E.q.Gee Rule Sixty-three

Just stand still and look straight ahead…easy….

Flare Warden wiggled her armor into a comfortable state.  She stood beside two parallel lines of crystal guards stationed along a red carpet. She was the only 'new blood' among the other guards because had been transferred from her post in Canterlot and she was a pegasus pony.

To her right where the three alicorn princes – Solaris of the Day, Artemis of the Night, and Tempo of Love. They stood ready to greet the recently crowned prince of Equestria.

A few seconds later, the door the throne room opened, with Dusk Shine, his dragon friend, and the other five bearers of the elements of harmony - Rainbow Blitz, Butter scotch, Applebuck, Bubble berry and Elusive - proceeding in.  They were welcomed by the crystal guard’s trumpets, the soft red carpet and the banners bearing the four princes' cutie marks.

The visitors were taken aback by the welcome, especially Dusk Shine, who had his eyes bouncing off from every little detail from the guard's armor to crystal room's windows.

Eventually this led him to go off course unknowingly and walk into Flare’s direction.

He’s going to bump into me…He’s going to bump into me…he’s going to….  Flare repeated to herself.  Then Dusk Shine bumped into her.  The lavender alicorn sheepishly grinned as he back backed away from Flare.

Called it Flare told herself amusingly and then announced “Behold, Prince Dusk Shine!”

Dusk Shine ignored her and proceeded with his pals to speak with Solaris, Artemis, and Tempo.

“That guy lived in a run-of-the-mill-town for the past few years. Bronyville, I believe it was called.” The crystal guard whispered to Flare.

“What’s that got to do with anything?” Flare whispered back.

“Look at him! He's got that common ponyfolk thing written all over him.” Hissed the guard.  Flare did look at Dusk.

Dusk was not like the usual alicorn princes; instead of a crown and golden horseshoes, he only had a saddlebag.  He seemed to be dwarfed by the other three princes. Even with his alicorn wings, he appeared to fit in the colorful nature of his friends more than the imposing appearance of the princes.

“So what if he looks like an average school pony? He was only crowned a prince a month ago.” Flare shrugged.

“I know…but I get the feeling that Prince Solaris should have picked a better candidate to be a prince. Dusk…just doesn't have that character, nor do I see him getting anytime soon.”

Flare had to admit that Dusk didn’t have that character, though she knew he was a made a prince and an alicorn for a reason.

Then Solaris dismissed Dusk shine and his pals to their rooms.  The crystal guards escorted them while Flare returned to quarters.

That night in Dusk’s room, Barbra was setting up her basket while Dusk was taking out his crown and placing it on his bedside table.

He stared at it for a while seeing his own reflection in the star-shaped gem inside it.

“Dusk - you okay?”

“No…I am worried.” Dusk admitted, turning to Barbra.  “I mean…why me?  Why choose me to be prince?”

“Why not?”  Barbra shrugged. “You totally know how to be prince.”

“What makes you say that?” Dusk asked, worried. “Is it because I spent ten days in the Canterlot library reading up on royals and several volumes on how to rule? What if that's not enough?”

Barbra sighed “Dusk…just relax; you’ll be fine-”

“Oh no…” Dusk gasped “What if Solaris gives me kingdom during this summit?  Or what if he gives me a test?! What if that test puts somepony in danger? What if I have to face it alone?! What if-”

“-what if you don’t get any sleep and miss the summit for tomorrow?” Barbra groaned.

“Good point…hmm, I’ll sleep the sufficient amount of rest needed to wake up early and go to the Crystal Empire library. There I will review everything on being a prince before the summit. Nothing will go wrong!” Dusk declared proudly.

“Where have I heard that before?” Barbra mumbled.

“Dusk…what the heck are you doing in a bush?” Barbra asked.

“I’m observing Bubble Berry’s berry sense.”

“Dusk I thought you got over this!”

“I know Barbra but I think I’m close to discovering how it works! Oh, look he’s twitching his tail!”

Dusk leaned further out of his bush and extended his telescope out.

“Twitchy tail? Oh snap! Gotta go!” Barbra shouted.

“C’mon Barbra – as soon as I find the source nothing can go-”

BANG!

“Ow…what the…A bowling ball?! ”

“Oh hey Dusk!” Berry called out, bouncing in towards Dusk.

“Grrr…Hello, Berry.”

“I see that my bowling ball has successfully fallen from low orbit.” Berry declared

“How is that successful?”

“Because this is where I launched into low orbit!”

“But Gleaming Shield! He’s evil!” Dusk tried to explain only to have his mouth magically zipped by his sister.

“Do you want to know why I’ve been so stressed out?! It’s because I’m trying to keep this shield spell around Canterlot up and running all day and most of the night!  Tempo has been taking care of me, not taking advantage of me!”

“But…my friends…”

“Tempo was harsh on your friends because he needed things to be perfect for our wedding! I can’t help him oversee those plans. And he made your friends all his Groomscolts because his original ones were interested having an unruly bachelor party with him. So he had a right to replace them.”

“Psst….Elusive…what’s a bachelor’s party?”

