I - Assassination
Where Loyalties Lie
Act I: Honor Guard
by Loyal Liar
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Chapter I: Assassination
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"Rainbow! You—" The air rushed past Rainbow's ears, cutting out most of her friend's words. "—down! I'm not—"
"I'll take us down in a minute, Twilight!" Rainbow Dash shouted back over the wind flying through her mane. "We're not close enough to Canterlot yet."
"No! I—"
The wind felt totally awesome. Awesome enough, even, to drown out the screaming unicorn behind her. "Still can't hear you, Twilight! Hold on!" Dash tilted her wings up, and swept backward into a tight loop. It brought her head close enough to the cart behind her to hear Twilight over the wind.
"—to slow down! Wait, please don—" Twilight's words quickly devolved into a primal scream of panic. The last bit of her attempt to communicate was the result of a simple fact of cart-pulling, with which Dash was not intimately familiar. This fact is summarized very easily. The cart goes wherever the leader goes. In this case, Twilight's scream came from Dash's loop, which rapidly turned into the cart's loop. Judging by her response, Dash didn't mind.
"Why would I want to slow down, Twilight? We're making great time, even by my standards!"
"Because the cart is breaking!" Twilight managed to shout back.
Dash threw a glance over her shoulder, at which point she found herself caught between the guilty desire to laugh, and the heart-stopping fear that her friend was probably about to die. Twilight was barely managing to stand on a pair of wooden planks, each attached to one of the ropes of Dash's harness. Nothing else remained of the admittedly ramshackle cart that they had left Ponyville with. Both planks looked like they wouldn't last much longer. And yet the image of Twilight 'skiing' through the sky, halfway to screaming, was priceless. Rainbow managed to choke back a laugh, and focus on the very real problem. In her mind, there was only one logical solution.
"Don't worry, Twilight! I've got this under control."
Then she sped up.
Passerby in the densely populated park known as Canterlot Square would later describe what they saw as a 'screaming rainbow fireball'. Thankfully, a powerful voice was on hand to take control of the situation on the ground.
"Everypony! Clear a path! Get out of the way!" a towering unicorn stallion bellowed, even as his horn pulled some of the younger park visitors away from the area that would soon be 'ground zero'.
Meanwhile, in the air, Dash pondered why Twilight was screaming so loud. It was just a landing. She wasn't even going that fast.
A deep and resounding impact, bearing resemblance to the noise a wad of dough makes when slammed on a counter-top, was followed immediately by a pair of soul-splitting cracks and a long scraping noise that ultimately evoked the feeling of giant nails on a half-mile long chalkboard. When all the noise was done, the scene was marked only by its sights. They consisted of two young, out-of-town mares lying at the end of a trench one hundred paces long, where the grass of the park had been brutally furrowed and ripped up. Smoke rose from the pile of cinders, splinters, and shattered planks that had formerly been a cart.
Rainbow Dash stood up almost immediately, with a smile plastered across her face. "That. Was. Awesome!"
Apparently, the sentiment was not shared by Twilight Sparkle, who rose to her feet with her mane swept back into what was best described as a purple spike behind her head. This change was accompanied by dirt and splinters covering her face from where she had rolled in the ground, and a generally sour expression.
Dash forced a hoof to her mouth to stifle a laugh.
"Don't you dare laugh! Somepony could have been seriously hurt, Rainbow Dash!"
"Thankfully, no pony was, Twiley. I love your new mane cut, by the way," Shining Armor muttered with an impressively straight face as he approached from the distant, leering crowd. His amethyst-plated armor shone in the early morning light.
Dash couldn't hold it any longer, and she collapsed to the ground again, rolling and laughing in the grass of Canterlot Square.
"Big brother!" Twilight stepped away from the hoof-full of broken planks that had formerly been her chariot, with a deep blush across her face. "Ehehe…"
Shining Armor laughed as he rubbed a hoof across Twilight's head, achieving both a noogie and a quick mane-styling job in a single action. "It's good to see you."
"Uh, Twilight…" In the course of Twilight's reunion with her brother, Dash's rolling laughter had managed to get her quite impressively stuck in the straps of her harness. "…a little help?"
A combination of pink and purple magical auras made short work of the knots, and Dash stepped away from the completely ruined pile of scrap that had formerly been a wagon. "Good to see you, Shining Armor."
"And you too, Rainbow Dash." The muscular stallion's gaze swept over the crowd, which was beginning to reassemble, before he turned to his sister. "Should we head up to the Castle?"
"What about this?" Twilight gestured toward the mess, and the crowd of now quite irritated onlookers whose days at the park had been rudely interrupted. "You aren't here to arrest us?"
"Of course not." Shining smiled, before gesturing his head toward the Palace that dominated the skyline overhead. "I'll get some of the guardsponies to take care of it. Now let's go."
Leaving the crash scene behind them, the three ponies turned their attentions to the Equestrian Capital. Canterlot was brimming with exactly the sort of snobby, nose-in-the-air ponies that made Dash's stomach turn on sight. Thankfully, the summertime sweaters and ironic scarves lasted only up to the drawbridge into the castle proper, where a pair of gold-clad guards kept the masses at bay. Shining Armor stopped at the doors of the castle to whisper something in one's ear.
When he walked back to the two Ponyville mares, Twilight gave him a quizzical glance. "Say, big brother, were you waiting for us? I mean, don't you have somewhere better to be?"
Shining Armor put on a very fake pouting face. "Oh, Twiley, I thought I was your big-brother best-friend-forever. Now you don't even want me to spend time with you?"
Dash groaned as the sibling antics continued. For just a moment, she was tempted to consider the idea of asking Twilight an 'egghead' question, but a pang in the back of her mind told her it would be nicer to let things run their course. It was worth putting up with their cheesy dialogue to avoid another collegiate-length lecture. As Shining Armor continued teasing his sister, he began to lead Twilight and Dash through the Castle proper.
