Picking Up the Pieces

by Evilhumour

Chapter Two: Gentle Step

Chapter Two

Gentle Step

Gentle Step was a mare of stability; most of her Guards could trust her to act in ways to defend their nation that was beyond them. If she was calm and collected, then they had nothing to worry about.

She had shown some worry the day before yesterday when she had learned that King Well Banded had been possessed by what the heirs of the Virtues’ true power called the Nightmare, a dangerous Power unto itself. The fact that these youths were each one sixth of a Power themselves was very surprising and she had to order Memorizing to have a squad of Hidden Guards to protect each of them lest Equestria lose such a potential weapon in case another Power decided to involve itself with one of her citizens or her nation.

Still, at the moment things had mostly calmed down although she knew that the vote tomorrow would be a true headache. She already knew how she planned to vote and it bothered her greatly that her old friend would not be allowed to vote for the freedom of his tribe, especially considering what the nymph and Memorizing had told her about the truth of the Nightmare’s involvement with the Demi-Goddess of Love’s wedding day a thousand years ago. She was also aware that Memorizing wasn’t telling her everything as the reports seemed to be missing something from them but she could not place her hoof on it.

Flicking her eyes as she walked the halls to her office, she became aware that one of her Guards that had been following her was Memorizing and she had to do her best not to let out a snort. Despite being a changeling that had the ability to actually practice and hone his ability to shapechange, Gentle could always tell when Mems-

“Hello Captain General,” Memorizing said as he came out of the side hallway, with the Guard behind her pausing to look at the Secret Protector before moving on. “May I accompany you to the Captain's Room?”

“Of course,” she said, forcing herself not to blush as the drone fell in beside her, with her Royal Guards staring long at him. Something tickled into the back of her head and she shot a look up at his face. Although he was hiding it, she knew he was smirking. “That Guard was one of yours, correct? Ruby Shell, if I am correct.”

“How did you tell?” he asked, his smirk falling as a hardened look replaced it.

“The Guard did not gape as long as the others did; she was acting surprised instead of being surprised,” she said. In response, Memorizing let out a groan before narrowing his eyes. Guard Shell squeaked up ahead with her true Royal Guards staring in confusion at her.

“If the changeling detector lights were ever to fail, you would make a perfect replacement, Gents,” he muttered under his breath with Gentle doing her best not to snicker outright at that comment.

“I am pleased to hear that, Mems,” she said in her normal stoic manner, causing Memorizing to raise an eyebrow at her. Before he could say anything to her own comment, they had reached their destination and Gentle could not help but feel joy that her fellow Captain could finally be in this room properly and all the other Captains were waiting for them.

“Hello everypony,” she said, examining the looks on their faces that told her exactly what the issue was. “I believe you have reservations concerning Captain Memorizing Gaze and his position amongst us.”

“You are correct, Step,” Captain Blazen Sun said, stroking his beard as he eyed the drone. “Chief among them is why we only learned of his existence now.”

Gentle took a moment to gather herself to give an explanation but Memorizing beat her to the punch. “The position of the Secret Protector of the Hidden Guards was itself a secret that only the reigning monarch and the Captain General were to be made privy to, but due to the emergency two days previously, I was forced to make myself public to inform Captain General Gentle Step of the severity of the situation due to the danger our king and country were in.”

“And what, pray tell, is your role?” Captain Violet Lulamoon inquired of him.

Memorizing Gaze looked around the room. “To explain that, I must go back nearly two thousand years, to when the E.U.P. Guard was first formed to protect Goddess-Princesses Celestia and Luna, as well as to keep the peace. In time, their duties expanded to include the protection of the Goddess-Princesses’ niece, the Demi-Goddess Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, when she made her presence known to the world. Over time, the E.U.P. Guard evolved into the Royal Guard, and after the invasion of Canterlot by the enemy Queen Chrysalis, it further developed into the five branches that we have today, four of them named in honor of the Goddess-Princesses Celestia and Luna, the Demi-Goddess Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, and the Magi of Stars.” He nodded at each of his fellow Captains as he named their respective Guards.

“Around the same time of the Royal Guards’ expansion, soon after King Blueblood the First took the throne, a sixth branch was secretly formed from the changelings who had sided with Equestria and gave key details that were decisive in defeating Chrysalis. Whereas the five open Guard branches are Equestria’s visible protectors, the Hidden Guards have served as its secret watch-ponies, an agency dedicated to gathering and analyzing information on any potential threats to the nation, and dealing with them if need be. Such as the Six Bearers of Harmony; when we were first made aware of them and led to believe that they were enemies of the state, we dug deep into their backgrounds for the information to be presented to Captain Gentle Step to see any connections between the seemingly unconnected individuals.” He tipped his head, removing his non-reflective black helmet and placed it on a desk before continuing.

