POV: Markus
Twilight and I both sat on opposite ends of the Royal Cabin. At the moment, we hadn’t departed just yet, as still more passengers were trying to board. Twilight sat there, looking out the window, or at least pretending to. I could see in her reflection, that she was observing me with fear-filled eyes. I don’t blame her. I DID pull quite the stunt in the palace after all. However: it was necessary, even if I would’ve liked to keep my composure.
The train started to move and Twilight turned around to face the middle of the room, though she actively tried to avoid looking at me, instead finding interest in a particular spot on the ground. Neither of us said a word. It was silence. Pure, unnerving silence. Though: I’m sure it was the worst for Twilight. She was sitting in the same cabin with the one who broke her brother’s jaw seemingly without any regrets, after all. I had to do something about it.
We closed in on the tunnel and I decided that this would be the perfect chance for a move. Thus, as we entered the tunnel, I quickly changed sides, without a single step and without any noise, by turning on my heel. I placed myself directly beside Twilight, seemingly without her notice.
The train exited the tunnel, bathing the cabin in the sun’s rays yet again. Twilight was still looking at the ground before her, concentrating on that particular spot. After only a few seconds however, her eyes made their way upward, looking at my previous spot and noticing that I was no longer there. Her mouth opened slightly and her eyes narrowed, a slight shiver spreading across her body. She moved her gaze slightly to my side, her shiver growing into a full grown tremble as she spied me with the corner of her eyes. I meanwhile had my arm placed on her backrest and my head turned to face the middle of the room, while I looked down at her only with my eyes.
Her ears drooped back, her head still pointing to the ground. Her eyes however were now meeting mine, showing pure terror. I had to suppress my sadism quite a bit to not indulge in this sight for all too long.
I extended my arm towards her head. She seemed like she wanted to skid away, bring some distance between us, however she decided against it. I started stroking her mane, turning my head to her and giving her a gentle smile. She returned a strained smile, however was still looking at the ground. I saw that I would have to try harder. Thus I picked her up like one would one’s cat. She gave a slight squeal as I did so and started struggling against my grip, as if fighting for her life, but I clearly was the stronger one and she gave up after just a few seconds. I placed her on my lap, pressing her head slightly against my chest and holding her in a tight embrace. I could feel her racing heart and increased ventilation through my arms and saw her face paling slightly.
I continued stroking her mane, trying to calm her through pure contact. It didn’t show the desired effect, though. Thus, finally, I faced down to her ears.
“You are afraid of me yet again, are you? Please be assured: I have never meant any harm to any of you and I never will.”
She shifted slightly as I said that, however her heartrate and ventilation still stayed the same.
“You don’t believe me, do you? You think that I lied to you, this morning. That it all was just a ruse to gain your trust. I can’t blame you. I did something truly horrible to your brother and all you can see right now is that I don’t have any regrets towards it.” I leaned yet closer to her head, now whispering directly into her ears. “I can tell you though: I am sorry. I just can’t afford to show it just yet.”
Her heartrate dropped a little and her breathing slowed, but not enough. She was still afraid of me and beyond reasoning.
“But I can also see from your perspective. You are a princess. You have to think about the consequences of what I might do, even if I tell you that I won’t. As such…” I placed the underside of my jaw on her horn. Her eyes shot up, to look what I was doing. They narrowed down, as she slowly caught up on what I was going to say. “…you have to decide if I’m trustworthy, or too dangerous to be kept alive. I can see both sides having a good point. It is up to you to decide. Whatever decision you make: I won’t resist. I won’t complain.”
She closed her eyes and, with a slight whimper, ignited her horn. I closed my eyes myself, being completely calm, knowing that she will make the right decision. Her horn glowed for a while without anything else happening. Suddenly, Twilight’s magic died down and she started to sob. Her heartrate and breathing finally slowed down to normal levels and a slight grin slid over my face.
“Thanks for putting your trust into me. I promise, you won’t regret it.” I said, as I removed my head from her horn.
“Now, that I can be sure that you will listen, I will tell you about my plan.” Her ears perked up to listen. I smiled at the gesture, even though it most likely was subconscious. “You see: I don’t hold any grudge against Shining Armor. Quite the opposite actually: I want to make him an ally.”
Twilight’s head snapped upwards as she began screaming through her sobs. “Well then you’ve truly done a fine job! I’m sure he’s more than willing to side with you after you’ve nearly killed him!”
“I know. Sadly, it was necessary, for you see: I want everyone to think that we despise one another.” Twilight’s expression changed from anger to confusion. I smiled at her, letting out a slight chuckle. Sometimes, she could be just so adorable.
“Twilight, please, can’t you see? I want to control what information our opponent gets. If we can control their information, we can control them.”