While Twilight and the guardspony captain rattled on and on, discussing everything that came to mind, from the weather, to family, to magic, Dash's eyes remained focused on the palace. The architecture was beautiful, even if it lacked the comforting softness of the buildings back home in Cloudsdale. Everywhere were whites and golds and purples, accentuated by stained glass windows of events Dash barely understood. Occasionally, she caught glimpse of something she had seen, heard of, or even lived through: Nightmare Moon, Discord, the Dragon Wars of twenty years past, and so many more glass memories. It was strange to see Equestria's past unfold, and in a way, even stranger that so much of it was so alien.
The pegasus' attention turned back to her friend and her escort only when they both stopped, at the foot of a tall staircase leading to a pair of aged golden doors.
Twilight stepped toward the stairs, but then stopped, turning back to her brother. "Shining, I appreciate you taking your time to show us around. I just don't want you to get in trouble for skipping out on your duties."
"Relax, Twilight. I can get a little while off if I need it to stay in touch with my little sister. And if there is a problem, I'm sure the Princess will understand if I tell her I was ensuring the safety of her personal student."
"Actually, Captain, I'm quite inclined to believe that my faithful student can take care of herself. She's quite the competent magician, even if her talents aren't as martial as your own."
Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, and Shining Armor all jumped, as one, and then dropped into bows. In the midst of their conversation, the towering form of Princess Celestia had managed to approach unnoticed from somewhere within the bowels of the sprawling palace. For her part, Celestia wore the smile of a giddy young filly, having pulled off a silly prank.
The unquestioned ruler of Equestria wore her usual golden peytral and tiara. The golden ornamentation served to highlight the pure glow that seemed to be her constant companion.
"None of you need to bow to me, please. You've all done more for Equestria than I could ever hope to repay." Celestia paused while her three subjects rose to their feet. "I've been looking forward to seeing you again, my faithful student. And you as well, Rainbow Dash. Captain Armor, I'm afraid I will have to relieve you of your guard for the time being. I'd like some time to speak with my student, as well as her companion. You should head back to your post."
"Of course, Princess." Shining Armor offered a stiff nod, before turning to walk away. The embarrassment on his face was obvious, even beneath his helmet.
The Princess smiled with the same graceful smile that seemed to always occupy her features. "Thank you, Captain. As for Twilight and Rainbow, if you will please follow me." Celestia turned, moving up the nearby staircase toward the golden doors at its apex.
"I would like to thank you for helping Twilight get here, Rainbow. When I heard that the train had broken down, I was worried I'd have to reschedule my meeting with Twilight. And, of course, Princess Luna would have missed her tonight. I'm sure my sister would be equally pleased to see you for the ceremony."
"Uh… ceremony?" Dash asked.
Twilight sighed. Dash dove for the metaphorical trenches to brace herself for what she considered to be a very literal assault, in the form of one of Twilight's egghead explanations. "I told you about this last week, Rainbow. It's why I needed to come up here in the first place. Princess Luna will be hosting the Royal Academy's Arcane Studies' Awards Ceremony this year, and she invited me after reading some of my work on Emotionally-Based Harmonic Arrays."
"Right. I remember. Sounds fun. So, uh, what now?"
Celestia's smile didn't seem to actually change, yet it somehow took on an obviously apologetic quality. "To be brutally honest, Rainbow, my palace staff is largely busy preparing for tonight's affairs. I don't have much to keep a flyer like yourself interested, at least at the moment. If you can bear to sit with an old mare and her student for a while, I'm sure we can find a topic to discuss that you'll find bearable. After lunch, perhaps my sister can entertain you. I understand she's grown quite fond of racing."
Dash's face lit up like Hearth's Warming Lights.
Celestia, for her part, threw a wink to Twilight, which went entirely unnoticed by the pegasus racer.
- - -
Not far away, Princess Luna paced in her room, staring out at the mid-day sky as her silver-clad hooves tapped against the aging stonework beneath her. It seemed ironic that her dominion over the night did not allow her to get a good night's sleep. Instead, the opposite was true—sleep never came to her. To a normal pony, that would likely seem a blessing, but she knew all too well the stresses that came with sleepless nights and days of ruling and doubting, blending and mixing until she was unsure which was which.
It had been almost three years since the end of her exile. In that time, one of her most important projects was repairing Celestia's influences on the magical education of their subjects. Her older sister showed such an unimaginative favoritism for what she termed 'practical, straightforward' magic that she never seemed to even consider the finer points of the arcane arts. That was to say nothing of her blunt, power-first methodology to casting. It took a wholly unreasonable amount of tiny suggestions and private lessons to various tutors and graduating students, but her efforts had finally paid off. One of her own personal students, Cloudy Mirror, was finally being recognized for contributions to Equestria's understanding of magic. It was a prestigious honor, and one she had every pride in her student for achieving.
Unfortunately, Cloudy Mirror's idea of thanking Luna for her guidance was to set up the entire award ceremony in her honor, and put her in the spotlight in front of countless noble and magically-educated ponies from all across Equestria. It was exactly the sort of recognition that would have meant the world to her a thousand years ago.
The unfortunate truth was that things had changed in a thousand years. With a sigh, Luna stepped out onto her balcony, and looked down over the whole of Equestria. As expected, it was a beautiful day. Almost as if somepony could control the sun itself, and really wanted her to have a good day. Yet another reminder of just how blunt Celestia's methods were.
Luna spread her wings, only to hear a soft cough from over her shoulder. The Princess didn't need to turn to know that the voice belonged to one of the Honor Guard, tasked with protecting Celestia from harm, and now grudgingly also burdened with the protection of her sister. Luna hadn't bothered to learn his name.
"We do not require your company, guardspony."
