“Ratimir?” Twilight speaks out with uneasiness peaking in her voice. She stood still by the door, ears perked up and listening for any signs of a disgruntled captain moving about. Much to her anxiety, her ears only pick up silence. Her eyes look down to the living \ kitchen area and find the lights have been dimmed down, giving the area an uncomfortable atmosphere to the unicorn. With the taking of the deepest gulp of air, she walks in, steeling her nerves for confronting the man.
‘ Welp...’
She turns to the left, glancing at the hallway. Slowly, she makes her way over to the corridor and peeks around the corner. Her eyes scan down the hallway, seeing the four doors, one on the right side, two on the left side, and the last one at the end of the hallway.
‘ I guess I’ll find out how the house is laid out tonight…’
Going around the corner, she puts her hoof down into the new domain, only to take a step back as she looks down the hallway with uncertainty. Closing her eyes and taking a deep inhale, she calms herself and slowly makes her way down the darkened hallway. Walking slowly, Twilight gritted her teeth as cold air stuck to her fur and penetrated into her skin. She wasn’t sure if the cold air was in her head due to stress and sleep deprivation, or reality.
The combination of fading light as she steps further into the hallway, silence except for her own hoofsteps against the wood, and a hallway started to raise her anxiety. All of these being cliché settings that stories used in horror books to set an eerie atmosphere, however encountering them in real life was… more effective than she ever thought they could be.
‘…and I thought the streets of Canterlot at night were scary…’
Wishing to end this silence, she speaks down the hallway. “R-ratimir!?” She stops and waits for a response for the moment. After being rewarded with silence for her patience the unicorns' ears fall down, and she resumes her journey down the hallway, eyes scanning the empty walls down to the door on the right side. Speeding up only a little, the unicorn stops once she makes it to the door
Twilight stands by the door and presses her ear against the door, hearing nothing within she slowly wraps her magic around the doorknob. The Unicorn slowly opens the door and takes a peek inside. Her eyes meeting a small stairway heading downwards into dark depths.
“Ratimir?” She calls down the staircase, receiving her usual answer of dreading silence. Opening the door further, she stares down the stairs. Her eyes squinting as she attempts to make some shape or bottom at the end of the staircase.
‘ Silence and darkness… never a good combination… Not helping with the fact that this is definitely a basement… What could somecreature that doesn’t go out keep in his basement…? Should I…?’
She plants down a single hoof onto the first step, the creaking of wood bending under her leaks out from the stairs, making Twilight quickly pull her hoof back and take a step back.
‘ Nope!. I’ve read enough thriller books to understand the outcome of entering basements like these. ‘
Twilight steps away and closes the door, turning around and moving further down the hallway. Her eyes went to the three remaining doors. Mentally singing a tune to herself as her eyes dance between the three doors, she eventually lands on the door at the end of the hallway simulations as her mental tune ends.
‘ That door is then…’
Picking up her pace she heads down to the door and recycles her listening technique, hearing nothing once again she grabs hold of the doorknob with her magic, and she peeks in once again. Her eyes slightly widened upon seeing the room within. It was without a doubt a bedroom, but it was the plainest bedroom Twilight had ever seen in her life. Looking around briefly and see no one around in the room, she entered.
The bedroom reminded her of paintings of old Canterlot’s peasant quarters. It was awfully bland, no decorations or signs of personality in the room, only a classic wooden frame bed with messy bedsheets, a wooden chest sat at the end of the bed. To the right side of the room there was a small circular red rug that Twilight could tell from the design alone that Princess Celestia had gotten him.
Standing against the wall with the rig was a rather big wooden wardrobe, tilting her head she could sum up that three mares or two stallions could fit inside it. A sigh escapes her as she makes a small spin around the room.
‘ Where is he? Did he leave? ‘
She glances around the room once again and does a double take when she notices the door on the left side of the wall. Standing there and staring at the lone door with a raised brow.
‘ How did I miss that…? ‘
Twilight shakes her head and grumbles to herself as she slowly walks up to the door, she opens her mouth to call out once again.
“Ratim—” Twilight freezes in place as the sound of the lock mechanism from within the door moves, her eyes widening as the doorknob turns and allows the door to open up. Steam pours out from the door like a wave, amidst the steam she sees the silhouette of the person she was looking for; a sigh of relief quickly makes its way out of her.
