Fractured Loyalties

by scootaloogie

Chapter 1

The moon shone bright. A lone Unicorn stood atop the hills of Canterlot, staring down upon its many slumbering citizens. A single drop fell from the unicorn’s cheek, splashing upon the grassy knoll of which he stood. He turned and trotted down the dirt path; a storm blew in from the east and poured down upon the unicorn’s orange and gold mane. Following the path into the direction of the storm, he came up to a large iron gate, in which he lugged open with his magic. Stepping through the open gate, he tread carefully across the pebble trail. Looking left and right he could see the gravestones of fallen ponies from years past. At the center of the complex lay a large monument, in which he stopped by and sank his head into his hooves.

He looked upon the names sketched into the granite plating.

'Twilight Sparkle' 3001-3025

Daughter
Sister
Wife
Mother

You will always be missed, You were the shining star in our eternal blackness.

'Aurora' 3025-3025
Daughter

Unborn to this world and taken from us. May your spirit live on.

The storm grew heavier. A bolt of lightning struck down upon one the graves, causing it to shatter. A loud clap of thunder followed thereafter but it didn't faze the old guard. It was almost symbolic to him in a way. It was a cold reminder of how easily he broke his promise to his love. Closing his eyes, he could still hear her voice, feel her embrace and the warmth of her aura on a winter’s night. It made his heart ache and his lungs tighten at the very thought of her.

Twilight giggled as she walked down the stairs, to see her White Knight stand in the doorway of their living room. She was wearing a blanket; covering her back and spreading down past her belly to her knees, a gift from her mother. She stood on the stairs just looking at him as he magically shut the door. He looked so regal in his black and blue armor.

“Welcome home, Ignis" She proclaimed, nuzzling under his neck, "Did you have a good day…err..I mean night guarding Luna?” Ignis returned the gesture before pulling her into a gentle kiss.

“It was a fair raid; we captured quite a few criminals tonight.” Ignis looked at Twilight’s belly. He felt foolish that he hadn’t realized she had been pregnant sooner. He placed his hoof on her stomach; he couldn’t believe that she was already 5 months along with their first foal. She’d been doing a lot since she told everypony at the lunch with the Princesses. He was starting to worry that she was overdoing it, and she could sense it.

“Ignis, I’m fine sweetheart, I swear," she calmly stated, "I’ve just been a little tired the last few days.” Twilight moved her hoof so that she was holding his. Rubbing her horn with his usually calmed him down, but this time was different. Ignis tugged on her to follow him upstairs to their living area of the library. Once they got up the steps he led Twilight over to their bedroom. Taking off his armor and setting it on the manikin, he laid down on the bed and patted the spot in front of him.

“Come on Twilight, join me please.” Ignis gave one of his cheeky grins, the same one he gave her on their wedding night. Twilight chuckled but gave him a cautious look as she laid down in front of him on the bed. Cuddling up close to him she felt safe and warm. She got comfortable and then changed angles so she was now on her side. Ignis took this time to place his forehoof over Twilight, and started to slowly rub her belly. Ignis heard her let out an approving sigh as he nuzzled against the side of her neck, continuing his motions.

“I thought this might help you relax, Twi." He said cautiously, "You need to take it easy, you’ve got something precious to care for right now.” She hated to admit it, but he was right. She could feel herself slowly drifting off, like nothing else mattered but what was going on right now.

“Hey, Ignis?” Twilight called, hearing a questionable moan from her love. “Will things always be like this once I have our foal?” Her eyes shut as she breathed slowly, feeling his hoof continue its circles on her swollen belly.

Ignis nodded slowly as he lifted his head and looked at his pregnant wife. “I promise I will never let anything happen to you and our foal as long as I’m alive. I’ll always be your White Knight in the darkness.”

Slowly, Ignis was drawn back into reality. Suddenly he could feel a cold chill descend upon his shoulder. Frightened, he snapped his head back, tears accumulating from his eyes.

“Twilight!” his breathing escalated at the sudden thought of Twilight being by his side. Looking up, he felt overly depressed upon the sudden realization that Twilight was not there. An orange earth pony lay in front of him.

“Oh…hey Applejack.”

“Hey Ignis. We figured ya might be out here.”

“Why did things have to turn out this way AJ?” Ignis turned his head, looking up at a statuette of Twilight atop the monument, rain dripping down. “I thought I could protect them both, but I couldn’t even save my own wife and child.” Ignis let out a sniffle as he started to dig his forehoof into the dirt.

AppleJack looked upon the broken stallion. Everything that he loved was gone.

