//------------------------------//
// The Legion 
// Story: Legion of Shadows 
// by Strythio 
//------------------------------//

Somehow, her kidnappers had managed to haul her all the way from Rainbow Dash's home to some public place, and not had drawn the immediate attention of every resident in town. Apparently, they had seen stranger things than a large, moving sack being dragged by three mares. 

When light and fresh air flooded her temporary prison, the griffon found herself dumped onto a wooden platform. Magic levitated all manner of things, including boards and a curtain, from some unseen location. Gilda frantically looked around, only to spot Lightning Dust and one other mare. Apparently, either the third had bailed out, or was somewhere orchestrating this odd show of sorts. 

This, and not the earlier scene, seemed to attract the attention of the townspony, who curiously approached the makeshift stage that Gilda found herself lying on. Still completely restrained, she too had to wait in anticipation for what these mad mares had planned. 

Lightning turned towards the sun flanked mare with a frown. "Sunset, this is drawing more attention than I would have liked. I think some of the royal guard is starting to show up..." 

"Just follow my lead," Sunset hastily stated, turning towards Gilda, "You are going to be doing most of the talking anyways." 

Lightning did not seem pleased by this revelation, but before she could properly voice her opinion on it, Sunset began shouting out towards the gathering crowd.  "Mares and stallions, today we bring a very special griffon before you today. We are going to inquire of her involvement in events that she has been accused of; all of ye shall act as witnesses to this act." 

The ponies turned and looked to each other for a few moments, likely pondering whether this was an appropriate way to go about this. If Gilda could have responded then, she would have shouted no. 

"Now then, Gilda," Sunset began, using her magic to remove the rope tying Gilda's beak together, "Do you swear to speak the truth and nothing but the truth, or so help the great evidence against you send you to the depths of Canterlot's prisons?" 

Gilda snapped her beak in irritation, and would have began working on biting herself free when the unicorn used her magic to restrain her head from free movement. Stiffness quickly began taking ahold, much to Gilda's displeasure. 

"Fine!" Gilda cried out, largely in order to convince the mare to release her head, "I swear to speak the truth and nothing but the truth, or so help the great evidence against me whatever." 

The last part did not make much sense, but neither the crowd nor Sunset seemed to care. Once her assurance was given, Sunset released her head and slid her across the stage, all with magic of course. 

"Now then, my first question," Sunset inquired, "Where were you when Grackus took a dagger to the forehead?"

"Objection!" 

Sunsest looked up from Gilda, as if she would turn to ash the speaker of that word. None other than a bouncing pink pony boldly hopped on stage, her blue eyes and wide smile almost disarming enough to make one disregard the seriousness of the situation. 

"If you are going to do this right, then you might as well make up lawyers too! Where is Gilda's lawyer?" 

"Good question," Gilda muttered, only to be silenced by a magical tying of her beak. 

"Listen pony," Sunset growled, pointing a hoof threateningly at the pink one, "This is not a trial-" 

"So you are holding a princess of a foreign country against her will for shits and giggles?" the bouncing pony happily announced the obvious flaw in what they were doing. "I mean, if you are here to help her, then at least release her of her binds. Otherwise, what you're doing kind of makes you look like the bad guys." 

Damn. Gilda had never seen a pony deflate as fast as Sunset did, nor did she see a pony facehoof much harder than Lightning, who nearly knocked herself out with her own hoof in the process. 

"Oh, my bad, I guess you are right," Sunset confessed, sounding about as remorseful as a bear caught eating a fish by a shark in the river, "This whole reformed thing is kind of hard to get down. That's what the Legion is all about ya know." 

"Oooo, legion?" Pinkie's thrill was almost contagious, to the point in which Gilda could notice her beak binds beginning to loosen. "What kind of legion?"

"Lightning Dust here has been in this much longer than I have," Sunset continued, quickly sidestepping as to bring attention to a very distraught pegasus, "She can explain more. Go on ahead Dust, give them the low down." 

"Err..." Lightning floundered, her ears flattening against her head as she sought for some sort of answer. Gilda, whilst this was going on, managed to free her beak. With Sunset still occupied, Gilda began straining to get just the tip of her beak towards her neck restraints. 

