Shadows of Canterlot
by Prane
Chapter 6
The last of twenty-five bats merged with the rest of the cloak, covering Princess Luna's dark blue coat. Her flying carriage was prepared as well, ready to be drawn by a pair of dark grey ponies. Unlike the regular guards, the two pegasi had purple armors and a webbed crests over their helms. These were the symbols of the Nightguard, a semi-detached force within the ranks of the Royal Guard. Wherever the gold-framed hoof of justice could not reach, the Nightguard ventured. Their duty, however, remained the same - to ensure loyalty of the citizens of Equestria. But rather then inspiring the exemplary behavior they induced fear in the hearts of wicked criminals.
They were also the most suitable companionship for the Lady of the Night on her trips.
'Enjoy your visit in Ponyville, little sister!', Princess Celestia said. 'And please behave as it befits the royalty.'
Princess Luna jumped into the carriage.
'Hath no worries, sister!', she replied and lowered her head to put the hood on. 'We will remember thy wish when we will address our subjects with the traditional Canterlot voice! Onwards, thou bravest warriors!'
'Come back soon, Luna!'
The two pegasi took off and pulled the carriage into the evening sky, leaving Celestia and Moonwarden on the large balcony of the Royal Castle below.
'Forgive me, Princess,', Moonwarden said. 'But why didn't you tell your sister that the traditional Canterlot voice is an archaic form of speech?'
'I didn't?', Celestia replied, then giggled. 'I guess she has to learn it on her own. Now, what does the Conclave wish tonight?'
Moonwarden took a rolled piece of parchment out of his cape.
'We have just received this message from our agent, Sunseeker.', the stallion started and passed the parchment to the princess. 'He teamed up with agent Trixie, and they are on their way to Canterlot.'
Celestia skimmed through the text.
'I see.', she said with a serious look. 'They were in Ponyville, why didn't they asked Twilight's assistant to send it yesterday?'
'With all due respect,', Moonwarden said. 'These kind of information cannot go through the official channels.'
There were several ways to communicate over long distances in Equestria. With the help of the relatively reliable mail ponies, a letter will get to its destination, yet it usually takes a lot of time. Using magic was notably faster. However, the sending spell was a variation on the teleportation magic, and because of that it was nearly impossible to hit the spot from afar. Not to mention it was available only for the unicorn ponies, and not all of them know the teleportation spell. Having a trained dragon was probably the best solution, but how many dragons does the average pony know?
'I guess this was the soonest they could safely send it.', the royal alicorn said and went back inside. Moonwarden followed.
'Perhaps it would be wiser to cancel the reception tonight?', he suggested as they were walking down the spiral stairs.
'And show this cult your agents mentioned that they can manipulate us with blackmail?', Celestia answered. 'I will not be threatened and neither should you.'
'In that case, the Conclave will do whatever it takes to protect you during the celebration.', Moonwarden bowed.
'Luna always speaks very highly of your organization.', Princess Celestia said. 'I have every confidence in you.'
She walked away, leaving Moonwarden in the castle ballroom. There were several ponies here preparing tables and hanging the last pieces of decoration on the ceiling. The ballroom was almost ready for the celebration and the guests.
As much as Moonwarden was harsh with Trixie, he hoped she will get here on time.
* * *
'How do I look like?', Sunseeker asked, realigning his tie.
'How can you look like?', Trixie frowned. 'You are a pony in a tuxedo.'
'I'll treat it as a compliment. And might I add, you look charming as well.'
'Oh, shut up.'
The door to the Royal Castle ballroom opened, and the pair of unicorns went in.
Trixie was wearing an elegant, violet dress. There was a significant amount of gold and azure sequins on it, about a dozen of them shaped as stars. Some of the dress' threads were darker than the main fabric, making the whole attire glitter with her every step. The pearl belly chain, a pair of large, star-shaped earrings and a set of crystal hoofshoes made the ensemble truly amazing.
While some guests, most of them stallions, were staring at the azure unicorn, the others, most of them mares were gazing at Sunseeker, who looked pretty good as well. Wearing a black tuxedo with an indentation emphasizing his torch cutie mark and a tasteful scarlet tie, he could easily be taken by one of the Canterlot elite. Not to mention his golden bracelets that he, by no mean, took off.
Trixie spotted the dark grey unicorn in the middle of the room. While most ponies were chatting, dancing and laughing, he was probably the only one keeping a straight face, only his eyes were sliding from one party guest to another. The two unicorns approached him.
'Welcome back, oh Great and Powerful Trixie. How was your journey?', Moonwarden asked.
'Save it, Moonwarden. What's the situation?', the mare replied.
'Aren't you going to introduce me first?'
'Right. Moonwarden, this is Sunseeker. Sunseeker, Moonwarden.', she waved from one stallion to another.
'Hey, it's a pleasure to meet you!', the white stallion said with a smile and reached out his hoof.
'Likewise.', the grey one answered with a note of irony, but engaged in a hoofshake.
Moonwarden told them about Princess Celestia's decision not to hide from a possible mortal danger. He indicated that nothing unusual happened for now, but to his knowledge the assassin might be around somewhere waiting for the royal alicorn to enter the crowd of ponies.
'Do you mind if I... check the buffet for hidden traps or something?', Sunseeker asked, then turned around and walked away.
'And where is Princess Luna, anyway? The Nightmare Night is her celebration, after all.', Trixie asked.
'And she is celebrating. She went to Ponyville for the first time since...'
