The Return of Flutterbat

Chapters

Chapter 1: Prologue/The Return of Flutterbat
Chapter 2: The Introduction of Evening Cloak
Chapter 3: The Devotion of Royal Guards
Chapter 4: The Intrigue of Knightly Dagger
Chapter 5: The Hunt for Cloak & Dagger

Chapter 1: Prologue/The Return of Flutterbat

Dear Princess Celestia; for my personal safety, I cannot introduce myself at this time, but you will know me soon enough. Your millennial reign over ponykind shall soon come to a long overdue end as we rise up from behind your iron hoof. You may have fooled everypony else with your propaganda over the centuries, but we shall accept this no longer.
Our primary grievance is with your first and greatest source of guilt. We speak of course about the banishment of your own sister, our Princess Luna. While we accept the reality that she did indeed transform into Nightmare Moon and try to create an endless night, having witnessed the return of her alter ego before her restoration, we posit that the original incident was only possible due to her being made to feel isolated and unappreciated despite the so-called equal status you shared.
We do not blindly accept that you were unaware of this beforehand for the following reasons: We find it hard to believe that there was no nightlife whatsoever back then, which had Luna been aware of back then, would have provided an example of ponies who did not shun her beautiful night. In fact, I would go further and conclude that for there to truly be no nightlife, it would be because an enforced curfew preventing it. Second, the idea she wouldn't raise this concern until she'd already grown resentful is incredulous and at the very least reflects poorly on your relationship prior to her fall from grace. Finally, there is what you had to gain from having all that power to yourself: The pretense for a then unprecedented military expansion in the form of the EUP guard. Ostensibly for defense needed to compensate for the loss of an alicorn, used in conjunction with the still potent threat of the windigoes returning should there be internal conflict, they were your means of expanding our territory to the whole of the continent, assimilating land previously held by griffons or used by the nomadic dragons.
Our secondary grievance is the inadequacy of your token gestures of reform: Cadence was hardly any replacement for Luna, having only recently been found something to do in running your latest territorial acquisition. The coronation of Twilight Sparkle was an example of meritocracy, but it's too little too late as far as we're concerned. Democracy on the local level is insufficient to balance out the power of the aristocracy. For these and other reasons, I declare our intention to establish a republic where power will rest with the equestrians, not just one alicorn bestowing power to those in her inner circle, maybe a horn or some wings every millennium, never to earth ponies of course, but that's a separate issue for another day. It's too early to ask for your surrender, and I intend to do so in your presence when you'll have little choice in the matter. In conclusion, prepare for the revolution; because this year, the date we strike will cease to be remembered as Nightmare Night, the holiday that mocks our Princess with exaggerated tales, and become our independence day.

Sincerely, the Commander-in-chief of the Lunar Republic of Equestria.

[******]

Upon finishing the letter, Luna is filled with a level of rage she had never experienced, including the incident that inspired the letter in the first place. She dropped it, knowing that using her magic for even the simplest thing right now would result in the use of dark magic, such is the level of hatred for the author of this slander. Celestia, having read it first, cried into her pillow, having thousand-year old emotional wounds reopened in such a malicious manner.

"Sister, I swear to you, whoever wrote this shall be sent to Tartarus one way or another. I shall see to it personally."

Celestia raised her head, wiped her tears away, and tried to keep composure. "Very well. We shall stop this before it starts by preventing this fool from gaining support in the first place. He has to recruit from somewhere."

"But you are beloved by all; where in all of Equestria would he even think to look?"

"It's not about where I'm not beloved, it has to be where you are even more beloved. Ponies who are willing to change their very forms to better serve you."

"You refer to my night guard. That does make sense."

"Is there somepony in your guard you trust enough to have them spy on the others?"

"To be honest, I never formed that kind of bond with any of them. It's only been recently I'd learned how to act informal around anypony else but you and I never had reason to suspect any of them of discontent with you. The fact this cad thinks otherwise suggests I don't know enough about my own guards."

"In that case, I have a suggestion."

[------]

In her dream, Fluttershy is on a large stage, dressed in a frilly outfit reminiscent of a Japanese pop idol or magical girl, singing before an audience that stretched as far as the eye could see. They're cheering so much as she sings into the microphone while doing some adorable dance moves.

You make my heart go flutter

You are the sparkle in my eye

When you dash to my side, I shutter

You're sweeter than an apple pie

And I hop, skip, jump, my way back to you

I hop, skip, jump, it's easy to do

So my honey bunny

you're going to love me

In return I am going to love you too.

Before the dreamscape audience could demand an encore, Luna swooped in and picked her up like an eagle and a map. "I didn't know it was your dream to be a popular singer."

"Oh, It's not. This is actually a nightmare." Luna now notices how much Fluttershy is shaking in her forelegs. Luna cradles her

"It's alright. Everything's okay. Rest now." Fluttershy falls asleep in her dream, going down a dream level and finding herself in a peaceful meadow, no longer wearing the outfit.

"I didn't fall asleep in a meadow. I must still be dreaming." Luna appears and lands on a stump that grows into a throne.

"That is correct. This is a dream within your dream. I have a matter to discuss with you of grave concern."

"Oh my. This must be important. If there's anything I can do to help..."

"An unknown threat seeks to throw the kingdom into upheaval by tearing us apart from the inside. We believe their plan involves corrupting the loyalty of my night guard by convincing them to go against my sister, in my name no less."

"That's terrible. Everypony knows that's the last thing you'd want."

"This villain couldn't care less what I want. It's all just an excuse to take us over, the same as the rest."

"So what can I do to help?"

"I wish to have you infiltrate my night guard and discover the origins and depth of the conspiracy against us."

"Me, as a guard? Why me?"

"As you may have noticed, my night guard is comprised of ponies transformed into bat ponies, to make them more suitable for their nocturnal duties. You yourself have been a vampire-bat pony before."

"I don't remember anything from when I was. You're not going to make me turn into it again are you?" She shakes a little.

"That spell you were under was just an accident caused by an unrelated spell interfering with your innate magic. My spell is basically a weaker version of the spell used to turn you into a breezie. Ordinarily, a fruit bat would be used for it, but this could work to our advantage. With the enhanced abilities of the vampire fruit bat, it would compensate for the, well, gap in pegasi ability you have."

"My friends did say I was outmaneuvering them, and Dash is the best flyer I know." As she smiles to herself the leftover fang shows.

"Since you seem to still have some residual effects from your transformation, this should be simpler. When I change you, you'll have full control of your mind. Some side effects in one's personality are common but given your personality, the worst I can imagine is apple cravings."

"Yeah, with the help of my friends..."

"I'm afraid this assignment is top secret. No one but us and my sister can know, not even other princesses. Any details about this mission can only be discussed in a dream within a dream. Knowing all this, do you accept this task?"

"Well, my animals need care and I need an excuse for being out of Ponyville."

"That will all be arranged. Do you accept or not?"

"Well, um, okay. I'll accept."

