Chapter 3 - The Disappeared
Twilight stood on the balcony of Cadance’s room, the warm night breeze blowing across her coat. She sighed as she stood to rest her weight atop the balustrade, watching the glow of the city lights twinkle softly and fight with the natural shimmer of Luna’s moon. A particularly bright part of the city, downtown, was visible from this spot. It was nearly midnight, but some of the nightclubs and dance halls were just barely getting started.
The wind blew just a bit harder, rustling the pages of the magazine next to her. It was a scholarly journal, and on the cover was an aerial photo of a familiar campsite – the one outside the Necropolis. It had been over three months since Twilight had last seen the place, and it had grown a bit in that time to accommodate the influx of scholars, but she could recognize it easily. The sight of those tents from overhead would be burned into her mind for as long as she lived. The teams of historians and archaeologists – many, or most, of them probably diamond dogs – could be seen as little black dots moving between the structures, carrying artifacts out of the tunnel leading down into the city. For a fraction of a moment, her mind tried to betray her, to transfigure the indistinct dots in the photo into shadowy monstrosities. She didn’t let it.
Twilight turned away from the magazine, unable to stand the sight of it, and rested her cheek against the warm stone. The article, the scholars studying the city, the fact that a picture of the place was on the cover a magazine – it was all just a reminder that time was passing.
She shook her head to clear away the thoughts forming at the fore of her mind like wild storm clouds. Rather than look at the magazine, she instead focused on her chakram. The metal ring spun on its edge in a slow rotation, the moonlight gleaming off its polished surface as it spun, flashing slowly in the night like a lighthouse.
It was only two months ago that she'd returned to her duties, beginning with that short, uneventful trip to the village of the batponies. That lot was currently at the military academy, undergoing a massively accelerated course to prepare them to their new duties as Luna's personal attendants and honor guard.
In that time, Twilight had fallen into an easy, comfortable pattern where she spent her days fulfilling her duties and getting in what training and studying she could to further hone her talents. Most nights she'd come to Cadance's room and they'd spend the last of their waking hours together, sometimes talking, sometimes playing a board game, sometimes just enjoying one another's warmth. It was a good, easy, and mostly uncomplicated life.
The wind blew again, once more rustling the pages of the magazine, the movement at the edge of her field of vision drawing her attention again. She snorted disdainfully and pushed the magazine a little further away with a shove of her magic.
Cadance’s weary voice called to her from the darkened room, breaking Twilight out of her wandering thoughts. “Twilight, what are you doing?”
“Nothing,” Twilight replied without looking back. “Your meeting finally finished?”
Twilight felt the heat of her fillyfriend’s body as Cadance joined her on the balcony, wrapping a wing around her and snuggling closely. Cadance had removed all her royal trappings – her shoes, her crown, her necklace – and the small amount of makeup she’d put on in the morning had already mostly worn away. Cadance always said she looked her worst at the end of a long day, but Twilight loved it. It was a side of her the public never saw, a side that was just for Twilight and her aunts. Cadance leaned down to give her a quick peck. The majority of Cadance’s lipstick – Peachy Pink Princess was the color she liked, funny enough – was probably left on the rim of a wine glass back in the royal dining room, if the smell on her breath was any indication.
“A bit ago, but I stopped for a quick snack before heading up,” Cadance said. “You okay?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
They both knew the answer to that question. Cadance silently slid the magazine closer, her eyes fixed on the cover.
“It’s kind of unreal, looking back on it…” Cadance whispered as she ran a hoof over the photo. “The stuff that happened to us down there was… awful… I’ve never been more scared in my life. Even my fight with Prismia wasn’t as scary as all that. Sometimes I can’t believe we managed to get out of there alive.”
“Hey, now…”
“You know what I mean, dum-dum,” Cadance said with a teasing grin. She bumped her flank playfully against Twilight’s, earning a bump back in response. “The thing that really gets me, though, is that the diamond dogs agreed to keep quiet about what really happened. All those poor dogs died in that city, and no one will ever know… The cover story’s already out there and in the books. History will forget about them.”
“Basenji will remember,” Twilight replied with confidence. “That’s his job, right? To preserve the history of his people, even if that history has to remain secret?”
Cadance smiled at that. “Yeah, yeah it is. Their drummers will remember it, and I guess that’s what matters.” She opened the magazine and began flipping to the location of the article. She already had the page number memorized.
Twilight studied Cadance’s beautiful face as her eyes drifted over the article, reading it in the pale moonlight. Twilight didn’t bother reading over her shoulder. She’d already read the article a dozen times over and knew it word-for-word.
While traveling to Saddle Arabia, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza’s entourage came across a wandering diamond dog and offered him a ride. Tragically, an unforeseen malfunction of the airship’s engines not only killed their captain, but stranded the three survivors of the crash in the desert. They wandered around, luckily stumbling upon a mountain cave in which to escape the desert heat. What a surprise it was for that ‘intrepid trio’ to stumble upon an ancient city whilst simply trying to find a little shade.
It was a simple story, touched up with just the right amount of literary flourish to grab the reader’s imagination. It might have lacked the gravitas of the actual events, or the panache of a Daring Do story, but in the end it was just entertaining enough that the readers would eat it up.
Twilight hated it. It was a piece of fluff writing that portrayed them like cocky foals who'd wandered off from their summer camp, cleverly seeking shelter in a spooky cavern until they were rescued. They'd been called fearless, intrepid, dauntless, and every other synonym for 'lacking fear' the writer could lick out of a thesaurus, but their actual journey into that nightmare had been anything but 'fearless'. Anyone without fear, without respect for the danger they'd been in, would never have walked out of there alive. She might have been overthinking it, but at the very least it felt like it was disrespectful to memory of the experience.
“What’s on your mind?” Cadance asked without looking up from the magazine.
“Nothing,” Twilight lied.
“Twilight Sparkle,” Cadance said, closing the magazine with a slap. Her tone was dangerously close to the same disapproving voice Twilight’s mother spoke to her in, and Twilight was forced to suppress a shiver at that thought. Obviously the two most important mares in her life had been spending far too much time together.
“I think that after three or so months of sharing a bed with you,” she continued, “I can safely say that there is never ‘nothing’ on your mind. You’re the most thinky pony I know, and I can tell something is bothering you.”
“What do you think would be bothering me?” Twilight asked.
Cadance’s eyes drifted towards the chakram – still spinning, still gleaming like a lighthouse in the moonlight. “Is this about that puzzle of yours?”
Twilight flinched away like Cadance had just touched an open wound. Of course she’d figured it out on the first try. Her girlfriend could read her like a book. Maybe it was because of Cadance’s weird empathic magic, or her years of study on mood and behavior, or just some sort of intuition that had formed as part and parcel of the intimacy of their relationship. Whatever it was, it was equal measures of annoying and comforting the way Cadance could tell not just when something was bothering Twilight, but exactly what was bothering her, even when Twilight herself didn’t always know.
“It’s been three months, Cadance… Three months and I’m still no closer to figuring out… anything. This chakram is the only puzzle piece I’ve got right now and I’m getting nowhere with it.” Twilight made a small nasally groan. “I mean look at this thing!”
She thrust a hoof in the direction of the chakram, which continued to dance lazily on the stone balustrade. It ceased spinning and Twilight levitated it into the air in front of them. Telekinetic spells always involved enough energy to give off a highly visible magical aura, or at very the very least a dim shimmer of light. The only indication that Twilight was controlling it was a thin outline along the edge of the blade the pale-pinkish color of her magical aura.
“Look at the aura,” Twilight insisted. “It’s barely there. I’ve been studying this thing for months and I’m nowhere near figuring it out.”
A clipboard was summoned from inside the room with a snap of teleportation magic and she began to read aloud from the annotated checklist she’d spent the entire day going over. “Testing so far is inconclusive as to whether the ease of levitation is because it’s amplifying my magic, or if it’s just making whatever spell I cast on it incredibly energy efficient. I can’t have a control group for experimentation because nopony else can even attempt to cast anything on it without getting a headache. It can pass through a strong shield spell like it’s not even there, unless it’s my own, which does stop it. I’m still unsure of whether this is because of an anti-magic field or some sort of negating property of the metal that I’m immune to, because once again, I’m the only viable test subject!”
She flipped the page with a frustrated huff and continued. “The edge of the blade is dull, but when I’m manipulating it, it slices through the dummies on the Guard training grounds like they’re made of paper. In fact it seems to get sharper the more magic I pour into it. Don’t even get me started on the writing. It’s not Equish, Lambton, Griff, Zebranese, Brayle, Catonese, Manechurian—”
A pink hoof gently pressed the clipboard down. “Shhhh, honey, calm down,” Cadance said soothingly as she stroked her mare’s side gently with the tips of her feathers. Her voice was soft, warm and smooth like the silk covers on their bed. “It’s okay, you’ll figure it out.”
“I know I’ll figure it out,” Twilight murmured grumpily, “the stupid thing’s just not making it easy.”
