//------------------------------// // 10: Galloping Gala // Story: The Night's Shining Armour // by Appleody //------------------------------// Chapter 10 Ah sleep, what a great time. Once I was afraid of it dragging me back to the void but now, I know it’s just a safe and quite place for me to be alone with my thoughts. There isn’t any reason to be afraid, as the morning always come to bring about another interesting day in this brand-new world. I’ve been in this world for just over a week now, and it’s getting to the point where I can settle into a nice routine. The days always start with waking up, followed by a quick scrub of any dirt. Luna will then come a knocking and bring me down for breakfast. When that’s complete there’s second breakfast from the weird statue outside, followed by reading in the library. Dinner with the princesses comes next with an occasional spattering of terrifying the help. The grand finale is night court with my good friend. When it doesn’t run long its way less irritating. Which it did last night unfortunately. Things are going swell. I’ve even received my first pay check. Today, like any other day of continued existence, is going to be great. At that thought a loud bang occurred within my room, as the door was kicked open immediately dragging me from the comforting void. “Eclipse art thou deaf? We have been banging on thy door for ages.” She seems a bit stressed out there. It’s not my fault sleeps so good. Barely lifting my head from my comfortable pillow, I looked at my agitated friend before turning to the clock. “Luna its 9am, I thought you’d be asleep.” Night court ran long again last night. “We have no need for sleep at this moment my friend,” She began, approaching until she stood beside my bed. “Did you manage to get any sleep at all?” I’m sure it ran till 3am. When does Luna actually sleep? She always seems to be doing something. “Nay we could not, we were just too excited!” She is way too excitable for how little sleep we’ve had. “Well, that’s nice,” putting my head back onto the waiting pillow and closing my non-existent eyes seems like the logical choice. “Art, thou looking forward to the gala?” “That’s today?” Luna nodded enthusiastically. Oh no, not another party, looking at the blue fluffball’s eyes it was obvious she wanted a positive response. “Sure.” The feeling of a weight being present upon my bed began. Luna had reared up onto my bed, and placed her face right next to my helmet. She then began in a careful voice, “Thou did promise to accompany us.” I could sense the smile in those words. “Just give me ten more minutes,” Ponies might be willing to go without rest, but I can sleep for thousands of years. Let me go back to my quite place for just a little while longer. “Nay now,” at her sharp words, she immediately jumped off the bed and began tipping it over, “we know how lazy thou can be.” No, my bed covers! Dammit, I like those. Unwilling to give in, I kept hold of my pillow while simultaneously gripping the mattress. “Just give me a minute.” Seeing how her attempts were met with failure, the Princess let out a very unladylike snort, before I felt magic trying and failing to lift me out of bed. It gave me quite a nice snack though. “Eclipse thou will rise at once. We are aware of how difficult thou can be to rouse.” Seeing no other option, Moony levitated my bed into the air, before flipping it upside down. Seeing how desperate my friend was for me to leave the comforts of my safe space, I let go of the mattress. My pillow had fallen off anyway. Upon my less than graceful landing, I looked up to see a very cocky pegacorn staring down at me. “Hey,” was all she said in a playful tone, before offering a wing to help me stand up. All I could do was sigh, before taking the offer to help. Today is really going to suck. It’s not even going to be regular ponies judging me, but all these posh noble twits. Well time for a morning stretch. While I began my morning stretch, Luna seemed happy with her success, “Art thou awake now?” I’m clearly standing up. “Yeah Loony, let’s just head over to breakfast,” wonder if I can get Luna to wear my helmet while eating bacon again? “Nay my friend, we have not got the time,” but bacon, “We need to get ready now, our sister is already making preparations.” At her words, I stood up straight and cast a quick look over myself for any dirt. Huh, clean enough, “I was ready the moment you charged in.” “Thou dost not appear ready,” my friend cast a critical eye over my form. What’s wrong with me? Double checking my wings and shoes, nothing appeared to be out of place, “Dost thou not remember what we agreed upon last night?” “It appears I’ve forgotten,” it was six hours ago. Who keeps track of that? “Please remind me of my promise.” This is why you don’t make promises at 3am. Luna gave me a smile, “Thy Princess is ready for her dress now.” She then raised a hoof and bowed her head to me. Well, that explains why she’s naked. I’m not sure what’s going to be worse, attending this party at all, or being forced into a position where everyone’s looking at me. “Erm Luna, about the gala. Don’t really think I want to be the centre of attention. Ahem, I’m not sure if it’s really for me in the first place.” Luna seemed surprised by my response, “Eclipse, please accompany us, it will be so boring alone. We were not going to attend until thou agreed to come with us.” Really? I would have thought the Princesses always went to these things. “Thou dost not need to talk to anyone, thy presence can be our little secret.” She finished with a hopeful smile. I’m not one to abandon my friends so, “Okay fine, I suppose they’ll only be looking at the pretty Princess and not question her dress.” Luna tinged red slightly as I changed my form to the one Rarity had taught me. Such a complicated