Sides Of Two

by CakeHatColt

Chapter 4: The Archer and His Daughter

The train station was vacant. Only expect for Colt and Shield, who were waiting for their longtime friend, Razor Shot. Razor was a Royal Guard, one of the best archers in fact. He is, according to Shield, "one of the smartest" because he's the only one that uses a crossbow. The problem with the crossbow is that in order to use it you need two hooves and it takes a long time to reload another arrow. So you need to be at least a pegasus or a unicorn and you need practice loading arrows. Razor could fire one arrow every 30 seconds. For reloading a crossbow that's almost impossible, but Razor somehow manages to do it.

However he does has one flaw that brings him down. He has a bad case of anxiety! He can get very paranoid very quickly. It's really a miracle how he manages to be a Royal Guard.

Colt and Shield haven't been waiting for very long. Almost ten minutes, but Colt was getting bored already.

"Aaaahhhhhhggggg…" Colt said with tired eyes. "How much longer do we have to waaiiitttt!"

"Not much longer. I give it, five minutes." Shield responded.

"Thaattt's toooo lonnggg!" Colt responded. "Why can't the train just-" He stopped and heard a sound of a train. "Well finally."

From the distance the train made it's loud entrance and quickly got to the station. The doors open and only a red pegasus with strange hair walked out every timidly. It was definitely Razor Shot. This was his first time being out of Canterlot so understandably he would be cautious. He pecked his head to see the outside before actually walking out. He spotted Colt almost immediately.

"C-cakeHat!" Razor walked up and gave him a shaky hug.

"Hi Razor." Colt said as Razor let go. "How are you? Is Grace and Hidden Eyes doing alright?"

"Yeah, Grace is doing fine...but…" Razor turned back to the train with a nervous smile, knowing Shield wasn't going to be happy. "We kind of have a problem…about Hidden…"

"Hmm?" Colt looked inside the train cart.

A small green filly with a ponytail in her hair ran out. "Uncle Colt!" She jumped on top of Colt. "Where's Uncle Shield? Is he here?"

"Hidden Eyes!" Colt and Shield shouted. Colt continued having a hard time with her on his back. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see Uncle Shield!" Hidden explained. "Where is he?" She jumped off and looked around the station hoping to see him.

Colt laughed nervously. "Hidden, we told you already, Shield was a character we made up for you as a younger filly."

To understand the situation here, Shield didn't want Hidden Eyes to know about him. He thought if she knew of him it would only bring more trouble to her and Razor's family. When Razor and Grace found out about Shield they started to get caught up in conflicts they shouldn't have been in, time and time again. He didn't want Hidden to go through the same thing so he asked them to never mention him. Unfortunately they did eventually and they compromised. Tell her when she's older that those stories were made up only to entertain her as an infant.

"Oh really?" Hidden said using her magic to pull out Shield's letter to Princess Celestia that was sent to Razor Shot. "Then what's this?"

"Uh…" Colt was speechless. He didn't know how to lie his way out of this.

"Gosh darn it…" Shield followed with seeing Razor smiling with fear in his eyes. He knows the fear is for him.

"You guys can't lie to me anymore!" Hidden said with a grin. "I know he's real. I don't know why you guys been hiding him but I want to see him." She put on her puppy face. "Please!"

"…Let me speak to Razor." Shield requested of Colt.

"Umm.." Colt said walking past Hidden. "Listen, let me talk to your dad about this first. Alright?"

She agreed and Colt and Razor walked to a far enough distance to keep Hidden in sight but not be able to hear them. Shield took control.

"Alright Razor…" Shield said in a calm voice seeing Razor's anxiety is hitting him hard. "Please explain how she found out."

"I'm sorry, Sh-…" He looked at Hidden. "…Colt, she snooped into the mail. I didn't know I was getting any mail about you. I swear!"

"It's alright." Shield understood. "Now just calm down, alright? I'm not mad."

"Really?" Razor asked confused. "You're not?"

