Twilight made her way back through castle after leaving the Arachnos soldier with the somewhat bemused guards in the rarely used dungeon. She had overheard the royal guards talking about how dungeon duty was basically free time to yourself, so the prospect of having to guard a completely unknown enemy soldier took them completely by surprise and ruined the card game they’d been in the middle of.
After they’d given up trying to hide what they were playing, they processed the still unconscious soldier. Once they’d taken all his armour and put him in a cell, Twilight had noticed something significant; the soldier didn’t have a cutie mark. While the soldiers joked about how he could have miraculously gone through his entire life without discovering his talent, Twilight wondered if their world, Primal Earth as she’d learnt from the soldier’s memory, even had destiny in any form.
She mulled the information she’d leant over as she went, trying not to look like she was worried or in a rush. One of the memories was that the soldier had heard someone mention a base in a placed called Atlas Park and it was entirely possible the soldiers they saw fled to this place as it was likely their main base in the city.
Other memories she’d seen were more worrying. Black WildFire was right about Arachnos aiming for world domination, but the poverty those under Arachnos’ rule suffered upset her greatly. They wanted the power without the responsibility, seemingly just like King Sombra.
While it was discomforting to know Arachnos’ vague goal, at least she knew something about them unlike Black WildFire. She knew nothing about him besides the fact he wasn’t allied with Arachnos in anyway, but his exact goal was unknown. She put the thought out of her mind, reminding herself that her brother was accompanying him and should keep him out of trouble, though they’d likely still need backup.
Before heading to the library, she headed to her student’s room. Trixie was living in what used to be Twilight’s own room in the castle when she was Celestia’s student and she’d usually go to bed earlier than other ponies.
“Aw, I had the best prank planned for him too.” Twilight overheard Kittyhawk sigh loudly before she, Epona and Aurora Gaze came around the corner.
“Princess!” Aurora exclaimed, slightly surprised. “Have you seen Shining Armour?”
“I have and he may need your help.” Twilight started, knowing they’d be a good, probably better choice to send as well. “Come with me and I’ll explain everything in Trixie’s room.”
“Trixie? Why her? And why are you wearing a cloak, anyway?”
“I’ll explain in a minute, but first we need to get Trixie.”
Twilight led the Lieutenants down the corridor towards Trixie’s room, trying to remain composed. In all honesty, she was extremely nervous and concerned. While most felt it was misplaced, Twilight had plenty of faith in Trixie and she had been looking for something to test and prove her worth.
She’d never directly asked, but she believed her own mentor, Princess Celestia, had intentionally sent her to face what weren't insignificant challenges to prove her own ability and resourcefulness, which she had done against Nightmare Moon, Discord and King Sombra with the help of her closest friends.
Trixie had been able to perform most of the spells Twilight taught her, if inconsistently. Twilight’s logic was that if Trixie was up against a suitable opponent she’d be able to perform the spell properly and succeed, but now she thought about it, it probably was a good thing she’d found the Lieutenants so they could look after her.
Twilight knocked on Trixie’s door the moment she reached it, hoping her student hadn’t yet gone to sleep. She still wasn’t entirely sure why Trixie preferred to go to bed early, but being well rested was important, she felt.
Twilight knocked again and once again Trixie didn’t answer. As she reached for the handle to open the door, she became aware of something going on behind her and turned around to see the Lieutenants holding what looked like one of the tall, stone plant stands as an impromptu battering ram.
“That won’t be necessary.” Twilight informed them as she opened the door.
The Lieutenants sighed as they returned the stand and Twilight stepped into the dark room. It was always strange to her to be in this room, but the odd feeling of nostalgia would have to wait as she saw Trixie lying in bed, wrapped up in at least two blankets with plenty of pillows.
“Trixie, wake up.” Twilight said simply, shaking her student.
“Go ‘way.” Trixie mumbled, seemingly having been trying to sleep.
“I need you to help me with something urgently.”
“Trixie needs her beauty sleep to be great and powerful.” She mumbled again before rolling over and burying her face in the pillows.
Twilight considered how to get Trixie out of bed before remembering the Lieutenants were right outside the door.
***
Shining Armour charged through the quiet streets towards the Mile, the same long and wide road he was drawn along that day during the procession for his arrival.
His blood was pumping at the idea of some action. Chasing the soldiers and engaging Black WildFire had whet his appetite for battle and he knew there’d be a good battle waiting for him in the sewers under the mile. However, he couldn’t help but get annoyed at his companion as he kept stopping to have a look at things.
“Hey, BW, keep up!” Shining shouted at the hero after he stopped to have a look at another shop.
“Sorry, sorry. Just admiring the place.”
“Different to what you’re used to?”
