“There have been times in the past where I’ve felt a dizzying sense that events that are occurring before me have happened before… or that they should have happened differently. I have no hard evidence but I’ve a hypothesis that these feelings are the last remnants of another timeline before something truly alien altered the flow of things.”
-Starswirl the Bearded, writing on the subject of ‘déjà vu’, time travel and creatures not native to our dimension
------
08:50, 12/16/2015, MEDICAL WINGS
It was with no small amount of déjà vu that Firecracker found herself in front of non-descript door at the end of the private accommodations corridor in the medical wings. As with her previous visit, two identical guards with green patches stood watch on either side of the doorframe. She pointedly didn’t look at either of them as she fought for an excuse she could live with for just walking away like she had the two days earlier.
Try as she might, that excuse wouldn’t come.
I never thought that Will Jenkin’s words of wisdom would have applied to me, Firecracker thought as she shifted her weight and tried not to wince at the tightness in her back. One hoof rose to the door before hesitating and falling back down to the marble floor. A second later and that monster would have cut me in half, regardless of changeling biology. If Matt hadn’t been there to poke with a pointed comment to leech some affection, I’d still be in bed, she thought as she suppressed a growl. Twilight and Sweetie were in danger, plus everything else going on in Canterlot… so why was my last lament about her? That thought was enough to force Firecracker to shove the door open roughly, hesitation and back pain be damned, and stomp into the room. I swear, Chrysalis, if you’re in here being fed grapes from some air-headed stallion that you have wrapped around your hoof, I’ll--
The first thing that struck Firecracker was the complete and total silence within the room. She froze, the only sounds reaching her being her own deliberately loud hoof strikes on the marble a moment before. The second thing that put the changeling on edge was the near complete stillness and lack of activity. The last thing that caught her attention was the figure on the bed.
Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings, Ruler of the Hives, orchestrator of a coup that nearly dethroned the princesses and one of the most ambitious creatures in the world… lay still as death on the bed in the center of the room. Without her domineering and attention-demanding voice rattling the walls, she seemed… diminished somehow. She was mostly covered in blankets but there were at least two bullet wounds on her neck carapace that had been patched with a combination of magic and changeling remedies.
Queen Chrysalis, in all her terrible glory, grimaced and gave a small whimper in her fitful sleep.
This can’t be. This has to be some kind of trick… a body double or illusion! She would never allow herself to get hurt like this, Firecracker told herself. She knew she should be inspecting the room for signs of deception, but she couldn’t tear her eyes from the bed. Chrysalis can’t be hurt. She’s too powerful, and conniving, and she would never allow herself to look so… so…
“All of your worrying is giving me a stomach ache,” Chrysalis said, her voice more than a whisper but less than that of a normal conversation. One eye slowly opened and a smile forced itself onto her face, though she didn’t try to rise from her repose. “Ah, there is the familiar anger I always feel whenever you stalk by the door. I was hoping you would visit at least once. There is something that I need from you.”
The unfamiliar flood of emotions in Firecracker were pushed aside by righteous indignation. “Need from me? What makes you think that I would help you after what you’ve done? You--”
“I’ve made mistakes, I know,” Chrysalis said, and her grin led to a strained laugh. “Don’t act so surprised, dear. The time since the attack has given me a great deal of time to think and reconsider.” The one open eye blinked slowly before wandering to the far wall. “I’ll be going back to the hives as soon as I am healthy enough to move, and I intend to leave my heir to manage things in Canterlot.”
“I won’t rejoin the swarm, mother,” Firecracker spat, and her anger doubled when another thought occurred to her. “I will also not play subordinate or damage control for whatever parasite you’ve chosen to succeed you.”
Chrysalis’s gaze fell back on the other changeling and watched her as she ranted. “You were right to challenge me before the Cadance infiltration. I realise that now,” she said, and she managed another laugh when Firecracker nearly fell over from shock. “My heir at the time attempted to usurp me when our coup in Canterlot failed, and that gave me some time to think about what went wrong. The hives have always thrived most when the other races have been happy, and my greed would have caused that happiness to wither and die. It’s why I took the risk of aligning with the Princesses and the other races over the invaders.”
“I had assumed as much,” Firecracker mumbled, still in shock over the direction that the conversation was taking. “I also assume you have some sort of point you’re working towards.”
“As I said, the previous heir I had been grooming attempted a coup. I could not allow that to stand, so she was removed and a new heir was prepared.” The smallest amount of hesitation entered Chrysalis’s voice as she chose her next words. “I’ve done everything I can to prepare her for the future without creating someling who will just repeat my mistakes.”
