Chapter 6: Interrogation
Alabaster Star sat in one of Luna’s loveseats. He silently used his magic to lift a cup of water off the coffee table in front of him and took a small sip, placing it down again. He glanced out of the window. The sun was due to start rising soon.
It would have been up already, if the princess that controlled the sun hadn’t been standing in the busted up room of her sister Luna, speaking with the Princess of the Night and Shining Armor. Another pegasus guard, dressed in blue and black armor, was standing guard at the door.
“There were three of them… one of each race…” Luna was explaining. “The Pegasus entered first, and it was he that injured Corporal Alabaster Star. The Corporal made quick work of both him and the Earth pony intruder…”
“What happened to the Earth pony intruder?” Shining Armor asked, looking around the room.
Alabaster grunted in response to Shining’s question, using his magic to take another sip of water. “Threw him off the balcony, mate…”
The blue-armored guard stifled a chuckle while Shining turned and shot a glance at Alabaster. “That was a bit unnecessary, don’t you think?”
“It killed him, didn’t it?” Alabaster turned his head to look at the Captain. Seeing his unamused face, Alabaster sighed and nodded. “Alright...I’ll refrain from it in the future, Captain.”
“Thank you, Corporal.” Shining turned back to look at Luna. “Do you know anything of the Unicorn prisoner we took?”
“Not in the slightest…” Luna looked at the ground and kicked a forehoof sadly. “I’m just shocked that this hasn’t ended yet. Tonight two more ponies lost their lives and another is to be executed for trying to kill me…” She shook her head and looked up. “I just...don’t know how to cope with this anymore.”
“Don’t worry, Your Highness.” The Pegasus guard removed his helmet, and his long, brown mane fell down onto his head. He was a blue pony with golden eyes that glinted in the dull darkness of the room. “We’ll question her and make sure there are no others after you and take care of Bladeheart. He’ll be back up and running in no time.”
“Great…” Alabaster heaved a heavy sigh and took another sip of his water, this time draining the glass. For a moment, he wished the cup had held a different sort of contents...
“I know you don’t like Bladeheart much, Al…” Shining trotted over to Alabaster and sighed. “And I know that you are probably tired beyond belief after that fight, but I’m afraid I will need your services for the rest of the day.”
Alabaster turned his head slightly at his Captain. “Why?” He didn’t really like the idea of spending the rest of the day on guard duty after what had just transpired.
“Since you were present during the attack, and Bladeheart is out cold at the moment, Captain Armor and I are going to need your help to solve the mystery of who’s behind this.” The blue pegasus guard said.
Alabaster shakily stood after using his magic to finish off his cup of water. He turned to face the Captain and the Sergeant. “We know who’s behind the attack...it was this bloody unicorn we captured...she instrumented it all, didn’t she?”
Shining Armor and the blue pegasus exchanged a distraught look before Shining shook his head. “I’m afraid it’s not that simple, Al.”
“Sergeant Ace inspected the wall and the way the intruders scaled the wall and broke in through the window from the outside.” Celestia, who had remained pensive and silent until this point, spoke up. “The window, unfortunately, was the only thing they broke. In order for the earth pony and unicorn to scale that wall, they’d have to pass through the security gate and the pegasus would have to escape the gaze of tower down below...the gate of which was left wide open...and the tower’s guard was conveniently late to his post this evening.”
Alabaster narrowed his eyes. “An inside job…”
“Precisely…” The pegasus known as Ace spoke up. “We have to face the truth of it… somepony in the castle was in on this.”
“If that’s true…” Luna looked down at the floor. “Then I’m not even safe in my own hom-oh...” She stumbled a bit. Celestia caught her with her shoulder, letting her sister lean on it.
“Alabaster, you can return home if you wish...I know your daughter misses you dearly.” Celestia gazed upon him. “But I beg you to stay here and investigate this attempt on my sister’s life with Ace and Shining Armor.”
