Veil Of Lies
"You cannot do that, princess," objected some wannabe important noble, one of many now gathered in the Canterlot castle throne room.
Sharp Biscuit growled.
Luna had been seeing him even while awake since last morning but was secretly glad that was the case. With the situation escalating she needed guidance on the fly, not delay incoming problems until next day. Yes, it was beginning to gnaw on her that her sanity might be wavering. Yes, it would mean immediate unrest if somepony else found out. Still, until everything was solved she appreciated the help she was getting.
"And what exactly is preventing us from doing so?" Luna asked.
"Equestrian law, your Highness. According to -"
Luna ignored the rest of the coordinates of the paragraph the pony was referring to.
"-In case something was to happen to princess Celestia then the council of high nobility would temporarily take over Equestrian affairs."
The princess of the Night was ready for this. She'd been worried about this since the attack but it was here sooner than expected. The worms in front of her wanted power. None of them had bothered to visit her sister in the infirmary wing or wished her good luck. All of them just wanted a piece of cake that was Canterlot.
"That law has already been amended, dear whoever-you-are. Now it falls to us to protect our subjects in case of emergency."
"You cannot do that!"
Sharp circled around the annoying noble.
This time without the correct title, my princess. This snake should burn.
Dark mist swirled around the pony who was levitated up by his neck.
"WE, THINE RIGHTFUL RULER, HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. OUR SISTER REWROTE THE LAW, YOU PATHETIC POWER-HUNGRY MONGREL."
The other nobles froze when they heard the Canterlot voice and then broke into hushed whispers as their spokespony got released from Luna's magical grip and slammed to the ground.
The double door to the throne room opened and a group of Nightguards walked to the princess.
"We have found a witness, princess. He is currently waiting for full interrogation down in the dungeons."
"Did he say anything?"
"Yes," the batpony guard just nodded and looked around at the gathered nobility.
Luna scowled.
"Wait for us outside," she turned back to the gathered ponies after the Nightguards left, "You ingrates! Our sister isn't even badly hurt and the vultures are already circling. Soon, though, we will wring the information from whoever saw the incident and once we know which one of you is behind this then we will make sure both you and your whole bloodline swing."
Enveloped in Luna's magic once again, the spokespony got thrown out of the throne room and the princess followed. To everypony inside the slamming shut of the door sounded like the swish of a guillotine.
Ignoring the groaning pony on the floor, Luna nodded at her guards.
"So?"
"He said he saw somepony flying above princess Celestia, somepony with both horn and wings."
Sharp, walking by Luna's side, sighed.
I was afraid of that. Either Twilight is mind-controlled by Guiding Light or she overpowered the queen, learned the power the Nightmare changelings possess and wants to use it to gain the power of all alicorns again.
"Any details?"
"No, he stopped talking when we arrived. The pony in question is a member of the Royal Guard."
"Both branches of the Guard are supposed to work together. I will interrogate him personally and possibly give him a little lesson regarding that subject."
The batponies grinned as one. They were law-abiding and dutiful guards but even for them being treated like lower class was difficult to deal with again and again.
"Wait outside," ordered Luna when the guards unlocked the cell door.
Uh oh, I smell trouble.
Luna couldn't begin talking to thin air in front of the guards so she just hummed, stepped inside and closed the door.
The white pegasus in front of her had been locked here for his own safety so he wasn't chained up or restrained in any way. He definitely didn't look dangerous, at least to an alicorn like Luna. Of course to a normal pony he would probably be a distinct threat with his physical condition and combat training but to her he might as well have been a little foal.
There was nothing even remotely wrong according to Luna's senses. Could Sharp have been wrong?
"What did you see, young guard? Any little piece of information is valuable."
The pegasus looked up from sitting on the cell bench and his eyes went wide.
BE CAREFUL!
Luna's senses suddenly saw it. The look in the guard's eyes, at least the shadow behind it. It was the feeling she knew, the one she would carry with her to the end of her life. It was Nightmare, THE Nightmare. Not some little changeling led by Guiding Light but the god itself.
