The Dividing Chronicles: Calm Before the Storm [Book One]

by Moonshine9012

Chapter 2

Chapter 2
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The first casualty when war comes is truth.
-Hiram Johnson

Meanwhile, as Princess Luna is attending to her previously stated matters, Princess Celestia is in her own bed chambers. As she lay there in her bed, she continued to toss and turn. Sleep was one thing she could not do at the moment as there were many things she had to attend to.

Finally, fed up with the notion of tossing in her bed any longer, the Princess rose and went to her desk. It was about 1:12 in the morning and yet the hideous storm still beat against the castle and the land. Upon arriving at her desk, the Princess sat down and took a quill in her magic.

Bringing a sheet of parchment in front of her, Celestia tapped the feather against her chin for a moment. She thought a few seconds more before she dipped the quill in ink and began to write:

Dear Grand Master Silent Mortem,

It was good to hear your last report about the mayors of both Trottingham and Los Pegasus. I trust they will not give us anymore trouble?

On another note, I have heard the reports of revolts springing up in the city of Manehatten and the two cities I have just listed above. Though I do believe that you and your assassins are most capable of handling these situations discretely, I still would like some more reassurance.

So I am sending my captain of the guard, Shining Armor, with five thousand of my best troops to you. He will be temporarily put under your command until this crisis is past. I do you hope that you will use them wisely and distribute them properly among the above cities.

Sincerely,
Princess Celestia

P.S. You might want to make the symbols less noticeable, ponies are starting to ask questions.

Putting the quill back in the inkwell, satisfied with her letter, she engulfed it in magic and sent it away to the assassin. Now that she had that out of the way, it was time to draft orders for the movement of troops. She got more sheets of parchment and bought her quill back out. This was going to be a long night.

---

As dawn came and the morning started, the rain had finally stopped but the dark clouds still hung over the land. Princess Luna sighed contently and tiredly. It was almost time for her to rest and she was thankful the rains had stopped. The clouds may not have been gone but still, at least it was not raining.

As she rose to go meet Celestia for breakfast, her thoughts strayed back to her conversations earlier that night. The news that Cherry Tart had told her had worried Luna a great deal. Her talk with Night Bringer hadn't done much to soothe her fears either.

It was the talk with her brother that had her worried the most. Moon Shine had said that with the storm, he could only bend the darkness fifty percent than what he normally could. That scared her. You see, Moon Shine was the Prince of the Night, therefore he had power to bend and control darkness at will.

So if he couldn't perform what was part of Cutie Mark and one of his special talents, then something was definitely up. Speaking of her brother, she needed to have a talk with him after breakfast and see if he had found out anything. She also remembered that she needed to speak with Tia about this as well.

Luna slowly got of her bed and made her to the closet. She went in and got the crescent moon necklace her mother had given her many, many years ago. She always wore it to breakfast and just because all this nonsense was going on, didn't mean she was going to break her tradition.

The Princess put the necklace on and made her towards the large doors. Opening them, she saw that the Nocturne guards were just now having the changing of the posts. Motioning for them to be at ease when they snapped to attention, she began her walk towards the throne room.

For some reason, I think tradition, the Princess' had always had had a table brought to the throne room so they could eat. Royalty can and do tend to be a bit eccentric. As she walked through the intricately designed hallways, she couldn't help but gaze nervously at the dark clouds hovering outside.

She couldn't help but feel like those hideous things were a sign or an omen of some sort. As she came to the doors, thunder boomed and the pit-pat of rain started all over again. Luna blew her chops and rolled her eyes angrily. Yep, definitely a sign she thought as she came to the throne room.

All around the doors, messengers flitted about, waiting to go in. Messengers from what seemed like every branch of the Equestrian military was there. Even Night Bringers old buddie from training, Shadow Wing, was meditating nearby. He sat about two feet away from everpony else; which of course they were all very grateful.

It wasn't against Shadow Wing personally, its just that many do tend to get nervous when a master assassin is around. He wore the traditional white, silver and red clothing of the Order; hood pulled over his muzzle and everything. Because of what he was wearing, Luna couldn't see what he really looked like. Nopony but his fellow assassins had seen him for who he really was.

As the Princess approached, all of the messengers stopped their murmuring and either bowed or snapped to attention.

