//------------------------------//
// Interlude 4 
// Story: The Witch of Canterlot 
// by MagnetBolt 
//------------------------------//

My name is Shining Armor. I’m the Captain of the Royal Guard, the youngest pony to ever be appointed to the position. I’d like to think that I got the job through skill and dedication to duty, but I can’t deny that my friends and family are some of the most powerful ponies in all of Equestria. Sometimes I worried that I was only sitting in the big chair because I was dating her daughter.
“Your Highness, this is a serious threat,” I said, trying to remain calm. I’d been speaking with her for what felt like hours now, trying to reason with her.
“It’s not that serious,” Celestia said lightly. “It’s only a few assassins.”
“Princess, I’m not sure what would qualify as more serious than a threat against your life,” I sighed. “We need to increase your personal guard, just until the threat is resolved.”
“I’d rather not put your soldiers in harm’s way, Captain Armor,” she said. It almost sounded like a reprimand. 
“They’ve dedicated their lives to your service, Your Highness. If they can’t be there to protect you, who would be?”
Celestia put down her teacup, looking at it silently for a moment. I’d known her long enough now that I didn’t mistake that as some careful consideration of my words. She was preparing herself to teach one of her lessons like I was a foal.
“Captain Armor, do you know what the purpose of the Royal Guard is?” she asked.
“To protect you and Equestria,” I said, without having to think about it.
“Quite true, but I don’t need the same kind of protecting Equestria does,” Celestia nodded. “The Guard exists because I can’t be everywhere at once, no matter how much I would like to be. There are monsters I don’t have time to fight, ponies I can’t rescue, and hurts that I can’t mend.”
“But Equestria needs you. That’s why we have to protect you, too,” I countered.
“Equestria does need me. Perhaps more than is healthy. The Guard exists to protect me, yes, but it is to protect me from those who would demand my attention and time for trivial purposes.” She laughed a little. “Though even they couldn’t stop your sister from finding a way to spend teatime with me every day.”
“From what I remember, you never tried very hard to discourage her,” I smiled.
“Well, one thing you learn as an immortal is that you have to spend your time wisely,” Celestia replied.
“I’d still like to increase your guard,” I said. “It could discourage an assassination attempt.”
“Captain Armor, if they send a trained assassin, more guards would mean more ponies in the way who could get hurt. If he is untrained, my normal guard cadre will be more than enough. Worse, increasing security as you’ve suggested would make the ponies here uneasy. I’d rather not worry them over something this trivial.” She smiled brightly. “Besides, it’s been a long time since anypony really tried to kill me. It should be exciting!”
“You can’t just hang your life out that recklessly,” I groaned. “You might be immortal, but--”
Before I could complete the thought, the entire castle shook, as if the Canterhorn itself was trembling. It was no natural phenomenon. A surge of magic made my horn almost ring like a bell from the resonance.
“Get down, Your Highness!” I shouted, tackling the Princess. I admit, I was acting entirely on instinct. Not terribly wise instinct, either. We both fell to the floor in a heap, with me trying to shield her against some unseen harm.
“...While I appreciate the fast response to danger, Captain, I think Cadance would prefer if you were holding her down instead,” Celestia said. I turned bright red and got away from her so quickly I was sure I set some kind of land speed record. She stood up and fluffed her wings, feathers ruffled.
“Sorry, Your Highness.” The castle shook again. “Please wait here. If this is an assassination attempt, this is the safest room in the castle. I’ll investigate the situation and report back once the incident is resolved.” I saluted and ran out of the room before she could protest. I didn’t listen to what she said next, because I was sure it would be something about how the Guard really wasn’t needed, and I wasn’t prepared to hear that.





Most of the Royal Guard’s training consists of endless drills. Marching drills. Combat drills. Magic drills. They were supposed to help a guard act without thought, with appropriate responses coming as reflexes.
The most important part of the training was how to run towards danger. A pony’s natural reaction was to flee danger, generally in the same direction as the ponies around him. It could quickly turn into riots and stampeding, but trained guards knew how to calm the herd and keep them under control. The trick was making sure you didn’t get caught up in it yourself.
The castle shook again. I was surprised I didn’t see anypony fleeing, unless they’d taken some other avenue of escape. The epicenter of the noise seemed to be one of the ballrooms. If I remembered the schedule of events for the castle, there was supposed to be some kind of meet and greet there today, though I couldn’t remember for whom.
Maids formed a blockade around the service entrance, looking in and whispering to each other about whatever they were seeing.
“Excuse me,” I said, trying to get through.
They ignored me.
“Excuse me!” I yelled, with a little more force. It didn’t work. I should have expected it. Many of the maids here had to deal with the kitchen staff, and even my drill sergeant couldn’t yell like the head chef. I was reasonably sure even Celestia didn’t dare cross him within his domain.
I settled for picking up some of the maids with my magic and moving them aside. It was a little rude, but I was probably saving their lives by getting them out of the way.
“Get away from me!” came a girlish squeal from within. I squeezed past the last few maids and got inside, only to be presented with a horrible scene. Prince Blueblood was cowering in front of what had been a gallery of windows but was now empty frames, the glass scattered outside in a wide, glittering cone.
A single figure stood in front of Blueblood, draped in a black cloak and obviously the source of the disturbance.
The refreshment table was on fire, as were several trees outside. The rest of the guests were watching from the farthest corner of the room.
A pony’s natural reaction might be to flee, but clearly that didn’t apply to the rarified upper class and their lack of common sense.
“How dare you!” The cloaked figure yelled. I could feel the magic pouring off of her. And it definitely sounded like a her, even if Blueblood’s scream had been higher-pitched. “I should turn you into a pile of ashes!”
I could see sparks crackling in the air around the mare. It was the sign of powerful, turbulent magical field, the energy differential so sharp that it was starting to ground itself out even with no spell being formed yet.
I threw a shield around Blueblood just before the blast would have hit him. The stone pillar behind him shattered, and he screamed. I could actually feel my shield wobbling from the blow, ringing like a bell. It was intensely uncomfortable.
“That’s enough!” I yelled, trying to get control of the situation.
The mare turned to look at me, as did most of the other guests. I couldn’t quite see her features in the shadows of her hood, but her eyes almost seemed to glow in the darkness.
“That’s destruction of property, magical assault, and probably attempted murder,” I said. “I’m putting you under arrest.”
“Thank Celestia!” Blueblood sighed. “This insane mare should be thrown into the darkest dungeon in Canterlot and left to rot! She set my tie on fire!”