Did the guard stand up?
Did he lunge at Luna?
Luna blinked.
The cell reeked of dark energy... and blood. Breathing raggedly, the lunar princess backed to the door and kicked it, her eyes never leaving the strewn tatters of flesh in some instances baked to the stone of the walls which were the only things remaining from the guard.
Upon her second kick the door opened and she jumped outside. One of the Royal Guards looked into the cell and couldn't hold the contents of his stomach in.
You can't trust them.
"Seize them!" Luna pointed at the Royal Guard responsible for keeping their 'friend' safe.
Fortunately, her Nightguards were loyal to the ends of Equestria and didn't hesitate to knock the gold-armored ponies out.
My elite will never betray you, princess. Too bad the same cannot be said for your sister's troops.
"Put these two into a cell. They might not be in league with the other one but we cannot risk anything."
The batponies nodded.
"What is going on, your Highness?"
An alicorn with the power of Nightmare. May heavens protect us.
"It is as I feared. Princess Twilight Sparkle attacked my sister to gain her power and set that Royal Guard as a trap for me. Somehow she is connected to the Nightmarish power that once possessed me. Order a search for her and anypony who might be helping her, general public should help so go deal with the newspapers."
The traitor guards.
"In addition to that, the Nightguard is to assume full command over the Royal Guard. If any of my sister's troops have problem with it then they are free to take a paid vacation, I have no need for those who would hesitate to protect Equestrian order."
We need to prevent the possibility of your guards being attacked in the streets. The nobles have their own armed forces and we don't know how deep the Royal Guard corruption goes.
The Nightguards saluted and left to fulfill Luna's orders.
What about the Element bearers? If the Nightmare is possessing Twilight then they might not want to use their power to defeat her.
"Then it is my duty to take the Elements myself and do what they and my sister did for me. I will try to cleanse the corruption from Twilight and if it proves impossible then she will be banished."
Kill her.
"If necessary. She will not touch my sister again."
Luna walked through the castle to her room, ignoring the angry voices spreading in its halls. There will be those trying to stop her. The same ponies would spread rumors about her and it might put those loyal to her in danger.
Even so long after her return, Luna had very small amount of allies. The only thing that meant, though, was that she treasured them more for it and would go far to protect them.
On the balcony of her room she gathered her magic power.
Shadows descended on Canterlot, cast by black clouds melding together to cover the city. The overcast sky should give the Nightguards an advantage over anypony trying to attack them in the gloom.
Luna chuckled to herself.
"The night will last... until my sister gets better and Twilight burns for her treachery."
Icy Gaze eyed his two captives. He had gone overboard with forcefully capturing Rainbow Dash and it had taken her until the evening to wake up. His situation now became dangerous. Suddenly, there were two ponies who could help each other get out but for some reason the cellar door was incredibly sturdy, almost similar to the one door he hadn't been able to open yet. His best bet, though, was to keep his captives uncertain about his goal. Yes, the more he went over his current situation the more uncertain he was himself but then every time his mind returned to the other half of his reward.
He was slightly worried. Something had happened this morning in Canterlot and the black clouds had been visible throughout the entire day, keeping Icy thinking it was somehow connected to his mission. It wasn't a big deal though. The best thing he could do now to ensure his success was talking to his captives.
Unlocking the cellar door, he looked down before walking inside just in case the ponies were trying to ambush him. Shockingly, they weren't although Rainbow Dash was staring daggers at him. Icy balanced the plate with sandwiches in his mouth and walked downstairs.
"I hope the sandwiches are enough, I'm not good at cooking."
"MHMMAHRF!"
"Fluttershy, did you explain things to your friend?"
"Well, I don't know too much so..."
Icy sighed. He'd hoped Fluttershy would soften her friend up for him but apparently that wasn't the case. Untying Rainbow's gag, he had to retract his legs quickly as she bit at them. He scratched his head.
"Yeah, sorry about knocking you out but I couldn't risk anything."
"Wait till I get out of these ropes. I'll show you the meaning of pain!" ranted Rainbow.
