In celebration of the Canterlot wedding by royal proclamation the year's Grand Galloping Gala has been announced to occur in hearts and hooves day. On the night, love is the air and yet no pony can't seem to find their very special somepony. Something is strange in the city of Canterlot and the greatest Gala in all of history might just shape up to be the greatest tragedy of all of Equestria.
Had to be really selective of my main characters but it does involve more ponies than shown. I guess you can say these are the most important of the important ponies.
A once great and proud pony told me that a hero is not born but they are chosen. They live their lives in servitude of the people and often times it was merely their fate to be and not because they chose to serve themselves.
I had that honour, but because of it I will never forgive myself.
And she will never forgive me.
The Canterlot streets were a complete disaster. The worst of the tragedies of hard times always starts with the aftermath. Ponies around you died, homes were destroyed, livelihoods are gone overnight and a single filly will never be the same again. That hope of the worst having passed, that feeling of hope for a better tomorrow feeling so far away from reach.
The feeling of being one of those that survived.
Here I was, cloak hooded over my face and myself hidden in the throng of people. Beside me, she watched as they all did, the royal guard and various stewards stood in the remains of the market square. They were helping the ponies who lined up single file into a long snake of equine vagabonds. Nobles and commoners for a short window of time united in their efforts to help their endless fellow ponies, handing out food for the homeless and alms for the poor. While the royal guard kept a sombre vigil of any riotous happen-stance should they occur.
But her eyes were not looking at those things. She watched intently as a royal guard hammered a nail into the square's grand bulletin board while his colleague stood atop a soap box to proclaim to the masses. In all actuality, there were just two posters among hundreds of missing that stood to garner the attention of the mare by my side.
"Wanted! A nameless ne'er do well who's charges include treason against the crown and kingdom, murder, subterfuge and espionage. A reward of fifty million bits are available for the pony who captures this person dead or alive. He is grey coated, silver maned and golden eyed and of this likeness." The town crier cried out.
He pointed to a poster of such menacing demeanour as to almost seem to not be me. But that likeness was me all right. Undeniably, but a little unfamiliar. Perhaps it was a demeanour I had worn in the past, or even a past life. It was such a long time ago for me to recall with certainty.
"So she refuses to even acknowledge my name." My help. My heroism. She will forever want me gone. For you see, heroes are not killers.
The little filly tried to speak but I put a hoof over her mouth. The crier had more to say.
And honestly, there would be too much to explain.
"Missing! Twilight Sparkle. Personal pupil of princess Celestia. Reported to have been kidnapped. A ninety billion bit reward for her return and a significant percentage for any confirmed information given onto her whereabouts." The crowd who were previously a raucous of jeers and chaotic mumbling and whispering became dead silent for a short second.
The element of magic and by extension, the elements of harmony was no longer around to defend the kingdom. Everypony saw, they were instrumental in the saviour of Canterlot. With Twilight Sparkle gone the other elements were useless. The money was the last thing on their minds. Equestria did not have a saviour.
"This is your last chance to return. We'll never come back." I said to her. Twilight Sparkle merely bowed her head down. I could hear her sobbing ever so slightly, tears were spattering on cobblestone floor. And then she inhaled deep, raising her head holding back the feelings in her heart, the doubt and fears and sadness. She looked at me, her eyes focused with her determination to remaining unyielding to her weakness.
The determination to ignore the temptation to return to the ponies she loved and adored. Because she knew despite her hopes, that not a single one of them loved her anymore.
"I need to leave this place. I am no hero. I am a murderer." I smiled a sad smile. For you see I was the one who created the chain of events that would lead to this child's first sin. Maybe someday I can tell her that, but until then I will take care of her until she is ready to return to defend Equestria. Just as I was.
Unashamed but not unafraid,
-Somewhere in the ambiguous past-
A mournful cry echoed across the dark and stormy night. Before the throne I held my bloodied sword, feeling and tasting the iron tang of an evil pony. Celestia held the torn asunder carcass of a once great unicorn. Her pale snow white coat in ruins as the redness of her blood splashed across her features. Her once mighty horn snapped in two, no longer protruding from her beautiful ebony mane.
