The Everfree Chronicles: Altered Chances

Canterlot, Dawn, Five Days Later

All was well in Canterlot, the sun was beginning its slow accent into the blue sky, the clouds were slowly being moved into its proper position for the day, the ponies of the city were starting to wake up from their peaceful sleep as the the moon has finished its decent down past the mountians. As the ponies began the new day a cart being pulled by an ivory white gryphon and followed by a silver pegasus wearing gold-trimmed white armor along with an ebony black unicorn wearing matching armor set but with a helmet that was covering his face entirely from the base of his horn down to the beginning of his neck. The trio earned strange stares from the citizens of Canterlot and an occasional halt from a guard to make sure that they were part of the royal guard, which earned them an almost pass into the dungeons for one peagsus's screw up when giving the answer.

"Shit that was close one back there...just leave the talking to me, I really do not want to end up back in the dungeons for a third time this year.....and I expect this plan to go off without a hitch, so no more burps in the plan...you got that Seymour and Ocean Tide?" I said through the open parts of the helmet, having to speak louder since it slightly muffled what I had to say.

"Aye we got it, just don't be expecting me to be quiet the entire time, and I really hope these guards fall for your plan otherwise we might have to hoof it back home the long way and my wings are still sore from the magic and medicine that you forcefully given me..." Sapphire grumbled as she lazily flew above the cart, eyeing it to make sure none of the precious cargo fell out or was seen by the public.

"Oh come now, if it wasn't for my knowledge of medicine or my magic you would still be in bed complaining about the pain, the broken bones and the muscle cramps, and besides I thought you enjoyed our little magic therapy sessions...if you know what I mean." I said with a wink at her, Greaves was trying hard to stiffle a chuckle while Sapphire basically donkey punched me from above, almost knocking my helmet off my head which would have been at the worst possible moment since we are in the thick of the marketplace and if we make to much of a scene our cover would be blown before we even make it inside the castle.

"Oh that is funny hehe good one Lunar Shield, but seriously what did you two do when I was asleep when we first got home? I only heard the sounds of two doors openning and closing, not three? You two wanna tell me why one of you slept in the others room with the other, or do I have to ask Etri about it when we get back?" Greaves said trying to get an answer out of us, grinning evilly knowing that if either of us answers him than he will get the pleasure of embaressing us in public secretly.

"Oh go buck yourself Seymour...nothing happened...something happened in my mind but that was it...besides my thoughts chewing me out other than that nothing. So stop trying otherwise imma take all your feathers and turn it into a pillow." practically growling at him since he is starting to push all the wrong buttons on me.

After our verbal battle of wits and pointless stupidty we reached our destination, Canterlot Castle. Now time for part two of the plan, to get in and get an audience with Sun Tyrant Celestia and Lovely Princess Luna...I mean Prisoner Princess Luna who is holding Queen Nightmare Moon within her body...good thing all that was in my head otherwise that would have been embaressing to have heard outloud.

"HALT! State your business you three."

"Well our business is that on orders of Princess Celestia...*cough Tyrant cough* to recover any and all artifacts that we can find at the Everfree Castle and to immediately return back here once we have found what she has been looking for." trying my best not to choke up on my own well thought out lie and not to fuck up and blow our cover infront of four guards, a barracks most likely filled with guards on break and also one very powerful alicorn with one currently regenerating weak alicorn.

"Than may we look at said cargo before allowing you entry, we must make sure that you are not lying to us, ever since we got reports that zombiponies started appearing inside the Everfree forest. So tell your little gryphon friend to hold still while we take a look." Awwww shit....

"Alright, Seymour hold still while they look at our payload. And do stay still and not fidget so much, I rather not want to pick up any more spilled cargo than I already have to."

As the guards come to look at our semi-precious cargo, Sapphire and I quickly back away and simply wait for them to get over with the search. One of the guards pulls the cover off with his teeth revealing the artifacts under it, a spare set of my old armor, rare moonstone ingots, a fake copy of Nightmare Moon's arcane sword, and even a portrait of Nightmare Moon herself, painted by my hoof and magic, and which is why it brings a tear to my eye that I had to take it from the castle and basically give it to the enemy.

"Well would you look at that, moonstone ingots and even some Eternal Guard armor, that must have been a good find...Nightmare Moon's own sword? Well i'll be damned I thought a lowly guard like me would ever see the demon's blade itself. And what is this? You took a portrait of Nightmare Moon from that castle? Why would you even take such a thing? Let me guess you thought it was pretty and you wanted it for yourself. Well nice try but this is going to be placed somewhere in the Lunar Wing of the castle. Nothing seems to be out of order, go on your way than, go inside with the found artifacts and other treasure and wait out in the lobby until Princess Celestia calls for you three." After the guards leave us be I let out a deep sigh and almost a shudder of fear of getting caught by the same guards that were our executioners, oh the irony that would have been if they knew who we were.