Icy facehoofed. They weren't skilled. They weren't aware of their situation. They were just fillies who had no idea about their limits. Still, all that meant they were easy to manipulate.
"Alright, I'm sure you trust me even less than when I knocked on your door last night. The thing is I don't care. I'm supposed to keep you out of harm's way and I'm gonna do it whether you like it or not."
"You call this safe? My eyes are still threatening to fall out of my head."
"You have a reputation of being stubb- tough. I couldn't afford to pull punches. Perhaps I was wrong?" Icy ended on a thoughtful note supposed to take a stab at Rainbow's confidence.
"Erm, well... you were right. I would have totally kicked your flank otherwise."
"I thought so," Icy grinned and turned to Fluttershy, "Can you please tell your friend what I told you? To be honest, I don't know much more anyway and I have to think of a way to get the others here."
Fluttershy nodded and looked at Rainbow's face caked with dried blood.
"Could-could you bring me some bandages and wet cloth?"
"Yeah, there's a first aid kit upstairs. By the way, if you didn't believe me before take a look at this," Icy showed Fluttershy the wanted poster.
"That can't be true!" the yellow pegasus gasped.
"I doubt it is," said Icy reassuringly, "Still, the guards have already posted these all over Ponyville. If you want to think about how to help your Bearer friend then wait until everypony else is here. Princess Twilight is in the village called Pine Hills and will probably be ambushed when she returns. Try to think of a way for us to prevent that. She might be just money for me but she is your friend."
"How can we know we can trust you?" asked Rainbow, a bit too aggressively considering her being bound and lying on the floor.
"You can't but take it like this - if I wanted you dead you couldn't have stopped me. If I wanted ransom I wouldn't have to get all of you because I don't get bonus for bulk sale. If that isn't enough you'd soon find out that the posters are real because I'm sure EVERYPONY in this little town now knows about them and so will the next Bearer I bring here."
Fluttershy looked uncertain but her hesitation was enough to infect Rainbow Dash and undermine her desire to get out of the cellar as soon as possible. With their thoughtful looks in his back, Icy left the food down there, brought the first aid kit and sat down at the kitchen table to eat his dinner and consider his next step.
There was only one bearer left who wasn't accompanied by ponies and that was Rarity. Getting her should be fairly simple if what Pinkie Pie had told him was correct. The real problem lay in the fact that her disappearance would undoubtedly get noticed quickly and might make the capture of the last two impossible. Unfortunately, the same was true for capturing any of the others.
Fine then, what if he got lucky and the best case scenario in which nopony noticed Rarity was missing followed?
Applejack might be possible to capture because she was a farm worker, right? Icy had never even bothered understanding the workings of such place because deep down he was a city foal despite spending most of his adult life in fortresses and deserts. Still, she had to go milk cows and feed them or something and ponies usually did those things alone... probably... possibly... maybe.
Pinke Pie had to be the last target. Living in the middle of Ponyville and surrounded by other ponies, her disappearance would set guards to swarm the streets even more than right now.
Truth be told, Icy didn't really have a choice... or did he?
He grinned deviously and ran back up to where the living room with some clothes was. Rummaging through princess Twilight's possessions, he was looking for a piece of clothing that looked as posh as possible and just might fit him. It wasn't as stupid idea as it might look on first glance. Twilight Sparkle, while a mare, was also an alicorn and thus taller and slightly heavier built than normal ponies. Still, her wardrobe was way too small for somepony of Icy's size.
He re-thought his plan quickly and stopped looking for a jacket or something similar because there was no chance of anything fitting over his muscular chest would be found in Twilight's room. Instead, his eyes located a different target - an amazingly well-decorated dress that just might, in the right frame of mind, fit him in case he was a stallion who... preferred the intimate company of other stallions. After all, Icy Gaze's features would be more commonly described as beautiful rather than handsome.
Stuffing the dress inside his saddlebag, he tried to remember every single detail about Canterlot nobility he'd heard in low-tier taverns, the only places he knew from the city.