"The Legion is a covert group," Lightning went on, clearly having found something to say, "Skillful Equestrians that are a little on the underhoofed side are granted a chance to be productive through the Legion. We get paychecks, you sleep well in your homes, and we learn a little more about harmony. The end." 

Pinkie giggled, in a fashion that seemed to convince the crowd that there was some legitimacy as to what Lightning spewed in the heat of the moment. "Oh. So why not let Gilda join? Is being a thief and a big meanie worthy of going in?" 

It was at this point that Gilda would have verbally lashed out, but her beak was too occupied with freeing her talons to respond. 

"Well, first we need to know that she is not guilty of assassination," Sunset spoke, still not showing signs of having noticed Gilda's actions, "Can't let anypony in you know." 

"Oh, I get it! Actually succeeding in killing royalty gets you disqualified, but failing gets you in? What do you do then?" Pinkie somehow had bounced her way right to Sunset's face; despite her rather bouncy and fluffy outside, Gilda could tell by then that she was getting at something with her line of questions. 

"We would all like to know just what you have, and are, up to." 

All heads save for Gilda's turned, and the crowd parted midway as a purple alicorn flanked on all sides by royal guard pegasi and unicorns strode through the crowd. Dash flew just overhead with an angry expression on her face. The cavalry had arrived. 

"What now genius?" Lightning commented sarcastically under her breath while glaring at her partner in crime. Sunset scowled in response to her before turning towards the alicorn with an over-sized smirk that did little to betray her true feelings regarding her arrival. "Twilight Sparkle, nice to see you again. I am just learning about friendship and all, and getting paid to do it. Nice entourage by the way; where's your pet?" 

Twilight leapt from the cover of the guards and onto the stage, hardly using her wings at all in the process. Gilda by this point had managed to loosen the bonds to the point in which her wriggling could actually start making progress. 

"Sunset, in light of recent events, you showing up in Ponyville with a hostage is very suspicious," Twilight spoke, stepping ever closer to Sunset, "Considering you did try to kill me once, I think the possibility of you being the assassin is there." 

"What?" Sunset seemed to take great offense to this. "I would not have left the dagger behind had I done it. Besides, the guards can account that I was not even in Canterlot yet at the time of." 

Just as Gilda managed to free her talons, three royal guard pegasi pounced on her position, using her snapped bonds to retie her. Now with a few extra knots than before, Gilda was right back to where she started; except this time, she was in the hooves of the royal guard. 

"Regardless, Dash has given me, and these guards, reason to suspect that you are up to no good," Twilight spoke, narrowing her eyes, "I am not one to hold a grudge, but association is too much for me. Both of you are under arrest." She gestured to both Sunset and Lightning.

"But we got hired to save Gilda in the first place!" Lightning protested as guards surrounded her, "Ask Antoine!" 

"We can ask him when we get to Canterlot," one of the guards commented, "He and his griffons are still fucking there." 

"Be gentle with her," Twilight cautioned the guards handling Gilda, "The griffons will screech foul if she comes back with bruises."

Gilda sighed in defeat. Well, on one talon, she would be seeing her father again. On the other, she was also going to be seeing the chief prosecutor of the land, if she even had a trial planned. She should have just sided with Dash from the beginning and gotten this over with. At least she would not have been restrained in such a manner.





Capturing the trio had been one thing; actually transporting them to Canterlot had been another. Despite the obvious chance of them escaping, the guards insisted that the three be carried by train. Unfortunately for Gilda, the guards watched them like hawks, and even Dash was not permitted to chat with her. 

She was not sure if she had went from prisoner to death-row prisoner, as the guards treated her very carefully. They didn't cater to every whim like butlers but they tended to allow her some freedom in her cabin, as long as she made no sudden jerking movements. And looking out the window, seeing the passing scenery as they journeyed towards Canterlot, Gilda reconsidered the situation she was in. After all, it was not that bad, in hindsight. 

Celestia was a fair alicorn. As long as she told the truth, she had nothing to worry about. She could have avoided this entire issue if she had just ran down the hall to her father instead of fleeing Canterlot through that dreaded cave system. Even if they required her too, she would not be able to find her way back through there. 

