//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Escalation // Story: Marked // by Eisen //------------------------------// After a few solid hours of studying, Twilight began to discreetly write notes on what she found was important. So she nearly jumped when the librarian pony called out to her, his saddlebag full of writing materials and the like. "Well... my shift is up. It's starting to get dark outside, so I'd recommend you head out soon!" he explained, keeping his difficult to read tone. He seemed to have a somewhat concerned expression as she looked up at him, covering her note page discreetly with her hoof. "Just finishing up now!" She told him, which seemed to ease his expression by some small degree. Twilight wasn't sure exactly why this unsettled her. He seemed to be giving off an impression of empathy, although the other emotion could have been anything from worry to pity to regret from his own past. After she had reassured him however, he beamed a warm smile and trotted out, the door softly closing behind him. After waiting a moment to see if anyone else entered after he left, she decided that he was right and should wrap up for the day. She calmly placed each book back, and then looked over her new notes, reviewing once more all that she had uncovered. What primarily stood out about one of the Crystal Empire's history books about the former King Sombra was that his mark was never described. In fact, from what she had read, nobody had ever even seen Sombra's Cutie Mark, and despite a few descriptions of him without his beloved royal garb, it still said nothing about a mark. Twilight could chalk this up to his mark being a symbol of evil, perhaps a wretched thing to the citizens of the empire. However, In every other biographical book she had read about Pre-Equestrian ponies, not a single mark was mentioned. It is a curious thing for that to be the case, especially since in modern Equestrian history books, it is very important to explain a famous pony's mark, given that it does represent their talent. She made sure to jot down these oddities, perhaps the lack of marks being mentioned was a significant find. She calmly rolled up the papers and unsealed her bag just long enough to place them inside. She had almost sealed it up when she looked again and saw the book the old pony had given her. "The Foal and the Fountain". Now that she thought about it, it was rather strange to just hand out a story like that, especially when Twilight expressed an interest in history, not stories or fiction. She was thinking of reading it before quickly looking at a window high above her. Nothing was there, but the sun had already gone down, which was a sign that she needed to head out. She casually placed the book in her saddlebag and sealed it shut again with her horn, making sure to tighten the bag around her waist before heading out the door. It was a crisp, cool night, and Twilight shivered slightly as she trotted towards the center of town. She had made arrangements earlier with Shining Armor and Cadence to stay in one of the spare rooms in the castle. As her hooves clacked on the smooth crystal street below, she thought about what she could start looking in to tomorrow. "I've already read two large volumes of Pre-Equestrian history, and three biographies on King Sombra..." She pondered, thinking of the other books that she needed to read. "There's still that book on the founders of Equestria, the other volumes of 'Northern Equestrian Leaders', and the autobiography of--" She stopped in the middle of the street, but the hoof-beats didn't. She was not alone. Her horn glowed with a bright light, revealing five ponies walking up behind her. "Well boys, what have we here? A lonely mare at night! And a princess to boot!" Came the voice of one of them who had walked in front of her, his crystalline coat reflecting some of the purple light from the princess's horn. He wore a smirk and his eyes remained mostly in shadow. "You might do to be a bit cautious, your highness. These streets ain't quite as safe as the ones back in Canterlot. Say... Nice saddlebag there... betcha it's got all kinds of expensive princess crap in it," said a green one, standing somewhere behind her. He was flanked by two others, with the fifth of the bunch directly at her back. The fifth one gruffly grabbed her leg with his, attempting to yank her aside. She easily shot him backwards with a horn blast to the chest, knocking the wind out of him and leaving him reeling on the ground. "Did you really think this was a good idea?" Twilight asked, incredulous. The three she had in sight looked hesitant, but the mare of the group got brave and charged her with a shout, the other two following suit, with the gray one who had spoken first brandishing a knife in his teeth. She sent out a magic wave to bounce all three back, charging a blast before the fourth head butted her in the side. She reeled from the impact, coughing as she stood up, re-charging with all four in sight and blasting the one with the knife. He went down with an expression of shock. The mare and the green lackey both rushed her, the mare jumping and flapping her wings to try and strike from above with force. Twilight very easily dodged the strike and grabbed the mare with her magic, tossing her at the other and sending both into a wall, where they collapsed unconscious. Those street thugs were simple enough to take on, and only one remained. She faced him, and was greeted by a bald pegasus with an ashen coat, the texture of the fur very