form, fabric freely moving about. Solid metal works so much better. The moon Princess then repeated her bow, before grasping me with her hooves and putting me on. Wow that is a tight fit. Rarity really didn’t leave much tolerances in this design. Once fully donned, Luna looked in the mirror. My rear easily covered Luna's, draping down to the point where the hem should drape the floor, if it wasn’t floating in my mist. With the skirt floating slightly, it left my high heeled shoes visible. Suppose that was intentional. Coming up to the chest, the material was tightly pressed against Luna's sides leaving only small slits for her wings. Moon and star patterns adorned the chest as well. Too many I would say, but I’m not a Princess of the night. To finish I’d reformed my head into a larger tiara. “Eclipse, thou art beautiful.” She admired while making a quick twirl. “We have been looking forward to this since Ponyville.” “I think you’re the pretty one, I’m just here to help bring that out.” I then lifted Luna’s forehoof before making her blow a kiss at herself. The pegacorn giggled in response. There was still a minor concern, “Is this tightness not a bit restricting?” “Nay, we like thy touch.” She then shook her leg back and forth, “Thou art very flexible and breathable. The design is exactly what we need.” She then turned and walked us out of the room back to her own quarters, in Luna’s typical royal way. “Where are we going?” Not that I’m complaining. Avoiding the gala for as long as possible, sounds like a great idea. “We are making the finishing touches to accentuate our combined radiance.” Upon entering her room, the Princess wondered up to a dressing table, before looking at various different make ups. “Oh, I’ll help,” Quickly picking up some mascara in my mist, I held it in front of Luna’s eye. “Okay hold still.” My friend's hoof immediately shot up to grab the offending item, “Tis okay my friend, thou dost not have to help in all things.” She then flipped over the tool before utilizing it. Well, how was I supposed to know it was upside down? Once the mysterious Princess had applied her makeup, she began styling her mane in a way I had yet to see. Making it appear much shorter and fall down beside her head. “Now for our finishing touch.” She then carefully levitated the blue flower I’d found and pushed it into her mane. “Now we are ready for the gala.” Well, you are. “Dost thou not think?” “I think your face looks erm, very radiant,” Really can’t tell the difference, her face just seems more coloured in. “You know, I think you look good without makeup as well.” “We are just trying something new,” as long as the other ponies can tell. She then smiled at our reflection, “Thank you for sharing thy beauty with us.” Welp not quite sure what to say now, “what time are we needed to arrive again?” At my words, my wearers ears shot up, before she immediately turned around and hurried for the door. “We are almost late as it is, thanks to somepony.” Not my fault, “we shall need to hurry.” Upon opening the door, Moony came to a screeching halt at the presence of one solar Princess who by the raised hoof, was clearly about to knock. “Ah Luna Eclipse, don’t you two look lovely together.” How did she know? “When the maids informed me of the noise, I was worried there may have been an altercation, so I rushed down.” That’s probably the throwing around of my bed, dammit Luna stop giggling. “How’d you know I was here?” she’s way to smart. She cocked an eyebrow at us, “aside from the other worldly wind you appear to be floating in?” Luna stifled a laugh. All I could do was nod Luna’s head. Maybe ponies have enchanted clothing. “Well, that’s easy. Since you slept in for breakfast, Luna had been rubbing it in my face how her sapient dress was superior.” Can’t believe they had breakfast without me, better not have been bacon. At the admission of Luna’s betrayal, heat began to build upon her face. All I could do was sigh. I just can’t catch a break. “You know the two of you look quite funny like that,” Celestia commented, “simultaneously disappointed and embarrassed.” Moony’s face probably looks pretty weird right now. “Sister, did thou get thy dress from Rarity?” Was Sunny wearing that dress the whole time? Really need to pay more attention. The design looked pretty similar to mine with just a slightly brighter colour pallet and lack of otherworldliness, as the ponies described me. “Yes, when she got over her initial shock of my order, the element of generosity proved herself quite adept at dress making.” Well hopefully she gets some good advertisement out of today. Celestia then grinned at the two of us, “Did you know Rarity has a designated fainting couch?” Why would we know that? “Sister she didn’t,” was Luna’s shocked response. It seems a royal order may have been a bit much for the fashion pony. “The moment she answered the door,” the two sister both began to laugh together. Poor Rarity. At least Luna’s happy I suppose. Once the laughing died down, the alabaster mare regained her composure, “Come along you two, we need to get Cadance.” Who’s Cadance? My question was answered when a little way down the Corridor a short pink pegacorn was waiting for us. So, that’s Cadance. She just earned herself the title of shortest pegacorn. Wonder what God like thing she has control over? “Morning aunties,” Huh its one big family, “You could have told me we were supposed to wear dresses to this thing.” She looks fine really, her standard regalia is probably still fancy enough. Luna was the first to respond, “Niece, we would have informed thou, but we were not aware that thou would be accompanying us.” “Well, I did change my mind last minute. If Luna’s going, then I’m going,” She stated proudly. Luna must have changed her mind at the last second as well. Not my fault. “Well