Chapter 11: Alignment
~~~Canterlot Castle, Canterlot, 3 days and 10 hours after the Ambush at Equus~~~
“Will he be alright?”
“It will take at least a couple of weeks for his jaw to heal, but he’ll make a full recovery. There’s no point in keeping him here, though; you might as well send him home for the duration of his recovery.”
“Sounds like a reasonable suggestion, doctor. Thanks again for patching him up.”
“He’s not patched up yet, Captain Armor, but it is my honor and privilege to serve the Guard; there is no need to thank me.”
“Regardless of whether or not you’ll accept my thanks, know that your work is appreciated. I’ll have to excuse myself, now, and file an incident report. I expect to hear good news later.” With an official salute, Shining Armor turned and trotted out of the infirmary. The doctor returned the gesture with a lazy and distracted salute of his own.
Free of the infirmary, the captain strode down the hall in the direction of his office, brow furrowed in thought. It wasn’t difficult to guess what was on his mind. The General’s attitude and actions since arriving had been nothing but abominable. The fact that Celestia trusted that monster was equally reproachable, if not more so.
How could she be so blind? he thought. Well, this incident report should correct her vision. Luna was there, too; she ought to be on my side against Grievous; she even admitted to not trusting him. Confident that he had the means to plant the seeds of doubt in Celestia’s mind, he confidently finished the short trek to his office.
There was a knock at his door, and the captain released an irritated sigh. “Ugh, I’m busy,” he called, straightening the small stack of papers on his desk. “Unless it’s urgent, report to somepony else.”
“I wish to converse with you privately, Captain,” the muffled but still unmistakable voice of Luna responded from the other side. Immediately, Shining Armor straightened himself and flung the door open with his magic. She walked in and closed the door behind her before approaching the captain’s desk.
“Uh, my, uh, apologies, your highness, I didn’t know it w-”
Luna chuckled slightly, now sitting across from him. “It’s no matter; please, let us speak informally for the time being.”
“Yes, your...er, um, yes.”
“I do believe you can guess the topic of which I wish to converse,” she prompted, becoming dreadfully serious in an instant.
“Grievous?”
“Correct. I am aware that you disagree with Grievous on just about everything he’s done and said thus far, and I am also aware that you are aware that I share a similar position.” The captain nodded and waited for Luna to continue. “You weren’t thinking of using this incident with the injured guard to try to make my sister see our concerns, were you?”
He should have expected Luna to catch him on that. Thinking on it, it was kind of a predictable move. Didn’t Grievous say something about being unpredictable? “I...I was hoping to do that, yes,” he admitted.
Luna sighed and shut her eyes, pausing to choose her next words carefully. “I have to ask you to not do this.”
“What!?” He stared at her, wide-eyed. “That’s preposterous; you saw how Grievous-” Luna raised a hoof, and he silenced himself.
“Please, allow me to explain,” she requested, lowering her hoof. “I have reason to believe that there were extenuating circumstances that were the cause of Grievous’ outburst. While I certainly don’t want Grievous’ disregard for our soldier’s well-being to continue, it would be unfair to slander him with just this one exceptional event. Please be impartial while writing up this report, and please continue to be until it’s determined how violent he really is.”
Dejectedly, Shining sighed. “You’re right; this is probably a misunderstanding. I’m just a bit apprehensive about, well, anything regarding that monstrosity. I’ll confront him about the situation and hopefully clear this up.”
“Thank you, Captain,” Luna said, returning to formal addresses. “When you do go to speak with Grievous, do so civilly.”
“Yes, your highness.”
With a nod, Princess Luna left, leaving Shining Armor alone to finish up writing and filing his report on the incident.
Up and up the towering spiral staircase Shining Armor climbed. He had finished up the impartial and unbiased report of the guard’s injury, his goal now to confront Grievous and hopefully get an explanation for the General’s outburst.
The staircase lead to an ornately decorated hallway. Large banners depicting Celestia’s cutie mark lined one side of the hall while banners of Luna’s adorned the other. Shining Armor stepped into the hall, diligently making his way past the doors to the Princess’ rooms, which were across the hall from each other. Farther down the hall were the guest rooms. They weren’t quite as pompous as the Princess’ rooms, but they were still a pleasurable rooming experience that only the most important visitors of the castle got to experience.