The words Chrysalis was speaking smacked against every expectation that Firecracker held of the queen. There’s no way this is real. She’s hiding behind a curtain somewhere and laughing at me, right?
“‘There’s no way this is real’ is what you’re thinking, right? The disbelief is radiating off of you like steam off of boiling water, dear,” Chrysalis commented with her knowing smirk. “I’ve prepared her as best I can, but now I need someling who can teach her about the other races. I need you to teach her to see them as more than just food or a resource to be exploited. She also needs… practical experience that she will never get in the hive. Can I ask you to do this last thing for me?”
She’s doing more than asking me to babysit. She’s asking me to shape her legacy, and the future of the hive. “I’ll do it,” Firecracker said, barely managing a whisper as she reeled from the implications.
“Thank you, Syf.”
That snapped Firecracker back into the moment like the crack of a whip. “Don’t ever speak that name again,” she growled before turning and stomping out of the room… and nearly tripping over a filly that apparently had her ear to the door. One look at the ‘filly’ was all that Firecracker needed to realise just what ‘practical experience’ implied regarding what she had just volunteered for.
The filly’s appearance put her around the same age as the group of troublemakers from Ponyville, and her mannerisms seemed to reflect as much. Wide eyes and a wider grin bespoke of excitement and eagerness… but everything else about her just screamed ‘just left the hive.’ She had thankfully chosen the form a unicorn, but her coat and mane were dark gray and teal. Her eyes were the same green irises and vertical slits that Chrysalis bore, and her wide grin was filled with sharp teeth.
Aside from dropping the form of a unicorn, there was no possible way that this filly could look any more like a changeling.
“Hi, Syf! I’m so excited to finally meet you!” the filly blurted out in a rush. “After Mom dealt with all of my older sisters, the first thing she said to me was that I had to be more like Syf! Then she started telling me all the things that I couldn’t do because Syf wouldn’t--” The rest of the filly’s explanation was interrupted as Firecracker snaked one foreleg around her head and quickly drug her down the hall to an empty room.
Once the room was confirmed empty, a swift kick slammed the door shut. “Stay silent and follow my instructions, hatchling,” Firecracker hissed before hesitating. Sun above, I’m starting to sound just like Chrysalis, she thought as she gave another look to the younger changeling. The harshness of the command had seemingly done little to dampen the youngling’s enthusiasm for the moment. If this is some sort of elaborate revenge plot… then I tip my hat to you, Mother. “Before anything else is discussed, you will not speak the name ‘Syf’ again. My name is ‘Firecracker’, and you will address me as such. Am I clear?”
“Perfectly clear!” The response was delivered with the same amount of enthusiasm as her earlier speech, the chastisement apparently not making so much as a dent in it.
An arched eyebrow from Firecracker was her immediate response as she gave the filly a critical eye. “The purpose of our abilities is to disguise our true nature. Tell me why you chose to look exactly like a changeling, then?”
The filly’s excitement was dampened just a bit as the criticism sunk in. “W-well, Mom said that we can’t use the appearance of the ponies we meet, and these are the only colors that feel right to me…” her voice slowly trailed away and she couldn’t maintain eye contact for long.
“You hadn’t realised the problem, had you?” Firecracker asked, her tone far softer than her last question in response to the filly that was all but cowering before her now. A small pang of guilt jabbed at her as she crouched down to the filly’s level. “Now that you know there’s a problem, we can fix it. Okay? Why don’t you change into something else for me? I’ll leave the race and coloration to you, though it should be an Equestrian.”
The filly seemed to swell with the encouragement, and her face lit up as an idea apparently struck her. A small gout of green flame erupted and consumed her appearance, leaving something new in its wake. “How about this! Do you like it? You… you don’t like it. What’s wrong?” Her renewed enthusiasm immediately reversed when she spotted the reaction to her choices.
Firecracker’s reaction had been to cover her face with her hoof. “The disguise is… unique, but there’s several problems. First, the combination of black coat and red mane is a little harsh on the eyes, and it is a bit of an inversion of the usual color schemes that the Equestrians have. There are exceptions, but the majority I’ve encountered typically have a darker mane than their coat.” Firecracker lowered her hoof to look back at the filly, and was almost taken aback by the expression of rapt attention to her every word. “I’m… also afraid disguising yourself as an alicorn isn’t a good option, either. Considering how rare they are, pretending to be one will only attract attention.”
“Oh, I guess that makes sense--”
CRASH.
The door to the room nearly flew off it’s hinges and something small and fast burst into the room. It ricocheted off the far wall, the floor, and the ceiling fan before being stopped dead by Firecracker’s outstretched hoof. The projectile in question was, inexplicably, a small white ball that had no realistic way of doing the damage it had done without... significant assistance.