Cadance, the nobles will love to have the entire royal family present,” Celestia said. I couldn’t help but notice the slight frown Celestia had, when she mentioned the nobles. Are they all jerks? “Speaking of love, wow Luna you really love your dress,” that’s a weird thing to say. Luna began blushing again, “Well Rarity is an expert designer.” “True but it’s strange, the dress seems to like you as well,” What’s up with this pony? Can she see friendship or something? Is that her gimmick? My wearers eyes lit up at that, before she spluttered “How much! If thou dost not mind us asking?” Cadance knows I’m here, doesn’t she? Dammit Luna. Have you told the whole castle? To my delight the sun saved me from this weird moment, “We need to hurry up you two, our little ponies are waiting.” “Of course sister. Cadance we shall discuss more on this later, let us go.” The four of us then walked to the castle ballroom, before the three princesses entered and went straight to designated seats right by the entrance. They must be waiting to greet the guests. As Luna observed the room, I could see many ponies working diligently to put out food and apply the final touches to the decorations. This set off my party related PTSD a little, causing me to fidget nervously. Why did I have to come again? A slight giggle left the lips of my friend before she patted my tiara, “Worry not our friend, today is going to be fun.” She then giggled a little more until I stopped fidgeting. Woops didn’t mean to tickle her. “Luna, you remember how these things usually go right?” Celestia didn’t seem as enthusiastic, having just the slightest of frowns. Luna just gave celly a sideways glance, prompting the oldest pegacorn to sigh. Cadance appeared to be giving Luna a curious look, probably because she was talking to herself but meh. Before she turned back to Celestia, “I just can’t wait to see Twilight again, it’s been so long. A shame really that Shiny had to work through this.” Seems the mini pegacorn is good friends with our guard captain. After a few minutes, the ponies completed their preparations and hurried over to what was clearly preassigned positions. Some of them approached the large main doors and together, began to heave them open. With the doors now opening, a long que of fancily dressed ponies became visible. At the sight, Celestia immediately straightened and gained a warm smile, “Well let’s get this over with.” Now that fake smile is impressive. Really hope she doesn’t do that when she’s talking to me. I don’t think sunny would trick me like that, would she? Once the doors were completely open, the waiting que took that as their notification to approach the throne. The first pair to approach was a white unicorn stallion in a black suit and a pink unicorn mare. Celestia immediately greeted the two, “Fleur de Lis, Fancy Pants, welcome to this year’s galloping gala.” She then raised a hoof gesturing to the entire room. That guy isn’t wearing pants. The two ponies in question immediately bowed before Fancy responded, “Thank you Princess for welcoming us to your gala." The pink mare with the strange name then piped up, “Might I say that your dresses are lovely, Princess Luna how did you get such an enchantment?” “Oh, this old thing? We just paid a visit to our good friend Rarity.” The blue fluff ball appeared to beam with pride. At the same time, I really wanted to sink into an abyss. Centre of attention, right where I don’t want to be. “Rarity yes, we bumped into her early in the week. Her designs seem most impressive.” Fancy said, “Well Princesses hope to speak to you later on.” The two ponies then bowed again before heading off into the gala. “Yes, I will catch up to you later,” Celestia responded before looking back at the que, “it is always nice to speak to Fancy.” Must be a friend of hers. “He seems like an interesting Stallion,” Cadance chipped in. “We are glad his mare friend has good taste,” Moony stated while looking at the ponies’ retreating forms. Seeing how the first ponies we met instantly noticed me, this doesn’t bode well for my remaining hidden. That thought caused me sag down to the floor. “Eclipse liven up more guests are approaching.” “Sorry.” The next hour played out with much the same experience. With varying greetings from the Princesses. “We are glad thou could attend.” “Welcome to this year’s galloping gala.” “I hope you love your time here.” Followed by the guests bowing and giving a friendly reply with the occasional compliment directed to the three. From how monotonous it was, I could tell why Celestia wasn’t looking forward to it. At least Moony was loving it. Every complement seemed to make her ego that much bigger. If anything, that makes coming here worth it. That was right up until one very specific stallion approached. This white furred, blond maned unicorn approached like the many others before and was immediately greeted by Celestia as normal, “Prince Blueblood welcome to the Gala.” Another royal, is that Cadence’s brother? “Greeting’s auntie, Princess Cadance I see you allowed the nightmare to join you,” Wow for Celestia to be your aunt, so must Luna ya jerk. At his words, Luna immediately bristled, “What dost thou mean by these words?” “It’s only that it’s a surprise that my aunt, would allow one who nearly ended our kingdom to sit beside her. It boggles the mind.” The posh twit replied while inspecting a hoof. “Blueblood, continue to talk to thy Princess in such a manner and thou will not only be excluded from the gala, but thou may end up spending the night in a cell.” I could clearly feel Luna’s desire to stand up, probably to throttle him. To be fair if you’re accusing someone of being a terrible ruler at their own gala you deserve your rear being kicked. “See that auntie? She’s threatening me again like she threatened my