As the man steps out of the steam her eyes locked onto the exposed body of man, though his lower half was covered with a towel his chest contained features that piqued her curiosity. His body had the upper physique of a Minotaur's as she had thought when she met him, though his body build held less muscle than the average Minotaur could it still held very, very similar results.
His skin was strange to her, around his neck and forearms it seemed the coloration of the skin had darkened slightly. Her mind pondered if it was his kind version of fur patterns, looking over his chest her eyes freeze. She felt her blood freeze in her veins, her heart stopping for a moment, and her muscle stiffened to uncomfortable points. Her eyes focused on the man's left shoulder.
A deep scar presided on his left shoulder, reaching down almost to his pecs. Twilight knowledge from books about Equestrian wars, battles, and outcomes did not help her at this moment. Her brain processes the details of his scar, analyzing the healed wound and thrusting a mini-autopsy into her head to the best of her knowledge.
‘ Axe wound, the weight of the axe and the force of the swing helped push it down. Gash-type wound, broke through his collar bone and only stopped, probably because of his muscular system. Chances of survival… ten—no, five percent probably, maybe… ‘
She shivered, her brain nearly conjuring the scenario of him receiving the blow but shaking it out of her head quickly. The thought of seeing him… brutally axed down. Destroying multiple bodily systems in one go and seeing the aftermath… it made her stomach churn and her body quake. Multiple thoughts raced through her head, how was he alive? Who struck him? Why did they strike? How was he? Was he okay?
“What are you doing here… Twilight… Sparkle, did I get that right?” Twilight blinks once, reality returning to her. Her eyes moved away from the wound and onto the annoyed, confused face of the captain.
Twilight opens her mouth, finding her voice returning to her. “Ra-Ratimir! I’ve been looking for you!”
“Don’t ignore my question.” He gives her a deadpan glare.
“We have more important matters than that! Princess Luna is here!”
The captain stares at her, eyes narrowed and a frown on his face. Crossing his arms slowly and tilting his head, “Really…? I was told she was coming later… what are you doing here, anyway?”
“W-well she invited me to come with her, and it turns out her duties tonight ended earlier than expected soo…” The captain puts a hand on his face and groans.
“What the hell… damn bothersome, she is…” He throws his hand off his face and walks over to the wardrobe. Twilight watched the man, staring mainly at the scar again and noticing that it even spread over to his back. Her body releasing a strong shiver through her body as she stared at it.
‘ He didn’t get a gash…. He… he… he got cleaved… ‘
Twilight opened her mouth but shut it quickly. She wanted to ask him about it, and talk about that scar. Not out of curiosity for how it got there… well maybe a little but mainly if he was… okay. There was no way a creature without armored skin could take a hit like that and not be in good shape, physically and… mentally.
‘ Does… he get nightmares about it? Does it still hurt? How is he still alive? ‘
Thoughts like those swarmed her head. He was a stubborn, angry, and annoying existence she has to deal with… yet she couldn’t help but be concerned for him. She looked down, realizing how strange this was for her. The Twilight from months ago would’ve been terrified of this man and not want to be within three miles of him but now… she found herself reaching a hoof out to the man slowly, concerned about starting to make its presence visible on her face.
“I’ll stay inside until that brat leaves, so you head back out there.” He says as he removes his towel in front of the unicorn and pulls out his clothing from the wardrobe. The annoyance in his voice hits her like a magic bolt, her stretched out hoof stopping in midair before slowly returning to the ground along with her eyes.
‘ No… I shouldn’t… it’s insensitive, and we’re not that close… ‘
Twilight looks back up at the man as he finishes putting on his pants and tunic. She inhales through her nose and puts on her best neutral face she could at the moment.
“Understood?” He turns around to the unicorn as he adjusts his belt.
“Understood…” They shared a nod before heading out to the hallway together. Twilight glances up at him, seeing him just wearing his normal stoic look on his face, a tiny bit of relief putting itself into her heart.
‘ He seems fine… I think… Should I write to Princess Celestia about it… see if she knows? Maybe… I’ll think about it when I get home… ‘
Twilight gives a closed-eye sigh and looks back down the hallway. In a mere moment Twilight becomes a victim of slowed perception. Her eyes lock over onto a strange dark blue flowing substance with shining lights within as if resembling stars that was leaking around the corner. It wasn’t until the next ten seconds of the strange misplaced thing entering into her view more that Twilight realized it was Princess Luna.
