//------------------------------// // Chapter 14 // Story: Dusk Rises // by The-rogue-shadow //------------------------------// Twilight and Jean took up defensive stances as the armoured guard dropped his friend, drawing his sword and brandishing it nervously. Twilight was scared for Max’s life. With him in his severely weakened state and with her and Jean not only injured, but also lacking their hidden blades, the coming fight was going to be very difficult. An audible sigh came from behind her and Panadol stepped in between them all, creating an awkward silence as she carefully tiptoed through the nests. “Now look here; all of you! There is to be no fighting in my clinic. This is a place of healing, not pain, and do not forget that it is the Spring Festival. Now, I would like all of you to leave, I will tend to your friend and send him home,” she said firmly. Twilight and the guard stared at each other for a moment, before nodding once and relaxing. The guard put their sword away, before stepping aside and gesturing for Twilight to walk in front of him. She walked out the door, keeping her eyes trained on him. The door was slammed behind the three of them, followed by a dead silence. “So… It was nice to meet you, and I hope your friend makes a full recovery,” said Jean, her voice shaking. The guard fronted on them, bringing his face close to Jean’s. “In the spirit of the festival, I’m not going to attack you, nor will I tell anyone that I saw you. But if I see you in the next few weeks; I won’t hesitate,” he said, and Twilight winced at the venom in his voice. He started to storm off, his armour clanking and flashing in the light. “We are only trying to help,” Twilight called after him and the guard stopped, turning on his heels to face her. “I don’t care; you ponies are not the heroes that this city needs. We are, the guards. We are the ones that protect citizens, and then you guys come along and mess it all up. You say that you fight against evil and corruption, but you don’t realise that there are those of us that have the same goal as you. The difference between us is that I know how to follow the rules,” “Then help us,” “Didn’t you hear me? I’m dedicated to working INSIDE the law, not outside. I will never condone what you do. Murderer,” he snapped, spitting on the ground. That last word was like a knife into her chest. Even though she consistently referred to herself as an assassin rather than a murderer, hearing it from one of the guards who she had never thought of in any way beside that of corrupt lackeys for the council was a huge blow to her. Twilight gritted her teeth, biting back tears of hurt and regret. Jean must have seen this, because she suddenly appeared behind her, pulling her into a tight embrace. “Don’t listen to him. You are the hero of the city, not them,” she said softly. “But am I? I mean, really?” Twilight asked, returning the embrace. “All I do is kill and cause chaos, how does that help anypony?” She broke away from Jean and started walking back toward the cathedral. Jean had to jog to catch up with her, draping her grey wing over Twilight. “Hey now, what we do. What YOU do is important,” she replied and Twilight only gave her a weak smile. *** The town square in front of the cathedral was bustling with activity. The dancing had died down, but now the market had grown to make up the space. Stalls full of food, homemade art and surprisingly beautiful clothes. Twilight had a rare moment of girlishness then, letting out a high pitched squeal at the sight of a navy blue dress that was covered in stars. She considered buying it, until she realised that she didn’t have any money. Jean and Twilight were in the middle of getting a smoothie, courtesy of Jean, when a sudden ear piercing scream broke through the crowd. Twilight and Jean ignored their drinks, running toward the source of the noise. With a quick flash of her horn, she flipped her hood over her head, covering her eyes. Galloping down an alley, Twilight soon discovered the source of the disturbance; A Zebra, as well as a Pegasus stallion. The Zebra was crying into the stallion’s neck, while he was just staring at a trash can in shock. “What’s going on here?” asked Jean, keeping her voice as flat as possible. The stallion just gestured toward the bin and shook his head. Twilight walked forward, cautiously glancing inside, before dry retching when she saw what it was. Inside the bin was what appeared to be the burnt up corpse of a large male griffin. Twilight backed away, letting Jean have a look. Jean, to her credit, didn’t even bat an eye at the sight of the charcoal blackened body. “How can you stand the smell?” Twilight asked as Jean picked up a stick and started to