The Nightmare had left the trophy room, but the fireflies in the lanterns continued to die off, until Lyra and Octavia were in nearly complete darkness.
"We might have to leave forever. There are only a few places in the world where we could be safe from Equestrian agents forever." Lyra said. "This might be the end of us."
Octavia shook her head. "Quit talking like that. We should focus on one thing on a time. If we have to leave, we leave. If we have to, you know, recover the vizier, we should do that before we're caught just standing around like this."
"He-" It was almost too dark for Lyra to see Fancy Pants's body, pinned under the pile of artifacts and broken display racks. "He must stay were he is. Our hope for absolution rests with a forensic pony finding out how this crime really happened."
"How would the idea of a shapeshifter even cross an investigator's mind? You said yourself everypony saw us with the vizier. Unless we stay to tell them about the changeling, they'll interpret the scene however fits their preconceived idea of our guilt." Octavia said. "Either we stay and hope they believe us, or we run."
Lyra sighed, trying to find resolve within overwhelming confusion and sorrow. "You said it yourself, Octavia. We run. I- I'm sorry I dragged you into all of this."
Octavia led the way, trying to reverse the path the vizier had led them down. "It was bound to happen eventually. I survived longer than most guild mares." She was silent for a moment. "We have to ask Mistress Phyte for help."
Lyra felt a surge overwhelming impatience and disgust at her friend's behavior, briefly drowning out her terror. "Do you understand what's happened here? You want to sit around to give our side of the story, and you think Phyte could also save you? She pointed back in the direction of the corpse. “That was the third or fourth most important pony on the continent! We will be afforded no due process or opportunity to protest our innocence. We'll be butchered on sight, dragged through the streets, and hung from a clock tower!" The mentioned punishments began to flash rapidly through Lyra’s imagination. "We'll be burned in effigy for years to come.
"I have no intention of being being treated that way. That's exactly the reason we have to get help from the mistress." Octavia insisted. She drew her cloak up more closely, avoiding Lyra's glare.
"Then we have to go our separate ways. How can we find assistance from a death-monger when murderers are who the guards will be looking for? She's the exact wrong pony for this. We would do better to seek out a convent." Lyra said.
"Lyra I-" Octavia's voice hitched.
Maybe Octavia was even more panicked than Lyra, and fixating on the idea of the mistress saving her to avoiding having a breakdown. As Lyra's feeling out outrage receded, the fear crept back in and took over her decision-making.
"Let's get out of the castle first. Mis Vinyl's hideout is on the way to the south gate, and not a big detour from the Musician's Guild."
Octavia, to Lyra's surprise, readily agreed. "We can use the dragonfire birdcage I stowed there to send Phyte a message."
That was acceptable to Lyra as well.
Without further discussion, the duo scurried forward, up and out of the castle, as silently and as hurriedly as cockroaches.
Overseeing the four Ponyville mares mull over the plan of the village, Twilight was struck by an unexpected feeling of dread.
This was from something deeper than subconscious, a vibrating string in the flows of magic that ran through the entire world, and even through other dimensional realms. A primordial discordance had been played into the cosmic song. Any magically attuned pony would probably feel a brief discomfort. For Twilight, it was like something had pinched the nape of her neck and run a cold knife along her spine.
Twilight also noticed Rarity and Pinkie Pie's reacting. Rarity's ear flicked at an absent sound. Pinkie Pie sat up and looked around, trying to find something far away to the north.
"Yes?" Twilight asked. "Need a glass of water or tea?"
Pinkie Pie, unable to find the feeling that had teased her interest, shook her head. "No thanks lady."
Fluttershy raised a wing. "Umm, I'll have some tea, if you're offering. Uhh, please."
Twilight obliged, rising from her cushion and trotting to the kitchen. Spike was lounging at the table, reading a book by candlelight. "Tired?"
"Not really."Twilight said. "Say, did you feel something in the air just now?"
"Umm, sorta. There's a storm north of us, and I think it might be coming this way. Everytime there's lightning I feel a prickle." Spike said. "Dragons are really really sensitive to lightning."
"I know. Not as much to magic, though." Twilight said. There was a minimal chance Spike had actually felt the same magical disturbance she had.
She would probably never find out what had actually caused it. Such things happened every so often, for reasons beyond ponykind's ability to understand. Unless... No, no, it was not time for the Nightmare Pretender's assault, according to the prophesy. "Thanks anyway."
Spike lowered his book. "Everypony getting along?"
Twilight began boiling a kettle with her magic. "They're not shouting or hitting each other. I hope that as long as they're focussed on something on a professional, rather than visceral personal level, they can cooperate."
Spike idly nibbled at one of his taloned fingers. "I get a funny sense from the pink one and the yellow one, Mis Pinkie and Mis Fluttershy. Why were they so involved in a catfight that doesn't matter to them?"
"Fluttershy alluded to everypony knowing Macintosh a bit, but you're right." Twilight sprinkled tea leaves into the boiling water. "Did you notice something else?"
"Ehh, not really. Just that Mis Fluttershy got up and talked when you were putting the screws to Mis Applejack. After that, Fluttershy was controlling the direction of the conversation." Spike shrugged. "In one of my fantasy books, the hero interrupts his friend confessing to something by making an even bigger confession, which was fake. It confused the evil guards and the heroes escaped without trouble."
"I see what you're saying. But Fluttershy is Rarity's friend, not Applejack's. Why would Fluttershy cover for Applejack?" Twilight pondered. "Even if there is some silly secret they're all in on, I only care about them cooperating on my Summer Sun Fair. Discretion around their secrets is probably better if I want them to help me." However Twilight could not deny that she was curious now, and slightly angry that the Ponyvillians would try to deceive her. "Don't be overly suspicious of ponies, but I appreciate your attention to detail Spike. Keep it up."
"Thanks Twilight." Spike went back to reading his book.
Twilight returned with three cups of tea. One for herself and Fluttershy, but as expected... "Oh darling, could you get me one too?" Rarity asked as Twilight approached. However she realized her prank had been anticipated, as Twilight levitated the third cup over to her. "Thank you my lady."
"You're very welcome." Twilight said as she settled back in her seat. She watched the discussions over the town plan continue.
“And a bakery at every corner! Bread for everypony!” Pinkie furiously scribbled across the paper spread out over the floor. Looking up from that, to the unamused glares of Rarity and Applejack, she apologetically smeared the scribbles away. “Or not. Bread for nopony.”
“You prompt a serious discussion about the merits of decentralized food distribution.” Twilight chimed in. “The strain of so many ponies on one facility during a prolonged siege, or fair, increases the danger if the one bakery stops working for some reason."
"The market ponies provide us with food too, you know." Rarity said. "I wouldn't be against another bakery, maybe by the river, but Pinkie Pie doesn't need twenty bakeries."
"Yeah but what'll a thousand visitors need?" Applejack challenged. "Me 'n the other ponies who sell in the market 'bout run out of produce every week. Grain is the easiest food to barge in."
"We only have one working gristmill." Fluttershy said.
"Bet you've never see me work the mill." Pinkie Pie grinned. She pantomimed the grinding motion of a millstone. "Grrrrr grrrr grrrr grrrr. I can turn grain to flour lickety-split."
Twilight's mind wandered. She wondered how the ponies would react if she started asking for them to add moats, palisade, and a watchtower or two. She would have to come up with an excuse for the usefulness to a fair. Besides, would such things be of any use against a resurgent Nightmare force?
Twilight leaned over to read what had already been written on the map. Ideas and suggestions had been scribbled over the blocky representations fo builds, in the margins, or nearby sheets of paper: Paved roads, some land clearance, some land reclamation, some land abandonment. A cistern, limited sewage system, granary to complement the mill. Renovations for the town hall pavilion, an expansion to the local apothecary. Bold and necessary work to prepare Ponyville for the strain of a Summer Sun Fair. The mares balanced each other's ideas out reasonably and were, Twilight had to admit, a fair bit more clever about their ideas than she had given them credit for.
Spike had warned of an approaching storm. Twilight felt the slight vibration of a distant thunderclap. Her thoughts turned to the Nightmare again. Could the Nightmare Pretender be reasoned with? Could Twilight find common ground, or find a negotiated potion with, an avatar of dark hate? It could not be more difficult than getting Applejack and Rarity to get along.
What would the Nightmare pretender think of her, Twilight Sparkle? Would she hate Twilight automatically for being Celestia's student? Almost surely.
Fluttershy was speaking. “Uhm, I think if we planted trees along the northern road, we’d get some very pretty birds there.” She proposed.
“And unpleasant bird by-products.” Rarity frowned.
Twilight tried to envision the pleasant tree line, but could only imagine evil eyes peering from the leaves.
“Hey, ya think that as long as we’re spending some other pony’s money, we could buy a new mayor?” Pinkie Pie asked.
“And a new weatherpony.” Rarity agreed. “It’s has been dreadfully humid lately and the local pegasi are completely ineffectual.”
"How many ponies are we going to stop at?" Fluttershy asked.
"Huh?" Pinkie Pie queried.
"Thinkin' there should be a limit?" Applejack laughed under her breath. "Why, worried about the composition of y'all's town? Don't want new neighbors?"
Twilight was surprised that it was Applejack challenging the conservative point. "It's a fair worry."
"Ponyville accepted me and Fluttershy." Pinkie Pie pointed out.
"yup." Applejack voiced her agreement. "And before that, when Ponyville was even smaller, my family and others came here, and made it a good home."
"And everything has been dandy since then." Rarity grunted.
"A couple ponies won't put the party space over capacity." Pinkie Pie said.
"A couple ponies?" Fluttershy tilted her head.
"It will take a dedicated group of town watch or militia to keep order while thousands of ponies mill around." Twilight interjected. "If Ponyvillians fill that role it will mean they can't do their work and feed or shelter the attendees."
Everypony frowned, and Twilight feared she had done some great taboo. She continued nervously. “A town watch would also deter thieves or bandits preying on ponies coming and going from the Fair."
"Ponyville is kinda an anarchic commune, so we can't have armed ponies bossing others around." Pinkie Pie said.
Rarity nodded. "There is a bow or musket in almost everyponies home. Thank goodness nopony ever has to use them, except to scare off wolves from across the river." From the Everfree, everypony understood.
"There has to be order somehow. There have to be ponies that can direct the masses in an emergency." Twilight insisted.
"So? Let somepony volunteer." Applejack said. "Or have 'em elected."
"You want to elect the Summer Sun Fair guards?" Twilight was utterly baffled by the logic of the Ponyvillians. She could relate to them about most things, but certainly not this. She thought up scenarios to test their logical consistency. "How could a peace officer elected from the Ponyville commoners be asked to restrain a noble if needed?"
Applejack shook her head. "Not just the Ponyvillians. After all, if it's all the visitors who're bein' ordered around, all of 'em deserve a say in who's doin' it."
The other mares nodded, much to Twilight's consternation. "Listen, I can't picture getting a thousand ponies queuing up for concessions, let alone for a silly election. You're dreaming."
"If you say so, darling." Rarity tittered.
"Yeah, don't be surprised if the rest of Ponyville gives y'all trouble over this 'law and order thing'." Applejack said.
"It's just Lady Twilight's Canterlot sensibilities not lining up with us." Pinkie Pie said. "Canterlot ponies live class differently."
Twilight was confused and annoyed by this point. She had gotten used to being between the quarreling mares, and now it was all of them against her. "Live class? This is a Summer Sun Fair, honoring the divine Sun and her daughter, the princess and feudal empress of Equestria. It's not about you. It's about her."
"About her, or about you?" Fluttershy asked.
Twilight felt like she had been slapped. "Go back to thinking about planting trees. I will go back to thinking about my duties as an imperial vassal." She growled.
It was a hollow retort. Twilight felt only a tenuous duty to anypony but herself.
"Are there any lords nearby who could lend some knights?" Spike shouted from the kitchen. He was obviously not paying total attention to his book.
"The nearest feudal estate is a hundred kilometers up the river. It's all isolated camps and farmsteads between. That is what makes this depopulated valley such a strange place to hold a SS Fair." Twilight sighed. "I guess I could ask Canterlot for temporary guards. I get some law and order, you keep new ponies from settling down."
Rarity looked pleased. "That would work for all parties. Would that not be a great opportunity for Canterlot knights, to serve the princess's First Student?"
"Uhh, there's not a lot of well-trained knights kicking around the capital, honestly. The lesser nobles in Canterlot are trained in language, not swordsponyship. The few armed and trained knights in the city are the Imperial Household Guard." Twilight explained. "The vast majority of armed ponies are commoners. The City Guard is a full time profession run out of Canterlot Castle, which hires local ponies and some transfers from the provincial imperial armies. The Guilds and professional societies also organize their own militias, run by the Guild masters, using their own equipment." Twilight frowned. "Though, some neighborhoods also organize their own armed militias to fight against gangs and the City Guard. Smart ponies avoid those neighborhoods."
Pinkie Pie raised her hoof. "When I lived in Canterlot the rowhouse block I rented had a self-defense force like that! They were pretty funny guys, always drinking and shouting. Some of them had been in wars in Griffany. One time, they got together and burned down a nearby temple because the cleric was a guard informant."
Everypony stared at Pinkie. "That doesn't sound funny at all." Fluttershy said.
Pinkie Pie shrugged. "Eh, you had to be there."
"Was that about five years ago?" Twilight blinked. "I think I remember hearing about an Inner City temple fire. I guess you really did live in Canterlot."
"Are we gunna reminisce some more about funny arson, or go back to thinking about planting trees?" Applejack asked sardonically.
"I think you have as many trees as you can take care of already." Twilight said dismisively.
Applejack twisted around to fix Twilight with an angry stare. "What's that supposed to mean? My orchards are gettin' along fine."
"I meant the Everfree Forest." Twilight diflected.
"My lady, it's uncomfortable talking about the forest." Rarity said.
Spike strode out of the kitchen, book in claw. "How many ponies have dissapeered into the Forest?" He asked. The Ponyvillians shared glances, and shook their heads. "None? Gee by the way you guys talk about it..." He continued on his way, climbing up the stair to the bedroom. "I'm going to try to sleep before the storm breaks over us, Twilight."
"Okay, goodnight, Spike." Twilight nodded.
Rarity waited, lips pursed, until Spike had closed the bedroom door behind him. "My lady you should not be flippant, nor encourage your ward to be, about the Everfree Forest."
In Twilight's head, a discordant string was plucked. "Rarity I'd advise you, very strongly, not to tell me how to raise my dragon." She strongly considered tacking on a violent threat, something about throwing the mare through a window. She felt put upon, having to weather the ponies' disrespect while they danced around the truth with her.
