“You can cut the tension here with a sword,” Tourmaline stated quietly to the Night Guard mare who was monitoring the filly. “Sorry, my name is Tourmaline. Anything I can do to help?”
“Floral Mist,” the mare replied offering a hoof. “Call me Misty. No, there’s nothing any of us can do. To put it bluntly, I don’t see how she still is alive.” She stole a glance towards Valor and 'Nice Guy' before turning her head and whispering quietly to Tourmaline, “Do you know why the Solar Guards are here? I understand the Day Guards, but Solar? Don’t officers have better things to do than grunt work like this?”
Tourmaline glanced towards the two stallions in question. They were whispering to themselves and keeping tabs on Semper, who was still just standing over the mare. The mare, perhaps understanding the position she was in, was now shivering and trying her very best to avoid Semper’s gaze.
“No idea. Everything about this is messed up,” Tourmaline muttered.
“Tell me about it,” Misty replied shaking her head.
“Is there any way we can bring her out of her coma?”
“Doubtful. It’s evident that her higher brain functions have ceased.”
“How can you know that?”
“With the help of all this,” Misty gestured to the medical equipment littered around the room. “She’s not responding at all.”
“Really expensive stuff. If they were going to kill her, why get all this?”
“I thought that was obvious. To keep her alive for as long as possible to extract as much out of her body,” Tower replied from where he sat. “It isn’t that surprising given the circumstance.”
“It’s too cruel,” Misty whimpered and wiped her eyes. “She’s just a filly.”
“But… when I saw the filly being brought. Tower and I went after her almost immediately. How could they… drain so much out of her so fast?” Tourmaline asked.
Misty looked at Tourmaline before gazing back at the filly. “They must have started the extraction while enroute. The thing is that I don’t think her body is what’s keeping her alive, at least not on its own. I think she is keeping herself alive through sheer willpower. I think that when they brought her here to extract her blood, they did not expect her to survive. That is probably why she wasn’t very heavily guarded. They thought she was going to be a corpse and left her here to die. When they saw she wasn’t dead, they tried to plug her back up with all these devices. That’s when you guys came. The timing couldn’t have been better. You were lucky; if you had come in here when they thought she was alive...”
Tourmaline understood. If it hadn’t been for Tower, he’d be dead. The Night Guard had taken out the mercenary in the kitchen. But that would have been pointless because if the filly were known to be alive, there would have been more of the sell-swords and they would probably not have survived for very long. He would have walked into a room full of hostiles and would have most probably been ripped to shreds.
“How’d they catch the mother?” Tourmaline asked.
“She was caught by the Ranger trying to slip away through the mansion.” Misty looked at the scruffy looking pony drinking from a mug in the corner looking as calm and bored as could be. How could he be so calm in this situation? He seemed to be enjoying the suffocating tension between the Solar Guards and Semper.
The ranger looked at Tourmaline staring at him and raised his mug. “Wanna cup, mate?”
“Uh… no thanks…”
“Really? This ‘ere’s some good coffee. In our line of bis’ness, you gotta take the pleasure when ya can, mate.”
Tourmaline raised an eyebrow. “Line of business?”
“Yeah, mate. Trackers gotta take what they can. I tracked ‘er, y’know. Found ‘er somewheres in the annexed lands. Saw ‘er do it too. Saw ‘er stick that stuff in’er daughter’s leg I did. Couldn’t stop it, I’m afraid. Filly came to meet ‘er own mum, and how she repay ‘er? By murdurin’ ‘er own daughter. ‘Er own daughter! Can you believe it. Couldn’t believe me eyes.”
“Wait, you were there when it happened?”
“Yes. So was ‘e,” the Ranger pointed to Semper, then over to Valor, “An’ ‘im too.”
“Shut it, Iron,” Valor growled quietly.
“Yeah, but you were there for somethin’ else, right, mate?” The ranger raised his coffee mug and made a toasting gesture. “Well, aren’t ya just a peach. Too bad your tantrum didn’t help.”
All eyes were upon the Solar Guard.
“I said shut it.”
“Right. Will do. Not my business anyway. Did my duty. Tracked ‘em for you. Led you right to them. Not my fault you couldn’t control yourself.”
Valor pushed his jaw out. “I said—”
“If it weren’t for you, maybe that filly would still be alive—”
“Enough.” The voice of the second Solar Guard cut everyone off. He did not shout, but he held an authority that none could mistake. “Mistakes were made. Let’s leave it at that. Valor did what he thought was right at the time, he wasn’t involved in this investigation during that particular moment. I would have done the same if I were in his shoes. Any one of us would have. You think that this suddenly medley of Guards involved here is a coincidence?”
Tourmaline gulped. What had exactly happened?
Desperate to change the already tense situation, Misty turned to the strange speaking pony. “Sorry, but who are you? I’ve never heard that accent in Equestria.”
