Chapter 1 - Final Destination: Canterlot
“In Case of the Removal of Both Princesses from Office, or of their Death, Resignation, or Inability todischarge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the Same shall devolve on the Bearers of the Elements,
until the Disability be removed, or Two Princesses shall be fairly elected.” - First Equestrian Constitution II.1
Perfection.
The world stood still for six friends relaxing together inside Golden Oaks Library, enjoying steaming mugs of hot chocolate while easily letting a few words flow into the air when it suited them. Talking wasn’t necessary though; in this moment, simply being together, after a hard day’s wrapping up winter, was wonderful. The room lay in darkness but for a few small candles and the ambient moonlight passing easily through thin curtains, suffusing the room with a blue tint while reflecting off the varnished wood to produce irregular patterns along the walls.
Spike, the one dragon in the library, had fallen asleep as soon as the sun had gone down on a new spring hours ago. Fluttershy was comfortably lying on the first step of the stairs, occasionally sharing a friendly stare with Owlowicious perched on the banister beside her. The owl hooted happily, excited by all the late-night company. Rainbow Dash bathed in the light of the moon while curled up on a windowsill, lazily observing with one eye the heavy breathing of Applejack stretched out below, and being careful not to roll onto either of her sore wings. Pinkie Pie was still her full-of-energy self, with most of the talking originating from her standing position near the table offset from the room’s center, bouncing conversation primarily off of Twilight and Rarity, the latter of which sat soothing the formers mane with a brush in a cozy nook between a few piles of books.
Tomorrow would be a day of languid relaxation for everypony, a holiday to celebrate their hard work. There was always a small celebration in the town hall, but most ponies preferred to spend the time either at home or with their friends… Winter Wrap Up was the celebration itself for many.
It was in this moment that there came a knock at the door. Everypony -even Rainbow Dash, famed for her inability to be roused from relaxation- looked in wide-eyed surprise at the offending aperture. The knock had been loud, shaking the large wooden entrance in its frame. It demanded immediate attention. Twilight wasn’t too happy to comply, but the comb fell to the floor forgotten as she walked quickly to the door, swinging it open to an imposing sight. A wall of a dozen pegasi royal guards, all white in identical golden armor, stood on her doorstep.
“Miss Twilight Sparkle? Sorry to come at such a late hour...”
“Hello. You might want to try knocking a bit softer, this is a library--”
The guard cut her off.
“We’re in a bit of a rush. We are to escort you and the other elements of harmony to the royal castle immediately by the command of acting captain Overclock. There is a chariot waiting, please go gather your friends...” the pegasus who had spoken, seemingly the heavy-hoofed knocker, took a look inside. “Oh, it would appear they are already here. Hurry then, the sooner we get to Canterlot the safer.”
Twilight was stunned—everypony was. One moment they enjoyed a perfect moment, and the next they were being hurried out of the door for their ‘safety.’ There was nothing to do but comply; the authority they faced was absolute, and even though they were the Elements of Harmony they had no interest in opposing such a display. Twilight was the only pony who didn’t move, staring at the imposing pegasus as she processed his words. She had never heard of Overclock, but what about her brother, the not-acting captain? A scintilla of fear suddenly seeped into her mind.
“Acting captain? What about my brother, Shining Armor? Why is there an acting captain?” Everypony else stopped to look at her; the words had come out a bit more frantically than she had anticipated.
The grim-faced guard was silent for a moment, but then his gaze softened into a frown and he lowered his head slightly.
“I’m sorry Ms. Sparkle, I’m afraid I can’t tell you. I don’t know, but you’ll be told everything once we get to Canterlot. Now, if you are ready, we already have guards notifying your families and posted at your estates. Please; come.” Nothing more would be gotten out of the stallion.
The line of soldiers parted as the six ponies stepped out of the library into a chill humid breeze, their transportation only a few yards away. The silhouettes of curious ponies could be seen lining the windows of houses all around; a troop of guards does not go unnoticed, particularly in the quiet town of Ponyville. This unwanted attention only sped the friends on their way to what they recognized as Celestia’s chariot, parked not 50 hoof-lengths from the front door. After all the mares had climbed in, they were instantly whisked off into the night by two of the fastest guard-ponies in the company, already tight in their harnesses and without the heavy armor of the others to slow them down. Most of the other guards followed, flying in loose formation toward the shimmering lights of Canterlot in the distance.
---
The hard wood-panel flooring of the open chariot was almost entirely hidden by six soft ponies, and a number of softer pillows. How they all kept from falling out… it was literally magic, a stabilizing enchantment coupled with a little bit of magical wind-shielding that also served to warm the chill air filtering through it. Rainbow looked bored, curled on the largest pillow near the front of the chariot, but everypony else was wide-awake and alert as they rushed through the rarefied air, manes whipping about. Twilight and Rarity were busy consoling Fluttershy, who was distraught with worry about her animals, while Applejack and Pinkie Pie looked off in opposite directions. The farmer fixed her gaze upon their growing destination, while trying to ignore the fact that a fall from this height would undoubtedly kill anypony without wings
Seeking a distraction in conversation, Applejack spoke without taking her eyes off Canterlot.
“Ain’t it a bit strange that the princess didn’t jus’ send a note on ahead with Spike?”
Twilight was quick to defend her mentor.
“She’s probably quite busy, you know, ruling Equestria. Especially if there’s a real emergency... that’s why there’s a captain of the royal guard. I’m more worried about my brother. I know that guard pony wasn’t telling me something. I... I just--” She was surprised when Fluttershy silenced her with a warm hug.
“Don’t worry Twilight, I’m sure he’s fine. I just know Princess Celestia would make sure you were the first to know if your brother was in any trouble.”
Silence fell upon the company, most watching the moonlit ground below slowly pass by while contemplating what awaited them in Canterlot. Applejack, much to her displeasure, returned to thinking about what it would be like to fall from this height. Oh Celestia, ah need a distraction...
“So anyhow... what do y’all think this Overclock pony wants us up at the castle for? An’ didn’t that pony say we’re in some kinda danger?”
“Pry something pretty awesome! I mean, we get the Princess’s ride, and a whole bunch of guards. What do you think, Pinkie?”
No response.
“Umm, helloo, Pinkie Pie?”
The party pony appeared not to hear, her eyes focused intently on the stars twinkling near the horizon above Ponyville. Rainbow Dash was about to repeat herself, but then a shiver ran through the pink mare. The thought that this could be a result of the cold was dismissed as soon as it was followed by a twitchy tail, wiggling hoof, and spontaneous momentary levitation to the distraction of everypony except for Applejack, who hadn’t noticed.
“Girls, I think something’s following us.” Pinkie’s tone was low and disconcerted, directly in contrast to how up-beat it had been all night, and this in itself transmitted a deep fear.
Twilight moved quickly, dislodging herself from Fluttershy who had suddenly clung to her in the darkness, and joined Pinkie in looking hard back toward Ponyville. It took a few moments, but then she saw it too—the stars were blinking in and out of luminescence, something blocking their light. As soon as Pinkie’s twitches had been confirmed, Twilight wasted no time in notifying the guards driving their chariot.
Their reaction was imperceptible, but one of them gave a sharp whistle and they proceeded to increase their exertion considerably, gaining altitude at a lurching speed while adjusting their course until Canterlot was completely out of sight behind the mountain. It seemed strange that they were no longer heading directly toward the city. They’re probably just trying to throw off the pursuit determined Twilight, who rejoined Fluttershy and Rarity near the center. After a short time and lots of turbulence, Applejack worked her way into the huddle with her eyes fixed downward and all four hooves firmly planted. A few minutes passed, with Rainbow joining Pinkie to train her pegasus eyes on the inexorable and indistinguishable followers in the distance behind and now below.
