Chapter 14 - La Vita Nuova
I get on well with most of the guards in Canterlot Castle. They do their job well and every day, and every night, without fail, they do their best to protect Canterlot Castle and the city itself from threats both foreign and domestic. They’re a strange mix of both police and military, a bit like the Canadian Mounties or the German federal police. At times, they’ve come under fire for not having stopped serious threats like Nightmare Moon or Tirek. But most of these can be explained as something that they had no real ability to resist. The one black mark on their record though, is the changeling attack on Canterlot during Cadence and Shining’s wedding several years ago. While Chrysalis was enough to even pose a threat to Celestia, her underlings were no more dangerous one on one than a pony trained in combat. And yet the guard were almost overrun, and were it not for the intervention of Cadence and Shining at the last second, all may have been lost.
So, what went wrong? Why did a highly trained, well discipled outfit like the Royal Guard collapse like France in 1940? Well, the answer was simple; infiltration by fifth columnists. The changelings, to their credit had done their research and through deception and disguise had infiltrated the Royal Guard at quite a high level. They inserted an officer into the ranks, who’s sole purpose, when the attack began, was to spread misinformation and cause as much confusion as possible, to make it easier for the changelings to take the city and turn it into a feeding ground. That infiltrator’s name, or at least, the one he took, was Captain Strong Shield.
Now, why was this turncoat still serving today? And more to the point, why was he now playing a key role in training new recruits? Well, that was simple too. When he saw what was happening to the ponies he had served with for a good year or so, and the innocent civilians, he was torn between his duty to his countrymen and his duty to his friends and comrades. In the end, pony bested changeling, and in the spur of the moment, he switched sides. His actions helped the Royal Guard begin to rally, right at the moment Cadence got Shining’s shield back up.
That decision cost him dearly. He could never return to his home, lest he be executed as a traitor. It also cost him his right eye. When one of the changelings recognised him and saw him fighting alongside the ponies, they turned on him in a way that even I would describe as savage. He now wears an eyepatch over the old war wound; hence also why he is now relegated to training.
His true nature was uncovered a few years ago, quite by accident, when the rift in the Everfree Forest disrupted his disguise spell. After some initial unpleasantness on the part of the ponies at discovering a changing in their midst (this was before the recent peace) he eventually came clean to Celestia about his origins, and gave his word that he had no love for his former kin, and that he would stand by Equestria for as long as he was needed.
So the whole affair was quietly hushed up. It never went public and Strong Shield was, as far as anypony else knew, just another unicorn serving in the Royal Guard, with a long and illustrious career behind him. Strong Shield was happy enough with the arrangement. As I said before, ponies had reacted poorly when he was first found out. And even with the peace, the notion that a pony you’ve served with for so long was not who you thought they were, was something that few ponies would be willing to bear. Strong Shield would have been dismissed from the guard, most likely with a dishonourable discharge. He would be a pariah amongst both ponies and changelings. So, I and a select few others, have kept his secret.
But the thing about secrets is, no matter how deeply you bury them, they eventually have to come out.
I was surprised the next morning when, on the way to my office, Buttercup came over and told me I had a client waiting. As I’ve said before, I don’t work just for the princesses. I advise them as a government minister, but my services are also available to anypony who requests it.
For a small fee, of course.
“Oh, who is it this time then, Buttercup?” I asked, half expecting it to be yet another noble. “Fancy Pants, Blueblood, that tosser Jet Set?”
“No, sir,” Buttercup replied. “It’s Captain Strong Shield.”
Well, that caught my attention. While I crossed paths with the venerable guardsman from time to time, he’d never come to me looking to make use of the services I offered. He was a good law abiding pony, to my knowledge in his entire time in Equestria he’s never had so much as a misdemeanour levied against him. In fact, there was a time when Shining considered putting him in charge of the Royal Guard’s internal police force. Indeed, his current role in training the recruits requires him to have an excellent standard of behaviour. Being responsible for making and breaking the new recruits, he needs to model himself as a father figure to be both feared and revered. So why would he be coming to me?
“Did he say what it was he wanted?” I asked. Buttercup shook his head.
“No sir,” he replied. “He just asked me what time you’d be in and asked if he could wait in your office. I hope you don’t mind, sir.” I shook my head.
“No, not at all, Buttercup. I’ll go and see him now.”
The guardspony took his leave, heading back to the throne room to take up his usual duties as Celestia opened court. I meanwhile made for my office.
