//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: Sombra: The Shadow Over Ponyville // by Blaster Master //------------------------------// Chapter 7 Early the next morning, Twilight walked through the door into the library, exhausted. She had been up all night going all over Ponyville and environs beyond, following the map of places Fluttershy had been assigned to search. She checked every single place, but found no sign of Fluttershy. “What if I never find them?” She posed to question to herself quietly. “Who?” came the response from above, as Owlowiscious swooped in and landed on her back. The friendly Barn Owl had been Twilight’s companion during her search last night after Spike went home to sleep. “Fluttershy, Applejack and Rainbow Dash… What if I never see them again?” She felt the owl’s talons pinch slightly, and he gave a firm, “Who!” “You’re right” Twilight said, picking up her head a little “I can’t think like that. The power of our friendship is too strong for anyone to stop, even this mystery bad guy of ours.” “Who.” “Isn’t that the million bit question? Who indeed? It seems like it would need to be somepony who can manipulate clouds, like a Pegasus. But it would also need to be somepony who could control Timberwolves, but no one can control Timberwolves! That magic must be ancient, if it even exists! I couldn’t even do it!” As she pondered what she knew, Owlowiscious took off from her back and landed on the ladder up to her bedroom. He pointed with his wing. “Yeah, I’ll try to catch a few hours of sleep. But be sure to have Spike wake me up, ok?” “Who.” Celestia’s most faithful student crawled into her bed and had her sleep, but the thoughts of her friends kept her from being truly restful. *** Quite a bit sooner than Twilight would have liked, she was awakened by a knocking at her door. Turning over and hoping Spike would get it proved to be fruitless, for after only a few minutes, she heard wings flapping next to her bed. “Twilight Sparkle?” A deep voice asked. She poked her head up and saw a stallion Pegasus with golden armor next to her. He had dark fur and a green mane, and had an air of authority about him. “I’m Lieutenant Broadsword, my platoon and I was told to report here to you. I’ve already assigned guards around the perimeter of the library, the town hall, the homes of Ms. Rarity and Ms. Pie, and at every entrance and exit to Ponyville.” “Ummm…” Twilight felt very awkward to be getting a full military debriefing while she still had bedhead, but composed herself despite her messy mane “Good work Lieutenant, keep me informed of… Uh… Stuff… And prepare a detachment to help bolster the search parties” Broadsword saluted and headed down. *** Twilight headed out of the library a little bit later, groggy but rested and groomed enough for government work. What she saw an amazing and somewhat scary sight: Sure enough, an entire platoon of Guards had descended upon Ponyville, stationing themselves at nearly every crossroad and patrolling the skies for signs of trouble. Some were setting up specialized tents for the soldiers to sleep in, as well as moving equipment into the town hall, which seemed to be evolving into their command center. The atmosphere was supposed to make them feel safer and more secure, but instead Twilight felt tense, as if their town was gearing up for war. And depending upon who was responsible for taking her friends, maybe they were. Twilight was unsurprised to see Pinkie Pie with her “Welcome Wagon” working overtime to welcome the entire host to Ponyville. She was singing songs, firing confetti, and handing out cakes as fast as she could muster. Unfortunately, that didn’t seem to be very good for the trio of guards assigned to watch her, who were running themselves ragged just to keep up with her. At the thought of guarding her friends, she decided to stop in at the Carousel Boutique and see Rarity. At Carousel Boutique, Rarity was taking the entire thing quite in stride. In fact, you could even say using it to her advantage. When Twilight entered the shop, she saw Rarity swapping a variety of different ties around one of the stalwart guards, who didn’t even flinch. “Too Summer, too mauve, too skinny, too- Oh! Twilight, darling! So good to see you! Have you met my bodyguards? This is August, that one is Speartip, and over by the door is Blazebrush.” Each of the guards were done up with some of Rarity’s fashion items, from scarves to cloaks. They were perfectly still, and managed to look tough despite the poofy orange scarves. “It’s good of the Princess to send us these bodyguards,” Rarity remarked “I feel safer already knowing there are brave, strong, and handsome stallions ready to defend their lady. Oh! It’s like I was real royalty!” “Well, it’s good that you’re enjoying your extra company,” Twilight said, “I’m not sure how I’d feel about having somepony around me all the time.” “Oh, don’t be ridiculous Twilight! These stallions have been perfect gentlecolts. Oh, Blazebrush! Would you be a dear and fetch us some lemonade from my refrigerator?” “That’s OK, Rarity,” Twilight said, already halfway out the door “I was just leaving. I’m going back to town hall to rally some more searchers!” “I’ll