Rainbow Dash did notice something odd though, or rather, stopped noticing. Where’d the guards go... she’d been seen them every time she took a look around, the moonlight subtly glinting off of that heavy gold armor. Now they were nowhere to be seen, and the fact tickled her with unease.
---
Applejack was the first to notice they were slowing down, but her mixed-relief turned to horror as she looked up to discover empty harnesses hanging where their guards had been before.
“Ahm, Twilight, we’ve got a’ problem.” The purple unicorn followed the farmer-pony’s gaze and let out a gasp. Her eye began to twitch.
“Oh-no no-nono. Do you know what this means? We’re helpless, our guards just abandoned us or worse, and things are out there following us.... thank Celestia there’s at least an enchantment on this chariot, keeping us from falling!”
“Darling, do calm down. Whatever happened, I see no need to panic yet. We do have two, ahh...” she shot Rainbow Dash a look--“dependable pegasi in our midst. Shouldn’t they be able to use the harnesses and keep us on our way? Canterlot is just around that mountain.”
“Wow Rares, since when did you have such a level head? Nice idea though, I mean, I am the fastest pony in all of Ponyville, so should be no prob. Hey Fluttershy, come on, I’ll help ya’ get in.” The yellow pegasus was immobile, but some gentle encouragement from her friends broke her stasis.
“O-ok... I’ll try.”
The chariot had come to a complete stop by the time both ponies were strapped in. Twilight shot a flare-spell into the air before realizing it would give away their position. However, whatever followed them wasn’t quite close enough to be illuminated by the light. There was however the distinguishable, and disconcertingly growing sound of a myriad of wings rhythmically slicing the air, like the marching of an aerial army. The chariot was excruciatingly slowly in gaining speed.
“Wow *pant* those guard ponies *gasp* aren’t all muscle and size… for nothing.” Rainbow Dash proceeded to awkwardly bend her neck to grasp the harness in her teeth, trying to take some pressure off of her wings which had instantly made their soreness from a long day’s weather weaving and such sudden unnatural exertion apparent. The intoxicating taste of years worth of seeping sweat was repulsive, but it brought her thoughts into focus and the force she exerted actually increased.
Fluttershy was having a much harder time of it. She had come a long way with flying thanks to her friendship with Rainbow Dash -this year she’d even been invited to go gather the spring birds with some of the other pegasi, her animal expertise being invaluable- but she was still far from taking the place of a royal guard in pulling the princesses’ chariot. Indeed, maintaining vertical stability proved strenuous, leaving little for her to put into achieving any real forward speed. Because of the imbalance between the two pegasi, the whole chariot had begun to arc at an uncomfortable rate toward the mountain they were supposed to be circling. It took Twilight all of two second to correct their course with a little bit of magic, but the spell she used also slowed them down.
It didn’t take long for every pony on board -excluding perhaps Dash who was stuck in her own world of sweat and rhythm- to realize that they had no real hope of outrunning whatever pursued them. A cold fear overcame the company: this had certainly been a set-up, since there had been no sign of a struggle taking place in the guards disappearance.
“Well, let’s just hope the ruffians who arranged this aren’t too unpleasant,” spoke Rarity, not daring to think of her and her friends suffering anything worse than impoliteness. Applejack wasn’t so reserved.
“I’d agree with you, if you’d call killin’ us ‘unpleasant’. ‘Ah jus’ want outta this alive.”
“Maybe they’ll cook us!” The four chariot occupants turned to look at Pinkie (wearing an absolutely serious expression) for a moment, then the heavy atmosphere suddenly lifted and giggles filled the air. The element of laughter had spoken.
“We’ll see soon enough. I think I can see something right on the edge of that last flare’s light.” No sooner had Twilight finished speaking when their pursuers came within range of the bright purple flare hanging in the air, and the sight cut the laughter as four mouths fell agape. Curious as to what pursued them, both Rainbow and Fluttershy looked back, and nearly stopped flapping in shock.
Approximately twenty ponies flew in a loose formation around the focus of everypony’s attentions: an enormous wooden something, with slowly flapping wings as long as three ponies on either side covered in a glowing metallic skeleton running from the thin, supple tips to a wide metal carapace wrapped about a wide wooden center resembling an upside-down ship. A mild yellow glow illuminated a silhouette standing in the only hole in the structure, situated at the center of the near-end of the thing’s body. Well, the only obvious hole; there must exist a hole on top as well, from which barely visible black smoke filtered into the night.
All of this had to be taken in and processed in a matter of seconds, because as suddenly as the thing and its wing-ponies had come, it was upon them. Then it was around them, and they were surrounded by the ponies as the flying contraption pulled a long turn and slowed down until it hovered directly in their path. This small repose offered ponies on both sides the opportunity to observe captors and captured respectively, and yet another shock proved to be in store for the Ponyville mares. About half of the 20 ponies around them didn’t have natural wings, but rather sported miniature versions of the metallic whirring wings observed on the flying machine, each leaving tiny smoke trails.
Twilight made a mental note that there was only one unicorn in the group of fliers. Each artificially-winged pony also wore sets of layered solid-looking armor, covering their cutie-marks and most of the rest of their bodies. The natural pegasi on the other hoof wore no such protection, and this revealed what was to the ponies the most chilling thing about this whole arrangement: they had perfectly mundane, normal pegasi cutie-marks. A few clouds here, some sunshine there, rain, snow, lighting… but nothing to justify everything else their eyes told them. However, when they finally got over the gear and gathered the courage to look up at their faces, the possibility that these were normal ponies (putting circumstances aside) was entirely dispelled. Every pony wore controlled expressions -much like royal guards- but their eyes revealed something entirely different, animalistic, sharp and fierce. They were very openly looking the six mares over. Intently… and intensely.
“Twilight, this is looking quite… bad. Surely there is something we can do, with our combined magic? While certainly I abhor the idea of fighting, as a lady should, I do know a smidgen of combat magic, and they only have one unicorn…” The whispered proposition surprised Twilight, coming from the dress-maker of Ponyville; then again, she had known Rarity to jump to the defense of her friends quite readily, and this imbroglio was certainly leading nowhere good. However, she had noticed something that made the unicorn’s suggestion a pyrrhic victory at best: the flying machine was equipped with magical weapons. She had never seen one in person, there being no need for them in Equestria, but had read plenty of descriptions in the tales of the long-concluded wars with the griffon kingdoms.
“No. That wooden thing has weapons, it’s too danger--“ She cut off her own sentence as the answer came to her. However, she would have to get a message to everypony else—quickly, as the flying upside-down boat had almost completed its turn, and she couldn’t give the flying ponies the chance to react. Short-range telepathy spell that was never-worth-the-effort, here we go…
The message was simple: ‘Hold on tight.’ A little scrambling later, and a bright flash from the element of magic’s horn, resulted in the stabilization spell no longer keeping them airborne. Almost all the guards hurried to stop whatever was happening, but they were too late.
“Whoo-hooooooooo!” Pinkie’s cheer, almost as loud as Rarity’s dramatic scream, faded into the night as she waved goodbye to the funny-looking ponies and normal-looking pegasi alike above her. None of them saw her though, seeing as they collided blindly in a comic aerial pile-up. The light from Twilight’s horn had forced their eyes closed, and when they hadn’t felt the chariot where they expected it to be most decided the best course of action would be to speed up.
The six friends were free-falling, a little magical maneuvering sending them front-first toward the ground far below.
---
The situation was desperate, adrenaline having penetrated to the core of everypony as each realized the height to which the guards had flown them. The rarified air certainly didn’t help, inducing short, gasping breaths in the friends. Looking to the sky offered even less relief than the alternative, as the disoriented ponies above were beginning to give chase, and the giant, flying, magical-weapons-sporting machine had seamlessly entered a nose-dive in pursuit, almost as if the pilot had anticipated their action.
