//------------------------------// // Chapter four: secrets and lies // Story: The Lockseed's curse // by Equestriasservant //------------------------------// While the guards busied themselves with dragging the intruder to the cells, the Princesses, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Fluttershy, AppleJack, Pinkie Pie and Shadow made their way to the medical rooms. They sat around the injured Rainbow Dash's bed, watching the Pegasus brood over being beaten by what she described as, an over-grown chip." Twilight turned to the doctor who was standing by the door, looking slightly annoyed at the amount of ponies crowding the already cramped room. "Will Rainbow be okay?" She asked worriedly. The doctor nodded, moving past her to check on the bandages wrapped around the cyan Pegasus's wings, forelegs and back. Rainbow shifted slightly, grunting in annoyance as the doctor tightened the strips. Fluttershy whimpered as she watched the white strips stain red. The timid yellow Pegasus had been crying throughout the whole trip to the infirmary. Pinkie and Rarity had tried to cheer her up but they too looked worse for wear. Both of them were shaking badly, whilst Pinkie's mane had dropped slightly from its usual poofiness. She was also staring sadly at Rainbow Dash, blinking her eyes rather rapidly. Rarity was dabbing at her eyes with a lacy handkerchief. AppleJack had lowered her hat so that eyes weren't visible however, her teeth were bared in a snarl of anger. Despite being the embodiment of the element of honesty, AppleJack was one of the most loyal friends that any-pony could hope to have, next to Rainbow Dash of course. "She'll be free to leave in a couple of days, miss Twilight." The doctor said with a sigh of anger as Rainbow twitched her foreleg away from his probing hooves. "Or rather..." the doctor growled, gritting his teeth, "She would be able to leave in a couple of days if she....didn't....stop..." Rainbow glared as the doctor finally managed to trap her flailing foreleg between his hooves and tightening the bandage. With a soft snort, the doctor bowed to the Princesses before picking up a roll of bandage and stalking out of the room. Shadow, who had been lurking in a shadowy corner, moved forward to sit next to Rainbow. She and Twilight both stared at the shadowy Unicorn. "Shadow, how can you be here?" Twilight asked, whilst Rainbow simply stared in shock at the Unicorn. Shadow watched them, not speaking. "The last time I saw you..." Twilight said while her other friends watched her and the darker Unicorn, "Was at the end of the running of the leafs." Twilight mumbled. "You Vanished after that." Celestia took that moment to look up from where she had been staring at the floor to glare at her sister. Luna shifted under the look on her sisters face. "Yes," Celestia said coldly, "I'm very curious about how you knew this Unicorns name Luna. I thought we agreed no secrets between us." Luna shifted again, this time looking guiltily up at Celestia. Twilight couldn't believe it, but Luna was blushing. The fur around her cheeks was turning a dark shade of red. Celestia was still glaring at her. "Luna...." Celestia growled, taking a step towards her sister, "Can you please explain who this is?" Luna sighed. "This Unicorn is named Shadow. He is...my Apprentice." Celestia stared at her sister in shock. So did everyone else. No Pony had ever heard of Luna taking a student, much less an apprentice. Even Celestia only took students, not apprentices. "I understand your shock." Luna mumbled looking down at the floor. "We found him one day wandering outside ponyville. We sensed that he had a similar power to ours. We decided to train him if a certain situation....were to arise." Luna turned her snout to look at Celestia. Both Alicorns glared at one another for a second before Celestia sighed heavily. It was then that Twilight noticed how tired Celestia looked. At that moment, the Alicorn in front her was no longer the strong, yet kindhearted Princess that she looked up to admired. The Princess now just looked tired. The Princess looked up at the group of ponies. Shaking her head, so that her shining mane swung in the magical breeze that made it wave. She held up both the lock device and the object that the intruder had been wearing. "This," Celestia said pointing with her hoof at the lock object, " is called a lockseed." she nodded whilst several of the ponies in the group stared confusedly at her. "Combined with this driver," She held up the black rectangular object, "They can be used to generate powerful armor and weapons." AppleJack finally looked up from under the brim of her hat. Her eyes were slightly red and she sounded as if she had a bad head cold. "Princess. What