Fortune Favors The Bold

by TheEquestrianWing

The Warrior And The Prince

Twenty-five years later

It was the day before the annual Summer Sun Celebration. All the inhabitants of Equestria were busy preparing for their most cherished holiday. The residents of Canterlot were especially looking forward to the ceremony, as this year marked its 1000th anniversary. Every building and street was finely adorned with decorations. Merchants were selling rare goods from all over the land at special discounts. Many of the laborers had been given the day off from work to spend time with their families. Basically, the whole of the capital city was bustling with benign activity.

With one lone exception.

Although the town itself was very much crowded with vacationers and natives, the castle was relatively empty. Around half of the Royal Guard had been given the day off. The other half would be given the following day off, but for the present, they were all on-duty. However, there were not enough of them to cover the entire castle with the normal level of security they used. Since they were spread so thin, they had to close off certain sections of the castle and classify them as restricted until further notice. They would remain closed down until the Summer Sun Celebration ended.

On a normal day, at least fifteen of the Royal Guard patrolled every section of the castle. In the ten restricted sections, there were only four guards apiece. All forty of them had been instructed to closely monitor any and all signs of motion throughout the hallways. It was already the early afternoon and as far as they could tell, nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

One of these restricted sections included the Starswirl the Bearded Wing. Two of the guards in that section were posted near the entrance to that secret chamber. One of them was stationary; the other was pacing through the adjoining hallways.

So far, the pacing guard had passed by the stationary guard six times in the past two hours. It took him five minutes to pass through each of the four corridors surrounding the Wing; twenty minutes altogether. That was twenty minutes down to the second. His immobile partner would know; he had timed him just for fun. Sure enough, one of his rotations around the Wing took exactly twenty minutes.

However, the stationary guard was beginning to think he had lost track of time. Because unless he had miscounted, it had been twenty-six minutes since he had last seen his partner. He was six minutes overdue, soon to be seven in a few seconds. That struck him as rather odd. He knew his partner very well; he was not one to idle or deviate from his routine. At least not without checking in first. If he had spotted anything abnormal and chosen to engage it, he would have sounded the alarm first.

After waiting for another three minutes, the motionless guard decided he had waited long enough. Somepony had to take action. Since the other two guards in this section were over a hundred yards away, he took it upon himself to investigate.

He stepped away from the entrance to the Wing and trotted down the corridor. When he arrived at the end of it, he made a right turn and proceeded down the next corridor. Unlike the previous passage, there were no windows in this one, so it was covered in almost complete darkness. The guard had to squint his eyes to see clearly in front of him.

Just before he reached the end of the corridor, he stumbled over something. Something rather large and rough. The guard paused to examine the object. After a moment, he noticed something perplexing: the object appeared to be moving. It also seemed to be emanating a very soft airstream sound, almost as if it was respiring. The guard used his horn to conjure up a beam of light and he directed it towards the object on the ground. It took him less than a moment to realize what, or rather who, it was. When he did, he jumped back in alarm.

His partner was lying sprawled out on the ground. His eyes were closed and he had a huge abrasion on his forehead, as if someone had struck him there with a blunt instrument. He was not dead, but he was definitely unconscious; somebody had knocked him out cold. The other guard was so preoccupied by the sight of his defeated associate that he did not even hear the sound of very light hoofsteps coming up behind him.

The guard was about to run off to warn his colleagues. But before he could so much as turn around, he was seized from behind by a figure. Despite his alarm at this sudden burst of activity, the guard had been trained to deal with these situations. He reached behind himself and attempted to grip his attacker by the neck. Unfortunately for him, the attacker had expected him to resist. With his left front leg, he took ahold of the guard's free front leg. Then he wrapped his right front leg around the guard's neck. Once he had a firm grip, he pulled back hard. The guard put up a valiant struggle, but his assailant had the upper hoof on him. No matter how hard the guard tried to resist, his attacker would not relent.

After about thirty seconds, the guard succumbed to a lack of oxygen and passed out. When the shadowy figure noticed he was out, he released his grip and carefully lowered the stallion to the ground. After this, he turned around and headed to the end of the corridor. He moved very quickly, but he was so nimble and stealthy that he barely made any noise at all.

When he arrived at the end of the hallway, he peaked his head out and looked in both directions. After ascertaining that the coast was clear, he turned to the right and sprinted down the next corridor. There were no candles in any of these hallways, but there was one window. The figure ran directly past it, and a small amount of light shined over him for a fraction of a second. Anyone who looked through the window at just the right moment would have gotten a good glimpse of him, and they would have been able to tell three things about him. For one, he was completely covered in black. He had a black vest, a black jacket, black pants, black boots, and a black mask. He also wore a black saddle bag and a black belt with an assortment of tools. However, this was the least interesting of his three notable aspects. The other two were far more intriguing, especially when put together. There were two parts of his body – aside from his eyes – that were not covered in black. One was his forehead, and the other was his back. This was because he had a horn on the former, and a pair of wings on the latter. He was an Alicorn.