However, thank Celestia for (relatively) small comforts. Twilight had succeeded in, rather than nullifying the powerful stabilization enchantment entirely, changing its flavor to more of a short-range gravitational spell. Not the technical term, but it had been composed ‘on the fly.’ It was a good description of the effects though, as everypony in contact with the chariot had the impression of standing on solid ground. Or at least the tactile impression-- they were still moving at an uncomfortable rate toward the true ground.
This ‘gravitational’ spell spared the need to hold on, though neither Applejack nor Rarity dared let go of their respective sections of railing. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy remained unaffected by the spell, the former enjoying the relief from exertion offered by the free-fall, and the latter scared out of her wits, wings clamped by her sides and eyes tightly shut. Twilight and Pinkie stood side-by-side, watching their silhouetted pursuers close the distance with a background of stars.
The machine was faster than it looked, easily outpacing the individual ponies in its wake, probably thanks to enchantments, or the active magic of the unicorn inside. Twilight could see the yellow glow of the pony’s horn through the opening, illuminating a grey coat, and hazel eyes, intense in the shadow that overcast the rest of the unicorn’s features. Eyes that were staring directly at her, distracting and paralyzing. Realizing her moment of weakness, the pilot sent a quick pulse of magic to both of the energy weapons, mounted on either side of the main-body in front of the wings. Seconds later, they fired.
Twilight knew what was happening, but was powerless to stop it. The moment she heard the sharp pop of the guns going off -so close together they sounded as one- she clamped her eyes shut, not wanting to give the hazel-eyed hypnotiser the pleasure of watching their light go out. But the impact never came, and when she opened them she was faced with an ethereal blue shield, formed of water drawn from a cloud they’d just passed through, and protecting everypony onboard from the energy cannons that were already charging to fire again. Quick thinking! Using water to absorb the heat energy... After allowing herself a breath of relief, and calming her overwhelmed heart, she glanced over to Rarity who still clung to the railing. The two unicorns shared a smile, and the relief both felt was instantly compounded into a shared joy.
The moment passed, and the element of magic turned her attentions back in the direction of the other unicorn. The shield had saved her once, but she didn’t need magic to know that it would give out if it took much more heat. Therefore, she focused instead on the energy weapons, hoping to somehow disable them. A quick test-pulse turned up some very valuable results: the weapons had an extremely low heat capacity. Some stronger magic should be able to overheat it, rendering the canon useless--
Twilight didn’t get to complete her thoughts, as only a second after she began feeding her magic into one of the weapons it burst into eldritch flames in a fantastic, deafening explosion which instantly vaporized Rarity’s shield before throwing everypony off their hooves and propelling the chariot into an entirely new metric of speed. They were now far beyond terminal velocity, and the flying ponies, already trailing far behind now, hadn’t the slightest hope of catching up. The flying contraption was heavily damaged and trailing smoke from a gaping hole just in front of its right wing, but the wing itself remained intact and it hadn’t let up the chase. Flashing red emergency lights periodically back-lit the pilot. However, the hazel-eyed unicorn seemed intent on running them into the ground.
And it was looking more and more like that was what lay in store for the elements of harmony, now moving so quickly that a barely-visible sonic cone was beginning to form around the two pegasi trapped in their harnesses. The ground lay much closer and rose faster every second. In that transient moment, a spectrum of emotions played through the heads of everypony, but the only collectively positive pony was Pinkie Pie, who now stood awkwardly on her hind legs, allowing the air-resistance to keep her upright in a simulation of skydiving. This wasn’t exactly how she had envisioned it, but living in the moment -having fun- had its advantages when imminent death threatened.
Rainbow Dash was now desperately trying to pull them out of the dive, but with her weakened wings, their enormous momentum, and the force of the explosion all working against her, it was a hopeless cause. She would probably be able to save herself if she undid the harness, but the element of loyalty had absolutely no temptation to do so. She was in this with her friends, and they had never failed her before... they were going to make it out. She was certain, and ready to fight to the very end because of it. And for that moment she felt free in the harness she proudly wore for her friends. Suddenly, a crazy idea presented itself, in Twilight’s voice. ‘Go faster.’ Huh... what could going faster d-- Oh! That way out Rainbow knew had to be there? It hit her like a riding crop, and she flapped with all her might... toward the ground.
Fluttershy was anything but calm. She had been hyperventilating ever since they had been surrounded, and now she was almost passing out from the stress and cramps in her chest and wings. She therefore considered it reasonable to assume that it was the fatigue speaking when she heard Twilight’s voice in her head urging her to go faster. Until it was repeated, that is, and she noticed that Rainbow Dash was pulling as fast as she could. What? she thought frantically. No reply. The message had sounded urgent though, and given the seconds till impact could be counted on the hooves of half the ponies on board... Fluttershy extended her wings and, realizing she wouldn’t be able to flap them fast enough to move any air at this speed, simply held them and herself as flat as possible to minimize drag while maintaining the stability of their descent.
The message had indeed originated from Twilight, who was beginning to realize just how applicable short-range telepathy could be in desperate situations... but she put those thoughts aside and instead focused on doing everything she could to increase their speed with the little magic she had left to use. Remembering the huge boost the explosion of the energy weapon had given, she tried creating a spontaneous expansion of air right behind the chariot. However, it appeared they were moving so fast that even an instantaneous fuse would not allow for any real acceleration, and the invisible expansion was left behind without any effect. The unfamiliar spell, along with all the telepathy, had taken more from the unicorn than she anticipated though, and she collapsed to the hard chariot floor exhausted. Her eyes became moist, vision blurring. There was no way they were going to get enough speed without magic, even with the immense fall distance. They were close -the sonic wavefront was now quite tangible- but there was hardly enough time and too much air resistance for Rainbow to succeed alone.
The tears from fear, helplessness, and failure streamed down her face as she bit her lip in frustration. But then a soft white hoof was on her shoulder, and gently drying her tears, and firmly helping her up. Their eyes met, bloodshot violet with encouraging azure, shining in the light of moon and stars forgotten above. Suddenly hope arose where there was none before; both knew what had to be done, no telepathy required. They had seen it done before.
“Are... y-you s-sure?” Twilight’s question was shaky and hesitant, with good reason. Most spells benefitted from the combination of two unicorn horns, but sharing magic was considered an extremely intimate action, as it not only allowed but required that each unicorn involved know the mind of the other. It basically put an extremely compressed version of the emotions and experiences of each into the other. The effect was infinitely augmented if the two ponies loved one another romantically, like when Shining Armor and Princess Cadance defeated an army of changelings, but love was no prerequisite.
“Yes. It is a thing of beauty, Twilight, and there’s no other unicorn I would rather share this with. Here, for our friends...”
The element of generosity offered her horn, bowing her head but keeping her eyes locked on the violet orbs of Twilight. Moments later, their charged horns touched in an electrifying, audible spark, and those eyes erupted into a magnificent white light, their effulgence illuminating a thin purple mist that gathered around the two mares. Twilight felt more than renewed as she drew raw power from her willing friend, forming this power into the best representation of a violent sustained mono-directional exomagical combustion. It took precious seconds to form, and another few were lost in binding hers and Rarity’s hooves to the chariot, but finally the moment of truth arrived. Both Twilight and Rarity, together, cast the spell. And their creation was like the roaring ignition of a rocket, sustained for no more than two seconds... but that was just what was needed.
