Thoughts of murderous plots, conspiracy, intrigue, and sinister intention were swirling through Shining Armor's head as he reentered Canterlot Castle. If the mares who had killed Fancy Pants had also intended to kill Captain Hauseway, then possible motivations were considerably narrowed. The grand vizier had not been the victim of a random killing, but the target of a systematic effort to behead the imperial administration in Canterlot.
Shining Armor knew most ponies would immediately assume it was a revolutionary plot. Anarchists, Levelers, anti-feudal radicals, and communalists had conducted assassination attempts before. Sometimes they succeeded against provincial officials with no security. The highest official revolutionaries had ever successfully killed had been the imperial commerce minister, blown in half when an anarchist threw a bomb in his carriage. Murdering the grand vizier would have actually accomplished the kind of destabilization that revolutionary direct action intended, but never achieved.
But Shining ranked that very low. It was a tempting narrative, and would be convenient justification for crackdowns across Equestria, but not substantiated. For one, one of the killers had been an agent in Fancy Pants's employ. Pants was a careful and savvy pony, and would have caught a double agent immediately. Furthermore, revolutionaries couldn't help but propagandize, but there had been no claims of responsibility, nor tells at the murder scene.
The other alternative was a noble plot. Shining was much more favorable to that possibility, but was still working out the details.
Following behind Shining, the black-furred mare Iillor began humming, her tune echoing off the marble walls. It made the voluminous space seem much more claustrophobic, and yet massive and empty at the same time.
"Would you mind stopping that please?" Shining Armor asked.
"Stop what sir?" Iillor asked innocently
"You know what. The humming. Not that it isn't nice, but it's distracting me." Shining said. "It might bother the other knights too."
Iillor looked around. The halls of the castle were empty.
"Just..." Shining sighed.
"No, I gotchya. I was trying to find the composure to describe my new friends to you." Iillor said. It sounded like she was apologizing by her tone, but her words suggested she was making fun. "Give a me a few more minutes."
The guardspony had indicated Prosser was in the Imperial Council meeting room, so Shining and Iillor wound inwards and upwards, through the castle into progressively taller and more elaborate passages. Parlor after parlor fit for the empress of Equestria sat empty and silent. In the low light of candles and fireflies, the peaks of each room was veiled in darkness.
"Has everypony gone?" Iillor asked.
"I'd assume my Captain ordered nearly everypony out of the castle." Shining said. He frowned. "Though the princess has not seen fit to adjudicate the Imperial Court lately. The number of visitors has been dwindling."
"Even alicorn princesses have to take breaks. I know I would. There's an old friend of mine who'd go crazy for that kind of princessly work, and drive themselves ragged for it." Iillor laughed. "It comes down to personality."
Shining Armor wondered if Iillor was trying to insult Princess Celestia's work ethic. "Her highness is utterly dedicated to Equestria and her work. Any friend of yours, and any pony in Equestria, can only hope to live up to her standard. I can assure you of that from my personal witness." He paused. "I hope your friend who wants princess's work is not as treasonous as your new Canterlot friends, Mis Iillor."
Iillor laughed again. "Oh, sir, please don't get too suspicious of me. I keep company with all kinds of ponies. I'm here with you, after all."
"I don't know what that's supposed to mean." Shining grumbled.
The hallway passed by the throne room- There, darkened by the shadow of night, was a wonder of all ponykind. The volume of the space was incomparable, a magnificent affair of marble and gold buttresses soaring almost a hundred feet upwards, reaching up past all the other floors to the heigh of the keep itself. The painted roof, the project of a hundred toiling painters centuries ago, lost its amazing detail at the sheer distance from the ground. Down the sides of the rectangular room, flanking the burgundy carpet down its length, were enormous glass mosaic panels and engraved triumphs, depictions of Equestrian history and the Celestiaans' triumphs. Then, at the the opposite end from the grand entrance, was the magnificent throne. It was too far from Shining to see it clearly in the dark, but he had stood guard in its shadow innumerable times. Oh, how the inordinately fine throne had been outshone by its divine suzerain...
But with all lanterns doused, and only icy moonlight shining through the painted glass, the imperial throne room looked more like a mausoleum. But perhaps Shining only perceived is so in light of the recent morbid happenings.
With princesses on his mind, Shining quickened his pace through the halls. Iillor began humming again but he had not the mind to chastise her.
To Shining Armor's surprise, a IHG knight was waiting for him outside the Imperial Council meeting room instead of Councilor Prosser.
"Sir." The knight saluted.
Shining bared his teeth in real annoyance. "What is going on? Where is Councilor Prosser?"
"Yes, actually both the councilor and Captain Hauseway went back to her highness's chambers." The knight reported. "When Princess Celestia asked them to-"
Shining immediately started galloping in the direction of the Princess's personal chambers. Celestia had come down from the watchtower?! Shining felt unrestrained elation at the idea of the princess taking a personal role in the state of emergency now reigning over Canterlot. There would be no doubt or confusion, and no second guesses, when orders were being given by Princess Celestia herself.
Shining was nearing the chambers when he saw the gathered knights and guards he'd sent to protect Captain Hauseway. They looked sullen, nervous, and even afraid.
Shining stopped to catch his breath again. "The princess..." He breathed a few more times. "The captain is in there with her?"
Before anypony could answer, the intricate double doors of the princess's chambers were thrown open, nearly hitting one of the knights. Captain Hauseway, stomping and trembling with every motion, emerged from the chambers. He was clearly enraged, but nopony would dare express such displeasure near the princess. Hauseway trotted right past his guards and Shining, proceeding down the hall to anywhere else in the keep.
Shining traded confused looks with the knights. "Well, go after him." He urged.
The knight complied, picking up their weapons and galloping after Captain Hauseway.
Shining turned back to the princess's chambers just as the doors were swinging closed under their weight. For a brief moment he could see the two ponies, one small and one large, and their two sets of eyes upon him. They transfixed Shining for a reason he could not explain, until the click of the doors fully closing startled him back to his surroundings.
"Shoot. What am I going to do now?" Shining said to himself. If Prosser was conversing with the princess, and their discussion had displeased Hauseway, Shining did not imagine there was anything useful that he could bring to the discussion.
"Sir knight, you're too uptight. It'll only frustrate you if you keep thinking about your actions in relation to all the unpredictable ponies around you." Iillor said. Shining had almost forgotten she was following him. Yet again she seemed fine from the gallop.
"That is a fine attitude from a country pony whose closest relationships are with the rain, soil, and fields by which they make their living. As a knight and vassal of the princess, navigating my feudal position is my work, and my obligation for protecting her empire." Shining said. The latter part was little better than recitation, habit. "There's no virtuous alternative."
"Now, do you knights serve the princess of the empire?" Iillor asked.
Shining blinked. "They are the same."
"Ehh..." Iillor's snout twisted in uncertainty.
"You clearly wouldn't understand." Shining said with sudden harshness. "Please stand away from her highness's quarters. Yes, back. Farther, farther. Thank you."
Iillor was far enough away to have to shout for Shining to understand, but she stayed silent. That was the smart thing to do, as no doubt Shining would have come up and rebuked her for noisily making herself known before the empress of all ponykind, resting just beyond the intricate doors.
Of course, Shining Armor had been in his princess's chambers innumerable times, either alone to deliver news, or with other Imperial Household Guard knights.
Something felt different this time. The princess's inaccessibility over the past month, and the storm of rumors about her mood, had painted the princess in a much more imposing color in Shining's mind. The princess had never been anything but kind, understanding, and generous with Shining or any other knight, the personification of ladylike warmth and beneficence to her servants. Once or twice, Celestia had focussed on Shining specifically to chat about Twilight Sparkle.
But then again... There was the other mare. Shining had not seen Princess Celestia personally during those times, and was thankful for it.... But there were a span of weeks some years previous, when Celestia's forgiveness was tested by nobles plotting against Junior Princess Cadenza, and her judgement came down as a spate of imprisonments, exiles, and demotions. The empress was not without teeth.
Shining berated himself for imagining that the Princess would fall into some capricious mood, and punish anypony for events surrounding the murder of the vizier. He should be regretful that the princess had been kept from the court by her moods, not fearful!
Shining stepped forward, and stood just a little distant from the double doors into Celestia's chambers. The princess's heightened alicorn senses would be aware of him, and his wordless request for entry.
Just so, there was a slight shimmer and the right door cracked open. The princess was inviting him inside.
Straightening his uniform, Shining pulled the door open enough to get it, and let it fall closed behind him.
He remembered the first room of the princess's quarters as a relatively humble space, a circular room with a hearth and bed. There were paintings of how the room looked in the times of the previous Celestiaan, the predecessors of Celestia CLXXIX: There had been little changes between the centuries and the successions.
It was a homely, personal space, but dwarfed by the personality and presence of its resident.
Councilor Prosser was in the center of the room, and so was the first pony to catch Shining's eye. He had dragged a chair away from one of the tea tables, to be closer to the other pony in the room. Another empty chair had been pulled over, likely for Hauseway.
Her highness, Celestia CLXXIX Celestiaan, Princess of Equestria, was facing away from Shining her etherial mane and tail blocking most of his view of her. She was sitting near the fireplace, watching the flames.
Whatever the two ponies had been talking about before Shining arrived, they were clearly uninterested in continuing while he was there.
"My lady." Shining bowed his head, though since Celestia was facing away it was mostly for himself. "We are narrowing in on the perpetrators of the gruesome criminals that have insulted your empire, and spilled its blood. Justice will be had, surely."
Celestia shifted on her cushion, half-turning to glance at Shining, then turning back to the fire.
Prosser cleared his throat. "The princess tires to hear of it, sir. You and I can discus it outside, later." He said.
Shining Armor felt a tingle down his spine. The princess had come down from the tower, only to continue to spurn the care of Equestria? He felt a twinge of indignant annoyance, of seeing somepony shirk their work.
"As her highness is not correcting you, I must accept that." Shining said, giving Prosser an icy stare. "Very well, sir, my lady. Shall we take our leave?"
"No." Celestia said.
Prosser seemed surprised the princess had spoken up. "Not that I wish to leave your company, princess, but-"
Celestia sighed. She stood up and repositioned herself, facing the room with her back to the fireplace. It was hard for Shining to appraise her expression with the light silhouetting her, but she seemed tired, but with a stern stoicism. "If you would like to join in, Sir Armor, we were discussing the Ancient Alicorns."
Shining cleared his throat. "You were? I... don't know what I would be able to contribute, princess." The whole situation felt strange.
"Yes, you're probably the wrong sibling to ask about the Ancient Alicorns." Prosser said.
Shining felt a surge of spiteful resolve to sit the situation out. "I'm always read to learn."
Most everypony knew that the so called 'Ancient Alicorns' were the extinct race of semi-divine creatures which had lived several thousands of years ago. The Ancient Alicorns, several hundred in number, had been scattered and their civilization destroyed by a disaster which had also struck mortalkind. Diminished, the Ancient Alicorns had wandered the earth for another hundred years. They were still worshipped in the hippogryphic lands.
"Trust be told I'm not a scholar of alicorn-dom either. I just know all the cryptic tales and tantalizing tidbits." Prosser offered the empty chair beside him. "The princess wanted to heard about how the Ancient Alicorns came to ruin."
Shining Armor took the offered seat. "That seems a grim contemplation for her highness. Is there nothing to be said for their grand accomplishments?"
Celestia laughed softly. "Are you trying to shelter me, Sir Shining?"
Shining shook his head, blushing slightly. "I would not presume to judge your constitution, my lady. I must be selfishly perceiving my own squeamishness."
"At least the boy is self aware." Prosser ribbed.
Celestia arched a brow. "Sir Armor would be within his rights to challenge you over a demeaning statement like that."
Prosser paused. "But princess, the challenged has the right to chose the weapons. Surely I would chose words, and the duel would be to first tears."
Celestia glanced away in exaggerated boredom, rejecting his too-clever retort.
"Oh fine. I apologize, Sir Armor." Prosser said. "Then to the buisness of alicorns?"
Shining accepted Prosser's apology with a nod. "Then the alicorns' buisness."
Celestia, satisfied the boys would get along, turned back to the fire, but the perk of her ears betrayed that she was still listening.
"The story always starts at the end, you know. The grim bits, when all the things that the gods loved came tumbling down to the Bright World." Prosser said. "But it's because the Ancient Alicorns were shattered that mortalkind came to know the divine and, perhaps in time, to understand it."
"If that were so, we would be talking more about us mortals than the alicorns. Seems like a different conversation." Shining said.
"You anticipate the second disaster then! Gods are gods, and mortals are mortals. When divine power falls into mortal hooves, there arises the greater horror, which we have suffered through ever since." Prosser said.
Shining nodded. "Monsters driven insane from power?"
"Oh, but the most frightening are those that are sane, n'est pas?" Prosser posed. "We are working backwards though, not forward, to the moment of 'the fall'. That terrible moment when ambiguity and possibility were winnowed to absolute certainty, and calamity befell the Ancient Alicorns."
Shining was silent for a while, trying to remember history lessons and lectures from his sister. "The fall. Like, a literal fall. The... the Tower."
It was a focus of so much morality storytelling and allegorical tales: The mythical, fantastical event that had destroyed an entire species of demigods:
The Destruction of the Tower of the Bard.
Visions danced in Shining Armor's imagination: An impossibly tall sandstone tower, the circumference of its columnar shape ringed by a spiraling stair, that mortalkind to go in procession up to heaven. Then, like a gunpowder detonation, the tower blew apart, shards of sandstone the size of houses raining down across the world.
Unprompted, a morbid curiosity filled Shining, a wonder, for if Canterlot would blow apart so spectacularly as well.
"I never understand this part, no matter how much ponies explain it to me. Did the ponies who built the tower cause the Ancient Alicorns to be cast down, or the other way around?" Shining asked.
"Sir Armor I don't know the answer to that question. That's a question of faith and ideology, more than fact." Prosser shrugged. "Even if we had a ten-thousand year old god or ex-mortal here to ask them, they would give their answer with bias and bitterness. The mortals who built the tower were foolish, but so were the Ancient Alicorns, yet both also had their aspirations and virtues." Prosser continued. "Is it silly to have regrets about something that happened a thousand generations ago? It would have been better had it not happened, so it is unbecoming to pin blame. All we know is that the nature of the entities watching us from heaven is much more dark and sinister since the Alicorns' fall."
"Save a few watchers." Celestia said quietly.
"Oh yes, save only our own holy Sun. That we know of." Prosser nodded. "Alas the space beyond our skies are filled with unspeakable things. The Dark, brooding kin of the Nightmares we once suffered here on our little planet."
Celestia's expression pulled into a thin, self-satisfied smile. "And how wiser, safer, and more prosperous is ponykind for having you to say so. It is necessary to remember the nature of the Dark skies above us, to remember that virtue and duty have dimensions beyond the social and political. Without the pony nation, unholy intentions await mortalkind." Celestia said. "Without me. Without me, a nightmare awaits you." She stood up, still gazing into the fire.
Something was off. The heavenly princess usually exuded a warm aura, and light a cloud passing in front of the sun, the chill was hard to notice at first.
"Princess?" Shining felt a chill.
Celestia did not respond.
Shining stood up. "Princess, should I-"
"I am feeling unwell. Somepony... Something is..." Celestia at last turned to face Shining. Her eyes were reddened and teary.
She limped to her bedroom. "Dreaming of me."
Prosser jumped to his hooves as well, but he nor Shining moved, simply watching with wide eyes as the princess collapsed onto her massive bed.
Prosser stepped in front of Shining. "Stop whatever you are thinking, and whatever you are planning to do. This has nothing to do with Fancy Pants's murder. Let her highness rest."
Shining, overcome with frustration, shoved Prosser onto his back with his magic. "What the hell would you know, you conniving colt?!"
"The hints were in front of you, boy. It is an alicorn problem, and an alicorn's ailment, which afflicts our poor princess." Prosser said, harsh despite his vulnerable position. "She hinted at it to me before. Ask your captain, if he wasn't too dense to really understand what she was saying."
"Oh yes, you're the clever pony who can decipher the true meaning behind the princess's words? I am not so silly, to imagine fanciful tales about a long dead alicorn race has any pertinance to our age." Shining said, menacing Prosser with a hoof waggle. "The vizier is struck down, and now the princess is ill? Nowadays, we notice and investigate the suspicious timing. We don't obsess over legends. There are no conincidences."
"Then dig back in your brain. Princess Celestia wanted to talk about the Ancient Alicorns, not I. I you're dutiful to your princess, think about why she did that." Prosser went silent for a moment. "But what does it matter. Our arguing won't change that she needs rest."
"It matters if she ails for alicorn reasons..." Shining scowled. "Or from mortal causes, Councilor."
Prosser sighed. "How could I have, feeble earth pony that I am, done any harm to her? Alicorn physiology is immune to almost everything, save overwhelming magical energy. Even the most deadly poisons are harmless to her."
"Then you have to be more specific than 'alicorn ailment' to clear yourself." Shining pressed.
"Look sir, how am I supposed to know? I have as many hints as you." Prosser said. "You heard her. She spoke of dreams. Since alicorns do not have dreams, and therefore we can rule out a psychic dream attack, we must take the other meaning of the word: Ambition and aspiration."
Shining finally took a moment to consider the situation. All things considered, with Celestia ailing, things were practically back to ten minutes previous, when he thought she was still acting aloof on her watchtower. Really, she had only had a brief period of seeming normalcy between spells of strange behavior. If only the princess had been more candid about the problem, rather than being coy and clever with her alicorn allegories. "It is not much to go on, unfortunately. If you think her highness should be left to her rest, then we shall. However, we should be concerned about the possibility that this affliction spreads."
"Spreads to us?" Prosser quirked an eyebrow.
"To the other alicorn princess." Shining said in a diminished voice. "To Cadenza."
Prosser immediately fell into a stern contemplative silence. Shining's question was of the gravest national consequence, after all. "Sir Armor, ashamedly, I don't know. I still only know as much as you, and can only deduce so much. I doubt the junior princess knows either, frankly. Though she has an alicorn... disposition, she has lived the life of a pony. Whereas her highness Celestia descends to us from the heavens, borne of the Sun- There are secrets she will never tell us mortals." He shook his head. "It is Junior Princess Cadenza's mortal ignorance which shields her from this alicorn affliction."