be there as soon as I can!” Rarity called as she left “I’m up to my haunches in dress orders!” Blazebrush appeared to her right with a glass of lemonade, which Rarity took while batting her eyelashes at the guard. *** Twilight trotted through town, heading towards town hall. She could see that the citizens of Ponyville were sharing her ideas about how all the guards made her feel. Barely anypony was one the streets, and most of the stores and stalls were closed today. There was a tension in the air. And fear. With everything that had happened, everypony could feel that something was coming, but no one knew exactly what. “Attention everypony!” Mayor Mare’s voice rang out from the direction of town hall, “This is Mayor Mare speaking, and I’d just like to assure everypony that the current state of affairs is temporary and-” Twilight rounded a hill and found the Royal Guards had set up a better speaker system so that the mayor could address half the town from the podium in front of town hall. As the mayor continued her address, she saw Lt. Broadsword a little ways off giving orders to his subordinates. “Hello again, Lieutenant” “Miss Sparkle, good,” The Lt. shooed his fellow guardsmen away, “Now that you’re here-” “Yes,” Twilight interrupted, “I know, I know, we can continue the search. Now, I think we should rotate different groups to search the areas we’ve already-” “First, Miss,” Lt. Broadsword interjected, putting up a hoof “I’d like to introduce you to your escorts for the remainder of the crisis” He whistled sharply, and three stallions with special armor approached. Their armor was gold, like the others, but these three had light blue markings on their armor to differentiate them. The three were also each one of the different Pony races, with the Earth Pony’s armor barely containing his muscular physique, a Pegasus with long and powerfully built wings, and a Unicorn with a long horn. “These are members of the Dawn Guardians. They’re elite, and they’ve been specially added to my platoon for the purpose of being your protectors, at Princess Celestia’s behest.” “W-Well…” Twilight stammered, still a little stunned by the impressiveness of them “G-Good! I could use some protection, because I also think we need to consider checking deeper in the Everfree Forest, and I’d like-” “Absolutely not.” The Lieutenant’s interruption almost stunned her speechless. “What!? What do you mean!?” Twilight demanded. “Neither you, nor any of the other Elements are allowed outside of limits of Ponyville for the duration of the crisis.” “You can’t hold me here! I have to be out there! My friends are missing! I have to do something to help them!” “Miss, just keep your head down and leave it to us.” “Lieutenant, I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but I believe you said you were ordered to report to me!” “That’s correct, that order was given by the Princess, who also ordered me to do everything in my power to keep your out of harm’s way. And that’s what I’m doing, Miss: the Princess’ orders.” “I refuse-!” But what Twilight refused to do was drowned out by a colossal roar in the distance. A pair of panicked Pegasi swooped in, landing next to the Lieutenant. “Sir! There’s a hydra attacking the east end of town! It just rose out of the river!” “Sir! We’re getting reports that the outlying farms are being attacked by packs of Timberwolves! Lots of them!” “That sure is one heck of a coincidence,” Broadsword spat bitterly, “I want a unit of flyers to attack the hydra, tell them to go for the eyes and try to drive it off! Send another unit out to the farms!” The Lieutenant turned around to face Twilight, “Your guards will escort you back to the library. We’ll send a signal when it’s all clear.” “I’m one of the most powerful Unicorns in all of Ponyville; you have to let me help!” “I need to keep you-!” “I can help handle the hydra, I’ll have backup” Twilight nodded to her bodyguards “And you can send some more ponies to Sweet Apple Acres. Without Applejack, there’s only one stallion there to defend the whole farm!” Lt. Broadsword furrowed his brow, considering his limited options. “Please!” Twilight pleaded. “Alright” Broadsword conceded, before addressing her protectors “But you are to guard her with your lives, understand?” The three saluted and ran to catch up with Twilight, who started galloping after the “t” left the Lieutenant’s lips. *** Ponyville was in a panic. The populace ran for their lives, carrying their valuables and their children out of their houses, as the hydra tore a warpath through the town. Pegasus Royal Guards flew around its many snapping heads, drawing its attention away from the citizens below. Unicorn Guards fired magical blasts from their horns and Earth Pony Guards used spears, but little penetrated the think hide of the beast. Twilight Sparkle was getting a ride to the scene on the back of her Pegasus Guard, and saw the entirety of the scene before her. The last time I saw that hydra, it nearly ate me, She thought to herself, But that was a long time ago. I’ve come so far since then, and everypony’s counting on me to stop it. I have to! Twilight would hate herself later for falling into such a transparent trap.