My sword clattered to the ground.
"Snow white is dead. Equestria is saved." I proclaimed coldly and matter of factually. No one was alive to cheer at the proclamation. I was too late to stop the worse of it all. Over the din of Celestia's horrid, sorrowful crying my words rang out within myself and I almost felt regret.
"Your majesty. She was a traitor. She sought to overthrow you. She undermined our military, she made plans for an invasion. She killed countless members of the court. I saw with my own eyes!" She ignored me completely, in her eyes her whole world was in her arms, dead and murdered.
"Your highness..." I hesitated to speak the necessary words, but I held just enough steel to brave what I was about to say.
"Your daughter was a changeling." I was afraid, when I said those words. But I had faith. The truth is pure. It was cruel, but truth was the face of justice. Celestia would understand, surely.
Her grief was so strong as to stain the very walls for eons. She didn't want to acknowledge anything but the ideal. The truth was far from her mind at the moment.
In her eyes she must still see the beautiful unicorn filly that was once Snow White. But I see the black incompleteness of a changeling. Her corpse stinking of the citric acidic blood that carried the corrupt love in her veins.
"Queen Celestia!" I shook her. Desperate, almost panicking. How do you calm a pony who you have never seen so distraught?
To my relief I finally received a response. She levitated me with her telekinesis and instantly I let my instinct dispel her magic. Had I not stopped her, there was enough force in her magic to smash my ribs into fractures.
I pulled her away, her futile attempts to throw me made useless by my special talent against magic. She struggled against me at first but she eventually relented, her head bowed, her mane deflated and flat and her white coat ruined with gore.
"Your highness the invasion starts within a few hours. We need you to get to safety, rest assu- What?" Celestia mumbled something.
"-urderer... Murderer! MURDERER!" Celestia shone like the sun of her divinity's claim. Her eyes aglow with power and wisps of solar energy seeping from her eyes. There was rage there that spoke of worlds ending in fire and brimstone.
"WE, PRINCESS CELESTIA, PROCLAIM YOU EXILED FOR CHARGES OF MURDER OF OUR OWN DAUGHTER, OUR COURT AND INCITING INVASION ONTO OUR KINGDOM." Her voice boomed of such magnitude that it made the foundations of the palace rumble.
"I order you to flee from this place, for if you set foot in Equestria ever again. I will kill you myself."
A well believed superstition is that Equestria is permeated with the threads of destiny. Nothing can escape their fate, not even the mightiest of goddesses. That was what it meant to hold a cutie mark on your rump, that was what it meant to live your life using your special talents. So long as you followed the script fate had written for you, you could live happily as a pony of Equestria, content to exist in a grand narrative that was beyond anyone's power.
This was what harmony was, the cosmic force that led everypony to utopia and those who dared write fate for themselves were the enemy of the world. They were never meant to belong in the grand tapestry of whatever higher power had made for this land. Easily willing to abandon them to their fates, with no purpose or reason to live.
As a blank flank, I was long since thought to be another of those outcasts. A unicorn that was beyond the touch of magic and long since thought unable to wield it. But somehow I had found happiness in Equestria, defending the kingdom, captaining the guard and serving my queen with all my being like any good Equestrian.
But in the end, fate had written a tragedy for me. Forced to flee away from what I had grown up to love, I intended to never return for the greater good of everypony. My existence could only invite disaster, that was what I understood so long ago. It was what I had to believe to keep myself strong enough to keep away.
However on hearts and hooves day I found myself in Canterlot again, returning for an obligation I only felt inside than actually had.
Snow White was alive. Impossibly so. And no matter how much I tried to avoid that fact by trying to run away from her, I always found myself to her again, spotting her from afar, watching her journey deeper and deeper into Equestria until I found myself before the castle gates of Canterlot castle.
With apprehension I broke through the threshold.
