A Few Good Ponies

Canterlot Castle

1700hrs

Princess Celestia sat in her meeting room, tapping a hoof idly as she waited for news from the Badlands. The door opened and a blue guard pony wearing gold and purple armor walked in.

“Ah, Captain Valiance, what news do you bring?” She asked.

“The Wayfarer has returned. Captain Lance reports they found and destroyed the portal in the badlands, but suffered heavy casualties. Apparently they didn't expect the portal to explode so violently when they brought it down, and the resulting explosion took out over half the detachment.”

Celestia sighed. “They were good ponies. We can only hope that with the portal gone, the threat is gone with it.” The captain snapped a salute and left the room, leaving Celestia alone once again. Speaking to no one in particular, she mused “It seemed almost too easy. If the problem has been dealt with, then why do I feel so.....uneasy. I fear there may be more to this.”

Somewhere in the Badlands

1800hrs

Dozens of former guard ponies moved around in a flurry of activity. Their once golden royal armor now colored a black so dark that it seemed to absorb the light around it. Tainted with dark magic. Unicorns were cutting away at a rock face, creating large blocks from the brown stone that were then hauled away by teams of pegasi to be used as the foundation for a large structure. Several earth ponies were put to work digging a moat around the complex, which was already several feet deep in some places, their dark armor seeming to give them an unnatural amount of strength and endurance. Meanwhile, standing on top of a nearby spire, Multis watched the activity with a smile on his face. His glowing green eyes following their every move. What was a king without his castle? Sure he could take Canterlot with ease, and that time would come. However, he wanted something a little more....fitting. He frowned. Progress was too slow, he needed more minions. Delving into the minds of his servants, he searched their memories for the perfect place to find more “help.” Ah, Dodge Junction. He smiled. Pulling strength from his servants, he disappeared in a flash of green.

Northern Badlands

The next day

0700hrs

Sunrise woke slowly, squinting his eyes at a ray of sun shining on his face through the wall of the shelter. Lightning's head was resting on his withers, a small stream of drool running out of her mouth and dampening his fur. “Ugh.” He got up and gently shook her awake. “Suns up private, time to get moving.” She moaned, and opened her eyes. “Before we go, let me take a look at that wing.” He looked at it closely and cast a quick diagnostic spell. Nothing fancy, but it did give him a better idea of what he was looking at. “Well, the joint's a little swollen, but it doesn't seem to be infected. You should be fine until we can get help. I just hope it doesn't set like this before then.”

Lightning nodded. “I've been through worse. Broke the other wing in three places during the changeling attack on Canterlot. And that was on top of a sprained hoof. I'm sure I can deal with this.”

Sunrise frowned, “alright, but be sure to let me know if you need help. You are my responsibility you know.”

The two ponies left the shelter behind, resuming their trek North. Shortly after noon, Sunrise noticed movement off in the distance and got Lightning's attention. “Quick, behind this hill, get down.” The two ponies got low to the ground, and a short time later they noticed a large group of earth ponies heading South.

“Should we get their attention?” Asked Lightning.

“No. Something doesn't seem right.” Sunrise replied. The earth ponies were marching in two orderly columns, there were at least a hundred of them, if not more. All were loaded down with bulging saddlebags, and all of their faces lacked any kind of expression. As they passed by, one of the ponies at the rear of the group, a small yellow mare with a brown mane began falling behind, and walking unsteadily. A moment later she fell over, still. The other ponies seemed not to notice, not even looking back as they continued walking. When the column of ponies passed out of sight, the two guard ponies approached the fallen mare.

As they walked up to her, she looked up weakly, and upon seeing them, her eyes widened with fear. “No, stay away! I don't want him in my head anymore!” Her head then dropped back to the ground.

Sunrise touched his horn to her head, then looked over to Lightning. “She's dead.” Opening the mare's saddlebags he found two canteens of water, several apple fritters, and a small collection of cookware. “As much as I hate doing this, we're going to need this more than she does.” With that, he unbuckled the bags and levitated them onto his back.

Continuing their walk, they eventual came across the path. Following it into the distance, they saw that it wound up into a mountain range, before heading through a narrow pass. “Hmm, if I remember my geography correctly, those must be the Macintosh Hills, which would make that the Southern Pass. We should be less than a day's walk from the edge of the Badlands.” Stated Sunrise. They followed the path up into the mountains until the sun started to dip below the horizon.

Spotting a small cave off the side of the trail, not much more than an indent in the side of a cliff, Lightning Strike gave Sunrise a nudge. “We can spend the night in there.” Sunrise nodded and they made their way into the cave. Opening the saddlebags, he pulled out one of the fritters and broke off two large pieces before returning the rest to the bag.

“Here” he said offering a piece to Lightning. “We don't have many of these so we need to ration them carefully, but at least it should keep us from starving.” Having been more than two days since either of them had eaten, it was gone in seconds. Sunrise levitated over several sticks, and some rocks to cover the entry. “There, that should keep us hidden from anypony on the road.”

They lied down to sleep, and before he closed his eyes, Sunrise noticed some writing chiseled onto one of the walls. “Candle Light Supertramp was here.” Hmm, must have been some kind of wanderer he thought, before closing his eyes. Lightning was already asleep, her hooves wrapped tightly around his barrel.