“You grabbed my flank!” The mare hissed, her eyes narrowing. “And then you called me a hideous freak!”
“If I had known you would be at this soiree, I would have declined Auntie’s invitation.” He turned up his nose.
“This whole thing was her idea,” the mare grumbled. “Her stupid idea to make me go out and socialize.” She huffed. “So much for letting them see the real me.”
“Oh, I think they’ve seen it,” Blueblood countered. “You’re still the same spoiled, destructive brat you were when Celestia kicked you out!”
“That’s it! I’m going to send you to the moon the hard way!” She turned back to Blueblood. I put a wall of force between them. It would be more than strong enough to separate them until they’d had a chance to cool down. I just had to get Blueblood and this mare away from each other before--
The mare gestured, and my wall of force tore apart like tissue paper. The recoil made me stumble back like I was being dragged by my horn. I hadn’t felt anything like that since Twilight had been a foal and decided I wasn’t going to keep her away from the cookie jar.
I tripped over something and fell into the softest, warmest couch I’d ever felt.
“Sunset Shimmer,” said the couch, which turned out to be both a pony and royalty. The tension in the room shifted abruptly. I looked up to see Princess Celestia looking past me to the cloaked mare. 
The mare stopped in her tracks and looked at us, her ears folding down with shame.
“Why don’t we go have some tea while this mess is cleaned up?” Captain Armor, you should join us.”





The mare had discarded her cloak after a few gentle suggestions from the princess. I could swear I’d seen her somewhere before. The flame-like hair and bright coat were vaguely familiar, and I know her cutie mark had shown up somewhere, but I wasn’t sure where.
“Sorry,” she mumbled, staring down at her tea.
“It’s Blueblood you need to apologize to, not me,” Celestia reminded her. “You need to learn to control your temper.”
“But he--!” she started, then stopped herself. “Yes, Princess.”
I saw something in Celestia’s expression flicker at that. Sadness? Disappointment?
“That was supposed to be an opportunity for you to show the nobility how much you’ve grown as a pony,” Celestia said. “Now all they’re going to talk about is how little self control you have. There were better ways to handle that situation.”
“Yes, Princess,” Sunset said, sounding defeated.
“I’m not angry at you, but I am disappointed. I know you can be better than that.” Celestia sighed and looked at me. “Captain Armor, while these aren’t the best of circumstances, I’d like you to meet Sunset Shimmer, my daughter and former student. I’m sure Cadance has mentioned her to you.”
“Not really, but I could swear…” I considered, thinking. “I could swear Twilight mentioned that name at some point.”
“Well, I did give her a few tips on evocation spells,” Sunset smiled a little.
“You’re the one she was visiting on those vacation days?!” I said, with slow realization.
“My little Sunset was quite a tutor, and it got Twilight away from the castle library for a while,” Celestia smiled. “Don’t worry, Captain. She was perfectly safe.”
“But why wouldn’t Cadance tell me? She just said Twilight was visiting friends!”
“Well, um,” Sunset blushed. “Cadance and I sort of… agreed to keep it a secret. I was willing to put up with her as long as she didn’t talk about me, and she was willing to avoid spilling the beans for a chance to…” She trailed off. “I don’t know. Reconnect isn’t the right word. We never got along in the first place, but after all the pressure and jealousy was gone, it was a lot easier to handle her.”
“I need to have a talk with both of them,” I muttered.
“Perhaps,” Celestia agreed. “But don’t be too hard on them. Twilight needed a friend and Cadance enjoyed getting away from Canterlot. On the other hoof… Sunset.” Celestia looked at the fiery mare. “You did cause a lot of damage.”
“Sorry,” Sunset said. “I wasn’t really thinking.”
“It happens to the best of us,” Celestia said. “But I think a little punishment would be in order. Something in public so Blueblood can’t complain nothing was done.”
“If you’re thinking of sticking me in a maid uniform, he’s even worse around them,” Sunset said.
“Sunset, you could use a little discipline,” Celestia said. The mare standing next to me shrank down, almost cowering. “I think it might do you some good to spend a day or two with the Royal Guard. Shining Armor, I’d like you to take care of her.”
“Yes, Princess,” Sunset muttered.
Celestia smiled. “Captain. I understand you’ve been having some problems in Hollow Shades. I think Sunset could offer some insight into the matter.”
“Your Highness, I’m not sure it’s a good idea to have a civilian with no real training accompany a Royal Guard taskforce,” I said, trying to protest without being rude. “Regardless of any other qualifications, the Guard spends most of its time training so we can work together effectively. I’m not implying she’s not a great spellcaster or anything, but…”
“I’m sure you can keep her safe,” Celestia said. “It’s your special talent, Captain.”
I saluted and inwardly groaned. I was more worried about keeping myself safe.





Sunset was quiet as we walked towards the guard barracks. I kept glancing back to make sure she was still there. Her gait was extremely strange, half-limping but almost impossibly silent, even against the stone floor.
“I don’t suppose you have years of special-ops training?” I joked. “It’d make things a lot easier if you were part of some secret organization and I didn’t have to teach you the basics.”
“I lived in the Everfree forest for a decade,” she said. “Though my teacher might argue that I fought it for a decade.”
“Teacher? You mean Celestia?”
“Zecora. She’s a shamaness.” Sunset smiled a little. “Taught me a lot about brewing potions, living in the woods, and… some life lessons that I needed to learn. She was a good teacher.”
“I thought those gold bangles looked familiar,” I said. “Don’t they mean you’re a shaman?”
“In training,” Sunset said, shrugging. “Two bangles means my teacher thinks I’m ready to learn on my own. Three would mean I was acknowledged as a full shaman by an elder.” She looked closely at me. “I’m surprised you recognized them.”
“Well, you don’t get to be the Captain of the Guard by sitting around eating corndogs,” I joked.
“Cadance and Twilight just made you seem like… more of a ditz,” she shrugged.
“They never told me about you at all,” I said. “The most I heard were some stories from other guards that made me worried about just what the Princess was going to teach my sister.”
“Don’t worry,” Sunset said. “I’m the one who taught Twilight all the really dangerous spells she knows.”
“That… doesn’t make me less worried.”
“The Princess taught her self-control.”
“Okay. That makes me less worried.”
“I thought it might,” Sunset said. “So, Hollow Shades! I don’t know much about it.”
