//------------------------------//
// Shedding Light on the Situation 
// Story: Guardian Angels: Prologue 
// by Scattershot 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 3
Shedding Light on the Situation

“Remind me again.” Jake said as the sky carriage cut through the sky.  “Why does Ra want to see us?”
Twilight sighed heavily, most of the ride had been taken up with these jabs at her mentor and her rage had long since given over to resignation.  “Her name isn’t ‘Ra’, its Celestia.  And to answer your question, I’m not sure.”
“She is the sun god of this world, therefore she is Ra from this point forward.”  Jake said matter-of-factly.  
Twilight was so desperate she actually turned to Sam for aid. “A little help?”
“Sorry, but there is no way I can break his stubbornness.”  The green pegasus grinned widely.  “Besides, this is pretty funny.”
The escort flying their carriage to Canterlot had been studiously ignoring his strange passengers, but felt sympathetic for Twilight and decided to interrupt.  “We are approaching the castle now.  We will be docking soon.”
“Thank goodness!” Twilight cried, slumping against the side of the vehicle.
Meanwhile Rainbow Dash, whom had been invited along since she had been the one to find the pair, flew behind the carriage.  She had decided to hang back and fly on her own, partly because she preferred it that way and mostly to avoid the two strangers.  She was still reeling mentally from Jake’s harsh words and needed the solitude to sort through her thoughts.  The most confusing part was the apology at the end, which she hadn’t acknowledged at the time.  This pony who seemed so cruel had sincerely regretted what he said!  Nothing had made sense she found those two, which was a frightening prospect since it had hardly been two hours before the carriage showed up.  Depending on how long they stayed, things could get seriously out of control.
True to the escort’s words, the group arrived within minutes.  After disembarking, Twilight directed them to Celestia’s throne room.  She had hoped that maybe the sight of Canterlot Castle would have quieted the two for a bit.  Unfortunately Jake had different plans and ended up discussing various methods of invading the castle, each more violent than the last.  She could feel the weight of the Royal Guard’s displeasure bearing down on her and the group, and nearly cried with relief when they reached the large ornate doors marking Celestia’s throne room.  Finally, somepony with some sense!
The doors opened and the four entered.  At the end of the cavernous room sat Princess Celestia in all her regal glory.  It took all of Twilight’s self-control not to scamper over to her and hide.  As they drew closer Celestia stood and approached them saying.  “Welcome everypony, I’m happy you all arrived safely.”  Her voice was kind, calming and carried a motherly quality, hearing it made Twilight visibly relax.  Celestia grinned at her student’s relief and regretted that it would be short lived, her news would not be welcome it seemed.  
Everyone in the group bowed as they met with Celestia.  Everyone sans Jake that is, who immediately cut to the chase.  “Yeah yeah yeah, so happy to see us, glad you all could make it, blah blah very diplomatic.  Mind explaining why we are here?”
The complete lack of manners horrified Twilight, but fortunately Celestia took it in stride.  “Don’t worry, everything will be explained.  But first,” She turned to Twilight “How have you been, my prize pupil?  Have our new visitors given you too much trouble? What is your impression of them?”
“They are completely insane and I think they are taking me with them.”  Twilight answered truthfully.  “But there is something about them that makes me think that they really won’t destroy everything we know and love.”
“Ah, but a boy can dream” Jake sighed wistfully.  
Ignoring the comment, Twilight continued.  “They are obviously good friends, though how I have no idea.”
“Neither do we.” Sam quipped.
“AND” Twilight continued forcibly, her ire already rising again. “they seem to be disturbingly knowledgeable of my friends and I.”
“Anything else you’d like to add?  Maybe about how I’m superior to him in every way?”  Jake said, nodding towards Sam.
“They are incredibly annoying.” Twilight deadpanned.
The entire exchange seemed to amuse Celestia.  “Excellent observations, which is exactly why I brought them here to Equestria.”
This reveal was met with wildly varying reactions, Rainbow Dash was shocked, Sam seemed caught between excitement and confusion, and Twilight looked almost betrayed.
Jake?  Jake was furious. “YOU!?”  He thundered, any semblance of respect he might have had was out the stained glass windows.  “You brought us here?  And made me a FUCKING PONY!?”
Much to his growing irritation, Jake’s tirade failed to effect Celestia.  “Yes, I did.  I need you two to perform a very special task.”
“And why the hell should I help you?”
“Because I brought you here, I’m the one who can send you back.” 
The threat was obvious. “What task?”  Jake asked through gritted teeth.
“Equestria had always been as close to idyllic as I could make it.  Luna’s return helped greatly, since I now had more time to dedicate to running a country rather than keeping the world functioning.  I had thought that the task of helping to protect Equestria from more direct threats had been placed in capable hooves when Twilight and her friends acquired the Elements of Harmony.  And for the most part, I was correct.  However these last two threats, Discord and the Changelings, brought us closer to destruction then I care to contemplate.  Both times, the problem was that the girls had been separated from either each other, or the Elements themselves.  Though disaster had been averted both times, I knew we need an extra measure, a failsafe if you will.  That is where you two come in.”  
“More firepower, you need us to help them against something they can’t overcome.” Sam said, catching on to the plan.
Celestia nodded approvingly.  “Exactly, I needed two friends who not only knew this world, but also knew Twilight and her friends, and would be able to help should the need arise.  You two will act as counter measures to ensure that the Elements can be used to stop any threat.”  The alicorn sighed.  “I’m sorry that this sounds so impersonal, I was never very good at making plans like this, it makes ponies seem more like tools then living beings.”
