Conspiracy: Off the Record

              The room was bathed in the warmth of the afternoon sun.  Light filtered through the window without a care in the world.  The marble floor and walls sparkled, bringing a sense of calm with its beauty.  A fireplace sat dead on the wall opposite the heavy wooden door.  A single bed with a chestnut colored stallion lying on its satin sheets stood in the middle of the room over top of a decorative rug.

A nurse sat timidly on a stool made of ivory beside the window.  Her big blue eyes drifted dreamily as she listened to the songbirds singing their joyous tunes.  She briefly fixed her long, pink hair, making sure it stayed in its professional-looking bun and taking the time to adjust the single white flower that brought the look together.

While watching over the unconscious pegasus, her mind began to wander back to her younger days.  She missed the days where she played with all her cute bunny friends in the meadows outside of Ponyville.  How she would sing with all the birds until the Celestia lowered the sun into its peaceful slumber.

A single tear fell down her cheek, leaving a moist trail on her yellow coat.  Memories of her pet bunny, Angel, came back to her in force.  Her best friend, whom had been there for her through thick and thin, had been taken before his time.  The entire forest was quiet that day, mourning the loss of the brave soul that sacrificed his life to keep a timber wolf at bay.  “I’m so sorry,” she said quietly to herself.  “I should have listened to you.  Going that deep into the forest was a terrible idea.”

The moment’s remembrance was quickly broken by the shrieking of the pony on the bed.  The nurse jumped out of her perch and ducked under the stool.  The chestnut stallion sat up in his bed, screaming like he was stabbed with a hot, serrated sword.  His green eyes wildly darted around the room, looking for a way out of the white prison he woke up in.  He sprang out of the bed and landed heavily on the floor.  The pegasus charged brazenly at the heavy door.  Bringing all his weight to his right shoulder, he forced the door open.

Two guards in heavy, golden armor leapt back in shock.  They quickly drew their weapons and stood at the ready, still uneasy about the foe they were about to face.  The stallion huffed out a puff of smoke from his flaring nostrils.  He felt his heart beating at his chest.  His mind was clouded, focused on the nightmare that was slowly becoming his reality.  He let out a fierce bellow before charging head long at the guardsponies.  The guard closest to the wild stallion raised his heavy mace high into the air, preparing to immobilize the enemy with one powerful swipe.  The other guard continued to hold his position behind his comrade, ready to give aid if necessary.

The pegasus, ignoring the danger, continued his frontal assault.  He watched as the guards hoof slowly rose to the sky.  Time slowed to a crawl in the stallion’s mind.  He jumped at the stallion holding the mace, dodging the swipe that would have knocked out a normal pony.  The wild stallion twisted the guard’s foreleg and broke it like a twig.  As the guard screamed in torturous pain, the chestnut pegasus grabbed the mace and smacked the pony in the face.  The force of the blow sent him flying into his fellow guard, knocking them back into a pedestal with an ornate vase resting on its apex.

The wild pegasus continued his mad rampage in hopes of escaping the darkness he thought followed him.  Beads of sweat fell from his black mane in heavy waves.  His raspy breathing quickened as he sped down the decorative hallway.  He passed paintings of past rulers and busts of important bureaucrats.  He took a sharp right at the end of the hall, knocking over a once beautiful vase.  The halls seemed to be never ending.  Every turn he took led him to another hall.  The fear of never escaping the maze only made him more desperate.

His journey led him to a big amphitheater that seemed to be separated down the middle.  Each side was dominated by a distinct mural.  One showed the sun raining its glorious light across all of Equestria.  Ponies were gleefully dancing in the painted rays, thanking the white alicorn as she flew in the sky.  The other side was darker and lacking color.  Navy blue swirled meticulously with black in seamless transition.  White specks shimmered within the painted sky , bringing a small amount of light into the darkness.  One spot was larger than the rest, silhouetted with the shadow of a darker alicorn looking down at the ponies slumbering in the fields.

