//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: Loose Ends // by TheCrazedTurkey //------------------------------// Chapter 7 September 21 It’s been a while since I’d written this. Ten years ago today, I left to join the Royal Guard. It’s weird, how time just flies by. I’m going try to recount important things that have happened, though I’ll try to be brief, because that’s not why I’m writing this. Throughout the months following the revelation about the dragons, Vigil, Bolt and I were sent on several various missions, from simply escorting traders through dangerous terrains to hunting down terrorists. However, no matter, what we did, or who we worked with, one thing was always constant: the three of us were always working together. We were often called to the secret facility to make sure everything was alright. The three of us were there purely as guards, but we were allowed to interact with the dragons raised there, and even befriend them. Bolt and I would occasionally make conversation with the dragons, and I can honestly say that I care about each and every one of them, and Bolt shares the same bond with them. Vigil does, too, but he’s particularly fond of a baby dragon named Dominic. He’s considered an outsider by the other hatchlings, but Vigil’s always there for him. Even as I write this, he’s down at the facility, visiting Dominic. Six years ago, we were assigned to an experimental regiment, containing twenty dragons and twenty ponies (including the three of us). We carried out all of our operations in secret, with only the knowledge of Princess Celestia herself. So far, we have yet to go on any extremely significant missions; honestly, throughout the years, they were all pretty much the same. We would travel to various locations to beat the crap out of various enemies for various reasons. We’re not at war, so we really just enforce the law. After four years in the Royal Guard, we had become wealthy enough to get our own house, and, seeing as we were living in times of general peace, we were allowed to do so. Although we still spent most of our time on duty, we got one month off each year. During this free time, we would usually stay with our families for the first two weeks. While Bolt and I did this, Vigil would pay a visit to Dominic once a day, and then conduct scientific research in his room. Eventually, his wings no longer required the mucus coating around them for protecting, and he can actually pass off for a regular Pegasus now. After those first two weeks, we would head down to the Green Dragon for a few drinks and hang out for the rest of the month. Occasionally, our families would visit us. Everypony in my family (Cadence included) considers Vigil and Bolt friends, and Twilight actually calls them her big brothers, sometimes. Gradually, we’ve stopped seeing Cadence. Ever since Twilight turned eleven, she stopped foal sitting, and, only last year, stopped visiting altogether. We still keep in contact, but Cadence has her own business to attend to, (she is a princess, after all.) and all we can manage are letters. Whenever Bolt’s family visits, only Coil and Fritz come; their mother was hospitalized. Bolt often sends many of the bits he earned home, and pays the bills from our house. Based on their visits, Coil seems to kind of ADD, constantly changing the topics of conversations. Whenever he wasn’t doing this, he was breaking something that belonged to us. He didn’t seem to do it on purpose; he was just so hyper. Fritz, on the other hoof, is attentive and eager to learn, but he has no sense of humor. He’s all business. Obviously, this gives rise to some problems between the two brothers. Again, that’s not why I’m writing this. Just a few minutes ago, I got a letter from Twilight, who, by now, has moved out of our parents’ house. I don’t have time to go into any detail, but she says that she’s been doing some reading. This alone shouldn’t be that surprising, seeing as this is Twilight Sparkle we’re talking about. What surprises me, though, is what she’s been reading about. She’s been researching Equestrian lore, and, more specifically, the Elements of Harmony and the return of Nightmare Moon. Apparently, based on her findings, she is returning. I remembered what I had told her all those years ago. “She isn’t coming back, Twilie…” Despite what I had said, I knew this was true. There had always been that nagging hint of doubt in my mind, like I didn’t even believe myself, no matter how sincere I had been. To back that up was the fact that she always agreed with me, unless she knew without a doubt that whatever I was saying was wrong. If she didn’t have proof against it, then she accepted what I said as fact. Because of this, we never really had any fights, growing up. Apparently, she had already sent a letter to Princess Celestia. The