The sun was slowly coming up over the Canterlot skyline as the morning fog drifted across the cobblestone streets. Somewhere, a rooster crowed, informing the city the day had begun. While most ponies were just waking up, a small group had already gathered in the town center.
Whispers went through the crowd as they watched the Canterlot firing squad preparing their rifles. The unicorns all looked grim and kept their eyes focused on their work. The captain of the squad, Shining Armor, walked up and down the line of stallions, supervising them. Every now and then, he’d glance over at either the crowd or the pony that was to be executed.
“Why’s it have to be a filly?” one of the firing squad asked as Shining Armor passed by. The stallion was shaking as he tried to assemble his rifle, avoiding his captain's eyes.
Shining Armor stopped in front of the stallion and got down low to speak to him. “I don’t care that it’s a filly. I wouldn’t care even if it was one of us. I wouldn’t care even if it was my own wife. We have our orders, and we will follow through with them,” he whispered through clenched teeth. The stallion nodded and Shining Armor turned again to look at their target.
Standing blindfolded, before the crowd of onlookers, was a little pink filly with a bow in her red mane. She barely looked to be five years of age, and her knees were shaking. Earlier, when the firing squad had tried to latch the shackles around her ankles, they had slipped right off. They’d had to call in a blacksmith to bring down child-sized shackles, delaying the execution by an hour. The whole mess was supposed to be done with before any civilians had been given a chance to gather.
Now, there were scores of ponies waiting for something to happen. Shining Armor looked over at the crowd nervously, and then looked to his firing squad. They had their weapons assembled and loaded, and were simply waiting on his orders. He raised his hoof slowly, commanding them to bring up their rifles. Their different colored auras surrounded their rifles as they held the scopes to their eyes and looked at the filly.
The wall behind the filly was riddled with bullet holes that had been put there over the years. Canterlot didn’t see many public executions, and hadn't seen one in decades. The last time there was one, it had taken two stallions thirty shots to actually hit the target. It was the mentality of taking a life that caused trained marksman to miss.
This time, only one of the eight stallions had a live round in their rifle and the rest had blanks. None of them would know who was responsible for the kill. It would hopefully provide peace of mind (and improved accuracy).
“At the ready!” Shining Armor shouted.
...
...
“Take aim!”
...
...
The crowd held their breath and it seemed as if all the world had stopped for that moment in time. The firing squad held their weapons steady, pointed directly at the little filly. A few closed their eyes as they prepared to pull their triggers. A gentle breeze ruffled the filly's bow and a single tear rolled out from beneath the blindfold.
Just as Shining Armor shouted, “FIRE!” a ball bounced out in front of the firing squad. They only barely managed to pull their shots as a pink filly with a bow in her red mane ran out to fetch the ball. The one real bullet that was fired embedded into the wall; just above the blindfolded filly’s head. The two identical fillies stood frozen in front of the firing squad; one by shackles, one by fear.
The mother of the filly ran in and scooped up the child. She quickly retreated back into the crowd, trying to silence the cries of her daughter. The firing squad looked to their captain. Without a word, he produced eight more bullets from within his jacket.
Even though the blindfolded filly could not see, she moved her head around as if to check on her surroundings. Once she was sure of her mortality, she sighed and tried to move. The shackles tightened and the filly nearly fell forward. She whimpered and tugged at the restraints futilely. With their weapons reloaded, the firing squad got into place once more.
A small commotion started at the back of the crowd as a stallion began pushing his way toward the front. He could see the firing squad aiming down their sights, and he knew he wasn’t too late. Biting down harder onto the scroll he held between his teeth, the stallion broke from the crowd.
“FIRE!” Shining Armor shouted.
“WAIT!” the stallion screamed, jumping out in front of the Captain. Once again, the firing squad pulled their shots, narrowly missing the filly.
Shining Armor glared at the pony that had interrupted the execution, and shouted, “This had better be good!”
