Division

by 5aszs

Portentia sermonis II

“Hay burgers! The best hay burgers in all of Detrot and they’re sold right here for only two bits! You, sir, you look hungry, would you like a hay burger for two bits?!”

“No thank you.”

Lejon ignored the shopkeeper’s crestfallen expression and continued limping slowly through the streets of Detrot. The metropolitan city had seen a massive influx of wealth over the last few years due to Fancy Pants’ decision to build his company’s headquarters in Detrot. His decision led to a massive increase in the amount of jobs available and soon the city’s fortunes changed for the better. Many ponies believed that Detrot would soon overtake Manehatten as Equestria’s second most popular city and the city saw an increasing amount of tourists visiting every year (particularly in the summer) to see the best sights that Detrot had to offer. The high-rise buildings combined with the backdrop of a clear blue sky made the city appear even more welcoming than it already did and as Lejon walked along the street, the overall pleasant atmosphere of the city almost made him forget why he had even come to Detrot in the first place.

When all of this madness is over, I have to come and visit this city again.

Maybe I’ll use of my vacation days and stay for two weeks here.

Lejon winced when he felt a flash of pain from his wound underneath the thick black robe it was covered in, and the pain helped to remind him why he had even come to Detrot in a hurry. Lejon’s wound meant that he wasn't able to walk as quickly as normal and he suddenly stopped walking and stood still outside a shop, so that the pain would fade away and he would be able to continue walking.

“Are you waiting for a taxi, sir?”

Lejon snapped out of his thoughts and looked up at the pony that had just called out to him, who was sitting in the driver’s seat of the carriage that had just parked on the kern that Lejon was standing on. Lejon thought quickly for a few moments about whether he should accept the offer, before nodding and climbing into the seat behind the carriage driver.

“Where would you like to go sir?”

“Could you recommend me some hotels?”

“Hmm, lets see. There’s the Grand Regent if you’re looking for the best stay in Detrot but it does cost a lot of money. The Diamond Hotel and Silver Cloud Hotel are also pretty good and they're a lot cheaper than The Grand Regent, these are the only ones that come to mind right now, so it's up to you.”

“I think I'm going to go for Silver Cloud Hotel.”

“Alright then.”

The carriage driver pressed his foot down on the pedal and the carriage wheels started turning slowly and the two ponies set off.

---

“We’re not going to let you in unless you show proof that you are here to meet with the princesses.”

“I have proof, I’ve already shown you this letter written by Princess Celestia. Just let me in, that’s all I’m asking you.”

“That could’ve been forged by anypony. How do we even know that you really are Emerald of House Gemini?!”

“What in Equestria is going on here?!”

The guard had opened his mouth to respond but a reproaching look from the younger royal sister silenced him and he lowered his head. The two guards stepped aside to allow Princess Luna pass through the palace entrance and she stood opposite the green stallion that was trying to enter the palace.

“Emerald, I assume you’re here to meet with Celestia for the annual interview?”

“Yes, Your Highness, she sent this letter to me a few days ago.”

Princess Luna took the letter from Emerald and read over it quickly, before handing it back to Emerald and turning her head to speak with the two guards.

“This has clearly been written by my sister, her signature at the bottom cannot be copied by anypony and the letter clearly has the official Canterlot Palace seal on it.”

“Our apologies, Your Highness,” mumbled the two guards.

“Emerald, Princess Celestia is busy dealing with an....administrative issue right now, so you will interview me today,” said Princess Luna.

“That’s absolutely fine, Your Highness.”

The two guards stepped aside to allow Princess Luna and Emerald to pass through to enter the palace. The two ponies walked up a flight of stairs and made a few turns down some corridors before reaching a conference room that had ‘Media and Culture’ written on the door.

The two ponies entered and they each sat on a seat on opposite ends of a round table and whilst Princess Luna poured herself a cup of tea from the teapot next to her, Emerald opened his satchel and took out a notepad and quill.

“Princess, we can start whenever you’re ready,” announced Emerald, before pushing his notepad forward and using his magic to hold up his quill.

“I am ready. What type of article are you hoping to write this year?”

“As it is Equestria’s 1000th anniversary this year, I am aiming to write an article that is able to invoke feelings of pride in ponies across the country, pride that our great nation has stood for so long and that it will stand for many more years to come. Has that answered your question, Your Highness?”

“Yes, it has. We can begin now.”

Emerald opened his notepad and looked at the first page, before reading the question written at the top of it.

“How does it make you feel knowing that Equestria has existed in peace for nearly a thousand years?”

“It fills me with pride. I don’t think that I would be able to show how proud I am at the fact that everypony was able to overcome their differences and come together to form Equestria, and I am sure that our country will remain peaceful for many more years to come.”

