On Edge:
Doing nothing is highly underrated. Many of my colleagues insist on filling every waking moment of their downtime with some form of activity. It could be bar crawling, chasing mares, or playing pickup games of hoofball in the exercise yard as long as they're doing something. I enjoy all those things as much as the next pony, but sometimes I prefer to take advantage of the fact that there is nothing requiring my attention. No one needs me for anything. I can simply lie down for a nap in a shaded tree or perch myself on a low hanging cloud when the weather teams will allow it.
Since I had the day off, I was enjoying the afternoon in just such a manner when it happened.
I felt a sudden shock run down my spine that felt similar the jolt a pegasus might feel when they bounce on a storm cloud the wrong way. I know this from experience because despite the fact my name is Raincloud, my talent actually has nothing to do with weather control. My cutie mark is actually a magnifying glass, but I digress. I could feel the hairs in my coat standing on end, and my wings reflexively unfurled halfway, ready to spring into action in a split-second.
As I glanced around, I noticed everypony else in the area had a similar reaction. Whatever had affected me also affected them. This might have been serious trouble, but the sensation dissipated as quickly as it had hit.
I'm having trouble falling asleep tonight. Something just feels wrong right now, but for the life of me, I can't figure out what or why. I flagged down Cpl. Polar Night as he was going on duty. I figured a unicorn might better understand what happened, but all he knew was that it was a disturbance in the ambient magic of Equestria.
This doesn't bode well for going on duty tomorrow. It's bad enough that open court is scheduled, and I'm on the roster for main gate duty. I imagine all of Canterlot and then some will be clamoring for answers about this.
Murder Most Foul:
I have never been so happy to be done with a day as I am right now. Be cautious when someone claims to bear good news and bad news. Invariably, the good news is meant to lull you into a false sense of security so that the bad news can then crush all your hopes and dreams.
Case in point, this morning's briefing opened with just such a proclamation from Captain Shining Armor. The good news was that today's open court was canceled. The bad news was that those of us at the main gate had to explain to a growing crowd of petitioners why it was canceled. I shouldn't have to elaborate on what happens when a pony too stuck up to see past the end of their own muzzle gets told something they don't want to hear. I just spent all day dealing with those who have no qualms about shooting the messenger.
The 'official' reason simply stated that there was an emergency that required the Princesses' immediate and full attention. It wasn't a lie, strictly speaking, but it definitely wasn't the whole story.
As it turns out, yesterday's little magical disturbance was kind of a Big Deal. There is only one possible reason for such a disturbance to affect all ponies and not just the few unicorns who have attuned themselves to such things. Somewhere, the life of an sapient, Equestrian-born creature had been deliberately taken. In laypony's terms, somepony was murdered.
Although it hasn't actually happened in living memory, all unicorns in the Legion are trained to track these disturbances to their source and apprehend the killer almost immediately. Then, the suspect would be taken to the nearest post for due process. Normally, this wouldn't involve the Princesses, but that's where things get unusual. No one could find a source for yesterday's disturbance.
Since there was no traceable source, everything escalated to the highest level. The Princesses got involved and set up a magic ritual in the throne room to contact the soul of the victim. There aren't many more details than that available.
The ritual itself takes 24 hours, and was already underway when the day guards showed up this morning. Everyone was dismissed from the throne room, and the doors were barred shut from the inside.
For obvious reasons, holding open court is impossible in such a scenario.
I have no idea what is going on, but they're still at it even as I write this entry. I have a feeling the next three days will be anything but business as usual.
Business as Usual:
After the events of the past two days, I was expecting something a little less normal. I'm almost disappointed.
Luckily, our little group posted at the main gate had something else to distract ourselves. There were several ponies who were somewhat peeved about yesterday. However, open court was canceled, not postponed, so no one gets inside the palace without an appointment or summons.
Some of them were particularly rude, and Sgt. Scud Runner thought it would be a good training exercise to come up with new and creative ways of politely telling somepony to shove off. We made a game out of it with bonus points for sarcasm and verbosity. The winning entry went something like, “My deepest apologies sir, but yesterday's court was canceled due to unforeseeable circumstances. Regretfully, the Princesses have too many prior commitments to reschedule before the next court day. If you wish to make an appointment, the secretary will be more than happy to assist you with the appropriate paperwork. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.”
I couldn't come up with anything quite so grand, but the game kept morale up.