"Yes sir." I said with a full salute, not wanting to alert them to early that we are spies and that we are here to steal something of great value to me.

Seymour simply nods in agreement and Ocean just looks bored as we go past the gates and into the castle lobby. After unhitching him from the cart we all sit down on the benchs to wait our turn, and as I look around the lobby I notice that there was at least 15 other ponies here waiting to meet the Princess and talk to her about some Tartarus forsaken topic, me on the other hoof is trying to retrieve a certain set of artifacts and get the buck out of Canterlot before we are caught.

Waiting in the lobby was so far the single most boring thing I have ever done in my entire life, right next to waiting patiently for Nightmare Moon to speak to me after waking up that one day that was overly bright. That day was pure hell since I was alone in the castle and had no idea where anything was at the time. Taking another look around I noticed that Twilight Sparkle and the rest of the Elements of Harmony were also here which made me realize that if my plan goes south than not only will I have an angry princess and a palace filled with guards to deal with, but now also those six to go through and I am not in the current mood to fight them since I basically stolen some priceless loot from the castle on a gamble for what I need.

"Hey Lunar, isn't that Princess Celestia's protégé across from us? And who are the five with her?"

Slowly turning my head to look at them again with a cautious stare I was immediately looking eye-to-eye with an overly zealous pink party pony, and being that close to a pony that fast was something I was never trained for and my first instinct was to fall backwards with my forelegs flailing about and landing on my back. My little display got myself a few fits of laughter from my two friends, the other ponies waiting and even from the other five mares that are Pinkie Pie's friends, not the best way to make a false good impression on them.

"Thanks for warning me Ocean Tide..." I said grumbling unhappily as I pulled myself back up off the tile floor. Looking back I saw that Pinkie Pie was still standing directing in front of me, Greaves was holding onto his ribs while he was laughing at my misfortune and Sapphire was grinning at me for flailing about like a wuss.

Looking back at my surprise attacker I saw that Pinkie had that look on her face, the same look she gives any pony she recently meets, the look that just utterly screams "HiI'mPinkiePieWhatsYourNameWeHaven'tMeetBeforeWhichMeansWeAreNotFriendsButThatMeansWeCanBeFriendsAndWeCanBeTheBestOfFriendsAndWeCanThrowYouAPartyAndThereWillBeCakeAndCupcakesAndPunchAnd-" was suddenly silenced by me placing my hoof into her still talking muzzle.

"Is this mare always like this? And does she have an off switch or something cause not once in my life have I ever heard somepony talk that fast and without ever stopping." I said slightly disorientated by the barrage of words and hoof-gestures she was making while talking, my god that was a buzz saw of words flying at me.

"I take it that this is your first time ever dealing with Pinkie Pie darling, it's alright you will get used to it after a while. And I must say that you must be a new guard since most know about Pinkie's antics and tend to ignore them, you on the other hoof clearly was shocked, we were too when we first met her." Rarity said while looking me over casually, thinking that I might need a redo on my mane, since I left my mane in a disheveled mess, just the way I like it when I am in a hurry or to lazy to even get it done.

Sighing a bit and eventually pulling my hoof out and slightly wiping it off onto a small towel that was nearby, not liking somepony elses saliva on my hoof unless it was my own when I usually stare at pie or at something that attracts my gaze. "Sorry about that Pinkie Pie but I am currently not in the mood for talking, me and my comrades here just got back from the Everfree Castle with acquired items that we thought was deemed important to be brought back here." I said while eyeing Rarity than turning my zombie like gaze over to Twilight, hoping that she doesn't recognize me for who I really am under the stolen guard armor and illusion spell.

I let out a semi loud yawn while making sure to cover my mouth with my hoof, still wanting to act civilized while the presence of other ponies are nearby. During my small yawn Twilight was looking at the cart and actually moved over to it while trying to take a peak inside of it to get a glimpse at the contents, which earned a snort from me, Sapphire and from Greaves. "Don't think so Twilight Sparkle, this cargo is for our own eyes and the eyes of Princess Celestia. If you want to look at what we have acquired from the Everfree Castle than you have to wait until it is placed within these walls or Princess Celestia herself gives you permission to see it." I said with a grin while Twilight gave her best impression of a sad eyed puppy face, I have a steel will and my mind is an impenetrable fortress along with...oh damn you Twilight...the captain of the guard is coming this way and he does not look happy with me...shit.