‘ I forgot she was coming in here! ‘
Her eyes shrunk, and she quickly came to a stop as the princess continued to enter her view more and more. The unicorn spins her gaze over to the captain, finding him in a similar state as her. Wide-eyed and clearly caught off guard before returning to his neutral, Stoic look and spins on the heel of his foot back around. Twilight blinks as she watches the man silently head back to the room.
“Come! Come our guardians! Let us see if thy quarters are up to proper standards!” The voice of the lunar princess slings its way down the hallway, blasting Twilight In the face with a full realization of what just occurred within a few seconds. Finally, receiving her reaction, she trots down the hall to the princess. Heart beating against her chest as she glances back down the hallway and sees the bedroom door shutting silently.
Looking back at the princess, Twilight finds the rest of the guard following behind Princess Luna, Moonfall and Great Star visibly nervous and hesitant to step foot into the buildings. Faded Light kept hers more controlled, her face stayed Stoic, but she wobbled with each step as she entered. Dusk Blade on the other hoof looking around with a sparkle in her eyes.
“Princess Luna!” Twilight quickly makes her way to the group, her hoofsteps gaining the attention of the group. Princess Luna frowned a bit upon seeing the small unicorn, turning around and approaching her with a disgruntled look.
“Tis rude to enter before royalty, Twilight Sparkle.” Her voice refused to hide her displeasure.
“I’m s-sorry, Princess Luna… I was just really…… c-curious! About the inside and got impatient…” Twilight lies casually to the princess. Princess Luna stares at the unicorn in silence before letting out a soft sigh. “'Tis to be expected of a young scholar learning new things, we cannot be upset for thy curiosity of the unknown…” Princess Luna smiles, slowly she leans her head down to be at eye level with Twilight, her hoof poking her small chest. “Just tell us before thou act, okay?”
Twilight nods with a forced smile. Great Star leans his head down over to Faded Light and whispers within Twilight hearing range. “Look at that, Faded Light… seems she has more rank than you.”
Despite the absurdity of the comment, it does its job. Faded Light’s left eye twitching before she snaps her head and hissed angrily at the Master Sergeant, Great Star pulling his head away quickly and looking away with a smirk on his face.
Luna raises her head back up and looks over the guard, “Now then, back to our inspection!” she says with a raised hoof only to slam it down and trot deeper into the room with the guard following her. Twilight joins in with the guard, and they follow behind the princess. Princess Luna stops once she makes it to the border between the kitchen and living room. Her eyes look around the room, her smile slowly fading from her face.
“Hmmm… It appears my sister has given thee… decent quarters?” She says with a mixture of confusion and uncertainty. Her eyes stopped on the walls and looked at the series of paintings and pictures. She tilted her head and grimaced faintly. “We see our… sister has… put her decorating skills to the test here… we really wish somepony would tell her that her decorating skills are… sub-par…”
‘ Honestly… ‘
Twilight, realizing the Princess’s mood was going down, looks over to Faded Light and speaks up. “Um… Lieu-Captain Faded Light this is your break room, right? It’s quite impressive… remind me of uh… old equestria!”
Faded Light stares at her, a brow raised until it clicks in her head. “A-ah, yeah this is our break room…”
Princess Luna looks back at the two and gives a little “hmph” sound before turning to look at the kitchen and living room. “'Tis true… despite it being… shabby… it does provide more comfort than the resting rooms we’ve witnessed in the past.” Princess Luna steps into the kitchen and starts to browse the cabinets. Seeing the opportunity of a distracted princess, Faded Light turns to Twilight and whispers. “Did you tell the captain?”
“Mhmm! He’s hiding at the end of the hallway.” Twilight glances over to the hallway. “We just need to keep Princess Luna out of there, and we should be good.”
Faded Light nods and motions the rest of the guards to come closer. “Keep our princess from the door at the end! Understood!?” The lieutenant whispers to the rest of the group.
“Easier said than done, Faded. She’s an alicorn, and we’re just guards.” Great Star looks down the hall. “ Doesn’t help that it's the door at the end. When somepony enters a hallway, the first door they lock onto is the one at the end of the hallway…” Great Star huffs.