“Nah, nor would ya, mate. I’m from quite a way aways. Not likely you’ll hear of my accent anywhere near here. I’m from across the pond.”
“What? Towards the Griffin Kingdom?”
“Don’t be daft, mate. The other way. Past Prance and all that. Was in the neighborhood. Talk about bein’ in ta right place at the right time. Or wrong, if you want. Needed a tracker and, by Celestia’s teats, I am the best there is. Friend of mine pulled a favor, said something about needing the best tracker, so ‘ere I am. Even made me an honorary Ranger. Real honor, that is. Still, not gonna stick ‘round much after this. Gotta explore, y’know. But said I’d ‘elp, so I’m ‘elpin’.”
“A tracker?”
“Yeah. Now I know that some of you Guards are pretty good, but I’m the best. Bar none. Maybe ‘e’s the only one that’d gimme a run for me bits,” he said as he pointed to Semper. “Still, ‘e trained with them Zebras, so ‘e was mighty useful trackin’ ‘em through jungles, but I was trained by the Roos, and trackin’ things ‘cross deserts are me specialty. Jungles are too easy. I tracked them through things you wouldn’t believe before they gave us the slip. We don’t ‘ave any Guards where I’m from. No need. Ponies are pretty rare back ‘ome.”
“Rare?”
“Yeah. I mean, before I left, our little town had three. My ma, pa and me. Others were the Roos.” The pony set down his mug and wiped his hoof on the front of his chest. “Name’s Iron Boulder. Yours?”
“Uh… Misty.”
“Pleasure. You?”
“Tourmaline.”
Iron nodded. “Well, workin’ with you guys’ real fun. I kinda missed me own kind. Ponies, I mean. I kinda love where I’m from; never seen Equestria till I joined this party. Ma and pa were always tellin’ me just how clean and—”
“Hey, Iron, did anypony tell you that you talk too much?” A Day Guard asked sarcastically as he stood next to the foreigner.
“Nah, mate. Just happy to be involved is all.”
“Oh? All those long explorations in the desert, not being able to… chat with anypony else. None to… share affection with.”
Iron’s face lit up.
“He’s basically looking for a... ‘date’,” the Day Guard said to Misty, who was missing the point.
“Now why’d you got to go and say that, mate?” Boulder muttered. He quickly pulled down his wide-brimmed hat, and took a generous sip from his mug as he walked back to the corner of the room and kept silent.
The Day Guard laughed silently at this, and turn to joke with a few other Day Guards. It helped to break the tension in the room. Or at least it helped dampen it. Things were looking up, and Tourmaline felt his body relax, until one of the Solar Guards moved towards Semper.
The nice Solar Guard made his way towards Semper and stopped just out of range of the broken spear he held. “Are you sure that’s her?”
“Sure? Yes, sir,” Tower replied before Semper could open his mouth. “Without a doubt, sir.”
The Solar Guard looked at Tower, then down at the mare and, for a fleeting moment, Tourmaline saw rage and a murderous intent so strong that he sat down from the sheer force of it. Valor was strong too, no doubt about it, but compared to ‘Nice Guy’, Valor was nothing. Whoever this stallion was, he was not the one to trifle with.
In an instant, the feeling vanished and the composure returned to the Solar Guard’s demeanor. Using his magic, he pulled a scroll wrapped with a gold ribbon with an unmistakable wax seal. Every pony in that room dropped to their knees. It was a decree from Her Highness herself. Her words spoken through her chosen. The Guard held the hovering parchment in his hooves and pulled it apart, ripping the was seal in half letting it fall to the ground. As he unrolled it, light beamed from scroll, bathing the room in the warm, sun-like glow. The emblem on the Solar Guard’s peytral seemed to glow even brighter as the light touched it.
“Baronet Fleur de Blanch of the House of Fleur, second wife to his Lordship Fleur de Bleuet, formerly the long-standing regent for Her Highness, Princess Celestia, for the southern area of the kingdom, and respected member of the House of Lords and of the Royal Household. Baronet Fleur de Blanch, you are hereby accused of the following heinous crimes: foalnapping, extortion, possession of illegal substances, manufacturing of illegal substances, shipping of illegal substances, selling of illegal substances, slave-trading, conspiracy to commit bribery of Guards, and murder of genocidal proportions. How do you plead?”
“I’m innocent!” The mare exclaimed in a scratchy voice. “Innocent!”
“Innocent? You are a liar and you deserve to rot in a dungeon for the rest of your pathetic life,” Valor replied coldly. “We’ve got enough witness testimonies and evidence against you. You were diluting your daughter’s blood for selling, for Celestia’s sake!”
“No!” the mare screamed. “Never! I’ll never share it! It’s all mine!”
That took the Solar Guard aback.
“That is how tragic it is,” Semper stated in the silence. “She may have sold plenty of ponies into the hands of the dragon as slaves. Those were lucky.”