Emerald listened to Luna’s answer before quickly making some notes underneath the first question.

“Okay. I'm not sure if you are aware of this but in a recent nationwide poll we conducted a few weeks ago, nearly sixty five percent of those who took part stated that they were worried about about the future of our country. What are your thoughts?”

Princess Luna took a few moments to think about what she was going to say and she opened her mouth to speak when she was interrupted by the sound of knocking on the door.

“Apologies. I’ll deal with this quickly and then I’ll be back to answer your question.”

Princess Luna walked over to the door and opened it to step outside and speak with the guard that had knocked on the door. A few moments later, she stuck her head through the doorway.

“Apologies Emerald, but it seems that my sister requires some assistance regarding the administrative issue I previously mentioned. This does mean that I won't be able to continue the interview. Should we reschedule for another day?”

“No , Your Highness, that's perfectly fine. I'll just write the article based on what we discussed today.”

“Apologies once again. I'm sure that you can find your own way out.”

Emerald picked up his notebook and bowed to Princess Luna before leaving the room and walking towards the opposite end of the corridor, extremely irritated that his interview had been cut short by an administrative issue for the second year in a row. When he turned at the corner, he saw two maids standing next to a wall, whispering to each other so that their voices couldn't be heard. Emerald was curious and he quickly moved back behind the corner of the wall so that he wasn't spotted and he listened carefully to what the two mares were saying.

“The princess has been in a bad mood all morning, she even yelled at one of the maids for not putting enough sugar in her tea, and she’s never acted like that before! I actually felt so sorry for that maid! She looked like she was about to cry!”

“Of course she’s going to be in a bad mood Ruby; ever since Sir Capricornus was brought in for questioning last night Celestia’s been walking around with a face like thunder.”

“I heard one of the butlers saying to another butler that the guards were originally supposed to arrest Sunburst and Sunrise from House Capricorn last night but they managed to injure every single one of them when they were escaping.”

“Really?! But I heard that one guard actually got killed trying to arrest them.”

“No way! That’s actually so sad! I wonder what Sunburst and Sunrise even did for Celestia to send the Royal Guard to arrest them.”

“Do you think it's right for you to be discussing confidential matters so openly that you shouldn't concern yourself with?”

The two mares jumped when they heard a stallion’s voice and they both began to slightly shake when they recognised Emerald as he emerged from behind the corner.

“Please don't tell anypony, we’ll be thrown into the dungeons by Celestia!”

“Now….. why would I want to do that?” said Emerald. He stared at the two mares silently, the gears in his mind turning as a devious idea came to mind. “How about we all back to my office and you can tell me what you know about Sir Capricornus’ arrest.”

“We-we want payment if that’s going to happen,” said one of the mares defiantly, her friend nodding in agreement.

“But of course, I’ll pay a thousand bits each IF you promise to tell me everything you know about the arrest.”

“Okay then!”

The two mares smiled at each other before happily following Emerald down the stairs that were nearest to them before walking towards the palace exit. They passed a few servants that were walking through the palace but none of them paid the three ponies any attention.

“Wait, how are we going to get out of here without anypony seeing us?”

“I have that covered.”

Emerald lit up his horn and performed an invisibility spell on the two mares, before turning around and walking out of the palace, nodding at the two guards standing at the door.

“Wait, are we going to be like this the whole time till we get to your office?”

“Yes, you are. It decreases the risk of you two getting caught,” whispered Emerald.

Emerald and the two mares (still invisible) walked towards the carriage that Emerald had taken when he was driving to the palace and he climbed into the passenger seat whilst the carriage driver got out of the carriage and went to close the side door.

“Leave it open for a few moments! Just to let some air in, it's quite hot in here,” said Emerald, making sure that the two mares had enough time to get into the carriage

The carriage driver obeyed and moved to the other side of the carriage, waiting for Emerald’s command. Once he was sure that the two mares with him had entered the carriage, Emerald nodded at the carriage driver, who then closed the side door and climbed back into the driver’s seat.

“Back to the Equestria Daily offices sir?”

“Yes.”

---

“Here we are sir, the Silver Hotel. Normally it doesn't take this long but the traffic was terrible. It always is at this time of day. Sometimes, I think that walking through the city at midday is better than driving through it.”

Lejon removed the hood of his robe from his head and looked out of the window next to him at the entrance of the hotel whilst the carriage driver looked at the map in front of him.

“And…. that will thirty bits sir,” said the carriage driver, looking expectantly at Lejon.

Lejon pretended to look for the money underneath his robe whilst the carriage driver waited patiently.