“But...I…” Alabaster hesitated. Celestia could read him like a book. He did want to go home to his daughter. It had been a long night, and a long night in which he almost died. The royal guard side of him, however, the side of him that was trained to investigate such occurrences and the side of him that swore an oath to his country to serve and protect...her...told him to stay and help.
“Something tells me I’m going to regret this…” Alabaster thought to himself as he heaved a heavy sigh and used his magic to place his helmet, which was on the coffee table, back onto his head. He gave a smart salute. “I live to serve, Your Highnesses.”
“Thank you, Corporal.” Celestia gently wrapped a wing around her tired sister and slowly started walking her back towards her bed.
“I’ll stay here with the Princesses until the day guards arrive.” Shining Armor stated. “Until then, you and Sergeant Ace start your investigation and report to me with a communication spell whenever you find something. Understood?”
“You got it, mon capitan.” Ace gave a smart salute before flapping his wings and hovering above the air, floating towards the door.
Alabaster gave a more formal salute. “Yessir.” He turned around and followed the unusual Sergeant out of the room of the Night Princess.
In the antechamber, Alabaster walked by the glinting pool of crystal pony blood left by Bladeheart on the floor and the broken window, both oddities being tended to by castle staff.
“Don’t fall behind now, Corporal.” Ace said as he, still airborne, pulled open the door to the stairway and gestured for Alabaster to step through. “We’ve got a lot of ground to cover between us and the dungeon.”
Alabaster didn’t need to ask about the dungeons.
It was about time they gave the would-be unicorn assassin a visit.
“So Alabaster…” Ace looked at the unicorn as they exited the stairway up to Luna’s tower, guarded by three heavily armed guards. The castle was on high alert. “How long’ve you been Luna’s bodyguard?”
“Just a couple days mate.” Alabaster sighed as he stepped off of the last step. Celestia, those stairs were way easier to climb down than up. “I’m surprised I lived through that, actually.”
“Now, that’s the biggest pile of manure I’ve heard all week. And believe me, I get some pretty big piles of it as head of castle security.” Ace laughed, doing a small twirl in the air. “They give me the resumes of all the guards that are stationed in the castle, and the minute I received yours, I knew Luna was in good hooves.”
Alabaster rolled his eyes. This pegasus certainly was an interesting one. How in Equestria did he become head of castle security, anyway? “Thank you, sir.”
“Please, tin-soldier, call me Ace.” Ace stuck out his black armored hoof from his position in the air. Alabaster sighed and reached a forehoof up, shaking it. “A pleasure, mate.”
“HA! Mate…” Ace flew forward a bit, twirling in the air again, stifling a chuckle. “Maaaaaate…heheh…hay, I love you Marebournians. You guys have the coolest accents.”
Alabaster couldn’t help but chuckle at that one. This head of security was truly something else. “You’re a lively one, Ser-uh, Ace.” Alabaster said, looking up at him. “How’d you land this job with your attitude?”
Ace spun above Alabaster once more and then landed beside him, folding up his wings as they started descended the steps to the dungeon. “My intuition, Alabaster. I can deduce a few things here and there. Ergo, when the castle has a security breach like this, it’s my job to find out what the hay happened.”
“This kind of thing happens...often?” Alabaster gave the pony a look of shock.
“Sure. We just tend to not make a scene of it when it happens...but when an attempt on one of the Royal Sisters’ lives is made…” He took on a sudden serious look and sighed, shaking his head. “Kinda hard to keep things like that quiet, bro.”
Alabaster stopped as Ace once again picked up off the ground and started flying down the steps, which had become like a spiral staircase down into the depths below. He again thought of how he, not shortly before the intruders broke in, was holding a dagger above the Night Princess’s chest, ready to kill her himself.
“Yo, tin-soldier!”
His stupor of thought was interrupted by Ace, flying back up the stairs to see where Alabaster had gone. He shook his head and cocked his head to the side. “Eh...what?”
“Prisoner to interrogate, remember?” Ace dropped down and waved a hoof in front of his face. “Are...you all there, Alabaster?”
“Um...yeah.” He nodded. “Just...tired, that’s all.”
