//------------------------------// // Duty Calls // Story: Cutie Marks of Chaos // by Roadpony the Loud //------------------------------// Tzeentch smiled a sinister smile before pulling himself out of his seat. With a snap of his fingers, the shimmering image on the dais zoomed back out to the full view of Equestria. The Changer of Ways turned to his compatriots, clasping his hands together. “So, what do you all have to say?” he asked, and was answered with silence. Considering the looks on each of the other Chaos God's faces, this was not a bad thing. Slaanesh's face was lit with happiness, a glow that hadn't been seen on it in a very long time. “BY ME, THAT WAS AWESOME!” the Prince of Pleasure exclaimed, hopping out of his conjured throne and hopping in place excitedly; it was kind of disturbing. “Sweet love, that voice the blue one had; that was amazingly loud! And her mane; I REALLY like her mane!” “We get it, Slaanesh. I can assume you're on board with this?” Tzeentch inquired, eyebrow raised. The response was equal parts expected and loud: “YOU BET YOUR INCORPEREAL ASS I AM~!” Slaanesh squeed, bouncing around the room like an overexcited daemonette who just found her first catch. Tzeentch smiled; just as planned. Khorne let out a sigh at the Chaos God of pleasure's antics, muttering something about rending limbs and playing BloodBowl with a bloodthirster as the ball. “Nurgle?” Tzeentch flapped over to the bloated God of Pestilence, who was stroking his chin thoughtfully. “What did you think?” The Plague Lord 'hmmmed' to himself thinking for a good long while. Tzeentch waited, tapping his foot. Nurgle could take so long someti- “I'm in. This place certainly has potential; I look forward to seeing despair and disease of my making make its way throughout the world.” Nurgle said, waving Tzeentch away. The Changer of Ways had to double take to make sure he wasn’t hearing things; Nurgle showing interest in a plan of Tzeentchian design? Not as planned! “…You’re not pulling my leg are you?” Tzeentch asked, flabbergasted for a moment. He betrayed none of this to his compatriots, however; maintaining the grin he wore earlier. “Do you see plagues and fungi running up your leg?” Nurgle let out a boisterous rumbling laugh; Tzeentch actually had to hold back a chuckle at that. As much as he despised the Plague Lord, he could not deny that the old festering pussball had a jolly sense of humor. Pulling himself away from the foul stench of Nurgle, the Changer of Ways finally moved over to Khorne, who was sitting quietly, looking at the floor. The Blood God had been quiet for the entire time; not a curse, not a howl of rage. That was so very unlike the god of anger. “Well, Khorne? You’ve been awfully quiet, what did you think?” Tzeentch asked, stepping back just out of Khorne’s reach lest the Blood God rampage. Even though Tzeentch had a number of ways to fuck around with Khorne when he was on a berserker rage, his favorite being luring Slaanesh into Khorne’s path, it never hurt to be caref- wait. He was the Changer of Ways, he could see into the immediate future. Tzeentch mentally facepalmed; how in the Warp did he forget his precognition? The Changer of Ways muttered something incomprehensible before straightening his posture. Before he could even peak a look into the future, however, the Blood God spoke. “I approved of that angry one with the wings and horn that totally crushed your daemon; though her methods were PANSY METHODS!” Khorne bellowed, banging his hand on the armrest of the Skull Throne he summoned for emphasis. One of the skulls exploded into shards of bone, and every Khornate Worshipper in the Matterium suddenly felt an irresistible urge (more-so than usual) to collect even more skulls for the Skull Throne, “USING ILLUSION SPELLS AND MAGIC?! WHY NOT RIP ITS US-DAMNED HEAD OFF!?” “So… you’re on board?” “I AM, BUT ONLY TO KILL AS MANY OF THOSE STUPID PONIES AS POSSIBLE!” “Wonderful!” Tzeentch clapped his hands together, and the air aside him spun, twisted and stretched; a pair of suitcases, covered in deformed howling faces, appeared from the fabric of reality. “Well, gentlegods, now that we all have an agreement on what to do, I’d say it’s time to actually go down and start spreading some Chaos.” All of the gods let out their own signs of approval: Slaanesh bounced around rambunctiously and cackled with glee. “This is going to be a wonderful sensation! They shall feel the Ultimate High~!” Nurgle let out a rumbling laugh, the entrails hanging from his bloated midsection jumping and jiggling in the most grotesque fashion imaginable. “They shall feel despair, and the love of Grandfather Nurgle,” he rumbled. Khorne stood up and raised his war-axe aloft. “FOR THE SLAUGHTER!” he bellowed. Tzeentch beamed, before letting out his own evil laugh. The other gods joined in, the symphony of divine mirth reaching out to all the ends of the Warp. “FOR CHAOS!” Now that Luna was finished venting pent up stress and anger via the abrupt and repeated application of a throne to her head, she sat in her chambers looking at the one object, a single