"I think you're not deducing as much as you're guessing." Shining grumbled. Despite Prosser only guessing, he took what consolation he could get: Cadence was safe from whatever was ailing Celestia.
Cadence... Shining's eyes were drawn out the window, to the neighboring tower, where the junior princess was likely to be sleeping after another day of isolated study.
Even thinking her name threatened to overwhelm Shining with emotion: A piercing guilt, yearning, and an unbearable sadness. Most things Shining took in stride, but not when it came to Cadenza.
"Sir, you may be prickly towards me, but I thank you for being so understanding." Prosser spoke, ignorant of the thoughts in Shining Armor's head. "We should step out and, at last, pursue this night's even more grave buisness."
"Right..." Shining returned to reality. "Vizier Fancy Pants. Let's talk then, in the hall., where a witness waits." He levitated the chairs back to their place by the tea table, and trotted to the door. "Come on. I'm not leaving you in here alone, no matter how understanding you think I am."
"Good lad." Prosser nodded, falling in behind Shining as they left the princess's chambers.
Illustrious Valor was waiting just outside,
"Thank you for waiting patiently Mis Iillor. The princess has been briefed, but now we must be quiet to not disturb her." Shining said, forgetting how he had ordered her to keep her distance from the door. "We can get back to solving the murder now. I trust you've spent enough time to recall a profile of your mare friends."
But Iillor did not seem to be paying Shining much attention. Her eyes were locked on Prosser. Councilor Prosser stared right back, his expression blank, his eyes slightly dilated.
"Wow golly, another earth pony. I guess it's not all unicorns around this palace." Iillor joked. "That's very generous of you."
"Uhh, this is Councilor Prosser. He sits on the Imperial Council and it is the duty of all Equestrians to extend him due respect and deference." Shining said.
"Hello. It sure is a nice night. It's sure a shame it's been ruined, sir Councilor. You look like a Riverpony. Maybe, the Central Riverpony Lands?" Iillor said.
Prosser was not nearly as cordial, lips pursed as he assessed Iillor. Something imperceptible clearly had him bothered.
"Councilor?" Shining asked. Prosser's sudden change in disposition worried him. "If the mare has been too familiar, we can deal with that later. For now-"
"No, it's fine." Prosser interrupted Shining. "It's just earth pony custom." His gaze shifted back to Iillor, addressing her at last. "I've got Riverpony ancestors but I've lived in Canterlot most of my life. By the look of you, though..." He paused perhaps tempted to say something untoward. "Dneighper."
Iillor stomped a hoof in approval. "Yup. But don't get in your head any stereotypes about me." She grinned wider. "I'm a very well travelled, friendo."
"I appreciate the cordiality, but we have to have this overdue talk, Councilor. The murder." Shining said firmly. "So talk, please."
Prosser seemed like he didn't want to take his eyes off Iillor, but after a moment he turned back to Shining. "Just so, Sir Armor. You know how to flatten the bush we've been beating around." He covered his mouth to politely clear his throat. "I saw Fancy Pants shortly before he descended into the trophy vault. I might have been the last pony to talk to him besides his killers."
"Where was this?" Shining demanded.
"The alchemy storeroom. I don't know the time, exactly, but it was around dusk." Prosser answered.
"I understand this was after an Imperial Council meeting?" Shining said. "There was no IHG representative invited, so you'll have to tell me what you discussed."
Prosser sighed. "Don't be sore. You knights never attend anyway. Sending out a messenger would have been a waste of Fancy Pants's time."
Shining had to try very hard not to frown. "That wasn't his decision to make. Nor yours, Councilor. I won't be too bold, but who knows if this unfortunate night could have been avoided if the captain or I had attended. Now, what did you discuss in council?"
"Seacrest Blackhorn, the talk of the town. We talked about how to deal with him and his supporters. We debated whether we should immediately arrest or assassinate him." Prosser said.
Shining's eyes flew open. "You talked about the extra-judicial murder of a noble of the realm by the state?" He was kicking himself for bringing Iillor along to hear imperial secrets.
"We talked around the issue. It is not like we outright said he had to die. We were trying to be discreet, and probably too coy for our own good." Prosser said. "So because we were talking around it, I don't really know what he was planning on when he led those mares into the trophy vault."
The murderers! Shining knew he had to approach the topic intelligently. "Mis Iillor here says she encountered the suspected killers earlier today."
Iillor entered back into the conversation at that invitation. "Like I said, sir, an earth pony and two unicorns." She locked eyes with Prosser again. "Lyra had very light green fur, similar mane, combed. She was sharply dressed but she'd have ditched it if she were on the run. Vinyl had a whitish coat, but it was hard to tell by candlelight when I met her, and had shocks of ragged blue in her mane. Damn me that I don't remember the earth mare's name, but she had a grey coat and darker mane. She had a robe or something on, to cover herself if needed, I think."
All of this VITAL information spilling out so quickly and abruptly caught Shining by surprise. "I- I- need to write that down right away!" He fished in his pocket for his notes.
Prosser's response was more muted. "Yes, I saw two of the same mares with Fancy Pants, on his way past the alchemy storeroom. Earth pony, concealed, very serious. Little unicorn mare, green on green on green, begrudging and serious, had a... well, sapphic carry to her but I'm no expert in such things. If I had to guess, they were killers for hire."
"What?" Shining paused in the middle of his scribbling. "Then-"
"I said, it's just a guess: Fancy Pants was going to solicit their services on the issue of the Seacrest Balckhorn question." Prosser said.
"No, no, I mean, how can you say they were killers?" Shining pressed.
Prosser did not answer for several long moments, going between meeting Shining's gaze and Iillor's and a far off horizon. "The third mare I didn't see, but Mis Iillor here did: Vinyl. That is part of the name, a high state secret, of the infamous Red-Eyed Killer, a serial murderer who plagued this very city a few years ago."
"Damn. That doesn't sound good. I can't believe I met a secret mass killer. "Iillor said flatly, not the least shaken by the idea.
Prosser pursed his lips again. "Mis... Many fearful things threaten ponykind, mortal and divine. By the grace of our holy princess, we may just survive."
"There's something worse than a serial killer in Canterlot?" Iillor asked, a hint of playful curiosity in her voice.
Shining, meanwhile, was furiously jotting down notes, making a few hasty preliminary assumptions based on what he had just heard, and rewrote the suspects' descriptions to send out. "Yes, me, once I get my hooves on those ruffians. We will get answers about why all this happened. And, like I promised you Mis Iillor, your testimony will be a credit to your erstwhile friends, while we untangle depths of this plot."
"Plot?" Prosser queried.
"Somepony convinced a trusted agent to turn on Sir Pants, has links to a long-lost serial killer, and knew the right moment to strike. This hints to planning and organization." Shining said.
Thankfully, the post for the knights to stand guard outside of Celestia's quarters had a small glowing green vial of dragonfire for sending emergency messages. Shining picked up the vial and checked the magical liquid's color to make sure it was good. "The right moment, when our princess is aloof or ailing, and the Imperial Council is preoccupied with this Blackhorn distraction."
"You sound like you're discounting a Blackhorn link to the murder right away." Prosser pointed out.
Shining paused. Frankly, yes, he was discounting it. Rather, he considered it highly unlikely that the gormless hedonist he had seen at the party at Chateau la Garde had any role in the planning or execution of the murder. If there was a Blackhorn connection, it was a noble cabal inside Canterlot working on the Blackhorn's behalf, or towards the same goals.
Shining would been less willing to admit that implicating Seacrest Blackhorn directly would also severely implicate his mother, Seacrest's host. Though he should have known better, Shining refused to believe that Twilight Velvet had anything to do with Fancy Pants's gristly death.
"We will see." Shining uncorked the bottle of dragonfire and let is bit drip on his orders. The paper disappeared in a rapid magical conflagration that teleported it away.
The hunt across Canterlot would intensify.
"We will, won't we." Prosser sighed. "You fit the role of little generalissimo quite well, Sir Armor. Getting the facts and dashing off orders."
Shining blushed at the comparison above his station. "Well I- Ahem, it's my duty. I wish Captain Hauseway hadn't run off, but he gets very frustrated sometimes."
He trotted to the nearest window overlooking Canterlot. Already the swirling pattern of torches and lanterns, the guards combing the city, had begun moving in new patterns to Shining's new orders and suspect list.
"I don't think a good pony would want to be the only one standing between justice and disaster. That would mean everything else has failed. We want a virtuous society that's safe for ponies, but... How did things get so fragile that I have to be the one running around the empty castle? I mean, tonight, we've been presented with a fait accompli; There's no saving Fancy Pants. We're playing catch-up, trying to fix the disaster and catch the murderers. But what if we're ahead of the disaster next time? And what if the stakes are bigger than the life of a single stallion?"
He looked back at Prosser. "That would be an impossible burden for me, or any single pony, except the princesses. We're supposed to have a resilient state and government so it's not a single pony saving us. Councilor, we might win tonight, and catch those killers, but we'll still be fragile."
"That's quite the analysis, Sir. Did you come up with that yourself or are you borrowing from radical reformist rhetoric?" Prosser asked. It was hard to tell if he was teasing or not.
"Who has time to read or listen to speeches when there are drills, marches, and discipline." Shining huffed. "But I can't help but feel. I'm pretty satisfied most of the time. Hell, I'm self-satisfied most of the time. Obviously I feel a swell of pride like I just did sending out that order, knowing I'm getting closer to the ideal of a country of good ponies unassailed by evil." He shook his head. "But at times, went I look at the city from the castle or a wall tower, I feel a tremendous vertigo. This fragile country is... I don't know, like a castle of glass that's beginning to crack and fall." He sighed. "My sister would have a better metaphor."
Prosser scratched his chin. "Perhaps we should go back to discussing the princess, if we have done what we can about the murder."
That greatly annoyed Shining. The night was far from over. Maybe Prosser was done, but Shining wasn't. "No, I have to get back into the city." He said gruffly. "Respectfully, princess gossip can wait. Unless I have to come back to get the Sun to rise, I have more ponies in need of me down there than up here."
Prosser shrugged. "Fine. The Celestiaan only get better with age." He smirked at his own impenetrable joke. "Sunrises, sunsets. Mortals come and go. Even Celestiaan succeed each other. We're on our hundred-seventy-ninth, you know. The Summer Sun approaches."
Shining knew what Prosser was getting at, but had no clue to its pertinence. "Whatever. If our princess wishes to return to heaven and let us receive another, that's not my buisness and there nothing for me to do about it." He cleared his throat. "I take my leave, sir. Mis Iillor, you should accompany me back to the exit."
"It was nice meeting you, Councilpony Prosser. I hope I get to see you again, maybe around the Riverpony Lands. Oh who knows, maybe I'll hang around Canterlot longer than I planned." She flashed a toothy smile. "Ta ta."
"Good night. Don't cause too much trouble." Prosser said. It was hard to tell if the comment was directed to Shining or Iillor. Perhaps the ambiguity was the point.
Shining led the way back down the darkened halls.
"Wow, things are getting pretty crazy." Iillor remarked.
"I need a little silence while I think, please." Shining requested.
And Shining had a lot to think about. Too much, really: The ailing princess, the murderers, a possible noble plot or court treachery, and the frailty of the very empire he served.
If only he had another pony he trusted implicitly, to divide the burden with.
If only. If only. If only. If only. If only. If only. If only.
Should he ask Twilight Sparkle to return to Canterlot? That would countermand a direct order from the princess, but these were extra-ordinary times, and the princess's judgement was... in question. Nopony would be as effective and diligent as Twilight.
But the pony who was most skeptical of Twilight Sparkle's recent accent to First Student, Fancy Pants, had just been killed. Additionally, Twilight's estrangement from Celestia was an open secret. Ponies would start gossiping, insinuating, and getting angry over half-formed assumptions. If the court or council began to suspect Twilight was behind Fancy Pants's death, or Celestia's ailment, she would be at great risk in Canterlot.
Shining didn't know for certain either. Yes, he felt extremely guilty for even thinking of it, but Twilight Sparkle was known to hold a grudge or two, and was no totally impossible she didn't have a hoof in things.
Should he ask family to step in to assist? The options were Foaly Flux, Twilight Velvet, or Night Light. It was tempting. They were all smart ponies, and trusted friends. Well, mostly trusted: Shining Armor had frequent doubts about his mother, and she had influence over the whole extended family. Plus, her hosting Seacrest Blackhorn would raise all kinds of questions about-
"Sir Armor, Sir Armor!" Shining's thoughts were interrupted by Prosser galloping after them. He was panting when he caught up. "Sir- sorry, give me a moment." He regained his breath. "Sir Armor, there's something I forgot to mention about the conversation in the Imperial Council, between Fancy Pants and I."
Shining hoped very dearly he wouldn't have to retract the order he had sent out. That would be both embarrassing and chaotic. "Yes?"
"Please, don't think we were hiding this from you. Your absence from the meeting..." Prosser paused again, to chose his words carefully. "Look, we would have been on the level with you the whole way through. We trust that you're a dutiful pony, Shining Armor."
"You trust I am. The other stallion is dead and can't answer for himself." Shining said. "Just tell me."
"Fancy Pants was running an operation against you mother, Lady Twilight Velvet. I have my dark suspicions that besides Seacrest Blackhorn, that's who he was discussing with those agent mares he met in the trophy room." Prosser said. "In the council meeting we floated the idea of giving Lady Velvet the viziership to avoid a confrontation with her and the Blackhorn. At the time, with news of the Blackhorn pretender seeming fresh and urgent, it felt like conflict was inevitable, and maybe even imminent."
Shining stared blackly at the small earth pony. The news slammed into the web of deductions and conclusions he had been working on, and it refused to fit. Nothing made sense anymore! Things... were chaos.
"You should have held on to your first instinct and withheld that from me." Shining said. "You're going to wish you did."
Prosser paled. "I genuinely forgot. I was just- I forgot. I remembered when I started thinking about Lady Velvet and if she could step in to help us through this crisis."
Shining was beyond anger. He felt a strange serenity accepting that he lived in a stupid world any nothing made sense anymore.
If only. If only. If only. If only. If only.
There was a third option. Mi Amore Cadenza, Junior Princess of Equestria. The mare that nopony really trusted or understood. The pony the nobility held a sour grudge towards. The inconsequential alicorn who would never be ruler. The princess that was brought as a mortal, and as trivia. A twenty-something year old, a young mare, with powers that could only be guessed at. The divine creature who nopony respected.
"Check on Princess Celestia." Shining said. "Then, if necessary, bring in Princess Cadenza to consult on the ongoing situations."
Prosser blinked. "Sir, you sound like you're giving me an order."
"No councilor, I'm making a strong recommendation." Shining said, his tone making clear that he was making both an order and a threat.
"The other councilors are going to be angry at the both of us." Prosser protested. "Letting Cadence out of her tower-"
"She's your goddamn princess, just as much as Celestia. Put some respect in your voice and use her title, Councilor." Shining barked. "Are you happier meandering through conversations about Ancient Alicorns than serving your living, breathing princess? You don't 'let' her out of her tower. You go and beg her, on your belly, to come down and save us ungrateful wretches."
Shining was very conscious of how degrading it must have been for Prosser to receive the abuse in front of a civilian like Iillor. Good.
"I don't care what chicanery you and Vizier Fancy Pants were planning. His jaw is through his brain. That era is over. Now, you're going to start doing your duty."
To Prosser's credit, he did not wilt away from the larger unicorn. "Ponies don't always respond well to this kind of abuse, Sir Armor." His voice trembled slightly.
"I'm not abusing you, I'm playing on your guilt. You know your own culpability in things. I'm being a bit loud, and a bit rude, but that's just reflecting on how I feel, not on how I want you to feel." Shining said. "You already feel the way we need you to: Guilty, uncertain, afraid. It's why you weren't on the level before, and it's why you're probably not on the level now."
Prosser adopted a pensive, apprehensive expression. "Don't be too certain. If I were a better pony, I'd feel guilt. But I do feel afraid. Not for the reasons you think, however."
He leaned in closer. "Do you think I'm making excuses about summoning Cadenza because I hate her, or covet power? Celestia put her in that tower to protect her. All the dangers, mortal and divine... It's not right to ask her to face it."
Unexpectedly, Iillor chimed in. "Don't underestimate us mares. I'm sure she'll be fine. Us Dneighper ponies kinda adore the junior princess."
Strangely, Iillor's words put Prosser more at ease, despite their pointlessness. "That's nice of you to say, Mis. You think I should reconsider?"
"A young, exciting princess? Let her loose! I just know she will do great, and I wouldn't fib about that." Iillor promised.
Shining Armor released the tension in his body. He still felt confused about the state of things, but they were making progress again. "I'm sorry for my words, Councilor. Extremism in the line of duty is no sin, as they say, and I'm sure this is what Equestria needs."
"Let us both hope so, Sir Armor." Prosser agreed, looking between Shining and Iillor. "Just, before I go do as you request, we have to talk about Lady Velvet."
Shining tensed back up. "Later. Later. It probably won't be until after the thread of the murder is unravelled, and Fancy Pants's intentions regarding my mother are uncovered, that we can have a frank conversation about this."
Prosser reluctantly accepted that. "Fine. Once more I wish you good luck out there, and beg you not to cause trouble." He trotted back up the hall, towards the bridge to Mi Amore Cadenza's tower. "This would be the night for it."
While confusion and chaos, gripped Canterlot, the storm was breaking over Ponyville.
Inside the Golden Oak, the mares looked out the window with concern. Twilight Sparkle had still not come back from her walk. The shutters were begining to rattle from the wind, and the first few droplets were splattering against the panes.
"Should we go looking for her?" Fluttershy asked anxiously.
"It's about to start pouring." Applejack observed.
Rarity made a sour face. "I don't have my raincoat, but if I went and fetched it-"
"You better not just run off." Applejack saids sharply. "You and me, Pinkie-"
Pinkie Pie was already at the front door. "I don't mind getting rained on. It's like a bath from the air." She said chipperly, but like the other girls, she was worried; If Twilight Sparkle came to some kind of harm, would it be their fault? "We should split up. I'll look west."