"Huzzah!" She hugs her, reacting better than before, in that at least she isn't going limp. "We must hurry. The enemy intends to make his move on Nightmare Night."

"That's such short notice."

"He wouldn't give us a lot of time. Besides, if a pony can get through Wonderbolt Academy in a week, you can get through this in the same time frame."

"I can?"

"Sure." Luna then thinks to herself. "There's a first time for everything after all."

[------]

After Fluttershy woke up she made preparations to head to Canterlot. She went with the excuse of visiting parents, and contingency plans are being made in case they try to check up on her. Mr. Greenhooves was put in charge of housesitting, another task for the old background pony who works during the day in Ponyville and during the evening in Canterlot's gated garden. Her friends see her off on the train, which is set to go straight to Canterlot, no stops. Arriving in Canterlot shortly thereafter, Luna is at the station to pick her up. She teleports them both to an isolated field.

"Are you ready for this?" Fluttershy nods, but closes her eyes. "Very well." Her horn glows and Fluttershy becomes enveloped by a now familiar to us cocoon of magic as her transformation begins. She emerges as Flutterbat, complete with transformed cutie mark. She looks at her wings and is a little disturbed, then looks at her cutie mark and is existentially so. Nothing messes with the psyche of a pony like the alteration of a cutie mark. A loss can be processed; they don't forget their destiny. Alter it, and it can make them lose sight of who they are. Fortunately for her, three bats isn't different enough from three butterflies in the context of animal care to change her sense of purpose, but it's still what disturbs her the most about this form. "Are you okay Fluttershy?"

"I, I will be."

"It was successful. Now to take you to your destination." They teleport to the night guard training grounds.

"So, do I go into a recruitment office or something?"

"No, you become a bat pony, you're in. I don't turn everypony who volunteers to join my guard into a bat pony on day one."

She has an audible gulp. "So it's straight to basic training?"

"Everypony I brought into the night guard were fully trained royal pegasus guards who volunteered. This place is meant to further train them in their nocturnal forms." Before Fluttershy can ask, "No, we don't have time to put you through pegasus guard basic training, you'll just have to wing it, so to speak." Fluttershy's limbs lock up and she stiffly falls to her side. "This is going to be a long night."

Author's Note

edit: Letter in the prologue broken up into paragraphs. The only ones the letter should frustrate is the royal siblings.
Past tense used in prologue.

Chapter 2: The Introduction of Evening Cloak

At the Night Guard training facility, located in a deep cave system in the same mountain that carries Canterlot, Fluttershy puts on her armor one piece at a time. Her only experience in putting on something like this is when she played Private Pansy in the Hearth's Warming Eve play, but real armor is definitely heavier. If she wore this as her normal pegasus self, she isn't sure she'd be able to fly in it, considering her below average wingpower. Having put all the armor on, she spreads her wings, about to test her vampire bat abilities, when a whistle pierces the brief calm. A drill sergeant yells outside the barracks.

"2100 hours, let's go! You're not pegasi anymore. This isn't time for bed, it's time to wake up!" She folds her wings and makes her way out of the armory and into the halls, following a group of bat ponies to their destination. They reach a line-up of about a dozen others, standing ready. Fluttershy joins them at the right end of the row. The drill sergeant before them had a stern expression that makes Ms. Harshwhinny look like Pinkie by comparison. He inspects the troops.

"I see we have some fresh faces around here." He notes, his attention directed near the end of the row. Fluttershy struggles to maintain composure as pressure previously only felt in Cloudsdale mounts on top of her. His next words are directed to the young stallion standing just to the left of her, to her slight relief. "You look like a colt fresh out of Canterlot Academy. You got a name little pony?"

"Sir, Evening Cloak, Sir!" Fluttershy looks over at him. He had a distinct look from the others. His eyes were, as opposed to amber, vivid amber. His coat, battleship grey. His wings and tail, therefore also his mane, were the same as the others but that's to be expected. His build wasn't as bulky as the others, more like Braeburn's.

"Did you even finish basic training before you traded feather for leather?" Evening Cloak didn't even skip a beat.

"Sir, I finished just last week, then became a bat pony two days ago, sir." He continues to get drilled.

"That didn't take you long, did it? What made you want to be in the night guard so bad?"

"Sir, I joined to protect Princess Luna. She's the reason I became a royal guard at all, sir."

"Colt, that has got to be one of the most kiss-hoof answers I've heard in my experience as a bat pony."

"Sir, I am being completely sincere. I would do anything to see her truly happy, sir." The others can only keep a straight face thanks to their discipline, a well tested characteristic of the guards.

"Very well then. Hopefully you'll be good for more than chariot pulling." He turns slightly. "Now you, I've never quite seen anything like you. It's one thing to see a mare in armor; much less a female bat pony, but this...you're clearly not a standard model bat pony. What exactly are you?"

Fluttershy meekly responds, the explanation strange to hear from others, let alone her own mouth. "A vampire bat pony."

Whether he actually didn't hear it due to it's softness or did but expects to hear 'sir' at both ends, either way he asks again. "You're going to need to repeat that and this time say it like you belong here."

She starts worrying that she's already screwing up, and so soon in her mission. She can't let herself fail now. She projects a little of 'new Fluttershy' into her voice to avoid being seen as not belonging. "Sir, I'm a vampire bat pony, sir."

"A vampire bat pony? I thought I heard a rumor the only vampire bat pony was a feral accident created by a certain novice alicorn." This touched a nerve in Fluttershy.

"You can say what you want about me, but my friend isn't just a novice. She's studied and worked harder than anypony I know to get where she is today. Oh, um, sir." A few of the others are aghast, mouths agape at that display. Others are just surprised she's friends with a princess.

"Well now, talking back like that. You think you're something real special, don't you miss vampire?"

Her wings lock up as what little assertiveness she had does the same. "Sir, no, sir."

"Oh by all means, no need for false humility now. In fact, how would you like to be the first through our obstacle course?" Words fail Fluttershy at this point, only able to make that cute squeak. Just then, Evening Cloak steps forward, his chivalrous nature kicking in earlier than he expected.

"Sir, I'd like to go first, sir." The sergeant is amused.

"Let's make this interesting. You two rookies can race with each other." He blows his whistle. "To the starting line, now." They fly over to the beginning of the course. Fluttershy mimics Rainbow's starting position hoping that will help while Cloak's starting position is reminiscent of a predator about to pounce. "Ready, set, go!" They go off, and Fluttershy manages to keep up with Cloak. The first portion of the course requires them to dodge the stalactites and stalagmites in a cave that narrows before reaching the exit. Fluttershy flaps just as hard as she can, still keeping up with Cloak. She wonders if this is because of her enhanced abilities or if he's holding back for her sake.

"Excuse me. I probably shouldn't distract you with conversation, but, you see I've never been that strong a flyer as a pegasus, so I was wondering-" The need to dodge begins as the space between the ceiling and floor decreases.

