A New World, a Fearful Way

by Votederpycausemufins

ch. 29 guards

“Ohhhhhhh…” Lea sighed. “This feels nice…”

Matrix had gone out and grabbed the ingredients for the poison joke remedy. With some help, they had been able to mix it up and Lea had started to soak herself. Lea fully submerged herself in the tub, and popped her head back out after a few seconds. Lea looked in a mirror, she saw she was back to having yellow rings.

“Ha! I’m not pink anymore! I love it!”

“Don’t say anything Lea.” Matrix told her jokingly. “You might jinx it and find some more poison joke after we’ve drained the bath.”

Lea stuck her tongue out in response. Matrix did the same. Both of them laughed before Matrix jumped in after her and they started to splash each other. While they were messing around, Midnight opened the door, and was splashed by Matrix when Lea had ducked.

“Lea I- bllrrpphh! Stop messing around you two!” Midnight paused to wipe the water from his face. “Feather just got back from Canterlot. She says that Princess Celestia was able to spare a few guards who will be here later today. Since I’m probably going to be here when they arrive, you might find them at the door. Even if they don’t show up, I still want you to meet with them and tell them everything you know about Quarry and Ire since you have the most experience with them.”

“Do I have to?” Lea asked. “Things normally don’t go well when I meet people, or ponies, like that.”

“Uhhh, yes?” Midnight answered her.

Lea face pawed herself. “Right, I took my belt off to take the bath. Matrix, can you tell him to let me finish up and then we can talk?” Matrix nodded and repeated what she said.

“I’ll be just outside. Just don’t take too long.” This time Lea nodded in response.

---

Lea stepped out of the bathroom, fur slightly fluffy from being dried quickly with a towel. She had put her belt back on around her waist. “Alright Midnight, let’s talk.”

“So I already told you Feather Flurry arrived back from Canterlot today. She told me she was able to meet with Princess Celestia who said she would be able to send five guards. Since they’ll be helping with trying to find Quarry and Ire while many of our own police force are working on normal jobs, I want you to meet with them at some point since you know most about them.”

“Are you sure, because me and legal enforcement people don’t mix well.”

“What about you and Ben?” Midnight asked with a small smile, causing Lea to blush slightly.

“Th-that’s different! He acts like a normal person. Ben was the only one of you thinking straight when I showed up!”

“Alright, fine. But the guards might show up here looking for me since I’m currently chief.”

“That’s right.” Lea realized. “You’ve been hanging out here so often that I kind of forgot. How are you doing that?”

“Some of the officers like Copper have been visiting while I’ve been around here. Since the attack sent by Ire and Quarry a two days ago, I’ve been focusing even more on the area around here, especially since that might mean they’re planning to do something soon.”

“Don’t talk about that. I don’t want to think of them deciding to come after me in here and having the risk of them hurting all the pokemon here.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll find them before that happens. I don’t want so see anypony get hurt just because they happened to be in the area either. I’ve had that happen before, and I’m not going to let it happen again on my watch.”

Midnight looked at a nearby clock. “Speaking of my job. I told the real chief I would come over to his house and tell him what’s been going on recently. I’ll be back soon.”

---

Lea was back downstairs taking care of the pokemon to help get her mind off everything else that was going on. As she was helping a seedot and a chespin, there was a knock at the front entrance. She turned towards the door.

‘It shouldn’t be locked.’ Lea thought. ‘Maybe they’re just being polite.’

Lea excused herself to answer the door. However, before she got there, the knocking came again, harsher this time. It was also accompanied by a voice. “Open up! We’re looking for someone named Lea.”

Lea’s pupils shrunk. This was exactly what happened back on Earth before they were brought to Equus. They weren’t here to help. They were here to take away everyone she cared for. It was just a matter of time before they would get in, so Lea opened the door regardless.

In the doorway stood tens… no, hundreds of guards. “Are you Lea?” One of them boomed. Lea did the first thing she could think of… and dropped to the ground hiding under her paws.

---

“Umm, anypony know what just happened?” Asked one of the guards.

“I think we might have scared her.” Another replied.

A third trotted over to Lea to see if she was okay.