"Guess I'll look south towards my farm." Applejack said sigh a muted sigh, pulling her hat down over her brow.
"Uhh..." Fluttershy considered pointing out that west was towards her home, so it would have been the more natural search direction for her. "... north?"
"Then I have east, towards my parent's old abode." Rarity nodded.
But the mares assumed that Twilight Sparkle was merely lost in a dark and still unfamiliar country.
In reality, Twilight was not lost. It was true she did not know where she was, but she accepted and welcomed it.
Deeper, darker, slowly Twilight trotted down the thin and overgrown trail through the Everfree Forest. Despite the roiling clouds, there was still a little moonlight through the wind-shook canopy.
Twilight stopped for a second to reacquire the direction of the haunting magical music leading her onward. It was like a little game unicorn foals would play, teasing each other by casting barely noticeable magical auras, leading each other around on play hunts. Only, Twilight had no idea if the magic she was chasing was a pony, an artifact, or natural phenomenon. It could be malevolent for all she knew, or just harmless.
But now the haunting music was her only navigation. Everything seemed so eerily similar to things she'd already seen yet completely alien- Just endless trees, gnarled and haunting, perpetually looming over her. She couldn’t tell if she’d been in the forest for a thousand minutes, or just ten. Her sense of time and distance was getting muddled by the sensory battery, of wind in the canopy, and entrancing music.
All the same, it was an adventurous escape from all the bitter thoughts from before, a welcome distraction that eased her mind. Whether the seductive was malicious, Twilight was aware of it. She was not ignorant of the possibilities or risks of what she was doing; She still let it carry her along, willingly. She could have easily turned away but that would have meant returning to the stress and pain.
"I've cut through wild terrain before, in Foal, during family outings. I'm not a soft, helpless city mare." Twilight told herself. "Why... I bet I'd have what it takes to survive in a wild place like this. I have magic, after all."
It sparked some pride in her, something she'd been missing lately, to imagine herself rising above the hardships of a wilderness camping trip or something equivalent. Twilight usually imagined herself as a refined scholar, but there was a certain nobility to rugged survival, striving by strength, like the unicorn warlords of the old, old pre-migration Equestria, now the Frozen Northlands.
"All I'd need is a good water source to boil with magic. Plus I'm a decent hunter." Twilight mused. It was true that unicorns (and other magical species) could absorb small amounts of the magical aura from other creatures: Hunting, it was called. It usually took more effort than it netted, so it was the sport of nobles. Twilight had hunted small animals before, the occasion of some of her family's visits to Uncle Flux's lands in Foal. She was just a little better than Shining at it, since magical precision counted more than physical strength for the sport.
Twilight wondered to herself, as many had before her against the strongest taboos of ponykind, what hunting a pony was like.
The etherial music was getting stronger. Was she getting closer?
Twilight came upon a slow and murky river, which created a matching slice in the canopy above. Twilight had a better view of the storm clouds surging overhead, lightning distant lightning flashing, raining threatening to fall any second.
"Dneighper headwaters?" Twilight assessed the river. It was too wide to jump, so she was about to teleport when a lightning flash revealed something she hadn't noticed: A bridge.
Who could have built a bridge so far into the forsaken and dangerous Everfree? Twilight approached it, and saw that it was of stone construction similar to the bridge in Ponyville, but much older and more degraded. It's sides were covered in moss., but interestingly the hoofpath was clean.
Somepony had been maintaining the bridge.
Twilight glanced behind her at the trail she had been following. She had assumed it was an animal path. It seemed that assumption was false.
"Somepony coming into the Everfree... Or something coming out... with some regularity." Twilight said to herself. Her fanciful imaginings were replaced by the mystery in front of her.
Twilight crossed over the bridge, and though worn down by centuries of pedestrians, there were still some decorative engravings on the pavers underhoof. Twilight paused and peeled away a section of moss: Clear as day, Classical period iconography, from just before the unification. It was thousands of years old: Older than the princesses and the Empire of Equestria.
"Have I stepped back in time?" Twilight wondered to herself. "Maybe I'm in a dream."
Farther and faster, the music demanded. Particular instruments became distinct, the indistinct tune evolving into a full orchestra, a dark waltz by a tormented conductor. The weeping flutes and wailing violins picked up their tempo. Percussion crashed in time with the lightning flashing overhead.
"It has to be a dream. This is too surreal." Twilight's trot become more brisk, down the trail on the other side of the river. The forest became darker, the terrain became more uneven, and the path ran across little rills around the rotten trunks of fallen giants, through bushes, over briars.
The underbrush tangled her and tore at her skin, so Twilight began casting small bursts of magic to clear the path before her. She couldn't let anything to keep her from her goal.
It was an indeterminate time later when Twilight broke through a line of ferns, and unexpectedly entered a massive cleared area. Twilight looked into the stormy skies again, and almost walked right off the edge of the world: A massive, mist-shrouded gorge had been cut into the grassy clearing, blocking Twilight from reaching the other side, obscured by even more mist. In her panicked scrambled away from the edge, Twilight knocked a few pebbles into the chasm, which sent back an echo as they plonked into unseen waters below.
Once again, Twilight was about to teleport when the wind gusted to reveal a rope bridge spanning the gorge. It was a rickety thing made out of rope and wood, but like the stone bridge it was evidence or recent pony activity.
"... No. I'm not using that thing." Twilight mumbled to herself, eyeing the rope bridge with suspicion.
But when Twilight went to summon up the magic to teleport across, she discovered that the latent magical currents around her were whipped into a gale as fierce as the physical winds were. If Twilight tried to teleport, either she would end up re-materializing out of place (such as over the gorge or inside a tree, or maybe she would just lose track of her constituent atoms in the magical gale and not reappear at all. It had been known to happen, back when teleportation was more commonly known among the unicorns.
So, rope bridge it was. As it turned out, it was much less terrifying than Twilight anticipated. Though she tried to focus on where she put her hooves on the creaking boards, every step intensified the magical music in her head. It was getting nearly unbearable, making it hard to think or feel anything, even terror.
Then why was she pressing onwards?
Twilight reached the other side of the gorge and stumbled forward, trance-like into the deep mist that covered the rest of the clearing.
There was something there. There was something waiting for her. Just for her. Somepony was singing that music for Twilight Sparkle alone.
It tore at her psyche. The magical auras around her were so strong, Twilight felt her horn vibrate. There was no room for misplaced egoism or pride in such a place. Twilight would have to face the music not as a grandiose image of herself, but only as herself.
And then it stopped. Twilight, released of the bonds, fell back to earth. That is, she tripped and fell face first into the moist grass.
Why had the music stopped?
Twilight, bleary-eyed, pulled herself into a sitting position and looked around.
Oh what sights!
“My goodness.” Was all she could manage.
It was.... Magnificent.
A corpse of a MASSIVE castle lay before her, its decayed buttresses and towers as ribs poking up from the spine of rotting rock. It was large enough to swallow up Ponyville twice over, almost larger than even Canterlot Castle, its blighted outer walls kissing the edge of the gorge in places, collapsed in others. The light wind whistled melodically through the bones of the colossal wreck, an encore of the magical music from before.
It wasn't a mystery. Not really. As soon as Twilight had seen the classical-era iconography on the stone bridge, she had been piecing things together.
"The Everfree Castle. " Twilight muttered. "Celestia the First's fortress, lost in the Nightmare Pretender's siege a thousand years ago."
Twilight had stumbled upon the ruins of a long lost classical realm, once the heart of the Everfree Principality, now the heart of the demon forest. But the poor mare felt a contradictory storm of emotions that kept her from feeling awe or amazement in full measure. Was it a dream? Had she been led there? What did it all portend?
But what was to be done? The music was gone, and Twilight felt more than a little lost, confused, and afraid. She wasn't sure she could retrace her path back out of the forest, with the moon's light becoming weaker through the clouds. Twilight could only hope to find shelter in the ruins until daybreak. Then, hopefully, the path would be clear, and she could get close enough to Ponyville to teleport back.
So, she could only go forward.
"Hello?!" Twilight called out. Obviously, no response from the ruins save her own echo.
Twilight lurched to her hooves and cautiously approached the edge of the nearest part of the gutted castle. It was difficult to tell, but it might have been an entry hall or processionary space, beyond which rose the tallest intact parts of the ruin.
Something wasn't right. Why were the magical currents around her so vicious and angry? Twilight was hesitant even to try to conjure enough magic to cast a soft light. She was standing on cursed land: Did evil and power from the ancient siege to blame, even a thousand years later?
"This is going to be a longer walk than I intended." Twilight joked to herself, but it did not lift her plummetting mood. "I hope Spike doesn't wake up and get worried about me."
Twilight passed under an intact stone arch, passing into a square hall-like space.
It was a monotonous grey stone, cracked and stained by age, but besides moss and ivy, the overgrowth was surprisingly minimal. Either the dark aura of the place discouraged life, or something had been trimming back the forest.
What remained gave the suggestion of how monumental the ruin had once been. It had had the dimensions of a palace, with large spaces uninterrupted by columns to host courtiers and guests. Cracked and faded mosaics lined some of the walls, and repeating patterns of suns and moons ran along the main paths of egress. Little piles of softer stone lay here and there, probably the remains of decorative statuary. Some statues survived though, weather-worn heroes striking bold poses. There were no explicit depictions of alicorns though.
"How did this place survive a year-long siege?" Twilight imagined the Everfree Castle at its zenith, luxuriant capital of the lush principality around it.
Somehow a good number of banners and tapestries remained, somehow barely torn or faded. How fascinating they were, relics from a millennium past and a forgotten era: Yellow, blue, black, white, more iconography of moons, the sun, and the stars. Twilight would have to come back and recover some of the tapestries for preservation.
She continued across the hall cautiously as she investigated further, to the end of the entry hall as it transitioned into another room, which had been even wider and likely taller too. The far wall disappeared into the mist. It had to be a feast or throne room, as large as the throne room in Canterlot Castle at least.
At the threshold of the two grand halls, right in the center of the walking path (such that Twilight had to skirt around it), was another sculpture. This one was not of a pony, but what Twilight could best describe as a model stellar system: A large stone orb graced the top of a squat pillar, surrounded by five smaller orbs. Twilight regarded the sculpture with mild curiosity, wondering what it represented, for Equestria only had two satellites, the sun and moon. What did it represent?
On the other end of the grand space was Twilight's proof that she was in the throne room: just like in Canterlot Castle, the floor was raised into a dais, culminating in two broken thrones.
"Poetic." Twilight tried to joke again, but her anxiety was rising too high to even get the words out properly.
The left throne of obsidian was melted, and now existed as a solid puddle of the volcanic glass. The rightmost throne was broken away, only a chipped base of golden flakes remaining. Behind the thrones were the remnants of a colored glass window, once a huge circle shining like a peacock with hundreds of brilliant colors, reduced to just a few chipped corners, faded and grimy. It was impossible to tell what the colored glass mosaic had once depicted.
However one detail stood out among all others, as it was the most glaringly out of place in the classical ruin: A black rectangle rising in front of the two thrones, like a little podium of sorts, but of some dark volcanic stone, put as the new focus of the room.
As soon as Twilight set eyes upon the 'podium', the ethereal music floated to her ear once more.
"A magical altar." Twilight gasped, shivers running down her spine. Altars were not too difficult to construct, but could magnify particular spells thousands-fold, especially when on an amenable magical current point.
The music she was hearing was part of whatever spell the altar had been designed for, amplified by the tumultuous magic of the ruined castle. Even so, Twilight was shocked it could reach to the edge of the forest without some kind of amplification or artifact to boost it.
The music, some kind of magical allure, was surely part of some kind of trap, meant to mesmerize weak-minded creatures. Even though Twilight was aware of its purpose, she was tempted to get closer so she could inspect the little thing, and maybe determine why it had been built, and by whom.
Though the better part of her, and the building anxiety in her heart, urged her to run away as soon as possible, despite the storm. Getting lost in the Everfree Forest could be preferable to whatever evil intentions had been built into the altar.
"I... I..." Twilight stuttered, trying to make up her mind. Was it better to risk hostile magic, or devil forest? Had she passed the forest so far unmolested because it was trying to bring her to this even greater peril? "I should have stayed in Ponyville. I should have dealt with my discomfort instead of running away."
Twilight's little introspection was interrupted by a subtle change in the atmosphere around her. The magical music changed tone, and a nearly imperceptible blue light began to radiate from the dark altar. It was a deep, deep blue, like the sea or skies at twilight. It shone brighter moment by moment, making Twilight feel both warmer and colder in confusing indescribable ways.
It was activating! Twilight realized the trap had already been sprung.
The wind stopped. The mist thickened around the castle.
The stormclouds overhead began to roil more slowly, until they were frozen in place, a lumpy grey landscape inverted over the castle ruins. The landscape bloomed, as thin protrusions of cloud began to descend towards the throne room. Then, with shocking violence, a gaping hole was punched through the cloud cover, and thus revealed were the silken tendrils of magic that snaked downwards from the midnight skies. The tendrils coalesced above the altar and wound themselves together, up and down, binding the earth and the heavens with that deep blue magic that glinted silver in the blinding moonlight.
Twilight watched in awe. It was like no magic she had ever seen before!
No... No.... Twilight recognized what she was witnessing. It was, after a fashion, a lunar mirror of the Summer Sun event.
Summer Sun. Alicorn. Moon.
No... It couldn't be...
Twilight rushed forward to examine the dark podium closer, attempting to analyze its magic to confirm her rising fears. But the altar, exuding ever greater amounts of light, was painful to approach. Twilight felt the ends of her mane singe from the intensifying magic, so she retreated behind the thrones and watched.
There was probably nothing she could do. The altar was vastly more powerful that she had first suspected.
Then, stillness and silence, the magical music becoming more mellow, the tenuous violins and flutes fading to the steady thrum of cello and bass. The silken tendril of light was still there, dividing the skies, like someone had sliced it and caused reality to bleed.
Boom boom. Deep drums, like a heartbeat.
Twilight cautiously stepped out from behind the thrones.
She was not alone. Twilight could feel the vast magical presence was in the throne room with her. "Hello?" She whispered.
The air grew icy cold, and Twilight nearly jumped out of her skin as the presence focused its attention on her.
But still, only silence. It was watching her, feeling her.
Twilight took another step forward. "Hello. I..." She wished she knew where to look. "Who are you?"
A piercing psychic voice filled Twilight's mind! “Who are you, to want to know?” It was an awful sound meant to cause pain, like rough metal being run across glass.
"Gah!" Twilight shook her head aggressively to banish the sound. It was the opposite of the alluring music, meant to be repellent. This new entity, summoned by the altar, was surely a power NOT to be trifled with. Twilight resolved to trifle with it. She had to know more about what it all was.
Twilight cleared her throat. "I will tell you my name. However, I wish to know your nature first."
The aweful voice rumbled. "That sounds like a bargain you are offering. A pact, as it were sorts. Little creature, do they not teach you not to make pacts with Dark gods? Mwaahaa haa!" It screechy voice cackled. "I sign on to your pact, little pony. Let it be enforced!"
As fast as snake’s strike, a silken magical tendril lashed out at Twilight. She screamed, and jumped back further from the podium, but the tendril had her by the horn, and it jerked her forward. Twilight fought and fought, crying from the pain in her head and horn. With a crisp snap, the magical tendril was ripped from the podium by her yanking. The tendril writhed in the air for a few seconds before it evaporated.
“Don't touch me!” Twilight screamed from where she’d landed, her horn stinging with magical pain. "I just want to talk! Isn't that what you do? I just want to talk!"
"Talk is cheap." The screechy voice derided.
The dark altar began to glow bright again, pushing out a multitude of magical tendrils which flailed in the air all around it, reaching for everything in its surroundings.
Twilight was desperately happy she’d gotten away. It was with a dismayed whinny that she deduced the purpose of the altar: sacrifice. It had tried to seize her to offer up to the entity on the other side of heaven, speaking through it to her.
Such horrific magic had been completely unheard of for millennia, Dark arts lost even before the destruction of the Everfree Principality. Why was such a thing extant, here?
"Sorry, if you can't catch me, talk is all you can do." Twilight rolled to her hooves. She felt emboldened by her near escape. "Tell me your nature. That's the quick deal, got it?"
The screeching voice echoed in her head, laughing. “HA HA HA HA HA!” It was a fast and maniacal laugh. Twilight tried to bring her hooves up to cover her ears for all the good it would do: None at all. “HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!” The laughter became louder still, and more tangible, until Twilight realized it was not just in her mind, but around her as well. It mellowed, becoming a smooth but still authoritative voice. “You want to know who I am?”
Unfortunately for her, Twilight had brashly assumed that the tendrils were the only magic the altar had. A blue telekinetic aura surrounded her and lifted her into the air.
"Hey!" Twilight yelped. She tried to cast dispelling magic, no avail. But it was during this she noticed the aura of the magic around her was radically different than the aura of the altar. It felt like a pony's magic... nay, like Celestia's magic, almost.
The moonlight beaming down on the castle grew so bright it began to feel hot. The tendril of magic linking heaven and earth began to vibrate, the string of a vast cosmic instrument. Boom boom, the deep drums encored.
The mysterious presence behind the voice, long anticipated, finally materialized into the throne room.
The new arrival emerged from the black shadows of the alter. She could be seen but also seen through- not really there physically, merely the suggestion of her true form, still far far away. She was slender and tall, having the same deer-like physique as Celestia. A pair of feathered wings, a long horn, but unlike Celestia, snake's eyes. Black and blue dominated the terrifying mirage. It bore a wide smile, showing off predatory teeth which petrified Twilight’s heart.
"Well-come, little mare, to my castle. My last holding upon this planet." The dark alicorn spread its wings, huge things that seemed to swallowed the whole room in shadow. "I am this land's forgotten princess, the specter of an empress who never was. My name, for you, little unicorn-"
"I- I know who you are." Twilight choked out. "I'm the only one who knows. You're-"
"SILENCE." The alicorn bellowed. The rage of the voice would have knocked apart the remaining ruin were it not still just a psychic sound in Twilight's head. "You know NOTHING. I am the liege of all the terrors and fears mortalkind scream out in their dreams. I know all of you. I reign over you every night when your souls enter my realm. I KNOW ALL OF YOU." The alicorn smashed its hoof into the floor, but its voice fell to a mere whisper.
