The Princess War, pt 1
In the morning of the second day the Magic of Friendship kept a fast cruise towards Ponyville. The group of ponies in the princess’ sleeping quarters all woke together since remaining asleep just wasn’t possible once Flurry Heart decided she wanted her mother’s attention and that of course, was the baby’s prerogative. Nopony would complain. Fluttershy even thought it was a little cute.
The small cabin in the back of the airship was like a very small and spartan home for seven with only the barest of decorations. Holding ten ponies and one small dragon it was a bit overcrowded but as in two-day trip to the Changeling Rock that certainly didn’t bother the close group of friends.
Cadance was just happy that she had found food the baby could eat. Of course, mashed apples but it was better than nothing. And the weird changeling larva suit did a decent job of protecting Flurry Heart from the cold air. Though she had a suspicion that her daughter was more resistant than most babies, when comparing her to all the things the older mothers and books in the subject told her about it, she wasn’t about to test the idea. She was just satisfied the baby was happier than she was after the angry shouting in that night in the Changeling Rock. They had been all tired and this morning, after a couple of nights of sleep and some food they were all in a better mood.
While the other ponies spread throughout the airship Twilight remained laying in the bed next to Cadance who was feeding the baby with their maid’s help. Shining Armor sat at Twilight’s desk, writing something and speaking to the captain. Spike remained in the room too, idly lounging about somewhat paying attention to his brother and the ship’s captain. Additionally, Applejack and Rarity stood nearby too, one casually looking out the window and the other carefully brushing her mane while discreetly eyeing the ponies.
“So…” The dragon suddenly spoke next to the alicorns. “Are we going to take Flurry Heart with us?”
The mother sighed. “I was thinking about that Spike. I don’t really want to take her. But I think I have to go with Twilight.”
“I could stay with her in Ponyville, Princess Cadance.” The maid said. A petit aqua-colored crystal pony with a light pink mane cut in one of the many the fancy styles in the Crystal Empire. “Or, if you wanted it, I could take her back to the Crystal Empire through the teleporter.”
Flurry Heart immediately protested, and Twilight stared at one and then another. “Alternatively, you could take her with us. I mean, it’s not like we’ll be in any sort of real danger.”
“Sure…” Spike ‘agreed’ sarcastically. “It’s not like three princesses in griffon lands will draw much attention from angry griffons that don’t like the princesses.”
Twilight sighed in defeat. “Spike may be right. Maybe leaving her and Miss Calcite in Ponyville would be a better idea.”
“I suppose.” Cadance agreed and, next thing she knew a significant quantity of mashed apples found its way towards her face to the sounds of a very angry and displeased baby pony. Twilight grimaced and the baby’s mother swore that her baby could understand every single word they said. She wasn’t sure, but thought babies were not supposed to be like that.
“I don’t think that she likes the idea, your highness…” Calcite offered her one of the napkins.
“Well, too bad!” Cadance’s magic held the napkin swiping it over her face. “She doesn’t have a choice.”
The baby protested again, but Cadance pointed a hoof and stared seriously at her. “No.”
While Flurry Heart seriously considered biting her hoof, Shining Armor approached them. “So, Twily, what’s your plan?”
“When we arrive on Ponyville, we’ll dock the ship. You and Cadance can go to the teleporter, buy our passages in advance and send Flurry back to the Crystal Empire with Miss Calcite. Meanwhile, I’ll be in the palace with Starlight and Spike checking if there is anything that needs my attention and the girls will make sure everypony knows we’ll be traveling for a while and also grab their things.”
“We should also buy some more supplies.” Applejack offered.
“And take them through the teleporter?” Twilight shook her head vehemently. “No. Too expensive.”
“Gee. It’s not like they’re going to charge us, Twilight.” Spike countered.
“Spike! Operating these teleporters isn’t that cheap! We can’t impose like that on them!” Twilight craned her head and almost shouted. “We can buy anything we’ll need in Griffonstone.”
“We should buy a few things, Twilight. No doubt take a few apples from the farm.” Applejack insisted. “We can afford to pay their weight at the teleporter. Not to mention that things should be fine in Griffonstone, but we really don’t need to gamble. We got enough problems as it is!”
They didn’t notice, but Cadance dreamed about griffon rum. One day…
“Applejack is right, Twilight.” Rarity added. “There is also the issue that griffon food is dreadful.”
The farm pony nodded positively. “I’ll take Pinkie to the market and get some other things. Not much, just enough.”
“Alright then.” Twilight acquiesced. Not only Applejack and Pinkie Pie understood more about those things than she did but letting them do their thing was usually a good idea. The discussion over, ponies retreated into their thoughts for a while and Spike thought for a while if they shouldn’t just go to straight to their destination. Probably wouldn’t be a good idea without proper supplies, even if they should be in a hurry.
“I’ll take them to the teleporter, Twilight.” Starlight offered after a few seconds. “Ponies there could create a fuss because it’s them and the sooner we can move on the better.”
“Alright.” Both princesses and prince agreed.
“And what do we do when things go wrong?” Shinning asked.
“Hum… They won’t?” Twilight wasn’t too sure herself.
“Yeah… They always do.” Spike stood with Shining Armor, arms crossed.
Twilight frowned. She hoped that nothing would go wrong. What could go wrong? Well, it was Ponyville, for starters… Not to mention that Twilight was hopping that Chrysalis wouldn’t bother, but nothing kept the Changeling Queen from already having sent a magical letter to Canterlot and having told Princess Celestia everything. It probably was a good idea to have a second plan. “We… Meet back at the airdock? Maybe we should leave the briefcase in the ship… If things went wrong and we needed to flee it would already be here and we wouldn’t have to carry it back while having to deal with whatever problem happened and our supplies.”
“Twilly, I have another question… Why don’t we talk to Discord?” Shining asked her. “Seems like he was at the middle of it all from what Chrysalis told us.”
“For the same reason we’re not going to talk to Princess Celestia. We can’t trust him, Shinny.” Cadance told him. “I mean… It’s Discord. Not to mention that he might want to stop us. Like I bet Princesses Celestia and Luna will.”
