An Interesting Arrival

by Moongaze14


Second Impressions

Second Impressions

To say that things were a little uncomfortable the next day was an understatement to everypony that knew of the events of the prior one. Shortly after subduing Static, Twilight Sparkle spent the rest of the day in a grumpy mood, locked inside her bed chambers. Her friends, who saw how violently she defeated the stallion, were reluctant to talk to her about the incident, so they decided to keep silent about it. They were all in the dining hall, having the most awkward breakfast in the history of the castle.

Spike was not told of the fight, as Twilight refused to talk about it and the girls didn’t want him to know until the time was right, preferably when Twilight was away from them. Despite the lack of information, Spike knew better than to push the subject. It was quite obvious for the baby dragon that Twilight was not going to react well if he dared to question her about her bad mood.

Celestia and Luna, on their part, were informed of Twilight’s outburst by the royal guards and were shocked at how violently she had reacted. As disappointed as Celestia felt with her former apprentice, she couldn’t bring herself to admonish her upon seeing how upset she was about the whole ordeal. Luna, on the other hoof, approved of Twilight’s actions, as she believed that it was an appropriate punishment for assault against royalty, resisting arrest, and humiliating Twilight by sucking her horn.

“Next time he is in your grip give him a couple of bucks in the head and midsection,” the lunar princess had advised the purple alicorn, who grumpily, and literally, took note of her advice.

Both sisters were outside of the dining hall, discussing about Twilight’s fight from yesterday. Next to them was Princess Cadence, ruler of the Crystal Empire and Twilight’s sister-in-law.

Before she married Twilight’s brother, Cadence used to be Twilight’s foalsitter. She knew Twilight for many years and found the purple alicorn’s foul mood to be something to worry about. She was aware of what had transpired between Twilight and the stallion and could somewhat understand why her sister-in-law was so angry. Regardless, Twilight was not the type of pony that held a grudge against others, so it was strange to see her gritting her teeth and talking to herself about “that jerk” as she darkly called him.

I better start asking questions about the situation. I can't help Twilight if I'm not well informed.

“Has she been like that since yesterday?” Cadence stared at her aunts, watching as Twilight was absentmindedly putting a lot of sugar cubes in her tea.

“Indeed she has,” Celestia closed her eyes, finding the behavior of her student troubling. “Even after…subduing the source of anger, she still is too irritable to speak to for the moment.”

“This stallion named Static deserved it,” Luna huffed angrily. “Can you believe what he did to Twilight in front of her friends and the guards?”

“I was told about it,” Cadence blushed as she pictured the scenario, turning her head in embarrassment. “I cannot blame Twilight for reacting the way she did, but that does not mean that I approve of it. It doesn’t feel like the same Twilight Sparkle with whom I used to play with when we were young.”

Considering the amount of things for which she can forgive anypony, that seems a little too...abnormal.

“Does your husband know about it?” Celestia asked, with a hint of fear in her voice as she imagined Shining’s reaction upon hearing what happened between Twilight and Static.

“No,” Cadence shook her head in relief. “And I plan to keep it that way. Shining is a little overprotective and I don’t want him to react badly if he were to know about…the horn thing between Twilight and the stallion.”

The last thing I need is a brawl inside the castle.

“Perfect,” Celestia nodded her head. “I’ve instructed the royal guards to omit the last part of Twilight’s fight with Static. Now all we need to do is to wait for the trial.”

“Where is the prisoner?” Cadence asked a little nervously. “I know that he is secured, but I fear for his safety should Twilight ever reach him. I don't think that she's ready to meet him again so soon.”

“He is in the dungeons,” Luna stomped the floor with a front hoof. “He is in a special cell that prevents his magic from getting out of it. The walls are reinforced with my own magic to make them immune to the prisoner’s magic.”

“What do you know about him?” Cadence asked. Something told her that sooner or later Twilight was going to meet again with the dreaded stallion, so she wanted to be prepared in case things took a turn for the worst.

“We only know that his name is Static and that he used some unusual spells to escape the authorities,” Luna’s eyes had a stern gaze as she described the hated stallion with a venomous voice. “Based on Twilight’s reports, he is good at elemental magic, mainly with earth and lightning. From what she told me of his performance, he has used magic before to fight at some point in his past.”

