CHAPTER IV
“You sure you ain’t comin,’ Twi?” Applejack asked as the alicorn’s five friends boarded the train bound for Ponyville again.
Twilight shook her head. “No. You guys go on ahead. I want to learn more about these Blattarians and I was going to check on a few sources. Just make sure everything and every pony is safe in Ponyville.”
Applejack nodded as the train’s whistle sounded. “Thanks for understanding. I gotta get back and check on the farm and Winona too, see if that old girl’s feelin’ any better. Fluttershy was also talkin’ about some worriment she was havin’ bout her critter pals so I’ll catch ya.”
Twilight waved goodbye to her element of honesty and the train soon disappeared down the tracks. After more convincing was needed for her brother, Twilight was finally granted a meeting with the mysterious soldier who seemed to know an interesting amount about the enemies known as the Blattarians. Twilight turned away from the empty railroad and walked back towards one of the Equestrian Army’s headquarters buildings. She was escorted by her brother who continued to try and sway her otherwise.
“Are you sure you don’t want to just head to the library, Twily?” Shining Armor asked with dread. “I’m sure Celestia’s library has plenty of books on the Blattarians.”
“I’ll check out the library too, but I still want to talk to him.” Twilight said. “Honestly I don't see why you’re so adamant about keeping me away from him. What if he knows stuff that the books won’t be able to tell me?”
Shining Armor rubbed his eyes with his hoof. “From the amount of time I’ve spent with him, he’s one of the most unpleasant ponies to be around. He disrespects his superiors as well as other soldiers all the time, has been a pubic nuisance to the ponies of Canterlot, and has made a negative impact on our public standing. If he’s rude or says something offensive to you, I want you to tell me and I’ll take care of it.”
Twilight rolled her eyes but inside, she was grateful for her big brother’s gesture. Even through the drama they had endured since his wedding whether it was the war against the Changelings or the incident at the Crystal Empire, he was still thinking about her well-being and he was always thinking about his baby sister. As she glanced at him through the corner of her eyes, she could see the protective mindset in his stare. Twilight smiled to herself and sighed.
Shining Armor led his sister to a building with the emblem of a stallion’s head wearing a knight’s helmet with two swords crossing each other in the background on the wooden plaque. The coat of arms of Equestria’s Army. Shining Armor opened the door for his sister, catching the attention of the soldiers inside. Some were cleaning weapons while others were doing paperwork.
“Company, attention!” One of them called and all the soldiers stood to attention for the royalty that entered.
“Carry on.” Shining Armor said, letting the soldiers resume their duties as Twilight only giggled uncomfortably from the attention. He turned to an officer and said: “Do you have a soldier named Blade around here?”
The officer’s eyebrow twitched. “Unfortunately yes. Please tell me you’re here to take him off my hands, sir.”
“Wish I could. My sister wants to have a word with him.” Shining Armor replied, Twilight still looking uncomfortable in the setting.
The officer glanced at her and felt a pit in his stomach. “Oh Celestia...miss, whatever he said, wherever he touched you, I do wholeheartedly apologize and-”
“No, nothing like that.” Twilight interrupted, giving him a strange look. “I’m just investigating the incident that happened in the San Palomino Desert and I think this soldier knows about who did it.”
The officer cocked his head to one side with deeper confusion. The soldier in question was not renowned for his superior military knowledge or even his manners so it struck him as odd that the Princess of Friendship was seeking him out. He assumed it was just all part of her job so he led them through the building where more soldiers worked, most of them also confused by the mystery of what happened in the San Palomino Desert.
To Twilight’s surprise, he led them out of the building and to a large lot where a single soldier was using the magic of his horn to sweep what appeared to be the dirt in the vast area. The officer told Twilight he was assigned to “rake the dirt” as a punishment, earning a confused look from the alicorn princess but her brother smirked slightly. She told her brother she would be fine on her alone and Shining Armor reluctantly let his sister walk forward as the soldier continued to complete his impossible task.