examine the body. “Well I lived in the slums for a long time before Max became a guard and got us out. Not to mention that I was working as a Nurse when you and Max came to get me,” she replied, reaching into the bin and pulling something small out. “What have you got?” enquired Twilight, keeping her distance. Jean turned and held out her hand. She was holding a small golden badge that had been modelled in the shape of the griffin empire insignia; a pair of half folded wings surrounding a sword that was being held by a talon. “It’s a badge of office, you should recognise it. David used to have one,” “It’s a councillor’s badge!” Twilight exclaimed, prompting a nod from Jean. “But then how come he’s there?” “I’m not too sure. We should talk to Archangel, maybe he knows something,” Jean suggested, pocketing the badge. “In the meantime, we should let the guards know.” Twilight nodded, before turning and talking to the two witnesses, trying to ease their distress. They didn’t seem all that convinced, but after finding out who she was, they immediately agreed to keep quiet. They then continued their return to the cathedral, leaving an anonymous note on the door of a guardhouse that was on the way. *** When they got to the top of the stairs, Twilight had to actively try to not break out in laughter. Archangel was being suspended upside down by his hind legs, with his wings tied tightly to his chest. The new recruits were surrounding him, swinging him as they laughed and asked him questions. “Let me guess, interrogation training?” said Jean and Chromia just smiled and nodded, while Archangel’s face continued to turn red as all of the blood rushed to his head. Allison flew up and cut the rope, causing Archangel to fall to the floor in a heap. This time, Twilight was unable to contain herself and burst into fits of laughter, only to have to stick her hoof in her mouth when Archangel shot a hard look at her. “Thanks for all the help, do you need something,” he said drily, biting through the rope that held his wings in place. Jean produced the golden badge, holding it in the palm of her hand while he examined it. “Well, what do you have here? Councillor’s badge of office, slightly melted, which in itself is remarkable. This metal isn’t regular gold; it’s imbued with a magic that helps to amplify the telepathic abilities of certain griffins,” he explained, prompting strange looks from all present. “Seriously? Ugh, fine. Certain griffins are born with a natural psychic ability, usually manifesting around puberty when they begin to hear the thoughts of those around them. They are taken away by the government and trained to use their powers to better the empire. As a part of that, they are put into high level positions in government.” “But that’s crazy! I’ve never heard of any griffin having psychic abilities,” exclaimed Twilight, throwing her hooves up in the air. “But that’s the point, it’s not something that they like to advertise, otherwise it exposes the corruption in the system,” he replied, walking back to his bed and retrieving a notebook. He handed it to Twilight and told her to read it, as it contained all the information on their psychic powers. “So where did you find the badge?” “On the burnt corpse of a councillor that was stuffed into a trash can,” replied Jean and all of the recruits went dead silent. “Interesting, any idea who it was?” “I’m not sure, but judging by the size of the beak it had to have been councillor Udina,” “Makes sense, he went missing about a week ago,” “But why would someone murder him?” asked Twilight, only to receive a shrug from the others. “So we have a good old fashioned mystery on our hooves.” “Yay, with a question mark?” said Archangel, raising an eyebrow at her. “I mean, yeah, it needs to be investigated, but are we the ones to be doing it? We kill councillors for a living, so if somepony is doing our job for us… I don’t know,” “But being burnt to death isn’t the way that we do things. We kill swiftly, with a degree of mercy. But the way that he died was just horrible,” “I see your point, and if you want to investigate, I will back you up,” Jean told her. Twilight nodded her thanks, before making her way over to her cot and retrieving her hidden blade. Jean did the same and the two headed back to the top of the stairs, before Archangel stopped them. “You both realise that if you kill anyone now, they will execute you. No hundred days of torture, just a hanging and then… they will eat you,” he warned and Twilight just nodded once in response. Flipping the hood back over her head, Twilight and Jean left the cathedral, heading straight for the alley where the corpse was. Even though she knew that it would be crawling with guards, they