“Not a lot of ponies do. It’s not a vacation spot.” I opened a door and let her walk through before me. The barracks was busy, as I knew it would be. We were right near a shift change,and some guards were getting ready to go home or to their bunks, others were strapping on their armor.
“It started out as a refugee camp,” I said. “A lot of Nightmare cultists stayed there after the Rebellion when they decided they weren’t welcome back home. The Royal Guard doesn’t go there much, so it’s got a bad reputation as a lawless hole in the ground.”
“I should fit right in.” Sunset looked over the guards. I saw some of them back away as she approached, like they were trying to avoid the notice of a dangerous predator.
No, not like. She was dangerous. I’d felt it when I’d stopped her spell. The guards who were backing away were veterans, ponies who could tell when they were dealing with somepony they needed to watch out for.  I gave them a reassuring smile.
“That doesn’t mean we never go there. They mostly take care of their own problems, but sometimes something comes up that we have to deal with.”
“Like what? Monsters? Vamponies? Marewolves?”
“Not that exciting.” I smiled. “Not in the last decade, anyway. I don’t even think there are any Vamponies left, barring them coming back from extinction in a magical accident.”
“Just go ahead and tempt fate, why don’t you?” Sunset muttered, just loudly enough that I heard it.
“What we’re actually dealing with right now is something much more dangerous,” I said. “Somepony is using Dark Magic, and they’re very strong. Almost nopony in the Guard has any experience with Maleficarum, so tracking them down has been a slow process, and the locals aren’t helping.”
“A witch? Really?” Sunset snorted. “Well, I guess I understand why Celestia thought I could help. I’m a professional witch, after all.” She shook her head. “I could have taken care of it myself if she just asked.”
“I heard you don’t take orders well,” I said.
“I do take requests from friends,” she countered.
“And Princess Celestia punishing you is a request?”
“I’m here because I did something wrong.” Sunset stopped and raised a hoof, gesturing around her. “I’m not doing this because I’m following the Princess’ orders, I’m doing this because it’s the right thing to do. I want her to be happy, because Harmony knows I’ve disappointed her enough.”
“So what she thinks about you matters,” I said. “You respect her.”
“I respect a lot of ponies. Celestia, Luna, Cadance, Twilight, Zecora… not to mention my friends from Ponyville. What I don’t respect are ponies like Blueblood.”
“So you blast ponies you don’t respect? Should I be worried?”
“No! I just…” she bit her lip. “It’s complicated.”
“I’m used to listening to complicated explanations. Twilight used to give me lectures when she learned something new and exciting. Magical theory, the Tooth Filly, the history of the Summer Sun Celebration…”
“Can we at least get away from all this?” She looked around her at the ponies changing into their dress armor, most of them slowly trying to edge away from us, uncomfortable both with their boss being in the room and the presence of one pony who was briefly on the Most Wanted list.
“Sure. Let’s get you into a uniform so you look a little more official and a little less like the witch we’re going to go chat with,” I said. The Quartermaster’s office was one of the most tightly controlled parts of the guard barracks. Though we rarely had cause to break them out, we had a lot of dangerous weapons locked up in case of emergency. Sunlances, Dragon-slaying swords, enchanted wingblades, and more exotic items.
“So what’s my temporary rank?” Sunset asked. “General? Major?”
“Close,” I said, walking up to the Quartermaster’s desk. “Double Header, can you give me an inhibitor ring and a set of trainee armor?” Double Header, like all good Quartermasters, had been around for as long as I could remember and had connections that we very carefully didn’t ask about. He’d gotten his cutie mark under a set of circumstances that involved a bit with two heads and his first run-in with the Royal Guard.
“An inhibitor ring?” Sunset asked. “You think we’re going to run into that much trouble?”
“No, it’s for you,” I said.
“Wait one bucking minute,” Sunset said, with the tone of a bomb in the process of ticking down rapidly towards zero. Double Header looked at her, then at me, then shrugged and dropped to the ground behind the desk.
I really wished I could take cover, too.
“It’s training,” I explained, backing up a step and holding up a hoof for mercy. Really I just didn’t want her blowing up any civilians. “It’s important to know how to solve problems without resorting to magic. De-escalating problems before it comes to a fight is a much more useful skill than knowing how to make a crater big enough to show up on a map.”
“What a pain in the flank…” Sunset muttered.





“It wouldn’t chafe if you adjusted the straps properly,” I pointed out, as we sat in the chariot. Sunset had been uncomfortable for almost the whole ride, mostly because some parts were too loose and she’d over-adjusted in the wrong places to try and compensate.
“It’s fine,” Sunset muttered, forcing herself to stop pawing at a loose pauldron.
“Don’t blame me when your coat starts falling out,” I warned.
“I’ll just put a hex on you if it does,” she said, which I hoped was a joke.
Below us, the hills rushed by, a maze of cliffs and shadow. It wasn't quite a forest, and not quite mountains, and not quite where anypony would want to live. They'd tried laying train tracks once, and the ponies involved swore the earth itself would move when they weren't watching, and new crests and valleys and pitfalls would appear overnight. You could only see the line of trusses in a few places where it broke free from the brush, which was universally thorny and inedible.
Arriving by chariot wasn’t exactly subtle, but it was the best option since neither of us had wings and it was too far to safely teleport. It also made us more official, and I felt every little bit would help if Sunset started causing trouble.
“Put us down in the middle of town,” I yelled, the two pegasai pulling the chariot nodding and banking gently to start putting us into a spiral downwards.
“So why do you think there’s a witch around here?” Sunset asked. “Seems like a nice place.”
I couldn’t tell if she was being sarcastic or not. Hollow Shades was a tangled town, with narrow streets and looming awnings. The buildings some shelter from an almost-constant drizzle of rain, but the ground was almost invisible between oddly-angled shadows and mist rising from the cobblestones. Cliffs loomed overhead like breaking waves, not actually shielding us from the rain and just providing constant streams of ice-cold water.
“Nicer than the Everfree,” Sunset specified. “Probably fewer monsters around, though since we’re looking for a witch, maybe that’s not quite the case.”
“Keep your eyes open,” I warned, as the carriage set down, the wheels almost instantly sinking an inch into the soft soil. “The locals here aren’t friendly. They haven’t attacked any guards yet, but I don’t want them to decide they want to stab the Princess’ daughter while I’m supposed to keep you out of trouble.”
Sunset rolled her eyes. “Please. There’s not even anypony around.”