There was one more thing he wanted to know so he took a little detour through the town. Evening or not, he should get to Carousel Boutique before closing time. The situation in Ponyville was calm enough. There were ponies strutting everywhere around despite there being at least one wanted poster every two streets. The important thing was that the posters were aimed only at princess Twilight, not at her friends which made Icy think he wasn't working for whoever had orchestrated all of this.
Normally, he wouldn't bother trying to think about his employer but this mission was different from usual - protect shipment of X from point A to point B, kill all Cs trying to stop you. His targets were vital for security of Equestria and, if rumors were to be believed, the entire world which meant that his gathering them might bring forth a threat that would make all his money useless. Icy had travelled through a rather large part of the world and knew about dragons, three-headed dogs, monsters about which the doomsayers ranted. Things like those had had an effect on a growing pegasus and had added their weight to his current state of mind.
Carousel Boutique came to view and with it his third target's silouhette in the yellow light coming out of the window. Steadying his nerves and ignoring the 'closed' sign, Icy knocked on the door.
"Come back in the morning, please, I'm done for today," called a singsong voice from the inside.
"Erm, sorry to bother you, miss Rarity, but I am in desperate need of an alteration. I can pay handsomely for your effort."
The hoofsteps from the inside came closer and Icy puffed up his chest, putting up an expression of somepony normally confident beyond belief but currently having to meekly accept the help of somepony else. His looks were the most important asset right now.
"I'm afraid I can't help you right-whoa!"
Icy, stomping his hooves nervously in the snow, patted himself mentally.
"Come in, come in! Erm, mister..." continued Rarity.
Yes, she was still young and had yet to reach the bloom mares of his age presented but still the white unicorn with purple mane and sky-blue eyes made him look her up and down.
"Frosty Stare, I'm sorry to bother you this late but your reputation precedes you," Icy bowed politely, "I would trust no store in Canterlot, not after their failure with this."
He pulled out Twilight's dress and immediately noticed he might have made a mistake when Rarity narrowed her eyes.
"Where did you get this?" she backed few steps away.
Icy should have known somepony with such a good eye for design would recognize her friend's dress... possibly one she had made herself. How to get out of this?
Somepony with such a good eye for design... would also go livid if she found out about a fake being sold elsewhere.
"A design shop in Canterlot offered me this but messed up the measurements and it ended up too small for my size."
"This is... for you?" Rarity's suspicious gaze turned into one of sheer disappointment.
"Yes. I personally don't think it would suit me but my coltfriend loves the decor and colo- palette."
The unicorn was a professional though and her instincts prevailed. All that remained was to make her turn her back to Icy.
"Nonono, I'm sure the scheme would compliment your astonishingly shiny coat and long mane well enough."
"So you think you can fix it?"
"Fix it? No," said Rarity and Icy sighed, "This is way too small for you but I can make you a new one. How long will you be staying here in Ponyville?"
Should he sound posh or humble?
"This quaint town charmed me, I must admit. Living in Canterlot is sometimes so tiring with all the galas and garden parties."
"You're a noble?" asked Rarity in disbelief.
"A third son of one which means I'm entitled to getting some property someday but I earn my living as a mercenary. I've recently returned from the Griffon Empire and I want to rest for few weeks," lied Icy his ass off while Rarity was measuring him.
"Few weeks? What about your... coltfriend?"
"He knows about my life but he still has to decide whether we're going to be a thing. In the unfortunate case of him being unable to deal with me leaving for long periods of time then I'll have to... I don't know."
"There's plenty of mares- oops, sorry." said Rarity, spending far too much time around Icy's hindquarters.
"I think I made the wrong first impression. I, let's say, swing both ways. No need to caution your words around me."
The hopeful gasp from Rarity and the stopping of clicking of the tape measure made Icy carefully look back. The unicorn mare was staring at his body, completely ignoring his face, and mumbling to herself while giggling softly. To her, the possibilities of a stallion willing to model a completely new style of fashion was akin to going to heaven.
Soon after, with a quick buck of his hind legs, Icy shut the dressmaker down.