“It’ll happen, honey,” Cadance said with a laugh. “You’ll solve your puzzle.”
The sound of Cadance’s laughter did wonders for Twilight’s mood. Her stomach had been in knots all day, and her mind was buzzing as she’d thrown herself into her work and the project of studying her weapon. A few reassuring words from her lover, a gentle touch, and a warm laugh, was all it took to wash all that away. Cadance always knew what to say to make her feel better.
Twilight sent the clipboard away and placed the chakram back into its holster at her side. She buried her face into Cadance’s neck, breathing in the scent of her love like she was trying to slake a thirst.
“I love you,” Twilight whispered tenderly. She felt a soft, lingering kiss atop her head in reply.
“Of course you do,” Cadance whispered back cheekily.
* * *
The Grand Galloping Gala was the social event of the year for Canterlot’s upper crust. Celebrities, star athletes, nobles, and foreign dignitaries would flood the castle for one night, hobnobbing and elbow-rubbing one another as though their very lives depended on it. A good appearance at the Gala could make or break a socialite for the entire year, and ponies fell all over themselves to get tickets, then stood up and fell all over themselves a second time in their attempts to make a good impression.
With the Gala only a day away, all of Canterlot was buzzing with activity, and nowhere did it buzz more than in the heart of the city – Canterlot Castle. The kitchens were running at triple steam getting all the fancy snacks prepped and ready, while the cleaning crew ran themselves ragged scrubbing every single inch of the castle and preparing the decorations. Guards were having their schedules rearranged in preparation for double shifts, and the barracks were filled with extra help sent in from smaller garrisons in nearby towns.
None of that mattered to Twilight, though. All she had to do was get through one more day and she was gone – out of the city for the weekend.
She walked confidently through the streets of Canterlot’s Upper District, her armor clinking softly with every step she took as she made her way towards the castle. Two months ago, Twilight had returned from her mission for Princess Luna to find that Cadance had personally seen to it that her new armor was completed and awaiting her. It was a sweet gesture, and Twilight still felt a little bad that the only gift she’d brought back was a bag of dried fruit candy and a painted rock with some googly eyes glued to it. Even despite Twilight’s poor taste in souvenirs, Cadance had loved the candy, and the googly eyed pet rock had earned a place of honor atop Cadance’s makeup stand.
Her new armor was more or less the same as her old, with only a few minor alterations. For one, her galea’s plumage now sported the proper striping, displaying her rank as Decurion for all to see. The barding over her left shoulder had a scabbard for her chakram built right in, and bore the added touch of Cadance’s Cutie Mark as a sign of her post. But most importantly, it was properly fitted to a mare’s body type, which greatly reduced the minor pinching and chaffing that had made it such a chore to wear her old armor for a full day.
“So this is what you do all day?” Night Light asked as he walked alongside her. He was wearing a pair of saddlebags that bulged and strained at the buckles from their contents. The little brass tools he used when charting stars jingled around inside the nest of paperwork in time with his steps, mimicking the clink of her armor. “You just walk around, looking for trouble and escorting old stallions from their homes to their appointments?”
“Well I am a guard,” Twilight laughed. She slowed down a little, taking her time out of consideration for her dad, who definitely wasn’t in the best shape. “I’m doing a very important service for the kingdom. Why, an eminent scholar such as yourself is a prime target for assassination.”
“Whoever would want to kill a doddering old academic like me?” Night Light asked, his voice thickly laced with disbelief.
Twilight shot her father a sidelong look, grinning playfully as she said, “That depends on whether or not you’re still peeing on the toilet seat.”
Night Light chuckled nervously. “That was, uh, your brothers.”
“My brothers who haven’t lived in your house for almost a decade?” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow in amused disbelief. “What, did one of them take a train from Ponyville and break into the house just to pee on the seat in your bathroom? Is this you reporting a crime to an officer of the law? Should I fill out a report for Breaking, Entering, and Urinating?”
“Fine… maybe your mother might want to kill me, but her occasional mariticidal tendencies stem from a place of love, I’m certain of it,” Night Light reasoned with a sigh.
“That’s good to know,” she replied with a smile. “I’ll be sure to include that in your eulogy. It’ll be a great comfort to the bereaved.”
“Well, as long as they’re comforted…” he muttered.
“So you and mom ready for your trip to Cowgary?” Twilight asked, changing the subject from her father’s bodily fluids before he got a chance to turn it around on her. Her father may have been a serious and well respected academic mind, but he also had a black belt in Dad-Joke Judo.
Night Light nodded. “Indeedy! Your mom’s back at the house finishing up packing. We’re leaving as soon as I’m finished meeting with Princess Luna.”
“Just in time to miss the Grand Galloping Gala, huh?”
“Oh, is that tomorrow?” Night Light asked with a slightly smug grin. “Dash it all, I guess we’ll just have to send our apologies again this year. It’s unavoidable, though, seeing as your mother took that assignment to do a piece on the Cowgary Philharmonic’s new flautist.”
“The Gala can’t possibly be that bad.”
“I’m being dramatic for the sake of humor, I suppose,” Night Light admitted, “but it is extremely bland… and boring… and stuffy.”
“Cadance says the same thing, so I’ll just take your word. We’re skipping out on it, so tonight we’re going to be leaving on a trip ourselves.”
Night Light shot his daughter an amused look. “You take an awful lot of trips, don’t you? What is this, your fifth in the past two months?”
“Those were all business,” Twilight explained. “Princesses Celestia and Luna don’t leave the castle very often, so Cadance sees to most of the royal business that requires a presence outside of Canterlot. Being her personal guard, I have to be ready to accompany her whenever she might need me.”
Night Light frowned, one of his eyes squinting slightly as he mulled something over. “Hm… does that bother you at all?” he asked with a hum of fatherly concern. “I know your dream was always to have a post in the castle… which you do have, but it does seem like you spend more time out of the castle than in it these days.”
“I don’t mind,” Twilight answered without hesitation. “It’s just the nature of my post.”
“It probably takes a little bit of the sting out of it that your post is protecting your fillyfriend, eh?” he asked wryly.
“It helps,” Twilight said as she cleared her throat.
They finally reached the castle’s walls, and the two sentries standing at either side of the gate saluted Twilight at her approach. She nodded to them as she passed, pointedly ignoring the proud grin on her dad’s face.
Twilight scanned the castle’s courtyard, taking note that the kitchen staff was out on the lawn having their post-lunch rush picnic, as they did every day. Their evacuation of the kitchens meant that Princess Celestia would no doubt be alone in the galley ‘sneaking’ her afternoon snack. Twilight had a standing invitation to join Celestia for her after-lunch pastry-pilfery, but it had been a while since she’d taken advantage of the offer. Time permitting, she decided that it would be nice to try to join Celestia for a cupcake or two after seeing her father to his appointment.
A few of the kitchen staff saw her looking in their direction and waved. While Twilight no longer stood sentry at the kitchen doors, Cadance had a notorious sweet tooth – not unlike Celestia’s – and often asked Twilight to make trips down to the kitchens on her behalf, which afforded her many opportunities to get acquainted with the charming ponies that prepared meals for the princesses and the rest of the castle’s staff.
She waved back to her friends from the kitchen before continuing on their way.
“So is this trip also business?” he asked. “I can’t imagine what obligation one of the princesses might have on the night of the Gala. Everypony important enough to have business with them is already going to be in the castle.”
Twilight shook her head. “Nah, this is just a yearly trip she takes to avoid the Gala. We’re going to be going to Las Pegasus to ride out the ‘storm of snobbiness’, as Cadance calls it.”
“Oho, gambling is it?” Night Light said, his eyebrows waggling and his eyes twinkling with interest.
“Calm down,” Twilight chuckled, “you’re just like my friend Glowstone. He’s been trying to teach me Blackjack. While I’ll admit that I am intrigued by the prediction algorithms in card counting systems, I think casinos frown on those. No, Cadance and I are probably going to spend a lot of our time at this place she knows called Ball ‘n’ Chain’s Shack o’ Marriage.”
Night Light stumbled a bit at Twilight’s admission, his jaw going slack and eyes widening in surprise. “Should your mother and I be canceling our trip and booking tickets to Las Pegasus instead?”
Twilight stopped to turn and face her father as she blinked in confusion. “What?” she asked dumbly. She replayed the last few seconds of their conversation in her head and her own eyes widened as she caught the meaning he’d erroneously gleaned from her words. “Oh, no! Oh, Sun above, no! We’re not doing anything like that!”
“You had better not,” he warned her, his voice dropping a few octaves into what she and her brothers always called ‘The Dad Voice’. “If you get some trot-thru marriage in Las Pegasus and don’t at least invite your mother, she’ll murder you. Then she’ll murder me. Cadance she likes, so she’ll probably be safe, but everypony else will be in the cold, cold ground.”
“We’ve only been dating for three months,” Twilight replied, her cheeks flushing hotly.
“There are ponies that go to those places that haven’t even been dating three hours, Sparky,” Night Light pointed out.
