Moon Princess gracefully flew from her spot in the stands, landing beside her personal seat at the council table. 

“She doesn’t hold any authority here. She was stripped of political power when she betrayed us all as Nightmare Moon,” the General scoffed.  

Luna visibly cringed at the name, her confidence was quickly sucked away by each contemptuous glares in the room.

Anger boiled inside Twilight’s mind. A primal sense of fury bubbled up in her chest. “HOW DARE YOU ADDRESS ONE OF US IN THAT MANNER!” Woah where did that come from.

All were silent for their princess. “Sorry about that. However, my sister is no longer Nightmare Moon, and as you said, she betrayed us as such. Luna’s decrees from before the incident still hold. I say she deserves a vote for reinstatement of political authority.”

“Very well Celestia.” Double Edge fixed his mane from being blown back by the Royal Canterlot Voice. The Major stood up and spoke to the crowd. “If you want to reinstate power to this potential threat to all of us, then raise an limb.” Less than a quarter of the room raised a hoof or claw.  

Luna gave a disgruntled frown at the white alicorn. I won’t let it end like this. Twilight startled Double Edge as she climbed onto the table and stopped in front of him. It was her turn to address the crowd.

“Go ahead and keep those legs down, if you want to destroy the rightful balance of this government and strike a blow to the heart of this caring, loving, and brilliant leader,” she said as she pointed at her mentor’s sister. Luna smiled solemnly as she looked around the room.

A few more arms were raised, but it wouldn’t be enough. Luna might hate me for this, but there is only a minute left... “If you are worried that Luna could still be corrupted, wouldn’t you rather have her on your side? An angry alicorn is just as bad for national security as an enemy army.” At that, only a few legs remained down. “Fear works both ways Mr. Edge, you know, like a double edged sword?” Twilight whispered in his ear, before crossing back over the table and taking her seat.

It turned out that Luna wasn't essential for the vote for war. A few council members had changed their minds before the final count. Luna took right up to the last second to decide, mostly due to the shock of current events.

The pony general and the griffin commander leered at Twilight on the way out. The council chamber quickly emptied, leaving the dark and light alicorns alone. Luna was thoroughly enjoying her rightful seat next to Twilight. She caressed the velvety armrests at either side of her custom chair. “These chairs are much more comfortable for our posterior than those wooden abominations,” Luna said with a big smile.

Twilight chuckled a little. “They sure are aren't they.”

“What hast thou done with our Tia?”

Uh oh. Does she know already? “What... What do you mean?”

“Usually thou art almost asleep at such occasions, but today you were so full of energy. We also noticed you visited Shining Armor. Twas nice of thee. He is the brother of thy most faithful student, is he not?” Luna was looking down at the floor and missed Twilight nervously eyeing the door. “Whatever has changed thee, We are grateful. Thou has never used The Royal Canterlot Voice in our defense before.” Luna turned and gave Twilight a light kiss on the cheek, before slipping out of her seat and out the doors.

That was close, Twilight thought as the red faded from her cheeks.

Luna’s head popped back in the doorway with a giddy grin. “WE FINALLY HAVE A JOB AGAIN!” Twilight quickly secured paperwork, before it got blown away by Luna’s voice. “Oops, we are sorry,” she said before disappearing once again. She could hear the clack of Luna's hooves as the giddy alicorn skipped away. Twilight didn't let go of the paperwork in front of her until Luna’s prancing hoofsteps were long gone.

***

Shining Armor and currently Princess Twilight, were seated across from each other at a small table. They were surrounded by impossibly tall shelves of books and scrolls. The silver moonlight coming through the large windows at the end of the west wing were barely visible from within the depths of the Canterlot Library.

“Wow Twily, we almost went to war. If you hadn’t just come from the council chamber, I would have never believed you. I mean you really showed Double Edge.”

Twilight’s soft white ears perked up. “You mean you’re not mad about the upcoming budget cut?”

“Are you kidding me? A bunch of the guards and I wear gold plated armor. Also, the Major General is a bucking jerk, if you'll pardon my language.”

