Spectre Squad: Ghosts of the Past

by NPP6

Chapter 1 - Arrival

PRESENT

Lieutenant Spring Snowfall smiled as she swung her duffel bag up and onto her shoulders. The train had just pulled in to her stop, and she now had a short five mile walk to camp before she reported for duty.

She was looking forward to this assignment. It was going to be her last duty post, training this year’s crop of the Equestrian Guard. After this, she had earned herself an early retirement with full salary and benefits, so she would be able to actually consider herself as living with her husband and their three foals.

She found her mood reflected in the cloudless sky as she thought of the three months of ease she had ahead of her at Camp Pinemont.

---

Blade’s expression was neutral as she boarded the train at Canterlot Station. A good guard shows no emotion.

Still, she couldn’t help but flick an ear in annoyance as voices echoed up to her from further down the train. That one idiot stallion again, she was sure of it. He was always drawing attention to himself, it was like he couldn’t survive if he wasn’t in the spotlight. She would never admit to the small thrill of pleasure it gave her every time she scored higher than he did on some test or another.

---

Lime closed the last zipper on his suitcase, pulled it off the bed, and rolled it to the door. “Well, I’m off.”

His mother’s voice floated out from the kitchen. “That’s nice dear. Should we expect you for dinner tomorrow night or the night after?”

“Uh, Mom? Guard training takes weeks.”

“Only if you finish it.” His father turned a page in his newspaper.

Lime sighed and slipped out.

---

Hawthorne laughed as the stallion across from him finished his story. It didn’t feel quite the same as being with his friends back home, but he figured that was just a time thing. After all, he had only known these ponies for a few weeks of classroom training.

It wasn’t really crucial to being a guard, just tactics, history, book stuff. But it was a good way to kick start a career, so most of the serious recruits took it.

He was actually pretty proud of himself; he had come out second in his class. If his entire career went like this, then he had a lot to look forward to.

Someday, he promised himself, I’ll be there on the front lines.

---

“I want him out of my fort.”

“Commander, I understand he’s not the easiest pony to work into your guards, but–”

“No Princess” Fort Commander Sunset Dust sighed, “This… I’ve served you as best I can for years, but… I already have the letters written and ready to mail. Either he leaves with you, or I tender my resignation to every superior I have.”

---

Blade looked around the camp. Her group had arrived a few days early, a break deliberately placed so that recruits could visit their families between training sessions.

She didn’t really mind spending extra time here though, it gave her a chance to learn the terrain. Besides, it wasn’t like she had anyplace else to be.

---

“Lieutenant Snowfall,” Base Commander Sweet Sound smiled across his desk. “I can honestly say that it’s an honor to have you here. You’re one of the only teachers I’ve had working here who I actually know of by reputation.

“Unfortunately, we’ve got a problem. Some secretary transposed a few digits, and we wound up with twice the number of trainers that we need. Which opened the door for politics to happen to my roster.”

“Short version sir?”

“The short version is that I know you were promised a unit to train and a classroom for a seminar, but… The powers-that-be have spoken. Your class has been canceled and you’ve been assigned as an XO to one of the rookie officers. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sir, these things happen.”

---

Hawthorne collapsed onto his bunk, a satisfied grin plastered to his face. He’d finally made it. He was really going to be a guard.

After a moment, he got up and looked out a window. Outside, the sun was just beginning to set. He could see a lone mare crossing the compound. Where is everypony? Did I miss out on an announcement or something?

He left to search for somepony who knew what was going on.

---

Celestia and Dodge were travelling by train this time. The princess had taken advantage of the railroad in the hopes that it would give her a chance for a private conversation with the colt. She had been waiting for her companion to start, but he seemed quite content to hold his peace. It fell to her then. “Dodge… This was the fourth post in as many weeks. I thought this place would be perfect for you, you should have fit right in to the cowpony society. What happened?”

“Same as the last three times, I upset the foalsitter.”

“Dodge… I’m not trying to foalsit you, I’m trying to give you an opportunity!”

The colt laughed. “Gee, an opportunity to be a tin soldier, how can I ever thank you enough.”

“An opportunity to turn your life around! There’s potential in you that I want to see you live up to. I can see it, Black Diamond could–”

“Don’t. You. Dare.”

It was the ice in his voice that got Celestia’s attention. She had managed to evoke several emotions from the colt, but anger had never been one of them. “Dodge? I thought you’d forgiven her?”

“I couldn’t. There was nothing to forgive. She was saving my life, and even if I don’t like all the results, she was doing her best.

“So don’t you dare use her name. Not like that. Not so that you can invoke it like some kind of magic charm to keep me in line.

“That filly is a hero. You forget, I don’t just know her, I know what she did. She risked everything including her soul to save us. She went into shadows and night to fight the darkness and the monsters it spawned.