He ran for a few dozen more meters, and once he entered the next restricted section of the castle, he halted. He quietly backed up against a wall and removed a scroll from his saddle bag. He unrolled the scroll, and then he used his horn to conjure up a bit of light. He held the paper close to his eyes so that he could examine its contents.

It was a roster of the guards who were on duty in the restricted sections during the afternoon. There were check marks next to the first twenty-three names. The Alicorn took a small pen from his belt and used it to place a check mark next to the twenty-fourth name. Then he put the pen away, rolled the scroll back up, and extinguished his light. As he put the scroll back into his saddle bag, he whispered to himself with a note of satisfaction "Twenty-four down, sixteen to go."

He was referring to the forty members of the Royal Guard who were scattered throughout the ten restricted sections. So far, he had already disabled two dozen of them, meaning he had cleared out six whole sections without compromising his cover. He just needed to clear out four more sections and his objective would be accomplished.

"Next stop, the Astronomy Wing," he elected.

The following section was not as large as the Starswirl the Bearded Wing, but it was quite a bit more precarious. The Alicorn felt it would be wise to get to a higher position before he went on any further. He spread his wings and began robustly beating them. Then he gradually elevated into the air until he covered about two-thirds of the distance between the floor and the ceiling. Then he flew on silently towards the next section.

When he arrived there, he quickly spotted one of this section's guards near the base of a staircase. Throwing caution to his movements, he hovered overhead for a few seconds and concentrated on the ground. Then without any warning whatsoever, he dived towards the guard with impressive speed. It took the Alicorn less than five seconds to take ahold of the guard, swiftly knock him out, and land steadily on the ground.

He spent a minute studying his new surroundings, and he soon noticed something odd. He commented quietly "Hmmm… this is strange. Why would he be stationed down here in the first place? There are plenty of good lookout spots in this Wing, but this is definitely not one of them. You can barely see anything from here."

He was in fact correct. From the base of the staircase, very little was visible from any angle. However, from the platform at the top of the staircase, one could clearly discern everything on the ground below. This included the base itself.

At this time, another of this section's guards had arrived at this platform. He spent a few seconds looking around in various directions, and eventually, he happened to gaze straight down. Despite the fact that the ground floor was covered in almost complete darkness, he could clearly tell that his colleague was down there. After looking a little closer, he also noticed that his comrade was not alone.

"You there, halt!" the guard bellowed.

The Alicorn immediately shifted his focus upward. The guard at the top of the staircase had already stared descending the staircase. The figure in black did not panic; he merely uttered under his breath in agitation "I should've known it wouldn't be this easy."

He had hoped to get through his mission whilst remaining totally undetected, but apparently that was no longer an option. However, he did not allow this unforeseen complication to worry him. He would simply adapt to any and all new difficulties. At this moment, he had two options: to engage the guard in combat, or to flee from the scene. He knew how the guards worked; if he started running from one of them, the guard would not break off pursuit until he caught the intruder. Unfortunately, the Alicorn did not feel that his other option was not much more appealing. If he stayed around to fight the guard off, he would risk creating too much noise and alerting the other guards in the vicinity.

He had to pick between his two options very soon, though; the guard would be upon him in less than half-a minute. Ten seconds later, he made his decision. He had not retracted his wings just yet, so he figured he may as well use them. He ascended into the air with great speed and intercepted the guard before he was even halfway down the stairwell. The guard attempted to overpower him, but the Alicorn was ready to deal with some resistance. After a few seconds, he slammed the guard against the wall and struck him across the neck. The effect was instantaneous; he knocked the guard out cold.

Unfortunately, as the Alicorn had anticipated, the struggle had generated quite a bit of noise. In the distance, he could hear voices. They were barely audible at first, but before long, he could discern certain phrases such as "What was that?" "Someone's being attacked!" "Sound the alarm!" "Shut this section down! Now!" From his position in the center of the staircase, he could tell that the voices were getting progressively closer to where he was.

"Dammit," the Alicorn muttered.

Although there were only two more guards in this section, it would not be long before reinforcements arrived. Once that happened, he would not be able to take on all of them by himself. He had no choice but to bolt from the scene before they spotted him.

He rose back into the air and ascended to the top of the staircase. Once he reached it, he alighted onto the platform and took off galloping down the corridor. Although he now felt a little anxious and tentative, he did not lose his composure. He made certain that his hoofsteps did not echo throughout the corridor, and he restricted his route to the shadows. Unfortunately, he could hear the faint sound of the hoofsteps approaching him from behind. The guards must have been on his trail.

