"Come on Excelsior, have another cider! Why are you all by yourself for a Hearth's Warming party?"
"I'm pretty sure that would be a bad idea, sir, considering how aggressive griffons get after having too many of that kind of beverage. Besides, where I am from we don't do this kind of thing."
"Let me guess - what they actually do is stuff that would not be pleasant for ponies to experience firsthoof."
"You would be correct, sir."
"So it's not like over in Griffonstone?" Lieutenant Captain Shining Armor asks his griffon subordinate before taking a swig of the cider mug he is levitating with his unicorn magic. The two were alone in a quiet corner of the main mess hall, where the annual Hearth's Warming Party was in full swing.
"Those in Griffonstone seem to follow the Equestrian traditions vaguely, by having different commemorations of the sun and moon around the same time as you ponies do." Guard Upper Class Excelsior replies. "Across the sea, though... let's just say your typical Equestrian would be reminded of cruder and more savage times."
"I understand, Excelsior, further details won't be necessary." Shining Armor states with a chuckle, taking another swig of the cider mug before continuing on: "Still, it doesn't justify you not mingling with anypony else besides the batponies. Why don't you start by talking with Fidelitas about the ice sculpture he was working on for weeks now?"
Shining gestures with a foreleg across the hall toward the opposite corner, where a small knot of ponies are clustered around a large ice sculpture carved in the form of Princess Luna, blue lights set in its portable base giving a dramatic glow to the carved ice. Lieutenant Captain Fidelitas, the afternoon shift Guard leader who had spent much of his free time carving the sculpture with his special "laser sword from horn" talent, was standing by the sculpture, taking compliments and answering questions asked by the subordinate Royal Guards.
"Is this something the Lieutenant Captain does every year, sir?" Excelsior asks Shining Armor.
"Yes, a different sculpture each year. This year, it was pretty obvious that Luna would be the subject for the ice sculpture." Shining Armor acknowledged with a hopeful smile.
"Hmm. I'll ask him about it then." Excelsior finally concludes, starting over toward the ice sculpture display.
"You do that. And have fun now." Shining Armor states, continuing to have the hopeful smile...
Excelsior gets about halfway across the hall when a commotion is heard just outside the main door, stopping him - and the party - in its tracks in the process. The main doors into the hall are blasted open, red-colored smoke pouring into the room, and several different laser-like pulses that are also red in color shoot across the room. One heads straight in Shining Armor's direction, which is deflected into the mess hall ceiling by a fast reflex magic shield, and another toward the ice sculpture of Luna, which shatters on impact and rains shards of ice on the crowd standing near it.
Shining Armor recognizes what's happened for what it is - a deliberate attack by the Agents of Chaos - and charges toward the doors with a magic shield up in front of him. Another laser-like red pulse of magic energy bounces off the shield, and for the first time the source of the pulses - what appears to be a cloaked unicorn with a horn glowing angry red - is clearly distinguishable. The attacker takes off through the corridors, passing several Guards which he had knocked down on the way in.
"Anyone that isn't needed to assist the casualties follow me after him!" Shining shouts back as he gallops out after the attacker - a frustratingly vague order, he realizes, but the best he can do at the moment.
When he turns his attention back toward the chase, he sees another red energy beam coming his direction and he has to focus on deflecting the beam, sending it into the ceiling above him. Debris from the hole in the ceiling rains down, distracting his attention further as the intruder continues down the hallways...
The chase continues down the twisting hallways and eventually outside, Shining deflecting red energy beams the whole time and noting in frustration how the intruder had simply blown by the security patrolling the hallways on the way in, hence why there were none of the expected attempts to block him on the way out. He heard several other Guards come up behind him, only to stop and tend the wounded as they approached them. By the time Shining got outside the Guard complex, he realized he would have to do the blocking himself.
As the intruder approached the main gate he had blasted open to get inside - twisted pieces of metal and a pair of unconscious Guards laying on the cold, snowy ground evidence of the brute force power - Shining decides to try to "close the gate" by generating a shield bubble inside it. The horn on the intruder simply glows a very bright red, and as he approaches the ruins of the gate leaps at the bubble, head slightly down so that the horn tip would make contact with the bubble first, and a loud sparking sound is heard as the bubble is "shorted out", opening the way through.