Iron dropped his mug spilling its contents on the ground. “You’re implyin’ that she’s been makin’ other ponies dis’pear over the years for makin’ this… gunk? By Celestia’s mane, she doesn’t deserve a trial. Back where I’m from we’d bury her in the sand and let the sun cook ‘er flesh before the Diamond Dingoes chew on her carcass.”
“That’s barbaric.” Misty covered her mouth with a hoof and shook her head slightly nauseated by the thought. “That’s no better than what she did.”
“You really believe that?” Iron laughed in response. “You got family? Imagine ‘em here instead of the filly. Imagine your mother, sister, or even daughter lying here on a table having the blood sucked out of you. Don’t sit there and tell me that what I think is barbaric. It isn’t anything on what she’s done.”
“Just because she did it doesn’t mean we should-”
“Silence! All of you! Are you really going to go into a debate over this? Do you realize what has happened? Ponies everywhere, especially along the border, fear us. Ever since the news about the Guards being involved in this trade have come to light, we’ve been hard-pressed to win back their trust. This goes deeper than what you idiots think,” Valor shouted. “Plus every witness has already claimed that she is their leader.”
“Lies! Everything!” Fleur de Blanch screamed in obvious mockery of the situation. She was not the least bit remorseful. “I wouldn’t dare hurt her! She’s my daughter!”
Semper held up something in his hooves. At once Fleur de Blanch’s screams ceased and her eyes were focused on the vial held aloft. Suddenly she lunged for it, like a viper trying to strike its prey, but Semper side-stepped and threw out his leg. The mare tumbled forward and belly-flopped hard on the floor. As she tried to stand, Semper pressed his hoof against the back of her head pinning the unicorn mare against the floor, the hoof firmly planted at the base of her horn. He then placed the spear tip firmly on her throat.
“Give it to me!” She ordered and tried in vain to stand.
He smashed the top of the glass vial on the wall so that the neck was open and tipped over just enough for a few drops to spill onto the ground. “Confess.”
There was not even a hint of hesitation. “Yes! I did it! I injected that delicious nectar into that little wench! I’m her mother, I took care of that ungrateful whelp! I own her, but she disobeyed me. Me! Her mother! I mean, how dare she? If it wasn’t for me, she’d be nothing!”
Nobody said a word. What could they say? How low had Fleur de Blanche sunk? Her eyes darted from Semper to the vial then back again, her lips licking out of her mouth as if savoring the air from its contents.
Every Guard there had read about this mare’s adventures through the world. They knew everything the public did about her life, her sudden disappearance from the public limelight, the mysterious death of her husband – which was always a sour point on her otherwise impeccable image, and the rumors circulating around that she had something to do with the vanishing ponies over the years.
Periodically the Day Guard investigated Fleur de Blanche, but never to the extent the Border Guard conducted theirs. Why would they? The House of Fleur was one of the oldest and noblest houses in Canterlot, their line going back even before Princess Celestia’s reign. The Day Guard were naturally very protective of the Royal line, no matter how distantly related they were. It was what they were taught to protect, and they were good at their job.
But it didn’t make any sense. Why had she chosen her daughter? She could have picked any other. Surely a pony of such high stature and renown would be noticed. This young mare was the top of her class, head of her School House, an apprentice to one of Princess Celestia’s most prominent advisors and more. If she really did not care for her daughter, then why pick such highly visible victim.
Semper let the vial drop and the mare screamed in anguish. As it smashed on the floor, she began to lick the filthy substance from off the ground. Dirt, narcotic, pieces of glass, and everything else.
Rosie was a fast reader. She prided herself in her ability to speed read books and course material, but right now she was more interested in these so-called villains. They were dark, yes, but they seemed to have a motive behind their actions. That was a common theme. Did her mother have a deep, dark secret that she kept hidden away?
As she read, the nagging feeling that her mother did something to her father grew to a certainty. Of course, it was all about perspective. She, before, never thought that her mother was capable of such things but after reading some of the books, she wondered if she was being naïve. There was always something was off about her mother after she returned from her trip. No. Not her mother. Her stepmother. She never knew her biological mother, who had died at childbirth. Father never blamed Rose for that, and seemed overly protective of Rose. Rose knew that her father did love both daughters, he had a just little bit more affection for her. At least it felt that way even if Rosie did her level best to not make Lisi feel that way. It could also be because Lisi was almost ten years younger, and perhaps it wasn’t a big surprise that father spent more time with her.
Rose loved Lisi. Loved her so much. At first there was always that initial jealous feeling, but Rose was old enough to understand that the little foal adored her as a bigger sister. They then spent almost every moment together, taking tea parties in their respective rooms, playing and sharing their dolls, even Rose teaching little Lisi how to swim in their pool. But it was especially after father died that Lisi and her would develop a deeper bond.
