A Journey Unthought Of: Revival of Chaos

by Hustlin Tom

Chapter 22 - Shining Armor

Taking the shortest route possible to the marriage suite, Shining Armor barreled down the halls of Canterlot Castle to make sure his lovely wife was secure there. The evening was now in its beginning hours, and the moon had begun to rise in the sky. Rounding the corner of the hallway that led to the suite, he saw that two of the Royal Guard were already posted outside the doors.

“Private,” he barked as a true Captain of the Guard would, “Is my wife inside?”

“Sir, no sir,” the private replied, “Princess Cadence has not come this way, and neither have her guards, sir!”

Feeling as if a tub of ice water had been dumped down his back, Shining Armor galloped down the corridor that the Princess’ bodyguards had been instructed to pass through. Fear continued to tighten its grip around his heart the longer he had time to think about what could have happened. Almost immediately his training kicked in, and he sealed up his panic; it wasn’t going to do him any good, and the last thing he needed was to psych himself out. Seeing the double doors to the western balcony room opened up, he had a hunch that he had found the room he had been looking for. Even in spite of himself, anxiety began to creep into his mind. The large plate glass window had been shattered, leaving the shards strewn about the room. Among those unforgivably sharp pieces of glass lay a scroll, wrapped with a green ribbon and a simple circular seal to keep it closed. Slowly descending on the nearby set of stairs, Shining Armor brought the scroll over from where it had lain to hover in front of his eyes.

The message read, We have your wife. If you ever wish to see her again, you will take our side in the coming war. We know that you will choose the noble course of action, as any unicorn would. We hope that in the future, brother, we will not have to utilize such tactics to receive your attention. ---The Mystic Circle

Shining Armor didn’t know what to think. He unceremoniously flopped down on the stairs and reread the message again. Some unicorn group was holding his wife. The riot was a distraction to make Cadence’s capture all the easier. Was this an inside job? Could there possibly be a traitor among the Guard? Shining Armor furiously shook his head; first the rioters had chosen factions favoring one of the Royal Sisters over the other, and now there were groups that were forming to take part in a war based on the three races? Just a month ago, he never would have believed such a thing possible, but the suggestion that even rumors of an Equestrian civil war taking place in the near future seemed absolutely insane! There had never been such a degree of internal conflict in the nation, not since its formation at least. Now there was no Celestia, no Luna, not even his Mi Amore to try and peacefully resolve this. Everypony was afraid, he knew, because of the Changelings, and the fear was causing everyone to grip to anything they could in the face of this foe that could change its identity at will. Seeing as he was married to the last delegated to sovereign, he was next in line to take up the throne and act as ruler of Equestria. If the races were now dividing, there was no way the earth ponies or the pegasi would respect him. The Captain of the Guard put his head in his hooves, as he became overwhelmed by the enormity of his new responsibilities. How could he get Cadence back, stop a civil war before it could start, and defeat the Changelings all on his own?

From behind his hooves, Shining Armor saw a growing blue light. Looking up, he saw a faint blue orb traveling through the remains of the balcony window, floating on an unseen current towards him. The blue sphere composed of magic slowed as it finally reached its recipient. When it came to a complete stop, the sphere began to broadcast a sound; it was Cadence’s voice that was speaking to him, “My Shining Knight.”

“Cadence,” Shining Armor said breathlessly, “Where are you? Are you okay?”

“I’m sending you this message to let you know that I am safe, despite how things may appear. I was attacked by a group of three pegasi on my way up to the room. My two guards were killed, but Fancy Pants came to my rescue. The assassins were Changelings in disguise. We were forced to leave Canterlot. They seem to be everywhere, and I couldn’t risk losing you. I’m what they want, so you are safest when you are as far away from me as can be. I will take care of the orbit of the sun and the moon, but Fancy Pants and I are going into hiding, and we will be constantly moving to avoid the Changelings. I don’t know how long this exile will last, but I hope it will be over soon. I miss you already.”