"I'm sorry, it's hard to listen like this. Can it wait till later." He does a barrel roll three times in succession.

"Oh, okay then." Fluttershy starts to see how she outmaneuvered her friends, as she avoid the obstacles just as well as this trained guard. They approach the end of the tunnel, where the trick is to fold their wings at just the right time to fit through the hole, then spread them again to avoid hitting a wall past the hole. Cloak aims for the hole and at the last second closes his wings and folds his legs, letting inertia get him through the hole. Fluttershy comes in too fast, but her instinct to fold her wings out of fear kicks in at just the right time to get through the hole smoothly in time.

Now they have moments to slow down, and Fluttershy is about to collide in midair with Cloak. He opens his wings at the right time, unaware of the impending impact. To save him, she spreads her legs and grabs him, spreading her own wings in such a way as to maximize their combined wings' surface area for wind resistance. Before he knows what's happening, together they make a soft sideways landing on the wall.

"We made it! You did great--I'm sorry, I haven't heard your name."

"It's Fluttershy. Sorry about flying into you."

"It's alright, everything's okay now. So you can let go of me." She gets off of him, blushing a little. "Now let's move on. This is still a race after all." He smiles, then flies off. "Come on." She flies after him. For the second part of the course, the walls are littered with melons that have targets painted on them. Several spears are on a nearby rack. "So Fluttershy, you know what to do here?"

"Honestly, I don't know the specifics."

"Stab melons in the center of the target until you've covered the length of the spear in them. You also have to be careful not to stab any with the princesses' cutie marks on them." She starts to notice that some of them have in the center of their targets a sun, a crescent moon, a heart, or a star. He quickly grabs a spear and gets started. Fluttershy follows his example but has difficulties stabbing both fast and accurately, especially considering her comparative lack of aggression. She prioritizes accuracy, falling behind Cloak. He's about to stab his last one when she swoops in and intercepts his strike. "Why did you block me?"
"Just look." On closer inspection, it has Celestia's cutie mark on it. He's dumbfounded.

"After I warn you to be careful, I almost make a big mistake. Thank you." Fluttershy gets her second to last melon.

"You're welcome. So let's finish this, together." They brohoof, then buck against each other's back hooves to launch themselves toward their last targets. They simultaneously finish this task, ready to move on to the final part of the course.

"This last part is a straight forward dash to the finish, where your wingpower is measured." Ordinarily, this would fill Fluttershy with anxiety, but after her performance so far, she feels confident that her wingpower will end up being a respectable amount. “So let’s give it our all.” She nods in agreement, and they go off.

They put everything into this race to the finish. Fluttershy finally understands why Rainbow Dash likes this kind of thing so much. Ironically, it’s in the form of a bat pony that she feels more like a real pegasus than she ever has before. Looking forward after her moment of daydreaming, she can’t see Evening Cloak. She thinks he must have pulled too far ahead of her, but feeling gusts of air on her tail, she starts to realize he’s actually right behind her.

To think, she’s actually in the lead. She’s not just racing against another pony, but winning as well. She gets so excited it gives her a boost in the form of her second wind. This from a pony who previously barely had a first wind. Before she knew it, she’d crossed the finish line a full second before Cloak. He takes a breather, sweating where he stands.

They were greeted by the sergeant. “Congratulations. You two finished with a wingpower of 16 and 15 respectively. You’ve earned yourselves each a nice shiny apple.” The sight of it stirs something inside her. When he tosses it in the air, she lunges at it; catching it in her mouth in midair, sucking out its juices with bestial desperation. She quickly regains her senses, embarrassed by the spectacle she made of herself. “So that’s how a vampire eats fruit.” She gallops away back to her room in the barracks. Evening Cloak follows after her.

[------]

Hey Fluttershy, I’m coming in.” She hides under the sheets on the bottom bunk. “Come on, it’s no big deal. So you really crave apples and eat them a little differently; that doesn’t matter.”

She pokes her face out of the sheet. “That’s not the point. I lost control of myself. I thought everything was fine now but I became that scary monster all the same.” She shrinks back into the sheet. He sits beside her on the bed.

“That’s ridiculous. You’re the least scary pony in here. So you go berserk around apples, and losing control can be scary, but it isn’t like you’re hurting anyone or doing anything bad. Besides, maybe you can learn to control it better; you’ll never know if you don’t try.” She comes out from under the sheet.

“I guess I can try,” she says with a whimper in her voice.

“Yeah, and I’ll be here to help however I can.” They go back out and they all spent the rest of the night doing troop exercises. At 0500 hours, it’s time for bat ponies to rest, an easy task with how exhausting their night was. Evening Cloak takes the bunk above Fluttershy. “Good morning; sleep tight.”

“Good, morning.” A quirky adjustment, but she’s too tired to think about it anymore. As she drifts off to sleep, she starts to dream. In her dream, she’s dressed up like Princess Luna, and Evening Cloak is kneeling before her. “You may rise,” she says, playing out this role unconsciously like she did the last role.

“My princess, I will protect you, however I can.” These words a clear amalgamation of his two promises in the waking world. It is at this point that the real Princess Luna gallops down on ethereal steps. She is amused.

“You can’t tell me this is a nightmare,” she says with a knowing wink. Fluttershy’s dream becomes lucid upon the entrance of Luna. Her cheeks take on the same shade of red as her transformed eyes upon realizing her situation.

“I, I, I don’t know what’s going on here, but it’s not like I was thinking this kind of stuff. My memories of the day, I mean night, just got all jumbled up that’s all.” Luna continues to smirk.

“Very well, you need not speak further about things of a personal nature. The dreamscape changes to depict the location she’s in. This is how she chooses to represent the dream within the dream. “Now tell me everything that has transpired.” She recounts the events of the night to Luna. “I see. I’m glad to see my guards are holding themselves up to high standards. That aside, the young stallion Evening Cloak intrigues me. I recommend keeping your eye on him.” There’s a bit of a pause. “He’s not suspicious if that’s what you’re worried about. Just think of it as looking out for him, as it’s clear he intends to do for you.”

“I understand. I will continue to do my best.”

“I know you will.”

Chapter 3: The Devotion of Royal Guards

Fluttershy wakes up several minutes earlier than scheduled. She gets out of bed to check on Evening Cloak. She starts to worry as his bed is empty and unmade. Fluttershy leaves the room and looks for him in the halls. Her search leads her to an unused area of the cave system. Ponies who’ve been here awhile would know not to look for somepony here, for as far as anypony knows, there’s nothing important beyond, much less in, this unexplored maze. Yet, it is here she finds him.

He’s looking into some dark corner, and in that darkness, a pair of eyes opens, their Spanish crimson hue piercing through it like a spear. She gets no closer than she needs to hear them, and hides behind a stalagmite. This mysterious figure speaks in a pitch lower than Flutterguy’s.