“I think it went in here!” shouted a young voice from the hallway, and immediately following it was the pegasus filly that Firecracker vaguely recalled as ‘Scootaloo.’ “Wow, Sweetie! You almost knocked the door out of the wall with that ball! Did you get a cannonball cutie mark out of it?” Scootaloo shouted back down the hallway but she froze once she realised that the room wasn’t empty.
Sweetie Belle (the younger, Firecracker noted) galloped around the corner to inspect the damage. “Rarity said that the ball would help me get my mark, but it isn’t helping at all!” she huffed, and her grumpy expression rapidly switched to panic she realised that an adult now held her ball. “Uh, that door was like that when we got here!” she declared, and Scootaloo immediately nodded in agreement.
The sounds of talons on the marble floors in addition to hooffalls preceded the arrival of Alvar and Applebloom. “Girls, I don’t think that story is going to get off the ground,” the young griffon stated, and he bowed his head slightly to Firecracker. “Apologies for the damages incurred. I hope you and your… sister are unharmed, Miss Firecracker?”
“Yes, we’re both alright,” Firecracker said, and she lofted the ball back to the fillies. Wait, he said sisters, didn’t he? Why would he-- The answer to her question was immediately answered when she cast a quick glance toward the other changeling in the room before covering her face with her hoof again. Well, at least she thinks fast, though her choices leave a little to be desired.
In the scant hoofful of seconds from when Firecracker’s attention was pulled to the door to the apparent arrival of the perpetrators, the changeling filly had again assumed a new form that technically adhered to all of the rules that had been set. She was once again a unicorn filly, but this time she sported a fiery orange mane and tail that accented her light grayish coat. She also now sported a cutie mark of three burning question marks.
I can’t even really fault her for choosing that disguise, since she’s following the royal decree of not copying any pony’s appearance, Firecracker said as she again covered her face with her hoof to hide the miniature version of herself from view. Chrysalis is laughing at me right now. I can feel it.
The gesture was also apparently not missed by Alvar as he gave Firecracker a wary look. “Well then, apologies for the interruption. Girls, we should…” This time it was the young griffon’s turn to try and stifle his surprise, as all three of the Cutie Mark Crusaders had seemingly vanished from his side of the room to surround the changeling filly and bombard her with questions.
“You already have your cutie mark! That’s so cool!”
“I guess so?” came the timid response.
“What does it mean? It must be something super awesome I bet!”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know? How can you not know-- wait, your cutie mark is question marks. Is your special talent not knowing about your cutie mark?”
“I… maybe?”
“That’s just silly, I’ve never heard of a cutie mark for not knowing about cutie marks.” A horrified gasp punctuated the machine gun speech. “Girls, what if we missed our chance for a cutie mark like that one because we started researching too early!?”
“Maybe your sister Firecracker can tell us, she’s got the same mark. What’s your name anyway?”
“Firecracker!” the changeling filly declared loudly with a winning (and thankfully, fang-free) smile. That confidence wilted when she saw the confused looks on the Crusaders faces, and the increasingly common facehoof gesture that the elder changeling was adopting.
“Mother was terribly unimaginative with her children’s names,” Firecracker explained, drawing attention away from the changeling filly. It’s not exactly a lie, the vast majority of the hive never warrants a name… “We’re both named Firecracker, but we all call this little one Firefly.” A subtle look towards the filly in question was answered with a wide grin and a series of nods so vigorous that it threatened to give Firecracker whiplash by proxy.
The three Equestrian fillies seemed to take the explanation at face value before resuming their multi-pronged interrogation of the newly christened ‘Firefly.’ Alvar seemed less than convinced as he moved to stand beside Firecracker. “‘Mother was terribly unimaginative with names’?” he paraphrased back, and his suspicious stare held the changeling before looking back to the fillies. “Well, it seems like your ‘sister’ is about to be drafted into helping the Crusade, other responsibilities notwithstanding.”
Alvar is a quick study… though he might have been made aware of what I am because of his position. Firecracker gave the young griffon an evaluating eye before replying. “As much as I would like to see mother dearest’s reaction to her chosen heir learning from these three, I am afraid Firefly will be staying with me for the foreseeable future. Once I’m certain she’s not going to put her family or those around her at risk by doing something stupid, I might consider letting her out of my sight.” A stray thought began to coalesce into a plan as she once again looked over the High Talon. “Of course, I think all of the fillies could do with a moderating influence. I could be wrong but you seem to be doing a good job of keeping those three from burning down the castle.”
