//------------------------------// // True Test // Story: Dawn Of The Silver Sun // by Nameless Narrator //------------------------------// For a growing lad, the month was over in a blink of an eye, the signs of coming winter crept around, and the monthly recruit evaluation was just around the corner. Specifically, right around the corner, then straight through the hall leading out through the castle service entrance, across the wide lawns around, and onto the training grounds where a group of nervous recruits stood already, waiting for their first test. Straw shuddered as he walked through the crunching grass under his hooves and talons. He wasn't feeling well despite constant reassurance from Fortune over past few days. "It's going to be fine," she'd said. "It's just a simple combat evaluation and another physical training," she'd said. "If you at least show up you're gonna pass," she'd said. Right now, still fifteen or so minutes before the announced start, he had enough trouble forcing his trembling legs to take step after step. Not that he had any real reason to feel as if his breakfast decided to go out for a stroll, he really didn't. He simply wished somepony told that to the swarm of raging butterflies in his stomach. Despite him having trouble recognizing one end of a sword from the other mere weeks ago, Straw improved at a rapid pace. Granted, balancing on hind legs was still more an experiment than practice but with Cromach and Fortune's help he and other non-unicorn recruits jumped leaps and bounds with every lesson. He'd lost some weight early in the training but Cromach's brutal exercises coupled with hours spent at the castle gym and the cooking at Royal Guard cantine made him gain far more later, in the right places though. All in all, Straw no longer looked like a sinewy, poorly fed orphan but more like a healthy fresh adult ready to tackle the world and, if the newly built bulges under his coat were any indication, definitely able to. Despite that, he was still shivering like a leaf in rough wind. The recruits already sitting around on the lawn didn't look better. Straw noticed none of the older ones were there yet so the entire group consisted of terrified young newbies. For a moment it put him at ease. Then, unfortunately, he looked back at the castle. The castle which, to his eyes, shimmered with tendrils and movement sticking to its walls. Pretending to just admire the white walls and ornate windows, he examined the shapes squirming all over them. The observers hadn't made a single move since his first watch but there seemed to be more and more of them around, or possibly he was just getting used to seeing them. What worried him was that, apparently, he was the only one able to see them. If the strange voice in his head was to be believed then it was because they inhabited a different plane of reality close to the one Straw was in and were able to watch his while hidden in their own. His only question concerning them was answered by a deep feeling of regret coming from the voice. Well, while the observer tentacles spread onto the barracks nothing had happened to anypony during the month so at least that eased Straw's troubled mind. "Scared, halfie?" The rude question dragged Straw back to reality. To be exact, back to the reality of a white unicorn grinning at him. Leo Goldhorn stood up and patted Straw Basket's back. The nickname no longer felt like and insult. There was no bile, no venom, and just a little hint of superiority in Leo's voice. After all, nothing could completely change a unicorn born and raised in Canterlot. That said, emissary Cromach had apparently done a reasonable job. Straw recalled Leo's first week when he'd tried to prove his unicorn dominance in various things to both the recruits and the trainers. It hadn't gone well. While Cromach had laughed it off and simply overshadowed Leo in every challenge or debate, Rising Thunder's fuse had been much shorter and after beating the unicorn up several times he'd though up a much better plan. Rising had taken a fresh earthpony recruit called Black Soil, one whom Leo had insulted in front of the rest of the group, for personal training. In a week, Rising pitted Leo and Soil against each other, first in physical contest and then in a contest of skill. To pour salt on the wound, Straw had been one of the recruits carrying the stretcher with the barely conscious unicorn to the infirmary that day. The next day, bandaged Leo had come to the training, hadn't said a word, and asked Cromach for personal training. Evening after evening, Straw had seen the unicorn come back to the barracks on the verge of collapse but said nothing. The result was there though. If Straw grew and bulked up then Leo's sleek and toned physique got a massive boost as well. The handsome, spoiled, and bratty unicorn had changed into a rugged, even better looking, and almost sufferable warrior who, for some strange reason, actually liked Straw... possibly... despite all the half-breed jabs. Maybe it was because Straw, unlike the others Leo had insulted, didn't hold a grudge too long. "What tipped you off, the chattering teeth or the noodle legs?" Straw's open smile was the answer to Leo's evil grin. "Maybe the fact that in this cool autumn weather