And, to the Captain’s discontent, this included Grievous.
Two rooms past the Princess’ on the same side as Celestia’s was the room she had allotted to the cyborg. As he approached, he could hear the General’s obnoxiously loud voice coming from his room, and he couldn’t help but stop and eavesdrop.
“...need droids competent enough to dispatch a small group of clones. But we can’t ignore the threat that Shining Armor presents as well. They are all pests that need to be squashed.”
Another voice came from Grievous’ room, but it was much softer; he could only make out snippets of the speaker’s words. “Patience...deal with...yourself.” It sounded muffled and staticy, and Shining Armor inched closer to attempt to hear the speaker more clearly.
“My Lord, I am aware that there is a plan already established for dealing with his interference. He has, however, been more aggressive with his resistance, and my patience wears thin.”
“You fool, Grievous.” Finally Shining Armor was close enough to hear the voice. He recognized the speaker as Count Dooku, and assumed Grievous was talking to him via his projection device. “It is good that he resists. That means that our plan has been set in motion, and it’s up to you to act properly. Do not fail me, or there will be dire consequences for you.” There was a pause. “It appears that I may have said too much; you have a visitor.”
The device clicked, ending the communication, and Shining moved away from his position near the wall. How did he know I was there? The captain decided to let it slide for the time being, and he confidently walked up to Grievous’ door and knocked on the hard wood.
The door immediately flung open. Grievous’ arm shot out of the open doorway and clamped around his neck. In what seemed to be less than a second, the General had pulled him into his room, shut the door quietly, and aimed his blaster at the stunned captain’s head.
Grievous’ arms were split, one holding Shining Armor, one holding his blaster, and the other two reaching for the cylindrical devices at his waist.
“What’re you doing, Grievous?” he choked out through the General’s tight grip.
“What did you hear?” Grievous asked menacingly in turn.
Shining tried to respond, but Grievous held his throat tightly enough so that all that came out were gurgles. Mercifully, he loosened his hold, but still held enough strength to suspend the sizeable pony a few feet above ground. Now free of being choked, Shining responded. “I heard nothing,” he lied.
“I don’t believe you, Captain. Now answer me: what did you hear?”
“Why does it matter what I’ve heard; have you something to hide? If your intentions here were pure, there should be no reason to hide anything from us.”
Grievous growled. “You aggravate me, Captain, and are an interference. Perhaps I will take my master’s advice and deal with you myself.” Accentuating his point, Grievous prodded the side of the pony’s head with his pistol.
“Not without resistance!” Shining Armor defiantly challenged. He conjured up a quick teleport spell, and in a flash of white light, he was out of Grievous’ grasp and behind him. Before Grievous could react, Shining spun and delivered a strong buck to his back. Surprised by the attack, Grievous fumbled forward and dropped his blaster.
Suddenly, he was enveloped in a pinkish aura and unable to control his movements. Grievous was levitated off the ground and flung into the door. The flimsy wood gave as his heavy metal body collided, exploding into a shower of planks and splinters. The collision did little to reduce his momentum. He crashed into the hall, smacking into the wall opposite his door before finally being released and allowed to drop to the floor.
Grievous quickly rose as Shining Armor entered the hall through the broken door, taking slow, deliberate steps, and wearing a smug expression. His smirk was all the provocation Grievous needed to retaliate. Rising to his full height, which the ceiling mercifully allowed, he grabbed a lightsaber from his waist with two of his arms, one on each side. His other two arms he left unarmed.
The two combatants circled each other, stopping when they were aligned with the hall lengthwise. Grievous struck first, lunging with his fists. He swung with a diagonal uppercut, that Shining Armor easily dodged, then brought his other fist down where Shining Armor dodged to. Shining Armor jumped back and away from the predictable blow, but struggled to put up a magical barrier in time to stop the following blows from Grievous’ weapons.
Closing the gap between them in a single small bound, Grievous brought his lightsabers down upon Shining Armor as he landed. But instead of hitting pony flesh, the blades recoiled off of a pinkish bubble that had formed around Shining Armor during Grievous’ leap.