I found Strong Shield patiently waiting inside, sitting in one of the pony style chairs on the one side of my desk. He’d been here a little over twenty minutes now, but didn’t seem the slightest bit impatient. He looked up as I opened the door and walked in.
“Strong Shield!” I said with a smile, setting down my attaché case and reaching down to shake his hoof. “How the devil are you?”
“Oh, not too terrible, Mr. Owen,” he replied in that gruff voice of his. Strong Shield lived and breathed soldiering and his appearance reflected that.
He was currently in his uniform, the enchantment turning his usually dark blue coat to a coal dust grey, and turning his mane, which protruded from the spot in the top of his helmet, a silver colour. Between you and me, I’ve heard more than one castle maid describe him as a silver fox in his uniform. The thing that made him stand out though was the eyepatch that he wore over his right eye. The other was hazel, with a hard look in it; the sort of look that made you automatically end any response with ‘sir’.
Shaking his hoof, I walked around my desk and sat down in my chair, getting a few files out of my briefcase.
“So then, captain,” I said. “What can I do for you today.” Strong Shield was blunt in his response.
“I need you to kill me.”
I’ll be honest; that’s a new one. I just consider myself lucky that I hadn’t brewed my morning pot of Rosie Lee when he said that, else I might have sent it spewing across the room in shock.
“Kill you?!” I exclaimed. “”Strong Shield what in God’s name are you talking about.” Not helping my comprehension, the old guard cracked a wry smile.
“Not literally, Roger,” he replied. “I meant legally.” Nope, still no idea.
“I don’t follow.” Strong Shield sighed and explained.
“It’s been what, four months, since the peace treaty with the Changelings? I don’t have to hide any more. But I can’t be a changeling and still serve as Strong Shield. Strong Shield is a unicorn, an identity I created to infiltrate the Royal Guard. I can’t just take off my disguise and carry on. So, Strong Shield needs to die, so I can live as a changeling.”
Ah, right. Now I saw what he was driving at. For a few brief moments I thought the poor chap had come down with some terminal disease and wanted me to help ease his passing or something.
I’d done something similar myself many years ago. Until 1987, there was no Roger Owen. He suddenly appeared, having moved from Northern Ireland to the British mainland. Before then, I was Roger Rowain, and after being released from Long Kesh and resigning my commission with the Ulster Volunteer Force, I wanted to start a new life. I actually considered hopping on the boat to France and enlisting in the Foreign Legion, but even they don’t take hardened criminals. So instead, using up a good chunk of my savings, I paid someone, who through some clever trickery and bluffing that probably wouldn’t work in this more technological age where nothing is forgotten, created a new identity for me and let me start afresh. It seemed that was what Strong Shield also wanted.
“So you want a new identity?” I asked. He nodded.
“I fake my death with your help, and you give me a new life, so I can live out my remaining years in peace somewhere.”
Well, in Equestria, that was certainly doable. I’d done it for that mobster, Marelone, that I’d managed to turn informant. Faking a death is easy, it’s the building a complete life where there was none before that’s hard.
I leaned back in my chair and thought for a moment, before looking Strong Shield in the eye.
“You realise what you’re asking of me, Captain,” I said gravely. “You would have to completely leave your old life behind. You could never come back to this city, contact any of your friends; you would be breaking every tie you’ve forged over the past decade. One slip up and you would be exposed for all to see.”
“I understand,” he replied. “But I don’t want to die a liar. And I want to end my days as a changeling. Even if I am all multicoloured now.” We both shared a quiet laugh at that. Like all changelings, he’s now no longer black, and the holes in his legs have filled in. Even better, he doesn’t have to sneak love any more.
At that, my thoughts turned to Charlie, the changeling who passed himself off as a dog. When the peace came, Margaret and I had offered him the chance to return to the Changeling Kingdom. While we were both sad to see him go, we all felt it was right that he should be with his own kin again.
But back to Strong Shield. What he was asking would take time, and a whole lot of work. It wasn’t just a case of calling the number for a vacuum repair company and asking if they had a dust filter for a Hoover Max Extract 60 Pressure Pro. More to the point, I’d need to clear it with Tia. Doing this off the books could quite very well land both of us in trouble. So I promised Strong Shield that I would do my best for him. I’d go to see Celestia now, and then meet up with him again once I had an answer. All being well, we could start planning things then.
