Chapter 1
It was a pitch black night and Luna’s celestial orb was nowhere to seen. Shining Armor could see nothing but the dirt road that lay in front of him and the dark, eerie, forboding trees that lay on both sides. Despite the pure black sky, in front of him he could faintly make out the dark silhouette of the large gatehouse looming over him a good distance away that marked the entrance to the huge, sprawling city of Canterlot. As Shining Armor walked trudgingly towards the city, his mind was running rampant. It had been six months since Twilight’s coronation and in that time, Equestria had changed.
It had been six months since Twilight had become an alicorn and Equestria’s newest princess and since then, she had been living in Canterlot once again. As a princess, she now had many new royal duties to perform and she needed proper instruction from Celestia in order to learn how to carry them out. She seemed to have adapted to the change very well, very quickly. She seemed to have grasped the understanding of the Equestrian political systems very quickly and in almost no time at all had introduced new policies that have revolutionarily changed Equestria for the better. Equestria now had more advanced technology, remarkable advances in science, better education, lower crime rates, a growing economy, bigger cities, towns and population and all around better lives for everypony.
However, there were also changes that were not so great. There was now heavier taxation on the pegasus ponies more so than others. Guards were now stationed in every city and town in Equestria, not just in Canterlot and they seemed to enforce the laws more heavily than before, making arrests for the slightest infracture. The richer areas of Equestria were becoming more exclusive to higher up ponies whilst the poorest areas were gradually becoming forgotten about and ponies simply chose not to notice. Some ponies were beginning to say that everything that was going on now, with all the changes and even the new princess herself were a part of a conspiracy. Most of these claims were simply brushed off, being called the fevered ramblings of a madman and these ponies were just ignored. However, as more and more ponies saw that they were no longer as equal as other ponies, more and more ponies began backing these claims. There was now violence in the streets and ponies seemed to disappear simply for speaking out against the princess. At this point, the capital city of Canterlot had become completely closed off to the rest of Equestria, now being a place only for the best of the best, like a self-proclaimed ‘Eden’, only for the chosen few. There was no denying that Equestria was changing and Twilight Sparkle was at the centre of it.
However, Shining Armor just knew that it was not his sister who was responsible. Shining Armor knew Twilight better than anypony else and while she has undergone a physical transformation, she would never mentally change like this and in such a short time too. Nothing about what was happening made any logical sense. Twilight would never discriminate against anypony no matter what the reason, she would never abandon anypony in need and most importantly, there is absolutely no reason why her friends would not be trying to contact her and want to help her out with everything that is happening. Shining Armor began to suspect that Celestia was involved in this much more than she let on. Shining Armor knew Celestia very well after his years of service and with his brief meeting with her at the coronation, he sensed something was different about her. Shining Armor would never think badly of the princess, but there was no denying that Equestria was in turmoil and if the only choices of who was behind it all was her and his little sister, then there is no question at all of who he would blame; and if Twilight is in any way in danger, he would do anything to save her. That’s how he’s always been. “I promise I’ll get you out of all of this; by any means necessary. I promise you, Twily.”
“Halt!” Shining Armor suddenly snapped back to reality as he heard a voice speak to him. He raised his head up from his thoughts and he was now standing directly in front of the gatehouse. It was huge wooden gate, at least five times the size of the stallion, with a large, orange gemstone at the centre with a yellow circle carved around it, and streaks running up and down the width of the door, with the most prominent at the centre, showing where the door opens up.
Shining Armor turned his head around and saw a stallion about his size staring back at him. The pony was a white pegasus, clod in gold armour with a blue star on the front. He also wore gold boots and helmet with a blue hairstyle on it that matched that of his tail; short, straight and simple. He was also clutching a long spear in his left forehoof. Shining Armor recognised him as one of Celestia’s royal guards. “State your business here,” the guard continued in his stoic expression.
“I seek entrance to the city,” Shining Armor replied.
“Identification please.”
“I doubt that will be necessary. I am Shining Armor: Captain of the royal guard.”
The guard didn’t responded immediately this time. He just stood there staring at him for about five seconds and then finally responded, “Very well.” The guard then turned around to reveal a small, white, stone pillar with an orange gem, matching the one on the gate, only smaller. The guard placed his hoof on the gem and pushed it like a button. Shining Armor turned his attention back to the gate. The corresponding gem on the gate suddenly began to glow. The gem at the centre started to rotate like a clock hand. There was suddenly a bright, red flash in the sky and a loud foghorn that sounded at regular intervals. After one minute, the gem had made a full rotation. The yellow circle it was centred on jutted out a little and the gate began to open outward. As the gate opened, the guard simply said, “Welcome to Canterlot,” and then walked away out of sight.