Temporarily lost in thought, Gilda heard a sneeze, turning her attention to the guards, who for just a few moments had their backs turned to her. Trying to look uninterested, she turned her head around, only to hear murmurs start up. She had not noticed them before, but now she tuned in, hoping to catch snippets of information. They were quiet though, so it took a few minutes to adjust properly to their volume, tuning out any distractions that would hinder her hearing ability. 

"Princess? She hardly looks like one to me. From what I hear from the Ponyville crowd, she is very unpleasant to be around." 

"I dunno, she has been very civil so far. I think she is a bit misunderstood. Her father, I don't really trust though." 

"Her father is more trustworthy in my opinion. Sure, he has not complied with our requests to leave, but he has gathered all of his forces in one place to make it easier to keep an eye on them." 

A snort, just as the train began approaching the mountain that Canterlot rested on. 

"The forces he is willing to tell us about anyways. As far as I am concerned, Antoine might have been a co-conspirator." 

A third voice joined the previous two, butting into the conversation. 

"Did you hear that rubbish that Dust spoke on stage? Legion, for the reformed. I bet the princess would have gotten a hoot out of that one." 

"Well, call me crazy, but isn't Lightning Dust a member of the Pegasus Force? If so, is it possible that Spitfire actually did assign her to this?"

"Spitfire is captain of the wonderbolts, not of the entire Force," the third voice rebutted, clearly offended at the notion, "Not to mention she doesn't trust Dust any more than we do." 

"Gilda has been staring out the window for a pretty long time now. Do you think she is listening in on us?" 

Without thinking, Gilda shifted in her place, giving away her actions from the previous few minutes. The guards were rather silent for a few minutes, likely thinking on whether they wanted to continue talking or not. 

The third guard to arrive in the conversation had no qualms about continuing. "Well, nevermind that. She is supposedly the victim here. Anyone else notice that Sunset Shimmer was there too?"

Gilda could feel attention being diverted from her to the new direction of the conversation. 

"Yes, I noticed that too. She has quite the nerve to come back to Equestria and start up trouble this close to Canterlot." 

"Word at the station was that she had come to Canterlot with Fleur Dis Lee. Why would somepony like Fleur associate herself with Sunset Shimmer?"

"Well, until her little outburst with the princess a few years back, Sunset was a prestigious student at Canterlot under the wing of Celestia; kind of like Princess Sparkle before she ascended. Maybe they knew each other from then." 

As interesting as the conversation had been before, Gilda was slowly beginning to lose interest. This was turning not just into gossip, but gossip about her kidnappers, which was much less revelent now that she had been freed from their grasp. The trees were beginning to give way to stony ledges, and the cavern that would lead to the winding path up to Canterlot Station engulfed the entire train in darkness.  

Going from broad daylight to merely the comparatively dim lighting of the train car startled Gilda. Leaping from her seat, she thought she heard a hiss from her left before leaping backwards. Hitting the back door of the train car, Gilda hardly had time to register her mistake before the clopping of hooves and armor announced the arrival of the three guards from earlier. 

"Something wrong Princess?" one of the guards asked, the three of them surrounding her the best they could, "Something spook you?"

"It's nothing." Gilda attempted to play it off, but her body language likely did not match her statement. The other two guards looked to each other before looking at her. 

"How did you leave Canterlot again?" 

Before Gilda could respond, she heard a roar that shook the train car. The guards suddenly brandished weapons that they previously did not have on their person, and pointed them menacingly at Gilda. 

Gilda would have lashed out had they not returned to daylight, and the guards returned to their more amiable appearances, looking both confused and concerned at the same time. It was as if the had not at all moved, nor brandished weapons in aggression towards her. 

"You don't look so good," the second guard noted, looking her up and down, "You look about ready to pass out." 

Gilda shook her head clear, now beginning to notice her racing heart, her tense bracing of the door, and the painful grip that she had had on the train car's back door. Releasing the car and retracting her wings, Gilda chuckled uneasily. "It was just a thing, happens when you're about to go to trial for something that you didn't do." 

The guards seemed to accept this answer, reluctantly, perhaps in part because the intercom sounded, asking that all passengers take a seat in preparation for stopping. 

As they strode off towards the front of the car, Gilda grasped at her chest, and gingerly walked over to her seat. What was that all about? There were not even any ponies involved in the attack; it would have made more sense for her to have seen a dragon and a griffon next to the pony guards. And had the guards not heard that roar as well? 