The unassuming setting deep in the night, just out of view of Canterlot near the mountains, had seen many wonders in the span of minutes as the elements of harmony fell from the heavens. However, it was the one that followed as a result and only seconds after those two seconds of magic which would change the lives of everypony who saw it. Rainbow Dash could feel it coming, and was overjoyed that her guess regarding Twilight’s command had been correct. The closing distance to the ground was dizzying as it filled her view, but the moment the cone -now narrowed to an increasingly prismatic point situated slightly offset from Rainbow Dash toward Fluttershy- broke, she’d easily be able to level off and get back a taste of what real freedom was like. While the pegasus had never weighed the possibility of leaving, the element of loyalty was glad she’d stuck along for the ride. Or provided the ride; same difference.
There was a moment of beauty before the boom, a glimpse at the intricate weavings of fate that only one pony had the opportunity to witness in its entirety. Applejack hadn’t been able to do much, being scared pale the whole rollercoaster down, clinging to a railing (and her hat) for dear life. However, all the explosions and exhilarations aside, she felt a warming pride for her friends well up inside her. Pinkie was laughing in the face of death, a huge smile on her face as with one hoof tightly wrapped around a rail she hoof-pumped the air, shouting ambiguous encouragement at pegasi and unicorns alike. Twilight and Rarity both saved everypony individually, and now they were giving it all they had together... and even the farm-pony had to admit the unicorns were unquestionably beautiful in their action. Fluttershy kept from falling apart under circumstances that would scare any pony senseless, trapped in a harness and accelerating toward the ground in pure faith. And Rainbow Dash hadn’t abandoned her friends to save herself, and now proved instrumental in their survival. Everypony was frozen in time as Applejack took in the overwhelming scene from her railing.
Then the night exploded in color and explosive force. A double sonic rainboom spread magnificently across the sky, with a rapid rainbow shock-wave overtaking and framing a slower, soft-pink one. Emerging from the epicenter of the double rainboom, a lingering rainbow trail with streaks of pink was all that remained of the six friends. After a respite of a few seconds, another shape, burning, passed through the fading center, this one ending in an explosion of green then orange flames as it crashed head-on into the ground... the pilot soaring away on wide metal wings, leaving only a weak, dissipating trail of smoke invisible in the night.
---
The mountainside capital of Equestria, the greatest and only remaining city of the ancient unicorn nations, constructed magically and expanded over the course of centuries long before the rule of the royal sisters and formation of Equestria, was currently surrounded by a giant pink bubble. The moon overlooked the side of the mountain upon which the city clung, reflecting off the shield’s curvature, or refracting on through, an eerie lighting for the city within. Not that such lighting was necessary; Canterlot was aflame with lights, resembling a giant pink-tinted light bulb fastened to the mountain.
The speed it had taken to form the double sonic rainboom was more than enough to allow the exhausted pegasi to bring the singed but intact chariot level with the only way through the shield they were familiar with: the train tracks. Twilight and Rarity were both unconscious, having collapsed as soon as their magic was spent. Pinkie still had a sugar-boat-load of energy, and made the fact quite apparent as she talked incessantly and without a breath about what had just happened, all the while procuring from thin-air a pillow to place under the two unconscious unicorns. For once, Applejack didn’t mind the everything-at-once chatter... she regarded the events in much the same manner as the pink mare disjointedly described them.
Time passed in an extremely slow blur for Rainbow Dash after all the fast-paced and high speed. She was falling from her high, figuratively this time. It was, then, in a state of shock that she approached the pegasi guarding the train passage and, after a few shouted words from Applejack, was ushered through. Or escorted; she honestly couldn’t tell, having heavy-lidded eyes glued ahead. It was only when she reached the train-station -the instinctive de-embarkation point- that she fell out of her stupor... and into a deep sleep, not bothering to take off the harness nor caring what happened next.
Fluttershy was similarly exhausted, and even more sore than her partner, but there was no way she was going to sleep after performing a sonic rainboom. She felt like cheering, hiding, dancing, bolting, disappearing and exploding all at once! She did none of these; she was far too shy and pained... not to mention exploding would probably be fairly irreversible. She opted to put her thoughts aside and focus instead on getting out of her harness; this was difficult without the use of her folded wings, but she eventually succeeded, just in time to watch them be surrounded by a dozen galloping guards.
“Twilight?!” Shining Armor came bursting through a gap between two guards, one of which began to lower his spear in protest until a look from the other froze him in place. The spear went back up.
Applejack witnessed the guard’s exchange in a mixture of perplexion and unease, the former contributing to the latter. The other guards, about a dozen in total, all wearing armor and carrying spears, had equally confusing reactions, some standing to attention before catching themselves and relaxing, while others turned away with frowns. Maybe the confusion was because Shining wasn’t wearing his armor; indeed, he wasn’t wearing anything, sweat glistening in the floodlights as it rolled down his slick coat, bouncing off flexing muscles...-- Twilight! He had called for Twilight.
“Howdy Shinin’. Twilight’s out cold back here... she seems t’ be ok though.” Applejack’s eyes followed the stallion as he came around to the back of the chariot and easily jumped up. Only once he had found his sister, sharing a small pillow for her head with Rarity and visibly breathing, did he take notice of the other mares-- and the burns the chariot had sustained.
“What happened? Where are the guards? I was told a whole company was sent to bring you here.” Applejack considered telling him everything, but her friends came first, and three of them were passed out while the fourth appeared to be in a state of shock, standing catatonically still after freeing herself from her harness and staring straight ahead.
“Long story, and it’s been ah long night... think we can get off of this train platform first?” A few minutes had passed before Shining showed up, and while Pinkie Pie’s chatter served to pass the time, she was pretty worried about Fluttershy. The mare looked like she was going to explode from tension. Then there’s the cold... burr. Without the warm air from the wind-shielding spell, she was beginning to shiver in the mountain air.
“Oh. Ok... right. First thing’s first, fair enough. Just... wait here a second, I’ll be right back.”
He walked over to the pair of guards at one end of the encircling contingent near the edge of the platform where the crowd was smallest. They were both unicorns, and after a few quiet words they followed him back to the chariot. Most of the other guards proceeded to ruffle their wings, as if uncomfortable, but did nothing, only adjusting their line to cover the gap. One expertly undid the harness around Rainbow Dash before levitating her across his armored back in a field of pale blue magic. The other did the same for Rarity, and Shining naturally proceeded to carry Twilight, reminding him suddenly of when she had been a little filly and him her big protector. She was quite a bit heavier now.
“Hey, Applejack? Follow me.”
Applejack complied immediately, jumping down to walk beside the tall white stallion. Pinkie was similarly enthusiastic, and soon was trying awkwardly to pick up Fluttershy until the pegasus softly interrupted her with a tiny giggle.
“I... I think I’ll be able to w-walk on my own, Pinkie... thanks though...”
The two ponies then slowly followed Shining Armor and Applejack, with the unicorn guards bringing up the rear. The words spoken by Shining to the guards blocking his path were a bit more excited this time, but sure enough he got what he wanted and the nine ponies filed into the crowd behind in ragged formation, only to find themselves in a battle with dozens of camera-wielding ponies of every shape, race, color... but only one occupation. The paparazzi were thick, hooves clicking away at their cameras with one hoof while holding blinding lights with the other. However, even the most daring of their number dared not stand in the way of the imposing white unicorn leading the way, and the rest of the company followed in the wake he created. Applejack wondered at all the attention they were getting... but only seconds later they were out, cantering silently and quickly through open streets, inhaling crisp, cool night air.
“Why all that attention from the cameras back there, Shinin’?” Applejack voiced her question carefully, after running over it a number of times in her head. The silence was oppressive, Pinkie having fallen sullenly quiet all of a sudden, but Applejack wasn’t usually a mare that had such a hard time voicing herself... Ah must just be tired. It’s been a long day... she thought.