When the gate was fully opened, Shining Armor looked inside and saw a bright, pink surface just ahead. Shining Armour recognised it as the same type of force field he had put around the city before to protect it from the changelings. However, this one was different. Firstly, this force field was much thicker than his own. He couldn’t even see the city on the other side. This force field was also exuding much more force than his. It felt as if it was trying to push him back. This force field must have been conjured by Celestia herself. She was the only pony in Equestria whose barrier spells were more powerful than his own. Shining Armor walked over to the force field, easily resisting its push and with only slight hesitation, he walked through it.
As soon as Shining Armor walked through the force field, he could see nothing but pink. However, he just kept walking straight. As he walked along, he suddenly felt a lot of pressure on his body, as if he was being pushed down by something; like he was carrying something heavy on his back. He got a sudden pain in his head and he closed his eyes shut in pain. He was now hurting both physically and mentally, but he just kept on walking forward. He opened his eyes a little and he saw a bright light just up ahead. He started to regain his strength, he stood up more and he broke into a trot. He could make out shapes just ahead of him. He took a few more steps forward and then there was a flash of light. The bright light started to dissipate and he took a look around. He recognised the area as the city of Canterlot.
Shining Armor took a good look at his new surroundings. The first thing he noticed was that despite it being in the middle of the night outside, inside the city the Sun was shining and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Shining Armor suspected that this was Celestia’s doing seeing as how the Sun was her specialty. Perhaps its purpose was a way to keep her subjects always in her daytime and out of the night; perhaps to show how Equestria was changing and Canterlot was at the heart of it; or even as a sign that the chosen ponies of Canterlot were now above things like day and night. The city itself had also changed a lot in the six months since the coronation. It was now easily at least ten times bigger than it was before. You could no longer see the palace from the edge of the city as you could before. Unlike places like Ponyville or Fillydelphia, all of the buildings and streets in Canterlot were made out of clear cut, white marble stone. The roofs were all painted bright colours of yellow, aqua, white and others. This combined with the constant sunlight above gave the city a certain ‘Heaven on Earth’ feel to it. Perhaps that’s what they were going for.
Shining Armor looked behind him and the pink force field wasn’t there or anywhere around the city. He instead saw the sky above and the surrounding view that could normally be seen from there. He also saw what appeared to be a giant airship flying above the city. He raised his hoof to where the force field had been and a small bit of his hoof had disappeared. He quickly pulled it back and it was whole again. It seemed that the force field couldn’t be seen from inside the city.
Shining Armor turned back around. There were rows of houses on both sides with a straight stretch of road in between them that seemed to on for quite a bit. There were no other ponies in the area except for two guards just up ahead standing at opposite sides of the road, with their backs to Shining Armor. Understandably, this entrance was also an exit out of the city so it makes sense that they would be stationed here. Shining Armor walked forward towards the guards. When he was standing between them, he turned to one of them and asked, “Hey, can you tell me where I am?”
The guard he turned to turned his head to face him. He had the same armor and stoic expression as the guard outside and he simply said, “South entrance.”
Seeing that he was not going to get anything else out of him, Shining Armor turned back to the road and walked ahead.
As Shining Armor was walking along he could hear the sound of celebrating ponies up ahead. There were sounds of talking, cheering and singing. “Sounds like some sort of celebration. I should be able to find out more up ahead.”
As he was walking along the road, something caught his eye. He looked over at a nearby bench and he saw a strange gem sitting there. The gem was bigger than normal gems found in Equestria. It was blood red and it was giving off a faint glow. Shining Armor moved closer to investigate this strange gem and upon closer inspection he recognised it as a recording crystal. All gems in Equestria contained magical energies that ponies were only recently able to tap in to. Some gems had the ability to capture sound and replay it at a later time. Many ponies had taken to using them to record their private thoughts. However, the disadvantage of recording crystals is that they didn’t last long and were usually discarded shortly after they were used. Shining Armor didn’t know why, but he decided to touch the recording crystal to listen to what it said; maybe thinking there might be something useful on it.
Colgate
Physics is Magic
It’s been twelve years now that I’ve been studying physics. One would think that there would be no need for such a thing in a world where everything, even the Sun and the Moon rising each day is the work of magic. However, it’s quite the opposite. Physics can explain everything that happens in our world, even magic; but it’s the exceptions to this that are even more fascinating. Of course, that pink party pony is another matter altogether, there exist’ many types of magic in this world that physics cannot explain; but to somepony like me, and especially my mentor, these things are merely a challenge of our skills. After all, science without magic is lame. But magic without science is blind.
