Twilight Falls On Equestria

A bright flash coming from the windows of my followed by what may have been muffled shouting woke me up from my peaceful sleep.

“This can’t be good”, I muttered as I threw off my covers and looked around for my uniform.

THUD

True night… is called such… because it has very little light… My foot concurs… as does the night table. Regardless, I’ve found my optics and that will suffice for now. As I left the dormitory I was keenly aware of how little was out of place. With my optics on, pure darkness had become clear as day and as I spread my gaze across the horizon all I found was a sleeping Lunaria.

“Perhaps it was just a dream… or something”, I whispered to myself as I turned to close the door to my dormitory and head back to bed. That’s when something caught my eye. There was a small, smoky patch to the upper right of my periphery which didn’t seem right.

“These optics are supposed to make night into day! I should have a word with Trixie about this glitch”, I thought as I turned my sights to the peculiar patch. That’s when I noticed dark tendrils rising from the spot. It wasn’t a glitch, it was real smoke. What made this smoke even more disconcerting was its location. It was where Fleetwing had been sleeping.

“I should have forced him to sleep in my apartment”, I thought as I darted over to the caved in remains of his temporary home. No doubt there has been some kind of sabotage, but by whom? There are three possible answers here. Discord, Celestia, or someone beyond my knowledge. I will rule out the third until the first two are conclusively disproven and determine more about those two parties once I’ve inspected the sight.

As I approached the wreckage I saw the Royals who I had placed to guard the building in crumpled heaps on the ground. I feared the worst as I approached the one nearest to me. After all, two crumpled bodies next to a collapsed building don’t yield many pleasant stories. My fears were slightly assuaged as I saw him shift a bit upon my approach.

“What happened here?” I asked him as he stood shakily on his hooves. He had a standard Royals look about him; a mottles green and black mane and coat attired in a battle saddle and active optics. “Nothing but the best for our Royals” chimed those propaganda Parasprites in my skull…

“They used some kind of concussive Magitek on us” he began, “They’ve learned how to engineer explosive light orbs or something of similar purpose. Our optics were set to night visions and when we were flashed… It’s a good thing we still have our sight”

“Did you see the assailant?”

“No. We were both completely blind”

“Do you know anything of any use?” I cried desperately as our chances of cornering these attackers became slimmer and slimmer.

“Not at all, sir. I’m sorry, we’ve failed our task” said the crestfallen soldier.

“You weren’t briefed to be prepared for concussive blasts, one of you would have been without optics. It was an honest mistake. We have no time to pity ourselves, we need to move quickly”

By this point the second royal - of nearly identical appearance to his companion – was beginning to stir. The only difference that I could discern between this rising pony and the one in front of me would be the G.I. helmet that he donned and startling lack of wings. Those helmets were definitely not standard issue. It surprised me that an earth pony would have one, let alone even be a member of the Royals.

“That’s a neat little hat you got there, son. It’s a pity it did no good with that old grenade” I said as he joined our huddle

“Course it wouldn’t do no good, it’s G.I.! Metal isn’t exactly known to be flash proof!” he replied defensively.

“I know, I know. I was just trying to break tension while you got your bearings.”

“Right.”

“Do you boys have a CO in this vicinity for me to coordinate things with?”

“No, sir, the helmeted one replied. Our CO and most of the group was sent down to Wellings to deal with a small insurrection. Probably just a couple of Solurnian Sabs trying to stir shit up”

“Saboteurs or not, you need a commanding officer. For the moment you are to be under my command. If you say Solurnians were causing problems over in Wellings that means that they must be trying to destract us. Wellings is in the East, right?”

“Yes, sir”, replied the helmetless one. “Why does it matter?”

“It means they were trying to move our troops away from the path their kidnappers would follow. If they caused unrest in the east we should look into the nearest village to the West. That would be…”

“Gillycrest Hills! I’ve got family there, Cap! Oh we’ll get a real good welcome!”

“I would appreciate it if when you called me by my title you called me by my proper ‘General’” Oh metal headed one. However, since we will be working in company you should know my name. I am General Sylvan Cloverhoof

“Arc Light, Corporal Arc Light” said the helmeted one.

“Like the missile?” I replied incredulously.

“Like the missile.” He said with a small smirk. “After all, demolitions is my specialty in the Corps”

“You don’t say?”

“I do say, sir”

“Well if anyone cares to know my name, it’s Lance Corporal Battle Gear”

“Battle Gear?!”

“Yes, sir.”

“These are pseudonyms right?” I guffawed in absolute shock at the absurdity

“Of course, and yours isn’t?” said Arc.

Technically I took Cloverhoof on to replace Koin so as not to implicate my family in any way once my treason was discovered, but I felt that could remain my little secret.

“No, now tell me your names. Your real names.”

“Firecracker”, muttered Arc.

“Snaps”, murmured Gear.

