//------------------------------// // (Rewrite) Chapter 5: Breech // Story: The Soldier and his Rider // by Joe Toon //------------------------------// "Tia, while we are still trying to adjust ourselves to retirement, could you at least try to relax?" "I don't know, Lulu. I just feel something is off over the last few weeks. Maybe it was too early of us to let Twilight takeover running the Kingdom." "Tia, we've been over this a hundred times now. She will be fine. They will be fine." "I suppose. But I just can't shake this feeling of concern that something is wrong." "Do I sense chaos and doubt from you, Celestia?" "!" "!" Celestia had just spent the last few days pacing back and forth in their retirement home on Silver Shoals whilst Luna tries what she could to calm her down; when a certain draconequus popped in from existence. Discord, the lord of chaos was floating over the two while drinking from a cup of tea he had just taken from Fluttershy's. "Now, there is nothing really to be concerned about. Just stopping by to see how retirement is going for you two." "Well that is nice of you Discord, but right now I'm not exactly in the mood for your usual antics. Especially if I just can't shake this feeling that something is very wrong." "Oh, so you've been feeling that too then?" Discord popped next to Celestia whilst dressed as a medium and pretended gaze into the future. "Discord, I think it would be best if we leave our sister some space to take in her retirement." Luna poured some tea of her own, "If you want, I could offer you some tea and company in her stead." Crack Discord's ears raised, "D-did you just feel that right now?" Celestia sighed with annoyance, "Discord if you have nothing better to do, then I suggest that you..." Crack "No, I'm serious. I felt something. Like a disturbance from the force." Crack "Hold it, Tia. I felt it too." Crack "Wait a minute. That felt like..." Suddenly, a huge void in the fabric of reality cracked open from the living room with a huge deafening roar. The three of them huddled together as a figure walked in from the maw. It started out as a short biped, but as it entered it morphed into a miniature (Scottish) Earth Pony. She had a thick ginger mane tied in a large pigtail behind her head and a mud-brown coat. She wore a crimson red fedora covering most of her mane, a pair of shades and a large saddlebag with instruments sticking out of it. As she entered the room, the void vanished from sight as the whole room went silent. Celestia, Luna and Discord took a moment to process what just happened while the pony slowly walk towards them. "Well, it has been a while seeing you three." The pony removed her shades, revealing deep red eyes and a smug smile, "It's been what, more than a thousand years?" The three of them stared with their jaws drop and their pupils shrink as they recognise the stranger. "T-T-T-T- Tesra Alba?" Celestia shuddered as beads of sweat poured from her head. The others could only gawk in fear. Despite being of small stature, this "Tesra" exuded a large, overwhelming presence. "Ah, so you do remember me." Tesra said in a sing-song tune while giving a cheerful smile, "I was beginning to wonder if you forgot about me. Tia, Lulu, Dizzy. How're all doing?" She shook hooves with them as she called their pet names. "D-doing perfectly w-w-well, actually," stuttered Luna. "Smiling as always, actually," Discord nervously grinned. "Never better, actually," Celestia smiled with what composure she could muster, "So what brings you back to Equestria?" "Ah yes, about that. Funny story, really." Tesra gave a wide smile (that was clearly forced), "Do you recall the job I gave you as a favour for dealing with the Grogar incident?" "You mean, when you gave Gusty the means to steal his bell?" "Yes Luna, that one. Do any of you remember what the favour was?" "You assigned us as monitors to protect Equestria and the rest of the world from the outside." "Very good Celestia. Now tell me, what has happened since then?" "They turned me into stone, Luna turned into Nightmare Moon and was banished into the moon, but we all came back reformed, so everyone is happy?" "Ah, so you're all happy then? That's wonderful. But you see, here's the problem," immediately Tesra's tone shifted into a dark one, "I am not happy. I am not happy at all. I am not happy that one of you decided to abuse your position as monitor and wreck havoc. I am not happy that it resulted in one of you turning into stone. I am not happy that one of you decided to have a little temper tantrum, which resulted in you ending up on the moon. I am not happy that you've been neglecting your duty to protect this reality from the outside." "Well, it all worked out in the end," cheered Luna, "Discord's reformed, I'm no longer Nightmare Moon, all the villains that tried to take Equestria has been dealt wi..." "Knock it off, Luna," Tesra kept a composed look as she held in what all three could see in her eyes, rage. "I don't want you to tell me all the good that you've done over the past ten years. If I wanted to know all the adventures of your little ponies, I would have watched the show from start to finish. You want to know what's in my mind right now? It's not your reformations. It's the f massive breach in your world." "Woah, Tess. We have a rating here to uphold. You can't just..." "DON'T