A Turret's Serenade

by Silent Flash


The Guards

Shining Armour returned to his guards. He saluted them then started to give out orders. "Feathered Spear, you can monitor the town" he said singling out a mare guard. "Make sure no pony gets in without ID."

Feathered Spear groaned. "Yes sir."

Shining Armour turned to another Pegasus guard with a darker mane. "Stone Wall, you stay with her."

Stone Wall positioned himself next to Feathered Spear.

"Silver Wind and Iron Wings, you will be assisting me at Forest duty" Shining told the other two guards who hoofbumped eachother upon the order.

Shining Armour nodded to the two guards as they started off.

"See ya losers" Iron Wings taunted Feathered Spear, who was rolling her eyes.


The two pegasi took to the air, Feathered Spear led Stone wall higher into the sky, so the tip of the Mayor's office was just a speck.

"Sometimes I wonder if being a guard is worth it" She sighed, admitting to her partner.

"Saving innocent ponies and protecting our Princess's are worth it, Feathered. Ignore the others. There is no law for mares to be excluded from the Royal Guard." Stone argued.

Feathered Spear looked away for a minutes. "Sometimes I wonder if our Captain has gone insane, claiming random ponies are guilty."

Stone Wall paused for a minute. "You think he's wrong this time?"

Feathered Spear nodded.


The three ponies were still at the spa. Rarity spoke first. "So darling, where did you come from?"

Fluttershy nodded. "That is, if you want to tell us..."

The white pony shrugged. "I came from a company in America. It was quite nice actually. Technology, computers, electricity everywhere, giving us life." She looked through a small window for a second.

"Everything was fine, except I never got to see the light of nature."

"Darling, care to explain?" Rarity inquired.

"There were no windows, mostly because most of the facility was built underground. The Sunlight never reached my part, even if it did, it was in concentrated lasers that could destroy one of us." Song admitted, shuddering.

"What pony would do such a thing to a gentle mare like you?" Rarity asked, putting a hoof to her chin. "The only pony with such quality I can think of is King Sombra."

Fluttershy shut both her eyes and went into a fetal position.

"Fluttershy darling, Sombra isn't here and I'm sure whoever did this to Song isn't anywhere near Ponyville." Rarity comforted her friend.

Song shook her head. "Aperture must be far away if you don't know of it."

Fluttershy opened her eyes. "If they did such a horrible thing to you, then they must have been a big meanie"

Song shrugged. "It's not like we could move anyways."

Rarity gasped. "Oh my darling, this changes everything! Were you jailed? Or chained down?"

Song shook her head. "Just immobile."

"Um, do you mind if I ask you who did this to you?" Fluttershy asked.

"GLaDOS was our main boss until this other one took over, I think his name was Wheatley or something." Song admitted.

"GLaDOS, Wheatley? What weird names." Rarity muttered. "I can see Wheatley working for somepony with a talent for Wheat or something, but GLaDOS."

Song shrugged again.

"Anyways darling, I'm sure I can get our friends to help you find this place and teach those horrible ponies a lesson." Rarity promised, stretching her hoof forward. "Fluttershy, are you in?"

Fluttershy reluctantly put a hoof forward.

Song sank back. "You really shouldn't have to do this for me." She told them.

"Nonsense, darling. You are a friend. Your troubles are ours." Rarity pledged.

Friends... who would have known I would have actual friends? Song Serenade asked herself, shedding a single tear.


Shining Armour's horn lit up, giving the group a little bit of light through the dark forest. Even if it was in the middle of the day, the Everfree forest was still as dark as Night, an effect that it had ever since Princess Luna was banished to the Moon.

A guard was in front of him and one behind, ready to pounce if anything attacked. One of the Guards happened to know the Forest well, as they spent duty in the Everfree before after a squad was called to help chase away an Ursa Major.

Silver Wind let his mane dance in the wind as he pushed on. "The Froggy Bottom Bog is just ahead Sir, although there may be some dangerous creatures in there." He warned his boss.

Shining Armour nodded, switching his spell to an easy temporary force field to avoid any small damages. "Lead on Silver Wind" he ordered.

Silver Wing nodded, leading the two other ponies into a bigger clearing. A swamp was in the middle of the clearing, green with algae.

"I'm dropping the shield" Shining Armour warned. "Get ready for anything."

The two Guards flew up to an area that they could spot almost everything in the clearing.

A pink magic aura surged from Shining Armour's horn. The light got brighter as it started to change colours. From pink to a sickly green it slowly changed.

"Casting the Changeling Detecting Spell" Shining warned as the aura formed a sphere. The sphere floated upwards as Shining caught his breath. The sphere slowly faded into thin air. Both guards stopped and stared at each other, confused. The green light returned, more transparent this time and swept from the highest tree down into the air, passing through every object.

"Wow" Silver Wind said as he felt a tingle, an aftereffect of the spell.

Iron Wing rolled his eyes. "Hah, that's nothing."

"Whatever" Silver remarked. "We should return to Shining Armour now." she added in, descending to their captain.

The remains of the sickly green light gathered into Shining Armour's hooves.

"So?" Iron asked.

"I have detected one Changeling in this area, spread out and look for any suspicious figures. If you find it, bring it back here alive." Shining Armour ordered.


Feathered Spear gently descended back to the streets of Ponyville, Stone Wall following her.

"Soo.." Stone Wall started.

Feathered Spear started to walk down a road of the small town. "Stone, I don't think anypony will be coming anytime soon. I think we should go 'changeling' hunting ourselves." Feathered told him.

"Huh?" Stone Wall asked.

"You heard me."

