Canterlot Castle Wedding with Bridesmaid Trio

by Glint

Chapter 3

Colgate left the changing room, walking steadily and purposefully in a state of deep concentration. Twinkleshine trotted away humming a cheery little tune, her expression filled with self-satisfaction. But Lyra sat outside of the room and paused for thought.

“There are no guards in this little hallway,” she said to herself. “Not surprising, since these rooms aren’t used much. But there are guards in the big rooms on the far ends of the hall. No alarm was raised while we were changing. So either the thing Colgate saw ‘hid in plain sight’ to get past them, or …”

Lyra’s hummed the scales, and caused her horn to glow gently. She struck it on the stone wall. The horn rang out with a solid ‘ting’ and began to vibrate, producing a single note – a pure middle C. The sound resonated, echoing down the hall. She slowly walked down the hall, sticking near the wall on her right. She listened carefully as the vibration echoed strongly off of the stone wall, and weakly off of every wooden door she passed.

She reached the end of the hall and turned around, walking up the wall on the opposite side. As she approached a tall red wall hanging depicting Celestia and Luna locked in a circle, the echo grew surprisingly weak. She poked her head behind the tapestry, and carefully examined the wall.

Two thin seams ran vertically from the floor to someplace well over Lyra’s head. She carefully pushed on the apparent secret door, but it wouldn’t budge. She felt the surface of the door, the wall around it, and tried to work the tips of her hooves into the cracks, but to no avail.

Lyra pulled the tapestry further away from the wall and craned her neck, trying to look upwards. With practiced confidence, she pushed off with her front legs and balanced on just her hind hooves. From her new perspective, she could now see the top of the door, a horizontal seam that ran just above eye level. One of the stones just under the seam had a small circular indentation, about as big around as the base of her horn. Lyra smiled as she tapped it with her front left hoof. The door sank down into the floor, revealing a dark stairway leading down.

Lyra lit up her horn. A blue-green glow illuminated the stairs as Lyra spiraled down them. They led to a small ledge overlooking a huge dark cavern. She concentrated hard, lighting her horn even brighter.

The light of her horn flashed off of many large crystals down below. Their reflected light caused many large rocks to cast multiple shadows, bathing the cavern below her in an eerie twilight. The cavern extended even further than her light can reach. In many places, tracks vanished into the darkness, with a couple of old mine carts resting on them.

Lyra’s eyes sparkled greedily in spite of herself. “Is this why the Unicorn Tribe lived here before Canterlot was founded?” Lyra mused. She scanned the ceiling, seeing nothing but bare rock. “I’ll bet there are other entrances to the palace down here. Entrances that a winged insect-thing can easily fly to. But as for me …”

She examined the ledge that she was standing on. On one edge of it were two metal posts about shoulder high. Another ledge quite some distance away sported similar posts.

“There was once a bridge connecting these two ledges, but not anymore,” said a resigned Lyra.

She took one last long look at the abandoned crystal mine below. “Whatever we’re up against can move around under the palace unseen. I’d better tell Colgate about this. If we want to know where they might strike next, we need to watch for more secret doors.”

Lyra walked back up the staircase, opened the secret door by pressing the button telekinetically, and carefully smoothed down the concealing tapestry. She again hummed and struck her horn to the wall, and continued down the halls of Canterlot Castle, resonating at a pure middle C.

Colgate stood in the entrance to the throne room. Even thought Celestia was absent, there were still two royal guards in attendance. They were both white earth ponies, with pure white manes. The rookie with the pure blue headcrest was unfamiliar to her. But she recognized the one with a blue and white headcrest.

“Hey there, Luminus,” she said, flashing him a toothy grin. “You still flossing regularly?”

“You bet, Dr. Colgate,” he replied in a deep booming voice. “Gotta keep ‘em luminous, you know? Dr. Aqua’s been keeping me honest. How’s the private practice in Ponyville working out?”

“Beautifully. I hope all the new recruits aren’t giving Dr. Aqua too much work,” she said.

“Oh, not too many new recruits at all. With the wedding coming up, they’re making us work extra shifts. That’s why you see so many guards,” he offered.

“Oh, really! I didn’t realize that. I hope they aren’t working you too hard,” said Colgate for the seventh time today. “How are the new recruits doing? And what about Cadance’s honor guard?”

“Oh, they’re just drawn from the normal staff. Cadance hand-picks a few of them, but usually Shining Armor or his adjutant fills out the roster as usual. Nothing special for me, though. I’ve got my usual throne room duty all week,” he said. “But the new guy here just guarded her this morning. Say, what’s your name again?”

“Um … Stallianus,” he said in an equally deep and booming voice.

“How’s she been treating you?” inquired Colgate.

“Well, I probably shouldn’t …” Stallianus sputtered.

“Ha ha!” proclaimed Luminus. “Look, I know we’re not supposed to chit-chat with anypony else when we’re on duty, but Dr. Colgate here is one of us.”