“As a matter of fact, we really shouldn’t trust Chrysalis either.” Applejack said from the window. “I mean, she may be an ally now, but there ain’t nothing holding her from lying about anything. Including that story of hers.”
Saying that the orange pony remained silent for a few seconds before speaking again. “It pains me to say it… But I’ve been convinced that maybe trusting the princesses wouldn’t be that good an idea either, considering what they might do to protect whatever they must. Discord, well… It doesn’t even need to be said.”
Twilight remained silent but she didn’t necessarily agree. She thought that it might be worth the risk if Discord talked to Fluttershy. She’d keep that possibility in mind, after all the best word to describe Discord is ‘chaotic’. He might be concerned with assisting the Sisters, but he might also not care enough to take their side and not spill the truth. He still wasn’t the most reliable of sources, but honestly, neither were Chrysalis or even her old mentor at that moment. But he might do until she found any form of evidence upon arriving in Griffinsky. Which should be an adventure on its own.
Finally, she wasn’t sure she believed Chrysalis story about what happened, but she didn’t really have much of a reason to lie. She did confirm that the Legend of Mother Farfalla was true. Or at least closer to true than most ponies believed. Then she wondered if those things were connected. They didn’t seem like it… It would be nice to find something about a possible Day-Made-Flesh, but she could never find anything.
For some reason it simply creeped her out that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna could be some weird kind of deities. She didn't quite understand where did the Children of the Sun's belief about the Goddesses Reborn come from. It was a bit specific and, at the same time vague. The very concept of a god was obscure among ponies and tended to be more associated with the yaks and the buffaloes. But, regardless that whole affair most likely was colored by the perceptions and hopes of the ponies of the time who must have sought solace in the stories of other races.
The problem was that the whole story was incomplete. And that was why she needed to figure it out.
Come what may she figured she ought to be prepared for anything. And thus, what Rarity would say next didn’t surprise her.
“Twilight. Princess Cadance.” The white unicorn began from the window. “We must gather the others and have a conversation. Before we arrive at Ponyville. I’m afraid we may be sticking our hooves in a situation that is a few degrees above us.”
Both understanding what their friend had in mind the princesses agreed, and the others were called to a meeting in the ships deck, near the bow and including the pegasus crewponies. There Twilight raised a hoof and asked for everypony’s attention.
“Attention everypony, please. I think it would be reasonable if I explained to you what is happening.” She said but didn’t go on immediately instead measured the reactions of her crewponies and read both apprehension and curiosity on their faces. “Princess Cadance has found an old letter that indicated some things we needed to investigate… But before I explain, I want all of you to promise me that you will keep silence over anything you hear. If you can’t I ask that you leave now. It is very important that the secrecy of our mission isn’t compromised, or we could lose the chance to do it properly and the consequences could be dire. In fact, they could be dire one way or another because we will delve into a web of lies and there could be civil wars and a lot of pain and…”
“She means that she needs you to keep your mouths shut or take a flight.” The blue pegasus next to the princess said with a blank expression while her audience of pegasus crewponies wondered why was it that the alicorn started breathing heavily and her eyes seemed to grow bigger with every word.
Twilight took a deep breath and then stared at the group of pegasi in front of her group of friends. They stared at each other expectantly and then back at their princess until their captain spoke their minds in his gruff voice. “We’re ponies of Equestria, m’lady. Way I see it, we’re loyal t’you. ‘Sides, you need us to keep the Magic of Friendship flightworthy and we’re kinda like you’s royal guard already.”
With that said, the other pegasi went back to staring at each other and soon were nodding instead of staring expectantly. The captain, after a final look over his crew nodded at his princess with certainty.
“Well, thank you very much.” The princess said with a smile.
Finally, the two princesses explained the whole situation, their findings and suspicions, to the airship’s crewponies. While it seemed like some of them regretted their decision of jumping in, none of them seemed too likely to betray them or something of the sort. At least that was what the two princesses betted on, hopping that Applejack had some sort of ‘honest pony’ power that would tell her that one of them was likely to betray their mission. Or something of the sort.
Seeing that Cadance thought it better to speak before any of them thought too long about those things. “We need a clear plan. We can’t be sure of what will happen, but we must be prepared to deal with anything as best as we can.”
Then Rarity said the exact opposite Cadance hoped she would say. “I believe we should be prepared for dire consequences that might come from our actions. Whatever may be the truth we are going against Princesses Celestia and Luna. I though it should be mentioned that the two of them would be… Dangerous at worst and formidable opponents at best… Should one fall ill of their graces.”
“Well… About that…” Twilight drew attention to her again. “I don’t think that the princesses should hold any grudges… I think that they’re the nice and dedicated princesses we know and love, but they may have done something and thought at the time that hiding it was a good idea. Today I believe our society has reached a level of maturity where we can deal with some bad things about our past.”
Twilight almost grimaced at her own words when images of ponies panicking at a bunny stampede floated before her eyes.
“So, you’re saying we know better than the princesses?” Pinkie raised an eyebrow. She didn’t seem very convinced either.
“It sounds bad when you put it like that, but yes.” Twilight said adamantly despite it all.
“Well, we are princesses too…” Cadance added not amused. “It must count for something.”
At least, the crewponies still didn’t look like they were ready to mutiny any time soon.
***
All cities under the grace of the Royal Pony Sisters were protected by their local militias. They were commanded by a trusted official chosen by the local and by the county administration. Obviously villages, cities, towns, hamlets… Whatever their size needed protection and Ponyville was under the protection of Lord Protector Lieutenant Grape Donut.
A few years back he had excitedly accepted the job when Mayor Mare, after being elected for the first time asked him to replace their former commander of the local militia. His first act as Lord Lieutenant Protector of the town was recruiting additional militiaponies, modernizing their equipment and making sure all of them were prepared.