Twilight looked around for anypony that might be listening in, her cheeks reddening even more as her father called her by his pet name for her. While Spike and Shining were fine with calling her Twily, it was only because their mother, Twilight Velvet, was always just ‘Mom’ to them.
“Dad, don’t call me Sparky while I’m in uniform,” she whined in embarrassment. “And Cadance and I aren’t even thinking about something like…” her voice dropped to a half-whispered hiss, “…marriage…”
“You know, your mother and I dated for three years before we tied the knot,” Night Light explained with a laugh at his daughter’s obvious agitation, “but, we got engaged after just six months.”
“Wait, you didn’t even date a full year before you got engaged?” Twilight asked, her surprise melting away the lion’s share of her embarrassment.
Night Light shrugged. “Six months was enough time for us to know we wanted to be together.”
“Then why’d it take another two-and-a-half years to make it official?”
“Well, I was still finishing my degree,” Night Light explained. “And your mother was still very career-focused at the time. She was just a cub reporter, cutting her teeth covering small town hootenannies and jug-blowing contests. One day she came home with a big grin on her face, shouting ‘I got an interview with Chaka Flan, I’m a real journalist now!’ and demanded that we send out the wedding invitations that had been gathering dust in our nightstand.”
“Who’s Chaka Flan?” Twilight asked as she began leading them across the courtyard again.
“A singer,” Night Light said simply. “Before your time, but she was a very big deal when your mother and I were young.”
“Oh, well… don’t worry about anything like us having a… one of those…” Twilight sighed. “Cadance is friends with the owners and she just likes watching the ceremonies.”
“Huh, that’s a strange hobby,” Night Light commented.
Twilight tilted her head in a shrug. “She’s the Princess of Love, dad. And whatever makes her happy makes me happy.”
Like all fathers, Night Light loved to poke at his children’s buttons with jokes are their expenses. So when she noticed the mischievous glint in her father’s eye, Twilight knew he was going to say something embarrassing again. Luckily, his efforts were forestalled by the arrival of a timid, nervous voice from behind them.
“Excuse me, Decurion?”
Twilight and Night turned to find a young earth pony mare standing on the lawn just a little off the path. She was dressed in a white chef’s jacket, with a bright red cravat tied around her neck. Twilight recognized her as one of the girls working in the kitchens.
“Good afternoon,” Twilight said in greeting, her voice automatically affecting a more neutral, professional tone. “You’re… I’m sorry, you look familiar, but your name is slipping my mind at the moment.”
The mare pawed at the grass nervously. “We don’t talk much, Decurion, ma’am, sir. My name’s Pepper Millie. I’m really sorry to bother you, but do you have a minute to talk?”
Twilight and Night Light shared a curious look.
“Is it important?” Twilight asked. “I’m in the middle of escorting the Royal Astronomer to a meeting with Princess Luna. Can it wait until I’m done?”
Pepper chewed her lip, looking back in the direction of the other kitchen staff as they continued eating lunch. They were engrossed in a display by one of the waiters as he balanced a huge bottle on the tip of his nose and danced around on his back hooves. None of them seemed to notice that somepony from their group had flagged down a guard.
“I… I’m not sure if it’s important or not… that’s what I wanted to talk to you about,” she said cryptically. “I don’t have a lot of time until we have to go back in, though. We’re really busy getting ready for the Gala.”
“We’re already at the castle,” Night Light interjected. “I don’t need an escort to the princess’ door. I know the way.”
“Are you sure, sir?” Twilight asked.
“Yes, Decurion,” Night Light said with a snicker. “I’ll see you next week when we get back from our respective trips. Stay safe.”
“You, too, sir,” Twilight replied with a smile as her father trotted off into the castle. She turned back to the nervous little mare and frowned. “Okay, did you have something you wanted to report?”
Pepper Millie glanced around nervously, apparently checking to see if they were alone. “You’re friends with Chef Lollipop.”
Twilight blinked at the rather abrupt statement of fact. It was true that she was friends with the pegasus mare who was in charge of making pastries and sweets for the princesses. While all of the kitchen staff were polite and charming, Lollipop was downright chummy with everypony and anypony she met. It also helped that Lollipop’s station in the kitchen meant that she was the chef that Twilight talked to the most while on snack runs to satisfy her girlfriend’s sweet tooth.
“Yes, I am.” Twilight looked back to the group of chefs, scanning around for signs of the mare in question. “Is something the matter? Did you have an argument or something?”
“N-no, nothing like that,” Pepper Millie said quickly. “Chef Lollipop is my friend. But she… hasn’t been to work for the last two days…”
“Oh,” Twilight said, raising an eyebrow. She wasn’t seeing what the big deal was. “Is she sick?”
“I don’t know. She hasn’t sent a messenger or anything saying she’d be out. She just hasn’t shown up for work.”
Twilight rubbed her chin in thought. “I take it the head chef and sous chef know. Has it been reported to the Executive Butler? He’s in charge of penning the schedules of all non-military castle staffers.”
“He’s been informed, but I don’t know if he’s followed through on getting in contact with her yet. There’s a bunch of other ponies in the castle that haven’t reported for work, either, so I think his hooves are full.”
That caught Twilight’s attention. “Other ponies failed to report for work in the castle?”
“Yes. A few of the maids, and a lot of the gardeners didn’t show up, either.”
“Anypony else from the kitchens?”
Pepper Millie shook her head.
“Okay, that’s very odd, but maybe there’s a bug going around,” she reasoned, searching for the simplest explanation first. “They might’ve all caught the flu or something. Everypony’s stressed out with preparations for the Gala, and stress can lower the body’s ability to fight off infection.”
Pepper Millie shook her head again. “I don’t know about the maids and gardeners, but Chef Lollipop wouldn’t forget to send a note, no matter how sick she got. Everypony else in the kitchen thinks I’m overreacting, though… I thought since you were her friend, you might know where she was. Or… maybe you could go check on her? I’ve heard you saying to Chef Lollipop before that you have a lot of freedom to choose your own assignments around the castle.”
Being Cadance’s personal guard meant Twilight had just one responsibility, and that was protecting Cadance while she was outside the castle. As a result, Twilight was perpetually on special assignment and on standby for any time Cadance might need an escort. This meant that Twilight spent her days in Canterlot patrolling the city, walking the castle grounds, or just hanging around with Cadance. As long as she filed a report of her weekly activities with the Tesserarius, she was more or less free to act as she pleased.
“Do you think something may have happened to her?” Twilight asked.
“I… don’t know, but maybe,” the chef said timidly. “She was acting kind of… off, since last week.”
“Off? How so?”
“She was forgetting really basic things in the kitchen, and names – little things. She was just… off. I don’t know how else to explain it.”
“That’s another thing that could be attributed to nerves and professional stress,” Twilight suggested.
“She’s not the kind to crack under pressure in the kitchen,” Pepper Millie stated simply. “I thought about running to report it to the police, but aren’t you supposed to wait seventy-two hours or something before reporting somepony missing?”
Twilight shook her head. “That’s just a myth. An inaccuracy propagated and perpetuated by cheap detective novels. It's based on statistics stating that most missing persons return of their own volition within a seventy-two hour period, but statistics are just statistics. If you suspected she might have gone missing you should’ve reported it immediately.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know,” Pepper Millie said, shrinking away shyly.
Twilight sighed. She was starting to see the reason she’d never spoken to Pepper before this. The poor girl was timid as a mouse. Twilight undid the buckle holding one of her armored shoes with a twitch of her magic and placed her bare hoof on the other girl’s shoulder comfortingly.
“Hey, I’m sure she’s fine,” Twilight said reassuringly, closing the professional distance enough to speak in a friendly tone. “She’s probably just got the flu. Or maybe she met somepony nice and they eloped!”
“She’s friendly, but I don’t think she’s that friendly,” she tittered, nervously giggling at the very notion. “Still… I hope you’re right.”
“Do you know where she lives?” Twilight asked as she let go of Pepper’s shoulder and replaced her shoe. “I’m leaving town tonight, but I can drop by right now and see how she’s doing.”
“She lives with her brother on Sunday Street, in a big orange house with an iron fence around the yard,” Pepper Millie said, her smile clearly showing the relief she felt. “I’d better get back. I still need to finish lunch before we get back to work. Thank you for taking me seriously.”
The timid chef nodded and began to canter back towards the picnic. The cooks and servers were all laughing and gently fanning the waiter who’d been dancing for their amusement, and even from a distance it was easy to tell he looked a little dizzy from spinning so much.
“Pepper,” Twilight called, getting the shy girl’s attention. “You did the right thing reporting this to me. Thank you.”
Pepper Millie appeared to be at a loss for words. She blinked in surprise at Twilight for a second or two, and then smiled brightly. “You know, I always thought you were kind of scary, but you’re not.”
“I’m scary?” Twilight asked in surprise.
Pepper nodded. “Everypony tells those really scary stories about how strong you are, and you’ve got that scary scar over your Cutie Mark. You always seemed nice in the kitchens, but it was still a little intimidating to talk to you.”