“Excuse me, I think I dropped a coin underneath your seat. Could you get it for me please?”

“Of course.”

Whilst the carriage driver bent over to look for the money, Lejon raised a hoof and punched the back of the driver’s head so hard that the he was knocked out immediately. The carriage driver slumped and fell off his seat and onto the floor between the driver and passenger seat.

“Sorry, but it had to be done,” he muttered.

Lejon quickly got out of the carriage and closed the door before walking through the huge glass doors and entering the hotel, whilst the carriage Lejon had arrived in remained parked outside the hotel.

“Hello and welcome to the Silver Hotel. How may I help you?”

“I’d like to book a room please.”

“Okay let me just check how many available rooms there are right now.”

Whilst the receptionist looked at the papers that were next to her, Lejon stared past the desk and at the hotel’s restaurant, where he struggle immensely to hide his shock upon seeing Sunburst and Sunrise sitting at the table nearest to the exit. Sunburst suddenly looked up at Lejon, who looked away instantly.

“I’m afraid there are only rooms available on the first floor and those are rooms 67,69,70,72 and 78. Which one would you like to stay in and how long are you going to be staying?”

“You know, that stallion looks familiar, but I just can't remember where I’ve seen him,” mused Sunburst, tilting his head and looking at Lejon.

“He actually does. Maybe we should talk to him, pretend to be friendly so that we can remember where we've seen him from,” agreed Sunrise, who had turned her head clockwise to look at Lejon.

“I’ll take room 69 and I’m going to be here for a week,” said Lejon. The receptionist took out a quill and wrote his name down on the page next to room 69 before giving him his keys and telling him the directions to his room.

Lejon thanked the receptionist before climbing the stairs to his room, Sunrise and Sunburst’s eyes following him as he ascended the stairs.

“Let’s meet with the Mayor first, then we can talk to this stallion.”

---

“Repeat what you just said from the top, and this time, there can be no distractions.”

Emerald glared at the two mares sitting opposite him for a few seconds before opening his notepad and picking up his quill next to him with his magic.

“First we saw Sir Capricornus being dragged into the Royal Guard headquarters by two guards and Princess Luna was waiting for them at the entrance.”

“Okay, let me just write that down,” said Emerald, using his magic to write down what the mare had just said into his notepad. “Then what happened?” he asked, looking at the other mare

“I was already at the headquarters because Princess Luna had asked for a cup of tea. When I got there, one of the guards that had brought Sir Capricornus in was speaking to Princess Luna. I hid behind the wall so that they wouldn’t see me and I heard the guard tell the princess that nearly everypony that had gone to arrest Sunrise and Sunburst were casualties.”

“What happened next?”

“Celestia then arrived and I had never seen her so angry, and I don't think I ever will again. When she spoke to Luna, she told her that one of the guards had just died in the hospital because of his injuries and that she wanted to speak to Sir Capricornus. She went into the room he was in and that’s the last I saw of her.”

“Okay then, let me just write that down.”

Emerald finished the sentence that he was writing and closed his notepad.

“You will get your payments very soon but there’s one more thing I want you both to do for me. I want to infiltrate the Royal Guard headquarters and find the cell that Sir Capricornus is staying in. I’ll handle the rest. ”

“How is that possible? The princesses have probably put him in the dungeons. That would be the best place to keep him for the time being,” pointed out one of the mares.

“That’s... actually a very good point, you’re definitely a lot brighter than you look,” said Emerald, smiling at the mare that had spoken, who was beginning to blush.

“Okay we’ll do it, besides you’re paying us more in a day than we would get as maids for Celestia and Luna.” said the other mare.

“Any questions?”

The two mares shook their heads and the three ponies stood up and tucked their chairs in.

“You can meet with me tomorrow at midday here. If anypony asks why you’re at the office, just tell them that I sent you to me. Here’s a camera. Take pictures of anything interesting that you find down there.”

“Will do!”

The two mares smiled at Emerald before turning around and leaving his office together. Emerald suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to ask the most important question he had.

“Wait! Before you leave, did you hear anypony mention a stallion named Lejon? He’s part of the Royal Guard.”

The two mares thought for a few moments before shaking their heads.

“No, we’ve never heard of him. Why?”

“Oh, it doesn't matter, he’ll probably write to me soon anyway.”

Emerald dismissed the two mares and went to sit back at his desk, placing his head in his hooves as alarm bells began to ring in his head. Although there was a three year age gap between himself and his older brother Lejon, the two brothers had always been close in foalhood and adolescence, but when Emerald became eighteen, the two brothers became distant. Despite being older than his brother, it was Emerald and not Lejon that their father Sir Genelos had chosen to take over Equestria Daily four years ago, and as their father trained Emerald, there were frequent arguments between Lejon and Emerald and this eventually led to Lejon deciding to join the Royal Guard last year since he wasn't satisfied with being his younger brother’s second-in-command. Whilst he had not spoken to or even seen his brother for weeks, Emerald still cared for his older brother and he found himself hoping that they would see each other soon.