The stallion’s bladed steel shoes made a series of shallow clangs upon the marble floor as he made his way across the bedroom toward the balcony’s doors. He stopped at the threshold, making sure to keep a respectful distance between himself and the princess. Luna had no fantasy that the distance was actually the product of any respect on his part. "I am tasked with protecting you, Princess."
"Does my sister think I cannot handle myself in danger?" Without waiting for an answer, Luna stepped up onto the edge of the balcony, and then leapt off, wings folded to her side to allow her a faster fall. The shouting that followed her was immensely satisfying.
"Princess, I have to request you return to the Palace immediately!" the guard bellowed over the rushing wind. Giving credit where credit was due, his focus on decorum was impressive in such a steep dive.
Luna shot her wings out at the last moment, pulling up into the steep ascent that the Wonderbolts referred to as a 'suicide rise'. She had to admit, she was disappointed that the Pegasus guard had not chased her. She spun to lose the last bit of momentum from her fall, and then pulled herself back up to the level of the balcony, where the guardspony was waiting.
"We are going to the Royal Academy, to check on preparations for tonight. If you must, you may come along."
No response—not even a correction of the Princess' entirely deliberate use of the royal plural—was offered. Instead, the flight to the Academy was quiet. Far below, however, the midday streets were filled with onlookers who couldn't help but notice how the indigo fur of the princess stood out against the bright summer sky. She could see them pointing, and whispering amongst themselves. A few bowed. Others went about their busy ordeals. It was just as strange an occurrence for the Princess as for her subjects, but arrangements had to be made—and more importantly, Luna desperately needed some space from the overbearing care of the Palace staff. At least the one who seemed chained to her presence remained quiet.
The rough stone walls of the Royal Academy passed beneath her, marking the last of the gawking onlookers. The building inside was a collection of thick round towers—much like the style of the palace, though more reasonably grounded, and with less by way of embellishment. Its wide, rough gray stonework reminded her of the old castle, which lay now in ruins deep within the Everfree Forest. She caught herself neck-deep in nostalgia, and shook off the memories as quickly as she could. There were more important things to focus on.
As Luna soared in for a landing, a stuffy looking Unicorn mare pushed open the front doors of the Academy and wandered out. The mare’s eyes widened considerably as she caught sight of the approaching moon princess.
"Your Majesty! We weren't expecting you so soon. Aren't you a bit out of your element at this hour?"
"If we only traveled out in the midnight hours, we would be hard pressed to ever meet any of our subjects," Luna responded. For a moment, there was silence, as she waited for the correction that never came. It had almost become a hobby, even if the plural wasn't always a deliberate tease.
"Yes, I'm sure. Well, my name is Crystal Ball. I am the headmistress here at the Academy, and your sister's advisor on magical affairs. I've been so looking forward to meeting you. Can I get you anything, Princess?" The entire speech was delivered with well-practice graces that only served to make it clear just how many times the words had been repeated. The nasal accent in which they were offered made the last intentions of the words completely clear.
Some sincerity, Luna thought to herself. "I would like to see the arrangements for tonight's proceedings."
Crystal Ball nodded sharply. "Right this way. "
Empty hallways led past empty classrooms and lecture halls, until finally coming to an similarly empty open courtyard. Here, hundreds of cushions had been arranged in a series of sweeping arcs before an ornately decorated stage, emphasizing Luna's indigo, black, and silver theme. A handful of tables around the edges of the seating area offered refreshments, as well as showing off some of the more visually impressive work presented by students at the Academy.
Luna's focus was shaken away when the mare—what was her name again?—spoke up with another nasal inquiry. "Is there anything we could do to make it more fitting? I'm afraid I had to put Cloudy Mirror in charge of decoration, and he always proves so fond of theatrics. I'll be impressed if nothing collapses tonight."
"It is…" Luna took a moment to sweep it all in. "…magnificent."
"Oh, you don't need to spare my feelings, your majesty. Be honest."
Luna reined in her sense of awe just long enough to shoot a pointed glance at Crystal Ball, who seemed utterly bored with the whole ornate affair. The glare went completely unnoticed. As the red-coated mare rubbed a hoof against her chest, she shrugged. "Well, if you want me to change anything, do please tell me before it gets too close to the event. And I trust you have your speech prepared."
"Of course," Luna lied. Preparing a speech had not even entered her mind.
"Good. Then if you'll follow me again, I'll show you to your box."
Again, the mare guided Luna and her silent guard through the academy. They climbed a long spiral staircase, until finally they stepped out onto a balcony, emerging from the side of the academy wall. It was a good few hundred feet above the ground floor—the sort of fall that would give a wingless pony vertigo. Above and behind her were the crenelations and pointed towers that topped the various branches of the Academy structure. Gargoyles depicting all manner of fearsome creatures decorated the spaces around her, casting a maze of shadows in the now just-past-noon sunlight.
"Are we not a bit far from our subjects?" Luna asked, again turning her attention to the seats far below. "I understand my sister generally sits amidst the other ponies."
"I thought this was more to your style, your Majesty," the headmistress answered. "And I figure it would be a nightmare to be…" Her words trailed off at the sight of the spark in Luna's eyes. "Oh my…"
Luna's response was controlled, and soft, and above all, intimidating. "Pray tell, a what?" The subtle upward inflection of the last word suggested the pause between a bolt of lightning and the crack of thunder. The comparison was made perfectly clear when a bolt of lightning ripped the distant sky; whether it was truly from the Princess' temper, only she could say.
"Er, that is to say, I imagined that both you and the guests might be more comfortable at a… greater distance…"
Crystal Ball edged backward as Luna's eyes began to glow. The control had disappeared; the thunder was sounding. "We are no longer the dark beast that haunts the nightmares of foals! We—"
The slowly gathering darkness stopped when a gold plated body stepped between her and the cowering academic. His eyes were cold, and his stance was ready for battle. She could have read his mind, but the way he looked at her told her everything she needed to know.