associate at night court. If you don’t do something soon, the nightmare will steal even your crown out from under you.” Ah that’s this guy’s beef. He’s probably mad Luna gave the contract to some ponies who wouldn’t damage that nearby town. Celestia then jumped in to defend her sister, “Prince Blueblood, you should not speak to your aunt in such a way. She has every right to make such decisions, as do I. When you came to me with that proposal it was also dismissed. Move along now nephew, you’re holding the line.” She then gestured to the que of impatient ponies. Seeing that, the posh twit bid his farewell, before leaving to do whatever it is nobles do at a party. “Sister, we are tired of these greetings, we shall see thou after thine duty is complete.” My friend then immediately stood up and stomped away from the other two Princesses. Just before Luna left, I could see Celestia stand as if she was going to follow before being interrupted by the next ponies in the que. Once Luna had distanced herself from her family, her angry stomps subsided and she began to regain her royal posture before heading to a bowl of juice. She then began quietly drinking, while watching the surrounding nobles. That punch tastes pretty good. After patting the best pony’s shoulder with a sleeve I said, “So Luna, I was wondering something.” Seeing as she was alone, I decided to sate my curiosity about some of Bluebloods comments. At my words Luna turned to a silver tray to smile at her reflection, “What is it my friend?” “Well, that idiot pony called you Nightmare,” with that statement my friends face fell slightly. “What about it?” she replied nervously, before quickly downing her drink. Maybe this is too much of a touchy subject. “It’s just, other people have called you Nightmare Moon as well,” Moony immediately looked away from her reflection. “I was just wondering, who is Nightmare Moon?” Maybe it’s an insult people came up with for her. “We shall tell thou, but not here,” the blue pegacorn put down her cup, before heading towards a door at the far side of the room. Not wanting to miss out on the juice I quickly grabbed a cup full in my mist. Upon passing through the door, we found ourselves in the mostly empty castle gardens. There were just a few animals milling around eating the grass, probably private enough for ol Lulu. “It’s pretty peaceful out here.” I quite like spending my morning after breakfast sitting by the discord statue around here. “Yes, it is,” Luna then sighed, “Okay Eclipse, thou wishes to know of whom the dastardly individual Blue blood compared us to was?” “Erm, only if it isn’t too personal,” At least it’s not actually Luna. “Thou art our faithful confidant, there is nothing to confidential of mine that thou cannot know,” Oh no that’s way too much responsibility. I want a new job. “The Nightmare was a very selfish individual who wished for the love of her subjects.” “I suppose that’s understandable; everyone wants to be valued,” Its okay so far. Is this the kind of evil where she stole all the pies in the land, or something stupid like that? Ponies don’t seem to have a very good grasp on what evil actually is. My friend started to close her eyes and point her head at the grass, “Yes well, this individual became so jealous of her sister’s cherished day,” oh dammit, it was Luna, “That she decided ponies should be forced to enjoy her night.” “How can someone do that? Did she change a lot of shifts to night shifts?” I suppose it would be pretty irritating if you weren’t used to it. The down pegacorn then gulped, “She decided to make the night last forever and force our sister, we mean her sister out of the lime light.” Okay now that is pretty terrible. “Wouldn’t eternal night kill all the plants?” There’s no way my favourite furball would willingly kill the world. “We were only going to keep it for a week so our ponies could see what they missed, but with the fear we caused, our sister had to act,” Giving up on pretending it was someone else I see. Okay what did Celestia do? Fights between family are never good. “She decided to use the elements of harmony, our weapon of righteousness to stop me. They worked entirely as intended and defeated us without anypony coming to harm.” “Well at least there weren’t too many negative repercussions, eh?” “Eclipse we were banished to our precious moon for onw thousand years.” Ouch, all things considered I’m surprised ponies even remember it happening. With those final words spoken, a few stray tears left my friend's eyes. Okay, I have this job whether I want it or not, now how to fix what I caused. The first step was to try and wipe away my friend's tears with my sleeves. Ew, being damp is not enjoyable. Right next step as the tears aren’t stopping, pets I think. With that I started to use my tiara to scratch my friend behind her ears. That got a slight smile. “You know I get why you changed your name,” Luna looked up at that, “Nightmare moon is pretty fierce and intimidating. It’s bound to be ear catching.” My friend looked down, “I’m glad you changed it back to Luna, I much prefer it.” “What dost thou like about it?” Oh well I put my shoe in it there. “Well Luna is a lot prettier, isn’t it? It sounds so friendly and it still so clearly ties you to the moon.” “Well, we like thy name also,” she actually began to smile slightly. I couldn’t help but laugh at that, “Of course you like my name, you chose it.” She went a bit red at that. Ha, embarrassment is better than depression. Okay now for the killer move, “here I grabbed you some more punch.” Entirely for Luna and not for selfish reasons. “Thanks,” she then immediately started to drink the punch. “Ah that’s right, keep the good stuff coming,” that prompted my friend to laugh. We both decided to sit for a bit and watch the gardens animals, which while we