What kind of secret were they hiding? Was it something criminal? Did it have to do with why Ponyville's last mayor disappeared? Was it a conspiracy between Ponyville and Princess Celestia against Twilight specifically?
"Yeah Rarity, it's plain rude to stick yourself in other's family buisness." Applejack said snidely.
Twilight stood up, bumping Pinkie Pie and scattering some of the nearby crayons and pencils. "I didn't ask for you to stick up for me, especially not in such a self-serving way. No, not a single one of you believes in Equestria. I lambasted Rarity for it earlier, but it applies to all of you. You have no soul for service."
Fluttershy, of all ponies, was the one to stand up to Twilight's biting remarks. "Equestria is too abstracted for ponies living in isolated villages. We don't experience the nation like Canterlot or Cloudsdale ponies do."
"Is that why this is chartered as a 'Free City'? Because you've mentally liberated yourself from the Equestria which gives you peace and free internal trade?" Twilight said. "I understand the treatment I'm getting now. I'm basically a foreigner, a guest who has overstayed her welcome, rather than a just and proper authority. The ponies of Equestria, through their empress, gave me to you. You snub me, and you snub million of ponies across this continent. But that doesn't bother any of you because in your monstrous conceit you hold yourselves above a billion ponies."
"This is gettin' weird 'n off-topic. Is this about y'all's renovation project or dragon anymore?" Applejack questioned.
Obviously, Twilight had ranted about her own biting insecurities more than she was about the Ponyvillians' misdeeds. Twilight sighed and paced behind her chair. She had gotten what she wanted, making Rarity and Applejack work together, but she still wasn't happy at all. She was still anxious.
"I'm going for a walk. Alone. Don't know for how long. You all can stay the night I guess." Twilight trotted to the Golden Oak's red door. "Don't steal anything. See you tomorrow." Twilight pulled the door open so forcefully it almost came off its hinges, and trotted into the windy night.
Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Applejack traded confused looks.
"Do we go home?" Pinkie wondered.
"It would be best to wait a few minutes, lest we run into the little ladyship." Rarity sighed.
Fluttershy kept her fear to herself, that Lady Twilight would go looking for trouble in the place everypony had warned her of, the Everfree.
In the Ponyville streets, Twilight was trying to clear her head. She had never felt so stressed about so little. "Just let me go back to the University. I have a whole schedule of classes I was planning for over the next year. Give me my deadlines and professorial expectations back. Give me-" She kicked at a pebble, dinking it off somepony's window. "Give me my magic back!"
She was a magical student, an unnaturally powerful magician. By all rights she should have spent the next years becoming a guild master, or building her own magic school, or secluding herself to experiment in her Uncle Flux's lands in Foal. She yearned for what could have been.
"And it's only been three days. Damnation!"
She wondered how long it would take to walk back to Canterlot. Months, surely. If she made teleportation hops, Twilight imagined she could do it in a week. Then, once in Canterlot, she would march into Canterlot Castle, push aside Fancy Pants and the other councilors, and give Princeess Celestia a piece of her mind.
There was a distant crack of thunder.
"No. No. I've got to stop fixating on the Princess. It doesn't matter that she's the reason I'm suffering like this. I have to think productively." Twilight babbled. "And I have to stop wracking myself with anxiety over the Nightmare Pretender. I have to find a more opportune time to work out that issue..." She stopped and listened to the next thunderclap. "I wish I had brought a good book to read. There is nothing here worth losing myself in."
Twilight continued to wander. Her self-pity and self-indulgent misery kept her from seeing what she really should have: Something watching her from the shadows, which followed her all the way to the edge of the village.
Considering that the last time Shining Armor had been invited to dinner at his parent's townhouse had been when his sister Twilight Sparkle had revealed her elevation to First Student, he felt trepidation about accepting his parent's summons to 'their' new abode at the Chateau la Garde. He had spent some time on his appearance, examining his dress uniform in front of his small mirror of his tiny room at the Imperial Household Guard Barracks.
"You look like garbage." He told the reflection. Having spent the day shouting at IHG trainees, scheduling knights for the next day's castle patrols, and pouring over his superior's paperwork, Shining was tired. Being second-in-command with a captain like Hauseway meant all of the work and none of the glory.
Still Shining started the long walk to the other side of Canterlot, to his parent's dinner, out of a sense of filial duty more than anything. He had heard rumors about the new pony in town his mother was hosting, which even the IHG knights had been gossiping about. Shining had not payed close attention, but he had heard enough.
Therefore it came as a huge surprise to Shining when he was one guest among many making their way along the Canterlot streets towards the Chateau la Garde. By the time he was in sight of the chateau, a veritable stream of well-dressed noble ponies were alongside him, by carriage and by hoof, coalescing in front of the big front doors of the blocky castle.
The guard ponies on station at the city gatehouse leading to the mountain road, recessed into the structure of the Chateau la Garde, watched the gathering of ponies wearily. Shining, more comfortable with the soldiers than nobleponies, sidestepped the line to talk to them. "Good evening."
"Hail sir knight." One of the guards saluted.
"Sir." The designated leader on watch stepped forward. "How goes it in the IHG?"
"Nothing exciting at all, really. The castle has been quiet." Shining said, stretching the truth. It would be a whole ordeal to try to explain the princess's strange mood.
The guard leader scrutinized Shining for a moment. "Have you been on patrols with us before? I recognize you from somewhere." She said
"Oh, kinda." Shining nodded. "I accompany the guard lodge in south Old Town on investigations or raids, when my captain allows."
"That's right, yes! I remember. I was there when we raided the armed pimp consortium in the Inner City, by the wall. You came in full plate! That was a hoot." The guard leader chuckled. "Funny, I was considering sending for backup over the brewing riot here. Lucky you showed up, sir." She said ironically, gesturing to the crowd of nobles.
Shining grinned guiltily. "How unlucky I'm soon to join in. I expect many family arrests."
A few of the guards chuckled at the play on words. "Leave you to it sir."
Shining nodded and trotted back to the chateau door.
A pony squeezed their way through the nobles and intercepted him halfway. "Lord Armor." It was the family maid. She led him right through the crowd, much to the annoyance of the ponies who had been waiting.
"Wow. I think I liked Twilie's old place better. It fit her personality better." Shining noted that his parents had already furnished the foyer and adjoining sitting rooms to their own tastes. Noblepony guests were huddled everywhere, chatting and gossiping, like any other society party Shining had been to.
"There is a library on the top floor. I think it would be to the young mistress's liking. However you are likely correct to say that her ladyship the viscountess will try to spend as little time here as possible." The maid said.
Referring to Twilight Sparkle as 'the viscountess' threw Shining off for a few seconds. Shining had maintained an identity as merely a distant relative to anypony important, a mere hanger-on to his great uncle Foaly Flux. It kept him humble, even when some of his subordinate knights were direct scions of powerful noblehouses from across Equestria. In such a situation, he knew his ultimate loyalty and importance came from Princess Celestia. Entertaining hereditary family connections above his duty as an imperial knight, even for a moment, was anathema to Shining Armor.
It settled Shining's confusion about the situation that his kid sister still owned her viscountess status to the princess.
The maid continued to lead Shining through the foyer, towards the door to the greathall. "Be aware, Lord Armor, that your lady mother is planning to ask you to stay here for a few nights. If you decline she plans to offer you the townhouse."
Shining always got the impression his mother disliked his IHG position, even when she claimed the opposite. Thankfully Shining knew his father approved greatly. "Thanks for the warning. But you know you should just call me sir, or just Shining. Please."
The maid, expressionless as always, made a slight gesture. "If I did so Lady Velvet would disapprove."
"Of course she would." Shining sighed.
He straightened his dress uniform as they stepped into the greathall.
Shining Armor usually visited his parents for dinner for the pleasure of their company and not for the comedy, yet he found the hall of to be a miniature circus. Yes, not even three days, and his parents had turned what was supposed to be a stately but solid gatehouse into the most obnoxious party in town. The tables were overflowing with colorfully dressed nobleponies, all jostling and jockeying for seats in closest proximity to the end.
"Is that the pony I've heard about?" Shining pointed to the center of attention, who sat at the end of the table. "Seacrest Blackhorn?"
"Perceptive, my lord." The maid confirmed.
Shining was usually not the kind to form an immediate opinion of a pony, but Seacrest Blackhorn, the self-proclaimed 'Lord' of Canterlot, could be witnessed at a distance possessing many traits Shining found unappealing in ponies. Seacrest transcended haughtiness, his nose high in the air as he regarded the smitten Canterlot nobleponies trying to get his attention. Sel Lech Sabonord, leaning on Seacrest's chair, was doing all the talking while the lordling appraised the hall like it belonged to him, not Twilight Sparkle. Meanwhile a cloaked pony whom Shining presumed to be a servant spoon-fed Seacrest his dinner.
The maid tapped Shining on the shoulder to get his attention again. "Do you have a preference for where to sit?"
"Somewhere I'm easily missable." Shining said dourly. "Like, outside."
The maid gave Shining a sidelong look, conveying Velvet's disapproval again. She led him to an open seat halfway along the table. Shining just held out hope that among so many colorful outfits and flashy personalities swirling around him that nopony would notice him. He could apologize to his parents next time.
Picking at the night's admittedly delectable feast, Shining spied Twilight Velvet enter the greathall. It was his bad luck she saw him immediately as well, and grinned to him from across the room. Shining remembered the ways he would try to outwit her as as a rebellious teen. Velvet was always two steps ahead.
So, what was the deal with Seacrest Blackhorn?! Why was Twilight Velvet throwing a party with Seacrest as the guest of honor?
Shining took a thoughtful bite of hors d’oeuvre. How quickly things descended into madness while Twilie was away, he thought. He didn't really want to think too hard about reasons for it- After all, he knew he wasn't going to be able to change anything by himself. He might as well not stress himself out with politics or society drama. He had his own exhausting work to focus on.
A loud pop sounded out from the head of the table. Shining observed that the wine had been broken out. Fifteen different ponies fought for the right to pour Seacrest’s glass. A punch was thrown, and the effete nobleponies fell upon each other in an undignified brawl, spilling the wine across the table and floor. Seacrest sat up in his chair, laughing in delight at the violence.
"Who even is that joker." Shining wonder to himself. "He's got ponies tripping over themselves for him. It's bloody cultish."
Shining next noticed his father Night Light, off in a corner of the hall. The older stallion had gone unnoticed by being completely still, watching the room like Shining was. The poor stallion, Shining thought. Twilight Velvet had jumped into strange and pointless projects before, but never one as strange as a unicorn restorationist home rule movement.
Shining continued to peck at the food. Could he slip away and not get intercepted by his mother or the maid? Perhaps he could hide in one of the clusters of gossipy nobles. "Or I could check out the chateau, and the famous library." He said to himself wryly.
But when Shining stood up he almost immediately had a tipsy noblemare nearly fall onto him. "Hello there soldier. Very handsome metals." She grinned stupidly, eyeing Shining up and down. "Kill anypony before?"
Shining helped her stand back up. "It's not what I received the medals for." He said solemnly. He was a dutiful knight, but there were some duties he would rather not speak of.
"Ooh, yeah? Gett them for pleasing the princess then? hee hee." The mare laughed. She leaned too far forward and almost fell again before Shining pushed her back up with a hoof. "Enjoying yourself?"
Shining nibbled his lip. "It's a bit too loud for me."
The mare's blush deepened. "Oh, so you wanna go somewh-"
"No thanks." Shining interrupted. Every time family or friends dragged him to a party he ended up getting solicited by sloshed noblemares. Shining's underlying prudishness and chivalric ideals were always irked by the debauchery of it.
"Sure, kid." The noblemare tittered, beginning to sashay in place to the chamber music playing somewhere under the din of voices. "I've never been to a party here before, and I go to all the parties. Last weekend in the north town garden get-together, an earth pony brought this weird glue-like stuff from overseas, and when we drank it, it blasted us to another dimension." She levitated a glass of wine from a nearby ponies hoof and downed it. "The best parties are for ponies who are new in town. Like, after this, I'm running straight to the Old Town to see that Westerner mare, Countess Plenty Song."
Shining did not know the countess the mare spoke of. "Sounds like you're up on your politics then?" He asked, hoping to learn more about Seacrest Blackhorn.
"Politics? Puhh, buck no. I mean like, political ponies sure do hand out a lot of gifts and food and drink, but like..." She trailed off.
"It doesn't bother you that you're toasting a Black Horn Council event?" Shining asked.
The mare closed her eyes, getting more into her dance. "Mmm? Who?"
Shining was about to step away, but another party-goer stepped into Shining's space unsolicited. "The Black Horn Council? Sorry I just happened to overhear." He said. "Ohh, those boys are naive jokers at best. You can't take their unicorn supremacist language seriously."
"If you say so, sir." Shining said, more and more eager to escape the situation.
The noble stallion wasn't done talking, and grabbed Shining by the sleeve. "Putting those Black Horn types in power is actually the best way to temper them. Having responsibility will smooth them out and force them to let go of their hatred."
Shining jerked his hoof away, freeing his sleeve. "Would you say the same about the radical revolutionaries?"
"You get at the heart of the issue!" The noble exclaimed. "Canterlot and the empire must make allies with the unicorn supremacists and use that energy to crush the presumptuous commoner rebels in our midst. I tell you, I hear fellow well-borne nobleponies expressing sympathy for that revolutionary rabble! We must be absolutely ruthless against those traitors. Pro-revolution sentiment is anti-Equestrian and must be crushed ruthlessly no matter the cost in blood."
The drunk mare frowned. "Quit shouting in my ear. I'm trying to enjoy myself."
Temporarily forgetting Shining, the excitable noble turned to the mare. "But I have so much I think ponies need to hear, about restoring Canterlot to glory."
Shining properly broke away from the ponies this time, darting between ponies and making his way to the exit.
Unfortunately for him, Twilight Velvet was standing directly in his way, in the threshold between the greathall and the foyer.
"Hi mom. Nice party. It's bigger than just about any Uncle Flux has put on." Shining said, trying to put on a smile.
Velvet laughed to herself. "Thank you dear. It is a bit chaotic without enough staff to help me, but it seems to be going just fine so far." Contrary to her usual superior attitude, Velvet seemed humble before the task of managing the space for so many guests. "Thankfully I have some new friends to help out with things."
Shining followed her gaze. To his great surprise, he saw Blueblood and Aurthora Airy standing beside Seacrest Blackhorn, chatting with guests.
"You've really gone all in on this Black Horn Council stuff." Shining said, his disapproval showing through a tight frown.
Velvet bowed her head. "Shining Armor, you don't trust your mother to run a camarilla of her own? It would be poor form for a noble lady to spurn a courtier who is only looking to help."