"But we are supposed to guard the town, not go on some dangerous mission. What if Captain finds out?"

"We will still be in the town, and it's not like we are going all over Equestria."

"True..."

"I overheard that one of them is almost fully white."

Stone Wall rolled his eyes again. "Feather, you should really stop eavesdropping on our captain."

"It's not eavesdropping when the door is wide open. It was calling me Stone." Feather argued.

"Just this time Feathered." Stone gave in.

"You can go search the other side of the town, I got this place covered." Feathered told Stone.

Stone nodded then flew off to the other side of Ponyville. That's some mare.. he thought to himself.


"Boss I've found something." Iron Wing called out to Shining Armour.

"Yes?" Shining asked.

"Hoofprints near the south side of the 'Bog" Iron told Shining, flying ahead of him to lead him to the spot.

"Well done Iron Wing" Shining told his guard as he saw the hoofprints. "You may continue looking for clues as I follow these."

Iron Wing flew off into the thicket.

Shining Armour looked at the hoofprints. One of the directions they led was into the Everfree. "The creature that left these must have been running out of the Everfree" Shining concluded. He started to follow them the other way.


Two piercing green eyes popped out of a clump of leaves from a nearby tree. "Losers." a shrill voice pointed out before disappearing back into the forest.


The farther Shining followed the hoofprints, the less he believed that he was going the right way. He continued them anyways, following a motto of "Never give up" The hoofprints stopped for a small stretch before returning. "Must be something that can fly" Shining took note. As he looked ahead, he saw a vibrant blue mane that reminded him of his own. Tangled wings lay at the creatures side. The creature matched the exact description the letter contained.

Changeling or not, the creature was knocked out fore sure which made the job easier. "Iron. Silver. I've found it!" Shining called out into the forest. Iron appeared first, swooping down to Shining.

"What do we do now?" Iron asked.

"Go find a good, strong vine." Shining told him.

Iron nodded then flew back into the darkness.


Feathered Spear sighed, she had always dreamed of going to one of those places. She had a reputation to uphold though, and no extra time to do it in. She slid the door open. Maybe she could use the 'changeling' as an excuse to finally visit one of them.

A spa.

Aloe was the first to greet the guards pony. "Hello Madam, how may we service you?"

"A tr-" Feather started, but then stopped mid sentence. "Do you have anyone currently in?" She asked.

Aloe nodded. "Two regulars and their friend."

"May I see them?"

"Right this way Miss" Lotus said leading them to the Sauna room.

Right off the bat, Feathered noticed that two of them were part of the Elements of Harmony, who she had witnessed multiple times in Canterlot. The third one was an all white earth pony.

Fluttershy hid in a corner and let out a squee, grabbing a towel.

"Hello, I just wish to speak with your friend." Feathered ordered.

Rarity sighed. "During a spa session, the nerve."

"Official Guard Business" Feathered said, pulling out her badge to prove a point.

"Go ahead Song, we'll um, catch up." Fluttershy told her friend.

Song nodded, used to taking orders from almost everyone else and followed the Guard.

"You are issued to stay with me for further notice." Feathered Spear ordered.

Song nodded as Feathered led her out of the spa and into the main reception area. Feathered pushed the door open, exiting the Spa.

"So Feathered, have a good time?" someone asked.

"Huh? Show yourself at once!" Feathered ordered.

Stone swooped down. "Wow Feathered calm down."

Song exited the Spa and stood next to Feathered.

Stone whispered. "So you actually found her."

Feathered nodded as Stone started to circle Song, looking over every aspect. He was mostly intrigued by her red eyes.

"Stone, snap out of it. We should return to Town Hall and wait for Shining Armour there."

Stone agreed and the three ponies headed towards the Town Hall, collecting worried and confused glances as they passed.


Iron Wings and Silver Wind returned with a rather large vine, dropping it at Shining's hooves.

"Good job you two" Shining commented. He then took the vine in his aura and tied it around the unconcious pony's wings.

"Ooh" Silver Wind remarked.

"Iron, since you're such a strong guard, you can carry it back to town." Shining said.

"But.." Iron was cut off.

"Yeah Iron, you heard our boss." Silver snickered and flew off to walk with Shining back to town.


"That was unusual" Twilight Sparkle told Spike. Her brother was never dispatched, unless it was a very urgent mission.

Spike nodded.

"Anyways back to sorting books." Twilight said enthusiastically.


Shining Armour and Silver Wind re-entered Ponyville and headed for Town Hall. Stone joined them. "Did you find anything?" He asked.

"One changeling." Shining told his guard.

"And Iron Wing is carrying it back here by himself" Silver Wind snickered.

"He must be having a fun time" Stone added.

Silver nodded in agreement.

Shining Armour looked at Stone. "Stone, do you have anything to report?"

"Feathered found a pony that fits the description and they are waiting at town hall." He reported.

"I think our job here is done then." Shining concluded.

The three guards returned to Town Hall.

Shining Armour saluted Feathered "Good job soldier.".

Feathered nodded.

"Stay out here for a minute, I'm requesting a chariot to Canterlot imminently."

The three guards nodded as their captain entered Town Hall.


"So what's your name?" Silver asked the pony.

"Song Serenade." Song told Silver.

"Well Song, you will be coming with us to Canterlot for a 'visit'" Silver told her.

She's pretty good at faking it if she is a Changeling. Stone thought.

Shining returned from Town Hall. "The chariot is coming and should be here in a few minutes" he told them.

"Perfect timing" Stone muttered. "Iron is just arriving right now."

Four pairs of eyes turned to a pegasus who was struggling to carry an unconcious pony.

For some reason, Feathered Spear broke out in laughter.