Before long, he had entered the next restricted section. Shortly after this, he heard more hoofsteps, but these ones seemed to originate from somewhere in front of him. The figure in black quickly concluded that the guards in the Astronomy Wing must have already alerted the guards in the other sections, and now they were trying to create a perimeter to keep him contained. The hoofsteps sounded far away from him, but based on their gradually increasing volume and depth, they were coming at him fast.

The Alicorn quickly gathered that the guards were closing in on him from both directions. He might have had a chance of successfully eluding the guards for a while if he continued running, but eventually, he would be forced to enter a direct confrontation with them. The longer the chase lasted, the more likely that that would happen. His only other option was to hide. Although he did not like lingering in any one spot for too long, he figured it would be easier to devise another strategy if he did not have to concentrate on navigating through the castle's hallways as well. Of course, even if he did manage to disappear, the guards would keep searching for him until they found him or until they were convinced he was no longer in the castle.

After weighing the pros and cons of either option, the figure in black decided it would be a better idea to find a secure place to lay low. He stopped running and began looking all around the area for anything that could serve as a temporary refuge. Soon, he spotted an opening in the space between two suits of armor. He ambled over to the opening and peered into it. It was a little narrow, but it was wide enough to accommodate him.

He turned around so that he had his back to the opening and he slowly backed into it. He wanted to remain facing the corridor so that he could directly watch out for the guards. He walked backwards until he was about three meters in. Then he stopped and waited. Thirty seconds later, the guards from this section passed by the opening. None of them seemed to pay it any mind. The Alicorn listened as their hoofsteps grew fainter. However, he soon heard another bunch of hoofsteps approaching from the opposite direction. Twenty more seconds later, all the hoofsteps ceased at once. Apparently, the guards from the previous section had encountered the guards in this section.

"Did you see him?" one of them demanded.

"No, did you?" retorted another.

"Nope, other than us, this hallway is empty," a third declared.

"Where in Tartarus is he?" snapped another one.

"He should have been right here," another one proclaimed, "There's nowhere he could have gone. Nowhere."

"Well, spread out and find him!" the highest-ranking officer ordered the others, "Level this entire section if you have to!"

"Yes, sir!" the others acknowledged.

The Alicorn managed to overhear all these remarks. He took the last one as his cue to move on. He gazed over his left shoulder and his right shoulder, and he discovered that the opening was much deeper than he believed it to be. From his stance, the rest of the passage appeared to be totally clear.

He kept his gaze concentrated on the entrance to the passage and slowly backed further into it. Occasionally, he glanced over one or both of his shoulders to make certain he was in the clear, and every time, he confirmed that he was alone. Every now and then, one of the guards ran by the opening, but each of them seemed to ignore it completely. This struck him as a little bizarre. Their commander had instructed them to search everywhere in that section. He figured that one of them had to be observant enough to notice the passage.

Ultimately, he chose not to question his luck. It probably would have been wise if he had done so.

The Alicorn predicted that the passage had another entrance. Turns out it did. The passageway ran all the way into the next section. When he approached it, he gazed over his shoulder again. It appeared that nopony was there. However, because his wings were still expanded, they were blocking his line of sight. Somepony was standing directly in the center of the entrance, as if he was waiting for him. Like the Alicorn, he was also covered in shadow. Anyone standing by the stallion would only be able to determine two things about him: he was a Unicorn, and he clutched an object in his right front hoof.

When the figure in black reached the entrance, the second figure grabbed him from behind. Before the Alicorn had time to shake off his attacker, his attacker wrapped his left front leg around his upper body. Immediately after, he raised the object in his right front hoof up to the Alicorn's throat. The winged-and-horned stallion quickly realized that the object was a small knife.

"Not another move," the Unicorn warned him sternly, "You try anything and there will be blood. You understand that?"

The Alicorn was rather stunned that he had been caught off his guard. He managed to coax out "Yes… yes, alright. I understand. Who are you? One of the Royal Guard?"

"Unfortunately, no," the other stallion scornfully replied, "Unfortunate for you, I mean. I'm much, much worse than them. You see, the Royal Guard adhere to certain standards. They'd go to great length to capture you alive and unblemished. I, on the other hoof, have no problem with using more extreme methods to deal with intruders."

The Alicorn tentatively inquired "What do you mean by 'extreme?'"

The Unicorn grinned wickedly and raised his knife slightly. Then he stated "You see this fine piece of metal? It's one of my favorite 'tools.' Portable, durable, and very light. Its size and structure makes it ideal for this kind of work. You probably don't think I could inflict a great deal of damage with such a small blade, but trust me, I can."

"What are you going to do?" the figure in black apprehensively asked his attacker.