About a month after father’s death, their mother decided to remodel their family mansion. Rose and Lisi eventually moved themselves away from the main house to the west wing with the excuse of sleeping further away from the renovation work going on. In some strange way, Rose found herself becoming more like an aunt than sister to Lisi due to their age difference. The little filly would constantly come to her room for comfort and, after a while, Rose moved all their stuff into another lager room and they stayed together.
But their mother started acting stranger. Dangerously so. Once they had come in late for dinner from playing and their mother was furious. Even after apologizing, their mother demanded they be punished. Rose took it unto herself to receive the full brunt of the punishment, which included being whipped with a cane across her back and standing outside in the cold with a bucket of water between her teeth as a measure for discipline. After a while one of the maids came out to inform Rose that their mother had gone to bed and had completely forgotten about her. As furious as she was, she was glad to spare Lisi that abuse.
Then strange visitors started to come and go from their house as if they owned it. She avoided them as much as possible. They all gave her looks that made her feel… exposed and violated. And some of them shared that look towards her little sister. As a result, Rose spent the vast majority of her time keeping Lisi away from their mother’s side of the mansion.
One good by-product of her mother’s strange new behavior was the fact that she did not seem to notice when her daughters were not around. As a result, Rose and Lisi started to come to the main house less and less. They came and went through the servant’s entrance instead. Eventually they stopped going to the main house at all, even for dinner. If their mother noticed, she made no sign of it.
Lisi, at first, didn’t understand and kept asking for her mother. Rose, not wanting to spoil the little filly’s interpretation of the mother she once had, kept a positive nature about it and, when there were no strangers visiting, took Lisi to see her mother. At first it seemed quite normal, but as time wore on their mother’s patience started to wane. Lisi would sometimes find herself being smacked for reasons that she did not understand. Don’t slouch, sit straight, walk quietly, and more. Rose tried to stop the beatings, putting herself in the way ‘by accident’ and taking the brunt of their mother’s anger. Lisi quickly learnt to fear her mother, retreating into a shell of herself whenever the mare was about, but a child’s love is boundless. Even after all that, she still asked about her mother and wanted to be with the mare.
“Rosie, I’m bored. Let’s go,” Iris whined.
Rose snapped out of her reminiscing and looked at her friend. Her head was splayed on the table with her fore-hooves spread out in front of her. Iris was indeed the very picture of boredom.
Rose sighed at her friend and nodded. “Very well. Shall we go find my sister?”
“Okay,” Iris muttered, wiping the sleep from her eyes. She hopped up onto her feet and quietly slid the chair back in place at the desk she sat at. “So, did you learn anything?”
“I’ve learnt plenty,” Rose replied with a forced smile on her face. “Thank you, Iris. You’ve been very helpful.”
“I don’t know how helpful I was recommending these cheesy novels to you, but I’ll take that compliment,” Iris replied and pretended to snatch it out of the air and slipped it into her saddlebag. “So, where to now?”
“I suppose the kitchen,” Rose replied. “They always go to the kitchen at around this time for snacks and hot cocoa before touring the palace gardens.”
“Li-si…” came a weak croak.
Misty jerked her head back and reflexively pushed away from the filly’s body. She moved closer and looked at the young girl in astonishment. “That’s impossible.”
Again Misty did her series of tests, fumbling with the equipment, before coming to the same conclusion as before. Fleur de Rose was nothing more than a breathing shell. There was no comprehensive response from her. “I’m not going mad, am I? You heard her say something, right?”
Tourmaline nodded. “Yes, I heard it. What did she say? Will she be alright?”
“It must be that narcotic,” Misty muttered. “I don’t know.”
“Will,” Valor replied walking to the filly and peering at her. “It’s her will that’s keeping her here. Something deeper than anything else is keeping her together.”
“That’s not medically possible,” Misty replied before remembering to whom she was talking. “Sir.”
But Valor’s eyes had moved over to Semper. “What are you doing, Border Guard?”
“The punishment for murder in Equestria is banishment,” Semper stated matter-of-factly. “Banishment is too forgiving.”
“What are you doing, Border Guard?” Valor asked again, his voice tight as he saw Semper press his spear’s blade more into Fleur de Blanche’s throat.
“What must be done.”
“She needs to stand trial!” Valor shouted, moving to stop Semper.
Semper eyes narrowed. “She must pay.”
“We do not do that,” Valor replied coldly.
A long beat of silence was the only response.
“Letting others deal with our… garbage is the same as us doing nothing. Banishment is only useful if the ones that are sent feel remorse,” Tower stated suddenly looking at Valor. “Sir.”
“He’s right, you know. The entire existence of the annexed regions is entirely our fault. If we jailed those ponies instead of banishing them, then such a huge threat next to our own borders would’ve never existed. We brought this on ourselves,” The second Solar Guard stated.
