//------------------------------// // 26: Disguise // Story: The Night's Shining Armour // by Appleody //------------------------------// Chapter 26 “So Sunny, what work are we going to be doing?” I asked the alabaster pegacorn walking to my side. During the short walk to her room, I couldn’t help wondering why she could possibly need me of all people. She has so many ponies who wait upon her hoof and wing, that it just boggles the mind. As we reached the door to Celestia’s residence, she turned to me and cryptically said, “the kind of work I think you will regard with the highest import.” I’m not qualified for anything too important. There hasn’t been a single official training day or anything. Why do ponies think I possess some sort of innate competence? Waiting for us with a clipboard in hoof, was a familiar white earth pony wearing glasses. “Ah, Raven,” Celestia greeted before issuing a command, “could you ensure I am not disturbed for the remainder of the day. There is an important task I must see completed.” I knew that was her name, honest. The mare in question only slightly looked up from her clipboard, while making a note and said, “Princess, your schedule is already empty on account of your health. No one will disturb you, however may I recommend you follow your doctor’s instruction and return to your bed rest.” Celestia looked down a little at the fact she wasn’t needed before saying, “Oh yes, I will get some rest once we have accomplished our task. Thank you, Raven.” She then quietly mumbled, “that is if Luna lets me.” Likely without intending anyone else to hear her. “It is my pleasure Princess,” the earth pony assured, while a guard flanking the door opened the way for us. My friend nodded in thanks, before gesturing me inside with a wing. Once we crossed the threshold, the door was gently closed behind us with a small click, leaving me and Celestia alone. Still without answering my question, Sunny casually walked over to her dresser, before beginning to dig through various drawers with her magic. This left me standing behind her, still in the dark as to our objective. “Sooo, when you say we are doing something important, what exactly does that involve?” She kind of has to tell me if she wants any sort of help. From the way she’s searching those drawers, it’s making me think she wants me to find something she’s lost. Hopefully it’s nothing more important than a hair brush. “Well, now there are no prying eyes I can tell-” Celestia started to say before striking gold, “ah, there it is. Knew it would be at the bottom.” She then turned around holding a strange golden shield shaped medallion. “Sorry, Lulu’s birthday is coming up soon and I was thinking you might wish to accompany me to buy a gift.” Oh dear, if I could start hyperventilating I would. This is not important at all, but at the same time should be made my highest priority. Why did I never think of that? Of course Loony has a birthday! What would she have thought if I didn’t get her anything? As the panicked thoughts rattled around within my metallic skull, my only outward act was to freeze even my mist in place and stare at Celestia dumbly. She at first, didn’t seem to notice my predicament, as she seemed preoccupied ensuring the medallion sat comfortably around her neck. However, once the medallion was properly positioned, she looked up and gave me a knowing smile. “So, would you like to accompany me? I know Luna would love a present from her favourite vapour.” That brought me back to reality, causing my mist to flow once more and my voice to blurt out, “yes-yes of course. I’ll go get my bits.” With that, I turned and galloped towards the door, using my mist to push it open and begin the short gallop past the bewildered guard to my room. In the back of my helmet, I swear there was a light giggle. Upon entering my thankfully empty room, I made for my own safe space for valuables. My mostly empty chest of drawers and began collecting my hard-earned bits. Once a hopefully sufficient amount was collected, I formed a set of saddle bags and deposited them inside, before making a more measured retreat back to Sunny. Thanks mainly to the fading of whatever counts as adrenalin within me, I merely trotted back as to prevent any more of a scene from occurring. The idea of finally using my money for something giving me a warm fuzzy feeling in my chest piece. Just as I reached the entrance to Sunny’s abode, a thought that ruined the warmth made me pause. Where are we going to go shopping? I can’t go into town; I’ll ruin the atmosphere. The ponies in Pony town know about me, but they still don’t want to be nearby. Anywhere else and it’ll just be a repeat of