The Unicorn placed his knife back against the front of the Alicorn's neck and informed him "First, I'm going to make a shallow incision along the right side of your throat. Then I'll do the same on the left side. That alone could make you bleed out within five minutes. But I'm not stopping there. Oh, no; I'm just getting started. It just so happens that the tendons that connect your head to your shoulders are located in three distinctive places along your neck. Those are two of them. The third is right here."

When he said this last remark, he brought his knife around and placed it against the back of the Alicorn's throat. Then he went on: "After I've scored the sides of your neck, I'll plunge my weapon directly into the back of your neck. Then I'll dig in until I've cut through the top of your backbone. With those three simple moves, I could decapitate you."

The Alicorn took in everything the assailant told him. To say it made him feel uncomfortable would be an understatement. He was left speechless by these ruthless, ominous threats. There was no doubt in his mind that his attacker meant business.

"Now I don't want to do that to you," the assailant claimed, "But if you do not capitulate, I will."

"Alright, alright, I understand," the Alicorn declared, "What are your demands?"

"What happens next is your choice," the stallion told him, "So, tell me, what's the logical thing to do here? Are you going to surrender and keep your head? Or are you going to assume that I'm bluffing and risk finding out the hard way that I'm not?

The Alicorn did not answer straightaway. Initially, he was hoping to find another way out of this situation. He quickly recalled that the Royal Guard were still searching for him. If they happened to come across the pair, they would certainly want to arrest him, but they would not let the attacker harm a hair on his mane. That would even give him an opportunity to escape. After a few seconds of silence, he thought aloud "How about you give me some time to think?"

"So that my colleagues can find us?" the assailant presumed, "You can shake off that idea. I've given them orders to stay away from this area until I say otherwise. It's just you and me. You want time? You've got three seconds. Three, two, one… Okay, time's up. Do you give up or not?"

If he had any time, even fifteen seconds' worth, the Alicorn would have tried to think up another way out of this disaster. But the knife-wielder wanted a response and he wanted it now. So reluctantly, he chose to give in. The Alicorn dropped his tense façade and remarked drily "Fine, you win."

He did not sound nervous or agitated. Instead, he sounded rather disappointed. He was.

The Unicorn, however, was rather pleased. Almost immediately, he released his grip on the Alicorn, lowered his weapon, and smirked. Then he stated casually "Smart choice, Your Highness."

"Well, I know better than to screw with you, SIG," the Alicorn remarked, turning around to face the other stallion, "Especially since I know how proficient you really are with a knife."

"Yeah, if there's one thing I know, it's knives," the Unicorn commented.

"As well as how to scare the living daylights out of people," the Alicorn added in as he retracted his wings, "For a second or two there, I thought you were actually going to chop my head off if I didn't yield."

"I wouldn't dare do that," the Unicorn assured him, "I'd never harm you, sir. Never. Surely you know me well enough by now to be certain of that."

"I know you wouldn't, SIG," said the Alicorn, "But still, you sounded as though you meant serious freakin' business when you went into graphic detail about how to decapitate a pony."

"I apologize if I startled you, Your Highness," the Unicorn affirmed, "But I had to sound authentic so that you would take my threat seriously. An actual hostile would have spared you the description of what he planned to do and just gone ahead and done it."

"Well, in that case, it's a good thing there aren't any 'real' hostiles here today," the Alicorn observed.

"Speaking of which, the others are still waiting on us," the Unicorn realized. He sheathed his knife into a belt he wore around his waist. Then he turned out into the hallway and called out "Okay, everypony, stand down! Training session's over! Get the lights on!"

From the end of the corridor, a gruff voice pronounced "You heard him; lights on, people!"

Over the next few minutes, a great deal of natural and artificial light filled the corridors in all ten of the restricted sections. Once the area was fully illuminated, the Alicorn and the Unicorn proceeded down the hallway. The Unicorn was a middle-aged stallion with a pine green coat, an orange mane, and teal eyes. His cutie mark was a golden shield with a pair of silver swords crossing over it. His name was SIG Sauer. He was one of the best combat personnel in the whole of Equestria. He had a prolific career in the army, the Royal Guard, and several intelligence agencies. Although he no longer worked for any of these organizations, he was employed by the Canterlot Royalty in various capacities. Currently, he was functioning as the head recruits trainer. He supervised all the drills and programs for all the advanced military units when they were working out.

Before long, they had regrouped with the members of the Royal Guard that had been stationed in the restricted sections. All forty of these stallions had volunteered to be part of the drill. This "intruder" fiasco was all part of an elaborate test designed to hone their abilities to remain vigilant and ready to react. However, the person who was supposed to get the most out of the drill was the figure in black.

SIG Sauer turned to the Alicorn and noticed that he was still wearing his entire disguise, including his headgear. He stated informally "Sir, since the lights are on, you can your mask off now."

