//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3 - Shining Armor 
// Story: The World of Equestria 
// by Mona_Chromatic 
//------------------------------//

Shining Armor walked through the halls of the town hall, all the way to the front entrance. A large clamoring noise could be heard even from the halls. Hundreds of voices overlapped one another, creating a cacophony of calls and chants and screams. Walking through the main lounge, he saw several people that he recognized, but didn't remember them being in the town hall before this afternoon. When he arrived at the front doors of the building, he could see the crowds of people gathered around the building. Hundreds of people, chanting Luna's name, some throwing pieces of garbage or rubble, some at the building, and some of them at Shining Armor as he exited the building.

Shoot, they found us already? wondered Shining as he walked down the stairs towards the huge crowd demanding for blood. Some of the individual members of the group had already walked past him into the main lobby. Words were thrown about through the air, most directed at Shining Armor, some of them for Luna, and some of them even directed at -

"Cadenza and you should just come clean already, just tell us where Luna is, you trio of cowards!" called a voice from the crowd. Shining Armor reached the midway point of the steps, where the pavement stretched out a bit before the rest of the stairs, and stopped dead in his tracks upon hearing those words. Several other voices from the crowd agreed with the first clamoring as they began approaching him.

Why? Why did they feel the need to bring Cadenza into this situation as well? His first instinct was to rush back inside and warn the other two. However, after taking a deep breath and clearing his head as he exhaled, he came up with a better plan. Continuing his march down the stairs, he turned his full attention to the audience. Glaring hard at the path straight forward, his piercing blue eyes flashed like light bulbs exploding. A shockwave of powerful wind emulated from his body as he continued, causing the trash and small pieces of rubble to rise and fly outward and upwards. The crowd died down, some yelping in fear, as the general walked towards them. Once Shining Armor began moving through the crowd, in which people began to move out of the way for him, the wind died down. The cries and chants had been reduced to a few low murmurs and whispers. Shining Armor barely ever glanced at the people around him, his eyes set on the road ahead to the palace.

As he walked out of the crowd and onto the empty sidewalk, the same voice called to him again: "Oi, I'm talking to you, douchebag!"

The source of the voice was a young man, pale turquoise and thin, with floofy hair and beard that were an even more saturated shade of yellow, and who picked up a small fist-sized piece of stoney debris on the ground and threw it at Shining Armor's back in spite.

Shining turned around halfway and lifted his arm calmly, catching the stone in his hand. Just like before, a blue glow seemed to emulate from inside his arm, and his veins glew orange, like electricity coursing through his muscle fibres. Crushing the rock with his bare hand, he cast the crumbled debris to the side, and glared hard at the dumbfounded man. The man stepped backwards, eyes betraying his fear.

A small, slim figure appeared next to the man, having run through the crowd to him. She let out a small and quiet: "Wait!" as she hugged the turquoise man's arm. She looked up at what Shining assumed to be her brother.

"Zephyr, what in the world are you doing?" said the girl. Her skin was a pale yellow, paler than her brother's beard, and much less saturated with color. Her hair was long, reaching down to her waist, and a watermelon shade of pink. Her green headband held a small, delicate white flower, almost as dainty as her hands. In fact, her entire stature was quite small, especially when compared to her lanky tall brother.

"I was just.... getting his attention..." said Zephyr, in a rather sulky and contemptful tone. The girl turned to Shining Armor, slowly letting go of her brother's arm.

"I'm sorry for my brother's behavior, please forgive him," she said in a soft-spoken voice, bowing deeply before Shining. Shining, in response, only glanced, then glared at Zephyr, who felt another chill up his spine as the general seemingly stared into his soul. The crowd was completely silent at this point. As the girl raised her head, Shining shifted his attention to her, smiling gently before nodding his head before continuing on his way to the dark castle, casting its shadow as the evening sun set. The crowd, silent, continued on its way, slowly but quietly making their way to the town hall building.

Not for very long, unfortunately. As soon as Shining Armor disappeared around the corner, the crowd once again became loud, though not to the same level as it was before. Chants for Luna's presence arose once more, until they entered the lobby.