"What is going on here and why is Twily giving you such a sad face?" Oh bollocks...why must she give me the face when he was marching over here...fate must really hate me today. My ears flattened when he started to speak since he most likely knows every single guardspony presently here and will blow our cover since he is in charge of everything that goes on here.

"Nothing is going on here sir, just that Twilight Sparkle is trying to make us divulge information about what we have acquired at the Everfree Castle, and under our orders from Princess Luna we were told not to tell anypony anything that we have found, only the Princess herself and between ourselves. I am not sure if we are allowed to tell you what we found but if that is the matter than you can ask us but in the meantime I sorry to say this but you can not look under the cover." I said slowly since Pinkie Pie was still talking to herself, moving my left hoof over the cover to keep it down while sitting on my rump, not wanting to get surprised again by the pink menace, knowing Pinkie she will most likely pop out of no where and cause me to flail about again.

"So you are telling me that not only can neither me nor Twily can look under the cover of the cart, but you were ordered by Princess Luna to go back to that castle of where the imfamous Nightmare Moon and Nightshade stayed and to retrieve whatever items of importance. Am I not correct?" I simply nodded in response to what Captain Shining Armor said. "Not to be rude and all but that is a load of horseapples. It has only been a week since Princess Luna has returned and she is already sending out a Lunar Guard, a Solar Guard and a gryphon? When did Luna even hire a gryphon to assist the Royal Guard on such matters?" Shining Armor was easily not buying our story, seems like he knows more about the guards than us, this might not end so well.

"Well she didn't hire him, he owes me a favor for saving his feathery hide from something stupid...and I called in that favor almost two days ago...*yawn* I still think we should have slept in that castle for the night, I now feel like imma pass out from lack of sleep...I just gotta stay awake till we are called in than I can finally get that well deserved rest..." I said while yawning again, since I forced myself to stay away for two days straight before getting here, wanting to make my story of staying up believable if they dare question me on the spot.

"Your not going to let us rest until we show you what is under the covers...aren't you sir..." I said groaning in defeat as he gives me that smug look that tells you that you can't win no matter what you say, as for me it meant that I had to show him or my cover would be blown...damn you to hell Shining Armor.

"Fine...you made your point, just do not be telling anypony of what we found, or by the Full Moon I will strangle the lot of you with my bear hooves! And I will not be gentle with neither of you, I will be so rough that you will beg me to be gentle!" I said while wiggling my eye brows in a playful manner at Sapphire who in response simple punchs me in the shoulder while Greaves was busy snickering under his breath.

"I knew you would see it my way, alright Twily get over here you we can see what these two guards and company of what they have gotten from that cursed castle." Hey buck you Shining Armor, that castle is not cursed, in fact it is the opposite of a curse it is actually quite a blessing since it is now fully repaired, has its own armory and smithing quarters, the royal library, the royal kitchen, throne room is slightly damaged, the astral observeratory in the rear of the castle along with the slightly dis-repaired dungeon which will soon be filled with the enemies of the night.

After grumbling to myself in defeat, I showed Shining and Twilight the loot we recovered, Shining was impressed with the fact that we got a spare set of the armor, he said that once the armorer takes a look at it and see's the difference in the two sets he might fidn a way to improve the current generation of royal guard armor. Twilight on the other hoof was impressed about the fake sword we brought back since I had to use a bit of my magic to give it that dark cold aura that was around the real sword, and to my luck Twilight did not see the difference since she was busy taking in ever single detail about it, studing ever scratch, dent and ornate details put into the blade. Another thing that she looked at was the painting, she never knew that I was a painter let alone the fact I basically painted the entire thing with magic, a spell that Nightmare Moon taught me when it was time for me to capture her image in her royal robes after she has taken over all of Equestria, but that time never came thanks to her and her friends. After spending at least two hours waiting for our turn to be called it was fairly afternoon and it only was made worse when us five realized we haven't eaten anything during the entire two day awake and travel ordeal.

Hearing Twilight's, Shining's, Sapphire's, Greaves's and my own stomachs growling out for food, and I could have sworn that my stomach was basically telling me to fill with food or it will force me to pass out in front of everypony and make my spell lose its effect and reveal myself to everypony present. "Er..hehehe I guess we should go eat something while we wait...does anypony know a good place to get a quick bite to eat?" I said meekly, my ears going down since asking for food made me look weak and if Nightmare Moon was here I would get such a beating I would be wobbly for weeks...that last beating still hurts.

"Yea, actually we can always go to Pony Joe's while we wait, since it seems there is still 6 other ponies waiting to meet Princess Celestia, so yea lets go."