Alvar, ever the quick one, caught on to Firecracker’s leading tone and he shrugged after a moment. “None of the plans that the Crusaders have ever proposed to me have had the capacity for much property damage, but I have heard the stories from their older sisters. Some of the tales seem to defy all logical explanation.” He cast a sideways look towards Firecracker and gave a small nod. “Should your sister ever have the opportunity to join the Crusaders, I will do my best to ensure that she isn’t hurt.”
“Thank you,” Firecracker replied, though her reply trailed off as some nebulous feeling of wrongness began to creep on the outer edges of her perception. It’s not an emotional attack, or the presence of an alien that’s doing this. It’s really a lack of feeling in the room. Why would it feel like that when there’s Alvar and the Crusaders here?
The answer became apparent when both Alvar and Firecracker broke eye contact only to discover that the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Firefly had vanished.
------
10:00, 12/16/2015, QUARTERS OF TWILIGHT SPARKLE
To the untrained or uninitiated, the personal apartments of Twilight Sparkle seemed to be distinctly at odds with what one might expect from the princess. Stacks of papers were strewn about, along with a hoofful of completely depleted ballpoint pens. Books were also found amidst the chaos, some opened to specific places while others were closed and sprouting a forest of colored tabs.
Twilight Sparkle was at the center of the hurricane, a fresh pen in the crook of her left ear and a second pen scratching away at the parchment before her. The pen in use eventually succumbed to the inevitable and ran dry, and it was immediately discarded with a telekinetic toss in the air as she pulled the one from her ear.
The depleted pen was caught by a passing Spike before being set aside with the rest of the dry writing utensils. The dragonling hopped up onto the bench on the opposite side of Twilight’s table and began to sort through the sheafs of papers that were stacked there. The largest stack was divided into three smaller stacks, and Spike browsed each of them before clipping and restacking them without a word.
“Spike, have you sent the messages to the captains yet?” Twilight asked, and nearly jumped in surprise when she spotted her assistant sitting at the table.
“Yep, Captain Song said that a messenger would stop by to pick up the instructions, and I left notes with the secretaries with Captain Armor and Captain Shot,” Spike reported, and he shot a look over the papers in his claws. “I also let Princess Luna know that you wanted to talk to her. She said that she’d try and stop by as soon as she could.”
Princess Luna? When did I ask Spike to send her a message? I was going to see if I could talk to her tomorrow or the day after... Twilight wracked her memories from the past two days before looking back to Spike.
The dragonling’s eyes were once again hidden behind the papers he was sorting, but his tone was immediately recognizable. “You were muttering in your sleep about an appointment with her last night, and you usually take a day after muttering to finally go through with things. I just took the initiative.”
The small whirlwind of papers around Twilight froze as she looked over at Spike. He really is my number one assistant. I don’t know if I could keep going without him. The papers in her telekinetic grasp were stacked and set to the side as she slipped off her bench to move around the table.
The sudden lack of shuffling papers was enough for Spike to glance up from his own work, and he immediately assumed a comically sour expression. “There’s still a lot to do, Twilight. Are you sure you have time for mushy hugs and girly things like that?”
“You’re probably right. Thanks for reminding me, Spike,” Twilight replied with an overly dramatic sigh, and both alicorn and dragonling shared a smile at their mutual act. “Once we’re done, I’m going to give you a proper snuggle,” she added as she hopped back onto her bench.
“I’ll add it to your itinerary,” Spike nodded seriously. A comfortable silence fell over the pair as they continued to work, but the tranquil scene was interrupted by a gentle knock at the door. Spike was quick to to answer before turning back to announce the visitor. “Twilight? Remember when I said that Princess Luna was going to stop by a soon as she could? I guess that was a lot sooner than I thought.”
“I will always come when a friend calls for me,” Princess Luna said from the doorway as she favored Twilight with a smile. “I do hope I’m not interrupting your work, Twilight. May I come in?”
Twilight rose to stand by the table but didn’t leave the center of her paper hurricane. “Please, come in! I’m working on a couple of things that I would love your feedback on!” She motioned to the piles of papers by the desk before giving her assistant a curious look. “Spike, where are you going?”
The dragonling had scooped up the three stacks of paperwork on his side of the desk and was already halfway out the door. “Gonna drop these off for the captains. I can save them some time rather than waiting for a messenger. I’ll stop by this evening with some food, okay?” Spike explained with a smile. The moment didn’t last long as the sound of galloping hooves filled the hallway. Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, Scootaloo, and a fourth filly ran past the dragonling with enough speed to spin him around on his heel. “Girls! You shouldn’t run in the hallway! You might cause--” The rest of his warning was muted as the door closed behind him.