Shining considered saying nothing. "Well... I am always looking to be surprised, mother."
There was another pop, more wine being brought out.
"You aren't leaving already, are you?" Velvet joked. "Don't worry, it's all on the Black Horns' dime."
"You know I'm not one for parties like this, except when ordered." Shining said. "It's not a good atmosphere for family talk anyway. I should go."
Velvet shrugged, stepping aside. "Your father will be disappointed you left without saying hello."
There was shouting from outside. The crowds of ponies waiting by the front door was parted, as a cadre of disquieted city guardsponies entered- They were not the guards from the gate either, but well armored guard officers with the marking of the north Old Town lodge.
The guardsponies beelined for Shining Armor. "Sir." The lead guard saluted.
Shining was very conscious he was in the middle of a scene, with all the guests turning their attention to the uninvited guards. "Has something happened at Canterlot Castle?"
The guard officer leaned in. "It's urgent enough that Captain Hauseway was summoned as well. Sir, we must go, immediately."
Shining was both appreciative of the excuse to leave, and anxious about the possible cause. "Lead on." He turned back to his mother. "Also, I just want to preemptively say no on staying at the chateau or guardhouse. I have to be close at hoof when emergencies happen."
"It didn't help you this time." Velvet said with a grin.
Shining followed the guard out of the hall into a waiting carriage. Half the guards joined him, and half stayed behind to reinforce the gatehouse. Something dire had taken place.
The moon was starting to rise higher over Canterlot, and by its light the crumbling tenements of the Inner City cast long shadows over the cobble roads. Unlike any other night, the twinned illumination of Canterlot Castle rising above the city was no comfort to Lyra or Octavia, for it was from the castle that they fled.
The mares reached the Inner City quickly, but once reaching those darkened streets and maze of alleyways they had to slow down. Some neighborhoods of the district were alive with ponies enjoying the night, families on their doorstep talking with neighbors, small pubs with guests spilling out onto the street, and the lively thoroughfares linking the Old Town to the mansions of south Canterlot.
Other Inner City streets were among the deadliest in Equestria, harsh and violent, abodes of crime and desperation. The refuse of feudal society, as well as its seediest underbelly, convulsed against itself and the authorities with murderous results. They were best avoided at night even by trained killers like Lyra or Octavia. However, it was also the quickest path to the abandoned tenement of Pon-3 hideout.
As the night deepened, so did the quiet. Every now and then a cat would yowl, or somepony's ugly laugh would echo through the streets. The rattle of a carriage speeding down a the cobblestone rose and fell from a block away. Against this oppressive hush the clip of her own hooves crashed thunderously in Lyra's imagination.
"You have been concealed the whole evening under that cloak. I've just had my pennysuit. Anypony who was looking saw my face." Lyra mumbled to Octavia. "But did the shapeshifter see you with your hood down? Could she have given a description?"
"Steady yourself. You already made your point about why we can't talk to the guard. I'm not going to betray you." Octavia whispered.
"I... I was seen, clear as day." Lyra breathed, more to herself than her companion. "There will be imperial knights in my home by daybreak. My poor parents are going to have a heart attack when they hear about this."
Octavia hurried along slightly faster. They were several blocks from the hideout tenement now, on the edge of the inner city.
Though Lyra had not been consciously fearing it before Octavia had said it, she really did fear her friend turning her in. Why? Octavia was a steadfast guild mare. They both had come very close to being caught before, but never flinched.
It was, Lyra finally realized, because she was in the position Pon-3 had been in, years ago when the troublemaker unicorn had been exiled. Lyra was a liability. All her friends would turn on her. Was Octavia really in the same peril, or would she escape punishment just like she had when Pon-3 was exiled?
Lyra took a steadying breath. "You and Mis Vinyl used the run down housing tower back before her exile. Are you sure it's secure?"
"I told you, nopony goes near to it, lest it collapse on them." Octavia said. After a moment, Octavia caught wise to the prompt behind Lyra's question. "Listen, Vinyl got caught and exiled from her own stupidity. I know she didn't give up the hideout because our friend Pinkie was laying low there the whole time."
"How did she manage only being punished with exiled, if she did half the horrible things she's rumored to have done?" Lyra asked.
"Mistress Phyte, obviously. Vinyl was in the Canterlot Castle dungeon, under constant watch by imperial knights and mages. But she wasn't the only one. Nearly half our little group of friends was jailed." Octavia recounted. "The Mistress knew who to ask, and instead of disappearing into the blackest depths of a hidden imperial prison somewhere, Vinyl was exiled to Griffany. The rest of our group were either exiled or forced into monasteries or covenants."
"That doesn't sound as bad as a life on the run." Lyra muttered to herself.
Octavia shook her head vigorously. "There's no chance Mistress Phyte intercedes with the imperials again. It cost her so much. She never confirmed to me, the same way she did everything I just told you, but its rumored she had to beg Princess Celestia to secure Vinyl's exile." She hung her head. "It's before your time... Mistress Phyte used to be more visible, welcoming important guests to the guild hall. She even went on hunts every so often. After Vinyl's exile, all of that stopped. She stays in the catacombs, which is why she created the dragonfire birdcages."
Lyra had heard bits and pieces of the story over her years as a guild mare, but never the complete picture.
Then a grave thought occurred to Lyra. "Octavia, the shapeshifter assassin knew Vinyl's shape and voice."
"Yes, and?" Octavia demanded elaboration.
"We may not the only ones who were 'last seen' with Fancy Pants." Lyra hissed. "The shapeshifter could contrive it so Vinyl was a fellow killer alongside us."
The stormy implication of such a possibility dawned on Lyra and Octavia at the same time.
"And Mistress Phyte has already proven she will sacrifice to save Vinyl, and even the ponies caught with her." Octavia gnawed her lip.
"This is the reason you should not seek out Phyte for help. What you think is proven is just one case. We do not have enough information to know why the shapeshifter knows or took on Mis Vinyl's shape." Lyra pleaded.
"A moment, please. I have to think things over." Octavia said.
While Octavia struggled with that question, Lyra fought off her own resurgent anxieties. She thought she had found a secure life for herself when she began serving Fancy Pants; The danger, if not the depravity, of guild work was behind her. She knew it couldn't last forever, as Lyra foresaw her age or Fancy Pants's necessitating her to transition to stable work somewhere in the imperial administration. Then she could retire far away from Canterlot, where nopony would have even heard of the Musician's Guild.
That imagined future had been torn away in a horrible instant. Lyra's heart was sinking back into the kind of dispair she had felt during her last weeks in the Musician's Guild, imagining herself meeting the kind of fate guild mares usually met: bloody, pitiful, and ignominious.
"No, I'm not like Mis Vinyl, because there's nopony to save me. Years of service to Sir Pants... And it leads me here anyway." Lyra said to herself in a harsh whisper. "And I never even got to have any of the fun of a guild mare. Life is a cruel joke." She might as well have been as cavalier and murderous as Pon-3. It all led to the same place. Transitioning to respectable imperial work, the cursus honorum Lyra thought she had started down, was an illusory salvation. The hints had been there form the beginning, but Lyra had been blind to them, immersed in false hope for herself.
"I might as well have hammered at my the lyre, rather than that mellow plucking. I'm not better than any of the worst killers. Their fury and pain is mine too. Do you think I should have expressed the rage of my soul rather than its poetry?"
"Keep it down Lyra. The alleys have ears and eyes." Octavia chastised.
Lyra sighed. "That shapeshifter sure didn't seem shy about being seen and heard. It must be liberating to be full of confidence and power."
Octavia acted calm, but she had already begun to doubt her friend's composure in the trophy room. "The power is of more importance there. She survived stabs that would lay low a minotaur. The confidence, or arrogance, was deserved."
Lyra shook her head. "She was not just confident before us. She was shouting up to heaven. She was bold under the gaze of her god, instead of humble. She welcomed divine scrutiny and held herself worthy. She was her own judgement." Lyra looked skyward, to the low-hanging moon which the shapeshifter had acclaimed. "We were born the wrong species, yoked to the wrong god, for the work we do, Octavia."
"I sympathize with you but I question the timing." Octavia nudged her friend to look forward and walk faster. "Regret over things we can't control, like being born a pony or whatever, will not save our skin tonight."
"I think perhaps I shall be damned like that nightmarish murderer was. I should like to have a second chance at this life." Lyra said.
Octavia was getting more worried. "I didn't listen as closely as you, but I'm certain it can't be as literal as you're thinking. You and I have both said nonsense in the heat of a fight."
Lyra acceded to that. "You're right. I'll scream at the sun next time and see what becomes of it."
Visions of Fancy Pants's death flashed before her vision, the moment of the strike, the violence of the hoof against his skull... Lyra could only hope it had been painless. What had Fancy Pants been thinking about in the last moment? Had he been sending a prayer to Celestia or the Sun? Alas he had lost against a monster sending her prayers to the moon.
"Princess, let's see if you protect me better than you protected him."
"Please focus more on the here and now. For example...." Octavia motioned ahead of them. "There's a guardspony in our way."
A lone soldier was walking towards them, humming to himself as he wandered down one side of the street.
They continued forward, especially studious of their surroundings. A lone guard could be a trap, or a clever criminal’s ruse.
Lyra tried to focus on the pony but her head was still swimming. As she reasserted control over her senses she noticed certain details about the guard as the distance closed.
“He’s off duty." Lyra whispered, letting out a small sigh of relief. "He's unclasped the strap of his helmet and loosened his belt."
"An on-duty or off-duty slob is still a pony with a sword." Octavia whispered back.
They drew closer, and Octavia drew her cloak closer over her face. She may have seemed more lax, but the earth pony was just as tense as Lyra.
"Good night to you mis and mis." The guard wandered into their path. He leaned on his sword sheath, not aggressively but gesturally, but it was enough to bristle Octavia. She shifted under her cloak, probably reaching for her weapon.
Lyra was quicker to act. She would do anything to avoid seeing another dead pony, to preserve her unravelling psyche.
"Fine night to you, brother." Lyra pushed Octavia back a bit. "Are we ever glad to see a friendly face. An irascible stallion was shadowing us, but he has left at the sight of you."
The guardpony clucked his tongue. "Sadly not surprising, sister. This neighborhood is just rife with assaults. My lodge hardly runs patrols through even during the daytime." He shook his head in disappointment. "Good news with the waxing moon, though. The sorts of skulking vermin around here prefer their rapes and murders in darkness."
As a guild mare, Lyra had had a grudging respect for the Canterlot guard. They were her enemy, dedicated to upholding the state's interpretation while Lyra worked to impose Phyte's. While working for Fancy Pants, she still tended to avoid them.
The guardpony before her was clearly of humble station, in addition to his slovenliness. His raiment and cloak was the white and bronze, his armor was discolored, and flecks of rust were peeling from his sword hilt.
"Do many mares survive self-defense attempts?"
"Oh sister, If you're asking, you don't need the telling." The stallion shook his head. He stopped leaning on his sword and straightened up. "But I've got a duty to all Canterlot, and if you're asking for an escort to wherever you're going-"
"Yes, brother, we would ever so appreciate it." Lyra nodded.
Octavia glanced over her shoulder. To the guard, it may have seemed like she was checking for the made-up stalker. Canterlot Castle's light still glittered, with no sign of alarm being raised over the dead stallion in the trophy room. "Yes, brother, we could be much obliged for the company." She said.
The guard nodded agreeably. “I was on the way to the pub myself, but I’d love to keep watch for a lovely pair of mares such as yourselves.”
"You're quite the gentlepony, but I wouldn't expect too much for our company." Lyra forced a laugh.
They started off up the road again, with Octavia slinking behind a few steps. She was getting visibly agitated by the guard's presence. On the flip side, Lyra was feeling calmer and more certain, no longer being left within her own thoughts. As long as the guardpony was willing to be led along by them, other kinds of trouble from the Inner City became less threatening.
“Quiet night?” Lyra asked the guardspony.
“Yeah. Deathly quiet.” He said. “This whole day's been awfully strange, what with that Blackhorn guy stirring things up in the Old Town. You hear about that?"
"Yup. Don't know what to make of it."
"Me neither." The guard shrugged. "But then a coupla hours later, late afternoon, the whole inner city fell into a hush. Ooh, it was the creepiest thing, like the whole city'd gone silent in the temple or something. I don't understand it." He shrugged again. "Anyhow, where you coming from tonight?”
“The university, after a fun time learning things.” Lyra replied.
The guard seemed amused. "Never woulda guessed. You're more, ehhh, fluent than most academic types." He glanced back towards Octavia. “And she looks kinda old for a student.”
“She’s more of a teacher.” Lyra said.
They rounded the last corner before the hideout tenement. The guardpony fell silent, surely wondering where the mares were leading him. He glanced back at Octavia again. Was he considering the possibility they were leading him into a trap?
"Not sure I can go much farther, sisters. Lucky we're pretty much in sight of a safe street. Probably a couple guards right 'round the corner there." He said.
"Very glad to hear it." Lyra bowed her head. "You can head on to the pub I suppose. I good knight like you deserves his relaxation after all."
The guardpony blushed. "Oh that's not proper, sister. I've no pretend to knighthood. My sergeant would give me a right scolding."
"What is knighthood than the reflection of chivalry?" Lyra fluttered her lashes. "Sir, this is us accounted for. I can do none other than bid you goodnight."
The guard bowed. “Hee hee, very kind mis. Or should I say, 'Anytime, m’lady'. Heh heh, oh it's just not proper.” However his playful mirth was tempered when he noticed they had entered the shadow of the massive abandoned tenement tower. "You should hurry on. Never know who might be watching from one of those upper windows. Bats and worse roost up there, they say."
Lyra curtsied, turning to leave. "Again, thank you so much sir, I hope you enjoy your nigh and-"
The tenuous silence which had settled over the district was broken, but it was not immediately obvious what had changed.
Bells from Canterlot Castle. Long, deep tolls from the guard barracks, the signal for emergency. A few seconds later, a bell from the Old town joined in. Then one very nearby. Then more on the other side of the city. Clang, clang, clang, the distant dissonant harmony rang out.
"That's the bloody emergency crisis type bell, right?" The guardpony stared in the direction of Canterlot Castle. "I can't ever remember hearing it at night. There must be a roaring fire somewhere... But I can't see more than whips of chimney smoke. Something's really wrong."
"They're going to lock down the whole city." Lyra said, a grave expression overtaking her. Her anxious terror returned anew, an unbearable pinch in her chest. "We won't be able to move a block, even by rooftop. They'll have pegasi and gunners. We'll have so many holes in us the moonlight will shine through."