"Oh, right," noted the Alicorn as he brought his front hooves up to the bottom of his mask. As he gripped the edges of the mask and pulled it up over his head, he perceived "I've had it on for so long that I almost forgot I was wearing it."

"I know the feeling," SIG informed him, "The longer you have it on, the more it feels like it's imbedded into your skin. I've carried out a few operations where I've had to wear a mask for a lot longer than a few hours. I've even gone as long as almost two full days wearing one."

"That's lovely, SIG," stated the Alicorn wryly. By this point, he had fully removed his mask. Everypony in the room could see his face now. He was a young stallion in his mid-twenties. He had a gold coat, a maroon mane, and silver eyes. Although he was an Alicorn, he was about the same height as the average member of the Royal Guard. He was Princess Celestia's son, Prince Bronze Star.

Bronze Star was as respected and adored as his mother by all the people in the land, especially the soldiers. Although he was not officially a recognized member of the Equestrian military, he played a role in most matters pertaining to national security and defense. He had a seat on his mother's Council, which was by no means a ceremonial position. He had most certainly earned his place there.

Ever since he was fifteen, he had been trained by SIG Sauer in many different tactics. He was well-versed in stealth, melee, defense spells, attack spells, hoof-to-hoof combat, martial arts, and several other fields. Ten years of devout soldierly training had certainly paid off. He was one of the most dexterous and prominent combatants in all of Equestria. He had even been given control of a Special Ops team called the Firebrand Regiment, which, in his opinion, was the finest private military group anypony had ever seen.

"How is it you're always the one that gets him, SIG?" one of the Royal Guard queried.

"Fine luck on my part, I presume, Hammer Shaft," the pine green stallion speculated.

Bronze Star rolled his eyes and cheekily said "Sure, SIG. From what I recall, you've consistently maintained that there is no such thing as luck."

"In the field, no," SIG Sauer declared, "During an exercise, perhaps. After all, while anything is liable to happen during an actual mission, everything that takes place during a drill is within your control to some degree."

"A fine argument," Bronze Star concurred, "It's especially true in my case, when you cannot afford to rely on anypony but yourself."

"On that note, how many of our colleagues did you manage to incapacitate this time, Your Highness?" asked another guard.

"Officially, twenty-four," Bronze Star declared, "The last section I totally cleared out was the Starswirl the Bearded Wing. I took out two more in the Astronomy Wing, but my cover was compromised shortly after that. So I suppose those two technically don't count."

"Still, two dozen is quite impressive," a third guard complimented him.

"I think that's a new record for you, sir," a fourth party noted.

"I think you're right, Stone Cracker," the Alicorn Prince coincided, "I myself am rather pleased with how much I've improved. We've been doing this once a year for the past ten years, and this is probably the first time I've managed to take out more than half of the forty units stationed down here."

"At the very least, it's a significant improvement on the very first drill," SIG Sauer wittily remarked.

"You mean the one where I was unable to take out a single guard before I was caught?" Bronze Star assumed.

"Yes, that's the one," SIG affirmed, "But to be fair, you were only fifteen at the time, and you were still in the preliminary stages of stealth and hoof-to-hoof combat."

"All the same, ten Summer Sun Celebrations have passed since then, and I still cannot best you, SIG," Bronze Star pointed out.

"Nopony's perfect, Your Highness," the middle-aged stallion reminded his leader.

"We should probably go and revive our coworkers," Stone Cracker proposed.

"Excellent suggestion," Hammer Shaft agreed, "Can't let them sleep on the job."

"I didn't hide them after I knocked them out, so they shouldn't be too hard to locate," Bronze Star informed them. He reached back into his saddle bag and pulled out the roster of the guards on duty in the restricted section. Then he handed it to Hammer Shaft and told him "Anypony who has a check mark next to their name is one of the twenty-four I managed to disable. Since the list also includes where they were stationed, it might make your search a little easier. There's also two more along that large spiral staircase in the Astronomy Wing."

"I'm surprised you decided to start on the section that was furthest in, sir," Stone Cracker observed as he examined the list over Hammer Shaft's shoulder "My group and I were positioned there, and we were expected you to arrive there hours ago."

"What would the point be if I started in the most obvious place?" Bronze Star countered, "That's my one of my newest policies; when operating under a stealthy approach, you should strike from the most unlikely angle. That way, the element of surprise is on your side."

"No wonder you managed to evade us for so long," commented another guard, "You really have a knack for keep a low profile."

"As somepony who's rarely ever been out of Canterlot, I'm inclined to agree," the prince wittily remarked.

Before long, the stallions heard two pairs of hoofsteps approaching from one of the adjoining hallways. Another of the Royal Guard was soon upon them. He gazed around at his colleagues and asked them "Is the prince down here?"

"Right here, Blade Bearer," the gold Alicorn replied.

