Shining in the Darkness

Shining Armor landed the Crystallux outside the Canterlot palace entrance. As the seven ponies exited the craft and entered the palace, he said to his sister, “The main palace vault is to the right of the throne room. Tell the guard that I sent you over there, and he should let you through. Once you’ve ensured that the seal remains strong, meet me in the throne room.”

“Got it,” Twilight Sparkle replied. “Okay, girls, let’s go!”

“YEAAAAH!” the six Element bearers shouted before heading towards the vault. Shining, seeing the six of them headed towards their task, headed in the opposite direction towards the palace dungeon, where the unicorn that had broken into the vault was currently being held prisoner. He dismissed the two guards at the entrance to the dungeons and started heading down the stone, spiral staircase (it had always baffled him that the princesses had never modernized this particular part of the castle, but the rest of the dungeons were).

As he made his way downstairs, he came across a pegasus guard who was about to head upstairs. He wore the helmet that signified that he was the guard’s first lieutenant. The first officer’s helmet (as well as his armor) looked identical to the Captain’s helmet, save for the fact that it was painted red. The lieutenant stopped as he noticed Shining and saluted.

“Sir! On your way to talk to the prisoner, I presume?” the pegasus asked.

“Affirmative, Lieutenant Cloudshaker,” Shining replied. “I trust he’s behaving himself? No chaos magic to try to escape?”

Cloudshaker looked uneasy. “So far, he hasn’t tried any tricks, but…” His voice trailed off as his eyes shifted.

Shining raised an eyebrow. “But?”

“He’s completely mad, sir,” Cloudshaker answered. “He… he claims to be a ‘servant of chaos,’ and he says that Discord made him his right-hand stallion during his original reign of terror.”

“That’s impossible,” Shining Armor said. “That was nearly 2,000 years ago. Only the princesses have lived that long. Well, two of them, anyway…”

“Celestia and Luna,” the lieutenant confirmed. “Regardless, you might want to go talk to this stallion yourself. You’re the captain; he might give you some straight answers. And…” He paused. “Good luck.” The lieutenant flew off, leaving Shining Armor to take care of things.

Shining Armor thought about the lieutenant as he made his way towards the prisoner’s cell. Cloudshaker had been promoted to the rank of lieutenant three months ago, after he showed considerable bravery during the Changeling invasion. He was the only guard not to be taken out of commission in any way during the attack, and it was thanks to him that nopony was seriously injured or killed. Since then, Shining Armor had decided that, should he ever step down or be killed in action, Cloudshaker would succeed him as Captain of the royal guard.

He’d certainly do a better job than I did, at any rate.

Don’t think like that, he thought as he arrived at the only occupied cell in the dungeon. He dismissed the two unicorns guarding the cell and got a closer look at the prisoner that had caused so much trouble.

When Shining Armor had caught the intruder earlier that morning, it was still very dark, so he didn’t really get a good look at the intruder. The mysterious unicorn was of average build and had a dark blue coat. His mane and tail were, by contrast, a bright shade of red, and the top part of his mane extended longer than the rest of it, which was otherwise quite short. His cutie mark was unlike any Shining had ever seen: an assortment of differently shaped arrows, each shooting off in completely random directions. It seemed that every time he looked at it, the arrows were in different positions. But the prisoner’s eyes unnerved Shining Armor the most; the slanted shape, the bright gold irises. They were the second-most evil eyes Shining had ever seen.

Shining steeled himself and asked in a commanding tone, “Who are you, and what do you want?” The prisoner remained silent, a small smile on his face.

Shining continued the interrogation. “What exactly do you have to gain from taking Discord’s statue? My lieutenant says you have claimed to be over 2,000 years old. How is that possible? For that matter, your magic is almost identical to that of a draconequus. If it’s the same kind of magic, you could escape at any time. So why haven’t you?”

Then the prisoner spoke. “I am an agent of chaos…” His voice was barely above a whisper, which disturbed Shining even more. “I have had many names over the centuries, but you may call me… Havok. Out of all the names I’ve used, that’s the one I’ve used the most. My goal is to free my master, and bring back the reign of chaos he so desires. Anything the master desires, I shall desire too. As for why I haven’t escaped, or how I’ve lived so long…” Havok let out a sinister chuckle. “In due time, Captain Shining Armor. In due time.”

“Wait… how do you know my name?” Shining Armor asked. And why do you seem so… familiar?

Havok chuckled again. “It is my business to know those who might threaten the return of my master. And you qualify, seeing as how you managed to repel the little… wedding gift I sent your way three months back.”

“What do you…” Shining Armor’s eyes widened. “It was you…” he gasped. “ You delivered the threat against Canterlot. You let the Changeling Queen in, so she could brainwash me and drain my power. It’s because of you that I almost lost… my sister…”

Havok grinned. “My, how clever of you. But only two out of three of those are correct. Can I really be blamed for words you said to your own sister?”

Shining Armor flinched as the mysterious unicorn said those words. Steeling himself, he said, “Well, no matter. Clearly, you thought that such strife would release Discord. Well, you were wrong. Love won out, and the seal is still as strong as it ever was. If you try anything again, my sister and her friends will stop you.” As he turned to leave, he failed to notice that Havok’s eyes had begun to glow…

+++++++++++++++++++++

Shining Armor arrived in the throne room to discover that Twilight and her friends were already waiting for him, still carrying the Elements with them. Celestia, Luna, and Cadance were there as well.

