The Conversion Bureau: Setting Things Right

by kildeez


Chapter V: The Masks We Wear

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1500 HOURS
ROYAL INFIRMARY
CANTERLOT PALACE, CANTERLOT, EQUESTRIA
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Shining Armor’s eyes slowly cracked open. Wincing with pain, he squeezed them shut again. Voices echoed in his ears, unfamiliar and garbled, like his ears had been stuffed with cotton. Calm yourself, some inner part of him urged. Take stock of the situation and reorient yourself based on what you know.

Something soft and cottony was at his back, something else cool keeping his head supported. A military cot, definitely, with one of those cheap pillows from the stockroom. He’d lain in enough of these during Basic to recognize the feel almost instantly. Now, what else did he know? The echo-like quality of the voices in his ears probably indicated hearing damage, and the extreme pain upon seeing light almost certainly pointed to a long amount of time knocked out, with the added bonus of possible damage to the occipital lobe.

Thank you, battlefield triage, he thought. Okay, that was all fine and dandy, but what else did he know? How did he get here from…wherever it was he had been? Let’s see…he remembered walking with Twily…he was in full guard regalia, was there some battle going on? No, he remembered talking candidly with her, that’s not something you did in a battlefield situation. A security operation, then? Maybe, some sort of anomaly appearing in Equestria…

Anomaly…

That was it! He could remember everything now! Walking with Twilight, meeting with her friends, accidentally bumping into Rainbow Dash (which he made a mental note to vehemently deny for the rest of his days), and most importantly of all, meeting with the Princess and…

“PRINCESS! TWILIGHT!” He gasped, bolting upright in his cot, allowing his eyes to bug wide open. Bad idea: the sudden sting of light assaulting his eyes combined with the blood rushing from his head knocked him right back down again, cradling his head in his hooves and moaning. At the very least, the sudden rush of emotions seemed to help in discerning the voices from the barely-audible static in his ears, allowing him to hear the ponies around him.

“Has anypony seen my son!? My little Richie, has anypony seen him!?” Distraught mother. No surprises there, considering what happened.

“Oh Celestia above, I can’t see! Why can’t I see!?” Panicking civvies. Again, no surprises there.

“Consarn it, first you city folk mess up one a’ my fields with your dag-blasted magic portals, then y’all tell me I can’t even leave to harvest m’other fields!?” Old stallion Jenkins? What was he doing here?

“Captain Armor, ‘tis good to see you again.” Princess Luna.

“PRINCESS LUNA!” Shining Armor gasped, a hoof automatically flying to his forehead in salute. Unfortunately, with his mind still fuzzy and his body still uncoordinated, all he managed to accomplish was a good, firm punch to his own forehead. “Gyah, sorry,” he grumbled, rubbing at the red hoofmark growing on his face.

“At ease, Captain,” the Princess said, and he felt a reassuring hoof press on his shoulder. “You were among the worst injured, though I suspect we should be grateful for that, all things considered.”

“Yeah, at least I’m still breathing,” Shining guffawed, then he felt a sharp intake of breath on the Princess’s part. His smile faded. “Oh, Celestia above, please don’t tell me there were…”

“We are…sorry, Captain. T’was not your fault, you must realize that.”

Despite her reassurances, Shining pushed himself up until he was leaning on his elbows, ignoring the pounding growing steadily louder in his head. Slowly, carefully, he opened his eyes, remaining patient on opening them despite the urge to just bolt upright in the cot and jolt them wide open. At first, the pain remained, but then it slowly dulled and his vision focused, allowing indistinct blobs and colors to coalesce and form into shapes he could recognize. First came the tent, military-standard canvas he would recognize from any battlefield triage center. Then came the ponies, groups of terrified civilians either resting on cots or gathered around them, all looking around in shock and confusion as medics and nurses trotted amongst them, all of which he also recognized from most battlefield situations. Finally, the area outside the tent started to slide into focus, the still-shining sun beating down on warm blades of grass, the fence they’d all been leaning on not even a day before, and…and a group of guards with grim looks on their faces, setting yellow caution tape up around a tarp-covered bundle that had a single bloody hoof sticking out.

“Oh Celestia,” Shining gasped. He dropped back onto the cot, his hooves pressing into his eyes. “Oh, Celestia and Luna!”

“Yon fool rushed against the attackers on his own,” Luna said, replacing the comforting hoof on his shoulder. “Again, ‘twas not your fault.”

“I’m a royal guard. My job is to keep the Princesses safe, my own sister included,” Shining replied, not bothering to open his eyes. “If I hadn’t failed on that end, would that idiot have even thought to try and attack those things on his own?”

Luna didn’t say anything, though the fact that a Princess known for her use of old-timey wordiness was at a loss for words didn’t encourage him any. Still, the hoof on his shoulder was a decent comfort, all things considered. Between the civilian casualties and missing princesses, he could use a bit of comfort just then.

“Gosh, there’s so many,” he mumbled, head turning on the pillow to the cots alongside him.

“Actually, most of these ponies are just stunned,” Luna replied. “We are merely holding them at the moment to ensure word about this does not leak out.”

“We’re holding them prisoner!? Why?”

“An alien world with abilities we can’t even fathom has kidnapped two of Equestria’s royal elite,” Luna sighed, shaking her head. “If word gets out, there will be panic in the streets. All things considered, with Tia – with my sister and the Element of Magic missing, I just didn’t want to chance having to deal with yet another crisis.”