The people already inside were scattered around the vicinity of the front doors, staring at the mob. Most of them continued on their way, but others slowly walked away from the new guests. Thankfully, to cut the awkward tension, a chipper voice piped up from the back of the room.

"OH, we have some extra guests," said Mrs.Cake, as she and her husband popped their heads through the kitchen door in the back of the lobby. "Sweetie, can you get the extra tins? We'll need to bake more goodies," she laughed awkwardly. Her husband nodded excitedly, unironically, and headed back into the kitchen.

...

Shining approached the exterior of the castle walls. As he expected, the gates had been closed and protected by the 2 sets of iron portcullis in front. Looking around, he spotted a set of police cars parked in disarray, barricading the streets in front of the walls. He walked to the left, approaching the officers who stood by the cars and writing in the tiny notepads that they held. The distinct sound of attempted radio chatter was heard, even though their efforts were only met by an uncomfortable silence and static.

One of the officers called "ATTENTION!" when he saw Shining Armor approaching. All of the men looked up and instantly stood up straight, turning to face the general.

One of the officers came up and approached Shining, who gave a small sigh and muttered to himself, "Oh, great, not him..."

The officer who approached him was dressed nothing like the other officers. Instead of the typical blue and black uniforms that the other officers wore, he was dressed lavishly in a pure white uniform, with blue highlights along the sleeves and pant legs, which complemented his pale blue skin and green eyes. The gold trimming around the collar and shoulders shone, and spread down the top of his uniform like rays. His white gloves tugged at his sleeves as he sneered at Shining.

"General," he scoffed, turning his nose upwards in a smug manner.

"Prince Blueblood," said Shining Armor, and he got on his knees, took a deep bow, and rose again, dusting the gravel off his pants.

"Hmph, I'll have you know that you will be addressing me as 'Commander' for the foreseeable future," he smiled, with his annoying, disdainful tone.

Shining Armor opened his mouth slowly and only by a little bit, and raised his eyebrow in suspicion. He looked at the officers and men behind him. All of them looked at one another, and one of them nodded his head, looking directly at Shining Armor, as a sign of confirmation.

Shining returned his attention back to Blueblood, his face betraying a twinge of frustration. "Under whose command were you made into a commander?" he asked. His real question was "How in the nine realms of Tartarus did this pretentious little prick become a commander. (*Sarcastically*)Was his pretty little throne too uncomfortable for him?"

Blueblood ruffled Shining's hair with his knuckles, which really began to set him off. Blueblood continued to mock him, saying "Well, if you couldn't tell, nobility really isn't in a good light at the moment, so a few associates and I came up with a clever little plan. If I were to become more of a military leader rather than a useless political one, and assist in the hunt for Celestia, then I could get away without so much as the risk of being attacked in any way. So," here he leaned in closer to Shining Armor, " I had my associates pull some strings."

Shining smacked Blueblood's hand away with his own, having had enough of his hair ruffled, both figuratively and literally. Honestly, Blueblood's words were grating to Shining's ears at best, and nigh unbearable at worst. He felt his fists clenching tight, before he remembered why he was here in the first place.

After taking a deep breath for what felt like the hundredth time today, he asked, "Fine, but if you're a commander now, then you have kept record of the platoons and forces and their current status, correct?"

Blueblood stroked his chin, as if he was in deep thought. "I suppose," he finally said after a short pause. "I am made aware of the status of my teams in action through communications with our technology and specialists from the start of 9:00 today, the day after Celestia stole the Grand Jewel."

Shining narrowed his eyes, frowning ate Blueblood. "Let's not point fingers and name names just yet."

Now it was Blueblood's turn to frown. "Oh?" he asked, "You refuse to believe the obvious just to spite me?"

Hare, he turned his nose up at Shining and continued mocking him: "I know we have had our differences in the past, what with the situation with Cadence and all-"

"Leave her out of this, pervert. We both know she was and still is too good for you," Shining smirked, getting a few chuckles from the officers behind him. Blueblood turned around and shot them a look that shut them up entirely.

Turning back to Shining, he thought out loud, "And you think you are?" Shining ignored that comment, smiling a smile that was short lived.

"About those units..." Shining continued, clearing his throat as his expression returned to the stern look he had adopted since he arrived. "I need a report on scouting units F1-Alpha-SH and S1-Phazon-SH. What's their status?" he asked.