“That… is true” Twilight brings her hoof up to her chin as she thinks about it.
“Mhm, despite what lil Faded tells you she’s all impulse and no brains, I on the other hand am all wisdom… and brains.” He smirks and winks at the unicorn. Faded Light glares at the stallion with an anger that could burn a hole right through a frying pan.
Moonfall chimes in. “… And We’re not even supposed to be in here! If the Captain finds out we entered his home, then… Ugh, I can’t even imagine what pun—Dusk Blade!” Everyponies eyes snapped onto Dusk Blade, finding the mare rubbing her face against the divan couch.
“Sooosh… shoof…” The small mare says as she buries her face in the couch cushions. Twilight glaring the mare, igniting her horn and grabbing hold the mares tail to yank her back into the group. She lets out a hiss as she returns to the group, Moonfall smacking the back of her head.
Faded Light looks at Great Star. “And you have the audacity to call ME impulsive…”
“It’s true.” He doubles down without hesitation. Faded Light raises her hoof and balls it up, ready to hit the stallion but relents, dropping her hoof and looks back at Dusk Blade and dishes her anger onto her. “Dusk Blade, what the Tartarus goes through that small skull of yours!?” Faded Light hisses.
Dusk Blade turns her head and pouts. “Well, as long as the Captain doesn’t know… I think we’re free to look around… “ Dusk Blade looks at the guards and raises a hoof up. “I mean, don’t you find his home interesting too?”
“Yes! I mean no! That’s not the point! We’re here to stop our princess from finding out about him! Not use this moment to look through home like a bunch of dirty thieves!” Faded Light glares at the private. Dusk Blade sighing in defeat and mumbling “I guess soooo….”
Faded Light runs a hoof down her face and glares at the guards. “Prevent our princess from going to that door at all cost. This is an order, understood?” The guards sigh before giving a collective nod. Twilight looks over to the kitchen upon noticing the lack Princess Luna’s voice in the background and looks back at the Princess and finds her in an odd state of happiness through the browsing of condiments. With an eyebrow raised, she walks over to the Lunar Princess.
Princess Luna notices her presence and spins to meet her with jars of herbs and old spices in her magic. “Haha! Twilight Sparkle, gaze upon these pieces of culinary plant life!” The princess pushes the jars more to Twilight direction, causing the unicorn to reel her head back a bit as she stared at them.
‘… I have no idea what these plants are…’
Her cluelessness appeared on her face, making Princess Luna frown a bit and pull the jars away from the unicorn. “These, Little scholar, are rare plants. Found in the depths of the Everfree lands and the hottest areas of the south-western desert... Pennyroyal and Cicely.” Luna explains as she opens the jar and takes a whiff from the jar with Pennyroyal in it and lets out a relaxed sigh. “Often used in culinary goods or wonderful tea.”
Princess Luna opens the jar containing cicely and sniffs, letting another sigh come out of her. “Back when we were young our sister held a garden in the back of our home, we used to take a stroll once occasionally and take in the scents of these plants… how wonderful to see them still around after all this time…” The princess closes the jar and looks at the plant with a relaxed smile. Twilight looked up at her with a mixture of concern and confusion.
‘ I’m… not sure if this is sad or… really sweet… ‘
Princess Luna turns around and slowly puts the jars back in the cabinet, but her eyes linger on them for a bit as she whispers to herself within the unicorn's hearing range. “I wish she had a garden again…”
‘ Confirmation made, this is sad. ‘
Princess Luna closes the cabinet and turns away, putting a smile on once again. “A wonderful kitchen our sister has granted thee…” She moves out of the kitchen area, passing by the couch and empty fireplace, giving them only a glance before looking towards the hallway she speaks up. “Now then, let us inspect the remaining rooms.”
Quickly, Twilight and the guards group up once again behind the princess, all eyes focused on her as she moves down the hallway. The only sound filling the room was their collective hoofsteps. Twilight parts slightly from the group to walk along the wall, her eyes focusing on the princess's line of sight. Looking from her eyes and following the invisible line straight to the door at the end of the hallway.
‘ Oh, just curse me down to hell and kill me! ‘
Twilight quickly slips back into the group and to Faded Light's side. “She’s heading towards his door.”