"You may address me, dear little pony, as 'your ladyship', 'my princess', or 'Lady Moon'."
Twilight met the shadowy visage of the moon alicorn eye to eye. A terror beyond her wildest nightmares had come to pass. "The Nightmare of the Moon."
In far away Canterlot, where nopony had the slightest inking of the resurgent moon princess, nor how it had caused their own Princess Celestia to take ill, the mad hunt went on.
Shining Armor was in a foul mood, between Councilor Prosser's revelations and the growing exhaustion of running around, he was ready to have the whole night done with.
But the three suspects were still out there, and he had to be the pony to ensure they were caught: Lyra, Vinyl, and the unnamed earth pony. Three ponies among the hundred-thousand souls in Canterlot, needles in a haystack. They might not be caught that night, or even that week. They might never face justice. Shining fumed at the idea that he might never get the chance to ask the mares why they had murdered the vizier, and prove conclusively that Twilight Velvet wasn't involved.
He HAD to catch them. It was his duty to princess and empire.
Mis Illustrious Valor, following behind Shining as they descended through the castle, was as cheerful as ever. Nothing seemed to dent her mood for more than a few seconds.
"I'm not too sure where we go from here." Shining quietly admitted.
Iillor arched an eyebrow. "Lost in your own castle, sir?"
"No. You know what I mean. This night has gotten worse and worse. Who could have imagined the murder scene investigation would be the high point. Or, I was a party, and that wasn't good, but I can't say it was worse than the murder scene. All that's beside the point. The point is..." Shining stopped himself from rambling. "Mis, you have to forget most of the stuff you heard tonight. Or, all of it. It might even be necessary to keep you with a guard until all of this is over, so you can testify in a trail if necessary."
"You think I'd bolt? Don't forget I was asking for you." Iillor said, somewhat smug.
Shining was confused by her attitude. "The guard wouldn't last too long, hopefully. Then all of this will be behind you, and you can get back to..." He tried to remember where she had said she was from. "Dneighper."
Iillor giggled. "That's cute."
Shining blinked. "Pardon?"
"You think I want to put this behind me so so quickly. Oh Sir, sir, I think I like this excitement and intrigue." Iillor said, hints of a seductive purr in her voice. "What if I promise never to forget what I heard tonight? Will you lock me up forever, sir?"
"What on earth are you talking about." Shining asked.
Iillor giggled again. "Sir Shining Armor, you won't be get rid of me as easily as you think."
Shining, for his own peace of mind, decided to brush off that ominous pronouncement as mere bluster.
The descent through the castle was silent the rest of the way Out of each window he passed, Shining spied thousands of motes of light in Canterlot below, each a torch. They formed a broad line, creeping slowly across the city. Wings of pegasi kept the airspace closed as they searched from above. Every now and then a bell would ring out, filling the air with that echoing timbre. The search had gone from a haphazard crash of bodies to a rigidly organized comb. It was like formations of an army deploying on a battlefield. It was only a shame it had taken so long to shape them up: Never time, it had to be better, Shining resolved.
So many promises to himself. Did Shining really intend to keep them all?
"I wish I could offload all of this until tomorrow. Maybe I'm not as committed to my duty as I pretend." Shining said to himself. "Or, I'm just tired."
Where were Captain Hauseway, or any of the other Imperial Councilors, or the Imperial Court? Why was it all resting on the IHG second-in-command? It wasn't right. He shouldn't have had to ask Prosser to rouse Cadenza.
It was starting to make Shining angry. Weakness, decadence, irresoluteness, and perfidy! Why, in her brief lucid moment, did Princess Celestia want to talk about Ancient Alicorns, when she should have been cleansing the imperial government of its... its degeneracy!?!
Going down that train of thought was making Shining very angry indeed.
They came to the ground floor after a few minutes. Iillor behind him, Shining trotted right up to the grand outer door, but right before he reached they were flung open.
“Sir Armor!” A Imperial Household guardspony gasped, out of breath from running. “We have them!”
The constant tolling of bells and squad of knights and guards with torches at the adjacent gate was starting to put a serious damper on the mood of Twilight Velvet's party. The guests fell into quiet muttering and speculation, while the guest of honor, Seacrest Blackhorn, became withdrawn and stopped engaging with the other ponies.
Were she not preoccupied, Twilight Velvet would have been dismayed at the state of her party. She withdrew to the corner of the hall, her husband and maid in tow.
"This commotion is more than an assassination. There's something in the air tonight. It feels like... like the gods are watching..." Velvet trailed off, distracted by something only she could detect.
"Should we send these ponies home?" Night Light asked.
Velvet did not answer, preoccupied with her internal thoughts and senses.
"Velvet. Velvet, are in danger?" Night Light pressed. "Do we have to send these ponies home?"
The maid cleared her throat. "My lady, there may be other ponies who-"
"The University. If there is somepony who can narrow down what I'm detecting, it's my old friends at the University." Velvet said sharply. "Dash off a letter to the Magical Sciences Department. Sound concerned, and insinuate it has to do with the search sweeping through Canterlot."
The maid bowed her head and backed away. She trotted to the feast table and pulled away the mute servant Molar, leading him up one of the stairways to the personal chambers.
"Please, be straight with me." Night Light begged.
Velvet took a deep breath, then chuckled. "I suspect... the mysterious force of destiny is on our side once again. Just like sheer happenstance delivered Seacrest to us, accelerating our plans by years, another even is moving us even faster. Faster, yes, faster! If we're bold enough to seize it, the future."
Night Light frowned slightly. "If I hadn't seen the culmination of all your prophetic moments so far, I would be trying to steer you away from this."
"But you have seen." Velvet grinned. "Before Twilie's incident, before Shining's promotion, there was a feeling. Before Seacrest, there was a feeling. Now, I hear a divine sound louder than I have ever heard before. You're lucky to be married to a very special mare, with a very special destiny."
Night Light could only nod. "I will admit nine times out of ten you are the more active partner in this relationship, Velvet, but please don't talk like you are trying to put yourself over me."
Twilight Velvet, for once, seemed abashed at her own words. "Sorry, I- We gave the same vows, after all."
Before the heartfelt moment bore out, the maid returned from the upper floors, a small note in hoof. "My lady." She said, politely demanding attention.
Velvet and Night Light turned to the mare in unison. "A reply from the university already?" Velvet asked.
"They were anticipating you?" Night Light posed, half-jokingly.
"Read it out. I'm not in the mood to fetch a candle." Velvet ordered.
The maid unfolded the letter. "As you wish. My eyes, twenty years older than yours, my lady..." She daintily cleared her throat. "Magical phenomena recorded on passive dousing instruments, simultaneous, 12:42 AM. Larger phenomenon somewhere to the south-southwest, distant. Smaller phenomenon due north, close. Magic auras too scrambled to decipher, but high probability of dream, necromantic, or evocation spell or ritual. Message end."
"12:45. That's after Shining left." Night Light noted.
Velvet shook her head. "Depending on the spell, it could be hours before it is detected by the instruments. Who knows when the phenomena occurred, or if it really was multiple or just one detected from multiple directions erroneously. I just know when I started to feel it, and while that feeling is good enough to gamble a life on, it's not good enough to make a deduction like this."
"That's unusually cautious of you." Night Light said.
"We don't have to understand to know what to do next." Velvet said. She closed her eyes for a few moments. "There's about to be a commotion. Faster, faster, we have to seize the future, Night Light."
It was at moments like these, when his wife swung from her role as a scheming noble to her calling as a high priestess (metaphorically), that Night Light knew it was his time to lead more actively.
"Start telling guests that the party is wrapping up. It is about time we figured out what the commotion in the city is, so we can plan for it." Night Light said. "Because it's heading our way."
The maid nodded and scurried off.
"Let's go talk to the knights at the gate." Night Light said.
Velvet nodded and let him lead her back into the crowd of guests, toward the other end of the great hall.
Whispering and muttering about the end of the party spread rapidly, faster than Night Light and Velvet could cross the hall. Seacrest Blackhorn had roused from his stupor, trying to rise from his chair though Sel Lech Sabonord kept him in place.
“What’s going on?” Seacrest whinnied. “Somepony tell me!”
Velvet levitated her coat from the rack as she passed by the parlor. The number of ponies hovering around the entrance had declined significantly, and they had no issue leaving the chateau into the cool night air.
The main gate of Canterlot, which the Chateau la Garde was moulded over like a triumphal arch, was closed tight, and reinforced by portcullis. Despite or perhaps because of the Imperial Household Guard knights reinforcing them, the city guardsponies on watch were nervous and antsy.
“Somepony’s killed Celestia!” One of the guardsponies wailed. “The Inner city is in a riot!”
"Quit that yapping." A IHG knight muttered. The knights likely knew the actual circumstances behind the emergency.
"There is no chance the princess has been killed. Were it so, the pandemonium would be far larger than this." Velvet concurred.
The guardsponies weren't convinced. “Some sergeant from another guard lodge came by pulled Peak and Dandelion away.” Another guard said, slightly more collectedly. “The castle's running the whole show."
"Has the skydock gate been reinforced too?" The senior guard wondered. "Who're they trying to keep in, or out?"
"Bet it's bloody Cloudsdale, causin' trouble." Another guardspony huffed.
The juniormost guard shivered. "This is... Are we going to die?"
“Boys please.” Night Light said calmingly. “There’s still four of you, four knights, and the gate is closed and locked from within the chateau. Nopony could get past, and nopony is going to try to get past.”
"We hope, at least." Velvet agreed.
Night Light shot a confused glance at his wife. What was she planning now?
“But what if it’s a dragon!” The junior guard was insistent. “How else could't've killed the princess?”
"Cut the chatter." The knights were getting fed up. "You can leave if you want to."
Velvet chuckled. "Trying to get the lass in trouble, sir? She's liable to be hanged if she abandons her post in a state of emergency."
The junior guard whimpered in alarm, but said nothing further.
Before Velvet could carry the conversation further, and talk to the IHG knights like she intended, the maid hurried out from the Chateau towards her. "My lady." She pulled a new letter from her uniform dress. "News from below, concerning the emergency."
Velvet barely restrained a smile. "Oh?" She said, louder than she needed to, subtly drawing attention.
The maid caught on to Velvet's intentions and didn't look pleased. "My lady-"
"It's urgent, right? As regent of this fortification I have to know right away." Velvet said, putting on a show for the audience of knights and guards. "Just get to the important part. What do I need to hear?"
"My lady-" The maid drew out her words as she re-read the letter, choosing how to phrase the sensitive message with the crowd. "They are headed this way."
That drew a fearful gasp from the ponies who instantly understood, but just in case... "Who?" Velvet demanded, biting her lip to hide her grin. It could have easily been mistaken for a pensive expression, but it was just the opposite.
"The murderers, two unicorns and an earth pony, are fleeing on hoof, coming straight towards this gate." The maid folded the letter and stuffed it back in her uniform. "The sender expects you to handle the situation."
With that, the maid quickly retreated back into the Chateau la Garde before one of the knights could exercise their emergency authority and demand to see the letter.
The junior guardspony shrieked.
"At arms you louts!" The belligerent knight barked. "They're not getting past us! Foul assassins, we'll deal with them here and now!"
"They're really not getting past." Night Light eyed the solid structure of the gate, reinforced by the iron cross-bars of the portcullis. "Velvet-"
Velvet stepped closer to him, shushing him with an intense glare. "How inauspicious that Guild Mistress Phyte sends me a letter before Vizier Fancy Pants or Shining Armor. That tells us everything we need to know about this situation. Phyte expects us to let those assassins past somehow." She whispered.
"In front of so many ponies..." Night Light looked around. There were the dozen knights and guardsponies, as well as the stream of nobleponies leaving the party (now starting to panic and run after the letter was read out). "There is no way."
"If one of the killers is that assassin I hired last week-" Velvet affected an annoyed expression. "Faster, Night Light, faster, to grasp destiny and twist it our way."
"Wait, the assassin was a mare?" Night Light scowled. "And I thought the point of that meeting was to avoid the Musician's Guild. Velvet..."
"I tell you everything, eventually. Look, I'm only saying 'if' it is the one I hired. She is supposed to be dead." Velvet said defensively. "I immediately ratted on her to the Guild Mistress in exchange for the mute. Now It feels like my wheeling and conniving is going to bite us."
Night Light rubbed his eye with the back of his hoof. "When it's sowing it's you, when it's reaping it's us." He sighed. "Okay Velvet, we can have this conversation after we deal with the killers. I will follow your lead."
"I know how to play it." Velvet said, her confidence returning after Night Light's capitulation. "Stay here for just a moment. I have to check on Seacrest and make certain that letter was destroyed."
"Velvet-" Night Light groaned, but his wife had already turned and galloped into the Chateau. He noticed the stares some of the knights were giving him. "Well lads, this is going to be interesting."
The knights nodded and returned to scanning the approaches.
Then, in the distance, a feint roar. Not a singular roar no, but the building sound of a mass of raised voices, shouts, of hooves galloping on pavers.
The killers really were headed their way, with soldiers in pursuit, and were getting closer!
Night Light made a dismayed sound. He didn't have a weapon. How was he supposed to deal with three assassins? "No need to worry." He gave a self-pitying laugh. "I'm here to protect you boys and girls."
The guards looked at each other. How was this unarmed middle aged stallion going to protect them?
A subtle shudder ran through the rate and the surrounding stone.
The fur on Night Light's back bristled. What was Velvet doing now?!
But there was no time to divide his attention, one way or another. The approaching din was getting louder and louder.
It was only a few minutes before when the mad din arose.
The South Canterlot had more in common with the wide open Canter than the north half of the plateau. It was a district of gardens, mansions, estates, parks, and fountains, a simulacra of the palatial rural estates, adjusted to the slightly tighter confines of the city walls.
But just the same as the Old Town and Inner City, there were places to hide, ponies prices on their head, and unexpected dangers.
A rusty birdcage flared to life with green magic, burned for a moment, then burst apart when Lyra, Octavia, and Pon-3 appeared from the flames.
Pon-3 immediately rolled away from the other two mares and dry heaved. "Bloody- urk, hell! That was wretched."
Lyra stood up and brushed herself off, waiting for the nausea to wear away.
Octavia took in their surroundings. "Is this some kind of storage shed?" They were indeed in a small wooden building, with a dirt floor and tools against the walls. The birdcage had been stored there along with other rusted miscellanies. "Do you think Mistress Phyte managed so send us all the way out of Canterlot."
Lyra looked out one of the tiny windows of the shed. "South Canterlot. We're in somepony's yard."
"Where in South Canterlot?" Octavia asked.
"You think I can tell that from here?" Lyra sighed. "Okay, well, I think that's the Castle Magoria I see in the distance, so we're about... I don't know, like, the center of the district."
Pon-3 recovered enough to join Lyra at the tiny window. "I haven't spent much time in South Canterlot since I've been back. Much change while I was gone?"
"A couple mansions near the Mountain burned down a few years ago. Then, about six months ago, one of the noble houses died out and there was a corruption scandal about imperial authorities seizing the mansion and holding swinger parties in it." Octavia recounted. "I poisoned a mare at one of those parties. As part of a job, of course."
"Take a marefriend along?" Pon-3 flashed a crude grin. "If you've been cheating on me I'll-"
"Shut the hell up! We were never-" Octavia puffed her cheeks out, trying to restrain herself.
Lyra was too tired to rebuke them. "We are close to the Main gate, south-west of us."
"Since I'm out of that cage I'm happy right here. What's the rush? We could hunker down here for a few days. Are the guards really going to search some random pony's tool shed?" Pon-3 said.
"We would starve." Octavia said flatly.
Pon-3 shrugged. "Then we just steal from the house. Hell, we could stab the buckers and-"
"We are leaving Canterlot." Lyra interrupted. "Maybe you mares didn't pick up on it, but Phyte wants us gone from this city. It's only for dumb luck, or desperate lies, and her strange paranoia that she didn't kill us all. But Phyte knows where we are, so she could send guild mares after us if she changes her mind."
Pon-3 made an incredulous face.
"Or, she could come after us herself." Lyra added.
That upset Pon-3 slightly more. "I... If it came down to a fight, I could take Phyte. Or, I could ambush her. Even Stars can die, right?"
Lyra wasn't sure what Pon-3 meant exactly, and she didn't care. "Stop these games. We have to leave. Your elaborate revenge fantasies can wait." She eyed Octavia. "Yours too."
Octavia huffed and glanced away. "Don't make assumptions about what I want."
Lyra turned back to the window. "Fine." She said. "I see hedges, and hopefully they should extend continuously until the end of the block. We have to keep to the shadows and behind trees. Anypony could see us and sound the alarm. When we get to the Main Gate-"
"More like 'if we get to the gate', if we're being honest." Pon-3 said.
Lyra glared at the interruption. "We could break into the Chateau la Garde to reach the gate mechanism, or reach the top of the city wall and jump off. Alternatively, you or I use as much magic as we can to punch a pony-sized hole in the gate."
"Both of those ideas sound aweful." Octavia said.
Lyra nodded. "The third option, as I see it, is to accept our death. Let's go already."
Unfortunately for the mares, detection and pursuit came quicker than their worst expectation. No sooner did Lyra open the shed door than she was face-to-face with a guardspony, less than five meters away.
"Nuts." Lyra swore.
"Holy shit! The tipper was right!" The guardspony scrambled backwards, pulling a whistle out of his armor. "Stay where you are, villains!" He started frantically blowing on the whistle. The piercing whine of the whistle could doubtlessly be heard by half the district.
Something wizzed past Lyra's head. A trowel, hurled by Pon-3's magic, imbedded in the guardspony's thin leg armor.
"Start running already!" Pon-3 pushed Lyra out of the way and galloped past the crippled guard.
Lyra, once again resigned to circumstance conquering her planning, chased after Pon-3 as they darted through the tree line into the next manor's yard. Octavia was surely close behind too.