The barrier had no give on impact, returning all of the force from the strong blow back to Grievous. His hands wrenched and he stumbled back a step, but he retained hold of his weapons. From within his protective bubble, Shining Armor gave the General a grin most unbefitting for the situation, as if he was trying to restain a heavy bout of laughter.
Needless to say, this only served to enrage Grievous further.
Stepping up to Shining Armor’s bubble, he pelted it with a frenzied flurry of strikes from his lightsabers, adding the occasional punch from his fists into the mix as well. Painful screeching sounds came forth as the lightsabers ground against the magical barrier, as well as a fantastic light show.
Grievous pounded the bubble relentlessly, his blows pouring forth as quickly as he could muster them, which, thanks to his mechanical body, was exceptionally fast. But despite his best efforts, Shining’s barrier refused to give. In a desperate final attempt to break through Shining’s magic, he brought his fist back and prepared to throw the heftiest punch he was likely to ever throw. With a howl, he launched his attack at the bubble.
And that was when Shining Armor finally made a move. As the punch came towards his bubble, he expanded his bubble outwards, colliding it with Grievous’ fist earlier than the warlord had anticipated hitting it. Grievous had poured all his strength into that blow, and it failed to damage the bubble at all. Instead, the bubble took none of the force, sending it all back into Grievous’ arm, along with a little extra due to the momentum of its expansion.
His arm was left in ruins. It much resembled the front of a vehicle after a head-on collision: the hand was busted and shattered, while the wrist and forearm experienced some major crumpling.
The wounded warrior pulled back and quickly spared a glimpse at the wreckage. It was fortunate that he had spare limbs stowed away on the Superior; there was no way the simple toolkit he had on the surface was going to return it to even a useable state.
Shining Armor also allowed himself a second to admire the damage as his barrier dissipated. He knew that his maneuver was going to cause some damage, but he certainly wasn’t expecting that. While it was a small victory to incapacitate his assailant, it was also a testament to Grievous’ strength, and a warning to not let him close.
With renewed vigor, Grievous glanced back to his opponent, hatred burning in his eyes like a wildfire. Holding his damaged limb behind his back to protect it from further damage, Grievous resumed his assault. Utilizing his dexterity to the fullest, he stalked closer towards his query, swinging his lightsabers in an intimidating display of precise swordsmanship.
It was, however, just a show. Once within striking range of Shining Armor, he lashed out with all his fury. His blades danced about in front of him in fluid, graceful swings, but Shining Armor was quick to dodge them all, stepping back and leading them towards the end of the hall.
It wasn’t long before Grievous had pushed Shining Armor to the end of the hall, which was blocked off by a wall. Grievous continued to push forward, and with nowhere to retreat, Shining Armor charged up a quick teleport. He released it, narrowly avoiding a swing meant for his head, and appeared to Grievous’ side.
As he had hoped, Grievous was confused for a second, quickly glancing around to try to locate him. That was all the time Shining Armor needed to create another shield, this one a bubble around one of the General’s wrists that happened to be holding a lightsaber. Like Shining Armor had expected, the barrier caused Grievous’ hand to be cleanly severed off. It and the weapon it once held clanged to the floor, the blade of the lightsaber vanishing by virtue of it no longer being wielded.
But, to Shining Armor’s dismay, Grievous was completely unfazed by the sudden loss of his appendage, and Shining Armor had unwittingly trapped himself between the hall’s lengthwise wall and the General. Completely disregarding his missing hand, Grievous retaliated with an uppercut from his remaining armed arm. Shining Armor had no room to dodge the attack and no time to prepare a teleport or shield. He clenched his eyes shut and prepared himself for the humming blade of energy to slice him open.
Just as the weapon was about to make contact, there was a sharp twanging sound, followed by the sound of the weapon clattering to ground to the side of Shining Armor. Grievous gave a disgruntled grunt, and both combatants looked to the weapon, Grievous with somehow more fury, and Shining Armor with utter confusion.
Simultaneously, they locked gazes with each other and resumed their fight. The distraction caused by Grievous losing his weapon gave the captain ample time to return to a more advantageous position.