"I'm not mad…" Shield restated. "Yelling at you won't solve this problem. However right now I'm only concern for Hidden." Shield explained. "These mercenaries are willing to do anything. Hidden being here and in the way will only make matters worst."

"I know that!" Razor whispered back. "I told her that, but after reading the letter she was hell bent on coming with me. Sweet Celestia! She even hind in my luggage!"

"Holy shit!" Colt said. "Seriously?" He glanced at Hidden to see how small she was, not noticing the Elements Of Harmony walking up to her. "I mean, I know she's small but she's not that small."

"Colt…" Shield grunted getting Colt to realize what he overlooked. "We got another problem…"

"Hmm?" Colt turn back to notice the Elements. "Oh that's bad!"

"HEY DAD! UNCLE COLT!" Hidden shouted running over. "The princess is here for us!" She grabbed her dad's foreleg and pulled her towards them. "Come on she's waiting." Razor showed a terrified face to Colt.

"So…" Twilight walked to them to close the gap quicker. "You must be Razor Shot. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Razor nervously laughed then was silent. He wasn't prepared to speak to the Elements yet. Meeting them, especially with Hidden right next to him, is the worst possible thing to be happening. "What if they mentioned Shield? Then Hidden will geek out and tell them that we know him. And with Colt here, too, they're going to figure out Colt and Shield are the same pony, at least that's what they're going to think!..." Razor silently panicked to himself.

Hidden noticed him sweating and shaking. "Dad? Are you alright?" She nugged him on the side with a concerned face, so did the Elements(except for Pinkie Pie, who was bouncing with excitement).

Razor shook out some of his anxiety to respond. "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine, Sweetie." He then introduced himself to the Elements of Harmony. He stood straight with his foreleg to his head as a salute but he was shaking a bit. "I am P-private Razor Shot of the Royal Guard A-archer Division, at your service, Princess T-twilight!"

"And I am Hidden Eyes." Hidden added bowing her head. "His daughter."

"Well welcome to Ponyville." Twilight said with a nervous smile of her own. "And I would like to introduce my friends..." She was suddenly cut off by Pinkie Pie.

She pulled her party cannon out and placed it right in-between Razor and Hidden. Then just as it appeared it burst it's confetti in the air with a loud boom surprising Hidden and terrifying Razor. Razor screamed to the top of his lungs as Pinkie greeted them right after.

Razor flew straight to Colt's hat and hind inside. He was so frighten that the hat was shaking with him. Razor took deep quick breaths to try to calm himself down as Colt try to comfort him as well.

"Whoops my bad." Pinkie nervously smiled as everyone else frown at her.

Hidden went to Razor. "Dad! Are you alright? Do you need your medication?"

"It's okay, Hidden." Razor refused the offer, the hat still shaking. "Im fine.....Im fine!..." he peeked his eyes out. "Just give me a moment."

"Um?..." Rainbow floated next to Hidden. "Is he alright?"

"If he says he's fine. He'll be fine...over time that is." Hidden answered.

"What's wrong with him, darling?" Rarity walked up as well.

"Oh nothing much." Hidden answered again. "Just anxiety...kind of a really bad case of it." Hidden then started to question Pinkie's actions. "But why did you do that anyways?"

"Oh I do it to everypony that comes to Ponyville!" Pinkie answered quickly.

"Hey!" Colt responded jealously. "You didn't do it to me!"

"I didn’t?" Pinkie realized. "I DIDN'T!" She then pull the cannon in front of Colt's face and fired. Confetti covering Colt's face from forehead to chin. The sound caused the hat to shake more vigorously.

"Thank you." Colt said unsatisfied.

"MAY YOU PLEASE STOP THAT!" Razor shouted outside of the hat.

"Oops again!" Pinkie shouted back. "Sorry!"

After another minute of Razor panicked breathing he finally calm down. "I-I should be the one saying 'sorry'." He continued. "I don't really seem like the average day Royal Guard, do I?" Hidden then began to comfort him.

"By the way." Rainbow decided to change her focus to Colt. "What are you doing here, Colt?"