“Unfortunately, we failed to discover the presence of the entity known as the Nightmare possessing the king until it was almost too late. My Guards and I were eventually made aware of its presence as a controlling force within the government during our pursuit of the Six after they had escaped from the city, but we were unable to confirm just whose body it had inhabited until it took action during Prince-King Tizoc’s visit, when the nymph Page Turner was able to detect its presence and alerted me of that fact.”

Captain Standing Wall frowned as she removed her ruby helmet. “How did she discover there was a possessing entity, let alone whom it was controlling? And whom did they first expect?”

“The entity Balance/Harmony whose Elements they carried informed them of their enemy and that it was controlling another,” Memorizing Gaze replied. “Initially, they… well, they suspected you, Captain General, since they knew their enemy would be capable of bringing this nation’s might against them, and with your personal capabilities as well as your command over all of the Guards…” He sounded embarrassed.

Gentle Step let out a snort, shaking her head as she removed her own royal purple helmet. “A logical thought, but clearly incorrect.” She rolled her eyes. “If a High Lord Demon is unable to defeat me while in Tartarus, anything more powerful than that would make its presence visible enough that the rest of you would be able to detect and help me defeat it.”

Captain Sweet Surprise shook her head she removed her own midnight blue helmet. “A fact you always love to use, Gentle,” she said with a guffaw. “I do recall I was holding back the incursion you ran into. Something you never seem to mention when you tell ponies about the time you were stuck in Tartarus for five months,” Sweet Surprise said with her usual smirk before looking at Memorizing. “So tell me what is your other role beyond being the spymaster of Equestria. Violet is in charge of the North and the farms that are outside the city, Standing covers police matters across the entire city and the West, Blazen has the fire department and the East, and I’ve got the hospitals and the South.”

“As well as the being the spymaster, I am also in charge of those protecting your families,” Memorizing with them all frowning at this. “Such protection has been a long standing practice so you do not need to worry about them interfering with their daily lives. Also,” Memorizing said as he walked over to Sweet’s ear and whispered into something her ear that caused her eyes to open wide.

“Oh by the goddesses, I can’t believe I forgot!” she said before pulling his head in for a kiss on the lips and started hugging him. “Thank you for saving my plot! They would have killed me if I forgot! I would have killed myself if I forgot.”

“It is not a problem,” Memorizing replied. “Especially after you just fixed things with them yesterday, according to my Guards.”

Sweet Surprise froze and glared at him, backing up. “I did not realize that you had Guards in my headquarters.”

The other Captain shrugged. “Please… I have Guards in everypony’s headquarters. It’s part of my job, keeping an eye out for potential infiltrators who aren’t loyal to Equestria.” Memorizing then grinned, showing his fangs. “I have served by each of your sides in the past.”

“As disconcerting as that is, I am curious to know who these ponies are,” Violet said, turning her head at Sweet with a smirk on the Northern mare’s face. “I thought we were friends and partners; working on decoding so many artifacts over the years. You using your admittedly superior knowledge on the matter and me with my special talent being magical artifacts, so I am curious to who they are.”

Sweet Surprise began to look panicky of all things; whoever Memorizing had mentioned had really unsettled the easy-going mare and proved why Memorizing was such an effective Secret Protector: he was able to deflect away from himself so flawlessly that almost no one noticed it.

“Guys, please, this is kinda personal and-”

“Oh now I simply must know,” Blazen said with a smirk on his old face, leaning against the young mare. “Unless it is something that is to be delegated to the backroo-”

“NO!” Sweet shouted, causing everypony to jump. “No, I can’t do that to them, not again.” She sighed before levitating her helmet to her hooves before turning to face Gentle. “Sir, I need to request a modified helmet that will allow horn rings.”

“Wait, horn rings,” Blazen said with his eyes going wide. “You’re engaged?”

“The more important question is that did she say rings as in plural?” Gentle said, surprised herself at this.

“Yes sir, and no Blazen, I’m not engaged… I am married to psychiatrist Sound Mind of the Middle East-South Quarter and firepony Hot Rod of the Middle West-South Quarter Firepony Department, going on our fifth year,” Sweet Surprise said with pride in her voice.

“Wait a moment, you’re married‽” Violet said in a loud voice. “For five years‽ Why the fuck wasn’t I invited‽ Why didn’t you tell me‽ Why didn’t you tell me‽” This last was directed at Gentle herself.

“I just learned of this myself,” Gentle said, shocked by the news as well. Sweet Surprise was a married mare!

“Because we decided that we didn’t want a big show over it and just wanted it to be a real private affair, Violet,” Sweet said in low voice. “We’re in Las Pegasus and… look, any other place, our wedding would have been swarmed by the media wanting to take pictures of the husband and wife of the Captain of the South and their lives would have been ruined by press looking for any dirt. This way, we get to have our privacy and live our lives together in peace.”

Violet let out a huff, shaking her head. “Still pissed at you for not telling me but I can understand why you did it. Relationships are not easy to maintain.”

“You mean like you and Lunar Light?” Sweet asked mischievously.