Shining Armor’s nose wrinkled at that, but he said nothing. Though he found the idea of holding a bunch of frightened civilians hostage for the crime of being in the wrong place at the wrong time just repulsive, he could see the logic in the Princess’s words. Besides, he had always seen himself as a soldier first and a leader in the Crystal Empire second. It was hard to beat the mindset that he was meant to follow orders without question, only relaying the best way of carrying them out to the few ponies under his command. Back in the Crystal Empire, his wife handled all the real administration, writing up edicts and following up with him on how they were being carried out. He was really just there to hang out and look pretty. And yes, stand in defiance against any horrors from the ancient past threatening his home, that was just a given.

“We share your distaste, Captain,” the Princess remarked, reading his features in an instant. “But ‘tis the situation we find ourselves in, and we must adapt to pull through as best we can. Is that not one of the mantras of thine Royal Guard training?”

Despite himself, a tiny grin crossed Shining’s face, earning a look of surprise from the Princess. “Y’know, Cadence does that to me all the time,” he said. “Turn my own guard instincts against me and all. I’ve always admired that about her.”

Luna nodded and returned the smile. “The mark of a clever mare.”

“Oh, speaking of,” he tried to sit up again, failed, and resigned himself to just laying on the bed and tilting his head in her general direction. “We need to call her in. We’ll need all the firepower we can get.”

“Actually, she teleported in the moment she received my letter,” Luna replied. “She’s waiting just outside. She understands we needed this debriefing beforehoof.”

“Ah. Alright then, we’re gonna need reserve units…”

“To be called up, yes, we know. Every reserve garrison from here to Baltimare just received orders for an increased regimen of ‘training exercises’.”

“G-good…oh! And if Cadence is here, we’ll need…”

“Your plants in the Crystal Gardens are being watered, Captain!” Luna said, her wings flaring in exasperation. “The Empire is being managed by the emergency protocols you and your wife laid in place, we have trains inbound from every territory with supplies to support either a long, drawn-out siege or a massive battle, and we’ve cancelled your reservation at this Saturday’s Comic-Con in Trottingham! Everything is resolved, now will you please relax!?”

“Alright, alright,” he said, somewhat surprised at her outburst. He turned over on his cot again.

“Do you wish to know anything else?”

“Yeah, how are the girls taking it?”

“They’re positively distraught,” Luna replied, her eyes glistening. “Or, at least, Fluttershy and Rarity are. Pinkie Pie only just stopped crying, and Rainbow Dash and Applejack had to be restrained to keep them from single-hoofedly attempting an attack on the other world.”

“Yeah, that sounds like them,” Shining Armor attempted another smile, but it came off flat, feeling alien on his face. He gave up on it after a moment. “Can I see my wife now?”

“Of course, Captain,” Luna nodded before trotting back out, leaving Shining with perhaps five milliseconds of alone time to process what had happened before a pink blur sailed in through the tent flap and body-slammed him.

“SHINING!” Cadence cried, her hooves wrapping around his midsection while she showered him with kisses. “HOW BADLY ARE YOU HURT!? ARE YOU FEELING OKAY!? DO YOU SEE A BRIGHT LIGHT!? OH MY DEAR SWEET CELESTIA, STAY OUT OF THE LIGHT SHINING! PLEEEASE! STAY OUT OF…”

He grimaced, teeth clenching in pain as she rocked him back and forth. “My…legs…” he managed to grunt.

“What, your legs!? Oh Maker above, you can’t feel your legs!? Don’t worry Shining!” She held him close, tears pouring down her cheeks. “We’ll get through this as husband and wife! I won’t leave you! We’ll get you a physical therapist, and we’ll find the best wheelchair in Equestria for you, and…”

“No…you’re standing on them…my legs…” he mumbled.

“Wha-oh,” she gave a quick flap of her wings, lifting off his body and landing gracefully at his bedside. He let out a sigh of instant relief, blood rushing back to his legs. “Sorry!”

“It’s fine, really!” He smiled at her, ignoring the pain as he held out a hoof to stroke her chin. His eyes locked with hers and she sniffled. “I’m fine, Cady. I’m just fine.”

“I’m sorry, Shiny,” she whimpered, her hoof clenching his as he stroked the side of her muzzle reassuringly. “For a second, I thought I might be losing you too, and with Auntie Tia gone and Twi…Twi…” she couldn’t even make it through Twilight’s name, the tears now welling up and wetting both their hooves as he continued to stroke her.

“Hey, hey,” he pulled her in close, careful to avoid her horn as her head nuzzled into his chest. “It’ll be alright, okay? Everything’s gonna be just fine.”

“How can they be fine, Shiny? Two of the most important ponies in the world have been foalnapped by monsters from another dimension, who’ve already killed one of our own!” Her tear-filled eyes lifted to face the blood-covered bundle outside the tent flap, which was being loaded onto a stretcher, the bloody hoof hurriedly tucked in. “The things that did that have our Twily, how could they possibly be alright?”

Instead of talking, he pulled her face away from the tent flap and kissed her, long and hard, passionately locking lips while stroking her shoulders reassuringly. “I don’t know, but we’ll figure it out,” he whispered. “I promise. Wherever Twilight is, nothing is gonna stop us from getting her back.”

She sniffled, bit her lip, and leaned in on top of him again. He continued stroking her long into the night, as Princess Luna lowered the sun and her moon rose high into the sky. Then, and only then, with an exhausted Cadence passed out next to him on the cot, did he allow the tears he'd been suppressing the entire day to start flowing. I-I promise, he repeated to himself, over and over again. We’ll get you back, Twily, no matter what. Oh Celestia above, please be alright.