The night was beautiful and fresh. The gust of wind was very much audible from every direction of the grand city of Canterlot. The high altitude, giving a marvellous and stunning view of the night’s sky as well as the fluffy white clouds blending with the moon’s colour, gave a wonderful vista to the city. A vista that everypony was contemplating. Well, everypony except the princesses.
The princesses were hard at work in the meeting room as all three of them sat around a table taking notes and having discussions. All of them were extremely focussed as they emptied the quill’s ink pots and stacking up papers.
“Okay,” Celestia sighed. “We need multiple squads positioned on the Vanguard of the city. Variations of Earth Ponies and Unicorns if possible.”
Luna nodded. “Our soldiers shall bring conservation and reconnaissance on the west and east walls. We suggest thy soldiers to proceed to north and south gates as well.”
The princesses were working hard for hours, this hardly ever happened. Being protectors of a nation of peace and tranquillity, they hardly had anything to be preoccupied about. But, after the news of the prison break, they had to take extra precautions for the protection of their subjects. Including themselves.
This problem brought up a few issues: One is in fact an issue they were discussing right now. But there was a graver one to be attended to, Twilight’s guards, or better said, the lack of it. Until now, they all had equal and balanced guard formations for the upgraded safety of everypony but Twilight’s current residence lacked in guards and security. They needed to fix this.
Celestia remembered something. She hovered her quill back down to the table and looked at Twilight. “Twilight, have you received notice of the new project we started yesterday?”
Twilight thought for a split second right before remembering. “Yes, actually. Captain Solar told me about it,” she stopped and looked at Luna who was still hard at work. “The Afterglow Guard program.”
Celestia nodded. “Surely, you have no objections to this project?”
Twilight looked away. “Well, no…” she said doubtfully. “I just… well I just think it isn’t very necessary.”
Twilight didn’t seem comfortable having ponies serving all day and night for her protection. Also, having ponies risking their lives to save her is something she really didn’t want.
“Twilight, we need to do this even though it isn’t necessary. I want to ensure maximum security on you,” Celestia said in a calm as always tone.
“Yes… of course… you’re right,” Twilight said, confidently.
Celestia smiled. She turned to Luna who had just finished writing the Vanguard squad formations.
Luna turned to Twilight. “Me and my sister hath commenced and finalized the Afterglow Guard armour design and weaponry last night,” Twilight was surprised at the amount of work the princesses did the night before. “We only need to finalize the recruits training exercises and then we shall let the head of the Royal Guard handle the recruitments.”
Twilight suddenly remembered her friends. Do they need safety too? Do they also need personal guards? Being the Elements of Harmony, they would also likely be a target, right? Twilight decided to find this out.
“How about my friends? Do they also need security?”
Celestia turned to her. “No, they do not.”
Twilight was shocked at what Celestia just said. “But they’re-“
“Yes,” Celestia interrupted. “I know they are the Elements of Harmony but we were sure to make it an inside thing. Nopony knows how special your friends are hence, they’re safe. Overloading them with guards will only make them a bigger target.”
Twilight looked down. She wasn’t liking this conversation one bit. Wasn’t Celestia being a bit too overprotective? Sure, there was that prison break but that didn’t mean all of those inmates are heading all the way to Canterlot and Ponyville. And if they were, what’s the worst that can happen?
“I’m sorry, princess,” Twilight said. “I just don’t understand what the problem is. I don’t see a reason to why the inmates might end up here.”
Before Celestia was able to answer, Luna stepped forward. “The reason of them coming here are various. Canterlot is a city of riches, ranked top ten of the wealthiest cities in the world. Which may be the cause of attempts of burglary.”
That was a good enough reason to satisfy Twilight’s curiosity. However, she still had one more doubt in her mind.
“But, that’s just burglary. We have had that in the past and I’m pretty sure we don’t need an entire brigade of guards to prevent that. What’s the worst they could do apart from burglary?”
“You mean, what’s the worst they already did,” Celestia said.
Twilight was confused. “Huh? What do you mean?”
Celestia didn’t want to mention this, but, for the cause of Twilight’s unceasing curiosity, it’s best that she is advised.
Celestia took a deep breath. She turned to one of the guards guarding the door. “Guard,” She saw the guard clenching in position upon hearing Celestia summoning him.
“Yes, ma’am?” The guard asked.
“Please give us a report on civilian casualties.”
The guard saluted and stepped forward. Twilight looked a bit anxious.
He then said without hesitating. “Canterlot’s population is over three hundred thousand. One week after the Gleam Prison break, the population has dropped point one per cent. We have searched for the missing ponies only to find deceased bodies hidden inside the Palace Labyrinth,” The guard stopped for a second. “Burglary has also increased three fold,” He finished then headed back to his post.
Twilight, mouth agape and filled with shock, was a bit teary eyed. “How could somepony do this?”
Celestia put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “We do not know. Some agencies are already on the case. Feel free to ask them if you want any more information.”