There was silence for a bit, then Shining spoke again. “So if you’re in Celestia’s body that means...” Shining twirled a hoof.

“Celestia is learning what it’s like to be me, in Ponyville. This honestly seems easier than working at the library,” Twilight chuckled.

“Really?” Shining had a skeptical look.

“Well, yeah. Maids and guards pretty much take care of the worries of daily living, and all I have to do is sign papers, go to meetings, and show up to special events. Although, I bet Celestia is living a simple easy life in Ponyville.”

Shining reached over the table and grasped Twilight’s golden shoe. “All those decisions affect hundreds or thousands of pony lives. How do you know you’re making the right decisions?”

“I just make the best judgment by logic. It’s worked so far.” She smiled broadly at her brother.

“I think you’re being a bit naive, but lets talk about something else. It makes me too nervous to think that my little sister is in charge of almost everything under the sun.” It can’t be that simple? Celestia must have really gone off the deep end to let her be in charge. “Did anything else interesting happen? Actually, I've been meaning to ask, how did you bypass my shield at the hospital so fast?” Shining raised an eyebrow.

“Well, as for your second question question, I concentrated Celestia's magic into a super fine point, about one pico meter or 0.000000000001. tapering up to 10 millimeters over the length of 2 meters. The tip being well under the thaumic density of any of the layers in your barrier matrices, let it slip right past. Then all I had to do was expand my little magic needle's diameter, create an opening starting from the center of the expanded shaft, and walk right in."

Shining was certainly not as excited as his little sis, but Twilight was too obliviously excited by this point to notice.

The best part is, I didn't even need to calculate how much thaumic force I needed to keep the magic needle from being dismantled by the rotating layer of your shield! Celestia's solar magic was so dense that the spell form didn't even falter for a second!"

Shining's head was laying on the table with his hooves over his head.

"Um... you okay Shinny?"

"Ughhh... You know how much research it's taken me to... and you didn't even need to do the proper calculations. You just brute forced everything!"

Dang it, sad Shinny is the worst Shinny. "Well, just because I said I didn't need to do the calculations, doesn't mean I didn't do them!"

This got the colt's attention. He didn't raise his head, but one of his ears perked up.

Twilight ran the numbers in her head, converting to imperial, knowing her brother's preferences. "Based on my calculations, the shield you made in the hospital should be able to withstand 6.0173e5 hoof pounds of force."

"Twily, forgive my lack of enthusiasm, but you know I can't picture numbers like you, without context."

"That's like, the force of an entire platoon of pegasi ramming into your shield at thirty miles per hour!" Twilight crossed her arms. "That seems pretty bad flank if you ask me."

"Yeah, I guess it is." Despite his best efforts, Shining couldn't keep himself from smiling. "But even in the Princess' voice, you're way to nerdy to be saying 'bad flank.'"

Twilight's white muzzle wrinkled, as her eyes narrowed. It was the same self righteous indignation Shining Armor always remembered. "It might just be me, but that look is even more adorable on the princess?" Ha! You may have fancy alicorn magic, but I can still make you red as a plum LSBFF. Shinning mentally hoof pumped.

Twilight continued to scowl, before switching back to the first question. "So Carrot Top, a Ponyville farmmare, is pressing charges against whoever caused a stampede of bunnies to eat all the carrots on her farm. I gave Stone Wall the job of lead investigator. He seems really tense. The funny thing is, this wasn’t the first bunny stampede in Ponyville.”

“Yeah, I'm sure he will enjoy the break from the castle... wait, not the first? What kind of crazy town did Celestia send you to?”

Twilight was too excited to notice his question. “Oh, I also basically told everyone that you stopped an imposter that looked like Bon Bon, posing as Celestia, but the imposture escaped.”

“What about the real Bon Bon?” Shining looked concerned.

“I told the guard she must still be in Canterlot. It’s unlikely she will have a reason to come here.”

Shining retracted his hoof form his sister and crossed his arms. “I guess.”

Twilight decided it was time to change the subject again. “So why is everypony afraid of Celestia? Whenever she visits Ponyville, she is so calm and friendly. Nopony seems to understand that I just want to help!” Twilight threw her hooves in the air.