“So, having heard my proposal, what do you have to say? Our cause can use your passion.” She fears this may be the one she was sent here to find, filled with dread not as much about having to deal with such a menacing figure as the possibility of Evening Cloak getting involved. Even if it meant having the identity of an enemy conspirator, she doesn’t want him of all ponies to be doing this.

“You’re insane if you think you can pull off such a thing.” She feels significant relief upon hearing this, hoping that this is his rejection.

“I would be, if I were alone. My master has assembled the resources necessary to accomplish his goal. Your support would help assure it, and your precious Princess Luna would finally escape her sister’s shadow.” She returns to her previous level of apprehension. “There is still time to think about it. Until then, we will be waiting, growing stronger.” He sinks back into the darkness.

Fluttershy makes her retreat back to her bed before she is noticed. She lies in bed, worrying about the event that has transpired. Just then, she feels a hoof on her shoulder. She practically jumps out of her bed and ends up standing on the ceiling. Evening Cloak flies up to her and stands on his bunk.

“I didn’t mean to startle you. I just saw you shaking and wondered if you were having a bad dream.” She gets down and lies next to him.

“Oh, not really; it was just my nerves.” She proceeds to start a conversation, to get to know more about him. “So, you talked last night about why you came here. You mentioned something about how you would do anything to see Luna happy. You must be really devoted.” He went off into his own little world as he regaled her with his story.

“Yeah, since I was a little colt. When I was told stories about Nightmare Moon, instead of being scared, I just felt sad for her. I always thought that if only somepony would’ve stayed up late and told her she was their favorite princess back then, she wouldn’t have had to suffer so much for so long. You can imagine how excited I was when she returned. I’ve only seen her twice up close: once on her return trip to Canterlot, while she was still small; then on the day I became a bat pony, more than worth it to see her so tall and regal. Whatever ponies say about Celestia, it was Luna who was shining then.”

Fluttershy felt the need to ask, while they still had time, “What are your feelings towards-" He cuts her off, flustered.

“Feelings? I just have professional admiration and concern for her. It’s not like what you’re thinking.”

Fluttershy, innocently puzzled by his response asks, “What do you think I was thinking?” He dodges the subject.

“Never mind, it’s almost time for reverie.” She was going to ask his opinion of Celestia, but she can’t feel suspicious of him when he’s like this. He reminds her of Pipsqueak, just grown up. The thought of this makes her giggle, but before he can respond to it, 2100 hours rolls around and she gets to the bottom bunk just in time to avoid a misunderstanding as the others get up for another night of training.

[++++++]

Earlier that day, in the Crystal Empire, Princess Cadence received a message. As opposed to the lengthy rant of a letter sent to Celestia, this was more laconic and cryptic, but no less threatening. It was a corrupted crystal, with an engraving that read: We have returned. The words themselves were almost an afterthought compared to what the medium of the messages signified. At the very least, it meant somepony out there has some connection to Sombra and they can use dark magic.

“How many ponies know about this message?” She asked with grave seriousness.

“I brought it here directly after finding it. The prince allowed me through after looking at it himself. That is the extent of the message’s disclosure.” Looking at the crystal pony guard she’s talking to, the most likely source of the implicit threat occurs to her.

“I need to ask; even Sombra had guards, right?”

“Yes, many of them had defected as soon the alicorn sisters arrived and gave them hope for freedom. Others waited until Sombra was losing before they defected, though by then it became a moot point when he cursed the empire to disappear for a thousand years. After our return and Sombra’s demise, it didn’t occur to anypony that there would still be even a single Sombra loyalist left, considering it would amount to madness.”

“Well, I have to think there is. Do we have records of all the guards at that time? I think we can figure out who sent this message by process of elimination.”

“I will seek them out immediately Princess.” He galloped through the halls then stopped to ask two guards for directions to the records. “I need to look through the past records of the Crystal Empire’s royal guard.”

They looked at him, puzzled. “What happened with the guard that needed to look at the records last month?” He looked back at them equally puzzled.

“Somepony came here to look at those records a month ago? Did he do so looking for Sombra loyalists?” They were disturbed by the idea of anypony still loyal to Sombra, but more so because that wasn’t the first they heard of it.

“That was his reason. He said he needed to go search for them by royal order.” At that point, he knew what happened.

“I need to investigate them by order of the princess. She wouldn’t have made the same order twice. I hate to think it, but by royal, I don’t think this stallion from a month ago was referring to any princess. He meant a posthumous order from King Sombra.” Before they had time to process that, he inquired further. “Please tell me he gave you his name.”

“I think he told us he was called Knightly Dagger. He had the same coat and mane color as us, but his eyes were some shade of crimson. He also had a jagged scar along the left side of his face.”

“I need to report this back to the princess.” He galloped back, fearing that this Knightly Dagger may have been some infamous war criminal overlooked by the chaotic patchwork that is the empire’s history. When he made it back to the throne room, Shining Armor and a pegasus guard from Canterlot were already there. “Princess, I have urgent news regarding the threat to the Crystal Empire.”

The pegasus interjected, “I have urgent news on a threat to all of Equestria.” He gave over a copy of the seditionist’s letter for them to read. You could tell when she got to the part about her by the look on her face. When she finished, she inquired to the guard.

“This is just a copy, right?” The moment he replied in the affirmative, she magically incinerated it in anger then turned to her own guard. “I presume you came back so quickly because you have a name.” He related to her the conversation from earlier. “If I find these two threats are in any way connected, the only thing this Knightly Dagger will be able to admire about Sombra is his fate.” So began the hunt for him. Those among the guard who remembered him were surprised not by his actions or lingering loyalty, but that he survived the fall of Sombra at all.

[++++++]

Over a thousand years ago, a battalion of pegasi led by Celestia and Luna soar towards the Crystal Empire, a sight filling the oppressed ponies with hope. Among Sombra's guard, their arrival caused chaos in the ranks as posts were deserted, projectiles were purposefully missing their targets, and commanders trying to prevent this were overwhelmed and captured by their own subordinates. A spear gets tossed at the Princesses, only to be blocked by then captain of the guard. This accurate attack with deadly intent came from none other than captain of Sombra’s royal guard, Knightly Dagger. His armor was in the style of the others, but with blades added to his foreleg armor. He did not yet have his scar.

“Don’t make me have to start impaling deserters; we need those spears to take down the enemy. Now look, they didn’t bring the Elements of Harmony. They underestimate our king. Try as they might, they can’t block all our spears and arrows at once.” They looked at him like the deranged stallion he was. “What are you doing just standing around? They’re nearing the castle. Get them while they’re still in range.”

“Why should we stop them when they’re our best and only hope for freedom?” Soon after those words were uttered, Dagger had lunged at him, barely held back by three, then four others. He was enraged and struggled wildly.

“Traitor! I’ll slaughter all you traitors like Sombra will do to the alicorns. He will have their crowns as trophies to adorn his wall. You’ll see. You’ll all see.” He broke away from them and headed to the castle, hoping to be by Sombra’s side during the decisive battle. By the time he made it up there, Sombra had already engaged the Princesses in combat occurring elsewhere. He followed the trail of dark crystal structures to find him losing to them.