Turned out there was good reason Mayor Mare asked him: Grape Donut dreamt his whole youth of taking that job when he was ready. And to make sure he would be ready he prepared himself: he studied from the best militias in the land, from north to south, west to east, he made sure to understand all the tactics and procedures used by militias all over Equestria’s mainland and also the ones used by militias of other races.
It was the second happiest day of his life because the next day he asked his sweetheart in marriage and she accepted. But the most important thing was that Ponyville’s Militia Commander was ready to take on the world, all dreams of grandiose as the town’s protector against all the monsters that lurked around! The title of ‘Lord Protector Lieutenant’ was even better. It was a title of nobility, it meant he could take control of the city in case the mayor wasn’t available, he had a military patent under the Princesses service, and it said ‘PROTECTOR’, right in the face!
Two days later the Princess’s Protégé arrived in Ponyville. Some ten years later he hated his job. Possibly his life.
Ponyville had become home to the Fourth Princess of Equestria and to the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, to one of Equestria’s most powerful spellcasters, and if that wasn’t enough the Third Princess constantly visited along with her personal guard and with her husband, who happened to be one of the best knights in the land and Captain of all three branches of the Royal Guard. Five, if one counted Twilight’s budding Royal Guard and the local militias themselves.
Not even the crown-sponsored knights, the monster hunters, typically visited Ponyville if not on vacation or to meet the Fourth Princess and ask her hoof in marriage or some other knightly thing like that.
Because of that what passed for crime in Ponyville was the random abandoned cart or somepony’s dog eating another’s petunias. Monsters? They either avoided Ponyville like the plague or the princess and her friends would take care of it. Failing that any monster too tough for them was too tough for the militia to handle anyway or it was some weird supervillain that for some reason always ended up near Ponyville. So, why bother?
Ponyville’s militia accrued the reputation of uselessness and incompetence and its militaponies took it in with excellence. Grape Donut was convinced that if somepony ever made a theater piece about Ponyville it would certainly neglect its local militia. At least his job paid. And he could give all the comfort he wanted to the kids he wanted but would never have because romance died the day he and his wife realized what kind of life they would live. It was, of course all his fault.
Thus the pony decided he would sit his flank in his office and eat all the donuts and drink all the coffee available in the region until he couldn’t find any more. Then he’d get all the way up to Canterlot, tell Princess Celestia how much he hated her and her new princess and then jump off one of the city’s balconies.
Of course, Ponyville had one of the best bakers in the land so he kept postponing the climbing Canterlot Mountain part of his plan and kept to eating all the donuts Sugarcube Corner could produce. The irony that one of Twilight’s friends worked there didn’t escape him though. He just couldn’t do anything about it.
He would totally tell the Princess a piece of his mind though, if he saw her one day.
Of course, Grape Donut wasn’t the only pony ‘working’ in the Ponyville Militia Headquarters. There was also Semolina Pudding, a light cream earth pony mare with rosé eyes and a red mane she kept all curled and shiny. She happened to have married Grape Donut, fallen all over his knightly ways and dreams of protecting the town the day after his appointment as the town’s Lord Protector. Now she also hated the Princesses and possibly her husband but didn’t spend her time eating donuts. Instead she would spend all day staring at the reception room’s clock until the damned thing would tell her she could go home or reading tales about the great knights of the land. Her title of nobility might be worth something in another town. But in Ponyville it was about as valuable as Twilight’s leftovers.
When the door opened her reaction was changing to the next page of the adventures of the dreamy Sir Stout Lance. When she heard somepony clearing their throat she stared at the clock… The damned thing had barely moved a few minutes from the shift’s start, and it felt like she had spent a whole hour there already.
“Semolina!” She heard the mayor’s angry voice and made the monumental effort of lowering her book to see Mayor Mare’s angry scowl at her.
“What?” She asked drily.
“Would it kill you to give a little attention to ponies coming through that door?” The Mayor sounded more offended than angry. Not that Semolina cared, anyway. “Roseluck’s garden was ruined because you ponies took so long to do anything about those rabbits. Again!”
“The horror…” The other whispered.
The mayor sighed. “Nevermind. I need to talk to Grape Donut. It is very important!”
“All right… Fine…” Semolina walked from behind her desk and kicked the door that led to the office space and her husband’s office in the back. “LARD TUB! MAYOR MARE WANTS TO TALK TO YOU! BRING YOUR FAT FLANK OVER HERE!”
The mayor grimaced and recoiled at that, but shifted her ears trying to listen to what seemed like an answer. The only word she could make out had something to do with female private parts.
“Will one of you losers drag that waste of a pony here?” The receptionist talked to nopony in particular staring at the thirteen ponies sitting by the desks and doing several things, none of them related to crimefighting or typical militia business.
“Nevermind, Semolina.” The mayor said trying not to show her distress at the scene in front of her. “I’ll go talk to him. Thank you.”
“Whatever.” She went back behind her desk and took her book. Paid no attention to the mayor as she stared at her with some concern in her eyes. To Mayor Mare she seemed to have seen better days and she could swear that her coat seemed dull. She thought Semolina should take better care of her coat, for her sake. Ponies look sick when their coats are dull.
But it wouldn’t be worth it to talk to her now. Past the door the cigar smoke and the odor of coffee and donuts were almost thick enough to physically resist her. She stared at the ponies sitting on their desks. Not a single one wore their leather barding, at least two of the desks were empty and one of the militiaponies, a particularly cute and young pegasus mare flirted with one of her coworkers. Somehow, the mayor doubted the two missing ones were outside doing any kind of work they should be doing.
Rather than bothering with them the mare went through the desks straight to the wooden door with a bronze star hanging on its side with the Lord Protector Lieutenant’s name. She didn’t bother knocking, and instead simply pushed the door and went in. His office was rather small with a file cabinet, his disorganized desk with its ever-present box from Sugarcube Corner full of donuts and also a thermic bottle next to a coffee mug.
In the wall was a picture of a strapping young earth pony with a bright grape-colored coat and brown mane, happily smiling at the camera and with stars in his eyes. Under the picture, behind the desk was the actual Grape Donut. A severely overweight earth pony slouched over his chair with a disheveled brown mane and a discolored coat and not caring one bit about the what the mayor might have to say, by the lifeless look in his eyes.