“Well, she’s nice. Just great to work with,” Stallianus offered.

Luminus motioned for Colgate to get closer. As she leaned in, he whispered, “I don’t know about these new guards. When the new ones attend on Cadance, they say she’s nice, but everypony else says she’s really mean. The ones who knew Cadance way back when she lived in the castle full time say she’s changed. A lot. I know all about staying in the good graces of the ponies in charge but these new guards – Coltius, Ponius, Guardius – they’ve got no backbone.”

Colgate cast a sideways glance at Stallianus, and noticed that he was staring at the two of them suspiciously. She took a step away from them. “I wouldn’t worry so much about Cadance,” she proclaimed loudly. “She’s just got some wedding day jitters.”

“If you say so,” said Luminus with a sigh.

The sound of hoofsteps approached the throne room from a distance.

“Alright, rookie, stand at attention,” said Luminous in a deep yet soft voice. “Princess Celestia is right on schedule, so keep it sharp, snappy, and businesslike.”

“Yes, sir!” Stallianus replied.

Colgate excused herself and left the throne room.

As she walked out of sight of the throne room, her expression changed from one of cheer to one of carefully contained rage. “Somepony … no … something is messing with the castle guards. But how? Did they get to the recruiter? Influence the new recruits during basic training? I have to tell Lyra to keep an eye out. This madness must be stopped.”

Twinkleshine flitted about the castle, chatting with everypony who would talk to her, and many ponies who wouldn’t. She had heard that the theater critic for the Canterlot Sun-Times was invited to the wedding, and if she buttered him up properly, it would certainly help her first big break get even bigger.

The rumor that Starbright Tower was reserved for press was too widespread and persistant to ignore. Twinkleshine made her way to the pure white tower with the bright eight-pointed star at the top. She found that the two gray unicorns guarding the entrance were just as strict and stuffy as they were strong and rugged-looking.

“Absolutely no admittance!” said one with a scowl.

The other had nothing more to add but a scowl of his own.

Twinkleshine left the tower, frustrated, but still smiling. She trotted around the tower and found that it overlooked the kitchens. The smell of baking bread and steamed vegetables wafted from the doors, windows, and chimneys.

She assembled several barrels into a crude staircase and climbed on top of the kitchen. Several clouds of smoke and steam were billowing out of the chimneys.

“And here I was thinking this cloudwalking spell would be worthless unless I wanted to play a pegasus!” she said with a smile.

With a flash of white light, Twinkleshine enchanted her hooves. She found a promising looking puff and stood on it.

“Oh! That’s hot!” she said prancing in place. After three little hops, she wore her way through the cloud and landed awkwardly on the roof.

“Okay, Twinkles. Be a trouper. If you want to be a hot star, you need to put up with some hot hoofsies,” she said to herself.

She hopped up on another puff. This time, instead of jumping around, she gritted her teeth, slowly shifting her weight away from any hoof that sank too far in.

She rode it up to a window midway up the tower, and jumped inside. She stood on a spiral staircase that was as pure white as the exterior of the castle.

A hushed conversation was going on upstairs. “… shows inappropriate familiarity toward the castle guard …,” she heard an unfamiliar voice say.

“Oh! They’re talking about me already,” she said to herself. “I wonder who it is? Some out-of-town reporter from The Fillydelphia Inquirer? The Neighton Nightly News?”

She crept up the stairs. The door to the next room up in the tower was wide open, and what she saw inside made her gasp with astonishment.

The speaker appeared to be a black alicorn. But his coat was unnaturally shiny, and he had what appeared to be jagged spikes in place of his mane and tail. A similar spike adorned the top of his head in place of a normal horn. His wings were insect-like rather than feathered. But strangest of all, his legs seemed to be filled with holes that didn’t affect their function.

“How about this?” said the strange figure.

Twinkleshine watched amazed as the strange figure changed into …

“Min!” squealed Twinkleshine with delight.

She hurried up the stairs to a small room devoid of furniture or decoration. Princess Cadance was there along with Minuette Colgate.

“Min! That’s brilliant!” she exclaimed, giving Colgate a hug. “I had no idea you were so good at special effects!”

Cadance and Colgate stared at Twinkleshine, stupefied.

“Yeah,” Colgate finally said. “Special effects. Bet you didn’t know I was so good at them.”

“Why no, not at all! You got me there, Min!” she gushed.

Cadance’s expression quickly changed from shock to anger. “Twinkleshine! What are you doing here? This tower is private!” she snapped.

“Oh, I was just trying to find the reporters,” she said. “You know, so I can chat, schmooze, mingle, …”

Colgate and Cadance cast uncertain glances at each other. Finally Colgate said, “You know, Twinkles, the press is in Starbright Tower, over there.” She pointed out the window at a pure white tower with a small five-pointed star on top. “This is Starshine Tower.”