They stood for almost an eternity, unmoving, as Luna was silently judged by a council of her own thoughts. There, before her, was a quivering, whimpering mare who saw only the terror that Luna once been, and the stigma she wished she could escape.
"Forgive me," Luna stepped away from the balcony, as a torrent of water surged toward her eyes, yearning to burst free. To have fallen so far over a simple word—a slip of the tongue—should have been below her.
The honor guard turned to Crystal Ball, placing a hoof on her shoulder. "It's okay, ma'am. You're safe. The balcony will be just fine. The Commander would prefer it anyway." Having said his peace, the guard stood up, and walked back to Luna's side. "We should leave."
It took her an eternity to muster even the words to answer him. "Thank you. You were very brave."
The guardspony shrugged. "It was scarier the first time."
- - -
It took Dash almost ten minutes to realize she was drooling over a thousand-bit Pegasus-down pillow. Her interest in the conversation at hand had already passed, as had her interest in the outside weather, the immaculately valuable furniture of the room, and even the phoenix sitting on a perch in the corner.
"If I may, Twilight, I've had a long day of politics already, and I would love to move on to another topic. It seems that Rainbow thinks the same."
"Huh?" Dash asked groggily, cocking her head at the mention of her name.
"Sure!" Twilight answered, giddy in her own egg-headedness. "What do you want to talk about?"
Dash's gaze moved lazily up to the ceiling, where she saw a vast array of vines, decorated in golden flowers. They climbed over a sort of mantle, which separated the room's plain white ceiling from its gold and silver walls. Buried amongst the vines were four statues of ponies Dash didn't recognize, along with more than a few hooffulls of other baubles and trinkets whose purpose she couldn't hope to discern.
"Well, given the subject of the ceremony tonight, I was wondering if you could teach me a bit about illusory magic."
"Teach you?"
Celestia's ever-present smile grew softer. "Illusion has always been difficult for me. In fact, my sister insists that I have let its study stagnate to the point of uselessness in her absence. I was hoping you might have learned something in your studies."
"Well, yes, I guess I know a few things. Umm... Rainbow, come here."
Dash's gaze snapped down from the ceiling when her name was called. At least something was happening. "Yeah? If this is for magic, you can count me out."
"Well, who else am I supposed to use? The Princess is basically immune to my magic, and..."
"Fine, whatever." Dash rose, and paced forward. When she had taken up a spot near Twilight, she sat down. "I'd really appreciate not ending up as a stallion or a mouse or something, if it's all the same to you."
"Oh, you don't need to worry, Rainbow. Illusion magic doesn't actually change anything; it just makes it look like something has changed. It's sort of like lying to the senses. For example, I can make you look..."
Twilight's voice trailing off was accompanied by a glowing light around Rainbow Dash. Slowly it grew into a blinding white orb that encompassed the pegasus completely. The light lingered only for a passing heartbeat, before fading as though it had never been.
"So, what'd you—woah!" Dash was caught completely off-guard by her voice. The primary reason for the surprise was that it wasn't her voice at all. Instead, it was surprisingly masculine. A quick cursory glance at her body informed her that the sound wasn't the only thing that changed. "I'm a guardspony?"
"Not just any guardspony." Twilight levitated a mirror from somewhere out of Dash's sight and set it down in front of her. What the pegasus filly saw was a tall, powerful white unicorn stallion staring back at her with a smug grin. "What do you think, big brother?"
"I know I told you not to turn me into a stallion, but this could be pretty fun." Dash laughed, with Shining Armor's voice, as possibilities poured into her mind. "Make me do some magic, Twilight."
"I can't," she answered. "I mean, I could do magic, but it wouldn't look like it was coming from you. Illusions can't recreate other magic, Unicorn, Pegasus, or Earth Pony. If I turned myself into you, I still couldn’t fly, or even move air by flapping the wings."
"Oh well," Dash muttered, with the stallion's voice. "I could still pull off so many great pranks."
"Illusion is a fine and noble school of magic, Rainbow Dash. It isn't to be used for 'pranking'." Twilight's horn ignited, and it took only a moment for Dash to return to her usual form.
"I do hope you'll tell my sister that, Twilight," Celestia muttered out the corner of her mouth.
"Uh... okay?" Twilight offered, before desperately trying to change the subject. "Anyway, illusion is all about control. It can fool any of the five senses, but it requires great focus to maintain; most ponies can't keep an illusion up while simultaneously using other magic. And... why am I telling you this, Princess? You already know all this, don't you?"
"No, in fact, Twilight, I do not," Celestia answered. "Illusion is one of the great holes in my magical talent, unfortunately. The fact is, my magic does not bend well to illusion."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Dash asked. "Isn't it just magic? I mean, I'm a stunt flyer, but I can still fly long-distance or altitude flying if I need to."
"Ah, a topic that you and I can share, while leaving Twilight out of the loop?" Celestia giggled a bit, earning an embarrassed blush from Dash. "I'm only teasing, Rainbow. What I mean is that a unicorn's magic is picky; it varies much more from pony to pony than wings do. I don't say this to sound like a braggart, but my position gives me access to much more magical power—we call it mana—than any other Unicorn. I can do magic that is beyond most other ponies, but it comes at a great cost to my control. I suppose a good comparison would be trying to fly with wings twice as long as your body."
Dash nodded. "I guess it'd be pretty hard to do any stunts that way." Then her stomach grumbled in desire of food; she had nearly opened her mouth to ask for some when the Princess spoke up again.
"Precisely. Also, some ponies favor certain branches of magic; the distinction is based on their special talent, but I'd have a hard time explaining Clover's research without you dozing off. Not that I blame you." Celestia rolled over onto her side, twisting the satin of her large gold cushion. "Suffice it to say that illusions and I don't get along. I tend to put in too much mana. Things end up looking like a bad painting, if I'm lucky."