you're sweating like a draft pony about to take on his next mate?" Straw's eyes bulged and steam started coming from his ears. Leo continued though, "Speaking of which, are you and Fortune finally banging?" Straw could swear a part of him died that moment. Especially what little remained of his brain cells after his heart stopped beating. Unfortunately, Leo STILL wasn't done. "I wonder," the unicorn scratched his chin, "If you two halflings had a foal, the foal grew up and had a foal with another pony... you know, mathematically... how many generations would it take to reponify?" As Straw would be the first one to reiterate were he not broken on far too many levels right now, Leo had become ALMOST sufferable. "T-t-t-there's n-n-nothing b-between us," answered Straw after Leo checked whether the hippogriff was still breathing. "Between whom?" came a female voice from behind, and above, Straw. "Between me and F-YAAAAAAAAAAH!" he jumped upwards and flapped his wings like a hummingbird on crack while watching the snickering unicorn and the surprised satyr. "Still bothering the poor village colt?" Fortune scowled at Leo. "Who? Me? NEVER!" he huffed indignantly, "By the way you insinuate such a thing I could believe you've got something against me." Fortune patted the pistol holstered on her hip. "Yeah, this." Ignoring her remark, Leo twitched to attention and saluted. Straw, Fortune, and other recruits turned to Cromach, Rising Thunder, and the more experienced ones of their group. Straw gulped when Fortune joined Cromach's group and winked at him. "So, your first evaluation exam is here. Both me and Rising know you well enough to tell that today should be a breeze," the griffon smiled and Straw almost broke into tears. Whenever Cromach said something like that all recruits knew they'd end up limping and cougning ther lungs out, "The first part is simple. We've selected several of you who actually know what they're doing with weapons and it's up to you, the less experienced ones, to show us how far you've gotten in your first month. So, there's going to be a standard duel with practice weapons, just like you know from your lessons. This time these guys won't hold back though." Leo raised a hoof. "Yes?" "Will you or sergeant Thunder be 'evaluating' personally?" Shrugging, Cromach turned to Rising. "I won't, there's no real point. How about you, sergeant?" "I'm willing to discipline anypony directly asking for it," Rising looked sternly at Leo, "Are you volunteering?" "Yes," he said firmly, but wasn't able to hide his quick breathing, "I'd prefer sparring with emissary Cromach but your skill is well-known as well, sergeant." Cromach shook his head. "Let me offer you an alternative. Fortune has been training for over half a year with me in Manehattan before coming here. If you can beat her I'll smack your rump as much as you like. You've come a long way in a month but Rising is still out of your league." "Deal," Leo's bloodthirsty grin said it all. During the first weeks Fortune had been the one to turn Leo's insults and pranks aimed at Straw against him. Now, while the situation had changed drastically, he quite obviously still wanted a payback. "Alright, pair up then. As for the rest of you..." Rising and Cromach paired the newbies with the veterans and the duels started. Facing off against a pegasus, whom Straw knew as Light Breeze, armed with a spear, Straw grabbed a practice sword and stood up. Sword wielding griffons, minotaurs, satyrs apparently, and hippogriffs tried to balance on their hind legs while blocking or dodging the enemy's blows. After just a month, Straw's sense of equilibrium was way off but at least he could stay up and not keel over when struck anymore. He'd asked about holding a sword in his mouth but the grabbing utility of his talons offered him a much better option so he stuck with it. He managed to block several blows of the pegasus spinning on his hind legs and hitting him with wide swings before one came with such momentum which made him drop back on three legs. On reflex he held the 'sword' horizontally above his head and slowed another strike which only bruised his back. The pegasus backed off to give him time to breathe. He used the time to go over what Cromach had told him about polearm users. They used either short, stabbing attacks or wide swings powered by turning their entire body. Both options were weak to closing the distance quickly and grappling the defender. Straw knew that in a battle of pure skill he'd lose, every recruit would against a way more experienced opponent. However, he was strong and tough, probably not much weaker than the pegasus. Recounting his options, he opted for a gamble. As the pegasus spun around for another wide swing, Straw lunged straight at him, talons outstretched. The duel turned into a melee which rapidly ended with Straw's talons digging into Breeze's neck. "Interesting," Cromach said while passing by, "A good gambit but I'd be more careful next time." Straw followed Cromach's gaze towards his crotch where Breeze's hind hoof threatened to give him a free sex change. "Damn," Straw let Breeze go and stood back up, "I knew I couldn't win a straight fight so I-" "So you went all-in. Yes, sometimes it's the only option," Cromach nodded and