“There'll be time to rest when we put this case to bed…” Ace turned and took flight again. “Hah! Rest! To bed...I kill me!”
Alabaster rolled his eyes as he followed the happy-go-lucky head of castle security down into the dungeons.
Both Alabaster and Ace had stone-cold looks on their faces as they stood in front of the cell in the dungeons containing the unicorn assassin. She lay chained to the wall behind the bars, an anti-magic cuff locked onto her horn. Her daggers and black outfit had been relieved, and Alabaster was now able to see her for who she really was.
Her coat was a sleek grey, her long red mane overshadowing her eyes, which Alabaster remembered were a bright orange. Her cutie mark was simple: a pair of daggers crossed in an x formation. They looked exactly the same as her real ones.
Ace turned his head and curtly nodded at Alabaster, who, in turn, drew his sword with his magic and banged the hilt a couple of times on the bars. “Oi...wake up.”
The unicorn twitched in her cell, but remained in her position.
“No one likes fakers, unicorn.” Ace spoke up as Alabaster banged on the bars once more.
A chuckle rang out from the unicorn’s cell as she rolled her head around, opening her orange eyes. Trickles of hardened blood could be seen coming from her mouth and nose, left over from her scuffle with Alabaster. “And here I thought the next ponies I’d be seeing would be my executioners…”
“Stow it, or that may just be true.” Alabaster snarled, but Ace placed a hoof on his shoulder and peered curiously through the bars at the unicorn.
“My name is Ace, and I’m in charge of castle security. And you know Alabaster.” Alabaster narrowed his eyes at the would-be assassin, who, in turn, smiled and winked. “Ah yes...well fought, Alabaster Star.”
Alabaster cringed. This assassin was from Trottingham. Her accent gave her away. He hadn’t really paid attention during their scuffle.
“May I ask your name, miss…?” Ace trailed off, expecting an answer.
The chains linked to the unicorn’s forehooves rattled around as she sighed, closing her eyes and leaning her head back against the wall. “Crimson Edge...a pleasure, darling.”
“Charming name…” Alabaster muttered as he sheathed his sword. He eyed the unicorn curiously. “So, let’s cut to the chase, love...you’re gonna tell us everything. Who you work for, your motive, and why you tried to kill Nightma-...uh, Luna. Cooperate, and we’ll make things easier on you.”
Crimson Edge gave a chilling cackle from inside her cell, opening her orange eyes and staring at Alabaster. “And what, pray tell, would be better than death as a punishment for attempting to assassinate a Princess? Being banished to the moon? A fate worse than death…” She trailed off, coughed, and then shook her head. “I’d rather die.”
“Listen, you-” Alabaster gritted his teeth and was about to yell angrily at the assassin’s lack of cooperation, but Ace again played the “good guard,” intervening at the last second.
“We can get you life in prison with a possibility of parole, no access to Canterlot.” Ace nodded at the assassin, who perked up a bit at his words.
Alabaster was about to interject and oppose Ace, but this could be the only way to get her to talk. He also remembered this was Luna she had tried to kill, so...he didn’t mind as much.
But didn’t he risk his own life to save Luna from her?
Before his mind wandered to such conflicting thoughts, he regained his composure. He kicked a hoof and nodded. “That’s the best we can do for you, Crimson.”
“My my…” The chains holding her rattled as she readjusted her position. “Someone has certainly decided to cheer up.”
“Don’t push it…” Alabaster gave a half-snarl as he glared at her. “Do we have a deal, or not?”
Crimson Edge nodded. “Hmhmhm…” She gave a soft chuckle that oozed with eeriness. “You guards have a deal. It sounds like my only chance of survival in this place.”
Ace coughed, holding up a hoof to his mouth, to get her attention. “Start from the beginning, Crimson. Who hired you to kill Luna?”
“I was not informed of who my employer was.” Crimson closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the wall, smirking softly. “We received an anonymous package with an unsigned letter detailing the job and a large amount of bits. The letter promised double the amount enclosed when we carried out the job.”
“How much are we talking here?” Alabaster asked.