From there, Princess Celestia and Twilight embarked on a voyage discussing something about the conversation of mana over expensive... something. Sitting around was back to being incredibly boring, but this time, the Pegasus was no longer tired enough to just take a nap. Her eyes drifted around the room, until finally they settled on the dense overgrowth of the ceiling. Dash spread her wings and began to gently flap upward toward the plants.
Two dozen feet up into the tall ceiling, Dash found herself walking on the 'mantle' amongst the statues of ponies and the dense bed of vines. The domed ceiling concealed what seemed to be another whole room atop Celestia's ornate bedchamber. After looking at it for a moment, she realized that the room was designed like a mushroom, with a small 'stem', where the egghead and the Princess were talking, and a cool, colorful overhead with tons of weird stuff to explore. Of course, the exploring could wait until she was done with her snack. She lowered her head to one of the golden flowers, and had nearly closed her lips when a voice interrupted her.
"If you're hungry, Rainbow, you need only ask."
Dash stopped mid-bite, before stepping away from the flower with an embarrassed look. In an attempt to preserve her 'coolness', she walked over to a statue on the very edge of the canopy area and leaned against it, crossing her hooves idly. "I'm sorry, Princess. I'm not really that hungry though."
"Of course not. You're bored. There's nothing to be sorry about, my little pony. I could go for something to eat myself, but I should warn you that those plants are quite poisonous. I know I probably shouldn't keep them where somepony might try to get a snack, but they look so nice, and I so rarely have company here. Anyway," Celestia looked up into the maze of vines and plants, before settling her gaze on the statue against which Dash was leaning. "Commander. Come here."
To Dash's utter shock, the statue responded. As it moved, she felt stone become fur and armor against her own coat. The pegasus soared down in smooth flight, before folding his wings and landing without a sound. The perfect silence of his motion only served to amplify the grunt of pain that followed as his right rear leg fell out from beneath him.
Celestia stood from her cushion, as did Twilight, but the armored guardspony was back on his hooves before either. "I'm fine," he muttered, in a voice that lingered on the verge of growling. "What do you need, Princess?"
"Are you sure you're—"
"I'm fine," he answered adamantly. Dash was struck by the one thing that set him apart from the uniform jet white form of every other Pegasus guard she had ever seen: his armor. Much like Shining Armor's unique uniform, this stallion's armor was covered in what appeared to be a smooth coating of black gems, or perhaps some other material beneath a coat of lacquer. Only its darkness was assured. The armor sparkled only faintly, even in the excellent lighting of the Princess' bedroom. "What do you need from me?" its owner asked.
"I'd like you to take Rainbow Dash to meet with Princess Luna. And send Lieutenant Flag in."
The guardspony acquiesced with a hard nod. "Come on," he growled in Rainbow's direction, before limping in obvious pain toward the door. None of the observers commented on his distress. Dash jumped down, and glided smoothly through the open door. It slammed shut behind her, very bluntly ending her conversation with Twilight and the Princess.
"Please follow me," the guardspony asked, in a voice that didn't ask at all, but instead demanded. He spread his wings and began to fly down the hallway, albeit at a walking pace. Dash followed on hoof, noting out of the corner of her eye how the other palace staff they passed (all three of them) gave her escort a wide berth.
Though she would never admit it, it took Dash some time to build up the courage to speak to him. In the time it took her to prepare herself, they crossed what seemed like a mile of tangled passages and spiral staircases, all in total silence. The stallion certainly didn't seem like the type to talk if he didn't have to. Asking him something like his name would probably just earn a scowl or a grunt. Instead, she tried something more interesting. "So... how'd you do that statue thing?"
"Ask the Princess. It's her magic," he answered, just as briefly as Dash had expected. She had another question prepared, but it slipped from her mind a mere few moments later. The stallion landed before a pair of tall black doors, embossed with swirling silver in the pattern of clouds. Without bothering to announce himself, or even knock, he pushed the portal open.
"After you."
Dash walked into the dark room to find it surprisingly barren. Rather than being divided into walls, the room was a perfect circle. A large, four-post bed dominated one side of the space, while the other had a simple desk of dark wood, flanked by a pair of nearly-empty shelves. Opposite the entrance stood another pair of glass doors that opened onto a balcony overlooking all of Canterlot.
One of those doors hung ajar, and beyond it, Dash could clearly see Princess Luna, with her head hung low over the balcony's ornate marble railing. Her wings weren't really folded at her sides so much as crumpled there. Her hair danced in the breeze of another world, obscuring her face. She barely moved.
Despite not needing her friends gifts to identify the problem, Dash found herself wishing Fluttershy, or even Twilight, were present. Comforting other ponies wasn't exactly her 'thing'. Gilda used to joke that she had a second special talent for putting her hoof in her mouth. Unfortunately, Twilight was a long way away through the labyrinthine palace, and Fluttershy even further. That left only one pony to whom she could turn.
So Dash did exactly that. When she turned around, the Commander wasn't there. She glanced back out the door, into the hallway, but he hadn't fled; he'd simply vanished.
That left her, alone, with the Princess, who still had yet to look up her mid-day view of the glorious capital of her empire.
Dash walked across the length of the room, without further questioning. When the barely-open glass door stood before her, she pushed it open in what she thought was perfect quiet.
"Leave us alone, guardspony."
"Uh… I'm not a guardspony, Princess."
Luna's ears stirred ever-so-slightly that Dash found herself wondering if she had imagined the response. "Then you are brave to come here unannounced. Now leave us alone."
It was a perfect opportunity to escape, and leave the problem to somepony better suited to it. Dash ignored it.
"Not until you tell me what's wrong."
Luna looked up at the rebellious reply, and for just a sliver of an instant, shock overwrote the melancholy inscribed on her face. "Redemption is hard to find in the eyes of other ponies, Rainbow Dash."