Suddenly, the sound of broken glass was heard. The two alarmed agents looked up, but saw only a fat pony who clumsily pushed a waiter carrying a tray with now smashed glasses.
'False alarm.', Trixie said.
After a while Moonwarden pointed at the white stallion talking to some random mare.
'Are we recruiting rock stars now? The Conclave is falling apart, I tell you.'
'Relax, he can do his job, I saw him under pressure.'
'I see… I don't like him anyway.', Moonwarden said. 'Excuse me, I must check something.'
Shortly after he went away, Sunseeker returned with a glass of wine, which he gave to Trixie.
'Hey, where's that grey fellow?', he said with disappointment. 'I wanted to speak with him, he sounded like a nice guy!'
Trixie rolled her eyes and thought how blissful the ignorance can be.
'Could you please focus? We are here to prevent a terrible disaster and you're just...'
'Oh! There's that cellist, Octavia! Sorry, got to go!'
'No, wait!', Trixie tried to stop him, but he was already gone. She growled angrily. 'And that's a violin!'
The azure mare spotted Princess Celestia greeting the last pair of guests. That means she will now step into the crowd and join the party. The assassin won't have a better chance to strike and Trixie was on her own. She drank her wine in one sip and slowly walked towards the princess.
She couldn't get too close without vastly reducing her view, but being too far would make casting spells more difficult. If only those stallions were here to back her up! Strange as it was, she never considered herself a team player, but had to admit that there were some advantages of having allies or 'friends'.
Trixie was halfway to the princess.
Only recently she dared to trust others. Meeting Sunseeker and getting to know Twilight better, not to mention a bunch of Ponyville ponies showed her that caring for more than herself can be a good thing.
Trixie walked around the long table, carefully watching the princess' surroundings.
Over the past few days she learned more about the value of friendship than she did through her entire life. She began to believe that she is not only not limited by others, but can develop and expand beyond imagination. This was it, she can finally do something with her life, end with grief and sorrow and replace it with happiness and joy.
Trixie was now as close as she could safely get. Her heart was pounding and she stopped hearing individual ponies. Instead she heard a general noise, which was successfully dampened by her heartbeat. She had an impression that time was slowing down and everypony around was getting sluggish.
And that's when she saw it.
Thump-thump.
There was a stallion coming from the side. At first glance he looked perfectly common in a formal attire, but Trixie saw he had his eyes fixed on Princess Celestia.
Thump-thump.
He was trying to appear indifferent, but had difficulties with keeping corners of his mouth from an angry expression. He was getting closer to the princess, increasing the pace he crowded through. Trixie struggled to keep a line of sight on him. He drew a long, thin item of his pocket and grabbed it with his mouth. It was a dagger!
Thump-
He jumped in midair, ready to strike the white coat of the ruler of Equestria.
But the blade never reached his target.
A powerful telekinetic wave cruelly tossed the assassin away and smashed him at the buffet.
-thump.
The spell had also created the aftershock-like push which knocked down ponies nearby, leaving only Princess Celestia and Trixie standing. The azure mare noticed that the time around went back to normal speed and she began to hear shouts of the surprised ponies.
'Seize him!', she shouted pointing at the assassin.
Sunseeker was already there, trapping the cultist in a fiery cage.
'Please remain calm,', he said with a smile. 'The situation is under control...'
KABOOM!
The sudden blast was heard. It was suppressed, so it must came from the other part of the Royal Castle. Trixie acted quickly. She was familiar with the structure enough to know where to go. She galloped to the nearest door and run through the corridor. With a slight possibility of arriving on time she ran upstairs and entered a long hallway leading to the Royal Vault. She noticed that two guards were lying unconscious on the floor and the vault's door were literally melted down. She also saw two ponies - an earth one and a unicorn. One of them was putting a small green object inside his cape.
Something inside her broke, because she recognized both of them.
Trixie ran to them, but they... disappeared inside the wall? Of course! The secret passage, it all made sense! The mare had no idea how to open the now locked solid surface, so she ran to the nearest window and looked through. She saw the labyrinth, stone statues and two stallions running along the walls. They were probably heading towards the castle courtyard. Trixie galloped back the hallway, taking the stairs down, breathing heavily and having a thousand thoughts crossing her mind...
By the time Trixie reached the ground floor, they were already gone. When Sunseeker caught up with her, she was just staring at the empty courtyard.
‘So…’, Sunseeker started to break the uncomfortable silence. ‘Would you dance with me?’
‘What!? Are you out of your pony mind!?’, Trixie exploded. ‘The cult nearly killed the Princess, they broke into the Royal Vault and took that cursed emerald I found! And that… and that…’, she lost her breath, sat helplessly on the stairs and cried. ‘That turncoat whom I trusted…’
Sunseeker sat on the step beside her.
‘Hey, it’s all true, but we’ll deal with it tomorrow!’
‘Oh, you and your…’
‘No, listen! The most important thing is that we are safe. You are safe.’, the white stallion said softly, then reflected. ‘I mean, the Princess is safe.’
Trixie sniveled.
‘I guess I don’t cope well with failures…’, she whispered after a while.
Sunseeker took the tip of his scarlet tie and wiped tears from her face.
‘I just feel you deserve a happy ending for a change.’, he said, then bowed. ‘Shall I have the honor of dancing with you?’
She couldn’t help it not to smile, to which Sunseeker responded alike. She nodded without saying a word.
The two unicorn ponies went inside the Castle and headed back to the ballroom.
And they danced.
Danced as if tomorrow would never come.