Cadence winced upon hearing this. As the Princess of Love, she was among the most compassionate ponies of Equestria. Luna’s description of Static sounded like he was a hardened criminal, but she knew better than to judge a book by its cover. She would only label him as a criminal if she saw him acting like one.

If there was hope for Discord, why can't there be hope for him? Maybe he's not as bad as Twilight thinks.

“Is the prisoner still on his cell?” Cadence asked, hoping to have a chance of meeting Static and see if she could try to make peace between him and Twilight.

Perhaps a quick personality survey will help me determine the proper course of action. Maybe I can reach a consensus with him to behave affably with Twilight during the trial. Maybe that will help him and Twilight bury the hatchet. All I need to do is bury the hatchet and make sure that he doesn't give her any more reasons to hate...

“He is on interrogation with Shining Armor,” Luna shrugged her shoulders.

Her answer was met with horrified glances from Celestia and Cadence. Both mares shared a look before darting out of the hall to the interrogation cell.


Statice was bored. It was a logical option since he was under arrest. Although, it had been a long time since he awoke inside a cell, this was the first time that he had ever been arrested in Equestria. He mentally chastised himself for getting arrested in what was supposed to be his new home.

Well, congratulations, knucklehead! You got your first post-retirement arrest in your new home!

When he first awoke after the disastrous fight with the purple mare, he was in a special cell under the dungeons of the royal castle. At least that was what the guards standing at the door of his cell told him. They also took the liberty of explaining to him how his cell was inescapable.

The walls and the door were reinforced with ancient magic to prevent unicorns from destroying the cell from the inside out. Additionally, the magic inside the cell nullified any attempt to focus magic outside of it. Statice growled at the complexity of his cell as he realized how much it narrowed his escape options. On one side, he could not use destructive spells to destroy the room on which he was staying. On the other side, it was impossible for him to focus magic outside of the cell, preventing him from either using levitation to pick up the keys from an unsuspecting guard or a teleportation spell to get out when the guards were not looking.

Darn it all to Tartarus! I can't bust my way out from the inside! And I can't bring the keys in from the outside!

He was forced to stay in that cell for a few hours until he was brought in for interrogation. In order to prevent him from escaping, special cuffs were placed on his body to prevent and nullify the flow of magic around his body as he was dragged out of the cell and led into the interrogation room.

I guess these guys are not as dumb as I thought they were.

Now he was in an interrogation room, sitting on a chair in front of a table. At the other side of the table, another unicorn was facing him. He was a different type of guard, one who wore a purple armor, but shared the same white coat as the others. Unlike the others, this one wasn’t wearing a helmet, so he saw that he had a long blue mane with some lighter strands on it. His eyes were blue and fixed in the same stern gaze that was carried by most of the guards that he faced, although Statice could not help but notice that they were smaller than the eyes of his fellow guards.

What the heck is wrong with his eyes? Did he came from another city that's not from Canterlot?

“Do you know who I am?” the guard asked him. He sounded surprisingly young in comparison with the gruff voices he heard from the other guards.

“I can ask you the same question,” Statice narrowed his eyes. It wasn’t the first time that he had been interrogated, but he was sure that this was going to be barely an interrogation given that his interrogator was just a pony. If he were a griffin or any other creature known for violent tendencies, then he would have been more intimidated. Given how little performance he watched from ponies in his adventures across many foreign lands, Statice couldn't help but feel a little underwhelmed at his species attempt to do dark activities that required the presence of a mean bone, like interrogation.

The guard stared at him before using his magic to remove his armor. The aura that surrounded the armor that was leaving him was colored magenta. After the armor was removed, the guard got out of his seat and stood in front of Statice, showing him his full appearance.
Like his compatriots, he was very buff for a unicorn and his cutie mark was a blue shield with a pink star of six points at its center with three small blue stars above it. He noticed that his fetlocks were unshorn, revealing blue hooves that matched his eyes, mane, and tail.

“My name is Shining Armor,” the unicorn presented himself. “I am Captain of the Royal Guard and I would like to ask you what were you thinking when you assaulted both royalty and guards indiscriminately.”

Normally, Statice would have gone straight to the point and explain the whole thing with Blueblood. Instead of that, he decided to mess with Shining Armor the same way he used to mess with his previous interrogators.

