The Secret Guard

“I understand that this may be difficult for you Good Service,” Fast Shield’s partner Strong Armor soothed to the distraught mare, “but we need to know what the ponies you served a few days ago looked like. It could be vital to finding River Bed.” Fast Shield frowned at Strong Armor’s belief that the only out of towner’s were automatically responsible for River Bed’s disappearance; from what his family said River Bed spent his time diving along The Windigo River and could have been easily swept away. But then came the argument that his Cutie Mark was a river so it was unlikely that he’d of all ponies would have been caught off guard.

“I don’t remember!” Good Service tried to explain. “It was a busy day and they were so quiet, except when the mare yelled out for some reason, and just left after they paid. They didn’t bother anypony.”

“Well they could’ve bothered River Bed.” Strong Armor pressed. “They show up, just wander around town, buy a shovel, and then River Bed goes missing the same day?”

“…I- I think that the unicorn had a grey coat?” Good Service guessed after a moment and Fast Shield just closed his eyes and sighed.

“We should be searching along the river.” He argued, his wings twitching to get out of the police station and take to the skies. “We’ve already got their physical descriptions, if their still in town we’ll find and question them eventually.”

“We’ve got conflicting descriptions.” Strong Armor shot back, using his greater body mass to rise up to Fast Shield. “The mare either has a brown coat with a green mane, green coat with a yellow mane, or yellow coat with brown mane. The other stallion is no better; half the ponies we asked said he was a pegasus for Celestia’s sake! The only consistent one was the unicorn.” He reminded and something turned in Fast Shield’s stomach. Descriptions could vary especially when ponies had no reason to pay attention to somepony but the differences they had heard were staggering to say the least. What tribe a pony was descended from wasn’t something you’d get wrong even with a glance.

“I’m sorry but can I go to the bathroom?” Good Service asked suddenly and grapped Fast Shield and Strong Armors’ attention from each other. “I just need a moment to collect myself.” They shared a quick glance and Strong Armor sighed.

“Bathroom is up the hall to the left.” He gestured towards the wall. Nodding thankfully Good Service got out of her seat and left their office, the open door briefly allowing them to hear the commotion in rest of the station. “Something’s not right about this. Nothing about those out of towner’s sits right with me.”

“If they kidnapped River Bed they would have demanded a ransom by now.” Fast Shield brought up. “And the motel owner said that they came and left without any oddity and when we searched their room it was pristine.” He reminded.

“Yeah or they could have just stashed him somewhere else for whatever they have planned for him.” Strong Armor countered. Flash Shield was about to fire back questioning just what exactly anypony would want with River Bed when the ground shook ever so slightly sending a shiver up their legs to the rest of their bodies. They looked around their office making sure nothing had fallen and that the building wasn’t going to suddenly collapse on them when they heard it. Not that it would have been hard to miss.

A roar tore through the air, the walls of the police station doing little to muffle the beastly sound. It lasted long enough to make Fast Shield and Strong Armor wonder what kind of unholy beast could have such a set of lungs before it suddenly ended. A silence descended upon the world, the soft murmur from the rest of the station quiet as it felt like the entire world was listening for something to happen.

“…The fuck was that?” Strong Armor asked after a moment only for the building to suddenly shudder, this time strong enough to throw them off their hooves. The lights flickered as they struggled to their feet and bolted for the door flinging it open to try and escape.

Good Service was waiting for them, the hallway outside breaking and cracking as the building shook again.

“Sorry for keeping you waitin’ darlins’.” She apologized, seemingly not aware of what was happening to the building. She smiled and a black liquid began to leak out of the corner of her mouth as what sounded like great wings flapping came from outside the building. Distantly Fast Shield and Strong Armor were sure they could hear screaming and begging. “I’m ready to finish the interview now.” She said as her left eye burst open, the white of her eyes leaking down her face and falling to the floor as an oily terror peered out at them, full of gnashing and tearing teeth.

Celestia and Luna were having dinner and breakfast respectively when they felt it. A shiver that jolted across their bodies, weak from the distance it had traveled but familiar all the same. Something had threatened Equestria and it had cried out to its guardians. They stopped mid chew and stared at each other for a moment before Celestia resumed eating, leaving Luna frozen in her seat at the opposite of the grand dining table in the royal dining hall.