The recording did not seem to hold any useful information pertaining to his quest but for some reason he felt a strange feeling of satisfaction for picking it up. Shining Armor suddenly snapped back to the noises coming from up ahead and continued walking towards the source. He looked around as he walked and saw that there were many posters adorning the walls of the buildings. To the ponies that lived here and were used to everything by now, these would appear to be only colourful posters to brighten up the city. However, anypony not from around here would recognise them immediately as propaganda posters.
“If I wasn’t already sure that Celestia was up to something before, these posters would have assured me. But how does my sister fit in to all of this? I need to find her and get her away from all of this.”
Shining Armor turned away from the wall to continue moving forward and his eyes immediately widened at what he saw. There was a large column in the middle of the road. On it was another poster, but this one was different from the others. It read: ‘You shall know the Apocryphal by his cutie mark’. Directly under these words was a picture of Shining Armor’s cutie mark: A large blue shield with a purple star within it which strongly resembled Twilight Sparkle’s cutie mark. There were also three smaller, blue stars at the top, above the shield.
“What the hell?”
He then looked down at his body. He was wearing a long, brown cloak that covered his body and cutie mark. He had decided not to wear his armor so as to not attract too much attention.
“Looks like I made the right call there. But what does this mean?”
Shining Armor had no idea why the ponies here were calling him the ‘Apocryphal’. Apocryphal meant false or non-canon to what was happening. Did it possibly infer that he didn’t belong here? Shining Armor had no idea what any of this meant or even what this was all about; but since they wouldn’t be able see his cutie mark, he figured he would be fine. He walked past the column and continued towards the cheering.
Shining Armor eventually reached the end of the straight road and he was now in a big, open, square plaza. There seemed to some sort of celebration going on. There was confetti in the air and there were stalls set up in rows and columns all over the plaza. Some of the stalls had fair games. Some were normal games like ‘Pin the tail on the pony’, while others were stranger; they involved using a toy gun to shoot at cardboard pegasus ponies while avoiding other types ponies. Other stalls seemed to be selling things. The plaza was huge and full of ponies talking to each other. “Looks like everypony in Canterlot is here. There must be something really big going on. I should make sure not to attract too much attention to myself.”
“Excuse me sir, would you care for a free sample?”
Shining Armor suddenly noticed that that pony was talking to him. He turned to see a male earth pony, a little shorter than him. He had a light brown coat; a short, brown, unkept mane and an hourglass cutie mark. He was standing on three hooves, with his fourth holding up a tray with a bottle of blue liquid with a lightning bolt on the cover. Shining Armor recognised the bottle of liquid as a Quartz. Quartz's were a part of the improved science in Equestria. It was a brand new type of magic that could be used by anypony, not just unicorns. They were created from extracting the magic from gems and concentrating it into a liquid form. When a pony then drank it, it enabled them to use magic.
“Are you alright, sir? You seemed to have drifted off for a moment there.”
Shining Armor suddenly realised that he was still talking to this pony. A Quartz could come in handy if he gets into trouble. Also, considering that it’s free, it would look strange if he said no. “Yeah, I’ll take it.”
Shining Armor grabbed the bottle with his hoof, used his unicorn magic to take the cork out and chugged it down. As soon as he had drunk it, Shining Armor felt some crackles of electricity from his horn. He got an intense pain in his head, his vision turned blue and he raised his two front hooves as he yelled out in pain. He felt as though he was growing a new body part. After about ten seconds, everything returned to normal.
“Well, it would seem that you’re not dead. Very interesting. The first is always the hardest to take, but then again, there really is nothing quite like a shot of electricity now, is there? Now remember, your Quartz's run on geodes so you will have to stay stocked up on them if want to continue using them. Your unicorn magic, however, is limited only by your stamina so, you know, remember to eat.” With this, the earth pony walked away.
Shining Armor turned his attention back to the fair and he walked through the crowds of ponies. He passed by many young fillies and colts playing at the many fair games and many ponies who had gotten together to talk. As he walked through the crowds he overheard a few conversations.
“Can you believe the nerve of those rapscallion Shadowbolts? Running rampant in our fair city; even after all of our hard work to make it the greatest city in Equestria.”
“Oh I know. It seems that some ponies don’t know their place. I wouldn’t worry about it though. They’ll get what’s coming to them soon enough.”