were distracted appeared to have been chased away by a yellow Pegasus. After a few minutes of watching the crazy Pegasus chase the animals, Luna was clearly back to her old self. I was about to suggest we blow off the gala and investigate this pony when the doors behind us opened, admitting one purple unicorn into the garden. “Ah Twilight, tis nice to see thee. What brings thou to our garden?” Well, Moony’s happy to see her so, so am I. “Princess there you are, Celestia asked me to check up on you,” ah the older sister worrying again. “So, erm… how’s it going.” Great Twi, I can see you’ve got plenty to talk about. “We are well friend,” Luna happily responded, “We were worried about thine absence from our last visit to Ponyville.” She locked herself in her lab for some reason. I see no reason to worry about that. “Yeeeah,” At those words, the unicorn became slightly embarrassed. “I was hoping to get a close a look at that enchanted armour,” wait a second, “I was busy planning all the different tests we could run. There’s just so much we could learn about enchanting from it, that I may have lost track of time a little.” The little pony’s ears drooped slightly, “Sorry Princess.” My friend put a hoof on the unicorn’s shoulder, “Don’t worry my friend, we know that thou would not avoid us on purpose like some others.” Ah Lulu going from being cheered up, to cheering up a random pony in ten minutes. That’s why she’s great. The purple pony then suddenly sprang back up as if nothing was wrong in the first place, “Now that I’ve found you Princess, could you arrange time for the armour to be analysed in my lab?” should have known she had an ulterior motive. “No,” I quickly made Luna say causing her to put a hoof to her mouth. I’m not risking moony volunteering me for some unknown tests. “Why not? Celestia said you basically own the armour now,” Hey I own myself. “Couldn’t you spare it for one day? Pleeeease.” The unicorn practically started to beg, giving Luna the biggest puppy dog eyes. Luna do not break, you’re on my team remember. I was just thinking about how great you were. “Twilight, we cannot force our new friend to undergo such examinations without their permission,” Luna carefully explained, “Thou shalt need to ask them and if they give their permission, then thou hast our blessing to administer thy tests.” Ah Lulu that was expertly done. She may have false hope, but it’ll get her off our backs. “Oh, thank you Princess,” she didn’t give permission. Twilight immediately got back to her hooves, “Where can I find the armour, I’ll ask it now.” At the unicorn’s words Luna’s eyes looked up as high as they could. Is she trying to point at my tiara? Don’t give the game away, oh I know, “I don’t know, it’s not at the gala.” Luna sighed at my putting words in her mouth. I want to find out more about this pony before I just surrender myself, thank you. “We believe Eclipse will be available for thou to speak to after the gala has concluded. Thou may find them within our guest room,” Luna reassured the pony. “Ah, it responds to Eclipse. That’ll be useful in helping convince it.” She then started heading for the door at a quick trot, “Thanks Princess, I’m going to see if I can find it now. Oh, and glad you’re okay.” She finished, just before the door closed behind her. “Thou should really hast told her thy decision, instead of sending her on a goose chase,” Luna said, while watching the door close behind her. I wasn’t ready to deal with a crazy pony. Before I could respond Moony shook her head, “No matter, what is done is done. We may as well return to the gala.” With that concluded, Luna walked us back to gala doors. Well that’s a shame, I really wanted to wait out here and watch that crazy Pegasus try to catch rabbits. Upon returning to pony Nobel central, my wearer decided to go and get some cake, which I will agree is a brilliant decision. “So dost thou prefer chocolate gateau or jam sponge?” Ooo I get to choose. Well, I really don’t know. “Just pick your favourite, cake is cake.” “Chocolate gateau it is,” dammit, now I want the other one. While Luna picked up the cake, I spotted a familiar green glow in the corner of my lack of eyes. Swift Clean, that maid I was trying to befriend, was helping serve food. “Luna, can we go talk to that mare with the green glow?” I haven’t seen her in ages. “Which one?” Luna looked around puzzled. I quickly raised a sleeve to point out Swift. “The help? She has no glow which we can see.” “I think it would make her day if we went over,” a Princess taking the time out of her day to talk to you, would brighten up anyones day. “What is this glow thou speaks of?” Lulu said, before taking a bite out of the cake. “That cake was a good choice. Sorry, I can see ponies magic auras and hers kinda stood out to me the first time we met.” “Oh, pray tell the reason. Thou dost not have the hots for her magic dost thee?” she said jovially. “What? Her magic just reminded me of something.” I'm not attracted to her magic, but I suppose it might be pretty tasty. “Oh good, what was familiar about it then?” She seemed relieved, before taking another bite out of her cake. “Well, her magic is basically exactly the same as that griffon assassin we stopped,” ah that was an interesting day. My first day back in reality. At the mention of the assassin, the graceful princess of the moon spat gateau across a metre radius. “Wow, I was enjoying that.” “Eclipse, the cake is no longer important,” she quickly put her plate with what was left back on the table. It’s so close yet so far away. “Why did thou not think to inform us of this sooner?” From the change in Luna’s heart rate, this has really bothered her. “No one asked, can’t you see magic?” well I suppose having the same magic as an attempted murderer, is a subject for alarm bells. “Nay, we can