scroll, that she had extracted from the compartment. She was simply looking at it, and not unrolling it to read, because of the throbbing feeling in her head from her earlier face-throning. It turns out that while Alicorn skulls were just as sturdy as a solid metal throne that did not mean that they weren't immune to bruising and headaches. "In hindsight..." Luna ignored the painful throbbing just below her horn, annoying as it was. "...smashing one's face against a metal object is not the smartest way to alleviate stress." Silver Strings trotted over to her, an ice pack dangling in his muzzle as he offered it to the Princess. The Alicorn accepted it, taking it in her hoof and pressing it against the bump in her head. "Would you like some more tea, M'lady? After everything that has happened today, a little tea would help you relax from this... stressful situation." The Earth Pony offered politely. Luna looked over to him, remaining quiet for a good while. Stressed? She was far more than stressed right now; she was near the point of panic. She wanted to scream at the top of her lungs, cry out in anguish, slip into grief and wallow in... whatever Princesses were supposed to wallow in. She wanted to do all of this, but it was imperative that she maintain a front of professionalism. She took a deep breath, before politely nodding. "Yes... a bit of tea would do, even though I'm not that stressed..." she lied, before turning back to the scroll. Silver Strings turned around, and shook his head; it was more than obvious that the alicorn was on the verge of a mental breakdown: she had nearly lost her sister, and she just had all of the royal duties dropped upon her lap. How anyone could handle that and remain sane was a feat in of itself. The stallion trotted over to the stand where he had set up the tea tray, only to hear the leathery flap of wings from just outside near the balcony. He looked up, and was greeted by the sight of Hrothgar and Odahviing landing, having returned from their rounds. "Welcome back Sir Hrothgar, Master Odahviing." The Earth Pony curtsied, before pouring some more tea for Luna. He tossed a glance to the older Guardspony, his worried gaze telling the stallion all. He nodded with a snort, before looking towards Luna. "M'lady, everything thou hath requested hath been done. The skyways and roads to Canterlot hath been closed off, and Brother Hrothgar and I questioned the populace alongside the rest of the Guard." Odahviing reported, standing at attention along with his fellow. "What didst thou find?" Luna asked, using the Traditional Canterlot Voice, but neglecting the reverberating effect that was the Royal half. Silver Strings placed a tea-cup full of nice steaming tea. The Princess of the Night thanked him, before taking ahold of the cup and sipping from it. Hrothgar reached into his saddle pack and procured a scroll, unraveling it and holding it in his hooves. "From what Brother Odahviing and I had gathered, the beast had suddenly appeared in the residential district. Upon further investigation, however, we discovered that the monster had not just appeared, but that a specific pony had suddenly transformed into the beast." the younger Pegasus summarized. "Eyewitness reported that said pony had been a Mister Jet Set, husband of-" There was a clatter of metal as Luna suddenly dropped the cup, spilling the contents all over the table. Before the puddle could reach the scroll resting on the table and ruin it, Silver Strings moved in and snatched it off of the table with his mouth, tossing it to Odahviing. The Stallion reacted with super-equine speed, catching the scroll in his mouth with a delicate grip. Twisting in mid-step, the butler pony suddenly spun and procured a washcloth, taking it in his hoof and quickly wiping up the entire spill. "Mistress Luna, is everything all-" he said, looking up at the alicorn. Luna's eyes had gone as wide as saucers, her expression one of shock. "It... it was once an Equestrian Citizen?" the Princess of the Night stammered. Hrothgar nodded, but stopped in his reading of the report. Luna shook her head; she had to have heard that wrong. "T-that's impossible, no pony ever looked that monstrous! Not even Discord looked like that!" She looked over to Odahviing, hoping his answer would be different, only to see the Stallion shake his head. The Alicorn sunk in her seat; she had just ended the life of one of the citizens she had been sworn to protect. She'd let her own anger consume her and blindly destroyed his body: condemning the soul of the possessed pony still in the grasp of whatever had possessed it. She’d acted no better than that colder, darker side of her that had controlled her for all those years. Worse, she’d even taken upon the form of Nightmare Moon for that one attack. Was the corruption that had gripped her not as destroyed as everypony thought it was? Was it still lying in wait for Luna to let her guard down and possess her again? The thought made the midnight blue Alicorn shudder violently in fear. "Tis sad, but true, M'lady." Odahviing spoke, after placing the scroll on