With his two remaining hands Grievous reached for his waist to arm himself with another pair of lightsabers, of which there were several there, but Shining Armor was quick to telekinetically grab them himself and throw them about the length of the hall.
That was the final straw for Grievous. Any amount of calmness had escaped him by now, and he charged Shining Armor, roaring with all his fury. His war cry did nothing to conceal his plan of attack, and Shining Armor had forewarning enough to muster a teleport back down the hall a ways.
Grievous, for his part, was quick to react to the new location of his target and continued to run at him, not tripping or stumbling at all. In only a couple of seconds, he had reached Shining Armor’s position. He lowered his shoulder in preparation of a tackle, running headlong into a rectangular barrier. He flattened against it, but mercifully, unlike Shining Armor’s bubble, this one had the courtesy to be pushed back a couple of feet. Or, at least it was courteous, until Shining Armor lifted the barrier above and behind him, bringing Grievous with it.
With the shield behind him, Shining Armor thrust it out like a spring, launching Grievous into the air towards the staircase. Being sure to not give him time to create a soft landing for himself, Shining Armor disposed of the barrier and telekinetically grabbed Grievous, forcefully smashing him into the marble floor. It cracked audibly, and it sounded like something on Grievous did, too.
Grievous was quick to recover, using his arms to lift himself off the broken floor. He lifted his head, but was surprised to see a pair of soft, blue eyes looking into his own. The eyes were accompanied by a tall, midnight blue pony with a horn and wings, whose starry mane flowed upon an ethereal wind.
“P-Princess Luna?” Shining stuttered behind him as Grievous rose to his feet. “I, uh, didn’t see you there. Are you hurt?”
“I am fine, Captain Armor, but our interplanetary diplomatic guest it not!” she replied harshly, pointing to Grievous’ broken arms and the large split that now ran down Grievous’ faceplate as a result from his vicious collision with the floor. “I specifically instructed you to approach him civilly, not toss him about like a ragdoll!” she boomed in the royal Canterlot voice.
Shining Armor made as though to speak, but Luna cut him off. “Do not speak, Captain. Your fighting like foals is unacceptable behavior for the both of you. Whatever reasons the two of you had for fighting, my sister and I shall discover and deal with them.”
She walked past Grievous, past Shining Armor, and to Grievous’ empty doorframe, inspecting the damage caused by their short brawl. Aside from the door having been ruined, the walls and floor were lined with scorch marks from Grievous’ weapons. Some of the banners had been sliced apart and fallen from their supports.
Both Grievous and Shining Armor followed the princess with their gazes as she went about her inspection, and as she approached the end of the hall, they all focused on the most curious bit of the skirmish’s aftermath. Engraved into the brickwork as if by lightsaber blade rested initials that read: DC. Resting on the ground nearby was the hilt of the lightsaber that Shining Armor recognized as the one that has been mysteriously launched from Grievous’ grip.
“This is most curious,” the princess remarked as she stepped away from the initials and back towards the staircase. Using her magic, she floated all of Grievous’ lightsabers that had been strewn about behind her. “However, it is more imperative that my sister and I find a way to get the two of you cooperating. To the throne room, the both of you.”
Being the closest to the staircase down, Grievous took the lead, carefully making his descent down the sorely undersized steps. Luna placed herself between him and the captain, while Shining Armor took the rear.
Interrupting the Day Court was something that Luna was usually reluctant to do. Very rarely did a situation call for her to so blatantly disrespect her sister’s proceedings. But, there were times, such as now, where it couldn’t be helped.
Gathered in front of the throne room was a veritable sea of nobleponies and other petitioners, all hoping to receive Celestia’s approval, or better yet, funding, for some personal project of theirs.
Or something like that; Luna had never paid much heed to the Canterlot nobles, and wasn’t fond of them enough to really pay attention to what it was they were trying to accomplish.
It was apparent, though, the Grievous was also not much into nobles. As they neared the outskirts of the crowd, Grievous stooped to a more intimidating stance. He let all four of his arms hang by his side as opposed to behind his back, which was seen to be typical of him.
Despite his recognition as a hero of sorts, the looks shared by the ponies that parted before him as they gazed upon his monstrous form were those of pure terror. Luna couldn’t blame them; he was a terrifying sight to behold, and the battle scars from his fight with Shining likely only helped in making him appear more frightening.