---

As he finished wrapping the bandage around his wound, Lejon had decided that two hours in his room was enough time to recover and that he needed to get out and find Sunburst and Sunrise.

“Let’s go meet with Mayor Soldi, he’s probably on his lunch break or something.”

As he was about to push the door handle, Lejon heard a female’s whisper. Lejon peeked through the keyhole and saw a nearly bald and a red mare with a large mole on her right cheek carrying a few sheets of paper with their magic hastily leaving their room. Lejon stared intently at them for a few seconds, wondering why this random couple wanted to meet with the mayor, and it took him a few seconds to realize that they were probably Sunburst and Sunrise. Lejon quickly put his robe on to cover his bandaged wound and left his room quickly, making sure the door was locked before he left the hotel to follow Sunburst and Sunrise.

They’re probably going to go on hoof. Soldi’s office is only twenty minutes away.

But why do they want to meet with him?

As Lejon stepped outside of the hotel, he crossed the road in front of him and saw Sunburst and Sunrise walking at a leisurely pace in the far distance. Lejon began to walk faster and quickly passed through the other ponies that were walking in front of him and soon, he was only a few feet behind Sunburst and Sunrise.

“It wasn't necessary for you to shave all of my mane off,” grumbled Sunburst, looking at his wife.

“Don’t be stupid, we have to be cautious, we can’t get found up while we’re here,” replied Sunrise.

Lejon had already planned to get to Mayor Soldi before Sunburst and Sunrise and he quickly walked past Sunburst and Sunrise and entered Detrot Town Hall, where Mayor Soldi’s office was based. Lejon walked up to the receptionist and requested a meeting with Mayor Soldi.

“Sorry, but we don't let strangers meet with the mayor if they don't have a good reason,” sneered the receptionist, speaking in an irritating nasal voice.

“Just tell him that I need to speak to him about to him about an urgent issue and that I’m Lejon of House-”

“Sapphire, make a note in my planner for ten o’clock tomorrow that I’m going to have a meeting with-”

The mayor of Detrot emerged from the stairs behind the receptionist holding a cup of coffee with his magic and as he was in the middle of his sentence, he saw Lejon.

“Lejon! My dear nephew, it's so good to see you! Come up to my office, I was just about to go on my lunch break.”

Lejon smirked triumphantly at the receptionist before following his cousin up the stairs to his office.

“I wrote to your father nearly two weeks ago but he still hasn't replied to my letter. Is something wrong?” asked Soldi.

“Don't take it personally. Father has been extremely busy making the final preparations for Equestria Day. I’ll make sure that when I get back to Canterlot, I’ll tell him about your letter,” replied Lejon, the fact that his father thought that the mayor (who was his distant cousin) was one of the most irritating stallions he had ever come across.

“Alright then. Come on, let’s talk up in my office. Do you want coffee? I can send one of the secretaries down to the nearby cafe to get you one.”

“No thank you.”

As Lejon and the mayor of Detrot reached the top of the stairs, a disguised Sunrise and Sunrise entered the building and walked up to the receptionist.

“We come here as representatives of Sir Capricornus of House Capricorn and we have a meeting with Mayor Soldi today,” announced Sunburst.

“It doesn’t say anything in the Mayor’s schedule about a meeting with you two,” retorted the receptionist, not looking up from the desk.

“We have a letter here from Sir Capricornus stating that as the representatives of House Capricorn, we are to meet with Mayor Soldi in order to discuss reforms to the admissions process of the University of Detrot. Sunburst and Sunrise were unable to make this meeting in time due to their role in the preparations for Equestria Day.”

Sunrise dropped the letter onto the receptionist’s desk for the mare to read. The receptionist skimmed through the letter and looked over the letter once more before coming to a decision.

“The mayor is currently in another meeting. I’ll tell him that you’re here to see him. You can sit in those seats over there and wait,” said the mare, pointing her hoof at two seats that were next to a water fountain opposite her desk.

Sunburst and Sunrise thanked the receptionist (who kissed her teeth in response) and sat in the two seats that the receptionist had directed them to.

“Do you think that I should put on an accent? Just to be extra cautious,” whispered Sunrise.

“That’s very risky, but if it you can pull it off we'll, then by all means go for it,” replied Sunburst. “What sort of accent were you thinking of?”