“It is not something we do. We do not execute our kind,” Valor replied, shocked to hear the words spoken by his compatriot. “Especially here and especially now.”
Again, another long period of silence persisted.
“Wait. Do you hear that?” Misty said.
“What? I hear nothing,” one of the Day Guards replied.
“Wait. Wait.”
A scraping noise echoed from the tunnel.
“There it is again!”
It sounded like something was being dragged. It was so out of place, every Guard reached for their weapon and waited. The sound slowly coming closer and closer. Then, a Watu peered around the bend, his head lolling to one side. He turned himself slowly and started to walk towards the room where they were in. He was limping slowly, a strange gait that seemed quite out of place.
The Day Guard furrowed his brow and gestured to his comrades with his head, indicating to them to observe this lone Watu.
“What’s it doing there?”
Tourmaline narrowed his eyes.
Semper also watched, his attention no longer fully on the mare.
The Watu stopped at the entrance of the room. Its lips moved, but Tourmaline couldn’t quite catch what was said.
The Day Guard walked over and leaned his head closer to the Watu. “What did you say?”
“R… u… n…”
“What?” The Day Guard asked leaning in.
It was Semper who moved first. He bolted towards the Watu, shield in front of him.
Valor eyes opened wide. “Get away from–”
The next moment a bright flash engulfed the room and all went black.
“Rosey!” The little filly squealed when she saw her sister.
“Lisi! How is my favorite little sister?”
The little filly giggled and hugged her big sister. “Fine.”
“What are you doing now?”
“We are going to see the garden.”
“You are? Wow! Are you excited?”
The little filly smiled bashfully. “Yeah. I wanna see the pretty flowers. And the statues!”
The two sisters chatted together while the chefs and maids made them delicious treats and fed the hungry little mouths. They were fascinated with the kitchen, but they were carefully kept only to one side so they wouldn’t get in the way. It was always a strange tradition, taking the children through there, but traditions in Canterlot were always followed with strict observance. The rumor was that once upon a time a famous chef had come through there as a filly and earned her cutie mark by being inspired by what she saw.
Iris had followed along, but she excused herself after a while because she had to get to her next class. She waited for a moment to see if Rose would follow, but when it was clear she had no intention of leaving her sister behind, Iris went on ahead. At the top of the stairwell, she turned and looked back at her friend. A strange apprehensive feeling spread across her chest that she just could not place. Shrugging it off, she turned once more and headed towards her intended destination.
It was the last time Iris would see her friend alive.
Tourmaline head was in agony. Another flash blinded him once again as the ringing in his ears started to fade away. He shut his eyes instinctively and used his magic to form a shield in front of him out of reflex, like he was taught again and again. He knew this feeling. He had felt it before on a certain hill during the final days as a recruit. During the Crucible. Somewhere, somehow, an explosive quarrel had gone off. No. Judging from the power, it was more than one.
“…we need to go!”
The voice was followed by an urgent nudge and Tourmaline turned to see a blurry image of a mare pushing him along. It took him a moment to realize it was Misty and the look of desperation on her face snapped his attention back to the present. She was bleeding from a large gash above her eye, the blood flow forcing it shut.
“Go on!”
Tourmaline pulled himself onto his hooves and stumbled slightly as he placed his physical shield in front of him and placed himself strategically with his back towards the wall and the shield towards the gaping hole that led towards the tunnels. “W-what’s going on?”
“The Watu have just attacked! We need to get out of here!” She shouted back. Tourmaline let Misty lead him.
What had happened? One moment they were all discussing how to proceed with the arrest of the Baronet, even contemplating an execution, when that Watu came in and all Tartarus broke loose. He needed to concentrate, let his brain analyze the situation and find the best way to proceed. He knew that he was not as combat savvy as the other Guards, but that wasn’t his strength. His strength came from strategical planning, that’s what all his instructors at the academy said. While others were spending countless hours training their magic, he spent his time learning strategy and planning. How to conduct operations. Right now he was at a disadvantage. He didn’t know what had provoked this attack. Why had the Elites, loyal to Semper, just do what they did?
His hoof slipped on something moist and he fell to the ground. He reached out for Misty, but touched the hoof of someone else. His eyes slowly looked up to see Semper towering over him, but his eyes were look towards his left. Tourmaline glanced at the hoof he was holding and jerked his own back out of reflex. The Baronet’s corpse lay there, blood still oozing from a fresh wound in her chest from a blade. A curved, unmistakably Watu-like blade. Tourmaline pulled himself up and looked at the body.
“Clean kill. Quick.”
“Yes,” Semper responded.
“What happened?”
“The Elites came for the filly.”
Tourmaline spun around and spotted the empty bed, three Guards lay dead near and around it. Two lay with broken hafts protruding from their bodies, both clean kills. The third Guard looked straight ahead, his eyes frozen open in shock. The skull was lolling to the side and barely hanging on by remnants of the spine. His head had almost been taken completely off.