When she approached him, she cleared her throat. The unicorn soldier turned with a placid face upon his caricature. He didn’t appear angry nor sad or anything else. He was just raking. What did catch Twilight’s attention was as soon as he saw her, he looked at her, and then resumed raking as if he didn’t care he was in the presence of royalty. He didn’t bow or acknowledge her in anyway. Not that Twilight ever cared about such gestures anyway, but she did know the importance of them and when she glanced over her shoulder, she saw her brother was already becoming irritated.
“Your majesty,” The soldier said plainly but then turned condescendingly. “How can I help you this, fine, beautiful evening?”
“You’re Crimson Blade, am I right?” She asked.
He nodded. “That I am, princess, that I am.”
“Well I was hoping I could talk to you. About what you said in the hospital. About who did that to our soldiers.” Twilight said, adding more sternness to her voice.
“You mean the Blattarians?” Crimson asked. “Nasty creatures, ain’t they? Well, hopefully they’ll spare you if you ask nicely. That is, unless you’re close with Celestia then I’d start to think about what you want etched on your tombstone.”
Twilight narrowed her eyes at him. “So you do know about them. Tell me, what do you mean by all of that? Who are they? Where did they come from? And what do you mean by if I’m close with Celestia?”
The soldier continued to rake as the dirt slid in-between the teeth, aware of the stupidity behind his punishment. “You’re Twilight Sparkle, ain’t ya? Celestia’s most prized student sent from Canterlot to Ponyville to study friendship and maybe learn a few things about it from other ponies and not from books. Right?”
She tilted her head, confused and slightly startled. “How do you know all this about me?”
Crimson stopped raking and turned to her. She could see more life in his eyes. “We’ve met before. Here in Canterlot I mean.”
“When?”
Crimson glanced over her shoulder at her brother and then back to her. “You’re running out of time, princess. The Blattarians are already here in Canterlot. You think a force field like at your brother’s wedding would keep them out? Not a chance.”
Twilight stared.
“I can’t help you. At least not with the Blattarians. If I were you, I would do what you do best. Read about them.” Crimson snapped in a more vicious tone. “But I will give you one piece of advice to defend yourself against them. The Blattarians only have one weak spot. Their bodies are covered by a tough scaly hide but if you’re able to get them to lift their heads up, they’ll reveal a small spot of flesh in-between the scales. Hit that with your magic and that’ll kill them.”
Twilight squinted. “Princess Celestia told me about a weak spot, but it was on their front on their emblem.”
Crimson smirked and rolled his eyes. “Of course she did. She would only give you the best info. You are her most prized student after all. You’re like a daughter to her after all. There’s no way in the world of Equestria she would be feeding you false info.”
Glaring now, this soldier was beginning to irritate Twilight. “What are you talking about? Are you insulting the princess?”
“I wouldn’t dream of it, your highness.” Crimson replied tauntingly and turned away. “Were you planning on staying in Canterlot tonight?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact I was. I was planning on doing more research on these Blattarians and maybe visit Private Bishop in the hospital.” Twilight stated with bitter pride.
Crimson chuckled. “I wouldn't do that last part if I were you, princess. Remember that last part about the Blattarians already being here?”
She nodded, still frowning at him.
“Let’s just say the tummy ache he’s having now is being caused by more than just bad hospital food.” Crimson said.
Twilight sighed, thinking this was a waste of time. She turned and began to walk away. As she walked, Crimson stated: “Star Swirl the Bearded.”
She froze and turned back to him. “What was that?”
“Star Swirl the Bearded. He was one of your favorite conjurer, right?” He said as he continued to rake. “Have you ever heard of a book called ‘Visions from the Realm?’”
Twilight tried to recall such a title but she shook her head, thinking it was a joke.
“It was a book written by Star Swirl himself; one of his last works to be exact.” Crimson said to the dirt. “In its pages, Star Swirl talked about visions he would see when he was creating his spells. Sometimes they would happen while he was casting them, other times they came to him in dreams. Some of those visions actually came to fruition.”
Twilight cocked her head again. “You mean...he saw the future?”
“Sometimes yes, sometimes no.” Crimson replied. “The only reason I’m telling you this is because I think you’ll find an interesting piece of Equestrian history on page 254.”
Twilight didn’t know if he was telling the truth or if he was just playing with her. Still, perked by curiosity and her fandom for the ancient conjurer, she made a mental note to seek out this book in the Canterlot Library. Her first target would be the Star Swirl the Bearded Wing.