“Meh, war is like that.”  Jake said, returning to his standard cynical behavior.  “So they are the spear and we are the shield?  We deflect attacks to make sure they strike true?”
Celestia winced at the thought of her little ponies being described as such.  “I suppose that is the best way to put it.”
“But how do they know so much about us?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Oh well that is a fascinating story!”  Jake exclaimed.  “You see, it all started with a girl’s toy in the 1980’s…”  That was about as far as he got before Sam tackled him.
“Oh no you don’t!  You will NOT shatter their perception of reality!”  The two then began fighting in earnest to see who could shut the other up longest to either make the world shattering reveal or hide it.  
Celestia, showing amazing self-restraint, turned to Twilight.  “I’m afraid even I don’t know quite how they know so much, though it seems to be a thing in there society to peek into the lives of others for entertainment.”  She winced as Jake delivered a particularly forceful blow to Sam’s abdomen.  “Though I wasn’t expecting them to be so, physical.”
“That just sounds wrong.” Sam gasped from the floor.
Celestia coughed to cover the fact that the stallion’s implication had made her choke on her words.  “Or so...peculiar.”  She once again turned to Twilight.  “I am sorry to have dropped this on you so suddenly Twilight, but I feel that you will need the help of these two.”  She smiled encouragingly.  “And I know my favorite student will be more than capable of dealing with them.”
“That’s another thing I’ve been meaning to ask.”  Jake said, having since extricated himself from the battle.  “I have seen quite a lot of literature and art explaining EXACTLY why she is your favorite student.”  He gave his best evil grin.  “Care to confirm?”
Celestia’s eyes widened and her face flushed bright red.  “I-I would never… I mean I…That is…”
Twilight looked between her flustered mentor and the triumphant Jake, entirely at a loss.  “I don’t get it, what does he mean?”
“That is something to be discussed at a later date.” It seemed Jake had finally found a chink in the Princess’s armor, and now she was rushing to be rid of the group.  “Unfortunately, I have many more things to see to today.  A chariot has already been prepared for your return to Ponyville.”  She turned back towards her throne, desperate to regain her composure.  
“Are you alright, Princess?”  Twilight asked, concerned for her teacher.
“Yes, I’m fine.” She responded, in a decidedly neutral tone.  She didn’t look back at the group as she returned to her throne.  “Have a safe trip home everypony, I will begin preparations for any housing needs our guests may have.”
With that the group was escorted from the room by guardponies.  Twilight sputtered out various half-sentences as they left, trying and failing to get Celestia’s attention.  That, more than anything else that had transpired, seemed to be wearing on her the hardest.  So, when the doors closed behind them, Twilight turned from the group and laid her head against the wall, her entire body rising and falling as she took several deep breaths.  
“I think that went rather well.”  Jake said causally.  Nopony was quite sure if it was his tone or the sound of his voice that caused what happened next.  
Twilight Sparkle went berserk, her mane and tail exploded into flame and she whirled to face Jake, her eyes wide and manic with rage. “Well!?!? WELL!?!”  She stomped toward the pegasus, each fall of her hooves causing a resounding crash on the marble floor.  “You were improper to the princess, perpetually perpetrated presumptuous problems, and proceeded to imperil my perfect reputation, you pretentious prick of a pegasus!”  By this point she and the subject of her hatred where nose to nose, Jake’s expression shocked at how infuriated the unicorn was.
His mind scrambled for a witty quip and ordered him to say the first one that came to mind.  “I thought the fire thing was just a special effect…”
Twilight screamed incoherently and lunged for Jake’s throat.  Fortunately for him Rainbow Dash and Sam grabbed the enraged pony and held her back.  “Jesus Christ man, you got her to not only do the fire mane and alliteration thing, but you made her cuss too!”  Sam yelled, barely dodging a flaming hoof.  “I would be impressed if we weren’t about to die!”
“How do we calm her down?!” Jake asked, rapidly backing off from Twilight.
“I have an idea.”  Sam said.  “Dash, go get a bucket of water, fast as you can.”  Dash shot off quick as a flash while Sam wrapped his forelegs around Twilight’s midriff and rapidly pumped his wings.  He airlifted the frenzied unicorn so she could no longer charge his friend.  Unfortunately for him, her flaming mane was beginning to scorch his underside, and the thrashing made it difficult to hold her.  “Ow ow ow, Dash!  Hurry up!”  Several seconds later the speedster pegasus returned, bucket in mouth.  “Douse her!”  Sam screamed, turning to present Twilight.
Dash blasted the two of them with water, the fire instantly going out and soaking both ponies to the bone.  The fringe of Twilight’s mane and tail where scorched black and Sam’s mane had fallen into his face.  Very gently, Sam set the quivering unicorn down and wiped his wet hair out of his eyes.  “That worked better than I expected.”  Jake said.  “But what’s to stop her from doing it again?”
“This.”  Sam said before suddenly charging his friend.  He overshot slightly, appearing over Jake’s head before bucking straight down.  The blow knocked Jake out cold, causing him to slump to the ground.  “Now you won’t bother Twi anymore.”  He said, despite the fact that Jake could no longer listen.  He turned back to Twilight and Rainbow Dash, a wry smile on his face.  “Today has been great!  I woke up in Equestria, got to meet Rainbow Dash, and knocked Jake flat on his ass!”  He looked down at his unconscious friend.  “I suppose I’ll haul the dead weight, ah well.”  He knelt down and hefted Jake onto his back.  “On with the show!”