when I first arrived. Ponies running in all directions after the weird metal monster walks in. “Is everything alright sir?” The guard flanking the door asked, interrupting my thoughts with a confused expression upon his face. “Oh yes, sorry I was just thinking,” I said quickly to put the stallion at ease, before opening the door and trapsing inside. At least the ponies here have sort of warmed up to me a little. That could be because they’ve been ordered to, but still, it’s nice. As I stepped through the door, Celestia was in the process of kicking off her last shoe. Her ears swivelled towards me, as the door clicked closed and she asked, “are you ready to go?” Okay, I need to tell her I can’t make it. She’ll surely understand the problem. Maybe she’ll be willing to get Loony something on my behalf? That does mean thinking of it right now though. Oh, what would she even want? I really have no idea. Royals are so hard to buy for. If they want something, they’re surely going to have bought it. Before I could correlate what to say, Celestia gave me a look of concern and asked, “is something the matter? You seemed so excitable before.” “How can you tell?” My faceplate is as blank as it’s always been. As if reading my mind, she simply said, “Just because you lack a face, does not mean you lack body language. When you left your mist was floating freely, now it is hanging low to the ground and barely moving.” A quick peek down at myself revealed her observations to be entirely true. Suppose it makes sense for someone who deals with other species as much as Sunny to notice these things. With a sigh, I began reorganising my mist, as my friend approached me. “What is the matter? Can you not think of a present?” she asked with a hint of curiosity. No, I can’t, but that’s not the issue. Right just get out there and say it. It’s Celestia, the most understanding pony around... apart from Luna. “No, it’s not that. It’s just, I don’t think the ponies would want something like me around them.” That gave my friend pause for moment, before her ears wilted slightly. She then said in a sympathetic tone, “the ponies of Equestria will most certainly enjoy your presence once they get to know you.” Well, that really doesn’t help me to be honest. They won’t get to know me just walking past them on the street. All they’ll see is this spooky shadow monster that may or may not eat them. Without skipping a beat, Celestia continued, “besides, at this moment in time, I cannot walk among my little ponies without making a scene. That is where this comes in.” she finished by pointing a hoof at her new medallion. As I looked at the strange accessory, Sunny lit her horn in golden light, causing the necklace to follow suit. After a few seconds of this glow, a golden flame enveloped the entirety of Celestia’s form, starting from her hooves and leading to the tip of her horn. I’d have been worried, but something about the fire was very familiar, leading to only one obvious purpose. When the flames finally subsided, there was no trace of the elegant pegacorn I was just speaking to. In her place stood a much shorter but equally elegant pegasus. This pegasus had some slight similarities to Celestia, mainly being her fur colour and face. There was however the glaring difference of her plain pink mane, instead of the flowing aurora she usually had. “I find using this form useful from time to time,” the newly formed pegasus said, in a slightly higher pitched voice than usual. Celestia’s transformation was quite interesting, even prompting me to step a little closer to look at it. Upon further examination, it possessed a very similar flaw to that of a changeling’s transformation. Within her chest, the familiar golden aura of Sunny’s magic could clearly be seen, easily pointing her out to me from a crowd. “Huh, I can still see you in there.” The pegasus just flicked her ear before saying, “it does not need to work on you, my friend.” “Do you have another one? I’m guessing Loony used to accompany you on these adventures.” If these amulets work on me, it wouldn’t just solve today’s problem, but many future ones as well. Then again, no magic seems to work on me. Sadly, Celestia said, “I am afraid not. This artifact was recovered a long time ago by a good friend of mine. We never encountered its makers.” Well, that’s us back to square one. With an innocent smile the small pegasus said, “by the way, I would appreciate you not telling Lulu about my use of this artifact.” I don’t like the sound of that. “Is this some sort of forbidden evil artifact? It just looks like something the changelings made to me.” It even has a changeling horn carved into the top. Sunny looked