“Actually, most of it was for me, believe it or not. Somepony must have tipped them off that I was going to show up there tonight... but let's talk about that later. I’ve had a pretty long day, too. Our house is just ahead, and you’re all welcome there...” His tone, while cordial, begged no contest. Applejack chewed over his words in silence for a while before her thoughts drifted back home, a little worried about her family given everything that had just happened.
A couple more minutes canter through the empty streets of early-morning Canterlot brought them before the most beautiful house Applejack had thus far seen on this street. Objectively, it could be described as a garish display of opulence, but that would hardly do the structure justice as it had such an effect on the viewer that could be best compared to the warming sensation of joy at first glance. Painted shades of pink and constructed in a soft style in sharp contrast to most other houses on the street, the three-story structure was partially hidden behind two gnarled trees that overhung a gently-lit cobblestone driveway which the company of ponies now trotted down. An enormous circular window allowed some light from within to escape, and gave the ponies a view of the ceiling of an enormous central hallway. Pinkie Pie had recovered some of her zest at the sight of the bright home, and now recounted to Fluttershy how great this place would be for a party, pointing out the indoor pool just visible through another window. The pegasus quietly voiced her agreement.
“Nice -ahem- ‘house’, or is it a palace?” Applejack was impressed. Some hard work had obviously gone into building this place.
“A princess needs her palace, and I did marry one. Cadance has put a lot of work into it by the way, its been her big project ever since we got back from our honeymoon... she’d appreciate your compliments.” Upon reaching the door, a pulse of his magic unlocked it and another swung it open... magic-recognition locks.
Stepping inside, chaos confronted the company. Piles of papers were everywhere, and upon entry three ponies, all dark blue stallions wearing suits, almost identical but for their apparent age differences, turned to face them. The oldest among them, a spectacled unicorn with grey streaks in his gelled jet-black mane, was about to speak before being cut off by Shining Armor.
“Hello Geoffrey, good to see you’ve set up, though I think the living room would have been a better work space than the hallway. Please, I’ll be back in a few minutes to hear all about what you’ve managed to find, but first I must attend to my guests.” He nodded in greeting to the other two unicorns, who immediately turned back to their work, reading through their respective piles of papers. He then looked back at the ponies following him.
“Come with me. The guest wing hasn’t been completed yet, but at least the beds have been moved in, and from the looks of you that’s all you’ll be needing. Cadance will be excited to speak to each of you, but that can wait until the morning. Will you be needing anything tonight?” His words were mostly directed at Applejack, as hers were the only eyes not wandering around the busy interior of the hallways they traversed. She attentively shook her head in response, the prospect of a bed making her realize just how frayed her nerves really were.
Paintings and tapestries were everywhere, but it was a bit too dark and they moved too quickly for any detailed examination. Pinkie Pie kept cheerfully commenting on interesting aspects of the house along their way: the plush pink furnishing at the end of the entrance hallway, the soft and intricate carpets woven in faraway lands covering hard wooden floors and tickling her hooves, and finally the designer glass swinging double-doors that marked the beginning of the guest wing. These last the group passed through, entering a circular kitchen-slash-living room with five doors situated equidistant from each-other along the walls. A domed skylight let in the moonlight, illuminating a few book-filled cases against the far wall, most of them new, but for a few faded tomes on the third shelf from the bottom. The small kitchen was quite obviously incomplete, and plastic sheets still covered most of the furnishings.
“There are three bedrooms, each with a double bed. Over there’s the bathroom, and there’s also a door to go outside directly, though you need a unicorn to open it...” He pointed out the various amenities, but kept it short as the other ponies were already swaying on their feet in exhaustion. He directed the guards, stoic and serious as ever, to tuck their respective charges into bed, as he saw to his sister himself. Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Applejack followed, hardly caring in which bed they ended up as long as it was theirs to sleep in for the night. In a few minutes, they were all settled between silken sheets, and the stallions had quietly left, closing the doors to the rooms behind them.
Fluttershy was the only pony still awake when she faintly heard bells chiming one o’clock. The entire ordeal, from the library to the -while extremely comfortable- foreign bed, had only taken about two hours, and that singular fact was enough to send her on endless trails of thought: so much had happened. Too much for the shy pegasus used to a life of nature and simple pleasures. And that wasn’t even mentioning the emotions that had wracked her mind and body over those hours, fear for the most part... but also some thrilling joy. It hadn’t been all bad, flying beside Rainbow Dash and helping to save her friends, and that was what had kept her from curling into a shivering, scarred and scared ball back on the platform. But now she was alone, in a dark room, and that old friend terror was whispering in her ear.
That’s when she heard a giggle, absolutely out of place in the oppressive atmosphere. She was confused, but a few more reminded her of what she had somehow managed to forget: she wasn’t alone. Pinkie was lying beside her, hooves up and back down, letting out another soft sound as she dreamed of who-knows-what. But it had to be something happy, and Fluttershy wanted to join her... and with that thought, she was comforted, and the room disappeared with a weak smile and slowly falling eyelids. Fluttershy rolled over, enjoying the warmth emanating from contact with her happy friend, and after a while she slipped into a dream of sunshine with her animal friends, silent pink rainbooms going off far in the distant sky.
---
Rarity was enjoying a ride aboard her crystal chariot, sitting on an enormous cushion as two dashing pegasi wearing the latest in fashion effortlessly pulled her through the air. She had no need for brutish guards: nopony would be so uncouth as to harm their beloved unicorn princess, and she knew everything not a pony had been tamed and now submitted to her uncontested rule. Their destination was in sight, and she could see the crowds of ponies gathered to welcome her arrival into Canterlot, waving flags purple with blue gems inlaid into a white starburst, and she raised her gem-clad silk-shod hoof to wave at the cheering masses, keeping her head up, a golden tiara carefully laid between the curls of her hair. In seconds, her chauffeurs passed over the crowd, now throwing flowers of all types into the air for her choosing; she caught a jade bouquet. Green wasn’t her favorite color, but these flowers were not for her...
She was returning from some important journey: the details were hazy, but they hardly mattered. After a few passes around Canterlot for the benefit of the impossibly numerous ponies below, the pegasi finally brought her down before the palace doors. Instantly, a unicorn porter conjured up some ethereal magic steps that fused seamlessly with her crystal chariot, and Rarity slowly made her way down them, careful not to allow her hind-hooves to get caught in the trailing dress she designed herself, a visual representation of the life and strength a princess required. And there was nothing dark in her life, no Blueblood that waited on the other side of those doors... indeed, Blueblood had been exiled from Canterlot long before.
The doors swung open, revealing the familiar throne room of Canterlot castle... only now it was hung in the colors of the new flag, and instead of guards lining the walls, well-dressed ponies of all the creative occupations, as well as a few government bureaucrats (though their numbers had been sharply diminishing lately, much to the content of just about everypony) and noble ponies. All the castle staff also stood at attention to either side of the two empyreal thrones, all to welcome Rarity. However, everypony else were simply minor and fading details when her eyes fell in surprise upon a single pony, sitting on the palimpsest throne that once belonged to the princess of the night. This pony was wearing a dress that matched her own, but for the minor differences of colors, and looked absolutely stunning even from the other side of the room, a silver tiara fit snugly behind her horn.
“Twilight?”
The soft, instinctive word couldn’t have traveled across the room, but the purple unicorn heard her clearly, and her surprise showed.
“Rarity... what are you doing here? I’m supposed to be... I forget, but there’s something important about to happen.” She glanced at the flowers held in the unicorn’s magic, and added as an afterthought “Nice flowers... I thought you didn’t like green?”
“They’re for you.” The reply was once more instinctive, and hardly what she had meant to say, but after they left her tongue they felt right. Then she realized with unwarranted nonchalance why Twilight could hear her. The whole throne room had disappeared, replaced by a starry-speckled darkness in all directions, and Twilight was much closer than she had thought.