"You mean Nightmare Moon?" Luna gave no response, though Dash didn't seem to need one to continue. It was clear what the Princess was thinking, and the young mare responded to it on instinct. "That wasn't you, Princess. We all know it."
"If only ponies could see things that way. But you are wrong. Despite what our sister is so fond of repeating, those sins are ours to bear."
"Well, then I guess you have to show everypony that you aren't her anymore."
"That is the problem. Three years of our best efforts, and yet a tiny slip is all it takes to wipe away our work." Luna closed her eyes. "A mare called us by that name today. Nightmare. We nearly snapped at her." Luna opened her eyes. To Dash's silent horror, teal, slitted pupils were revealed. "Perhaps, we still are a Nightmare."
"Well… everypony gets angry, sometimes, right?" Dash was totally aware that the grin she plastered across her face looked as fake as a flat tree. "Anyway, all you've gotta do is apologize."
"Apologize? I doubt there are many who would accept."
"I forgive you, Princess."
Luna shook her head, then looked Rainbow straight in the eyes with her grim teal slits. "That's easy for you to say. What did I do to you, Rainbow Dash? Perhaps scare you a bit? Tempt you with glory if you would betray your friends?" The Princess of the Night blinked quickly, but the eyes that opened were smooth and kind, and filled with sorrow. "You know nothing of what I've done. Now, I can only beg for redemption." The Princess collapsed again over the railing. In a flat unfeeling voice, she added last words. "You should leave, Rainbow Dash. Tell our sister we appreciate her attempt to cheer us up yet again. Perhaps she will leave us alone this time."
"So you can sit here feeling sorry for yourself? Not on my watch. I didn't get to be Equestria's most awesome pony by moping around. If you want everypony to stop thinking of you as Nightmare Moon, you're gonna have to go out there and do something that makes them see you as Princess Luna instead."
"And how do you propose we do that?"
"Well… Isn't there a thing tonight? A party or something?"
Luna looked up, only to be distracted by the glass doors behind her sliding open silently, welcoming a stiff-looking unicorn butler, floating a tray with two cups of tea.
"Courtesy of the Princess," the stallion offered, setting down the tray between them. His next action was to back away while bowing stiffly, as if his spine were flexible only at a single hinge. Luna didn't offer him a glance, but her horn did ignite with magic, lifting both cups, and holding one before Dash, even as she moved the other toward herself.
Dash took her own cup between her hooves and stared at it, hesitantly. She hated tea. It was an egghead drink, and even if reading had proved to be cool, sometimes, tea certainly wasn't getting any tastier. She'd take cider any day, or even water. What was the point in ruining perfectly good water with leaves and dirt, and flowers, and whatever else they put in those bags, anyway?
This particular cup of tea did certainly smell good, however. It was a golden-amber color, probably the result of the golden lining of the cup itself. Floating in the steaming liquid was a beautiful flower that seemed to be made of solid gold.
An eerily familiar golden flower.
Dash looked up with a look of realization and horror, dropping her cup. She lunged forward, launching a hoof out at Luna's drink.
"Princess, don’t!"
The moment of hesitance in Luna's sip was all it took to send a second beautiful porcelain cup crashing against the floor, where it shattered into shards of bladed gold and porcelain.
"What are you doing?" she demanded.
"Poison!" Dash answered in a shout. Her attention had already turned to the inside of Luna's chambers, where the unicorn manservant had stopped, staring at the broken cups. Dash threw the door open without hesitation and addressed the stallion with a shout. "Who are you?"
"Er… Record Time, ma'am. Is something wrong?"
"You bet there's something wrong! What were you doing with that tea?"
"The tea?" The stallion quivered in place, his hair seeming to grow grayer with every passing moment. "I always bring the Princess her tea."
"So you noticed something was different, then?"
"Er… the tea is always different. I don't make it, I just deliver it. Lieutenant Star told me to bring it up, since the Princess had a guest… I guess he meant you. Was something wrong?"
"Where is he?"
"Down in the kitchen, the last time I—" The words were cut off by the burst of wind Dash left in her wake. Embossed ebony doors swung open, then slammed shut, only to be thrown open yet again.
"Wait, Lady Dash!"
"Lady?" The Pegasus turned in midair, and came to a hover as Princess Luna stepped out the doors of her own room.
"Please, explain yourself," Luna demanded.
"Somepony tried to poison you. I only knew because—" Dash shook her head when she remembered her urgency. "I need to hurry if I wanna catch this guy, Princess."
"That is not your responsibility, Rainbow Dash."
"It doesn't seem like anypony else noticed."
"If you are certain that someone is attempting to poison one of us, go to Captain Armor. I will increase security for tonight's Ceremony."
"You're going to go? Even if somepony is trying to kill you?"
"How else can we show everypony who we are?" Luna asked, with the slightest hint of a grin on her face. "Thank you, Rainbow Dash."
Dash's answer was a cocky smile, before she took wing again, soaring out the nearest window and into the Canterlot sky.
- - -
Shining Armor sat rather roughly at his desk, unarmored, with a quill scratching angrily on a scroll in front of him. Deficits, taxes, and pages of reports had replaced battle for the Captain of the Royal Guard. He knew he should be thankful for the peace, but he felt wasted. His talent was protecting other ponies, not accounting.
The room was spacious and welcoming, with chairs for other guardsponies, and a wide desk of thick oak. The wall to his left was covered in the faces of his predecessors, looking down on him, silently judging the twitching of his quill. It was hard to imagine the faces framed in the paintings having sat for the paperwork he had to suffer. They were the names of history books. Famous ponies like Sun Sue and Iron Curtain had saved Equestria a dozen times over in their own days. Would he be remembered like they were?
A pair of stiff knocks on his doors shook off his reflection.
"Please, come in," he stated boldly.
"Are you busy, sir?" The voice belonged to Corporal Blue Shift, a regular who Shining had placed in charge of management of headquarters.
"I said you could come in, didn't I?"