“No matter what you think, it’s my hide on the line,” I pointed out. “If she’s even half as protective of you as she is of Cadance, she’ll have me scrubbing latrines and saying ‘sir’ to guard recruits if you end up getting hurt.”
She snorted, laughing. “She’d probably give you a medal and give me a stern warning about being careful.”
“Tell that to Pillow Talk,” I said, helping Sunset get down. The ground was solid enough to hold us, but I didn’t like the feel of the dirt away from the cobblestone paths. “She got demoted so far they had her in Stalliongrad shoveling snow.”
“Never heard of her,” Sunset shrugged.
“She was the pony who was assigned to keep an eye on you after you left the castle.”
“...Blue mare, yellow mane?” Sunset asked, her pace slowing.
“That’s the one. After you air-dropped yourself out of the train, the Princess wasn’t very happy with her. Took her years to get back to Canterlot… and then on her first mission watching Twilight, she got ditched again.”
Sunset pawed at the wet dirt. “That, um. That was also my fault.”
“You might want to tell your mother that,” I suggested. “Maybe before Pillow Talk gets frostbite from her second Long Patrol in the North.”
“I’ll… talk to Celestia. That pony shouldn’t suffer for what I did.”
“Maybe,” I said. “But keep in mind it was her job, and she failed at it. If you noticed her, that was her fault. When you ditched her, that was her fault too. I’m not saying you shouldn’t apologize for making her job difficult, but…”
“But it’s still her job,” Sunset finished. “I get it.”
I nodded. “Now, let’s look busy. I have the official reports, but I like to get the story from somepony on the ground. If we hit up town hall, we might get a guide and an update at the same time.”
“What about the ponies you already have here?” Sunset asked.
“You remember how the Princess mentioned we were having problems? One of those problems is that the two guards who were investigating this up and vanished. They haven’t reported in for three days. Tracking spells aren’t working, and we need answers.”
“And you haven’t sent anypony here sooner?” Sunset frowned.
“Sending guards in with no information leads to more missing guards. Celestia and I were discussing it, among other things, when the castle got a few extra holes and we had to adjourn the meeting early.”
“Great,” Sunset said. “So it’s my fault.”
“And you get to fix it!” I said, grinning. “Besides, we really did need an expert. I was going to ask for Professor Grey Scale from the University--”
“That old fogey?!” Sunset laughed.
“He teaches defense against the dark arts,” I pointed out. “He was well-qualified.”
“Please. That snub-horned stallion couldn’t hex his way out of a paper bag! He only got the job because the last instructor vanished in mysterious circumstances. Just like the last seven.”
The position of Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts had been cursed for two centuries, ever since Hexenhammer had been passed over for tenure and he swore revenge against the school.
“Maybe Grey Scale finally broke the curse by being so awful at his job that it doesn’t consider him a teacher,” Sunset snarked. “When I was in school, I went to a few of his classes. He told me not to come back after he brought in a Boogeypone and I blew it up when it tried to spook me. How was I supposed to know it was an endangered species?”
I had to laugh at that. “Remind me not to surprise you.” I turned and motioned for her to follow me as I walked up to the Town Hall, the tallest building in Hollow Shades thanks to its clock tower, not that there was much competition. Most buildings were only a single story, though nearly all had extensive basements. From what I knew, it was partly practical, since buildings would sink anyway without deep foundations, and it was partly cultural, since a lot of the residents were batponies and liked staying underground during the day.
I knocked on the door, once. Before I could get a second knock in, it creaked open an inch.
“Can I help you?” Came a voice from inside. I could only make out golden eyes, almost glowing in the dim light.
“We’re here to look into the recent problems,” I said, without getting too specific. I liked to start with very general terms, to see how much ponies would give up without being prompted. Sometimes they’d change their story or assume you meant something else entirely.
“The dark magus and the missing guards,” the pony muttered. “Come in. It’s not safe to talk outside.”
The door opened wider, and I nodded for Sunset to follow me. Inside, the hall was dark and dank, with dim blue lights providing only nominal illumination.
“Usually the town is more lively,” said the unseen pony. “But ponies are staying indoors after what happened.”
“That’s understandable,” I offered. “We’re here to try and sort it out. Any information you can give us would be a help.” I tried to keep an eye as the pony paced in the gloom, though it was difficult.
The pony huffed. “One week ago, two ponies were found dead in their home. Their daughter is still missing. Two guards were investigating, and they’re gone.”
“You must know more than that,” I said, trying a firmer tone. “A foal is missing. We need to find her.”
“They were good ponies,” the stallion snapped. “If I could find their foal I would, but the last two ponies who tried vanished, and I don’t intend to follow them. Now go do your business and get out!”





“Such a friendly thestral,” Sunset muttered. “You’d think with Luna back they’d be a little happier.”
I shrugged, walking down the street towards the scene of the disappearance.
“And can you believe that town hall?” Sunset asked. “Stacks of paperwork older than I am. I bet they handle everything here themselves.”
“I couldn’t see anything inside,” I said. “The lighting was way too dim.”
“You don’t have a night vision spell?” Sunset sounded surprised. “I thought that would be standard for the Guard. I learned it when I was a foal so I could read after lights-out.”
“When we get back, maybe you can teach me,” I said. I didn't notice until much later that she'd cast it right through the inhibitor ring without me noticing. “You probably know a bunch of useful spells. Being in the guard, I haven’t had much of a chance to really do academic work.”
“I’d be happy to,” Sunset said, smiling. For once it wasn’t filled with sarcasm or the toothy grin of a predator. Maybe she could be a normal pony once in a while.
I’d like to say the walk to the scene of the crime was in comfortable silence, but both of us were on guard, every motion in the shadows and noise from the woods putting us on edge. At least we were watching out for each other, and Sunset didn’t set anything on fire on the way there.
“I think this is the place,” Sunset said, stopping in front of an unassuming home. “I can feel the dark magic.” It had the feeling of dirty slush, icy and filthy and oppressive.
“I’ll go in first,” I said. “Just in case. If I vanish, it’s your responsibility to find me.”
“If you vanish, I promise to burn things down until I find your body,” Sunset swore, with a mocking salute.
“Close enough.” I pushed the front door open, the heavy wooden door swinging ajar at a touch. I wondered if we were going to have to deal with looting or if the nature of the crime would keep the curious ponies away.
“You said it was a week ago?” Sunset asked, as she walked in after me, looking around. The home didn’t look like it had been disturbed by more than spiders building cobwebs in the corners. A fine layer of dust had settled over everything.