“Fantastic, all you need is a Pop and you’d make an outfit rivalling that of the Cutie Mark Crusaders!”

“Hey Applebloom is a distant cousin of mine, that’s not cool!” cried Arc.

“Alright, I’m sorry. Once again, just trying to break the tension. Now that we know each others names we ought to start heading off to Gillycrest. Was there anything of any importance in the dormitory worth rummaging for?”

“Nothing but the Ambassador” said Arc, “Though I doubt he’s worth searching for in THAT mess”.

“Alright then, let’s head out” I said as I began my descent down the stairs of the palace.

“Sorry, sir, but that’s a negative” I heard from a short distance behind me.

“What was that again, I’m not sure if I heard you correctly” I said as I turned around to see the two ponies still standing where I had left them

“Listen General, we know you’re good at Generaling and stuff. It’s just that… you’re not our commanding officer! Our Sarge has real field experience. He knows how to use us right and how to take heat without breaking. You’re more of a… tack moving kinda guy. You move our tack here, we move to that position… that kind of stuff.” Said Arc as I began my ascent.

“What Arc is trying to say is… You don’t know how to utilize us like our Sarge does and if this really IS a Solurnian raid party we should wait for our field officer to come up and organize a real reconnaissance team to track them down” said Gear as I reached their platform and fixed a steely gaze in their direction.

“Let me make this absolutely clear. I may have tried to ease tension before, I may have even asked for your civilian names, but you are still my subordinates. I say jump, you say ‘how high?’, I say run, you say ‘how far?’, I say we go to Gillycrest, you say ‘we arrived yesterday’, is that clear?! Oh yes, I’m the general that plays with tacks, that’s definitely a truth not worth mentioning to my face, Lance Corporal Firecracker”

“Corpora-“

“I know what I said! Let me make this nice and clear for you. I’ve spent three years co-ordinating the entire defence force for all of Lunaria. No one knows HEAT better than me! I was training your ‘Sarge’ back when he was still a private. Now form up and move out!”

Our descent was silent. Having an earth pony in my party is not what I would consider a benefit to the expediency of our pursuit. The fact that he had the gall to call me an inexperienced field officer; to hell with the kid! His father must have paid a pretty penny to get him where he stands now. At least the Pegasus seems to have some respect for authority. I wonder what he specializes in. No matter, we can cover specifics like that once we set off for Gillycrest, for now silence is the best option.

As we reached ground level I saw Shy run across to us from the nurses’ quarters.

“Sylvan?! What happened, I was tending to some wounded when I heard a loud noise from upstairs! Who are these ponies? Are they hurt? Are you hurt?!” she chattered frantically.

“I’m fine, I’m fine. Please calm down Fluttershy or you’ll pass out.”

“O-Okay… Please, what happened?”

“The Ambassador was kidnapped, these are his guards, they are thankfully unhurt and we are off to go rescue our quarry. Are you satisfied?”

“The Ambassador was kidnapped?!” she cried on the verge of hysterics.

It’s times like these that I’m glad Shy is a borderline mute. Any other pony would have woken up the whole hall with this shouting.

“What are we going to do?” she said as tears began to flow.

“Tut, Tut. Shy don’t go crying for no reason. I told you we’re on our way to go retrieve Fleetwing. We believe his kidnappers took him to Gillycrest Hills. Now go to sleep and tell Luna where I went off to in the morning meeting. Knowing my track record we should be back before then, but it’s always best to be prepared.”

“Well, before you go, take these” she said between sniffles as she shoved a necklace of three whistles onto my neck.

“What are these?” I asked.

“The blue and green ones are just random animal calls that I’d like you to use as communiqués with your men and the red one is a secret weapon I’ve been working on” She replied.

“What kind of secret weapon?” I pried further.

“The kind that doesn’t get explained”

“Why?”

“If you knew what it was you’d be tempted to use it pre-emptively. Let’s just say it solves problems quickly but shouldn’t be used often”

“A special forest creature?” I said with a hint of understanding.

“A very special forest creature” she replied.

“Alright, thank you for the assistance Shy”

“No problem, Sylvan. Good luck getting back Fleetwing!”

“You don’t need luck when you’re me!” I said as I turned back to Arc and Gear

“Come on then, we have a long road ahead of us and now that I’ve got you sufficiently scared shitless I’d like to make good use of you. Goodness knows fear doesn’t last long” I said as I rejoined them and led them towards the doors of the courtyard.

That got a smile out of Arc. A smile he’d rather I didn’t see, but a smile nonetheless. What can I say, I’m a bastard, but a bastard that gets things done. Boy do we have a lot to get done. The moon was rising over Lunaria. Ponies were beginning to amble out of their homes. A few of them looked quizzically at me and my troupe. I guess that’s to be expected. They probably expected me to be running home with a towel over my flank. No bath today. Baths can wait. We have an ambassador to save.