"We underestimated how angry they would be." Octavia hissed. "We've got to hunker down, immediately."
“It could also be a riot, or maybe a rebel terror attack or something." The guard continued to speculate. He turned back to the mares. "You didn't see anything passing by the castle or Old Town from the uni?"
Improvising, Lyra swooned and caught herself on guard’s shoulder. He was surprised long enough for Lyra to untie his sword sheath from his belt. She leaned on him slightly to mimic the missing weight.
"You think ponies are in trouble, sir?" She asked, not having to exaggerate the worry in her voice. "Sir, please protect us! I- I'm feeling lightheaded!"
Octavia covertly scooped up the sword and backed away.
"Mis, it's not proper. There might be a hundred ponies at risk, and I've got to help my lodge. I have to check in with them." The guardpony said apologetically. He paused, listening to the toll of the bells for a moment longer, and his expression changed.
He pulled away from Lyra with a jerk. He tensed, having to raise his voice over the growing cacophony of bells, and the shouts and rumbles of a lethargic city awakening to the sound. “What’d you say you were at the university for?”
Octavia grunted. “Visiting artist was giving a demonstration on splatter painting.”
The guard frowned. “You toying with me?"
Lyra widened her eyes wide, holding his gaze. “Is something wrong with us? I- I don't know how we could help if there were an emergency. We're just academics."
"Yes, mis, and you'll be safer than anywhere at my watch lodge." The guardpony said. "I have to check in there and you should follow. Actually, I'm telling you to follow, mis."
"But sir, this is our house right here.” Lyra strafed around him, and he turned to keep facing her. “If we did something, why would we have led you to our home?” She continued slowly. “We’re no problem to anypony. If you have to come talk with us about this later, you know right where to find us."
The guard chewed on his lip. “You don't actually live in that big wreck, do you? You're dressed like a proper mare, not a bum like would hang around here. Mis, I'm real sad to say you've made me suspicious. We got to get on to my lodge to see my sergeant, if he's still there."
Lyra pouted. "Sir I'm not going to move."
The guardspony reached for his sword. He seemed very confused, looking to where it should have been, then back up. “Did you take my service weapon?”
His own sword through the back of his neck ended the guardspony's hapless distraction. His corpse slumped forward onto its face. Blood ran along the gaps in the paving.
"You are relieved of duty, sir." Octavia wiped the guard’s own blade off on the his cloak and tucked it away again.
"Octavia, what the hell!" Lyra gasped. The dead guard's wide eyes stared back at her. The anxious pinch in her chest grew, until like her whole body was being squeezed. The tolling bells pounded in her head, and Lyra expected to see parts of herself falling off like a collapsing tower from the vibration. "He was disarmed and I set you up! You should have knocked him out!" She was shrieking at Octavia.
"Lyra, you're not thinking strait. There's no holding back, there's no shame. You were right earlier: If we're going to live we have to be as violent and shameless as the shapeshifter and show our bloody devotion under the moonlight." Octavia turned away from her. She was shaking too. "Mistress Phyte will know a way out of the city. We have to contact her." She took the first few steps up to the tenement's shabby door. "Come on, Lyra. I'm steady when you're not so that you can to be steady when I'm not."
Lyra nodded dumbly. She saw Octavia was taking advantage of her disorientation, but it was better that than said disorientation getting them caught and killed. "We have to move the dead-"
"No time! Get yourself in and up the stairs!" Octavia barked.
They began the arduous climb up the crumbling staircase, to the hideout.
However things were not how they had been left. The room had been picked up and organized since Octavia and Lyra had been there, with clothing and equipment folded and put in neat stacks around the room. Dust had been swept into a corner. The bed had been tucked back in.
Lyra and Octavia traded glances, confirming to each other that they weren't the culprit.
"What kind of incriminating documents were left behind?" Lyra asked.
"Focus, Lyra. This is all that matters." Octavia ran up to the desk with the dragonfire cage sitting atop it. "Grab that ink and quill, and pen out a plea to Mistress Phyte. Mark its corners so it stands out; There are probably dozens of guild mares trying to contact her because of interrupted hunts."
"As if the other guild mares aren't marking theirs important too." Lyra grabbed up the writing supplies, but the only piece of paper she saw was the list of names she had seen before, Pon-3's target list. She hesitated, wondering the danger of giving the list to Phyte. "Can we send some other article through? Something sure to get her attention?"
Octavia looked around the room. "Yes there is!" She exclaimed, grabbing up Pon-3's shaded tinted glasses. 'Lyra you'll have to ignite it."
"I know, I know." Lyra waited for Octavia to set the glasses into the cage, then teased the bars with her magic. A gout of green fire filled the cage, and when it passed, the glasses were gone.
"Now we can send a letter." Octavia said. "Please, you're a faster writer than I am."
"Octavia-"
"Lyra, now! Please!"
But before the argument could go any farther, the birdcage rattled and came to life, erupting in green fire again. A small roll of parchment was deposited within.
"She was waiting for us." Lyra deduced.
Octavia snatched the letter up and unrolled it.
While Octavia read, Lyra wandered to the window, and looked out over Canterlot. She could see the effect the alarm was having across the city. Ponies began to emerge from their houses in number, talking and demanding answers from the guardsponies. Every steeple and every tower now resonated with bronze tones. Guards took to the air and to the streets, and the night was broken by hundreds of torches. It was a hunt.
"I give us twenty minutes." Lyra said.
"Quiet. I'm a fast reader." Octavia growled, still scanning down Phyte's letter. Her frown deepened as she reached the end, and returned to reread the whole thing. "Mistress Phyte says to climb in the birdcage. She has to deliberate on sending other assistance."
Lyra balked at the idea of trying to contort into the cage, which would barely even fit a pony's head. "Octavia, I tried to warn you-"
"Quit testing me Lyra. The mistress will come through for us." Octavia said emphatically. "Your master may have been killed, but mine has not. Moreover, Lyra, she adores you and is loath to see you last to imperial cretins."
Some other time, Lyra would have been touched by the idea of Phyte's adoration, or read the smoldering jealousy behind Octavia's words. But with despair closing in on her, she felt like lashing out. "We better tell her Fancy Pants has passed. Otherwise she will let us get butchered, preferring it to the thought of letting us squeak away from her."
"You may think the mistress is vindictive, but you are not so free of sin yourself." Octavia said.
A faint sizzle filled the air.
"Something's teleporting in!" Lyra shouted. Were the authorities closing in on them already?
Before Octavia could draw her weapon, a pinpoint of green light popped into existence in the middle of the room. It rapidly grew into a pony-sized ball of roaring dragonfire, then dissipated just as quickly. A pony was left standing where the blood of fire had been.
The newcomer was fully concealed in dark robes, but visibly shaking and panting from the experience or exertion of teleporting.
"That... That's the pony we met in the catacomb under the Musician's Guild." Lyra exclaimed. "The mute pony Mis Vinyl accosted."
"Not quite. This one has a horn." Octavia pointed out.
"I'm not mute." The cloaked pony said between heaving raspy breaths. "But I have come to take you to safety. Please gather closer, mis."
Lyra hesitated. "Wait wait, that was no normal teleportation spell. That was dragonfire, Octavia. It's almost impossible to shape the magical pattern of dragonfire to teleport a single pony, let alone three." She pointed to the cloaked pony. "Look the state of him. Just coming over exhausted him."
"Mis, this is my purpose. I will convey you both, precisely, and unharmed." The cloaked pony promised. "Please, I can not bare to leave the mistress waiting."
"I'll go alone then. I can't sit around and listen to you doubting everything, Lyra." Octavia shook her head. "If it kills me so be it."
The cloaked pony weakly raised a hoof. "The mistress's orders were clear, mis. I was ordered to take you both."
Octavia scowled. "Fine." She hooked her leg around the cloaked pony's head and dragged him closer to Lyra. "We do it this way then."
Lyra opened her mouth to object, but she found all the breath was gone from her lungs. The cloaked pony had begun to weave a spell, and burning green flickers swirled around them. Before Lyra could react her entire body was surrounded by dragonfire, filling her vision with blinding green. She felt the magical heat dance across her fur and evaporate every drop of sweat, the moisture of her nostrils, and even the wetness of her eyes. She felt like she was being roasted alive.
Just as quickly, the heat vanished, as did the green fire around her. A chill immediately settled on her, as she was now in the dank subterranean corridor under the Musician's Guild.
Octavia and the cloaked pony were a few steps away. Octavia looked smug, but the cloaked pony had sunk to the rough-hewn flood in exhaustion.
"Asshole!" Lyra levitated her saddlebag off and hurled it at Octavia. "Now we're twice as far from the south gate! Right above us, in Old Town, are hundreds of guardsponies on the lookout!"
"If you're going to become weak, don't do it when it can get me killed too, Lyra. Pull through." Octavia said harshly. "Do you think your late master Fancy Pants would want to see you so miserably indecisive?"
"Whatever he thought, he's dead for it." Lyra said bitterly. "I have to find out the right path for myself, and I won't be rushed to it."
"Oh yes you will. Let's go see the guild mistress." Octavia said.
But the cloaked pony, struggling to his hooves, was in their way. "I- I- I did it." He croaked. "But was I a success?" He coughed violently, and little green embers escaped from his mouth. "Oh no..."
He lifted a hoof and rolled back the fabric of his cloak. It was hard to tell in the miserable darkness of the catacomb, but to Lyra it looked like all the fur had been shaved off the pony's leg. Or, was the fur around the hoof of a differently color entirely?
"Do you need medical attention, good pony?" Octavia asked.
"I see that I... I wasn't built to last. Oh dear oh dear." The cloaked pony muttered. His hoof fell off.
"Bucking hell!" Octavia exclaimed, backing away.
The cloaked pony sunk lower. "Go see the mistress. It's no use dwelling... on... me..." His voice grew weaker. He picked up the hoof, clumsily trying to fit it against the stump of his leg. He coughed again, until his breath caught and became a sickening rattle. Then, his head fell off, and his body fell into squarish chunks as though it had been diced. The meaty heap glowed green for a few moments before the residual dragonfire died away.
Lyra closed her eyes. She refused to see it. Why did things keep dying right in front of her? Why was death taunting her?
"We have just born witness to one of the mistress's secrets. What have we done to deserve her trust and salvation?" Octavia said, voice trembling with emotion. "She has sacrificed a pony to save us."
Lyra said nothing. She shuffled forward until she felt the hem of the cloak on her hoof, then took as wide a step as she could. Thankfully she stepped fully over the pile of giblets, and could open her eyes again. "Octavia, I know you're not a unicorn so I wouldn't expect you to know, but magical exhaustion doesn't cause ponies' heads to fall off."
If the cloaked pony had been some kind of sorcerous trick, Lyra couldn't rule out the possibility that Phyte had something to do with the shapeshifter which had killed Fancy Pants too. Who knew what the mistress would do to them, to erase the last witnesses.
"Bring this up with Mistress Phyte. I will demand an explanation alongside you. She is just up ahead after all." Octavia said.
Feeling like a beaten housewife, Lyra dutifully followed behind Octavia as they proceeded along the dank passageway to the guild mistress's inner sanctum.
By the time Shining Armor arrived at Canterlot Castle, the whole district was on lockdown. All kinds of soldiers were organizing in the castle plaza below the grand front doors: City guards, guild militias, imperial knights, and even small contingents of naval infantry from airships moored in the skydock. Bells tolled all around the city, a resonant yet syncopated choir.
Although most castle staff had been cleared, a few remaining functionaries accompanied Shining Armor to the lower levels, on the way to the trophy room.
"Captain Hauseway is already on the scene." One functionary said. "We are trying to find the junior princess or the senior councilor, to form a provisional council to coordinate emergency response."
Shining's expression sharpened at the mention of the junion princess. "Forget that. Defer in all cases to Captain Hauseway. This is now an IHG response situation. Contact the city guard and militia captains and subordinate them to IHG command." Shining said. "Brook no objection. Take a few knights and detain the city guard commanders if they raise a stink."
The imperial functionaries paled at the idea, but obeyed nonetheless, running off to fullfil the orders. Shining proceeded further into the depths of the castle, until he was met by familiar faces awaiting outside the trophy room.
"Sir." The imperial knights saluted. "The captain is here, as are investigators and detectives from the city guard."
Shining followed them into the trophy room. Muted voices echoed form the other side of the vast dark space, and the movement of diligent ponies patrolling along the colonnades moved in and out of the glow of the weak firefly lanterns.
"And the status of the vizier?" Shining asked.
"Tenderized, Shiny. He's been made into a pony patty." A booming voice greeted Shining as he approached the murder scene.
Captain Hausseway was short, shorter even than Shining Armor. His long and unruly cherry mane spilled out from under his ornamental helm over his armor and ochre fur.
"Captain." Shining bowed.
"Going to bow to old mustache boy too?" Hauseway asked wryly, motioning to the crime scene behind him. "What a mess. Oh boy what a mess. Shiny you'll have to take point for the next while. I've just come from a party and there's still a bit of drink in me. So be my eyes for a moment, and confirm for me, that I've got a dead vizier on my hooves."
Shining Armor moved slightly closer to the body. Even in the low light, the clothes were recognizable as Fancy Pants's. The debris had been moved off the body, but a cloth had been laid over the head, soaked through with blood.
The coroner kneeling by the body gave Shining a firm nod.
"Uh, yes, captain. All things point to this being the vizier." Shining said.
Hauseway grunted. "Aw hell, Shining Armor, you're sure making it hard on me. It would have been a lot easier if that was some other jackass."
"Sorry, Captain. We all do our duty." Shining bowed his head.
"So we do, sir. Carry on."
Hauseway was not as trifling a pony as he first seemed, and not a soldier to be underestimated. He hailed from ancient wealth harkening back to before the unification, but had not been content to sit, joining as an officer at a young age in several of Equestria's colonial expeditions to Zebrastan and the South Seas. Retiring from the imperial army early and still rather young, Hauseway became a sensation in particular circles of Canterlot society. He had thrown his hat into the ring for captain of the Imperial Household Guard almost at a whim, which had precipitated a bitter competition with the presumptive heiress to the position, Rain Gnash of Cloudsdale. The pegasi clique had never quite forgiven Canterlot for snubbing Gnash the IHG captaincy.
As captain, Hauseway had taken his responsibilities about as seriously as any other captains had. When your princess was an invincible alicorn, your knights were noble fancy lads, and your castle was also guarded by a semi-professional constabulary, the role of IHG captain tended to decay to more of a ceremonial position for the up-and-coming kids of other imperial nobles. Hauseway at least wanted some passible military esprit de corp among his knights, reminiscent of his days in Zebrastan. Shining Armor was the tap as second-in-command for being one of the few knights willing to instill that discipline among the IHG.