He throws his spear in a futile attempt to change the outcome, but the shockwave from the magical beam fired at Sombra sends it hurtling into the dark crystal structure above him, causing it to collapse on top of him. The last thing he saw before disappeared with the rest of the empire was his king being sealed away and the Princesses flying beyond his reach, unaware he’s even there.

[++++++]

When the Crystal Empire returned, he was as dazed and confused as the rest. His face hurt, but the injury to his face scarred over in the interim time. The curse ironically saved him from succumbing to that injury. He removed his damaged and cumbersome armor and wandered the empire, trying to recover his sense of self and purpose. As the dat progressed his memories from before the reign of Sombra came back first, so he went looking for ponies he knew. He was encouraged to take part in the fair, but would not let anything distract him from his duty.

That word duty in his mind opened the door to more of his memories. Anypony else wouldn’t want to remember those dark times but for him they were the glory days. He made it his mission to find his king. Soon enough, he showed up on his own. He witnessed as his king neared the crystal heart, only to lose it then be defeated once more. As Sombra started to disintegrate, the last of Dagger’s memories returned and he cried to the heavens as he lost his king again, once and for all.

He followed the path of the debris, hoping to find some piece of him to give a proper burial. Out in the snow he found a line of smoke leading him to Sombra’s horn. It was still hot. He poked it with a crystal in the hopes that something would happen. The crystal was corrupted. Having his hopes raised, he puts it in a bag, awaiting the opportunity to exact his revenge.

Author's Note

Edit: fixed typo.

Chapter 4: The Intrigue of Knightly Dagger

A drop of water falls from a stalactite and lands on the corresponding stalagmite below. Its tip had been broken off due to recent activity in the cave. Ordinarily you could hear the echo of the droplet against the stone, but it is currently being drowned out by the sounds of wood and steel clashing against each other. Among the pairs of bat ponies keeping their skills sharp in their dark surroundings are Evening Cloak and a struggling Fluttershy.

“Come on, you don’t have to hold back. Right now it feels like you’ve never sparred with anypony before.” Fluttershy continues to parry, as she pretty much has been doing up to this point. While it is quite possible she has the strength to go on the offensive, violence is already so contrary to her nature, and lethal weaponry doesn’t help to encourage her.

“Couldn’t we use something less sharp for this kind of thing?” She suggests to the young soldier who knows better.

“You’re kidding right? That was basic training stuff. We’ve reached the point where we can be trusted not to hurt each other accidently. So long as apples aren’t involved, you’ve got good control right?” She can’t exactly explain to him how much of a novice she truly is without revealing too much so she just reassures him.

“Right, of course.” He uses the other end of the spear to pull off a reverse sweep on her left hind-leg, causing her to fall unto her left side.

“I don’t know how you got through basic training.” He lends his hoof to lift her back up. As she gets back on her hooves, a whistle pierces through the noise.

“Attention!” They stand at attention, Fluttershy still getting used to the required level of readiness. “We’ve got orders from the princess herself. Tonight we will patrol the streets of Canterlot, sifting through its underbelly with a fine-toothed comb looking for suspicious ponies and objects. If the worst happens and you find yourself facing off against dark magic, you are to send out an alert and we will converge on your location. The signal is simply to screech at a pitch other kinds of ponies can’t hear. Do you all understand everything?”

“Sir yes sir.” They say in unison.

“Then move out.” They take off, flying towards the exit in double file. Meanwhile on the side of the mountain, just above Canterlot, a false boulder is pushed aside and Knightly Dagger emerges. Despite having the trademark sheen of a crystal pony coat, it has an unmistakable darkness to it, like obsidian. As he looks down upon the enemy capital, literally and figuratively, he lifts the hood of his cloak up and begins his descent down the Cliffside, galloping with a sense of purpose he's been missing for a long time.

[++++++]

Down in Canterlot, most of the citizenry have gone to sleep. The only ones up at this hour are hard workers, night club goers, and those whose activities are best left under the cover of darkness. As the pairs of bat ponies arrive and spread out, Evening Cloak and Fluttershy land nearby an alleyway is a certain curio shop that begs scrutiny. They enter, setting off the bell and eventually drawing the attention of the shopkeeper.

"How may I help you travelers?" The items in the shop are left in disorganized piles like the collection of a hoarder. Among the various knickknacks and oddities one can see the glass case that used to contain the alicorn amulet. The shopkeeper has never seen the likes of bat ponies before, let alone the Night Guard. "Nice armor you've got there; and that look; it's like Nightmare Moon's design for pegasus guards."

As he fantasized about strangling the shopkeeper, Evening Cloak explained that they are part of Princess Luna's personal guard. As it occurs to the shopkeeper what's going on here, he tries to remain calm and polite. "Ok, so what brought you to my shop this evening?"

"We came looking for possible contraband, such as cursed and/or dark magical objects." He looks around the place while the shopkeeper tries to mentally catalog the things he shouldn't have on display. Ever since Trixie, he's made it personal policy not to keep that kind of merchandise out in the open anymore, but he can never be too careful.

"I don't know what you might of heard, but I'm running a legitimate business around here." The line was too cliché to be believed by the young bat pony.

"Then you won't mind if we do a thorough search of this place" He begins to do so and Fluttershy also helps.

"Just to warn you ahead of time, the bottles with skull and crossbones on them are properly labeled and the zebra skull is just a prop." The shopkeeper is glad he's not dealing with unicorn guards, who could probably use some kind of detect magic spell or something to find his more arcane wares. Just as he thinks he's in the clear, Fluttershy makes a concerned gasp. This startles both stallions.

"What is it?" He inhales, ready to give the signal, while the shopkeeper thinks up excuses.

"This glue doesn't have an animal-safe label on it" Her partner thinks her reaction was exaggerated under the circumstances while the shopkeeper is more apprehensive than before. She explains herself timidly. "That's against some regulation, right?"

"Well, you know your rulebook I'll give you that." He looks over the glue bottle front and back. "It looks like this hasn't been regulated at all. I've never seen a brand like this." The only thing on the bottle's label is a unicorn horn diagonally placed in a circle. "Well if there's nothing else, I guess we should move on."

They're about to walk out with the glue when the shopkeeper lets his greed overtake his caution. "Aren't you going to pay for that?" Evening Cloak looks back.

"Depending on what kind of ingredients are in this bottle, you might be the one paying. If it's cleared, we'll call it even." After they leave, he double checks everything and tries to remember why he had that glue in the first place. Just as he's let his guard down, the bell rings again. This draws his immediate attention, but instead of night guards it's a pony in a cloak.

"That better not be who I think it is under there. I don't care how great and powerful you think you are, I'm in no position to sell dangerous items anymore." It turns out to be Knightly Dagger.