The hallways branched off into four similar paths.  The chestnut pegasus stared in confusion, wondering which one would lead him to freedom.  Clanging and shouting echoed from every direction.  Shadows appeared in every hall as more guards rushed into the room.  They surrounded the wild-eyed stallion with weapons at the ready.  The pegasus slowly backed away towards the entrance, only to be blocked off by more guardsponies.

Stamping his hoof into the ground, the stallion began to charge into the fray of heavily armored ponies.  “THAT’S ENOUGH STORM RUNNER!” came a familiar voice of authority.  The young stallion skidded to a halt, nearly basing into one of the guards.  The sparkling wall of ponies separated, revealing an elder pony.  His coat was as black as midnight brought out more by his ghostly white mane.

Storm Runner didn’t recognize the stallion at first, until he stared into his icy blue eyes.

“Blade?” questioned Storm Runner, as the dark fog slowly lifted from his mind.  He felt his legs wobble before they gave out under his weight.  “I don’t….”  He felt his already weak grasp on reality slipping.  His vision hazed up and the entire room tilted to the side.  The ground felt cold against his side, draining what little strength remained.

Blade rushed over to Storm Runner’s side.  He was screaming orders to the guards that were hastily encircling them, but they were whispers to the fallen pegasus.  Storm Runner felt a presence within his own mind struggling to break free.  Its frozen touch slowly crept throughout his fleeting consciousness, trying to take control of the weakened body.

Storm Runner used whatever strength he had left to push it back into the dark depths of his psyche.  The dark presence shrieked in pain and shrank back from whence it came.  Before it returned, it let out one last word that would forever haunt Storm Runner.  The word that described the reason he wanted to become a guard.  The word he wished didn’t fit his character.  Coward.

Before Storm Runner succumbed to the temptation of unconsciousness, he felt a sharp pain jab into his chest and a cool liquid push into his bloodstream.  At first, it had no effect on him what so ever.  Then all at once, his heart beat furiously and the fog quickly lifted from his eyes.  He jumped straight into the air, only to be restrained by two heavily muscled guardspoinies.  “What did you do?” he said, the word leaving his mouth before his brain registered them.  “I feel like running! Do you feel like running?  Let’s go running!”

A strong hoof cracked him in the cheek with the force of a teenage dragon.  Storm Runner quickly regained his composure and let out a deep breath.   He turned to where the blow came from and found himself face-to-face with Lt. Wild Blade.  “Calm down,” he said gently.  “Everything is going to be alright.  We shot a bit of adrenaline into you to keep you with us, son.  What happened?”

“I don’t….” he began.  His mind quickly froze up as the memories from the past few hours flooded back into his mind.  “The princess,” he said, unable to keep the worry from his tone.  “Is she okay?  Where’s the assassin?  How’s your leg?”  He met the strong eyes of his friend and stopped himself from asking anymore questions.

“You can let him go now,” ordered Blade.  “I don’t think he is going to cause anymore trouble.”  They nodded in return and released the pegasus from their burly grasp.  Storm Runner wobbled a moment, placing his hoof on one of the guard’s sides to steady himself.  The other guard held out a sympathetic hoof to Storm Runner, but he respectfully denied the help.

Blade, satisfied his protégé wasn’t going to pass out again, slowly began to explain the events with a tone that could calm an Ursa Major.  “Right now, we are both in the halls of Canterlot Castle.  For whatever reason, Celestia demanded that our well-being take precedent over all other matters.  She even had the most renowned herbalist in all of Equestria flown in to save us.”

“What did she do to your leg?” asked Storm Runner.  “Is it alright?”

“Just calm down and let me finish,” replied Storm Runner.  “Apparently, the assassin coated her daggers with a powerful poison.  I don’t think it was meant for me per say, but our meddling in her scheme must have sent her over the edge.  She took her own life just to keep from getting caught.”

“She did what?” Storm Runner said, his eyes widening at the news.

“That’s exactly what I said,” answered Blade.  He slowly stretched his hind leg out, revealing a scar green as the meadows of Ponyville.  “Did a real number on my leg too.  I couldn’t really understand what the doctor was telling me though.  All she did was speak in rhymes and some of them didn’t even make any sense.”

