Two horned kings

Around the time the princesses were finished talking to Iron eye and his guards, the mane six were at the doors to the castle. They stop when they see the inactive clockwork minotaurs. Realization dawned in Twilight's light purple eyes.

"That must been a minotaur delegate!" she exclaims, causing her friends to perk their ears up.

"Correct meh if ah'm wrong, Twi, but aren't the minotaurs barbaric? Why would they use these fancy contraptions fer guards?" Applejack asks, indicating the minotaur guards. Rainbow dash wasn't listening, however, caught up in her thoughts.

'Who was that stallion? Why did he threaten me?' was currently running through her mind, accompanied by the image of his gleaming red eyes boring a hole into her...she was, for the first time since Sombra, scared. But at the same time, she felt....something, something she couldn't place.

She's snapped out of her reverie rather abruptly when she bumps into one of the minotaurs guards, throwing her off balance and garnering looks from her friends.

"You okay there, Dashie?" Pinkie asks, her eyes narrowed exaggeratedly, "You look like you're thinking pretty hard about something. Oh! I know-I know! It's that stallion from earlier, right?!" she continues, a grin spreading across her face. Strangely enough, Rainbow Dash gets almost imperceptively red at this remark.

"Psh, as if! Now c'mon, didn't you say we had to see the princess?"

Twilight nods at this, and proceeds through the castle's gold gates.

Just as they enter the door, Iron eye was heading down a hallway off to the right, followed by Fifty Caliber. Forty Five Caliber stayed behind to talk to Luna. So when the girls walked into the throne room, they immediately saw Forty Five with Luna.

Celestia gives Twilight and her friends her motherly smile as they walk in.

"Ah, it's good to see you, Twilight! Thank you for coming on such short notice." Celestia says to them as they approach her throne. Twilight gives a happy smile back,

"It's good to see you too, princess!" she says, her eyes lighting up slightly. Applejack tilted her hat, Fluttershy smiled, Rarity curtseyed, Pinkie gave an impossibly large smile. Rainbow Dash, however, was focused on the green pegasus currently talking quietly with Luna.

He was wearing a vest, the same color as his coat, and black pants made of this unfamiliar material. His white mane contrasted with his black pants, and was kept back in a ponytail. He had some long, metal object strapped to his back, between his partially folded wings.

'He's here?' she thought to herself. Just then, he stops talking with Luna and snaps his head around to observe the Element bearers. As his cold, deep red eyes met Rainbow's magenta eyes, everything else seemed to fade out. She could just barely make out...curiosity and trepidation in his gaze....and something else, something that made a cold shiver go down her spine and her wings to ruffle.

He was analyzing her.

His crosshair cutiemark seemed to shimmer, then she felt somepony shaking her shoulder. The background came back into focus, and she realizes Applejack was calling her name.

"Rainbow! What in Tarnation's gotten into you?" Applejack asks as Rainbow Dash looks at her. She can feel everypony's gaze, and goes red, embarrassed.

"Ehehe, sorry everypony..." Rainbow rubs the back of her head awkwardly, glancing over at the green pegasus. His expression hasn't changed at all.

"Ah, how rude of me," Luna says, following Rainbow's gaze. "This is one of King Iron eye's bodyguards. Care to introduce yourself?" she asks him. He steps forward, his face still unchanged.

"My name is Forty Five Caliber. Currently working with my little brother as Iron eye's bodyguards and elite soldiers." he explains, keeping composure.

'Huh, explains why he's about as emotional as a plank.' Rainbow thinks to herself.

Suddenly, something his wings catches Twilight's eye. "Excuse me, but is there something in your wings?" she asks, with a touch of worry.

He gives a nod. "Yes. Lots of somethings, actually." He answers, his eyes locking onto Twilight. Twilight raises her eyebrows in curiosity.

"If you don't mind sharing, darling, what are they?" Rarity asks before Twilight. "They give your wings a beautiful shine!"

He raises an eyebrow, "Maybe we could continue this conversation another time? You're here to see Princess Celestia if I'm not mistaken, not me." he tilts his head toward Celestia, who clears her throat.