“It's not really an accent, I would just raise the pitch of my voice and have a bit of a lisp.”

“That isn't an accent then, that’s just minor changes that you're making to how you speak,” smirked Sunburst.

“I know that,” said Sunrise. “Do you want to hear it now?”

“Go ahead.”

Sunrise raised her hooves to pull her recently dark brown mane back from her face before clearing her throat and speaking in a higher pitch (than she usually spoke in), nasal voice.

“Mayor Soldi, as the leader of this great city, it is up to you to make sure that only the best and brightest are studying at the University of Detrot.”

Sunburst had struggled to keep a straight face whilst Sunrise was speaking and once she had finished, Sunburst pushed a hoof into his mouth but Sunrise heard his sniggers.

“Well, judging by your reaction, I should probably just pretend to have a lisp and forget about changing my pitch,” grumbled Sunrise.

“That is a very wise decision,” said Sunburst with a mischievous smile.

Sunrise punched her husband’s arm as he tried his best to laugh as quietly as possible. There was a few moments of silence after that, and Sunrise remembered how carefree her husband had been before he started to use the Elements, and she decided to bring this up with him.

“I think..the Elements are doing something to you, Sunburst. Whenever you use them, you...become a different pony.”

Sunburst frowned. “What do you mean? I always feel great whenever I use them and I can actually control them properly now.”

“I mean, you’re always angry when you’re practising with them and when I came back from Father’s house yesterday you even-”

Sunrise suddenly stopped speaking when she remembered how Sunburst had slapped her across the face when she had returned from Sir Leonus’ house.

“What? What did I do to you?”

“We'll talk about it later, it isn't the right time or place to talk about this,” said Sunrise, deliberately avoiding looking at her husband. Sunburst frowned and was about to continue pursuing the subject when the mayor and Lejon came down the stairs.

“Are you two the ponies representing Sunburst and Sunrise?” asked Mayor Soldi.

“Yes, we are,” said Sunburst, standing up with Sunrise and walking over to shake hooves with the mayor of Detrot.

“Let’s go up to my office so we can talk there, I don't know why this was never written down in my planner,” said Soldi, staring pointedly at the receptionist, before turning his head to speak with Lejon.

“Apologies that our time has been cut short, nephew. I'm always free at midday so you can always come back at this time tomorrow and we can talk more then if you want. I'm sure the Royal Guard will allow you to use one of your vacation days.”

“I will come back tomorrow. It's fine.”

Lejon shook hooves with Soldi and nodded politely at a disguised Sunburst and Sunrise (who were now staring intently at him) before leaving the building just as they began to go up the stairs. As he crossed the road, Lejon was extremely irritated that Soldi had exposed him as being a member of the Royal Guard, and as he walked through the door of an off-licence shop, he knew that Sunburst and Sunrise would be onto him. Lejon browsed the shelves before going to the till and buying a notebook and a quill. Once he left the shop (less than three minutes after he had entered it), he waited for the traffic warden to raise his hoof before crossing the road and entering the mayor’s building again.

“Excuse me, I think I left my wallet in the mayor’s office. Is it alright if I just go and get it?” asked Lejon.

“Sure, whatever, you can go and get your wallet,” replied the receptionist, who was too busy filing her hooves to even look at Lejon.

Lejon slowly walked up the stairs before walking down the corridor and stopping in front of a locked dark brown door labelled ‘Mayor’s office’ that he and his uncle had been in nearly twenty minutes ago. Lejon crouched next to the wall and lit up his horn to perform a hearing improvement spell that would allow him to hear what was being discussed inside the office. He took out the quill he had bought and opened his notebook to make notes.

“As stated in this letter, Sir Capricornus requests for a review to be made on the admissions process for the University of Detrot, which means that we will need to meet with the admissions team,” said Sunburst, pushing the letter forward across to Soldi.

“Of course. I can contact them and we can set up a meeting between you all,” replied Soldi, looking over the letter.

“That’s good. Now, Sir Capricornus has also requested that we review the funding for education in Detrot. House Capricorn intends to reform both the curriculum and admissions process for all Equestrian universities in every city, starting with Detrot,” declared Sunrise.

“This is quite a lot for us for cover in just one meeting,” frowned Soldi, looking at Sunrise.

“We know. This is going to be a long term project, and you’ll be seeing a lot more of us over the next few months as House Capricorn make these changes,” replied Sunrise.

“Could you please tell me where the toilets are?” asked Sunburst, getting up from his seat.

“Turn left at the end of the corridor and it's the second door on your right.”

“Thank you. I'll be back in a few minutes.”