“Besides being taller and all around more powerfull? It’s more of a self perpetuated stereotype created by everypony. Like when you and your friend Fluttershy thought she would imprison you for taking her pet Pheonix.”

“She told you about that huh?” Twilight’s white muzzle was flush red for the second time tonight.

“Once something like that happens, it spreads, and everypony thinks they’re going to prison or the moon. Then, when Celestia tries to make friends, they cower and don’t act like themselves. It doesn’t help that her personal guard is so serious.”

“I could imagine that being frustrating for the Princesses” Twilight scratched her chin for a moment.

“Exactly. Thus she screams in her pillow, plays tricks on the guards, the maids, and sometimes runs wild in Canterlot. All activities that aren't the best for friend making. I can only imagine she keeps her composure in Ponyville, for you.”

“That all makes so much sense.” Twilight looked around for a notebook or a scroll, but had no such luck.

“Good, because it’s nearly 8:00, and we can't miss that secret meeting you heard about.” Shining stood and cantered towards the east wing.

Twilight ran in front of her brother. “Wait, you haven't told me what’s going on between you and Cadence?”

Oh no. Here comes the bombardment of questions, then the alienation of my marefriend, until she flips out and leaves. Unless... Shining Armor turned around and blasted Twilight with a beam of magic.

The alicorn rubbed her head with a hoof. “Did you just... what did you erase?”

“Now we’re even Twily. Those guards barely knew how to put their armor on after your spell, and guess who has to re-teach them everything?”

Twilight closed her eyes to recall her wiped memories, but only got a headache. “I will figure out what I was asking about. I guess we’re even. We really do need to stop supressing everypony’s memories... It can’t be healthy.”

“Deal. Now let’s go.” The Guard Captain grabbed the princess and rushed down the corridors of books.

***

“Your plan was a failure Double Edge. It’s time for my plan B.” Twilight soon recognized the voice as the griffin Swift Claw, the griffin commander from the meeting.

“The plan might have gone better if you had spoken more than once during the whole meeting!” The general nearly yelled.

“If I had wanted to be as blatantly obvious as you, sure. You may as well have been waving a sign reading ‘I'm up to something devious, arrest me now?'"

The Major pursed his lips and puffed his cheeks in anger. “Plan B is crazy! The casualties won't be worth it. Even if we use Ponyville and the town of Griffindor to trigger Rule 63 of War Engagement, the distraction won’t be enough. One of them is bound to stay at the castle.”

“True, but I have a feeling one of them may be joining us soon. I have an offer she can’t refuse.” The griffin taped his claws together.

Major General Double Edge rounded the table and stood tall in front of the Griffin. The attempt at intimidation was only slightly diminished by the pony's smaller size.

"If you are certain, then let's begin preparations. Don't tell me more, I don't want to risk more details being compromised. I think Celestia may be getting suspicious."

"I'm as certain as the day we started this, the Griffin said."

The plotting pair prepared to depart the secret chamber. Just as Shining was about to bust through the false shelf he and Twilight were hiding behind, she grabbed him.

Stop, Twilight said telepathically as she restrained him in her golden magic.

Why, we have enough evidence to arrest them now?

Don’t you want to know their whole plan and who else is involved? Twilight thought.

There was a moment of mental silence. Fine, but from here on out, I'm not taking orders from you when nopony else is present. Security of the castle is my job. I’ll do the investigation my way, and you yours.

Whatever, let’s just get out of this cramped hallway.

As the brother and sister left the hidden passage, a blue mist crept from the dark. It weaved between some shelves and disappeared out of the library.

“So, I was thinking. I could throw a party some time this week.” Twilight almost had the same enthusiastic grin as Pinkie.

“What? What the hay does that have to do with what we just saw?” Shining was confounded.

“You know, to improve Celestia’s relationship problems with the staff, maybe make some more friends.”

Shining laughed. “Oh, good night and good luck,” lil sis. It’s time for this stallion to get some Applejack Daniels with the guys. Thanks for keeping our little secret Applejack.

***

To Be Continued.