“Oh no,” Tourmaline whispered unwilling to fully admit whom it was he was seeing. “Tower.”
Despite understanding that there was no way a pony could survive a wound like that, Tourmaline rushed to the Night Guard’s side and pressed a hoof to his neck. No pulse. He tried to do something, anything, but he understood in was in vain. But he felt compelled. He wanted to help, just make this sudden nightmare end. Still, he wished for the impossible.
“He’s gone,” Misty said gently from behind him.
“l know. I just… he was… I barely knew him, but…”
Misty placed a hoof on his shoulder. “It’s never easy. I know. I’ve lost friends and acquaintances of my own. I don’t know what to say to comfort you, because it never helps. All I can say is that you need to honor his memory in your own way. It’s all we can do.”
Valor suddenly appeared from the tunnel entrance, his armor drenched in blood. “They’ve gone deeper into the tunnels. We need to seal the exits! Get those ponies on the surface to make sure that nothing leaves here alive! I will make them pay!”
Tourmaline made to go, but three other Day Guards had already charged back up towards the mansion to relay those commands.
“Iron!”
The foreigner appeared from behind Valor. He had a blood soaked cloth wrapped around his right eye. “Yessir?”
“Find. Them.”
“With pleasure. They’re gonna pay for me eye,” Iron stated. “Ya ready?”
Semper walked to Valor and saluted. “Orders, sir?”
“Oh? Now I’m in charge?”
“I was in charge of the investigation, sir. The investigation is over, sir.”
Valor looked at Semper and nodded. “Find the filly. Kill the Watu. You think you can kill your own?”
“Yes, sir,” Semper replied without any emotion in his voice, but they all felt it. They all felt an intense murderous aura coming from the stallion. Unlike from the Solar Guards, this wasn’t from magic or power. It was just a certain feeling. A feeling that made them all swallow hard or take a step back. “I will find the filly.”
Valor nodded. “Then let’s go. They outnumber us and from what I’ve just experienced, they are no pushovers. We stick together and move as a unit until advised otherwise. Understand?”
“Yes, sir!” They all shouted.
Except Tourmaline. He didn’t know why, but he didn’t like that order. He didn’t want to obey that order, but obey he had to. So, he stood up and picked up a Day Guard’s shield and prepared himself. But that nagging feeling simply would not go away.
Valor turned to go and stopped a moment to look at his fellow Solar Guard. A spear was in his chest. He looked up at Valor and nodded. “Good bye, son. May Celestia’s light guide you. I know you’ll make me and your mother proud.”
“Yes, father,” Valor replied and saluted. He knelt down and gently removed the helm from his head and kissed his brow. “You rest now. I’ll take it from here.”
The father nodded and watched as his son stood up and walked away. As he entered the corridor, Tourmaline following close behind, he stopped in his tracks when he heard the older stallion shout.
“The light of the sun guides us,
For we are those that shine brightest,
In the darkness, our light breaks through,
Cutting our foes with our righteous cause,
Our souls entwined by our faith,
Whence our souls leave our brothers shall carry our name,
And protect the lives of those who shall never know our sacrifice,
But that is what we are, oh guardian of our kingdom,
So carry on, bear the burden, my fellow Guard,
And know that I am with you,
Know that your brothers and sisters await you,
And until the we meet again,
Farewell.”
“Till we meet again. Farewell,” Valor whispered back, choking back his emotions, and marched on.
“What?” Rose asked as her sister ended the sentence and had taken a substantial bite from her pie. “What was that?”
“I said mommy wants me to come home this weekend,” the filly replied with her mouth full.
Rose felt the blood drain from her face. “D-did she say why?”
“No.” Another large bite from the delicious baked desert.
Rose furrowed her brow. “Lisi, I want you to listen to me. I want you to stay at the school this weekend, okay? Don’t go home.”
“But… mommy said—”
“I know what your mother said,” Rose replied, a little more harshly than she would have liked, “But I’m asking you, as your sister, to stay at the school. Don’t go home. Don’t leave the school. Please.”
The filly looked up at her sister. “Okay…” She said, unsure about disobeying her mother.
Rose knew deep down that nopony at the academy would listen to her or her sister. She was just a filly after all, and her mother’s authority took precedence. She didn’t know what to do. She looked up to the sky and tried to think of something. Something that would appease her mother, something that would ensure that Lisi wouldn’t have to go to that awful, awful place alone. It was no longer a home. It was a tomb, and lately her mother’s state had been getting worse. The last time she was at the house she heard her screaming from across the mansion. She didn’t bother greeting her, instead keeping herself to the secluded wing of her home and eager to return to her dorm at the institute. She doubted that her mother even realized she had come to spend part of her summer there. Perhaps some small part of her hoped that her stepmother had changed her ways only to be rudely awakened.
