Echoes of the Old World

by Ultima75000

Secrets and Lies

Chapter 8: Secrets and Lies

"There was no rallying cry. No call to glory. No honor in their deaths. Yet we went on anyways. Naught for death or glory but for the sake of all that ever was and all that ever will be."

---

Twilight awoke the next day when the sun was already high within the sky. For the first time in a very long while she slept peacefully. Carried through her dreams by the memories of her friends and adventures in the past; restoring Princess Luna to her true self, resealing Discord in stone, pushing back Queen Chrysalis and her changeling army.

Despite all the hardships and the trials she faced, Twilight could only smile at those memories. Each challenge made the bond with her friends stronger. Each trial taught her a new lesson of friendship. Finally getting out of her bed, she went and looked at herself in the mirror.

"I'm glad that Princess Celestia sent me to Ponyville that day." She said to herself in the mirror. Things had changed since she first moved to Ponyville. Once upon a time she would not have even bothered with the notion of making friends. Now she didn't know where she would be without them. Still looking at her reflection Twilight smiled.

There was then a knock on the door. "Come in!" Twilight said still staring at the mirror.

"Morning Twiley" Shining Armor said opening the door slowly.

"Good Morning" Twilight said back catching a glimpse of her brother in the mirror's reflection

"You slept pretty well last night." Shining Armor said walking behind her.

"You noticed?" Twilight turned her head to face her brother.

"Of course" Shining Armor replied "When you're so quiet at night it's obvious. You normally work late nights and early mornings."

"And the Captain of the Royal Guard doesn't have to work late nights and early mornings?" Twilight joked.

"Well at least I took breaks!" Shining answered rubbing his forehead

"I've changed Shining. I'm not the over obsessive bookworm I used to be." Twilight declared "Ponyville has been quite the experience!"

"You're still my little sister Twilight. I'll always remember you for that big, brilliant, hard working brain of yours." Shining Armor beamed a bright smile at her.

"Now you're embarrassing me…" Twilight started to blush at the remark

"That's what big brother's do Twiley!" Shining Armor chuckled before giving his little sister a hug.

"I got to go back to my duty." Shining Armor said as he took his leave "Don't want Princess Celestia to think I'm slacking on the job."

"Go get em bro!" Twilight said waving goodbye. Shining Armor placed his helmet back on his head before leaving, closing the door behind him. Twilight yawned and rubbed her eyes with her hooves. I need to wash up. Today will be a good day!

Down at the Canterlot Barracks dozens of guards we're getting out of their bunks to start their daily guard shifts.

"Hey Jet, you seen Star Spear lately?" A gray unicorn asked another guard.

"I haven't." A tan pegasus replied as he put on his armor, helmet already covering part of his dark brown mane "He wasn't in his bunk this morning?"

"I didn't even see him come back to sleep." The gray unicorn said. He picked up his helmet from the armor rack and placed it over his head, fitting his unicorn horn through the opening. "He can't have been out there all night. Could he?"

"Who holds the shift after him?" Jet asked

"I don't know. It's the dead of night shift; who wants that?" The unicorn responded as he finished placing on his own set of armor.

"Roll call!" A large blue unicorn yelled, walking into the barracks with a roll sheet. "Sound off! Jet Stream!" "Present and accounted for sir!" The tan pegasus responded.

"White Sword!"

"Ready and willing!" The gray unicorn responded holding his head high, his white mane blowing in the wind.

"Fire Frame!"

"Reporting for duty!" another unicorn responded, this one a dark orange with a black mane.

"Sky Razor!"

"At your disposal sir!" a teal coated pegasus said using his right wing to salute. The motion caused his grayish mane to fall in the way of his helmet visor. He hastily began to clean it up with the same wing.

"Star Spear!"

There was no response and for a moment not a single guard moved a muscle

"Star Spear?" the blue unicorn looked before he finished writing down some notes before directly addressing the men. "Where is 2nd Lieutenant Star Spear?" he asked the men. They all shook their heads.

"He was on late night shift sir. Haven't seen him sense yesterday." Jet Stream said

"Well who was supposed to switch out with him last?" the unicorn lieutenant asked.

"Don't know that either sir." White Sword answered "We we're wondering if you knew."

"Well obviously soldier I wouldn't be asking the question if I knew would I!" he snapped back at the unicorn. "So no one has seen or heard from him since last night?"

The orange unicorn raised his hoof up.