I proceeded with telling her the full extent of my current plan. Twilight meanwhile slowly calmed, getting comfortable in my grip, while I was still petting her like a house cat. Seriously, I wouldn’t have been surprised if she would’ve begun purring like one.
“But before all that can happen, I want to ask you to help me redeem myself before Shining Armor. He trusts you, since he’s your brother. He will listen to you when you tell him that he can trust me. I just hope everything else goes as planned…” I said, slowly drifting into the realm of thought.
Twilight meanwhile ruffled herself in my grip, presumably trying to get more comfortable.
“Don’t worry, I will help you.” She said, smiling at me. Her smile however then formed into a slight frown.” But please, promise me that you won’t hurt anyone innocent anymore. It’s just not who you are! It’s not who I want you to be at least...” She said, leaning her head into my chest again.
“Oh, Twilight…” I said, shaking my head. “I can’t promise you something like this. However, I can promise you that I won’t hurt anyone, unless absolutely necessary.” I smiled at her, leaning my head to her ears again and starting to whisper. “And even if I were to ever lose my temper and go on a rampage, be assured that I could never hurt you.” I strengthened my point by giving her payback for what she did earlier in the day and kissing her on her cheek.
Her face immediately went bright-red. With a squeal she dug herself deeper into my chest in order to hide her blush. We remained like that for a while, before Twilight got up from my lap. She sat down next to me and smiled at me.
“We should try to rest a little. We will arrive late at night and I don’t want to miss our stop.”
Twilight giggled and got up from her seat. She then moved to the other side, where I was sitting earlier, and pulled at the lower parts of it, transforming the cushioned bench into a comfy bed. I did the same on my side. I got myself ready to sleep, thoroughly thinking about the past events and what is yet to come. The train ride to Ponyville takes around six hours and it was 8 p.m. already, so we would definitely not arrive today anymore. As such I would definitely check on Rainbow and Fluttershy as soon as we’d arrived.
The train safely arrived in Ponyville at 2:05 a.m. Those extra five minutes probably were due to the surprising amount of passengers that evening. Anyways, while Twilight went back to the Library immediately, to get back to sleep, I went to Fluttershy’s hut, to see how Rainbow was doing.
Actually I was expecting to see them both asleep in the cottage and while I did see ONE Pegasus asleep, the other was amiss.
“Where is Rainb--“ I started to think, before a stream of Rainbow hit me in the face, making me stumble a few steps back. I held my hand over my face, quickly pushing the pain aside. I straightened myself and looked at what had hit me. What I saw was a cyan Pegasus, with a very surprised look on her face.
“Oh my god, Markus, I’m sorry! I thought you would be one of them and I saw you come to the hut, so I—“ She started, but I cut her off by holding my hand over her muzzle.
“Rainbow, it’s okay. All you did was doing exactly what I told you to do. You’ve done a great job, Rainbow Dash.” I smiled at her and gave her a hug as a reward.
“Ah, geez, no problem, I… I wanted her to be safe too, you know…” Rainbow said, a slight blush spreading over her face.
“Still, you’ve done a great job. How about I make up for it by doing something together with you later this day? Let’s say we meet up at Twilight’s around 3 p.m. and I’ll do with you whatever you want?”
“So… even a… date?” She whispered the last word and before I could even think about it, my head answered.
“Sure, if you want to call it that…”
She immediately broke the hug, now brightly and visibly blushing. She desperately looked around for something to suddenly find interest on, while uncomfortably hopping from hoof to hoof. As she found nothing, she just started to stammer. “Ok, 3pm, Library, understood, BYE!” And off she went.
I looked after her a bit and smiled at it. Then, realization hit me.
“Wait… did I just agree on a date with Rainbow Dash? Oh Lord… There I was telling myself that even if I would find someone here, any kind of romanticism would have to wait until I’ve established myself, and now here I am, agreeing on a date with Rainbow Dash…. Now THIS is going to get interesting very soon.”
I turned around and went into Fluttershy’s cottage. She was fast asleep, a bunch of animals curling around her.
“Well, it seems I will stay here for the night. Her animal friends should keep her safe during the day. At least I don’t know anypony beside me, who would voluntarily fight a full-grown brown bear without a proper ranged weapon…” I thought, while making myself comfortable and slowly dozing off into slumber.
Fluttershy was pretty surprised as she found me in her cottage instead of Rainbow Dash, but as she still saw me as her savior, she didn’t freak out. I left for the Library as soon as her animal companions were awake, which was around 7am. At the Library, I first had to calm down Twilight and tell her where I have been. As I told her that I went to check on FLuttershy and decided to stay overnight, she face-hoofed and said to herself, that she could have thought of that.