“Seal’s still strong,” Twilight explained to her brother. “And I put some additional protective spells around the vault. If that unicorn tries anything, the entire palace will be alerted.”

“That’s… good…” Shining mumbled distractedly, still a little shaken by his talk with Havok. This did not escape his sister’s notice.

“Is something wrong? What did the intruder say?” Twilight asked.

Shining Armor looked at her and the rest of her friends, then at his wife, who looked at him concernedly. “Well, let’s see,” he said, almost deadpan. “His name’s Havok, he claims to be over 2,000 years old, he’s fanatically loyal to Discord, and, oh yes! He’s the one who orchestrated the Changeling invasion.”

Silence. Then…

“WHAT?!” Nine voices rang out, three of them Royal Canterlot style.

“Could this… Havok… have been lying?” Princess Cadance asked. “I’ve not heard of anypony other than Aunt Celestia and Aunt Luna living longer than about 100 years…”

Celestia and Luna exchanged glances. “It is possible,” Luna explained, “that his unusual form of magic dramatically increased his life span, but even so…”

“What I don’t get,” Applejack wondered, “is what exactly this Havok would have to gain from a full-scale invasion like that. Or any of the other drama that occurred during that time.” Shining Armor’s initial distractedness had not escaped the country mare’s notice either, and Applejack, despite what one might think, could figure out what somepony was feeling at that moment fairly quickly. Shining Armor, however, did not notice this.

“Well, DUH!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “Haven’t you seen this kind of thing before? The villain always has some deep, personal connection to the protagonist that drives his actions!”

Shining Armor could have sworn he heard crickets chirping in the silence that ensued, as everypony stared at Pinkie Pie as if she had just declared that the walls tasted good. Had he known Pinkie Pie better, he would have known that that was exactly the sort of thing she would say.

Princess Celestia broke the awkward silence. “I believe it would be wise for Twilight and her friends to remain in Canterlot for a few days, in case Havok tries to escape and free Discord again. I shall send a letter to Spike so that he does not worry.” With that, she teleported out of the room, presumably to write said letter.

“I must be off as well,” Luna said. “I have… urgent business to attend to. Perhaps you and Captain Armor could show Twilight Sparkle and her friends to where they will be staying.”

“Wait…” Cadance said, before her aunt teleported off as well.

Twilight was nonplussed. “Urgent business?”

“Aunt Luna joined a… gamer club recently,” Cadance explained. “Something about trying to catch up on the times. I just hope nothing bad happens. The last thing we need is more explosions like what happened when she tried to use the microwave for the first time…”

Shining Armor laughed. “You think that was bad?” he asked, grinning. “Remember the time Twily was still a filly, and she got into Dad’s coffee while you were foalsitting?”

“Oh, no…” Twilight sighed as she held her head in her hooves, embarrassed at the memory.

+++++++++

“Twilight, get back here!” a young Cadance yelled at her charge, who was currently bouncing off the walls and zapping everything around her with random magical spells.

“Ha ha, NOPE!” Twilight squealed as she zapped a nearby coat hanger, giving it wings and causing it to fly away through the window.

+++++++++

“I never did manage to find that coat hanger…” Cadance remarked, smiling at the memory. “How did she get a hold of that coffee, anyway?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Shining said offhandedly. “I mean, it’s not like an immature, thirteen-year-old stallion who didn’t know he would fall in love with you years later left the coffee mug out where she could reach it on purpose to test whether or not you were as good a foalsitter as your ad said you were, and thus were worthy to watch over my little sister…”

Silence filled the room once more.

“Seriously?” Cadance deadpanned.

Rainbow Dash doubled over laughing. “That’s gotta be the best prank I’ve ever heard! And here I thought you were this stoic, way-too-serious captain guy…”

“Yeah, well, I was young and foalish back then…” Shining noted. His smile began to fade. “I still am, sometimes…” His thoughts drifted back to the night before his first wedding ceremony, when Twilight had burst into the throne room and declared that “Cadance” was evil. He hadn’t even noticed at the time that Twilight had never left the throne room, but when he went back in there later, there was nothing but a circle of ashes on the steps.

You really screwed up there, didn’t you, Shining? Couldn’t protect your bride-to-be OR your sister…

“Is something wrong?” Twilight’s voice brought him back to the present.

“No, it’s… it’s nothing, Twily…” Shining muttered, still haunted by memories of that night. Another silence filled the room. “Listen, I need to go do some… important… captain stuff. Cadance will show the six of you to the room you’ll be staying in.” He ran off, trying to hide the shame he suddenly felt.

“What was THAT all about?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I… don’t know,” Twilight responded, staring at the doorway. “I’ve never seen him act like that…”

“I have,” Cadance said. “It was shortly after we got married. He told me about what had happened while I... while I was trapped in the caves. He sounded so… broken, like it pained him just to talk about it.”

“Talk about what exactly?” Twilight asked.

“I’d better take you to the library tower now,” Cadance announced quickly, clearly avoiding the subject. “I’ve got lots of stories I can tell you about the kinds of adventures Shining and I have been in.”

Twilight shrugged as she and her friends began following Cadance out of the throne room. As they turned right to head to the library tower, she noticed Applejack heading the opposite direction.

“Where are you going?” Twilight asked her friend.

“Yah’ll go on ahead,” the farm pony replied. “Ah need ta… check on somethin’.”