“You don’t want to know Barbra…”

“But…but…”

“No buts, Dusk Shine! You can forget about being the best colt – in fact….it’s better for you not come to wedding at all.” Gleaming Shield concluding and stomped past a tearful Dusk.

“…I…I…didn’t think things would go wrong…”

“Hey Brarbra! Prince Solaris delivered me the journal of Star-Swirl the braided!” Dusk happily announced.

“Neat! Does it contain spells?”

“Well, he wanted me to solve a specific one and cast it…I didn’t see anything happen, but I’m sure nothing went wr-.”

Elusive barged into Dusk library, wet a wet mane and panic in his eyes.

“DUSK!” he shouted.

“Elusive? Why are you okay?”

“NO I’M NOT OKAY! I CAN’T GET THE WEATHER RIGHT! AND AN ANGRY MOB OF WEATHERPONIES AND NEWS REPORTERS IS AFTER ME!” Elusive panicked

“Excuse me…you’re dealing with the weather, Elusive?” Dusk wondered

“Also what happened to you cutie mark? I thought that was Blitz’s.” Barbra added

“Impossible, Barbra! Blitz is taking care of the animals in his cottage.  I was going to help him later…”

“Dusk, what did you screw up this time?” Barbra demanded like an angry sister.

“Listen Dusk…you should not get worked up about a royal summit just because it’s your first.” Barbra stated, pulling the bed-covers up for Dusk Shine. “You’ll be fine tomorrow.”

“I’ll…I’ll try...thanks Barbra…” Dusk replied closing his eyes.  He sounded doubtful in Barbra’s words, though.

Barbra headed off to her own bed, feeling at home when the basket creaked as she cuddled up in her blanket.

Just then she heard a sharp rustle coming from Dusk’s bed.  Barbra woke up and found Dusk’s wings poking out from the sheets.

“Darn-it.” Dusk hissed and trying to get his wings back into their folding position. As he did so, one of his wings launched outwards and struck the nearby lamp.  It fragmented into several pieces when it hit the floor.

Then somepony was knocking behind Dusk’s door.

“Come in…” Dusk moaned.

In came the same female guard he had bumped into earlier today. “How may I be of assistance, Prince Dusk?”

“Uh…um…were you standing by my door the entire time?” Dusk asked, feeling awkward about having a female pony and a guard pony oversee his safety while asleep.

“No, Prince Shine.  It’s my duty to patrol the castle during night hours.” Responded the guard, in professional tone.

“Oh…okay…um please call me Dusk Shine…”

“As you wish…Shine…” the guard stated and trotted over to the pieces of the broken lamp.

“No, please. I’ll clean it up…” Dusk said, casting a reassembling spell on the pieces of the lamp, making as good as new once more.

“Getting used to your new wings, sir?”  The guard inquired.

“Yeah…You could say that…” Dusk replied, seeing his open wings. He wondered how Butterscotch was able to keep them close for so long. “Can you get me some tape?  You know, to blind these to my sides?”

“It takes time to get used to having wings, sir. I’d recommend you’d sleep on your chest, instead.”  The guard replied.

“Okay…thanks…uh…”

“Lieutenant Warden. And good night….Dusk Shine…” Answered the guard.  She saluted and then trotted towards the door, resuming her patrol.

Flare Warden couldn’t help but wonder if Dusk really was meant to be Prince material as she carried on her patrol thought the castle.  That being said, maybe he had a long way to go and was just anxious

As Flare rounded a corner, she found a crystal guard on the floor in front an open room.  Flare cautiously crept to guard as she checked her soundings. She found the he was still breathing, though there was no sign of what put him to him into an unconscious state.

I didn’t even hear him hit the floor! Flare realized.

Then she could hear the soft clop of hoof steps echoing through the castle hallways.

Creeping forward Flare kept her eyes peeled for the intruder.

Okay…he’s definitely a pony because I can hear his hoofsteps.   There’s no way he could have put that guard to sleep if he was earth pony or a pegasus…

So she was up against a unicorn.  Flare had been trained to deal all sorts of foes from high level unicorns to Ursa minors.

“Simple – grab the unicorn, throw him in in dungeon, and tell Solaris in the morning…” Flare murmured to herself as she glided silently through the hallways.

Then she came across more crystal pony guards on the floor in front of a door to a storage room.  Flare checked the guards and found that they were unconscious, too. She then proceeded into the room, finding several magical relics in glass boxes, each labeled by numbers. However, one glass box held nothing in it.

“Drat, now he’s stolen something… ” Flare grumbled, gliding back into the hallways to look for the unicorn.   Now this unicorn was thief and armed with a magical relic.

The cloaked unicorn had reached Dusk Shine’s room, opening the door enough so he could get inside without the moonlight beaming down on Dusk’s face.

The unicorn carefully strode to Dusk's bedside and levitated Dusk's crown into his own saddlebag.  Then he levitated out a plastic replica of the crown and placed it on the bed side.

Seeing as he could now make his escape, the unicorn headed to the door. However, he didn’t watch out for Barbra’s tail.  He tipped on it and landed snout first on the floor, scowling in frustration as Dusk Shine woke up.