With Rarity hoisted on his back, the mercenary left Carousel Boutique.
"Hey, mister Canterlotian!" a cheery voice interrupted his way home.
"HYAGH!"
"What'cha doing?" the pink earthpony responsible for his success up until now was bouncing around him.
"Uhm, well," Icy was at a loss. Even his head wasn't quick enough to explain why he had an unconscious pony on his back.
"You've visited Rarity, I see," Pinkie smiled and nudged Icy conspiratorially, "Owwwww, she's sleeping. Had an evening out together?"
"No no no, nothing like that. She... she's just tired herself out while measuring me up for a new suit at my place-"
"Riiiiight," Pinkie's smile turned wider.
"I didn't want to bother her this late but she wouldn't take no for an answer."
"Mhm," the pink pony began bouncing away and winked at him, "Don't tire her out too much next time."
"Celestia's mercy..." muttered Icy when she was out of view.
He was incredibly lucky this time. Hopefully, the remaining two bearers wouldn't be too difficult.
Icy grinned to the night. Nothing was easy and if it looked that way then he was overlooking something.
The ex-guard nibbled on his cereal. Yesterday, his changeling marefriend had failed to negotiate an audience with Guiding Light and he'd had to turn princess Twilight away at the door.
Shieldbreaker's breakfast remained uneaten.
His eyes went over the main article the title of which didn't make sense, it couldn't make sense.
A hostile takeover by Twilight Sparkle
There wasn't any concrete evidence in the article but the general gist was that princess Celestia had been attacked few days ago by the purple princess temporarily living in the town inn. The timeframe of the crime was off though. Princess Twilight had been in Pine Hills at the time of the attack. Granted, Shieldbreaker had very little knowledge of magic and Twilight's prowess was sort of a myth connected to her being the Element of Magic but he was very doubtful she could have done it.
"Honey?" he called out to his marefriend.
"Yes?" she poked her head through the door.
"Is it possible to teleport from here to Canterlot?"
"Erm," she turned her head from side to side, "You're talking to me, right? There isn't any mage around here, laughing at me while invisible, is there?"
"Well, I though you changelings knew about magic and stuff."
"Maybe changelings from your world but our abilities aren't exactly magic as you ponies understand it. The firstborn is the only one of us who knows at least little magic."
"Firstborn?"
"Queen Guiding Light. She was born of the first clutch Blazing Light was forced to create by Nightmare Moon. The rest of us are from different hatchings over the years."
"Oh," Shieldbreaker blushed.
"Hmm?"
"You mean that if we... I mean the two of us... somewhere down the line... decided to..."
"You're thinking about a foal?"
"I know we've been together only for a while. It just surfaced and I realized I've never talked about it with... you know who."
"Heh, I know about it even less than you. I grew up, I ate ponies, that was all. I have no clue how the entire thing works. Why don't we just keep experimenting?" the changeling stuck out her tongue, "What was the teleport thing, by the way?"
"I think something is going on in Canterlot. Read this," Shieldbreaker gestured towards the wallpaper and let his marefriend read it in peace. It took her a while with Breaky scratching her behind the ears.
"Do you think she did it and ran away?" she asked after finishing reading the article.
"No way," Shieldbreaker shook his head, "I've known the filly for over five years as she kept studying under the princess and it's simply impossible... or at least highly improbable. The timeframe is off anyway. Unless she teleported to Canterlot from here and back then somepony is trying to frame her. Still, it wouldn't hurt asking your queen about magic, right?"
"I'll go right away. Do you want me to get anything on the way back?"
"We're running out of milk."
"Okay. Good luck watching over the logging camps, Breaky."
"Thanks, honey."
With a kiss being demanded from him, Shieldbreaker gave his marefriend more than just breakfast.
Underneath Pine Hills, Guiding Light's mind was suddenly filled with a surprising question. The remaining Nightmare changelings weren't too keen on using the hive mind for communication unless absolutely necessary. That little aversion remained from the times when tapping into the vast reserve of predators roaming the world had meant revealing oneself to the darkness seeping from Nightmare Moon herself. The more practical reason in this world was the energy drain it meant for both the sender and the recipient of the message.