Just as I was, Celestia was a little surprised by my request. However, after a private meeting between the two of us, she eventually agreed. She would, quite carefully, work to fashion Strong Shield’s new life as a changeling. She would do the paper trail side of things; setting him up with enough money to leave him comfortable, a house to live in, and all the necessities that he would need. She at first suggested giving Strong Shield a stipend for the remainder of his years, but Strong Shield was adamant that he wanted a job; something peaceful, away from soldiering.
The three of us ended up settling on Strong Shield’s favourite hobby after his work; gardening. To everypony’s surprised, Strong Shield had quite the green hoof. He kept it quiet to keep up his image, but he loved to spend his days in his back garden. With that in mind, Celestia soon settled on the perfect spot for him. The Crystal Palace needed a new gardener. It would be somewhere away from both Equestria and the Changeling Kingdom, and it let him stay close to a couple of friends, although they wouldn’t know until much later. She quickly set to work making arrangements with Princess Cadence.
That was all in the future though for the moment. Right now, we needed to start planning the more immediate concerns. How to ‘kill’ Strong Shield. Pretending you’re dead is one thing, it’s quite another to bury you without someone cottoning on. The obvious way was to let a few more ponies in on the secret, but that carried greater risk of exposure. Strong Shield and I sat my office, trying to come up with a way to get it to work. This is why I’d paid someone to do this. Even I didn’t know all the details of how he’d made my new life while ending my old one.
“What if I just go missing?” Strong Shield suggested, as we both shared a drink from the bottle of whiskey I kept in my desk for just such an occasion. “Take a walk and don’t come home one night?” I frowned.
“Maybe,” I replied with a nod. "But that kind of death leaves ponies still hoping you’re alive out there. Even undisguised, they might one day run into you and make the jump. How about a fire? Say the temperature got hot enough to completely vaporise you.”
“You’re not burning up my house!” Strong Shield snapped. “The place is already tied up in my will. Besides, I don’t want ponies thinking I offed myself.”
“Well, then, for a natural death, you need a body, Strong Shield,” I replied. “And I don’t see how you can just...” I trailed off as an idea hit me.
Oh.
Oh, I am good!
Snapping my fingers at the realisation, I smiled at Strong Shield.
“We’ll do an Equestrian version of Operation Mincemeat.”
Let me tell you a little story. Back in 1943, not long before the Allies landed in Sicily, a British plane went down off the Spanish coast. All aboard were killed, and the only body recovered was that of a Royal Marines Captain and acting Major named William Martin. A Spanish fisherman pulled his body from the water and brought him ashore. Investigating, the Spanish authorities found a fair few personal effects on him, some change, a picture of his girl back home, and a rather angry note from his bank manager letting him know his account was overdrawn by £2 10s 6d. But more importantly, he was carrying documents marked ‘Top Secret’. These documents outlined the Allies invasion plan for Greece later that year, the first offensive on the European continent. Now, Spain, despite its alleged neutrality, was a fascist state, and quickly passed the information onto the Germans, who in turn promptly moved troops to meet the attack.
There was just one problem. The Allies weren’t going to invade Greece. And there was no Major Martin. His body was that of a Welsh vagrant named Glyndwr Michael, who committed suicide by eating rat poison. He was carefully dressed as a Royal Marines officer, and then a British submarine placed his body in the water, so that it would drift inland. The whole thing was a deception that fooled the Nazis completely.
What if we did something similar. If we made it appear that Strong Shield had in fact died, leaving the ponies with a body to bury. There would be no question of what happened to him.
Of course, there was no way we could use an actual body, but on the other hand, we did have an immortal spirit of chaos to call on. I was sure he could come up with something that got what we needed, while staying, mostly, within the confines of the law. With a little bit of work, I managed to get Discord to show up. I honestly think he’s bugged my office at some point. Either that or as a near omnipotent spirit of chaos, he can just keep tabs on me whenever he wants. Regardless, if I yell for him long enough, he usually shows up.
And evidently, he’d been listening to my conversation with Strong Shield. As he appeared in a teleport, he uttered the following.
“Roger, when you called me up here, did you see a sign above my house that says ‘dead pony storage’? I’m not giving you a body.”
“Easy, Discord,” I replied. “We don’t need a body, just a prop.” At this his mood lightened.
“Oh, fair enough.”
Snapping his talons, rather alarmingly, he produced on my desk a near perfect replica of the pony that sat across from me. Discord let out a clearly false sob.
“He looks so peaceful,” he said with an air of fake reverence.