“If I had to name one being in this castle most deserving of recognition for his hard work, your assistant would be the first I would mention,” Princess Luna said as she trotted over to the table with a chuckle. She glanced down at the organized chaos on the table before taking a seat. “I imagine you have other things you wish to discuss than the reliability of Spike. I had heard reports regarding the adventure in Ponyville. Your brother has also shared that you intend to help with the defense of Equestria… your argument must have been compelling to convince him.”
The papers in Twilight’s telekinetic grasp stopped before shuffling themselves into stacks and arranging themselves neatly around her bench. She tried to meet Luna’s eyes but couldn’t raise them higher than the table. “That’s right. Over the past week, I’ve had a lot of time to think about the things that I’ve learned over the past year. I’m an alicorn princess and the Element Bearer for Magic. I have an obligation to do everything in my power to help. I thought that meant--” The purple spark lanced out into a beam of pure magic and lashed out, cutting the chryssalid cleanly in two from the crown of its head to its groin, Twilight recalled with a wince. “--fighting like you and Shiny do, but it turns out one of my human friends told me what to do. I just had to remember it.”
Luna remained silent, inclining her head towards Twilight to urge her to continue.
“I can’t carry a gun or fly a plane but I can tear their bodies to pieces to know how they think and live,” Vahlen screamed as she clutched her tablet close to her chest. “It’s what I do. It’s all I can do!”
“She lost someone special, I think,” Twilight started, before pausing to choose her words carefully. I still consider Moira a friend and I don’t want to say bad things behind her back, but knowing what I know now puts a different light on her… “She was willing to do anything to keep that from happening to anyone else, but she knew her limits and her strengths. She helps Mr. Shen make all of the amazing things that the humans use, and she’s really good at it.”
Luna gave an approving nod as she glanced down at the stacks of paper nearest to her. “Your friend is quite wise, and I can see you’re putting that wisdom to good use. It seems that you’re recreating the base formulae of your ‘Wallflower’ spell… with a defect in it?”
“Several different versions of faulty Wallflower with varying degrees of imperfections in it. I believe that we can train guardsponies to detect when something nearby is hiding with Wallflower by exposure to the malfunctioning version of it. Once they’ve memorized the most severe version, they graduate to the improved spells until they can passively detect the artificial Wallflower that EXALT uses!” Twilight explained in a rush, though she chewed her lip nervously. “Do you think it will work? I ran the idea by the the head arcanist but he didn’t seem to think it would work.”
“It has been many years since I’ve seen acclimation used as a teaching method like this, and I believe you are on the right track, Twilight,” Luna concluded, her gaze shifted to another stack of papers. “I see that you’re also working on a means to resist the… ‘jammer grenade’ effect? There’s also some papers in the human language, too.”
The confidence boost that Luna’s praise gave was dampened by the next topic. “I’ve had a chance to study some of the devices recovered, but I’m hitting a dead end. I’m not certain I can develop a magical countermeasure for something that cancels all magic in an area.” Twilight waved a hoof at the stack of papers written in English. “The best I can come up with is creating a training regimen for the humans to try and avoid the negative effects. Every Equestrian I’ve spoken with has suffered debilitating pain and weakness when one of the jammers go off because our physiology is so dependant upon magic. The humans don’t share that trait, so if they’re able to completely halt any magical abilities their using before the jammer activates they shouldn’t have any negative effects other than having no magic for the duration.”
“I’m impressed, Twilight, and you should be proud. There are many ponies who would have just thrown up their hooves and given up, considering the problems you’re working on,” Luna said, a warm smile on her face as Twilight finally met her eyes. “I suspect that you’ve asked me to come here for more than my opinions on your work, though.”
The statement gave Twilight more than a little anxiety as closed her eyes and let out a slow breath. “I’ve had a lot of time to think over the past few days… to go over what I’ve done and what I almost did. I had that assassin pinned, and all it would have taken was the smallest bit of pressure to kill her.” Twilight took a moment to steel herself as the memories of that moment came back to her. When she spoke, the words all came out in a rush. “I’ve done enough research into the human justice system, both civil and wartime, to figure out what’s going to happen to the assassin now. Now that I know… I can’t help but think that it was a mistake. That I should have just--”
“Twilight,” Luna said gently, her tone quiet but firm. She waited for the younger alicorn to catch her breath before continuing. “Twilight, I know you’ve been forced to learn some very harsh lessons over this past year. There are times when such force is justified, necessary even. But mercy is never a mistake, regardless of the outcome.”