The fourth went inside to see if Midnight was here, since they were asked to see if Lea knew where he was.

The final one of them just stood in the doorway, not completely sure what to make of what just happened.

“Shoot, Lea went into panic mode again.” The guards heard a voice say. They looked around to see a pokemon much like the one they had just scared, except this one had blue rings instead of yellow and wasn’t wearing a belt.

“Lets wait until Lea’s calmed down, then you six can talk.”

---

After Lea had calmed down, Matrix had brought them in a room to talk with one another. Lea still seemed nervous, but she also seemed ready to talk.

“Sorry for how I reacted earlier. She told them. “I’ve had some bad experiences in the past that were sort of similar to that. I panicked and reacted like it was one of those times.”

Lea had gotten a good look at the group. The guards consisted of an earth pony, two pegasi, and two unicorns.

“It’s quite alright.” One of the pegasi replied. “When we first arrived at the station here and found in under some repairs, we thought we might find Midnight Honor there. When we couldn’t find him, an officer directed us to come here and ask for someone named Lea, which would seem to be you.”

“Midnight should be back soon. I know Kiwi had gone out to find him since he said he would have been back by now.” Lea told them, noticing one of the unicorns tense up a little bit at Caddi’s false name.

Before Lea could ask about that, Caddi stepped in with Midnight. “I found him on his way back here. He said he lost track of time and only realised when mention was made of starting to make dinner.”

“There was a lot to update on, and I got lost in the details.” Midnight explained.

“Quite alright sir.” The earth pony guard said. “I’m afraid we gave Lea here a small shock when we first appeared.”

Midnight turned to give Lea a look that said ‘really?’ In response, she just rolled her eyes and shrugged to say ‘I told you so.’

Midnight focused his attention on the guards again. “Anyway, thank you for coming. About a fourth of our force is unable to work, mainly from being put in the hospital from accidental injuries caused by pokemon. We would normally be able to cope with this, but a couple we had already arrested has escaped, and one of the two had already threatened with homicide. There have been some sightings of them still in the town as recent as yesterday. Mainly these reports have been directed more towards this area of town. Can any of you tell me why that might be?”

A pegasus guard answered. “The threat of homicide was made toward someone in the area, wasn’t it?”

“Correct. Not only is the one they threatened in this area of town, it was made toward someone in this very building. They threatened none other than Lea.”

Two of the guards turned to look at her while the other three kept their focus on Midnight.

“I would like you five to guard the nearby area and try to find Quarry and Ire. Lea will be briefing you on them shortly. We also want to make sure there are no other suspicious activities around here as they could lead to them. I believe from recent happenings, that Ire and Quarry are planning to strike soon and attack Lea. They have already sent a pokemon to make sure she is not able to leave to safety.”

“Yes sir!” The guards replied back before turning to Lea to hear about Quarry and Ire.”

---

After the guards had left, Midnight collapsed on a couch in the room. “That was the craziest thing I have ever done.”

“It didn’t seem crazy to me.” Lea told him. “If anything, it was crazier when they first arrived.”

“You don’t understand. Those guards only take their orders from royalty. And they were listening to me! For that moment there, it was like I was royalty.”
Midnight paused to think before he continued. “What if I messed up? What if I gave them the wrong information and they return to the princess who thinks I shouldn’t have this job anymore and shames me for eternity!”

“I think that’s a little overboard Midnight.” Caddi said, returning to the room after the guards had left. “Besides, if there’s anything you forgot to tell them, I invited them to come back in a little bit for dinner.”

“What are you making today?” Lea asked.

“Well, a couple of the pokemon were hoping for something with a little bit of meat, but I didn’t want to add much, especially if anypony didn’t want to have any. I once found a salad recipe with meat bits in it when I was at a griffon restaurant. It also has this really nice dressing to go along with it.”

“How did you get the recipe from them?” Midnight asked.

“Well, I liked to go there a lot to try all their different dishes. One time I didn’t bring enough bits with me to pay for all my food, so I agreed to come in the next day and work in their kitchens. There were even a few times after that where I helped in the kitchens again voluntarily. That’s how I got great at cooking all these dishes.”