"Oh, well…" Colt explained to them. "Razor and I are old friends! And I haven't seen him in a while so I came to see him and give a place to stay while he's here."

"Wouldn't it be better if he stayed in the Castle?" Applejack questioned. "Ya know, so he can guard Twilight properly?"

"I mean, I'm only offering." Colt answered. "It's up to him if he wants to or not." He looked up to Razor still in his hat.

"One things for s-sure…" Razor responded to the situation. "Hidden is staying at your house."

"Yay!" She shouted. She was honestly glad she can stay at her Uncle's house. That way there's a better chance to finally see Shield.

"And, and of course I'm staying at the Castle." Razor added. "What kind of Royal Guard would I be if I didn't?"

"But darling?" Rarity questioned now. "Wouldn't the Castle be the safest place for your daughter?"

"What?" Razor pulled himself out of the hat and shouted. "OF COURSE NOT! If Princess Twilight is the main target, then the castle is the last place any child should be in." He calmed down. "Besides…" he had a chill down his spin. "Her aunt is the scariest pegasus to ever live. She can protect Hidden just fine."

"That's right!" Hidden agreed. "Aunty Flame can burn anyone who'll get near me!"

"Is that so?" Twilight said. "Well that's good. I never expected you to be marry already, Colt?" She had a smile but she did have one concern however, while Colt had a confused face about her last remark. "But why are you here in the first place?" She then looked towards Razor for an answer.

As Razor was about to speak, Pinkie interupted him with a wild hypotheses. "Maybe she heard about that 'Purple Stallion' guy that's been going around and saving ponies left and right, and she wanted to see it for herself!"

Hidden's heart was pounding, she knew they were talking about her Uncle Shield. But even though she's out of the loop, she at least understands there's a reason to why her Uncle has been hiding. It also helped looking at Uncle Colt's and her Dad's face in disinterest. "Maybe it would be better if I didn't over react this time?", she thought. "Something's going on with them?"

"Gosh darn it…" Shield said. "It feels as if coming here was a mistake after all."

"What 'Purple Stallion'?" Hidden respond. "I came of my own accord… To visit my Uncle Colt and Aunty Flame."

"What!?" Colt, Razor and Shield all thought.

"Well I can't blame you for that." Twilight said with a smile. "I have a Niece of my own and I love it when she visits."

"And how would that even work, Pinkie?" Rainbow questioned. "Our newspapers don’t spread all the way to Canterlot."

"I don't know." Pinkie replied with her usual smile. "Just a hunch."

Hidden smiled back to Twilight. "Well we better get going!" She hopped on to Colt. "We shouldn't let Aunty Flame wait forever, right?"

Colt struggling to stand with Hidden on his back. "Yeah…of course.." He agreed. "But can you get off first!"

"Whoops! Sorry!" Hidden laughed.

The two said their goodbyes to the group and went on their way to Colt's house. Leaving Razor with the Elements of Harmony to talk.

As Colt and Hidden were far enough away from the Elements he decided to break the little silence between them.

"So…" Colt started questioning. "What happened back there?"

"What do you mean?" Hidden questioned back.

"You know…" Colt explained. "You not telling them about our relation with Shield."

"Oh!" Hidden had a realization. "So that's why you guys been keeping him a secret!" Colt tilted his head in a questioning fashion. She continued. "All of you thought I would rat him out! Well, guess what! I didn’t! Clearly there's a reason Shield doesn't want to show himself, and the look on your face back there, means it has something to do with the Princess and her friends. Am I right?"

"eeehhh…" Colt tried to correct some of things she said. "Well there's not really any coral between them and us, but you're right about why we never told you."

"Why would you guys think that?" Hidden said with disappointment. "It's me! If you tell me to keep a secret; I can keep the secret!"

"Yeah, of course…" Colt had a hard time putting the words together. "But…you're still young… You could get peer-pressured into talking about Shield, you know?"