“Ugh, I hope she doesn't drool on me again.” He smiled before falling asleep.

Canterlot Castle

0900hrs

Princess Celestia sat at a table in the royal banquet hall, an assortment of various fruits and pastries laid out before her. She casually sipped from a cup of tea as she poured over her daily schedule. Everything seemed pretty standard. Same stuff, different day. Still, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was...off. As usual a squad of royal guards covered every entrance. As the princess worked, one of the guards approached her.

“Is something wrong?” Asked the princess.

The guard just smiled, and with a flash of steel he plunged a dagger into Celestia's side. Leaning over so his mouth was next to Celestia's ear, he whispered, “Multis is our king now. The time of the princesses is coming to an end. We are everywhere, nopony can stop us.”

Quickly two earth pony guards ran over and tackled the attacker, while a unicorn guard ran up to Celestia to provide aid. The dagger was still in her side, but the wound was gushing blood, staining her normally pristine coat, and flowing down onto the marble floor. The guard ignited his horn, applying pressure to the wound, but being careful not to move the weapon, lest he cause more damage. Two other guards rushed in as the attacker was dragged away, a sick smile on his face as he let himself be pulled away. His shining gold armor stained red with the princess's blood.

The guards helped a barely conscious Celestia to her hooves, supporting her weight as they rushed her to the infirmary. The world around her was a blur, quickly fading to black as she lost consciousness.

Canterlot Castle Infirmary

1300hrs

Pain. Betrayal. Fear. Celestia slowly opened her eyes. She was lying on a bed in a brightly lit room.

“Thank the heavens, thou art awake.” Said a familiar voice. Celestia looked over to see Luna sitting beside her bed with a relieved expression on her face.

Memories flooding back, Celestia looked down at her side. It was wrapped with clean white bandages, aching slightly whenever she shifted.

“The doctors did the best they could.” Said Luna. “Thankfully the knife missed the major organs, and they were able to heal most of the damage, though you did lose quite a bit of blood. Unfortunately it's going to leave quite the scar.”

Celestia sighed. “Why would one of my ponies do this? A royal guard no less?”

Luna waved a hoof, and Captain Valiance entered the room, offering the sisters a quick salute before sitting at the other side of the bed.

“I believe I can answer that.” He stated. “We have received a few reports of the Badlands survivors acting strangely, observing the activities of the other guards, and acting coldly toward their comrades. Initially we assumed it was stress from the events in the Badlands, but now I fear it is something much worse. We have rounded up the survivors and placed them under guard until we know more. For their safety, and for ours.”

“This will not go well if word gets out.” Stated Celestia. “If the common ponies hear of this, they may fear that the guard tried to stage some kind of coup against us. I believe if they had truly been trying to kill me, they would have sent more than one assassin. It seems their true goal was to send a message.”

Valiance nodded. “For the time being we have decided to keep today's events a secret. All the guards that were present have been sworn to secrecy, and the families of the guards who were sent to the Badlands have been told that they have been quarantined due to a possible contagion, and can't be seen until it's cleared up.”

Celestia agreed. “That would be most prudent. This attack has also brought to light the possible nature of the threat we're dealing with. Send word to the archives, tell them to bring me any writings referring to a creature know as Multis.”

With that, Valiance got to his hooves, snapped a quick salute to the princesses, and hurried out of the room.

Southern Pass, Macintosh Hills

1500hrs

Snow covered the ground, falling heavily as Sunrise and Lightning made their way up the path. Going was slow., as a strong gust of wind whipped past them, causing them to shiver, their tails tucked tightly to their bodies against the icy cold.

“I'd like to meet the idiot that decided to call these hills.” Groaned Sunrise. “Any one of these  so called 'hills' could give Canterlot Mountain a run for its money.”

After several hours of trudging uphill against the wind, they finally crested the summit. Through the occasional clearing in the storm, they could make out the length of the trail in the distance as it wound its way down the far side of the barren mountains,  before giving way to rolling hillsides covered in lush green, and disappearing into a dense tropical forest.

Unfortunately going downhill wasn't much easier. The icy rocks and occasional gust of wind made going slow and precarious. Every step of the hoof had to be made carefully, lest they slip and tumble to their doom, with narrow rocky canyons running to each side of the narrow trail, each one like a sinister maw waiting to pull them in. Occasionally they would spot the frozen corpse of an unfortunate pony. Judging by their gear, they were part of the group heading through the Badlands. Multis' sinister influence stripping away any will for self preservation, leaving the weaker ones to fall victim to exhaustion and exposure.

Eventually, after several hours of cursing, and the occasional panic attack at each slip of the hoof, they made their way below the storm, and onto more even ground. As they walked, Sunrise's ear swiveled as he heard Lightning singing softly to herself. Timing each line of the hushed cadence to a step of her hoof.

“Oh hail oh hail EUP

Queen of battle follow me

Queen of battle queen of war

It's Celestia we're fighting for

For the princess we will die

We make sure that none get by

Off to war we will go

We're not here just for show”

Sunrise smiled, remembering the song from his days back at the Royal Guard Academy, and began humming it to himself as well.

“In the storm, in the rain

The Royal Guard we feel no pain

Our enemies will never rest

For they know we are the best”