"How fortunate for you then that I'm not who you thought I was. Fortunate, so long as I get what I want. Otherwise, I'll show you my dangerous items." He brandishes his signature clawed gauntlet. The shopkeeper thinks he knows what he's dealing with here.

"No need to make threats here. You're obviously not with the proper authorities, so I think I can help you find whatever it is you're looking for, for the right price."

[++++++]

Later, the drill sergeant is walking by himself when he sees two of his subordinates walk into a night club. A poster on the wall advertises that DJ Pon-3 is in there tonight. He's tempted to check in on them to make sure they're not goofing off, but trusts that they're just being thorough as ordered, at least for the time being.

Just then, he sees a certain cloaked pony dashing out the alley and in case that wasn't suspicious enough, he hears the distinct and familiar sound of clanking armor. He extends his wings and begins his pursuit, flying a few feet off the ground and closing the distance between them. Right before he can tell him to stop, he comes face to hoof with the suspect's hind-legs wearing gauntlets with rear facing claws. He's about to be bucked when he uses his armored hooves to block and push against the strike. Knightly Dagger spins around to face his opponent.

"You're clearly well trained, but I don't have time for this, I have important business to attend to." They both keep their battle-ready stances.

"Oh, I'll try to keep this short. I'm First Sergeant Pepperjack, and I need to ask you a few questions. For example, who are you and what are you doing here?" He tries to think up an elaborate lie, when out of the corner of his eye he sees his target only a few blocks away: Evening Cloak and Fluttershy. He makes a feint and tries to run for it before being blocked off by a spear. "I don't think so." Standing in front of the club, they could hear a Mortal Kombat sound-alike dubstep remix song.

He claws at the spear and is parried, infuriating Dagger, who lunges at Sgt. Pepperjack only to be blocked again. "I'm losing my patience with you. You have no idea what forces you deal with." He's pushed off.

"That's my line. Now you can cooperate with me or I can take you in."

About to lose sight of them, Dagger jumps toward Pepperjack with such force and at such an angle that when he pushes his hooves against the spear, it launches him behind the sergeant, at which point he heads into the nearest alleyway zigzags through them to shake off his pursuer and catch up with the young pair. Once he catches up with them, they hear his approach and Cloak narrowly dodges a claw that cuts off his saddlebag. He goes rummaging through it and finds something that gives him a wicked smile. As he grabs it, Cloak tackles him and their eyes meet.

"You!" After exclaiming that in surprise, he gets pushed off, causing Fluttershy to rush to his side to check him for injuries. Dagger sizes up the oddity before him. He wonders if the recruitment policies of ponykind changed this much after all this time, or if she's some kind of exceptional asset.

"I would love to discuss many things with you, but I have no time left. We should meet again soon." He looks for a manehole and finding one, pries open the manehole cover jumps in just in time to be seen by Pepperjack, who fails to pursue him further as the cover is put back. He lifts it back up to find it's a four way intersection below this particular manehole.

Evening Cloak looks through his saddlebag to figure out what's missing. "Did he take something from you Private?" He keeps looking and notices one thing not there.

"Just an insufficiently labeled glue bottle we found in a curio shop. It only had a picture of a unicorn horn in a circle on the front." He tries to sift through the words he heard from him before for any clue as to why he took such an innocuous item. Sgt. Pepperjack signals the others, causing them to converge on his location. Oddly, the pair that went into the night club almost showed up last despite being the next closest to the scene

"I hope none of you were interrupted during important leads," he says looking in the general direction of the aforementioned pair, one of which hid a glowstick just in time; "but a prime suspect guilty of assault, resisting arrest, theft, and who knows else has escaped down here with an item of indeterminate relevance to our orders to be here in the first place. He is armed, dangerous, and almost certainly militarily trained. So if found, do not engage before signaling the rest of us for reinforcements."

As he gives a physical description, Evening Cloak continues his train of thought while Fluttershy worries about how dangerous this is getting. "Oh, I don't know if I can do this on my own." She thinks to herself as she begins to lose confidence. "I wish my friends were here."

"You two search from the sky. I'll head back to the cave to guard the armory." He flies off, while Evening Cloak prepares to do the same in the opposite direction. He looks back at Fluttershy, who is clearly troubled.

"What's wrong? You're not scared are you? I've never fought an enemy of the kingdom either but we trained for this. Fluttershy?" He turns around to face her.

"Who was he? He looked like a crystal pony guard, but different. He wasn't dull, just dark. And that armor; I've never seen such a scary design. What is he doing out here? What was he doing-" She gets cut off.

"Calm down, we'll find out that stuff when we catch him." She almost asked about the meeting in the dark cave corner, but decides to save it for later. They both fly off, Fluttershy taking his lead. They head toward the castle and she starts to recognize the area from the Grand Galloping Gala.

"Why are we headed to the garden?" She asks, seeing it up ahead.

"If somepony wanted to get near the castle and have the option to hide, this is the perfect place." She used to think this was the perfect place for another reason, but that's neither here nor there. When they arrive, Knightly Dagger emerges to greet them.

"So you came after all, and you brought the intriguing mare. Such lovely fangs, so long and sharp." He places his wing in front of her in a protective stance. "Have you come to a decision yet?"

"Tell me what you're planning, the full details. If I don't like what I hear, I'll bring the full force of the Night Guard down you." Fluttershy listens attentively as well, as this is her purpose in being here.

"In due time, but first consider this: For the past millennium, a single alicorn princess proved she could rule and control both the sun and moon consistently the entire time. How useful can a princess feel in that situation when her role is secondary?"

"You speak of envy. She's already paid too great a price for that feeling."

"While the elder reaped too great a reward. She might not have seen it coming, but only because she ignored everything beneath her shadow, even her sister, just like the rest did. Clearly we are two of a kind, those who reside in those shadows. You relish the night and shun the day. If it were up to us, Celestia would not have been the sole ruler of Equestria." He neglects to mention that that's true only because he supported Sombra as ruler, but that's to be expected.

"That's enough terrible things. I'm going to take you down and turn you in." Fluttershy is quite surprised, mainly because those words came out of her mouth. So much for just listening. Dagger smirks.

"That's so adorable it's giving me chest pains. Try it, and I'll return the favor." He resumes his monologue. "When it comes right down to it, your loyalty lies with Luna, not Celestia. They don't conflict now, but without the elements to aid her, the balance of power will be decided by their guards. Will you stand by her when that day comes, or-"

He suddenly gets head-butted in the neck by an irate Fluttershy, which is followed up by a kick to the exposed part of his chest, and a reverse sweep for good measure. The red in her eyes practically sparkles as prepares to kick him while he's down, only to be held back by her partner. "We were ordered not to engage on our own. What the matter with you?" She struggles, still in a berserker rage.

"We were also supposed to signal the others on sight. You said you would. How did that not qualify as not liking what you hear? Why are you just having a conversation with him again? Do you actually hate Celestia? Is that why you were going that stab that melon with her cutie mark on it?" The harshness of her own words snaps her out of it as he lets her go. "Oh my, I just..."