Twilight’s nod came with more than a little hesitation, which elicited a sigh from Luna in response. The elder alicorn’s eyes slowly closed as she said, “I still remember the first time. I was… no older than you, I think. Celestia and I were just making ourselves known to the wider world and establishing the nation that would one day become Equestria.”
It took more than a little willpower for Twilight to resist the urge to transcribe everything Luna was saying. There’s so little recorded history from the time immediately after the windigos were defeated, but this isn’t history for her. The realisation struck her like an arrow to the heart once she made the connection with their previous topic. This is something personal for her, and I don’t think it’d be right to share it...
“She and I were holding audience with some refugees that had been saved from slavery at the hooves of one of the more vicious bandit lords, and I found myself rapidly approaching the limits of my endurance for the pomp and circumstance of our positions. I found myself wishing for something, anything to happen to break up the monotony when a pegasus stallion pushed through the crowd and launched himself at Celestia with guard-issue hoof-blades extended.” Luna’s eyes opened slowly, but they were unfocused and downcast. “Knowing what I know now, I realise that there was absolutely no way that he could have harmed a hair on my sister. She even gave the attacker that look. The one she gives when she’s cross but determined not to be ruffled-”
“The number three glare that she uses when Prince Blueblood makes it into the papers?” Twilight ventured, before snapping her mouth shut. “Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt.”
Luna’s immediate response was a small chuckle. “No, this was more like the glare she uses when she has to discipline one of the nobles for stepping out of line.”
“The number two…” Twilight muttered, before she caught the amused look that Luna was casting towards her. “Sorry, sorry, please continue.”
“I am afraid that I must stray from the topic for a moment. Just how many ‘glares’ have you classified for my sister?”
“Four…” came the hesitant answer.
A brief titter of laughter escaped the elder alicorn then. “I do not mean to poke fun. I had just never thought to break down her expressions in such a manner. It does seem like something you would do, Twilight.” The jovial tone eventually died as Luna’s gaze again fell downward. “I can still remember that moment just as easily as if it had just happened. There was surprise and panicked action from the other ponies in the room, and the hatred on the attacker’s face was unmistakeable. In my fear and surprise, I pushed him away with my magic hard enough to break his neck when he struck the far wall. I do not recall much of what happened afterward, other than Celestia apologizing repeatedly for putting me into that situation. She tried her hardest to lock me safely away in a tower for half a century after that.
Luna finally looked up to meet Twilight’s troubled stare. “I may be able to find humor in the outcome, but please do not think for a moment that I do not consider the taking of a life as a serious matter. When that pegasus attacked, he most likely knew the price he would pay. Celestia’s Solar Guard were quite fearsome back then, and they would have likely executed the fool seconds after he struck.”
The description of events stabbed at Twilight’s heart like an arrow. “I had no idea that things were that bad when you and Princess Celestia came into power,” she whispered.
“My sister has been very careful in cultivating the history that is currently known, but that is not the point I am trying to make,” Luna replied patiently. “It is a credit to you that you still ask if your decision was the right one. There are times where a peaceful resolution is impossible, where bloodshed is inevitable, as you are no doubt aware… but it’s the mark of a monster to use this as your only recourse and to feel no regret afterward. If you take anything from my rambling, then remember this: Do not bury your enemies in your hoofsteps without a care, but do not let their ghosts paralyze you into inaction in the future. It’s a delicate balance that you will become familiar with, Twilight, and my sister and I will be there to help you if you ever require it.”
“Thanks for sharing that, Luna,” Twilight said, undisguised relief in her voice. “You know how I don’t like to make mistakes, and the fact that the results of my choices are permanent regardless of my decisions has been bothering me. Sweetie Belle-- that is, the other Sweetie helped me deal with some of what happened in the past, but it’s good to know you’ve been where I am now in the past.”
Princess Luna’s posture became ramrod straight and regal, her expression imperious and unreadable… but her eyes sparkled with mischief. “It is perfectly understandable to assume that we have been perfect for all of time… but I wasn’t always this way, and just between you and me there were a lot of mistakes that happened along the way. The same goes for my dear sister, though she is loathe to go into any detail.” The mischief gave way to curiosity. “If I am not distracting too much from your work, I must inquire as to the mare you mentioned. I had only second-hoof reports about her, but she sounds fascinating.”
Twilight smiled and stretched, and she winced at the small knot that had apparently manifested between her wings and shoulders during her hours of work. “It might be you that needs to clear her schedule, as Sweetie’s story is rather long, and that doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of my speculation…”
------
11:35, 12/16/2015, ???, CANTERLOT
The bare stone walls of the room were unadorned and the rough-cut stone threw long and dancing shadows from the wall sconces. No windows were cut, their presence would be pointless so far underground, and the only portal was a thick iron door with a small view port in the center. It was a relic of a time long past in Equestrian history, a chamber designed to instill thoughts of doom and hopelessness in any who were held inside.