The element of magic’s telekinesis wrapped around her own in accepting the flowers, and the sensation that had never before inspired much in her suddenly sent an electric thrill down her spine. But the sensation didn’t leave... it just kept building, and she realized she couldn’t let go of the flowers. Looking up, her blue eyes locked with Twilight’s violet, who was obviously in a similar predicament, as her magic hadn’t disengaged and her face was beginning to scrunch up in pain.
“What the h-heck?”
“I... I don’t know, Twilight.”
It didn’t take long for the pain to silence conversation, focused primarily at the base of each pony’s horn. They were paralyzed, unable to scream or move, eyes clenched shut as images forced their way into both ponies minds. Rarity could see thousands of books, and Princess Cadance, Shining Armor, Twilight’s parents, Celestia raising the sun, and hundreds of other things. But then the pain slowly began to subside to a dull ache, and both ponies opened their eyes... to sweat-soaked white silk sheets and sunshine suffusing the unfamiliar room in which the two unicorns were lying, face to face. No pony made a move for a few seconds, until a clangour from an adjacent room broke their individual reveries.
“Good morning, Rarity. Where are we?”
“I haven’t the faintest idea, darling, but I think we’re alive. If memory serves correctly, that’s quite a miracle.”
Twilight threw off her section of thick blanket with a hoof, allowing the cool room air to filter through the silk sheets.
“A miracle that couldn’t have happened without you... Us. I... I think I’m already starting to feel the effects of what we did though. I had a really vivid dream about you...” Rarity raised her eyebrows at that, and the two broke out into giggles. “No! No, not like that... I’ll tell you about it later; we should probably figure out where we are.”
The two unsteadily rolled out of the double bed on their respective sides, finding themselves surprisingly weak, and dizzy as the dull pain in their horns spiked from the effort. With manes and tails a tangled mess, they proceeded to the door which Rarity naturally tried to open with her magic. The only thing that achieved was a few sparks shooting out of the tip of her horn while falling to the ground in pain, only to be relieved of it a few moments later, and to find Twilight offering a hoof to help her up. She stood, and they decided to use the door-knob, Twilight taking in in her teeth and uncomfortably twisting the handle before pulling gently. The door opened a crack, and when Twilight was clear of the knob Rarity proceeded to easily hoof the well-oiled door wide open.
The next room was bright, so much so that the unicorns were forced to squint while taking it all in. Situated in various states of relaxation upon a huge circular couch in the middle were the rest of their friends, and...
“Cadance!” Twilight smiled widely at her new sister-in-law, enjoying breakfast with the other ponies from a large circular glass table at the center of the room, directly in the path of the sunlight filtering in from the skylight above.
“Good morning Twilight, I’m glad to see you awake. And Rarity, it’s a pleasure to see you again. Your friends told me what happened... many ponies take a lot longer in recovering from the magic that you two used, and to what an effect! The ‘double rainboom’ was visible from Canterlot; it’s front page news, right alongside speculation as to why Shining’s shield is up.” Twilight noticed Rainbow Dash had a newspaper open in her hooves, and a glance over her shoulder revealed a hazy picture of a thin streak of light shooting from an opaque peak, silhouetted against a starry sky. A million questions were fighting for dominance in Twilight’s head, so she decided to ask the one that had already been formed.
“Where are we?” The unicorn didn’t recognize the place in the slightest, though the books at the one end certainly made it quite homely. Walking around to a break in the couch, she and Rarity sat together between Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, across from Cadance.
“Ah, this is our Canterlot home. Shining and I began construction just after our honeymoon... as you can see, it’s not quite complete. Though... I’m not really sure why you’re here. I had it on good confidence you’d be staying at the castle, but Shining said right before leaving this morning that he’d made special arrangements with Overclock for last night. The two are friends, but I worry that he’s pulling a bit too much weight at a time like this. He... I suppose he didn’t tell you, since you were out cold and all...”
“What? And who’s this Overclock pony; I was told he was the ‘acting captain’.”
“He is. Apparently Shining got into some legal trouble, though he won’t tell me anything and keeps insisting it’s nothing. Overclock was his second in command, and is filling in while he waits for a hearing. Normally, Celestia and Luna would take care of it immediately, but they left the very day he was relieved of command on some business with the griffon kingdoms. He’s not totally off-duty though, since they still need him to cast the shield spell. I talked to the law-pony my husband hired, the old brute who decided to set up shop right in the middle of the entrance hallway... but he wouldn’t reveal anything about the nature of the accusations, only that my husband had a good case and ‘everything is going to be fine’. Honestly, I wonder that there’s a smidgen of sense to be gotten out of that pony, though they say he’s the best bits can buy.”
Twilight took this all in as she stared at a pile of syrup-saturated pancakes right in front of her. However, two predicaments faced her: one, she couldn’t use her magic to eat anything, and two, the pancakes would be awfully messy if she ate them without magic. Her rumbling stomach decided to disregard her secondary problem. The unicorn’s face fell into the food, large chunks breaking off in her teeth. Rarity would have been disgusted by this behavior, but she was much too distracted by a plate of fruity scones she happily, albeit carefully, munched on. Rainbow Dash had gone back to reading the paper, hind-hooves up on the low table, while Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy quietly -contentedly- watched the unicorns, having already had their fill. Applejack had disappeared to the little-fillies room as soon as Cadance had begun recounting what she had already been told, and had yet to return.
There was one other pressing issue on Twilight’s mind though, and after a few hasty mouthfuls of sweet, syrup-soaked, Celestia-tier pancakes, she voiced the question.
“So, *mmhp*, why’s the shield up?”
“I... don’t know. Shining wouldn’t tell me, which you might expect from the captain of the royal guard entrusted with secrets of national security, but it’s really strange for him. There aren’t normally any secrets between us. I’m sure he has a good reason though. Meanwhile, I’ve been trying to find out through my contacts up in the castle, but all they’ve told me is that a lot of ponies in suits have been showing up, and that politicians have been acting up lately.” She hesitated for a moment, allowing her words to sink in. “Actually, you six ponies are probably about to find out. You may not think it, but being the elements of harmony, you actually have quite a high honorary place in the politics of Canterlot, or that’s my impression at least... I’m certainly no expert. But you’ll be summoned to the castle sometime later today according to my husband.”
“Oh... ok. Thanks for the breakfast, Cadance.” There was little else to say, and their host soon took her leave. After a while, Rainbow Dash finished reading the story about herself (complete with an infuriating picture of her sleeping in a harness at the train-station) and tossed the paper aside in favor of a surprise pillow-fight with Pinkie, much to Fluttershy’s consternation. Applejack joined in after a surprise assault by Rainbow Dash, and soon the expensive-looking pillows, once delicately arranged around the couch, lay strewn across the room. One had even got caught on the metal-working of the huge central skylight, and hung forgotten, casting its square shadow upon the battlefield below. Twilight had quickly finished the huge stack of pancakes when Cadance left, and was now poring over one of the newer-looking gloss-covered tomes called ‘The Munificent Mare Monument and Many More Modern Marvels of Manehattan’ with, strangely, Rarity reading alongside her. The fashionista had always harbored an interest for the progressive east-Equestrian city, but she suspected there was more than just an interest in Manehattan and pretty photographs of a green monument that kept her captured.
---
The room was far darker, with the sun having moved from the center of the sky, when Cadance came back to tell them there was a company of guards at the door to escort them to the castle. Everypony was a little nervous as they followed her through the hallway, past the piles of papers and law-ponies still at work-- although much more slowly, and very evidently half-heartedly. What could be in store for them at the castle? Unanswered questions began to resurface about why there had been an attempt to kidnap, or perhaps kill them, and why Canterlot was in a state of lockdown and they had to be escorted by a ‘company’ of guards. This last fear though was silenced as the door opened to the faces of the two unicorns that had accompanied them the night before, and no more.