The sender in question was on the way to the catacombs being remade by the few Nightmares not working with the villagers. Any strain of changelings was heavily resistant to aging as long as the love, or fear, kept coming so Guiding wasn't bothered with the slow pace of making this place a home.
As for the question regarding long-range teleportation... it was possible, probably. Guiding wasn't a mage despite using a dimensional travelling spell repeatedly. That spell itself had been modified to be usable by somepony with almost no magic capabilities at all, namely her father. Guiding's short time of studying magic in her world hadn't given her anything to answer the question in any definite way. Still, from what she knew the teleportation of such scale would either require a stable point of power, such as a portal with entrances on both sides, or an insane amount of power, such as the Element of Magic might possess.
Guiding sighed. Mulling over it gave her the result that such a feat was possible but improbable.
"It's even worse than Breaky thought, Guiding," the Nightmare tore Guiding away from exploring her memory.
"Start from the beginning. I don't really have a clue what you're talking about aside from some obscure question about magic limits."
Breaker's marefriend presented a newspaper and a poster with Twilight's face on it.
"Two guards are in the town, spreading these all around the place."
"I see."
Contrary to the changeling in front of her, Guiding skimmed through the article fast enough. All of the smaller Nightmares in the hall held their breath while their queen was lost in thought. A mental command rang through the hive network to call the right Nightmare back to the hive.
"Good job informing me about this," Guiding nodded, "You can go home. I'll deal with it."
She was left alone in the the room lit by blue crystals glowing dimly from sapping her magic. The drones were hard at work, chiseling the walls of other caverns to make them look presentable. Guiding wasn't too keen on making her kind spread as she had seen the devastation brought by Nightmare changelings with her own eyes but she still wanted some sort of future and if this place was to become the main hive then it couldn't look as if a bunch of savages lived here.
Not even an hour was enough for the changeling in question to come at its queen's call.
"You're the one princess Twilight took to study under her for a while."
The Nightmare drone's mind returned to the days of infinite list-checking and days spent by reading.
There was no need to even nod.
"I don't want to do this to you but I need you to disguise yourself as her."
The drone nodded, it knew what the order meant. Disguising herself as the princess would leave her incapable of changing into anypony else. That in itself wouldn't be a huge problem as the villagers were warming up to the Nightmares more and more but deep down all of them wanted to pair up with somepony and it would have to find a pony interested in the princess or its changeling form.
In contrast to normal changelings, it didn't change in a burst of green flames but just with green sparks coursing through its chitin slowly turning into purple fur. Wings grew, horn lengthened and with some additional alteration and tips from Guiding the final form was solid enough to make anypony sure that in front of them stood the alicorn of Magic, at least anypony not used to seeing her too close.
"Find the two guards and lead them here. We'll prepare an ambush and find out what's going on," ordered Guiding.
Fake Twilight left the hive with Guiding taking part of her mind as an observer. The job of the other Nightmares was to return underground to overpower the guards without the need for violence or forced sleep.
It was easy. The two guards, a unicorn and a batpony, almost jumped when they saw their target walking around them, oblivious to their presence. They jumped literally when Twilight got close but she avoided them thanks to the hunter instincts and combat experience the Nightmares had in abundance. Using the drag of larger wings and the energy reserve overflowing with the growing affection of the villagers, the disguised changeling was able to slip through every attempt at catching her and successfully led the two guards to an abandoned house and through the cellar to the cave system.
Staying always almost within their reach, the pair hunting Twilight was too focused on her to recognize the danger of Guiding stunning both of them shortly with two blasts from her horn. The magic was weak but the momentary lack of concentration was just the thing the Nightmares lying in ambush needed to immobilize the armored ponies just with their weight.
With the guards sitting on the ground, surrounded by changelings flashing their fangs menacingly, Guiding took her place by fake Twilight's side and their attention shifted to both of them. When the alicorn's coat sparked with green and the disguise was dropped the guards growled, a look of understanding in their eyes.