Shining does not have time to try the strategy again, though, as while the intruder is in mid-air going through the space where the gate was, a pair of feathered wings pop open from under the cloak and give one push to keep the intruder airborne! Shining skids to a stop in sheer disbelief as the intruder flies up around and back over the wall, once clearing it firing down red energy blasts down on the courtyard from his airborne position.
"AN ALICORN? HOW?!?" Shining exclaims as he is forced to deflect away red energy bursts as the reinforcements finally catch up with him - Excelsior and two pegasi quickly taking to the air charging toward the intruder. The intruder notices and dodges the initial charge, coming around behind them as they try to turn back around and firing off energy bursts that they are forced to dodge.
Shining Armor attempts to shout orders up to his flying subordinates, but events are unfolding too fast for him to be helpful: the three fliers are knocked away with strong kicks as they attempt to ram the intruder, one taking a nasty hit to the chest and forcing him to land. Shining rushes over to see the pegasus stallion wincing in pain - a large, angry bruise has appeared at the point of impact, and Shining has to suspect some kind of internal injury has happened.
"I think... ribs are..." the injured pegasus manages to get out.
"I understand, Guard. Just sit tight, I'll try to get medical help." Shining replies with concern, now turning attention back to the scrappy fight going on above him.
Finally Shining has a chance to trap the intruder in a shield bubble, allowing Excelsior and the remaining pegasus still in the air to try to reel the intruder in. However, Shining sees a large glow of red energy building up inside the bubble, and eventually it explodes in a blinding flash. Shining is temporarily blinded (and due to the overload of energy temporarily feels a spike of migraine pain), while Excelsior and the pegasus up assisting him tumble to the ground, completely disoriented by the explosion.
When the red flash fades and Shining regains his sight, the intruder is nowhere to be seen and several unicorns are assisting Excelsior and the pegasus with him back up from where they had impacted and slid down the wall. Shining realizes to great frustration the mysteriously powerful intruder has gotten away, not only having succeeded in ruining a Hearth's Warming Eve party but seriously hurting several different members of the Royal Guard force in the process.
"Who... was..." the injured pegasus tries to ask the very worried Shining.
"I don't know, Guard. And that's what worries me the most about this whole thing..." Shining replies, more to himself than to his subordinate, looking up into the Canterlot sky with a great deal of worry...
A LITTLE LATER, INSIDE THE MOUNTAIN OF CANTERLOT...
"We were very worried about you, sir. Considering the new Amulet copy hadn't been properly tested before you decided to try your raid..." Agent of Chaos 4 says in the mountain hideout to his recently-arrived superior.
"I know, I wish Agent 21 had more opportunity to properly test it before the unfortunate fall. At least now we know he didn't die in vain, the setup using the Amulet copy is effective." Agent Snake in the Grass replies to Agent 4, pointing a covered hoof at the red-glowing unicorn horn he was currently sporting.
"Yes, but I've always wondered why not just go steal the real Amulet from Celestia's Artifact Security Vault? Why all the reverse engineering attempts?" Agent 4 asks, a fair enough question considering the power of the artifact in question.
"Stealing directly from the Vault would be much too risky, Agent 4. Besides, we will have chance enough to play with all those chaos-inducing 'toys' in there once we strike." Agent Snake smoothly reassures.
"If you say so, sir."
"Have a little faith, Agent. We must always be ready and planning for the sign, and this is part of the planning."
"And what is this 'sign' you keep talking about, sir?"
"The sign of a pegasus triumphant, splashed across the sky for all to see. That will be our time to strike..."
Little did either pony know where exactly this 'sign' would come from, nor of the events that the particular triumph would lead to both in Canterlot and Ponyville. The Agents of Chaos would expend their all in a whirlwind of fire, in hopes of the chaotic one returning to rule Equestria again...