Great Star leans his head down to Faded Light. “Oh wow! Who could’ve guessed I was right…? ~” Faded Light left eye twitched, she nearly snaps her head at the smug stallion but stops herself with a slow, deep inhale and heavy exhale. Her eyes move onto the first door on the right side of the hallway, her eyes linger there for a moment before returning to the princess.
“I have a plan, trust me.” Faded Light says with a determination. Twilight nods and returns her attention back down the hallway.
‘ I wonder what her plan is…’
Twilight kept pondering as they headed down, her theories slowly starting to fade from her head as she started to notice they were getting closer and closer to the end of the hallway. Her eyes glanced between Princess Luna and Faded Light, panic clearly expressed in her eyes as she rapidly looked between the two. Eventually Faded Light makes her move after the princess passes the basement door, taking the knob with her mouth and opening the door with little effort.
Twilight joins the mare, her concern turning into confusion. Faded Light briefly shows some surprise upon seeing the basement before going back to normal.
“Didn’t expect this… But this is better…” The batpony says to herself.
Faded Light turns to Twilight, “Okay this is going to work… maybe…”
“O… Kay? What's the plan here exact—” Faded Light raises a hoof and without warning pushes the unicorn down the stairs.
“Sorry.” Was the last thing Twilight heard from the traitor before she crashed against the first step, a gasp of pain leaving her only to be overshadowed by the creaking of wood under the impact her back makes onto the staircase. Unfortunately, the impact refused to allow her land and stay there to wallow in her pain, instead it called for the hands of gravity to pop her off the impacted step and roll down the rest of steps.
“Ah! Ack! Oof! Gah! Aaaaah!” Twilight cries out as she rolls down the stairs until her body hits the cold, flat bottom of the basement floor. Her vision blurry, ears ringing and her body throbbing in pain she has never experienced before… She looks up the stairs through her blurry vision to the only source of light in the basement. Seeing the silhouette of the traitor and faintly hearing her shout something unintelligible through the ringing.
“Twaahg Sparle!?” Her eyes narrow as she tries to make out what the new voice says as a larger silhouette quickly enters the doorway, taking most of the light. Twilight watches as the large figure quickly rushes down the stairs to her, the light showing faint blue through her blurred vision. Twilight closes her eyes when she feels something wrap around her body, a cold but comforting feeling spreading through her. A sigh escapes her as she feels the pain fade away within seconds.
“Twilight Sparkle!” Twilight opens her eyes slowly, having the ringing removed from her ears along with her previous pain. Looking over herself she finds herself enveloped in a blue wrapping of magic.
‘ A advanced level full body rapid healing spell…?’
The unicorn looks up, seeing a very worried Princess Luna sticking out amongst the darkness of the basement due to her ignited horn and starry mane. A small look of relief appearing on her face before turning into worried anger, she stops her spell and pulls the unicorn back up on her feet. “Twilight Sparkle, thou art to watch thyself more! We understand thou excitement but to open and enter without looking is too reckless for an element of harmony!”
Twilight stares at the lunar princess in silence, a mix of confusion, shock, and anger on her face; it wasn't until Faded Light stepped down the stairs and looked over from behind the princess that the unicorn's anger started to overwhelm her other emotions.
“Indeed, Mrs. Sparkle, I warned you about this door…” Faded Light said in the most nonchalant manner and even winked at her.
‘ THIS WAS HER PLAN!? I’ll… I'll…oooooooooouh! ‘
Twilight gave the bat pony a death glare, her anger raising like coal added to a fire. Through gritted teeth, the unicorn looks down and tries her best to hide her anger. “S-soooorry... Princess Luna I'll… Be more careful… next time…” Each word coming out of her, hurting her mentality like a barrage of magic bolts.
Princess Luna huffs. “Be careful from now on, okay?”
“O-okay…” Twilight for the first time really wanted to shoot another pony with intentions to harm them. Princess Luna sighs and takes a look around her surroundings. “Still… what did thou stumble upon?”
Igniting her horn, she casts out a small white orb into the room to fill the darkness with lunar light. Faded Light and Twilight shut their eyes briefly at the sudden existence of a light, rubbing a hoof across their eyes as they looked around the now-lit up basement. Smooth gray stone walls and floor, candlesticks holders along the walls waiting to be lit.
