//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Ghost Lights // by Winston //------------------------------// Ghost Lights Chapter 2 Today marked a week passing since the day Princess Twilight asked me about her recently reclusive student, and in that week by and large I still hadn't seen much of her. I had noticed her show up to dinner with the princess a couple of times, however, which I took as a good sign, so I hadn't been thinking a whole lot about it. I assumed that if there was an issue of some sort it was more appropriately dealt with between Princess Twilight and Azure without anypony else's interference, anyway. Keeping my nose out of the business of other ponies is preferable to me, as much as possible - certain past events notwithstanding. Unfortunately, it becomes very hard to stay out of it when a loud blasting sound and an inexplicable explosion of feathers flying everywhere randomly happens in the palace halls, which is exactly what occurred without warning this afternoon. Confusion prevailed over all else at first, needless to say. Nopony had any idea what was going on. I immediately dropped low to the floor and looked around at my surroundings in the hallway. Nothing seemed to be damaged or out of place which would have suggested a source for the disruption. A few seconds went by and everything was quiet. I carefully lifted my head and took a quick look out the nearest window, scanning the palace grounds outside for any sign of attack. Things seemed calm out there, too, with nothing unusual in sight. After a few moments of listening carefully for any further activity or movement and getting nothing but silence, I cautiously stood back up to my full height and began to walk down the hallway, hoping I'd quickly find another guard to pair up with. In a state of emergency we're not supposed to go anywhere alone. We're supposed to find somepony to watch our backs while we get to the main court, and from there probably check all the entries and exits, clear all the rooms of civilians, and secure access to and from the palace. It wasn't more than another few seconds before a door at the end of the hallway flew open and a pony came running through. I could tell it was Captain Dash even from far away, with the characteristic rainbow mane and her sky blue wings held folded at her sides over the chainmail coat she wore. "Sunburst! With me!" she called urgently when she got close. I fell into a trot next to her, not about to disagree. "Any idea what happened?" she asked while we moved. "No, Captain," I told her. "Sounded like there was a blast of some kind, but I didn't see anything except these feathers." "Yeah, I think everypony's noticed those," she replied. As we headed through the hall I looked down at the floor and took in the details of those feathers, which had all settled to the ground by now. There were all different kinds - primaries, secondaries, smaller flight feathers, some downies. It looked like the full range of what could be found on the wings of a pegasus or a very large bird. Actually, it seemed like more than just one bird or pegasus worth of feathers, it probably would have taken several to produce that many. All of them were the same color, though, a uniform bright white, as if they all came from the same source. The overall shapes and sizes suggested pegasus feathers, which only made things more confusing. Captain Dash thought the same thing, evidently. "What's going on here?" she asked herself quietly. "Did somepony's wings explode, or what?" I think it was just an idle nonsense thought at first, but in a second her face became more serious and her eyes more worried as she apparently gave consideration to the possibility. I got worried, too. I really hoped she was wrong. All these feathers had to come from somewhere, though. It wasn't a very comfortable thought. We made our way hurriedly to the main court, in the centermost of the palace. Captain Dash found the Master Sergeant of the on-duty shift of the guard. "Muster the guard," she ordered. "Once all the guards are accounted for, form teams and sweep the palace for all the staff. Bring everypony to the main court who's not already here. I want every single pony who could be in the palace to be found and their status verified. Especially any white colored pegasi." "Yes ma'am," the Master Sergeant answered quickly and began carrying out her orders. "Captain Dash, do you have any idea what's going on?" Princess Twilight walked over from her position at the head of the court to consult the captain of her guard. "Do you know if these are anypony's feathers, and is anypony hurt?" "Still tryin' to figure that out, Twi," Captain Dash said, rather informally. She caught herself. Her posture stiffened. "Uhh... I mean... Princess Twilight," she corrected herself and reworded her response. Princess Twilight met Rainbow Dash's eyes and they smiled back at each other knowingly, just slightly, but maintained their formal bearing otherwise. Even if they were long-time lovers and even if everypony knew it, there's a certain appearance to be maintained during business hours with other ponies watching. At about that time, Azure Sky reached the court and made her appearance, coming in with the slow trickle of various ponies who were still showing up. The way she looked surprised me. She's usually not flustered by much but this time she seemed a little worse off for the commotion. Her usually shining white coat was a little messy, and her normally straight and silky blue mane and tail were unkempt. She made her way towards the princess, and looked down at the floor and briefly bowed slightly as she got close. "Princess! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen," she said quickly and worriedly. "Azure? Are you alright? What happened? What didn't you mean for?" Princess Twilight asked. "The feathers, Princess." Azure slowed down, breathing in deep for a moment and then letting it out again. "I'm afraid this is all my fault. I'm sorry, I'm not sure what went wrong with the spell." "Spell? What was this spell, exactly?" the princess asked. "It was supposed to be a conjuration for creating feathers," Azure explained. "So I could make writing quills with them. I thought that if I could figure it out it would be easier than always having to bother the pegasi for their dropped feathers." "So these are conjured feathers, then?" Princess Twilight asked. "Not feathers from a real pegasus?" "Yes, Princess, all conjured," Azure Sky confirmed. "Well, that's certainly a relief." Princess Twilight sighed and visibly relaxed. "Also makes gathering them up again much easier, doesn't it?" "Yes." Azure nodded. "Yes, I think it should." "Well, then I'd suggest you start by cleaning up your little mess," Princess Twilight said to her student. She actually sounded a little bit amused now. "Oh, I... uhh... of course I will," Azure Sky said sheepishly. She lifted one of the feathers from the floor with the soft light blue aura of her magic glowing from her horn and enveloping the feather. After studying it for a few seconds, as if somehow reading or feeling something on it or in it, her horn surged and a much brighter glow flared from it. The feather she held up surged with magic likewise, and that same light blue hue suddenly flared in all the other feathers scattered haphazardly through the room. In a blinking flash they all suddenly teleported, instantly accumulating into a big ball Azure Sky was holding up in front of herself telekinetically. The room went silent, all eyes quickly turning to Princess Twilight's student. "Is that all of them, Azure?" Princess Twilight asked, breaking that silence. "Yes, Princess," Azure Sky affirmed. "The palace is cleared. May I be excused to remove these from your court and dispose of them properly?" "Yes." Princess Twilight nodded. "Thank you, and you're excused." Without further ceremony, Azure turned and walked out of the court with the large aggregation of feathers still held in the grip of her horn, I presumed off to find some sort of garbage container large enough to hold them all. With that resolved, Princess Twilight used the lingering silence as an opportunity to announce to all the ponies now gathered in the court that the incident had been a simple magical mishap (as if there's ever actually anything 'simple' about those), nopony had in fact been injured, and there was no further cause for alarm, so business would be resuming as usual starting immediately. Back to work, everypony. Many very relieved ponies dispersed and the day continued. Thankfully the rest of my shift was much too boring from then on for anything else to add any excitement by comparison.