We spent the rest of the morning to prepare everything for Shining Armor’s arrival and I pre-planned every possible outcome that I could think of.
“Markus, relax… you don’t need to plan so far ahead…” Twilight commented.
“You’re one to talk, Twilight!” Spike called out from the kitchen.
I ignored both of them for the most part, as I was memorizing my planned speech. I had studied Shining Armor closely, both during my time with him and going from my memories about the series. I studied every possible thing he could say and the according answer. Then, the clock hit twelve and somepony knocked at the door.
We quickly placed a chair in the middle of the room. Spike ran upstairs, while I turned myself to face the wall and Twilight opened the door.
Showtime
Shining Armor entered the room. His steps were slow, he didn’t say anything as he entered.
“Good day, Captain Shining Armor, please, have a seat.” I said, without facing him. I heard him slowly coming closer before a loud creak told me that he actually sat down.
“I’m sure you are currently wondering, what atrocities might be waiting for you, now that you’ve voluntarily placed yourself into our grasp.” I said in order to gain time. I turned around and mustered him closely.
“Path A: Nervous/Afraid, Path B: Angry.”
I watched him, taking in everything he did and was. His left front hoof was twitching slightly, he was looking not at me, but at something else on the wall, small drips of sweat were forming on his forehead. He still didn’t say anything.
“Path A, perfect, no correction needed.”
“Well, you see: we’ve decided that the old has passed its due date and is to be replaced by new. We are going to dethrone the solar sisters and you are going to help us.” I said as I started pacing back and forth before Shining Armor.
“Now, Path A: says directly/implies that he won’t partake, Path B: asks about Twilight first”
“Wait, >>we<<? Twilight, you are in this too? What are you thinking?! She’s your Mentor! Your idol!!!”
“Path B taken. Not optimal, but within expectations. Twilight’s turn.”
“I’m sorry, brother, but seeing that she could no longer guarantee the safety of Equestria made me realize, that I have to act, for the good of everypony. For the good of my Friends and all of Equestria.” Twilight played her role perfectly, just like I’ve told her. She maintained an almost monotone voice and didn’t look at her brother.
“What’s wrong with you Twilight?! This isn’t like you at all!” He shouted, but Twilight didn’t flinch (luckily). He turned back to me. “What have you done to her?!”
I feigned an evil smile. “Oh nothing, really. She’s doing all of this on her own accord. More importantly: are you going to take part, or not?”
Shining Armor stood up before me. “Like Tartarus I would!” He snarled into my face.
I pushed him back into the seat. “Well, that certainly is unfortunate…” hearing his command from me, Spike came down with a stack of dishes and >>accidentally<< dropped a knife to the floor, so that Shining Armor would see it.
“Twilight, dear, would you please give me the book with the mind control spell?” I asked, while turning around myself and pretending to look through the bookshelf behind me.
“Yes, master.” Twilight answered, as she trotted over to another bookshelf. That >>master<< was another thing that I’ve told her to do. It was meant to subconsciously imply to Shining Armor, that I was somehow controlling her.
As Twilight reached the shelf, I heard the knife slowly clatter over the floor.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, we got him!”
I heard him jump from his chair and charge at me. “For Equestria!” He screamed, but he was stopped by Twilights magic, mere centimeters before he reached me.
“Twilight, snap out of it! That’s not who you are!” He screamed. Twilight started to giggle and answered him.
“Relax, Shining! You didn’t really think I was going to betray Celestia, did you?”
“Wait, you aren’t saying…” He started, but I cut him off.
“Congratulations, Shining Armor. You’ve passed my loyalty test.” I said, as I turned around to face him once again. I grabbed the knife out of the air and Twilight let go of her brother. I gestured him to take a seat once again, but he decided to just stand there. This actually was a good sign, as it meant that he was overwhelmed by the sudden change of situation, which made him easier to work with.
“However, I sadly can’t say this about the Royal Guard.” I continued.
With that, Shining Armor snapped out if his stupor and growled at me. “Impossible! My Guards are all loyal to Celestia!”
“Oh, I’m sure that they are. However: what’s with those that are only pretending to be your guards?” I asked him, with a clear hint in my tone.
“Are you implying that we have moles within our guard? That’s impossible! No one could ever—“
I cut him off again. “I am certain that there are moles in the guard. How else should that mare have smuggled that dagger into the palace, if I complimented Twilight myself for the tight security measures. In fact, the only reason why I could keep my weapons on me the third time was that Twilight told the guard to let me through. Thus: the only possible way for that Unicorn to pass your security is by having someone to smuggle her in.”
“What if she had used some kind of cloaking magic to cover the dagger?” Shining asked in a desperate attempt to cover for his guards.
