Part 2.5: Almost there
“ALL ABOARD!” The conductor’s shout echoed over the loud train whistles. “NEXT STOP: PONYVILLE!”
As usual, Canterlot’s train station was packed full of ponies bustling about. Canterlot was the capital of the country, so it wasn’t surprising to Sunset. Many ponies came here for either tourism or a place to strike it rich/win the attention of Princess Celestia.
Still, as was custom, there were several heavily armored stallions positioned in large intervals. Unlike the regular soldier of Equestrian Guard- the EG- these stallions were all rather large and muscular; a regular pony stood at about a little over four hooves, while they stood over seven. Their armor was thicker than any other branch of the EG. It also had several enchantments, making them nearly impervious. From head to hooves, the armor left nothing exposed. A large, longsword was sheathed on their sides. They were Celestia’s finest- the Knights. Nopony was more devoted to Celestia than them, save the Inquisition. The civilians, for obvious reasons, gave them a wide berth.
Some would ponder why Celestia would delegate her Knights, her strongest, best equipped soldiers, to guard duty. The answer to this was simple: this was Canterlot, the holy city. No one would dare attack Celestia’s place of rest while the Knights kept watch. If any enemy were to come forth from the train, they would die then and there by the hooves or swords of sacred soldiers. Given all their enchantments, both in their armor and their own bodies, Knights could live for hundreds of years. With all that time to accumulate battle techniques, they were among, if not the, most feared soldiers in the world.
Sunset Shimmer personally wished they were her bodyguards. Not because she needed their help- she was the strongest unicorn in all of Equestria. No, she wanted them because of the image they projected. Only the finest soldiers in the land were worthy to escort her in public. Instead, she got the usual grunts of the army…and Shining Armor. ‘Same thing really,’ she thought as she and her escorts made their way to the train. The crowds parted, leaving her group alone for they respected the Guard well enough to let them through. That and they didn’t want to incur Sunset’s notorious wrath.
Currently Princess Sunset and Prince Spike were surrounded on all sides by soldiers of the Equestrian Guard. Each one of them was hoof picked by Shining Armor himself.
Now and again, Spike would wave or send a wink to some pretty mare. Sunset, as usual, had to resist the urge to buck him.
“Don’t worry Princess,” one of the soldiers spoke up. “We’ll get you there in no time.”
Sunset Shimmer groaned. ‘Why did Shining have to pick him? WHY?’
You see, the soldier that spoke up was none other than Private First Class Flash Sentry. He was an orange Pegasus with a blue mane and a notorious reputation as a womanizer. He was new to the guard, only passing boot camp a few months ago. Ever since then, he’s done everything in his power to ‘smooth talk’ her.
Sunset always had to resist the urge to set him ablaze with her magic…which she had once, but he didn’t seem to get the message. Mother had given her a three hour scolding that night. ‘It was still worth it.’
“Private, how many times must I tell you,” Shining Armor spoke up. “The Princess is only to be spoken to if she asks you a question or wishes you to speak.”
“Yes, sir,” Flash responded.
‘Okay, Shining just won some brownie points.’ Sunset made a mental note to thank him…someday. ..maybe.
“Ugh, why do we need to take the train?” Sunset griped. “Flying there would have been so much faster.”
“Her royal majesty decreed it an ‘unsafe’ mode of transport at the present time, my lady,” Shining Armor answered.
“Why? Because a few ponies go missing in Manehattan? Big whoop.”
“Sunset.” Spike glared at her. “Don’t talk like that. Those are our citizens and they deserve our sympathy.”
“I’ll let you know when I find some ‘sympathy’ to give, my dear little brother,” Sunset shot back.
“THE END IS NIGH!” some stallion screamed. “The end nigh! She who is darkness incarnate is coming! Doom is upon us!”
Sunset’s ears perked and swiveled over to the source of the voice. ‘She who is darkness incarnate? Could he mean what I think he meant?’ “HALT!” she hollered.
As ordered, the stallions stopped and Shining Armor turned around. “Sunset, is something the matter?”
Sunset just nodded and turned her head toward the ramblings. She started to walk forth, pushing the guards aside with her magic.
“Your Majesty, what are you doing?” Shining yelled at her.
She ignored him, like she normally did to oh so many ponies. Instead, she kept going, shoving everypony out of her way. That is, until she saw him. He was tatty in appearance; his white fur was unkept as was his mane. He wore a few loose rags that barely covered his body.
“The end is nigh! She who will swallow our souls in darkness is returning! Don’t take my words for granted!”
