It had to be said, a tavern was not the kind of place one would expect to see Twilight Sparkle. But, here she was, sitting quietly next to Applejack, watching all the other ponies in the place. It was a vibrant and friendly-feeling place, with the air abuzz with chatter and happy conversations. The bartender nearby bore a wide smile as he served drink after drink to his patrons, often stopping to talk with them as he did so. Twilight, for her part, merely glanced down to the tiny glass of cider that sat in front of her on her part of the small table between her and Applejack. The earth pony mare, on her side of things, had a somewhat larger glass, and was currently downing it at a rate that Twilight couldn't help but be taken aback by. But, when she was finished, she let out a contented sigh, wiping away whatever moisture was left around her lips before looking to her companion with that hearty smile of hers.
"Drink up, Twi! Dis ere is bona-fide Apple Family cider ya got there!"
Twilight offered a nervous smile, before lighting up her horn and levitating the glass to her lips. After a quick sip, and allowing herself a moment to really take in the flavour, she returned her friend's smile.
"It's very good."
Applejack chuckled to this.
"Heck yeah! We Apples have been makin this stuff fer generations now! Every time we have a barrel or two left-over from the big yearly sale, Granny always lets this place have it. Trust me, you'll always find lotsa folks here when that happens!"
Twilight giggled in response.
"Yes, even them, it would seem."
Applejack turned as she watched her companion look away. The young unicorn had taken to glancing at what was clearly a trio of Equestrian guards, all still clad in their distinct golden armour, sitting around a table and speaking with each other in a light-hearted manner. Seeing that, Applejack turned to Twilight once more with a smile upon her face.
"Well, ah reckon it must be pretty good fer em ta get away from patrollin town every once in a while."
Twilight nodded in agreement.
"Probably. Keeping watch over our new neighbours is most likely a..."
But, she was halted from finishing those words, as the nearby door of the tavern soon opened with its distinctive squeak. All eyes turned to the one who now entered, and when they did, it suddenly became very quiet. For there, standing in the doorway, was a single pegasus stallion, dark grey in his fur and dark blue in his mane. None knew his name, but even so, he was recognised instantly as one of the Lunar guards. But today, he had elected not to come in his armour, and walked among them like every other pony here. He glanced around, his face never giving away what he might have been feeling, before then entering the place in earnest, closing the door behind him before making any further headway. Upon seeing this new arrival, Applejack's head snapped in Twilight's direction.
"What's he doin here?"
The concern in her voice was clear, and Twilight, doing her best to keep her own voice down, tried to answer.
"Cadence told me about this. The staff and soldiers of the Embassy were given leave to enter Ponyville during their off-hours."
She briefly gestured to him, bearing a serious expression as she kept her eyes on Applejack.
"He's not here on official business, Applejack. He's just another pony spending time at a tavern, like you and me, okay?"
At first, Applejack seemed hesitant to accept such words, but, after a few quiet moments, she relented, letting out a long sigh and giving Twilight a brief nod. But even so, both mares, like everypony else here, kept their gaze upon the unarmoured Lunar guard, who made his way over to the bar. The bartender, naturally, was a little unsure of what to do here, but, as the new customer took a seat there, he cleared his throat, trying to give the same friendly smile he gave to everypony else.
"So...what can I get you, Sir?"
As before, the stallion's expression was hard to read, but he nevertheless gave his answer, albeit in a quiet and straight-to-the-point way.
"Just a water, please."
The bartender hesitated, but then gave a short nod, turning around to get exactly what was requested. As he did this, the other customers, at last, started to get back to their own business, drinking their drinks and resuming whatever conversations had been halted. The Equestrian guards, by contrast, kept their eyes on the new stallion, with the largest of them narrowing his eyes rather noticeably. But the Lunar pony didn't notice, or perhaps simply didn't care. Instead, he just sat quietly while the bartender returned, and, as promised, held a single glass of water. The Lunar stallion took it, giving a nod of thanks, before then taking a small sip of it. All-in-all, things seemed to be fairly calm right now. A bit of unease, but nothing to truly be concerned about. Or, at least, that's what Twilight had been thinking, until somepony else decided to become active in all of this.
"Hey!"
The young unicorn's eyes, as well as several others' turned to see an earth pony mare of largely plum-like colouring, whose expression made it clear to all that she'd probably had one or two drinks too many tonight. Her walk with somewhat wobbly, and her voice, when she finally spoke up, sounded, for lack of a better word, groggy. Upon being addressed, the Lunar stallion turned, raising an eyebrow.