“But you’re alright?” asked Storm Runner.

“Well,” replied Blade, “I could be better.”  He struggled to raise his disfigured leg, but it refused to lift more than a few inches off the ground.  “The poison was designed to slowly destroy the nerves until it reached the heart.  I was lucky enough the herbalist knew about a plant that counteracts the effects, but my leg isn’t what is used to be.”  Storm Runner stared at his mentor with eyes full of sorrow.  “Don’t worry.  It wasn’t your fault.  You did all you could,” he said reassuringly.  “What I do want to know is why you went all crazy and assaulted your fellow guardsponies.”

Storm Runner nervously kicked at the marble floor.  His mind returned to the horrible nightmare that haunted him.  The tentacles of shadow slowly strangled his mind from within.  The creature of evil and darkness, following him wherever he travels.  Its only desire being nothing but his death.  Storm Runner opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by the heavy door swinging open.

The three guards stood at attention showing respect to the two alicorns walking gracefully towards them.  Storm Runner stared in awe at their beauty.  The larger of the two was pure white and presented herself in a laid back manner.  Her rainbow hair flowed like a river of melted crayons in the windless chamber.  A tiara of gold sat upon her head, held there by the horn that was twice the size of any regular unicorn’s.  The smaller alicorn was a deep blue color and seemed more rigid than the other.  Her mane was the color of night and sparkled like the stars.  Her gaze pierced through Storm Runner like a thousand ice-bladed daggers, analyzing his every feature.  She huffed unimpressed at the one her sister had been describing to her this whole time.  “Sister,” she said regally, “is this truly the one you’ve been speaking about.  He seems a bit…young.”

“Princess Celestia...Princess Luna,” Lt. Blade breathed unexpectedly, taking a knee with the other two guards in respect to their presence.  Taking notice to Storm Runner’s lack of respect, he swiftly kicked the pegasus in the foreleg.  Storm Runner fell to one knee in an impromptu bow, more out of pain than respect.  He opened his mouth to protest, but one look from Blade shut the stallion up quick as a whip.  Luna rolled her eyes and signed, but Celestia chuckled earnestly.

“So, you are the pony that saved my life,” lauded Princess Celestia, a warm smile forming on her beautiful face.  Storm Runner, never actually meeting a mare of such beauty in his life, stared awkwardly back, feeling the blood rushing to his cheeks.  Celestia chuckled at the young stallion’s uneasiness, “You don’t have to be so shy.  If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.  I am forever grateful young Storm Runner.”  She signaled for the two guards to leave the room.  They rose and followed their princess’s command, their heavy hoofsteps echoing through the halls.

“Thou art giving a jest,” scoffed Luna.  “Tis but luck this pony didn’t end up dead and your own blood wasn’t being cleaned off the floor.”  Celestia shot a not-so-amused look at her sister.  Luna stared back in rebellion for short time before shrinking back in her sister’s shadow.

Celestia coughed to clear her throat and said, “As I was saying, Thank you for saving me from that assassin.  I wished to repay in some way, but that is for later.” She walked over to Storm Runner and placed a hoof on his strong shoulders.  “Right now, we have much to discuss.”  She gestured towards the door on the far side of the room.  “Follow me please.”

She trotted over to the door and pushed it open with her hoof.  It creaked slightly as the hinges bared the weight of the heavy door.  Its opening revealed a well-lit passage.  Celestia walked through with Luna not far behind.  Storm Runner turned to Blade, a worried look showing on his face.  Blade gave him a smirk and beckoned him to follow.  They both ventured through the door, meeting the princesses half way down the corridor.  The hall wasn’t as decorative as the others.  From the fine layer of dust on what few statues and pictures dotting the walls, it looked as if no pony ever went into this part of the castle.  They walked the remaining distance of the hall to another door.  The door looked like the one Celestia opened not too long ago, with the exception of a hole being where the doorknob should have been.  Celestia bowed her head and gingerly put her horn in the door’s hole.  A slight click resounded from within the tumblers of the doors lock.  Celestia removed her horn, and the door began to glow bright yellow.  With a flash of light, the door dematerialized to reveal a room made of solid gold.