“Peasant, you say that ‘she who is darkness incarnate’ is returning,” Sunset asked. The stallion stopped his rambling and looked at her. “Is this true?” She already knew it was true, she just needed to ask. Being the only one to actually believe in Nightmare Moon's return was frustrating.
“Yes.” He bowed before her. “Yes, Your Majesty. It is true.” He got up and approached her, stopping right in front of Sunset. “She is coming. I have seen it.”
Sunset could see how frantic the stallion appeared. Given his appearance, she’d guess he hadn’t slept in days and barely eaten. Her instincts were telling her to leave this flea-ridden filth, but she wanted him to talk. ‘Sometimes, information comes from the strangest places.’ She’d learned that quite a few times during her stay in Canterlot castle.
“You must hurry, Princess.” The pony reached a hoof out to her, imploringly. “You must find the secret to defeating her. YOU MUST!”
This perked her interest. “The secret? What is the secret to defeating Nightmare Moon?”
“The seven,” he ranted. “The seven will defeat her. Find the seven, Your Majesty.”
‘Is he referring to the Elements of Harmony?’ she pondered. ‘But they’re lost artifacts.’ “How do I find the seven?”
“Your Majesty.” Shining Armor had finally caught up to her. “He is a lunatic. He doesn’t even know what he is saying.”
“I know, Your Majesty!” He yelled. “I know the place!”
“And that is?” Sunset asked.
The stallion’s face scrunched up in concentration and a hint of pain. “I remember…I remember…The place where it began, the six dwell spick and span. The seventh lay dormant, waiting for its friends, to make the seven whole and make amends.”
Sunset just stared at him for a second. ‘Friends?’ She then turned to Shining. “Maybe you’re right, Armor. He is a loony.” She started to walk away.
“NO!” the pony screamed. “You have to make the seven whole. MAKE THEM WHOLE!”
‘I can’t believe I wasted my time on that creep,’ she thought as she was once again surrounded by guards.
“What was that all about?” Spike asked.
“Nothing, little bro.” Sunset snorted. “Just a raving lunatic ranting about the end of the world.” Spike stared at her for a few seconds longer, before shrugging.
“Your majesty,” Shining said, bowing his head. “We’re here.”
“Finally.” Sunset moved past the guards. “What took you guys so long to get me here?”
Shining and Spike just rolled their eyes.
Sunset took note about how this train was about twice the size of regular trains, like the Friendship Express. ‘Worst. Name. Ever.’ The doors were over eleven feet high and had almost the same width. The armor was extremely thick, so Sunset assumed that this was probably a troop transport designed to house Knights. ‘At least I get something cool to ride in.’
“Just being cautious, Your Majesty.” Flash Sentry spoke up, repelling Sunset’s annoyed gaze with his ‘charming smile’. “We wouldn’t want something to happen to you.”
Shining cleared his throat, getting Flash’s attention. “No, Private.” He sent his soldier a small glare, to which Flash gulped in fright. “We wouldn’t.”
“My apologies, sir,” Flash said, standing at attention. “I was just trying to lighten Princes Sunset Shimmer’s mood.”
“Private, you’ll soon learn something about the fair Princess,” Shining stated. “Nothing can lighten her mood.”
“That’s not true,” Sunset growled.
“It is.” Spike stated. Sunset sent him a withering glare. He just chuckled.
“Now, enough pleasantries,” Shining looked at his troops. “Return to base. We have some practice drills to go over.”
The soldiers saluted and turned to leave. However, after saluting, Flash decided to stay behind. “Sir, permission to accompany Sunset on her trip to Ponyville.”
Sunset started to sweat nervously. She knew that she and Armor didn’t always get along and it would be like him to assign this creep to her. ‘Please don’t, Shining. I’ll be your….decent acquaintance if you do.’
“Private, do you want to run the lap a thousand times today?” Shining asked. “Or how about three thousand squats? ‘Course, I don’t think that’s appropriate for somepony in your situation.” He winked at Sunset.
‘You know, at times like this I envy Cadance.’ Sunset could feel her cheeks heat up.
“My situation, sir?” Flash seemed honestly confused. ‘Oh great, the numbskull is losing the ‘spot the obvious’ again.’
“Just go back to the training grounds, Private.” Shining ordered, clearly irritated by his subordinates’ behavior.
Flash Sentry saluted him. “Yes, sir.” Before he could do anything however, a giant frog landed on top of him.