Still on the far side of the door, Blue Shift called back.
"I don't need to talk to you, sir. There's a mare here who insists on seeing you. Says its important. Has to be for you, only."
Shining Armor peaked an eyebrow, though only his predecessors saw it. "Is it my wife?"
"No, some pegasus."
"What's her name?"
Blue Shift didn't answer, and Shining kept waiting until he heard the painful creak of a board six paces down the hall. At first, he'd been tempted to have it fixed, but knowing when ponies were coming and going had proved itself useful in more little ways than one. It certainly made it easier to tell when anypony was trying to sneak in late for work.
It took barely a minute for the creak to sneak through the halls of the Guard Headquarters again. Right on cue, Blue Shift's voice called through the thick door to Shining Armor's office.
"Her name's Rainbow Dash, sir."
"Rainbow? Send her in, Corporal."
No sooner said than done. The door to Shining Armor's office slammed open, making way for a blue blur which proceeded to slam the door shut again. In the process, Shining's jar of ink spilled on his desk, ruining his weekly crime report, and setting more than half the pictures on the wall ajar. Two even fell off.
"Finally! Celestia, that took forever! The stupid guard kept saying I had to file a bunch of reports, but I don't have time for that—"
"Calm down, Rainbow!" Shining Armor shouted, rising up onto his rear legs, and balancing with a forehoof on his desk. It was a surprisingly effective tactic, that was usually reserved for when two groups at 'the scene' were shouting at one another incoherently. He rarely had to use it on a single pony. Then again, Rainbow was very far from being 'most ponies'. "Good. Now, please, calmly explain what's wrong."
Dash took a deep breath, then expelled her thoughts at her usual speed.
"Somepony tried to poison Princess Luna. I think it was her guard, Star something."
"Lieutenant Morning Star?" Shining Armor cocked his head to the side.
"Yeah, I think that's it. He put those gold flowers from Princess Celestia's room in the tea. I noticed right before she drank it. She said to come get you."
Shining Armor hung his head, and placed a hoof to his brow in thought.
"Come on! We've got to go!" Dash insisted. "What are you waiting for?"
"Sit down, Rainbow Dash," he answered, gesturing to a chair. "If this really is Star, and he's still in the Palace, the Honor Guard will catch him. Otherwise, there's no hurry."
"But he'll get away!"
"If he leaves Canterlot, the wall post will know. We're in no hurry, so listen to me closely. I want you to stay here."
"What? But I—"
"Did they only try to poison Princess Luna, Rainbow Dash?"
Rainbow's eyes grew wide, and her head pulled back in shock. "I… I…" she struggled for words.
"I didn't think so." Shining Armor's powerful muscles rose up, and then fell just as slowly, in a deep breath. "Where do I begin?"
- - -
There exists in Canterlot Castle's main central structure a room that the Palace Guards refer to as the Gauntlet. The reason for this appellation would not at all be clear to somepony visiting the room to deliver mail, or, say, on a tour. It is a tiny office, with four smooth white walls, a finely furnished but plain mahogany door, and a four-paned window. The space between these walls was filled by an entirely normal office. A short chair, a desk with a healthy scattering of half-organized paperwork, and a handful of gray-feathered quills served to indicate the business-like quality of the area. The only things to set the room apart from the office of an average bureaucrat were a wall covered in portraits, a small pot of ivy by the window, and the black lacquered helmet sitting on a mount in the corner, collecting dust.
Despite its mundane appearance, the room was one of a very few things capable of terrifying Shining Armor, Captain of the Royal Guard. He approached the room slowly, and stopped just outside the door. Inside was the only pony who could be considered his military superior, short of the Princesses themselves. They called him 'the Commander', and so did everypony else.
Shining pushed his way into the room slowly, where he found the Commander staring down at a pile of paperwork on the desk before him. He was an aging pegasus, though still young enough to fight, if the stories his troops told were to be believed. His mane and fur were a sort of gray-blue, though the former had begun to show considerable favoritism toward gray. The slight perking of his ears made it clear that he was aware of Shining Armor's presence. He didn't look up.
Technically, he and Shining Armor were of equal rank—Shining was Captain of the Royal Guard, while 'the Commander' was Captain of the Honor Guard. However, there would not be much point to the word 'technically' if this situation reflected the realities of the situation. In this case, those realities were that Shining Armor was the newest of the Captains to join the four branches of the Equestrian Guard, and that the Commander was… well, even the other Captains called him 'the Commander'. Shining Armor actually didn't know why; there were some questions you didn't ask in the guard, and some ponies you didn't ask them to.
"Sir, uh…" Shining paused for a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves. "I got your message. Was there something you wanted to talk to me about?"
A snort escaped the stallion's nostrils, before he slowly settled out of his chair, and down onto his hooves. "Yes, Captain Armor." The Commander stepped around from behind his desk, with what was obviously a painful limp in his rear right leg, before giving Shining a scroll bearing Celestia's royal seal. "Two of my officers have discovered a likely plot against the Princess."
"Celestia? Or Luna?" It was a question Shining had learned to ask in the time since the latter's return, though it was still a large change from the way he had been brought up. Clearly, the same feeling echoed in the Commander's mind, as his eyes narrowed ever so slightly at the question.
"They anticipate an attack on Celestia. From inside the Guard."
"A guard is going to attack Celestia?"
"I'd love that," the Commander answered, without the short pause that would suggest he was joking. When Shining's face betrayed his worry over the comment, the elder stallion continued. "It would be simple. Celestia is more than a match for any traitorous Guardspony, even if they managed to get past my guard." The Commander turned to the window. "No, I suspect that the threat is to somepony close to the Princess. Somepony more vulnerable."
"Uh, Twilight is coming to Canterlot today."
The Commander's head snapped back, his glare growing even more pronounced. Incrimination was written across his gaze. "How did you get the Princess' schedule?"
"…She's my sister."