“Mayor Mare…” He served a mug of coffee and offered it to her. “Coffee?”
“How can you be so inactive drinking so much coffee?” She stared at him and then let her frustration show in a sad face and a sigh. “What happened with you? You were so happy when I asked you to be our Lord Protector!”
“This is the Ponyville Militia, Mayor Mare.” His voice was distant, and he looked at nothing in particular. “This is where dreams come to die and cutie marks weep.”
“Well, it is your job to motivate your troops! They look like they could use some motivation.” She pointed a hoof at him. “For crying out loud! Semolina treated me like she hated her job!”
“She does.”
The mayor sighed again. “Well, I got a letter about you!”
“What? Is the Archduke complaining to you about ponies complaining about me?” He swayed his head from one side to the other with each word, almost in a scornful way.
“It is from The Princess!” She barely contained her voice, desperate to rouse the pony into the importance of the situation.
“Which one?” He stared blankly at her. “We got five. Or was it six?”
“The Princess.” The mayor stared angrily at him.
“What does Twilight care about me? She doesn’t even know I exist.” He rolled his eyes.
“No!” Mayor Mare rose her voice a little more. “THE Princess! She’s asked me to see why is it that you haven’t answered to the three urgent letters she’s sent you!”
He blinked twice. “The Mare’s sent me three letters?”
“One in the night, another right before dawn, and another some fifteen minutes ago!” She hoofed angrily at the floor, counting.
He blinked twice again and looked for his inbox, somewhere under all the mess of papers, donut crumbles, colorful sprinkles, more papers with random doodles and several drafts for different versions of his abdication letter that never got sent. When he did find the inbox there were indeed, three rolled up scrolls in it.
“Huh… What do you know… This thing does work.” Under the mare’s angry stare, he grabbed one of the letters and quickly read it. “The princess wants me to detain Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends, along with Captain Armor and Princess Cadance. Apparently, there’s been a misunderstanding and she’s coming over to talk once we have them secured.”
The mayor grinned hopefully. “Well, if The Princess is asking… Do a good job and maybe the ponies will like you more and I can get more funding for our militia!”
Yeah… He could imagine all the love he’d get from Ponyville for arresting their heroes. Or how hard her personal guards will beat the daylights out of him. Maybe he should just find the last draft of his letter and get it sent to the commissioner’s office. But then he’d have to listen to Semolina complaining and yelling at him the whole week. It would probably be better if he did what the princess was asking, after all.
***
Twilight’s airship approached Ponyville at a low altitude. The captain kept the ship on course, unworried. A pirate attack would be the biggest danger short of a storm or strong winds, but neither were very likely in that fine day. As the good airship crewpony he was he had checked the weather schedules before they departed Ponyville and there were no planned weather interventions in their flightpath for the whole duration of the trip to and back from the Changeling Rock.
He didn’t know about his crewmates, but he didn’t worry about his conversation with the princesses and their friends. Whatever happened he was sure they would end up fine. And if things went according to plan he’d request being included into the Princess’ guard as it was in the process of being commissioned. He could picture himself on one of those magnificent bardings, bearing the sigil of the princess and created in the enchanted forges atop Mount Canterlot by the Royal Guard smiths and enchanted by the princess herself. It made sense… Her guards would crew her airship.
Commanding an airship took more than good eyes and great instincts, but a certain connection to her own magic. As if it had a soul of its own each one was different and took some time getting used to. And the princess’ airship was a furious beast that required a tight leash.
Unicorns and earth ponies usually lost control of these modern airships because of the lack of visual references, but pegasi were made to fly. They could feel every ebb and flow of acceleration, and the captain could swear that he could feel in his very bones whenever the ship asked for more power against the crosswind or when her sails got in the way of her performance. It was like they became one as soon as he stood behind her wheel.
That was why he thought it was weird when the Princess came to him and asked if anything was wrong. He knew the unicorns could feel if something was different with the magic the ship radiated, but he had complete control over the airship, and he knew she was perfect as could be.
“Nay, Princess.” He said under her worried stare. “Everything is shipshape.”
She had her ears turned back and something bothered her. She had never felt like that before. It was as if somepony was hidden behind every corner, every shadow, watching her. She felt a strange sensation of being intruded upon. Like somepony had entered the house, which was weird because she not even was at home.
It was the weirdest thing… Even though she was safe in her ship, with her friends and family, every sense in her body was trying to tell her to be careful. That she was not alone and could be in danger.
She grumbled. “Keep your eyes open, please.”
“Aye, Princess.” He said, a little distrusting of something he couldn’t quite identify. He trusted the princess and her instincts, though. Meanwhile Twilight went down into her quarters where the others were preparing to disembark. She didn’t say anything but kept paying attention, looking for whatever was wrong and eluded her.
Without delay, the ship made its way towards her drydock out of the city and close to Twilight’s palace. It was a simple hangar, like a big barn with doors and the internal structure to secure the ship completely powered down. She thought it curious that the captain had decided to dock her aft-first but said nothing. He probably was acting on her words and preparing for a quick escape. The crew moored the ship and they started disembarking.
She was already walking on the wooden planks above the ground when the captain called to her from the railing. “I’ll keep’er spinning… Just in case, princess.”
She thanked him silently but didn’t think much of it and took the way to her palace while the others would do as they had planned and would meet with Starlight Glimmer, Shining and Cadance in the teleporter facility.
***
On the way to the teleporter Flurry Heart was in an awful mood and Cadance kept trying to console the baby, saying that she would be at home with her toys. But Flurry didn’t care! She was being put out of the action. Besides, being far from her mother meant she’d have to take the formula and she hated it. But adult ponies were stupid, and her mother didn’t understand that she should take her in that travel too.
Along the way things seemed normal on Ponyville, until they came to a street near the teleporter facility's square that gave them a good view on the building and the area in front of it. And, while it all seemed perfectly fine to Cadance, Starlight Glimmer and the maid, Shinning put his leg in front of Cadance and told them to stop. They followed him, hiding behind the nearby corner and he frowned as he watched the area ahead.