On the bright side of it, though, no amount of yelling, or verbal communication of any form, was needed for a path to be formed so that the three of them could reach the throne room easily. The pair of unicorn guards standing by the throne room’s massive doors straightened to a more rigid attention as the group of three of their superiors came near.
“I require an audience with Celestia presently,” she announced to the pair. They saluted, and one opened the door so the other could enter and inform Celestia. A few seconds later, the guard returned, leading a disgruntled noble out of the room. The door remained open for Luna and her party to enter. Grievous entered first, with Shining Armor stepping around Luna to enter behind him. Luna followed them after entrusting all of Grievous’ weapons to the guards.
“My sister, I sincerely apologize for intruding upon your court like this,” Luna apologized upon entering the room. She passed between Grievous and Shining Armor, who had already approached the Princess’ dais, on her way to her sister’s side. “However, circumstances requiring immediate attention have arisen between these two.”
Celestia was sitting in her throne, elegant as always, wearing a mostly neutral expression. Mild concern could be seen on her face whenever she looked at Grievous’ injuries. “Anypony care to explain what transpired?” queried Celestia to the three of them.
“I myself did not witness the entirety of the events,” Luna answered, seating herself in the small throne adjacent to her sister’s. She looked to the two officers, continuing. “I trust that these two should be able to provide an untwisted recounting of it.”
“Indeed,” Celestia agreed. “Who cares to begin explaining?”
Grievous stepped forward. “I will begin, your highness.” Clasping his remaining hands behind his back, as was his typical stance, he began to recount his version of the events leading up to his fight with Shining Armor. “I had received a report about the units that had been deployed to Applewood while assisting your Captain here with the training of the Guard’s higher officers. Unfortunately, the developments required my immediate attention, so I left Shining Armor and his men alone to deal with it. I returned to my room to establish a plan of action in response to the news I had received.”
Celestia raised a hoof to cut of Grievous, and he complied. “Might you share these developments with me? I would like to know what your plan is before it is set into motion.”
Nodding, Grievous answered, “Of course, I planned to consult with both you and my master before doing anything outside of my jurisdiction. Contacting my master was of more immediate precedence, but I was going to consult with you afterwards and explain everything.”
“That is good of you, Grievous,” Celestia answered with a smile. It quickly faded into a slight frown as she began a guess as to the events that had transpired. “I assume, then, that you were consulting with your master -Dooku, was it?- when Shining Armor interrupted you, at which point there was a disagreement that turned violent.”
“Princess, if I may interject,” Shining Armor spoke up before Grievous could respond, “your guess is close, but know that Grievous was first to get violent, not I.”
“Captain,” Celestia said softly, turning to face him. “Please, be respectful of our guest and do not speak out of turn. You’ll have your say, but let Grievous have his.” She returned her gaze to Grievous, prompting him to continue.
“The Captain is correct in saying that your guess is nearly accurate. I was talking to my master, and our discussion turned towards the going-ons of the war. Upon this turn, my master warned me that someone-” he looked to Shining Armor “-was eavesdropping.” Grievous returned his attention to Celestia. “I know not why he was coming to me, but he came, and I will admit, my aggressive tendencies got the better of me; I don’t appreciate being spied on.”
Both princesses managed to maintain a stoic expression as Grievous spoke. Shining Armor, on the other hand, was struggling to suppress a scowl and a scoff.
“Shining Armor, do you have anything to say?” Celestia asked him suddenly, noting his expression. He faintly nodded. “Then speak; I believe I understand what happened. I hope you can explain why.”
Shining Armor cleared his throat before confidently announcing, “Your highness, I have reason to believe that Grievous is not telling the complete truth, and that he has plans for Equestria.”
Celestia regarded him with a raised brow. “On what evidence do you base these claims?”
“Based on what I heard said between Grievous and his master, and on observations made about his behavior.”
“You were eavesdropping, then, Captain?”
Shining looked around nervously. “I-I...” He hung his head. “I was, your majesty.” Looking back up to Celestia, he said, “But, with how loud Grievous was speaking, it was difficult to not overhear.”