princess soon replied, telling her to head down to Ponyville to work on some festivities. How could she be so ignorant? In all the years I’ve known Princess Celestia, she has never dismissed any idea so quickly. I just told Bolt and Vigil about this, and they’re both heading to check up on their families (meaning Vigil’s checking on Dominic, and Bolt’s checking on his family.). Meanwhile, I’m going to the palace too see the princess. She has to do something about this. September 23 These past few days have been… strange. Like I said, I left to speak with Princess Celestia. I just burst through the door, but, like last time, she didn’t react. She just asked, “What do you need, my student?” I was outraged. How could she be so calm in such a dire situation? “You need to believe my sister,” I exclaimed, “Nightmare Moon’s returning! You have to do something! Are you just going to let everypony fend for themselves and possibly die, just because you thought something was just a… superstition? An old pony’s tale?” I stopped myself, staring at her. “I do believe her,” the princess answered matter-of-factly, “I’ve always known, ever since you informed me about the changeling’s prophecy.” She gazed out of one of the windows as she continued, almost talking to herself, “What he said that day, it was something I knew would happen. I knew he would have a message, but he was dangerous, which was why I had sent those guards. As soon as I learned of his prophecy, I knew that, not only would Nightmare Moon return, but that much disaster would soon follow. He described the return of Discord, and he even foretold that, one day, his own people would attack. This is why I must ask you a favor.” She looked back to me. Neither one of us blinked, we just looked each other in the eye. Eventually, she continued. “There are difficult times ahead,” she said, “You must remain strong. Hereafter, you and the rest of your… special regiment must constantly remain on your guard. You will not be allowed to go on leave at all until all of the threats have passed. You may have to go on missions frequently, and you will see combat more than once. There will be bloodshed. There will be suffering, but you must endure.” I didn’t respond. What could I say? “For your first assignment,” she said solemnly, “You and the rest of the Dragon Regiment are to watch over events in Ponyville. You must remain incognito, and look out for suspicious activities. Above all else, you must protect Twilight Sparkle, and anypony with whom she seems to develop a personal relationship.” I perked up at this last part. “You mean…” I began. “I’m sorry, but she cannot know of your presence. She may play an… important role in the defeat of Nightmare Moon, and any more obvious military presence than necessary for a large celebration may interfere,” Princess Celestia looked at me sadly as she said this. “Oh…” I slumped my shoulders as these last words sunk in. Without discussing the issue further, she called for all members of my regiment to the war room, where I was to relay the instructions to them. I did so, then everypony left to get dressed into civilian clothing (in other words, most of them wore nothing at all). Vigil, Bolt and I just donned fedoras to disguise ourselves, since we planned on staying as far away from anypony who would recognize us as possible. The dragons were going to head to the town wearing full combat gear, modified for their use by a local blacksmith and gunsmith who had worked in the facility back when he was in the military. Seeing as their mere presence would arouse suspicions, they would remain out of sight, ready to spring into action at the first sign of trouble. Without further ado, we departed in a carriage. We would be there by and the Celebration was going to be the next day. That only gave us a few hours before… I didn’t know what, exactly. How would this go down? Would the sun just set and not rise when it was supposed to, or would there be some explosion when Nightmare Moon appeared, or would she just be… there? The thought left my mind, however, when I realized that we would find out, one way or another. We rode to the village in silence, as we often did. Bolt was idly fiddling with a pencil he had brought, while Vigil gazed out of a window. We left the carriage as soon as it had entered Ponyville. As everypony in my regiment followed, the captain barked out a command. “Disperse,” he said, “Locate the subject and report to the location of the Sun Celebration at midnight.” He looked to me. “Shining,” he continued, “Remember: you’re in charge of the dragons on this mission. Make sure they remain out of sight at all times. Dismissed.” With that, the team split up, Vigil, Bolt and I (of course) remaining together. As we walked off, I pulled out my walkie-talkie. “This is Shining