Beacon in the Shadows:
or
Cheerilee's a Paladin
Chapter Three: The Tip of the Iceberg
By DigitDaemon
A/N This has only been looked over by one of my two editors. I will make necessary changes after my friend takes a look at it.
~~~~~
It was dark by the time Cheerilee and Symphony reached Ponyville. Their trip had been much shorter due to the fact that they were traveling via chariot. Not just a commuter chariots either, but a high speed chariot from the Equestrian Expeditionary Force. The chariot stopped at Cheerilee’s house, where she dropped off Symphony, shut and locked the windows and doors, and then activated the protective enchantment around the house. With her house locked down almost as tight as Canterlot Castle, Cheerilee set off to where the first body had been found.
She arrived just outside the Everfree Forest, and found the victim undisturbed. Next to the body of a middle aged stallion with a blood stained green coat and rusty red mane, was a group of expeditionary soldiers.
Cheerilee walked up to the officer in charge, “Hello Lieutenant, may I ask what is going on here?”
The officer turned around and gave a salute, “I got a glance of you back at the castle, you must be the paladin. We are preparing to search the forest. We have to go through everything in ten miles of Ponyville, even creepy forests. Name’s Flurry Wing, by the way, the general assigned me to lead the 4th reconnaissance division.”
“Nice to meet you Flurry Wing. I’m Cheerilee Punch, local school teacher. I would appreciate it if you kept that to yourself though, anonymity has its advantages.”
“Certainly.”
Cheerilee looked back at the corpse, “Can you tell me anything about the body?”
“Only that the local guard was here when we got here, and they seemed eager to pass it off to us,” Lieutenant Flurry Wing said with a shrug.
“I suppose it’s as they say, you have to start somewhere. Thank you.”
As Cheerilee walked back over to the dead body, a few runes appeared across her form, and she was enveloped in a brief flash of light, followed by a radiating warmth, not unlike Celestia’s own aura. After the light faded Cheerilee was dressed with several small plates of metal over vulnerable areas, the rest was covered in mixture of chainmail and leather padding. It was clear that the purpose of this armor specifically was mobility, but a dagger strapped to one leg promised that fighting was always an option. She also wore the visor recently given to her by the lunar princess. Its dark blue, and dim steel colorations clashed with the rest of her armor. Its function however, was invaluable.
With the visor, Cheerilee’s vision became a mixture of blues, from bright to dark. She was able to clearly make out all of the soldiers a short distance away, and the outskirts of Ponyville beyond them. As with every other piece of her armor, she could feel a mental link to the visor, and with a thought, her view changed to a scale of blue to red, as the visor’s heat sensor function engaged.
Cheerilee could see that despite the early evening chill, the dead pony’s body had retained much of its internal heat. I suppose he couldn’t have been dead for more than a couple of hours.I don’t see anything else, I should probably move on to the next one.
Cheerilee walked back past the Expeditionary soldiers, and waved, before setting her sights back on Ponyville. Lieutenant Flurry Wing saluted the paladin, and with an crisp gesture led her squad into the forest.
~~~~~
A quick walk through the surprisingly empty streets of Ponyville, she arrived at where the second body had been found in an alleyway near the schoolhouse of all places. When Cheerilee got to the scene, the sergeant of the local guard and a few of his group were standing there.
Cheerilee gave a small smile as she walked up to them, “Hello again. I would say it’s a pleasure to see you, but under the circumstance we keep meeting, I am sure you will understand if I don’t.”
The sergeant chuckled, “I sure do ma’am, and with all these soldiers around, its hard to get away with the usual standing around and doing nothing.”
The other guards were forced to hold their laughter, the sergeant often joked about the care that was taken in training them to stand like statues. Standing around all day was by far his favorite, and most overused pun.
Cheerilee turned her attention from the guards, to the second victim. The body was that of a colt not much younger than herself, he had a silvery coat, marred by trails of blood and a similarly colored mane. There was a single deep wound on his chest, which presumably led to his heart, and a long gash on his right front leg. A quick switch back to the heat mode on her visor told her that this pony had been attacked before the previous victim. It looks like he tried to put up a fight, but with so few defensive wounds, it doesn’t look like he had time to do much more then block the first attack.
Cheerilee turned back to the sergeant, who had taken to unloading a stretcher from a nearby box. “You can clean this up now, and afterwards, be sure to clean up over by the forest as well.”
“Yes ma’am, and good luck.”
Cheerilee gave a grave nod, and walked back out of the alley.
~~~~~
Cheerilee came to the last victim’s body. It had been found in a different alley, closer to the center of town. The scene was this time only guarded by a single pony. His uniform was the same as that of the rest of the local guard. It was apparent that the Expeditionary Forces had forgone investigating, and in true military style went straight to searching.
Cheerilee showed the colt a symbol that adorned the bottom of one of her boots. It was a sun, identical to the one that appeared on Celestia’s flank, on a shield, and crossed by a sword.