“Regardless, Captain, it was rude and disrespectful of his privacy for you to do that without proper authorization or reason,” Celestia criticized. “However, I will reserve my judgment for after you explain what you heard.”
“Right. Well, I first heard him say something about his droids, but then he mentioned to ‘not ignore the threat I present’, following it up by effectively saying that I need to be eliminated.”
Luna finally spoke. “Is this true, Grievous?”
“He speaks what I spoke, but has misinterpreted what I meant.”
“Did you hear any more, Captain?” inquired Celestia.
The Captain took a second to recall exactly what he had heard. “Dooku replied, saying something about Grievous ‘dealing’ with me himself. Then the two of them touched on the subject of some sort of plan that was set in motion by my being uncooperative with him.”
Beside him, Grievous chuckled lightly. “Grievous?” Celestia asked. “Have you anything to say about these claims?”
“I do, your majesty.” Grievous turned to his adversary. “Captain, you misinterpret what I say. While what I said may sound like I intended harm, I assure you that harm is not the intent. I am a military man, like yourself, and I am prone to using such terminology to illustrate my points.
“Our discussion did touch on you and the threat you are to our unified forces. After all, no army can be effective if both of its leaders are feuding. I simply wanted to approach you sometime in the future and clear all misunderstandings between us.” Slowly, Grievous began to walk towards Shining Armor. He reached a hand out towards him. “Let us settle our differences civilly, and in the spirit of friendship.”
Shining Armor stared at Grievous’ outstretched hand in disbelief. A speech like that was certainly not on the top of the list of things he was expecting the ferocious warlord to say. But, he still did not trust him, and pushed away Grievous’ hand. “I don’t trust you Grievous,” he stated simply.
Without a word, Grievous returned to his original spot. “Was there anything else you want explained?” he calmly asked the three of them.
Luna spoke up. “It was evident that weapons were used during your fight, presumably with lethal intent. Explain what happened.”
“Like I said, when Shining Armor reached my door, my aggressive tendencies and paranoia got the best of me. I grabbed him by the throat, pulled him into my room, and pointed my blaster to his head. All I asked was for him to tell me what it was he heard, but he responded violently, throwing me into the opposite wall with his magic.”
“You could have tried to be less aggressive in the first place, Grievous,” Luna pointed out.
“I knew someone was there, but not who. I had no way of knowing whether the eavesdropper was him, you, or a Republic spy. I’d have reacted the same in any situation, but only would have turned hostile if there was any intent of assisting the Republic.”
Rolling his eyes, Shining Armor replied, saying, “Yeah, I’m sure it in no way had to do with your dislike of me.”
Ignoring him, Grievous continued to explain the fight. “Once I was thrown out of the room, I prepared myself to fight for my life. I was going to assume he was merely reacting to my abnormal greeting, but he continued to stalk towards me.”
“That’s not-”
“Silence, Captain,” Celestia commanded, more forcefully than before. “You’ll have a chance to refute him, but be patient.” Shining Armor scowled and looked away, but respected the order.
Again, Grievous continued as if he hadn’t even been interrupted. “As he got near, I could tell he was not content just throwing me out of my room; he wanted more. In self-defense, I readied my weapons and lashed out. I wanted to escape, but he stood between me and the only exit, using a barrier to impede my progress.
“Growing ever fearful for my well-being, I fought against him even more aggressively, and he responded in kind.” Shining’s scowl deepened. “He continued to exploit his advantage, disarming me, severing my arm, and tossing me around.” Looking down to his damaged limbs, he grumbled, “If Luna had not arrived at such an opportune moment, I likely would not have survived the encounter.”
That accusation pushed Shining Armor over the tipping point. “That’s not true!” he yelled, marching towards Grievous, who backed away an equal distance in mock fear.
“Captain,” warned Celestia, but he disregarded her.
“You’re the one who attacked first! You were trying to kill me, and you would have done so if I didn’t continue to press into you.” Attempting to maintain the same distance between them, Grievous inadvertently got closer and closer to the wall behind him. Once he was a few feet away, Shining Armor telekinetically shoved him against the wall and dragged him up it, leaving scratches on the ornate brickwork.