"Can I help you, Miss...?"
The mare spoke up again, pointing her hoof squarely in the new arrival's chest.
"I'm Berry Punch! And I wanna know what you're doing here, buster!"
The stallion frowned slightly.
"I'm having a drink, Miss. Is that a problem?"
After hiccupping a little bit, Berry answered, sounding a touch angrier than she was a few moments ago.
"You'd better believe it's a problem, buddy! What do you think you're doing, coming here and spoiling everypony's good time?!"
The stallion turned away, taking another sip of his drink and, from the looks of it, trying to ignore this unexpected interruption. Naturally, this didn't sit well with Berry one bit.
"Hey. Hey! I'm talking to you!"
Twilight, seeing all of this, slapped a hoof upon her forehead.
"Oh no! We do not need this right now!"
She started to get up, only to stop when, all of a sudden, she noticed that the three Equestrian guards were now hoisting themselves out of their chairs, heading straight for Berry and the stallion.
"Excuse me, Miss. Is this stallion bothering you?" the leader asked.
Berry turned to them, smiling.
"Heck yeah! Go and...you know...do soldier stuff to him or something!"
The Lunar stallion, hearing that, turned to her with incredulity.
"I'm just having some water, Miss. There's no need for that."
But his words didn't seem to alleviate the mood of the guards, who took a step closer to him.
"Sir, you're clearly upsetting the other customers here. Perhaps it would be better if you...departed."
At that, the Lunar stallion frowned.
"Excuse me?"
The leader pointed to him.
"I believe I made myself clear."
Hearing that, the Lunar stallion slowly got out of his chair, keeping his eyes firmly upon the leader's. The two flanking guards shifted in place, sensing a brewing issue, though the opposing stallion was undeterred.
"I was just sitting here quietly, and this...citizen...came over and started pestering me. And you're honestly telling me that I'm the one who should be leaving?"
The guard leader narrowed his eyes further.
"Clearly, your presence is a disruption, Sir. Surely you can see that you leaving is in everypony's best interests?"
But the other stallion stood firm.
"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, Equestrian...but I'm not going anywhere."
His voice had been calm, or about as calm as was possible under the circumstances, but even so, it had an effect, as many of the other ponies in the tavern started to look more than a little concerned. Among these was Twilight, who, after all of this, started to get out of her chair, with Applejack looking quite worried as she did so. It took her no time whatsoever for her to reach this little confrontation.
"Gentlecolts! I believe this is just a simple misunderstanding. We don't need to..."
But she was halted by a raised hoof from the Equestrian guard's leader.
"Remain where you are, Miss. We'll handle this."
The Lunar stallion scoffed at that.
"Oh, yes, clearly, challenging the person who didn't start this problem. There's some good soldier work."
The guard leader grumbled to this.
"Alright, I've had enough of him. Sergeant? Escort him out of here."
One of the other stallions took a step closer, reaching out with a single hoof to take hold of the Lunar stallion's leg. However, the moment this happened, the latter sprung into action, moving swiftly and blocking the other pony's attempt to take hold of him. This sparked everything off, as all three of the Equestrian guards responded in unison to retaliate. Everypony else started to back away, watching as the three Equestrian surrounded the Lunar stallion. All watched as the three pegasi took on the one, and with every attempt to strike or apprehend him, the Lunar pegasus kept dodging and blocking them all. It was clear that the three soldiers were becoming frustrated, but every attempt they tried to take him was met with failure. Twilight watched, aghast at what was happening, especially since the Lunar stallion didn't seem to be putting much in the way of effort into his defences. He was matching them, blow for blow, to the point where several of the customers were now fleeing from the tavern altogether.
"Oh no!" Twilight exclaimed.
The leader of the Equestrian guards, growing increasingly furious over this failure thus far, was now seething, grinding his teeth and looking at his opponent with pure rage.
"You...will...FALL!!!"
But the Lunar stallion merely frowned right back.
"Then come and make me!"
The Equestrian guard charged, ready to take on this newcomer all by himself, but, before anypony could make any other movement whatsoever, another voice called out loudly.
"PRIVATE!!!"