"Fire Frame?" the lieutenant addressed the guard "Speak."

"Sir, I was supposed to switch with him last night."

"Well did you?"

"No sir."

The lieutenant's eye twitch for a millisecond as the other three guards turned their heads giving off incredulous looks. "What?" the lieutenant said very slowly, almost as if he was ready to pounce at any moment. "Explain yourself soldier… now!"

"Sir I beg your pardon but Star Spear requested that he take the entire shift when I went to switch with him that night. Not one too argue with why he asked for something like that I accepted his request and returned to the barracks." Fire Frame said

"He's been there all night!?" Jet's mouth nearly dropped in amazement

"That's over doing it. Even for Star Spear." White Sword said

"Request permission to speak sir?" The teal pegasus Sky Razor finally opened his mouth

"Permission granted." The Lieutenant said nodding, his mouth still shaped in an angry frown.

"With all respects to the 2nd Lieutenant shouldn't he have reported in by now?" Sky Razor said "Despite taking two full shifts the moon has set some time ago."

"Sky, what in the name of Celestia are you playing at?" White Sword said twisting his head at the direction of the pegasus.

"I'm saying that this isn't like Star Spear. He's the most stubborn hypocrite I know!"

"Watch your tone soldier!" the lieutenant said angrily

"Sorry sir." Sky said shaking his head "But you know Star Spear, he's the most honorable guy in the entire Royal Guard next to the Captain. "

"Honorable or overly stingy?" Jet added with a fake choke and chuckle.

"Shut up Jet." Sky retorted quickly before continuing to explain. "Star Spear wouldn't break the rules unless it went directly against his morals. To take two full shifts; maybe something happened."

"I just think he fainted on the job…" Fire Frame joked. He then received a hard smack on the side of his head, nearly spinning his helmet around his head a full 180 degrees.

"Well who decided to go back the barracks early?" Sky Razor growled at the orange unicorn.

"Stand down!" The Lieutenant cried before any other violent actions could be made.

"Something the matter?" Shining Armor came inside the barracks and the entirety of the guards inside stood at attention. "Lieutenant Light Shield?"

"Sorry Captain" The Lieutenant said saluting his superior "Questioning the men on the whereabouts of 2nd Lieutenant Star Spear."

"Star Spear?" Shining Armor's eyes frowned a bit trying to remember "I sent him to watch over the library."

"No one else has seen him since then Captain." Light Shield said showing the Captain his roster. "Apparently he was sent to switch with Fire Frame but instead he ended up taking his shift as well."

Shining Armor looked at the orange unicorn before asking "This true?"

"Yes sir." Fire Frame said

Shining Armor started to pace back and forth shortly before redirecting his attention to the lieutenant.

"Alright then" He said straightening his helmet "Lieutenant Light Shield, You take what you have right now. I'll make a personal trip to the library and see if anything happened."

"At once sir!" Light Shield said "You heard the Captain!" He bellowed at the rest of them causing each of them split off in different directions. Only Sky Razor paused for a moment next to Shining Armor.

"Captain" He said "I don't know why but something smells wrong here."

"Let me worry about that soldier." Shining Armor assured the pegasus. Sky nodded before taking flight of f the castle grounds.

Shining Armor slowly made his way towards the library, helmet glowing from the reflection of the sun's rays. As he passed through the castle grounds each guard and soldier that he passed saluted him. He gave the occasional salute or wave back but on his mind we're other things.

Security hasn't been this tight since my wedding day. What is going to happen? Does Twilight know? Do the Princesses know? Does anyone know? *SLAM!* "Ow!" Shining Armor was so lost into his thoughts that he walked straight ahead into the castle gates.

"You alright sir?" A watch guard said at the top of gatehouse.

"I'm fine. Open up I need to check on the guards inside."

Shining paid much more attention inside than he did outside. Last thing he wants to do was walk into a wall or worse; straight out of a window. It's embarrassing enough he ran into a door. What's next now?

"Shining Armor? Dear?"

Shining Armor froze in place as the familiar voice of his wife called to him.

"Shining? Did you hear me? Are you okay?" Princess Cadance said coming around from behind him.

"What? Oh never better. Sorry blanked out there." Shining quickly recovered shaking his head.

Cadence gave her husband a snooty look "Shining Armor, what's going on?"

"I just accidently walked into a door." Shining said as his face turned red embarrassed

"That explains a lot." Cadence chuckled "What caused you to do that?"