The chase was on.
"Alarms are going up in the south plateau, progressing southward towards the Main Gate. The Inner City guard lodge sent all their pegasi that way but they won't arrive in time." The messenger knight explained to Shining Armor as they got into an awaiting coach carriage. "Captain Hauseway was on his way home but diverted south as well."
"Am I coming?" Iillor asked, peering into the carriage.
Shining, feeling giddy about the prospect about capturing the killers, beckoned her to the seat beside him. "I can't see you being a hinderance, and several ways you can help resolve this, so hurry in. We're in a rush after all."
Once Shining shut the door, the carriage bolted along the Canterlot streets southbound.
"If they are in the open, cornering them will be difficult." The messenger knight continued his report. "Frankly, Sir Armor, I worry that trying to take them whole is too dangerous. That is what Captain Hauseway thinks, at least."
"We have plate armor. Capturing them is a matter of effort and diligence." Shining said. He looked out the carriage window to the darkened city rushing by. They passed cadres of guardsponies heading the same direction. "We have to take them alive. That is priority one, above even our own lives, so that we can find out why this happened."
The messenger knight was unconvinced. "I defer to you and the captain, sir."
"Defer to the Imperial Council and princess." Shining said.
Their carriage was most of the way through the Inner City, where the inhabitants were less willing to abide by the state of emergency. Here and there civilians crowded outside of their buildings, watching or mocking the guardsponies. They were moving too fast for Shining to tell faces apart. Just a mass of ponykind, same as it ever was.
"We're lucky the killers moved to South Canterlot. If they stayed in the Inner City it would have been years before we found them." The messenger knight joked.
"Perhaps. The guardsponies are relentless. Accompany them for a patrol or raid some day. They lack knights' training or equipment but they have their own methods." Shining said. "They sweep whole tenements in minutes, pulling all the ponies from their bed with aggressive vigor, to line them up while the place is searched. You could say they are a reflection of the brutish criminals that hide here."
The messenger knight made a sour face. "Again sir, we're lucky. It would be unpleasant to be involved in such things."
"Sounds exciting to me. Like storming a castle." Iillor laughed.
Shining was bewildered by her flippancy. "They're civilians. We do our duty, as righteously as possible, to forestall the strife and disorder of war."
"Well said sir." The messenger knight concurred.
Iillor gave the messenger knight an incredulous look, then laughed to herself. "Come on, you boys haven't been in a war. Have you even been out of Equestria? My dad was a soldier, and he had a great time at war, even brought back a wife." Her expression turned somber. "Those guardsponies you look down on are at war with the criminal thugs and civilians. I don't think you have the right to criticize them."
Shining Armor would have been troubled by her words if he didn't find it amusing for its own reasons. "Mis Valor, respectfully, you're from Dneighper. I'm not sure you know what you're talking about either."
"Mis? This girl is not a noble?" The messenger squinted at Iillor. "And she wants to criticize you about 'rights'?"
Iillor snickered to herself.
The wobble of the carriage subtly changed as they reached the rough Inner City streets transitioned to the better maintained streets of South Canterlot.
Only a few moments later, the wobble changed again as the carriage slowed down.
"Sirs..." The muffled void of one of the coach-puller ponies said. "There is an accident on the street. Can't get around it."
Shining opened the coach door and looked ahead. "That's Captain Hauseway's carriage." He hopped out of the still moving carriage and galloped to the wreck and the guardsponies appraising it. "Hey, hey, what's going on here?"
"We were overloaded, and the suspension snapped the whole thing fell over. Bloody terrifying at the time, but nopony got hurt. It was, about umm, three minutes ago." One of the guardsponies said. "The knight captain ran ahead."
Shining Armor crouched to look in the upturned carriage, then over to the carriage-pullers resting by the street. They were in no rush to get the wreck upright or pull it off the street. "Fine. I guess I have to hoof it then."
Iillor joined him, while the messenger knight stayed with his carriage.
"I'l never be tired of walking." Iillor giggled.
So Shining Armor led her down the South Canterlot street, southbound towards the main gate.
"Were you trying to provoke an argument earlier?" Shining Armor asked.
Iillor let out a faux-outraged gasp. "Sir! Why would I do such a thing?" She asked innocently, then giggled again. "It might be hard to tell, but I'm a bit of a troublemaker sometimes. With my black fur and mane, I can hide very well."
"I bet." Shining said. She hadn't really answered the question.
"But of course, what joke is funny without friends who are in on the joke?" Iillor pondered. "You know, when I met my new friends here in Canterlot, I really felt like I could stay here for a while."
"Too bad how this all has turned out." Shining said.
Iillor shrugged. "I guess so. But what do you think? You've lived here your whole life, right? Think this city would be a match for a mare like me?"
"Uhh... I don't know that much about you. Even one night of you sharing your anecdotes isn't exactly enough to get to know somepony enough for a life-changing decision like that." Shining Armor said. "I hope you understand that while I don't dislike your company, I'm a pony with full time commitments to the state and the princess. After this emergency is resolved, I doubt I will have time to entertain you again."
"Have a colt or filly in your life, sir?" Iillor asked.
Shining nearly stumbled. "Hey now, I didn't- No, I just told you." He took a deep breath. "Ponies who devote themselves to higher causes, to duty, must necessarily make sacrifices in other parts of their life. When I indulge for romance, or shirk my responsibilities, an empire of millions of ponies suffers because of it."
Iillor burst out laughing. "Ha ha ha ha! Sir Armor, you have some kind of complex. Martyr complex, they call it? No wonder you're so disgusted with the 'degeneracy' of this nation, when you have such impossibly high standards!" The shocked look on Shining's face must have convinced her to back off her mockery. "I just mean, it's not your responsibility to fix other ponies behavior, whether they're lazy government ponies or peasant heathens. Even if you try your damndest you can't fix everything."
"I'm not stupid. I know there are limits to what any one pony can do, save perhaps her highness the princess." Shining said. "But because I'm strong, clever, and able-bodied, and most crucially, disciplined, I have the ability to give more for my nation than other ponies. Thus I will."
Iillor scoffed. "Pointless self-sacrifice doesn't make you a better Pony."
Shining wondered where her strong opinions on the matter stemmed from. "It's not pointless."
"If you're the only one doing it, and everything fails anyway, it is. You'll have given everything, sacrificed everything, and disaster won't be averted. Then the 'decedent' ponies, who saved their energy, swoop in on the ashes and fools." Iillor said. "Like boxing, I guess."
While he'd taken issue with a lot of her other points, Shining saw the logic of what she said, somewhat. Maybe she was talking from experience. "Disaster?"
Iillor smiled, this time a thin and knowing smirk. "We all have something that stalks our nightmares, which we strive against in the waking world, consciously or unconsciously. Your deepest fear, Shining."
Something was wrong with that mare. Shining knew he had to be more careful around her. Despite his objections otherwise, she had lulled him into letting his guard down.
Shining scrutinized her expression, trying to detect any hints of danger behind it. Did she look like a mare who could have been, not a mere bystander, but an accomplice to the murderers? Was she really a rural mare from Dneighper?
"Mis, Iillor, I'm afraid we're not as causal as to be on a first name basis." Shining said. "We should pick up the pace."
Clenching teeth, the rolling crescendo of the incessant bells, shouts and hollering from every direction... Lyra felt like she was being eaten alive by her terror, but she could only keep running. Though her exertion had taken her to exhaustion, and past even that to the limits of consciousness, she ran for all her worth.
“More coming up on the left!” Pon-3, freshest of the trio, was still in the lead. She somehow had the energy to both gallop and shout warnings.
Lyra could barely understand with the pounding of her own heartbeat in her ears. The electric blue tale before her was the target, her world, the thing she needed to chase. Lapse, and she’d die. Catch that tail, keep pace with Pon-3, and maybe she would live. Lyra’s mind kept repeating this, the only fuel driving her forward. Everything burned, but it was be burned or be consumed.
A magical bolt of energy sailed past Lyra's ear. “Halt!” A stallion’s voice said from behind her. Another bolt went even wider and ignited one of the trees lining the dark path they were on.
A chorus of aggravated voices rose in unison around them. "They're this way!" Then echoing it a bit farther. "They're this way!" The individual voices separated into hoarse screams, jumbling together, creating an harsh din.
"Ride them down!"
"Hack them apart!"
"Justice!"
"No mercy!"
Beside and a little behind Lyra, Octavia ran with her eyes nearly closed, a stream of tears running off her cheek onto the pavers in her wake.
"You'll pay for this!"
"No mercy!"
"Die die die!"
Another magical bolt illuminated the street, digging into the street and throwing up a cloud of dust.
"Revenge!"
The cacophony unified in its hateful exclamation. "Revenge!"
Revenge? That word cut through Lyra's mind. Had the city guards been told who the identity of the victim was? No... Revenge for the guard stallion Octavia had cut down!
"They'll kill us!" Octavia wailed. She realized it too.
Lyra glanced back.
It was enough time for her to trip. She sailed through the air for several seconds, then crashed against the ground. She rolled, letting everything go limp. The pain was exponentially worse against her overtaxed muscles. Her rolling carried her off the path and through a small hedge, where she came to rest under its foliage.
Lyra didn’t move, blinking slowly.
"They split up?!" Somepony shouted.
Dozens of hooves thundered past Lyra, concealed as she was in the bush, still hot after Pon-3 and Octavia.
"Double back and make sure the other one doesn't make a run for the skydock!"
Lyra closed her eyes and let herself rest. She could be safe as long as she didn't move from the hedge for the rest of her life.
The scratches she had endured from hitting the coarse hedge started to sting. Lyra gently tested moving her limbs to test if she had broken any bones; They hurt, but not too much.
"I'm such a fuck-up." Lyra sighed.
Would it be satisfactory to rest there forever, accept once and for all what fate had in store for her? Octavia and Pon-3 could be left to their own devices. They surely both hated her anyway. Her disappearance, her passing into myth as the hedge grew up through her remains, would overjoy them.
But then she wouldn't be able to prove everypony wrong by surviving. She wouldn't dominate the world by discovering something to live for.
She had rested long enough. Lyra, recovering from her exhaustion and her spite growing, pulled her clothes free of the branches and crawled out from under the hedge. One hoof, then two, then three, she stood up. She tried to run, but nearly fell on her face again. Staggering, she walked, slowly, up the street.
"Wait... This is less than a block from the gate." Lyra looked around. "We- Or, I, got so close."
Much closer indeed for Pon-3 and Octavia. Having reached the formidable gatehouse, they were confronted with the impenetrable gate itself, and the half-dozen soldiers standing before it.
"Shit! Time to put that plan into action! Gotta blast through it!" Pon-3 yelled.
The mares skidded to a halt a dozen paces from the knights and guards. The knights exchanged glances, then drew their weapons.
"This is really happening?!" One of the guards yelped.
Octavia was nearly panicking. "Lyra is missing! They got Lyra!"
"Cool it! We've got some punks to bust." Pon-3 nudged her goggles over her eyes and drew a dagger. "You'll have to get me a few seconds unmolested with the gate and she'll spread for me."
"Lyra! Lyra!" Octavia shouted. "Lyra!"
By now the guards on the chase were closing in, another twenty of them.
"I said cool it!" Pon-3 hissed. "Or heat it, whatever, just as long as you're ready!"
The unicorn threw herself forward, taking the knights by surprise with her boldness. She was freakishly fast, hopping around every sword swipe and constantly running in and out of range. However, her attempts to attack with her diminutive dagger were thwarted by the knight's plate armor, and the most she could do was tired them out.
Octavia, not thinking clearly, charged at the guardsponies without having drawn her weapon yet. Luckily for her, all but one of the guards ran back, flattening themselves against the stone of the gatehouse to stay away. The last guard tried to poke Octavia with her spear but missed, and had no time before Octavia reached her and kicked her to the ground.
Only when one of the knights grew frustrated with Pon-3, and turned his attention to Octavia, did Octavia think to unsheathe her sword to face him off.
"Velvet! Get down here!" Night Light stood on the doorstep of the Chateau la Garde, shouting into the chateau while keeping an eye on the melee developing right outside. "Velvet!"
"Lyra!" Octavia continued to yell, as she crossed swords with the knight and was forced back. "Lyra!"
"Goodness gracious, quit the yelling everypony." Twilight Velvet finally emerged from the Chateau, levitating a pair of rapier swords behind her.
Night Light sighed in relief, accepting one of the rapiers and slashing through the air experimentally. "Arranged everything to your liking?" He inspected the guard and grip of the rapier, then waved it few more times. Satisfied, he strode towards the melee.
"Getting there, honey." Velvet confirmed.
She galloped to the newly approaching guardsponies. "Hey! We have this handled, go back and find the straggler!" Seeing their incredulity, Velvet adopted a more imperious tone. "Did I stutter? Find the third killer, or it's your head! BY ORDER OF THE PRINCESS, GO!"
Startled by the invocation of the princess, the twenty guards let themselves be pointed in the opposite direction, to run off unenthusiastically in search of Lyra. They thought they would get their chance to draw blood, and bloody vengence, now thwarted. Many of them headed back in the direction of their homes and lodge, disinterested in continuing the chance anymore.
Velvet grinned, and turned back to the melee.
Pon-3 was steadily getting the advantage over the three knights facing her, exhausting them while her energy seemed limitless. Octavia was holding her own in a defensive duel against the fourth knight, and occasionally the guardspony still trying to get in as well.
"Ka-cha!" Pon-3 dodged into one of the knight's slashes and hooked her hoof around his helmet, then crouched and rolled the surprised knight over her. The poor knight crashed against the pavers onto her back, dazing her.
"We... We need backup. Where'd that whole gaggle of guards go!" The senior knight struggled to catch his breath.
Pon-3 kicked the supine knight in the helmet, making her groan and curl up for protection. "C'mon assholes, can't take on a little girl like me? Heh heh heh."
"Excuse me, step away from that pony." Pon-3 looked to a new voice. Night Light stepped forward, rapier tucked under his leg. "Mis, if you hurt them, you'll only get in more trouble."
"Trouble? I haven't done anything wrong. I was just out for a jog and these gangsters started bothering me." Pon-3 sneered. "I have a right to defend myself, and my life."
Night Light looked between Pon-3 and Octavia. Disguised as they had been, he didn't actually know which pony had been the assassin Velvet had hired. Maybe none of them.
Only that after locking eyes, Night Light saw Pon-3's expression subtly change. Night Light had not been in disguise, after all, and she recognized him. "If this is a misunderstanding, then you wouldn't mind giving yourself up, right mis? I'll make sure you get fair treatment from the empire."
Pon-3 just focussed on the stallion's face. Yes, she recognized him. Then, she looked over to the grey and purple mare approaching. Then to the chateau. Then out to space, remembering the discussion across the table from a frantic little mare who called herself Twilight Sparkle, viscountess, who claimed Twilight Velvet as her mother.
"It's a mother-bucking set-up. I've been set up. I've been... bamboozled, actually." Pon-3 mumbled to herself. "I'm so bucking stupid. How did I not see this from a mile away?"
"You'll have to speak up, mis." Night Light said, nodding to where Octavia and the knight were still grunting and grappling with each other. "We can resolve this without violence, right?"
Pon-3 flipped her dagger and threw it at Night Light. The stallion whipped up his rapier and knocked the missile away. Pon-3 scooped up the sword of the fallen knight, and squared her stance. "Guess, jerk."
"Very well." Night Light nodded, and slowly closed in on her.
Lyra watched the twenty guardsponies run down a parallel street back to the north. There was nothing between her and the gate now, just a hundred meters of open ground.
"Like a toxic relationship. I have to get past you, but you're blocking the way." Lyra assessed the solid gate and gatehouse, illuminated by moonlight. She was feeling lightheaded. Was she scratched worse than she realized? In her state, there seemed little chance of executing her plan. "Hmm..."
Up ahead of her a small crowd was gathering. Lyra saw ponies dancing, no not dancing, fighting. It was Pon-3 and Octavia locked in a pair of deadly duels with two other unicorns, a deep blue stallion and a white mare- Lyra, hazy mind momentarily clear, recognized them as Twilight Velvet and Night Light.
Lyra was just one of the ponies watching the duels- The eight knights and guards, the remaining party guests, and the lead elements of the pegasi sent from the castle, all watch from varying distances.
Octavia was clearly at the brink of collapse, and Twilight Velvet was content to keep her in place with occasional spells and rapier swipes. In the other case, Night Light and Pon-3 were in a vigorous battle, constantly repositioning and maneuvering to try to get a clean hit with their respective weapons.
"Could I slip past?" Lyra asked herself, but her eyes were locked on Octavia, watching her friend be tormented by the older mare. "Could I get over the walls?"
She wanted to believe in her own solipsism, but she couldn't stand the idea of leaving Octavia to Canterlot's intentions.
Lyra's attention turned to Pon-3. The unicorn was a little demon, always moving. However, the stallion opposite her, Night Light, was something terrifying: He barely moved his body at all, yet his rapier seemed to be everywhere at once, blocking, attacking, and setting up for the next move simultaneously. Lyra had never seen a swordspony so awe-inspiring. It was art, and Pon-3 was steadily losing ground to him.
"I have to... Have to free up Mis Vinyl from her duel, so we can grab Octavia and get out of here." Lyra said to herself. "I have to. I have to. Because-" She still felt the need to deny the altruistic urges to herself, just to protect herself from the fear of being hurt by loss again. "Because I... can still use them."
Lyra took a single step out of the shadow onto the street.
Something whizzed past Lyra’s face- a gout of store was torn from the street nearby. The report of the pegasus’s arquebus came nanoseconds thereafter. Lyra gasped, her whole body jolting.
"Hmm?" Twilight Velvet looked toward the echoing gunshot, and noticed Lyra, frozen in place in the street. "Ah, there you are. Time to wrap this up." She said, before turning her attention back to her easy duel with Octavia.
The retort hadn't escaped Octavia's attention either. "Lyra!" She shouted hoarsely. "Lyra... Get- Get in cover! Lyra!"
Twilight Velvet used Octavia's momentary preoccupation to cast a more complicated spell, shackling the earth pony's hooves together, and making her fall over.
