//------------------------------// // Big Trouble In Little Empire // Story: Knights of Equestria // by Jioplip //------------------------------// The Crystal Empire was a small but prosperous nation under the protection of the larger Equestria, which they were a part of in all but name. Whether it had been named for its crystalline buildings, it's crystalline populace, or the variety of crystalline foodstuffs was unclear. Also unclear to many were the unsettling events occuring within the Crystal Palace, mirroring the situations in both Ponyville and Canterlot. "Good day My Lady," spoke the feminine Knight as she rose from her bow, "you may call me Escura, I am a Lieutenant of the High Lady Sunflare's Knights of Order." It was fortuitous, Shining Armour decided, that he hadn't called the guard to investigate the secret chamber his wife had discovered. As it was, the two leaders stood in front of a being straight out of a fairy-tale, and neither seemed sure how to address the issue. Shining Armour sent Cadance a meaningful look, she was the one trained for diplomatic situations after all. Cadance merely returned his look and inclined her head, signifying that she considered this to be a military issue. Great, the pale Emperor thought bitterly, I might as well go all-out then. Shining Armour drew himself up to his full height, and whil he was still more than a head shorter than the Knight opposite him, he still held a commanding presence. "I am General Shining Armour of the Crystal Empire, state your intentions Lieutenant!" "Yes Milord!" she placed her palm over her breast and went down on bent knee, as when she was a statue, "I was placed into magical stasis by the High Lady in order to prepare for the day that the Knights of Order would once again be required, I apologise for this incursion into your Empire, I know not how I came to be here and I did not mean to tresspass upon your halls." "It is quite alright," Shining Armour had trouble reconciling this information, everything from Cadance's behavior when she found the statue to the Knight's words, to the very secret chamber they were standing in were suspect. "If I may sir?" Escura looked up and waited for Shining's nod to continue, "I have been indisposed for an unknown amount of time, if it's all okay with you I'd like to be filled in on the current political situation." Once more Shining Armour looked to his wife for advice, a nod, the situation had turned to diplomacy. Cadance prepared mentally for what was sure to be a long few hours of recapping all of the pony history she could remember. The Obsidian Peaks, a brutal mountain range on the distant edge of Equestria, upon these peaks was built the most impenetrable stronghold ever built by ponykind, the Lunar Palace, more military base than royal abode, it was here that Luna lived with the night-dwelling chiroptasi, both separate from pony society and integral to it, for it's the duty of Luna and the chiroptasi to guard the sealed gate to Tartarus, located at the bottom of the Peaks. All these facts rand through the Lunar Princess' mind as she looked down upon her palace, not at it's best in moonlight, but as the pure black slate it appeared in her sister's day. Remembering the chiroptasi's loyalty even after her fall nearly brought tears to her eyes, the clans had stayed in the palace, following their standing orders for a thousand years and waiting for their Princess to return for generations. But above all she thought about the efforts she had made to integrat the chiroptasi into normal pony society. The results had been mixed to say the least, Luna cringed as she remembered a particular earth pony's reaction to the chiroptasi's diet. On the plus side, Private Cereus learned a lesson in discretion, on the minus side, she didn't hear quite the same for a week. Luna shook her head to clear her thoughts, but they continued to plague her mind. Eventually she decided to clear her mind with a quick flight over the Peaks, their smooth sides coldly reflecting the Sun's rays. As she flew she felt her worries slowly float away, granted a part of her mind was telling her that it would all come flowing back as soon as she landed, but she quickly silenced that part. The Lunar Princess quickly adapted to a rhythm and was able to purge the last of the distressing thoughts from her mind. Luna decided on impulse to fly low over the tree-cover, and it was then that she was gripped by a sudden desire to land at the base of a particularly large tree, that seems to have some stone figure sticking out from its roots. While Cadance had been expecting to be giving a long history lecture, Escura had demanded more details at the first mention of a war, which Shining Armour was able to provide excellently. After a few hundred years of history though, the conversation had derailed into Escura and Shining Armour tossing stories of battle back and forth, each more extreme than the last, as if they were competing for who'd had a rougher time of it. Cadance had been calmly observing their interactions, and she recognized the look in her husband's eyes. The last time he'd worn that expression it had been directed at a certain cocky mare in his unit who thought she could do his job better. Even worse, the look was mirrored perfetly in Escura's eyes. Cadance sighed internally, her heart heavy, she had known it would happen sooner or later, and unlike when he'd fixed his gaze on that mare, Escura had a similar military background to Shining Armour. Her heart and mind filled with regret as she remembered the injuries that mare sustained, sure Lightning Dust had lived, but her wing injuries disqualified her from military service, just imagining what those two could do to each other was a horrible thought. And still, that fire of rivalry burned hot in their eyes as they described in gut-churning detail each broken bone and dislocation they'd experienced. Cadance was relieved and more than a little queasy when a messenger found them with a summons from Celestia. Luna was awestruck at her find, the statue she had removed from the tree's roots was one she'd seen long before, in her childhood. She had thought that only the one Celestia kept had survived, it was surreal to simply find it in the middle of the forest, and why had she come to this place anyway? It had felt like she were drawn there somehow, like she was meant to land by that tree, meant to remove the statue from its roots, meant to... What? Before she had time to ponder on it further, the statue was enveloped in a brilliant glow, shining brightly only to stop and reveal a Knight dressed in gleaming armour kneeling before her. "Milady," his voice was soft as he rose, "I am Damarus, a Lieutenant of the High Lady Sunflare's Knights of Order." "Truly?" a tinge of wonder crept into her voice as she moved closer to the Knight, "One of Mother's Knights survived to this day?" "More than one I should hope," Damarus remarked casually, "There's not much I can do to help without the Captain." "And why would that be?" Luna recovered somewhat from her shock and stepped back, cursing herself for letting her guard down. "Only the Captain knows how to perform the spell of course." "Spell?" Luna glared coldly, "To what spell do you refer?" "Didn't your mother ever tell you about our powers?" "We have not seen Our Mother in many a year," Luna's hooves and wings shifted as she prepared to fight, "but She never mentioned anything about Her Knights' return!" "Hey hey hey," Damarus backed up, his hands held up in a placating gesture, "I'm unarmed see?" Luna hesitated, on one hoof he'd mentioned having some 'powers', but on the other hoof he hadn't made any violent moves yet. "Very well," Luna eased out of her stance, "We shall transport you to Canterlot on the condition that you remain bound the entire way." Damarus scoffed, "So we're going where you want to go and only if your 'conditions' are met, if this forest weren't so dank I might just turn down your offer." Luna glared darkly and Damarus let his hands be tied behind his back and his body taken to Canterlot, but not wordlessly. "Must it be so tight?" "I'm not sure you're a safe method of transportation." "You know, at this altitude I'd die from a fall." "You do realise I can't hold on with these bindings, right?" Luna groaned, Only another seven-eighths of the way...