tapped on the prosthesis on his back, "Most of the time it's not though. The first step of winning is believing you can." "I don't really believe that faith alone will bring out superpowers in me," Straw smiled nervously. "Oh that? Yeah, it won't," Cromach waved his talons, "Still, sometimes hope is the only thing left. Never give up. You can't know what lies behind next corner." Breeze coughed and the duel resumed. Cromach's advice was trite, it was obvious, but it was more and more difficult to stick to as Breeze's spear made Straw's body hurt and itch. Practice spears didn't end in sharp points, they ended in a pom-pom which stung like nettles when hit with. After about ten minutes, Straw felt as if he'd been rolled through a very aggressive meadow filled with thorn bushes covered in lemons. On the other talon, Breeze was breathing heavily as well and his approving nod when Rising Thunder asked about Straw's performance made the hippogriff's chest swell with pride. The first stretch of his dream was almost behind him. Waiting for lunch back at the castle cantine, Straw was smiling like an idiot. It felt as if nothing could break his sunny disposition there and then... ...and nothing did. Seeing Leo with black and blue bruises easily visible against his alabaster coat, Straw couldn't help sitting at the unicorn's table which had always been empty. "Got wrecked?" Straw asked while patting Leo's back and enjoying his every pained gasp, "You know what they say about us halflings - alloys are always stronger. Anyway, what did she go with? Sword, staff, spear?" "A blackjack and a shotgun," Leo groaned, "I think I'll be massaging the bean bag marks out of my hide for weeks. She just shot me in the chest through my magic barrier and then knocked me out. It was... a joke, I couldn't do anything. All that training with Cromach, all the physical exercise was useless against her." "Hey, didn't he say she trained with him for a long time? I got my ass handed to me as well. It's not as if we were in a position to win today, we just had to last long enough. Wait... did she let you pass?" Straw explored the distant possibility of Fortune being lot less forgiving than him. "Yeah, she did... when the ringing in my ears stopped. It's just... I don't know... I'm tired of it." "Of what?" "All of it. Being a son of a noble, having to keep up appearances, showing how awesome I am, and then having to turn and run because I'd just get my teeth knocked out. I KNOW I can be better than anypony else... now I just know I'm not." "Don't be too hard on yours-" was Straw's attempt at cheering Leo up. "Yet!" Straw sighed. He should have seen it coming. Shaking his head while still smiling at the unicorn's drive, he just said: "When you are the best then I hope it'll be as you, not as the spoiled brat I met a month ago." "HAH!" Leo smacked Straw's forehead, "I'll make sure I walk the walk and not just talk the talk. Next time I'll kick Fortune's wide ass, tie her up, and lock the two of you in one room." Straw choked on a piece of lettuce. "Why... us...?" he pushed out in between coughs. "All nobles need a hobby. Some breed dogs, some breed halfies- HAH!" Leo stood up and levitated his empty tray while grinning at burning Straw clawing himself from underneath the table, "I knew you had the hots for her. And stop blushing, Strawberry!" I could just tell Fortune what he said. It would be easy and nopony would see him ever again. ...I wish the same didn't apply to me. Relaxing before the physical exam, Straw wondered about the satyr. Fortune seemed outgoing enough but firmly refused to talk about herself before coming to Canterlot. He knew she used to do some work for ambassador Cromach in Manehattan but that was about it. Every attempt at finding out what had been blocked by a light joke or changing topics. Still, Fortune was what he could consider a close friend... it was just too bad she shared the title with Leo. As far as romantic interests went, not even the unfortunate fact often mentioned by Leo that Fortune's... nethers were just below muzzle height for Straw could make the topic clear in any sense of the world. The official statement from Straw's brain went like this - there was a big, wide world to experience, the grabbing ability of his talons was enough if the desire became irresistable, and there was no reason to ruin a perfectly healthy relationship with whatever female satyrs were called. Plus, guns were involved and, as Straw came to a quick conclusion, firepower had final say in any relationship advances. So, very confused. The hour of rest washed away any remaining worries or embarrassment Leo's words had brought and, sunny on the inside again, Straw made his way back to the training grounds for the physical exam. He wasn't too nervous anymore. While his combat prowess was questionable, or unquestionably terrible, he should be more than fine during whatever task Cromach had for them. The griffon led them around the castle to the utmost edge of Canterlot where the city walls met the mountain and presented them with tracks of land made into mud to run through, barbed wires to crawl under, ladders leading up the walls, and rope netting following them. The goal was simple - finishing the crash course. Straw liked