Shining Armor blinked away his tears as he whispered, “I miss you too.”

“I love you, Shiny,” the message began to fade as it ended, “I know I will see you again.” With that final whisper, the blue orb dissipated, and Shining Armor was left in the semi-darkness lit only by the moon.

The guardsponies who had been posted to secure the suite found their Captain a few minutes later, sitting alone on the stairway. Surveying the damage done to the room in question, one of them muttered, “What happened here?” Shining Armor’s ears perked at the sound of another pony’s voice.

Standing up and turning around, the Captain of the Guard’s face was as blank as a chalk slate, “My wife has been kidnapped.” The two guards were struck dumb by the pronouncement. “Follow me,” Shining Armor said hollowly, and he began to walk back to the marriage suite. Silently, the guards obeyed. “Alert the other members of the Royal Family of what has happened. Take special care when informing Fancy Pant’s wife; he was also taken hostage trying to defend her. The entirety of the Family is needed in the proclamation chamber at 2200 for a council on how to deal with the multiple crises we will be facing.”

“Sir,” the guards saluted before running further into the castle.

Unsure of whom he could trust, Shining Armor had decided to play along with the ruse the Changelings had left him. Later, he would meet in secret with the RSD to learn if they had any means of detecting the bugs while they were disguised. At the meeting time he had set, he took into account the opinions, facts, and concerns of the other nobles regarding the civil unrest. In the coming days, Prince Shining Armor, ruler and keeper of Equestria, instituted martial law across the entire country. Curfews were enacted, certain trustworthy citizens were deputized to oversee the maintaining of order in their towns, anypony suspected of being a Changeling was detained, and strict punishments were laid out for anypony who attempted an execution on any of the accused. Weeks passed, the Changeling Scare only heightened, and many towns had already begun to split and segregate into those who supported Princess Celestia or Princess Luna. In larger towns like Trottingham or Manehatten, violence had even begun to break out over the issue. Gangs had begun to form along the divide line, and they would loot and terrorize the areas where the opposing gangs were strong, which occasionally resulted in injuries or worse. The national count of those who had died had reached twenty after the first month. The smaller towns and villages did their best to remain neutral, but were nominally pro-Celestia, since that was the only ruler of the monarchy they were used to. Ponyville, by and large, was one of the few towns that maintained true, open neutrality from either side, having seen both Princesses and their kindness at one time or another. Housing was consolidated so that at least two ponies lived in the same household, as there was safety in numbers from the threat of the Changeling menace. After several weeks of letters from all over Equestria that had been attempting to sway them one way or the other, the Elements of Harmony had officially declared themselves neutral as well, and had attempted to go about their business as usual. Civil peace was crumbling everywhere a pony could look; with no strong personalities to take to leading either side on the issue, Equestria no longer recognized the authority of its government, as it no longer knew who was meant to lead. It seemed that at every turn, there was antagonization from one of either of the sides, and fear was growing more and more rampant every day. Ponies now looked over their shoulders wherever they went, unsure of what they may find following them at any time. Would it be somepony that they might be able to make sense of and reason with, or would it be a boogeypony from their nightmares who had come for them to take them away? A twilight fell on Equestria’s soul, and there was no light that anyone could see to make it better.

Comments

[Hustlin Tom]

Alright, three chapter upload is complete! I'm afraid now begins the period of three weeks where I take a break from uploading. While 6 hours of college classes and 34 hours a week at work give me plenty of knowledge and money, it leaves little time to write at the moment. It will be a while before I'm back, but I will be back. You can count on that.

[Alan Smithee]

boogeyman

boogeypony?

Also, did Shining Armour suspend Writ of Habeas Corpus? Because Abraham Lincoln did.

[Hustlin Tom]

3659783
I suspect in his desperation that he would. It's a horrible thing to do, but I can't see a better alternative in this case or in Lincoln's.

Whelp, you've just finished the First Act! What do you think?