The colt stepped to the side and allowed her to view the corpse. A mare somewhere between the ages of the last two victims, with a brown coat and golden yellow mane. The wounds showed that she had been caught off guard, and hadn’t had time to react. Her heat signature was slightly lower than the previous victim.
All of them must have been killed within a short time span. They don’t seem to have any connection other than they were out of public view. It’s safe to assume that they weren’t targeted because of that however, as it would be more efficient to sneak into houses, assuming that the killer is just targeting random ponies. So, the only likely answer is that he was eliminating ponies that saw him sneaking through the back alley. But, what was he sneaking away from?
Cheerilee walked over to the guard, “You can clean this up after they finish with the other two.”
“Yes ma’am. If you don’t mind me asking...What now?”
“I’m going to figure out where he was coming from, and more importantly, where he is going”
Cheerilee walked away. She needed a map. There was one at her house, but seeing as her house was inaccessible, that wasn’t an option. So, town hall it is.
~~~~~
It only took about two minutes for Cheerilee to get to the town hall. When she arrived the lights were still on, though it was a little known secret that Mayor Mare ended up spending most night sleeping at town hall anyways. The doors were flanked by more local guards and there were a few pegasus guards circling the building.
Cheerilee knocked on the door and waited patiently for the mayor to answer. When the door did open, it revealed a bedraggled mare with a pale brown coat and a silver-gray mane, which was falling over her face.
The mayor gave a small smile, “Oh, hello Cheerilee.”
“Sorry to disturb you Mayor.” Cheerilee said sheepishly.
“It’s no disturbance, Celestia knows I can’t sleep with the way things are anyways. How can I help you?”
“I need to use some of the maps, I would get my own, but my house is currently locked down.”
“You may use anything you need, Is there anything I can do?”
Cheerilee was about to say no, but hesitated, “Coffee?”
“Of course, I’ll be right back. You know the way to the city planning room, correct?”
“Yes, thank you very much.”
The mayor retreated back inside and up the stairs to her office. Cheerilee walked in, and down the hall to a sparsely decorated room, filled with maps and other documents. Cheerilee pulled a blue print that had from town hall to the edge of town facing the Everfree Forest. It took her awhile longer to find a map of the same scale that finished from the town to the forest. By the time she had found the right map, there was a steaming mug of coffee sitting on the desk.
I must have been concentrating really hard. Cheerilee picked up the mug and took a sip, Ugh. Coltlumbian, I hate Coltlumbian. She downed the rest of the mug and then placed it on a nearby shelf.
Unrolling the map she overlapped it with the other so it made a single continuous map spanning all three murders. She then picked a pencil up out of a cup on the desk, and plotted the area each murder occurred in. Then, with a ruler she also took from the desk, she made a straight line across the map, roughly fitting in all of the areas. The line could be roughly adhered to if one was trying to stay out of sight. It made full use of the back alleys and side streets. But the real question was sneaking from where, to where.
Cheerilee traced the line back towards the first murder, the only public building it directly intersected was the post office. ...Unless, the library?
Continuing the line, Cheerilee found that it did in fact intersect the library.
“Sorry princess, but I may have no choice, but to involve her. Now, where is that son of a whorse headed?”
Cheerilee followed the line back the other way. It didn’t parallel the Everfree forest long before plunging directly into it.
“But thats where Flurry Wing is headed...Right into a trap.”
Cheerilee burst through the doorway, and ran directly into the mayor.
“I’m sorry Cheerilee, I had just thought I would check, and see if you needed anything else.”
After Cherrilee recovered, she motioned for the mayor to follow her. “Sorry Mayor, but I don’t have time to explain. I need you to send guards to check on Twilight Sparkle, and have them stay outside the library. If you need more ponies, ask General Turncoat, if you tell him I said so, he should oblige you. Then I need you to have medical personnel wait at the edge of the forest, but they must not enter, no matter what they see or hear.”
The Mayor nodded and once outside broke off to talk to the guards. Cheerilee adopted a measured trot, and set off towards the forest.
~~~~~
It took fifteen minutes for Cheerilee to arrive back at the entrance to the Everfree Forest. The walk back had been eventful only in the absences of any eventfulness. The streets of Ponyville, even at the current hour, were usually full of bustling ponies. Tonight however, the streets were empty; except for a few guards, Cheerilee hadn’t seen anypony.
To the naked eye, the forest was as foreboding as ever. Cheerilee once again activated her visor, and the dark depths of the forest opened their secrets to her. Experimentally, she switched to heat vision. On the ground, Cheerilee could now see the faint heat left by the soldiers’ footsteps. She once again set out at the same sustainable pace, following the trail deeper into the Everfree Forest.
Cheerilee had made it about ten minutes into the forest. She noted how much less imposing the forest was when it was viewed not in it’s usual shadow and gloom, but in shades of red through blue. She sequestered any further thought along that lines. It was dangerous to be lost in thought, especially in such hostile terrain.
A few minutes later, Cheerilee heard a voice that sounded distinctly like Lieutenant Flurry Wing’s. She turned and set off through the undergrowth, directly towards the source. She halted again, when she heard the lieutenant’s voice again, this time she could clearly make out what Flurry Wing was saying.