Going along the walls were crates and barrels, making the basement seem more like the storage area of the home, even seeing some extra training mannequins down here. However, on the far end wall of the basement, there was something that caught the trio's eyes. Their eyes widen as they gaze upon a large wooden rack holding unique weapons. Twilight felt her breath pause inside her lungs as she stared at the weapons.
“What… are those?” Twilight accidentally speaks her thoughts out loud.
“Arms… new arms we… didn’t think this era… well now…” Princess Luna says quietly, failing to hide hints of excitement in her voice as she eyes the more unique weapons on the rack. On the rack contain various weapons neither pony had ever seen, one was a hybrid between an axe and spear, a fancy metal club, a tall oversized hammer with the other end containing a large extended spike. There was even a longer and thinner version of the weapon, a wooden stick with chain connected to a spiked ball at the end, a finally three different types of swords. One length and almost the size of Ratimir himself, while the other two were smaller.
Princess Luna slowly approaches the rack with a sparkle in her eye and wraps her mana around the strange oversized hammer, pulling it off the rack and looking over it in awe. Twilight stared at the longsword for a moment before moving onto the flail, a jumble of feelings being pressed against each other, confusion, curiosity, fear, and astonishment.
‘ These are weapons…? I… I've never read about any of these types or seen them in the museums at canterlot! Equestria has always used spears, bows, swords, axes, and shields for battle! Are these the weapons that Ratimir’s kind use? They have to be! But, why do they take on so many shapes and forms? ‘
Twilight briefly eyes the longsword before her attention is drawn to the sound of wind swishing, looking over and seeing Princess Luna swinging the hammer through the air. Twilight move her eyes off her to look at Faded Light, finding the mare staring at the weapons with eyes with utter shock. Behind her were the rest of the guard, slowly coming down and looking at the weapon rack with wide eyes.
‘ And judging from the others… none of them have seen these either… ‘
Moving her eyes back to the princess, she sees her swing the hammer, spike side, once and before putting it back onto the rack while letting out a heavy chuckle. “Haha! To think that after all these years, the arts of combat would improve underneath our sister's nose!”
Princess Luna spins around to the group and laughs loudly. “How joyful! Haha! These designs, some of which bring curiosity to our mind, are wonderful. We never expected that after the removal of battle arena’s and street duels, the art of combat would still improve during these… peaceful times.”
The princess rubs her face against the side of the long sword, making everypony behind her look at each other with concern. Eventually the princess’s eyes snap open as she realizes her action was being watched; with a heavy cough, she spins around towards the group with flushed cheeks.
“A-anyway! This basement is wonderful, let us make our exit!” The princess quickly passes the group and back up the stairs, for a moment the group looked at each other with uncertainty then back to the weapons before going after the princess. Twilight notices Moonfall and Faded Light linger a bit behind, staring at the weapons for a moment, then following behind the rest of the group. Twilight exits the stairs and glances down the basement for a moment before closing the door behind her.
‘ I’ll ask Ratimir about those when I can… ‘
Bringing her attention back to the group she finds Luna heading back to the end door, her anger creeping back in.
‘ Did I just get pushed down the stairs and humiliated for a brief delay!? ‘
Twilight scrunched up her muzzle. As she stared daggers into the back of the lieutenant's head.
‘ One day… One day Faded Light, I'm going to do… something. Something to repay you for this… ‘
Slowly she caught up to the group, staying silent as Faded Light glares at the end door and then to Great Star. With a roll of his eyes the stallion speaks up. “There's nothing there, my princess, its sort’ve just our Maintenance closet.”
Princess Luna looks back and raises a brow. “Is this true?” Catching onto the stallions deceit Dusk Blade and Moonfall both nod. The princess looks to the door again and continues to move. “Well, we still wish to check it either way, see if it contains the proper tools for training our guardians.”
Faded, Light's eyes widened, and quickly she opened her mouth, only to be cut off as the princess grabs hold of the doorknob and turns it. The sound of tiny mechanisms within the door echo out into the hall before a strong click is heard mid-turn. Everypony stares at the door for a moment before the princess turns the knob once more and lets the sound echo through the hall once again.
Princess Luna looks down and notices the lack of a keyhole within the door knob, a small frown forming on her lips. She looks back to Faded Light. “Lieutenant, how does one open this?” Everyponies eyes landed on her. Faded Light quickly puts her stoic face up, despite the sweat starting to form on her face. After a minute of silence Great Star spoke up “We don’t know… The only person who knows is our specialist Northern Light… and she is currently away on a mission.”