only see actively channelled magic from a unicorn’s horn.” My friend then started quickly walking towards the maid. “She will need to be taken in for questioning, to ensure the safety of both our citizens and the royalty.” Okay, this hasn’t turned out like I expected. “Erm Luna, I don’t really want to talk to her anymore.” She looks so happy, we can’t ruin her day. “We are sorry Eclipse, but thy desire matters not in this scenario,” I really hope she doesn’t go all nightmare, “we shall do the talking and thou can learn how to approach such situations.” Right, how do I get out of this situation. Could try and slow Luna down. Nope, that would just make her angry at me and last time I did that someone got possessed. Oh, I know. A few metres from our path stood a bored Celestia talking to some random noble. “Luna look, Celestia’s finished with the greetings.” I casually turned her head in her sister’s direction. “Excellent idea, she will know what to do.” Luna then slightly adjusted our trajectory to end up in the middle of Celestias boring conversation. Okay, this is better than before. “Sister, we have a matter of grave importance for thou to attend.” A smile graced the sunny mare’s lips, before she turned back to the nobles, “You’re views on the modern pony use for saddles is inspired. We shall have to continue this conversation another time.” She then slightly bowed her head to the perturbed noble, before speed walking away alongside us. “Thank Faust you came over Luna Eclipse, there’s only so long I can talk about different saddles.” She then stuck her tongue out in disgust. Luna giggled slightly before becoming serious, “Yes we both are glad to come to thy aid, however the national emergency is quite real and concerns a potential assassin in our midst.” Oh Lulu, you’re making her sound terrible. Celestia seemed surprised at the words, before becoming just as serious as her sister, “If that is the case, we’ll need to deal with this quickly before any harm comes to our ponies.” Okay, looks like Celestia isn’t going to have her friendliest face on. “Sister, we shall take the lead with questioning the subject and Eclipse pick thyself up before thou makes us trip,” Once I’d stopped drooping, this is disappointing ok, Luna increased her speed while approaching swift clean, who was currently mopping up a spilt drink facing the other direction. Loony led with, “Greetings young one,” causing the little maid to immediately jump and drop her mop. “A little jumpy we see.” “Princess Luna, Princess Celestia!” Swift said panickily before bowing, “I was just cleaning this spill, how can I serve you today?” She then smiled nervously. “Now my little pony, there is no reason to be nervous when I say this, as we have an innocent until proven guilty policy.” At Celestias words the maids face fell, “It has just been reported that you may be somehow related to a certain criminal. We would like to take you in for questioning.” Celly then gave a disarming smile, or an attempt at one considering how the maid started to shake with a look of extreme terror growing on her face. I’m so sorry, Luna please send me home. At that moment, a golden statue of Celestia collapsed in the centre of the room drawing the attention of both pegacorns. Huh, Rainbows pretty strong to catch that. Okay and my attention. The sudden sound of galloping hooves then occurred and by the time Luna looked back, the maid had fled through the doors. Dammit Swift, not again. My wearer then immediately gave chase, “Sister we must not allow her to escape, her fear is clear admission of guilt.” I’m not so sure of that, wouldn’t most people be afraid if the law of the land came and accused them of a crime? Still it’s no excuse to run. Celestia did a pretty good job I thought. The two pegacorns rapidly gave chase after the maid and thanks to their longer legs easily made ground, so much that they clearly saw her retreat into a quest room. What they didn’t see however, was another interesting pony running the other way who also possessed the same green glow. “Erm, Luna” “Yes, we know where she went, sister with us,” Moony interrupted before entering the room behind the maid. “Swift halt immediately, or thou shalt receive punitive measures.” The maid in question was quickly looking around the room for an exit that did not exist. Why not just break a window? Upon finding no escape, the terrified pony fell to her haunches in the centre of the room before looking up at Luna, “Why me?” “Thou hast a strange magic aura surrounding thy body,” my wearer informed, her horn glowing clearly ready to cast a spell. Hopefully a stun one. The maid’s eyes widened, “But I haven’t done anything wrong. Haven’t I served you faithfully for years now?” Celestia started to approach the mare, “We are only taking you in as a precaution. There isn’t going to be any charges given to you without evidence.” She then smiled down at the little pony, “We can hardly charge you for a crime with just circumstantial evidence. We’ll just find out the origin of this aura and you can be on your way.” Instead of comforting Swift like Celestia intended, this had the opposite effect. “Oh no oh no oh no,” her panicked tirade ended with the pony laying on the floor with her hooves covering her eyes. She then quietly whispered, “please let me go.” Both of my friends stood surprised by what they had seen, and just looked at one another. This is one of those moments that makes me wish I hadn’t left the void. She clearly isn’t some assassin. “We promise that no harm will come to thou…” Luna started before being interrupted by the room door opening and a group of ponies starting to walk in. “We are busy in here, please come back at a later time.” The ponies in question ignored my best friend’s words, and continued to funnel into the room until there was