“Crag! Keep an eye on Shimmer’s wounds, let me know if they get any worse. Chainmail! Cover our flank, tell me if anything moves. I’m not going to lie to you, our only hope is that when we don’t return, they send reinforcements. I don’t even know what attacked us, but you all saw what happened to Clover, leaving the clearing is suicide.”
Cheerilee doubled her speed, and drew her dagger. She used the blade to slash her way towards the clearing. After breaking the treeline she put up her dagger in a defensive stance, deflecting a bolt of magic energy. Before the unicorn guard could fire another shot, the Lieutenant called out.
“Stand down, Chainmail! Cheerilee, what are you doing here?”
Cheerilee put her dagger back in it’s sheath, “The same thing you are, looking for the murderer.”
Flurry Wing nodded and Cheerilee walked over to the group at the center of the clearing.
“Forgive me, but weren’t there five of you?”
Flurry Wing nodded, “Three-leaf Clover didn’t make it. I’m not really sure what even happened. He had point, and this shadow jumped out of the shadows. It knocked him into a tree, then it vanished. By the time we got to the body,” Flurry Wing was trying hard to fight off tears, “His...his body...there were two stab wounds in his chest...and his ribcage had caved in.” The lieutenant regained her composure. “Luckily, Shimmer Star got her legs up in time, she isn’t harmed past her shoulders.”
Cheerilee's ear picked up a subtle whistle moments before the bolt struck. Chainmail immediately opened fire on where the crossbow bolt had come from, but the assassin hadn’t even waited to see whether the shot had hit.
Luckily, the joints in Cheerilee’s armor were covered with a magic barrier, one that a regular bolt would not pierce, especially one from such a small crossbow. She picked it up while her armor began to shift and change. It grew to cover her more completely, eventually taking on the form it had the night before.
Cheerilee flipped her visor back down, “Looks like the wait time is over. I wouldn’t suggest following me.”
Lieutenant Flurry Wing nodded. Cheerilee turned and began walking towards the forest.
“Good luck,” Flurry Wing shouted from behind.
“I make my own luck.”
Despite the forest gloom being stripped away, Cheerilee had no doubts as to the danger that hid behind the unassuming rainbow of heat. She donned her shield, but had decided to stick with the dagger. In these close quarters the reach of a sword would do her no good.
She scanned back and forth, but it was her hearing that gave her the warning. She brought her shield around and braced as twin steel blades impacted with tremendous force. Once more she got a glance of her opponent. It was certainly the pegasus she had encountered last night, and once again she noticed how the evil aura seemed to swirl around him, but not truly meld with him.
He must be the one that was mind controlled two nights ago.
Just as soon as he had attacked, in a gust of wind, the assassin was gone again.
Cheerilee continued walking until, once again her shield came up moments before the deadly steel shot forward, before disappearing again.
How can I break the spell?
This time, the blades hit the shield but the assassin threw his weight underneath the shield. He knocked Cheerilee to the ground after sliding beneath her. She did however, managed to bring her dagger around, and parry his follow up attack. Then once again he was gone.
Cheerilee rolled back onto her stomach, and stood up, her journey that night would go on. The next attack started with a bolt fired at her face, the only exposed part of her, and forced her to block with her shield. A well timed side step saved her from a repeat of the last encounter.
As the assassin slid, in an attempt to knock down the paladin who was no longer standing there, Cheerilee brought down her shield pinning him. The pegasus struggled against her.
“Who are you?”
“Part of the brotherhood.”
Cheerilee felt something slip. She jumped back just in time to avoid a parting stab from the assassin as he broke free. No name? I think I might be onto something.”
“Thats great, anything else. A name perhaps?”
She ducked as the pegasus made a mad dash from above. that was a desperate move, not the calculated strikes he’s been dealing so far.
“What about your history, where were you born?”
A leap forward avoid a bull rush from the left.
“Who were your parents?”
This time the attack was almost laughable, the assassin ricocheted off of Cheerilee’s shield, which she hadn’t even moved to block.
“Perhaps there is somepony you love?”
As with the previous strike Cheerilee didn’t even need to move. The shadowy figure bounced off the ground in front of her.
“Your job?”
The cloaked figure shot out of the trees, not to attack, but as if being chased. He ran into a tree nearby, and fell to the ground.
Cheerilee ran to where the pony had crashed. he was curled up in the fetal position up against the tree he had collided with. the cloak that had protected his identity lay in tatters, and the red in his mane seemed to flow out like blood. His coat looked now more like a storm cloud than the almost black it was previously, and his eyes had gone from red to a lite-blue.
As she got closer, she could hear him muttering under his breath.
“...To serve, and...and protect. To serve...protect. To serve and...protect, protect.”
Cheerilee sat down in front of him. Confirming that the evil that had previously haunted him was gone, she began to whisper calmly to him.
“It’s okay now. You’re going to be alright”
He looked up, finally noticing her presence, and as if in a moment of clarity spoke, the stammer gone from his voice, “No. I killed them. Nothing will be alright.”