//------------------------------// // Chapter 20 // Story: Between the Sun and the Moon // by Psychic Smith //------------------------------// CHAPTER‌ ‌X‌X -Earlier that morning- Normally Hurricane gave jobs like this to Lieutenant Sabre, but hindsight is always the clearest. Hugging the walls of the basement of Everfree Castle, Hurricanes hooves fell silently, ears perked, tracking her target just around the next corner. As the captain reached the corner, she peeked and waited for Ironwood to round the next corner before following. They were in one of the auxiliary hallways leading away from the main barracks. Hurricane waited against the wall when Ironwood opened a door on the right side of the next hallway, which could only mean the room was the armory. Hearing the door close, Hurricane quickly and quietly placed her ear against the door. At first, the muffled sound of hoofsteps stopped, and Hurricane thought she lost Ironwood somewhere. It wouldn’t have been hard to find the traitorous mare, but it would have been quite the annoyance. But those thoughts were dashed when Hurricane heard the snake-like voice she heard the other night. “Isss everything ready?” “Ravenlock is en route to his point. Hurricane had sent him away with those two apes and the Lieutenant, but he will find a way to carry out his part of the plan,” Ironwood explained. “Good, without the guardsss occupied, our work would be much harder here.” The mysterious voice took on a much darker tone. “Pray the mare is ssssuccessful… for your sake.” “Yeah yeah, keep that horn on your head, Sidian. I-” The crack of hoof hitting head echoed from the armory, causing Hurricane to flinch, but she didn’t flee. A rage was building in the stallion, Sidian’s throat. “How much of an idiot are you? We do not use our true name while on mission!” Hurricane’s ears perked up when she realized his slurring of his ‘s’es stopped. “If someone were to hear, do you know how much trouble that would cause?” “I- I’m sorry, Sid- I mean, Blackwatch, it won’t happen again.” It sounded like Ironwood was trembling “Make sure of it.” For a moment in the brief pause, it sounded like the stallion was sucking on something in his mouth. “Now, our Lord has not had the pony-power to make too many of his devices, so he gave us these for the meantime.” There was the sound of latches coming undone, and the squeaking of hinges from within the armory. “We only have 12 of these things, so we must use them sparingly. Latch this around almost anypony’s neck, and they should follow any command you give them. Not as powerful of the real thing, but it will do for now.” Hurricane’s eyes widened. Mind control? This was far beyond her paygrade. She needed to find Clover. “Your main targets are the captain, the high mage, and the Lunar Princess. The rest should be used on any high ranking guards that could be useful for the capturing of the civilians.” Hurricane needed to leave. Now. She pulled away from the door and made it halfway down the hallway before she heard the telltale twinkling of a unicorn using its horn behind her. Lashing out with her rear hooves, the captain hit nothing but air as a shadow of a stallion seemed to float in front of her. A thin white smile crossed his muzzle and a menacing glare emanated from those sickly green eyes. “Oh, Captain, thank you for making this easy for us.” The Captain’s screams died out when she felt cold metal wrap tight around her neck, and her vision faded to black. Hurricane’s voice filled her own ears, her muzzle moving on its own and her muscles not responding to her will as she tried to escape. “My master, I obey.” -~xXXXx~- -Moments after the breach- Celestia sat in her tower as a loud rapping came from her study’s door. Without her consent, the door burst open, and two of her royal guards stepped into the room. “Your highness, we must get you to safety, the city is under attack.” Celestia’s look of shock persisted as she had to regain her composure due to the sudden intrusion. “Attack? By whom?” “Timberwolves, your Highness. About six of them have crossed into the western part of the city. The guards are working on containing the damage while evacuating the civilians to the eastern quadrant. They can handle it. We are here to escort you to the Tree of Harmony, where you will be safest.” “What about Luna?” Celestia asked as she left her tower and followed her guards “Your sister will be joining you shortly. We have sent two sergeants to go collect her.” What the guards did not know was that said sergeants were wearing two metal chokers around their necks underneath their armor. -~xXXXx~- “Timberwolves? How did they get past the gate?” Lieutenant Sabre questioned the pegasus mare, Ravenlock, while Nick and Will exchanged worried