As Shining Armor was walking through the rows of stalls, he passed by an empty podium and noticed a recording crystal at the base and decided to investigate.
Princess Celestia
Equality
All ponies of our fair land know the credo of Equestria well: Love and Tolerate. It’s burned into our minds when we’re fillies and colts. However, there is also the lesser known but still just as important credo: All ponies work together for the greater good. The humble earth ponies who work tirelessly in the fields to grow our food; the mighty unicorns who lift the Sun and the Moon every day to bring about the day and night; and the all-powerful alicorns who maintain order. But what do the pegasi contribute? Controlling the weather that the unicorns do faster and better? Living on high where other ponies cannot? Flaunting their speed which they believe makes them better than other ponies? It’s the work of arrogant ponies who only think of themselves. My pegasus guards are amongst the noblest of ponies that I have known in my long life. It is because they selflessly give their time and energy for the betterment of society with no question of reward. See my little ponies; anypony can be truly great and all it takes to do so is action. Nothing worth doing ever gets done without a little push in the right direction.
After listening to the recording, Shining Armor turned back around and continued walking through the crowds of ponies, listening to their conversations for anything that might be useful.
“Today is the perfect day for the celebration, don’t you agree? Bright, sunny and not a cloud in the sky; and this spot gives us the perfect view of the palace too.”
“Oh, I know. Our new princess is probably looking down at us having the time of our lives right now.”
Shining Armor reacted to this immediately. He turned his gaze to where the ponies were looking. In plain sight, right in front of him, he could see the palace. It was huge. It loomed over the city, but it still looked like it was still quite a distance away. “So that’s where they’re holding her. That’s where I need to go.”
Shining Armor turned around and started walking towards the far corner of the plaza. From what he remembered of the cities layout before the expansion, he still knew how to get to the palace from here. He walked along the side of the plaza and he reached the opposite side from where he had entered. There were two pegasus guards standing in front of a locked gate that led out of the plaza towards the direction of the palace.
“Hey, can you let me through here?” Shining Armor asked. “It’s kind of an emergency.”
The pegasus guard responded, “Sorry sir, this passage is closed off until further notice. Nopony gets in or out.”
“Don’t you know who I am? I’m…” Shining Armor was about to continue, but he suddenly remembered that the royal guards of Canterlot were divided into two groups: There were the unicorn guards that he presided over and then there were the pegasus guards that served under the princesses and answered only to them. “Damn it. It looks like I’ll have to find another way around.”
Shining Armor turned around and walked back towards the plaza. He walked along the side, so as to avoid the crowds of ponies and as he approached the centre, he saw an especially large crowd of ponies gathering around a stage. Shining Armor turned his head to look and his eyes immediately widened as he saw the pony on stage addressing the crowd. It was a young, white unicorn with a purple, stylish mane and three diamonds on her flank. Suddenly only one thought came to him; “Rarity?”
Rarity walked towards the front of the stage and began to speak. ”Welcome everypony, to the Summer Sun Celebration. I know that you are all well aware that this is the biggest celebration in all of Equestria, but this year however, it is so much more than just longest day of the year; it also marks our succession from the rest of the slovenly, boorish Equestria and the establishment of our new perfect world. We are the chosen few, led by are new princess to this paradise.” She stopped talking briefly and took a moment to pause. She closed her eyes and exhaled calmly. She then opened her eyes again and continued to speak. “And know, for the moment you have all been waiting for; let us now commence with the Summer Sun Celebration raffle.”
Upon seeing Rarity here, Shining Armor’s head was filling with questions, but before he could contemplate any of them, he heard a voice calling him. “Hey mister. Over here.” Shining Armor turned to see a pony over by the crowd gesturing to him, so he walked over to her. She was a young unicorn with a light to dark brown coat and a dark pink styled mane similar to Rarity’s. She had three yellow freckles on both sides of her face and she was holding a basket of numbered balls strapped around her neck.
“Sorry, I don’t have any bits,” Shining Armor responded.
“Oh, there’s no charge for the raffle, silly.” The pony giggled as she gave a filly-like smile.
Shining Armor reacted awkwardly and then he reached into the basket and pulled out a ball. He looked at it briefly and then showed it to her. “77.”
“77. That’s a lucky number. I’ll be rooting for you.” The pony gave him a wink and a smile and he reacted awkwardly again.
The pony walked on stage and everypony in the crowd started cheering.