“What is this place?” Storm Runner asked, astonished at the unbelievable amount of gold within the small room.  Celestia trotted gracefully inside with her sister.  Having no other choice, the veteran guard and his protégé followed.

From within, the room’s glow waned.  It was bare, save for three portraits and a golded case resting at the opposite end of the extravagant room.  Storm Runner examined the three portraits of the ponies.  “Do you know who these ponies are?” Celestia asked Storm Runner.  Still staring at the portraits, he shook his head.  “These ponies,” began Celestia, “are the heroes of Equestria.  These ponies have done great services to all my subjects.”

Luna pointed at the portrait of a black mare wearing armor made of silver.  Her red eyes seemed to peer out from the picture, leering over all who entered.  “That was Silver Moon.  She was a valiant warrior back in her time.  Tis her that stopped the dreaded Draloth the Invincible Dragon of the Wastes and his army of dark dragons from burning Equestria to cinders.”  Without meeting Storm Runner’s eye, she commented, “She was an actual champion unlike you.”

Celestia shot another gaze at her sister, but continued explaining down the row of portraits.  “This next pony was known as Star Swirl the Bearded,” she said proudly.  “He not only created many spells, but he was an architect with words.  He single handedly stopped the Diamond Dog rebellion without any bloodshed whatsoever.”  Storm Runner nodded to show he was still paying attention while Celestia explained the last portrait.  This portrait was showed a purple mare with long flowing hair casting a spell. “This final pony was my pupil, Twilight Sparkle.  She foiled the attempts of many enemies of Equestria with her friends.  She held the Element of Magic, the most powerful Element of Harmony.”

Celestia turned to face Storm Runner.  His eyes grew as big as melons.  “Why are you showing me this?” he asked shakily.  “What do these ponies have to do with me?”

Luna laughed at his ignorance.  Celestia pointed her hoof at the confused stallion, “Because you are going to join their ranks as a Hero of Equestria,” she said matter-of-factly.  Still confused, Storm Runner shook his head in disbelief.  Celestia walked behind him and pointed at his flank.  He turned to see a six-pointed star on his flank.

“I have a cutie mark?” he said, even more shocked than before.  “What’s my special talent?  The only thing I remember doing is fainting a lot.”  Storm Runner looked at his mentor, whom had been keeping his cool the entire time.  “Please tell me my special talent isn’t fainting,” he said, getting nothing more than a friendly chortle from his friend.

“That is only partly true,” stated Celestia.

“So…half my special talent is fainting,” retorted Storm Runner.

Luna stamped her hoof down hard on the ground, creating an echo of authority.  “How dare thou speak to your ruler in such a precarious way!” she shouted angrily.  “Tis an honor she is bestowing on such an undeserving child and thou art treating it like some petty jest!”

“That is enough!” Celestia said demandingly.  “Luna, if you don’t stop questioning my decision, I’ll have you dismissed to your quarters.  Is that understood dear sister?”

Luna stared back with sharp eyes and replied, “My apologies, sister.”

Celestia’s featured softened as she turned back to Storm Runner and continued, “Cutie Marks are a kind of…old magic.  They have been around longer than I and no pony has ever been able to replicate their magic.  The only thing most ponies know is that they are connected to finding our true selves.”  Celestia allowed a moment to pass so the information would sink in before continuing.  “Unbeknownst to most ponies, cutie marks have another use. Every generation or so, a pony receives a special cutie mark signifying a strong heart and fierce will.  That pony receives the cutie mark of a hero, and that pony is you.”

Storm Runner looked back at his newly acquired cutie mark, then back at the portraits.  On all of their flanks, he recognized the same cutie mark on each of them.  A smile as wide as a mile spread across his brightened face.  “Are you for real!” he exclaimed.  “I’m a hero!  This is so awesome!  I don’t even... I can’t believe that….”

Celestia held a hoof out, silencing the pegasus.  “There is more,” she said.  Her horn began to glow softly and the golden case flipped open.  Inside was a thick tome wrapped in leather.  “This is called Spera, the weapon of heroes.”

