Two Weeks Later – Canterlot, Canterlot Castle; 5:50am

Deep in Canterlot Castle, at one of the highest twin spire towers, Princess Celestia slumbered peacefully in another beautiful morning in Equestria. The sun hasn’t risen yet and while most ponies wouldn’t be awake at this hour – leaving only the farmers and early-bird ponies being up at this hour to start their day off – Celestia had to wake up to begin the rising of the sun.

The loud chirping of Philomena from her roost soon woke up Celestia, who with a yawn and the wildest bed-hair ever, rose from her bed-sheets… and proceeded to grumble to herself.

I hate waking up this early.

Lethargically getting out of bed, Celestia dragged herself towards the balcony doors, opening them with a magical flick of her horn, she gazed at the darkened skies of the night. Glancing to the distance, she could see her sister already lowering the moon and awaiting for the rising of the sun. With a sigh and a focused gaze, she slowly began applying energy to her horn, feeling the raw power and heat of the solar celestial beginning to rise beyond the horizon.

Opening her eyes, the gentle light of the sun began to rise in the horizon, the sun slowly ascended upwards, letting her spell handle the rest. Normally Celestia would help the sun rise upwards to its fullest, but due to her schedule today requiring her to get up earlier than planned, she decided to supplement a little of her magic to the celestial object. This allowed the sun to rise upwards without her help, but this also means the sun wouldn’t be fully up in the sky until later in the day.

Done with the sun rising, she made her way to the bathroom to clean herself up for breakfast; brushing her mane and cleaning up her face, she stepped out, ready for whatever the rest of the day will bring her.

Heading outside, Raven was there to greet her for today’s schedule, the secretary showing her a list of things to be done today and several meetings with various ponies and representatives.

“Good morning princess, today you have a visitation from the ambassadors of Minos, several requests from various nobles and high-class citizens, and an update of where should this year’s funds should be sent to.”

“What about my meeting after breakfast with Captain Armor and my nephew Blueblood? Apparently I need to review the documents with them, specifically the allocation of funds and resources to which of the Equestrian Guard Generals should go to, as well as improvements on several of the minority factions and specialist squads.”

Raven looked through said information, before giving Celestia a piece of documentation about what she’s referring to.

“So far everything else should be known during your breakfast with the rest of your family, a short summary though is that several pieces of information has came up since the past few years both prior to the return of the Spirit of Chaos & Disharmony – Discord – and princess Luna’s return as her corrupted self, Nightmare Moon.”

Celestia nodded in understanding, telling Raven to meet her some time after noon; the two made their separate ways as Celestia made her way to the dining hall to have breakfast with the rest of her family.

Approaching the doors to the dining hall, inside she found the rest of her family inside, already eating or waiting for the rest of breakfast to arrive. Luna sat by herself near Celestia’s seat, having some pasta for a meal – it being dinner for Luna right now, meaning she will head to sleep some time afterwards.

Sitting beside Luna on the circular dining table is their nephew, Prince Blueblood, who was looking through several documents and a peculiar news article, taking a sip of tea with his magic.

On the other side of the table is their niece, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza or preferring to be called Cadance instead, with her fiancee sitting beside her, Shining Armor – Captain of Canterlot’s Royal Guard branch and General of Internal Security.

Looking up from his reading, Blueblood puts down the news article and cup of tea he had to greet his aunt Celestia. “Hello and good morning aunt Celestia,” said Blueblood, cordially.

Celestia faced Blueblood and thought back to the way he acted during the Grand Galloping Gala from Rarity, while she and her friends were at Donut Joe’s bakery. While local gossip and personal experience, portray Blueblood as the spoiled and arrogant nephew of the princesses… he’s still a royal, and his actions hold a deeper meaning than his flat-rude attitude, that many ladies hear about him.

“And good morning to you too nephew, how is everypony’s morning? How about you sister, anything of interest in the land of dreams last night?” asked Celestia.

“Nothing much, just the usual frightening nightmare from the occasional foal… however, the dreams from those in Manehattan are still terrible. I hope the investigations to those unexplained murders and attacks have brought beneficial fruit, have they Captain Armor?”

Shining sighed giving a shake of his head, being reminded of the terrible and mysterious deaths of the ponies found in Manehattan, resulting in the city’s lockdown until further news.

Celestia gazed at the five ponies sat together, making up half of the most important ponies of Equestria high-society and governance. While she and her sister are responsible for the cycle of the sun and moon, as well as giving their final judgment of any important decisions to be made, her nephew, niece, and future nephew-in-law roles are just as equally important too.

Starting off with Cadance and Shining, while Cadance is considering a princess-in-training, her main responsibilities are greeting diplomats from outside the country and to handle any minor activities in managing Canterlot itself.