“Didn’t you feel that?” Luna asked her sister as she set her fork down and pushed her meal away. Celestia finished chewing before she spoke, using the time to wave the servants and guards out of the dining hall.

“Of course I did.” She assured as she continued to eat.

“Well what are we going to do?” Luna asked unsure what the post Secret Guard occult incident procedures were.

“I’ll write a letter to The Templars explaining where the problem is, they’ll send a suitable force to deal with it.” She explained as she sipped some wine. “The Illuminati will naturally intercept the message at some point and may send someone if they think anything of value is out there. While The Dragon will… find out somehow and do whatever it is they do.”

“That’s it?!” Luna asked shocked. “Who knows how long it’ll take before they can get there! Who knows how many ponies could die by then!”

“I’m not sending the letter by mail Luna; it’s going to be magically transported.” Celestia reassured. “And the societies all have their own agents scattered around Equestria let alone the Bees who could just get here through Agartha.”

“So that’s it? We just sit around and wait for the societies to save our ponies?” Luna demanded to know.

“Oh no we have a full day tomorrow; we’re still trying to reintegrate you into the modern Equestria after all.” Celestia answered with full seriousness. “But don’t worry; The Templars will make every effort to save anypony still alive if they believe it’s possible.”

“If they think it’s possible?!” Luna roared and slammed her hoof on the table. “That’s not acceptable! We have to send in our military and start an evacuation! Contain whatever is threatening Equestria!”

“They don’t have protective talismans, basic training in Anima manipulation, enchanted weapons, or a basic knowledge of what could be waiting for them.” Celestia countered calmly with another sip of wine. “They’d just be slaughtered and get in the way of the societies.”

“But we have to do something!” Luna begged for action.

“We,” Celestia gestured between the two of them, “can’t harm any of Gaia’s children, no matter how much they squabble amongst themselves. Did you forget why we have a military in the first place?” Luna gazed at her sister, trying to find any point she could press to save their ponies from either the monstrosities of the Secret World or the callousness of the societies. After a minute of silence Luna pushed her chair back and stormed out of the dining hall, ignoring her sisters’ calls. Stomping through the halls the guards and servants made themselves scarce as she approached and she could hear them whisper accusations behind her back. It had only been a week since her reversion from Nightmare Moon after all; they’d been tip toeing around her at the best of times.

Luna threw open the doors to her chambers’ and then slammed them shut behind her, coming to a stop in the center of her bedroom. She did her best to take calming breaths and ease her rage and opened the windows to let in the cool night air, it did little to help. She breathed in the air and closed her eyes, reaching out and listening to Equestria trying to determine what exactly was threatening it. She felt nothing, the brief cry it had let out earlier all it could muster.

Luna opened her eyes again and gazed up at her moon, the place that had served as her prison for so long where she had spent so much time plotting and avoiding the horrors that crawled above and below its surface. A shudder passed through her at the memory of her first encounter with them and reminded her that even at her age the Secret World still had surprises and mysteries left. She cast her gaze east towards the mountains that Canterlot was built upon knowing that far past it ponies were dying and she could only hope it was something that the societies knew how to handle while she sat here and handled the remarkably busy night time work of ruling Equestria.

…No. She couldn’t.

Swallowing her disgust at having to go behind her sisters’ back after being home for only a week and a half Luna cleared her quarters, pushing her bed against the wall and taking the ornate rugs off of the marble floors and tossing them aside. She searched her closet until she found the paint brushes and art supplies that Celestia had given her to help spend off time until she made some friends and took a brush. Now she stood in the center of her room and held out a fore leg as her horn glowed and a flash of magic dashed across her leg, Luna quickly dabbing the brush in her blood.

Soon Luna was painting the floor of her quarters with her blood, tracing from memory the coasts, mountains, rivers, lakes, forests, and even cities of Equestria, those that had been around long enough to alter its flow. But perhaps most importantly she drew the places that Equestria had formed around, older than any mountain or ocean. She wrote the names of these places in Ancient Equestrian, sealing them in place on the map. By the time she had finished she was hovering in the air to avoid messing up the design, and made another cut on her leg as she set upon the ceiling to draw the sky.

She started with her sisters’ sun, setting it up at noon high above their nation, and then set on making the stars that were normally hidden behind its glow during the day this time of year. With an agonized slowness she made every single star, varying size and intensity for how bright they should be. Thankfully she didn’t have to write the names of these stars to bind the map, bad things could happen if you spoke to stars.