Let's see if you have what it takes to do the questionnaire with me, Shiny.

“You are the Captain of the Royal Guard?” Statice gave him a questioned look. “If you really have that rank, then tell me why the hay you have a purple armor while your underlings have a golden one?”

Shining Armor’s eyes widened at the question. He furrowed his brow in anger, figuring out that he was trying to get him mad. Well, he had a surprise prepared for his guest. But first, he needed to play along.

“Purple is the color of royalty,” Shining Armor explained, a hint of pride coming out of his voice as he recalled the day he achieved his rank. “The Captain wears a purple armor as a sign that he is the most suitable to serve Equestria under the orders of the princesses.”
He finished his answer with a proud grin. To his surprise, the green stallion was unfazed by his speech.

“Purple is a normal color,” he deadpanned. “The only unique thing about it is that it is made by mixing red and blue together. Golden is the true color of royalty, so, in a way, despite being the top pony around here, you’re giving the wrong message that you are worth less than your subordinates. If you want a better armor, I suggest one made of platinum. I heard that stuff is better than gold.”

Shining Armor felt his jaw drop. Not once in his entire career had any pony spoken to him like that. He ground his teeth at the prisoner for being so disrespectful and decided to get serious.

It's already bad that Blueblood insulted my armor once and made that same platinum suggestion years ago, now this criminal has the nerve to do it too? Fine! I'm not playing nice with him anymore!

“I think that you are forgetting who is interrogating who, Static,” Shining Armor sat on his hind legs and crossed his forelegs. “But since you are determined to play dumb with me, then I guess I will have to end your game.”

Statice narrowed his eyes at the white unicorn. This was normally the part where things got violent, as far as he knew. He wasn’t certain if his fellow ponies had the mean bone necessary to beat the information out of him.

Might as well find out.

“My guards told me that you assaulted Prince Blueblood yesterday with little provocation,” Shining Armor stood up on all four legs and started circling him. “Are you aware of the possibility of a long sentence for assaulting royalty.

“He asked for it!” Statice snapped. “I just wanted to have a nice meal and then he started to lecture me in a degrading manner because I wasn’t following a dress code.”

Shining Armor widened his eyes at the outburst before bursting in laughter. “That does sound like something Blueblood would do!” He kept on laughing for a little bit, not only for the whole Blueblood incident, but because he got a flustered reaction from the prisoner. He stopped laughing when he noticed Statice staring at him irritably before returning to his serious frown.

“You had enough laughter?” Statice growled, clearly annoyed at Shining Armor’s lack of professionalism. At least his former interrogators acted as such instead of acting like a school foal…still, this was probably a better option in retrospective.

It's official. He's an idiot. He won't be getting anything important out of me.

“You also resisted arrest,” Shining Armor added, quickly getting back on tract.

“I didn’t resist arrest,” Statice frowned. “Resisting arrest means that I beat up the guards when they tried to arrest me. What I did was avoiding the arrest.”

Shining Armor raised an eyebrow. “You call THIS avoiding the arrest?”

“I avoided getting arrested by them!” Statice slammed a hoof on the table defensively. “I only resisted when six mares attacked me once I was getting out of Canterlot.”

Shining Armor felt anger at Statice at that confession. He already disliked the stallion when he heard about the trouble he caused in Canterlot and made a fool out of his guards. His distaste grew further when he was told that he fought his sister Twilight and the rest of the Element Bearers. Having the perpetrator in front of him admitting all of these crimes allowed him to release some pent up hostility that he had saved for him since the interrogation begun.

“Those six mares are the Elements of Harmony,” Shining Armor gave Statice a venomous glare. “They are national heroes that have protected Equestria from major threats more than once. Their leader is Princess Twilight Sparkle, the Element of Magic…and my little sister.”

Statice’s eyes widened at the revelation. He had heard about the Elements of Harmony once when he read an old mare’s tale, The Mare in the Moon, as a foal. He never expected them to be real, much less to be wielded by the six mares that got him arrested. Another bout of realization struck him suddenly.

“Wait a second over here,” Statice raised his hoof and pointed it at Shining Armor. “Your sister is that annoying white unicorn that tried to seduce me into letting them arrest me, right?.”