Twilight wasn’t sure what to say to that. She was scary? She didn’t think herself any more intimidating than any of the other guards. In fact, considering she was a mare and the other guards were all burly stallions, she always assumed she was the least physically imposing guard in Canterlot.
“I didn’t know I gave off that impression,” she managed to say.
“You don’t, and that was kind of what was scary about it,” Pepper gently explained. “You seem really nice, but even when you’re not in uniform all the big, tough guys get out of your way when you walk down the halls, so I wasn’t really sure… But now I’m glad that I came to you. I’ll make sure to say hello next time you stop by the kitchens, even if I’m super busy.”
Pepper Millie waved goodbye and trotted away again. Twilight returned the gesture, still a little taken aback.
As a guard, a part of her job was to be intimidating when the situation called for it. A professor of hers back in the academy had once said that a good guard could get more done with a sharp glare than a sharp sword. But she also had to be approachable, and Twilight always did her best to be friendly and courteous so ponies in the castle wouldn’t be afraid to approach her with their problems, like Pepper Millie just had. Her job was to protect ponies, not to frighten them.
She sighed as she made her way back across the courtyard to the street. It was something to think about, at the very least.
* * *
Sunday Street was a residential street in one of the nicer parts of town, just at the edge of the Upper District where the rich and influential ponies – including Twilight’s parents – kept their homes. Still, homes in this area were known to be on the higher end of the market, and it was an impressive place to live, even on a castle chef’s salary. Whatever Lollipop’s brother did, it probably paid very well.
The streets here were lined with blocks of tall townhouses, packed together tightly enough to be practically touching. They were painted mostly in yellows and blues of various shades, with the odd cement-gray building tossed in for a tasteful splash of drabness amidst the color. Unlike the neighborhood that Twilight had grown up in, there wasn’t much room for big, welcoming lawns. The yards were just patches of grass, or little gardens fenced off with chicken-wire, sitting on either side of the stoop.
It was a cute neighborhood, but one thing was bothering Twilight. Usually the children of upper-middle class ponies would be in the streets, playing hopscotch and trading hoofball cards while their parents gossiped about the other neighbors. But aside from a few stray cats and the random pony hurrying down the street without so much as a nod, Twilight was alone.
It was unsettling, to say the least.
She’d done her best to convince Pepper Millie that her friend’s absence was just a bad case of the flu – which, in all likelihood, it probably was – because as a guard, her job was to keep the peace and assure the citizenry that they were protected. Despite that, her gut was saying that something else might be going on. Back in Zebrica, her instincts had pulled her out of the fire more than once, and she wasn’t about to distrust them now.
That didn’t mean she couldn’t hope, though.
Hopefully it was nothing. Hopefully somepony sneezed on a drinking fountain and a sizeable chunk of the castle’s staff caught the sniffles en masse. Hopefully everything was fine and she could enjoy her weekend away with Cadance without having to worry about royal business cutting in on their snuggle-time.
“Hey, Decurion!”
Twilight was shaken out of her thoughts by the shout. She looked up to find a familiar pegasus hovering above her head.
“Hello, Captain.”
Spitfire touched down on the street next to Twilight and held out a hoof in greeting. Twilight returned the greeting and bumped her hoof against Spitfire’s – gently, since Spitfire wasn’t wearing armored shoes.
It had been some time since they’d last seen one another, and despite the animosity of their initial meeting, they had parted as friends. As good as it was to see her friend, however, Twilight could see that there was some apprehension in the other mare’s posture – an unsuredness in the way she was carrying her weight that Twilight’s mind had trouble associating with the athletic pegasus.
“So, uh…” Spitfire began nervously. “About that thing… the thing in the papers this week…?”
“Oh, of course…” Twilight said simply, instantly knowing what ‘thing’ Spitfire was talking about. News of the Necropolis’ discovery had filtered down to the regular newspapers. She lowered her voice despite the fact that they were alone on the street. “I still can’t tell you, but… the cover story is at least half the whole truth…”
Spitfire’s jaw worked as she chewed on the inside of her cheek, thinking over this information. Whatever conclusion she reached had her nodding her thanks with a grunt of approval.
“Half the truth is more than none of it, I suppose,” Spitfire said with a wan smile. “Thanks for being as honest as you can be.”
“So what are you up to?” Twilight asked, hoping to get off the touchy subject quickly.
“I just checked into my hotel,” Spitfire replied, the pep in her voice slowly returning. She tilted her head back in the direction of the Upper District. “I’m staying at the fancy place a couple streets over. I was out for a quick fly around the block when I caught sight of a guard that was too shrimpy to be anypony but you.”
“Oh, that’s right, you’re doing a show for the Gala, aren’t you?” Twilight asked, ignoring the jibe. She knew if she let Spitfire get under her skin they’d be at it all day.
“Yup,” Spitfire said with a grin. “Going to show Canterlot a new routine we cooked up special for the Triple-G.”
“Sorry I’m going to miss that,” Twilight said with genuine regret. The Wonderbolts always put on a great show, though she’d never admit that to Spitfire’s face.
“Your princess is ditching the Gala again, isn’t she?” Spitfire asked, catching on quickly.
“Same as every year, apparently,” Twilight replied.
“Hah, yeah, from what I’ve heard she hasn’t been to one in years, and I sure as hay haven’t seen her at one myself,” Spitfire laughed. “I’d skip too, but free grub is free grub. Plus, you know, it’s work and all.”
“Ugh, please don’t say grub,” Twilight pleaded, her face twisting into a sickly grimace. The last time she’d seen Spitfire, the bat ponies had thrown them a big dinner, complete with local cuisine like three-grub salad and praying mantis enchiladas. Needless to say, Twilight’s palate had proven to be far less adventurous than Spitfire’s. “I’ll be taking the sight of you stuffing fried tarantulas into your mouth to my grave.”
Spitfire’s head lulled back, her tongue flopping out of her mouth dramatically as she collapsed onto her haunches and rubbed her stomach.
“Sun above, those ponies could cook,” she moaned.
Twilight rolled her eyes and stepped around Spitfire as she recovered from her mild foodgasm. At least her friend was feeling well enough to joke around again. A few moments later she heard the sound of Spitfire trotting up to her side.
“What’re you up to?” Spitfire asked.
“I’m checking in on a friend of mine. She works in the castle kitchens, and another friend of hers reported that she hasn’t been in to work in a few days.”
“She got a cold?”
“Not sure,” Twilight answered. “That’s what I’m going to find out.”
“Need a wingmare on this?”
“I don’t see the harm in it…” Twilight said after a moment of internal debate. “I’m the only one of us on the job right now, though, so…”
“Hey, say no more,” Spitfire said with a smile, “you’re calling the shots.”
Twilight accepted this with a nod and the pair cantered along in silence. The whole way, Spitfire was glancing around, admiring the neighborhood and smiling in a way that suggested that she rarely saw the city from this altitude.
Lollipop’s house turned out to be the only orange one on the block. The bright paint, the glossy color of a ripe pumpkin, stood out vividly against the muted gray and violet-blue of the houses at either side. True to Pepper Millie’s description, it was also the only house on the block with a wrought iron fence around the meager little yard. The gate leading up to the stoop squealed loudly on rusty hinges as Twilight opened it.
Twilight knocked with a soft tap, the sound of her shoes striking the wood doing the job as well as any door-knocker. While they waited to see if somepony would answer the door she took a look at the mailbox hanging next to the entrance. It bore the names ‘Lollipop’ and ‘Bit Coin’. She lifted the metal flap and peered inside, noting that it was empty, so somepony was picking up the mail, at least.
The sound of frantic steps came from inside. The door opened, revealing a harried-looking, bronze-coated pegasus stallion. His ginger-red mane was in a tangled mess and his eyes were bloodshot and ringed with dark circles that indicated that he hadn’t slept any time recently.
“What is it?” he asked hurriedly. He craned his neck, trying to see around the two mares standing in his doorway. “Did you find her? Where is she?”
Twilight and Spitfire blinked, casting one another worried looks.
“Mister Bit Coin?” Twilight asked, guessing that this stallion was the other pony listed on the mailbox.
“Call me Bit,” he said out of reflex. He shook his head, tossing the pleasantries aside once again. “Nevermind that! Where’s Lollipop?”
“Calm down, sir,” Twilight said soothingly. “I’m Decurion Twilight Sparkle, this is Captain Spitfire. I’m a friend of your sister’s, and I was asked by a mare named Pepper Millie to come and see how Lollipop is doing. Judging from your reaction, I’d hazard to guess that she’s not currently in residence.”
Bit Coin slumped against the doorframe, visibly deflating with a heavy sigh. “So you haven’t found her?”
“All I was told was that she hadn’t been in to work for the past two days. I came right over as soon as I got word that she might not be well.”
The stallion nodded numbly and stepped away from the door. “Then please, come in,” he offered. He gestured them in with a half-hearted motion of his wing as he turned and walked down the hall.