Hours after she had started Luna was done and flying in the middle of a map bonded in her blood, feeling the faint beat of Equestria through it. Setting the brush aside Luna flew to where she had moved her bed and carefully shifted it aside so she could peel the wall away with a flicker of magic to reveal a safe. The ancient lock rumbled as she turned the dial and her blood filled the grooves of the wards carved into the metal, it creaked open for the first time in millennia as she retrieved the six objects inside.

Six was sort of a special number in Equestria, most clearly represented with the six Elements of Harmony and its six founders, and only the mighty seven could surpass it in Equestria. Levitating the talismans in front of her Luna spoke in Ancient Equestrian and felt a pulse go through them, tossing them into the air she carefully watched where they landed. Some of them stayed right where they fell while the others rolled, even if their shapes wouldn’t normally allow such a motion, and then inexplicitly stilled when they reached their destinations. Luna examined where they had fallen, three in the middle of nowhere traveling roads, one near Ponyville in the Everfree Forest, one in Cloudsdale, and finally one right here in Canterlot. With a sigh of relief Luna left her room to find out what was best for cleaning out dried blood nowadays. She still had to redo the map so she could more accurately find Equestria’s chosen in Canterlot and Cloudsdale after all.

Since Celestia had turned the old headquarters of the Secret Guard into her personal fitness center a few centuries ago Luna was left with the problem of where she was going to meet with Equestria’s chosen champions. The castle was out, the servants and guards would surely talk about any special guests she’d request to have brought to meet her, as was most of Canterlot and given her status as a newly returned princess she could hardly come and go unnoticed from the city for long. But there were parts of Canterlot that intersected with the Secret World that Celestia had never been a fan of and given her dispersion of the Secret Guard wouldn’t have eyes on. Which is how Luna came to be dodging a drunken pair of changelings as she crept into a “club” trying to ignore the odd looks her dark cloak was getting her. Ponies acted like they’d never seen a cloaked stranger skulking the streets before, the Secret World couldn’t have changed that much could it?

“Hey guises up you two!” The bouncer ordered as they started to stagger away. They slurred something that sounded like an insult but their green magic soon enveloped them and they emerged as ponies, indistinguishable from the average non sober populace. “Hang on a second Star Swirl.” The bouncer stopped her at the door while incorrectly naming her. She wore a cloak and hood, if anything she more resembled Clover the Clever, and not the soundless belled outfit Star Swirl wore to taunt the denizens of Hell. “There’s a cover charge and a line to get in.” Luna merely turned her head so he could see her face and all of the blood left his face as he recognized her. “OH! Your, your majesty!” He removed himself from the doorway to the complaints of those waiting in line. “I’m so sorry. Go right in.”

“Thank you.” Luna said as she passed by. “There will be a guard with six others coming by soon. Let them through.” He nodded and gulped at her order and she entered the club, the sounds of the quiet night outside shut with the closing of the door and replaced with the boom of modern music. The few occupants of the club not occupied by dancing or chatting up respective partners raised eyebrows, if they had any, at her cloak before going back to their drinks.

“…Holy shit.” The bar maid said, barely audible over the boom of the music when she saw Luna and waved her over. “Luna your disguise is terrible. Nopony wears cloaks anymore, stick with a hoodie or a hat with something that hides the mane, tail, and cutie mark too.” Luna raised an eyebrow as she walked over to the bar maid and threw off her hood to reveal her face. There were some gasps from around her from those who could see her over the blinding flashing lights (how did modern ponies enjoy this?) and the ghoul that sat beside her nearly choked on his drink when he realized he was sitting next to the newly returned Princess of the Night. His drink seeped out from between his sharp and jagged teeth as he coughed and tried to regain control of himself.

“And who are you to recognize me so easily?” Luna asked putting on the royal mask to speak to her subjects.

“Luna it’s me, Smart Cookie.” She revealed and Luna was taken back as she observed the mare that claimed to be one of the founders of Equestria. She certainly didn’t look like Smart Cookie, her coat was a deep blue and with a trimmed purple mane instead of the light and dark brown coat and mane combo Luna remembered. The green eyes were the same though.

“Really?” Luna asked skeptically as she eyed the mare curiously. “Care to prove it?”