“Oh, so now you are doubting the abilities of your own guards huh?” I answered, tilting my head and raising an eyebrow. “Furthermore: even though she spent a thousand years on the moon, Luna is by far not a novice at magic. She would’ve at least sensed that something was wrong.”
Shining Armor wanted to counter something, but he apparently was at a loss of words. He slumped back into the chair, defeated. He looked back up at me. “What are you going to do now?”
I finally had him where I wanted him. Now I could finally let him in on the plan.
“Not I, Shining Armor, WE. I want to work together with you.” I said, looking directly at him. I reached out a hand and after a short moment of hesitation, he shook it with his hoof.
“Splendid.” I continued. “Now, I see two ways how to handle this: we could either try to find the intruders and try to get rid of them, or we could use them to our advantage. I personally favor the latter.”
“Then, how are we going to do this?” He asked.
“Simple: we are going to feed them false information. We will pretend to completely and utterly despise each other. This will likely cause them to contact one of us. Since I bumped heads with this organization once already, this is likely going to be you. They will try to use you to exert power in some way, with the promise of later being able to blame me. Which way this will be, however, I don’t know just yet.”
Shining Armor looked over to Twilight, who gave him a reassuring smile. He looked back to me and nodded. “Ok, I’m in. The only problem I see there is that we can’t have anypony know about this or else they might find out.” He said.
“I know. I’ve already taken preparations on my end. That kick yesterday was actually the first one. Sorry for that by the way. With that the guards will now think that I clearly do not like you very much. Also I’ve asked Rainbow Dash to come over at 3pm, since she was with me when I rescued Fluttershy from this Bloodmoon cult and thus to them is likely to be associated with me.”
Shining Armor looked at Twilight again with a raised eyebrow. “We’ll explain later…” She said with a sheepish smile.
“Aaaaanyways: all we have to do when she arrives is make a little scene. Twilight will then send a letter to Celestia which basically says that she could barely keep us from killing each other. As for Cadence: We I could paint you a black eye with my magic and Twilight would add some swelling. All you would have to do is let Cadence tend to your >>wounds<<. Add some wincing and some muttering about me being an asshole or something like that and it should be enough.”
Shining Armor and Twilight both nodded in agreement.
“But what about Luna?” Twilight then asked.
I put a hand to my chin, thinking deeply about it. “I’m actually considering getting her into the boat. Seeing as I saved her life yesterday, she hopefully holds a good deal of trust towards me and her ability to wander the realm of dreams could actually be quite useful.”
Shining Armor stood up from his chair. He nodded in agreement. “Ok I’m in. just... how are you going to contact Luna without Celestia noticing it?”
“Oh, don’t worry, I have a way of communicating with her. You see: I’m a lucid dreamer. If I want to, I can actively control my dream. I just need to somehow get her attention when she’s on dream-patrol. Maybe I’ll produce a dream where I destroy half of Equestria or something. That should definitely get her attention. Once she’s in my dream, I will explain everything to her. However that will have to wait, since I doubt that she’s currently in a condition to do anything.”
Shining Armor nodded once again. “Ok, let’s do this.”
“Before we proceed any further: Shining Armor, would you please come over here for a moment?”
Shining Armor winced as I said that. Noticing my mistake, I quickly added: “Don’t worry, you won’t be met with a kick this time.” And gave him a reassuring smile.
He slowly made his way towards me, until he was in my reach. I touched his horn (no homo) and a bright light engulfed us.
“Test, Test, does this work?” I thought.
“Woah, what is this?!” Shining’s thoughts echoed through my mind.
“It’s called a thought bridge. I read about it in one of Twilight’s books. With it we now have a very effective means of short- to mid-range communication. However, while we can use it for long distances, it seems like it’s very straining to do so. As such we should go for short messages if communicating between here and the Crystal Empire.”
It must have looked pretty weird from Twilights perspective as we did this. I mean, a human and a grown Stallion which are having a staring contest for no reason probably looked pretty hilarious.
“Also one other thing, Shining Armor:” I turned myself to look out of a window. “I am going to teach you in the art of war.”
I could literally hear Shining Armor’s jaw hit the ground.
“I will teach you tactics and strategies, as well as usage of weapons, resource management and –distribution. I want an ally, after all. Not a pawn. Once we’ve taken care of our first few steps, I will tell you where to meet me and we shall begin our first lesson.”
With that out of the way, we began our last few preparations. I posted Spike upstairs to look out the window and alert us when Rainbow was coming, while we painted Shining Armor a nice, black eye. We were just about done, when the signal came.
“Rainbow is coming!” Spike shouted from upstairs.
“Ok, let’s get this over with.” I said.
We waited for Rainbow to reach the door. Then, it was Showtime…