“I don’t know, Ignis. Things like this just happen for no good reason.” She placed her hoof back on his shoulder. “Come on, it’ll do ya no good if ya catch a cold out here in the rain.” She watched Ignis simply nod his head standing and head towards the castle. The mare stood at the monument for a moment longer, staring at it. “We sure do miss ya, Sugarcube.” Applejack did her best to keep in the tears, but her emotions overcame her and a stream of tears struck down upon her. Wiping away the tears, AppleJack bid her farewells to Twilight and rushed back towards Ignis. Ignis created a barrier to shield them from rain.

The two entered into the streets of Canterlot, which was empty with the storm raging through the city. The rain ran off of the barrier, streaking as it travelled down the side of the bubble. Looking over at the orange mare he was glad to see her. If she hadn’t shown up he probably would’ve stayed there until he became deathly ill and followed Twilight into the void.

“Hey Applejack, did I ever tell you how Twilight and I first met?” Ignis kept transfixed upon AppleJack and saw her shake her head.

Deep inside the belly of Canterlot, a young colt was readily awaiting his first day of school.

“FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL! FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!" He ran around his home like a bat out of hell, his mother trying to subdue him long enough so that she could feed him. All of a sudden his limbs became lifeless, void of apparent movement. He could feel himself moving, but not under his own steam. Looking around, he could see a Sunglow aurora lining his body, pulling him back. His mother slowly placed his saddlebag on and gave him his lunch, she then opened the front door and let him loose on the world. As he raced on, his mother continued to stare into the distance, until he was long gone. Ignis arrived at gates and read the plaque outside:

'Welcome all to Magic Kindergarten, your first step towards imbuing your magical instincts'

Ignis stepped through into the courtyard and witnessed the plethora of students who were standing outside, laughing and playing. He went to each individual and introduced himself. It didn't take him long to attain a variety of different friends, many of which had various different strengths and weaknesses when it came to magic. It wasn’t long until Celestia herself showed up to introduce herself to the class. But something was different; she had a young lavender filly with her. Ignis was shocked to see Celestia enter with a filly; he was intrigued and wished to know more about this girl.

“Hey, who’s the filly with our teacher?” Ignis asked the blue unicorn filly next to him.

“From what I’ve heard, she’s the princess’s personal student, "The little filly responded.

Never before had anypony become a personal student of the Princess. He wanted nothing more than to go and introduce himself, but it had to wait until recess. The first part of class was really boring for Ignis, with Celestia talking about the essence of magic and how it was used. Ignis practically fell asleep on his desk. Once she dismissed class for recess, he breathed a sigh of relief. Once everypony was outside, he took to looking around for that same lavender filly he saw earlier. It wasn’t long before he found her sitting under a tree in the garden with her nose stuck in a book. “Hey, I’m Ignis, what’s your name?” Ignis stood there waiting for a reply, but the lavender filly kept reading her book. “HEY!” He stared at her and couldn’t stop thinking about what an egghead she was.

“Are you at least going to answer him Twi'ly?” Ignis looked up to see a young white stallion looking at the lavender filly. He couldn’t believe his eyes, the stallion in front of him was none other than Shining Armor. His eyes dilated and he froze, unsure of what to do. He was in the presence of his idol; Shining Armor was the youngest guard pony yet. Shining swatted at her ear “Twi'ly, at least say hi to him.”

She looked up, slightly confused. “Say hi to…oh…um hello there, my names Twilight Sparkle. Sorry I’ve got to keep my studies up for Princess Celestia.” Twilight looked up at Shining, “So you came to see me on a break, big brother?” she giggled as Ignis watched Shining mess with her mane. Leaving it a mess for her to fix, he mentioned only stopping real quick to check up on her. Ignis on the other hoof was dumbfounded; he couldn’t believe that this filly was the little sister to his idol. Without another word, Ignis took off; he had to get better at magic and study harder just like Twilight so he could be like Shining. Once the bell rang and everypony was heading back inside, Ignis was already in class reading through his textbook.

Ignis and Applejack strolled through the castle courtyards, the sound of the rain running off of the roof was prominent and loud. Approaching the giant oak doors, Ignis disengaged his protection bubble from the two. A combination of many colors coated the oak doors, pushing them open. The patrolling guards saluted their captain; however, he simply walked on past, without any response. AppleJack stopped and looked on as Ignis walked ahead, head hung low.

Entering the inner sanctum, Ignis was greeted by a mix of ominous gazes. All of Twilight’s best friends stood scattered, in various locations, inside the main reception, along with his fellow knights; a blue Unicorn mare, and a black pegasus. Looking from one pony to the next, he could feel a plethora of different emotions pouring in his direction. He began to drown in the sadness, anger and remorse that consumed him. Staring at him from behind the bar was Rainbow, her disgust radiated onto his very skin as he looked into her eyes. Her hatred for him, clawed at his very soul.

The doors slammed behind the stallion; looking back he could see an orange mare shaking herself dry from the storm. Rainbow slammed down her glass, waking up a tired mare at the counter. She trotted over towards Ignis and barged past him with a disgruntled glance, slapping the stallion in the face with her tail.