Lejon quickly stopped using the hearing improvement spell and just about managed to perform an invisibility spell before Sunburst opened the office door and left it open, walking past Lejon. Lejon was silently grateful that Sunburst had left the door open, so he would still be able to hear what Sunrise and his uncle were talking about. In the office, there was an awkward silence and Sunrise decided to use this opportunity to try and find out what kind of pony Mayor Soldi was.

“Was that your nephew you were speaking to before we came?” asked Sunrise, leaning forward and placing her elbows on the desk in front of her.

“Yes, Lejon is my nephew. His father Sir Genelos is my second cousin.”

“But as a member of the Royal Guard, isn't he helping with the preparations for Equestria Day?”

“True. He must've been allowed to use one of his vacation days to come to Detrot.”

“Are you and your nephew close?”

Soldi remained silent for a few moments, and Sunrise took this as a sign that her questions were a little too personal.

“Sorry if my questions seem a little intrusive, whenever I meet somepony new I usually end up asking lots of questions,” laughed Sunrise.

“It's fine. Seeing as we’re going to be working closely together for the next few months, it wouldn't matter if we got to know each other. To answer your question, no, not really which is why I was really surprised when he came to my office today,” replied Soldi with a smile.

The two ponies smiled at each other and Sunrise was about to ask him another question when her husband returned and closed the door behind him. He looked at Sunrise who discreetly winked at him before sitting back down in his seat.

“Do you have a quill and a piece of paper on you by any chance? I just want do some calculations,” said Sunburst. Soldi nodded and opened one of the drawers of the filing cupboard behind him, taking out a quill and a piece of plain paper and sliding it across the table to Sunburst.

“Thank you. How much money have you received from Celestia and Luna this year for the budget?”

“Certainly not as much as last year. The economic crisis has obviously played a role in that,” replied Soldi.

“How much exactly?”

“25 million bits.”

“Okay, let me just write that down. Now, how much of your budget is set aside for education?”

“20%.”

“So, you spend five million every year on education.”

Soldi, Sunburst and Sunrise continued to discuss Detrot’s education budget for the next two hours and once the sun had begun to set, the mayor suggested that the meeting ended there and that they would reconvene at the same time tomorrow. Soldi agreed with this idea and offered to take Sunburst and Sunrise to a local bar, an idea they readily accepted.

The three ponies got up and left the office together. Lejon was still crouching next to the door, and once the sound of footsteps faded, he stopped using the invisibility spell and slowly stretched out his forelegs and hind legs. He flicked through the three pages of notes that he had made and decided against following his uncle to the bar to return to the hotel to write a letter to somepony he hadn’t spoken to for far too long.

---

After they left the Equestria Daily offices, Ruby and Sapphire returned to the palace, and luckily for them nopony had asked where they had been, so they returned to their cleaning, occasionally serving Princess Celestia and Princess Luna with tea more than once. When it became sunset, the two mares, along with the other maids and butlers who didn’t work full time at the palace, were dismissed to go home. Following Emerald’s orders, the two mares went to their lockers (that were in a large room on the other side of the palace) with their colleagues and took out the camera that Emerald had given them, with Sapphire hiding it in her satchel.

Ruby and Sapphire said their goodbyes to a few other maids there were still at their lockers.

“How come you guys haven’t left yet? Normally you two are the first to leave,” chuckled an elder maid who was putting her belongings into her own satchel.

“Saph, have you seen my hat? Small, red with a small pink bow?” asked Ruby. Sapphire shook her head and Ruby told the other maid in the locker room that she had left her hat in one of the hallways, dragging Sapphire with her out of the locker room.

“Ugh, finally. She’s so bucking nosy,” grumbled Ruby, Sapphire nodding in agreement.

“So, how are going to get the dungeons? We don’t even know where they are?” asked Sapphire with a whisper.

“There’s a map of the palace near the entrance, remember? They hand out copies when they do that palace tour every two weeks.”

The two mares walked as quickly and quietly as they could to the palace entrance, and ten minutes after they’d left their lockers, Ruby and Sapphire reached the palace map that was displayed on the wall a few metres away from the entrance.

“It says that we need to go past Celestia’s office and a few other conference rooms before going down some stairs,” declared Ruby.

“Oh, I know where these stairs are,” said Sapphire.

“You do?”

“Yeah, I’ve been in the palace tour a few times and they’ve shown us the dungeons every single time.”

“Lead the way.”

Sapphire walked ahead of her friend quickly and led her up the stairs that were to the right of the map, whilst walking past two guards that were too engrossed in the own conversation to notice Sapphire and Ruby or ask where they were going. The two mares reached the top of the stairs and turned left, walking past a few conference rooms before reaching Celestia’s office at the end of the corridor.