"I'm looking for a guard I station at the library. He hasn't reported in since last night."

"The Library?" Cadence said a bit surprised

"You know something?" Shining Armor asked

"The guard last night volunteered to finish up cleaning up the library for both myself and Twilight."

"That sounds like Star Spear." Shining Armor said "I'd better check if he's still in there." He kissed his wife on the cheek before resuming his walk. He'd wasted too much time already thinking. The sooner he got this matter settled the better. As he turned around the corner there still standing in front of the library door was Star Spear. Still clad in armor, not a pinch of dust or dirt on his white coat or yellow mane.

"2nd Lieutenant Star Spear!" Shining Armor said

"Oh uh… Captain!" He said as if woken up form a trance. He was leaning on his spear as if he'd been sleeping on it.

"You haven't reported in for hours. What happened?"

Star Spear made a giant yawn and covered his mouth with one of his hooves.

"Sorry sir, I took another shift to clean up the library. Then I think I simply dozed off."

"Lieutenant, you need not worry about such tasks." Shining Armor said patting the pegasus on the back.

"But it's my duty to assist the royal family whenever possible." Star Spear said trying to stand up straight again visibly exhausted.

"That doesn't mean you have to do their chores." Shining Armor said "You're a good soldier and an even more reliable lieutenant but you have to think for yourself once in a while."

"Yes Captain." Star Spear said saluting before letting his hoof drop to the ground "I will admit I feel like I got smacked on the back of my head."

"Well you still got your helmet on soldier." Shining said tapping the plating of the helm "Take a break for the rest of the day."

"But-"

"No buts about it. You deserve it after all the work you've put in."

"Sir, I must insist that a full day off is-"

"That's an order." Shining Armor said smiling

Star Spear head dropped in defeat. "Yes sir."

"I'll go report what happened back at the barracks. You just get some rest." Shining said before walking away. "I expect you to be in tip top shape tomorrow."

"Of course" Star Spear said smiling weakly as his superior walked out of sight. The smile then turned to a devilish grin. "You can count on him…"

Star Spear turned around and entered the library, locking the doors behind him. "This will give me plenty of time…" he headed deeper into the library, closing the curtains of all the windows and carefully blowing out the candles and torches inside. Within a few minutes most the library was dark, only lit by the sunlight barely piercing through the curtains.

"Now I can finally take this off."

The eyes of the pegasus turned a dark green as his body began to twist and turn. Bug like wings replaced the fake feathers, fangs elongated in his jaws and a twisted horn forced its way out of his forehead, launching the helmet off into the air.

"Now to report my findings…" the changeling said gazing upon a large mirror hanging on the wall. He pointed his gnarled horn at it before firing emerald flames into his reflection. As the mirror image on the wall vanished into the fire another face appeared in its place.

"My Queen, Your humble servant begs an audience." The changeling said with a sneer

Bright harlequin eyes pierced the dark veil behind the flames of mirror image as the face drew closer and clearer revealing none other than Queen Chrysalis.

"My faithful servant Draco, you have done well to conceal yourself for so long within the borders of Canterlot. What do you have for me?" she said

"Your highness I have infiltrated the castle at long last. I have taken the form of a trusted soldier within the Royal Guard."

"Good. Good." Chrysalis said with an evil smile on her face. "But there must be more than that if you risk too call me at this early hour."

"Your majesty I have discovered that a great event is coming to Equestria, an event that will turn the entire nation upside down."

"Go on…"

"A great power has given a warning to the Princesses. It approaches now as we speak."

"Do you know who?" Queen Chrysalis asked

"My lady, the Princesses themselves they say… they say it's the King. They say it's they're father."

"FATHER?" Chrysalis nearly choked causing the other changeling to jump up in surprise. "They have a father who still alive?"

"More than that my Queen, even if it is the truth there is great power to be gained here." Draco finally pulled up the crimson triangular pillar out into view. "This."

"What is that?" Chrysalis said pushing her face as close as she could to her own mirror.

"I'm not sure" Draco said "But this little glow stick in my grasp was hidden here in the library. The guard I impersonated found it by accident when a foolish little pony went digging for answers. It radiates magic all over."

"Have you discovered its properties yet?" Chrysalis asked

"I've only acquired it recently my queen." Draco replied

"Then I suggest you find out whatever secrets it holds. If it contains the power that you imply then I can finally have my revenge on-"

There was then a knock on the library doors. Draco nearly dropped the pillar in shock.