Shining Armor slapped his hoof on his forehead and slid it down his face before glaring at the green stallion in annoyance. “That’s Rarity, the Element of Generosity. My sister Twilight is the purple…”

“The purple one is your sister?” Statice interrupted Shining Armor before he could finish his explanation. “No disrespect, but Rarity looks more like your sister than the purple one. I mean you both have white coats and blue eyes.”

“Stop interrupting me!” Shining Armor yelled, his patience running short. “Who are you and what is your business in Equestria, Static, if that’s even your real name?”

“That’s a cliché question if you ask me, Captain!” Statice snorted, not intimidated at all by the white unicorn. “You got that from a detective flick or something?”

“I know that a mercenary never uses his real name so he often comes up with an alias when operating on the job,” Shining Armor grinned maliciously.

“How did you?” Statice spoke only to be silenced when Shining Armor raised a hoof in front of him.

“The royal guards described your athletic and magical skills when you disabled Blueblood and when you ran away from them. Pinkie Pie described in detail how you used a spell to quickly change directions while you were ‘belly-sliding’ down the streets of Canterlot. Rainbow Dash alluded to another spell that allowed you to walk on the air when she met you. Finally, Twilight gave me a detailed report about how you used levitation to use tables as projectiles, shields, and platforms for attack. She also mentioned your proficiency in earth and lightning magic, the latter of which I can attribute to your possible codename. A healing spell was brought up when Twilight told me about how she and her friends managed to land a few blows to you during the fight. Your spells hint that this was not the first time that you ever used magic to fight against somepony. But my favorite clue that hints that you were a mercenary was your surprised reaction when I expressed my suspicion about your profession.”

Statice’s jaw dropped at the explanation while a grin manifested in the muzzle of Shining Armor. The former mentally started kicking himself for letting his reaction reveal his former occupation. He fell for the oldest trick in the book at the hooves of a smart guard. Begrudgingly, he mentally acknowledged that Shining Armor was indeed worthy of his rank as Captain.

Okay, no mean bone, but definitely the clear mind necessary for interrogators.

“So, Static,” Shining Armor leaned close to him. “Would you mind telling me what your true name is?”

Statice sighed, recognizing that Shining Armor earned the right to call him by his name by figuring out a part of his identity. “My true name is Statice and I used to be a mercenary. That is as much as you are going to get from me.”

“I think that is enough information for today,” Shining Armor smiled contently, feeling glad to have knocked Statice off his peg.

“Don’t get cocky with me, you pea-eyed jerk!” Statice snarled, not liking that smirk the white unicorn was giving him.

“What did you call me?” Shining Armor sneered, finding the insult very offensive.

“I said that your eyes look like peas!” Statice yelled as some royal guards came by and started dragging him away. “Your eyes are smaller than a normal pony’s. They make your head look abnormally big.”

“GET HIM OUT OF MY SIGHT!” Shining Armor roared, wanting the insolent prisoner to leave before having the chance of losing control of his emotions.

The guards nodded their heads and dragged the still kicking and screaming Statice out of the room. Shining Armor took a deep breath, using the stress-relieving technique his wife taught him. Once he calmed down, he left the room, only to stop to look at his reflection on the mirror.

“My eyes are not that small, are they?”


Statice was roughly pushed into his room, giving his guards a nasty glare before they slammed the door shut on him. As much as he wanted to beat them up, he knew it was impossible with his magical cell preventing his escape. The only thing left to do was to wait and see if he could make an escape.

“Maybe a little nap will make things less boring,” Statice mumbled to himself before closing his eyes. Napping was always hard for him in his line of work, but it was worth the wait. It gave him the rest that he barely got, and it made time flow faster in a bad day.

Sadly, as he prepared to begin his long journey to his nap with breathing exercises, the doors opened again and the guards entered and forced him into his hooves.

“What’s the big idea?” Statice irately called out to them as they dragged him out of his cell. “I just got back on my cell! I didn’t even get to have my nap!”

“The princesses want to see you to decide your sentence,” one of the royal guards spoke out. “Behave yourself or you will receive a greater punishment than the one decided by them.”

Seeing your ugly mugs is more than enough punishment for me.


Statice groaned, feeling within his heart of hearts that things were about to take a turn for the worse when the trial started.