“Hello everypony,” An excitable mare’s voice rang out. “What are you up to this fine, chaotic day?” Everypony in the crowd took one look at the mare and then ran for their lives. She was a purple, unicorn mare with a dark purple mane that had a pink strip inside. She was several years younger than Sunset, about Spike’s age. She wore a dark purple cloak and a pointy tipped, cone helmet. Her cutie mark, which was underneath the cloak, was the mark of chaos with a purple star inside, little white stars were placed on the outside between each arrow. “Why does everypony keep doing that? Are they allergic to frogs?”
“No, they’re allergic to you.” Sunset quipped.
The purple mare turned her head to gaze at her, looking confused. On her right cheek was Celestia’s cutie mark branded to her skin. The mare was a chaos sorcerer, so it was only protocol to do so. All chaos sorcerers are branded with Celestia’s mark so as to keep daemons from possessing them when they use the ‘warp’ and to keep their sanity intact. What sanity they still had was debatable. “Me?” She lifted on of her forelegs and sniffed her armpit. “But I used that chaotic smell spray. I should smell lovely, not allergy.”
Sunset Shimmer groaned. ‘First Sentry doofus, that crazy hobo, and now…her.’ The mare in front of her was none other than Twilight Sparkle, apprentice to Nonsense’ one of the leading members of the cult of Discord. That was why the ponies ran from her. She didn’t have the best reputation in Equestria, as she was possibly one of the strongest, if not the strongest, chaos sorcerers to date, for nothing. She was also a notorious prankster. {That and ponies are just generally unnerved by chaos cultists.}
Twilight teleported in front of her. The strange mare then started to sniff her body. Sunset reeled back, obviously uncomfortable with what she was doing. Spike saw this and decided to come to her aid. “Miss Twilight,” he gently pushed her away, getting in front of the mare. “Would you please not do that?”
“I was just checking.” Twilight whined. She looked around Spike to see Sunset. “You smell awfully orderly today Sunset. A little chaos could help.” Her mad smile nearly split her face. “Wanna hang out a little bit?”
Sunset blanched at the idea. “Hang out?...No, no, no. I have an important task, given to me from my mother. I can’t hang out.” ‘Nor will I ever hang out with you, you crazed warp addict.’
Twilight’s smile deflated. “Twily, I think she needs to get going.” Shining spoke up. Sunset couldn’t help but roll her eyes at the display. ‘Twily has got to be the stupidest nickname ever.’
Twilight brightened up immediately. “BBBFF!” She screeched. She tackled him to the ground and gave him a bonecrushing hug. She then let go and started bouncing around him. “Shining’s here. Shining’s here. Shining’s here.”
Shining just chuckled. “It’s good to see you too, Twily.”
She stopped in front of him and gave him a stern gaze. “Where have you been? I haven’t seen you in three days, BBBFF.” She looked down at the ground, sadly. “Did I do something wrong?”
“I’ve just been really busy, Twily.” Shining stated.
“To busy for your LSBFF?” Twilight pouted.
Shining just took her in his hold and gave her a noogie. The mare squealed in delight. “Never.”
“Awww,” Spike cooed. “Isn’t that sweet?”
Sunset snorted. “As if. All this nonsense is making me sick.”
“You’re just jealous of their relationship.”
“No I’m not,” Sunset poked his side with a hoof. “I have a wonderful relationship with you.”
Spike gave her a ‘really?’ stare. “You set me on fire constantly.”
“You’re a dragon. You’re fireproof.”
“You throw me out of tall buildings, aircrafts, or anything with a long drop.”
“Hey, I teleport you back to me before you hit the ground.”
Spike just sighed. “I’m just saying. Maybe we should do some brother-sister stuff after all this is over.”
“I’ll think about it.” ‘Maybe, little bro. I have some serious studies to power through.’
Just then, their musings was interrupted by a loud ‘ribbit’ and groan. “Did Froggy land on somepony important?” She looked at her frog mount with concern.
“No.” They three answered.
A mad grin split Twilight’s face. “Okay.”
“Twily, why are you here?” Shining asked, as he let her go. “You aren’t up to any of your funny business, are you?” He gave her a hard stare.
Twilight just smiled devilishly. Off in the distance, somepony could be heard yelling ‘My cabbages’. “Maybe.”
Shining groaned and facehooved. “Twily.” He started, warningly.
“But I didn’t come here to prank anypony.”
Sunset snorted. “Yeah right.”
“I just came by to pick up my coltfriend.” Twilight answered.
The three others stiffened. “Coltfriend?” ‘Why aren’t I running yet?’ She thought to herself.