“And three days ago when the guards I sent here vanished,” I affirmed, my horn lighting up to give us some illumination to work with. “You can see their hoofprints in the dust.” 
“They went downstairs,” Sunset noted, following the hoofprints down the wide staircase. The lower floor was damp, with a faint smell of iron, and even more disorganized than the upstairs. There had clearly been a struggle here. A broken table lay in one corner, a bookcase had been emptied and thrown aside. The worst thing were the stains, brown and all over the floor and walls.
“This is where it happened,” I said, looking around. The dark magic was thick here. No wonder ponies had left the house alone.
“Blood magic,” Sunset muttered. “You can tell from the patterns on the walls. It was flowing sideways, towards the caster. They would have been standing right around here…” she stepped over to where the worst staining was, and I could see her point. Even with the dry stains, I could imagine the drips and drops of crimson crawling towards some dark pony.
“Dangerous?” I asked, though the answer seemed obvious.
“Very,” Sunset said. “Both for the caster and for anypony around her. All dark magic works by converting some outside resource into magical energy to fuel its effects. Blood magic is the simplest, and turns life energy into magic energy.” She looked around the room as she spoke, not moving from the locus where the spells had been cast. “Most ponies can do it without training, if they’re really desperate, by drawing on their own life to fuel their magic. They usually die in the process.”
“And this?” I gestured to the mess.
“Pulling the life out of other ponies is extremely dangerous, illegal, and way too easy,” Sunset said quietly. “I don’t even think they did anything with the magic. They just let the blood magic fuel itself and then…” she looked up the stairs. “They didn’t go out that way. If they ran through this while it was still wet, they’d have left tracks on the floor.”
I stepped around Sunset, looking for a back door. “Could they have teleported away?”
She hesitated, and her horn flickered despite the ring around it. “No trace of a teleport matrix. Even if they were using spells to hide where they went, they couldn’t hide that they left, not when we’re physically here to check.”
“And you can check that even with an inhibitor ring?” I asked. Maybe it was broken.
“Wearing heavy saddlebags doesn’t mean you can’t run, it just makes it harder,” Sunset said, rolling her eyes like I was asking stupid questions.
“So then the only other option…” I muttered, looking up as I felt a small draft. “One of the windows is open.”
“Tight squeeze, but a pony could get through that,” Sunset agreed.
I reared up to look. “Blood on the windowsill and the inside of the glass.” I looked down to where I was standing on the fallen bookcase. “They could have used the bookcase to climb up, and gotten out before it fell down.”
“Let’s get outside and look for a trail,” Sunset said, starting for the stairs. With her limp, I got ahead of her without even trying, opening the front door to find three ponies waiting for us.
The closest pony, a stout earth pony that looked like he probably knocked trees over by leaning against them too hard, leered at us. “Look at what we have here, boys. A couple more of Celestia’s little lapdogs.”
“This is our town,” grumbled a batpony standing next to him. “We don’t need you barging in and acting like you own the place.”
“Please stand aside,” I said, trying to remain calm. “We’re conducting an investigation and if you interfere, I’ll have to arrest you.”
“Arrest us?” The batpony laughed. “I’d like to see you try. My friend back there?” He nodded to the unicorn standing behind them. “He’s so strong that when he kicks your flank, your cutie mark is gonna turn into his hoofprint.”
I looked over the earth pony’s shoulder to look. The unicorn had a dangerous look in his eyes, and I could see the stress marks on his horn from here. I wasn’t an expert but I was pretty sure that was a bad sign.
“Strong, huh?” Sunset asked. She stepped around me, and I felt my coat stand on end.
“That’s right,” the unicorn hissed. “I’ve trained for three decades to get stronger than anypony else. I’ve pushed myself to the edge and beyond, and might makes right around here. Go back to Canterlot. We solve our own problems.”
Sunset laughed, obviously amused.
“Thirty years, and you’re that weak? That’s sad. To have worked so hard… for so little.” Her horn blazed with cyan light. I took a step back on instinct. Guards might have been trained to be able to run into danger, but common sense said that a little distance would be healthy.
“You’re bluffing,” the unicorn muttered, looking at Sunset. I could see sweat starting to bead upon his brow.
“Keep your eye on the birdie,” Sunset said, a ball of energy forming at the tip of her horn.
“Sunset,” I warned, not needing to complete the thought.
“You’re no fun,” Sunset sighed. She tilted her head and fired the bright sphere to the side, the orb gently bobbing like a soap bubble and popping against a twisted, dead tree. For a moment I thought it hadn’t done anything, until the tree turned grey and started to crumble, having been turned to ashes from the inside out.
The three thugs visibly paled at the sight and started backing off.
“Move along,” I said, firmly. Their will finally broke, and they ran, directly away from the tree Sunset had destroyed.
“Kids these days,” Sunset snorted. “Am I right?”
“You’re younger than any of them,” I pointed out.
“As a professional witch I’m allowed to be as old or young as I want,” Sunset retorted, sticking out her tongue at me. “It’s one of the many perks, like looking great in black.”
“Let’s just see if we can find a trail,” I said, shaking my head and trying to avoid getting into an argument with her.
The back of the house was a marsh, the rain refusing to soak into parched ground and turning it into layers of dusty mud on top of soil that’d been baked into something as tough as pottery. It was the same kind of landslide-prone terrain you got in spots that were almost a desert but decided to mix things up and have a flash flood a few times a year.
“The pony came out here,” Sunset noted, as we reached a window with obvious scrapes and hoofprints in the soft ground.
“So now we just have to figure out where they went,” I said, looking around. “And tracking spells already failed, according to the last report from the other guards. Any idea on where to start?”
“Well, your sister would probably come up with some brilliant and unstable method,” Sunset said. “Like… reversing a tracking spell so it shows all the directions the pony didn’t go in, and walking towards the blank spots in the detection matrix!”
“That sounds like a great idea,” I said, nodding with approval.
“Sure, just give me a month or two to work out how to actually do it,” Sunset snorted. “That kind of theoretical work is more up Twilight’s alley. I prefer more practical methods…” She trailed off as she looked around at the thick brush. “This way.”
“What, did you figure out a tracking spell we can use?” I asked. “Maybe something that detects magical auras that are days old?”
“No, there are just a bunch of broken branches in the brambles over there, and more hoofprints.” She pointed. “I thought this was supposed to be training about not using magic.”