Celestia was wearing a neutral expression on her face. As a princess, she was often in charge of settling disputes in Canterlot. This trial wasn’t going to be any different from previous disputes. Although this was the first time that she ever trialed a criminal that attacked royalty, she was going to be professional and not let her emotions cloud her judgment.

Next to her sat Luna, the dark blue alicorn was wearing a stern frown on her face. Unlike her sister, Luna was less forgiving on anypony who committed crimes in Equestria and was more than ready to deliver a punishment if she saw fit.

Cadence was extremely worried about the safety of the prisoner. She spent the morning trying to calm down Twilight. Her sister-in-law always enjoyed spending quality time with her ever since they first met, but even now she was barely acknowledging her since she arrived at the castle. Unfortunately, Shining Armor returned with the same foul mood as his sister. He also seemed a little insecure, as he asked her if she thought that his eyes were small when she and Celestia met him after his interrogation. It took little time for Cadence to figure out that the green unicorn somehow managed to infuriate her husband during the interrogation.

I better keep the fact that the prisoner and Shining interacted. I don't want to give Twilight more reasons to hate him.

Twilight looked livid as she stared at the green unicorn. When she heard that there was going to be a trial, she actually wrote speeches that could prove the guilt of the stallion and devised a fair, yet proper punishment. Nopony was going to say that she was going to be unfair once the sentence was given.

Twilight’s friends were sitting next to her. Rarity was trying to make conversation with Twilight, trying to reassure the purple alicorn that the trial was going to be just and promising that she was going to get closure on the issue. Applejack kept her emotions in check, opting to give the prisoner the benefit of the doubt that the princesses were giving him at the moment. Fluttershy was trembling and with her eyes closed, not wanting to partake in the trial as much as possible. Pinkie Pie was just being herself as she ate popcorn in anticipation for the trial. Rainbow Dash looked ready to fly down there and attack the green unicorn, just in case he tried anything.

“The trial is about to begin,” Celestia announced as she stood up, stretching her wings to the sides and striking a pose.

Statice saw the Princess of the Sun and was mesmerized at her magnificent appearance. She was a tall alicorn with a white coat, beautiful magenta eyes, and a flowing mane of blue, green, and pink hues. Her cutie mark was that of a sun and she wore golden regalia from her shoes to her collar and ending with the crown she proudly wore over her head.

I can't believe this. Celestia exists. She's not just a myth or a hot mare with a very convincing wing spell. She does look like the real Princess Celestia my parents told me about.

This was the ruler of Equestria. It was an exciting moment to be able to meet her. His excitement turned into shame when he realized that his first meeting with her was going to be as a criminal.

As he turned his head around, he noticed a mare next to her and realized that she too was an alicorn. She was smaller than Celestia, but far taller than Twilight. Her coat was dark blue with a patch of black on her crescent moon cutie mark. Her mane was cobalt blue with what appeared to be stars on it and seemed to wave in the wind just like Celestia’s. She wore silver hoof cups, a black chest plate with a crescent moon on it, and a black crown on her head. Her cyan eyes were glaring at him, already telling him that he was going to get condemned by the end of the trial.

Who the heck is this one? I don't remember another alicorn besides Nightmare Moon and Celestia.

He saw another mare close to them and realized that she too was an alicorn when he saw that she had both wings and horn. She was a tall, smaller than Celestia and Luna, but still taller than most ponies, with a tricolored mane of pink, purple, and gold hair. Her cutie mark was a crystal heart that seemed to reflect something important…he just couldn’t put his hoof on it yet. Her purple eyes, which seemed full of love and compassion, were staring at him with concern.

Another alicorn? Just what the heck is going on here? There was no such things as a pink alicorn in my bedtime stories!

As his eyes went to the six mares, Twilight snorted at him, pawing at the floor as she flared her wings open. Statice’s eyes widened as he remembered her wings during the fight. He mentally slapped himself on the face. He had been so entranced on the fight from yesterday that he didn’t figure the possibility of his opponent being a natural alicorn rather than a unicorn with a wing spell. He remembered how Shining Armor referred to her as his sister and a princess.

Oh, crud! I assaulted a princess and her friends!

It was official. This trial was not going in his favor.