It looked just like the old castle, built to the last detail as an exact replica. Banners and pennons of the old ancient houses, the various coats of arms upon royal guard's armour and even the same traditional saddle wear of the noble classes.
But something was particularly special. There were streamers and colourful banners intermixing with the colours of old houses. Pink was the dominating colour and ponies wore them proudly as they went about their jobs preparing. They carried foods, barked orders, set up tables, tuned instruments, rehearsed rituals and tested everything for every possible mundane thing.
Not losing sight of my quarry for too long I glimpsed her figure cantering over to the more secluded gardens. Where I attempted to follow her into a maze and perhaps find her objective. I was stopped by wings cross my path.
"Halt! State your business." The guards stationed on either side of the entrance barked out uniformly. I couldn't help but smirk at the display of drilled discipline. I hadn't noticed them until they stopped me. If I weren't alerted to their presence I would have sworn these sentries were statues I had passed by wantonly. They must have been trained by a good captain to hold such astute discipline.
I resisted the urge to salute.
"Is there a reason why I can't go into the gardens?" I asked. It was best if I seemed like a inconsequential servant boy or guest that had presumably lost his way, than a gate crasher that just walked in. After all, Celestia knowing about my continued existence would break this peace to countless pieces to try to capture me.
"It is the VIP area of the Gala and no one is allowed to enter yet until preparations are complete." My eyes turned to the guard to the right as he replied.
"But a girl just past through here..." It was a dumb attempt to convince my way through but I had hopes I could get lucky.
"That mare is part of the preparations staff." The one on the left replied. I knew he'd say something like that and it didn't seem like pretending to be staff as well would work. These guards are just too well drilled.
I tried to walk around to the edges of the hedge maze and sneak to the other side but the security around the perimeter was astoundingly heavy. You'd think they were holding the crown jewels past the wall of armoured ponies.
As easily as it would to force my way through I had resolved to avoid making a scene. In surrender I walked into the castle. Perhaps there was another way in from inside the castle or perhaps I could gather information on what was going on in there.
"Haven't seen you around before." A stallion guard said casually. By his informal tone I found myself quite unimpressed by his conduct. And that purple armour! Why wasn't he wearing the standard issue kind? Who did he think he was, the captain of the royal guard?
"Yeah, I just arrived here. Ummm... can I ask you about the heavy guard on the gardens? What's happening there that needs such a heavy amount of security?" I smiled casually and hoped the lost new guy act would satisfy him from asking any further. It seemed to work as he mainly focused on my question about the gardens. His blue eyes widening in surprise and then narrowing in puzzlement.
"Heavy guard? I never assigned anyone around there. There shouldn't be anything happening there." His brow furrowed in thought while I tried to act empathetic by also looking concerned.
"Is something wrong, errr...?" Dammit, now he's going to give me his name and I'll have to say mine in return.
"Shining armour. Captain Shining Armour. Thank you for informing me about this suspicious activity. I'll have my men check it out." To my relief he was clearly too much in a rush to investigate than to find out my name.
"I'll see you later... errr..." I guess I spoke to soon.
"Silver." I lied. "Just Silver." I said. What a terribly obvious fake name. But the Captain of the guard didn't seem to question the rather literal name within a society of pony names rooting from metaphors and idioms. With a salute he galloped off.
Hastening deeper into the castle, I moved myself away from the Captain as quick as possible should he realise his mistake. I moved quickly, but cautiously and as inconspicuously as possible. All this sneaking around would be pointless if Celestia spotted me.
-------------Ponyville--------------
Elsewhere in a small village on the outskirts of Canterlot mountain and on the edge of the Everfree forest, ponies milled about preparing for the best night ever.
In celebration of the first year of the alicorn of love's marriage, Princess Cadence had organized the greatest Gala in history. Love would be in the air as ponies gathered to find their special somepony among the many across all of Equestria. And all of Ponyville was invited to attend the greatest party of the century.