"Lose control of yourself again? Now I know you didn't come from the pegasus guards; you're too undisciplined, unstable. I don't know how you got among us or who sent you or why and I don't really care at this point. I kind of envy it really, that lack of restraint. As long as I can remember, every major event and holiday, every social gathering, every off day, I held back any criticism of the great Princess Celestia, lord and savior of al ponykind, ruler of all under her sun, lest I look like the crazy colt for wanting to know Luna's side of the story. So many still look at her and see the Nightmare Moon they grew up with stories about." Fluttershy feels terrible remembering how she acted around Luna last Nightmare Night.

He continues. "I didn't think I hated her. just that it would be nice to go up to her, and give her a piece of my mind; make her explain herself and see if she still feels sad about it, or if she ever did." She's saddened by seeing this side of him. It's like Discord's betrayal all over again.

"It seems you understand quite well. Shall we be going then?" He gets up and Fluttershy lets out a sorrowful sonar screech towards the heavens, tears welling in her eyes for all of five seconds before taking a hoof to the back of the head from Knightly Dagger. Evening Cloak gets on his back and carries him into the air. "She'll be alright. Now remember to fly low."

She loses consciousness as Cloak and Dagger fly off into the sunrise. As she lays there, she's found by the gardener Mr. Greenhooves at the end of his night job. He carries her away not knowing her circumstances, let alone about the approaching Night Guard.

Chapter 5: The Hunt for Cloak & Dagger

Fluttershy finds herself in a place like Sweet Apple Acres, but the trees are decayed and bare and the atmosphere is dark and foreboding, like a monster is waiting just outside her field of vision. She begins to recognize the landscape. “That’s right, my birthplace.” She turns around to see the sole apple picked by a long tongue from the shadows. Out from there emerges Flutterbat, at which point she notices herself as her normal pegasus form.

“Oh, this must be a dream.” She says to herself, trying to find comfort in that but in vain. Looking at her vampiric form from this point of view she’s terrified by it. It's not so much the appearance, but more like an existential terror. In essence, it's a corrupted version of herself. It evokes a feeling of wrongness like the uncanny valley effect. Flutterbat saps the apple in moments.

“What’s the matter Fluttercry; you faint like a goat because prince charming turned out to be a big meanie? Are you going to let him treat you like a pushover or will you let me give him the once over?”

Suppressing her feelings of distress, the familiarity of that attitude prompts a response. “Now wait a minute, I don’t think it’s too late for him. If we just explain things maybe he’ll understand.” Flutterbat scratches at the ground and suddenly spreads her wings, causing Fluttershy to flinch.

“Maybes are her babies, remember? Macho military stallions only understand force. With my power, we can kick all their flanks singlehandedly. We don’t need anypony’s help anymore.”

“I don’t like this. You’re scary, but not like I first thought. You’re everything I don’t want to become.”

“More like afraid to become. You think you’re too pure and innocent for this? You didn’t learn aggressiveness from me. I didn’t rampage through Ponyville on a rage bender until I called my friends lives wasted effort. Maybe you would rather we deal with Evening Cloak like those animals that rejected you? Just chase him down or set up a trap, then demand that he love us?” Fluttershy begins to cry.

“Please stop.” She begs through the tears. “I can’t take this anymore.”

“In that case, why don’t you just let me take care of everything? Give me control, and all your pain will go away. You can just keep sleeping peacefully.” As she reaches out her hoof towards Fluttershy, a wall of one-way mirrors rises from the ground to isolate her, and Luna descends to Fluttershy’s side.

“It seems I have made it in time. I can tell this is no ordinary nightmare. I did my best to stabilize your mind when I returned you to that form, but it appears to have attached itself to your base instincts and is using your own negative thoughts and feelings against you, a circumstance I am disturbingly familiar with.”

“That reminds me, I’m so sorry for the way I reacted to you last Nightmare Night. It was rude and I should have been more understanding.” Luna places her hoof under Fluttershy’s chin.

“It’s okay. Now dry your tears. Do not forget, you have an inner strength that is not based on aggression, but compassion. You will find it far more effective.” Flutterbat can only listen, but knows they can see her, so smirking, she gives her two bits.

“Mama Luna successfully coddled you this time, but eventually you’ll need me to do what you’re too soft to do. Until then, I’ll be here, waiting.” She vanishes with the rest of the dreamscape as they move on to her mindscape, where her memories of last night play on several floating screens at once, providing Luna an expedient summary of the events.

“It seems you had quite an eventful night. Ah, here we are. This is what prompted that mission: I received word of a remnant of Sombra’s guard, Captain Knightly Dagger, and wanted to know if he was related to our mission. It turns out our suspicions were correct. This is especially bad because more than a few of the other highest ranking members of Sombra’s guard are still unaccounted for, having escaped because of the Crystal Empire’s collective amnesia. Wherever he is, by noon he’ll be the most wanted stallion in Equestria.”

“Princess Luna, before you’re done looking through all that I should tell you…” It was too late as she witnesses the memory of Evening Cloak’s betrayal. “I know this looks bad but I promise I am going to try to bring him back to his senses. I just need to clear up all the confusion he has.” Luna can barely contain her anger, for it is one thing to pragmatically suspect a bat pony turncoat but to see it, and know it really is because of a warped sense of loyalty manipulated, it’s all too frustrating.

“You really are too kind Fluttershy. If you’re that confidant, you can have 24 hours with conditions: You’ll need to find him before anypony else does and before he commits crimes of his own. Though I warn you, if your plan of mercy fails, he’ll be at my mercy. Now hurry.”

[------]

Fluttershy wakes up in a moving wagon. As she becomes aware of her surroundings, she sees that it is Mr. Greenhooves pulling the wagon. Worried that she’s getting too far away from where she needs to be, she addresses him.

“Excuse me, but I needed to stay in Canterlot. How far are we?” He turns around to notice that she woke up. It then occurred to her that she’s still a vampire bat pony and she knows him. She has no idea how she’s going to explain this.

“We’re a stone’s throw away from Ponyville. Sorry to drag you here but I needed to get to my day job. I’m house-sitting for a young mare, and she has a lot of animals there too. You actually remind me a lot of her, but she’s a regular pegasus with three pink butterflies for a cutie mark instead of bats, her colors are brighter, and her eyes are, well different. Not just the color, you have more of a determined look. The mare I know; I’ve only seen her shy or annoyed.” Fluttershy can’t believe he doesn’t recognize her, but he has a point; her appearance is so different and there are plenty of ponies in Ponyville that coincidentally look similar to each other.

“So why did you bring me with you? You can tell from my armor I’m in the night guard. You could have just left me there.” He strokes his beard.

“Now how could I do that? You needed immediate attention; the animals needed me to get back in time; so I set up an arrangement that allowed me to do both.”

“Okay, I guess I understand. So, between this and the private garden in Canterlot you must do so much every day and night.”