FING GO FORTH WALL ON ME, DISCORD! Don't fing do it! Otherwise I'll be more than happy to toss you into the Fing Fifth Dimension where you could start a band!" "B-but we haven't detected a breach for a thousand years," defended Celestia. "That's because you've spent the last twelve years grooming your precious little student!" Tesra spat, "And all the while for the past ten years, a massive breach was left wide open in Equestria." Silence gripped them as the gravity of the situation hit them. All eyes turned to Celestia as she lowered her head in guilt. "You three had one job!" Tesra's fury continued, "You had ONE FING JOB! AND YOU ALL SCREWED IT UP!" "Well, if you detected it years ago, why didn't you tell us?" Luna nervously asked. "Oh yeah, funny thing about that. You want to know how I found out? I got a call from Joe, my superiors from the Bureau and the Boss upstairs just a week ago! Imagine my surprise that not only did they just find out about the breach a month ago, but that someone has been going in and out from that breach unnoticed, for Boss knows how long within those ten years!" "Wait, What?!" "Oh yeah, that's right! You have been having uninvited guests for quite some time." There was a pause before Discord spoke out, "We could still close it, can't we? I mean, with a snap of my paw we could send them all back." "Oh yeah, that would be perfect. Except for one thing; do you think I wouldn't be here if I haven't already done so?" All eyes worriedly turned to the mini pony. "We found out about the breach after one of our Investigators came here to have a look. The next thing we knew, she was terminated while triangulating the location of the breach. Then we lost the signal. There are only three idiots we know of that could pull that stunt; The Starcatchers, The Mauradans, and the New World Order. The Starcatchers are out because that's not their MO. The Mauradans are out because they're in a war (and quite frankly they don't matter in the story), which leaves the New World Order." "And that would mean, what exactly?" asked Luna. "It means they have been operating behind the scenes in your world for quite some time." Tesra pulled a chair and sat down, "Haven't you noticed over the past ten years how everything seemed to follow one thing after another?" "What do you mean?" Tesra pulled a cane out of her bag and knocked Celestia on the head, "Hello? Hello? ANYBODY HOME? Think, Tia! THINK! The revelation of the changelings? The return of Sombra? Tirek's escape? Starlight Glimmer? The Storm King's invasion? Who do you think left all those bread crumbs to release the Pillars of Equestria from Limbo? How about Cozy Glow? How do you think all of them somehow fall into place one after the other over the past ten years? Someone has been pulling the strings for all these incidents. I'm surprised you didn't pick it up when you compare it to the relative ease over the past thousand years!" Celestia winced from the knocking of Tesra's cane and pondered about it, then she finally saw the dots. How could I have not seen it? All this time I thought it was just the universe paving the way for Twilight's ascension. But for what reason, and why? "Um, out of curiousity," Discord interrupted Celestia's trail of thought, "Did you find out precisely when the breach was made?" Tesra gave them a stern look, "I think you might have figured out by now, Discord. But for these two I guess I could humour you: The Thousandth Summer Sun Celebration." Celestia and Luna's hearts stopped for a moment. "You mean, I caused the breach?" "I don't know about that, but I do know it might have taken a blast of powerful energy to chain a link from one end of reality to another." Celestia gasped, "The Elements of Harmony!" "Oh, wow. Wouldn't that be an irony? Then again, I suppose it is possible considering they weren't used for a thousand years. All that excess stored power might have shattered the fabric of your reality." Tesra jumped from her seat and looked to the three, "Anyways, here the deal. We have a bunch of bad guys running around Equestria's shadows, influencing it behind the scenes. They are deep rooted into your society which means it will only be a matter of time before they start replacing leaders and positions of power to start a takeover. Luckily, Joe already called a few favours and brought a Division of Volunteers from another world with an axe to grind. If you could have them cooperate with the Royal Guard and the Sentinels, we might just be able to uproot them. I'm also bringing a few specialists from the Secret Global Intelligence to establish a spy network and find their underground cells and disrupt any more operations from them." "Wait, isn't that a little too much?" Celestia asked. "The fact that I'm going overboard should tell you the seriousness of the situation. When we get back to Canterlot, I need you to enact those edicts, pronto!" Tesra put on her shades and made her way across the door leading outside. Celestia paused for a moment. Wait, does she know? "Tesra? How much do you know over the past ten years?" "Up to the bit where you dumped a kid in Tartarus, why?" The three of them began to sweat nervously, "Um, about that," Luna answered, "We kind of retired and gave the Throne to Twilight." Tesra turned around, removed her shades and glared at them, "YOU DID WHAT?"