Tomorrow sounds like things will get interesting, though. Rumors are floating around the chow hall that an entire wing of guest rooms has been locked down, and several rooms are being prepared in another.
Packed House:
Royal guards need to be ready for anything, even last-second roster changes. Some enterprising lieutenant realized that since there was no open court, and one of the guest wings was on lockdown, they could afford to move one of the extra guards from the main gate to that guest wing. They really must have been stretching that university-educated intellect required of all officers.
Lo and behold, that one extra guard turned out to be none other than yours truly. No one other than the Princesses and their elite guards could enter or leave that wing without escort, not even the cleaning staff.
The morning went smoothly enough. Only Princess Celestia and her personal guards showed up, and they went into one of the rooms. There was some commotion after they went in, but as far as I could tell, it didn't go beyond yelling and harsh words. On their way out, one of the solar guards pulled me aside to clue me in on what was going on.
It is a well-known fact that Canterlot Palace has a dungeon. However, it is less known that after more than a century of disuse, the staff and guards started using it as a big storage/break room. Suffice to say, it is in no condition to house prisoners.
It turns out that by performing that big, elaborate ritual two days ago, the Princesses were able to track down and capture the mysterious killer. The reason no unicorns could figure out where the murder occurred was because it happened in some kind of parallel world. The prisoner is a denizen of that world and has been brought here to face justice for his crime. It only makes sense to keep an alien from another world isolated to avoid causing a panic amongst the palace staff.
The afternoon went quite differently. To help deal with the alien, the bearers of the Elements of Harmony were summoned from Ponyville along with one of Equestria's leading experts on foreign cultures. They had arrived very early and spent the morning settling into their guest rooms. Their first meeting was set for this afternoon.
As promised, the seven mares approached my post at the quarantined corridor accompanied by the same two guards that had brought the Princess earlier. There's no need to describe the Element bearers. After they saved Equestria for the second time, somepony realized it might be a good idea for the rest of the land to know the names and appearances of the greatest heroines of our generation and published a photo in every newspaper in print. The seventh member of their group, the expert on non-equine culture, was a pony I didn't recognize. She was a mint-green coloured unicorn with a white stripe running through her mane and tail and had a lyre for a cutie mark.
She also had a very unsettling expression on her face which her companions shared to various degrees. Maybe it's just me, but I don't think someone about to lock themselves in a room with a murderer, and an alien at that, should look so excited at the prospect. Besides, I know the guest rooms aren't small by any means, but I doubt ten ponies would be very comfortable in one at the same time, let alone nine ponies and a whatever it is they have locked in there.
It only piqued my curiosity more when, as they passed, one of their escort guards slipped me a note before all nine of them disappeared into the room. It said, “Whatever happens, no matter what you hear, do not attempt to open the door.”
Not even an hour later, I really wanted to open that door. The noises I heard coming from the room ranged from shrieks of absolute terror to raucous laughter and nearly everything in between. But I remembered my orders and stayed at my post. If Princess Celestia's elite guards couldn't handle it, I doubt I'd be of any use.
Whatever they were doing lasted long enough for the regular guards to change shifts. I had no complaints. By then, I had managed to tune out the noise, and I was bored out of my skull standing there staring down an empty corridor with nopony to talk to. I was even more relieved to see that my replacements were none other than Corporals Polar Night and Stargazer. Princess Luna's night watch already has a reputation for gathering most of the information floating around the chow hall rumor mill. These two, however, have raised it to a high art form. I'm willing to bet they're the best source of information about the goings-on inside the palace after the Princesses themselves.
It means that tomorrow, I might get some answers. After that, it's somepony else's problem.
Now That's Just Bad Luck:
I don't know how they did it, but those two unicorns came through beautifully on learning more about the situation surrounding our alien prisoner. There are still more questions than answers, but I've already learned that that way lies madness and migraines.
Fortunately for me, I was far off in the Gryphon Territories when Discord broke out of his statue, but not everything he did while free was undone when he was defeated again. Somehow, a rock had become sapient during this time, under the ministrations of a corrupted Element bearer no less. After the whole Discord fiasco ended, the rock had been moved to the edge of the Everfree Forest.
I've heard all the stories about creatures entering the Everfree and vanishing without a trace. Some ponies attribute this to various unnatural characteristics of the forest itself. I always found it easier to chalk it up to the monsters who call the place home. In either case, everyone knows it's a bad idea to venture into that place, but now I'm not so sure. A rock shouldn't be of any interest to a monster no matter how terrible it might be.