the table, his voice solemn. "As Brother Hrothgar hath said, the pony in question was a mister Jet Set, husband of Upper Crust. When questioned, Miss Crust said she hath no clue what had caused her husband's transformation..." the older stallion stopped there, purposely neglecting to mention how the mare had been hysterical when she heard what had happened. It had taken both he and Hrothgar nearly an hour to get a proper answer out of the crying mare; she’d been honestly devastated, one simply can’t fake tears and sobs like that. It honestly surprised Odahviing; he was so used to seeing the ponies of Canterlot only caring for themselves that the thought that a high class married couple actually loving each other dearly that the thought never occurred to him. "We also made sure that Princess Celestia's condition has been mostly kept under wraps for the time being." Hrothgar added, trying to move away from the current topic upon seeing Luna sink into her seat. "However, reports from the rest of guards have shown that there is a growing unrest in the populace, due to the fact that the sun has not moved at all for the past few hours.” Luna’s junior guard had a point; the sun had not moved from its previous position since Celestia incapacitation. Yet another thing to add to the Princess of the Night’s growing list of responsibilities she was not prepared for. “You do realize that they will need to be informed soon." This was... a considerable amount for Luna to absorb, comprehend, and react to. She'd just been told that she'd killed a pony (despite him being possessed) in her blind rage, nopony had any idea that Celestia was comatose, and that riots may be breaking out soon. Still, she had to remain calm, despite her entire body urging herself to panic. "Very well... I suppose I can do something. After all, my sister left me this scroll. Surely it has something of note." The Princess of the Night's horn flashed, lifting the scroll off of the table with a spell and then opening it. The text was very ornate and fancy; similar to old texts that dated back over 500 years... "Celestia's Anti-Chaos List" If you're reading this, Luna (I certainly hope it's you), then I have been incapacitated by an agent of the Ruinous Powers. This is a list of what you should be doing in order to prevent things from getting worse: 1. Don't Panic. Try and get everything in order. Luna blinked... that was it? Only one step? Surely there had to be more. The Alicorn looked all over the paper, flipping to the backside as well, and didn't find anything else. Her left eye twitched... "D-don't panic?" she stammered, her voice cracking as her emotional state finally stretched beyond the breaking point. "THATS IT?!" The Alicorn's twitching eye ceased its spasms as something inside Luna's mind snapped. All of the stress, all of this information she had just crash down upon her, finally overran any control the Princess had at the moment and she did the exact opposite of what the list told her. "WHAT DO I DO!? I DON'T HAVE MY SISTER'S EXPERIENCE WITH THIS! WHAT DO I DOOOOOOOO?!" Luna screamed, flailing her forelegs before grasping her face in her hooves. Silver Strings and Hrothgar both reared in surprise at the sudden mental breakdown, the former moving to try and steady the panicking princess. "Princess, please! Do stay calm!" The Earth Pony said, trying to stop the Princess from flailing her limbs anymore and hurting herself. Luna did cease flailing her limbs, only to replace that with rapid inhales and exhales. "Don't hyperventilate! Sir Hrothgar, HELP ME HERE!" The younger pegasus galloped over, trying to assist the butler in his efforts to pacify Luna. His gaze met with the butler pony’s, the same thought going through their heads. A distraught, panicking Alicorn was more than enough to be a recipe for disaster; especially considering that Luna’s last metal breakdown ended up with her inflicting Eternal Night on Equestria. Odahviing remained stoic, calmly casting a glance at the scroll on the table. The paper shimmered for a second, before another line of text faded into existence on it. The Guardspony raised an eyebrow as he leaned in to gaze upon the scroll and read the text that had suddenly appeared. 2. Odahviing, would you kindly get your Princess to stop panicking? Without a second thought, the stallion looked up from the scroll and scanned the room, looking for a specific item: something to help with the pacification of the Princess. A quick scan of the room bore the fruit of his efforts and he calmly walked over to Luna's nightstand; picking up the object atop of it. “M'lady, please calm down!” Hrothgar pleaded, trying to halt the Princess's hyperventilating with little to no effect as Odahviing carried the object back towards the table. The older stallion held it out to the other guardpony, who looked at the object with a look of confusion on his face. "An abacus? Odahviing, this is no time for math!" the younger stallion said, before the abacus in question was cloaked in a veil of midnight blue magic and pulled out of his partner's grip. Luna seized the