Spitfire moved to enter but Twilight held her back. At the other mare’s curious look Twilight gave hoof signals indicating that Spitfire should keep her eyes open and be aware of their surroundings. Spitfire lifted a hoof and tapped at her collarbone, signaling back her understanding.
The interior of the house was a cheery salmon-pink, and Twilight almost wondered aloud if her girlfriend might have decorated the place. The walls were covered with family portraits and pictures, most of which were of Lollipop and her brother at various points in their lives.
They followed Bit Coin into the living room and their host waved them towards a couch covered in a protective plastic.
“I’m sorry about the plastic,” he apologized in a tired voice. He nodded at the rest of the furniture in the room, which all had the same protective covering. “Lollipop is a messy eater and she likes to snack on the couch. She says the kitchen gets too hot. Funny thing for a chef to say, right?”
Spitfire and Twilight sat down, the plastic crinkling loudly as they settled into place. Twilight was on duty and had no obligation to remove any part of her uniform, but removed her galea anyway out of respect for her friend’s home and brother. Spitfire reached for a picture on an end table next to the couch and examined it.
“You and your sister look really close,” Spitfire said conversationally, holding the picture for Twilight to see.
The picture was of the two pegasi as foals, laughing together with the carefree abandon of children. Lollipop’s teal coat and red mane – the same ginger-red color as her brother’s – were covered in flour and dollops of cream. Her brother was sitting at the kitchen table, a toy cash register in front of him and an upturned bowl of something that was probably whipped cream sitting on his head like a helmet.
“We’re twins,” Bit Coin said. “She’s been my best friend since the day we were born.” He gave a start, his eyes lighting up with a sudden recognition. “Oh, darn it, I didn’t offer you any coffee or tea. Lollipop will be very upset I didn’t offer her friends something to drink.”
“It’s fine…” Twilight assured him. “You look a little out of sorts, why don’t you have a seat?”
His mouth hung open and he stared, seemingly unsure what to say. “I’m sorry…” he sighed as he climbed into a reclining chair and rocked absentmindedly. “I just don’t know what I should be doing…”
“It would be helpful if you could answer some questions for me,” Twilight suggested. “How long ago did you notice your sister was missing?”
“Yesterday,” he said, rubbing at his eyes sleepily. “I got home from work – I’m an accountant – and she still wasn’t home from the castle. She always gets home about an hour before I do, unless she goes out with her friends or something. She has a lot of friends.”
Spitfire chimed in. “How’d you know she was missing, then?”
“Because she didn’t come home the night before, either,” he explained. “That in itself isn’t too unusual, so it didn’t set off any alarms for me right away. Like I said, sometimes she goes out with friends and she’ll stay the night instead of walking all the way home… but she’s never been gone for two days in a row without at least leaving me a note telling me where she’s going to be.”
Twilight frowned as a timeline began forming in her mind. “Did anypony from the castle get in touch with you? Usually when somepony misses work, a messenger is sent out to check on their wellbeing.”
He shook his head.
Twilight’s frown deepened. Pepper Millie had mentioned that other castle staffers were AWOL, so that could explain why nopony had yet gotten around to checking up on Lollipop. “You’ve reported her missing to the police, I assume.”
“That’s right. That’s what I thought you were here about. When I didn’t see Lollipop with you, I thought…” His voice trailed off, his chin falling to his chest as a tear rolled down the side of his face. He didn’t bother wiping it away. “I’m not sure what I thought…”
Twilight looked to Spitfire, who looked back with worry in her eyes. The good-natured cheer and cockiness the pegasus normally exuded was dimmed as she sympathized with the distraught stallion.
“Do you know a mare named Pepper Millie?” Twilight asked.
“She works with Lollipop,” Bit Coin said. “She visits sometimes. They’re very close.” He looked up and flashed a watery, tired smile. “Lollipop's mentioned you, too, Decurion. She says you’re funny.”
Spitfire snickered nervously and Twilight shot her a reproachful look. The other mare had the decency to look abashed at the inappropriate laughter.
“Yes, well, Pepper Millie was the pony who brought Lollipop’s absence to my attention,” Twilight continued. “She said that she was concerned because Lollipop had been acting strange recently.”
Bit Coin nervously ran his forehooves up and down the arms of his recliner, stroking the plastic with little crinkles. “She has been odd, yeah… For a little over a week… I’m surprised anypony else noticed, but she’s been very… flighty, I guess. Just not completely like herself.”
“Did you ask if anything was bothering her?” Spitfire asked.
He nodded glumly. “She just said it was stress. It’s Grand Galloping Gala season and she always gets a little frazzled this time of year, so I just took her word on it and assumed it was an especially busy Gala.”
“Pepper was under the impression that Lollipop wasn’t the kind to get stressed out over an extra heavy workload,” Twilight said.
“She tries to hide it,” Bit Coin said with a grin, “does a good job of it, too. But we’ve been together since we were born. Nopony knows Lollipop the way I do.”
“Mister Bit Coin—”
“Please, call me Bit,” he quietly insisted. “You’re Lollipop’s friends. Though I had no idea she knew a Wonderbolt…”
“I’m just here with her,” Spitfire clarified with a nod towards Twilight. “Your sister seems like a great gal, though. I’d love to meet her when we find her.”
“Bit, please,” Twilight continued, trying to get them back on track. “I just need to ask a few more questions.”
“Are you going to look for her?”
Twilight shifted in her seat. She and Cadance were supposed to be leaving in just a few hours for a romantic escape from their duties at the castle. She’d only meant to come and find out how Lollipop was doing and confirm that everything was fine, but now it looked like something might have actually happened to the poor girl.
It was a very short-lived conflict, however. There was no way she was going to hang a friend out to dry like that, not even for a chance to get some snuggles in a fancy hotel room. She’d just have to make it up to Cadance later.
“I’ll do everything I can, Bit,” Twilight said, carefully phrasing her response. Back at the academy, in her classes on dealing with interactions with the public, she was taught to never make promises to anypony regarding an investigation. “What can you tell me about Lollipop’s other friends? Places she frequents? Other relatives you have that she might go to if she was having any personal problems?”
Bit Coin didn’t get a chance to answer before the sound of an argument drifted in from the street. There was a general murmur of many voices trying to talk at once, and somepony shouted something too muffled by the thick walls to make out. A moment later there was a knock at the door.
“Um, wait here…” Bit Coin said as he slid out of his seat and plodded numbly towards the door.
“Twilight, this is weird…” Spitfire whispered as soon as their host was out of earshot. “I know you guys in the Royal Guard do detective work sometimes, but this is nuts. This chick is missing.”
“I know, and she might not be the only one. Pepper Millie mentioned that some of the other staff hadn’t shown up for work either.”
Spitfire’s eyes widened. “Ponies working in the castle are being targeted?”
“We can’t be sure of that until we follow up with the other castle staffers, but that’s a distinct possibility,” Twilight surmised with a grimace.
Further discussion was forestalled by the sound of hooves on the hardwood floor. Spitfire and Twilight got off the couch and turned to find that a small crowd had funneled into the hallway and spilled over into the living room.
“What’s going on?” Twilight asked, placing her galea back on her head.
“These are some of my neighbors,” Bit Coin explained. “They saw you come up to my door and they thought that you might’ve found Lollipop.”
A unicorn mare shoved her way to the front of the group, a framed photo of a young filly hovering before her in an orange shimmer of magic. “Have you found my daughter? She’s only eight years old. She doesn’t even have her Cutie Mark yet!”
“What about my husband?” another mare asked.
“Or my brother?” chimed in a tall stallion from the back.
Twilight blinked in confusion. “I’m sorry, but I only came to check up on a report of Lollipop not showing up for work. You’re all missing somepony…?”
“That’s what we’re trying to tell you!” an elderly stallion shouted as he thumped his hoof on the floor.
The old stallion’s outburst was chorused by the group and Twilight was forced to raise her voice to silence them.
“Quiet! Please! Everypony please put your hooves up if the loved one you’re missing works in or around the castle!”
Only the tall stallion in the back raised a hoof.
* * *
The word ‘tension’ didn’t quite fully convey the mood in the conference room. Twilight, Spitfire, the princesses, three of the most senior personnel in the castle, and the Chief of Police stood around a large table with a map of the entire city spread across it. Twenty-nine little red flags were scattered across the map, each one representing the last known location of someone who’d gone missing.
The light buzz of fluorescent lighting overhead was barely audible over the sound of shouting as the Centurion and Executive Butler High Brow tore into one another from opposite sides of the enormous table. The three princesses stood at the head of the table, each wearing a different expression as two of their most trusted subjects bickered like children. Even to Twilight, who’d only been in the castle a few months, it was obvious that there was some bad blood between the two old stallions. Situations like this always seemed to bring that sort of thing to the surface.
Celestia was largely ignoring the pair as she stared silently at the map spread out on the table, her eyes drinking in every inch of it in obvious contemplation. Twilight was certain that the eldest of the princesses was putting her centuries of experience towards looking for a pattern in the flags, squinting at them like a fortune teller trying to read tea leaves. Only the occasional flicker of her ears indicated that she was even half listening to the tirades of the two stallions.