ten total. They then split up so there was five on each side of us. All of them were unicorns of various colours with clearly varying jobs from maids, to nobles and even a guard. The one thing they all had in common was the green glow that surrounded them. Slightly weaker than the maid, but still present. Oh dear. My two pegacorn friends eyed the newcomers nervously. Really hope Swift didn’t purposefully lead us into a trap. “Luna, they have that same green aura” I tried my best to stealthily warn at least Luna. Her eyes went wide. “Now clearly you all intend to do something you may regret,” Celestia started clearly aware of the situation. “It is still possible for us to talk this through like rational adults.” The two pegacorns both turned to the separate groups, waiting for something to happen. In the corner of my eye, I could see the maid had looked up at the other ponies in the room. She was still lying down but was clearly comforted by their presence, so much so that she said something in a normal tone. “Stun spells only.” Dammit Swift, I trusted you. With that statement, the five unicorns in front of Moony all lit their horns with a green glow. Clearly about to fire a spell, hopefully a stun one, which prompted both princesses into action. Celestia opted for the defensive option of projecting a golden barrier. “I see you’ve chosen the path of violence.” Luna however, went for a different approach, “Have at thee!” she yelled before jumping towards the nearest pony and punching him so hard he flew through the wall. That seemed to surprise everyone including Luna herself, “woops, ha surrender knaves.” The sudden jump caused the four readied spells to harmless blast the empty space behind us. For my part, I just started changing back to a suit of armour. A dress isn’t really much good for combat I’d assume. Behind us clear flashes of gold and green occurred. “Luna, can we have a shield too?” Her response to that was less verbal and more a growl as she darted towards the increasingly nervous unicorns. Our adversaries were clearly trying to separate out, but Luna’s aggressive style kept us on track for two of them. One of the unicorns in front fired another bolt, which I managed to block with one of my reformed armoured fore shoes. This may have put my friend of balance, but she still managed to fire her own dark blue bolt back which slammed squarely into the offending stallions face. Resulting in a pretty large green fire ball. Wow, Lulu just incinerated a guy. For what it was worth, she was just as surprised as I was. Especially when the smoke cleared and instead of a unicorn stallion, laid a strange black bug like creature that resembled a pony at a passing glance. “We have never laid eyes upon such a beast.” “Keep alert Luna!” I all but shouted into her ear as I used her rear high heeled shoes to buck an incoming unicorn. Ooo, those high heels should be labelled as deadly weapons, was all I could think thanks to the two puncture wounds being visible upon the downed attacker. For the second unicorn, I used what was left of my dress to grapple its head and pin it to the ground. Green flames again surrounded this one revealing the bug underneath and a very jagged horn that is not a fan of fabric, seeing as it ripped straight through. I couldn’t help the cry of pain that left me. Having parts of yourself damaged is never fun. Moony did not respond well to the sound, “Thou hast the gall to harm our beloved friend!” Her horn lit once more enveloping the bug and slamming it's head into the ground repeatedly before casually tossing it at the last of our five. The two bugs ended up in a groaning tangled mess but Luna had other things on her mind, “Eclipse art thou well? Rarity can fix you.” She said while trying to put the torn material back together. “It's fine, I’ll just reform.” Never being a dress again, armours just better in every situation. After our short exchange, it was obvious that the golden flashes had also ceased marking the end of the second encounter. Sadly, as we looked over it was not with a favourable outcome. 3 of the bugs were thankfully on the ground, however our faithful ally was also out for the count. That did not agree with Moony, “SISTER!” After a deafening bellow, a shockwave emitted from the tip of my friends horn casually tossing both attackers aside. The heroic pony then jumped over her downed sister and readied herself for the fight. “Are any of thou still capable of challenging us?” She then glanced over to the one pony we had all forgotten about. The maid was nowhere to be seen, but in her place was a fully conscious Celestia with a nervous smile. “Sister? We thought…” At those words Loony turned her head away from the green glowing Celestia clone and looked behind us. In that moment I tried to raise a hoof for defence but a green blast much faster than the previous flew towards us, impacting my friend’s still unarmoured neck. Thus, causing us to collapse to the ground. Well, this isn’t the greatest turn of events. Upon seeing us collapse, the Celestia clone burst into flames revealing the maid, for some reason still looking nervous. Of the other bugs, six were up and moving while three were unconscious and one was in another room. Right, what’s the game plan. Just play dead for now until an opportunity arises, I suppose. “Hey skitter, nice shots, didn’t think you had it in you to take them both out,” One of the bugs called to ‘Swift Clean.’ “Wish you’d done it before the nightmare bucked me.” The bug in question began rubbing its chest. “Well, I was distracted by the silencing spell, would you have wanted more guards showing up?” She then walked toward Luna, “I had to do something they could have killed us.” The maid looked down at that, is that shame I see. I hope so you jerk. “We need to get out of here before someone notices. Grab the injured.” The four unconscious bugs were gradually brought over to the window and two of the bugs collected them before breaking it and leaving. Well, if they all leave, it's probably best for me to do nothing. No chance of getting Luna killed then. “What about the Princesses? They’ve seen us, we can’t break the masquerade.” One of the bugs pointed out to my horror. Okay really need a plan. “We’ll have to take them with us,” Clean looked at us thoughtfully, “Hopefully the queen can cast a memory spell on them.” Right, we are not going with them. “Chitter, Nat, grab Celestia. Shade, Spy, grab Luna.” Two of the bugs started to float Celestia over to the window while the other two struggled to move Luna an inch, thanks to me. “Erm Princess. There’s something wrong with this pony.” “Let me have a look,” ‘Clean’ began approaching us with her horn lit. “Was she always wearing armour?” Okay now or never. As soon as the traitor got within grasping range, I sprang to Luna’s hooves, grabbing Skitter by the neck with my shoes. The other two changelings attempted to move away, so I used my mist to again grab them and bring them in close. “Drop Celestia or I’ll break this one’s neck,” I Held up the struggling maid, “followed by the other two.” Might as well drain their magic as well. One of the bugs fired a stun bolt towards me which bounced off Luna’s now armoured head. “What should we do?” one of the bugs questioned. “Don’t leave us!” shouted the desperate weakening bug in my grasp. Okay this is working. The second bug holding Celestia stared at me for a long moment, “The nightmare can’t be trusted, sorry Princess.” With that the two bugs jumped out of the window, bringing my second-best friend with them. I went to follow, even going as far as to extend Luna’s wings before I realized I’ve never flown before. What to do? The last thing ‘Clean’ said before she fell unconscious kind of confused me, “Please don’t eat me.” Fine I’ll stop draining you. Dropping the three now unconscious bugs I had one avenue left. “GUARDS ATTEND YOUR PRINCESS AT ONCE, SHE’S UNDER ATTACK BY ASSASSINS.” Hope that silencing spells stopped. After a few painful moments, the room filled with at least twenty ponies including Shining Armour and Twilight. The only ones I had eyes for were the four pegasi. “Princess Celestia’s been taken by these bug creatures,” I gestured to the ones on the ground, “Pursue them and report back where they take her. Don’t get spotted.” “At your word Princess,” The four pegasi guards bowed, before immediately taking wing in the direction I pointed. Hopefully they can keep track of my friend. “The rest of you, guard this room,” looking through the guards one of them had that same green glow, “and arrest that unicorn, he’s one of these shapeshifters.” After the guards dogpiled the lone bug and filtered out to their positions I was left alone with Twilight, Shining and the 3 drained bugs. Wow I feel knackered, Luna really did a work out, or maybe that’s the stun spell? “How could they take Celestia?” A very distraught Twilight asked me, while I decided to lay on the floor, “Princess what do we do?” She really looks up to Celestia huh? “Princess, should I ready the guard to mobilize once the scouts return?” Well at least the captain seems to know what to do. “Well, the two of you need to help me with something first,” I gulped, this is going to be awkward, “Do either of you know a spell that can counteract a stun spell?” “Of course, it's taught during basic training,” Shining looked at me or I suppose Luna curiously. “Do you wish to question the prisoners?” “Maybe, but we need to get this out of the way.” I braced for a negative reaction “I’m not Luna. She’s been incapacitated by one of these bugs. I’m Eclipse that armour guy.” “What and you’ve possessed her? How does that work?” Twilight asked while standing over me. “Is it like a backup consciousness in case the host is incapacitated? That’s a pretty useful feature.” I’m not an enchanted object. “Twilight if you wake Luna up right now, I will let you try and figure that out, we have a Princess to save,” Just hurry Celestia’s attackers are getting away. Twilight again began to panic, once I reminded her of her tutor’s peril, leaving it to shining armour to reawaken Luna. He pressed his horn against her forehead and let loose a spell. Huh I could quite easily block this, good to know. Since I let the spell occur, Luna awakened with an explosion of activity. Going from lying on the floor to on all fours and running towards the window in an instant. “They’ve taken my sister, we must find them!” “We’ve sent out some scouts they’ll tell us… on no” Luna likely didn’t pay attention to my words, as she jumped out the window and spread her wings. Okay we are flying now and we’re getting higher and higher. This is so much worse than the carriage. “Eclipse, which way did they take her?” Really wished you asked before you started circling the castle at Mach ten. “They went that way,” I said while pointing a shoe. “How are you not throwing up right now?” Please put me down. This is why being worn is the worst. My wearer then attempted to pursue the changelings. After a few minutes of flying in a direction, her hot headed panic subsided causing her to bank back towards Canterlot. “Luna, what’s happening?” “We shall need a plan to find her my friend.” She said while coming in for a landing. She’s probably going to question the other bugs. Upon re-entry to the room, she wondered over to the three unconscious bugs and reviewed the one that used to be Swift Clean. Unlike the other bugs, this one was taller with a proper mane and tale, but what my wearer was focusing upon was the royal regalia she wore. “Eclipse, dost thou think thee could mimic such garments?” Oh no, that’s a terrible plan.