“Where did you go after you passed here?” asked Ruby, as her and Sapphire stopped next to the office.

“Let me think…..we passed the conference rooms, we passed Celestia’s office and then we……”

As Sapphire was trying to remember the way to the dungeons, the door to Celestia’s office suddenly opened and the elder Royal sister emerged.

“Can I help you?”

“Umm ye-yes your Highness, we wou-would like to talk about our… wages! Yes, about wages,” stammered Ruby, Sapphire nodding eagerly.

“That’s..lovely to hear but I’m really busy right now. How about you come and see me same time tomorrow and we can have our discussion then?” said Celestia, who was clearly in a rush to get somewhere.

“Ok-okay then!” said Ruby, but Celestia had already walked away.

Sapphire and Ruby looked at each other and they were both thinking the same thing. They quickly walked into the conference room opposite Celestia’s office and stuck their heads out from behind the door. At the end of the corridor next to Celestia’s office, there was a black door that had ‘TOP SECRET!’ written at the front of it. Completely forgetting the fact that Sapphire and Ruby could still be standing there, Celestia used her horn to unlock the door and she quickly went down the stairs, forgetting to lock the door behind her.

Ruby and Sapphire quickly passed through the door and went down the stairs as quietly as possible. When they reached the last step, Ruby caught a peek of Celestia walking. The dungeon at Canterlot Palace had been vacant for the last fifty years, and the badly stained floor combined with the rusting metal bars on the cells supported this. Celestia continued walking until she reached the last cell, where two guards were stood to monitor the lone prisoner. Celestia stopped and stood next to the guards and in front of Sir Capricornus, who was lying on the floor in front of her.

“Has he confessed?”

“No, your Highness.”

Celestia ordered the guard to open the gate and they obeyed.

“I don’t know why you insist on doing this.”

“Doing what?” croaked Sir Capricornus, trying to slowly push himself up.

“We both know what your plan is.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!”

Sapphire hugged her friend tightly and Ruby didn’t try to push her away. The force of Celestia’s voice threw Sir Capricornus backwards and he collided with the wall, groaning as he slowly slid onto the floor.

“You two. Get inside the cell now.”

The two guards were a little apprehensive as to where this was going but they obliged, not wanting to further anger the princess.

“Are you going to admit to your crimes Sir Capricornus?”

“No.”

“Hit him.”

The two guards both repeatedly punched Sir Capricornus in the stomach at the same time, and the elder stallion yelled in pain and desperately tried to roll away to avoid the blows, but Celestia used her magic to hold him in the same position and the guards continued to beat him.

“Are you going to admit to your crimes Sir Capricornus?” she asked again.

Sir Capricornus groaned but shook his head. The two guards again began to beat Sir Capricornus and this continued for the next three minutes and soon there was blood pouring out from all of Sir Capricornus’ wounds and he was close to passing out.

“If you don’t confess, this is going to end very badly for you,” hissed Celestia, gritting her teeth. When Sir Capricornus didn’t respond, she charged into the cell and used her magic to slowly lift him up.

“Princess, what are you-?”

“SILENCE! DO NOT QUESTION YOUR PRINCESS!”

Celestia continued to slowly lift Sir Capricornus until he was at her eye level.

“Confess.”

Celestia used her horn to make a rope appear around Sir Capricornus’ neck, and it slowly began to tighten. Sir Capricornus started wheezing and his face began to turn a light shade of blue.

“CELESTIA WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

Princess Luna suddenly appeared at the opposite end of the corridor, and she quickly galloped towards her sister, dragging her out of the cell. Sir Capricornus fell to the floor hard and immediately became unconscious.

“Why didn’t you try to stop her?!” demanded Luna, glaring at the two guards.

“We were acting on the orders of the princess your Highness,” mumbled one of the guards, staring at the floor.

“HE NEEDS TO CONFESS!”

Celestia was yelling unintelligibly by now and Luna was forced to light up her horn and cast a spell that not only knocked Celestia out, but also transported her to her bed.

Luna glared at the guards once more and completely ignored the severely injur d Sir Capricornus before teleportig out of the dungeons. The two guards stood silently over the prisoner, before locking his door and leaving the dungeons, closing the door behind them but forgetting to lock it.

Sapphire and Ruby emerged from their hiding place speechless. Sapphire had tears streaming down her face and Ruby silently stared down the corridor.

“How...how could she do that to him?” whispered Sapphire.

Ruby ignored her and slowly walked down the hallway to Sir Capricornus’ cell, and she gasped when she saw the effects of the beating that Sir Capricornus had received. His neck was red due to the effects of Celestia’s spell and there was a large wound on his forehead from when he fell to the floor. His stomach and chest was black and blue with bruises and there was another cut on one of his hind legs.