"You have been discovered!" Queen Chrysalis screamed

"I'll deal with this…!" he said pressing his own horn on the mirror to put out the green flames. As the vision of Queen Chrysalis vanished, Draco quickly covered the mirror with another curtain. As he rushed to the doors he stopped himself realizing he still had the red pillar on him. Without thinking, he quickly shoved it into the drawer of the reading desk. I'll be back for it later!

Outside the Library a certain unicorn was knocking on the door…

"Hello?" Twilight said knocking on the door once more before trying the handle "Still locked, why is it locked."

There as a short click and the doors spread wide open revealing the same guard who she saw yesterday.

"Yes?" he asked looking a little annoyed

"I'm sorry but is the library open?" Twilight asked

"Um…"

"Princess Celestia didn't say the library was closed." Twilight continued

Ah son of a shape shifter… Draco thought to himself. There goes the closed library tactic…

"No it's not closed" he said clearing his voice "I was just tidying up and the door accidently locked itself behind me."

"Okay." Twilight said "Well thanks for cleaning up after me."

"Don't mention it." Draco forced a smile in his disguise. I do not want to clean up after you…

"Can you help me find something?" She asked

"What is it?" Go away already!

"I need to get more books on ancient ruins. Can you bring some to the reading table?"

The changeling tried the best he could to not groan at the request. He had no choice. "Of course." He said

Twilight made her self comfortable at the reading table with an already large stack of books while the fake guard began pulling more and more books out from the shelves. A few books my sorry changeling ass! He thought as the pile of books he carried grew ever taller. Keeping his balance he slowly carried the tower of books towards the unicorn.

As he approached Twilight put down the book she was reading. "Thank you sir." She said opening the drawer to place her current book inside. "What is this?"

"What?" The disguised changeling took a peek around the tower and saw the red glow from the insides of the desk drawer.

OH NO! He lost his balance in his panic and the tower of books came toppling down on him, leaving him buried underneath.

"Are you okay?" Twilight asked as she quickly shoved away a dozen books off him. As the remainder of the books slid off the pile a single hardcover textbook hit the guard flat on the head. The blow finally knocked off his concentration and his disguise wore off. Twilight's mouth dropped open as the now revealed changeling opened his very angry bug like eyes. "You're not a-"

Bursting out from the pile he slid underneath the unicorn and kicked the desk with the open drawer on its side, sending the pillar flying out into the air before being caught in the air with his mouth. With his cover blown he immediately kicked off into the air and went straight for the windows.

Before he could reach it, Twilight had picked up another textbook and thrown it directly at the flying changeling, smacking the pillar out of his mouth and causing him to crash into a stone wall. "Oh no you don't!"

The red pillar cycled slowly through the air landing with a slide across the top of one the bookshelves on the second level. Twilight only got a quick glance at where it landed before hearing the rumbling of the changeling rolling around on the second floor. Not wasting more time she grabbed one of the shelf ladders and climbed up for the pillar.

Draco shook off the daze to see the unicorn reaching for the pillar with her hoof from the top of the ladder. "That's mine!" he screamed speeding towards the shelf and then kicking the ladder down the aisle.

Twilight barely had any time to grip the ladder as it shot down the aisle at great speed before stopping at the end of the shelf nearly tossing her off in the process. The changeling Draco then began to scale the bookshelf climbing to the top. His we're hooves about ready to grab the prize until suddenly it was whisked down to the other side of the top.

Twilight had climbed to the top of the shelf and using her magic had begun to pull the item towards her. "You're not getting whatever this is!" she said.

Draco growled at the unicorn in frustration before his own twisted horn turned a sickly green, launching an emerald lash which wrapped itself around the pillar.

The two began a little tug of war on the top of the shelf, both grunting and panting as they tried to pull the pillar closer to them. But Twilight had one advantage. She was a unicorn and not a changeling. Changelings needed to devour the love of others for power.

Draco knew this as his own magic began to flicker out. His green lash becoming thinner and thinner until it looked ready to snap.

Thinking quickly he simply let go.

Twilight had not expected the changeling to simply let his spell fade and the pillar flew pass her head and over the library. As she struggled too stop it before it crashed onto the ground the changeling took the chance to tackle her off the top of the shelf.