Faded Light glares up at the stallion who smirks once more and wink towards Twilight, Dusk Blade gags at the sight. Twilight just smiles and nods, unsure of what that action was supposed to mean. Princess Luna huffs and looks back at the door, her eyes narrowing down at the knob.
“Well then… perhaps this is an opportunity for us to show thou our skills!” Princess Luna says with confidence in her voice as she ignites her horn. Great Star’s smirk instantly fades from his face. “Wait what?”
The ponies watching her with confusion until the sound of mechanisms moving can be heard from the inside of the door. It didn’t take long for everyponies eyes to widen in realization of what was happening.
‘ Oh come on! Is this! Is Sir Murphy’s law in effect over my life!? ‘
Not long after her revelation the door releases a click and slowly opens. Princess Luna grins at her success and looks over her shoulder, clearly waiting for compliments. The guardponies stare at her and the door in poor disbelief. Faded Light scrunches her muzzle up in silent anger as she shivers. Great Star is the first to snap out of his bewilderment, shaking his head and looking at Princess Luna with a messy smile.
“That was, uh, impressive…” Great Star tilts his head as he tries to force a more genuine smile.
“Really cool!” Dusk Blade chirps in.
“Uh…” Moonfall looks at Dusk Blade and tries to mimic her genuineness. “Cool?”
Twilight blinks, reality returning to her as the others make their comments, with a cough she makes her contribution. “That was an interesting use of telekinesis, Princess Luna! To be able to visualize the door lock mechanisms in your head and use that to manipulate them, so the door can unlock is an amazing skill!” The rest of the guard glanced at her with puzzled expressions.
“What she said.” Faded Light throws her chips in. Princess Luna smiles and takes a bow before quickly slipping into the room, the quickness of the movement catching the everypony off guard and making them quickly go after her
“W-wait…!” Twilight cuts herself off, already giving up as she walks into the bedroom, a sigh leaving her mouth and joining in the others sighs beside her. Twilight looks at Princess Luna, watching the happiness she had previously been replaced with utter confusion.
“… Somepony care to explain… this?” She asks, turning her head and looking at the guards one by one. Faded Light gives Great Star an anticipating stare, the stallion quickly finding the empty walls more interesting than the situation at hand. Faded Light rolls her eyes and meets the Princess’s stare. “We… didn’t know about this… As mentioned before, only our specialist could unlock the door and go in.”
The princess narrows her eyes and turns away. “How… strange then…”
“Did she not tell anypony of the inside?” Princess Luna mumbles as she eyes the bathroom door, eventually deciding to check it out. Twilight watches her enter the before, the moment she exits her line of sight Twilight quickly starts to search the room for any hints of where the captain went.
“Where’d the captain go?” Dusk Blade whispers to Twilight as she looks around.
“I… don’t know… he went in here….” Twilight looks at Dusk Blade.
Moonfall slowly walks over and takes a peek under the bed. “He’s not under here.” He whispers as he returns to the group, confusion further being dug into them.
“Hmph! Maybe he has a secret exit…?” Great Star says as he heads over to the wardrobe. “I wouldn’t be surprised if this wardrobe had a secret back door or something.”
“A secret exit…” Twilight mumbles as she brings a hoof up to her chin and looks up in thought. “Hm… that would make sense… I guess…” Twilight looks back over to Great Star, seeing the stallion open the wardrobe. Twilight immediately freezes, her eyes looking past the stallion. Great Star smiles and winks at Twilight once again, eventually turning his head to look into the wardrobe. He finds a pair of smaller dark-blue eyes staring back at him.
He blinks once as he looks over to see his captain hiding inside… giving a glare that bore into the depth of his very being. Great Star stares back at him, every muscle in his body turning rigid and all color leaving his body. Silence passes by as everypony in the room stood there, in a mixture of surprise and pure fear at the revelation made, Twilight silently ignites her horn and slams the wardrobe doors shut.
Great Star stands there frozen in place with an occasional shiver running through his body that makes a muscle twitch within him. Slowly turning his head towards the group with a look of a somepony who has just witness a horrific murder in front of them.