Maybe it was a lack of sleep doing it to her. Either way, upon taking her seat, the train began to slow, showing the view of Canterlot station. 

At the station was none other than a large entourage of royal guards. Every single one of them carried spears, a clear sign that this was not a welcoming committee. Gilda groaned, preparing herself mentally for the upcoming meeting with her judge and jury.





Indeed, the large group of guards had not been there to welcome them; they had been there to escort them straight to the palace. Princess Twilight and Rainbow Dash were among them, the latter hovering near Gilda. 

Upon getting past the gates and the long hallway to the throne room, Gilda had become convinced that every guard in Canterlot had to be busy escorting them. Once in the throne room, Gilda noticed the excessive amount of stain glass windows depicting ponies and the history of Equestria. Many of them seemed oddly recent for the castle to have been constructed far more than a few decades ago.

Catching her attention, however, was the flowing mane of none other than Princess Celestia, who sat on her throne flanked by merely two guards, watching the procession enter. In front of the throne was a unicorn and her father, Antoine, both turning around to gaze upon the new arrivals. Unable to contain herself, Gilda started to rush forward when the guards restrained her, pulling her back into the large group of bodies. 

"Ah, this makes things easier," Celestia stated with a smile, "Fleur, Antoine, you may go to the sides of the throne now." 

The two hastily moved out of the way as Gilda, Lightning, Sunset, Dash, and Princess Twilight were thrust forward into the limelight. The smiling white alicorn nodded her head towards Twilight, who led the small group in a quick bow before launching into a short exposition. 

"Princess Celestia-" she started before Celestia raised a hoof to silence her. The purple alicorn shrank back as her larger counterpart stared down at the group before her. Her eyes rested particularly on Sunset, who seemed less than eager to be in her presence. 

"It is nice to see you are alive and well Sunset," Celestia greeted, thinning some of the tension in the room, "As well as all of you. I must ask though, why are you here?" 

That was the million bit question, one in which Dash couldn't help but jump at the heels to answer. 

"Lightning Dust kidnapped Gilda from my home, and along with Sunset Shimmer together tried to hold some sort of trial in Ponyville," Dash explained, fervently gessturing towards Sunset and Lightning. It was just now that Gilda noticed that the mare known as Trixie seemed to be absent from this meeting. Had she somehow dodged arrest?

Celestia turned towards Sunset with a raised brow. "Kidnapping?" The way she said it, she clearly was disappointed that it was not something more impressive. 

Lightning jumped at the pause afterwards. "Princess, if I may have a word, we were hired by Antoine to retrieve his daughter and the potential assassin of Grackus. Because it was unclear if Gilda was just one or both, we had to use force in order to make sure nopony got hurt in the process." 

"And staging a mock trial of a potential assassin would have solved what problem?" Celestia asked, not entirely sold on the tale. 

"The problem of dragging a griffon the size of one of us out of town without anypony getting suspicious," Sunset explained, "To be fair, we could have calmly talked her into coming back, but again, we did not want to take any chances." 

"I told you that my daughter was not the assassin!" Antoine interrupted, " I might would have been better off hiring Celestia's guard." 

"Antoine, perhaps now is not a good time to speak out of turn," Fleur gently warned the griffon, "Besides, she has come back safe and sound. That's what matters here right?" 

Antoine scowled, but one look from Celestia made him retract his show of displeasure.

Celestia then turned back towards Sunset and Lightning. "So, you were hired by Antoine to find Gilda. You did so. I fail to see a crime here punishable." 

"Lightning was at the arena massacre!" Dash accused, barely waiting for Celestia to finish, "She was there!" 

"Prove it," Lightning scowled, turning towards the pegasus, "I was in the barracks awaiting orders that evening. I have Sunset here as a witness that I was also busy with the other pegasi the night after." 

All eyes went onto Sunset, who now had to provide her own testimony to add onto the story. Sunset nodded slowly. "I was on board a train from Canterlot when it derailed. I was rescued by Lightning afterwards." 

Celestia's gaze hardened, this particular incident striking some sort of chord upstairs. "Spitfire informed me of the rather low number of riders accounted for. Is it coincidence that I have to believe that you are one of the lucky few to have been rescued?"