I glanced at the pile of grey ashes.
“Okay, maybe I used a little magic, but I didn’t blast anypony!”
“We’ll call it an improvement,” I agreed. “But one thing you didn’t notice was the multiple sets of hoofprints.” I pointed to a larger set. “These were made by ponies wearing armored shoes. The guards went this way.”
“I’m not sure I like that they go that way and never come back,” Sunset said.
“Do you want me to lead the way?” I offered.
“I’ve got this,” Sunset said. “Maybe I should join full-time and steal your job out from under you.”
“Twilight wouldn’t like it very much,” I said. “She’d have to let me mooch off of her while I found another line of work.”
“I’m sure a stallion with your qualifications would have no trouble finding a top-flight job in the manual labor or food service industries.”
I laughed and watched her back, though she didn’t offer any other jabs, quickly becoming too busy focusing on the actual job of following the trail through the streets and into the shrublands and moors beyond. It was interesting, watching her work. I’d worked alongside a lot of different guards, and her technique was more like the ones the Earth Ponies used. I even saw her muttering under her breath like she was whispering to the plants and asking them which way to go.
“Here,” she said, holding up a hoof. She didn’t need to. I could feel it. The pressure of dark magic on my horn, like a dirty, wintery chill.
“We’re not even that far out of town,” I said.
“It’s far enough to get lost forever,” Sunset said. She cautiously stepped forwards. “Stay behind me. I know enough about blood magic to keep myself safe, you don’t.”
I nodded and followed her. The hills were patchy and uneven, low-lying plants with deep roots forming islands in a maze of troughs worn into the ground by water, long grass and thistles making it impossible to follow depressions and holes in the terrain. Eventually, the ground firmed up and gave way to cracked and ancient paving stones. They had to be centuries old, forming an uneven and partially-sunken road leading to the ruins of a tower.
Sunset got most of the way to the tower before stopping and looking to the side.
“Found the missing guards,” she muttered. She bent the long grass along the side of the stone path, revealing two crumpled forms, their golden armor looking tarnished and rusty under the coating of dried blood covering everything.
“We need to be extremely careful,” I said. I’d have to mourn them later. Guards deserved to be avenged. “The Maleficarum is strong enough to take out trained guards, so we can’t take it lightly.”
“Her,” Sunset corrected.
“Huh?” I frowned.
“It’s a her,” Sunset explained. “Not an it. Just stay back and let me handle this. I have… a feeling about this one.” She shook her head, as if trying to ward off some stray thought, and walked up to the front door of the tower, a door of worm-ridden planks that hung limply from a broken hinge.
I followed closely, intent on watching for danger. I could hear something from inside, a faint sound. Somepony crying.
“That’s the missing--” I started, hissing and trying to get past Sunset to look inside.
“Stay back,” Sunset said again, shoving me to the side before I could enter. She walked ahead of me into the gloom. She cleared her throat, and the crying stopped. “I’m coming in. I’m not here to hurt you.”
“Stay away!” Yelled a scratchy voice from within. It sounded like a foal. It had to be the missing foal from town.
“We’re here to rescue you,” I said. Sunset glared back at me and motioned for me to be quiet.
“I don’t want to be rescued!” the foal shouted. “Stay away!” There was a pulse of red, crackling over everything like a wave of crimson fog. I felt something inside of me twist, like a magnet pulling at my innards. Blood hit my lips, and I coughed, immediately woozy.
I fell to my knees, and Sunset’s horn lit up. The pain faded, but I felt drained and empty.
“That was close,” Sunset muttered. “Keep a shield up around yourself. It’ll help a little.” I nodded and enclosed myself in a bubble shield, Sunset stepping back as it snapped shut.
“Please, just stay away!” The foal yelled. “I don’t want to hurt you!”
“I know,” Sunset said. “Just calm down. I’m here to help you.”
“No you aren’t! You’re just going to take me away like the other ones wanted to! Go away!” There was another surge of red light. This time, I was able to focus enough to see what happened when it hit Sunset. The magic just fizzled around her, like water hitting a hot griddle, evaporating and sliding away.
Sunset pulled off her helm, shaking her mane free as it returned to its normal color.
“If you want us to go away, we will,” Sunset said, as she tossed the helm aside. “I’m not here to arrest you or tell you what to do. I’m just worried you’re going to hurt yourself. Blood magic is dangerous, but… you already know that.”
“I didn’t want to hurt them,” the foal whispered.
“Just come out here where I can see you,” Sunset said. “I promise I won’t do anything. I just want to make sure you’re not hurt.”
There was a shuffling in the darkness, and a small shape limped closer, stepping out of the shadows. She was young, as young as my sister had been before she left home, just barely old enough to have gotten her cutie mark.
“My name is Sunset Shimmer.” Sunset gestured to me. “That’s Shining Armor. A lot of ponies were worried that you’d gotten hurt.”
“I’m fine,” the foal said, looking down.
“Really?” Sunset asked. “Because it looked to me like you twisted your ankle while you were climbing out of that window.”
“How did you know that?!”
“You’re limping. It’s something I notice.” She lifted her bad leg, waving it a little. “You should get that bandaged up before it gets worse.”
The foal sat down. “It only hurts a little.”
“That’s why we don’t want it to get worse,” Sunset said. “What’s your name?”
“Ruby Drop,” she whispered. I felt well enough to step a little closer and give the filly a brave smile. Sunset held out a hoof, and Ruby lifted her injured leg.
“That’s not so bad. Looks like it’s healing pretty well.” Sunset smiled at the foal. “You don’t look like you’ve been eating well. When’s the last time you had a hot meal?”
“I--it was breakfast. Before my mom and dad-- before I--” Ruby squeezed her eyes shut, trying not to cry.
“What happened?” Sunset asked.
“I hurt them,” Ruby whispered. “I didn’t mean to. Mom was trying to show me a healing spell and-- and I did something wrong. Then everything turned red, and they were screaming, and I had to-- I had to run!” She looked up at Sunset. “It’s not fair! Getting a cutie mark is supposed to be good, but it just made me hurt everypony!”
“Healing magic and blood magic are two sides of the same coin,” Sunset muttered. “One turns magic into life energy, the other does the opposite.”
“I didn’t want to hurt them!” Ruby sobbed, finally breaking down. “I couldn’t stop!”