dull. Unusually, he wore a pair of shades, despite it being the dead of night. Unlike the others, he was in a very defensible stance, and, to Twilight's shock, he managed to avoid the small wall of energy she fired at him with a masterfully executed aerial lunge, sending him up and arching towards her. He just barely missed her as she flew up into the air, the stallion grunting as he quickly recovered and bounded up after her. Also unlike his comrades, he said nothing, and had a very blank expression on his face. She attempted to dodge his straight launch at her, but was caught off guard as he pulled off a near 90-degree directional shift (a move that might even impress Rainbow Dash) and slammed into her side with all of his weight. He succeeded in injuring one of her wings, and she hit the ground with a dull thud. He dived and landed beside her, raising his front hooves to slam down on her-- BOOM! His dive gave her enough time to charge one strong blast in her horn, and just as he reeled up, she whipped her head around and fired, hitting him square in the chest. He flew a good five feet before a wall stopped his movement and cracked. She stood and panted, looking at the five unconscious thugs, but taking an extra moment to observe the bald one. He was much better built than the others, and although appearing in the same fashion as the rest of the thugs, he just didn't carry himself like a common criminal. She walked away and rubbed her wing painfully. "Guards! Guards?" She called out. It was strange, normally there was a guard on nearly every block, but she traveled three blocks away before finally finding one, who looked very startled when he saw her. "Your highness, are you alright?" He questioned, looking very concerned. He seemed almost panicked to see a princess in this state. "You'll find five thugs in the alley three blocks back... They tried to rob me," she stated very straightforwardly, having caught her breath a bit more. He nodded wildly and used his horn to broadcast a signal into the sky, alerting other guards to his location as he ran to the street she had specified. As Twilight approached the royal palace, she was met outside by a very concerned looking royal couple. Cadence had a look of slight shock, as if she had jumped out of bed in distress just minutes before. Shining Armor, meanwhile, had his armor on, but not all of the straps were in straight, indicating that he, too, had rushed out. "Twily!" Shining exclaimed, galloping over to hug her with an expression of relief. "What happened? Are you okay?" "I'm alright, but I met with some unwanted trouble on the way here." She told him, grunting slightly as she tried stretching her hurt wing. "I know. That signal over there is only used to indicate danger to royalty... I'm just glad you're okay. But tell me what happened, I need to know!" he said, half formally as he remembered his position, but it was still his sister, he was personally concerned. Cadence had walked up next to him, with a calmer but still very worried expression upon her face. "I was on my way here from the library, and I was met by five street thugs. They tried to mug me, but I was able to knock them all out." Twilight explained, but hesitated. "Is there something else?" Cadence asked, her voice soothing but still cautious. "Well... the first four were just run of the mill street thugs, like some of the young colts and mares in Manehattan or Phillydelphia. But the fifth one was different. A bald pegasus, ashy coat, well built. Unlike the others, he seemed... trained. He had a good combat stance and actually landed a few hits on me." She said, rubbing her still aching side where his head had impacted her earlier. Shining's face dropped at this. "Sure, there have been minor bursts of crime lately but... a professional?" He seemed to be deeply thinking. Cadence took this moment to try and lighten the mood like she usually did. "Heh. You've got pros out for you now, Twilight?" After saying this, Cadence took on a playful smirk, as if talking to a child who has just lied about something fairly minor. "You haven't been snooping in anything you shouldn't be, have you?" Cadence laughed off the comment lightheartedly. Twilight nervously laughed along, but had a hollow feeling inside. Sure, Cadence always said stuff like that in tense situations, it's how she dealt with them. But still... Had Celestia said anything to her? Could Cadence be trusted? Twilight then shifted back to her brother. "Oh, I think I should mention that there weren't many guards around during the fight. I traveled three blocks before finding one. I thought it was policy to have at least one guard on each block." She partially brought it up to change the subject, but also was somewhat curious. Shining glanced briefly at his wife before answering. "Well, I mentioned that there were some crime bursts lately so, in response, I reassigned some of the guards to the higher risk areas." He said it a bit quickly, likely because he was ashamed at almost bringing harm to his sister with the decision, but in Twilight's current state of mind, she couldn't help but think it might be more than that. "Well after events like that, I'm sure she needs her rest!" Cadence chimed in, steering the conversation to a neutral topic. Twilight definitely agreed. They all walked in to the palace, wishing Twilight a good night, but not before Shining insisted on posting night guards outside of her door. So, Twilight crawled into bed, not even removing the saddlebag before falling into a deep sleep.