"At ease, all of you" she said in a soothing voice with a smile.

A few returned the smile then went back to whatever they were preoccupied with. Luna looked over at Shadow, who slowly opened his eyes and nodded. The Princess nodded in return and smiled before going in. As she passed through the doors, she failed to see the light tint of red that graced the pegasus' face before it vanished in a flash.

The giant oaken doors slammed shut behind her as Luna walked towards the table in the middle of the room. Her sister was seated and had already been served a plate of food and a goblet for drink. Barely touching either, Celestia scribbled quickly and determinedly with a quill.

She sat there, seemingly oblivious to everything and everypony around her, even her sister, Princess Luna, as she entered.

Coming to the table, Luna coughed a little overly loud, "Ahem!"

Jerking up from her scribbling, she looked around with a wild fire in her eye, horn charged for battle. Luna stepped back a little as Tia's eyes came to rest upon her. Instantly, the fire in them died and her horn's glow weakened to nothing. She sat there for a moment, seemingly catching her breath.

Finally, after a few minutes, she sighed and said, "Oh, it's just you Luna. Please, don't do that again, you scared me."

Luna smirked and said, "I'll say. You looked ready to blast me into space dust."

She went and sat down across from her sister and was quickly brought food and drink. As the Princess proceeded to dig in, Celestia said, "Yes, I am sorry about that. I'm just a little jumpy this morning. It was a long night last night and today doesn't seem to be any better."

The Moon Princess looked up and asked, "Oh? And why's that?"

"You know the storm acting up last night and such. Then there's the distribution of troops to attend to.." Celestia said hastily as she trailed off. Lightning flashed and thunder boomed outside finished her statement.

Luna looked out at the storm then at her sister, confused. "What do you mean distribution of troops?"

Her sister was scribbling again. "Hmm? Oh yes, just some small things here and there in a few cities. Oh, that reminds me, I must have a quick talk for a moment."

Grasping quite a few scrolls in her magic, Tia got up from the table and went over to the doors. Pulling them open with a bit more magic, she called the messengers inside, including Shadow Wing. She shot him an inquiring look and he just shrugged his shoulders.

Resigning to talk to him, and many other ponies later, she sat and waited for what her sister had to say.

The Sun Princess cleared her throat before beginning. "Thank you all for coming so quickly and on such short notice. What I have to say will be brief, I promise. Now, here I have a scroll of orders for all of you, detailing troop movements and procedures. You will take them to your commanders and wait for orders from Shining Armor. That is all; dismissed!"

The messengers all came forward, received their scrolls, bowed and then were off to their own branches. The last one to receive a scroll was Shadow and it seemed like Cestia paid extra attention when handing him his orders. Luna played her magic a bit and enhanced her hearing.

"Shadow Wing, you will bring this scroll to Shining Armor first and tell him to move out immediately. Then take this other one to the Grand Master in Fallujah Castle. Report back here when it is complete" Celestia whispered to the master.

"Yes Your Highness" Shadow replied.

As he turned to leave, he caught Luna's eye and mouthed We'll talk later. She nodded her head and he left. Closing the doors. Celestia came back to the table and finally began to eat. As she did, Luna studied her for a moment. She had seen her sister nervous and agitated before but never on this level.

"Dear sister, what is the matter? You look like you legs are going to fall off, your shaking so much!" the Princess said with a tone of concern.

Looking up from her food, Tia said, "Iibf knosbdue whavgt younknjb taklndib abojgiut."

"Sister, I cannot understand what you're saying."

Blushing a bit, she swallowed her food and said, "Sorry, I'm just hungry is all. Plus staying up most of the night didn't help."

Looking at her curiously, Luna said, "Okay... Well I'm going to get some sleep. Wake me if anything should happen."

Her sister nodded as Luna rose and teleported to her chambers. Once in her room, she removed her necklace and got under the sheets. She would wait and talk to the others later this afternoon when she woke. Outside, she heard the marching hooves off possibly thousands of guard ponies.

Looking out of her window from her bed, she saw an endless number of guards leaving the castle and Canterlot. I know Tia said some small things in the cities but that many ponies is ridiculous! Putting her head back down, she was soothed to sleep by the sound of hooves marching and the sound of drizzling rain against her window.