"Ah, good to see you, sire," the guard approached Bronze Star and bowed his head for a moment. Then he brought it back up and notified him "Your mother has requested an audience with you."

"About what?" enquired the prince.

"She would not say," Blade Bearer responded, "All she told me was to have you come up to the throne room as soon as you were finished with the drill. Since the lights are now on in the restricted sections, I assume that you are."

"You are correct," the Alicorn confirmed. He turned to his trainer and the other officers of the Royal Guard and declared "SIG, you're with me. I presume the rest of you guys can wrap everything up here without me."

"We'll get right to work, sir," stated Hammer Shaft as he looked down at the roster in his right front hoof. He announced "The Astronomy Wing is the closest section; we'll start there."

Hammer Shaft, Stone Cracker, and all the other guards except Blade Bearer left the vicinity to go seek out their unconscious colleagues. They predicted that most of them would have a concussion or an unpleasant headache, but Bronze Star had been careful not to inflict too much damage onto any of them.

A minute later, Bronze Star, SIG Sauer, and Blade Bearer were left alone. The Alicorn Prince looked down at his entirely black garb for a few moments, and then he thought aloud "I should probably change my attire before I speak with my mother. Let's swing by the locker room first."

SIG Sauer and Blade Bearer agreed to this suggestion. The three stallions trotted through the corridors and navigated their way to a stairwell in the next section. After going up two flights of steps, they stepped off the stairwell and proceeded down another hallway. They stopped outside of a door labeled "Trainee Locker Room."

SIG Sauer turned to the Royal Guard and stated "Blade Bearer, would you mind waiting out here? I would like a moment in private with the prince."

"Very well, sir," the armor-clad stallion approved, "I'll be right outside this door if you need me."

Blade Bearer posted himself to the side of the door and stood his ground there. At the same time, Bronze Star pushed open the door to the locker room and held it ajar for his trainer to pass through. Once both stallions were inside, the Alicorn released the door and let it close on its own. Then he went over to one of the lockers in the center of the room. He opened it, tossed his mask inside, and removed a towel. As he wiped away the sweat from his face and mane, he announced to SIG Sauer "I think I'll take a quick shower before I put on my formal apparel."

"Go right ahead, sir," SIG Sauer perceived, "Wouldn't look good if you appeared in front of your mother drenched in sweat, after all."

"Yeah, no kidding," Bronze Star commented. He swiftly went to work getting undressed. In this order, he removed his saddle bag, his boots, his jacket, his vest, and his pants. After removing the last article of clothing, one could clearly see that his cutie mark was a cluster of large yellow stars outlined in black and grey. They were arranged in a particular pattern, as if they formed a constellation.

Bronze Star took out a gym bag from the locker, stuffed his workout clothes into the bag, and placed the bag back into his locker. Next, he wiped a few clammy locks of his mane out of his eyes, stepped into one of the shower stalls, and used his horn to activate the valve. His magic aura was silver, as his irises were the same color. Warm, clear water started flowing from the nozzle and onto Bronze Star's head and body. As the Alicorn washed himself, he called out to his trainer "So, what did you want to discuss?"

"First off, how come you didn't just teleport out that passage when you were surrounded?" stated SIG Sauer, "You've proven to be a master at disappearing and reappearing."

"Is that a serious question, SIG?" the Alicorn audaciously remarked, "You know as well as I do that teleporting in or out of the castle without my mother's authorization is strictly prohibited."

"I would have thought she'd make an exception for you," SIG Sauer conjectured

"If I asked for an exception, she might grant it," Bronze Star admitted, "But I don't see any especial need for one when I've already got a pair of wings and four hooves to get me around the place. Besides, where's the fun in taking the easy way out?"

"I appreciate your optimism and your sense of thrill, sir," the Unicorn assured him, "However, taking the 'easy way out' would have spared you that unpleasant encounter with me at the end of the passage."

"I guess I can't dispute that," Bronze Star coincided, "Hammer Shaft did raise a good point, though. I find it peculiar that it's always you who gets me. Why do you suppose that is?"

"Probably because I've know your weakness since you first started training," SIG speculated, "It's always the exact same thing, even though I have incessantly advised you to improve upon it. As you may recall, I was standing directly behind you when you reached the end of the passage, but when you looked over your shoulders, you failed to notice me. Remember, Your Majesty, if you cannot see everything around you, you have no chance of navigating through a solo operation. You have to account for your blind spots."

"That's much easier for you to accomplish," Bronze Star declared, "You don't have a pair of wings obstructing your peripheral vision."

"True, but the Pegasi on my detail have learned to work around that hindrance," SIG Sauer apprised him, "Doing that is easier than you may think; all you have to do is keep them folded while you are moving on the ground. That way you'll be able to see clearly out of the corners of your eyes."