As Dusk's eyes adjusted to his darkened surroundings, his eyes landed on the cloaked unicorn and a tiny shimmer coming from within the unicorn’s backpack.

“My crown!” Dusk yelped.  The thief glanced at Dusk with altered emerald eyes and galloped out of the room.

Dusk followed in pursuit chasing the cloaked figure rough the hallway and shouting “Stop! Thief! He's got my crown!”

His friends woke up and peered from their doors as Dusk Shine and the unicorn galloped past them.

Just as Dusk was nearing the unicorn, Flare Warden was flying in the opposite direction towards the thief that Dusk was pursing.

Then at the last second the thief teleported away, resulting in Flare and Dusk colliding with each other.

“Owww.” Dusk grumbled, rubbing his horn.

“S-Sorry, sir!” Flare dizzily responded, taking off her helmet and seeing a horn-shaped dent running along its side.

The unicorn reappeared in front of them in an emerald flash.  He was orange and his emerald eyes seemed to glow in the dark. His mane and tail were swirls that reminded Dusk of solar flares and loops spotted on the sun.

“Sundown?!” Flare gasped.

'Sundown' smirked in evil back before trotting forward.  Dusk wasted no time and teleported in front of Sundown.  The Sundown rammed into the alicorn with full force and the two wrestled and rolled into another room, which holding nothing else other than a mirror.

The crown tumbled out of Sundown’s bag as the two stallions tumbled into the room.  Sunset was the first to recover, but the crown was right next to Dusk.  The rest of Dusk’s friends and Flare Warden rushed to the scene.

Sundown raced over to Dusk, jabbing a hoof in his gut to keep him from getting up.  This caused Dusk to neigh in pain with the air rushing out of his lungs. However, this also caused Dusk’s wings to fly open and whack the crown away from both of them.

The crown ricocheted off a wall and then the floor, before it passed through the watery surface of the mirror.

“My crown! What did you do? Who are you?!” Dusk gasped.

Sundown grinned evilly and teleported next to the mirror.

“I bid you a good night...Prince.” Sundown replied, before he jumped through the mirror.

The rest of Dusk’s friends seemed dumbstruck, including Flare Warden.

“Well, let’s get him!” Rainbow Blitz shouted, zipping towards the mirror, only to have his tail dragged by Flare Warden.

“No –Just – everypony…we need to stop and think!” Flare advised. “It’s best that we consult Prince Solaris on this matter.”

“Solaris is asleep - its best we get that thief and bring him back for questioning!” Applebuck bought up, stomping his hoof. “If we wait, he’s going to get away.”

“He’s already gotten away, A.B. and…well…Darn it! How could I be stupid as to leave my crown out like that?” Dusk grumbled.

“Let’s not head into the portal-mirror-thing until we consult with Solaris in morning about the scoundrel.” Elusive declared.

“No - this is an emergency. We consult Solaris NOW!” Blitz announced, before he dashed through the hallways with everypony else in tow.

Solaris’s room was the easiest to guess where it was located; His loud snoring was almost making the room tremble and the floor creak.  The seven ponies and Barbra gathered at the door

“Well, who is going in there?” Dusk asked.

His friends glanced at each other.

“I nominate Blitz to wake up Solaris – it was his idea to wake up the Price right now.” Elusive pointed out.

“That’s a lame reason – I say we pick Butterscotch!” Blitz retorted.

“Me?” Butterscotch squeaked. “B-but I’m only gentle with animals….”

“Guys, why don’t we all go in?” Dusk suggested

“Oh, awesome. It will be like a surprise party!” Berry cheered.

“Berry! The last thing we need is for Solaris to wake up to a surprise! We need to be subtle.” Dusk shot back.

The as the stallions kept debating, Barbra said to Flare Warden “How these guys get anything done is beyond me.”

“Yeah…but it’s just waking up Solaris. Why bicker over a small issue?” Flare asked.

“I dunno...Dusk always told me never to wake up Solaris while I was growing up with him in Canterlot.” Barbra shrugged

“That’s horsefeathers. I’ll get this over with.” Flare Warden scoffed and proceed into the massive bedroom.  Dusk whispered her to come back, but Flare ignored him.

She could see the outline of Solaris’s massive alicorn body sleeping on a king-sized bed.  Flare crept closer and shook the Prince by the shoulder.

“Flare don’t!” Dusked warned. However Flare continued shaking Prince Solaris, seeing no reason to fear him.

But Solaris still snored on.

“That’s it…” Flare grumbled and forcefully nudged the Prince with her forehoof.

*Wham!*

The Prince mumbled before going back to sleep.  Flare violently nudged the price again. Dusk’s face turned Pale as he saw the Price jolt up and yelled in the royal Canterlot voice…

“ASSASSINS! ATTACKING!”

The room shook aggressively and anything not weighing a ton went flying.  A fiery blast erupted from Solaris’s horn, causing an explosion so massive, that it could even be seen blasting a chunk of the Crystal Tower out....