“To a degree. Reminds me of the Shambles in York near where I grew up.”
Shining scowled at BW.
“Are you calling my hometown a shambles?” He asked, trying to keep his temper even.
“No, the place is actually called the Shambles and this just reminded me of it.”
“Why would it be called that?”
“Christ only knows. Is it much further to this ‘Mile’ place?”
“No, it’s two streets away. Who’s Christ, by the way?”
“Oh, it’d take me ages to explain who he supposedly is, but that can wait until we’ve dealt with the Spiders.”
***
After a lot of screaming, laughter and a few moments to clean up, Twilight regarded the Lieutenants and Trixie in the latter's room. The Lieutenants gave their latest Princess their full attention while Trixie towel dried her mane.
“Right, this is what happened: Me and Shining Armour went for a walk in the streets when we came across a group of soldiers trying to escape someone who called himself Black WildFire. These soldiers were part of a group called Arachnos and both they and Black WildFire come from another dimension called Primal Earth.
“I learnt this by reading the memories of one of the soldiers my brother knocked out that this Arachnos group found a portal to Equestria and they are trying to learn what created it so they can do so themselves.”
“Think they plan to invade?” Epona asked.
“I don’t think so, from what I learned from this soldier’s memory they’re more interested in controlling their world, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they took interest in us afterwards, now they know of us.”
“So where does this Black WildFire chump come into it?” Kittyhawk asked.
“He found Arachnos investigating the portal on Primal Earth and followed them here when they tried to flee. He and Shining Armour went to track them down at their rally point under the Mile leading to the castle.”
“And you trust this stal?” Aurora asked as Trixie threw her towel away.
“I don’t know.” Twilight sighed. “He and Shining Armour fought when my brother mistook him for one of the Arachnos soldiers. He seemed to have really powerful fire magic but my brother’s shields held up against it.”
“Well, he’d have to be quite something to beat Shiney.”
“I doubt either of them were fighting at their hardest, somehow. My brother would have held back as we were in an alley behind houses while Black WildFire isn’t a pony where he comes from. It’s entirely possible his powers may be affected as well.”
“So what is he meant to be like?”
“He and the Arachnos soldiers are Humans.” Twilight answered. Unless she hadn’t listened to her stories, Trixie should know what she meant but the blank looks on the Lieutenants faces told her she’d have to elaborate. “They stand upright on two legs like Spike or Minotaurs. They have manes of hair, usually no tail and sort of flat faces.”
“So they’re ugly?” Epona asked flatly.
“No!” Twilight shot back, slightly surprised by the anger in her voice. “But that’s irrelevant. Basically I want the four of you to go and help my brother and Black WildFire.”
“Well, you’re the Princess, so sure.” Epona said, stretching. “Where'd they go?”
“They headed for the Mile. It seems Arachnos found another portal in the sewers underneath.”
“I’ll go get my lackey.” Kittyhawk added before heading for the door. “Not much I can do with one wing besides bark orders.”
“He has a name.” Twilight pointed out, not happy with the way she addressed Flash Sentry.
“I think of it as his title.” Kitty smiled before vanishing. Twilight just sighed before turning to Trixie.
“Trixie, you may need some armour.”
“Nah, her skull’s thick enough to take anything.” Aurora commented, which Twilight scowled at. “Besides, most of these suits are tailor made to our size.”
“Wait a moment.” Twilight said, her horn generating magic and soon after what looked like a rolled up, dark purple cloth costume of some sort floated quickly into the room and dropped infront of Trixie, followed by a wide brimmed hat. “It’s an old costume I enhanced with an invisibility spell. You should be able to activate it too. Meet me in the middle of the Mile, I need to get some books.”
***
Shining Armour and Black WildFire stepped onto the Mile, eyes open looking for the Arachnos soldiers. They weren’t in sight which wasn’t that surprising, considering the number of times BW had stopped to look at things.
“This is more than a mile long.” BW observed, looking up and down the wide road.
“I imagine it was a mile long when it was named.” Shining answered, considering how Arachnos got into the sewers. Investigating the nearest ponyhole cover didn’t hint at any tampering, but the fourth one they checked looked like it had been forcefully pulled open recently.
“Here we are.” Shining announced, using his magic to lift the ponyhole cover and putting it aside.
“After you.” BW offered, though he didn’t have to as Shining jumped through the hole as the first syllable was escaping his mouth. “Ah, the eager lads.” He mused as a long list of overly eager young heroes he’d met flashed through his mind.
Canterlot was one of the most ornate cities in the world and that design even extended to its sewers. Rather than large pipes that were just assay big enough for a fully grown pony to walk through, Canterlot’s sewers were vast, mirroring the streets above in both width and direction, though always around fifteen feet in height. With the Mile being so wide, two rows of columns ran the whole length of the Mile’s sewer with walk ways on either side to stay out of the sewage.