“I can’t wait to try it, but I need to go out myself and search for Quarry and Ire.” Midnight told her.

“I’ll see you later then.” Caddi told him as he was leaving.

Right before Midnight walked all the way through the door, he quickly came back and kissed Caddi in the cheek. As fast as he had come back, Midnight had left the room with Caddi standing motionless in the center.

“Caddi? Caddi?! Say something!” Lea tried to get her attention.

“He… he kissed me…” Caddi said smiling before her face turned to a slight frown. “No… he didn’t. He kissed Kiwi.”

Caddi sighed before Lea came started to comfort her.

“Hey, he kissed you, not Kiwi. The only thing about you that’s different from Kiwi is how you look. If Midnight really cares, he’s not going to care that you’re a changeling.”

Before Caddi could thank Lea for saying that, another voice spoke. “So it’s true. Kiwi is really a changeling. Celestia was right.”

Caddi and Lea turned to see one of the guards in the doorway. Lea recognized it at the unicorn who had reacted to hearing the name Kiwi. “How did you find out? Other than now of course.” Lea asked the unicorn.

“The officer who came to visit Celestia with Midnight’s request overheard the name Caddi being used to refer to Kiwi and mentioned it to Celestia. When the princess was giving us our orders to come here, she mentioned a possible changeling going by the name of Kiwi, who turned out to be you.”

“You’re not going to do anything to her, are you?” Lea asked taking a defensive stance in front of her friend.”

“No, you obviously know a good changeling from a bad one. I’ve seen both during my time as a guard. We were just told to be cautious and make sure you weren’t a danger to anyone around due to the slim chance you might.”

“So, you’re not taking me away or anything, right?”

“Not at all. Though, if I were you, I’d tell Midnight about this sooner rather than later. The longer you wait, the worse it’s going to become.”

“Thanks for the advice.” Caddi said as the guard returned to her job.

Lea decided to follow the guard back to the main room of the Poke Center. An earth pony entered the building as the guard exited. The pony came over to Lea and asked her a question. “What’s with the guard?”

“What are you doing here Specter?” Lea glared at him, still remembering the last time he came to visit.

“Do I need a reason?”

“I guess not…” Lea trailed off.

“Then can you just answer my question?!” He said angrily.

“Fine! No need to be harsh about it! They’re here to help search for Ire and Quarry. Midnight asked if Celestia could send help and she was able to send five of her guards. I’ll have to add thank Celestia on my list of things to do when we visit Canter- hey! Where are you going?”

Specter had suddenly bolted for the door. “No respect…” Lea said under her breath. “Really glad that Caddi didn’t stay with him. Same goes for Citrus.”

Lea turned back away from the door to come face to face with Angela. In her mouth was a red ribbon.

“Where’s Citrus?” She asked through the ribbon.

“Not sure, you might look for her during dinner. Why do you need her?”

“I finally found what I want to wear instead of having to be given a translation spell everyday.”
Lea looked quizzically at Angela, then at the ribbon, then back at Angela. “Where are you going to wear it, because I can’t picture you of all ‘mon wearing a ribbon around your neck.”

“I’m gonna wrap it around the area where the my horn meet my head. I’ve had to wear something in that place before, so I’ll be used to it.”

“Hey, as long as you want it there, I’m fine with it.” Lea told her.

“By the way, who was that pony who just talked to you?” Angela asked.

“That was Specter. He used to be Citrus’ boyfriend. Or as they call it here, coltfriend. He was acting weird though.”

“Yeah I noticed…” Angela thought for a second. “The way he acted seems familiar, but I can’t remember why.

Lea shrugged. “Eh, maybe you’ll figure it out later, no need to rush.”

“I don’t know. I just have this feeling that it might be important.”

Author's Note:

three more chapters...
i have nothing else to say...
other than two chapters posted again!!!
btw, this is day 24

Comments

[Krazyfan1]

Great chapter as usual
“No, you obviously know a good changeling from a bad one. I’ve seen both during my time as a guard. We were just told to be cautious and make sure you weren’t a danger to anyone around due to the slim chance you might.”
this.... we need more guards like this