//------------------------------// // Prelude – Of Blindfolded Fear // Story: Outlaw Mares 3: The Good, the Bad, and the Boastful // by Digodragon //------------------------------// The quiet and serene evening that enveloped the Crystal Empire was killed with a fiery explosion from the castle. Shattered glass and bits of crystalline wall from the third floor rained down upon the streets below. A black pillar of smoke slowly crawled out of the newly ripped hole in the castle and slithered up into the night sky. Shining Armor led the guards to the origin of the explosion at the palace gallery. His wife, Princess Cadance, reigned in the panicked staff away from the fires that consumed the tapestries in the hallways outside the entrance. The guards ripped the burning drapes down and stomped out the flames. The gallery itself contained a raging inferno that consumed everything it touched. “Is it a changeling attack?!” one of the guards asked nervously. “I’m not sure, but that explosion definitely came from inside the gallery,” Shining responded. “Bring the fire brigade over here! We need this fire under control!” Crystal ponies with yellow helmets and thick coats galloped down the hall with buckets full of water. They formed a line and passed the water buckets forward to douse the flames. Smoke severely reduced visibility and the brigade had to swap out members constantly due to the harsh soot-soaked air. The orderly line began to disperse into a chaotic crowd as ponies got lost under the dark haze. “Where are the pegasi?!” Shining bellowed, “I need this smoke cleared, now!” Four pegasi guards arrived to move the dark smoke out of the hallway. The fire brigade advanced slowly into the gallery and a second fire team arrived with a long hose and water pump. The fires were snuffed out under a torrential attack of water from the ponies. A search began once the fires were controlled for victims. An amber-coated brigade mare spotted a body between two statues. She seized him and dragged the injured victim out to safety. Shining Armor recognized the body as Lieutenant Flint Locke. “He’s still alive. Take him to the infirmary,” Shining commanded to the mare. The mare hoisted Flint onto her back and she hurried off down the hallway as the rest of the brigade put out the last of the flames. The smoke was finally cleared out of the gallery to fully assess the damage. The fire marshal walked up to Shining, his gaze at the large hole in the castle wall that led outside. “Was this an attack?” the marshal asked. The white stallion shrugged with frustration. “I don’t know for sure, but I want all available guards to battle-ready positions immediately. Princess Cadance will likely declare a state of emergency.” “Sir!” shouted one of the guards from the far end of the corridor. It was the rookie Flash Sentry, and upon his back was an unconscious mare from the fire brigade. She was the same mare Shining had sent out minutes ago to the infirmary with Flint, but this mare was missing her uniform. “I found her stashed away in a closet!” Flash remarked with worry. Shining quickly gathered the troops around him. “Gentlecolts, we have a spy among us.” ~ ~ ~ The false brigade mare reached the top of the staircase and dropped Flint Locke carelessly against a large wooden door. The lieutenant grunted in pain as he looked around. “This… this isn’t the infirmary,” Flint said weakly. The mare rummaged through the lieutenant’s pockets and took his set of keys. She began to locate the right key to unlock the door. Flint tried to grab at the keys, but the mare pushed him away. “Just who are you?” Flint asked. The mysterious mare unlocked the door and stepped inside the castle’s restricted library. She ransacked the two desks in a hurried search for an item, but appeared to not find what she looked for. Her attention then turned to a stack of large paintings that leaned against a wall. Flint sat up and called out to her. “Hey, I don’t know what you’re looking for,” he said, “But you won’t find it before you’re caught!” The mare pulled back a tarp over several portraits of the former King Sombra. She rummaged through the thick-framed paintings until she came to one that was different than the others. This painting depicted the late tyrant wearing a pair of rose-colored reading glasses. The mare ripped into the canvas with ease and pulled out half of a book that was hidden within the wooden frame. Shining and half a dozen palace guards reached the top of the stairs and took position at the doorway. The guards pointed their strapped slingshots at the mysterious intruder and pulled back steel ball bullets. “Drop the book and put those hooves up in the air!” Shining ordered. The mare pulled off her fire brigade helmet. Long locks of crimson fell around her shoulders. Shining was momentarily stunned when he gazed upon the mare’s silver eyes. “Golden Jubilee…?” the stallion muttered. He quickly regained his composure. “Open fire!” The guards released their slingshot bands and unleashed a hail of steel balls at the cream earth pony. Golden ducked behind a desk for cover as bullets chewed into the large tomes and furniture that protected her. The sorceress concentrated on a spell and produced small arcs of electricity at the end of a fore-hoof. She shot the energetic black bolt aimlessly over the desk at the guards. Two of the guards were struck by the errant spell and fell paralyzed on the floor. The exterior wall behind her exploded and sent chunks of crystalline stone through the bookshelves. The guards grabbed Flint and backed away from the shrapnel. An airship with a black gasbag hovered just outside the breech. From the deck, three pegasi in dark blue flight suits jumped over the gap into the library. They raised long tube-like weapons with hoses that trailed back into the airship. Pressurized steam in the hoses fed the steel balls through the tubes and straight out at the guards with high velocity. The ponies scattered as the bullets smashed against the doorway. Torn pages from books fluttered everywhere as the guards returned fire from the cover of various crates and shelves. Golden tried to retreat toward the airship, but the heavy fire from Shining’s guards kept her pinned down behind the desk. “Out of the way!” shouted a burly stallion that arrived with a large mechanical container upon his back. “Flamethrower coming through!” The heavy soldier reached the doorway, followed by another half dozen armed guards. Another guard grabbed the handle on the large tank and pumped it several times. The stallion leveled a long metal hose attached to the tank and pointed it at the enemy pegasi. “Are you mad?!” Flint interrupted. “Necessary precaution!” Shining shouted out. “Left flank, keep Golden pinned down! Flamethrower, I want those pegasi cooked!” A jet of fire burst forth from the hose and quickly consumed the air around the dark suited pegasi. They took cover behind debris from the scalding heat. One of the hoses caught fire and burst into a cloud of hot steam. Golden fired another black bolt of lightning at the guards. She quickly jumped out from behind the desk and grabbed the flamethrower’s tank with her levitation magic. Her magical silver eyes narrowed and the burly stallion was thrown backwards down the stairs with a resounding, and painful, clatter, tank and all. Steel balls whizzed past Golden’s head and one struck her in a hind leg. The sorceress fell over in pain, the journal still clutched tightly in her grasp. The enemy pegasi dove out from their hiding positions and grabbed Golden under the hail of bullets from the guards. Shining Armor led a charge into the room. Two of the pegasi fired off steel balls into the guards’ paths as the third carried Golden back to the black airship outside. The sorceress held up the stolen journal with a wave to Shining as the ship pulled away from the castle. “Mine now,” Golden said with a satisfied grin. The guards continued to fire the last of their steel balls at the escaping airship, but their bullets did little damage to the craft’s hull. The dark airship emitted a soft hum as it faded away like evaporating fog. The guards were dumbstruck that the airship had vanished so quickly. Shining Armor gathered the guards together. “Get the injured to the infirmary,” he commanded, “And will some pony get me a quill? Princess Celestia must be informed immediately!” “What good is half of a journal to them?” one of the guards asked. Shining shook his head. “That was half of the late King Sombra’s diary. There is nothing good at all within that journal.”