“We, the representatives of the united ponies of Equestria, hereby swear our loyalty and fealty to you, Princesses of the Sun and Moon.” The mare recited, the opening line of the ancient treaty sounding odd under the boom of the music, before she smiled. “Then we had to repeat it again because you were too busy eyeing one of the guards Hurricane brought with him. How is Leo by the way?”

“He had a magnificent jaw line in my defense.” Luna said as she settled into her seat, content with the evidence brought before her. No pony had recorded anything about the granting of Equestria to her and Celestia as other than a divine and ordered affair in the stone halls of their original castle. Not one where Private Pansy had been constantly tripping over her words, Clover the Clever drunk off her flank, and her own… appreciation of the guards Commander Hurricane had provided for the event. “And Leo’s fine although Celestia insists on keeping him deactivated until we need him.” Well weirder things had happened in The Secret World then reincarnation before. Like said handsome guards having been ground up and turned into a War Golem during the creation of Everfree Forest. Crazy times.

“Right, his jaw line.” She smiled wider. “Totally not his flank.” The ghoul next to her eyed Luna with a raised eyebrow and chuckled as she averted eye contact.

“And how exactly are you alive?” Luna asked trying to get back on track. “Have you been secretly reincarnating for all these thousands of years?” It wouldn’t be easy for a continuously reincarnating pony, and a famous one at that, to slip past Celestia and Luna but they were hardly omnipotent. This also left the question of why she would possibly hide herself from them. It’s not like they were enemies after all.

“Nope.” Smart Cookie answered simply as she wiped down the bar. “Last thing I remember was going to bed one night and then boom! I’m squeezing out of my new momma’s vagina a few millennia later.” Luna and the ghoul reeled back a little in disgust at this and Smart Cookie shrugged. “Yeah I had the same reaction but I got over it. Name’s Sweet Drink now by the way.” She informed as she showed off her cutie mark that was now a bottle being poured into a glass.

“And the others? Do I have to worry about meeting Platinum while mingling with the nobility or Hurricane when doing military inspections?” Luna asked worried that she’d have to deal with the more abrasive founders. “And does Celestia know about this?” She quickly asked after a moment of thought. While her sister had never been such a fan of the Secret World as her she would surely not blindly ignore a mare who could bring forward first person accounts of events thousands of years ago. And if she did the better question would be why Celestia wouldn’t tell her.

“Hell if I know but I doubt that I’d be the only that got reincarnated. Real question is why though.” Smart Cookie answered. “And it’s not as easy to meet with a Princess as you’d think. Princess Celestia doesn’t exactly rub shoulders with the come folk that often, less so with us Secret Worlder’s. How was the moon by the way?”

“Cold and crawling with indescribable monsters.” Luna answered truthfully with a sigh. Now on top of dealing with this threat to Equestria she had to find out why a member of Equestria’s founders had been reincarnated and who knew what else that had occurred in her absence that had slipped past Celestia’s notice or been deemed “The societies responsibility”.” Oh well, one thing at a time which she was running out of before Equestria’s champions arrived. “Do you have a back room? Or a place to hold a meeting?” She asked as she looked around the club, far too public and noisy.

“What for?” Smart Cookie asked.

“Royal matters.” Luna answered with a hard edge to her voice. Smart Cookie looked at her for a moment before sighing and gesturing to a set of stairs to her left tucked into the corner.

“You can use my boss’s office, I doubt he’ll refuse you.” Luna nodded and threw her hood back on and trotted past, intent of throwing the manager out of his office. “This about the Secret Guard getting axed by Celestia?” Smart Cookie asked as she reached the stairs and Luna snapped back at her.

“You volunteering for service Smart Cookie?” Luna demanded as she merely started cleaning a glass as more ponies entered the club when a hulking horned wolf left with a pair of giggling mares.

“I think what we did against The Windigos was more than enough.” She replied as the ghoul pushed his empty drink forward and smiled at her. She smiled back and refilled his drink. “I’ve had enough adventures for one lifetime, this one is going to be nice and calm.” Luna snorted and stormed her way back up the stairs.

“You and Celestia would get along famously again.” Luna whispered to herself as she climbed the stairs and the music became muffled by the walls. Sitting around thinking enough was being done by others wouldn’t cut it with the Secret World. Darkness could only be surely driven back when rushed to be met. Even the societies understood this in their own ways.

Surely the champions Equestria had chosen for herself would feel the same.