"Last one to Pony Joe's has to pay! ReadySetGo! was all I heard before Sapphire Bloom launched herself into the air and took off, slightly clipping her wing on a hedge before rocketing towards the small donut shop. Rainbow Dash followed right next to her, Pinkie Pie mysteriously vanished, Rarity, Fluttershy and Applejack simply shrugged and just trotted over in its general direction. Greaves shrugged and lazily flew after them, not even caring about food at the moment, leaving me behind with Shining Armor the jerk and Twilight Sparkle the buzzkill.

"So..." I passively said while eyeing the cart, making sure they leave it alone before we go over to the store, "Heard any news about the graveyard at Whitetail Forest? I heard that zombiponies crawled out of those 8 new graves, appearently that Beatrix had one last spell on her that somehow resurrected herself and those nearby back from the dead, now it seems that even the dead can't get any good rest...well I am staying behind a bit to make sure everything is in perfect order with the cart and nothing has been moved out of place or taken." I said while marching over to the cart, flipping over the sheet to ensure nothing was taken or moved, and to my satisfaction nothing was out of place except for the painting, and under my scrutinizing eyes I tilted it a bit back into its spot, blowing some dust off of it. Both of them were looking at me as if I was crazy since I just blew dust of a painting that was Nightmare Moon's portrait. Forget them this portrait I made with my own two hooves and my horn, it took me at least a week just to finish it with magic and my hooves were sore since I had to keep myself very still while doing it.

"Okay lets get going, my stomach is growling at me and I need something to shut it up, and since its just the three of us, one of you two is gonna be paying! See you three slowpokes later!" I shouted while teleporting myself outside than started to gallop in a random direction before turning a corner and waiting for the two to gallop by, appearently both of them do not want to be the one to pay the bill...cheap.

Chuckling under my breath I return back to the palace, the guards thought I left something behind and they allow me back in, but to my surprise there was no pony in the lobby, only myself and a silver unicorn in a maid's outfit who was staring at me with a partial warm smile, which got me to think a few thoughts. One. Why was she smiling at me like that while wearing that dress. Two. Why does it make me feel like I want to get her. Three. Why does it feel like I am so lonely? And Four. I want to knock her out just so that warm smile doesn't make me want to choose the guard duty assignment. And why am I talking to myself about a castle servant that is giving me a nice smile in the first place?

"Sir are you ready to present yourself before Princess Celestia?" she said with that damn warm smile...I think it might be contagious since the other servants I have seen also have it. Coughing a bit as the bite marks from the alpha manticore start to act up again I grudgingly move forward, hitching myself into the cart before moving into the throne room, and just in time also as Princess Celestia looks over as Luna walks into the chamber slightly yawning as her mane wavers lazily about. Good thing for me because I know that she is coming to her old office like she did from the old books I used to read but still not the official ruler of Equestria.

"Welcome back Lunar Shield, where is Ocean Tide? I thought both of you were going to be presenting your findings to me and my sister together? Did something go wrong?"

After taking in a deep breath, trying to calm down my nervousness and the fact that I was face-to-face with my greatest enemy, ya nervous wouldn't have been the first word I would have used, more like straight up scared shitless.

"Sister why hath thou awaken us so early in dusk? Luna said in her old equestrian dialect, seemingly odd that Nightmare Moon was speaking modern while she wasn't...wonder if there is anything to fix that.

"Well Ocean Tide is currently grabbing a quick bite at Pony Joe's along with the other Elements of Harmony along with Captain Shining Armor. And as for these objects we have acquired back in the Everfree Castle is currently..." as I was speaking my horn lit up a bit levitating a small clipboard along with a scrolls pressed down with a list running down it, "One set of Eternal Guard Armor, 30 Black Moonstone Ingots, Nightmare Moon's Arcane Sword, and lastly One Magically Painted Portrait of Nightmare Moon by Nightshade. This is what we managed to get into the cart before the manticores that was patrolling the castle chased us out...almost lost my tail back there by their claws..." I said in response, and it was a good thing that I managed to interogate the real Lunar Shield and Ocean Tide, this illusion spell also masked my voice to sound just like his, it matched every detail that was on the subject that was being copied, even down to the cutie mark. Only down side was it was an exhausting spell and that it only lasted a single day before having to recast it on the subject than yourself.

Princess Celestia seemed rather glad about my answer and even more satisfied about some of the supposed items that was retrieved, even Princess Luna was smiling that something from that castle came back, for me I am hoping that she will take the painting I made for her and brought it back, knowing her she is probably going over the feelings that Nightmare Moon/herself had for me and other thoughts that they shared.

"Now before we go over to why you picked these items I have one thing to ask you." Oh shit...this can not be good. "Why did you bring back a fake sword that is obviouslly resonating with Nightshade's magical aura?"

This is gonna be a long ass day of stupid questions and half-assed answers...