“What?” Cadance asked in a low voice.
“Something isn't right…” Too few ponies stood in the square next to the teleporter not to mention that stands were closed and what ponies stood there frowned and talked discreetly to each other. He could read frustration in the air.
“What??” The princess insisted a little louder.
“I think they locked down the teleporter. It could be an ambush.” Shinning’s instincts were at full steam with the conversation they had earlier. He had accepted the possibility that he might find himself helping his wife, sister and friends against his comrades. Depending on how things went it might cost him his position and the admiration of his ponies, but what kind of knight would he be if didn’t stand by his honor as father, husband and brother? They were all taking chances and he was no exception.
“Who are ‘they’?” Starlight stared from the corner under his head.
“Ponyville’s militia. I can’t see them, but they must be looking for us.” An open area… Certainly ponies on the roofs, not only inside the facility, he wondered.
“Ponyville has a militia?!” The unicorn looked up at him. “As in… Local militia?”
“For Ponyville’s size, the must have a few militiaponies and some ten ponies to capture. Since I haven’t seen anypony from the Royal Guard, Princess Celestia probably sent a letter and ordered our detainment. That means they are spread out thin.” He talked slowly and in a low voice. “They’re inside the building, waiting for us with others likely watching Twilight’s friend’s homes.”
“What do we do?” Cadance asked while Calcite kept the baby close to her, in her hooves instead of in her carriage and Starlight was still trying to parse the idea of Ponyville having a local militia. “Can’t we overpower them?”
“I’d rather not take too much of a risk, and there’s a lot of open space ahead. Hum...” He sounded distracted, looking around to the sides and up. A pink alicorn in the middle of the street already drew too much attention and ponies were already staring at them. “Stay here.”
With that he scurried to the other side of the street that led to the square and vanished behind a building. Cadance called him in a low voice without an answer. The princess stared at the others and for a few minutes nothing happened until they were scared by somepony yelping and a skinny brown earth pony in a leather barding fell from the thatched roof of the nearby building on the other side of the street followed by a musket and Shining Armor, who jumped down after the pony.
He held the pony by the barding. “Start talking!”
The pony shrieked loud enough to draw attention from even more ponies in the area but Shining hoped not the ones inside the facility. “The boss got a letter from Canterlot that told us to arrest you! That is all I know! Pease don’t hurt me!”
“How many? Where are the others?” Shinning shook him a little and the terrified pony wailed for a bit before answering.
“We’re fifteen, sir! I swear! They went to the homes of the princess’ friends!” He said before he broke down crying.
“Get a hold of yourself, pony!” Starlight was more annoyed at the way the militiapony behaved than the fact that he was going to shoot at them. “He didn’t even hit you that hard.”
“I just wanna go home!” He cried some more.
“Let him go, Shinning.” Cadance touched his shoulder with compassion in her expression, concerned over how bad the poor pony seemed to be taking the whole thing. “He looks terrified.”
Then a few seconds passed and her expression changed to anger and her wings flared. She grabbed his barding with her magic and shook him violently while Shining grimaced and took a step back. “You were going to shoot at my baby with a musket?! What is wrong with you?!”
The pony shrieked again and covered his face with his hooves. “Those are crystal subduing bullets your highness! I’m just following orders!”
“He’s making too much of a racket!” Starlight looked around at the ponies already starting to mass around them. “We better let him go!”
Cadance released him from her magic grasp and yelled angrily at him before he scrambled and galloped away from the teleporter. Meanwhile Shining Armor checked the militiaponie’s weapon he now held in his magic and grimaced with his ears back. “It’s a scoped Withersworth… But yeesh. This thing looks awful. Who maintains these guys’ guns?”
“We got to go!” Starlight told them. “The others will know what happened.”
“Yes.” Cadance agreed. “Back to the drydock.”
“Dammit…” Shining dropped the weapon, ready to follow the others, but Cadance stood there, looking like she was thinking.
“Chrysalis sent the princesses a letter or something.” She said with a frown. “We should’ve known she’d do this. They really are trying to catch us.”
“What do we do?” The poor crystal mare began to fear the consequences of what her princess was doing, and her drooped ears and voice made her distress clear.
“Don’t worry, Miss Calcite.” Shinning reassured her with a friendly smile. “Nothing bad is going to happen to you.”
“But what about you, sir?” She asked full of worry. Not only her job could be at risk, but she also loved her prince and princess, and certainly didn’t want to see them hurt in any way.
“We'll have to hope that Twilight was right and that the princesses aren't secretly some evil villains.”
“The sort that would consort with Queen Chrysalis?” Starlight asked sarcastically.
“Well, I was hoping she wasn’t evil anymore…” The Prince rubbed his neck uncomfortably.
Cadance wasn't about to tempt fate or take risks. “Shinning, take Flurry Heart, Calcite and Starlight to the dock. This is getting serious and we’ll have to fight. I’ll go to the Crystal Empire and grab our things.”
“What if they’re waiting for you there?” He asked.
“The princesses are more likely to be here, Shining. If they did something, they likely sent a few of their guards. My own guards will help me.” Cadance concluded and then teleported away.
***
Rarity trotted without too much of a hurry. She wouldn’t keep her friends waiting but there wasn’t any need for her to be seen galloping through town in such an unbecoming way for a lady.
The town was peaceful enough and she greeted several of her acquaintances along the way and soon enough could see her store and home in Ponyville. She hummed a song to herself thinking of the things she must do before leaving for the teleporter. It wasn’t such a big list, but she ought to be prepared: she had to account for Opalescence, Sweetie Belle, her appointments. Her parents, her sister and her friends taking care of her stores in Manehatan and Canterlot should be able to deal with everything, though. So, it would be preferable if she presented herself at the teleporter as soon as reasonably possible.
Almost to the door of her house however, she was approached by two ponies in brown leather barding. “Miss Rarity, excuse us.”