Twilight had luckily before being hit had slowed the pillar enough that it landed on the ground floor; right at the bottom of the stairs.

Draco jumped off the shelf with wings flapping; but Twilight still on her back used her magic again. This time several books came flying off the shelves and shot the changeling in mid air. Several of them knocked him out of balance sending him crashing back down onto the floor of the 2nd level. As he got up Twilight sent another barrage of books at him.

"Stop-"*SMACK* "doing-"*POW!* "-that!"*WHAM!*

"No!" Twilight didn't stop until the changeling was buried completely underneath a pile of books. Taking a breath and wiping her forehead she ran down the stairs as quickly as possibly before he could recover.

Fed up with playing games Draco exploded out of the pile in a rage. Roaring his displeasure as the books fell around him. He jumped straight off of the second level and landed with a heavy thud on the ground level. Twilight however already had the pillar in hoof and was more than halfway towards the exit.

Almost there…!

"NOOOOOOOO!" Draco roared launching himself at full speed and double bucking in mid air the center book shelf. The shelves began to fall over like dominoes. Hundreds of books fell as their holders collapsed onto the floor. Twilight barely stopped in time before the last gigantic shelf nearly squashed her flat.

As she turned around the changeling charged screaming "GIVE ME THAT!" before snatching the pillar from her and kicking her on top of the fallen shelf.

"Not this time Twilight Sparkle!" Draco said sneering at the unicorn.

"What… are you doing here?" she asked but the changeling did not bother to answer her question. Leaving her on top of the broken shelf he rushed back into the library.

Twilight pulled herself out of the mess before a hoof tapped her on the back. She jumped around and readied herself for battle.

"Twilight what's going on in here?"

Shining Armor with his helmet on had walked over the fallen pile of books and gazed on his sister. Two guards had also followed closely behind him.

"Shining there's changeling and I think he's stolen something important!" Twilight cried still panting "We have to catch him!"

Back down at the corner of the library the changeling Draco was shoving away the fallen shelves he kicked over.

God damn it where is that mirror?

Pushing aside another shelf away and throwing off the curtains he found it. Gathering the remainder of his magical power he once more shot emerald flames into the reflection. As he readied to jump the small pillar was shot out from under his hoof. "Argh!"

"Not so fast!" Shining Armor said approaching from behind. Both Twilight and the backup guards cornered the changeling.

Draco stared at the opposition. There was no way he could make a grab for the pillar. He had wasted too much energy on that meddling unicorn. His mission was a failure. All that remained was to escape or be captured.

"Surrender yourself changeling." Shining Armor said putting his hoof softly on top of the crystal pillar.

"Never!" Draco snapped back before leaping into the mirror. Shining Armor took a shot, but the changeling made it through the portal; the mirror instead was shattered to pieces.

"He got away…" Twilight said disappointed

"But he didn't get this." Shining Armor added finally picking up the crimson pillar to examine it "What is this and why did he want it?

"I don't know." Twilight said looking for herself "He panicked the second I found it here in the library. But it seems familiar…"

"Familiar?" Shining Armor looked at his sister weirdly "Like you read about this in one of your books?"

"No something different." Twilight replied trying to figure if her thoughts we're correct. "We should take this too Princess Celestia right away!"

"You take it Twilight." Shining said handing her the pillar "The guards and I will check around here for clues. And clean up the mess you both left."

Twilight looked at the absolute mess the Canterlot Royal Library was in after her little scuffle over the pillar. "Oops."

---

Author's Notes
I watched Season 3's premiere so now I have an idea how to adapt the next few chapters. Due to the disappearance and reappearance of the Crystal Empire (as per King Sombra's curse) I can safely say/assume that Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor (Yes he is a prince now. Twilight announces it :3 ) Now rule the restored Crystal Empire.

For simplicity sake we can currently assume in story canon that this part happens before Season 3 but I fully intend to move the timeline forward with later chapters.

Also I realized (again) that Word's spelling and grammar check is retarded and a lot of time asks me to replace Cadence with Cadance or Cadince(As it auto corrected on previous chapters.) along with other little and stupid errors.

If I get the time I'll see about re-updating the chapters with slightly correct grammar and canon name spelling.

Read (if you haven't already by skipping the chapter and going to the bottom LOL!) and Review. I'm open to any opinions and ways I can improve. I'm still quite a newbie at writing period (Let alone a story about colorful ponies ROFL)

Ultima75000