down at the amulet in thought, “It does possess similar attributes. I will have to ask Princess Skitter about it. As for the artifact being evil? That depends on how it is used. Let me say, that in the past, this artifact has caused my family a couple of issues.” Wonder what happened? Did it used to belong to a spy or something? Anything could have happened in the thousands of years the sisters have been alive. Still, even if the artifact is safe for Sunny to use, I’m at square one with no way to hide my smoky form. “That’s all well and good, but it doesn’t really provide me with a disguise.” “Does it not?” Celestia said in surprise, while looking herself over. “Well, it appears the amulet has not provided me with a full disguise either.” She then looked in my direction with her ears flopped in a downcast way. Her eyes did seem to betray some mischief though. “Okay?” She looks fine to me. “Really?” came the dead pan reply, before the mare started to pace in front of me. “It is a shame I have nothing to wear. Oh, woe is me.” “Oh.” Fine I get it. It’s been spelled out enough. “So, do you have any preferences?” “Preferences?” Sunny said with more mock surprise. “Wait, are you offering to serve as my garment? Not only that, but a garment that can be anything I choose? How wonderful.” Her tone became more playful as she continued to speak. I just sighed before saying, “okay, you can knock it off. It’s obvious this was always the plan.” “You do have to admit, that of all people, you can easily hide with another.” Sunny said in her normal voice. Suppose I can, but putting myself on someone isn’t really second nature to me. With her mild teasing complete, Celestia went back to the matter at shoe. “As for what I would like to wear? Whatever you find the most comfortable, as long as there are some saddle bags. Think of it as a quick game of pony dress up.” She then struck a quick pose with her head pointing in the air. Probably attempting to imitate a fashion model or something. Well, while it’s nice she’s thinking of me, she’s taking a real risk here. I know almost nothing about pony fashion. Not even what colours they think go best together. Let’s think, she still has white fur and she always puts gold with that. Maybe something yellow, that’s similar to gold, right? But then what else to be? Maybe something a little different would be interesting. After much internal debate and enduring the patient but boring gaze of my friend, I finally came to a decision. The easiest was to form my chest piece into the desired saddle bags, settling for a softer yellow fabric rather than solid metal. The bags had connecting material that went around Sunny’s front partially concealing her medallion. The interesting part for me was forming my helmet into a sun hat, with built in sun glasses, followed by a set of golden sun earrings. For the shoes, it seemed easiest to just shrink my usual and changed the colour. No high heels unless specifically requested. They suck. Upon my transformation’s completion, I looked to my friend to get her opinion. Sadly, she only seemed to be squinting in my direction. “Eclipse, it does seem to be a little darker in here,” she said, while looking at where her horn usually was. “Quite misty.” Oh, I forgot. Converting more of my form to mist had caused more to billow out from me. So much more that it basically filled the entire room from wall to wall. It actually makes the room feel small for some reason. “Sorry, it wasn’t this bad last time. I’ll just sort it out.” With a concerted effort, my mist withdrew to its normal limits, leaving me feeling even more confined due to its density. “How’s that?” That wasn’t too bad and judging from Sunny’s appraising look, she doesn’t think too badly of me. “Much better and I see someone has been paying attention to today’s weather forecast. Very nice decision,” Sunny said in approval. I really should have taken a look at what the weather was like today. She then tilted her head to the side and pointed a hoof at one of the bags. “Hmm, would you be against losing my sister’s cutie mark? I know you like it, but I do not think it would suit me.” “Huh?” looking to my right saddle bag, emblazoned for all the world to see was Luna’s mark. With a modicum of embarrassment, I crossed my non-existent legs and bowed my hat a little. “Sorry about that. I’m getting a bit too used to putting that on my different forms.” It took just a moment for the crescent moon to fade away to nothing. The last time I’d been without that mark was during the changeling’s hive infiltration. Wow, that was such a long time ago. “It is nice that you wish to bare her mark, she really appreciates it,” Celestia