Everypony stopped, with the Lunar stallion stopping in his tracks and giving an instinctive salute as soon as he'd heard that voice. All eyes turned to the door of the tavern, and Twilight's eyes in particular widened with alarm when she saw that there, standing professionally in that doorway, was none other than Ambassador Rarity. She was currently flanked by two other guards, and these ones were clad in armour, as she surveyed the disrupted tavern within. When her eyes fell on Twilight, however, they narrowed.
"Miss Twilight...would you care to explain what has happened here?"
"Ambassador, this is an outrage!"
The anger in Ambassador Rarity's voice was clear, just as it was in the glower she now gave Cadence. Sitting opposite each other in the main chamber of Ponyville's town hall, the two diplomats could not have looked more different right now. Rarity, bearing great indignity, while Cadence seemed both stressed and even somewhat apologetic. Beside the former stood Captain Aurora Dash, who seemed no less upset than her companion. As for Cadence, as usual, she was beside both Twilight and Captain Shining, the latter of which now glared right back to the Lunar delegation. Cadence, for her part, was clearly trying hard to avoid any further incident right now, as shown in her tone when she eventually spike up.
"Ambassador Rarity, I understand that this was an unfortunate meeting, but..."
But the alabaster unicorn scoffed at this.
"Ha! Unfortunate? Your people directly tried to assault one of ours! And after you'd assured me that they would be granted safety during their time in the town!"
Before Cadence could respond, Shining intervened, his voice loud and angry.
"Your guard refused to vacate the premises when he was instructed to! Our people had every right to remove him!"
To that, it was Captain Dash's turn to add her voice to matters.
"Your so-called soldiers tried to force him out over nothing!"
Shining frowned to his counterpart.
"Nothing? His presence was making everypony else in that tavern uncomfortable!"
Aurora rolled her eyes, speaking back in a sarcastic tone.
"Oh, I'm sorry! I had no idea that simply drinking a glass of water near you Equestrians was something that bothered you so much!"
Shining stood from his chair, clearly furious.
"Are you seriously telling me that he couldn't have gotten himself some water at the Embassy?!"
Aurora pointed to him.
"Are you seriously telling me that it's somehow unreasonable for our guys to have their drinks somewhere other than their place of work?!"
"CAPTAINS!!!"
The unexpected shout from Cadence caught everypony off guard, and soon, all eyes were upon her as she raised both hooves to her temples, rubbing them in a clear sign of stress.
"We came here today to resolve an issue, not start up another one!"
Hearing that, both Shining and Aurora turned to stare at one another. It took a few moments, but eventually, they both sat back down in their chairs, leading to Rarity looking once more to her Equestrian counterpart.
"As passionate as my colleague is, she does raise a good point. This incident was sparked by no fault of our guard."
Cadence and the other Equestrians looked to her, prompting her to continue.
"Or have you conveniently forgotten the fact that the drunkard who approached him was one of yours?"
Embarrassment now covered Cadence's face, and she coughed in a nervous manner.
"Yes...well..."
But, yet again, Rarity cut her off.
"Those guards of yours were out of line. Did the guard's presence make the other Equestrians uncomfortable? Perhaps. But even so, to ask him to leave without him actually doing anything wrong is very much out of order."
After a pause, she continued.
"It's quite clear to me that this guard, whatever his name is, was far too eager to paint our stallion as a criminal. Too aggressive, itching for a fight."
Those words, naturally, prompted Shining to stand once more.
"You're wrong! I've known that stallion for years. He's one of the best!"
Rarity raised an eyebrow.
"That doesn't really say much about the rest of you, now does it?"
Shining's eyes widened with anger, but, he soon felt something take hold of his foreleg, prompting him to look to his side. There, Twilight looked up to him, almost pleading with him to calm down. And, as was so often the case, his sister's influence shone through, and he sat back down. But, with this involvement, Twilight herself now fell under Ambassador Rarity's gaze.
"Miss Twilight, you were there the whole time? You witnessed the incident first-hoof?"
Though she hesitated, Twilight soon nodded.
"Yes, I did."
Rarity nodded back.
"Then tell me... do you believe that our guard should be held accountable for this matter...or yours?"
Twilight paused, looking over to both Shining and Cadence. The way they looked at her, it was as if they already knew what she was going to say. As one would expect, this left Twilight feeling more than a little concerned. But, in the end, she knew in her heart that honesty was the only real way forward, and so, after hanging her head, she let out a long sigh.
"Our soldiers...treated him unfairly. He was minding his own business."