Cadance’s eyes shimmered with worry. She watched the back-and-forth bickering like a tennis match, periodically casting uncertain glances to where Twilight stood at her side. Twilight very much wanted to hug her every time their eyes met, but that wouldn’t have been appropriate – at least until the meeting was over.
Luna was splitting her attentions in half between the map and the two arguing stallions. They’d been going at one another for the past five minutes, and every second saw her mood darkening. Her teeth were grinding by this point – a sure sign that she was just about finished with listening to them have a go at one another.
“I don’t care what you thought,” Steel Century bellowed angrily, “this is the sort of thing that should have been reported immediately!”
The old unicorn butler snorted derisively as he smoothed out his black suit-jacket. “I suppose you wish for me to tell you every time a maid doesn’t show up for work?” he asked as he tilted his nose down so he could look over his little pince-nez glasses. “Keep your brutish snout out of my business and I shall do the same for yours!”
“Castle security is my business! Are you so senile that you don’t even realize that a chunk of your staff going missing is suspicious!?”
“I manage hundreds of ponies in this castle!” High Brow snapped. “On top of that, I have to oversee the preparations for the most important night of the social season! Ponies not reporting for duty is an annoyance, yes, but I’ve not the luxury of worrying about that beyond concerns of how to fill the gaps in the workforce!”
Steel Century let out a bark of sarcastic laughter that Twilight wouldn’t have believed the Captain of the Guard capable of. “So it’s okay for ponies to go missing so long as somepony else covers their shift?” The gruff old Centurion then turned to glare at the pony sitting at the furthest end of the table. “And you, Copper Top, what’s your excuse? You’ve been pretty quiet over there, but that’s what I’d expect from you at this point!”
The Chief of Police looked up from the folder he was reading, his face grim and his eyes weary. He wore a dark blue uniform jacket, nearly the same color as his fur, so at a glance it looked like the brass buttons and various pips and medals were pinned directly to his body. The old pegasus ruffled his wings in obvious agitation at the Centurion’s questioning.
“You might possibly be aware of this, Captain of the Guard,” he replied coldly, biting into the Centurion’s title like it was an insult, “but we have a little something called the Grand Galloping Gala happening tomorrow. I know you never leave the castle, so you’ve probably never noticed that the common-folk, the ones that aren’t important enough to get an invitation, like to hold little celebrations of their own. This, along with the highfalutin crowd that the castle’s event pulls in, means a goodly number of tourists are currently in our fair city. Increased tourism means more work for my officers.”
“So you’re busy,” Steel Century scoffed. “So busy you can’t ask for help with something this dire?”
“The investigation is already underway,” the police chief said as he narrowed his eyes distastefully. “The Canterlot P.D. appreciates your concern and the help that the Royal Guard gives in patrolling the streets, but missing persons cases are our jurisdiction.”
“Enough!” Luna roared in that deafening public speaking voice of hers. Every pair of ears save for Luna’s and Celestia’s clamped down as the command was issued with the full force of the Royal Canterlot Voice. “We thought to allow thee to bicker while We considered the information presented to Us, but clearly there is no end to the hot air filling thy bodies! We care little for thy petty squabbles and foalishness! We care only for the safety of Our subjects, and if thou whilst continue to waste precious time hoof-pointing, a private conference shall be arranged in the dungeons where thou canst quibble without distraction!”
All three stallions balked at the rebuke, lowering their heads and each offering an apology.
The conference room was one of the largest in the castle, but even still, the sound of Luna’s angry voice had Twilight’s ears ringing. Luna usually reserved her public speaking voice for, well, speaking publically – outdoors. Hearing it in this enclosed space left her working her jaw and trying to pop her ears to quiet the ringing. It was a little like the time at the academy that she’d forgotten to wear hearing protection while on the cannonry range.
Still the outburst had been effective, even considering that her temper had caused her to fall back into that archaic diction of hers. Knowing her continued efforts to integrate with contemporary Equestria, Princess Luna was no doubt unhappy with herself for letting her language slip.
“Thank you, Luna,” Celestia said, her eyes never leaving the map. “Decurion Twilight Sparkle, please brief us again on the situation. Some of us may need a refresher of the facts.”
The three stallions bowed their heads again, instantly recognizing this as Princess Celestia gently adding to Princess Luna’s warning that the discussion should be kept civil and professional. Somehow, the elder princess’ gentle disapproval was more humbling than Luna’s earsplitting reproach.
Twilight stepped forward, clearing her voice and motioning for Spitfire to step up as well. “I was escorting the Royal Astronomer to his meeting with Princess Luna when I was approached by a member of the kitchen staff. She shared concerns about a friend of hers who hadn’t shown for duty and requested that I stop by this friend’s home. She also reported that several other staffers were absent without leave, which I found suspicious. Along the way I met with Captain Spitfire, who accompanied me on the visit.”
“And why was an Air Force Captain tagging along on Royal Guard business?” Optio Whippoorwill asked, making his presence known. He’d been so silent that Twilight had forgotten he was standing behind his Centurion.
Spitfire held her head up and chest out, standing at attention as she answered. “The Decurion and I are friends, sir. I asked what she was doing and her task seemed mundane enough that I didn’t think it would hurt to ask to tag along.”
“At the time, I was still working under the assumption that it might just be a flu epidemic,” Twilight added. “I saw no harm in allowing her to accompany me, but still made sure to assert that I had authority as a guardspony.”
The Optio hummed in thought before nodding. “Continue, please.”
Spitfire’s posture relaxed noticeably. Of the ponies in the room, she was the one least familiar with the Royal Guard’s Optio. He was the sort of pony who liked his questions blunt and to the point, and sometimes it was difficult to tell when you were in trouble with him.
“We arrived at Lollipop’s residence to find her twin brother distraught over the disappearance of his sister,” Twilight continued. “We spoke for a while and the Captain and I formed the assumption that ponies working in and around the castle might be being targeted.”
The Centurion narrowed his eyes at the Executive Butler. “A fair assumption to make, considering all the castle staff that have likewise gone missing.”
Celestia’s gentle voice cut across any reply, but carried the tiniest note of annoyance. “Centurion…”
“Apologies, Your Highness,” he said contritely, adding another bow.
Twilight cleared her throat, drawing attention back to herself. “That theory was blown out of the water by a small group of neighbors who saw the Captain and I enter Lollipop’s home. They reported their own missing family members, and only one of them reported anypony who so much as walked past the castle on the way to work. Captain Spitfire assisted me in taking statements, and then we went straight to the police station to inquire about any open missing persons cases. We then returned to report the situation to Your Highnesses.”
Chief Copper Top took this as his chance to step back into the conversation. “We have twenty-nine missing person reports that have come in over the last forty-eight hours. Or, more precisely, I should say missing ponies reports.”
“Only ponies are missing?” Whippoorwill asked. “No visiting griffons or minotaurs? No zebras?”
“If there are, they haven’t been reported,” Copper Top explained with a shake of his head. “In all honesty, I had no idea so many ponies were missing until the Decurion showed up… The reports were made to various police outposts scattered across the city, and the officers stationed at their outposts didn’t have the time to file the reports with Central because of the current workload we’re under. Each case was being investigated as a separate incident, so we had no idea of the scope of this. It’s a weakness in our communication channels and one I will be addressing once this crisis is resolved. I assure you of that, Your Highnesses.”
“Admittedly, I will also be looking into the Guard’s standard operating procedure,” Steel Century said. “Current S.O.P. is for Royal Guard to direct this sort of issue to the nearest police outpost. Prolonged investigations aren’t normally under our purview unless they greatly affect general public safety or the crown directly.”
“Very good,” Celestia said. “Back to the matter at hoof, however. I believe we can all assume that these ponies were taken.”
“By whom, becomes the question,” Luna pointed out, “and for what reason?”
Every pair of eyes went back to the map.
“What about the assumption that castle personnel are being targeted?” High Brow suggested. “Of the twenty-nine missing, eleven of them are ours – seven gardeners, three maids, and the pastry chef that started this whole thing. Have any of the Royal Guard been taken?”
“Nopony was missing from inspection this morning,” the Centurion replied. “Report from the night watch said everything was condition green the whole night and there were no missing guards. We’re packed to the rafters with help from other regiments for the Gala, and the second this was brought to my attention I made sure to do a headcount on them, as well.”
Another moment of silence took hold of the room. An unspoken consensus was reached by all parties present, that whatever was said next, it would be said by Princess Celestia.
“I am considering canceling the Gala,” Celestia announced after a time. “Our priority should be finding these ponies and returning them to their families.”
“That may not be wise, Sister,” Luna suggested. “We must consider the possibility that the goal of the perpetrator is to spirit Our ponies away from Canterlot. Twenty-nine ponies is quite the herd to move without detection, even with magic, therefore, We can assume at the moment that Our ponies are still being secreted away within the limits of the city until an opportunity to move them presents itself. At the moment, many of Our subjects are entering the city for the event in question. Should it be canceled, disappointed ponies shall be rushing from the city in droves, providing excellent cover for such an operation.”