She looked at them and try as she might, she couldn’t understand why in Equestria those ponies wore that leather armor in the middle of Ponyville. Not to mention that she almost gasped in worry: they looked sickly. Their colors looked drained, somehow. One was a light-grey and white pegasus and the other a dull yellow and caramel earth pony. “Hello? May I assist you?”
“We’re with the Ponyville Millitia, ma’am. You need to come with us.” The pegasus said in an authoritarian way that rubbed her the wrong way, but Rarity wouldn’t let first impressions mark her perception of ponies she’d never seen. So, she responded with good humour.
“Oh my! We do have a local militia! I had forgotten entirely!” Oh… The local militia. Silly Rarity! She had completely forgotten they existed and giggled for a while. “I’m terribly sorry. How may I help you, brave militiaponies?”
They didn’t find it funny, though, and stared coldly at her. In fact, Rarity noticed her comment offended the ponies and she almost worried for her safety when she received what seemed like a very resentful stare from the earth pony. This sort of thing wasn’t normal in Ponyville and while she knew she’d attract attention to herself due to her work, both of them, it was impossible to be liked by everypony. And that pony seemed like somepony that really didn’t like her. For some reason she didn’t understand. Maybe she didn’t give him attention or something someday. Some ponies were like that.
There was also the very likely possibility that Princess Celestia had ordered she and her friends detained. Well, so much for a peaceful journey… And unfortunately, she could not allow herself to make these ponies’ work any easier.
“Well, I understand sirs.” She finally said, resigning to a colder and more formal tone. “Would you, magnanimously, allow me to see my little sister first, though? I must grab a few personal effects too.”
“No, ma’am. You’re coming with us now.” The earth pony frowned at her, but his companion, the pegasus elbowed at him a little distressed.
“Come on dude. She can’t run away and what would she do? She just wants to tell her sister to not worry. Or something. Gee.”
His partner didn’t look happy about it, but he agreed. “Fine. But be quick, Lady Rarity. We’ll be watching you.”
With that, she profusely thanked them, and the three ponies made quickly to her home. Once there she opened the door and went inside, closely followed by the two militiaponies. Which irritated the unicorn some more.
“Sweetie Belle! I’m home!” She called and her sister appeared at the top of the stairs while the two ponies in barding entered too. She didn’t remember inviting them in, and she felt yet a little more aggravated by that, but she didn’t think she had a choice. The pegasus closed the door and the earth pony stared unfriendly at her.
“Hi Rarity!” She chirped but frowned at the sight of the two ponies she’d never seen before. They didn’t seem like costumers, that was for sure. “Uh… Is everything okay?”
“Absolutely, dear. These nice ponies are with Ponyville Local Militia and they have requested that I accompany them.”
The filly frowned some more. “Ponville has a militia?”
“Yes! Yes, it does, miss.” The pegasus had lost his patience. “Can you hurry up, Lady Rarity?”
“Absolutely.” She had about lost her patience with these two ponies, but for now resigned to obeying. “Sweetie, fetch the briefcase under my bed, please. The large one, for travels.”
“Sure thing, Rarity.” With that, the filly disappeared on the second floor and left Rarity with the two militiaponies.
“May I offer you some tea?” Rarity couldn’t manage her more friendly voice, and instead her offer came cold and insincere voice accompanied by a cold stare. “Some coffee?”
“No, ma’am. Thank you. We would prefer to leave as soon as possible.” The pegasus said, really doing his best to keep his personal feelings about that unicorn out of his mostly professional posture.
“Sure. I certainly understand.” The unicorn kept her poise despite feeling a little insulted and more than a little threatened. Now, Rarity wasn’t a vengeful pony, but she felt threatened in her own house, with her little sister. Mayor Mare would be hearing a few choice words of hers about these ponies, that was for sure.
After she was herself done with them, actually.
The three remained silent for a few seconds, before the white filly returned and brought down a very expensive and impressive looking black casing, long and with her owner’s cutie mark emblazoned in it and also with a shiny silver finish. It had a handle, but both unicorns carried it with their magic.
That thing looked more expensive than the entire equipment for the militia and that fact stung the two ponies more than they cared to admit.
“Thank you very much, Sweetie Belle.” She said while she laid the briefcase on the floor, her back to the two ponies and opened it. The two militiaponies stared at her and before the two understood what was happening, the unicorn had produced a pair of exquisitely crafted and adorned, white and indigo wheellock pistols. The next thing they realized was that they were both staring up their long white metal barrels.
“Will you two gentleponies kindly step into that closet, please?” She asked politely, pointing at it with her eyes. “Peacefully, if you will. I am afraid these are loaded with real magic disruption ammunition from our last scuffle with the coeurl. Nasty, nasty monster and I really don’t want to know what happens when you shoot a pony with this sort of ammunition.”
The two took a second to understand exactly what was happening but obeyed. The earth pony didn’t take it kindly though, while he followed the pegasus toward the closet. “What you’re doing is a crime ma’am! You’re making it worse for yourself.”
“Oh, I know, darling.” She said sorrowfully while the two walked into the closet. “It’s a shame, really. There was a point where we clearly should have stopped, but it lies in the past. I am afraid all we can do now is keep going and hope for the best. Ta ta.”
She closed the door and locked it, giving the key to Sweetie Belle who simply stared passively. Then she proceeded to don her white and blue gambeson (with a stylish skirt) and her Element of Generosity jewel. “Sweetie, take Opal and go to dad and mom’s home. Take some of her ration, if you will.”
“Sure thing, Rarity!” She chirped. “Uh. What about these two?”
“Don’t worry yourself with them.” She said with a cold stare. “Somepony is bound to miss them eventually. However, I do want you to stop by Twilight’s home and tell Lieutenant White Leaf that I didn’t like the way these militiaponies imposed and that I’d consider it a personal favor if she took care nopony bothered you or our friends.”