“And you? You know I used to defend you? People talked about the things you did, and I used to make excuses for you. And then I was actually in one of those catastrophes, and you know what I couldn’t help but notice?

“You weren’t there.

“So where were you? You weren’t trapped. You weren’t beaten. You weren’t fighting somewhere else. You. Just. Weren’t. There.

“When we needed you, even though we didn’t know it, you were nowhere to be found. Fifty-seven. That’s how many foals were taken in Manehatten. And you didn’t even notice.

“And because of that, because you were too busy in your castle, eating cake and looking pretty, a thirteen year old had to step into the shadows and up to the plate. Equestria survived because she picked up the slack that our ‘benevolent ruler’ is supposed to carry!

“So don’t you dare try to pretend that you’re anything like her. Not to me. Because I know both of you, and I know the difference. She cares.”

To say that Celestia felt slapped across the face would be an understatement. She was more stunned than she had been in centuries, in no small part due to the flashback triggered of another young thief delivering a similar rant in a dungeon. “You don’t think I care?”

“You think you do? Tell me Princess, exactly what have you done lately? Anything?

“And don’t mention raising the sun. If all you are is an overglorified light switch, do you really deserve a crown? You’re no leader. And you’re no ruler. You’re just an illusion, basking in her own glory and convincing the masses to follow her with flash and powder while she shuffles inconvenient little things she can’t control out of the way until they disappear.

“Oh don’t worry, I’m not going to disillusion any of your loyal guards. They don’t deserve that, to pay for your crimes. No, I realize how attached they are to your image, how desperately they need it to feel safe when things get scary. But I promise you Celestia, I will never be one of them.

“Beat me, whip me, torture me, imprison me, bribe me, buy me, kill me, dress me up, pardon me, convict me, chain me, blackmail me, hurt me, feed me, order me, bespell me, banish me, do whatever you can think of, and I swear to you,” Dodge had been looking out the window for most of his monologue, and now turned to lock eyes with the mare. “You. Will. Never. Have. My. Loyalty.”

For all her faults, Celestia tried her best to never ignore a valid point. She closed her eyes and willed her heart to slow for a moment while she considered. There were many things she could say… or do… so many paths open, but… When her eyes opened, Dodge felt like there was something different about them. Had he known her better, he would have realized they’d changed color, shifting to a shade that only two ponies in Equestria would have recognized.

“Alright then Dodge, you think I’m wrong. Fair enough, I’ve met plenty who’ve said much the same before.

“So we’re going to make a bet. I’m going to give you one last posting, and you’re going to stick with it until it’s over.”

Dodge snorted, “And this is going to be different because…?”

“Because your other postings were expecting a guard, something I thought you could be with the skills you already had. I’ll admit, I was hoping you’d be a good fit for a project I wanted to start, but that’s obviously not the case. This time though, they won’t be expecting you to be a guard, quite the opposite in fact. This time, I’m sending you to a training camp.”

“You still haven’t answered the question, what makes you think they won’t boot me out of there too?”

“Because this time you won’t want them to. This time, you have something to prove. I still haven’t told you what the stakes to our wager are. I want you to go there, and take the attitude you have right now with you. Take it to your fellow recruits. Truth survives hotter fires than lies, so your training should help reveal who’s right and who’s wrong. One of you is infected with a lie, and either the guard will cure you or you’ll cure them.

“It won’t be enough to cause damage, just one year’s crop of guards. But it will be enough, that when crisis comes, there’s a better chance of having at least one pony who can handle it, who’s not going to wait with bated breath for the sun to arrive on alabaster wings with fire pouring from her horn to save the day.”

“And what makes you think I would agree to your wager?”

“Because I know your kind, better than you can imagine. And I know that you can’t pass up a chance to help things change for the better like this.”

There was silence for nearly an hour after that. Dodge finally broke it by spitting in his hoof and holding it out.

---

Hawthorne watched as the ponies arrived through the camp’s front gate and had to suppress a chuckle as he remembered how he’d spent an hour last week wandering around trying to figure out why there were fewer ponies here than there had been at the school.

---

Celestia let the invisibility spell around her and Dodge drop as they slipped into the base commander’s office. “Commander Sound, I trust you received my letters?”

The stallion behind the desk looked up, long years of training preventing him from reacting visibly to the alicorn’s appearance. “Yes your majesty. All of the paperwork is in order as you requested as well. I take it that this is Private Lighthoof then?”

“Yes. Now then, if you have a moment, I need to discuss a few final things with you.”

---

Lime Gaze looked around. He figured he was about three hours late, but he didn’t technically have to check in until tomorrow, so that wasn’t a problem. What might be a bit of a problem was that he was beginning to think he was lost.

This place looked more like a colt scout camp than a Guard facility. It was just a hoofful of buildings in the middle of a forest for Celestia’s sake! After the fourth time he checked his map to be sure, he landed just outside the front gates and trotted up to ask.