"Is there anything else amiss in the trophy room? Any stolen artifacts?" Shining Armor asked.
"No. This is the only area which was disturbed." One of the city guardsponies answered.
There were two collapsed armor racks, the one which Fancy Pants had been under, and another nearby. The display hangers on the nearby foundational column had also been torn down.
Shining inspected the smear of blood on the column, at knee height. "Did this come from the Vizier?"
"Most likely. We are still running tests." The coroner said.
A guardspony piped up. "There is also blood next to that rack over there. It appears to have collapsed because it was pushed over, while the one atop the vizier collapsed because his body broke the vertical bracing.
The coroner nodded. "There is glass and splinters in the vizier's back and withers."
"Was he pushed into the rack while fending off the attacker or attackers?"
Shining examined the splintered bracers of the display rack in question. "No... Sir Pants was a fit stallion. He does not weigh enough to have caused this. But two ponies' weight would be enough, such as if Pants was tackled into it." He tapped his chin. "Preliminary theory, I think the attacker and the vizier were locked in a grapple for an extended period, leading to the blood by the column and the knocked over rack, before they both fell into this rack and collapsed it. The attacker must have recovered, while the vizier was killed by the collapse."
"Respectfully sir, the damage to the grand vizier's head is not compatible with that course of events." The coroner spoke up. "The blunt trauma is quite severe. It appears he was hit below the left ear by an object of moderate mass. It's less damage than you would see from a mace or hammer, but about the same trauma profile."
"Was he hit while he was down?" Shining asked.
The coroner stood up and led Shining back to the column. "There are actually two blood patterns here. The first is seepage coming down from this spot, which I believe corresponds to a contusion on the back of the vizier's head. The second is a splatter." The coroner traced a line of flecks of blood along the curve of the column, and on the floor nearby. "This may have come from the strike against the side of the head, or some other source in the middle of the room."
Shining looked between the column and the collapsed display rack. "Fancy Pants hit the back of his head against the column. Then he is smashed in the side of the head, possible in the same spot by the column. But he ends up under the rack."
The coroner cleared his throat. "Well sir, I would posit one possibility that the same force which damaged the vizier's head is the same which caused him to collide with and break the rack."
A few of the knights and guards gasped and murmured at the idea. "Cor blimey, he get bucked in the head by a yak?" One guard remarked.
"Indeed it would have been an impressive strike to move the vizier's mass that distance." The coroner mused.
Shining looked to Hauseway. "Should we send out a notice to patrols to be on alert for a large perpetrator? Potentially yak or hippogryph sized?"
"Nah, hold off. We can't act on speculation for something like that. The only thing that would do is cause some yak diplomats to get roughed up by overzealous guards." Hauseway said. "So, let's not offend the yaks and cause a war. I'm not in the mood for a war tonight. Maybe tomorrow."
"I'll add it to the schedule sir." Shining nodded.
There was a whistle from the ponies sorting through the knocked-over rack. "Found something interesting."
Shining went to investigate.
The guards had picked out two swords from the mess of wood, glass, and artifacts. One of the swords was a normal-looking short sword, but it was covered with semi-dried blood. The other was a hefty broadsword with a black lacquered grip.
Shining picked up the broadsword. "This belongs over there with that armor. It must have been stored on the hangers on the column." He inspected its edge. "The enchantments have been activated recently. Somepony hit it against something unyielding, like solid armor or stone. It could have been when it fell off its display."
"This is not the vizier's blood, sir." The coroner motioned to the short sword. "Immediate testing shows the blood is from a mare."
"Sir?" Shining looked to Hauseway again.
Hauseway nodded. "Not like the guards aren't already harassing every mare in Canterlot, heh heh."
"Very good sir. Dispatch updates to all captains and all patrols. They should be on the lookout for a suspicious mare, possibly injured, possibly armed. She may be magically talented so caution is advised." Shining commanded. "Detain suspects in place, no excess force."
A couple knights and guards ran off to convey the orders.
While the coroner continued to test the blood, Shining carried the broadsword back to the matching set of armor. He picked up the black lacquer helm and inspected it.
"This is a very old style. I think it's pre-unification, but I don't recognize the triangle symbols." Shining said.
"It's supposed to be a horn, stylistic heraldry." Hauseway said.
Shining Armor stared at the little symbol for another minute. "Blackhorn." He set the helmet back down. "I've heard of the Blackhorn Armor before. I didn't know it still existed."
"Either it's serendipity, or Sir Pants was looking for that stuff." Hauseway said. "Been keeping up with the news Shiny? And I don't mean sports or whatever nonsense."
"Yes captain, I know of a certain Seacrest Blackhorn being in the city." Shining said, thinking back to the dining hall. "I wonder what Fancy Pants was intending."
"I'd wager it was something sneaky. Extortion maybe?" Captain Hauseway scoffed. "Fancy old armor is important to some ponies. To me, one armor is just the same as another, begging your pardon Sir Shining."
"You have my pardon sir. As armors go, I'd warrant I am of pretty good quality." Shining Armor nudged the other pieces of the Blackhorn Armor with a hoof. They all seemed to have weak magic within them, sophisticated enchantments that protected them from damage. "No pieces missing of the armor, nor of anything else. Whoever killed the vizier came for that purpose and none other."
"Oh boy, guess I have to start thinking of just who might benefit from a dead vizier." Hauseway grunted.
"Hopefully this hunt won't be as dragged out as all that." Shining Armor said.
A few of the city guard investigators approached the scene. "Captain Hauseway, we have finished questioning staff and visitors." The lead investigator reported. She began reading from a notepad. "The grand vizier was seen returning to his office in a hurry shortly after an Imperial Council meeting. Not long after he was seen with several other ponies in the the ground floor halls. Some staff said they recognized one of the ponies accompanying the vizier as a mare in his employ."
"In his employ how? Was she that kind of mare, aye?" Hauseway asked.
"Wait, that's another Imperial Council meeting held without either of us in attendance, Captain." Shining Armor said. "Sir Fancy Pants was growing increasingly lax about informing us of meetings he held."
"He was always a bit passive aggressive." Hauseway shrugged.
"We will have to question the councilors about what was said." Shining said, adding it to his mental checklist. "As for the ponies he was seen with, we already know there was an injured mare. It would add a wrinkle if she worked for him. I can't say I remember him keeping the company of any mare in particular."
"We've held off searching the grand viziers office, but with your permission..." The investigator prompted.
"Obviously, crack 'er open." Hauseway said with a wave. "Find something that gives the name of that mare."
"I'll go over pertinent documents later to see if there is anything that hints to why he would have been murdered." Shining said. "We can cross-reference with the list of visitors to the castle over the last few weeks. "
"Sounds like a lot of damn work. Hope the boys just catch the bastard." Hauseway yawned.
Various city guards and knights galloped off to execute the orders.
"Any other discoveries?" Shining asked the coroner.
"Not besides rigger mortus, sir. The rest of my team haven't arrived yet. Crime never sleeps, but they do." The coroner said dryly.
One of the lingering investigators spoke up. "Sir, with so many enchanted items around us, it's going to be difficult to identify if any magic was used at the time of the murder."
"Fine. We heard back from the University yet on the necromancy thing?" Hauseway asked.
"I wouldn't bother. It was too long before the body was discovered. You'd have a hell of a time finding Fancy Pants among all the ponies that die in a city this large." The coroner said. "Statistically, his soul would have entered Elysium by now."
"At which point, bye bye." Hauseway clucked his tongue. "Well, not like I needed to talk to Pants again anyhow. He'd nag me and tell me we've overstepped our authority."
Shining Armor withdrew to a more quiet part of the trophy room and started working out questions in his head.
Chances were, Fancy Pants was the victim of a politically motivated assassination. It could have also been a personal dispute, a pay dispute, or a random murder. Considering the brutality of the struggle and the wound that had killed the vizier, the killer seemed not to have been concerned with sneakiness. The murder may have had something to do with the new Blackhorn prince, considering the timing and the Blackhorn armor. The unknown female agent was highly suspect, either being the killer, having been present for the murder, or having talked to Fancy Pants just before the murder.
"Are there any identifying marks on the short sword with the blood on it?" Shining asked.
A guardspony levitated the sword and inspected it. "It's a standard pattern. The steel has no mark but the grip binding has an Old Town Tailors' Guild stamp."
"So it was probably made by a local blacksmith to sell on the black market. A black market sword means criminals." Shining Armor said.
Hauseway hummed his uncertainty. "That's not an airtight assumption, Shiny my boy. Imperial agents use black market weapons when they're doing shady things."
Shining was about to retort when he came to a realization. "Hold on, why does the black market sword have the mare's blood on it? We are really grasping to guess how many ponies were here and how they were involved. It's even possible there were more dead bodies but they were teleported away." He shook his head. "Captain, I'm not going to make progress here. I'm going to talk with the witnesses and castle staff to see if we can find out more about the mare Fancy Pants kept in company."
"Right ho. If you head into Canterlot be careful. With guards all over the street there will be some tension. Don't let any savagery get a hold of you." Hauseway advised.
"Thank you captain. I'm somewhat familiar with this city's dark proclivities." Shining said.
"What the commoners do to each other is disgusting, yes. They tear at each other like rabid filthy animals." Hauseway scrunched his nose like he'd smelt the four odeur of the peasants. "But let me tell you boy that these political murders are like cold fire. It's mechanical, buisness murder. At least the commoners have the dignity to put some emotion behind their savagery."
Shining surveyed the murder scene again. Without the body, it looked like a clumsy pony had knocked over the armor stand. "This was somepony's buisness, you think?"
"I'm damn near sure of it." Hauseway growled. "Let's pretend that the most likely thing is true, and somepony inside the castle was pushed into offing Pants. Coercion, blackmail, conspiracy, whatever. There had to have been more planning behind this than a pony who just arrived in Canterlot could manage."
“The little Blackhorn prince is definitely suspect, and I can think of a few ponies who would like him to hounded about this.” Shining said. "But you aren't going to entertain it?"
"I'm not ruling anything out." Hauseway grumbled.
Though politics in the castle had gotten more heated recently, there was no reason to think that anypony should want Fancy Pants dead. Still, it would be prudent to check for extra gold in any of the guard’s pockets.
"Very good sir. I'm going to speak to the witnesses." Shining said.
Hauseway waved him off.
Shining gave a casual salute to the coroner and guards, before starting the silent walk back out of the trophy room.
There were more guardsponies waiting for him at the door to the hallway, conversing with the knights on station.
"Sir Shining Armor! Always a pleasure, sir." One of the city guardsponies bowed.
"Hmm?" Shining recognized the guardpony back. It was a guard sergeant with a bushy mustache, who Shining knew from his work with the Inner City lodge. "Hail. It has been awhile. I hope things are better in Inner Canterlot district."
"Oh it's miserable as always, sir." The guard sergeant said in a chipper voice.
"That's unfortunate to hear." Shining frowned.
The guard sergeant chuckled. "Contrarily, sir, it is wonderful to have work. Usually." A crease formed on his brow as a look of annoyance came over him. "But they hit us back, sir. They got the vizier."
"Should I attach any significance to that?" Shining asked.
"Oh! Sorry sir, no, I was only aggravating myself imagining what kind of lowlife could have done this." The guard sergeant apologized.
"You're not alone. All the righteous soldiers of the princess are hoping to be the one to bring justice, or something like that." Shining said. "But let's not get distracted here. Is there something to report to the captain?" Something to report to me, it was understood.
"Nothing important sir. The earth pony councilor was asking to give an interview." The junior guard reported.
"That would be... Councilor Prosser?" Shining asked.
"Yes sir, that's his name, sir." The junior guard nodded. "It is my understanding he was proactive immediately after the body was discovered, and sent messengers to alert guard lodges all across the city."
Shining was not suspicious of the councilor, at least not yet; Hopefully Councilor Prosser was asking for an interview to explain what he knew. "Noted. Was that all?"
"No sir. Otherwise we are rounding on the inspectors with the body." The junior guard saluted.
The guard sergeant saluted too. "We will get on to writing our respective reports then, sir." His self-amused look let Shining in on the joke that he nor his subordinate were literate.
Shining saluted. "Very well. Spare the captain any bother. If there something that needs my attention-"
"Understood sir. Best of luck." The guards slipped past Shining and entered the trophy room.
Shining nodded to the knight on station and trotted back to the stair up to the main halls. A few knights and guards were interviewing castle staff, but judging by everypony's sour looks there was no useful information to be heard.
"If there is nothing to do here, I will assist upstairs in the vizier's office." Shining asked.
One of the knights waved him closer. "Actually sir Armor, this is not all the witnesses we pulled aside. One mare was very stuborn, and we had to take her into custody."
Shining's heart fluttered for a moment as he imagined that it was the same suspect mare they were looking for. "A unicorn mare?"
"No, sir, an earth pony." The knight pulled out his notes and checked them. "A certain Illustrious Valor. She is a visitor, out of town probably. She was in the entry log at the front door too."
"Illustrious Valor? Sounds like the name of a pony of martial calling." Shining mused.
The knight shrugged. "You'd think, but she was dressed like a maid. We thought she was castle staff before she opened her mouth. We haven't interviewed her. She demanded to speak to an officer and just kept whining otherwise. Like I said, sir, we detained her."
Shining was very curious. "I will speak to this mare after I speak to Councilor Prosser. Is he around?"
The knights shared worried glances. "No sir. He was heading for the castle tower's upper levels."
That meant he was going to see Princess Celestia. Shining felt a tinge of annoyance. "The councilor asks to see me, then runs off? And what's more, he decides to consult the princess all alone like he was the new vizier?"
"It is out of my power to speculate, Sir Armor." The knight cleared his throat.
Shining sighed. "Fine. I will meet with the councilor later, then. Somepony should notify Captain Hauseway. He would want to know the princess has been informed of the murder."
A knight saluted and galloped to the stairs.
"Okay, so, where is the earth pony mare." Shining asked.
"We were holding her in a room in the castle, but her yelling was distracting everypony, so we moved her to the IHG barracks." The knight reported.
Thankfully the Imperial Household Guard barracks was attached the the household it was meant to guard, right on the castle grounds.
Shining was about to head for the exit when he head the rapid clip of hooves echoing from out of the stairwell. Captain Hauseway charged out, skidding to a stop right in front of Shining Armor.
"That damn rock pony went and talked with the princess?!" Hauseway tried to shout but he was out of breath.
"He seems to be with her as we speak, Captain." Shining glanced back to the knight who had told him. "Clearly Councilor Prosser is not on the same page as us."