"This is the gonna be the best night ever!" Pinkie hopped about happily while Rarity struggled to hold her down with the magic of dress-making. not only intending to make the Pinkie pony look a positive Sweetie Belle of the ball but to weigh her down enough so that her excitement wouldn't incite a national incident.
"Ah still can't believe you're not letting me take this chance to try and drum up business for the farm." Applejack sullenly kicked the dirt below her with her ornate boots and hid her face in her hat to express her distaste without exploding from the frustration.
"Cadence wants us to enjoy ourselves. Besides didn't the farm get enough business from the orders the castle made?" Twilight tried to calmly defuse the cow pony and was met with AJ hiding deeper into her hat.
No matter what airs the mare put on, it was clear AJ was in fact on edge for an entirely different reason than the welfare of the family business. For a strong and dependable pony, romance wasn't exactly a subject she could help but be bashful about. And seeing as this night was around the idea of finding new love and celebrating old love, the presumption cemented itself in Twilight's mind.
Twilight was tempted to lift the hat AJ hid behind to reveal the crimson blush within. In the end she decided against it, Rainbow dash however wasn't so kind.
"Come on AJ. Let's make some magic happen tonight. For as long as I've known you, you haven't had a colt friend in your life." A lasso promptly grounded the rainbow pegasus so that the cow pony could get her hat back. The teasing had done the trick and calm her nerves enough to smile at the idea. Donning her hat back on, AJ found the confidence to imagine it. Another addition to the Apple family... just think of the help the extra hooves would give!
"I don't know about tonight. Maybe I should stay home. Angel Bunny seems worried about tonight." The rabbit gave the shy yellow pegasus a blank stare of incredulous scepticism.
"You're right Angel. I should be more assertive." The white rabbit continued his judgemental stare.
"And I'm sorry for trying to use you as a scapegoat." The bunny nodded and hugged the mare while she nuzzled the little bunny.
When Shining Armour came to the hedge maze to investigate the guards he had not stationed there he had found them missing. Or more likely non-existent. Thinking about it more deeply that Silver pony was no one who was invited to this exclusive ball. Nobles, friends and family of the staff and even a few ambassadors and royal friends were the ones invited to this event. And as captain of the royal guard, he'd met a good number of the names in the list before.
Did he just let an intruder walk right by him at the castle? Were his own royal guard just as incompetent?
Taking a moment to think he leaned to make himself comfortable. Suffice to say he leaned on nothing and his whole body fell to his side.
--
Now that he had pierced the perimeter Silver headed straight for the throne room. Celestia had to be warned of the return of Snow White. A changeling plot was coming into fruition. it was true that he had no proof or intel in regards to it. But a pony look alike of Snow White does not merely appear and journey from the badlands to Canterlot without a purpose. There was no summons, or invitation, nor was she a likeness that belonged in the badlands. She didn't physically feed for days and moved towards Canterlot with relentless purpose.
He was close now, the doors were right in front of him as he galloped. Silver stopped short. This was the moment of truth. When he opened this door, he would either be able to say his piece or die before he could.
"Discord's statue is gone!?" Celestia said aghast. Silver's ear pricked up to that and decided to put his ear to the door.
"Yes. I have put the guards on alert for a silver pony. They have orders to capture him alive and to be brought in for information. I request that for security reasons that this event be cancelled." Shining armour said in a manner of a true captain of the guard.
"A Silver pony. Cancelling the event is not an option. if my guess is correct, the cancellation of this event would scare him off and we'd have no intel on his plot." Celestia voice had lost any source of kindness. There was a ruthless tone to it that left the captain bewildered.
"His plot... your highness?" Why would Silver point out Discord's statue missing if that seemed so central to the whole thing? Wouldn't it have been to his greater advantage if the release of Discord was a fact hidden away?
"Captain. We continue with the event, keep your guard on the look out for this silver pony. And they have my permission to kill him on the spot." Celestia was not looking at him. Instead faced one of the grand windows and opened it, letting the gust pick up the piles of paperwork fly everywhere. Such trivial things were not of her concern anymore. With her piece said, she flew off. In search of this silver pony.