---

The Princess awoke a hours later to the sound of booming thunder. She lay there in her bed for a few moments, just thinking. What Tia had said a few hours earlier had just added to her mounting fears. If she was sending a few thousand ponies all over Equestria to calm some 'small things'...

She couldn't take her sister's word for it, she had to go see these 'small things' for herself. Rising, she went to her dresser and picked he comb up. Slowly, she started to brush her wavy, starlike hair. As she was brushing, there was a knock at her door.

Without pausing in her combing, she called out, "Enter!"

Slowly, the oak doors opened and Shadow Wing stepped in. "You wanted to speak to me Princess?" he inquired as he shut the door.

Smirking, she turned around without ceasing in her brushing and said, "I thought you were the who wanted to talk Shadow."

Again, a faint hint of scarlet caressed his cheeks before disappearing once more. Luna thought it was quite lovely, especially for an assassin.

"Oh yes, that's right, isn't it Princess?" he replied with a small grin.

Laughing, she said, "Yes it is and what have I said about calling me Princess? That's only for in public my friend."

Mocking a bow, he said, "Then forgive me, dear Luna."

Still laughing, she said, "Rise Shadow. Now tell me, what is going on right now?"

The Master immediately took on a serious look and demeanor.

"That bad huh?"

"Worse" he replied.

Luna grimaced. "How so?"

"Well, the letters Celestia had me bring to Shining Armor and the Grand Master were not good at all. Yes, before you ask, I did look then reseal the scroll."

The Princess shut her mouth, a blush now kissing her cheeks.

He continued, "The letters were most disturbing. The one to Shining Armor put him under the Grand Master's command, along with five thousand of Equestria's best troops. The one to the Grand Master authorized him to put the cities of Trottingham, Los Pegasus, and Manehatten under marshall law for as long as the revolts kept happening."

Luna looked shocked and confused. "Wait, wait, wait. Back up a bit. Did you say revolts? Ok, first I didn't know about the disappearances and now I find out about revolts?! What the hay has been going on without me knowing about it?!"

Shadow opened his mouth to answer but Luna cut him off, saying, "Don't say anything yet. I have to get the others here. They need to hear this."

With that the Princess shut her eyes and thought about her friends and her brother. Her horn started to glow and before she knew it, she heard quite a few shouts, then crashes, then finally to be summed up by a symphonic sound of pain. Opening her eyes, she saw her brother and friends from the castle there.

Night Bringer and Octavia were on top of the pile. Underneath them lay Moon Shine and his wife Rainbow Dash, trying to get up. Then finally, to complete it, at the bottom of the pile lay Shadow Wing, struggling for breath.

"Can't....breath..." he gasped.

The ponies on top of him mercifully got off, allowing for him to breath again. As he slowly got up, Night said, "Sorry about that Shad, couldn't really control where we landed."

"My bad" Luna said, grinning sheepishly.

"It's alright" said the soft spoken assassin as he looked and nodded at everpony in the room before turning back the Princess. Well, everypony but Rainbow Dash that is. The Princess was confused for a moment then was suddenly intrigued by the assassin's manners toward a fellow assassin.

Pushing those thoughts aside, she cleared her throat and said, "Sorry everypony about the teleportation but I needed a way to get you all here quickly."

There were murmurs of forgiveness from the others before they went silent again.

Continuing, she said, "Now that we are all here, I suppose we can get started again. Shadow here was just telling me about some very disturbing news. I called you all here so you could hear it with your own ears."

Shadow quickly explained what he knew and before long, everypony was talking amongst themselves. It took a few but by the time they were all calmed down, they were all asking the same question:

"Why?"

"I don't know why but I believe that we must find out for ourselves. I'm going to see first hand the revolts and see if I can do something to stop them. Who's with me?"

Slowly, everyponies hoof rose into the air.

Luna grinned and said, "Thank you. Now, we must plan."

Comments

[Moonshine9012]

I would like to say something: all OC's that do not belong to me will be posted in the credits along with the OC's creator. I will give credit to where credit is due. Also, if you dislike the story, please give the reason in the comments box so that I may address it.

[Moonshine9012]

Also, at the beginning of Chapter 3, yes, the quote does use the word 'people' and not 'ponies'. I wanted to keep the quote real though and not sub. any words into it.