“You haven’t tricked me, Grievous. I know you’re lying, and I’ll not stand by and let you continue to deceive anypony like you’re trying to do now.” Grievous struggled futilely against his unrelenting grip. ”I know you have ulterior motives for being here, and I’ll be sure to-UGH!” A sharp pain passed through Shining Armor’s skull for a second as the pink aura that surrounded both his horn and Grievous turned yellow. His forelegs gave out at the sudden pain, but he quickly righted himself as Grievous gently floated to the ground.
Both military leaders turned towards the princesses. Luna wore a sad expression, while Celestia’s was that of pure rage directed towards Shining Armor. “Enough, Captain!” she bellowed in the royal Canterlot voice. Resuming with a more proper indoor voice, she continued. “Control yourself; you appear to be just as volatile as you claim Grievous to be.”
“I’m sorry,” he said, voice weak. “I-I didn’t mean to; I just got so angry, and I’ve been so stressed lately, and-”
“Evidently. Perhaps you’ve been too stressed.” She sighed, returning to a more neutral expression. “Clearly, you need a break from military duties.”
Luna stated her agreement. “Pack your personal belongings, Captain. Tomorrow after your morning exercises, you are to return to your wife in the Crystal Empire.”
Nodding, Celestia focused on Grievous. “You are not to disturb Shining Armor whilst he trains, understood?” Grievous nodded in turn. “Good; I don’t want there to be any more fighting between the two of you.”
“Who’ll take my place while I’m away?” Shining Armor asked.
“Grievous will,” Celestia answered, earning a groan from the Captain. “No objections, Captain,” she warned.
Sighing, Shining Armor turned around and made for the doors. “I best get packing, then, your highness.” He opened the door, passed through, and slammed it behind him.
For a few seconds, the room’s three remaining occupants stared at the door in silence. Finally, though, Celestia sighed and broke the ice. “I am sorry about him, Grievous. He was trained better; I don’t know why he lost control, and I hope you can forgive him for it.”
Facing Celestia, he merely grunted.
“Are you injured?” she asked concernedly.
“I am damaged, but I am not hurting. However, my spare parts are still aboard the Superior, and I would ask that you permit me to shuttle them down tonight.”
“Permission granted, Grievous,” she answered. “Now, there was something you wanted to consult me about?”
“Indeed,” he confirmed. “Before being interrupted by Shining Armor, my master and I were discussing the best way to approach a recent development regarding the troops deployed to Applewood. We’ve lost contact with said units, and we presume that they have been destroyed by a small group of clones.
“I’m preparing reinforcements aboard the Superior, a team of units double the size of the original force, to be deployed via shuttle to Applewood. They will be ready to launch tonight and will arrive shortly after they depart, if you’re okay with taking such action.”
“If it’s what you see fit to do, then you have permission to do it,” said Celestia. “Was that all?”
Grievous nodded.
“Very well. I would very much like to continue my court, then. Please, do your best to avoid further confrontations with Shining Armor. You’re on the same side.”
Bowing, Grievous replied, saying, “I will try, but I cannot guarantee anything, your highness.” Standing, he made his way out of the room, pushing open the door and closing it softly behind him.
After giving her sister a gentle farewell Luna followed suit, leaving Celestia alone to deal with her conflicting thoughts. That was, at least, until the Day Court resumed.
Slamming the door to his quarters behind him, Shining Armor angrily stomped his way to his bed. From underneath it, he procured a slim black suitcase, in which he began placing the few personal belongs that he brought with him whenever he was being housed away from his actual home in the Crystal Empire.
In a matter of minutes, his suitcase had been neatly filled with a variety of things ranging from quills and ink pots to framed pictures and personal documents. Done packing, he trotted over to his desk on the opposite side of the room and cleared space for him to begin writing some letters.
The first note he wrote was addressed towards his wife, informing her that he would be returning home to her earlier than expected, after taking a brief detour to catch up with his sister. Being short in nature, the message was written up and ready to be mailed within a couple of minutes. Promptly, he began writing out a second note, this one to Twilight, and this one significantly more explanatory.
Dear Twily,
Hey sis, how’ve you been doing? Hopefully better than I have; dealing with Grievous and the princesses have gotten a bit...tense. You see, we sort of got in a fight. A physical one. And Grievous’ weapons were involved.