simple. He wasn't stupid, he wasn't even too uneducated. He enjoyed reading, especially when recruit salary, and a body in searing agony after a day of training, didn't offer him too much opportunity to do much else. Still, simple tasks cleared his mind and allowed him to focus on the road ahead of him. He would become a Royal Guard, he would visit Wild Bastion again, and he WOULD show the other orphans that they could make it if they tried hard enough. Anything was possible. Needless to say, the exam was quickly over. With only fifteen newbies there was no reason to wait for his turn and in mere half an hour he was standing in the common showers of the castle gym and washing out the remains of dirt from his coat. The last part of the monthly evaluation was a well-kept secret. Not even Fortune knew what it was supposed to be and the jitters returned to Straw as it drew closer. All the recruits knew was that they were supposed to show up at the entrance to the castle garden maze in two hours. With the winter being almost possible to feel in the air, there wasn't too much daylight left. The saving grace for the day was that there were no scheduled recruit patrols tonight so that they could enjoy their well-deserved evening off. Shadows and gloom ruled the gardens as Straw trotted towards the center where the maze was, ignoring all other marvels the groundskeepers and gardeners worked on day after day. For a stallion from a logging village the sight of greenery was, while mildly interesting, just something in the way. This was IT! The final exam. Well, not exactly it it, which would be the real final evaluation and entering the Royal Guard, but the first piece of the big and desired IT. Cromach was waiting for them at the entrance to a hedge maze roughly the size of a small city block. The walls were about four ponies tall but the passages were wide enough to make it comfortable enough to navigate. "So, this is the big finish, guys. Come here and take one each," he gestured to the group and stretched out his mechanical leg on the talons of which hanged a bunch of white bandannas," This exercise isn't strictly a part of the exam but the top three will recieve a day off tomorrow in addition to tonight. Your goal will be to gather as many bandannas as you can before you get out. The only limiting factors are: one - you will not be armed, two - no serious wounds are allowed, and three - no damaging the maze itself or princess Celestia will teleport all of us into the sun. Keep your original bandanna visible at all times if you still have it. The ones you captured you can store wherever you want, just present them at the maze entrance. Now, get to the center of the maze, the pool there has been temporarily filled with green dye, colour your bandanna, and come back. No attacking anypony without a green cloth on his neck and no flying above the walls, as for unicorns - telekinesis only, there's a trio of Nightguards watching you from above in case somepony breaks the rules. Any questions?" Everypony was working on a strategy increasing their chances of victory when Straw raised his talons. "Umm, sir, can we team up?" he looked around at the other recruits, specifically two of them. "Anything outside of what I mentioned goes. The point of this exercise is to learn how to operate in unknown conditions and under pressure. You can never know who is working with whom or who might be lurking behind next corner." With the question slowing him down enough, Straw was the last one to enter the maze. It didn't bother him much, he was safe as long as his piece of cloth was still white. While he guessed that everypony had gone ahead to gain a chance to prepare, being late would still mean that some of the competition would be thinned out and he would only have to fight one or two ponies who would be tired from previous fights as well. The labyrinth was quite simple. After all, it was supposed to be a place of relaxation, not a prison. What he saw in its center surprised Straw. In the heart of the labyrinth there was a square clearing with benches on the sides and a reflecting pool on the middle. On one of the benches, with a still white cloth around her neck, Fortune was sitting and watching the grey sky. Approaching her, Straw said smartly: "Uuuuh." Fortune raised an eyebrow and pointed at a free space next to her. "I noticed you stayed behind, asking stuff. You're really scared of messing up, aren't you?" Straight to the point. "I... this is my one chance to show that an unwanted colt could make something out of himself. It's not as if I have a life to return to if I fail." "It can't be that bad," Fortune scratched Straw behind his ears, "You're a hard worker. That will earn you points anywhere." "Sure, I could become a lumberjack back home but I've been cursed with education and want to see more of the world, not keep pulling tree trunks until I can't walk anymore." Fortune chuckled, stood up, and walked over to the green water of the pool. A moment later her bandanna was dyed and wrapped around her hand. "Well, no reason to waste a potential free evening. shall we?" she assumed a defensive stance with arms in front of her chest. Sighing, Straw knew there was no way around it. A day off was a day off. Keeping an eye on