That was when the last of the staff, the ones that were only there for Lisi, had quit since she had also moved to boarding school. That Rosey had done. The fact that their mother only found out about it three months later was a testament to her inability to focus on her children. She only mentioned it once, out of passing, to Rose and then promptly forgot about it.
And the new friends that her mother had lately started to hang around were completely different from before. The others were indeed unsavory, but still had some semblance of ‘class’. The new ponies were the complete opposite. They were far worse than the previous bunch, and far more dangerous. Or at least she felt they were.
And to allow Lisi to go into that kind of environment? Never. She couldn’t allow it. Her mother might not be thinking straight, but somepony had to.
“I’m going to go and speak to mother tonight.”
The little filly looked up, worry in her eyes. It was typical of the little filly to be more worried about her than herself. “Rosey?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be fine,” Rose replied giving her sister a reassuring smile.
The little filly looked down at her hooves. “Are you sure?”
“Of course! Just stay at school and have fun this weekend, okay? I’ll tell the principal that mother made a mistake. That she needed to see me and not you.”
“Well, we are supposed to go to the zoo…”
“Then go! And make sure to have lots and lots of fun, okay?”
At that, the filly nodded. She was so looking forward to it and her friends were all so sad when they found out that she wasn’t going to go. She couldn’t wait to tell them that they’d be going together and seeing all the strange and wonderful animals. She looked up at Rosey and held up a fork with the delicious pie.
Rosie gratefully accepted with a wide smile.
Misty watched the others walk in front of her. They moved slowly as a unit, Semper and Valor taking point, the other Guards following them, while she brought up the rear with Tourmaline. She had offered to stay with Valor’s father, but he knew that the wound was fatal. There was nothing anypony could do.
Fifty Guards had come with Semper and the others after Tourmaline had given the signal. Four had been killed in the fighting with the mercenaries that the Baronet had hired, another four were critically injured and had been evacuated. That left forty-two Guards fit for duty.
The Watu ambush and suicide attack had claimed the lives of twelve more Guards, most of which were cut down moments after the explosion took place. The explosion was followed by a full frontal assault timed to near perfection. So intense was the fighting that nopony realized what the Elites were up to until it was too late. Tower and the others had tried to stop the filly from being taken, and paid with their lives. Their bodies and wounds were a testament to the skill and training of the Guard. Despite being caught off-guard by such a cowardly attack, the Guard fought and had taken down twenty Watu in those few moments. That was the reason why Valor and the others were coming back up the tunnel after they had managed to win the ground, that and they had tried to take back the filly.
But whether that was because they were pushing back successfully or if they had claimed their prize and retreated, nopony could be sure.
When the blast took place, Tourmaline had shielded her from the brunt of the explosion, his body acting as a barrier from the force of the impact. He had landed on top of her, unconscious, and the light from the explosive light had not hit her eyes. She saw as the Watu stormed through the door and watched as the Solar Guards and Semper met them with their weapons. She watched the three strike fast and hard, trying to repel the attackers, but while they concentrated on those in front of them, a small contigent moved around the attackers and had charged straight towards the filly.
Tower and the others acted instantly, putting their bodies in the way. The fight was fierce and fast, but for the three Guards that lost their lives, they took twelve Elites as compensation. That action had perhaps saved her. If Tower and the others had not fought as hard as they did and succumbed, then who knows what the Elites would have done to the rest of the Guards that were still too stunned to even stand.
The Elites did not use their crossbows, which made it abundantly clear they were there to take the filly alive. They did not risk injuring her. That was a good sign. It meant they were going to keep her alive. The Watu that was sacrificed was perhaps one of the few that had stayed true to the Guard.
As they travelled deeper down the tunnels, they started seeing dead all over the place. These were some of the Watu that had come up the tunnel behind the suicide bomber and had helped assault the room to take the filly. When they tried to cover the retreat of their peers with their prize, the Guard gave chase and pushed through their defenses. It was clear that, despite their numerical advantage, the Guard’s training as a unit helped decimate any resistance. The only thing they succeeded in doing was slowing them down.
Misty watched Valor’s face for any sign or emotion for the Watu that were killed, but it was clear that he neither cared nor paid any attention to the deceased. She wondered if one day she would too be like that. To be able to gaze upon the faces of the dead and just not care. She hoped that she would never get used to the sight.
“Over here!” Iron’s voice called out in a harsh whisper.
It was a useless gesture. The tromping of the Day and Night Guards were much louder than any noises around.
Misty followed the group and looked at Iron who was standing next to three other Guards, one of whom was Semper. They were gazing into the large cavern again, the lights of the bottling plant were flickering on and off slowly.
“What’s the deal?” Valor asked when they caught up.
“Nothing, mate. They’re all gone. The crates they be stackin’ have dis’peared as well. You can make out the sled trails goin’ thataway,” Irons replied pointing to two parallel trenches that headed towards a larger tunnel entrance. “They must’ve brought in the parts to this thing through there.”