“Christ, man. Get it out of here!” I exclaimed. The dead body disappeared as quickly as it came. I turned back to my psychotic friend.
“Can you do that, but put it in Strong Shield’s office, so it looks like he died of natural causes?” Discord thought for a moment.
“Alright,” he agreed. “But you’ll have to help me carry it.” I barked a short laugh.
“Well, you know what they say about friends and best friend; a friend will help you move a sofa, a best friend will help you move a body.”
And so, with Discord’s aid, we were set to go. We had Celestia blessing, more or less, and Cadence and Shining had agreed to take Strong Shield on as a gardener. Of course, they wouldn’t be able to treat him as their old friend and comrade. He would jut be another servant in the palace. It would be a whole other life. And we’d need to craft all of that before we could go any further. First things first, Captain Strong Shield needed a new name.
“You know, you never told me what you were called as a changeling,” I commented that evening as we were finishing up.
“Does it matter?” Strong Shield asked. “I sure as hay can’t use it as a changeling. Like it or not, I’m sure there are plenty of ‘em out there who still remember me as a traitor.”
“So what do you want to call yourself then?” I asked. Strong Shield shrugged his shoulders.
“I hadn’t given it much thought,” he replied. “I figured that we ought to get a few other things worked out before then.”
“Well, we might as well come up with something now,” I suggested. I thought for a moment.
As we’d been plotting and scheming over the course of the afternoon, Strong Shield had, from time to time, pulled out a small little notebook and quill, jotting little things here and there. I’d been a little curious about what it was all day long. As we now had a quiet moment, I decided to broach the question.
“What are you doodling in there anyway?” I asked. Strong Shield shrugged.
“Just something your kid was tellin’ me about,” he replied. “Something called a ‘video game’ I think. He was telling me about this fictional machine humans had come up with; a way to combine the foot soldier with artillery. A sort of metal gear that linked the two together.”
“Metal...Gear?” I asked with some surprise.
Bones didn’t usually talk to much about human technology. I know for a fact that we’d both at times done our utmost to prevent some knowledge from the old world from falling into the hooves of ponies. But as it was fictional, and more to the point impossible, there was little harm. It did however give me an idea for what to call the one eyed guard.
“How about Pliskin?” I suggested, with a ghost of a smile. Strong Shield pondered that for a moment.
“Where’d you pluck that out from then?” he asked.
“Same video game,” I replied with a grin. “Certainly fits you, I think. And it could pass for pony or changeling.” Strong Shield mulled it over for a few moment before agreeing with a nod.
And so a week or so later, our plan was set into motion. It was announced by a sorrowful Celestia before opening court. Strong Shield had not reported for his morning shift, when the guards went to investigate, they had found him dead in his office. The medics had ruled it as a heart attack. There were a lot of sad faces that day, including Shining Armor. While Cadence was in on the plot, to make everypony’s reaction’s more believable, nopony else had yet been told. Shining genuinely thought his old friend had passed. The whole guard seemed lost in thought the whole day. They did not forsake their duty for a moment, but you could tell that each and every one of them had sad thoughts playing on his mind.
The funeral was a few days later. Strong Shield and I actually planned it out as he wanted it. It was quite the touching send off really. Shining gave a wonderful eulogy, and Bones spoke very well of the pony who had taught him everything he knows about using defensive magic. With Strong Shield’s consent, I read a little from the Book of Common Prayer, and he was lowered into the ground to the strains of ‘Eternal Father’ ; the old Royal Navy hymn. Strong Shield was, in his own words, ‘hedging my bets, just in case’.
Nopony but me, Celestia and Luna knew it, but the deceased was also among the crowd. He was a few rows back in the crowd, disguised as just another civilian. While he didn’t show it, I could tell that he was deeply moved by the outpouring of grief and sorrow at his apparent death. The epitaph on his tombstone simply read ‘Here lies a soldier’; a line from a song from my days with the volunteers. He departed after the service, while Bones, Shining, and I, along with a lot of the guards, went down to one of the bars in Canterlot for the wake. And in true military fashion, we all got absolutely blitzed. I recall at one point getting in a fight with Shining when he made some remark about needing to replace Strong Shield. I put that down to a little too much booze.
In the end though, after something of a minor bar fight (and I say that as an Irishman, so other peoples’ opinion may differ) things settled down into the spirit of humour and mirth that you see amongst soldiers. It isn’t it real laughter; it’s just dealing with it. Given the choice between singing and weeping, which would you prefer?