the satyr's movements, he held one end of the desired cloth in his mouth and dipped the rest in water. As soon as he fastened it around his neck, Fortune circled around him and tackled him to the ground before he could even measure her up. An opponent moving steadily on two legs, twice his height, with long reach, and apparently far too much experience in disabling other ponies was in a completely different league. With her lying on his back and locking her arms around his neck in a choke hold, he struggled a bit and then gave up when it proved useless. He expected to have his wannabe scarf stripped off, but after a moment of confusion there was one more hanging around his neck. "What is this?" he asked when Fortune jumped off him and he stood back up. She shrugged. "I don't care about a day off. I know Canterlot through and through and, after all, I'm here just to observe Royal Guard training practices. You, on the other hand, perk your ears whenever somepony nearby talks about Canterlot opera, theater, or even new machinery imported from the Griffon Empire. So, go beat up some of the others and enjoy yourself, clock is ticking." "I..." Straw felt moisture on his face. "Oh come on," Fortune rolled her eyes, "Don't go all soppy on me now. This is going to be pointless unless you kick some serious ass tonight." Shaking her head, she disappeared in the maze. "Woooow," a snarky voice came from a different entrance, "You CAN be a charmer when you want to. Let me ask again... banging when?" A blonde unicorn walked out of the shadows and grinned at Straw. There were three trophies around Leo's neck already. Several bruises on his muzzle proved it hadn't been easy to get them. "Your head into the ground? How about right here and now?" Straw growled. He knew Leo wasn't mean because he didn't like him. It was simply because he'd been raised as a spoiled noble colt and not even Cromach's training could erase all of it in a single month. Straw was ready this time for the unseen blow to his face and crossed his front legs in front of him. Unicorn telekinesis was just a simple manipulation of force, as hours of training taught him. The same amount of effort necessary to move muscles also applied to telekinesis and concentration. As a rule, unicorns weren't good hoof-to-hoof fighters, but most of the time it didn't matter because the good ones never let you get close. Fortunately, Leo was a beginner as well and as Straw's mane scraped against another invisible movement, he knew he predicted at least one attack and was now going for Leo's nose. Rather less fortunately, neither of them were good at unarmed combat because Royal Guard training didn't revolve around finesse, and they ended in a ball of pain and punches rolling around on the grass and groaning. Ending up on top when the movement stopped, Straw raised his hoof to slam Leo's head repeatedly into the dirt as promised when... ...a rapidly approaching shimmer in the air nearby made him roll to the side and drag Leo as well. A shower of grass and soil hit both of them and, against his better judgement, Straw looked straight at the quivering air. "What the hay?" Leo jumped up, looking at the deep scar in the ground. As his gaze followed Straw's, the hippogriff yelled at him: "DON'T LOOK!" The sheer terror in the voice made the unicorn freeze. "What's going on?" he asked quietly but firmly, staring at the grass underneath his hooves. "It's an observer, something really bad. I don't know much but if you don't acknowledge their presence they shouldn't go after you. I think it works like this - the more you know about them the clearer you can see them. Now, ignore everything, get out of the maze, find ambassador Cromach, and get help while it's focused on me." From a corner of his eye, Leo saw a shimmering tendril slither towards him over the lawn. He forced himself to look at the nearest exit and pondered helping Straw with whatever the invisible thing was. It could all have been a joke to make him look like an idiot, but the tone of Straw's voice... was all Leo needed to be sure that getting somepony with more experience was vital. That's why he bolted as soon as he heard: "Show yourself, you ugly bugger!" Letting out a sigh of relief at Leo's escape, Straw forced his brain to focus on the shimmer seemingly trying to fade away and move towards him at the same time. In the end, the creature gave up and the shimmer gave way to a confusing grey form. Its torso was a long, fleshy tube ending in a leech-like mouth from which the long tentacles slightering all over the place originated. Four 'limbs' served to move the creature around and ended in saucer-wide suckers. When it was stalking around predatorily and eyelessly watching Straw, it was about his height and two or three ponies long. Strangely enough, aside from the tentacles, it didn't look too dangerous. Straw's eyes twitched back to the cleaved ground next to the observer. He didn't know how fast the thing could move in an emergency but, unarmed as he was, he didn't intend to stay and fight. Voice? Voice! Nothing answered. Suddenly, all of the tentacles retracted back to the 'mouth' with a whip-like crack. Straw looked inside. A large, green eyeball looked back at him and the world around shattered. Green