needed to look for more clues. *** Sure enough, the entire city block had been cordoned off, while a group of griffins that were dressed from head to paw in white carefully searched the area. Upon catching a glimpse of Ignatius, they dived behind a low wall, watching intently as he talked with one of the griffins in white. “Can you hear what they are saying?” asked Jean, and Twilight shook her head, before her eyes brightened. “Not yet,” she said excitedly as she poured magic into her horn. The spell flew out of the tip, quickly splitting into two wisps of light that came to rest on both of the girl’s heads. It then proceeded to cover the top of their heads in magenta energy, leaving only their faces open. “Amplification spell,” explained Twilight, “The speech of anypony we focus our gaze on will be amplified for us and us only.” Jean smiled, and they both turned to watch Ignatius once more. The Spell worked almost perfectly, albeit with some distortion of the sound. It made everything sound like it was underwater. “…Is there any way to trace it back to the council?” Ignatius asked the white clad griffin. “I don’t think so. His badge of office is missing and I can only assume it melted in the fire,” said the other griffin. Ignatius nodded, thanked the other griffin and started to walk out of the alley. Twilight and Jean exchanged looks and followed him as silently as they could; using whatever was around as cover. Ignatius took a very long winded and complicated route back to the council building; stopping at a few stores to collect what Twilight assumed was bribes. When they finally arrived, the girls were surprised to find the building unguarded. The spell told her that there were many individuals inside, but there was no way of knowing if they were guards or not. Sneaking around the back offered no entrances, as every window had iron bars over the glass to prevent break ins and vandalism. A fire escape on the side of the opposite building seemed to be the only way in, regardless of the fifty foot gap that separated them. *** The climb to the top took much longer then it would have a week ago, the injuries that both of them were dealing with was hindering their progress. Twilight’s hooves slipped a little on the loose gravel at the top, and the expanse of the upper city surrounded them. The buildings were in pristine condition and well groomed plants lined the white cobblestone. Well-dressed ponies and griffins that seemed oblivious to the pains and concerns of those in the rest of the city laughed and sipped coffee at the numerous café’s that were up and down the streets. “Right, now what?” Jean asked, panting from the exertion. Twilight walked to the edge of the roof and looked over at the council building. On the opposite roof, there was a door that led into the interior, and just beside the door were a pair of griffins smoking cigarettes. “Filthy habit,” she muttered to herself, turning and walking to the other side of the roof. Jean stood beside her, and they stared at their target. “Can you fly yourself across?” “Yeah, but I couldn’t carry you,” she answered and Twilight just smirked. “That won’t be a problem,” she said as she started to gallop at the other edge. A teleport spell of that distance would leave her very weak, and she had no idea what she would encounter on the inside. Her current plan was dangerous, but it was one she had done many times before. By leaping off the building, she could use the potential kinetic energy from the fall to charge up the spell, thereby reducing the amount of actual energy spent to near zero. The problem with the spell is the timing. If the user doesn’t get it right, they could become nothing more than a stain on the ground below. Twilight took a deep breath as she dove from the roof, enjoying the few moments of free fall before the unrelenting force of gravity took over and she fell. Her horn grew warm as it filled with magic and her eyes watered from the biting wind. The concrete covered ground rushed at her and she poured even more magic into her horn, counting down before she activated the spell. ‘Three…Two…ONE!’ she thought and with the audible sound of contracting air, she disappeared, mere metres from the ground. Her world turned magenta for a moment, before it broke away to reveal two stunned griffins and a wooden door. She skidded to a stop, before smirking and dashing forward and knocking the griffins out with one punch each. Jean landed next to her with her mouth contorted in an expression of pain. “Are you ready,” she asked, pulling the straps tighter on her hidden blade. Twilight put her hoof to the door and took a deep breath. “As I’ll ever be. Let’s go find the skeletons in the closet,”