“Well, this is slightly more interesting than Paragon’s sewers.” BW observed once he’d climbed down, looking around the cavern like sewer.
“What do you mean?”
“I spend more time tracking criminals through sewers then I’d like to remember. Paragon City’s sewers are huge, but they’re not this ornate. It’s almost like Paris’ sewers.”
“Is that good or bad?”
“Depends on your opinion of the French.”
Shining decided not to pursue the conversation further. He was close to the challenge he sort so he pressed on down the walk way. Using a spell to light their way, they both saw marks on the walkway from where something was recently dragged and further ahead they could see something casting off a lot of light.
“This place is weird.” Echoed a voice from ahead, prompting Shining to extinguish his light. “It’s like some sort of cartoon.”
“Do we even have any reason to be here? Are we still waiting for orders? Surely with Statesman dead we should be attacking Paragon City?”
“That’s what I thought, but I’ve heard Lord Recluse has been even more reclusive recently.”
Shining Armour and Black WildFire approached quietly, hoping for something to hide behind as they were completely in the open. As they approached the light, they saw it was indeed a portal with two Arachnos soldiers milling around, seemingly trying to get used to walking on four legs.
“How the hell do you walk like this?” One of the soldiers whined as he wobbled.
“Keep your weight in the middle, you’re practically walking on your front legs.”
“What’s that meant to mean?”
“I’ve been on guard here a few days, you need to try and keep your weight in the middle and take one step at a time. Just count up to four as you walk.
“Look at you and your fancy education.”
“That’s why I’m in charge, so either learn to walk or get back on look out.”
Shining and BW just looked at each other. They’d both expected there to be more in the way of guards and it seemed those they’d pursued had already gone through the portal. As it stood, they had nothing to hide behind except the darkness away from the portal. Cover would have been nice, but with only two to deal with, Shining Armour opted just to charge them.
“There they are! Retreat!” One of the soldiers shouted as the unicorn approached, before they turned and jumped into the portal. Shining didn’t feel like waiting and charged after them.
“Shining, wait! It’s going to be a trap!” BW shouted, though immediately knowing it was far too late as Shining Armour leapt through the portal.
Admittedly, he had done the exact same thing less than an hour earlier, but he had the benefit of a Vanguard squad as backup which now wasn’t available. It was just the pair of them and that would have to do with whatever was on the other side, so BW followed Shining through.
The feeling of his whole body reorganising itself for a fraction of a second hit BW again as he came out of the portal, landing on he feet which had thankfully returned. He didn’t need to look to realise he was human again, but a quick glance revealed they’d defiantly walked into a trap.
They were stood in the middle of a large room, constructed from black metal with red lights illuminating the sinister scene, which had them encircled by Arachnos Crab Spider solders stood ready with their back claw arms all aimed straight at them.
Stood on a gantry that also surrounded the room were more Arachnos soldiers, all armed with submachine guns while the Arbiter they’d pursued stood among them, observing them, holding his cape like he wanted to be a classic vampire. BW restrained himself from attacking as, while he could survive and win thanks to his own accelerated healing, he didn’t know how Shining would hold up.
“Black WildFire, nice of you to drop in.” The Arbiter scoffed. BW just folded his arms, unamused.
“Well you did invite me, Arbiter number eight, one, twelve.” BW replied, plucking a number out of thin air as most Arbiters looked the same to him.
“I am Arbiter Mesten!” The Arbiter shot back, throwing his cape aside dramatically. “Soon to be the greatest Arbiter when I present Lord Recluse with your head.”
“Is he still pissed off about that time me and my mates smashed his power siphoning Web device?”
“No one defies Lord Recluse and lives, hero!” Mesten shot back again, an amused smile on BW’s face as he was living proof to the contrary, before the Arbiter looked over at Shining Armour. The confused look on his face prompted BW to look as well.
All thought of a witty back and forth with Mesten abandoned BW’s mind as he looked at Shining Armour. He wasn’t surprised by the fact he’d taken on a humanoid form, with a well built and muscular pure white body and human hands while some of his pony features remained, namely hooves in place of feet, a tail, mane and unicorn horn, while his face had remained surprisingly similar to how it had been when he was a pony.
The thing that surprised BW the most as Shining maintained his balanced on two legs was the fact his cloak was open, making him look like an exceptionally well groomed flasher.
While the Arachnos soldiers looked at each other, exchanging a chuckle or contemplating their own bodies, Arbiter Mesten cleared his throat and issued;
“Put them in the brig and get that horse man some clothes.”