skies. Purple mountains in the distance. Creatures of unrecognizable shapes moving around, slithering, flying, walking, blinking in and out of existence. The rules of known world didn't apply here. A gigantic beast of tentacles and spider-like, thin legs roamed over herds of small ones who, in despair, crawled up the beast's legs and tore long strands of flesh out over and over until only bones remained and the behemoth keeled over, crushing even more of the small things. The beast exploded into heaps of worms who dug their tiny mouths into anything nearby and devoured it. Several minutes of smacking later, the worms reformed the original beast who continued its path. The vision moved upwards and Straw saw cities of angular achitecture, creatures of various shapes and sizes moving between the physics-defying buildings. He went up and up, saw the world, saw the giants as ants. He was dragged through the skies into the darkness beyond until the planet below him was just another tiny rock orbiting a nearby star. The glittering cloak of the night spun until another star came closer, another planet came closer, another city came closer. There, in the mountainside bastion of white spires and walls, sat a grey-coated hippogriff, staring with wide eyes and mouth agape at the sky. And the sky looked back at Straw. Not Straw, the nameless, unimportant, imperfect creature. To the one truly watching, the tiny hippogriff might as well have not existed. The hippogriff kept sitting there long after the observer had slithered away, drooling and catatonic. His eyes saw the purple moon which turned around, split in half, and revealed a bruise-purple pupil staring straight at him. He saw the clear shapes of dozens of observers crawling on the walls of Canterlot castle. He saw the ponies inside, completely blind to the world around them. There just was nothing in his head to process it. When a trio of batponies following a white griffon descended from the sky and grabbed the body, it didn't even flinch. It was empty. "He might be okay with this but I'm not. The traitor must be stopped and this vessel provides adequate protection." Red, hot, searing rage coursed through Straw Basket's veins when he sat up on a bed he didn't remember getting into. His head was spinning and he didn't feel all 'there', but all that faded in comparison to his surroundings. The room wasn't lit but Straw could somehow see in shades of darkness. The sweet scent of rotting flesh made his stomach revolve but a part of him felt... hungry. The room resembled a ward in Canterlot castle infirmary wing with its three beds next to the wall separated by cloth curtains. Dark and slick cloth curtains. He had to draw his hoof away as soon as he touched one and something inside him brought images of cows being slaughtered and devoured by griffons. Something inside pushed him to run, but when he moved towards the door he felt a movement behind him. A grey tentacle hanging on the other side of the window moved and phased through the glass. His heart was beating in his throat and he tasted iron. None of that mattered though, he had to get away from whatever grotesque morgue he was in. The rusty iron door screeched as he opened it but the sickly yellow light pouring into the room didn't bring respite or answers. Inside each of the room's beds there was a flayed pony, and Straw noticed a brown smear leading to a drainage grate in the middle of the floor. His eyes involuntarily slid back to the 'curtains' separating his bed from theirs. By all means he should have felt sick to his horseshoes, but all this felt distant somehow. Perhaps it had something to do with his pounding headache. He remembered talking to Fortune, fighting Leo, revealing the observer... and waking up here. Shaking his head vigorously and regretting it instantly, he stepped out into the hall and jumped away as a movement from the right flashed through his vision. Another skinless pony was opening its mouth at him and making the sounds of a slit throat bubbling with foam. As it stretched its legs towards him, Straw screamed and blind panic won for a moment. When he regained control, he was already halfway through the rusty hall towards a familiar sight of a staircase leading down. A third walking corpse trotted up the staircase. This time it didn't groan at Straw, though, but looked across the hall at the window... ...which shattered, letting a grey observer inside. The bleeding bag of flesh screeched like a banshee as the observer's tentacles slammed it into the wall, and then Straw's rage returned without him having any idea why. Power surged through him as black, vein-like, strands of fur appeared in his coat and his talons lenghtened. He roared and lunged at the observer. The rock-hard skin gave way and Straw's razor-sharp talons ripped the pulsating flesh inside apart. Clawing at the grey skin, he stopped only when the observer melted into the stone floor and disappeared without a trace. Still growling, he turned to the zombie the observer had attacked. It was running away and still screeching. Straw followed. He couldn't let it alert more of those abominations to his presence. He followed the exact layout of Canterlot castle to the main gate and outside where the zombie collapsed on the lawn