“It is!” the stallion panted, picking up the scroll he’d dropped. He presented it to Shining Armor and waited for him to read it.
The Captain recognized the wax seal as that of Celestia. He opened it and began skimming through the document. His eyes went wide as he reached the end, and he let it fall to the ground.
“Sir?” a member of the firing squad asked nervously. “What are your orders?”
He ignored the question and looked back to the stallion that had brought him the scroll. “Is this a joke?” he asked, pointing to the scroll. “This has to be a joke!”
The messenger shook his head and said, “It’s no joke, I’m afraid. Celestia has given me my orders, and now you have yours.”
Shining Armor looked to the filly still standing before the confused crowd. He gritted he teeth and turned to his firing squad. “You’re dismissed,” he said with irritation. The stallions looked at each other and slowly began disassembling their rifles.
“So that’s it there, I’m assuming,” the messenger said, pointing to the pink filly. He started walking toward the bound filly, but Shining Armor ran ahead of him.
“Yes, it is,” Shining said, blocking the messenger. “You just let me take care of this part, and I’ll meet you at the castle.”
The messenger raised one eyebrow and stepped around Shining Armor. “As I said, Captain, you have your orders and I have mine,” he said, peering at the filly inquisitively. “My orders are to ensure the safe escort of this creature.”
Before Shining Armor could stop him, the messenger lifted the filly’s blindfold. It looked at him with glowing green eyes and a big smile. With a flash of green flames, the filly suddenly became an exact duplicate of the messenger. The filly’s new hooves shattered the shackles binding it, and it took off through the crowd.
“You idiot!” Shining Armor shouted at the messenger. He ran off into the crowd, following in the filly-turned-stallion’s wake. After the messenger recovered from his shock, he too gave chase.
Shining Armor followed the series of green flashes through the crowd as his target changed forms several times. Despite taking on the appearance of different ponies, it never stopped to try to blend in. All Shining had to do was keep following the only running pony. Eventually, the creature decided on a rugged stallion appearance and pumped its new, powerful legs faster.
It sprinted down an alleyway and knocked over every trash can it passed. Shining Armor skillfully jumped the obstacles and began gaining on his target. He followed the imitator down every turn it took, eventually coming to a dead end.
“I’ve got you now!” Shining Armor shouted to the trapped stallion. It began slowly back pedaling from the wall, looking around panicked. “Just give up!” Shining shouted. He cautiously approached his target, only to have it turn and look at him with glowing green eyes. The stallion’s fur burst into green flames and when the fire went out, Shining was looking at an exact copy of himself.
The fake Shining Armor jumped onto the real one and they began tumbling around on the dirty alley floor. Hooves flailed madly from within the tangled mess of white and blue stallion. When they finally separated, both had cuts and bruises across their bodies. They glared at each other and panted for a moment. The Shining Armor that had taken the worst of the beating tossed his torn jacket to the side. Before it even hit the ground, it turned to ashes.
“Is this really necessary?” the now jacketless Shining Armor asked. The duplicate's voice sounded exactly like Shining Armor's.
“I’m just following orders,” the real Shining Armor replied.
The imitator scoffed. It stood still as the real captain of The Guard slowly approached. Shining Armor was inches away when the imitator’s horn began glowing green. A trashcan lid levitated from the side of the alley and zoomed towards Shining’s head.
He dropped to the ground, narrowly avoiding the projectile. It clanged off the opposite wall and returned to the stallion controlling it. Without a word, the imitator jumped onto the metal lid and used it to levitate into the air. Shining Armor watched as it zoomed up and out of the alley.
That was a trick the captain had never seen before. He looked around frantically until he found a metal lid of his own. Using his magic, he levitated it above the ground and tried to stand on it. His knees wobbled as he tried to balance, but it slipped out from underneath him. Of course, it wasn’t as easy as it had looked.