This time, Blueblood looked genuinely confused, as if he had absolutely no idea what Shining Armor was talking about. He muttered the unit's id's to himself, then his eyes shone as if he was a giddy child who had just solved a difficult puzzle.

"Oh-ho-ho-ho, no, my dear Shining, no..." he laughed, "I'm not in charge of any of those old, outdated factions that generals like you used to command."

"What?" Shining asked, enraged and confused.

Blueblood looked over Shining's shoulder, once again flashing that annoying smile, and clapped his hands in applause as he laughed.

"Speak of the devil. There they are now," he chuckled.

Shining turned around, following Blueblood's line of sight, expecting his teams to be there, and for his friend Flash Sentry to be leading them out of the castle. Instead, there was another team who had rolled up at the gates in white armored vans, standing directly to the sides of the gate's archway. The soldiers were clad in with black armor, with silver helmets designed in a spartan-like fashion, with the mohawk plumes and all. However, the mohawk plumes were not feathers, but behaved more like fire, flickering blue like a furnace that had gotten far too hot. Each of the men were armed with guns, black in color but thin, with white light glowing from the barrel and creating patterns on the gun itself. Each gun was far larger than the average rifle, yet the way the soldiers were carrying them, Shining could only assume that they were no heavier than the average dictionary.

The soldiers set several devices onto the steel portcullis. They were small, no larger than a cell phone, round, and emitted the same type of white glow along the edge. They newcomers set several of these devices on the metal of the portcullis. Blueblood walked in front of Shining Armor, still laughing and clapping.

"This," he said dramatically,"is my division of units - meet the "Equestrian Elite Guard."

The soldiers moved away from the disks, hiding behind the armored cars and nearby trees and walls. One of them pulled out a detonator, and after looking over his shoulder at the devices, pressed the button.

Electricity crackled around the disks, as they wrapped around the bars and zapped the ground close to it. The disks exploded, but not with fire and shrapnel. Rather, a black sphere of crackling energy surrounded the disks, expanding around the devices and the metal. The spheres detracted suddenly after reaching about 3 meters in radius, and disappeared along. The devices fell onto the ground.

Massive gaping holes, perfectly cut, were in place of the material that the black spheres consumed. The edges were cold, giving off condensed wafts of moisture and ice. As the new "Elite Soldiers" went into the castle through their newly created entrance, Shining narrowed his eyes.

"Black Hole detonator charges?" he asked both himself and Blueblood.

"The very latest model," responded Blueblood haughtily. "The R-1-P Axiom model. Rechargeable, efficient, powerfully destructive -"

"Illegal," Shining interrupted Blueblood's stream of boasts. Blueblood waved his hand in dismissal.

"Semantics, my friend. These desperate times call for desperate measures," he responded. His voice easily betrayed his arrogance. "Don't bother to try to uphold such petty justice when one must see the bigger picture."

"And the guns? Also Axiom model, I assume?"

"Of course. The only reason the Axiom models went under was due to their destructive nature, something we so desperately need."

Shining folded his arms, suspicious: "All of this just to track down and capture one person?"

Blueblood clicked his tongue and wagged his finger, annoying Shining Armor even more. "Who ever said we were only going to capture her?" Blueblood said, almost sinisterly. Shining Armor's eyes went wide at that comment. He took a step back in shock.

"You don't mean-"

Blueblood scowled, biting his lip, saying, "Celestia has robbed us of the Great Jewel - a crime of the highest order of treachery. Not only that, but her magical prowess ellipses every other mage or wizard in the entire kingdom. A threat like that can only be responded to with the intent of removing them out of the picture... permanently," he said, emphasizing on the last word.

Shining Armor was silent. He was ready to cut down Blueblood where he stood, just to see if his heart really was as empty as his words suggested. Blueblood's expression remained unchanged, signaling Shining that his mind would not change at the moment. The two bitterly stared each other down for half a minute, both who clearly expressed that they were dead serious in their ideas. Shining, however, was the first to drop the conversation, wishing not to waste any more valuable time.

"Forget it. Can I just head into the castle and find my team?" he asked quickly, his patience having already been tested too far today.