“Uh...thanks. I gotta get going.” Twilight said and turned again.
As she walked, Crimson spoke one more time: “Princess?”
She turned.
“Question authority.” He said. “Never take their word for it.”
Squinting again, she turned and returned to her brother as the soldier continued his menial and pointless task to keep him busy and miserable. Obviously, Shining Armor wanted to know everything he told her but she kept it cryptic. Twilight did however request something that made her brother cringe further. She wished to see Crimson Blade’s profile. Everything about him. Where he was born, where he was raised, his history, why he was being thrown out. Everything.
As the sun began to set and as Luna readied herself to fulfill her nocturnal obligations to Equestria, Fluttershy just arrived home and the Cutie Mark Crusaders’s clubhouse was being renovated by assailants unknown. Rainbow Dash on the other hand had returned to Cloudsdale to her own unique and equally startling yet mysterious surprise. Twilight on the other hand didn’t feel any ominous presence even as it readied to come forth and begin its rampage on Canterlot. Crimson Blade took his own advice and made himself scarce, hiding in the shadows and simply waited for it all to begin. When it would, he would only worry about himself.
She was content with ascending the stairs of the Canterlot Library and navigated her way to her favorite wing, the one named after one of her favorite scholar idols. Still only taking Crimson Blade’s words half seriously, Twilight took a few moments to herself to peruse the wing, even taking one of his books she hadn’t read for awhile and refreshed her memory on it. As she read, she suddenly found herself thinking about a random thought. Somehow, Applejack entered her mind and she wondered if she ever figured out what was wrong with Winona.
Twilight yawned as Luna’s moon rose into the sky and cast its silver shadow through the windows and onto her. She returned the book to its shelf and resumed her quest to find this unknown periodical. All the book titles were in alphabetical order so that helped her search and even she wished she could’ve seen her own face when she found that title Crimson mentioned. There it was, nestled on the bookshelf and she wasted no time taking it out and bringing it to the table. She opened the book to page 254 and gasped upon seeing it.
Twilight felt her stomach churn as the sickness came over her. It was truly one of the most appalling things she had ever seen in a book. How could this be? She even had to blink several times to make sure her eyes were taking in such a putrid sight. It was true. It was true and sickening. How could any pony do this to a book?
Page 254 had been callously ripped out by assailants unknown as the jagged edges still sealed in the spine showed. Some young foal obviously had no respect for books, something that made Twilight angry. Just as she was about to close the book, she did notice something at the end of page 253. She read it.
“But the relationship between Princess Celestia and the Blattarians was a strange one until the tragedy between them started when-”
The page ended there and drifted into the unknown whereabouts of page 254. Twilight hummed with curiosity and another unknown motivation came over her. She turned her head to gaze out the window and saw the hospital.
Private Bishop awoke from a dream covered in sweat and to terribly agony within his stomach. He knew there was something funny about that hayburger he ate earlier. He pushed the button on his nightstand and it ringed for a nurse. Bishop felt movement within his stomach, thinking it was either gas or his stomach trying to keep the burger down. The churning continued and it felt like something was moving inside him, just above that mysterious stab wound that resembled a giant booster shot needle wound.
“Na-nurse...” he whimpered and one entered his room. “I’m...I’m feeling kinda...woozy...”
“Okay, Mr. Bishop, I’ll be right back with some medication.” She said and turned to leave the room.
Bishop continued to sweat and groan as the pain worsened. He looked at his stomach and his heart sped up again when he saw something jump, as if something was trying to escape from inside him. The bump returned and it began to glide across his fur in his stomach. He began to panic as he gritted his teeth in growing agony until blood began to leak from his mouth. He suddenly threw up a large pint of it and the last thing he heard before he died was a tearing sound. The world suddenly went black forever.
The nurse returned and when she entered the room, she was only able to release half a scream. Three smaller Blattarians stood in the open chest cavity of Private Bishop, covered in his blood and he was dead. Her scream was silenced halfway through when a mighty zip tore through the air and a projectile entered her forehead and exited the back, making her lifeless body fall and sending the hospital into a panic.