Armor,” I said, “What’s your status? Over.” Almost immediately, I got a response. “This is Quartz,” said a gruff voice, “All units are in position. We have visual on all six locations. Over.” It took me a few moments to realize what he meant. We had been given orders to watch over some farm, a candy shop, a boutique, an area on the outskirts of town, the skies (in general) and a library. The three of us made our way through the bustling streets with our heads down and our faces covered by our fedoras. Fortunately, nopony seemed to recognize us. Eventually, we came to an open space that must be the central hub for the town. There was a circular clearing with several shops built around it. As we approached it, Bolt pointed out something in the sky. It was a chariot, being pulled by two Pegasi. When it landed, the three of us stepped back a little when we saw who was inside. Twilight Sparkle stepped out of the chariot, soon followed by Spike, who appeared somewhat larger than the last time we met. He was saying something, but I couldn’t make out what from this distance. Twilight then turned to a pink earth pony, and spoke. Again, I couldn’t hear what was being said. The earth pony then gasped at the sight of my sister and ran. Twilight appeared bewildered by this, and, after speaking with Spike, left. The young dragon followed, and so did we. As we walked down the street, Vigil spoke into his walkie-talkie. “All units, converge in the town square,” he said, “We have visual on the subject. Over.” Within minutes, the area was much more crowded with “civilians”. I looked up to the sky a few times and noted what looked like birds circling overhead; if I didn’t know better, I would have just thought they were eagles or something. Six of the dragons overhead departed from the circle. They and two Pegasi were to track her movements from above, while three unicorns followed her on the ground, casting an invisibility spell over themselves to remain out of sight. The rest of us were to patrol the area and look out for trouble. Bolt, Vigil and I headed over to a sweet shop called Sugar Cube Corner to pass some time. At the front desk was the pink pony from earlier. She was very ecstatic about taking our order, and bounced happily into the kitchen and came back in three minutes with a tray of cupcakes. “How did you…?” Bolt began, taking the tray. “Have the exact cupcakes you ordered ready before you asked for them??” the pony replied loudly, “Well, you see…” “I don’t wanna know,” Bolt interrupted, speaking both Vigil and mine’s minds for us. Something about this mare seemed… off, and I honestly think that, whatever she was going to say, it would either be very difficult to comprehend or make us very uncomfortable… or both. Since we needed our wits about us, we couldn’t afford to find out just yet. The mare’s mane flattened and she seemed depressed. Bolt looked to us guiltily, then looked back to her. “Maybe some other time, though. My friends and I are really busy, and we don’t have time to talk right now,” Bolt explained. When she heard this, the pony beamed and shook Bolt’s hoof vigorously. “I’m Pinkie Pie, by the way!” she exclaimed as she let go of Bolt’s hoof, “Who are you?” “Bolt.” “Name’s Vigil.” “I’m Shining Armor.” The mare named Pinkie Pie then shook Vigil’s hoof, then mine. As she did so, she said, “You should come over to the party I’m throwing tonight.” “What party?” I asked. “There’s this new mare in town named Twilight Sparkle. I’m throwing a party at the library to make her feel welcome, like I do with everypony who’s new here, but since I’m already throwing a party, I can’t throw one for you three, so you can just come to this party and I can say it was for four ponies!!” she said in one breath. “Um…” I began. “We’ll be there, but don’t tell Twilight we’re here; we want it to be a… surprise,” Vigil said. “OKIE DOKIE LOKI!! It’s at the library!” Pinkie Pie screamed, “SEE YOU THERE!” With that, we left the building (after paying, of course) and sat at a table outside. We began eating, observing everypony who walked by very closely. Nothing seemed amiss, so far. According to what the agents following Twilight, she was currently eating at a farm called “Sweet Apple Acres”. She was surrounded by an enormous family, supposedly relatives of the mare Twilight met initially: Applejack. As we were finishing up our “meal”, we received word that Twilight was leaving the farm, but one dragon would remain behind to watch the inhabitants, while his comrades continued following my sister. As we were getting up, we were told that she was currently speaking with a Pegasus named Rainbow Dash, who was in charge of maintaining the weather during the Celebration. The three of us were walking through the town, when we noticed something. Two large colts were approaching a