Twilight didn’t feel like wanting anymore details. Living in a world of peace up until now, she hardly ever knew there were ponies capable of taking somebody’s life away. She turned to Luna, who felt sorry for Twilight.
Luna approached. “Twilight Sparkle,” she said calmly. “I and my sister… hath lived for thousands of years. We hath observed and experienced events nopony could ever imagine in this world we reside in. This is why precautions must be taken.”
“Un-understood,” Twilight said, still shocked at the news. “If you don’t mind… I’ll go to my chambers early.”
“Of course,” Celestia said with a small smile as Twilight walked away.
Luna became suddenly distressed. She just remembered something. As much as she wanted to avoid it, she still needed to know. She turned to Celestia.
“Sister, shall we tell her?”
It didn’t take Celestia a split second to find out what Luna was referring to. They had spoken of this before in private.
After giving a worried look, she briefly closed her eyes before opening them again. “No. Give her a little time, we can’t.”
Luna agreed with a simple nod.
In Celestia’s mind, thoughts ran. She shouldn’t know. Not yet.
Twilight rolled around the extremely soft and comfy bedsheets as she woke up in a dark room. She had just installed the light proof shutters and by the looks of it, they were working pretty well in her chambers. Although Twilight was unable to cast a light spell as her magic was not completely efficient when groggy, she decided to snooze a bit before waking up completely.
After laying on the soft duvet for about ten minutes, she got up from her queen sized bed in one swift movement. Finally on all four hooves, she carefully made her way towards the door. As the room was still covered in darkness, she walked slowly towards the door.
After finally navigating to the exit door from her chambers, she stumbled across two batpony guards standing just outside the door.
Twilight, surprised at the sight of two ponies so near to her chambers, decided to ask them. “What are you doing here?”
The guards, not surprised at the slightest, looked behind him, meeting his gaze with Twilight’s. “Good morning, to thee. Our orders were to dwell on guard in an outward form of thy chambers all night.” The guard said, matching Luna’s speech.
Twilight never had guards outside her chambers. This must have been the cause of that prison break. Of course there were guards positioned outside her chambers. It was logical that the princesses needed to increase the guard capacity inside the castle.
But Twilight was still surprised that they stayed up all night. “Aren’t you tired?” She asked without hesitation.
The guard did not change his neutral expression. “We are nocturnal, Princess Twilight. Thanks to this ability, one is capable of… we hath been ordered to guard thy chambers under the night’s sky from now on.”
Twilight was still surprised. Weren’t they bored? She would have asked that if it didn’t seem so rude asking them a series of dumb questions. She decided to shake her curiosity away and just leave it be.
“Okay,” she said cheerfully. “Nice to meet you, sirs.”
The guards slightly bowed and stood still until it was time for them to leave their post.
She walked away, still bearing the doubt of having guards in mind. She is not comfortable. But, then again, would she be more comfortable without guards? Keeping in mind the fact that there are ponies out there that want to hurt her, she is beginning to see that this may be for the best even though it might be a blessing in disguise. But, how about the ponies serving her? How about the guards that will risk their lives to ensure her protection? The lives that-
Her thoughts needed to take a backseat as she bumped into a Solar Guard. What’s with her and bumping into random ponies? She should really pay attention. Seeing the look of surprise on the guard’s face, he was clearly going to take the blame.
“Pardon me, princess. I did not see you there,” the guard apologized.
She gave a small smile. “Don’t worry, it’s my fault.” She slightly chuckled. “I guess I need to be a bit more awake before going on my morning walk.”
The guard’s expression changed to a look of anxiousness. “Do you mean, outside the castle?”
Twilight nodded. “Yes, of course. I would like to have a walk around one of the east districts. I don’t think I’ve ever been there before.”
“You’ll need to be accompanied.”
She looked surprised. “Why?”
“The east districts are not the safest place outside the caste walls. As soon as you leave, I’ll prepare a squad of four guards to accompany you,” he said without hesitation.
Twilight was now starting to get annoyed. Sure they wanted her protected and all but that’s taking it a bit too far. She’s an alicorn princess and pretty sure she can manage on her own.
Her eyes narrowed. “I don’t need guards to accompany me on my morning walk, thank you very much,” she said sharply.
“With all due respect, ma’am, we are ordered to provide maximum security on you at all times.”
Twilight thought. There was no way the Solar Guard or any guard for that matter would let her leave without any security on her. She decided to accept the inevitable.
“Fine,” she said, baring the guard’s point. “But I will only leave this castle if I am accompanied by only two ponies.”
The guard held a hoof to his chin, possibly considering the offer. Not long after, he nodded. “Very well. There will be too guards at the castle gate. They were informed of providing security near the castle gate but I’ll attend to different squads to take their positions as they accompany you on your… ‘morning walk’.”
Twilight smiled. At least he actually understood Twilight. “Thank you very much.”