do ya mean armor. Who was that creep that hurt Rainbow?" She asked hotly. Rarity nodded. Her eyes mirroring the fury in AppleJack's. "Yes, what was that Brute? Why did he hurt Rainbow? And even worse, why did he have to fight in such ridiculous clothes? Black with yellow armor, so tacky." The others laughed briefly at Rarity's odd sense of priorities, before Celestia cleared her throat and continued. "In any case, To understand Lockseeds and drivers, you need to understand what the intruder was." With a flick of her horn and a flash of golden light, a life size replica of the intruder appeared next to Rainbow Dash's bed. Celestia and Luna both eyed the replica with unease. "This creature is a human." The others stared at her confusedly. Fluttershy looked up curiously. "Is....is....is it some kind of animal?" she asked. The others looked at her. Fluttershy retreated behind her long pink mane with a squeak of fright. Celestia's usual kindhearted smile returned briefly as she looked at the timid Pegasus before her stern gaze resumed dominance as she looked back at the shimmering replica of the human. "In any case every-pony," she continued, with a saddened tone entering her voice, "Several years ago, about the same time we first sealed Discord away, another human arrived in Equestria." She nodded at the surprised gasps of her audience. "Yes, and he wasn't alone. A party of humans, each wielding a different lockseed..." "There were more?" Twilight interrupted, her scientific curiosity getting ahead of her desire to listen to the princess. A loud shushing noise next to her made her jump. Pinkie Pie had shifted in her seat so she was facing the princess. She had produced a small sack of popcorn from nowhere and was sharing it with Rainbow dash, who had stuffed her face with so much popcorn that she couldn't speak. Twilight blushed and lowered her head. "Sorry...." she mumbled. "Yes Twilight, there were more. Way more." Celestia said kindly. "Each one was based off a different fruit, though there was no actual explanation for this, nor was there any explanation of where these Humans came from They just....appeared." She shook her head in annoyance. "This party of humans were convinced that we were protecting some sort of magical object that would grant them unimaginable power." She shook her head. "The poor creatures were so convinced that we were holding it from them they grew violent." Luna, who had been remaining quiet for some time spoke up. To their surprise, the princesses eyes had filled with tears as they stared at the replica of the intruder. "We had no choice." Luna mumbled staring at the replica. "They attacked us using the lockseeds. So much devastation was wrought that day....we had no choice...." The two Alicorns continued to stare at the replica of the creature. They seemed too distraught to speak. Fluttershy gasped. She seemed to have understood something. "No...you wouldn't. Please t-t-tell me your lying..." She whimpered. The others stared at her in surprise. AppleJack and Rainbow Dash frowned at her. "What are you talking about Sugercube?" AppleJack asked. Fluttershy shook her head staring at the princess in apparent dismay. Celestia gave a great sniff before fixing the group with a watery look. "We...wiped them out." Every single pony in the room gasped in shock and horror. "Please understand my little ponies," Celestia said pleadingly. "They wouldn't see sense. They just kept coming. They wouldn't stop." Celestia and Luna both wiped the eyes with their armor plated hooves. Luna sighed before speaking again. The rest of the group continued to stare at the two princesses in surprise. Twilight couldn't believe her ears. Her teacher and one of her greatest idols....had done something like that. "After my Sister and I defeated the last one, we gained the last driver in existence. It was kept secret to hide our subjects from the pain. If any-pony gained control over it then there would be a risk of restarting the battle again." Luna sighed looking ashamedly around at the group. "Though how and why this human has come here AND obtained a Lockseed along with another driver, when the only one we knew of is locked in our vaults is our top priority." Twilight stared sadly at Celestia. "Why didn't you tell us Celestia? I thought you trusted us..." She mumbled. Celestia shook her head tiredly. She looked even more defeated than before as she stared morosely at Twilight. But Twilight didn't care. She wanted some answers. Before she could ask anything else, Rainbow dash looked around. "Where the hay has Shadow gone? They looked around in surprise. There was no sign of the black Unicorn. Turning round, the group saw that the door to the infirmary was swinging wide open.