"Either he's trying to take charge, or he's working with the pegasi... Or maybe something else." Hauseway said in a rush. "Councilor Prosser is right up there in terms of earth pony low cunning. Him and Pants were the only Imperial Councilors that weren't weak-willed geezers. Since her highness's extended sabbatical, and with Pants dead, there's a ball in the air and no sign of where it coming down. We have to anticipate him, thwart him, before he thwarts us."
"That may be, captain, but I would rather reserve judgement. It's one thing to be annoyed about councilors going behind our back all the time, another to get into squabbles with them." Shining said.
"Think I don't know that Shiny? Your captain is still in charge here." Hauseway said, waggling his hoof chidingly. "Top priority is to keep authority over the IHG and city guards."
Shining could only guess what he meant by that. "Are you worried about a coup, sir?"
Hauseway looked startled, then let out a gruff laugh. "Hardly. I'm worried the councilor and the other bureaucrats are going to call back the guards! They'll let the killers go free, so that they can continue buisness as usual."
"We should talk to the councilor before we assume that. If he disagrees with you about how long the state of emergency should last, that's something we should negotiate." Shining said.
"Negotiate? Why? Sir Armor you only set yourself to lose by negotiating over things you don't have to. The search and state of emergency will last as long as we need them to." Hauseway said. "Then, if the bureaucrats have something we want, that is when we negotiate."
It was not clear to Shining Armor if Hauseway was acting out of concern for catching the killers, or just playing court politics. Either way, it was his duty to obey. "You will be pleased to know I sent out orders to all the parties spread out over the city when I arrived. They are subordinated to your command for the purposes of coordinating the search."
"Good work Shiny, good work. That foresight will keep a lot of ponies from getting hurt needlessly." Hauseway nodded, visibly relieved. "But there's still the issue of what the princess will think when she's only heard from the rock pony." He tapped his hooves. "I'm mostly sober now. I should go see her myself."
Shining waved the nearby knights closer. "If you're all done here, accompany the captain."
The knights saluted.
"Bon voyage once again, Shiny." Hauseway turned and trotted back towards the stairs, his knights in tow.
The city guards and castle staff were left standing around, unsure of what to do.
"Check in with the sergeant, down in the lower levels. I'll be at the IHG barracks." Shining said.
"Hmm, hmm, hmmm. This is almost a melody." Princess Celestia, high above Canterlot on the Southern Watchtower, listened to the ceaseless tolling of the bells of her city. "Hmm, hmmmm." She hummed, trying to match the notes the bells were making. "Not a melody yet. Not even a harmony yet." She frowned.
Losing interest, her eyes wandered back to the nighttime skies, searching for something that was not there yet.
"Princess, princess." Somepony was trying to get her attention, but Celestia was not interested, and her attention stayed with the sky. "Princess, an Imperial Councilor wants to speak with you. It is urgent, princess. Princess, there has been an incident."
"Hmmm, hmmm." Celestia started humming again. It was not the tolling she heard, that disappointingly discordant chorus of bells. It was the tolling she wished to hear. "Hmmm, hmmm. How lovely it could sound, if she were here. Hmmm."
At the Chateau la Garde, the tolling of the bells had made quite a stir. The numerous guests, disquieted by the alarm, fell into whispering amongst themselves. Had something happened to their manors and townhouses while they were out partying at the edge of the city? One focus of the rumors was Seacrest Blackhorn, as the nobleponies imagined that the alarm was a call to arms against the Blackhorn pretender, such that knights would storm in any moment to apprehend him.
But hadn't there been knights there earlier? All they had done was fetch their fellow in the dress uniform.
Twilight Velvet watched the more anxious guests trickle out, though to her edification more ponies were still trying to get in.
"What do you suppose has happened?" Velvet asked her maid.
The maid bowed her head. "We are unsure, my lady."
"Hopefully somepony important has died. That would be amusing." Velvet mused. "Ah, nevertheless, we have nothing to do with it, right?"
The maid nodded. "Unless the assassin escaped from the guild mistress and continued down your target list, Lady Velvet."
Velvet laughed. "That would be very amusing. But we are just speculating about it all. We have a party to maintain. Go serve those ponies there with the empty flutes."
More guards had congregated in the plaza before Canterlot Castle in the half-hour that Shining Armor had been inside. Checkpoints had been established at every street branching off the plaza, and some tents had been set up where the guard commanders were organizing more search parties. Fresh firefly lanterns had been set up on poles at every intersection, battling the moonlight for the pallor of the drowsy city.
Shining had to admit it was a bad look. Martial law and a IHG coup would not have looked much different than the state of emergency they were in.
"Why am I even thinking about coups? The captain is being too cautious." Shining said, annoyed at himself. "Should I have told him there was a mare demanding to talk to the officers?"
Shining circled around the castle towards the IHG barracks, weaving around the massive marble flying buttresses that supported the keep.
With Fancy Pants deceased, and Captain Hauseway taking charge, Shining fancied that he was now the second highest authority in Canterlot, and perhaps even Equestria. It was an intimidating thought. Shining just wanted to do his duty, and see the killers cought. Though since there was not much he could directly do, interviewing the detained earth pony seemed like an acceptable use of his time.
"Is it close to midnight? I haven't heard the clock chimes with all the alert bells ringing." Shining said to himself.
He arrived at the threshold of the Imperial Household Guard's barracks. Its facade was in the same style as Canterlot Castle, marble and gold, but its construction was utilitarian on the interiors. Over the years, as the role of the IHG had become more lax and ceremonial, the barracks had been stuffed with finery and ornamentation, like the noble knights expected. Shining didn't mind one way or another, as long as it wasn't too obtrusive, and didn't engender lethargy.
The barracks was almost completely empty of ponies, besides some IHG knights convalescing from training injuries or overexertion earlier in the day. Everypony was either in the castle or in the city.
"I guess the mare must be in the cells." Shining said to himself. The barrack's small cell block was intended for unruly soldiers and not any kind of extended or dangerous guests.
A high, wavy voice carried down the hallways. "Hel-ooooo? Yoo-hoo! I heard somepony. Can you hear me?" The voice turned higher and screechy. "Why did you leave me alone in here?! Let me out or bring the proper authorities at once!"
Shining was no stranger to demanding noblemares, but as he approached the cell he saw it was as the knights had described: An earth pony mare wearing a maid's frilly white and black dress.
She was black-furred, with a black mane as well, a very unusual monochromatic combination. Her eyes, which blinked quite frequently Shining noted, were a pale green, thought they had a certain iridescence that made them seem red in the low light. Her mark, a grey cloud, could be seen under the thin material of the maid dress.
"Good evening mis, I am Shining Armor, Imperial Knight, adjunct to the captaincy of the Imperial Household Guard." Shining bowed slightly. "I hope this temporary internment hasn't been too hard on you."
The mare looked Shining up and down. "Nice armor. Going to war in a ballroom, toots?"
Shining was suddenly conscious he was still wearing his dress uniform he'd taken for the feast at the Chateau la Garde. Nopony had mentioned it. He cleared his throat. "Mis, are you Illustrious Valor?
"Uhh, if I say yes, will you let me out?" The mare asked.
Shining did not appreciate the attitude he was getting. "Mis, you were causing a scene, and disrupting what is a very serious investigation and emergency."
"Hey, I get it s serious. That's why I'm trying to be lighthearted. It's a, you know, stress reaction, or something." The mare said. "And yeah, I told 'em my name was Illustrious Valor. That's me."
Shining noted the strange phrasing. "Thank you. You gave the knights a hassle but it can be forgiven if you cooperate now."
"I've been super cooperation-al. That's why I wasn't going to get nabbed by your armored hooligans, sir. I wanted to talk to your leader." Illustrious Valor said. "He busy or something? Why do I have to talk to the secretary?"
"Take a guess." Shining snorted.
Illustrious Valor flashed a goofy smile. "Okay, I'm just messing with you again, cat. Sorry. Like I said, it's the stress."
Cat? "And like I said mis, I'm Shining Armor, adjunct. You can call me Sir or Sir Armor." Shining said stiffly. "Captain Hauseway has other buisness. Frankly, so do I, but I don't like the idea of a mare languishing in my cells so I came to sort this out. Let's please not get off on the wrong hoof because of mismatched expectation."
"Such an articulate stallion. I think it'd be fine to chat with you." Illustrious Valor nodded.
Shining was pretty sure the mare was a commoner, but she was not respecting the power dynamic. "Mis, we should start with some basic questions."
Illustrious Valor clucked her tongue. "Sir knight, we should start with some basic decency. There's bars between us."
Shining stared at her in silence for a few minutes.
Shining thought she was going to raise a fuss, but Illustrious Valor seemingly got the hint that she would have to at least explain a little bit. "I'm just a tourist, sir knight. I'm from the Dneighper Valley region, kinda near the Everfree land. I've never visited Canterlot before."
"Okay. What's with the maid outfit?" Shining asked.
Illustrious Valor blushed slightly. "A mare was selling it and I thought it looked very good for the price. It's the most formal thing I own now. Good for visiting your princess's castle, right?"
That was a tone shift from how she'd mocked Shining for his dress uniform. This Illustrious Valor was either cagey, or bluster covering insecurity- Such were country mares visiting the big city. "I don't know Mis Valor, I'd have to ask my sister or some other female friend." He stepped back and levitated the cage key over to himself. "I can rely on your word for your cooperation, Mis Valor?"
Illustrious Valor nodded. "As long as you stop calling me that. Everypony calls me Iillor."
"Ill-or. Iill-or. Iillor." Shining practiced the name. Using a name portmanteau was a folk tradition among some earth pony clans, but he'd only met a few ponies who still did it, such as Councilor Prosser. "Very well Mis Iillor, but I insist you still call me Sir Armor. I shall not be humor being call Sharmour."
He unlocked the cage and swung it open for Iillor to step through.
"That's a pretty funny joke. You should retell it to your unicorn buddies later." Iillor mock laughed. "After the hunt, that is."
Right to buisness then. "Let us find somewhere we can talk."
They arrived back in the main hall of the barracks, still empty of ponies. They diverted into a mess hall, and found a table where they sat across from each other. Shining noticed how Iillor’s frequent blinks matched with small twitches at the nape of her neck. Was it a neurological condition? Probably she was just nervous.
"Feeling alright?" Shining started.
"What did you say your captain's name was? Hauseway? I heard that name recently, somepony mentioning him." Iillor said.
Shining arched a brow. "Okay, yes, that's his name. I asked you how you were, mis."
"I'm very well, aside from the being behind bars thing. I made some new friends, fun-loving mares. Most fun I've had in years." Iillor said. "They were really plugged in mares, you know, knew all the important ponies. Knew their names, at least. We split up and said they had to go to the castle. I was hoping I'd see them there, before this craziness happened."
Shining didn't think it was inconsequential that Illor was bringing up her new friends. "Mis, you do know the nature of the state of emergency in Canterlot, right?"
"Some stiff got stabbed." Iillor said, giggling at her own crass language.
The chair creaked under Shining Armor as he adjusted himself. "Yes, somepony was... Well, not stabbed. Bludgeoned, mostly. It was the Grand Vizier of Equestria, Fancy Pants."
Iillor glanced away, her lips pursed. "Fancy Pants? You said Fancy Pants?"
She was dwelling on the name like she had with Hauseway. "Mis, please share what you're thinking. Why did you want to see an officer?" Shining pressed her.
Iillor hesitated, biting her lips as she conducted an internal debate. "Somepony told me about that pony too, the same mare, one of my new friends, who talked about Hauseway."
Shining made the connection immediately. He jumped up from his chair galloping for the door.
"Hey! Sir knight, wait!" Iillor got up and ran after him.
Shining kept galloping until he was at the castle plaza. "Oye!" He bellowed at one of the groups of guards gathered outside a tent. "Go reinforce Captain Hauseway! There may be a threat on his life! He's in the keep, upper levels!"
The guardsponies grabbed their equipment and galloped into the castle.
"Good grief." Shining caught his breath after the running and shouting. He turned to see Iillor catching up to him. "Mis, giving a testimony about a possible murder plot is the kind of thing you lead the conversation with, not your 'basic decency'."
"Sir, sir, I'm sorry." Iillor didn't seem out of breath at all. "I just thought... I thought my new friends had gotten lost, or injured, or been illegally detained, since I couldn't find them in the castle. That's why I brought them up, you know."
Shining felt a bit shaken. He was naturally suspicious of the circumstances by which a lead been dropped into his lap, and therefore of Iillor. The black-furred mare had just become the center of his investigation.
"Okay, you're going to tell me everything you can. First-" He had to test the rigor of Iillor's claim, to see if she was just lying for attention or distraction. "Describe the circumstances by which you met your new friends."
Iillor sighed. "There's three of them. I met the first girl, a unicorn, in an underground party hangout. We hit it off and she led me two her two other friends, a unicorn and an earth mare. We talked, we made some noise, and we parted."
"All of them were going to the castle?" Shining pressed.
"Uhh, that's what it seems like they intended." Iillor said.
Shining saw that Iillor hoped that they had split up or something, that only one of them was in trouble. "Why did you think they would have been in trouble or detained?"
Iillor narrowed her gaze. "Young, nubile, flirty, loud mares? I can't know how dirty the guards are, especially when they roughed me up and stuck me in a cage. I wanted an officer like you to make sure your subordinates weren't abusing them."
That gave Shining pause. Whether or not Iillor was making a cynical claim, abuse issues were a serious problem in the IHG and city guard. The noble scions in the IHG, used to getting their way, had been known to go preying on Inner City youths. Shining had personally had to report and discipline a knight caught with a colt, then overseen her lengthy probation. Curbing such abuses was core to Shining's restoration of discipline.
Iillor continued. "My friends seemed like they could take care of themselves, but who knows what an unscrupulous authority figure might do when ponies' attention is occupied on an emergency."
"You've made your point, mis." Shining was not sure he believed Iillor or trusted her word entirely, but nothing she had said was in-contiguous with the facts as he'd seen them. "Then tell me about the mares. This is very important."
"I-" Iillor seemed to freeze up. "Sir knight just give me a moment, I..." She squeezed her eyes shut. "It doesn't feel right all of a sudden. They were so kind to me, making me feel like this was the city for me."
"Mis Iillor, just describing their clothes will be enough for the moment. If you're helpful and we find these mares without bloodshed, your assistance will even be counted in their favor during a sentencing." Shining said.
Before he could continue, Shining saw a guardspony trotting towards him from the castle entrance.
"Sir Shining Armor?" The guard queried. After Shining nodded, she continued. "Sir, Captain Hauseway is safe. Also, Imperial Councilor Prosser is looking for you."