Silence, for not even Sunset dared answer her monarch. Gilda had a feeling that the answer was obvious to all in the room but her. Since when did Equestrian trains just 'derail'?  

Celestia certainly did not seem very pleased. She looked up for a moment towards the throne room doors, which parted to allow a unicorn in. 

"Fancy Pants," Fleur stated with a dead-pan expression.

Despite his name, the pony wore no pants, and perhaps a first for Canterlot elite in public, he wore no shirt either. He was being escorted by three guards, the pony himself having a bruise on his left cheek. Apparently, he had not come quietly, and Gilda could only speculate the reasons for that. 

"Princess, may I ask what the meaning of this is?" he asked as politely as he could muster, it plainly clear that he was fuming beneath this facade, "Dragged from a most important affair-"

"Silence, Fancy Pants." Celestia was quick onto her hooves, striding down the hallway towards the pony with a dangerous aura. Not even the guards stood in her way, and even the ones near Fancy Pants cleared out. The unicorn's rage turned into concern, for Celestia not only stood at her full height, but also stood just feet from him, towering like an angel preparing to deliver judgement. 

The sun just happened to catch the rays of the  windows, casting a fierce orange glow over Celestia, as if the windows possessed no colors of their own. It was at this moment that Gilda even backed away from the alicorn. She had an odd resemblance to a nightmare from some time ago, and perhaps it was on everyone's minds. She could not put a talon on where she had seen the image before though, and why she was being reminded of it now. That orange coat, that posture, that killer's intent of a gaze all added up to something that did not traditionally speak "Celestia" to her.

"Fancy Pants, I have patiently allowed the Market to co-exist and operate within Equestria for many moons now. However, I left you all with one condition; you keep it subtle, and the crimes below capital. This sudden escalation of affairs, griffon captains hiring my ponies, trains magically derailing for now reason, and the senseless slaughter of innocents in a sports event that itself is barely legal, has the prints of the Market all over it." Celestia stared down the unicorn, who now seemed to be shivering in fright. Gilda would have joked about him shitting his pants, but because he did not have pants, the joke would fall on deaf ears. Plus, the atmosphere seemed too tense for that ice breaker. 

Fancy could hardly speak, his own voice catching in his throat. "Princess, you do not think that the Market is involved in all of that. D-d-do you?" 

"Who would stand to benefit from a host of ponies, dragons, and griffons going missing?" Celestia lowered her head to eye level, forcing the shaking stallion to tremble as eye contact was made. "More importantly who are the clients who paid so handsomely for you all to stick your necks out like this?"

Fancy Pants gulped, his gulp loud enough to be heard throughout the throne room. Almost everypony held their breath in anticipation for Fancy Pants' response. 

"Well, you see Princess, I can't really give that kind of information out. Even to you." Fancy Pants flinched, as if Celestia would strike him down right then and there for his response. Celestia didn't do anything nearly as aggressive as that, instead opting to merely rise to her full height again. She took a deep breath, and then flicked her ears.

"I suppose I will have to begin making arrests then. I can not have an organization such as yours running about Equestria wrecking chaos and turmoil at will without the will to tell me who hired you lot for the job. I will have to begin with your-"

"The rebels!" Fancy Pants exclaimed, diving towards Celestia's front hooves in a pitiful sob, "The rebels from Griffia used the money from looting the Bellamy Palace to pay for the job! They merely wanted to get rid of Dratina and Grackus, no harm directly to Equestria, I swear!" 

Lightning coughed, and many in the room gasped, including Gilda. Gilda noticed, however, that her father and Fleur did not seem in the least bit surprised, much less any other emotion. Then again, mayaps they were concealing their reaction with good reason. 

"Market, Princess?" Twilight naturally would be the one to break the mood with a question like that, as if it needed to be asked at this moment, "What-" 

"Fancy Pants, you are to disband the Equestrian Market at once," Celestia ordered, "You have one day to get the word out. Any further actions carried out in their name shall be considered a crime of the highest offense. Not even you will be exempt. Guards!" 

The guards that had earlier scrambled from their ruler rushed to her side, as if she really needed their urgency in this moment. 

"Escort Fancy Pants to his mansion and tell Queen Dratina that I need to see her. In private." 