Blueblood shook his head. "I'm afraid not. I have been given specific permission to allow the Elite guard to enter the castle, but no one else, not even other forces."

Shining took in a deep breath, then crossed his arms. "So you're telling me," he said, "that you are on a kingdom-wide search for a potentially incredibly disastrous target, and yet only a very recently established elite force is allowed to do so? I find that incredibly hard to believe."

Blueblood opened his mouth to object, but no sound came out. He was at a loss for words. Shining smirked, before finally leaving towards the castle. Blueblood snapped out of his dumbfounded expression, and stammered: "Bu- but wait, I just said you can't enter the castle unless you are a member of the Elite Guard!"

"Yeah? And what's gonna stop me?" Shining asked, without even looking back. Blueblood growled, then reaching behind his back, he pulled out his own golden revolver, with a narrow barrel pointed right in the back of Shining's head. The other officers began to step forward to stop him, but halted in their tracks when Blueblood raised his hand at them, signaling them to stop. The moment he did, his hand holding the gun glowed with a dark blue tone, as he pulled the trigger.

Shining spun around and drew his shield from his back, anticipating the bullet's impact. Instead, the bullet flew completely past him, exploding near the gaping hole in the gate. The glow from Blueblood's arm increased in intensity, and a thin wall of blue energy formed from where the bullet detonated, blocking off the hole in the gate.

Blueblood pocketed his revolver into his holster and glared at Shining, who had turned to look at the barrier now blocking his way.

"Commissioner Armor, I have permission to arrest you if you continue to refuse to comply. You are to stand down and-"

Blueblood was cut short when Shining lept upward with sudden force, sending out a deep boom echoing through the city, and sent out white and orange shockwaves of energized wind that cackled like lightning. Blueblood squealed as he raised his arms to shield his eyes. The other officers followed suit, and the dust settled around them.

Blueblood looked up at the top of the walls, where the sunlight just barely skimmed over the massive structure. Shining Armor stood at the top, barely glancing back at those back on the ground. He unsheathed his sword, gripping it by his side, and rolled his neck, which gently cracked as he did so. He heard Blueblood yelling angrily at him, like a tiny echo in the back of his mind. The air blew across his face, seemingly blowing out from the castle itself.

He turned around back to Blueblood, who was jumping up and down and waving his arms like a refined baboon, if that makes sense, and screaming his name.

"I've already wasted enough time with scum like you..." Shining sighed, rolling his eyes at the sad sight of Blueblood desperately trying to deactivate his own barrier. The blue wall began to shrink and dissipate, but Shining had already hopped off the wall towards the main building, landing in the castle's inner garden. His feet made a small thump as he landed on the grass, surrounded by rows and circles of roses, varying in color and shape. Shining strolled through the grass, reaching a stone walkway leading both out and into the castle's east side. The walkway was often occupied by visitors, business people and tourists alike. Often, they would walk in silence, as the sight of the gardens themselves would speak for themselves. Even so, one would usually hear small bits of chatter, the sound of children laughing, the footsteps that were made on the cement, and the occasional camera shutter clicking.

The silence here, however, was very different. Only the faint sound of the buzzing wings of some four or so bees and dragonflies that hovered over the flowers could be distinctly heard. Shining walked along the path heading into the castle, pushing open the doors inside. The room inside was the main lobby. It was empty, with the clean marble floors looking more like dull concrete in the dim lighting. The chairs, large and royal, were skewed or knocked over. One of the pillars holding up the indoor balcony of the second floor was shattered, the rubble having been sent into a distant corner of the room.

Shining could sense someone else in the room. He exhaled, as the suspicious feeling in his head grew, and his fingers began to radiate in blue light. Drawing his blade, he continued forward, reaching the stairs leading up to the second floor. Checking over his shoulder, his eyes darted around the empty room, before turning left down the hall.

In his memory, the walls were always lit golden and white, as the chandeliers above would glimmer. In his eyes, the walls were splattered with red stains and splashes. The chandeliers flickered, shrouding the halls in darkness for split seconds at a time. Shining's breathing became heavy, and he felt sick in his stomach as he walked further down the hall, deeper into the castle.