The unicorn finished by holstering her pistols in front of her chest and sheathing, on her side, her gleaming rapier. Its white handle adorned with a sapphire for a pommel made it a beautiful weapon. Finally, she covered herself with a blue satin cloak and clasped its brooch in front of her neck. “I should be away a few days and we may or may not end up dethroning Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Do be careful. These things tend to be quite dramatic.”
“Uh… Sure.” Her little sister struggled a bit to understand, lacking context.
And with that, Rarity departed, leaving the briefcase and the small unicorn sitting next to the closet’s door. “So… Uh… I gotta go. You know, do what Rarity told me to. See you guys later.”
Hurrying away, the filly didn’t hear the angry complaints from the other side of the door.
***
Twilight walked next to Spike and quickly made it to her palace. The wooden doors were open as she ordered they should be (another thing she had learned from Celestia, even if she didn’t really ‘do’ administration). However, both her guards were missing from their post by the door.
It wasn’t a big deal. They, most likely were helping one of her staff with something. She turned to Spike. “Go to the school and see if they need anything. It’s vacations so there shouldn’t even be anypony there. Then meet me here. I’ll grab my barding and weapons, or Shinning won’t stop complaining the whole travel.”
“Sure thing.” He said excitedly and went off while Twilight entered her home.
Once inside, she quickly crossed the atrium and made her way to the audience chamber. She wasn’t home, so it, obviously had closed doors. What bothered her was that she still had that weird and insistent feeling that something was wrong, but now it practically screamed at her that she was in danger. Or that she should be careful. Or something of the sort. It was too vague and all that feeling managed to do was annoy her. She grunted at herself… Something less vague might be have been useful.
Opening the doors to the audience chamber she saw something big, white and golden. The sound she made defied classification. It was a combination of a squeak, a ‘meep’ and a panicked scream while she closed the door as fast as she could.
“Twilight! Wait!” She heard Celestia’s amused voice call to her from the other side of the door.
Wait? No. She galloped and did it as fast as she could without slamming into things steering towards the library. So fast she almost couldn’t open the door in time for her to go through it. In there the large room was empty of ponies except for her librarian who stared confused at her. Hiding behind a bookstand the princess grimaced and gestured with a hoof for her to leave.
The unicorn did so, as naturally as possible and closed the doors behind her only for Twilight to hear her talking to Princess Celestia through the closed doors. She couldn’t make out what they were saying, but she figured the Miss Goodread was trying to stall her old mentor.
Almost in a panic Twilight scurried to the deepest place in the library and tried to keep an eye on the doors while also trying to think of a way out. She couldn’t teleport: Princess Celestia would track her spell and in open ground she would catch up to her. If she stayed The Princess would eventually find her. If she tried to run, she would grab her with magic. Fly out a window, she’d teleport and then grab her with magic. The library wasn’t big enough for her to keep sneaking around.
Fight her? Twilight almost laughed out sarcastically at the idea of fighting Princess Celestia head on. And on her library.
Finally, If Celestia caught her she’d make Twilight stop her investigation, and while she didn’t really want to think about it there were all sort of unpleasant ideas in her head about how she might do that.
She caught herself breathing too shortly and too fast already filling her head with even more unpleasant images of what an evil Princess Celestia could do with her and that she wouldn’t even remember. She needed to calm herself with her breathing exercises. Her anxiety wouldn’t help so she did her best to calm her nerves and remember the actual Princess Celestia she knew. And as soon as she could think straight again, she quickly began removing the pieces of her royal regalia while staring at the doors past three rows of bookcases.
The plan was to sneak past her and vanish out the doors. Without a teleportation the chances that Celestia would pick her track would be more negotiable.
When the doors opened slowly, shinning with golden light of her magical aura Twilight hid again, carefully peeking by the corner to see the open doors with Princess Celestia walking in, followed by the dark brown alicorn that followed her everywhere this past year.
“Ponyfeathers… She brought him too!” She whispered to herself and looked again at the pair. While Princess Celestia looked her typical self he had a brown saddle-arabian blanket on his back and a horn adornment in two pieces and was all trussed up in gold with a ceremonial peytral and a gold fishnet on his mane, like a saddle-arabian escort. Gee… At least, he was not armed or wearing real barding, which was good. It meant they weren’t expecting a fight.
Not that Princess Celestia needed weapons to fight… But…
“Twilight, why are you hiding from me?” Celestia asked looking around by the door. “You’re confused. We should sit down and talk over a cup of tea.”
Then she gestured Chocolate Velvet to stand by the door and slowly walked towards Twilight. Thinking fast she scurried to one of the room’s corners. She couldn’t see them anymore, though she could sense all the magic that whirled around Celestia, and she was still moving towards where Twilight was drawn by the homing magic in her regalia.
“Please, talk to me, Twilight. I’m still the Celestia you know. Despite what you may be thinking because of all the things you found.” It hurt her heart listening to the princess talking like that… She sounded hurt that Twilight wouldn’t trust her, but she couldn’t afford to trust her. She wouldn’t bet all the things that could go wrong on anypony’s feelings. At least before she had some more answers. Twilight could always make up to the princess if she was wrong, but if she was right…
“Twilight, please!” Celestia pleaded again. “I promise you all will make sense with a short talk.”
Then, another voice sounded in the library, a bit gruff though calm and stoic. “Princess. One of the local militiaponies has found Prince Armor and Princess Cadenza.”
The beacon of magical energy that she was shifted and started going towards the door again. “Where?”
“The teleporter.” Twilight recognized this voice. It belonged to Lieutenant Crucible Wings, trainer and executive officer of the Princess’ personal guard. “Said Princess Cadenza and Prince Armor violently assaulted him, along with Twiligth’s friend and that he fought valiantly, but they escaped him. Said he wants compensation.”
“Is that so? I’ll talk to him.” The princess said and Twilight could hear her hoofsteps walking towards the door trailing her magic. “Don’t hurt her, Chocolate.”
Pfft… As if he could… Twilight quietly giggled to herself. Things had changed and a few seconds after she moved to the corner of the bookcase line closest to the reading tables so that she could see him slowly closing the door with his amber telekinetic magic.