Regardless of how it happened, this rock wound up in a quarry in the alien's home dimension. I can only guess that a quarry must be the alien equivalent of a rock farm, because that's where it was 'killed'. The alien had apparently fed it into a machine called a rock crusher. I have no idea what such a machine would look like or how it would work, but there's not much room for interpretation about what it does.
I'm still baffled as to how the untimely demise of a sapient rock could cause the magical disturbance felt all over Equestria four days ago. At least today, I had Sgt. Scud Runner to keep me company while guarding the hallway. We could distract each other from the sounds emanating from the guest room where Professor Lyra (I overheard Twilight Sparkle talking to her), the Element bearers, and their two guards were entertaining our alien guest. We still have no idea what it looks like.
We passed the time idly speculating on what manner of unspeakable torture they were inflicting upon the hapless prisoner based on the sounds coming through the door. I honestly don't think he deserves to be punished, though. Seriously, how is one supposed to know if a rock is intelligent, and that crushing it would constitute murder?
Oh well, it's my weekend now, and I get throne room duty this time around. Maybe I can ask one of the Princesses about it if I get the chance. They are, after all, the ones who ordered all of this.
Three Days Later:
Throne room duty can be the most or least stressful post in the palace depending on one's perspective. On one hoof, you have to polish the armor you'll be wearing to absolute perfection. On the other, all you really have to do is stand around and either look pretty or intimidating as necessary. Of course, that's just for normal days where it's just the Princesses, advisers, orderlies, and various nobles going through the day-to-day business of running a country. Today was not one of those days.
I thought they would finish the whole “alien murdered a sapient Equestrian rock” thing during my days off, but that's what I get for thinking things would be simple. It was still an intelligent being, and the alien had purposely fed it into a crusher even if he didn't know it was alive and could feel pain. Murder is murder, and the balance of magic requires that he be punished for it, or so said the Goddess of the Sun after it was all over.
It started after lunch when everyone in the throne room but the guards was dismissed for the day. Then, Princess Celestia conjured a summoning circle in the open floor, and the alien materialized in its center.
This was the first time I'd ever seen him myself, and if the voice was any indication, it was definitely a 'he'. He looked like one of the naked apes they put to work on tropical fruit farms. They're not sapient by any standards, but they're smart enough to be trained, and their soft hands and fingers make it easier to handle ripe fruit without bruising. There have been successful experiments in training them for roles in physical therapy, but it's prohibitively expensive to care for them outside of their natural habitat in the tropics, so only those who can afford it will travel south to get such treatments. It's still quite jarring to see one wearing a very nice looking suit and talking like a pony.
Once the requisite pleasantries had been exchanged, the seven mares who had dealt with him for the past four days emerged from an antechamber not far from where I stood. The Princess regarded them warmly before the proceedings began.
The time had come to send him home. Keeping him here any longer would run the risk of a temporal displacement in his home world. In other words, the rest of his kind would notice his absence. There was just one problem. He didn't want to go home. It is beyond me why someone would wish to abandon his home like that, but sure enough, he flat out said he wanted to stay in Equestria.
I've seen it before during diplomatic negotiations and dispute settlements between nobles, but I will never get used to that smile Celestia wears when someone walks right into her trap. It's almost scary to think about it. The punishment for murder is banishment for life, but it isn't really a punishment if the one being banished wants to leave. Whatever was going on in that room had convinced this alien to want to stay. It was all planned out from the start.
At the alien's request to stay, I overheard Pinkie Pie remark about the success of something called Operation: Conspiracy to Commit Friendship. I wish I could make something like that up.
If anyone else heard the remark, they ignored it. Her Highness asked if he was certain about his wish to become a citizen of Equestria, and he said, “Yes.” With that same smile she had before, Princess Celestia administered the oath of fealty to the alien.
Once he was sworn into citizenship, the matter of his murder conviction had to be addressed. Despite the circumstances, the banishment could not be commuted, and was carried out immediately. A few of the Element bearers seemed a little upset about this, but Her Majesty assured them it was all necessary, and that he would wake up in his own bed thinking this whole thing was nothing more than a dream.
After recovering from what they had just witnessed, Twilight Sparkle, and Professor Lyra asked the Princess if she would bring another one over so they learn more about the alien's culture. Pinkie Pie wanted to throw more alien parties.
If the Royal Sisters decide to grant that request, I want nothing to do with it. I'm just happy to go back to what passes for normal around here.