“Get word to the surface. There’s a large exit somewhere close by. Get Guards on it immediately,” Valor said to a Day Guard who bowed his head and headed off. “Then what?”
“Well, here’s the interestin’ part. See here. They split into two parties here and again further down. They ain’t tryin’ to hide where they went with the filly, you can see the majority here are heading down this tunnel. They know we’d pursue, so they’re gonna try and thin our forces out. Perhaps pick us off one by one. Good strategy.” Iron’s stroked his chin for a moment in thought. “They know they outnumber us, so they’re gonna try and split us up. Makes sense. Or they’re just tryin’ to slow us down.”
“We can just give chase. We know where the filly went!” A Day Guard shouted.
“Not that simple, mate,” Irons replied.
“What do you mean?”
“We can’t keep runnin’ ahead, mate. They’ll double back and follow. We’ll be caught up in between a strong defensive position on both ends and they’ll wait us out. Least that’s what I’d do if I was facin’ you lot. It’d be easier to take you out with crossbows than hoof to hoof.”
“What do you suggest?” Misty asked suddenly making the entire group turn to look at her.
“Me? Well, I’d hunt down the smaller parties and prevent our rear from being blocked in case we run into fortified positions. But that’ll take too long. They’ll know we’ll find the main exit to that tunnel there, so they’ll avoid it.”
“True. The Elites know that outside these tunnels is a much larger force of Guards. They won’t charge willingly into a suicide attack,” Valor stated.
“Elites are not like regular Watu, sir,” Semper stated. “They have no qualms of killing their own to get them to comply with their wishes.”
“That makes no sense!”
“They will mortally wound a fellow Elite to get them to complete a suicide mission, sir.”
Valor did a double-take at the stallion. “That ruthless?”
“Yes, sir.”
“That’s beside the point. I was wandering a bit further and you notice that there is mud in the lower end of the cavern. That means there’s water comin’ in ‘ere,” Irons pointed out. “There’s no water in the large tunnel way. That means that either they hit an underwater river, or…”
“They found another way out.”
“Right. Likely near water, but I can’t be sure. There here might just be seepage from the rains.”
“There are too many rivers in this area,” Valor growled, “we cannot check them all. Even if this is just seepage from above, we cannot risk them getting out of this place.”
“We gotta think of somethin’, mate. Once they get out, we lose.” Iron touched his eye. “Blasted thing. Why me eye! It hurts worse than a manticore sting.”
“Are you sure your eye is… gone?” Misty asked, concerned rife in her voice.
“No idea, but we don’t have time to waste on that. We need to decide what to do. A filly’s gonna dis’pear and if she leaves here, we ain’t never gonna find her.”
“Semper.”
“Sir?” Semper said, stepping forward towards Valor, who called him.
“We’ll pursue the filly. You keep those Watu off our backs. Take as many of the Guard as you need.”
Semper looked at the Solar Guard for a long moment in silence before responding. “Yes, sir. I’ll need two.”
“Volunteers?” Valor barked.
Before Tourmaline could step forward, two other Guards offered themselves.
“Solid Mortar, sir,” the unicorn Day Guard intoned in a deep voice that seemed to shake the ground.
“Rain Maker, sir,” another pegasus mare from the Night Guard stated after the Day Guard. “I would like to volunteer.”
“Good. Then you two are now under his command. Semper, I don’t like you, but I do trust your abilities. You fought by my side with my father against this scum and even tried to save the life of that… of the Baronet. I now understand that your intentions towards the kingdom are true, but I still don’t like you. I am going to put our lives in your hooves. If half the stories about you are true, then you’re the best chance we have. We’ll go ahead and rescue the filly but keep those Elites off our backs.”
Semper said nothing at first, but eventually nodded once. “Yes, sir. Permission to make a request.”
“Granted.”
“Should we identify that the threat to our retreat has been clear, permission to proceed and attempt the secure the filly, sir?”
Valor thought about it for a long moment. “As long as you’re utterly sure, then yes.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Alright. The rest of you are with me.”
“Yes, sir,” the rest shouted and saluted.
“You have your orders. Let’s move. I’ll take point!” Valor shouted. “Irons, you’re with me.”
“Sure, mate. Just so y’know, they’ll likely be setting up traps and ambushes.”
“Then we’ll need your skills with us,” Valor replied nonchalantly.
“Sure thing, mate,” Iron replied, doing a pathetic salute and smiling weakly. “Will do me very best.”
Valor nodded. “I know. Let’s move!”
The Solar Guard took one more look at Semper before charging off into the right tunnel, his horn lighting the way with Iron right on his heels. Tourmaline trotted past Semper, and paused to look at the stallion as he gazed down the left tunnel. Again, Tourmaline felt something was off. Something that he was missing.
If only the ringing in his brain would stop.