"Luckily you won't live with the shame of losing to an old mare like me for long." Velvet chuckled.
"You BASTARD, let her go!" Pon-3 turned away from her duel with Night Light and charged at Velvet.
"Excuse me mis." Night Light telekinetically grabbed Pon-3 by her cloak. Pon-3 flew off her hooves as he jerked her backwards, slamming onto her back and having the breath knocked from her lungs. Night Light then began to drag her by the cloak, strangling the mare. "That's my lady wife you are addressing, so please show some respect."
Velvet rolled her eyes. "Don't play with your food, dear." She cast a magical bolt at Pon-3, hitting her in the temple. The magic bolt, conferred with all the momentum of a cudgel against the poor mare's head, tore Pon-3 free of her cloak and knocked her spinning across the ground, insensate.
"Vinyl!" Octavia screamed. With a burst of strength, she tore apart the magic which bound her hooves. She grabbed Pon-3's fallen dagger with her teeth as she jumped up and charged at Twilight Velvet.
Velvet gasped and, seeing she had no time to block or cast a spell, turned and galloped away from the charging mare.
Night Light, still holding Pon-3 cloak in his telekinesis, threw it into Octavia's face, blinding her. In the precious seconds that she was disentangling herself, Night Light strode forward and smacked her with the pommel of his rapier.
Octavia reeling, dropped the dagger. "Urggg..." She groaned, holding her head.
"Please surrender yourself." Night Light ordered, levitating the dagger out of her reach. "This was well fought, but fate was not on your side."
Octavia was too dizzy and pained to respond. She took a few steps towards Pon-3, then towards Lyra. "Save..." Then she stumbled over herself and collapsed on her face.
The crowd of knights and guards erupted into shouts, cheers, and jeers. They pressed in, eager, raucous, slavering for revenge and death. Now that the foe was harmless they imagined their violence, and yelled in crass obscenities for Twilight Velvet and Night Light to enact it on the unconscious mares. Their wild eyes begged for bloodshed.
Lyra had never seen creatures so monstrous. "They'll kill them." She uttered. "Then they'll..."
She remembered just in time that at least one of the pegasi was paying attention to her, not the spectacle. But the still didn't know where the shot had come from, and how to hide from the gunner.
'Get in cover', Octavia had shouted.
Thinking fast, Lyra darted towards the howling pack of knights and guards. Another whistle and bang mere moments later, the concealed pegasus arquebusier shooting where she had been standing moments before.
Shining Armor and Iillor were nearing the main gate when a gunshot rang out. The way it echoed off the buildings around them and made it sound like a whole fusillade.
“No no NO!” Shining went wide-eyed. “They’re going to kill them!”
He broke into a gallop, desperate to intercede and save the assassins.
Iillor stopped keeping pace with him. "Good luck Sir Armor!" She yelled.
Illor stepped off the street into the nearest shadows. If there had been any onlookers, they would have seen Illustrious Valor's pony form dissolve away into a dark mist.
"Too slow, I'm not going to get there in time." Shining muttered to himself. He could see the Chateau la Garde over the next row of hedges. "But I've got to."
Night Light dragged Pon-3 to beside Octavia, laying them both upright against the gatehouse structure.
"Urrr..." Pon-3 moaned, trying to focus her eyes through the throbbing in her head and body. "D- D- don't let them..." She tried to lift her head.
Beside her, Octavia was barely breathing, slack-jawed and drooling blood.
Twilight Velvet tried to keep the bloodthirsty crowd at bay. "They're apprehended! Leave them to us until we can make sure they're delivered to the castle! Disperse!" She had to raise her voice to even hear herself, let alone be heard by the vicious crowd.
"Give them over! We'll deal with 'em!"
"Blood for blood! Hang them! Stab them! Bludgeon them!"
"Revenge!"
"Revenge, Revenge, Revenge!" The chorus escalated.
Things were getting out of hoof.
"Gentleponies, please!" Meanwhile, Velvet had lost track of where Lyra had gone.
The maid, however, standing off to the side with the remaining party guests, had seen Lyra's movements.
"Sir Sel Lech, please look after things for a moment." She said, before trotting into the Chateau.
Sel Lech Sabonord blinked. "Uhh..." Seacrest Blackhorn and the guests looked at him expectantly. "Just keep your distance everypony. Don't want to get stabbed or something." Sel said.
"Or something." Blueblood echoed. "Are we about to see some bloodsport? I'll say, I've never seen a pony torn en-parté before."
Seacrest turned pale. "Oh dear."
"Back up. Back up!" Velvet slowly backpedaled as the crowd moved forward.
Then, she saw more arriving. Her ruse of ordering the guardsponies to search elsewhere in the city had run its course; It looked like some other pony, leading at least four-dozen guardsponies, was coming her way.
"Shoot." There was no way Velvet was going to be able to retrieve the mares in one piece, and lock them away on her own terms. It the knights and guards didn't kill them, some imperial authority was going to get hold of them.
That could not be allowed to happen.
"Night Light!" Velvet yelled.
Night Light stepped away from Lyra and Octavia and over to Velvet. "Geltleponies, act disreputably and I will have to treat you like those villains there." Night Light threatened, tapping his rapier on the ground to emphasize his point.
That threat of violence gave the crowds a moment's pause, enough for Velvet to retreat back to where Lyra and Octavia were laying.
"Under better circumstances, we could have had a nice conversation about all of this. It could have ended more pleasantly for both of us." Velvet pushed Octavia up straighter. "Alas this night is not going to end very pleasantly for you whatsoever." She looked over her shoulder. The new contingent of guardsponies was fast approaching, and there no chance Night Light could hold them all off.
"T- Twilight Velvet..." Pon-3 wheezed. "It wasn't us, you bitch. We didn't kill... didn't kill him. We're innocent."
"Kill who? Fancy Pants? Was it Fancy Pants who died?" Velvet asked. She leaned down and pushed Pon-3 goggles up. "If you didn't do it, then I don't owe you anything, mis Red-Eyed. Although obviously, if you had, it wouldn't credit you either. Ta ta for now. Do yourself a favor and close your eyes."
Velvet pulled a tiny vial of liquid from her coat, which she had retrieved at the same time as the rapiers. It glowed a violent green as she shook the little tincture-sized container. Steeling herself, Velvet uncorked the vial and drank the dragonfire.
Shining Armor, galloping as fast as his leg could carry him, arrived just in time to see the denouement.
He saw the company of guardsponies. Beyond them, he saw the two mares slouched against the gatehouse, with Twilight Velvet leaning over them.
"Stop! Stop!" Shining screamed, aghast.
But he was powerless to do anything. As Shining watched, Velvet stood over the grey earth pony and cast a spell. The comatose mare was consumed by sickly green flame. Before Shining's eyes, the mare's body dissolved away, before the fire burned itself out. There was absolutely nothing left of the earth pony.
Velvet faced the white unicorn now.
“NO!” Shining's yelling was of no use. Velvet cast more green flames on the unicorn mare, until moments later, the second assassin was gone too. The magical inferno had consumed everything.
To all who'd watched, for how the braying crowd had been calling for blood and was now breaking out in delirious cheers, it appeared that Twilight Velvet had just summarily executed the killers.
Shining didn't move, unable to tear his eyes away from the tiny patches of singed stone where his suspects had been moments before.
"Sir Armor!" Behind him, a pegasus with an arquebus landed and ran towards Shining. "Sir Armor, the third killer is in the crowd! Sir Armor-"
From the shadows, a tendril of black mist snaked out and surrounded the pegasus, dragging her back into the gloom. Shining had not heard, nor would he hear, about the third mare's whereabouts.
Then, inaudible for the sound of the crowd, the mechanism of the gatehouse began to clank and struggle. The portcullis drew up into the structure, and the sturdy wooden gate creaked open a sliver.
It was just enough for a lone mare to slip through, unnoticed during the chaos and commotion.
Lyra shoved the gate closed again with her shoulder, and barely had time to jump away before the portcullis descended back into place, sealing the city with her outside.
She backed away, step by painful step, keeping her eye on the gatehouse. She was numb. She couldn't summon a single feeling. Octavia... Vinyl... burned to ashes right in front of her.
"Isn't this what I wanted? To survive by myself?" Lyra mumbled.
A figure appeared on top of the gatehouse, watching Lyra's slow retreat. The figure, impossible to discern in the moonlight, waved to Lyra.
They both turned away, Lyra limping down the mountain road and the nightmare pony stepping back from the edge. Long the playground of the guild mare, Canterlot was the abode of a different kind of monster now.
"I like that girl. Hope she does well for herself." Iillor giggled. "But who opened the gate for her?"
"That would be me, mis." Velvet's maid mounted the last few steps to the roof of the gatehouse structure. She stepped to the ledge where Iillor had just been standing, watching Lyra disappear down the mountain road. "Lyra Heartstrings? Ah. I was interested to see what she could have in store when her master began his attack." She turned back to Iillor. "It is as my lady says, that the bend of destiny has blessed her with opportunity after opportunity. Sir Fancy Pants is swept away without lifting a hoof."
"Yeah? I lifted my hoof for it. Damn, I had no idea I was stepping into a tangled mess of politics. I came looking to cause trouble and I guess I got my wish." Iillor laughed. "Don't get too mixed up about missing out. If you want a fun time, I'd be happy to help."
"No mis, I am content." The maid bowed her head. "Since you are atop my lady's chateau without wings nor having taken the stairs, you must be of an unusual nature. If you would like to stay for tea-"
"Sorry, I'm a free spirit. Not interested in tea, or getting tied up in your games. I do what I want, so I'm friendly right now but I might be dangerous tomorrow, right?" Iillor snorted derisively. "If you're a good servant, like that dumbass stallion Prosser I met earlier, you'll keep your head down and steer your lady away from me."
The maid was unfazed. "You would be no threat to her ladyship. Perhaps for your sake, mis, I should steer you away from her."
Twilight Velvet looked over her work with grim satisfaction. There was congratulations and applause as she kicked her hoof through the charred patch on the ground.
"Shining is here." Night Light nudged her.
Velvet wondered if her bold act wouldn't cause more problems than it solved. What were the risks of accelerating her date with destiny? Could she handle it?
Shining Armor approached slowly, fatigued, a hollowness behind his eyes. Wordlessly, he stepped up to the scene of the crime, as if he could pull the mares back out of the fire long passed. It felt like a defeat, despite a certain justice having been served.
Maybe it was that he had set impossible goals for himself. Iillor was right, that he gave and expected too much of himself. He'd been told repeatedly the killers were unlikely to be taken alive.
But he had seen them defeated! The chance was right there, but snatched away. Why?!
"Not even a scrap of fabric." Shining kneeled and pretended to examine the stone. "There a necromancer nearby? Maybe we can ask their shades before it's too late..." He kept himself from a sorrowful sigh. "Or we'll never know why."
On some level, he felt bad that he regretted the mare's death only because of their usefulness. A virtuous pony should regret all death, even for villainous ponies. Every pony who chose evil was a failure of the empire, and it's responsibility to its inhabitants.
"Shining..." Night Light started. Unlike his wife, a real concern for his son was evident on his anxious face. "Please do not think ill of us."
“Sir Armor, get back!” Captain Hausseway’s commanding voice sounded out. The captain, at the head of the fifty arriving guardsponies, pushed through the little crowd, beelining towards the Twilight-Bright family. Shining did take several paces back as ordered, but then fell to his haunches, benumbed.
Velvet turned to Hauseway, smiling magnanimously. “Lord Captain, good night to you, sir! It's been a while. Are you getting my invitations? I did not see you at my party tonight."
Hauseway was silent. The bells of Canterlot continued to toll in the distance.
The IHG knights who had been posted at the gate looked tense and fearful, obviously concerned that their actions that night would earn them punishment.
Shining Armor took a deep breath and got to his hooves. His personal misgivings were no excuse to neglect his duty. "Captain, I-" He cleared his throat and composed himself. "Captain, I have a preliminary report on this situation. However there's a third killer out there."
"Is there? The testimonies of the castle staff say Fancy Pants was accompanied by two mares. Where'd that third mare come from? There's something fishy going on, Sir Armor." Hauseway laughed a quick and grating laugh. "More than fishy, see. There's a criminal conspiracy going on here. Everypony, and I mean everypony is suspect."
If there was one sentence to put the assembled ponies on edge, it was that. One foe uncovered and dealt with, another mysterious foe on the horizon. It was anypony's worst fear after a power vacuum opens, like the vizier's death: The power struggle.
"Sir." Shining was trepidatious for how to continue, and with his frazzled emotions, was uncertain even if he should have continued talking. "I know your meeting with the princess went badly, but we should regroup before we consider expanding the investigation. We have to find or rule out the third killer, and pursue existing leads. Then, we consult with Princess Celestia."
Hauseway cast an eye to his second in command. "Shiny my boy, you've had a long night. Take a rest. I can go without the advice for a little while, aye? We'll get this done right."
That was a very, very bad sign. "What do you intend to do, sir?" Shining asked, somewhat sharply. "The guards and IHG are already in the city, and we have control. There's no threat from any quarter."
"So you think any move would be redundant? Then how did this happen-" Hauseway pointed to the scorched stone. "WITHOUT MY ORDERS? You think I like having the prey stolen from my grasp? Shiny boy, it really irritates me when, in love or war, somepony deprives me my satisfaction and defies my authority."
To Twilight Velvet and Night Light, the threats Hauseway was laying out were clear. "Come inside my daughter's chateau, lord captain. We can start the revelries back up, right inside. Listen close, and hear the joyeuse laughter." Velvet said, her tone friendly but her expression firm.
Heaseway leaned in. "Your daughter isn't here to protect you, and despite opinions to the contrary, a viscountess title, even the First Student's, can't shield their family from the law." He raised his voice. "You are under detention, indefinitely, while the state of emergency and investigation continue."
Nopony moved, all looking shocked and confused.
Velvet narrowed her gaze, leveling a thin smile at the stallion. “Captain, come now. If you have a complaint about our revelry, lodge it with a magistrate. If you have our problem with our honor...” She chuckled. "That is a more difficult disagreement to solve."
Hausseway spat. “Don't be idiotic. No sane legal authority would dispute my right to detain you during this emergency. If they try it, I'll see them disbarred for their insanity. Lady Velvet, be difficult and I will arrest you by force. Then, rather than a nice locked room in the castle, you'll enjoy a cell like the common trash I'll round up after this."
The situation was escalating and Velvet showed no sign of backing down. "Common trash indeed. I have had enough of your threats. Be gone from our sight. We are the regents of this gatehouse, and our lady daughter is your peer. You tempt the princess's wrath, knight captain." She sneered.
"You tempt my wrath." Hauseway growled.
“Captain… Lord and Lady Bright deserve our thanks, not scorn! She saved us.” The fearful guardspony piped up.
Hauseway spun around. "Arrest her." He pointed at the guardspony. "All of them, actually." He pointed at his knights. "Report to the barracks immediately. Sir Armor, take these saps and lock them up until we can figure out if they're part of the conspiracy."
"Sir?" Shining blinked. "I... That's not a disciplinary action I can legally preform, if no conspiracy is proven. Those are nobles of the realm, and they've done their duty to the city and princess."
"What the hell does everypony think is going on here? You think the moment those whores died this crisis is over? No! I'm still in charge here. Where? Everywhere, over everything!" Hauseway shouted. "I. Am. In. Charge. Now. If I have to return with more knights from the castle, none of you are going to survive to see the inside of a cell."
Hauseway, after a night of his own frustrations, must not have been thinking clearly to so openly threaten the lives of all the ponies around him, even those he relied on.
Very quickly, guardsponies began to retreat away from the gatehouse, hoping that the captain hadn't seen their face to punish them later. Even one of the knights covered her face and ran for it.
Still, Hauseway's deadly threats worked on some of the guards, and they went ridged and listened in rapt attention for orders, terrified of punishment.
Velvet and Night Light shared reassuring looks. They were not going to be intimidated.
"Lord captain it would be shortsighted to imagine you can run this city by yourself through emergency powers indefinitely." Night Light said.
Hauseway grunted. "Is that a threat?"
"Yes it is. You've survived your own incompetence by not ruffling anypony's feathers. Don't shoot yourself in the hoof now." Velvet said mockingly. "If you want somepony in a cell, why don't you do it yourself?" She kicked some ash his direction.
Hauseway was trying to preset a stern expression, but clearly he was seething, and having a difficult time not just breaking out in a snarl.
"Captain. Captain!" Shining Armor said urgently, trying to pull Hauseway's attention. "There's more important battles we could be fighting right now. With a city to protect and govern, we have other priorities, captain. We can come back to addressing this issue with my family, later."
Hauseway shook his head. "Legitimacy comes from strength. No sooner do I turn my back from these upstarts than this empire collapses." That went a little way to explain the IHG captain's strange behavior, as he must have been developing his thoughts and gripes about Equestria parallel to Shining's thoughts. Did he also think he was the only pony capable of doing their duty?
That gave Shining an idea. "Captain." He unclasped his sword. "As your deputy I have the been given the right, by the princess, to advise without consequence on how best the IHG can serve her highness. Therefore I insist that the Equestrian state would be best served if you delegated this matter to me or another knight, while you return and handle the castle and court."
Shining nodded to his parents. "You can trust no unjust treatment from me..." He tapped his sword. "As long as you comply with all of the captain's legally given orders."
Twilight Velvet smiled smugly. "He insists, Captain."
Night Light, closed his eyes and sighed. "Velvet don't provoke him."
"What can a neutered dog like him do?" Vlevet posed, laughing.
Hauseway snatched a sword off the ground and swung. There was a bitter clang of steel as the weapon was stopped inches from Velvet's head, then pushed away by Night Light's rapier.
Night Light opened his eyes. "That, Velvet."
Hauseway grunted, and squared his stance.
"Not another fight!" The squeamish guardspony lamented. The soldiers who had stuck around retreated to a safe distance.
Hauseway rolled his shoulders. "Been a while, since I've fought with stakes like these. If you aren't cheating, you aren't trying." He laughed darkly, but he didn't look like he appreciated the situation he'd gotten himself in.