"Pfft!" Hidden replied angrily. "As if! I don't have anyone else to talk to other than you, Aunty Flame, and my parents. Who am I gonna 'spill the beans' to?"

Shield and Colt rose a brow. "Hidden? Are you saying you don't have friends your age?" Colt asked very worried.

"I don't need friends?" She looked at him. "I already have you guys."

"Well…" Colt was shocked. "I can understand that, but friends are fun!" He tried to think up reasons to have friends. "And uh…" He got stuck.

"They can teach you things that any of us can't." Shield gave a list to how great friends are. "They can be there for emotional support, get a second opinion,…" He said a couple more reasons as Colt was repeating everything to Hidden.

"All of what you said…" Hidden rebuttal. "I can already get from you guys and my magic books." She looked at him again. "I know you're worried about me, but I'm fine. Honest, I don't need friends, I got you and everypony else." She smiled at the end there.

Colt simply gave up, nothing he would say would change her mind. "If you say so…"

___________________

Meanwhile at the Mercenaries Hideout. SpeedStab returned and has just explained what happened back at the town. Rookie was very upset of her actions.

"SPEED, WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!?" Rookie's voice echoed through the woods.

"Jeez…" Speed wasn't caring in the slightest. She had her back turn to him and was using her magic to clean her ears with an ear swab . "What did you expect me to do? Just let her live? She found out who I was."

"I bet because you exposed yourself on purpose." Rookie said sceptly.

"Now why would I do that?" Speed said in disbelief.

"Because that's what you do, Speed!" Rookie has known her for a long time. "You like to kill ponies, and you find any reason to do it."

"Yeah, fine." Speed knew he was right, but this was a bit different. "But this was different. This wanna be 'Crystal Pony' comes up to me, tells me that she knows Shield Strong and when I ask her for any information, she gave me absolute squawk. All she knew was that he's very powerful. Something we already knew."

"So she annoyed you. That's enough reason to kill someone?" Rookie retorted. Speed was about to respond back with "yes", but Rookie already knew she was going to say that too so he talked over her. "No! No it's not enough of a reason. If we got payed for it; sure. If she was in the way for our paycheck; sure. But if she knew nothing about anything; there's no point. On the plus side, what if she wasn't lying about being a Crystal Pony, huh?"

"Of course she was lying!" Speed defended herself. "The Crystal Ponies should be extinct by now. It's been 1,000 years."

"Well,…" Dark Story took a brief break on his read, which he's been doing since before the two were fighting, commented on their debacle. "Shield Strong is a Crystal Pony, and he's still alive."

"For now…" Speed growled at the thought of the jackass, Shield Strong.

"Not to mention that we're technically descendents of the Crystal Ponies." Rookie claimed. "Speed think about, if that mare was a crystal pony and Shield Strong is one as well, then it's possible there's more of us out there. Hell, maybe the Empire still stands."

"See…" Dark commented in disbelief. "That's just wishful thinking. In all of our history books it's stated the Empire fell. It just vanished out of thin air, never to be seen again."

"Spoiler Alert guys!" Speed was getting impatient. "We're not here to find an ancient civilization! We're here on the job. Also, I don't care." She grabs her cloak and walks towards the door. "I'm going back to the town, dig up some grub for us." She scoffed and walked out the door.

"Hey!" Rookie asked. "At least use a disguise spell before you go into town. And don't get-!" Speed slammed the door cutting off Rookie. "…caught…" He turned to Dark. "I'll be honest, Dark. How are you related to her?"

"We were given birth by the same mare." Dark said bluntly turning a page of his book.

"You know what I mean!" Rookie dropped his head on to his table. He then grabbed his tools and began to tinker with his gadget, once again. "You two are complete opposites! It makes no sense."

"And you two…" Dark retorts. "fight over everything we do. But yet you still stay."

Rookie simply responded with. "…Tu' Sha."