"..." This silver pony had the answers to all this. Shining armour had to find him, himself if he wanted any answers to so many new unanswered questions.
Meanwhile at the door Silver stood paralysed. The whole castle was after him and most of it was after his head. He turned from the door and walked away. Beside him an ebony pony of midnight blue passed him by, floating a piece of confectionery in her horn's magical grasp.
"I need to find Snow White... and fast..." Silver mumbled absent-mindedly.
"Didst thou say... Snow White?" Luna stopped short of the door. She had already applied the force to push the door open as it swung open ever so slowly. Shining armour turned to look at the door while Luna turned to look at the pony behind her.
"Princess Luna! Capture him!" Shining Armour shouted at the top of his lungs as he spotted the very person he was looking for. Instantly Luna fully focused her magic to fire off a shot of lightning. Just enough power to sting, but not harm. But most importantly mobilise.
Before her eyes, she watched as the magic fizzled into nothing as it tried to claim the target it was directed. Luna had intended to instantly reach out with her telekenisis and had done so long before the lightning she cast vanished.
As if the feeling in her hooves going numb, her magic reach vanished as it neared to touch the silver pony. Silver took no time messing around. He galloped off the first chance he got.
"Wait, please tell me of this Snow White!" Luna galloped after him with Shining Armour behind her.
Luna had heard that name before. But whenever she asked Celestia about her, she would look hurt and overcome with overwhelming sorrow. After that Luna would lose her will and tell her sister to forget she ever asked.
--
Silver could hear him galloping all over the castle. That captain of the royal guard had found something very important and was rushing around to find answers. In an ideal situation he'd meet up with the captain and collaborate, he after all, needed that information the captain had. However, if he made his presence known to the guard, that fact would eventually be known to Celestia. That had to be avoided at all costs.
Dashing around servant halls and the various archives. he managed to find himself farther and farther away from trouble. After all, training would dictate that a spy would hide in plain sight. And it was a guard's job to keep security a rather private unseen business, as to not offend clients. Such a scene in plain view would only impress upon everyone that the security in the event had its failings, which would reflect poorly on later events, encouraging braver actions. So a good spy would be where the information is and where all eyes would protect him from harm.
As such he moved where the guard would not want think him to be. Hidden away in places no one goes. Plus the farther away from ponies he is. The farther he is from Celestia (hopefully).
"You're a new face." A voice said as he slammed the door to the Starswirl the bearded archives. It was a mare's voice. His blood ran cold.
He had no words to reply and fleeing so openly would merely alert the fact that he didn't belong there.
"I know everyone that's coming tonight and I've never seen your face before." The voice gave way to a young alicorn princess. Her face so sweet and innocent. Instinctively it had him ready for a fight and she instantly felt that intent in him. But he felt no hostility coming from her and he relaxed.
"I guess I'm an intruder who just got lost." When in doubt play a bluff. His wry smile was met with a giggle.
"Who are you?" Up close the pink mare was a fair bit taller than him. He lost myself in her eyes, just so he could have her be lost in his.
"Just a friend of a friend." He pushed the door open, ready to leave with just that.
"The only ones I don't know are my aunt's friends. Do you want to celebrate hearts and hooves with us?" I didn't lose contact with her eyes for an instant. I could sense mischief at play. She wanted me to have me to meet with Luna and Celestia, to clarify her guess.
"I don't need an invitation princess. I already invited myself in. I stake my honour on this promise that I won't be here to cause anyone any trouble. So please... let me and Celestia deal with this private, personal matter." He bowed in the ancient Canterlot manner. She recognised it and that seemed to have satisfied her curiosity.
And with that he left her to whatever task she was up to.
--
The whole of Canterlot was a hum of activity as dignitaries from all over Equestria gathered. The ponies of harmony came with the same goal as everyone around them. To find their special somepony.
ucfgjhvhv kuhgkgnknh break time.... oh god... elaborate rule the world plots hurt mah head.