"Oh, now he comes around again? Fine, let's get that interview." Shining huffed. Illustrious Valor seemed to be hitting a mental roadblock anyway. "Mis Valor, please stay with me. I can't have you wandering off."
Iillor nodded mutely, following behind Shining and the guardspony. As soon as their eyes were off of her, her nervous demeanor dropped, and a sly grin spread over her face. She could barely keep from laughing to herself as she swaggered along, back to Canterlot Castle.
With a weather front building over Ponyville, a cold wind had begun to pick up. The village had fallen asleep quickly once the sun went down. They would be safe inside as the storm broke over them.
For Twilight, finding herself walking along the darkened riverbank for the second time that night, the storm was an inexplicable temptation. The building rain and thunder, primal discomforts and fears, where what she deserved. It was a power she could not control, and therefore her suffering from it was much more forgivable than the torment she was getting from the Ponyvillians.
On the shore across from her, in the meadow between the river and the dark forest, Twilight saw the occasional blink of fireflies. Otherwise it was the brilliant stars and pearlescent moon, not yet obscured by the advancing clouds, which lit the night.
How long was the village riverfront? Twilight did not remember exactly how many paces it had been. Nopony cared anyway. She was sinking her effort into something nopony would pick up. It was all a waste of time.
"I peaked at fifteen, didn't I. It's all downhill from here. This whole Ponyville excursion was a trap so that Celestia has an excuse to ostracize me like she did Sunset Shimmer."
Twilight's anxieties boiled over into fevered paranoia, as she imagined being berated and humiliated in front of the Imperial Court. She thought about all the humiliations she had already suffered from Celestia, all the times the princess had ignored her when Twilight was the young pupil, so eager to please. At royal parties, in the court, among other young unicorn learners, Celestia had maintained a polite detachment, when Twilight had wanted so much more. The princess had never appreciated her. The princess was glad to see her leave for the University.
Did Celestia resent her? Did Celestia resent her? Did Celestia resent her? Did Celestia resent her?
Did Celestia hate her? Did Celestia hate her? Did Celestia hate her? Did Celestia hate her?
Did Celestia want her back? Did Celestia want her back? Did Celestia want her back? Did Celestia want her back?
Twilight stared dumbly up at the moon, letting her hooves carry her along the riverbank.
"What if... I... I don't do what she wants from me? Can I even imagine it?" Twilight mumbled. "Betraying her?"
Would that even shake Celestia from her stupor, the lackadaisical schedule of staring into southern skies? Unless somepony like Fancy Pants overstepped his authority, Twilight could flout Celestia's orders if she didn't do anything about it. Commands were meaningless without coercion.
On the other hoof, Celestia would not have to wake much to smite Twilight.
Twilight neared the stone bridge crossing the river.
"... Stupid alicorns. I've made rivals out of both of them, Cadenza and Celestia. What an impious pony I am." Twilight leaned against the bridge's stone parapet, watching the river flow beneath her. "Maybe I'd glad to be here, far, far away from you, Celestia. I'm happy you sent me away..." She was facing away from Canterlot; If she turned to look for it, it would have been obscured by the storm clouds. "Away from your castle, my home, my family, my books, my lab, my class, my studies, my happiness-"
Twilight crossed the bridge and kept going. She went on, not thinking about much, until the smell of the village faded and the gurgle or the river quieted. She entered the domain of the fireflies, who danced and buzzed and lit up all around her as the dirt path faded against the taller unkept grass.
Twilight was escaping Ponyville for a night, and the wordless shackle of unwanted duty Celestia had placed there.
How far could she run? Would the Ponyvillians eventually go looking for her? Would they message Canterlot? Would the empire even bother to look for their new élève premier?
Nothing was keeping Twilight in the civilized world except perhaps her obligation to Spike. There were whole kingdoms of mountain or forest she could disappear in.
The escapist fantasy, so tempting in Twilight's mind...
snapped away.
Twilight blinked, lifting her hoof from the dry branch she had stepped on. She pealed her eyes back to her surroundings, reluctantly forced to confront reality as it was, not how she desired.
A nearly solid wall of gnarled branches and twisted roots stood in her way, topped by a ferocious looking canopy. In the depths of that sea of trunks and undergrowth was a sickly darkness that invited and repelled her in equal measures.
THE EVERFREE, the infamous demon forest. Had it really been that close the entire time? It was close now, certainly.
Tens of thousands of acres of forsaken land, the most dangerous place in Equestria or perhaps even the world. The ruins of entire ancient kingdoms lay within, guarded by horrific chimeric beasts and vengeful spirits, or so the tales went. Twilight almost laughed at the prospect.
If Twilight was going to be bold, and take the next step of her imagined rebellion, it would be now.
Twilight looked down at her hooves again, then back to the grisly forest. The low wind became a choked whistle as it flowed through that knot of trees. It was like the Everfree was singing to her, a morbid kind of song, like a dying gasp.
Twilight was not bold. She was not a rebel. She bore her humiliations and worked through them until the next. There would be no betrayal that night. The prospect of facing the dark Everfree was more intimidating than the Celestia in her head.
Twilight turned away, and took a step back towards Ponyville. But something stopped her.
A song, so soft she couldn’t be sure if it was real or not. It flowed out between the trees, smooth and delicate voices. She looked back at the forest.
It was a tickle in her brain, more than it was a sound in her ear. Was she just imagining it? It sat as an itch or ever so subtle buzz behind her eyes. Yes, it beckoned to her, daring her, playing on the urge to rebel she had felt so strongly just a minute before. It asked to be discovered. It even teased her doubts, tantalizing Twilight to answer if it was real or not. It was a rebellious urge to push the boundaries of discovery, against the frightful heresy of trespassing into unholy places.
Come onto me, Twilight Sparkle.
Twilight turned back to the forest. Something was waiting for her. It was patient, but would it wait forever?
"If... If there's danger, I can- I can just leave, just teleport." Twilight said to herself breathlessly.
She took one step forward, then another. The draw of the enigmatic song in her head clouded out the fear and hatred the trees emanated. Before she even realized it, she was in the forest. The atmosphere had lost it'sspring flavor, and became oppressive and dark. It hurt. It was bitter. It was so ichorously sweet she couldn't stand it.
The forest was opposed to pony life.
But Twilight could feel the song much clearer now. It was undeniably magical, a spell woven into a silken tendril. Twilight closed her eyes and tried to identify patterns she could recognize, to see if it incorporated magic she had studied before. There was none. It was totally alien to her.
And that above all else sealed Twilight's decision. She had to know.
"I won't miss a chance to change my world." Twilight said, addressing the twisted trees that flanked her path ahead.
Guild Mistress Phyte was standing in front of her desk, patiently waiting, when Lyra and Octavia entered the chamber. The moody candle lighting was accentuated by periodic flashes of green as the various dragonfire birdcages deposited letters from guild agents around the city.
"Who was it?" Phyte asked, seemingly calm by her voice, but her cherry fur was standing on end in agitation.
"First off, we didn't do it. It was some kind of shapeshifting monster." Octavia said. "And it was Grand Vizier Fancy Pants."
Phyte sighed and rubbed her eyes. "The vizier. I have not the energy to summon any sarcasm for this, Mis Octavia. Plainly, this is a tremendous pain."
"We think the shapeshifter is going to frame us. We have to leave the city immediately." Octavia continued. "Coming here was a risk, one Lyra did not agree with, so I hope you can help us.
Phyte moved from behind her desk in silence.
"Mistress it is a dire situation we find ourselves in." Octavia said.
Phyte raised a hoof to silence the earth pony. "At least one guild mare was compromised and wounded because of the heightened state of alert. I am having a difficult time focussing on you when as of this moment you are in the least danger of all."
"They will come knocking at the guild eventually. Not all imperial administrators pretend not to know what happens here." Octavia pressed.
"How convenient you are here to hoof over to them, should I be so inclined." Phyte said. "Be still, Octavia. If you wish to trust me with your survival, then sit and await my plan."
Octavia sat on her withers, a scowl on her face.
Lyra stayed out of the way while Octavia and Phyte argued, circling around the chamber until she was beside the birdcage holding Pon-3. The imprisoned unicorn was slumped against the wires, looking to a far horizon.
"Hi Mis Vinyl. Staying saner then me?" Lyra cracked a weak smile.
Pon-3 gave Lyra a half-lidded look. "I have nothing to contribute." She said sharply.
Lyra stepped closer to the cage. "Did you hear Octavia? About the vizier being murdered by a shapeshifter?"
Pon-3 sighed.
"Mis Vinyl, I only followed Octavia here reluctantly. Trust me not to put you in danger." Lyra whispered. "I twice withheld your list of targets from Octavia and Mistress Phyte. I have my concerns about you but I have no desire to see you harmed."
"Get bent. You helped Octavia drag me here." Pon-3 grumbled.
Lyra glanced back at Phyte, absorbed in her letters. "I know an apology doesn't mean anything. Only... only common enemies. Phyte sent some kind of false pony to teleport Octavia and myself back here. She might have made the shapeshifter too."
"Nah, the shapeshifter isn't Phyte's." Pon-3 said. She sat up. "What do you mean 'false pony' though?"
"It was much like the mute pony you met a few days ago, but it was a unicorn. It somehow weaved a spell using dragonfire to teleport us, but it perished from the effort in a gruesome de-composition to its elements." Lyra reported. She hesitated. "So, how do you know Phyte didn't make the shapeshifter?"
Pon-3 sat in silence for a few minutes in contemplation. At last she stood up. "Describe the shapeshifter to me." She asked at full volume , loud enough to draw Phyte and Octavia's attention.
Lyra felt the eyes of the other mares on her. "It was like a changeling, but it had much greater dynamism. It changed size and used magic with no horn. It presented as female in voice and manner. When it's body changed and with its coming and going, the shapeshifter seemed to be a foul mist that behaved like a magical field. It did not transform itself with a spell; more like it reshaped itself."
Phyte idly shuffled her letters. "More competition for kills, but I can do as I did for our dear Vinyl."
"Am I supposed to act coy?" Lyra faced Phyte, trying to stand firm against the overwhelming terror she was feeling about her situation. "My employer was just killed by a primeval evil, a Nightmare! I saw and fought a Nightmare, and it kicked my ass. Now I have to digest why lightning struck where it did, Mistress Phyte, and you should not be surprised that my suspicion is upon you."
"A Nightmare." Phyte repeated. "A Nightmare. No, insolent child, you didn't see a nightmare. I was there for the last of the nightmares, a thousand years ago. I saw the last of the Nightmares be put to the sword upon Celestia's triumph. Their slaughter was a demonstration to get me to surrender, and thus I did bow my head for Celestia's chains to bind me for a hundred years. You can not convince me you saw a Nightmare."
"I saw a Nightmare kill Fancy Pants." Lyra said, a warbled in her voice as she tried to sound firm. "She exalted her god the Moon while she taunted and batted Octavia and me around."
Phyte shook her head. "Why have all the mares I give attention to turned churlish. Octavia, what has become of your friend Lyra?"
"Mistress, the shapeshifter survived a wound that would have killed a changeling. I do not wish to contradict you explicitly, but I echo what Lyra told you." Octavia said. "I do not know if you were there a thousand years ago, but at least one Nightmare must have survived and adapted as you have. She had a modern way of speaking."
"The only possible explanation is that you were both tricked by illusion magic. You should be embarrassed at being so easily fooled." Phyte said with an amused grunt.
Pon-3 stood up, making her cage rattle. "No Phyte, you're being fooled by your own self delusion. Dumbass!"
Phyte abandoned the pretext of going through her letters, standing up and striding to Pon-3's cage, forcing Lyra to shuffled back out of the way of the larger mare. "I have no reason to delude myself." Phyte said pointedly.
"Oh yeah? A bigger monster than you has finally come along. All Canterlot trembled under the tyrany of the guild mistress, but the pale shadow of death is out of control now, and you're not safe anymore. That's got to be so terrifying you'd be crazy not to be in denial." Pon-3 said. She began to jeer. "And what's more you're afraid of what it means if there's a Nightmare on the loose for your control. You were such a smug bitch laying claim to the night, but that sense of superiority and comfort is GONE. The darkness belongs to the Nightmare again, Phyte."
"Cur!" Phyte thundered, kicking over Pon-3's cage and making the pony within fall on her back. "What superiority and comfort have I had since I sacrificed to save you from annihilation by the alicorn princess? How ungrateful that you relish to see me uncomfortable."
Pon-3 rolled back on her stomach, a mischievous gin on her face. "Lyra, what appearances did the shapeshifter take on?"
Phyte fixed Lyra with an intense stare. "I have no fear of imaginary creatures. I am perturbed by your ponies' behavior, not the prospect of a Nightmare." She paused. "Speak, Lyra."
Lyra took a deep breath, running over her memories of the traumatic minutes in the trophy room. "The creature came at us out of the shadows, in the guise of an alicorn. In such a form it had completely black fur, with a crown of stars, and striking eyes that glowed. Its teeth were as pointy as blades as it smiled."
Already the description was having an impact on Phyte. A stony look overtook her, and it appeared like she was no longer listening.
"The form Octavia and I think was its native form was a short earth pony mare, stocky, with round cheeks and a short mane. This form also had black fur, but its eyes glowed red. It manipulated items telekinetically with some kind of Dark magic." Lyra continued.
"Go on, tell her what you told me!" Pon-3 chortled.
Octavia, however, was frantically gesturing at Lyra from behind Phyte, sending the opposite signal.
Lyra knew she was on the spot now. Pon-3 could mock Phyte with few consequences, but the guild mistress was a threatening pony, and it was within her power to destroy Lyra if pushed too far.
Lyra had to think quickly to triangulate between the three ponies all pushing their contradictory expectations at her, with her life on the line. "Mistress, I..." Lyra bit her lip, thinking of the best way to lie. "I cannot lie, mistress. The shapeshifter took on both Vinyl's shape, and yours."
Phyte rubbed a hoof down her face. She was more confused and indecisive than anypony in the room could recall her ever looking before. "...how is such a thing..." She trailed off.
Pon-3 yipped in delight, grabbing and rattling the bars of her cage. "Because she was here looking for you! She came in that short time when you stepped out, and spoke to me, Phyte! The Nightmare is real, and I have seen her. She tasted my dream. That's why she slaughtered that dumbass vizier, and that's why she's coming for you next!"
Phyte picked up Pon-3 birdcage effortlessly with a hoof and hurled it into the far wall of the chamber. The cage made a tremendous clatter as it mostly bounced off the rough stone wall and fell into a pile of letters. Pon-3's shrieking laughter was heard all the way.
Octaiva ran forward and grabbed Lyra's leg. "Why did you-"
"Though it's in question what she'll do to save Mis Vinyl, we can be confident she'll do anything and everything to save herself." Lyra said in a hush. "She blew you off, Octavia. You owe her no honesty."