nearby. The great eyeball in the sky was still gazing straight at him but he gave it only a passing thought because two more constructs made of decaying skin approached slowly. One was a hulking, minotaur-like thing while the other... ...the other... ...Straw wasn't sure how it looked because it was obscured by an outline of blue fire resembling... a griffon? And then the world exploded. "AAAAAARGH!" Straw clutched his side where something had hit him with the force of a falling meteor. His groaning was his only company for a moment, but when the worst of the agony was over he looked up through teary eyes. The bleeding walls were gone, the zombies were gone. There was only Fortune, still aiming a smoking, double-barreled shotgun at him, Leo, rolling on the lawn and clutching his head, and Cromach, looking around while gripping his double-headed battleaxe. "This is going to take some explaining," Cromach gritted his beak, "Or maybe he didn't notice-" An explosion of light scattered the gravel of the main road far and wide. "-fuck." "RUN! RUN! GET AWAY! FLEE!" Standing up an hissing at every stab of pain, Straw's jaw dropped at the sight of who was standing in the place of the explosion. There were four beings, one of which was a black shadow that immediately disappeared. One was a griffon, clearly younger than Cromach, armed with a kite shield and a sword. The penultimate threat was a unicorn mare levitating a greatsword. All those paled, all details about them were unimportant in comparison to the last one. The blonde-maned, bronze alicorn wearing a blindfold and yet somehow looking straight at Straw. "Kill him!" he ordered, making Straw forget everything concerning ornate windows and stories about living legends. "Whoa, wait-" Cromach's objection was cut off as the alicorn flapped his wings and a black, sharp shard of something whizzed next to his head and buried itself where Straw had been a second before. Fortune looked at Cromach questioningly. "Sir?" "You hold Connie and Walter off. I'll try to talk some sense into him. STRAW? YOU OKAY?" "FREAKING OUT BUT NOT SEEING ZOMBIES ANYMORE, SIR!" he barely jumped away from another barrage of black icicles. Fortunately, whatever allowed him to see in the darkness inside of the castle gave him a chance at avoiding the hostile alicorn's projectiles. The alicorn lost his patience as a swirling hailstorm of sharp shards surrounded Straw and closed in on him. A mountain of white feathers charged through, and a pair of wings wrapped around the poor hippogriff. The storm faded and Straw found himself in Cromach's tight embrace. "Don't protect him!" the alicorn yelled, "He must die!" "Nope," Cromach faced him, smiling, "The kid did nothing wrong. Fortune kept an eye on him the entire month and nothing out of ordinary happened... until today that is." "Exactly! Now get out of the way. I promise it will be quick and painless." "No." "Are you trying to make me mad?" "Yeah. Angry, apologetic sex, best sex," Cromach just shrugged. The alicorn soundlessly opened and closed his mouth over and over. Cromach snickered and pointed at the alicorn's muzzle. "That's where a dick goes... a diiiiiick." Just like that, Straw wasn't the main target anymore. The alicorn charged Cromach with impossible speed, and both of them ended on one side of the main road. Cromach was no pushover, and the alicorn's charge left both of them slightly dazed. With a moment to breathe, Straw rushed to Leo lying motionlessly on the grass. "Leo! LEO!" "The... thing... like the one in the maze..." Straw slapped Leo, gently but repeatedly. "Whuh, whah, hey! I'm okay, halfie. I'm okay!" the unicorn turned his head around, visibly unable to comprehend the situation. Sadly, asking Straw for explanation was like looking for alarm clock in an insomniac's house. In the manic cheer of somepony about to die and having no real options, Straw answered. "As far as I know, the orange alicorn and the weird guys are trying to kill me. Fortune is holding the griffon and the unicorn off, and Cromach is messing with the big guy himself. Care to join?" Leo groaned, but stood up. "Nopony messes with my halfling crossbreeding project!" he levitated his guard issue sword from the sheath on his belt towards Straw, "Take this, I've got magic." The two of them instantly came to the conclusion that fighting an alicorn was a terminally stupid idea so they rushed to help Fortune. "Why? Seriously! Why?" the alicorn followed every word with a blow of his front hoof encased in black ice against the handle of Cromach's battleaxe. "Because... I... know... you'd hate yourself... if you... had to kill... a young, defenseless, innocent... colt. Sucks... being... around you... when you're... all mopey." The alicorn stopped punching and quickly spun around, his wing reinforced with the same icy material sending Cromach flying. A second later the wing shattered to pieces when hit by a red beam of light coming from the castle entrance. "Attack on Royal Guard officer detected. Entity: Blazing Light. Threat level: deadly. Damage type: divine, physical," droned a familiar robotic voice of Bucket, "Countermeasures deployed." The alicorn's icy wing regrew just in time to block another barrage of beams. "Good timing, Bucky!" Cromach gathered himself and taunted the alicorn, "About time to get serious, Blaze, isn't it?" The alicorn just sighed. Fortune's shotgun barked again, but the rust-colored griffon with white head was ready and his shield held against the scatter. She had no time to reload as a flying greatsword stabbed at her. Quickly spinning away, she only got in the way of the white-maned, black-coated unicorn mare's horseshoe. The hit to the stomach sent Fortune to the ground, but before the unicorn could finish the fight something slid from underneath the satyr. Both the griffon and the mare made the mistake of looking straight at the black disk right as it- *FLASH!