“Well, most of the year the garden is only a few hours work so I get in enough sleep. I’ve always had a good work ethic.” She gets out of the wagon and flies next to him.

“I really need to go but before that, did you happen to see anypony in the garden besides me?”

“Oh, was I supposed to?” She’s disappointed, till he adds, “However, I think there’s some strange activity in the Everfree Forest. I don’t know if you’d be interested in that; whatever went in there would probably be pretty hard to find even for a member of the guard such as yourself. I’m sure the zebra who lives there can handle it, considering there are few things in Equestria more dangerous than what already lives there.”

“Thank you, I need to go now.” She rushes to Zecora’s hut assuming the worst. It takes her mere minutes to get there, and already her fears are stoked by the zebra’s door lying in splintered shards around the doorframe. She rushes in, ready to fight the first non-striped equine she sees. The place has clearly been ransacked, Zecora has been hogtied to her own stick, and a gag bit was placed in her mouth. Fluttershy comes to her aid, removing the bit from her mouth before moving on to her ropes.

“Thank you for helping me, but could it be? You look so different; I wonder why; yet somehow I know you are Fluttershy.” She feels some relief that there is no sign of fear in Zecora; she always was so wise and understanding. She finishes untying her.

“Yes, it’s me. I would like to explain things, but I can’t right now. Anyway, it’s more important that I know what happened to you.”

“It started when somepony broke down my door and a stallion in armor held me down on the floor. Another came in wearing a cloak with a hood and I started to struggle as much as I could. His partner was ordered to take my herbs and potions then he warned me to stop any motions.” Fluttershy thought to herself that there’s no way it was phrased like that but is polite enough to indulge the compulsively rhyming zebra.

“So with my inventory he filled up his bag while in my mouth was put that gag. After that I was tied up with that rope and with these events it was hard to cope. I told them without knowledge the potions would not work but after my warning he gave me a smirk. He ordered the theft of several books, but before I get ahead of myself let me tell you their looks.”

“I can already guess: Crystal earth pony stallion with clawed armor and a scar and crimson eyes. The other was a bat pony wasn’t he?” She dreads hearing the confirmation she fully expects.

“Your description of the first is quite correct but the identifying features of the other I could not detect. There was a symbol on his cloak that I thought bizarre. It was a crescent moon with wings and in the middle a star.” She drew the symbol for her. “So after that they left me there on the floor. Sorry that I can’t help more.”

“This has been plenty of help, thank you so much. I should hurry and follow their trail. Oh, and don’t tell anypony in Ponyville about me, it’s important for what I’m doing to stay covert.”

“I understand and wish you well, but there’s one more thing I need to tell. Even when you think you need to do things on your own, never forget you are not alone.”

“Thanks Zecora. That means a lot to me.” She hugs her than goes on her way. She flies around looking for some kind of trail to pick up. She finds this difficult without tracking experience and in an area as scary and chaotic as the Everfree Forest. She decides it would be easier to just fly above the canopy, head in the direction of Canterlot, and hope she finds them along the way.

[++++++]

Meanwhile in the castle in Canterlot, a generic unicorn guard goes over a report to Princess Celestia. After having gone over the details of last night from Pepperjack, he summarizes the current status of relevant parties. “Uncle Wing’s curio shop was reported by the aforementioned shopkeeper to be visited by the prime suspect, Knightly Dagger, shortly before his confrontation with Sgt. Pepperjack. Nothing was stolen, but most of the inventory was strewn about as though something was being searched for haphazardly. When asked about this, Uncle Wing claimed that it always looked that way, which was confirmed by an earlier report from the alicorn amulet incident.”

He flipped over to the next page. “The suspect is currently at large and two fresh recruits of the night guard are M.I.A.; Fluttershy and Evening Cloak.” Princess Celestia had quite the serious look on her face as she took in the information.

“Concerning Fluttershy, my sister made contact with her through her dreams and confirmed her wellbeing. As for the others, it goes without saying they must be found. Also, pertaining to a report from the Crystal Empire, any former members of Sombra’s guard currently unaccounted for are suspect until proven otherwise.”

“It’s rather unfortunate that Knightly Dagger made off with those records, but the guards at the Crystal Empire should remember our suspects and share their intelligence with us later today.”

[++++++]

Meanwhile somewhere in the Unicorn Range, just west of Canterlot, Cloak and Dagger rendezvous with 3 crystal stallions that currently lack much of their luster, indicating their lack of morale or enthusiasm. From left to right from the pairs’ perspective: One has a coat of old mauve, a mane of dark tangerine, and eyes of dark cyan. He wears a goatee and has a gold cage for a cutie mark. The next has a coat of violetish gray, a mane that matches Fluttershy’s coat, and eyes of a shade of green known as harlequin. He wears his mane is in a pompadour and his cutie mark is a bastion with two crossed lances slightly overlapping it. Finally, a crystal pegasus with his mane and coat colors inverted from the norm for crystal guards. This seemingly makes him the twin of the other crystal pegasus that once escorted Princess Cadence on her train ride to Ponyville. His cutie mark is a riding crop.

“Allow me to introduce Lieutenant Lance Bastion, 2nd Lieutenant Gilded Cage, and Warrant Officer Cropton. Gentlecolts, this is Evening Cloak.” He lifts back his hood.

They salute their captain and then the lieutenant addresses him first. “You brought an interesting specimen. When did the princess of the night get the idea to do that to a pegasus? But seriously, have you been wearing that armor this whole time? It’s rather conspicuous. We came here out of uniform and ponies assume we’re tourists.”

“No offense, but I have my pride. I haven’t needed much stealth yet so I won’t remove my armor behind enemy lines. I’m must always be ready for combat. If we were to be ambushed here, you’d all be vulnerable.”

Cropton interjects. “The bat pony isn’t wearing armor under his cloak. What’s protecting him?” He sees the tip of a spear close to his face.

“That would be the well-hidden spear that my long flowing cloak covers.” From the brief time the cloak was opened, one could see his cutie mark is a cloak with a popped collar. Cropton panics a little, not used to having a weapon raised against him. His expertise was more as an overseer.

Gilded Cage takes his turn to speak. “What rank is this colt?”

“He’s a private of all things. I hate to admit it but modern Equestrian military training gets good results. I have to think being hoofpicked by Luna herself and the effects of the transformation are big factors as well.”

“So now he’s working with us? What guarantee do we have he’s not a double agent?”

“If he is, he’s the only one that knows it. After what we did, he should become the second most wanted stallion in Equestria, after me of course. Now let’s go over the spoils.” Evening Cloak takes out the potions and herbs carefully, as well as the book that comes with them. Knightly Dagger picks one up, then flips through the pages. “This is perfect! According to this, a few drops of this on your tongue will make you immune to magic for twenty-four hours.” The three stallions regain their crystalline sheen as they gain confidence in their chances.

“Anypony still doubt me? Remember, there’s more where that came from.” The former Sombra guards maniacally laugh as they gather around the supplies. Soon they will plan for battle.