‘ Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! ‘
She screams on the inside. Her eyes immediately lock onto Faded Light, finding the mare looking between the bathroom, chest, and wardrobe with shrunken pupils. Sweat falls over her face as a realization comes to her, snapping her head to Twilight she spoke in fearful tone “She’s going to look into those two.”
‘ Wake me up from this nightmare, please.”
“What… Do we do?” Moonfall looks at Faded Light. Faded Light turns to Twilight, the mare pleading with her through her eyes to come up with something at the moment. Twilight looks down and starts scrambling for solutions in her head.
‘ Can we move the wardrobe!? No, too loud! Can we make the captain make a hasty escape while she’s distracted!? Too risky!? Can we just make her not look in it!? How!? HOW!? What lie can I make to stop Princess— ‘
“Strange… but how memorable these quarters are! It is like visiting the peasants quarters in Canterlot again!” The voice of Princess Luna hits her panicked bundle of solutions like an angry mare, tossing up the wrong dish the waiter had the audacity to try to give her. Twilight snaps her eyes onto the princess as she exits the bathroom with a smile on her face.
“While strange for our sister to not remove these quarters… they remind us of our younger days…” Princess Luna smiles as she steps back in front of the guard. “Keep this the same for now… We shall think of changes for this room in the future, until then keep it locked.”
“Wha… uh… uuh U-understood…?” Faded Light tilts her head. Everypony blinked once and looked at the princess in disbelief. Twilight uses all her willpower to not let her jaw drop.
‘ S-she’s not going to look! Yes! Yes! Yes! Finally, something good happened tonight! ‘
“Good! Well then, we believe we have two more roo-hm?” Princess Luna turns her head as she notices the frozen Great Star. Faded Light and Twilight quickly turned to look at the stallion, noticing he was still frozen in front of the wardrobe.
‘ No, no, no! We were so close! ‘
“'Tis something the matter, Master Sergeant Great Star…?” Princess Luna tilts her head as she slowly begins to approach him.
‘ Snap out of it! You big oaf! ‘
Twilight and Faded Light glares at the frozen stallion. Princess Luna stops in front of Great Star and leans down, her face close to the stallions, as she looks over him with concern. “Master Sergeant, Great Star…?”
Her voice registered within Great Star, the stallion blinking and shaking his head suddenly. “Huh what happ…MN!” Great Star's muzzle scrunches up and a blush spreads across his face as he realizes not only was his princess right in front of and face to face, but she was… getting closer to him.
“Thou seem to be among us once more… but let us see if thy mind is plagued and caused this strange state within thou.” Princess Luna moves her head to her horn against the stallion’s own, having to get closer to his face to do so. The stallion takes a step back but finds his rear hitting the wardrobe, the combination of unexpected events setting something off in him.
“AH” He cries out. Twilight receives her second moment of slowness of events that night. She watches him make a small jump in the air and raises his rear legs up, delivering a strong kick into the wardrobe behind him. The sound of breaking wood filled the room on impact, pieces of the wood flew overhead. Through the sound of breaking wood, she was sure she heard Ratimir let out a grunt of pain.
When her vision returns to normal, she sees the aftermath of the disaster that had taken place. Princess Luna, having taken a step back, had her wings up and horn ignited as she stared in surprise at the scene before her. Great Star took in deep breaths, sweat rolling off his brow and a look of horror frozen onto his face. The wardrobe behind him was now ruined, one of the doors hung loose, and a large hole was now in the center of the wooden box.
Twilight slowly turns to look over at the others, noticing the large amount of wood bits all over the floor. She finds Faded Light staring at the scene in pure disbelief, her left eye twitches occasionally. Dusk Blade cringing while Moonfall stood there with his jaw dropped and eyes bulging out, all their expressions summarizing what Twilight wanted to feel at the moment. But unfortunately, overwhelmed with the feeling of pure fatigue at everything that has occurred tonight.
‘ I… well… this happened… I could use a mug of cider right now…’
Twilight shuts her eyes tightly and brings a hoof up to her face. Slowly shaking her head and letting out a heavy sigh as she looks back at the wardrobe with a lymphatic look on her.
‘ This cannot get any worse. ‘
Princess Luna is the first to find her voice. “Great… Great Star… are… are thou—”
“CUR! FIEND! WRETCH! BASTARD OF A HARLOT!” The voice of an enraged Ratimir emerges from the wardrobe.
‘ I hate my life. ‘