"That was ill done, sir. You will regret that." Night Light growled, more angry than Shining Armor could ever remember his father being.
"Ah the dog's found his gonads!" Velvet giggled. The swords disengaged, sparking brilliantly by the light of the dozens of torches around them.
"Obey this order: Die so Canterlot can live." Hauseway cautiously tested Night Light's defenses, trading taps as they tried to get around each other's weapon.
"Captain!" Shining shouted.
Was Hauseway in league with the castle faction, like Fancy Pants, who had been plotting against Twilight Velvet? Were the circumstances behind the assassination even more complicated than he knew?
"Captain, killing nobles for no reason is no way to inaugurate a government! We must cease this!"
"You talk about your own flesh and blood so detached, Shiny, so coldly. You're a fine stallion. Maybe you really do cut through sentimentality and see what has to be done." Hauseway said sarcastically, never taking his eyes of Night Light and his rapier. "Perhaps you're more than a lap dog of the court, meant to hold me back!"
"Enough with the dog analogies! In the name of peace and stability, please, stop!" Shining pleaded.
Hauseway was no slouch at swordsponyship, clearly; A veteran of overseas wars, with all the expert training the IHG had provided him over the years. Most critically, he was fresh, and gave Night Light a much better challenge.
But it was still only a challenge, not a matched contest at all, for Night Light, and as they cautiously matched blades, Hauseway began to back up, and Night Light to advance.
"Hmm." Night Light poked with his rapier, letting it be batted away and drawing it back a moment later, to poke again. "At least the mare was trying. She had only a life to fight for, but she gave everything. You say you have an empire to fight for, but your grip is too hard and your form is too tense." He critiqued. "The sword is not the instrument of your desire. It has its own desire it yearns to fulfill."
"I'm gunna carve that Zen bullshit out of your throat!" Hauseway snarled. He smacked the rapier away with particular vigor and tried to catch Night Light with the back-slash.
Night Light deflected Hauseway's sword upward with the rapier's guard, then sliced sideways across Hauseway's hoof, making him drop the weapon. "Sir, it is impolite not to concede when you have clearly lost. Don't make the bad decision twice of trying a dishonorable surprise attack."
Hauseway, grimacing, looked around desperately, clearly trying to find a strategy to get one over on Night Light, by rhetoric or force. "I should have worn my bucking armor." He spat.
"Oh captain, my captain! Your fearful trip is done!" Velvet tittered from the sideline. "Night Light, he refuses to surrender in a fight that he started. Kill him in self defense and we can get back to the party."
"Indeed pride has led him astray. He clearly intends us no mercy." Night Light nodded. Her expression stern, he stepped forward.
Contrary to everypony's expectation, and perhaps Night Light's desires, Hauseway did not run away, but stood his ground. "Three lawless executions in one hour? Let the world see what a bloodthirsty clan you are, and find the guts to eradicate you and all other traitors to Equestria."
He jumped forward and tried to grapple with Night Light, but unarmored as he was, took the point of the rapier to the shoulder and impaled himself several inches. Night Light pulled back the rapier and slashed down across the chest, tearing Hauseway's fine shirt and severely cutting his chest. Hauseway was stopped by the pain, his eyes welling as he tried not to cry out, sinking to the ground.
"You have to say it, you damn fool. You threw the gauntlet, so you either capitulate or you really will die." Night Light menaced. The normally mild-mannered stallion had murder in his eyes indeed, a cold fury that terrified the onlookers more than Hauseway's threats ever could have. "Do you think Canterlot will take your side after what you tried to do to an unarmed mother of two? Not even your own knights think you are in the right. You will be remembered, as the sum of your life, as a small pony who tried to be big and died for the pathetic effort. Good riddance."
Night Light kicked Hauseway in the chest, then slowly stalking to where he'd fallen, mentally counting the remaining time he was going to give the captain to surrender.
"F- For Equestria!" Hauseway wheezed in the dust.
Shining Armor felt his heart jump.
Was it really all for Equestria, or was it just cynicism? Even ponies with good intentions could be betrayed by the mind into thinking a self-serving act was altruistic. Did somepony deserve to die because they were incompetent in their pursuit of virtue, and instead perpetrated evil? Or did intentions not matter at all?
What if the assassin mares thought they were being virtuous when they killed Fancy Pants, for reasons that the world would never know now that they were dead?
Shining summoned as much magic as he could and cast a bolt of magic. It sailed through the air and hit Night Light's rapier, snapping the thin blade where it met the guard.
Night Light's eyes drooped, and he sighed. "Well..." He lobbed the useless rapier handle at Hauseway. "Somepony was going to get in my way." He turned to Shining. "Why did you decide it had to be you?"
Even growing up, Shining Armor had very rarely butted heads with his father. Twilight Velvet was the parent of rules and discipline, and Shining admired Night Light more than he could put into words. It pained his heart to have to confront him now. "No code of honor or chivalry ever led me to kill a helpless pony, even if they are dishonorable themselves." Shining said. "I can not let you have your way with my captain. I swore to obey his lawful orders so that the princess and empire are preserved."
"The princess is better off without him. How can a cur like him be trusted? If he treats the law like a recommendation, there is no guarantee he won't murder Princess Celestia." Night Light said. He looked around, forcing the assembled knights and guards to avert their eyes. "Perhaps you should be asking yourselves if he had something to do with the assassination this night, or if there are other unexplained crimes he has had his hoof in."
Hauseway tried to shout a refutation but his words were thwarted by a wheeze and groans of pain.
"That can be decided legally, not through violence." Shining Armor said. Though considering, he wasn't so convinced of that point. "Two Imperial Councilors dead in short order can only cause chaos or strife, which all good ponies should hope to avoid. I'm sorry father, but you must leave him alone so I can get him medical attention. The ramifications of this-" He pointed to the broken swords and the scorch marks. "All of this, must be examined methodically by the lawful courts and councils of our princess. No single pony besides her highness can decide it alone."
"He was the aggressor and he still hasn't surrendered. He still means us harm and this is self-defense." Twilight Velvet snapped.
Shining Armor trotted forward until he was between Hauseway and his parents. "Now you don't have to worry about any attack he might make, since I'm here to protect you." He said, scowling slightly. He hadn't expected his parents to relent right away, but they seemed unnervingly eager to kill Hauseway, excuse or not. "I am sorry I couldn't be there earlier to protect you from the killers. Maybe if I hadn't left the party, things would have worked out better. It's impossible to say, but I still feel guilty for letting you down like that, and letting them menace you."
"You're being very cheeky, Shining." Velvet harrumphed. But a glance from Night Light interrupted whatever she was going to say next. Something unspoken passed between them. Then, Velvet nodded to Sel Lech Sabonord, who began ushering Seacrest and the others into the Chateau la Garde. Then she also withdrew into the chateau, shutting its sturdy doors.
“Good night Lady Velvet!” Several of the knight and guards called after her.
Night Light was still for several long minutes, contemplating the situation. Then, in silence, he picked up Hauseway's sword, judged its weight, and stepped towards Shining Armor. "Not looking for a promotion, Shining?" He asked, his lip twisted into a thin smile.
A chill ran through Shining. If he stood his ground he was going to have to fight his father.
Shining drew his sword as fast as he could, shivering slightly. "Evacuate the captain to the University Hospital!" He ordered. "Now!"
Jolted into action, the knights guards grabbed Hauseway and dragged him away from the gatehouse as fast as they could.
Now the area around the gatehouse had been almost entirely vacated. It was just Shining Armor and Night Light.
"Not enough, Shining. You made a decision, now you must abide by it. The stakes are the same." Night Light said, still holding his smile. "Like the warlords of old! Shamefully to some, we aren't as magically talented as the women in the family, so no magic duel. But the sword has its own code, its own power, and its own demands. I did not become the best by denying it." He tapped his hoof on the broken rapier hilt. "The foil you just killed yearned for the captain's blood. A pity..."
"You never talk this much. Are you in some kind of trance?" Shining Armor asked.
"Hauseway challenged this family. I accept that you have denied my satisfaction. Now, I'm challenging you." Night Light said. "I won't chase you if you run, obviously. That would be undignified. Nor do I have any reason not to accept a pre-emptive capitulation."
A straight duel then. But Shining suspected there was something darker behind his father's challenge. "I understand." Shining said. He knew he had nothing to prove, and little reason not to avoid the fight either way. But... "Father, it's my duty as a servant of the princess to defend the honor of a fellow vassal, in addition to his life. Though I disagree with him and think he would be found guilty if prosecuted, I must stand for his honor in this duel, in addition to my own."
Shining bowed.
Night Light huffed. "Shining, I love you as a son, but you can be so stupid sometimes.
Before Shining could straighten from his bow, Night Light was already lunging at Shining's center of mass. Panicked, Shining levitated the fallen dagger to delay the attack, twisting himself away while he got into a better position. Night Light stabbed again, but was surprised when he was met with a riposte he barely dodged. Night Light weaved his sword tip around, trying to get a good thrust in, but Shining's maneuvering and parrying was quick. Night Light swung and tried to bait out another riposte, but Shining was wary and forced him to block a low thrust.
" 'That was ill done'. I did not say I accepted." Shining said, breathing fast. "You were so adamant to hear the right words from Hauseway." Shining fought against the instinct to restrain his own movements against his father, not just for the familial bond, but because Night Light had no armor. It was a sudden, dizzying, paralyzing thought for Shining that he realized he still only had the dress unicorn on himself. He felt naked!
Night Light tried to push Shining's sword away with his own, so he could get in closer, but Shining backed away just the right amount, then pushed back into try to trap the blades against the ground. Night Light changed stances and tried to cut Shining's hoof, as he'd done to Hauseway, but Shining was a hair quicker and almost caught Night Light's hoof instead. As Night Light tried to grab Shining's hoof with the sword, Shining levitated it, forcing Night Light to defend from his slashes.
"Quick thinking, if by-the-numbers." It was his most competent opponent of the night, for which Night Light was exhilarated and proud. “Practice, practice, practice. Practice is the heart of competence. You're doing very well.” He complemented. “My brilliant children. They practice so much. I'm overjoyed.” With a smile, he made a powerful swing that almost caught Shining in the leg.
But Shining, caught up in the thrill and adrenaline, became a little too cocky. “Getting old, my lord?”
Night Light arched a brow.
Shining made a slow horizontal swipe, but Night Light's reply was close enough to rip his uniform. Night Light turned left, but his sword stabbed from the right. Shining deflected it, but it came thrice more in the same way. Shining was driven back, and his sword was nearly knocked out of his grasp. Night light spun around. Having seen the effect of the buck that laid out Hauseway, Shining jumped backwards. But somehow, Night Light was faster and attacked before Shining regained his footing, shoving Shining sword far out with a swipe and cutting the uniform several more times with quick slashes.
Shining reestablished his defense and forced Night Light back, but a sinking feeling overcame him. His father had been going easy on him. If Night Light had tried, each of the slashes that had just ripped his shirt would have cut skin and muscle.
Shining had no time to think inventively when Night Light was so relentless, so effortlessly changing his approach.
"My youth has run its course too." Shining lamented. He felt like Hauseway probably had, desperately trying to think of a solution to the force bearing down on him.
Far from negating the earlier jab, Shining's words irritated Night Light more. "That's unbecoming, Shining! If you resign yourself to defeat, it becomes a guarantee. But overconfidence is also defeat. " He chuckled to himself. "As mortals where death is inevitable, life itself is defeat. If there were victory over death... Shining, wouldn't that be magnificent?"
There was intensity in Night Light's eyes. His question was more than rhetorical. Something important had just been said and Shining was confused.
"I..." Things were getting too intense. Night Light was right, and Shining was too inside his own head to attend to the duel. The moment where he could have won, when his duty and purpose had focussed him, had passed.
Shining backed away quickly, and flipped his sword around, offering Night Light the hilt. "I give up." He said. It stung badly to say it. Shining was proud of his skill, but there was no winning. What hurt even more was knowing that if somepony's life was on the line, he would have failed them.
"That was good. Very good. I would judge you rate among the top ninety percent of swordsponies in Canterlot. Nothing to be ashamed of." Night Light accepted Shining's sword and slotted it back in its scabbard. "Unfortunately, I can't identify the disparity between us. Are you too ironic about the nature of your duty, or is the duty itself unworthy?"
"Huh? Dad I'm just... stiff and bad." Shining mumbled. "By-the-numbers. Ninetieth-percentile... good enough for a knight whose only job is looking good."
"That is not what I'm talking about. I speak of higher callings." Night Light smiled again, but this time it was much wider, more genuine.
"What is going on with you?" Shining sighed. If felt like the universe was mocking him by making no sense. He had accomplished nothing, improved nothing, and now he was being made fun of for it. "Whatever. You have had your satisfaction. Since I can turn my back to you safely, I will. I have double the work now that my captain is incapacitated."
However it turned out his claim of safety was false. As Shining turned to leave, Night Light swept his leg, tripping his son.
"If Velvet is right, Gods are watching from the skies tonight, Shining." Night Light said with sudden graveness. He loomed over Shining like Velvet had over the mares, moments before their deaths. "Things are changing. Metaphysically, magically. The established order, grounded on certain precepts, can't last in a world that changes underneath it."
Shining's cheeks burned from the latest humiliation. "Buck off!" He shouted. "I saw Princess Celestia not but a few hours ago, and she was doing... fine! I don't know what you're talking about, and probably neither do you." He rolled to a sitting position, and tore off the tattered remains of his uniform. "My mother is telling you BULLSHIT. You guys have to cut this out, whatever you're doing. Playing around with the Blackhorn is going to get you killed! Do you get it? Fancy Pants was going to kill you! And don't think I don't suspect something, because I do, and if you did some 'preemptive attack' on him-"
Shining cut himself off, biting back the rest of his rant. He teared up a bit.
Night Light didn't offer any words, but his smile faltered.
"You have bigger responsibilities than this. You're Twilie's regents, appointed by the princess herself. Please, please, if I can't keep you from doing this, just don't mess this up for her." Shining begged. "Please, give Twilie her future, intact."
Night Light nodded. "I know you won't be satisfied by empty placation. Neither am I. Please believe me that we are doing our utmost, as parents and ponies, to do the best for our children. Everything we do is to give you and Twilie a future brighter than you can even imagine."
Before more could be said, an interloper came trotting down the street from the direction of Canterlot Castle.
It was Prosser, and behind him, rows of IHG knights followed. Shining recognized most of them as the IHG who had stayed to defend Canterlot Castle while the search happened.
"Dear oh dear. I doubt I could put this into words without cursing." Prosser shook his head. "This is a f-ing mess, for sure. For sure.
Night Light observed Prosser with caution, while Shining Armor stood up and met him.
"Know something I don't? Looks fine to me." Shining said flatly, sniffling and wiping his tears.
Prosser chuckled at the joke. "Yes, all fine. Where are the bodies?"
Shining sighed and nodded towards the gatehouse. No bodies, only small scorched patches of brick
"No bodies. Very well. No changing that now." Prosser scratched his chin. "Though I almost expected to see your corpse there too, Sir Armor. We passed Hauseway, going the opposite direction, screaming bloody murder."
"Appropriate." Night Light remarked.
"I advise you be less irreverent, Lord Night Light. It is a better fit your your lady wife. You have won out over us today, but you don't get away with offending a member of the Imperial Council just by being good with a knife." Prosser said. "I like you. I like your family. Once I heard the murderers were dead, we came with reinforcements to prevent the inevitable bigger fight."
"I know you're sitting on something clever, so spit it out already." Shining snapped.
Prosser pulled out a letter and waved it back and forth. "Okay, we were too late to stop the bigger fight, but still, we're here to put an end to this. A quick compromise has been reached."
Night Light followed the letter around with his eyes. "That's her writing."
"Yes, co-signed by the princeling Seacrest Blackhorn and Lady Twilight Velvet, on a deal to shield both sides from legal or imperial repercussions from what has transpired." Prosser nodded. "But you have to come willingly, Lord Night Light."
Shining blinked.
Night Light scanned the row of IHG knights behind Prosser. "Not going to be too rough on me?"
Prosser clearly was tempted to say something mean, but held off. "We aren't going to knock you unconscious, or put a bag over your head, or any-such if that is what you are asking. But you are still going into the Canterlot Dungeon, to the cell prepared for the murderers, and that is rough for anypony. The warmth of being the sacrificial lamb to shield your family will have to suffice for comfort."
Shining tried to snatch the latter but Prosser kept it out of his reach. "Is this a trick? I should have known better than let you escape your repercussion out of keeping information away from me." Shining said. "I am not letting you take this stallion without a thorough deal hammered out by legal experts."
"You have had your fun being in charge, Sir Armor, but the emergency is over. On the order of her highness, civil peace is restored, which means the administration, not the IHG, upholds Canterlot's laws once again. That's right, the princess orders you to stand down."
"What? What?" Shining Armor objected. "You know that is not true. Princess Celestia-"
Prosser clucked his tongue. "No, no, not Princess Celestia. You asked me, Shining Armor, and I asked her, and she has deigned to grace our city."
The moonlight trembled, visibly, audibly, as a new presence made itself known to Shining and Night Light.
Shining hadn't payed much attention to the group of IHG knights, nor asked himself why they would have followed Prosser of all ponies. But between their rows, standing a little taller than the other ponies, was an alicorn.
"Shining Armor." Her voice was so soft. She was smiling for him. "It's good to see you." It was a sad smile.
"C- Cadence!" Shining whined.
He couldn't breath. A piercing tinitus overwhelmed his hearing. He couldn't focus his eyes.
No, No, don't let her see me like this, failing, losing over and over. Please! Please! I'm sorry! Please! Hide my tears. Hide my shame.
Shining had asked for this. He had asked, stupidly, to confront what could have been left well alone until it was forgotten... Cadenza... Cadenza... Shining forgot how she made him feel. He thought he remembered, but it was just a ghost of the real feeling. Of deep deep despair.
Cadence! Cadence! Don't let them fool you! Don't let them lock you away!
Shining didn't know how long he was locked in his own thoughts, sorting through his own feelings. The alicorn moment was over, the air was clear and the moonlight shone on. Prosser, Night Light, the other knights, and Junior Princes Cadenza were gone.