A silence that could be born only of perfect awkwardness hung in the air. Finally, the Commander's frozen gaze thawed. "We're thinking the same way, it seems. See to it that your sister and her companion are protected."
Shining nodded, before delivering a stiff salute. "I'll put my best forces on it, sir."
The Commander's face was deadly serious. "Can you trust your best forces? I called you personally because I want you, personally, to protect them. And don't salute. Ever."
Shining put down his fore hoof slowly, then turned, leaving the presence of the Commander behind. It hadn't been as frightening as he had expected, but it was easy to see why the stallion could command so much respect. The way he spoke demanded loyalty, even if it grated on emotions.
The Commander's words slowly wormed their way into the hole left behind by Shining Armor's anxiety about making a first impression. Out in the hall, a pair of passing guardsponies saluted him. He knew one, Sharpened Quill, by name. She had grown up down the street from him in Canterlot. Could she betray the Princess? And what about all the ponies he didn't know nearly so well?
It would be a long walk back to the barracks. The thought of traveling past so many of his own troops, wondering just which ones he could trust was a prospect that grew darker and more terrifying with every passing moment. It easily eclipsed his anxiety over the aging guardspony in the room behind him.
- - -
"So that's why you were there at the park, waiting for us?"
"Yeah." The stallion rose from his chair, and paced to the corner, where a coat of amethyst armor was waiting. "And now I'm glad I was."
"You think he's after me? Why? I mean, I understand Twilight, but why should Celestia care about me?"
"Because you have one of the Elements of Harmony? Because you're important to Equestria? Because you're vulnerable?" Shining Armor shook his head. "We have psychiatrists to try and get into the minds of criminals; I just protect everypony I can. And right now, that means you need to stay here."
Rainbow Dash shook her head violently. "No way. I'm not waiting for somepony to try and kill me again."
Shining Armor lowered his eyes. "This is a guard matter, Rainbow Dash. If you came with me, and something happened… well, to start with, I'd have a very hard time looking Twilight or the Princess in the eye ever again."
"I'm not gonna get hurt. I can take care of myself."
"I'm not sure I can afford to trust you on that." Shining Armor pushed open the door to his office. "Please, wait here. If you need food or something, get Blue Shift to help you."
Then the Captain of the Royal Guard, clad in his namesake armor, strode out the door. He failed to notice the mischievous grin that settled onto the mare he left behind, but he did notice when his door failed to swing shut behind him.
"Shining Armor, do you trust Blue Shift?"
"What?" It seemed like a preposterous question. "I guess… He's only been with the force a few months, but he seems like a good colt. Why do you…?" The Captain's voice trailed off into nothingness, as his eyes grew ever so slightly wider, and his head slowly turned to look down the hallway of his headquarters.
"Then its settled," Dash answered, stepping up next to him. "Where to?"
Shining Armor's skin crawled, as he struggled to settle the sick feeling in his stomach that sometime soon, something was going to go horribly wrong.
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Adventure you say? And a focus on Rainbow Dash? Count me in! This is really well written so far - I didn't spot any errors, and I love your characterization of everyone. I love stories set in Canterlot, especially if they involve intrigue and treachery, as this seems to do. Maybe I can fit one more chapter in before bed...
Very, very interesting!
Hmn, interesting start, I will definitely be reading more.
So far its really good, good imagery. Also it seems that this is going to get really epic.
Her illusion magic makes stuff look like a bad painting? Like 5 yr old bad or encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRfNbmdsmF9GXlWTVJh19tv6lurXqJwyDNtZd_uZjSu4Jy6x7Fomg bad.
Wow! Great story!:rainbow kiss:SO AWESOME
I am awestruck I had the feeling I get when I am in the middle of a great story not the beginning good on ya mate
Hmm - going to have to ask as to the structure of the Guard, here. The natural assumption is that the Royal Guard defend the person of the sovereign, but that honour seems to go to the Honour Guard. And you refer to other branches of 'the' Guard. So, what are the titles for all these different branches (and the organisation as a whole), and how do their duties differ?
Other than that minor confusion, brilliant work so far.
I'll say this much... You start with a heck of an opening.
Why, oh why did I not look into this earlier?
~Skeeter The Lurker
Oh sweet Celestia, this is going to stain all of my male voices, isnt it?
Anyway, this was a great way to open things, as it helps to open up the plot quite well. We are introduced to the idea of why some ponies would want Luna dead, Luna feels like she is lost and wants at least somepony to forget the past, and Dash is being her awesome self. I love how in character she is right now, brash but having a good heart when it counts. I love how she is right there for Luna and reminding her to not give up, because that is who she is. I also love the descriptions as it gives us something to remember in this.
Lastly, I think this is my favorite guardspony centric story. The guard are written as competient, yet unique in their own ways, with their pwn branches and ways of looking into things. I kind of like that because, well yeah they are useless against things like Nightmare moon and Discord but...THATS THE POINT! That's like saying the MEtroplois police department is always useless just because they get their butts handed to them by Metallo, or saying that New York's department is useless because they can't beat up Scorpian. They can't because they don't have the skills and training for that type of thing. If they could then we wouldn't need the mane 6, Superman, or Spider-man. I also love Shining in this and we'll see why in the later chapters
...
wich all are over 10,000 words
...wich means I'll be taking over an hour to read each
...
...
..
SO TOTALLY WORTH IT! GOD I LOVE THIS FIC!
Hey, at least something from the lectures is sticking.
Its The Commander! Who still has no name.
Hmm... Certainly going to have to read this.
Hmmm, I'm intreauged. Please, go on
it's, not its
The rule in D&D, which I think is really great and should be used more, is that Illusion is magic used to conceal the truth (as opposed to Divination, which reveals the truth). Actual illusions is obviously the most well known part of it, but according to that rule, it would also include things like invisibility, magical noise, magic that prevents noise, and even mind tricks.