_____________________________________________

Meanwhile, the Elements of Harmony and Razor Shot were at Twilight's castle, waiting on Spike and Pinkie with their breakfast pancakes. Razor has been very silent around them. He's worried, with his level of stress right now, he might mention Shield, which can reveal his friendship with him. So he just kept as silent as possible. It help very much that he seemed so awkward and nervous the others just felt the same way to ask any questions.

It was until Fluttershy decided the break the silence with Razor and asked a question. "So Razor Shot, how was your trip here?"

"Oh…" Razor said trying not to worry any of them. "It was…fine." It clearly wasn't fine. Right after he spoke his head fell to the table. "Oh, what am I saying?" He began. "It was so awful. Hidden learned a spell to hide in my luggage so she sneaked on the train with me, and I told her not to come! I told her it was dangerous, but she didn't care! Now I have to worry about this mission and keeping her safe and…!" He realized he was spilling out his guts. "ahh, I'm sorry if I'm saying too much."

"Oh not at all." Fluttershy continued to comfort him. "I find it very admirable for you to be caring for your daughter."

They continued to talk as Rainbow whispered to Twilight. "I don’t trust this guy."

"What?" Twilight asked. "Why is that?"

"You know…" Rainbow and Twilight looked at him. "He just doesn't seem fighter material. You've fought them before, do you really think he can protect you?"

"Rainbow Dash..." Twilight spoke after some thought. "I understand your concern, but Celestia sent only him for a reason. We have to trust her decision."

"Hmm…" Rainbow grumbled and wondered why Princess Celestia only sent this weak looking archer to guard Twilight. So he decided to ask him herself. "Hey, 'Razor Shot' right?" She shouted across the table.

Razor had a shiver down his spin. He turned to her, intimidated by her shouting. "Y-yes…"

"Why did Celestia send only you here?" She asked.

Razor couldn't tell her the truth that Shield technically sent him and not Celestia. Yes Celestia did give the order for him to go but Shield was the one who requested his help. But he honestly didn't know why Shield needed his help. "Well…uh…I don't really know." He looked away, terrified by Rainbow's expression.

"What do you mean, you don't know?" Rainbow asked with an eyebrow raised, and her front hooves slammed to the table. The rest of them were staring at him with their own sets of concern faces. Razor started shaking with all of their glaring.

"I-I'm sorry…" Razor began to explain. "I just simply don't know why I'm needed here. Especially with Sh-!" Razor covered his mouth. He was about to mention Shield! His heart was pounding hard. He has to think of something quick! "Sha…shyness… especially with how shy and nervous I am around other ponies! You know?" He gulped down with sweat pouring out of his face. The Elements of Harmony knew Razor Shot was hiding something. Rainbow Dash, especially, was not buying his shit. She frowned at him with complete disbelief.

Luckily for Razor, Twilight decided to try to change the topic. She put a hoof on to Rainbow's shoulder to calm the situation. "I think it's about time we drop this topic for now. We can ask him more about it when he's a bit…" She looks back at Razor, who was breathing in and out of a paper bag full of stress and Fluttershy rubbing his back. "…A lot calmer. Okay?"

Rainbow shrugs and sunk back into her chair. Rarity decided to change the topic as well. "So Razor Shot, you have a wife, I presume?"

"Y-yes." Razor said a lot more calmed now and has stopped using the paper bag. "Her name is Grace Graph. She's a painter."

"Really?" Fluttershy commented. "That's sounds lovely. What does she paint?"

"She mostly does abstract art as a hobby." Razor explained. "But for work she does commissions. She paints whatever the buyer wants really."

"Well that sounds delightful, darling." Rarity commented. "I'll be sure to make some time to see some of her work the next time I'm in Canterlot."

"That would be nice." Razor replied back. "She loves new customers."

"FOOD'S DONE!" Pinkie shouted quickly after placing plates of pancakes in front of everyone. The pancakes each individually had different mixture of fruits arranged in smiley faces and whip cream.

"Alright!" Twilight exclaimed. "Let's dig in!" So then they all ate their breakfast.

Author's Note:

Welp, finally done with this chapter. Now for chapter 5! Wa Whoo!