Shining had to think fast or risk losing his target. Something creaked behind him, and he turned to see a pony with a chef hat, scraping garbage into the alley. The pony looked at Shining nervously, as if he were a city ruffian, and went to close the door he’d come out of. Before he could, Shining ripped the metal door off its hinges with his magic.
He jumped and planted his hooves onto the door with a clang and soared out of the alley. The door knob served as a hoof-hold and allowed him to stay atop the makeshift vehicle as he climbed higher into the sky. The experience was exhilarating, similar to the flights his alicorn lover had taken him on. But he had no time to enjoy it, and he looked around frantically for…well…himself.
A streak of white, blue, and green shot across the rooftops, and Shining Armor willed his door to follow it. The imitator looked back to see his pursuer gaining rapidly, and dipped down into the streets. Civilians screamed and jumped back as the stallion weaved erratically between ponies and shopping stalls.
“Out of the way!” the real Shining Armor shouted as he and his door barreled down the streets. The confused ponies dove to avoid what would have been the strangest death to date. Sparks flew up from the cobblestone as Shining Armor’s mount scraped the streets.
His target was much more nimble and experienced and took off into the air once more. Shining began gaining altitude and looked back to make sure none of the civilians had been harmed.
A mare was humming quietly to herself as she put out her laundry to dry. She took a large white bed sheet and began pinning it along the clothes line that ran from her 5th story window. Shining Armor turned in time only to watch the sheet engulf him and his door. He spun out of control and crashed through the side of a different building. The ponies within all screamed and fled from the sheet covered object.
Shining Armor stuck his head out of the sheets and looked around at the confused ponies. The door he’d ridden into their home had suffered severe structural damage and he knew it was no longer air worthy (not that it had been in the first place.)
“I’m borrowing your door!” he shouted, ripping the fancy wooden door nearest him off of its hinges. “I promise I’ll bring it back!” With that, he jumped onto the door and levitated out of the hole in the wall, and back into the streets.
His new door was much lighter and had perfect carved wedges his hooves could lock into. He soared into the air just in time to see his impersonator dive out of sight. Shining flew to the spot he’d seen himself disappear and landed carefully.
It was another of the many dark, dirty alleyways of Canterlot and he looked around cautiously. The sound of hooves against cobblestone echoed off the walls and a shadow appeared in the distance. Shining Armor braced himself to confront his target, but it was the messenger galloping towards him.
“Did you see it?” Shining shouted to the exhausted pony. The stallion ran up to him and stood panting for a few moments. He waited to catch his breath before speaking.
“It ran back that way!” the messenger shouted in between breaths. “I came to find you as quickly as I could!”
“Thanks— now let’s go!” Shining shouted taking a few steps forward. He froze when he saw the messenger now standing at the end of the alley in front of him.
“Behind you!” the new messenger shouted. Shining Armor felt something smash against the back of his head and he fell to the ground. Stars danced in front of his eyes as he turned over to look at the one who had harmed him. The first messenger he’d encountered stood above him, smiling, and its eyes flashing green. With a burst of green flames, it turned back into Shining Armor, complete with a new jacket.
It used its magic to levitate a trashcan lid and attempted to take off into the skies once more. Shining Armor focused his magic on the door he’d ridden to the alleyway and sent it smashing into the airborne imposter. The door sandwiched the impersonator against the alley wall before splintering into several pieces.
The duplicate Shining Armor fell to the ground and writhed in pain. The green flames slowly made their way over its body, burning away the false image. What was left behind was a black and green insect-like creature. It had a short little horn, filmy green wings, fangs, and large holes in its legs.
It looked up at Shining Armor with big green eyes before having the blindfold thrust back over its head. The real messenger tossed a set of metal shackles onto the ground, and Shining Armor latched them securely onto the creature’s legs.
“The princess better have a good reason for wanting this one alive,” Shining grumbled as he hoisted the creature back onto its feet. “Thing!” he shouted into the creature’s ear. “Can you walk?”