“I know,” Sunset said, pulling the foal into a hug. “Do you know how I got my cutie mark?” Ruby shook her head, looking up at Sunset. “I was trying to cast a spell, and there was a big accident, and a lot of fire and noise. A lot of ponies got hurt. I almost died.” Sunset sighed. “I had nightmares for a long time. I couldn’t even be around candles without having a panic attack.”
“Do they ever stop?” Ruby asked.
“Not on their own,” Sunset said. “In my nightmares I didn’t have control. I had to learn that control in the real world. I had to be able to feel confident in it. Once I knew I wasn’t going to hurt ponies like that again, I stopped having those nightmares. Mostly.” She ran a hoof through the filly’s mane. “I had a really good teacher, but it still took a long time. I wouldn’t have been able to do it on my own.”
“My mom was supposed to teach me,” Ruby whispered, before breaking down into sobbing.
“We should get her back to town,” I said, quietly. “It’s not safe here.”
“You’d be surprised at how well a foal can do, living in the wild by herself,” Sunset said. “But it’s definitely not fun.”
“She might have relatives. Given her age, it’s obvious this was just an accident.” I sighed. “A tragic one, but still an accident.”
“Not going to throw her in irons?” Sunset smirked.
“Justice is about making things right, not about punishment,” I said, firmly. “Ruby doesn’t need to be punished. She needs help. Maybe you can put in a word for her with the Princess? She probably listens to you more than she does to me.”
“The School for Gifted Unicorns would have the staff and facilities for it,” Sunset admitted. “And the teachers are used to dealing with magical accidents. At least, they’d better be after having me and Twilight as students.”
“There were worse,” Shining smiled. “One filly in Twilight’s class managed to burn down the auditorium with fireworks.”
“No wonder they need so much funding,” Sunset snorted. “Ruby, are you ready to go? I promise it’ll be better than staying out here.”
“I can’t go back to town!” Ruby said, rubbing her eyes. “I-I hurt ponies! Everypony is going to hate me and I can’t control my magic yet!”
“I know what might help,” Sunset said. Her horn lit up, and the inhibitor ring slid free. I felt my heart skip a beat. That should have been all kinds of impossible. They were difficult to hold at all with telekinesis, and designed to be impossible for the wearer to remove at all.
“How did you--” I asked. Instead of answering, Sunset waved a hoof at me imperiously.
“Now, Ruby, this is going to feel a little strange, and it’s going to make it a little hard for you to use magic, but it’ll keep you from having any accidents, okay?” Sunset asked. Ruby nodded, and Sunset slid the ring over the foal’s horn, the band resizing itself to fit.
“It feels all tingly…” Ruby complained.
“Don’t worry,” Sunset said. “It’s just to keep you safe until we find you a teacher.”
“There are some great teachers in the healing arts at the School,” I agreed.
“She’ll need to learn about Blood Magic, too,” Sunset said.
“But that’s dark magic.” I had a bad feeling about the way this conversation was going.
“It’s fine. She needs to learn.” Sunset waved a hoof, trying to dismiss my concerns again. I frowned, and she rolled her eyes. “Look, what’s more dangerous -- a trained pony with a crossbow, or an untrained pony with a crossbow?”
“The trained one,” I said, immediately.
“Is it? Maybe more dangerous if you’re fighting him. But what if everypony was given a crossbow? Are more ponies going to end up getting hurt if they’re trained, or if they’re untrained?”
“That’s a different question,” I said. “A trained pony is more dangerous to somepony he wants to hurt. An untrained one is more dangerous to the ponies they don’t want to hurt.”
“Glad you agree. Ruby doesn’t want to hurt anypony,” Sunset said. “So she needs training.”
I sighed. I had the distinct feeling that, right or wrong, she was probably going to get her way. Sure, finding a tutor for her was going to be all but impossible, since dark magic was more or less illegal. Maybe Grey Scale could do something, if the curse on his position didn’t end up getting him killed.
“You’re right.” More importantly, it wasn’t worth arguing about when Princess Celestia was ultimately going to be the one to make the decision. Especially not in front of a scared foal.
“Every once in a while,” Sunset muttered. She picked Ruby up. “Ready to go?”
“I guess…” Ruby sounded unsure. Sunset put her on my back.
“Don’t worry. Everything’s going to be…” Sunset hesitated. “It’ll get better. You might have to work at it, and it might not be easy, and it might take a while, but it gets better.”
I gave Ruby a smile to try and reassure her, and started walking after Sunset, making sure to keep my pace even so the filly wouldn’t fall off. It was something I was good at, after giving my sister plenty of rides when she was too busy reading to walk.
The moment we walked out of the tower, a pencil-thin bolt of purple magic cracked into the stone next to my head, barely missing Ruby. I snapped up a shield to protect myself and Ruby, and the next blast hit it with the force of a crossbow, making my ward ring like a bell. There was nothing I could do to stop the third. Sunset’s head snapped back as the magic hit her face.
“Hah! Not so funny now, is it!” The three thugs from town stepped out of the brush from where they’d been hiding.
“The kid’s coming with us,” the big earth pony rumbled.
“Put her down and run, or you’ll get the same as your show-off friend!” The batpony sneered at me.
“Um, why ain’t she fallin’ down yet?” The earth pony whispered, turning to the skinny unicorn behind him.
“I didn’t know I was supposed to,” Sunset said, slowly turning to look at the unicorn. There was a tiny scorch mark on her cheek from where the magical bolt had hit.
“It’s just some kinda trick!” The unicorn yelled. “Grab her!”
The earth pony and batpony ran for Sunset. I couldn’t protect them and Ruby at the same time.
“Close your eyes,” I told the filly on my back.
“Why?” She asked. Before I could answer, the two ponies charging at Sunset were jerked into the air by her magic, the batpony screaming as something popped in his wing.
“Because I think she’s really upset this time,” I said.
She tilted her head, and the two ponies she was holding slammed into each other. “You’re probably pretty impressive compared to the average unicorn,” she said, glaring at the unicorn who’d blasted her. The two ponies she was holding yelled in alarm as Sunset started squeezing them together, like a sphere growing smaller around them.
Sunset let the ball bounce, dribbling it against the ground like she was playing with a toy. The two ponies in it yelped and shouted and generally weren’t happy about the arrangement.
“I’m not average,” Sunset explained, as if it wasn’t obvious. “Frankly, you’re the weakest unicorn for miles around. Even Ruby is stronger than you, and she’s a foal with a brand-new cutie mark.”
“I’m not weak!” The unicorn was almost foaming at the mouth in rage. “You don’t even know what I’m capable of!”