Sapphire joined her friend and had the same reaction when she saw Sir Capricornus. As she continued to cry, Ruby took out the camera Emerald had given her and she took several pictures of Sir Capricornus’ battered body. The picture were instantly printed and Ruby stuffed the photos into her satchel.

“We-we have to help him,” whispered Sapphire.

“We don’t have time. When we show the pictures to Emerald I’m sure that he can find a way to help. Come on, let’s go.”

Ruby led Sapphire out of the dungeons and she quietly locked the door behind her. The two mares quickly walked through the corridor they had passed through nearly half an hour ago and as they were climbing down the stairs, they came across the same maid that had questioned them in the locker room.

“How come you two are still here so late?” asked the elderly maid with a small frown.

“We...were talking to Princess Celestia about whether she would consider giving us a pay rise,” said Ruby, speaking for herself and her friend, whose eyes were red from crying.

“But what about-”

Ruby and Sapphire quickly barged past the maid mid-sentence and they left the palace in a hurry to see Emerald.

---

“Send them up to my office.”

The stallion quietly closed the door and Emerald began to take out his notebook. The fact that the two mares wanted to meet with him now instead of the agreed time of midday tomorrow meant that they had found something interesting.

The door opened and Ruby and Sapphire stood quietly in the doorway. Judging by the looks on their faces, Emerald knew that his prediction was right, and he ushered the two mares into his office.

“Now, I’m guessing that you’ve found something interesting?” enquired Emerald.

“We saw......we’ll just show you.”

Ruby opened her satchel with shaking hooves and she put the pictures she had taken (and Emerald’s camera) on the desk for him to see.

Emerald stared at the pictures in stunned silence, the shock of what he was seeing evident in his face. He slowly lifted a hoof and pulled the pictures closer to him.

“Well….you two definitely did your job. Here’s your money,” said Emerald, sliding an envelope containing two thousand bits across the table.

“Will...you get him out of there? Whatever he did, he didn’t deserve that,” said Sapphire

“I’ll do my best,” reassured Emerald.

“Thank you.”

The two mares got up out of their seats and left Emerald’s office.

“A letter came for you today sir,” announced a stallion as he passed Ruby and Sapphire on their way out of the office.

“Who’s it from?”

“Your brother sir.”

Emerald took the letter from the stallion and dismissed him. When he heard the door close, Emerald used his magic to rip open the envelope and he eagerly read the letter Lejon had written.

Dear Emerald,

I hope that this letter reaches you in good health. Apologies for not contacting you for weeks, I know it was wrong for me not to at least check up on how you are doing, and I promise that it will not happen again. I am currently in Detrot and I am following two ponies who I am 98% sure are Sunburst and Sunrise of House Capricorn.

Two nights ago, Princess Celestia ordered thirteen Royal Guard members to arrest Sunburst and Sunrise, and she told us that they had committed serious crimes against Equestria. The arrest failed and not only were there twelve casualties and one death, but Sunburst and Sunrise also managed to escape. During their escape, Sunrise and her husband were using what I can only describe as powerful artefacts. Luckily, my injuries weren’t too bad and I was able to follow them to Detrot. Today, they disguised themselves and had a bogus meeting with Uncle Soldi, claiming that they were representatives of Sunburst and Sunrise and that they wanted to discuss educational reforms. I have enclosed the notes I took from the meeting and a rough sketch (please forgive my below average drawing skills) of their disguise.

Please pass on a message to Princess Celestia that I am alright and I will continue my mission. Could you also tell Father not to worry and that I will be back in Canterlot very soon.

Lejon

Emerald finished reading the letter and put it down, reaching underneath to pull out his notepad and review his notes from earlier on.

They were using powerful artefacts?

Weren’t they sent on that six-month long mission to Saddle Arabia to find and bring back the Elements of Chaos?

Emerald closed his notebook with a huge smile on his face, having finally understood why Sir Capricornus was arrested.

Should I wait to write an article or should I do it now?

Just wait, there could be an opportunity in the future to use it against Celestia.

Besides, you’ve always been a patient pony.

---

“On behalf of myself and my sister, I would like to apologise for what happened earlier today. You didn’t deserve that.”

Sir Capricornus groaned and tried to lift up his head to look at Luna, but the pain was too much and his head flopped back down to the ground.

Luna sighed and fired up her horn, casting a memory spell that would wipe Sir Capricornus’ memory of the last forty eight hours. She then lit up her horn again to cast a healing spell that got rid of all of the elder stallion’s wounds.

I just hope that’s enough to cover up what happened here today.