"I didn't even- She didn't even-" Shining went silent. The bells had stopped. The streets were no longer alight with torches and checkpoints.
The emergency was officially over. There was nothing else to do. Higher powers had stepped in.
But wasn't that what Shining had asked for? Why did he still feel so bad?
Shining fetched his tattered dress uniform off the street. Faced with the option of walking all the way back to Canterlot Castle and the IHG barracks, Shining instead shuffled over to the Chateau la Garde. The maid was already outside waiting for him.
"It is late, master Armor. The room her ladyship set aside for you is still available." The maid said.
It was not long before Shining was asleep, at last, for whatever respite the dreamworld would give him.
Overseen by the smiling nightmare atop the gatehouse, the monstrous night was ending its twisted path in Canterlot.
But elsewhere, the darkness had only just begun. A night hospitable to alicorns, must be inhospitable to mortals.
Twilight ceased to struggle, only to observe. It was getting painfully cold the the ruin, colder than it should have been after a jungle rain: But when a link to depths of space was opened upon the earth, and when a ghostly visage of a long-dead legend was right before you, normal rules didn't apply.
The Nightmare of the Moon. It stung even to look at, like a pinch in the brain, even though she was only partially manifested. The dark alicorn exuded a magic antithetical to life, a pit of evil power that writhed under the command of the princess who restrained it inside herself. How could such a thing exist?! It's presanse gave Twilight vertigo, like she was on the edge of a yawning abyss, or falling through an infinite cosmic space.
“And you, mortal?” Nightmare approached slowly, with the bearing of a sovereign, yet with the caution of a canny predator. "It is your turn to give your name."
Twilight opened her mouth as she struggled to choose her words. She was afraid, very afraid. But she would not let that cloud her actions. She couldn't lose her mind to the terror, however tempting it was. “A nopony.” She said, slowly to keep any hint of pleading out. “I’m just a visitor.”
This was apparently the wrong thing to say. “You must take me for a FOAL.” Nightmare started soft, but soon her volume rose in force to a scream. “Not a visitor, clearly, but certainly an IMBECILE. You agreed to a pact and now you wish to squirm at its demands, to TRICK ME. You can not." The alicorn lifted a hoof, and swept it around, as she took in the ruinous state of the throne room. "Continue like this and my fortress, my grave, shall be yours as well. An ill fate for ANY MORTAL."
"I- I-" Twilight quivered at the outburst. She'd been around explosive ponies before, but never one who put such raw force behind their words.
"Oh? Are you afraid?" The Nightmare leaned down, gnashing her dagger-like teeth inches from Twilight’s face. "Do not disrespect me. Fear would be the ONLY excuse for your trifling behavior." The pain and disorientation Twilight felt magnified tenfold when the alicorn drew closer, and the billowing dark magic brushed against her. Up close, Twilight could see every contour of the ghostly face of the Nightmare of the Moon, and how her words were matched with erratic convulsions. "This is NONSENSE. You come before me, knowing my title and heritage, but lacking the constitution to address me properly. You must INTEND to disrespect me."
Twilight was shaking hard, tears running down her face, but she was resolute. “I didn’t mean to come here.” Her voice was unsteady. “I was led here, tricked.”
The Nightmare of the Moon's face contorted in alarm, and she drew back from Twilight. The dark magic holding her evaporated, and Twilight fell backwards onto her flank, forced to steady herself to keep from falling over.
“Led you here.” The Nightmare of the Moon repeated, curious. “Led you here?”
She snapped away from contemplation, and bore down on Twilight once more. “You will have to elaborate MORE than that, mortal.”
Twilight scooted herself away now that she could. “Your music! Your altar!”
"My music?" Nightmare cocked her head, and turned back towards the altar slowly. "My altar?" She circled it scrutinizingly, much like Twilight had earlier.
The whole experience was terrifying and disorienting. Twilight still wasn't confident in her ability to teleport away, and while the storm had cleared directly over the castle, violent wind and rain continued in the rest of the Everfree. She was trapped, with the monstrous alicorn between her and the throne room exit.
Every time she passed around the opposite side, facing Twilight, the Nightmare fixed her with a stare, making sure she stayed in place. "You did not answer the question, pony."
Twilight bit her lip. "I'm just-"
"Fear, pony. Is that answer close to your chest too? Do you fear?" The Nightmare of the Moon demanded.
Twilight watched as the nightmare inspect every detail of the dark altar, the glowing slitted eyes flicking back and forth, the indigo magic pressing at its seams.
It occurred to Twilight, but did not relieve her in the least, that the Nightmare was much a victim of the circumstance as she was.
"I am, yes." Twilight admitted softly. "I am very afraid." What had the nightmare wished to be called? Twilight didn't remember.
"The fearful, or manipulative, would both have reason to squirm." Nightmare Moon noted in a gravelly tone. "Pony, cast a spell, if you can."
Twilight obliged, casting the simplest spell which caused the least discomfort in the magical turbulence around her, a small orb of light.
The Nightmare of the Moon observed the light until it evaporated. Much like Celestia, the nightmare did not blink at all.
"It is not your contraption. I see that now." The Nightmare said, laying a hoof against the glowing dark altar. "I doubt you are even a necromancer, or worse still, one of those sycophantic Crypt ponies."
Necromancer? Crypt pony? "N- No, I am not licensed to be a necromancer." Twilight said. The necromancers she knew from the University ranged from the dullest ponies in Equestria to death-obsessed head cases. While Twilight didn't think necromancers deserved their bad reputation, and did decently on her own forays alongside Celestia, the trope of a rogue necromancer trying to summon a dangerous death beast immediately sprung to mind. "Nightmare of the Moon, how could a necromancer do this to summon you? You are not dead."
That inflamed the Nightmare's mood again. "I question the convenience of a poor astray pony, tricked into coming here, who happens to know whether I am alive or dead. Do you think you know better than I do?" She snapped.
"N- No. I do not." Twilight mumbled, casting her eyes to the floor.
"Death and the Forest, the Forest and dreaming, dreaming and the Moon, the Moon and I: All overlap. The magical aspect of Dark is all those things. Do necromancers no longer slip seamlessly from role to role anymore?" The Nightmare said. It was a familiar, lecturing tone. Again Twilight was reminded of Celestia's demeanor. "Bah. Who could come up with a license for a necromancers? Idiocy! Death and dreams are worlds ensnared by the eros of the mortal soul, meant to be felt, adored." She looked wistful. "No necromancer who stoops to license themselves could understand the nature of my being, nor be competent enough to create this contraption."
The Nightmare was talking past Twilight. To herself? To something Twilight could see or feel? There was more than the usual dose of alicorn capriciousness here. If what Twilight had read and deduced were true, and the Nightmare of the Moon had been magically sealed away for nearly a millennium, some progressed derangement was to be expected. Twilight would have expected worse; At least they could carry on a conversation. That, in its own way, made the divine alicorn slightly less threatening feeling. Slightly.
"The craftspony does not matter, only the craft, here before us. What a twisted work of art." The Nightmare ran her hoof over the top of the altar, passing it through the silken strand of magic linking it to the sky. The Nightmare's ghostly hoof distorted and dissolved until she pulled it away. "Much love and attention was put into this. What a perfect shame that it is too shabby for me to fully emerge from. It is appropriate for a pony-sized soul to pass through, but I am far greater."
Speaking louder, the Nightmare addressed Twilight. "Have any unknown mares come through your settlements? They could be of any tribe or color of coat, but most likely be coal-black."
Why? Should Twilight have? "Not that I know of. I have only been in the region for a short time."
Nightmare turned vicious again. “I asked you a question, IMBECILE. Give me an answer, yes or no. I do not care to hear useless PRATTLE." She abandoned her caressing of the altar and stalked towards Twilight. "Must I ask the question again?"
“Are you going to make me answer again? I said no.” Twilight snapped, irritated by the alicorn's superior tone.
The Nightmare lashed out with a hoof, which Twilight backed just out of reach of. The alicorn raged forward but apparently tripped, falling forward onto her face. One of the black tendrils of magic of the altar had her by the hoof.
Twilight suppressed the urge to be gloating. She had just found the limitations of the trap. The alicorn looked so distraught she almost felt bad.
"The terms of my parol are thus. No farther." The Nightmare lamented quietly. She rolled onto her back and tried to pull her leg away, but the altar's magic had it firmly.
The Nightmare stood up, staying inside the limits the altar allowed, making a big circle around throne room. She examined the collapsed and mossy stones of the walls, the weathered statuary, and the broken twin thrones.
Twilight might have been safe from the alicorn's molestations, but she was still on the wrong side of the room from the exit. The Nightmare was like a caged animal, an awe-inspiring force, a coiled and potent creature, but its bars gave Twilight the upper hoof.
"Nightmare of the Moon, I apologize for what offense I may have caused."
The Nightmare snarled, continuing her slow pacing. "Magnanimous in 'victory', pony? I would not have been. Charity, mercy, sentimentality are weapons of the weak to enslave the strong. My preferred titles of respect I offered you are constraining tools meant to protect you from me, yet you still refuse to use them. Is it your hubris? I thought you were telling the truth when you admitted your fear."
Twilight smiled awkwardly. "I guess I was too afraid to hear you properly."
"No, no, you were too busy telling me my own name to LISTEN. You thought you knew better." The Nightmare shook her head. "No soul, mortal or divine, prospers when governed by their pride. You think you are too clever to have to tell me your name. I will prove otherwise."
The Nightmare looked like she had more to say, but a thought suddenly occurred to her. "If I was summoned, and bound by a pact, was she?" She was talking past Twilight again. "Was it the craftspony, this proud pony, or some third? Vile ignorance throttles me."
Twilight frowned. "I'm sorry I keep coming off wrong here. If you tell me about this coal-coat mare you asked about, I could help you better."
"It was not HER name which I agreed to say, pony. So you will mind it not!" The Nightmare hissed.
Now that the Nightmare of the Moon was, for the moment, much less of an existential threat to Equestria as Twilight had imagined, Twilight began to wonder what kind of threat this mystery mare posed. "I said I'm sorry."
"You are not sorry. You are a devious mortal, unpleasant to be around. The sooner you tell me your name and release me from this altar, the better for me." The Nightmare shook her head.
Twilight grinned. “If I don't, then you're trapped, and subjected to my unpleasantness. If you want me to do what you want, you have to throw me a bone."
The Nightmare let out a guttural groan of frustration. "I was captured by the maudlin moment of seeing my first living Equestrian in centuries. I wanted to believe you had the forthright, humble spirit of an honest pony." She growled. "The lesson of my revolution was that the honest pony is another falsity. You all must be disciplined, or you will become treacherous. The alicorn MUST ensure the mortal is repentant, lest sin destroy them both."
Something brushed Twilight's cheek.
"Huh?" Twilight tried to turn around, but she was gripped by a new magic, soft, blue, shimmering down from the sky. The Nightmare of the Moon was forming a spell, but the Moon above was casting it! "AH!" Twilight thrashed, briefly getting a hoof free by putting it in the shadow, but she was lifted into the air and in full sight of the Moon above.
"You underestimated me, as I underestimated you." The Nightmare leveled. The moonlit magic dropped Twilight back in range of the altar. "Mutual helplessness, mutual deterrence, serves nothing. I think it is much better this way-" She grabbed Twilight by the neck. "Where there is clarity."
"H-chh-hh." Twilight struggled to breath. She had no plan. "D-ddd-"
"I do not know if killing you will release me from this place, but it is better than having to deal with you, my little pony friend." Nightmare Moon chuckled. "Forthrightly, I can not think of a memory I would be fonder of, than of a brief return to the waking world, and immediately killing the first pony I meet. Thus I send you to your sleep. GOODNIGHT.” Her horn lit up, flaring in dark indigo and violent flames.
Twilight could feel as her body was pulled apart by the magic. She screamed in her head, desperate to be heard to save herself.
A light breeze was sending ripples across the fields of grass, and similarly affecting Twilight’s fur. She raised her head from her lap, and looked about her. She was on the very edge of the Everfree Forest, next to the path leading back into Ponyville. The moon was still high in the sky, and its light reflected off the sea of grass as it would an ocean, ever wavering and warping in the waves.
The rain had passed. The storm was driving its way south and east now. Only a few straggler clouds remained.
It had been nothing more than a dream. A nightmare.
Twilight checked herself over. She was still intact. But her fur was completely dry, while the leaves and grass around her were still dripping from the rain.
Twilight looked up to the full Moon. It appeared normal, but Twilight did not feel safe under it anymore. Had the dark alicorn returned to her heavenly prison? Was she being watched back?
Twilight drew herself up, pushing through the wet undergrowth of ferns and bushes to break the tree line, and emerge in the grass meadow between the river and the Everfree. When had she fallen asleep? Twilight usually forgot her dreams quickly, but the event in the ruined castle with the nightmare alicorn were clear in her memory, like they had really happened.
Twilight felt around her throat, and vividly recalled how she had been choked to death. She felt her shoulder and remembered how it had been pulled from the socket.
"Maybe I'm dead, an my purgatory is going back to Equestria where all my problems are." Twilight joked to herself. It wasn't very funny. "Stepping out of the Forest of the Dead, towards..." She tried to glimpse Canterlot on the northern horizon, but it was still too cloudy in that direction. "Elysium."
If Twilight had remembered more of her courses on dream magic, she could have tested herself and determine if her harrowing experience had been real or fake. Alas, she had to go on not knowing.
"Twilight! Twilight!" A squeaky and familiar voice called out to her. Pinkie Pie came bouncing through the tall meadow grass, stopping just short of colliding with Twilight. Pinkie Pie was soaking wet, her usually poofed mane stuck to her head and neck."Wow! Thank goodness you're okay! We were pretty worried about you!" She threw her hooves around Twilight in a hug.
Purgatory indeed. Still, Twilight was touched by the concern. "I'm fine. I meant to return but I, umm, dozed off."
Pinkie released the hug. "Gosh! How did you sleep with so much thunder? And-" She cocked her head. "You're, like, completely dry, except for where I hugged you."
"And thanks for that." Twilight said wryly. "Uhh, magic."
"Oh, naturally." Pinkie Pie nodded. "You didn't go into the forest, did you?"
That was one question Twilight couldn't give a good answer for, lie or not. "I'm not sure. It's complicated. I was so tired and-"
"Hey, I get it." Pinkie Pie nodded. "Let's go back to the Golden Oak, huh? Then I'll go find the other girls, while you get back to sleep in a proper bed!"
Twilight smiled. "Thank you Mis Pie. I appreciate it a lot. The other girls and you, I- I'm sorry for making you worry. That wasn't right, irresponsible of me. As the princess's agent, I should be looking after you, not the other way around."
Pinkie Pie, uncharacteristically, didn't say anything to that. She led Twilight back through the long grass, disturbing the raindrops glittering in the moonlight. The insects were starting to sing again, and a chorus of crickets were soon all around them.
As they neared the stone bridge over the river, Twilight was reminded of the old bridge in the Everfree. She resolved to go looking for it in the daytime, to see if it was real.
"Sleep well?" Pinkie Pie asked.
"Huh?" Twilight said.
"Like, did you have any dreams?" Pinkie glanced back at Twilight.
Thinking on it, Twilight remembered that Rarity had asked a similar question about sleep that morning. And hadn't Rarity specifically asked about dreams? Twilight didn't remember that well. It had been a casual conversation, forgettable. "It's still complicated." Twilight said, erring on caution. She didn't want to be paranoid about the ponyvillians when she didn't even know if her dreams had been real.
"That's good. Rarity has a saying, err, that I don't exactly know how it goes, but it's something like 'you have to have nightmares to have dreams'. Or maybe it was ' having no dreams is better than nightmares'." Pinkie grinned. "Hee hee, I wish I remember which one it was, since that's two completely different lessons in the sayings."
Twilight gave a little shrug. "You and Rarity seem at odds a lot. I'm surprised you'd bother."
"I mean, we're still neighbors. Country pony feuds usually happen over land. Our beef feels pretty important sometimes, but hopefully it's something we can solve." Pinkie Pie said.
It seemed like the Pinkie-Rarity rivalry was only tangentially related to the Applejack-Rarity rivalry. It promised to be just as interesting.
"Of the two saying, I think I prefer the first one, 'you have to have nightmares to have dreams'. Not only do we, as mortals, have to take the good in life with the bad, but to pursue meaning in our lives we have to accept a measure of bitterness, or even disappointment. True fulfillment won't come without deep honesty with ourselves." Twilight mused.
"Wow, deep. I don't even know if Rarity knew it was that profound." Pinkie said.
Twilight giggled. "Well, they teach classes on words-ing, and I've taken them." She grew more serious. "But who knows. There might be a point in my life where I gravitate more to that second idiom, 'better not to dream at all, than have nightmares'. Who knows if either of us have faced a nightmare grave enough to teach us their true meaning. For some of us under heaven, sleep never brings peace, just torment, our souls laid bare to an inner devil again and again."
Pinkie didn't say anything, probably dwelling on how much she related to that idea or not.
Sooner than expected, they were outside the Golden Oak.
"Thank you so much for this. I can't repeat it enough. I feel very foolish about how tonight has gone." Twilight said earnestly. "The other girls must be soaked too. I have to remember to apologize to them tomorrow, or whenever I see them."
"We'll see you for sure tomorrow. We're helping you with your project." Pinkie beamed. "Go on in, Lady Twilight. The other mares will just be happy you're safe."
Twilight accepted that and went inside, while Pinkie Pie bounced off.
As soon as the door was shut. Twilight sank to the floor.
Was it real? Were the Ponyvillians in on it? Twilight had started the night paranoid that Ponyville was colluding with Celestia, now she feared they were in league with the Nightmare Pretender. She knew those fears were nonsense, but she couldn't stop feeling them.
"It's not my fault I feel this way. It's not my fault." Twilight repeated to herself. "It's not my fault. It's not my fault. It's not my fault." Until a merciful sleep, peaceful, gentle, overtook her.
At last, the night was coming to an end. Not soon enough for some, all too late for others. The attentive pony would notice, contrary to the established order of springtime, that the night had been just a little longer the the last.