“We are not a couple and never have been,” Violet snapped. “Weird Beard and I are long-time friends, that’s all. Long-time friends who’ve been through a great deal together, and neither of us would have anypony else as their Captain or Lieutenant. But friends and fellow fighters are all we’ll ever be.”

Sweet snickered. “I still think that nickname is hilarious, you know.”

“Quite,” Violet replied dryly. “But it’s accurate.”

“Which is part of why it’s so hilarious!” Sweet turned to Memorizing. “So… is she telling the truth? About them just being friends?”

Memorizing gave her a sly look. “As Captain of the Hidden Guards, it would be a breach of protocols to share such potential information, especially about two Guards who have never once given me reason to doubt their loyalty to this nation and to their duties, without permission from the Captain General.”

This prompted both of her Captains of the North and South to look at her, causing Gentle to back up in surprise with Blazen chuckling loudly as he placed a hoof around Memorizing’s shoulder. “Come with me lad, I do have things to talk with you about,” Blazen said as he directed the drone out of the room. “Besides, it is nice to have another stallion here after all these years.”

“It is nice to talk with you properly, Blazen,” Memorizing said while the two left the room, with the drone flashing a grin at her.

“Mems,” she hissed loudly as she realized what he had done.

“Mems?” Standing Wall heard her with all three female Captains giving her a look. “Is there something you’re not telling us about you two?”

Gentle Step gave the drone a look as he left her to explain her nickname for him, and talking about herself was something she was nev-

“It is her old foal nickname for me when she was a smaller mare,” Memorizing said with a smirk on his face.

“Smaller?” she asked with immediate regret; Memorizing was always able to set her up for a joke of some kind.

“Well you are still smaller than me, Gents, even after all these years,” Memorizing said as he was dragged out, Gentle groaning loudly in response as she realized Sweet Surprise had just been given new material to work with.

Behind her, Standing Wall coughed. “You know, he never did answer my question about how Page Turner figured out it was the King being controlled…”

“It’s in his report,” Gentle Step said tiredly. “I recommend you read it and cease pushing into my actions with Memorizing Gaze when we were young foals together.” She then froze as she realized how poorly that sounded and by the grins of the mares around her, they immediately made the wrong connection.

This day was not going as she had hoped and she had her stupid foalhood friend to blame for it.

Then a small folded piece of paper levitated into the room, flying directly over to Violet, who took it and studied it with interest. “Well, well, well… this was unexpected.”

“What is it?” Sweet Surprise asked curiously.

“Just something else Memorizing had learned about Page Turner that he thought I should know,” Violet said as she re-folded the note and tucked it into her armor. “He recommended I talk with her about it at some point in the next few days.” She looked at Gentle Step. “Nothing urgent or to do with security issues, I promise.”

“That’s good,” Gentle Step said.

Violet grinned. “And now that that’s all settled, what’s this about you and Memorizing knowing one another when you were younger?”

Gentle Step glared at her but it did nothing to deter any of the mares’ eager looks. Gentle eyed the window, wondering if she would be able to flee quick enough that they would not follow her if she were to jump...

Comments

[Glen Gorewood]

Considering how the previous part of this tale ended, I am interested in where this part goes.
So far I'm intrigued.

Glen Gorewood

[Evilhumour]

8355428

Glad to hear that.

[nickle241]

not much to judge on yet, but with several new lines of inquiry open i see lots of potential for where this is headed, wonder if we're gonna see a new creature of nightmare any time soon.

[Joeyjambo122]

8355710
Are you editing the next chapter?

[Evilhumour]

8364454

Yup.

[Joeyjambo122]

8364518
When are you hoping to release it?

[Evilhumour]

8364530

Either tonight or tomorrow.

[Joeyjambo122]

8364565
Cool!

[Copper Springs]

I love this! I like seeing the captains interacting in a relaxed atmosphere. It really highlights there friendship. I especially like seeing Gentle Step show more emotion. Also isn't Sound Mind the mare the Night got directions from before?

[Evilhumour]

8661814

Yes she is~

You've got really good eyesight.

[Asolem2]

Gentle Step let out a snort, shaking her head as she removed her own royal purple helmet. “A logical thought, but clearly incorrect.” She rolled her eyes. “If a High Lord Demon is unable to defeat me while in Tartarus, anything more powerful than that would make its presence visible enough that the rest of you would be able to detect and help me defeat it.”

Sorry Gentle but you are underestimating the Nightmare, and even just comparing a Power to demon, high lord or otherwise, just proves that you don't even understand the nature of the Nightmare... And you would therefore lose.

“Mems?” Standing Wall heard her with all three female Captains giving her a look . “Is there something you’re not telling us about you two?”

Muhahaha slip up

“It’s in his report,” Gentle Step said tiredly. “I recommend you read it and cease pushing into my actions with Memorizing Gaze when we were young foals together.” She then froze as she realized how poorly that sounded and by the grins of the mares around her, they immediately made the wrong connection.

Oh ho ho, another one