The room’s intended effect was all too apparent on the unicorn stallion cowering on the bench by the far wall, and his voice was borderline hysterical once his resolve broke. “They had pictures! Pictures of Dally and my little Sparkler! They said I had to shield them from the Guard scans and never say a word or they’d kill my wife and foal!” The stallion gave a desperate look to the other unicorn in the room, then to the thestral. “They said they would know if I told anyone! Please, you have to save my family!”
Shining Armor gave the begging stallion a blank look, then glanced to Sentinel Captain Star Shot. The thestral mare caught the look and replied with the smallest of nods. Without a word, the pair turned away from the prisoner and walked towards the cell door. The door opened without any prompting, and the two guard ponies flanked the portal just long enough for two more ponies to rush in. The prisoner’s pleading transformed immediately into relief as the new arrivals shared a tearful embrace.
It was a scene that brought a dull pain to Shining’s heart, for reasons that he didn’t want to fully explore.
“This was my fault,” Star Shot growled under her breath as she followed Shining Armor out of the room. “I should have anticipated this. A lot of the ponies in the capital sent their families to the countryside after the first attack, and it makes sense that a few might have been caught by those accursed traitors. I never thought they’d be used as blackmail in this manner. Careless. Stupid.” The thestral banged one armored hoof against her helmet and bared her teeth.
“We’ll need to launch an investigation to ensure there are no others that are in such a position,” Shining added, though the words that the other captain had chosen gave him pause. “Star, I hope you aren’t being too indiscriminate with that ‘accursed traitors’ label…”
The self-recrimination vanished from Star Shot’s face and was immediately replaced with a heated glare. “As far as the Sentinels and I are concerned, these creatures calling themselves ‘EXALT’ are no different than the monsters that attacked Canterlot. They deliberately undermined the defense of their own world to attain power over the rest of their people. They are human in appearance only, no different than the ‘longma’ creatures that the aliens engineered to look like us. Nopony under my command associates them with our allies, I’ve seen to that.”
“Understood, and I did not intend to question or doubt your feelings on the humans.”
“Yes, you did. You just wanted to be polite about it.” The severe expression on Star’s face began to fade as the pair began to ascend the staircases to exit the dungeons. “Shining, do you think we’re ever going to recover from this? As a people, I mean? I remember when the most serious thing that the Sentinels had to worry about was the occasional plot to break something out of Tartarus or the occasional creature from across the sea looking to stir up trouble. We could deal with that and everypony goes about their normal lives without much fuss. Now, though...”
“I share your concerns, Star. It’s something that has been on my mind a lot lately,” Shining agreed. Equestrians are resilient up to a point… but it’s been millennia since our entire culture has been put under pressure like this. Will we go back to the way we were before all this started, or will we become suspicious and unforgiving like the humans are when they’re at their worst? That train of thought brought another stab of uncertainty to the stallion as he recalled what was soon going to happen. “I’ll leave the arrangements to the investigation to you, Star. I’m afraid I have a prior engagement I have to attend to.”
“Understood,” the thestral captain replied with a snap to attention and salute. A sympathetic expression crossed her face for just a moment before she turned and marched down one of the side corridors, leaving Shining to ponder everything that had happened over the past two days and what was going to happen when the clock struck noon.
Shining’s hooves moved of their own accord, and he mentally kicked himself as he reviewed the systemic breakdown of discipline with the former Corporal Flash Sentry. He had been hoof-picked by Shining himself to act as Twilight’s bodyguard based on his combat performance as well as his loyalty to the princesses. When Twilight had first complained to Shining, he had merely assumed that Flash’s dedication to his duty had outstripped Twilight’s tolerance of the inconvenience and left it at that. When Firecracker had brought the issue up, he had given the disguised changeling the authority to review the guardspony, but hadn’t expected anything to come from it.
After Twilight’s group had been teleported back to Canterlot, Shining had rushed down to make sure his sister was unharmed. In his rush, he had the… pleasure of overhearing Flash Sentry’s sneering dismissal of the criticism levied against him, not because the criticism was wrong but because it came from somepony who’s authority he didn’t recognize. The guardspony had ended his scathing retort with a back-hooved comment about those who weren’t worthy of Twilight’s company, including a not too subtle jab at Captain Harris.