Applejack was the one who voiced their collective thoughts.
“A ‘company’ you say?”
“Well... fine, two. Anything more than one is a company when they’re at my door...” Her reply was accompanied with a warm smile to see them off.
Twilight smiled back.
“Thanks for the breakfast and beds... sister.”
Everypony said their goodbyes and the six ponies followed the guards out the door and onto the path, then after that the road. Applejack quietly informed Rarity, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash that these were the two guards that had carried them home the night before. Rarity was instantly at the side of the shorter of the pair, making sure she gained his attention before speaking.
“Hello handsome, I just want to thank you and your friend for being such gentlecolts last night. What are your names?” The young guard nearly tripped at her disarming words, and barely caught himself, blushing profusely much to the hilarity of the other who let out a hearty guffaw. Rarity’s effect on ponies never ceased to surprise her friends... where were those high-nose guards from last night?
The one she had spoken to stuttered a few times before being interrupted by the other.
“He’s Shock Lancer, and my name’s Austral, at your service. It was a pleasure, and at the request of Lord Shining Armor no less! Both of us owe him our lives after an incident last year in Las Pegasus, and it’s him we follow, even if he’s not technically in command. What ever they think he did, I say he didn’t. So, if you don’t mind my asking, how do you know him, Miss...?”
“Rarity. Well, ‘Lord’ Shining Armor is the brother of my friend Twilight Sparkle, the purple unicorn right behind you.” They both stopped and turned toward Twilight who smiled awkwardly at the unexpected attention. The shorter one, having recovered from tied-tongue as soon as Rarity was out of his vision, bowed low before speaking.
“Lady Twilight Sparkle, if you ever need our services do not hesitate to ask. Our debt to your family is great, and we are not the only ones. Know that you have the loyalty of many within the Royal Guard.”
Awkward....
“Uhh... ok. Thanks. Nice to know. Actually, I do have one question: why are we going to the castle?”
The two ponies looked at each-other in distress, obviously at a loss for what to say after they had so thoroughly implied their usefulness. This was enough of an answer for Twilight, and she did her best to hide her disappointment.
“Well, forget I asked. Lets just go...”
The party got moving again, passing through streets filled with a number of ponies and a surprising number of guards as well. A few nodded in acknowledgment at the pair leading the friends, but most just stared warily as they went about their guard business. After some climbing up gently inclined cobble streets, they came out of the residential district and found themselves passing through a busy marketplace. Though it was nothing like Ponyville’s, this having outrageous tags on every little necessity, yet shocking deals on the more expensive luxuries. After that came the castle gates and gardens, and ultimately the capitol building of Equestria itself.
The main doors were wide open, ponies heading in and out in droves. Upon crossing the threshold, Rarity almost stopped as she was affixed with deja-vu, noticing all the various ponies gathered inside. But these weren’t the same ponies -those that were ponies- from her dream: they were almost all ministers and their aids, but for a delegation of bored-looking griffons in suits standing in a corner, and zebras that had already gone about setting up some shelter on the throne room floor with wood that looked to be gathered from the gardens. Guards lined the walls, watching the comedic chaos, and doing nothing to intervene. Their two escorts kept them moving through; they must have seen this scene before, as they didn’t pay the slightest attention to the ponies (and others) milling around.
They passed by the empty thrones, entering into a smaller chamber to the left. At first, it appeared to be a dead-end, but a pulse of reddish magic from Austral poofed a whole wall out of existence. When the six friends stood gaping at what had just occurred, he paused to shrug.
“What? It’s just an illusion enchantment. A pretty good one, sure, but its been there for centuries... easy to remove for a few seconds. Come along now.”
Twilight felt embarrassed at how easily she had fooled herself, believing the unicorn had somehow managed to defy basic laws of matter without breaking a sweat. She was relieved -and a little disappointed- that this was not the case, as she started walking again.
Beyond the non-wall lay a wide descending spiral stone staircase. A few minutes decent brought them before a steel door. Austral raised his hoof and knocked hard, the sound reverberating off the surrounding stone. Instantaneously, the shutter opened and a wary blue eye appeared and, recognizing the two guards, proceeded to become associated with the body of a wrinkled old guard-pony when he opened the door to let everypony into what seemed an entirely different world. Long curved tubes filled with glowing gas circled the ceiling of the circular room into which they entered, illuminating steel-grating floors through which a number of lower levels could be seen, similarly illuminated. An unseen floodlight bathed a round table in harsh white light, and around this table a dozen synthetic-leather chairs with wheels waited un-occupied for their owners, their occupations indicated by plaques on the desk in front of each chair. It only took the ponies a quick reading of only a few of the plaques to tell them where they were. This was the war room.
Shock Lancer circled to the other side of the table before turning to face the ponies.
“Just wait here a minute. We should be joined soon. And so they waited, until a soft buzz came from the windowless steel door at the far end of the room.
“Twilight!” The unicorn’s attention, focused on a silent TV screen -rare contraptions- showing live images from a camera in the fake dead-end above they had just passed through, was shifted to where Shining Armor was emerging, accompanied by another pony dressed in a military dress uniform. Military ponies were rare to see, the peaceful nation of Equestria having a small and normally far-away army (mostly in relief efforts to other nations, or in helping to improve the stability of nearby countries) composed mostly of transferred guards who were looking for adventure, but Twilight had seen depictions of the various uniforms in books about the old wars of Equestria, and it hadn’t changed much over the centuries.
The purple unicorn hesitated for a moment at the sight of the intimidating military earth pony, but overcame any trepidation and ran to embrace her brother happily.
“It’s good to see you up and alright, I wasn’t sure you would be after what happened...” They broke off their short nuzzle.
“Anyway, we should get down to business... a lot has been happening these last few days, but first we should talk about what happened on your way here. Please, if everypony could take a seat... we have this room for as long as we need it, so sit anywhere.”
Twilight gave her brother a perplexed look as she sat down at the edge of her friends who had taken the half of the table closest to where they had come in.
“I thought you were relieved of duty? Cadance said--”
“Ah, about that... let me introduce you to general Iron Harvest. She used some of her emergency powers to get me reinstated, mostly so that I would be able to debrief you. But before we do that, we need your statement... which I’ll let the general handle.”
“Thank you, Armor, I’ll call you back in when we’re finished. Guards!” she glanced at Austral and Shock Lancer who had sprung to attention, “take up position outside the doors.” Her tone was business-like, straight to the point, crisp, and clear. Shining backed out of the room, offering a quick smile to Twilight, before closing the door behind him. Iron Harvest took a seat.
So far, she was nearly everything the six friends had expected of a military pony: muscular, weathered, scary-looking, and to the point. However, that she was a mare... that did surprise them. While in general Equestrian society, stallions and mares worked alongside one another, and discrimination based on gender was rare, the organization of the Royal Guard and the Equestrian Army had historically been composed exclusively of stallions. The only opportunities for mares in these were generally found in desk jobs at any of the organization’s headquarters or, more recently, operating comm stations. This mare certainly looked fit for it, but they had to wonder how she got past the gender block...
“You’re wondering how a mare became a general. Well, forget about it, because it’s your story that needs telling, not mine. There’s a microphone recording our conversation for transcription later, so we’ll begin with a few questions. Please, be as thorough as possible... the information you give us could be of huge importance for national security. The captain will tell you why, but we need your focus on last night for now, so don’t ask now. Actually, don’t ask questions.”