"So it was you!" snarled the batpony, "Princess Luna was right all along."
"Concerning what?" asked Guiding, raising an eyebrow.
"Don't try to deny it!" spat the other guard out, "Your changeling impersonated princess Twilight and attacked princess Celestia!"
Guiding grinned.
"I have no quarrel with the solar princess and neither does any of my Nightmares have the power to harm her. I hate to break it to you, guys, but you goofed up. The fake Twilight you hunted used her disguise for the first time today and that was just to get both of you here before you found the real princess and made a big mistake."
"Say what you want," snorted the unicorn, "There's no reason to trust you, changeling."
Guiding wrapped her mouth around the unicorn's horn and watched him begin to shake and pray silently. She knew he'd keep waking up hearing the scraping of her teeth dragging over it in his head for days to come.
"Don't tempt me," when her lips left the horn she snapped her mouth and both guards froze, "Now, let's start again. What happened in Canterlot to make you come here? I don't care if you believe I have nothing to do with it or not but you will tell me everything. I have enough time to get it out of you."
Having their hind legs glued to the floor with green goo, the guards still had enough freedom to make themselves comfortable as all Nightmares apart from fake Twilight, Guiding herself and one other left.
The unicorn started the story.
"Princess Celestia finally recovered from wounds sustained before the second invasion and was released from the infirmary. Later that day she was attacked by somepony who the only witness identified as an alicorn. Unicorn guards investigating the event found trace amounts of aura left behind by your kind from which princess Luna deduced princess Twilight was under your control and attacked her sister."
"Hmmmmm," Guiding's mind raced and didn't like the results, "Princess Twilight was here in Pine Hills that evening. Even if she was able to teleport back to Canterlot then she wouldn't have had enough power to just take princess Celestia down."
The unicorn kept glaring daggers at her but the batpony shifted uncomfortably.
"Erm," the thestral raised his hoof, "If what you're saying is true then who could do it?"
"You can't seriously believe her!" the unicorn facehoofed.
"You... you don't know the rest," the other guard bit his lips, "The witness was later interrogated by princess Luna who said he'd attacked her. He was a Royal Guard and the entire thing was the reason for princess Luna's giving the leadership over the Guard to us."
"Was?" asked the unicorn.
"Yes... was. He's dead now. Princess Luna killed him in self-defense... or so she claimed. The unicorns later felt the same... thing in the cell as they had during princess Celestia's investigation. The dead guard was assumed to have been under the influence of Nightmare changelings as well. Some sort of a sleeper agent to put princess Luna in danger."
"So why are you playing her game?" the unicorn pointed at Guiding who was slowly grinding her teeth and scowling more and more.
"You haven't seen the cell, mate. I've been there when princess Luna defended Canterlot during the second invasion and I know what kind of magic she used. I've seen heads explode and lightning scatter her enemies but the... mess she made in the cell was something else."
"You think you know the repertoire of the best magic user in Equestria?" the unicorn snorted.
"No... I just know that the teeth marks on the body didn't belong to anything I've ever seen. It was as if a bear or something with mouth full of sharp teeth ripped chunks of flesh out of him while he was still alive... the few seconds he was alive after princess Luna entered the cell."
"How do you know how long he was alive?"
"She was inside not even a minute and that time was mostly... him screaming."
"Enough," Guiding said calmly, or at least pretending to be calm, "Tell me, did the body have black marks on it with rotten flesh around? As if-"
The batpony leaned away from her, eyes wide.
"-that part of the body has been dead for few days?" he finished her question.
Guiding Light screamed.
Stats
Page generated in 0.047 seconds
Total duration
1,111 users online
2,601,670 hits today, 2,328,677 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Yeesh! How hard did he hit her?
well... there is one pony...
...
Legs glued to floor... raises hoof.
Is he a ghost? How did he escape the goo?
...I got chiiils down my spiiine.
know, maybe?
Yyyyep
🎵closing time...
Yeah those definitely would not be happy memories.