"Well, soon King Redhorn will arrive, and I want you girls to be there when they're here." Celestia explains, giving an almost imperceptible glance at Forty Five.

"Shucks, we can do that, princess!" Applejack says, tilting her hat down, slightly over her emerald eyes. The others nod in agreement.

"Thank you. Feel free to stay at the castle, my little ponies." Celestia smiles at them, before her and her sister get up, heading down a hallway off to the right.

Forty Five Caliber looks at the girls before asking, "Any of you know where we can find a sitting room?"

"I do. Follow me." Twilight answers with a smile. She takes the lead, followed by all the other ponies present, walking down the hall King Iron eye walked through, before stopping before a door shortly after her.

They enter the sitting room, complete with three armchairs and a couch. The couch was currently occupied by another stallion sleeping on said couch. He was the same green as Forty Five Caliber, but with a black mane instead of white, and this one wore a green beret.

Forty Five raises an eyebrow at the stallion, walking to the couch. In one quick motion, he reaches inside his vest and pulls out some kind of metal contraption before banging it loudly against the thing strapped to his back, causing a loud *Clang!*

The sleeping stallion wakes with a comic start, "I didn't steal the money!!" he says quickly, putting his hands up as he bolted upright.

"I bet you didn't, Fifty, but you're taking up the couch." Forty Five says with the barest hint of a grin. Grumbling, this stallion gets up and stands beside Forty Five.

He, too, has something strapped to his back, but his is wider, and shaped differently, with a blade sticking out on one end. He's wearing a darker green vest with black pants, black mane, and the same eyes as Forty Five Caliber, but his were more....expressive. He also wore three belts across his chest; two of them holding dozens of shiny, conical objects, and the third held about a dozen green crystals.

"Ladies, this is my little brother, Fifty Caliber." Forty Five introduces the younger earth pony stallion, who gives a smile to rival Pinkie's.

"Hiya! I like waffles!" Fifty exclaims randomly, earning him looks of confusion from the mane six.

Except for Pinkie, who was smiling back. "I do too! I'm Pinkie Pie! I also like cupcakes, cake, pie, brownies, pancakes, muffins, candy, and lots of other things!"

Fifty Caliber was grinning at Pinkie Pie now, as they moved to one end of the room "We're gonna get along just fine, Pinkie."

Forty looked between the two ponies smiling at each other, and pinches the bridge of his nose, muttering something under his breath that sounded a lot like "Tartarus, now there's two of them..."

"Anyway, back to my earlier question, what are those in your wings?" Rarity says, taking a seat at the couch, joined shortly by Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle. Rainbow Dash and Applejack sit at the armchairs.

Forty Five grabs a couple feathers, shuffling them around, then pulls something out from underneath the group of feathers. They were throwing needles. At the sight of the needles, Fluttershy gives a squeak and hides behind her mane, while the other girls stared at him in shock.

"Why the hay are there needles in your feathers?!" Rainbow dash asks in shock. Forty Five puts the needles back in their places.

"Forty needles, actually. They're for silent take-downs." he explains, unfazed by her volume.

"W-well, what's that thing on your back?" Twilight asks quickly in an attempt to change the subject. He unstraps the metal thing on his back and holds it in the crook of his arm.

"This little beauty right here," he starts, with a small grin growing on his face, "is my weapon of choice. The king decided to do some research into weapons and crystals, then figured out a way to store magic energy into crystals. Then, a way to fire that energy, concentrating it into a beam. This....is the fruit of his work. The beam rifle. Punches holes the size of a pony's head through almost anything, and the wounds are instantly cauterized."

The only pony that didn't seem completely nervous was Twilight, who asks angrily, "How many weapons do you have on you?!"

"Not counting the needles, four." He replies with a straight face. "And my little brother over there has more." he adds, jerking his head towards Fifty Caliber, who was chatting animatedly with Pinkie.

Finally, Fluttershy faints, followed by Rarity. Rainbow was openly gawking at Forty Five.

'Dang, they don't play around do they?'