Iron Harvest paused a moment and opened a manilla folder that had already been lying on the table before she entered. This gave the friends a chance to digest everything that had just been said; she was an uncomfortably fast speaker, and they’d been thrown off by her immediate reading of their thoughts. This mare meant business, and their respite was short as, after a glance at the folder’s contents, she proceeded to click a small red button in front of her, starting the microphone and locking the doors. The interview had begun.
“So. Tell me everything that happened last night, starting with where you all were when the guards sent by acting captain Overclock collected you?”
Everypony turned to Twilight in expectation, and she began their story.
---
“So then I was like ‘whoosh’ as I pulled this purely radicalness curve through the air without effort, and it was so crazy fast, you wouldn’t believe it! Though, being an earth pony... no offense. Anyway, so as I was saying about my sonic rainboom--”
Iron Harvest beat her hoof into the table in exasperation.
“Rainbow Dash, please. Could you please, possibly, perhaps get back on topic? You were describing the events leading up to this ‘sonic rainboom’, as you call it.”
Rarity watched Rainbow Dash come back down to earth -literally, since she had decided to enact her descriptions in the air above the table- and take back her seat at the words of Iron Harvest. The white unicorn had already finished her side of the story, along with Twilight and Applejack. Overall, a good hour had passed, and everypony was beginning to get bored of the repetitions.
“Well, that is its name. Anyway, yeah... well, after Twilight finished blowing up that big gun thingy, I could feel this huge boost pushing me back in the harness, so I sped up. And then I heard Twilight whispering in my ear “Faster!” So I flapped as fast as I could, assuming of course that they were hoping I could pull off a sonic rainboom -and I bet I could have, I was really close- but then I got this o boost from behind...”
Is she honestly... no, of course not. Rarity darling, you’re hearing things.
“...and then I realized it was Rarity and Twilight doing it, you know, that hot thrust, uhh, rocket thing--”
“Rainbow Dash!”
Everypony turned to stare at Rarity in various states of surprise. Rainbow looked at her perplexed before asking the obvious question.
“What?”
The unicorn looked around the table. As her eyes reached Twilight’s she realized her mistake, and a fiery blush exploded across her features. She turned away until she felt herself cooling down. Everypony was still looking at her, waiting for a reply.
“Sorry, nothing. I guess I just... nevermind. Continue.”
By Celestia, why was I thinking... oh dear. She had plenty of time to parse her thoughts as Rainbow Dash finally got to elaborate on her sonic rainboom. Then came Pinkie and Fluttershy’s turns, both similarly time-consuming, though for the vastly different reasons one might expect. And finally, it was over. Iron Harvest pressed the red button and quickly thanked the before storming out to the relief of both sides. A few minutes later, Shining Armor came back, levitating--
“Food!” The cry was collective, coming from all six hungry ponies in the room.
A large, square plastic tray of assorted munchies preceded the newly reinstated captain of the Royal Guard as he entered into the room, taking the seat next to his sister, while laying the tray closest to the earth ponies and pegasi for everypony’s convenience. There was a huge basket of hay-fries surrounded by various condiments in miniature white paper cups, along with six iced-waters and a few plates of salad strategically placed around the edges.
“Not the healthiest nor the fanciest stuff, I know, but it’s tasty. The military prefers to spend its budget in the field or on equipment, rather than in the cafeteria.” The six ponies didn’t mind in the slightest though, and even Rarity was ravenously consuming the salty goodness. In a few minutes, all the food was gone, and the ponies slowly sipped their water as one by one they all turned to look at Shining Armor in expectation. While the previous interview had been tedious, it did make them curious: why was the military taking their statement? And through a general at that! Fluttershy was the last to finish, and as soon as her plate was cleared Shining stood up and moved over to the seat the general had previously occupied, in order to better talk to all six of them.
“Well, you’ve eaten, the interview is out of the way... now’s about as good a time as any for the debriefing. Now, before I got on, I received confirmation from Ponyville that your families have been notified of where you’ve gone and how they’ll be able to contact you through the communications unicorn we sent down there this morning. They’re all safe. Fluttershy, your animals are currently under the care of a pegasus called Renaldo who I know personally. He used to work in the palace gardens before becoming a guard, and he is taking very good care of them.”
Fluttershy silently nodded in acknowledgement. Most of the animals would be fine, she imagined, but she was worried about how angel might react to a strange pony coming in without her OK-ing it. The shy pegasus could tell that Shining Armor had put his personal effort into it though, and felt comforted by that fact.
He then pressed the red button, and the doors on both sides audibly locked. Twilight now noticed that a silencing enchantment had activated, as the murmur of voices from far below the floor grating ceased immediately. Shining Armor leaned forward onto the table, his next words having exactly the effect on the ponies he anticipated... and feared.
“Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have disappeared.”
---
The initial shock, disbelief, terror, anguish, anger, and sadness passed in a blur at those seven words. Finally, the next stage had arrived: questions.
“So you’re really not pullin’ our leg, an’ the Princesses, both of ‘em, have disappeared? Well... what in the hay happened?”
Twilight was still stuck in disbelief, ignoring the sincerity she could hear in her brother’s voice.
“Yeah, I’m sure they’re just... on a vacation. I-I’m... its happened before! Yes! In fact, I read about it this one time a few hundred years--”
Her brother silenced the disheveled unicorn.
“No. Twilight, there’s more to it than that. There were signs of a struggle, and some blood was found. A forensics team from Manehattan, the best in Equestria, confirmed that belonged to Princess Celestia.”
This information sent new waves of emotion through the ponies present, Fluttershy beginning to whimper from between Rarity’s comforting hooves at the very idea of a hurt Celestia. Twilight needed no more proof, and somehow gathered enough composure to utter a single word.
“Oh.”
The room became quiet as a crypt before Shining Armor continued. And his next words were even more shocking than those previous few, at least to everypony but Twilight. The bookish unicorn however already knew what they were-- even in her distraught state, she could not stop the ambient workings of her mind, and the final volume of “A History of Early Equestria” came quickly to the forefront, a rare anthology that she had only recently read specifically because of the references it made to six ‘heroes of harmony’. As her brother was opening his mouth to say the fateful words, the passage -a ballad, written in old equestrian- tore its way into the forefront of the unicorn’s mind.
Deep in yE depths of Tartarus,
A serpent goddess kept.
Until moon-tide rose up out-side,
An’ oceans drown’d her crypt.
Her chil’drun died; she wept in woe,
And thus the cent’ries passed.
Immortal though, she ‘ventually rose,
The moon would know her wrath.
This goddess hunted ‘cross yE Earth,
Until she found her prey.
She took young pony princesses,
both capt’red, far a-way.
The goddess thought the battle done,
Moon and sister Sun, chain’d.
But six heroes of harmonE
En place of al’corns- reigned.
They lov’d their stolen princesses
And veng’ance tore their souls.
With swords, bows, and magic of old
Their arm’es marched to Serpent’z Hold.
The war was long, both le-gions strong.
Equestria prevail’d.
Princesses sav’d, an a-fter thought,
Then veng’ance ate ‘ill filled.
But in carn-age of conq’ering
Their friend-ship failed to fyre.
By the end, the disparate six,
Destroyed une another for pow’r.
Tears crept out of Twilight’s eyes at the thought that she might never be able to ask her mentor about that ballad.
“And so according to the first constitution, ratified by both Princesses over a thousand years ago... as the Elements of Harmony, you are the regents to the thrones of Equestria.”
Written by Damination
Authors Note:
I began this months ago and left it alone for a while, so whether this keeps going or not will probably depend on its reception.
I’d appreciate your criticism!
A thanks to my editor, minimanFX.
Also, ‘Chapter 2 - Podium of the World’ is mostly written already, so you may reasonably expect that. There is a lot more of a focus on ‘politics’ from here on out...