Before she could run, somepony opened the door. An Equestrian Guard was thrown out and smacked into Spike, sending them both tumbling. A loud voice boomed out. “I HEARD YOU THE FIRST TIME!”
“COLT-CUDDLER HAD IT COMING!” Another voice chimed in.
“Bloody’s home again!” Twilight cheered. She reared up on her hind legs and started bouncing from one leg to the other, all the while clapping her now free front hooves.
And with that, ‘Bloody’ stepped out of the train. Sunset knew who he was. She’d met him on several occasions. ‘Sword swinging, block head.’ His name was Bloodletter, Captain of the Blood Knights. The Blood Knights were a group of chaos oriented knights, focused solely on close combat. They lived to spill blood in the name of Celestia and chaos. He was over nine feet tall, towering even over the Knights at the station. The massive Earth pony’s thick dark red armor covered most of his body, except quite a bit of his face. His fur was blood red, as well as his eyes. Two metallic bull horns sprouted forth on his helmet and spikes ran down the armor’s middle, similar to a dragon’s. He was currently snarling. “Why hasn’t blood been spilled to honor my return? I demand blood for my victory.”
“BLOODY!” Twilight latched herself to him. Because of his size, her forelegs could barely make it half way around his neck. “I missed, missed, missed you.”
Bloodletter chuckled. “And I missed you, my little skewer.”
Twilight giggled and used her magic to float in front of his face. A halo of warp energy surrounded her. They gave each other a little eskimo kiss. “I missed you more.”
“I don’t doubt it.” Bloodletter sent her a warm smile. Sunset noted that Twilight was the only one he ever gave that smile to.
Shining cleared his throat to get their attention. Twilight landed on the ground and dispelled her magic. “I take it your raid upon the eastern Diamond Dog burrows was a success?”
Bloodletter grinned savagely. “Yes, I spilled much blood in Celestia’s name and took many a skull for my collection. I nearly had the Chieftan’s skull for my own,” He snarled and looked back into the compartment. “But somepony STOLE MY KILL!”
“CHEAT ARSE MOTHERBUCKER WAS TOO BUCKING SLOW!” Another large Knight, Earth Pony stallion came out of the train. He was small for a Knight, barely making it to six feet in height. His yellow and red armor covered his body, but left most of his head exposed. Both his shoulder and hind pauldrons had a frowny face on it.
Sunset was dreading the next few moments even more. ‘If there’s anything worse than a Blood Knight, it’s an Angry Knight.’ She thought. Angry Knights took to their name well. Their motto ‘Always angry, all the time’ was lived to the max. They swore and yelled everything they said and their tempers were nearly unmatchable. The only person they truly respected and showed curtsey too was her mother. Though, her mother actually found the Angry Knights’ antics quite hilarious.
“I saw him first, you bloodless coward.” Bloodletter growled, whirling around to stare down at the other stallion.
“TOO BUCKING SLOW, GRANDPA!” The Angry Knight shouted back.
“SPINELESS DOG!”
“FEATHERING CUNT-NUGGET!”
“BOYS!” Twilight got in the middle of them. “No fighting….each other. We’re all friends here.”
“THAT”S WHAT YOU BUCKING SAY, WHORE BISCUIT!” The Angry Knight quipped.
Bloodletter snarled. “THAT”S MY MAREFRIEND YOU’RE TALKING TOO!”
“I COULD FEATHERING TELL! SHE”S AS MUCH A PUSSY AS YOU!”
“Could you make this quick,” Sunset asked. “I have places to be and blood is quite hard to get out of my coat.”
“WHO’S THIS BITCH?!!” The Angry Knight asked.
Both Shining and Spike snarled, while Sunset narrowed her eyes. “She is Princess Sunset Shimmer and you will address her as such.” Shining spoke up.
“NO SHIT, SHERKLOCK!” The Angry Knight smirked. “I SEE YOU DIDN”T GET YOUR FEATHERING JOB FOR NOTHING!”
Shining Armor looked like he was about to retort, before Sunset stepped in. “I can handle myself, Field Marshal.” ‘About time I did too. These shenanigans are getting on my nerves.’ “Knight, bow down to me.” The Knight grit his teeth, but did as she asked. She knew that the Knight wouldn’t disobey a direct order from her. They respected her mother too much. She walked over and bent her face down to his. “Now, I’m going to ignore what you just called me this time. But if you so much as throw another insult my way, I swear I will burn you to a crisp.” Her glare could pierce diamonds and the Angry Knight could have sworn he saw blue fire inside them. “Are we understood?” The Knight nodded. “Good.” She turned to her brother. “Let’s go.”