Twilight then walked away leaving the guard alone. But not long after, the stallion was approached by one of Luna’s Soldiers of The Night. Their eyes were still fixed on Twilight.
“I want four Solar Guards providing her security from the skies,” the guard ordered.
The Night Guard smirked. “We anticipated thee to say that.” He then returned to his serious look. “We shall attend to it as we reach the South-East Tower.”
They both departed to do their duties.
The streets were crowded and filled with life. Merchants traded their valuable and probably fake items. The crowd was large and brimming with civilians. Ponies chatted and laughed as they went on with their everyday lives.
It was a sunny day. Barely any clouds in the sky which made the visual aspect of this little district much more pleasing as Twilight spotted some beautiful and incredibly detailed statuettes and columns. Although, she also noticed a merchant cursing at a customer for whatever reason. The customer ran away. Surely to come back with the sufficient bits to pay the item. Right?
Despite the sunny weather, it was still rather windy. Almost everypony had a jacket on. The ones who aren’t wearing any were probably ponies who simply forgotten it at home or just… couldn’t afford it.
That didn’t seem to bother Twilight. She was way too entertained by the magnificent artefacts some of the merchants held in their hooves to even notice the miserable looking ponies. It was rather strange seeing nopony paying any attention to the princess, though. Twilight assumed that most of them were late for work as she saw a group of civilians running right through the crowd without any warning.
Despite having two guards following her, one holding some sort of staff, she was quite happy. “This is great!” she turned to one of the guards. “Don’t you think so, Sight?”
Sight constantly scanned the area. He thought he spotted something suspicious moving around the perimeter. Only then he realized that the princess had called him. “Yes, ma’am,” he answered quickly. Being sure to keep his speech professional. “Quite a sight, if I may say.”
Twilight turned to the other guard. He was holding an unusual staff as he trotted. He had standard Solar Guard armour, his spear was replaced with an unusual staff which had some sort of magical orb inside the weapon's top. Although covered with a few wooden curvatures, it was still visible. This raised Twilight’s curiosity as she very rarely saw any guards yielding this staff. And also for the lack of appearances this item had through Twilight’s career of being a princess.
“Focus?” She called the guard’s name.
He quickly turned to her. “Yes, ma’am?” He asked.
“What’s that staff you’re holding? I thought only unicorns can use magical objects.” She said, keeping in mind the guard’s race being a pegasus.
As he spotted a moving blur behind her, Focus did a quick glance over Twilight’s shoulder before answering. “This staff is a universal object that can be used by any race.” He looked around, seeing if it’s safe to continue the explanation. “It is used to detect any changeling within a fifty meter radius. The sphere inside it is made of the standard magic materials used in most armour and weapons such as Arcinel and Orins. It is designed to blow the changeling’s cover, deactivating their spell and turning them into their original selves. However, the outer rim of the sphere is covered with an extra layer made of Procrium which prohibits the deactivation of the changeling’s magic. Making this staff emit a sonar sound within a two metre radius that warns the user of a camouflaged changeling within a fifty meter vicinity.”
Twilight found all of this pretty interesting. She hadn’t read any weaponry books, maybe it’s time that she did. “Interesting, Focus. But why cover the sphere with a Procrium energy limiter? Wouldn’t you want to know where the changeling is to capture him?”
Sight decided to answer Twilight’s question as Focus began doing a quick scan of the vicinity. “Studies showed that a changeling’s stress levels increases drastically if they try to absorb too much information within a five second period. Meaning that if this spell deactivates the changelings cover, they will panic and cause more casualties than when treated in a more stealthy matter.”
“So… you think there’s a changeling here?” Twilight asked, slightly preoccupied.
Sight looked around. “You never know.” He said, as he winked towards a hidden pegasus guard providing security for Twilight over the rooftops.
A Night Soldier rapidly ran through the door of Princess Celestia’s office. This action caught Celestia by surprised as the guard had a look of pure concern and worry.
“You’re majesty! I must tell you something.” He briefly bowed.
Celestia got up from her study table. “What is it?”
Sweat ran down the guard’s neck and his heart beat a mile per second. He quickly put a scroll on Celestia’s table, letting it roll slightly on the carved oak wood before speaking.
“We have a breach in the Horseshoe District.” He pointed at the location on the map. “Twenty guards have gone missing, as well as a few civilians.”
Celestia tried to remain calm and prioritize. “Okay, we must seal gates Pricro and Micro… position thirty guards on the East Gates sealing any possible entrance as well. Send five squads to the Horseshoe District.” Celestia stopped for a moment. “Also, prohibit any nobles to exit. Keep them all locked and safe inside the castle, including Twilight.”
The guard didn’t stop worrying. “You don’t get it, your majesty,” the guard wanted to say what he wanted, but something made him hesitate even more. Like his life is now at stake. But finally, he came to his senses and said the worst. “Princess Twilight is in the Horseshoe District.”