“Show me,” Sunset said, shrugging. She tossed the ball of ponies away, letting them smash into an old olive tree and hang in the branches like two very large bruised fruits with major concussions.
I wasn’t sure about the wisdom of taunting a pony who was obviously unstable and with enough power to get somepony hurt. A warning might be called for.
I just didn’t know how to warn him about taunting Sunset Shimmer.
“You think you’re better than me?” The unicorn sneered, and a dark aura surrounded his horn. Smoke started to pour from the corners of his eyes. “I’ve seen the peak of your power, and I’m only beginning to tap into mine!”
“Imperial Dark Magic, huh?” Sunset tilted her head. “That’s pretty old fashioned. I’m curious where you learned that.”
“You can try figuring it out when you’re dead,” the unicorn hissed. I felt a horrible creeping cold wash over me, even through the shield I had up. It was like a rain had started, a rain of invisible dirty slush that left me feeling instantly filthy. Crystals started growing around the unicorn’s hooves, cracking and snapping as they twisted up almost knee-high
A bolt of black energy twisted towards Sunset, corkscrewing through the air. I didn’t see her have any kind of chance to put up a defense before it hit with a deafening sound of shattering metal. A cloud of dust swirled around us, pressing at the edges of my shield and blinding me.
As it cleared, I heard the unicorn laughing.
“You look a little ruffled,” the unicorn crowed, sounding pleased with himself.
A burst of wind cleared the swirling dust from around Sunset. Her armor was hanging half off of her, one pauldron shattered and her peytral hanging awkwardly from broken straps. She rolled her eyes and pulled the armor off, tossing it aside.
“Yes, well, looks aren’t everything.” She ran a hoof through her mane, pushing back a few loose strands.
“You’re going to pay for what you did to Spade and Boxer,” the unicorn said, confidently. “I’m way stronger than you are.”
“That’s… really what you think?” Sunset seemed disappointed. “Dark magic barely counts at all, since it’s not your power that you’re using. Do you honestly think I’m impressed by this?”
He grinned, ready to cast something huge and deadly. A ball of shadows and pale purple light swirled at the tip of his horn.
“Okay, getting bored now,” Sunset said, before she vanished with a flash of light, teleporting right next to the other unicorn before unleashing a blast of force that shattered the crystals growing around his hooves and sent him flying into a thorny bush.
The stallion shrieked like a foal as he struggled, trying to pull himself free as the thorns dug into his skin.
“He’s gonna be in there for a while,” Sunset said. “So does anypony else really feel like lunch? I’d kill for a hayburger.”





“...Rescue teams spent about six hours cutting back plant growth to get to the stallion,” I said, as Princess Celestia looked over my reports with a frown. “The other two will be in traction for a month or two, but should make a full recovery.”
“I see,” Princess Celestia said. She put the reports down on her desk. “And Ruby Drop? I note that you haven’t made any formal recommendations in your report.”
“I… feel that it isn’t my place to recommend anything,” I said. “I know Sunset--”
“I’m asking for your opinion, not Sunset’s,” the Princess said, cutting me off. “Your opinion is more impartial than hers, in this case.”
“Sunset is ultimately correct that Ruby Drop needs to be trained,” I said, after a short pause. “I don’t like the idea of teaching a foal dark magic, or teaching anypony at all dark magic, for that matter. If she isn’t taught how to control her power, though, she’ll have to spend her entire life wearing an inhibitor ring.”
Celestia tapped a quill against her desk, then started writing, not even looking at the parchment as words scrawled along the page.
“You don’t believe the foal should be punished for what she did?”
“With all due respect, it was an accident on her part,” I said. “And she has to live knowing what she did. That’s bad enough for anypony.”
Celestia stopped writing and smiled. “Good. I’m glad you agree. I’m going to write a pardon for her use of dark magic and have her placed in a special program in the School for Gifted Unicorns.”
“If I might make a suggestion?” I coughed. “Until she has some training, she should be kept away from the general population.”
“She’ll also need the time to adjust to her new situation. Some familiar faces might help as well…” Celestia smiled. I knew that smile. It was the one she always had on when she was doing something she’d been planning for a long time, and you’d walked right into it and given her the opportunity to reveal just how clever she was.
“You want Sunset to teach her,” I blurted out, before she could reveal her plan. She looked surprised. “She taught Twilight, and she already knows Ruby.”
“More than that, she knows more about dark magic than anypony in Canterlot,” Celestia said. “Well, not quite as much as my sister or I, but I hope she never has to learn about it the same way we did.”
I wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so I remained silent and at attention. Celestia looked at me after being lost in thought for a few moments.
“What do you think of her, Captain Armor?”
“Of Ruby, or Sunset?” I asked, not sure who she meant.
“Both.”
“Ruby reminds me of what could have happened to Twilight if things had gone a little differently during her entrance exam. She seems like a good foal, and what she did is going to haunt her for the rest of her life.”
I gathered myself before continuing. What I thought about Ruby Drop wasn’t nearly as important as what I thought about the Princess’ daughter, and I knew it.
“Sunset is… dangerous.” I said, finally.  “I’ve never seen anypony with that much magic. Worse, she uses it and doesn’t care about the consequences. What she did to those stallions was completely unnecessary. She could have stunned them and brought them in without hurting them, but she was playing with them. She almost killed them because she was treating them like a cat treats a mouse. I’d say she has no empathy, but with Ruby she was… well, she was like a decent pony.”
“She is a decent pony,” Celestia said, though it was clear from her tone that she was somewhat troubled as well. “She has friends, she’s been trying to make amends for what she did as a foal.”
“Even so, she almost killed several ponies. If she was really in the guard, that kind of excessive force would be completely unacceptable. She needs more empathy.” I paused. “That said, in a pinch, I can’t think of anypony I’d rather have backing me up. She’s resourceful, intelligent, and extremely talented.” I shook my head. “I sure wouldn’t want her against me, at least.”
“Thank you, Captain Armor,” Princess Celestia said. “You’ve done an exceptional job in difficult circumstances.” The way she said it made it clear that I was dismissed. I turned to leave and paused at the door, looking back.
“She really respects you, you know,” I said. Celestia looked up from what she was reading, her expression unreadable. “I don’t know exactly what happened between you two, but she’d do almost anything to try and get your approval. I don’t need Cadance to tell me that Sunset loves you.”
Princess Celestia smiled a little, though there was something melancholy to it. “Thank you, Shining Armor.”