cottage, constantly glancing over their shoulders. Cautiously, we followed them. One of the colts knocked on the door of the cottage, and it opened slightly. They seemed to be talking to somepony, but I couldn’t make out anything from the distance we were at. We approached the cottage as the two colts walked in and slammed the door shut behind them. The building had one window, which we looked through, but the blinds were shut. However, we could hear a conversation through the glass, and we heard a noise that I instantly recognized. It was the sound of flames violently consuming somepony. Without hesitation, I ran to the front door, motioning for Vigil and Bolt to follow. As soon as I was at the door, I kicked t open with both of my hind legs. The door flew off of its hinges and fell to the ground. Inside the room the door led to were five changelings. “I can see why they have to disguise themselves,” Vigil sneered as he walked in behind Bolt and me, “They’re buckin’ ugly.” The changelings stared at us for a few moments, trying to process what was happening. Before they could react, I was levitating one of them and throwing it across the room. As soon as I did that, the other changelings leapt at us. Bolt shot flames at one of them, burning its wings off. Vigil performed a suplex on one of them, while I grabbed another, slamming it against the ground. The remaining one ran up the stairs, but none of us could get to it before it used its own magic to destroy the staircase. While we were focused on this, the other changelings got back up and charged at us again. One whacked me across the back of the head with a pipe, knocking me to the ground. My vision was blurred as I watched Vigil grapple with two separate changelings, one of them being the wingless one. He grabbed one with his hoofs and threw it at the other, only to have them both get back up and charge at him again. Bolt had already taken care of the one that had been attacking him by the time I saw him. Once the changeling whose wings had been burned off saw this, he ran at Bolt as he approached me, and tackled him. As Bolt made to punch it, the changeling was consumed with green flames, and, when the flames subsided, Coil was standing in front of Bolt. Just as I began to lose consciousness, I noticed that I was moving. My last thought before I blacked out was: “I’m being dragged somewhere”. When I awoke, I was tied up in a cellar, lined with barrels. As I became capable of thinking again, I noticed that I was tied to Vigil and Bolt, who were still unconscious. In front of me sat the shattered remains of our walkie-talkies. “Shit,” I muttered, continuing to observe my surroundings. “Now, now, there’s no need for that kind of language around here,” said a female voice coming from the stairs leading down into the cellar. The door opened, and a large changeling with a long mane and some sort of crown on its head strode in. It had an air of both superiority and bloodlust about it that made my spine tingle. As I made to speak, Vigil opened his eyes and said calmly, “and who might you be, beautiful?” Just as Vigil said this, Bolt jerked awake. “What’s going on?” Bolt yelled, eyes darting back and forth. “Calm down, we’re just captured,” Vigil said reassuringly. “Oh… Shit”, Bolt responded. “That’s what I said!” I exclaimed. The changeling looked down at us with disgust in its eyes. “To answer your question, I am Queen Chrysalis,” it stated blandly. The three of us stared at the changeling blankly. “I am the ruler of the changelings!” Chrysalis added, now obviously just trying to intimidate us. Just to annoy her, we continued staring at her, but, truth be told, I was both furious and terrified. “Do we look like we give a buck?” Vigil asked. “Oh, you’ll ‘give a buck’ soon!” Chrysalis laughed, “For, you see, I am here to aid in the return of Nightmare Moon!” “Uh-huh…” I pondered, “I thought the stars were going to help her with that or something.” “Nothing said that we could not aid them,” Chrysalis chuckled. “What are you planning?” Bolt said. “What do you take me for? A fool?” Chrysalis scoffed, “Why would I tell you?” “Could you at least tell us what you’re gonna do to us?” Vigil inquired, “Seeing as you’re obviously going to kill us, I feel like we have the right to at least know how.” “Isn’t it obvious?” Chrysalis said with a knowing smile. It was then that I noticed a bit of string – a fuse – embedded into one of the barrels, extending to where it was just at the changeling’s feet. As she saw me eyeing the fuse, she grinned and said, “goodbye.” With that, she created a spark of magic that lit the fuse, and walked out the door calmly, slamming it shut behind her. “Oh sweet Celestia, what are we gonna do?” Vigil cried I mock terror. When Bolt and I just gave him a blank stare, he looked up to his forehead then