praised with a warm smile, before raising her forehooves into the air. “Now come, you need to wear your disguise.” “Alright, give me a second.” The donning process was fairly simple, seeing as I had less parts than usual. My bag was easily placed over Sunny’s barrel, while my hat sat snugly on top of her head allowing her ears to poke out of the top. My only real issue came from the earrings, which I ended up having to hold against Sunny’s ears. How would a pony even wear these things? Celestia turned to her mirror, as she raised each rear hoof in turn for my shoes and slightly lowered my sunglasses down her muzzle. “Hmm,” was the only sound uttered as she looked us over. The lack of commentary as she glanced at the mirror and turned to the side for different views made me feel a little antsy. “So… do you like it, or should I try something else?” It won’t hurt my feelings if she says it’s not her style. I know nothing of this stuff. Thankfully, she smiled at our reflection and said, “Oh yes, you have just reignited the debate of whether or not I should have my ears pierced.” She then highlighted the thought by giving the jewellery a quick flick with a hoof. “I wouldn’t, it isn’t the best experience having a hole punched through you.” I should know. “It would only be a small hole,” Sunny said before sighing, “the main issue is that the little ones would likely not approve.” “Does that matter?” she’s in charge. Sunny can basically do whatever she wants. Other ponies would probably even copy off her. “I suppose not,” the Sun said, as her smile went back to its usual state. It was then that Sunny turned from her mirror and went back to her bottom drawer, before pulling out a small purse of her own. As she turned to place the coins within my bag, it became apparent that She possessed a strange adornment upon her back. A golden strip that stretched from the base of her skull, all the way to her tail bone. That’s Discord’s zipper, isn’t it? Can’t believe the elements never removed it. Probably due to the fact Discord was still inside when they were used. It doesn’t seem to have any of his magic in it. Nothing for me to consume anyway. Maybe if I consume Celestia’s magic around it’ll disappear? Should I just try? Unaware of my internal debate, Sunny closed my saddle bag and glanced back to the mirror. “Ready to go?” “Sure, it’ll be nice seeing the town again.” I’ll ask her when we get back. Don’t want to put a downer on the days start. “Oh, it will, our little ponies can be quite interesting when they are not distracted by my status.” Celestia assured as she headed towards the door. They are probably more interesting when they aren’t running away from me as well. Upon walking through the door, we passed the same day guard from earlier. He turned to salute his expected charge, before pausing in confusion. Well, we can just tell him who we are. The day guards should keep the secret, confidentiality must be part of their day job. Celestia apparently thought differently, as she simply said, “morning Bright Wing,” before turning and walking further down the corridor. “Morning ma’am,” the guard said, becoming even more confused, before looking back into Celestia’s room. Upon finding no one, he simply shrugged his wings, closed the door and returned to his position. Suppose his job is to stop people getting in, not going out. Still, why wouldn’t you question the random pony leaving your ruler’s room? Maybe knowing his name was enough to disarm him? As I debated upon whether or not the guard was an idiot, Sunny had made her way through the castle’s corridors. It took the unexpected appearance of a certain dark blue pegacorn to return me to reality. She was currently involved in a conversation with one of her loyal night guards. “Princess we’ve managed to get one ton of stone slabs set up in the courtyard,” the guard said flatly. He sounded pretty tired. “Nay, ’tis not enough. We will require a further ton as a minimum, if tonight is to be worthwhile,” the Night said, while pointing a hoof down the corridor. In response to the scene that befell us, Celestia just sighed while continuing her walk as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Okay, just act natural, you can do this Sunny. Luckily, Celestia’s lack of breaking step and clear confidence of her destination made her seem like she belonged, which obviously she does, even if an unknown civilian pegasus should draw the eye. Really wish I was this good at being inconspicuous. Every time I’ve tried, all eyes just seem drawn to me. Probably due to using royalty as a disguise, but still. As the thought finished marinading in my sun hat, Celestia turned around to look at