Speaking of singing, before my memory went completely hazy, I do remember that I introduced the many attendees to a few songs from back home. Some of the guards had started up with some old drinking songs, and Shining, who was also now quite drunk along with Bones, asked if I had anything to contribute. So getting up with a glass in hand, I began. What song is more fitting than Danny Boy?
While it may be the anthem of Northern Ireland, it’s also quite commonly used in funerals and other send offs. And there was no way I was going to let Strong Shield go to the strains of ‘Amazing Grace’ on bagpipes. I’ve never understood why Americans, most of whom are neither Scotch nor Irish, would have that at their funeral. But anyway, I’m not too terrible a singer, even if Danny Boy take a bit of a toll of my pipes.
After that, things settled down for a while, we all broke off into little groups, tipsily reminiscing about our fallen friend and comrade. A part of me wished I could tell them what had really happened. That he wasn’t gone at all. But, for all this newfound peace in the air, how would they take it if I told them? How would they react if I told them the pony they served with and fought alongside, was an enemy agent sent to hasten their destruction, and who had then hidden his old life from them for years.
I couldn’t but help liken it to my own past. I’ve never told Margaret or the kids anything about my old life. They know I was born in Northern Ireland, but I always used the excuse that I was estranged from my family due to the conflict. My parents might be dead, but I know I still have a few relatives over there, some still involved with the loyalist cause, such as it is in this new century.
On the one hand, they had a right to know. After all, I’d told Shining, Discord and Celestia and Luna about it. Why not them? But on the other, I’m not sure any of them would want to even look at me if they knew half the things I’d done.
Does that make me a bad man? Or am I bad man trying to turn good? Maybe I’m just a bad man pretending?
I was roused from that depressing thought when we heard the sound of a scuffle at the other end of the bar. As is often the case at these sort of do’s, somepony had had a bit too much and was making an ass of themselves. Before too long, the scuffle turned into something of a fight, and by the time the three of us piled in to try and restore order, it was a full on brawl.
Needless to say, that got ejected by the proprietors. To this day I have no idea why I personally got the boot, I think it was just a mass barring.
The next thing I remember is being unceremoniously picked up by this hardcore unicorn bouncer. After being levitated through the air, I found myself violent flung out the double doors and into the street. Bones and Shining soon followed in a similar fashion. It was raining outside, and we landed on the lawn outside, which left us all covered in mud.
Of course, like most drunk lads on a Friday night, we found our new appearance absolutely hysterical. And after we managed to more or less rediscover our limbs, we all staggered back down the hill to the train station. Luckily the rain, which was absolutely pouring down, did a fair bit to clean us off, and Shining and Bones had a couple spells to make us more or less presentable. And with that done, the three of us jumped on the last train of the evening and headed back home.
Margaret wasn’t best pleased when I staggered in at two in the morning. I spent that night on the sofa.
For a while afterwards, Canterlot Castle wasn’t quite the same. The Royal Guard was like one big extended family, and they’d just lost somepony very close to all of them. Half the guys in now were trained by Strong Shield. The other half went through basic with him. There was a feeling of emptiness that permeated the castle wherever you went; a feeling that something was missing. If I’m honest, I just missed hearing the old dog screaming obscenities at the new recruits as he put them through their paces.
Even though I knew he wasn’t actually dead, I still felt the same way. I was in on the secret, but I could never tell anypony. I would most likely hardly ever see him, except on the rare occasions that I visited the Crystal Empire, and even then, it was a long shot. After all, the princesses’ legal advisor talking to some lowly gardener would raise a few suspicions. And like I’d told Strong Shield, it would only take one slip up for his new identity to collapse, and then we’d all be in a world of trouble.
It bothered me too that Strong Shield’s departure marked the continuation of a pattern. The old guard as it were, was slowly being replaced by new, younger officers. And while I have no problem with the next generation and the whole passing of the torch, I couldn’t help but feel there was something no good with this new brew. Mareclellan was new blood. He replaced the talented Shining Armor, and had done little to live up to his legacy. The newer recruits were less experienced. Many of those who’d been in the job during the Incursion were now being promoted to desk jobs. Half of the modern guard had never really seen action. Remember, it had been a good few years Since Tirek invaded the castle and even longer since Shining and Cadence tied the knot.