Rarity looked to her for a few moments before then looking back to Cadence, her expression very business-like.
"Well then...I'd say that's that matter decided then. All that remains is proper...reparations."
Cadence turned to her, raising an eyebrow.
"Meaning?"
Placing one hoof on the table, Rarity continued to speak in that professional tone of hers.
"It's quite simple. Your stallion attacked ours. Had this been one of your citizens, the guard would probably be subject to whatever punishment you deemed necessary. We only ask the same here."
Shining frowned.
"And that would be...?"
Rarity looked him right in the eye.
"Well, given the circumstances, I believe the most acceptable procedure...would be for you to turn him over to us."
Naturally, all three Equestrians seemed aghast at that, Shining especially.
"You...you just expect us to hand over an Equestrian citizen to a foreign power for them to punish?"
Aurora, for her part, seemed rather amused by this, but Rarity, by contrast, remained hard to read as she gave her response to this.
"I confess, it would be hard to swallow on your end. So..."
She placed both hooves together.
"...I believe I have an alternative solution. One that would be much easier for you to stomach."
Twilight bore a worried look as she spoke.
"What?"
Rarity took a moment to glance to Aurora before turning her attention back to the Equestrians.
"I ask that the offending guard be removed from his posting here in Ponyville, and replaced with another...less eager soldier."
Just as with the last suggestion, Shining was livid right now, but, as before, he was soon calmed. However, unlike before, this time, it was Cadence's turn to do so, as she leaned closer to him and whispered.
"I think this is the best we can hope for, Captain."
Shining, naturally, seemed to struggle a great deal with this, but, in the face of everypony else looking to him, he soon relented, sighing deeply.
"Very well...I'll sign the order."
Rarity gained a small smile at this.
"For what it's worth, Captain, if you wish to save face for this colleague of yours, you can always refer to this as a transfer in your report, rather than a reprimand."
The white stallion narrowed his eyes.
"Thank you for your...suggestion."
Rarity nodded, getting herself out of her chair.
"Well then, if that's that matter settled, then I bid you all good day."
Nopony said anything as the two of them left, and before long, the door of the town hall squeaked both open and closed, leaving only the Equestrians behind. There was silence for a time, which ended very suddenly when Shining slammed his hoof against the table.
"They got us!"
Twilight looked to him.
"Brother, do you really think this was some plan of theirs?"
The stallion let out a dry laugh.
"Oh, they might not have intended it, but they sure as Tartarus made the most of it. Now we look like the bad guys!"
Twilight frowned.
"It's kind of hard for us to look like anything else right now."
To that, Shining sighed, getting back into his chair, leading to Cadence getting out of hers.
"I need to send word to Princess Celestia about this. Goodness knows what she's going to think about all of this."
The two siblings watched her leave, heading straight for the door that led to some of the offices here at the hall. But, once she'd left, Twilight, after taking a moment to enjoy the silence, got up also.
"I need to go too. I've been away from Spike for too long."
But, she was kept from going anywhere, as Shining reached out and held her hoof. Looking to him, Twilight saw, to her surprise, a look of concern.
"Twily...that guard...who fought ours...what did you make of him?"
Twilight showed clear confusion in her face, leading to Shining continuing.
"I mean his skills. This was the first time any of ours have fought any of theirs. So...how was he?"
Letting go of his hoof, Twilight shook her head.
"I'm no combat expert, brother."
Shining nodded.
"Maybe. But even so..."
He let his words hang in the air, leading to Twilight sighing yet again. She closed her eyes for a moment, thinking back to the incident at the tavern. Even now, the images were as clear as day in her mind, and as such, she started to give her brother his answer.
"He was...incredible. I've only rarely ever seen our guards fight, but...nothing they had was good enough. Every strike, every attempt to hold him failed. He blocked and dodged and weaved everything that came his way. He was just a Private, he was unarmoured, unarmed, surrounded and outnumbered, yet...yet it was as if it was just..."
Looking to her brother, her concern matched his own.
"...just childsplay to him."
Hearing that, Shining closed his eyes, exhaling deeply.
"I thought as much. When we first brought our guards here, it was decided that we should ensure to have just as many in Ponyville as we knew the Lunar delegation was bringing. One of ours for every one of theirs. It seemed good enough."
He opened his eyes again.
"But now I know..."
He looked to his sister, and for the first time in all the years she'd known him, seemed fearful.
"...we were never even close."