“I don’t know why you went to find him AJ" she growled, pointing her blood drenched hooves towards Ignis, "You should’ve just left him out there to rot.”

“Come on now, RD" AppleJack replied, walking past her friend, "You know that ain’t fair, Ignis has lost much also.” She placed a hoof on his shoulder as she walked past. She hadn’t liked his choice any more than the rest of them, but she understood the burden he was forced to endure.

Rainbow returned to her position behind the bar and downed her pint of cider.

“I don’t think we should associate with him." A white Unicorn turned from her position up at the counter and faced AppleJack who was comforting the distraught Pinkie Pie. "I mean really after everything that’s happened how would we look.” Rarity had been one of the hardest to deal with. She’d stopped even acknowledging that he even existed until right now. She hadn’t even come to share her sympathies for his loss.

Lifting herself up carefully with her injured wing, Fluttershy arose.

"How can you say such cruel things?" she softly spoke, her view directed towards the bar. "He’s been through enough. Besides we should be supportive of him and not be mean.” Ignis looked up as the injured pegasus floated towards him. She looked up at Ignis upon landing and gave a warm smile. It made him feel less pain knowing that it had been Fluttershy who’d been around to comfort him and help with his grief. The growing glares coming from her friends caught her in a frantic jitter.

Ignis gave Fluttershy a short hug to calm her nerves and wandered over towards a seating area. A rift between the four friends began to ensue. Rainbow Dash and Rarity shouting and yelling at AppleJack and Fluttershy about what should've been done.

Meanwhile Pinkie sat nearby, close enough to feel the ripple of negative energy fill her bubble of despair. Her mane, once like candy floss, lay in ruins. The curls of yesteryear vanished from existence and left behind lifeless stretches of pink clouding her way. The look of anguish shaded her face, in comparison it made Ignis look as though he was ecstatic. Overhearing the gluttony of abuse being thrown across the room, Pinkie slowly stood up. Sheepishly she spoke out, “Please, stop everypony.”

Her voice, so very fragile from the years of silence, cracked. Looking around, she could see the loathing and grief that her friends were slashing at each other. The feelings radiating from the boisterous ponies cut into her very soul. Feeling enough she lashed out at her friends, jumping in between the fighting. “Please stop!” Pinkie’s yell was enough to shock her friends into submission, her very voice stunned them, for after Twilight's death her very essence had diminished.

The arguing foursome looked at each other feeling depressed, sighing. AppleJack looked towards Pinkie, who hung her head in desolation. “Pinkie, it’s all right" she said with chuckle, "We’re just having a bit of a squabble.”

“No it’s not all right, nothings the same between us!" Pinkie Pie began to tear up. "We don’t talk anymore and never hang out. Not to mention that most of you keep forgetting one thing." She slumped down onto the ground and cried.

"And what is it we keep forgetting?" Rainbow asked rudely.

Looking up at the ignorant Pegasus, "What if it had been you put in Ignis’ position?" She stared at all the others and then fixed her focus on the forgotten stallion, whose head was slumped down into his hooves. "He didn’t ask nor want this to happen he…he just…” Her streams of tears turned into rivers in a matter of seconds. Fluttershy sensed the need to comfort her weeping friend and stepped forwards. She wrapped her wings around Pinkie and held her close whilst her tears soaked the yellow mare’s feathers.

“I just want Twilight back so everything can go back to the way it was.”

"We all do ,Pinkie," Fluttershy reassured her cohort.

Ignis was left alone for the majority of his presence. The silence allowed him to think about his duties, although recently he had been in deep thought in the theological concept of metaphysical time travel.

A rouge voice came from beyond his grasp, "Ignis Sica?" Ignis nodded. "The Princesses are ready to see you." The stallion stood up, acknowledging the statement. Heading towards the stairs, the stallion could hear the sounds of Pinkie's crying echo throughout the reception. Her friends tried hard to placate her but to no avail; her broken heart was too broken for simple petty talk to fix. He felt sorry for the mare, losing a friend can take its toll on a pony whose life revolved around making others smile.

Ignis advanced on, ascending the staircase towards the throne room. Arriving at the celestial gateway, the stallion heard a familiar voice buzz through the air.

"Hold on now sugar. You ain't headin' in there without me." Looking back he saw a glimpse of AppleJack climb the steps behind him.

"But what about Pinkie?" He asked, puzzled.

"The others can tend to her. After all, you're gonna need more help in there." She explained. The stallion gave out a reluctant sigh, as he knew there was no changing that pony’s mind. Both of the ponies proceeded to push open the large doors to Celestia’s throne room, being greeted by the eyes of the Royal Sisters; Luna and Celestia. However to Ignis' surprise, there were the one set of eyes that he’d never wanted to see again after what had occurred.