back to us repeatedly. Finally, Bolt and I got what he was trying to tell us and effortlessly untied the knots with our magic. “For the record, we did receive severe blows to the head,” Bolt said. “Yeah. That’s why I pretended to get myself knocked out,” Vigil retorted as we made our way for the door. “Wait, can’t we just stomp it out or something?” I asked, looking back to the fuse, which was burning rapidly. I stomped on the spark repeatedly, until it finally went out. “See? Problem sol—oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” I said, watching as the spark ignited once again. I stomped on it, and it extinguished, then started up again, burning more quickly than before. I repeated this process five times before saying, “Screw it. Let’s get out of here.” Without further ado, Vigil opened the door. “Whaddaya know,” he muttered, “She didn’t lock it.” Behind the door were three changeling guards, each disguised as each one of us. They didn’t seem to notice us, and Vigil hovered over to his fedora, which lay on the floor right outside the doorway. Out of it, he pulled a small rag and a bottle filled with… some strange liquid. He doused the rag in the liquid, and held it over the mouth of his doppelganger. Almost immediately, it passed out, and Bolt shot a ball of fire at his doppelganger before it could react, while I created a bubble of energy around mine and threw it at a wall, knocking it out. “Why did you bring chloroform?” I asked him as we made way for the door, which had been fixed and barricaded. “You never know,” he said, putting his hat back on. As we attempted to pry the door open, Bolt glanced back into the cellar. “Uh, guys?” He said, looking back to us. “What is it?” Vigil grunted, pulling on a wooden plank that was nailed to the doorway. “I don’t think that we have much time before…” Bolt was cut off by the sound of explosions coming from the cellar. With each explosion, the building shook violently. Flames began spreading from the cellar while the structure began caving in. “The window!” I exclaimed, running to the other side of the room. Vigil beat me, literally flying through the window. I followed, jumping through its shattered remains, with Bolt right behind me. As soon as the three of us made it outside, we sprinted as far from the cottage as possible, not looking behind us until we had made it across the street. Only then did we stop and watch as the cottage burned to the ground. We only lingered for a minute, though. We didn’t want anypony knowing of our involvement. We would search the rubble later. By now, the sun had long since set, and everypony seemed to be indoors. Not wanting to look conspicuous, we walked through town casually. Pinkie Pie’s party was probably going on right about now, so we had somewhere we could go without arousing suspicion. We made our way to the library, which was on the other side of town. Once the library was in sight, I noticed that two dragons were perched on separate rooftops nearby. Both of them looked down at us and saluted as we opened the door and walked inside. We were greeted with a wave of light and noise. Dozens of ponies inside were eating, drinking and laughing. I stepped forward, motioning for Vigil and Bolt to follow. They complied wordlessly, and we waded through the crowd. Eventually, we came to an uninhabited corner of the room, where a table and some chairs resided. Here, we took a seat and waited. Nopony seemed to notice us, so we were good. However, we did each recognize a gray, cross-eyed mare with a cutie mark depicting a cloud of bubbles. We each kept our head down as we saw Derpy, believing that she would recognize us if she were to see our faces. Eventually, I risked a glance up in her direction to see if she was still there. Instead, I was face-to-face with Pinkie Pie. “Oh my gosh!!” she yelled as Vigil and Bolt glanced up from under their fedoras, “YOU MADE IT!!!” “Yeah, we sure did,” I said, scooting away from the pink earth pony, “Is Twilight here?” “Nah, she just went off to bed,” Pinkie Pie said, frowning, “Why?” “Oh, we’re just… old friends,” Vigil stepped in as I tried to think up an excuse, “We haven’t seen each other in a while, so, when we learned she was here too, we…” “OKAY! I getcha!” Pinkie interrupted, already hopping away, “Enjoy the party!” “I see you’ve already met Pinkie Pie,” said a voice to our right. We glanced in the direction the voice had come from, and, sure enough, there was Juggernaut, the captain of our regiment. He was sitting in a previously empty seat to our… well, to our right. He held a bottle of whiskey in one hoof (I honestly never quite understood how we can do that) and the feathers on his brown wings were ruffled. “Are you drunk?” I asked him as he hiccupped loudly, “We’ve got a mission to do!” Vigil looked at the clock