Storm Runner stared in confusion at the book.  “The weapon of heroes is…a book.”  He nervously scratched the back of his head.  “I don’t think it is my type of weapon.”

Celestia chuckled and said, “Of course it isn’t.  This was Twilight’s.  Spera is a special weapon that takes the form most fitting of those that wield it.  Only those with the mark of heroes can use it, so this is the real test to see if you are truly what I think you are.”  Celestia stepped back from the book, gesturing for Storm Runner to take it into his hooves.  He looked over at Blade, whom nodded approvingly at the young pegasus.

Storm Runner swallowed and reached for Spera.  As if he were cradling a young filly, he slowly removed it from the golden case.  He stared quizzically at it for a moment.  The book began to vibrate in his hooves, becoming more violent with each passing second.  The book quickly caught on fire from all its edges.  Startled, Storm Runner tried to throw it away, but it was stuck to his hooves.  He flailed frantically, trying to throw it away.  The flames reached his body, but they didn’t burn.  The ashes of the book swirled in the air and landed in the flames.  The fire twisted and contorted into many shapes in Storm Runner’s grasp.  As sudden as lightening, the flame erupted into a blinding flash that reflected off the golden walls of the room.  When the bright light subsided, Storm Runner found himself holding a white blade with a blue gem embedded in its golden hilt.  He moved it around to find that it was light as a feather. He swung it around, feeling its balance of speed and power surge cut through his imaginary foe.

“This…is…AWESOME!” he exclaimed proudly.  “I can’t believe I’m a hero.”  He caught the sight of Blade from the corner of his eye smiling proudly back at him.  Storm Runner felt a sense of joy coursing through his body.  He turned to Celestia and, remembering to bow, said, “Thank you.  I promise I won’t let you down.”

Celestia smiled back at the stallion and replied, “I’m glad to hear you say that, because there is a situation that may require a hero.”  She handed a packet of papers to Lt. Blade.  “This explains all you need to know.”

Storm Runner’s mouth fell open.  “Blade is coming too?” he asked, unable to hide the happiness that was quickly building up inside of him.

“He has volunteered to be your mentor as you become a hero,” she stated.  “All of these heroes may have been given the title, but they all had much to learn before they reached their full potential.”  Celestia nodded toward the door.  “Now hurry you two.  You have a train to catch.”

Storm Runner and Blade saluted the princesses.  Storm Runner sheathed his new sword, and it disappeared from his back.  “Is that supposed to do that?” he asked.

Celestia nodded.  “Spera is a magical weapon from ancient times.  Its potential is endless as long as the hero’s heart remains true.”

“Magic sword…SWEET!” exclaimed Storm Runner.

“If you’re done playing with that toothpick, we have a train to catch,” ordered Lt. Blade.  Storm Runner nodded and they both rushed out of the room to the train station, leaving the two princesses alone.

Celestia swung around to face her sister.  “Why must you be so hard on him?” she asked solemnly.

“I believe we both know the answer to that,” retorted Luna.

Celestia sighed at her sister’s response. “That is not a good reason,” said Celestia.  “That happened long ago.”

“And the cost was greater than the goal,” added Luna.

“What happened to Twilight wasn’t our fault,” snapped Celestia.  “It couldn’t be helped.”

Luna shook her head in disgust.  “Like I said...the cost was too great.”

Celestia closed her eyes and let out a deep breath, but couldn’t find the words to combat what her sister said.  Maybe because she is right, Celestia thought to herself.

Luna waited for her sister to speak again.  Her eyes widened as she watched Celestia trot out of the room without a word.  When Celestia was well out of earshot, Luna whispered, “I won’t let it happen again.”  She stared at the picture of the purple unicorn, a stray tear sliding down her face.  “I won’t lose another.”  Luna turned and trotted out of the room determined to keep her word.

Neil Fowler:

*adjust*

Neil Fowler:

Consider rewording without beginning with *She*

Neil Fowler:

horsey story, horsey movements

Neil Fowler:

*inside*

Neil Fowler:

Luna's a little bit of a bitch