looks. “They didn’t ma’am, They came up and over the walls! We need to get Nick and Will back to the castle.” As Ravenlock talked, Nick noticed that despite the panic in her voice, her eyes remained calm. Any person in a panic would be looking around shakily or at least would be trembling slightly. This guard was showing neither. As the lieutenant kept Ravenlock’s attention, Nick moved around behind the guard, blocking the exit. Will and Sabre noticed, and the questioning changed slightly. Sabre’s voice grew more serious. “Where were you when the timberwolves breached the wall?” The guard was taken aback by this question. “W- I mean, I was watching the streets for trouble like I told you.” “Oh really? Then how did those ponies get to the door earlier when they poked their heads in?” Ravenlock began to sweat as she backpedaled slightly under Sabre’s intense glare. Nick whistled slightly, grabbing Will’s attention before motioning with his eyes to a nearby stool, then with his head towards Ravenlock. “I must have let a couple of b-by” Ravenlock stammered through her excuse. As she stepped backwords further, the pegasus mare felt her rump come into contact with something other than the free-swinging door of Meadwing’s tavern. Looking up and seeing the stern look of a towering alien, Ravenlock’s ears folded back to her head. With a nod from Lieutenant Sabre, Will picked up the stool and brought it down in a wide arc, slamming the wooden object on top of Ravenlock’s head. Even though the swing was inexpertly telegraphed, Nick’s and Sabre’s distraction allowed Will to catch Ravenlock off guard. The pegasus guard crumpled to the ground in an instant. Quickly, Lieutenant Sabre rummaged through Ravenlock’s saddlebags, recoiling as she took a whiff of the one on the right. “What is it?” Will asked, pinching his nose as the putrid scent filled the tavern with a smell like skunk spray. Sabre stepped away from the unconscious mare. “Chaos fruit. That traitor was carrying Chaos fruit!” At Will and Nick’s curious expressions, the lieutenant continued. “Chaos fruit only grows in certain parts of the Everfree. When ripe, it is the primary food source for plant-eaters in the Everfree. When it starts to decay, like this one obviously was, it attracts some of the more dangerous predators.” “Like these timberwolves,” Nick guessed. Sabre nodded. “Correct. We can’t worry about that now. We need to get you two back to the castle.” Before the trio hastily exited the tavern, Will had a thought. “Wait!” “Will, come on. We need to go, what is it?” Nick asked. “If Ravenlock was a traitor, wouldn’t it be safe to assume there are more at the castle?” Nick caught on to what Will was saying, but was waiting for an order from the lieutenant. Sabre thought for a moment, her face hardening. “Leave that scum ta’ me. Say close.” -~xXXXx~- Amethyst was working at polishing a ruby at the desk in her shop in the southern market district when a thundering stampede erupted from the market outside her door. Sprinting to the window, Amethyst squinted to see out the cloudy window panes, only seeing blurry shapes running through the streets outside. “Mama? What’s happening?” The squeaky voice of her daughter caused Amethyst to whirl around. “Honey, stay upstairs. Where is your father?” “He said he was going to Hayfair’s to get dinner. He didn’t want to interrupt you.” With a worried glance at the door, Amethyst looked to her daughter. “Stay up there, I’ll go find your father.” Before Amethyst could reach the door, the thing nearly flew off of its hinges. Amethyst yelped as a loud crack and a hoof sized hole punched through the wood, and as the door slammed open, a guard stepped through. “Amethyst Gemstone?” With a startled waver to her voice, Amethyst took a step away from the guard in metal armor. “I am Amethyst. What is the meaning of this?” “You are coming with us. There has been an attack on the west side of the city, and we are here to escort you to the eastern gate.” “What about my mate? My daughter?” “No time, we must leave now. More guards will collect them with the rest of the civilians.” “I am not leaving without my Jewel!” Amethyst took another defiant step away. “Then you leave me no choice.” Meanwhile, little Jewel watched unnoticed from the top of the stairs as a metal-clad hoof slammed into the side of her mother’s head, and an armored hulk of a pony carry her mother’s unconscious body away. She couldn’t scream. Jewel was frozen in fear for what seemed like minutes. “The Princesses. The Princesses will help,” Jewel told herself, tears flowing freely. On her tiny legs, Jewel bolted from the shop, heading north to the towering castle on the hill that looked over the city. Dodging underneath the stampeding crowd’s hooves.