It felt like we were taking a step back, and that all the lessons learned were being forgotten. With budget cuts and restructuring, the guard was becoming less and less of a capable fighting force. Strong Shield’s departure took away their best drill instructor. After all, who better to train rookies than a genuine, bona fide bad guy? That meant they were coming out of the academy less able to do their job.
It bothered me. But there was little I could do about it. What the Royal Guard did or didn’t do was down to its own chain of command, not a very well paid lawyer, even if he was an ex-paramilitary.
For the longest time, I didn’t hear a peep from Strong Shield, or rather, from Pliskin. I’d told him wait a good while before reaching out to me to let me know all was well. It was the only favour I’d asked of him. If nothing else, I wanted to let Bones in on the secret. The lad deserved to know considering his friendship with the old soldier. But on the other hand, he needed to be careful. It was unlikely that anypony suspected anything of the new changeling gardener, but I’d told him to be careful. I even provided him with the old Moscow Rules, which had served me well on my occasional forays south of the border into the Republic.
I finally heard from Strong Shield indirectly through my son. He’d run into him quite by accident. Apparently, he’d gone up to the Crystal Empire to attend some sort of convention, or something like that. Sunburst was a guest speaker, doing a piece of the Crystal Heart. The two had met and become friendly with one another. I said Sunburst reminded me a lot of Bones, didn’t I?
Anyway, before that though, he took a stroll through the palace gardens and ran into ‘Pliskin’. A short conversation later, and he revealed to Bones who he really was; his old friend Strong Shield. The lad was more than glad to see him, if a bit irked that he’d not been included in the plot. Since sending him on his way, he’d apparently settled down quite comfortably in the empire, employed by Cadence to tend to the unique and very delicate crystal plants in the grounds. He’d of course, sworn Bones to secrecy. Twilight, who had been friends with Strong Shield when she was just a filly, sadly couldn’t be brought in on the secret; too high a risk. Bones can be trusted to keep his gob shut, Twilight can’t. She couldn’t even keep the ‘secret’ that Spike had a crush on Rarity. Still, Bones was more than glad to know that death hadn’t yet quite caught up with a pony he so admired and respected.
I finally got a letter from him a couple weeks afterwards. He apologised for not getting back to me sooner, but he’d been working hard to get settled into his new existence. He’d seen Shining and Cadence a couple of times, not to speak to, but he was glad to be around them, even if he couldn’t say hello as a friend. He was hopeful that, in time, he could reforge those friendships with his new identity. He closed by thanking me for helping him to spend the rest of his life in peace.
I smiled as I finished reading it. The old guy deserved it.
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I cant remember where I first read the story of Operation Mincemeat. I thought it was one of the stories in the collection about Maskelyne and other Trixie class missdirections. When the book was written though, very little was publically known about it. Even the family at that time, still had his name under secrecy for his honor.
His grave is still guarded? Or at the least Honoured?
9800631 I did some research, here's what I found. Major Martin was eventually buried with full military honours in Cementerio de la Soledad in Huelva, Spain. The gravestone reads, “William Martin, born 29 March 1907, died 24 April 1943, beloved son of John Glyndwyr Martin and the late Antonia Martin of Cardiff, Wales.” After the British Government revealed Michael’s true identity in 1998, the gravestone was amended to read, “Glyndwr Michael; Served as Major William Martin, RM.” You can visit the grave of the Man Who Never Was. I'd certainly recommend the 1956 film too.
There's also a good book called 'Discharged Dead' about the submarine voyage. The sub was actually repeatedly attacked during it's journey. On a wholesome note, I always like to remember that the commander of the sub followed his orders to the letter, except for one part. When Martin was lowered into the sea, he read the burial service.
9801190
He saved far more people in death, than almost anyone else ever saved in life.
This is the first chapter in the story that isn't linked directly to an episode. I was expecting that to happen although I hadn't guessed what this was about until it started about Strong Shield.
9801636 There's a few chapters in this story that tie into other parts of this series, but most of them are pretty much alt perspectives of episodes, or aftermaths or preludes, now that I think about it.
Is that good or bad?
9802965
I certainly don't think it's bad and it makes things less predictable than things are when dealing with an actual episode.
Seeing as this is Discord, I was expecting him to burst in screaming "HEYKIDSWANNASEEADEADBODY?"
Though I've never liked Strong Sheild, his first appearance had him acting like a dick qnd Blade Star cozies right up to him despite being a dick. He never really fixed his deserved reputation of being an asshole, and it just seems to have stuck to him (from my PoV).