Octavia was solemn. "I do not intent to mimic your affectations, Lyra."
"I'm just trying to find a future for myself. If you decide to do the same, then that is the only thing that will match between us. " Lyra protested. She was flattering Octavia's ego of course. The two mares had similar paths in many ways.
Octavia took a while to contemplate things. "Then my master has died too. What a wretched world, Lyra. I'm sorry for pushing you earlier."
Lyra did not fully believe or accept Octavia's apology, though she simply nodded.
"Woe is me. How has everything led up to this? What mistakes have I made? I need you infernal ponies out of my life, and out of the city. If there is a Nightmare, you will carry it away with you." Phyte said, pacing back to her desk at a fevered pace. It seemed Pon-3 was correct that the mistress harbored a few comfortable self-delusions. "I should have had the sewn stallion dump you outside of the city, instead of bringing you back. If the princess finds out about the mess these mares have caused..."
"Mistress, is there anything we can do to help?" Octavia asked demurely.
Phyte stomped a hoof. "Tell me immediately, how closely did the shapeshifter's guise match my details?"
Lyra had to decide which direction to carry her lie. "The mane was much too short, and the mark was a regular harp, not a glass harp. She did not match your voice well."
Phyte nodded in approval. "Then she has never seen me, but rather received the impression from Vinyl or the Dark Lady. There is hope for me yet."
Divorced of its context, the utterance of the phrase 'Dark Lady' struck a chilling note. There was something sinister about it, as if the words themselves had been imbued with a kind of power. It was uncomfortable to dwell on.
Lyra rubbed her eyes. She was being bombarded with information and stimulus. She had her future to consider. She did not want to concern herself with whatever Phyte was talking about that was only indirectly related. "What does that mean for us?"
"You must leave immediately. I will do that for you." Phyte said. She nodded towards the pile of letters Pon-3's birdcage was buried under. "Take her with you. That way all the ponies who have seen the Nightmare are gone."
"Mistress you are truly magnanimous for helping us." Octavia bowed, but she was clearly displeased about the stipulation of Pon-3's accompaniment. "Will our absence really serve you?"
"Nightmares are dream creatures. Despite their magical strength their primary attack vector is the mind." Phyte quickly explained. "If she has no dream to travel through, she is more easily warded against."
"You're going to ward your dreams?" Lyra asked sceptically.
Phyte shook her head in the negative. "Nay. I am one who lacks dreams."
"NEVER MIND THAT! If you're going to let me out of this cage, then do it!" Pon-3 shouted, her voice muffled by the hill of paper over her. Her mirth had been moderated by renewed impatience. "C'mon, Phyte, if you'd let me out yesterday none of us would be in this mess."
"Mistress, if you killed her, surely that would be a dream erased." Octavia remarked.
"Same could be said for us, Octavia." Lyra noted.
"No, you have to draw her away. The Nightmare will follow you by instinct." Phyte said, though by now it was clear her claims about the Nightmares were less than authoritative.
"Let me out, let me out, let me out, let me out." Pon-3 chanted. "Let me out, let me bucking out, let me out, let me out. I'll summon the Nightmare again if you don't let me out, Phyte."
"Were that I gave you such powers. Alas my early and amateurish work." Phyte was obvious displeased to follow along with Pon-3's demands, but nonetheless she waded into the pile of letter and dragged the birdcage back out.
Pon-3 was looking quite smug. "First chance I get, I'm coming back here to taunt you. I'll be too strong for you to cage by then."
"You're not coming within a hundred kilometers of Canterlot while they think you helped kill the vizier." Lyra reminded her.
Pon-3 didn't seem concerned about that. "I was probably going to stab him eventually."
"Idiot. There are parts of you that can be removed and leave your brain functional enough to dream." Octavia snarled.
Lyra, despite the massive boon of help she had tricked out of Phyte, did not feel the pinch of despair lift. She foresaw massive problems caused by Octavia and Pon-3's bickering, which would probably get her killed too. "Please, Octavia. If I'm expected to bury my feelings until later, you can too. You can bear your rivalry later."
"What rivalry? I'm only questioning how I'm meant to survive alongside such a thoroughly despicable pony." Octavia said.
Pon-3 giggled. "I can't wait to have a fair fight with you Octavia, and show you what you've been messing with."
Lyra stayed silent. What use was it? She needn't waste her breath.
Phyte roamed around the room, gathering letters that had collected in the various birdcages while she had been distracted. "I manage numerous guild mares, just as irritable and headstrong, all day every day. Since you are not as strong as I am, there are higher stakes for letting them walk all over you."
Lyra was not open to advice from the guild mistress. "I do not wish to manage them. I have my own life and future to worry for."
"Nopony has full control of their destiny until they shackle the ponies around them. See how quickly disorder leads to chaos with this Nightmare situation." Phyte said. "Our dear Vinyl invites unruliness and disorder in this house, and in less than a week the foundations of empire and guild are shaken. I invite you to contemplate the causal links, Mis Lyra."
"I have been doing so all night." Lyra responded.
Do not be so quick with me, little mare. You have taken on so many contemptible features since you left the guild, of moral weakness, of indecision, of chastity, and bourgeois uprightness." Phyte clucked her tongue. "This is what happens when a pony serves two masters. Lyra you should rejoice in your liberation of servitude to the vizier, and renew your commitment to being your own master."
"Mistress she will do something quite contrary to your desires if you push her like that." Octavia remarked.
Lyra did not speak up to confirm or deny Octavia's claim.
"Done getting things together, eh? Then aren't you forgetting something?" Pon-3 hummed. She tapped her hoof on the wire bars of her cage. "Or forgetting somepony?"
"Shut up." Octavia hissed.
"Octavia, perhaps you should shut up too. You don't have to get the last word in." Lyra said with sudden venom. "You wanted to come here, and so you dragged me here, just to listen to you bitch at Vinyl there. It was never about getting Phyte's help. It was all about your stupid selfish grudge, you venal mare. You shouted at and manipulated me, and for what? So you could feel a bit more satisfaction for haranguing a pony in a cage?"
Lyra eyed Pon-3 growing smile. "I'm not taking your side. You are a bad pony, and if I spent half as long with you as I have with Octavia I would probably let her kill you. It's your dumb ass that has set a Nightmare upon us. You got Sir Fancy Pants killed you reprobate! I'll never forgive you. You should have stayed out of Canterlot forever. You've done nothing good for anypony, ever, in your entire life."
Phyte stayed off to the side, observing as Lyra boiled over in rage.
"Don't think you can get out of this dressing down. You're a shitty boss, Phyte. I hate your guts. You think you're so clear-sighted by only respecting power and strength. I hope the whole guild catches wise at once. I hope they stuff you in a pipe organ and play it until your guts are extruded out the top. I don't know what ponies like you are made of but I hope it's colorful and makes somepony happy for once." Lyra said, quickly losing steam. "You're all such terrible ponies. I loath that I am in your company. I loath myself for ending up here again."
Phyte was impassive. "Feel better for your rant?"
"No I feel like garbage." Lyra mumbled. She was harmless to the large unicorn. Only the thought of the Nightmare could elicit any reaction from Phyte.
"Good. I'll be pleased to have a parting memory of you so miserable. It will make our eventual reunion, when you show up battered and aged in twenty years, much more gratifying." Phyte said. "If you don't die tonight, of course."
"Of course. Then you'd still have a Nightmare in your city." Lyra tried to nettle at Phyte with her words, but the stress and emotion running through her had exhausted her. She sat down and hid her face under a hoof, letting her fur absorb the wetness at the corners of her eyes.
Cast adrift... seeking a future, a purpose, and meaning in her life... Lyra felt the temptation which had already swallowed up so many ponies before her: Dedication to revenge.
Octavia watched Lyra for a minute, then trotted over to Pon-3’s cage. “Vinyl, you better hope you're lying about having sent the Nightmare after Sir Fancy Pants." She whispered sharply. "That mare had a more promising life than either of us would imagine. If you've really ruined it-"
"A 'promising life' an imperial cage, the only place worse than the one I'm in. Hard to believe that sissy was a guild mare. We got to live out adolescent violent fantasies with no consequences. Am I supposed to suddenly care about a pony who decided to be a square?" Pon-3 asked, a slight resentful bitterness in her tone. "Don't delude yourself that that was just an outburst. She actually hates you. You're everything she hates about herself."
But despite her words Pon-3 suspected the antipathy was one sided. Octavia saw some optimism for her own future in Lyra.
"You will help me help her." Octavia threatened. "If by the grace of the gods you help me redeem myself in her eyes, I may even forgive you, Vinyl. I will retract every single time I said I would strangle you."
Pon-3 wrinkled her nose. "I bet it didn't occur to you that I wouldn't forgive you in return, just because you had."
Octavia straightened up, and punched the lock off of the cage in a single motion. "I was only ever an enabler to your sickening bloodlust. I have no delusions about that anymore."
"That's not..." Pon-3 hesitated. Wisely, she returned to silence to preserve whatever good thing she had going on with Octavia.
Octavia graciously pulled open the cage door and stepped back.
Lyra watched Octavia help the other mare out of the cage from the corner of her eye. She probably had a few second before the mares finished their conversation rejoined the argument with Phyte.
"Going to sacrifice another pony to spirit us from Canterlot? Another disposable pony?" She said, adding particular venom to the last words.
Phyte shrugged. "You don't seem very grateful. It did it's job well, but all you can dwell on is its death. Yes it is a shame it didn't survive long enough to teleport you out."
Lyra sighed. Was Phyte refusing to specify a gender because she viewed the dead pony as a tool, or because it was androgynous? "I don't want to know. I want to forget all of this." It seemed Octavia had been correct, that Phyte had expended a limited resource fetching them.
"Again you seem ungrateful, both to me, and to it. 'Dost not the carpenter thank the plane? Dost not the farmer thank the fields?' Thus the mistress to her servants. It would be pointless for anypony to grieve, but nor shall I blithely forget the ponies who have perished by my doing, directly or indirectly." Phyte said. "You hope the guild mares turn on me, but I will be the last pony to remember their names, a thousand years from now, just as I remember my fallen allies from a thousand years ago."
"You're no pony. You're a monster." Lyra spat.
Phyte cocked her head. "Why is that important to you, Mis Lyra? You live in an alicorn-ruled empire. At least I will immortalize you, where the alicorn will never know of your existence."
"Don't lay a hoof on me." Lyra spat. She felt a wave of terror at the idea of ending up like the cloaked pony, falling into bits by sorcerous contrivance.
Phyte looked insulted. "Have I not made clear what I want and expect from you? What good are you are bait if I seize you?" She asked rhetorically. "I have given you no reason not to believe me forthright. You may think I treat you in circumspect ways, but I have never lied."
Lyra didn't believe that. If Phyte had ever lied, there was no reason to admit it- What was Phyte? She was a strange creature. There was a lot of mythology around the mare, which the guild mistress was intentionally vague on confirming or denying. Was she really thousands of years old? Could she really go months without food, drink, or sleep? Was she actually so capable? The rumors were never flattering by the standards of polite society, but suggestive of a dark mystique that tantalized the yearning; it all came back to adolescent impulse, after all. Phyte cultivated her persona, and everypony who knew of her treated Phyte as a fact of life, an institution. But what was she actually? She was a monstrous thing, surely. Lyra doubted the guild mistress was that different from the Nightmare she reviled.
"Then do it. Help us away." Lyra said.
“Yeah, let's send us away already. It's what we all want." Pon-3, free of the cage, stretched out her limbs one at a time.
"You speak for all of us now?" Octavia scoffed.
Pon-3 rolled her eyes. "No. But Lyra will. She says she hates me, but I'm behind her because that'll cause the least friction."
"Since when do you care about friction?" Octavia prodded.
"Yak yak yak. Are you going to sarcastically reply to everything I say with a question?" Pon-3 wrinkled her nose.
Octavia grinned. "I don't know, Vinyl, is that something I would do to my old friend?"
"Insufferable mares. Get back in the cage." Phyte said.
Pon-3 laughed humorlessly. “Pull the other one then!”
Phyte remained silent.
Lyra sighed. "She means all three of us."
The same realization came over Octavia too. "As you say, Mistress. I went through it once already." She trotted past Pon-3 and ducked into the newly vacant birdcage. She sat down and waited patiently.
Pon-3 frowned, her eyes darting between Octavia and Phyte, then back to the cage she had been confined to for the past few days. "You girls came here by dragonfire, but..."
Lyra, personally relieved the teleport would not kill a pony this time, trotted to the cage. "Please make room Octavia."
Octavia arched a brow, as if to ask if an apology would be forthcoming.
Lyra shook her head. No apology. Octavia made room anyway, pushing herself against the bars on one side.
Pon-3 remained defiantly outside. "You two look like dumbasses. You realize what she's doing? All that bluster about 'sending us away' but once Phyte gets us locked in that cage she could just as easily chuck us off the plateau."
"Is there anything that would make you stop complaining? Anything on earth? You've got the chaos and death you dreamed of. Now all of us have to live in your world." Octavia huffed. “Get in the bucking cage Vinyl. It's the same as out there.”
"Is it?" Pon-3 leapt back and kicked Phyte in the throat with all her weight. Phyte barely moved an inch. "I couldn't do that in the cage."
"You are already getting your satisfaction with the escape I am arranging. Contain your self-indulgence." Phyte chided, smoothing off the hoof-print on the fur of her neck.
"Why? For their sakes? They hate me." Pon-3 said.
But she looked back towards Octavia and Lyra. Lyra looked miserable, trying to keep herself from slipping on the smooth metal base of the cage, her eyes closed and her mind far away. Octavia, however, stared back- Remember the conditions of my forgiveness, that silent look said.
"Smooth out your fur all you like, but it'll eat at you forever how the ponies you care about most loath you. If Long Play were here, he'd spit at your hooves. Every clever manipulation is going to come back to compound your misery."
After saying her peace, Pon-3 silently trotted to the cage, stretched her legs a last time, and squeezed herself into the remaining space.
"You know you can not get me to feel any guilt, dear Vinyl. You say such things only for your own sake." Phyte wired the cage door shut. All three mares were now pushed together uncomfortably in the cage. "If we were not so anxious, we could sit down, all of us, and parse our grievances and realize that realize that there are no problems which we did not create for ourselves individually."
"Respectfully, stop talking, mistress. Let us leave." Octavia snapped. She did not want to spend longer in the cage than she had to.
Lyra nodded silently.
Phyte’s horn lit up, and so did the cage. In a seconds long torrent of green flames, every trace of the ponies within disappeared.