abacus in her hooves and began to fiddle with the many beads on in, a steady series of clicking noises replacing the rapid breathing as she began to calm down. “M’Lady, please calm thyself.” The stallion said in a calm, careful voice. “Not only because thy screaming and hollering shall surely draw the attention of everypony in the vicinity; panicking will make the situation even worse... and upon closer inspection, the scroll seems to be enchanted." He gripped the scroll in his teeth and showed the second line of text that had magically appeared. Silver Stings adjusted his monocle as he looked at the paper, a look of dawning comprehension over his face. “Princess Celestia must have enchanted it with a Text Concealing Spell!” The Earth Pony said, drawing the gaze of everyone in the room. Upon noticing the three pairs of eyes gazing upon him with questioning looks, he cleared his throat “…What? Spellbooks are good for light reading." Luna rolled her eyes, before taking the scroll from Odahviing and casting a simple enchantment detection spell. The paper glowed with the powerful golden aura of Celestia's magic in response to the spell; Luna could feel the power behind it. Considering it had been sitting in that secret compartment for only Celestia knows how long, the simple fact that the spell had not faded away after all that time was unexpected. "Amazing... Celly must have poured so much magic into the spell to make it last so long..." the Alicorn uttered to herself. "Don't those kind of spells have some trigger to make the rest of the text appear?" Hrothgar asked. "Usually when the prior step is completed?" As if on cue, a section of the scroll shimmered and coruscated, before yet another line of text appeared before Luna's eyes. 3. Make sure my incapacitation is strictly on a need to know basis. Oh, and make sure the ponyrazzi don't catch wind of it lest you want a political manure-storm on your hands. Well that was certainly more helpful than the first two steps, and judging by the absence of clacking abacus beads, it had the added bonus of helping Luna completely calm down. The alicorn took a deep breath, closing her eyes as she began to plan out the next move. "Silver Strings?" Luna looked up from the scroll, directly ahead of her. "Yes, Mistress Luna?" The butler pony straightened himself as his Princess addressed him. "I need you to be my ears among the castle staff, I don't want any information leaking out about mine sister's incapacitation." The alicorn spoke with a voice of authority, drawing herself up into a commanding posture. "Hrothgar, Odaviing, I want you on riot patrol and informing the public with the rest of the guard. Let the citizenry know that there's no need to worry, and that I shall have a public statement for them soon." "Yes M'lady." the pegasi responded as one, kneeling. A smirk crept its way up Luna's face; now that she wasn't panicking like a little filly, she could plan ahead. With the guard notifying the populace, and her butler listening on the staff for any information leaks before the public statement she planned, everything would be fine. Nothing could go wron— *Click* The sound of a camera shutter interrupted Luna's thoughts, drawing her attention to the source. Hiding just under the edge of the balcony, a camera harness and rolling tape recorder on his saddle, was a brown pegasus with a red cap just over his ragged blond mane. The look on his face was similar to that of a foal who had been caught with their hooves in the cookie jar. Luna stared at him, wondering just how long the pegasus stallion had been standing there... wait: camera, tape recorder? Oh heavens above. Ponyrazzi. "Uhhhh, hi." he said sheepishly, waving one hoof. "Oh...hello." Luna said, meeting his gaze. What felt like a long period of silence (it was actually only a few scant seconds) followed their greetings before Luna finally spoke again. "And who might you be?" "Uh... um..." the pegasus chuckled as he shifted his eyes left and right, obviously failing to hide his anxiety and search for an escape route. Hrothgar suddenly stepped forward, pointing an accusatory hoof at the newspony. "Who are you and why are you sneaking around?!" the Guardspony bellowed, giving the other pegasus a point blank blast of the Night Guard Version of the Royal Canterlot voice. The photographer let out a yelp, before unfurling his wings and pivoting on his hooves to take to the skies and escape. With a panic driven downward snap of the wings he took flight, narrowly avoiding the rushing tackle from Hrothgar, who landed in a heap. "Come back here!" the bat-winged pegasus bellowed, flaring his own wings in preparation for takeoff. He wouldn't have that chance, however, as the ponyrazzi was suddenly enveloped in a cloud of midnight blue magic that held him in place as he futilely flapped his wings and thrashed about. Luna shook her head as she dragged the stallion back into her quarters. "Running away from the Royal Guard isn't the best of ideas." she deadpanned, looking the ponyrazzi in the eyes. "Running from a princess is even worse. Especially if