A brief interview with the then bedridden Firecracker had done nothing to redeem the corporal, given the orders he had disobeyed. Twilight had been far less restrained once they had been given some privacy to talk, outlining more than a few incidents that reflected poorly on Flash. The pinnacle of this growing debacle had apparently been a verbal confrontation between Flash and Captain Harris regarding Twilight, which his sister had explained with equal parts offense and embarrassment.
When Shining had spoken with Captain Harris regarding this confrontation, the human had adopted a blank expression and replied, “The corporal and I may have had a difference in opinion, though I cannot recall the exact nature of our discussion,” before excusing himself.
Shining was familiar enough with soldier doublespeak to know what Captain Harris meant, and it was the final nail in the coffin for Flash Sentry’s career in the guard. The blame wasn’t exclusively his, as it had been Shining that had assigned him to Twilight, and it had been Shining who had ignored Twilight’s protests.
I need you here, Cadance. You were always so good at sorting me out, Shining thought, and the expected stab of regret struck him. The dreams he had of her over the past several days had been vivid to the point of being disturbing, but he was more than willing to chalk that up to the stress of everything that was weighing on him.
The chill of the winter winds bit against Shining’s coat as he made his way outside of the castle walls, though the doubts of his most recent decisions bit deeper still. Just one day earlier, one of Shining’s subordinates reported that Captain Harris himself had made an odd request for building materials, and for an area outside of the castle to be marked as restricted for a half hour before and after noon on the following day.
Shining Armor had gone to Captain Harris to inquire about the request, and he received an answer that he was not expecting. What the humans were planning to do railed against his Equestrian sensibilities, and his sense of right and wrong demanded that he object… but he had held his tongue. The request had been approved with one stipulation: if Shining Armor was going to permit such a thing to happen, he was going to bear witness.
“Captain Armor.”
The voice jolted Shining from his memories, and a quick glance identified the speaker. Gone were the shining white and gold colors from the human’s armor, and in its place was the matte black that they had originally worn. The soldier’s face was hidden behind a full-face helm, and all of the tools humans used for a regular deployment were in his hands and attached to his belt, including a plasma rifle in his hands. The soldier motioned to follow, and Shining fell into step behind him.
For more than a minute, the only sounds that could be heard were the hoof and footfalls in the snow, and the rustle of the wind through the trees. A small clearing slowly opened up to reveal their destination, as well as several figures that were already present. Three more black-armored humans loitered around the perimeter while Lieutenant Zhang and Captain Harris stood side by side in dress uniforms and gray trench coats. Both wore peaked caps and eyes hidden behind glasses as they stood at attention and faced the last figure in the clearing.
The last figure in the clearing was a woman in a sleeveless smock, her bare arms shackled together and attached by a chain to the shackles around her ankles. Rather than the snow-covered forest floor, she stood on a wooden platform made from the supplies that Shining had authorized. Two thick wooden beams sat on each side of the platform while another sat atop both. From that third beam, a length of rope descended and was tied into a loop, which now wrapped around the woman’s neck.
“At 800 hours local time, December the eighth, you were detained while in the act of assassinating Major Yumiko Fujikawa, Queen Chrysalis, and… others,” Captain Harris said, his monotone voice carrying through the clearing easily. “Eyewitness accounts also implicate you for the sabotage of key assets during a time of war, using the uniform and identifying marks of medical personnel and of an organization to which you are actively opposed to. These are violations of articles 37 and 39 of the Geneva Conventions, of which your organization is not a party to. Your guilt has been proven beyond doubt, and you have offered no defense. As such, you will be executed by hanging at the strike of noon. Do you have anything to offer for the record?”
The prisoner stood silent and as still as a statue, her blank eyes staring straight ahead.
“Very well then,” Captain Harris replied, and he raised his left arm to check his watch.
Time seemed to stretch on forever as Shining’s eyes went from Captain Harris to the prisoner and back. I did not know what I would see when I got here. Jeering crowds… thrown stones… a bloodthirsty mob running on high emotions was what I expected. Killing an enemy in the heat of battle is one thing… but killing a prisoner who is at your mercy... Again, the rules of law that Shining had been taught smacked against what he was seeing. The humans did not object when Princess Luna rendered judgement on the assassin who attacked Twilight directly. By my own research, they have followed their own rules for punishment of these crimes to the letter, and it’s not my place to object to the severity of the punishment.
Perhaps I just don’t want to object. That dark thought was immediately reminded of the discussion he had with Captain Star Shot. It’s just like she said. This fight is changing us as a people, and I don’t know if I like what these changes are.
Despite his doubts, Shining remained silent as Captain Harris looked up from his watch and nodded.
The platform opened up.
The rope went taut.