Twilight's Pupil

Twilight's Pupil Prologue

by Crystal Secret

The moon shone brightly down upon the dark and whimsy streets of Canterlot, lighting up Shinning Armour's path. He was on night patrol with a couple other Royal Guards. Several times that week it had been reported that a mysterious and misshaped figure had been lurking the streets of Canterlot after dark, so he had been ordered by the princesses to investigate.

He let out a resentful sigh, for once, Princess Celestia's orders had been a totally lost cause and since the Royal Guard had more urgent matters to attend to, it seemed to Shining Armour that he was wasting his time patrolling the streets at night.

Suddenly, a loud scream pierced his ears. His slow walk turned into a full gallop as he rushed to the direction of which the sound had come from. A few minutes passed but not another sound was to be heard. He turned down a dark alleyway on the backstreets in the outskirts of Canterlot. The  buildings seemed to loom over the alleyway, forbidding the moon's light.

As he neared the end of the alleyway, he could hear the shivering and chattering of something. As he drew closer it became clearer and he could see that a small unicorn filly was lying unconscious on the ground. Deep cuts and scars covered the little filly's body, it had a dark purple mane and a light purple coat with moron eyes. However, the most interesting thing about this filly was that it didn't have its cutiemark, which most fillies of its age did.

In a split second decision, Shining Armour carefully levitated the little filly onto his back before heading up to the castle. As a Royal Guard, it was his duty to protect the citizens of Canterlot. He couldn't just leave this little filly out to die. It's condition was clearly fatal and he was prepared to take his chances.

He raced up to the entrance of the castle's hospital wing before rushing into the nearest vacant hospital room. The nurses looked eyes wide with bewilderment. He placed the filly on the bed but it was still unconscious, is breath quickening. The nurses seeing the state of which the feeling was in rushed to get the required equipment and medicine to heal the filly.

Within minutes the little filly was already looking slightly better, however it still had some pretty deep cuts in its side. Not to mention the scars on its hooves.

With that, he turned and left the hospital wing. He decided to alert the Royal Guard of his discovery. He made his way to the main quarters of the Royal Guard but upon doing so, was noticed by one of his fellow guards.

"Captain Shining Armour? Aren't you supposed to be on night patrol?" inquired the guard.

"Yes, but I made a discovery of which could be a vital part of finding our so called "threat". I was just going to alert the others of my discovery." he replied before heading up the winding flight of stairs that the guard was stationed at.

As Shining Armour entered the main base and meeting place for the Royal Guard, his fellow guards gave him some curious and questioning looks.

"I've come from my night patrol to alert you all of a discovery I made tonight. On the outskirts of Canterlot, in a dark alleyway I found an unconscious unicorn filly lying ready to take its last weary breath. Now I have theory that this may have something to do with the last several reports of a mysterious figure lurking the streets at night." said Shining Armour addressing the room of guards who were slightly confused by his presence.

"I`ll alert the princesses at once!" called out one of the guards, for a moment all eyes were on him as he made a quick dash out of the room.

Their attention turned to Shining Armour who was waiting for a response.

"What are you saying that the little filly is the mysterious figure scaring everypony?" asked one of the guards more seriously than he sounded.

"Actually, that's exactly what I was thinking. In a rich city like Canterlot, it is unlikely for a filly to be orphaned, especially a unicorn. So for this filly to be on the brink of death, lying in the streets of Canterlot unattended to makes me think that we've found our culprit." said Shining Armour confidently.

"Shining Armour, are you absolutely sure that a little filly would just go around scaring other ponies in the middle of the night? Don't you think that's a little bit far fetched? I think your wrongly accusing the poor filly. Besides, the Royal Guard has more important matters to contend with." said another guard and the other guards roared in the agreement.

Shining Armour let out a sigh before exiting the room and descending down the winding staircase. They were right, he was probably pointing hooves at the wrong pony, but for some reason he had this nagging feeling that the little unicorn filly was somehow connected to the culprit. But the Royal Guard were right, they did have more important matters to contend with and there really was no point in wasting time looking for a culprit who either didn't exist, or had make a run for it long before the reports were made.

He left the quarters of the Royal Guard and made his exit from the castle, returning to his night patrol. Stepping out onto the cold and dark Canterlot street once again, he could sense that something wasn't quite right. He shrugged it off and continued to patrol the streets making sure of the capital's safety, for now.