one has been sneaking around the palace after a lockdown has been engaged." The Pegasus let out a nervous laugh. "L-l-look Miss, I'm just…" he began to say, only to be cut off as Silver Strings took the camera off of the harness and began to look at it. It was one of those newer enchanted models that allowed the user of the device to review their shots on a small screen on the back. "Hey hey hey! Careful wit' dat; it's 'spensive!" The earth pony ignored him as he perusing the contents of the camera. There was a considerable amount of images of the palace ground, Guards standing at attention... oh hello, that certainly looks intriguing; numerous pictures of the two fights that had demolished the throne room. "You weren't thinking about taking these pictures to the tabloids, weren't you?" Silver Strings' usual happy demeanor was gone, now replaced with a look of accusation. "Make a quick bit off of the misery of the Princess?" The pegasus photographer violently shook his head. "No way man, I ain't like dem tabloid rats," he said frantically, still squirming in Luna's magic. "I just takes da pictures and makes sure da story is what it is, yeah?" Luna rolled her eyes at this statement, still skeptical of his story. "Then why didst thou hide from Our sight, and attempt flight most cowardly upon thy discovery?!" The alicorn’s Royal Canterlot Voice blew the pony's hat right off of his head. Once the magically-enhanced sonic blast had subsided, he quickly fixed his mane before speaking. "See, in my 'sperience, the ponies what I'm takin' pictures of don't like knowin' dat pictures is being taken of 'em. I got da bruises ta prove it, too." He gestured to both Hrothgar and Ohdaviing. "And dose two boys o' yours don't looks like the negotiatin' types, neithahs." "Rest assured good sir, that we art quite skilled in the Nigh-Lost Art of vocal discussions," interjected Odahviing, stoic as ever Next to him, Hrothgar nodded in approval. After a beat, the elder guard amended, "...At least I am. Mine partner's skill oft leaves something to be desired." "Hey!" The younger Pegasus snapped. "Yeah, but youse don't looks da part." The photographer pony squirmed, turning his head back to Luna. "Ummm, Ya Princessness, couldja let me down?" The Princess of the Night squinted a bit, looking the Pegasus right in the eye. "Can We trust thee not to flee? Not to tell the ponies of Our kingdom what hath transpired here?" "Youse gots my honah as a newspony. I'd eats my 'at befores not obeying a direct request from da Princess." Luna mulled over it for a second more before lowering the newspony to the floor and releasing the spell that had held him. She still didn't fully trust him not to run as he already had, but even if he did, he still couldn't outrace her magic. The pegasus trotted around, flaring and furling his wings a few times to test them. He reached down, picked up his hat and tossed it back on his head. "See? I ain't runnin'." he said, before looking back to Silver Strings. "Hey, Mistah; could I gets my cameras back?" The butler's answer was elegant and concise: "No." "But—" "No." The earth pony tossed the device onto his back, his tail flapping as he did so. "And if you should try to snatch it from me, you shall lose a leg for the attempt." Money Shot blinked at the threat, and he he could have sworn he saw several of the hairs in the Earth Pony's tail glinting in the light. Luna raised a hoof. "That will be enough, Silver Strings," she interrupted, before looking toward the disappointed pegasus. "I do not believe you mentioned your name. You are...?" "Da name's Money Shot." the stallion said, tipping his hat. Luna tilted her head in confusion, while Silver Strings raised an eyebrow at the fact that somepony would name their child that. Odahviing remained silent, but Hrothgar put a hoof to his mouth, trying to stop a snicker from escaping. "...Interesting name, good sir." The butler pony broke the awkward silence, clearing his throat. "Does it have to do with some of your... previous work?" "My parents was really sheltahed." was Money Shot's reply, before tossing a glance over to the snickering Hrothgar; now stopping as Odahviing gave him a disapproving glare. "Yeah yeah, laugh it up; youse 'ardly be da foist." "What's so funny? Surely his name means that the shots he takes are worth a good bit." Luna asked, oblivious as to why Hrothgar would find it so funny. "Uhhh, sure... dat's one way to puts it." Money Shot coughed, averting her gaze. To explain the other meaning to the Princess of all ponies just made his imagination run wild with what would happen; the rumored 'Lunar Banishments' he'd heard about sprung to mind. Thankfully, before anypony could ask any more questions about somepony’s name, Silver Strings interrupted with a cough. "M'lady, don't you have duties to attend to?" prompted the tan earth pony. “Preparing a public statement before the riots break out? Or getting the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony and informing them of the situation?” “…Oh yes! Thank you Silver Strings!” Luna said, sitting right up and at rapt