Celestia stared impassively at the map, contemplation clear on her features as Luna and the rest of the room awaited a response. Luna’s gaze was even and patient, but Twilight’s familiarity with the Princess of the Night allowed her to see the barely visible nervous tics Luna was attempting to hide. Even months after her return, Luna was still struggling with being accepted in the castle. Disagreeing with her sister, whom she knew their subjects considered nearly infallible, was a big step, even if it was only witnessed by the few ponies present.
“Well reasoned, Luna,” Celestia finally admitted, favoring her younger sibling with a smile. The affection lasted only long enough to be genuine before her face once more fell into the emotionless mask of leadership. “What course of action do you suggest?”
“We believe it best to continue with the festivities as planned. Guards and constabulary should be placed to cut off any means of egress from the city between now and the Gala, while smaller teams discreetly sweep the city. Furthermore, the press should be discouraged from disseminating information regarding of these incidents.”
“Your Highness, forgive me interrupting, but that’s a good point you bring up,” Copper Top said. “The news outlets still haven’t caught wind of this – thank the Stars for pointless fashion and vapid celebrities, I suppose – so we’ve been spared public panic. If the citizens find out that ponies are going missing, we’ll have more than a few upset party-goers rushing for the trains.”
“I can take care of that with a few letters,” Steel Century said. “I’ll tell them that anything they pick up about missing ponies is a matter of national security and politely request they postpone any reporting on the matter for a day or two while the investigation is underway.”
The way the Centurion stressed his words suggested just how firmly his ‘polite’ request would be made.
Copper Top nodded his assent. “That should buy us some time, then.”
“In regards to the matter of barring exit from the town,” Whippoorwill said as he adjusted his spectacles. “Between the Royal Guard and the police, I believe we can effectively blockade anything trying to leave the city until tomorrow. The Royal Guard can impound any airship or train car – private or commercial – for a period of up to thirty-six hours just on suspicion of smuggling. We don’t need to charge anypony, just keep them from leaving.”
“What if they’ve already been taken outside of the city?” Cadance asked.
“I will send messengers to every outpost and garrison in the surrounding area to increase patrols and be on the look out for anything suspicious,” Steel Century said. “Princess Luna’s suggestion seems the most likely scenario, but the more eyes we’ve got open the less likely we are to miss anything.”
“Optio Whippoorwill,” Celestia said. “I would like you to spearhead the search. Feel free to use this room as your operations center. It is quiet and removed enough from the ballroom that you will not be disturbed by the Gala. I would also like for Decurion Twilight Sparkle to assist.”
Spitfire turned to the princesses and stood at attention, just as she had when giving her report earlier. “Requesting permission to join the operation, Your Highnesses.”
“Granted,” Luna said, cutting in with a nod. “We were quite pleased with your exemplary work in the selection of Our Night Guard. We only regret that their training is not yet complete so that they might aide in the search.”
“Don’t you have a show to do, though?” Twilight asked.
“Soarin knows the routine,” Spitfire said. “He can lead the team in my place and we’ll rotate in one of the reserves.”
“We seem to have a plan,” High Brow said. “But it will only get us as far as the end of the Gala. Once the event is over, what will we do when the guests and the tourists try to go home?”
The old butler was right. Covertly searching the city and locking down the ports, roads, and train depot would do for a day or so, but the mass exodus of tired party-goers would bring their operation right into the light. If it became necessary to let the public at large know about the incidents, the initial panic would be hard to contain. What they needed was a way to close off everything, including the skies to prevent any pegasi or griffons from breaking the blockade.
Twilight was struck by a flash of inspiration. She took a deep breath and voiced her idea.
“This… this is something I think should be a last resort, but I do have an idea,” she announced to the meeting. “Princess Celestia, Shining Armor said he was coming to the Gala with his friends this year, didn’t he?”
A moment of thought was all it took for the half of the room that knew Shining Armor to catch on to her meaning, leaving the other half to wonder what they were missing from that question.
“You think we should employ the Elements of Harmony?” Copper Top asked.
“The Elements could be useful, yes,” Cadance said. “But what’s important is that Shining Armor will be there.”
“My brother’s specialty is shielding spells,” Twilight explained. “He earned his Cutie Mark by designing an incredibly powerful one. He’s only tested it in small scale, but theoretically, he could create a bubble shield large enough to surround the entire city, just on his own.”
The chief’s eyes went wide. “You’re talking about locking down the entire city behind a shield?”
Twilight nodded. “Nothing gets in, nothing gets out.”
The Executive Butler sputtered indignantly at the very notion. “Young lady, we have diplomats that will be attending! One does not forcibly detain a foreign diplomat!”
“They will understand if the situation is explained to them,” Celestia said with confidence. “My bigger concern is the panic that enclosing the city will create… It’s not ideal, but it is a workable solution. Hopefully it won’t come to that…”
With a consensus reached, the particulars were hammered out in short order. The meeting was dismissed and the two senior guards, the butler, and the police chief, filed out quickly to attend to their duties and do their part. Whippoorwill promised to return shortly to begin the operation, trotting off to make arrangements.
Celestia left next, wishing Twilight and Spitfire luck and stating her confidence that they would succeed. Luna offered her own wishes for good fortune, along with a few quiet words of encouragement for her friend, before departing.
Finally, only Twilight, Spitfire, and Cadance were left in the meeting room. Spitfire quietly offered to wait in the hallway, sensing that her friend and the princess might want a moment alone.
“I have to go snag a messenger to take a letter to Soarin, anyway,” she said as she excused herself.
Finally alone, Twilight and Cadance let a moment of quiet take hold the room. This morning they’d awoken with smiles, checking their luggage so they could leave immediately after Twilight’s shift was over, and discussing which stage shows they wanted to see. Now they were standing in what would soon be the center of a massive hunt for twenty-nine ponies who had been spirited away by some unknown element.
“I guess I’m not going to get to wear my Blue Suede outfit this weekend,” Cadance said with a watery grin and misty eyes.
“Maybe you could wear it to the Gala,” Twilight suggested, trying to return Cadance’s transparent attempts at levity. “A white jumpsuit covered in rhinestones with a glittering phoenix and a cape on the back? It’d sure show up all those stuffy mares with their designer ball gowns.”
The dam of Cadance’s smile cracked, letting some of the worry it was holding back slowly trickle out.
Twilight hung her head sadly. “Cadance, I’m sorry things turned out like this,” she sighed. “I know you were really looking forward to this weekend.”
“That doesn’t matter,” Cadance insisted. She stepped forward, quickly closing the distance to pull Twilight into a hug. “Our weekend isn’t actually important. I’m just scared that something bad has happened to those poor ponies… Find them, Twilight. They’re what matter.”
“I promise,” Twilight said, giving Cadance an extra squeeze.
“And I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’ve got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach,” Cadance added. “If it turns out that you have to go out and do something heroic…”
“I’m going to be stuck here, in a conference room coordinating the search, Cadance,” Twilight said. “It’s not a post that invites opportunities for heroics.”
“I know you,” Cadance said, as though that simple statement alone was justification enough for her worries. “Just promise me that if you do have to leave this room to chase down bad guys, you’ll be safe.”
When Twilight didn’t say anything back, Cadance sat on her haunches and removed her shoes to hold Twilight’s face between her bare hooves.
“Twilight… be safe,” she pleaded.
Twilight closed her eyes and leaned into Cadance’s touch. She allowed herself to be spoiled for a few moments longer before she stepped forward to press her lips hard against Cadance’s. Twilight kissed her mare deeply, drinking in as much comfort and courage as she could from their intimacy before she pulled her mouth away to nuzzle her cheek against Cadance’s.
“I’ll do my best,” Twilight said. They both knew that it was the closest she could give to the promise that Cadance wanted.
* * *
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Wooohoo! i was so glad to find this update being noted in my email!
But ah, the changeling shift here is going to be amazing already I can tell.
May future writing go well!
....
I know exactly whats going to happen.
CHANGELINGS!!!!
With every chapter, the world grows, and I love what I'm seeing. I'm not a critic, so I usually can't pull apart a story to help improve it, but... Please keep going. I want to read more.
I sense bug ponies......
I'm so excited!!!!
nooo i wanna see shining armor and the other elements reactions to twilight
Dang, I really enjoyed this chapter. I'm excited to see how this plays out.
It bothers me greatly, I have decided, that we don't have a tag for "Mystery."
yeah im getting the changeling vibe but changelings abduct and replace to avoid suspicion not just abduct
it dosnt add up to me
and sure there will be ponies socialising but there wont be much love going around at the gala
also Mr King of Beggars you take to long need moooooooooooooooore
Great to see that this has updated.