The guards scurried to obey, almost all of them gone within seconds save for the two that had been standing on either side of Celestia's throne. The lighting in the room returned to normal, and for just a moment, Gilda almost forgot the considerable amount of fear that had pervaded the room just moments before. 

Celestia turned back towards the small assembly with a frown. 

"Twilight, we will speak more on this later. As for the rest of you; I apologize you had to see that. Antoine, I suggest that you return home; if they are capable of hiring the Market to aide them, then they are truly a threat and must not be taken lightly." 

"That is not a request, is it Princess?" Antoine spoke loudly and clearly, as if she would not get the meaning otherwise. 

"No, that is not a request." 

Antoine sighed, but looked hopeful, with a glance towards Gilda. "May I ask that Gilda stay here for a little while longer? Until things blow over?" 

Celestia looked towards Gilda, and then back to Antoine. "That is acceptable, as she is considered an Equestrian by law due to how long she has lived here in Equestria. However, you must trust us to look after her. If any of your griffons are spotted in Equestria from the point after your departure, they will be dealt with as intruders. Understood?"

Antoine nodded and bowed. "Understood. Thank you, Princess." He then looked towards Gilda as he rose and exited. 

Fleur was about to follow after him until Celestia looked in her direction. "Not so fast Fleur. Guards are going to be checking on your studio within the hour. I suggest you prepare release forms for any undocumented employees." 

"Yes Princess." Fleur bowed and hasted in pace. Once she had left the room, this left Twilight, Sunset, Lightning, Dash, and Gilda with Princess Celestia. 

Celestia closed her eyes for a moment, then re-opened them, focusing in on Sunset, Lightning and Gilda. "I am sorry you all got mixed up in this. You are all pardoned for the actions that I know of so far, including kidnapping. You may leave now." 

Gilda had never so hastily bowed and fled a room without running in her life. Escaping the Princess' gaze was her objective, and she crossed the distance in a surprising amount of time. Dash and Twilight stayed behind, no doubt in order to get more information. 

Once outside of the throne room doors, a sigh of relief escaped all in the hallway: Sunset, Lightning, Gilda and Antoine. 

Gilda noticed that her father had that large shield again, having likely retrieved it in the brief time since he had left the throne room and Gilda's departure. Sheepishly he stepped up to Gilda with it, it becoming obvious what he had brought it for. 

"I had wanted to give this to you after you won your match, Gilda," Antoine commented, "But, you know how things happened." 

"Were you really involved?" Gilda asked Lightning, not yet ready to get her mind off of that subject, "Were you there?"

"No," Lightning said without hesitation, "That pegasus just wanted to frame me. I don't know why." 

"Either way, what now?" Sunset bemoaned, "I am now right back to where I started. And Trixie still has our stuff." 

"Speaking of Trixie, I better tell her the news," Lightning said, giving one last look to Sunset and Gilda, "Good luck." 

As she departed, Gilda redirected her attention to her father, who had been intently watching this display. She would have missed his eye contact with Lightning had she not looked back in her direction just once before returning her attention to her father and his gift. 

"What good is this shield going to do me if I can hardly even lift it?" she asked, less than enthusiastic about taking up the shield, "Not to mention I don't think I am going to even need it." 

Antoine thrust the shield forward, mere inches from hitting his daughter square in the beak. Gilda flinched, and frowned as her father laughed at her reaction. "Gilda, just because Celestia said that the Market is done, doesn't mean that the ones whom tried to kill you are done. Besides, I promised you training, so the best I can do under these circumstances is to at least give you something to train with." 

Gilda, though not genuinely pleased, accepted her gift. As expected, the shield, about as large as she was, had quite the weight to it; however, it seemed mildly lighter than she had expected it to be. While she fumbled to strap it to her back as a gesture of good will, Antoine looked towards Sunset, who had begun walking off after Lightning. 

"Thanks for bringing my daughter back to me." He gave a small smile, and tipped his head in her direction. "Give my regards to the rest who aided you." 

Sunset nodded, then continued her way out the door. Gilda sighed, her heavy load no doubt burdening her already weary body. Antoine chuckled and tapped the shield with an open palm. 

"Guess the rest of us are headed back home. Stay safe Gilda..."