attention. “*ahem* As I was saying, good Money Shot," (and here Hrothgar bit his lip to hold back a chuckle resurgence) "you may see the Royal Bursar for the expenses of replacing your equipment. In the interest of fairness, I should warn you that he is something of a camera buff himself, and will be informed of the make and model of your device." This was totally untrue, but the newspony's expression made it clear that he believed it. "Attempting to cheat him is highly discouraged. Do I make myself clear?" He swallowed nervously. "Crystal, Ya Majesty." "Excellent. Once that is complete, you may be on your way. Hrothgar, escort him to the Treasury." “Yes, M’lady.” The younger Guardspony saluted, before urging the photographer along with some nudges. “Oh, and Money Shot?” “Yes, Princess?” “I know you made a promise on your honor, but as a small reminder: it would be very unwise to mention what you saw in the throne room today to the populace before I can speak with them.” Luna’s voice took on a hard, almost threatening edge as she spoke. “Very, very, unwise…” Money Shot let out a nervous gulp once again, before nodding in understanding. “Yah, Princess…” with that, he trotted out of the room with Hrothgar right behind him. Once the door had shut behind the pair, Luna cleared her throat. “Well, now that that’s out of the way… let us get to work.” She looked to Odahviing and Silver Strings. “I trust that you two will do admirably; please keep me in the loop.” The Pegasus and the Earth Pony both bowed, then trotted out of the room. Luna was now alone in her room, no one to watch her. After looking round the entire room once to assure she was alone, she dropped the calm, strong, and professional mask she had worn in front of her subjects and let the tears fall. The midnight blue Alicorn sobbed her heart out, her tears staining the already dark carpet with even darker splotches. "C-celly..." Luna sobbed, making her way to her bed and collapsing onto it, letting all of the stress and sadness she had kept bottled up for the past several hours. "I... I don't know if I can do this..." Silver Strings frowned as he eased the door shut, ceasing the eavesdrop session he and Odahviing had been doing. "Let's just leave her be." the Earth Pony said, adjusting his monocle. He really didn't need to; it was just a habit that he'd picked up whenever he became stressed. "She's been through so much; a little crying will help clear her head." [b"She must still do her duties. Sorrow has befallen us all, Sir Strings, but our duties come first." Odahviing snorted, before turning about face and walking down. The Earth Pony huffed in irritation at the comment from the guard, no matter how true it was. "Yes, but it doesn't mean we should just keep quiet and bottle everything up. It's disastrous to do so." He trotted to catch up to Odahviing, managing to keep pace despite the Pegasus's larger frame (and by extension, his longer legs). "What would you do if Sir Hrothgar were killed in the line of duty?" "I would mourn him, aye. But tears cannot be shed for every life lost. Were I to cry for every pony who died every day, then never would I be able to do my duty" The bat-winged pegasus paused in his steps for a scant moment, before continuing."Hrothgar is reckless, undisciplined, and worst of all he still doth not know when to keep his mouth shut about the fillies." The pair passed a T-section of a hallway, one where Hrothgar was continuing to escort Money Shot to the treasury, but with the added bonus of talking. Judging by the tail ends of the conversation, Silver Strings figured that the pair were discussing the fairer sex. "I see your point, Master Odaviing... but I know for a fact that you still enjoy having him as an apprentice. At the end of the day when I bring you both and Her Majesty the evening tea, you all are laughing about something." The Earth Pony chuckled, and to his surprise, he heard the low rumble of Odahviing's laughter. "I suppose thou art right, Sir Strings." the Pegasus said with a smile, which quickly left his face as he returned to Stoic Guard Mode, as Hrothgar had coined it. "For now, I bid thee farewell. I must deliver Her Ladyship's orders to the Guard." Silver Strings bowed his head courteously. "I wish you luck, Master Odahviing. I must attend to my duties as well." With farewells exchanged, the Butler and the Guardpony went their separate ways. Pewf! That went much better than expected time wise. Granted, it's shorter after that monster of a last chapter, but I need to give my fingers a break sometime! So we get a little look at the aftermath of the attack from the Daemonhost, mostly how Luna is dealing with it. She's not having a good day, and to top it off, the Ruinous Powers are en route to Equestria with less than grand intentions! As a side note, I'll make edits to the narrative as I (and FanofMostEverything, bless him for being an awesome editor) come across errors and parts that don't do well. Do leave some comments as well, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thought of the Day: True Happiness stems only from Duty.