"What if I have to make a quick getaway and teleporting isn't an option?" the Alicorn theorized.

"Then keep your wings folded, but be ready to expand them and take to the air at a moment's notice," the Unicorn recommended, "My operatives need only a couple seconds of reaction time to accomplish this feat. This should be even simpler for you."

"Alright, I'll keep that in mind," Bronze Star assured his trainer. He switched off the water, stepped out of the stall, and grabbed another towel from a nearby rack. As he dried himself off, he turned to SIG Sauer and observed "You really take these things seriously, don't you?"

"I certainly do," the Unicorn confirmed, nodding his head, "As should you, sir. Anytime you have an opportunity to hone your skills, you should use it."

"I'll remember that, too," Bronze Star assured him. Once he was totally dry, he hanged his towel up on a rack and walked back over to his locker. There he removed a vest, two pairs of soft shoes, and a crown. All six of these items were etched in silver and jade, and the crown held a lime green amethyst in its center.

Bronze Star began by slipping on the shoes. As he fastened them onto his hooves, he thought aloud "I assume you there is something else you'd like to tell me other than some instruction on how to better my flaws? A top-secret intelligence report, perhaps?"

"Actually, yes," SIG Sauer disclosed, "How did you guess?"

"You asked Blade Bearer to wait outside the room," Bronze Star pointed out, "You wouldn't have done that unless you had something to share with me that's supposed to remain confidential."

SIG Sauer lightly nodded, and then he smirked and remarked "You're rather perceptive, sir."

"I have to be, considering how busy I am," Bronze Star responded. After he got his shoes on, he picked up his vest and slid it over his head. Once he straightened it out, he looked over at his trainer and queried "So, what do you have for me?"

SIG Sauer walked over to another locker, opened it, and removed a file from it. He held it out to his protégé and informed him "What you're about to read arrived just last night. It's been in our possession for less than sixteen hours. In the time since then, we've had the information sourced. Its authenticity has been verified by our top five intelligence agencies."

"Does it concern that suspect we've had our eyes on?" Bronze Star presumed as he received the file into his front hooves.

"If you mean Material Study, then yes," SIG Sauer answered, ""We've also uncovered strong evidence which seems to confirm your theory that he's not acting alone."

Bronze Star opened the file and began flipping through it. It contained pictures of a light blue stallion with an orange mane and a notable amount of facial hair. The entire file was centered on this stallion. As Bronze Star studied the contents of the file, SIG Sauer continued to debrief him: "In the past three months, he has been through Fillydelphia, Las Pegasus, and Balitmare. He's bought cartloads of minerals, isotopes, and lab equipment from ten different stores in those towns. At first glance, he just appears to be a professor or a scientist staying in the cities to do some experiments. However, we've also got copies of his hotel records. According to the log books, he's had at least one guest visit each him at each of his suites. We've run background checks on them, and most of them turned up with nothing. However, the last person who paid him a visit was a mare named Lavender Dazzle, who – it just so happens – is also on our watch list."

"Any idea what their meeting was about?" asked Bronze Star as he continued looking through the file.

"Nothing firsthand, but we're fairly confident it must have something to do with all the chemicals he's been purchasing," SIG Sauer conjectured, "Dr. Material Study is a very renowned specialist in his field, but he's not rich enough to afford all those special commodities."

"So somepony else must be providing him with his finances," Bronze Star hypothesized.

"That's my theory, too," SIG Sauer professed, "At this point, we're not certain if he's directly connected with Lavender Dazzle's work, or if he's just in it for profit. Until we know which, we're going to assume that his level of involvement is as vast as we originally believed it to be."

"Any idea what Material Study's next move might be?" Bronze Star inquired.

"Yes, one of our undercover operatives managed to swipe a copy of his personal itinerary off of him when he left Baltimare," SIG Sauer apprised him, "He'll be arriving in Hoofington in fifteen days, apparently to do some more shopping and rendezvous with a few more contacts. However, immediately after that, he'll be coming straight here. His schedule did not specify what he would be doing here, but we can draw up several reasonable ideas."

Bronze Star nodded his head in acknowledgement, closed the file, and looked back up at SIG Sauer. Then he asked him "What would you recommend we do?"

"Until we can declare otherwise, we should treat Material Study as a hostile of malicious intent," SIG Sauer proposed, "We cannot allow him to set hoof in Canterlot. Our best course of action would be to catch him while he's in Hoofington. Then we can get him to talk. We'll learn firsthoof what he's up to."

"Who would be running the operation to pick up Material Study?" inquired Bronze Star.

"That would be my team, sir," SIG Sauer replied, "We've already got the entire procedure planned out, and we've got backup strategies at the ready in case the first one goes south. We've spared no detail in these plans. All we need is your sanction to go ahead with them."