“I have a name, you know,” the thing mumbled. “But yes, I can walk.” As soon as Shining received his answer, he pulled forward forcefully on the restraints. The creature fell forward and smashed its face onto the cobblestone. “You easily could have warned me we were—”
Shining Armor pulled the thing back up and continued walking out of the alley. “You keep quiet until we’re at the castle, changeling,” he muttered. The chains rattled against the cobblestone as the three made their way through the streets. Many ponies stopped to stare at the strange sight.
The castle guards saluted Shining Armor as he led his prisoner onward. They were not allowed to express emotion, but many looked at their captain with concern, and his captive in disgust. Two guards stepped forward to open the large doors to Celestia’s chamber, and Shining nodded to them silently.
The doors swung open and the three walked into the elegant hall. Atop a large marble staircase sat the Princess of Equestria, in all her grandeur. Both the messenger and Shining Armor bowed before her, while the blindfolded changeling remained standing.
“Thank you, Red Letter, I see you delivered my message in time,” Celestia said, addressing the messenger. He bowed once more and backed up to leave. The guards shut the door behind him, leaving only Shining Armor and the changeling in the chamber.
“Princess, what is this about?” Shining shouted, stepping toward the ruler’s throne. “I was given orders to execute this vile creature!”
“Standing right here,” the changeling mumbled.
“Those orders were not given by me,” Celestia replied. “The orders that I have given you are the only ones you are to follow.”
Shining Armor stammered, “Your Highness, if I may contest, I—”
“You may not contest,” Celestia interrupted the captain. “This creature is guilty of no crimes.”
“But it’s an abomination to pony-kind!”
“Still here,” the changeling said.
“I have no time to argue with you, Captain,” Celestia said sternly. “I’ve called you here to discuss matters of national security.”
“Yeah, national security, like these freaks parading around, impersonating good ponies!”
“I don’t like you,” the changeling said, looking to where he heard Shining Armor’s voice coming from.
Celestia walked down from her throne and approached the two. She towered over Shining Armor and looked down at him with a bemused expression. “I have been aware of this creature’s presence in our kingdom for several years now. At no point has it caused any harm or trouble.”
“She speaks the truth,” the changeling said. “I’ve never wanted to—”
“You speak when spoken to, monster!” Shining Armor shouted.
Celestia shot the stallion a freezing glare. “This changeling does not serve under Chysalis, and I believe it could be a useful ally to us; more specifically, an ally to you.”
Shining Armor and the changeling both looked to the princess in confusion. “What are you talking about? What do you mean, ‘an ally to me’?”
“There’s trouble stirring in the west,” Celestia said, walking to one of the many stained glass windows in the hall. “I need to send you out there to investigate, but I cannot send you alone.”
“Then give me soldiers, not a changeling!” Shining Armor objected. “Just because you think it doesn’t serve Chrysalis, doesn’t mean it can be trusted!”
“Are you questioning me?” Celestia asked, turning to her captain. He suddenly felt very small and shook his head, trying not to look at the Princess. “Good,” she said, turning to the window once more.
The blindfolded changeling shifted uncomfortably in its shackles. It didn’t like what the princess was saying any more than Shining Armor did. And it especially didn’t like how she’d known it had been in Canterlot long before the Queen decided to invade.
“If I were to send you out there with troops, it would look like Equestria was invading. On top of that, it would weaken our defenses here, where we need it most,” Celestia explained.
“But why me? Why the changeling?” Shining Armor asked.
“Yeah, why me?” the changeling asked.
“Shining, you are the best at what you do, and I need your skills out there,” Celestia said. She then turned to the changeling and said, “You, little changeling, have a very special ability. This mission requires stealth and cunning and you possess both.”
“There are a hundred stallions in the battalion that could fill those needs!” Shining Armor objected, but Celestia ignored him.
“I will grant you your freedom and ensure your protection if you do this for me,” she said to the changeling. Using her magic, she removed its blindfold.