overhead. “With the rendezvous in one hour, too,” he said. Juggernaut chuckled and leaned close to me. Surprisingly, there was no scent of alcohol about him. “And what makes you think I’d get drunk at a time like this, soldier?” he whispered into my ear. I looked closely at the bottle of whiskey, and noticed that less than a quarter of the bottle was empty. As I realized this, he took the smallest of swigs from the bottle. “Why are you here?” Bolt asked. “Well, in case you haven’t noticed, this is our new rendezvous point,” the captain replied, looking out into the crowd, “Look at that guy, reading in the corner opposite us. He hasn’t turned a single page for the whole two hours he’s been here.” I looked to where he was pointing, and, sure enough, there was a young colt whom I recognized as a member of our regiment just sitting there. “And those five stallions over there,” Juggernaut continued, pointing to another familiar five ponies, “Have been deep in conversation for the past half hour. Anypony who just so happened to eavesdrop long enough would realize that they’re repeating the same ten-minute conversation, over and over again.” “Why don’t they just goof off?” Vigil asked, not looking away from the five ponies, “It would be much less suspicious.” “Because they’re scared,” Juggernaut answered, looking in the same direction as Vigil, “They know what’s coming. Look closely at that fine young colt in the corner again. You can see the faintest bead of seat trickling down his forehead. His breathing seems normal, so that rules out any rigorous physical activity, and it’s only 62 degrees Fahrenheit in here, so it can’t be the heat. Unless he’s got some medical condition – and he’s perfectly healthy, by the way – nervousness is the only likely explanation.” He looked back to us. “They’re repeating themselves because they’re not thinking about what they’re doing; they’re thinking about what will happen in the next few hours,” he finished, looking to us. He got up and left us. Surprisingly, he didn’t seem curious as to why we didn’t know what was going on. In fact, he didn’t seem to notice anything at all. We sat in silence for fifteen minutes, finally allowing our exhaustion from tonight’s events catch up with us. Vigil drifted off to “sleep” as usual, and Bolt got up to go get a drink. And so, I was left alone with my thoughts. I found myself gazing out the window at the moon. Why did my sister play such an important role in all of this? Did she know what was going on? And if she didn’t, why not? I felt like, if she played a pivotal role in the protection of Equestria, she should know. Right? After what felt like an eternity, Juggernaut called everypony in the area to attention. As I snapped out of my trance, I looked back to see that only twenty ponies remained, including myself. Bolt sat beside me, having returned, presumably, long before. Vigil was still in his dormant state, but I knew that he was paying very close attention to what was being said. “Alright,” Juggernaut said in a booming voice, “Everypony but us has left for the Celebration. In ten minutes, Princess Celestia may or may not come out to raise the sun. If she doesn’t, I want ten of you following the subject, Twilight Sparkle. The other ten, along with the dragons, will make sure everypony is safe and indoors. You’re permitted to use lethal force only in defense of yourselves or civilians. However, on no circumstances can you attack…” He pulled out a list of names as he said, “1. Rarity: white fur, purple mane, diamonds for her cutie mark. 2. Fluttershy: yellow fur, pink mane, butterflies for her cutie mark. 3. Applejack: orange fur, yellow mane, apples for her cutie mark. 4. Rainbow Dash: blue fur, rainbow mane, rainbow-colored lightning design for her cutie mark. 5. Pinkie Pie: pink hair, pink mane, balloons for her cutie mark, note: if possible, avoid any form of contact. Also, refrain from harming the subject.” He folded the list and assigned us to our groups. Vigil, Bolt and I were going to be assigned to protect civilians along with the dragons. After we had been assigned to our teams, we each made our way to where the ceremony would be held. Looking up, I saw all twenty dragons following overhead. Based on what I had been told, each one of them would take up a sniping position on nearby rooftops, ready to open fire at a moment’s notice. We stopped right outside the building in which the Celebration would take place. The dragons took up their positions and the team that would be guarding Twilight would be waiting outside, while everypony else (including Vigil, Bolt and I) would be going inside. If anything went wrong, we would get all the civilians to safety, and both teams would officially split up and start their separate missions. So, without further ado, we went inside, and waited.