* -exploded with blinding, brilliant light. Straw and Leo were some way away, but even they had to rub their eyes while walking blindly forward for a moment. When even the eye sockets of their grand grand grandfoals stopped burning, they carefully approached Fortune who was smiling at them. "Are you okay?" Straw asked quietly, and gulped when he was presented with a barrel of a pistol, "I'm not crazy anymore, I promise!" "Good," she smirked in satisfaction and pointed behind her, "I'll explain later why you still have all the bits of your torso. Now, let's go help Cromach before these two stand back up." "Two?" a growl came from behind her and a set of sharp claws wrapped around her neck. "FORTUNE!" both Leo and Straw shouted in unison. They couldn't see much, but there was a dark shape of a pony standing on her hind legs behind Fortune. What they COULD see were the pony's talons tightening the grip when the duo moved. "Three..." Fortune groaned. The pony chuckled, and her voice sent strange shiver through everyone. "Good," her voice was coming from a distance, distorted, "Now be nice and come with me." Straw tried to move when the pony released Fortune, but all he could do was groan and follow as the pony dropped back to all fours and walked to where Cromach and Bucket were slowly losing. The alicorn lost interest in the duo as Straw, irresistibly following the strange pony, came closer. With Cromach dripping sweat, shaking, and Bucket with limbs encased in black ice, the bronze-coated demigod stared at Straw Basket. Straw realized that there was no hatred or disgust in those eyes, only deep-seated sadness. "I promise it will be quick," he said simply. "KEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" EVERYONE collapsed on the ground as their eardrums exploded with an extremely high-pitched screech. It stopped as quickly as it came but while most recovered in mere fifteen seconds or so from the feeling of their brain running through a wringer, the bronze alicorn kept squirming and thrashing in pain on the ground. The air next to him wobbled, and a black, red-maned mare with bat-like wings appeared. Straw knew only unicorns and alicorns were supposed to be able to use magic, which meant the batpony had to be somepony important. She sat down to the alicorn, put her front hooves over his ears, and started rubbing them. A while later he stopped groaning and his breathing slowed down. "Shhhh," the batpony mare whispered calmly. Turning to Cromach, her voice became harsher, "Princess Luna is freaking pissed at ya for ruining her dreamwalking, Crom! I hope ya're good at packing cause I heard the moon was really lovely this time of the year." "In my defense, Darky," Cromach raised his front legs and dropped his axe, "It was the young recruit who flipped out, and when he summoned Nightmare's power Blaze's emergency teleport here in Canterlot must have gone off. Fortunately, a hefty dose of vitamin buckshot cured the symptoms. Less fortunately, the kid can apparently see the observers and now they know it." The batpony facehoofed, and booped the recovering alicorn's muzzle. "Ya, dummy!" With his floppy ears and big eyes, the alicorn could give a kicked puppy a run for its money. "Don't ya make that face at me. First, no killing Royal Guards, got it?" He nodded. "Good. Now, get him and the Goldhorn's colt to Manehattan. I sure as hay can keep the observers away from me, but nopony can keep watching the two. Since Canterlot is full of the damn creatures, there's little safety for them," she looked at Straw and Leo, "Ya two will be going with the nice and totally not homicidal alicorn to Manehattan. Officially, ya're being reassigned because of lack of staff. Unofficially, ya're being moved so that the big, strange crawlers don't eat ya. Any questions?" "What are we going to do in Manehattan?" "Ya're gonna use the ability to see the damn things, learn how to fight them, and hopefully figure out why the hay they're here." "Who will be teaching us?" Leo proved he was still awake, "Ambassador Cromach?" The batpony smiled wickedly. "Among others, yes. But mostly," she patted the alicorn's head, "this guy." Both Leo and Straw facehoofed, hoping it would either make them wake up or knock them out. "Yeeeah," the alicorn sighed tiredly, "I'm about as excited as you are. But hey, welcome to the Order of the Silver Sun, the place where we teach young mares and stallions how to fight hostile divine forces, and then send them off to die because not even we have any clue what we are doing." He shook his head and turned to Cromach. "I hope you're happy. Two more names for the grave."