It blinked rapidly, trying to get its bug-eyes to adjust to the light. For the first time, it got to look at the merciful Princess up close. “I’ll do anything you ask,” it said, closing its eyes and bowing.
Celestia smiled and then focused on Shining Armor. “Can you do this for me?” she asked. “Will you take up an alliance with this creature?”
Shining Armor grumbled as he looked back and forth between Celestia and his prisoner. “I have no choice,” he said at last. “But if anything happens, Cadence had better be told the truth.”
“Thank you, Captain,” Celestia said.
“So what exactly is this threat to national security? Because if it’s another changeling invasion, I think we’re already in trouble,” Shining said, looking to his new “partner”.
“It is something of which I’m not entirely sure,” Celestia said, stepping away from the two. She began walking down a corridor and indicated for them to follow. The changeling still had its eyes closed and was still bowing. Shining Armor tugged on its shackles, startling it into an upright position.
“Come on, you,” Shining said, giving it another tug.
“As I said once before, I have a name,” the changeling said, following behind the stallion.
“Don’t care,” Shining replied. He followed Celestia down the hallway until they reached a large door. He’d seen the door in his patrols, but never gotten to enter it. Celestia removed a key from her flowing mane and levitated it into the keyhole. There was a clunk as the key turned, and the door swung open.
“As you know, to the west lies the Barren Lands,” Celestia said, leading them into the room. A beam of her yellow magic shot from her horn and hit a metal coil that hung from the ceiling. Machines whirred to life and light bulbs flickered on, illuminating the room. In the center of the room was a large table with a miniature three dimensional map of Equestria.
“The Barren Lands, yeah, that’s where this thing is from, right?” Shining Armor asked, pointing to the changeling.
“There are far worse creatures out there, let me tell you,” the changeling responded.
Celestia nodded. “There are also colonies of ponies that do not live under my rule, and that’s where our problem lies.” She walked to the table and pointed to a dark area of the map. “I’ve kept my eyes on them as best I can, but their recent activities have begun to evade me.”
Shining Armor and the changeling peered at the map where Celestia was indicating. There were several town names written around a big, red X. Shining Armor didn’t recognize the names, but the changeling knew every one. It had passed through most of them when it migrated to Canterlot.
“There have been rumors of ancient machines being unearthed in the Barren Lands; technology long since lost,” Celestia said. “That is all I’ve heard from the scattered rumors, which is why I need you two to investigate.”
“You can count on me, Your Highness,” Shining Armor said.
“I hope that I can count on both of you,” she said with a smile. “You’re going to need each other out there.”
Shining Armor looked at his partner and put his nose into the air. The changeling just looked at the stallion in quiet contemplation. Celestia levitated a small model train from under the table and placed in next to the Canterlot Castle on the map.
“You’ll be leaving here tomorrow morning by train. I will be preparing everything you’ll need, so until then, I’d like you two to get better acquainted with one another. The Barren Lands ponies are ruthless and deceitful, and you’re going to need to rely on each other to survive out there,” Celestia said, pushing the two together.
They looked at each other and quickly separated. Celestia smiled and used her magic to undo the changeling’s shackles. Shining Armor got ready to give chase, but the changeling simply remained where it was, rubbing its sore ankles.
“You two should at least introduce yourselves,” Celestia suggested.
“Shining Armor,” Shining said quickly, not looking at the changeling. It had already known the stallion’s name. It must have heard it said a hundred times while in custody. Eventually Shining Armor looked over at his new partner and waited to hear its name. “And you are?” he asked at last.
“Me?” the changeling asked. “My name’s Normal."
"Yeah?" Shining Armor asked. "If you ask me, you're anything but normal."
Author's Note
This is gonna be a long one guys. My goal is at least 200,000 words total for this action packed epic. I will try to keep updates regular (one a week if not more) and it will hopefully be completed before 2015.