“So, how’s the knight thing going for you?” She asked playfully. “Slayed many a monster in the princesses’ bedrooms?”
His ears immediately perked up and he looked her way, but he stayed by the door and laughed sarcastically. “You should know that I captured a shockroach on Princess Celestia’s bedroom!”
“You captured it?” She rose an eyebrow, despite him not being able to see it.
“She… Didn’t want me to kill it…” He said with droopy ears. “Asked me to release it in the garden.”
“Oh… Hum…” She let escape an awkward laugh. “That’s… Nice… Sparing the life of such a small and humble creature is very knightly… I’m sure it’s worth a few points with the Equestrian Chivalric Society.”
He laughed sarcastically again. “Is this the sort of thing you teach in your school, Twilight? How about you surrender, and we can enjoy a nice cupcake after Celestia tans your hide?”
“Sorry, Chocolate… I can’t do that. Don’t you want to know the truth, though?” She said. Maybe there was a chance he’d change to her side. She knew that he liked Celestia and Luna, but she also knew that he was curious about anything around them. A hidden past could be something too tempting for him. Specially if she played it right. “I mean… Princess Celestia and Princess Luna seem to have done something in the past and they have tried to hide it. Something big, related to the unicorns and the sun. What about whatever happened with that griffon Emperor, Grigor?”
“Twilight, I don’t care. She told me what you’re doing, and I honestly don’t care.” He said, slowly walking towards the bookcase he could hear her voice coming from. “I’m loyal to Princess Celestia because I don’t think that she’d do something wrong. And if she did, she certainly had very good reasons. Luna too.”
She hummed to herself, moving away from the corner. “I understand. Funny, though… You sound a bit like me… But what if she tricked you? Tricked us?”
“It’s surreal to hear this coming from you, Twilight. What? Do you think that Celestia and Luna are secretly evil, or something?” His head came around the corner and they stared at each other.
“Actually…” Twilight showed a smug smile. “I’m wondering if you already learned how to teleport.”
In an instant the princess executed the spell inside her head, her magic made it a reality and she was on the other side of the door promptly closing and locking it. Inside the library he panicked, and his hooves clopped on the floor then banged at the door. He screamed angrily and banged some more. “Open the door, Twilight! I mean it! I don’t want to blow up your house!”
“Uh-hu… Quiz on teleportation magic once this is all over, mister.” She said with a giggle and started walking away from the door.
He screamed in frustration again, banging on the door, but she knew he would be fine. She should hurry, though. It wouldn’t be too long before he realized he can open the windows and fly out. Even with his size.
Quickly now, she must gather her barding, her weapons and her Element of Magic diadem. Not only would they make Shining easier to bear, but they would certainly be useful in a hostile situation and it seemed that things had, indeed gone wrong.
Like they always did…
She really needed to hurry. While she could deal with any of her guards she’d left behind, Twilight would rather not try her luck against Princess Celestia. She’d rather survive this whole mess, and hopefully remain her friend.
Pushing those thoughts out of her head she started towards her armory in the basement. Careful before every corner that she wouldn’t be ambushed by any Royal Guards Celestia might have left behind. But the way to the armory was short and uneventful. Through the halls, down the stairs and past a few corridors and she found herself staring at the double doors of the armory. She expected to see at least a few of Celestia’s guards making sure her own guards didn’t try anything. With a touch of annoyance, she realized that she’d like to know why her guards weren’t trying to protect her.
Finally, opening the doors to her armory, she found her guards in there. All two of them… Lieutenant White Leaf and Sargent Raspberry Pancakes. One a white and green unicorn female and the other a plum and pink earth pony female, both wearing her guard’s purple enchanted armor.
“What the hay are you two doing here?” Twilight did her best not to yell.
“Uh… We’ve been asked to wait here while Princess Celestia talked to you.” White Leaf said frowning a little.
The purple princess facehoofed. “Did you notice that Princess Celestia is trying to apprehend me? You’re supposed to protect me!”
“From Princess Celestia?” White Leaf raised an eyebrow, and Twilight had to admit it did sound weird. But still… “What is going on?!”
With a sigh Twilight quickly summated the relevant events and conclusions to them while she retrieved her spare set of royal jewelry and wore them.
“Whoa… That is kinda big.” Raspberry said. “What do you want us to do, Princess?”
“I don’t know…” Twilight rubbed her forehead. “I’m afraid the girls could be in trouble.”
“We’ll escort you back to the airship.” White Leaf said decidedly, and the other nodded. “Then we’ll leave you with the crew and look for the others.”
“Hey! It’s not like I can’t fight and help my friends!” The princess felt a bit offended her guard would think her defenseless.
“Sure, princess…” White Leaf raised an eyebrow again. “But you ought to defend the airship. I’m not entirely sure the crewponies can do that without you. Especially if Princess Celestia is running around.”
“Oh. Right.” Twilight acquiesced, and then giggled uncomfortably while she reached to an upper shelf and retrieved her black and purple briefcase, adorned with her cutie mark.
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9705728
I was going to write something there, but I figured it would the second time in the chapter Twilight would be explaining stuff to someone and that might be a bit unnecessary. I thought of making a joke about Twilight being anxious, but she was in a good mood, having dodged Celestia and then Chocolate Velvet. But looking at your comment here, I feel like I should've written something more.
9708204
And to think, all I wanted to do was make a Princess Bride reference.
9708753
Ah. There's the problem. The reference flew over my head.
What’s with ponies and guns... They have laser beams and can move suns... They don’t need guns but maybe other creatures
10039015
Magic is hard and it was part of the Renaissance/fantasy theme.
Not to mention you won't see the really powerful unicorns (Twilight or Starlight Glimmer)/alicorns using guns. They don't need guns, and typically use enchanted weapons. The idea is that firearms are a 'equalizer', Rarity, for example, isn't particularly powerful spellcaster, and a pistol would do as much damage as an offensive spell from Twilight, for example.
And you're right, other creatures use guns, such as griffons and their more advanced firearms.
....FUBAR!