She shrugged. “20,000 bits...plus 40,000 more upon Luna’s death.”
“So… our culprit is clearly somepony who can afford to toss his or her bits around…” Ace muttered to himself, reaching a hoof up and scratching his chin. “60,000 bits doesn’t come lightly.”
“How did you know about the way up the tower, and that the guard in the watchtower below would be late to his post?” Alabaster pressed the assassin.
She opened her eyes and gazed at Alabaster. “The letter included that information as well. My employer said that they would take care of making sure nopony saw us sneak into Luna’s tower.” She chuckled. “We had a few close calls anyway.”
“Do you have a personal vendetta against the Princess at all, Crimson?” Ace asked suddenly.
Crimson turned her head and smirked at the sergeant. “What a deep and thought-provoking question, my dear.” Her smirk grew into a full on smile as she turned back to Alabaster, narrowing her eyes. “Personally, yes. I hate her.”
Ace jumped at the venom in her voice, but Alabaster just leaned forward and glared at her. “Why?”
“She is responsible for the death of someone very close me a very long time ago.” Crimson sighed, breaking her stalwart resolve just briefly enough for Alabaster to see a tinge of emotion in her eyes. She quickly blinked away the tear that was forming in her right eye before continuing. “A family member, no less. I didn’t dare try anything until somepony offered me a way that might have actually worked.”
It was Alabaster’s turn to be shocked. A family member? Murdered as a result of Luna’s actions as Nightmare Moon? It was like he was looking in a mirror. They hated Luna for the same reason.
“I...see…” Ace was steadily looking at the ground, clearly speechless and unclear of how he should proceed. Finally, he spoke. “Where did you learn to fight like you do? And to assassinate?”
She smiled again. “I’m a former member of MARE-I6, dear.”
“So you’d betray your city and your nation by assassinating one of our leaders!?” Alabaster snapped again. He had friends in MARE-I6, a group of highly-trained undercover guards based out of Trottingham. They were sent around the nation to keep a careful watch on ponies and creatures who have...records… and discreetly ensure the peace was kept.
She shrugged again. “Former, member dear.” This was followed by another evil smile. “Are we done now?”
Alabaster was about to retort, but Ace again intervened. “Thank you, Crimson Edge. I’ll put in a plea agreement to the Princesses, saying you cooperated in this investigation. You plead guilty at your trial, and you don’t die.”
“I look forward to it…” Crimson smiled as she returned to her normal position against the wall.
“Come on, Al. Let’s go before you blow a hole in the ceiling.” Ace muttered as he took flight, hovering away from Crimson’s cell. “Let’s go check out the guard tower and figure out the details of how they scaled Luna’s tower. There might be more clues as to who is behind this.”
Alabaster nodded and was about to follow, when he heard something come from Crimson’s cell that chilled him to the bone, stopping him dead in his tracks.
“A bloody shame, really. About Constellation, that is. Isn’t it, Alabaster?”
Alabaster couldn’t believe his ears. This assassin knew his late wife.
He turned tail and galloped as fast as he could after Ace up the stairs. He was afraid he was about to do something he was going to regret, Crimson Edge’s chilling, almost deranged laughter echoing behind him.
Luna lay sound asleep in her bed as the sun slowly peaked over the horizon. Celestia stood on Luna’s balcony, her magic petering out as the sun reached it’s final position.
Shining Armor stood behind the solar princess, his helmet off and tucked under one of his forehooves. “I can’t believe somepony got so close to killing her...the closest anypony has ever gotten.” He sighed. “Should we tell Alabaster what he has to do now to keep her alive?”
“Not yet, Captain.” Celestia opened her eyes and turned to face the guard captain. “He has this investigation and his daughter to worry about first. Speaking of which…”
“I already have the assassin Octavia watching over the child at their flat.” Shining responded, gazing past Celestia out at the horizon. “As soon as he is done with this investigation, he’s got to do what he swore an oath to do, and that’s to preserve the life of your sister.”
“Very well…” Celestia sighed, turning again to face the sun.
“I only hope that he can handle it.”