"In any case, you have it," the gold stallion informed him, "How soon can you have your platoon assembled?"

"All my units are already in the capital," stated the pine green stallion "I've instructed them to remain in the city in case of an emergency. That way I'd be able to gather them and prep them for anything at a moment's notice. Even if we started preparing for the operation, we'll need a few days to make all the necessary arrangements. But in any event, we'll be ready long before Material Study arrives in Hoofington."

In addition to being Bronze Star's personal combat trainer, SIG Sauer was also the leader of the aforementioned Firebrand Regiment, the squad that answered directly to the young prince. Bronze Star had appointed SIG Sauer to that position himself. He had very good reason to. After ten years of comprehensive and earnest training, Bronze Star had developed a type of special bond with the ex-military officer. Other than his mother and a few members of her staff, there was nopony in all of Equestria that the young prince trusted more.

"We can discuss this matter in further detail later on," Bronze Star decided, handing the file back to his trainer, "For now, my mother is waiting on me."

"Sounds fine to me," SIG Sauer concurred.

Bronze Star turned to the door of the room and was about to leave, but SIG Sauer hastily told him "Don't forget your crown, sir."

"Oh, yes; silly me," Bronze Star quickly remembered. He turned around to pick up his crown, but SIG Sauer had already picked it up for him. The Unicorn used his teal magic aura to lift the crown up into the air and gracefully place it on the top of the Alicorn's head. Bronze Star simply scoffed and said "Thanks, SIG."

"Anytime, sir," was all SIG Sauer said in response.

The two stallions then departed from the locker room, and Blade Bearer began leading them to the throne room. For the present, Bronze Star was no longer functioning as a soldier. Now, he was reassuming a much larger role as one of Canterlot's leaders.

Comments

[Survivor Brony]

Damn, that was a really surprising twist! I'm really liking these characters so far. I was especially interested in the "debrief" at the end. Update soon, plz!

[Flabbergast]

Sorry, I accidentally posted a comment before I even typed anything. But that aside... Jesus, the first part of this chapter was tense. That scene with the knife was really dark and alarming, almost like . I honestly did not see the part after it coming. This chapter was quite a bit better than the last one, probably because it wasn't as "mysterous." You've got my attention now. i want to see where this will go.

[The Infinity Doctor]

I was confused at first, then I understood when it was a training session Liked this one, can't wait to read the next- I like your writing style, as well as the flow the story has so far

[Slashwing]

Ok so a time skip throws my idea completely out the window on how I expected this story to go so for this chapter the idea of a stealth mission training session got me off guard some parts near the end felt like they dragged on to long for what they needed and once again trying to keep track of all the ponies names in my head is not the best right after waking up, overall I feel the story now has it's plot starter and I can speculate more from here

[Smaug the Golden]

Chapter one review time!
*ahem*
Yet again, you manage to avoid clichés with simple yet effective methods. SIG Sauer is a like able character, as is Bronze Star. Normally, when one writes about OC alicorn who's a battle expert, down votes come down in storms. However, you gave logical explanations as to why he's an expert. The idea of actually getting knocked out for practice is a bit odd for our beloved Equestria, but works for this area. The story narrative seems a bit redundant at times, but nothing critical.
One quick question: what does SIG Sauer's name mean?

[TheEquestrianWing]

4605255 I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far. I understand what you mean when you say it seems a bit redundant at times. Some writers have a problem with putting too little detail in their stories. As for me, I sometimes tend to put too damn MUCH.

In answer to your question, SIG Sauer is actually the name of a type of handgun originally produced in Germany. In real life, SIG stands for Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft. Even though I've already written the first fifteen chapters of this story, I still haven't decided what "SIG" in my OC's name stands for. Still working on that.

It may seem strange that I decided to name one of my OCs after an armament, but I have two good reasons for doing so:

One, I heavily based SIG Sauer off of Jack Bauer from "24." Both are veterans with military experience, both answer directly to the highest authority in the land, and both are willing to die for the people they love. I wanted to go so far as to give my OC a similar name, so I picked SIG Sauer.

Two, I figured that since there are no firearms in Equestria (at least not canonically), there wouldn't be any harm in naming certain ponies after them. There are actually quite a few characters in my story that are named after firearms. More will show up as the story progresses.

[Mr_Moon]

You need to make bonus stories like the time when celestial is raising a child. I want moments that makes you go "hhhhhnnnnnggggggg" because that's when the cute moments come :3

Just sayin

[Truthseeker]

Hrmmm. I cannot say I approve of using the names of guns for characters, especially since there are no guns mentioned. I would normally say that it reeks of a distinctive lack of creativity, but in this case the opposite seems to be true. The story thus far is creative and colorful and the characters are believable. I don't approve of using names like that, but fortunately I'm not the one writing it.