Fortunately (or perhaps not), Luna intervened before either of us killed the other. After the fight had been broken up, the princesses, Grievous, and I had a discussion, and amidst that discussion, I snapped and attacked Grievous without proper provocation.
Thus, effective tomorrow, I will be temporarily relieved of my position, and command of the guard will go to Grievous. I’m to return to the Crystal Empire, but I would like to make a stop in Ponyville to catch up with you and your friends, if you’ll have me.
Love you, Twily,
Shiny
He glanced over the note, double-checking to make sure it said everything he wanted it to say. Content with what he had written, he rolled up each letter and bound them both with an official seal. His horn glowed fiercely as he charged up a mailing spell. The letters crumbled to dust as he released the spell, and a separate current of wind carried the remains of each letter out of the room’s open window and to their respective destinations.
With a defeated sigh, Shining Armor moved away from his desk and flopped onto his bed. It hadn’t occurred to him until just then how worn from his fight with Grievous he was; each nasty blow that he had either blocked or avoided had managed to steal away a generous bit of his energy. A wave of exhaustion swept over the Captain, and he decided to let himself rest and hope that the day hadn’t been real, but rather just a bad and frighteningly realistic dream.
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oooo, nice chapter.
3040692 Glad you like it, though, as I've said before, I'm not too pleased with it myself.
Needs more action with the clones.
3042614 Don't worry, the clones will resurface soon enough.
3042896
Hail whatever deity you believe in.
3042898 Let's stick with the spirit of the subject matter and say either the Force or Celestia.
3042911
Well I worship Professor Genki.
3042916 Never heard of Professor Genki before. Should I have?
3042928 I thought not. He's a genius man-cat obsessed with murder and destruction. Saints Row: The Third for ya.
I knew that Grievous would manage to weasel his way out of that...
The chapter was a tad bit...Different. However, I still found it to be an amazing chapter, as is the case with the entire story.
I do believe the scene in which Celestia judged the two was a bit... different.
Now, don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the scene none the less, but it didn't have the usual flow that your typical writing does. Though, judging from prior experiences, to everyone else it was just fine, and I'm just nit picking.
None the less the chapter was astounding, and the story is still a gem amongst rocks.
The story is still one of the best I've seen in quite a while.
3043044 Ah, from Saints Row. That explains the somewhat absurd concept. That game looks fun; I would like to play it sometime, but so long as I'm living in my parent's house, I doubt they'd be content with me playing a game like that.
3043339 I completely agree with you that this chapter is different. I'd say different in a bad way, but I'll leave that up to your own opinion. There's a reason for the oddity of it though, and that's because A) I wrote most of it up at times between 11pm and 3am, B) I had forgone finding a proof reader, C) it was almost entirely written spontaneously, D) it had been bout 2 months since I ad actually written anything out for this story, so my style may have changed some in that time, and E) the chapter plays out almost like a court trial, in which the same story is repeated, but slightly altered to match the teller's needs.
I mean think about it, you had the part leading up to the Shining/Grievous confrontation, then you had the actual confrontation, followed by Grievous recounting it, but making himself the victim, then followed by Shining recounting it in the shortest manner possible in his letter to Twilight. So...to put it simply, you kinda read the same thing 3 times in one chapter
. That's lazy writing, if you ask me. Hence why I'm mostly displeased with it.
3044139 Glad you like it, despite the errors regarding space
.
Sure, while the slingshot effect would take millions of years (location dependent) in reality, at least the idea is solid, right? Credit for that, at least.
3044280
Quantify. ur reaction to my reaction needs further explanation
3057071 Hooray
!
3059890 Oops, my bad. I meant Ahsoka. Will fix.
3059966 Thanks for the input. I'm going to go back through and fix some small things some time in the I-don't-know-when future, and I'll make sure to address that.
Congratulations. This story has good enough grammar (in the first 500 words) to be added to the Good Grammar Directory, a comprehensive directory of grammatically correct stories on FIMFiction.net.
3115454 Thanks for the honor, friend.
3115486
Wait. Capitalize "squad" in your short description, please. Can't believe I missed that.
3115502 Done
.