Standing next to Princess Celestia was a white stallion with a blue mane, wearing the royal guard armor. On the front was none other than his mark; a shield with a large star in the center and three small stars above it. Lastly were the blue eyes, those same eyes that stared at him when he disagreed with his choice. Those eyes brought the most pain to Ignis like he had no heart at all and was left a shell of his former self. Ignis kept his head lowered as he heard the doors close behind him as AppleJack, Star Seeker and Frost Shard joined him. Slowly, all three of his companions dissipated around the large, majestic room as Ignis walked closer to the Princesses. AppleJack gave him a slight smile and a wink, which boosted his confidence and his footwork, sped up.

Ignis bowed down before his Princess and saw Shining glaring at him from yonder. The rage he had for Ignis was unfathomable. He hated everything the stallion was or stood for, having lost his little sister and niece because of him. Shining walked over to him and gave him a shove.

“You still can’t look at me, can you?” Shining watched Ignis clench his eyes shut. Giving Ignis another shove, Shining demanded that he look at him. "Come on. Look at me!" Ignis looked at Shining. His malic filled eyes met the dark blue void of his. The urge to use dark magic on Ignis was very tempting. “You’re pathetic you know that? Some captain…” A stray green blast landed before Shining's forelegs, which made him jump.

“That’s ENOUGH!”

Looking to his left, Shining spotted the origin of the blast. A blue unicorn mare stood, glaring at him with evil intent, her horn still red hot from her last blast. Her mane was a mix of baby and sky blue. She was one of Luna's personal bodyguards alongside that of Ignis and Star Seeker. Her red eyes, hot enough to scorch through the essence of life itself, were fixed upon one pony in particular.

“I won’t stand by and let you disgrace my Captain any longer!" She roared, stamping her hooves upon the mosaic flooring. "He did what he had to for Equestria; if he hadn’t we’d be at war right now.” She saw Shining shoot a glare back at her, but his petty looks did not make her falter.

Shining Armour paced the throne room vigorously, staring at Ignis and his associate. “So you're saying that my little sister's death was a good thing?" He questioned, "Because I don’t see any good in THAT!” His anger against Ignis had grown exponentially over the years, so much that he contemplated murder. As the darkness grew in his heart, his horn began to glow dark green. Noticing his current state, Princess Cadence rushed over to her husband to try and calm him down.

“No, Shining Armour , what I’m saying is that our captain had to make a choice and he had to do what was right for Equestria." The mare explained, "Now, here is a theological question for you. Would you condemn your wife and daughter to save Twilight had you been put in his hooves?” She stared at Shining awaiting a response as tears began to trickle down her cheeks. The very question burned deep into Shining's mind, he couldn't weigh up the possibilities, how could he choose between the mares that mattered most to him. Staring back at the mare he was shocked to see her steely composure faltering. “She was one of my best friends. Don’t think that just because I’m a knight that I don’t see the dilemma that…”

“That’s enough, Frost Shard.” Ignis said calmly cutting her off.

“No, captain, it’s not. He…”

“Frost enough, I’m not your captain anymore.” Ignis shot a fiery gaze, which caused her heart to melt. Ignis turned from his fellow guard and wandered over towards one of the window panes, passing Shining along the way.

“Stay out of this, Frost. Like he said, he’s not your captain anymore." Shining sniggered, "Besides, he wasn’t worthy of protecting Twi'ly.” Ignis stopped in his tracks upon hearing Shining dishonoring him, the words struck his soul with the force of one thousand knives. “I don’t know what Twi'ly saw in you Ignis, but she was wrong to marry you.” Shining could hear a quiet growl come from behind him, turning he saw Ignis launch himself in his direction. The stallions clashed in an ever ensuing battle, orange and purple magic crossed and sparked above their heads. Shining had left his flank exposed which gave Ignis the opportune time to strike. He fired a beam of lightning, which knocked Shining down. Ignis moved over to the fallen stallion and knelt at his side.

“Oh how the mighty have fallen." Ignis looked upon the fallen captain, "You may feel this way towards me all you want Shining. I deserve it. But I won’t have you disgrace how much Twilight meant to me!” He let out his hoof to help Shining up, to which he pushed away.

"You may have given up on Twilight, Shining!" Ignis shouted, as the stallion trotted away. "I sure as hell haven't!"

Author's Note:

This is the first chapter in the story. This is a collab with my friend ParsleyParsnips. Please read and enjoy, constructive criticism is welcome. More chapters coming soon.

Comments

[doctor_n]

I am going to reserve judgement for this seems like it will have an interesting story once it gets rolling

[Lelouch Vi Britania]

very interested to see where this goes. hopefully we get some more backstory.

[spider8itch]

It seems interesting.

[scootaloogie]

Thank you all for your comments and yes there is more backstory to come so don't worry one bit.