The Angry Knight got up and laughed. “WELL BUCK ME SIDEWAYS! THAT”S MY KIND OF PRINCESS!” He started off. “LATER PUSSY!” He shot at Bloodletter. The Blood Knight snarled in his direction.
“SPIKE!” A mare called out.
“Who is it this time?” Sunset groaned, rubbing her forehead with her forehooves.
“Moondancer,” Spike joyfully called out. Sunset let out a loud groan. ‘That’s it. I’m getting on the train.’ She thought, as she trotted inside the large compartment. It didn’t take long for Moondancer to get to Spike. “It is good to see you again.”
“I came as soon as I heard that you were leaving.” Moondancer replied. “I just couldn’t stand the thought of you departing Canterlot without me saying goodbye.”
“Ah Moondancer,” Spike put a hand over his heart. “Your intentions move me. I was quite heart-broken myself when I learned of this, but I have to go.”
“Then take this,” Moondancer levitated a hoofkerchief to him. “As a token to remember me by.”
Spike gingerly took the item. “I shall cherish this forever more, my darling mare.”
Moondancer blushed. “Just don’t forget me, okay?”
Spike picked up one of her forelegs in a hand. “Never.” He gave it a kiss.
“SPIKE!” Sunset yelled at him. She was tired of all this ‘meeting’ nonsense. She just hoped she didn’t have to go through with this kind of thing in Ponyville. “GET ON THE TRAIN!”
“I’m busy.” Spike called back.
Sunset stuck her head out of the train and glared at him. “Don’t you ‘I’m busy’ me. I said to get your scaly behind onto this train right now.”
Spike sighed. “I must depart, Moondancer,” he started forth. “But I shall return.” The doors closed behind him.
“I’ll be waiting.” Moondancer replied, blushing.
__________________________________________________________________
Meanwhile, in Ponyville’s Town Hall
Lady Justice stood outside her mother’s office, shaking in her hooves. Her right foreleg was held to her chest, holding a recently opened scroll. ‘Everything’s going to be okay. Everything’s going to be okay.’ She kept telling herself. But she knew otherwise. This wasn’t just some monster from the Everfree Forest. No, this was much worse.
Lady Justice was a regular Earth pony mare. She was light green with an orange and light orange striped mane. Her cutie mark was a gavel, signifying her talent at enforcing the law.
Finally, she got the nerve to open the door and walked inside. Her mother, Mayor Mare, was an Earth pony mare, like her. She was tan with a white mane, which was currently disheveled. She was currently arguing with someone on the phone.
“I don’t care if you’re short hoofed at the moment,” Mayor Mare growled through the phone. “I can’t spare anypony at the moment…Why? My town was picked to host the thousandth ‘Summer Sun Celebration’, that’s why? I need everypony here to make sure it goes off without a hitch.”
“Uh, mother…”
“If you’re law enforcement were competent at their jobs, none of this would be happening.” The mayor snapped. “But noooo, you wanted to cut corners to build that monument. How’s that working out for you?...Set back? I’m not surprised.”
“Mother, if you could please…”
Mayor Mare reeled back and then sighed. “Look…I’m sorry for getting onto you. We’re both stressed out right now…Yes, I know your wife was one of the missing ponies. I pray to Celestia that she’s found spick and span….Tell you what. How about you come visit Ponyville this summer, as a vacation of sorts….” Mayor Mare smiled. “I’ll make sure you’ll have a great time. Bye.” She hung up the phone and her head hit the table.
“Uh, mom…”
“What is it, Justice?” Her mother mumbled, keeping her face on the desk.
“We’ve received an urgent message.
“From whom?”
“Princess Celestia herself.”
That got her mother’s attention. Her head sprang up and she looked as alert as ever. “The Princess Celestia?” Her daughter nodded. She motioned for her to come closer. “Well, let me see it.”
Lady Justice quickly let her have it. “I should warn you,” she started. “It’s not the best news.”
“What ever could you mean, dear.” Mayor mare opened the letter. “Princess Celestia has no reason to…” Her eyes went wide when she read the contents. She looked up at Lady Justice. “She’s sending her?”
Justice nodded. “Yes, mom. She’s sending her daughter to watch over the proceedings.” Both of them were silent. They knew of Sunset Shimmer’s temper. It was legendary and nopony wanted to get on her bad side.
“Well…” Her mother started, looking extremely nervous. “This day just keeps getting better and better.”