Rarity began to speak again. “Just look at her everypony. Perhaps the second most beautiful unicorn in this city,” she said pridefully with a mixture of laughter. She then reached into the basket and pulled out a ball. The cheering stopped and the crowd fell silent. “And the winner is…” she paused for a moment for dramatic effect. “Number 77.”
The volume of the crowd rose again as ponies ruffled about and spoke quietly to each other. Suddenly, one pony screamed out, “Hey, over here. He’s the winner,” as he pointed to Shining Armor.
The ponies around Shining Armor began to back away so that everypony could see him clearly. As soon as Rarity got a good look at him, her face changed immediately. It wasn’t a look of happiness or nostalgia as he was half expecting, but rather a mixture of surprise and anger. She suddenly looked behind her and gestured with her hoof to the two guards standing at either side of the stage. The guards immediately jumped down off the stage and grabbed Shining Armor by his two front hooves.
“Hey, let go of me. What do you think you’re doing?”
Before he could say anything else, the guard to his right grabbed his cloak and ripped it off him. Suddenly there was a gasp of surprise as everypony saw his cutie mark.
Shining Armor turned back to the stage to face Rarity, who stuck her face out at him. “Don’t you know that that mark makes you the backstabbing, snake in the grass Apocryphal?” She then pulled her face away from him and moved to speak to the crowd. “He has come to take our princess away and destroy everything we have worked so hard for. So tell me everypony: Are we just going to sit back and let him do that?”
Everypony in the crowd then shouted in unison, “NO!”
The guard to his left suddenly opened his mouth and a ball of fire was forming inside of it. He was about to use a Quartz. Time seemed to slow down. Thinking quickly, Shining Armor looked back to the ball in his right forehoof and threw it up into the air. The guard holding him on his right looked at this. Taking advantage of this distraction, Shining Armor broke free from his hold, grabbed the guard to his right and shoved him in front of the other just as the fireball was released. The fireball exploded, with the two guards caught in the blast, but Shining Armor was unaffected. He then shoved the guard into the other and they both fell to the ground dead. After that, Shining Armor looked around. All of the ponies that had been in the plaza had run away and Rarity was nowhere to be seen.
Shining Armor turned around and the two guards from the gate were running towards him. Shining Armor instinctively activated his horn; it became enveloped in a pink aura and he shot a beam at one of the approaching guards. It hit him squarely in the head just underneath his helmet and he fell over dead, blood dripping from the spot he had been hit. He repeated this again with the other guard and he died before he reached him. With them dead, Shining Armor ran over to the gate, now open and exited the plaza, into the next lane.
There was an alarm sounding and more guards were coming towards him. They began shooting Quartz's at him. Shining Armor quickly ducked behind some crates to avoid incoming fire. A few seconds later, he jumped out from behind the crates and readied his horn. This time, instead of becoming enveloped in a pink aura, he generated a few blue sparks. He then shot a blast a lightning from his horn and it hit three guards that were standing close to each other. They were shocked and they couldn’t move. Shining Armor then summoned magic into his horn again and shot three purple, bullet-like beams at the stunned guards. The lightning had made them weaker and the beams killed them instantly, even through their armor.
Aside from the alarm ringing, the area was now quiet. Shining Armor decided to take advantage of this temporary cease fire and searched the nearby crates for supplies. Inside the crates, he found some geodes. Geodes were small, edible rocks that restored your Quartz supply; and he needed them after just using it like that. He also found some bits and some hay to eat, which he also needed as he was starving and that battle had taken its toll him. After he had eaten, he felt some of his strength return. He also found a recording crystal and he instinctively played it.
Filthy Rich
Royal Opportunity
This royal alicorn twist a week ago sure caught all the little ants running about their lives off guard. Heck, I hear it took even her family by surprise. Charming. The gal is gonna be a little political leader. What will change? I don’t know. I don’t get politics. But I do get business, and business says that another royal alicorn equals another royal merchandising opportunity.
After the recording crystal was finished playing, Shining Armor continued walking along. For now, there weren’t any guards coming after him, so he decided to take this moment to plan out how he would get to the palace. He turned his head to the right and he could see the palace looming over the houses and other buildings. The road he was following made a left turn up ahead and led into the alicorn museum.
“Alright, let’s see. If I cut through the museum, I should able to make my way to the palace from the west. Right now, I don’t have time to come up with another plan. I don’t know how they knew that I was coming or why they’re calling me this, ‘Apocryphal’, but all that matters to me right now is that I get Twilight away from here.”
Shining Armor made his way forward and turned left. He was now in front of the alicorn museum. He opened the door and stepped inside.