Twinkleshine looked out the window. “Are you sure?” she asked. “I thought that one was Starlight tower.”

“Starlight Tower is the tallest one!” snapped Cadance. “How dare you contradict us!”

“Oh, I guess I should’ve known better. Min here has always been super observant,” observed Twinkleshine.

Cadance and Colgate shared an impatient glance. “Why don’t you just leave. Right away.” said Colgate. “Cadance and I have important wedding stuff to talk about.”

“Oh, alright,” said Twinkleshine. “But if you’re going to pull special effects stuff like that at the wedding, you really oughta consult me first. I’m a professional, you know.”

Twinkleshine walked to the bottom of the stairs, but rather than leaving, she strained to listen to the conversation above.

“So, what about her?” asked Colgate. “Would she be a better choice?”

“I’m not sure yet. I might have to do something about both,” replied Cadance. “Be ready for either, but don’t make your move until I give the word. There’s too much at stake for me to risk tipping my hand too early.”

“Is Cadance inviting Min and me to a high-stakes poker game?” wondered Twinkleshine. “Oh well. I’ll find out later. I’d better get moving. The sooner I get to the press room, the sooner I can start schmoozing.”

Twinkleshine hummed a little tune as she merrily trotted out of the tower, much to the surprise of two stodgy unicorn guards.

Lyra and Colgate sat in the changing room, concentration written all over both of their faces. Their horns glowed softly, and a gentle hum emanated from Lyra. No such hum came from Colgate.

Colgate concentrated harder. A deep rumbling sound came from her, which eventually resolved into a deep siren-like moan.

“Eeagh!” spat Lyra in disgust. “How do you even do that?”

“Look, I don’t know the slightest thing about music,” said Colgate apologetically. “I’m not even sure what a ‘middle C’ sounds like, much less its vibratory frequency.”

“Well, that’s disappointing,” said Lyra, quieting her horn. “I guess it’s harder for anypony who doesn’t have perfect pitch like I do.”

“That means you have to search for the secret doors by yourself,” said Colgate. “And be on the lookout for the guards. The ones who might be compromised in some way –“

“Are the new recruits, who have single-colored headcrests or dark blue star symbols around their necks,” finished Lyra.

Suddenly the door flew open.

“Yoo-hoo!” called out Twinkleshine as she pranced into the room. “Say, Lyrie. You got a look at Min’s monster notebook, didn’t you?”

“Umm, yes,” said Lyra. “You actually tore one of the pages out of it while I was holding –“

“Min is such a special effects wizard!” exclaimed Twinkleshine, waving the page around. Noting Colgate’s baffled expression, she continues, “Oh, don’t be modest, dear. I’m sure you’ll knock ‘em dead at Ponyville Community Theater, or wherever you’re doing your changing act. I copied my notes on our dresses onto a proper note pad, so you can have your monster back.”

She floated the torn page over to the notebook, which rested on the vanity. Colgate put it back in its proper place, and shot puzzled looks at Lyra and Twinkleshine. Lyra just sighed and shook her head.

Finally, Colgate broke the awkward silence. “Hey, Twinkleshine,” she said. “You notice anything unusual about the guards? Especially the new ones.”

“Oh, Min, sweetie, you do not want to flirt with those guards,” opined Twinkleshine. “I mean, the younger ones look so dashing in their uniforms, but you can’t get three words out of them unless it’s to complain about you breaking some silly rule.”

“You see any … strange entrances?” asked Lyra.

“Oh, you should have seen that entrance I made! Riding a cloud right into Cadance’s secret little meeting,” she said, giving Colgate a wink. “Talk about strange! But take my advice, Lyrie, if you’re going to use a cloudwalking spell, don’t use it to walk on scalding hot steam. Stick to normal clouds.”

Twinkleshine dramatically spun around to face the door. “Well, it’s been fun chatting with you girls, but I have a date for tea with the society columnist for The Manehatten Hitching Post. See you at din-din!”

“Right. Bye,” said Colgate as Twinkleshine strode out the door. “I don’t know why I even bothered. When she’s her head’s in the clouds like this, nothing gets through to her. It looks like we’re on our own.”

“So, what now?” asked Lyra. “We’ve gone through this wing of the castle, and found no more entrances to the caves below, and nothing solid about the guards.”

“I think our next move is to check the vicinity of Starshine Tower,” offered Colgate. “That’s where Cadance’s personal prep room is, and it’s close to the captain’s office.”

“It’s also near the kitchens,” added Lyra. “That’s plenty of targets for our little monster to mess with. I’ll watch for more cave entrances.”

“And I’ll talk to the captain or his adjutant about the new recruits,” added Colgate. “There’s got to be something suspicious that they’ve overlooked. We’ll meet every hour just outside of the kitchens.”

“Right,” said Lyra. “We’ll get to the bottom of this, no matter what.”