her distracted sister and started to whistle in the most conspicuous manner physically possible. It was so bad that it felt like something out of a movie. A bad movie. I quickly shut her mouth gaining me a disapproving “hmm?” but the damage was already done. Loony had already turned away from her guard and was now looking in our direction. As Sunny attempted to continue walking, the inevitable happened. “Excuse Us miss, but what art thou doing in this area?” In her best impression of a defenceless rabbit, Celestia turned around and nervously said, “Oh Princess Luna! I was just leaving.” She then unexpectedly bowed to her sister. That caused the pegacorn, who currently towered over us, to approach with narrowed eyes. Think the only time Loony’s ever looked at me like that was when we first met. “Thou art aware that this section of the castle is for Our loyal staff only… and thou art clearly not among them.” It wasn’t the best experience having those eyes judge me. I was pretty sure that I might have ended up in a cell. That might actually be on the cards today at this rate. Suppose it’ll be a funny story that we’ll laugh about in future. A quick shake of Celestia’s head, that was almost enough to dislodge my hat, followed. “No Princess, I was only exploring. I am so very sorry.” That nervous tone probably won’t sit well with Loony. She doesn’t like ponies to be afraid of her either. It seemed as if I was half right, because Luna’s withering stare started to soften. She instead sighed and shook her head in irritation. “Our sister’s day guard always seem to drop the ball,” came out under her breath. I felt Sunny tense up at that, “I am sure they are doing their best.” Seems she doesn’t like her guards being insulted. Another sigh followed as Luna gave us a tired smile, “that is entirely the problem.” Please don’t turn this into one of those sisterly arguments. I could feel Celestia’s jaw stiffen as she prepared her next remark, prompting me to hold it closed. Really can’t let this happen right now. We’re supposed to be sneaking out. Luckily for me, the night guard defused the situation. “Actually Princess, I think most of the day guard are out searching for your requested materials. It’s quite possible they are short hooved for their regular duties.” Nice, now we can leave without an argument as Sunny seems pacified. I even let her open her mouth into a grin. Loony on the other shoe, had started turning a little red and slowly turned towards the guard before irritably saying, “thanks for that, sergeant.” Seeming not to notice the Night’s tone, the thestral simply saluted as if he’d received some outstanding praise. Turning back to us, my slightly embarrassed friend clicked her tongue, before saying, “if there were no guards to stop thine entrance, then We will not halt thine exit. Sergeant, escort this mare to the gate and then go and find Crescent. We wish to know where Celestia has taken Our precious Eclipse.” Is Crescent spying on me right now? Welp, hopefully she can keep a secret. The guard saluted one final time, before stepping up next to us. “Ma’am would you please follow me?” he said with a pleasant fanged smile. “Certainly,” Celestia said, while preparing to follow along. I had her pause for just a second to say one final thing to Loony, “thank you Princess. You’re as generous as they say.” Before allowing Celestia to continue us on our journey. Hopefully that’ll bring out Loony’s smile. The thousands of years old pegacorn, who probably knew this castle like the back of her hoof, was then politely guided by the probably twenty to forty odd year old thestral towards the gate house. That’s probably a strange experience for her. This is probably the third time I’ve had these guards take me somewhere against my will. Technically we do want to leave, so it probably doesn’t count. Upon reaching the gate house, the thestral gestured us forward with a wing. “Here we are ma’am, try to keep yourself out of trouble.” “Thank you, officer,” Celestia said politely before again trying to have some fun. “Good bye Spectre, hope you find your rocks.” Rather than question how we somehow knew his name, the guard’s ears drooped as he said, “I really don’t.” He then stepped out of the gatehouse ahead of us, spread his wings and flew off to either find Crescent or some big stones for whatever reason. “You let us get caught on purpose, didn’t you?” I whispered into my wearers ear. This elicited a mild chuckle. “Me? I would never try to prank my sister,” Sunny said loudly in a mock hurt tone, thus causing a couple of ponies to look at the mare who’s randomly talking to herself. She then set off out of the gate as I simply said, “uhuh.”