I am a little disappointed that we didn't get to see what happened on Twilight and Spitfire's trip. Maybe that's why I had such a weird feeling while reading this. I'll give it some time and read it again to see if that's the case but I think it has more to do with how sudden the transition is from the last chapter to this one. It almost reads like this chapter starts a completely different story. Like the first two chapters should have been their own side story or something.
As far as I recall there weren't any large time skips in the first story that weren't explained as someone being unconscious or just moving us on to the next part of the story. What happened in this chapter could be the latter but still, in the original all the time skips made sense and flowed really well with the story here it feels very jarring, like you started telling one story then decided to stop and tell another.
All that said I still enjoyed the chapter and I'll be looking forward to your next update.
Lets see. Rainbow Dash can still save Soarins pie. Quite a long chapter to set that up.
Well then, it's either a terrorist organization kidnapping ponies for forced suicide bombers, or its Tirek, or changelings. I bet its changelings...
This sounds a *lot* like changelings, but why are they disappearing? My best theory is that they abduct a pony, replace them (we've had multiple reports of the 'abductees' behaving "not like themselves"), and then disappear when suspicion becomes too much?
I also have to wonder at the accelerated timescale here. Has discord been stoned again yet?
Some serious domestic covert ops going down -- the suspense is real
I stopped going to bed when I saw this posted. Thank you sir and keep it up.
6083202 The original story was a single arc introduction. This work is episodic, likely to involve multiple arcs.
Hmm this is way early for changelings... Frankly it has all the makings of a cult of some sort. Perhaps a nightmare moon or some other olden God. I'm guessing the missing are a mix or members and sacrifices.
Course that's all wild speculation. Love that Candice ditches the GGG each year. Perfectly explains why we didn't see her at it in the show. I am looking forward to Twilight meeting the girls though.
I'll say what everyone else is saying - Changelings? But that doesn't make much sense, if you're following the same timescale as Canon...
Tricky tricky, author...
Of course, you do have the AU tag...
I was really confused to open this chapter to Twilight standing on Cadance's balcony, when I expected her to be in the batpony village. I wondered if we'd timeskipped back, actually... It took a while before there was a mention of the completed batpony mission, which cleared up the timeline. It was a rather abrupt transition... This is my critique and I hope it helps you. The adventures taking place in this chapter were super interesting and I can't wait to see what happens next. The character interactions all felt really great, too. I'm definitely excited!
The sudden time skip at the beginning of the chapter was jarring, it could have done with a header. The chapter was really good despite that though. The next chapter is going to be fun I think.
6083388 I'm not writing the Changelings out yet, but I do agree that it seems odd to have them this early.
i loved the chapter and hope the next one is not as long in the waiting. ^_^ keep up the good work! :D
I just wonder will there be any usage of that chakram of twilight, cause I believe that it should be in pairs and possibly there is another one out there. Who knows maybe discord can explain.
I really want to know who these other "brothers" are.
When was this? I thought she had her classified adventure in Saddle Arabia.
Did the stallion just become a mare?
"the"
I am interested in how Twilight and Shining's "friends" will interact. Destiny and fate were played with in the last story and Rainbow Dash still set off the sonic rainboom that caused Twilight to flare while in class which got Twilight her Cutie Mark. So there still is some link between the ponies at some level. Also the feeling of unease that Shining has the Element of Magic and Twilight is a guard with Cadance. I am interested to see if this will popup, I am hoping it will to bring some weirdness into matters and make the characters question their paths.
I get the feeling the near future involves bug ponies...
Little sad we didn't get even a small snapshot of the batponies, but what can ya do? I do agree that the transition was a bit awkward; on the train making friends into castle balcony, something is missing there. A couple of added lines to smooth that would be beneficial.
It occurs to me the sequel picks up speed in much the same way as the original. "We were going to have such a nice trip until something went terribly wrong."
And it's not changelings. The little hints dropped that it might be? Red herrings, all of them. The return of Luna threw down the barriers between reality and the dreaming. Anubis used the dreaming as a bridge to reach into reality from the underworld. Likewise Sombra's shadow surges forward under the light of the new moon. The odd behavior and the disappearances are linked to the insidious influence to the north, calling them to the empire of old, perhaps even calling them home.
...that's my call anyway.
Shining Armor and Spike. That's two and two is plural.
6083759 Shining armor and Spike.
Knew people were going to be upset about skipping the batponies.
6083377
This is the closest to correct. This arc is about building towards the next one. Unlike the first arc, which takes place over the course of about a week, this one is going to take place over the span of a bit under a year. That's the real reason I chose the subtitle "The Rising" for this arc, because of the escalating action that will take place over those months that eventually leads them to the Empire. There will be swerves along the way, and we'll see a few other perspectives that set things up for the future.
6083924 6083935
Derp, you're right, I keep forgetting about Spike... Sorry Spear... Spike, whatever your name is.
6083957 We didn't skip then intentionally! The narrator was just sleep, because it was the middle of the night.
I call changelings. Still, that might just be a set up to lead us on the wrong path.
I always have to laugh when I read comments about the author of FANFICTION skipping stuff. It's fanfiction AKA alternate universe. Meaning, nothing is set in stone and anything can happen. The writers can gut the original like a fish and toss out some of the guts, then replace them with other guts. Make, like, a new cyborg fish!
Anyway, this is great. I love this story.
6083957
I'm just saying it's a little confusing. For the first quarter of the chapter I was convinced that this was some dream or flashback Twilight was having on the train. I'm not against the idea of a time skip especially when you have as much time to cover as you say and all in all this was a good place for it. Twilight and Spitfire resolve their issues and then nothing much happens until this point, I get it. I just feel like the transition could be handled a bit better. You talk about the dig site and the time that has passed between then and now but that doesn't really give us an obvious frame of reference to tell us how much time has passed since the previous chapter. You don't connect where we were in the previous chapter to now until somewhere closer to when Twilight speaks to her father and runs into Spitfire. Which, I guess, left me feeling a little disconnected from the story as I tried to reconcile where we are now and where we left off in the previous chapter.
Also, totally looking forward to Twilight running into Shining and the other bearers at some point.
6084194
I say in the second paragraph that it had been three months since she'd last seen the campsite outside the Necropolis. The last two chapters took place at the end of Twilight's month-long medical leave immediately following her return, so she'd been home for a month. The timeframe is there if you do a very small amount of math (two months since bat ponies). It's details that I can see were easily forgotten since the last update, though, so fair criticism.
Funny enough, the scene you say made the connection for you was originally the very start of the chapter, but I felt it was a weak opening. The scene people are complaining about I felt was a better transition point and let me get a little setup out of the way. Strange how things make different sense from different sides of the process. *shrug*
I'll try to be more obvious in time reference in future skips, so thanks for the input.
Well, a lot of people have a pet theory. The thing is, if it were them, I'd have expected them to have replaced the missing staff so that no one knew they were missing. So, instead, I'm leaning towards a new threat, much like it was a new threat in the last story.
Entertaining chapter, either way, you do create a real sense of mystery.
6082887
Thats an odd way to spell Zombies!
Now this was a nice treat to awaken too, keep up the amazing work!
Tried to like the story yet again. I'm always dissapointed when I see I've already liked it and can't do it twice, thrice, a dozen times...
I wish I could put into words how this story feels when I read it. Everything just feels so...natural, like this isn't an AU fanfic, but a true blue reality that is equally valid to the show's canon. Like it has weight, or presence or something. It's something not a lot of fanfics have, and I love it. Twilight feels like Twilight, but also like a Guard. She's not the canon Twilight Sparkle in armor, or Shining Armor painted purple. Can't wait for more
WOOT!!!! Yes, more adventure to come
Okay, that starting switch from leaving Canterlot to playing with a chakram in Canterlot could be handled with a quick blurb about the mission being successful and not worth really noting beyond "bat ponies, bat ponies every where!" and it would actually make sense while letting you say nothing of note happened. Besides, it would get fewer complaints.
One word Chryssy
I do love a good mystery!
Aaaah, so excited! Can't wait to read more <3
This is probably a dry run or something for the changeling invasion. 29 missing ponies is hardly enough to fully infiltrate the castle. Plus they were acting strangely for about a week before disappearing. Whats the point of just disappearing unless your objective was already completed? Why set off the alarm like that unless they were all already gone?
*sniff sniff* I smell Changelings somehow!
6082887 6084439 6083989 6083760 I think you're wrong. Changelings take ponies, yes, but they also REPLACE the ponies. These ponies are just missing. I am guessing more of this is a Distraction. A crime is going to happen, and the criminals are snatching ponies to keep the police and guards distracted and looking for the ponies and kidnappers, and not seeing what other crimes could be happening.
There is also something else. While 9 of the staff members we don't know where are, a LOT of the Civilians and at least 2 of the staff all lived in the SAME neighberhood, and at least 1 was a foal. And of the staff missing, they are Maids and Gardeners mostly, and 1 chef.
No guards, not the princesses, nor was Twilight (The, arguably, most important guard/person in the castle) was targeted. So far, it make no sense. Of course that makes me believe that somehow Discord is in here somewhere.
6083123 You are right! It is such a good genre too.