Shining on the other hoof is part of an elite military group known as – the Harmony Star Generals – various individuals managing different aspects of Equestria’s military from land, sea, air, and more.

Blueblood’s role in Canterlot is a manager of the castle’s staff, and to make sure everything in the castle is done in clockwork like a well-oiled machine. He also kept a close eye on the doings-and-goings of the Equestrian nobility – from those loyal to the royalty, the rich and economical nobles, the older noble families from prior and around the founding of Equestria, various militaristic families, and much more. Outside of social gatherings and in public, he is quite strict in work and making negotiations… the definition of being married to the job, making him terrible within intimate relationships – whether it be intentionally bombing Rarity’s attempts at getting close with him, or him just not caring about such intimacy directed to him.

After the rest of the food arrived and was eaten, the dirty dishes were taken away by the kitchen staff… the real meeting could now commence. Both Shining Armor and Blueblood brought various documents, reporting on the day-to-day information, reports, and news on the Royal Guard, the varying major noble factions, and news from outside of Equestria.

“Here are the reports from the other Harmony Star Generals and myself, I hoped to take this opportunity to update Princess Luna into how today’s military is managed and her request into the creation of two new departments and opening of two new ‘Star General’ positions,” said Shining, hoofing the princesses the requested documents.

"~…of the original Star Generals, we must first list off the trio of the Star Generals representing the army, navy, and air-force and their sub-factions including minority and specialist groups, which will be listed below.

Beginning with the Star General of the army – General of Industry, responsible for the management and organization of Equestria’s army, also responsible in agriculture, industrial production, and the creation and maintenance of new and existing rail-lines that are owned by the Equestrian government.

The following sub-groups are listed based on region, purpose, and capabilities; collectively they are called ‘the Equestrian Protection Battalions’ with each battalion stationed at various parts of Equestria.

The first battalion is stationed near the swampy and dense jungles of Hayseed Swamp and the Forbidden Jungle, they’re dubbed, ‘the Natural Wilderness Guard Battalion’ or ‘Wild Guard’ for short.

The second battalion can be found both in the south and south-west lands of Equestria, consisting of deserts, wastelands, and dry canyons that expand across the land, being dubbed, ‘the Desert Patrol Guard Battalion’, their nickname being ‘the Dune Trotters’.

The third battalion is located in the lands north of Equestria, and certain parts of the Frozen North and Crystal Mountains, dubbed ‘the Northern Equestrian Polar Guard Battalion’ or in short ‘the Polar Guard’.

The fourth battalion are mainly stationed in the urban dense cities, located on both the east and west coasts of Equestria – this includes the cities of Vanhoover, Los Pegasus, Manehattan, Filly Delphia, Baltimare, and etc. Due to the location of their posting, they often work together with the navy when necessary; their known as ‘the Urban Safety Guard Battalion’ but are given various nicknames, but most well known as ‘the Safety Patrol’ and ‘the Blue Guard’ by locals.

The fifth and final battalion is the generalized ‘Royal Guard’ that the populace widely hear and known about, but their official name – which oddly enough nopony seems to be knowledgeable about is called, ‘the Central Royal Guard Battalion’ made up of the standardized guard force and any militia force kept in emergencies across Equestria.”

After showing the documents relevant to the current topic, Shining changed to a different document showing images of both the sea and skies of Equestria.

"Next on the list is the Star Generals of the navy and air-force; the navy is led by the General of Trade, responsible with the management of Equestria’s navy, including in the handling of imports and exports, both entering and exiting Equestria’s borders – this includes land-routes too with the assistance with the Equestrian Border Guard (a detailed explanation of the EBG and their information can be found on documentation C-1 through C-3).

The navy is split evenly between two separate groups; the ‘Equestrian Oceanic & Riverside Patrol Guard’ aka EORPG, are a mix between Equestria’s interior and exterior protection security, focusing on the major rivers and sea-routes that go by Equestria’s riverside settlements and coastal cities. They vary with various ships and boats from small dinghies to traverse rivers, from warships and cargo ships within the east and west seas in use during patrolling Equestria’s waterways and transporting of goods.

As for the other half, they’re known as ‘the Aquatic Scouts’, their role is equivalent to the Wonderbolts, with the Scouts membership consisting of ponies with water-based cutie-marks and the local tropical-climate seaponies. Their main job is handling elite-specialized missions alongside both of Equestria’s coastal areas – this varies from rescue operations, collection of lost cargo, protection detail of important facilities within Equestria’s coasts, and preservation of natural mana-rich zones.

Completing the trinity of land, sea, and skies, the General of Skies manages Equestria’s air-force; they consist of the widest spread force than either the army or navy, and monitor almost the entirety of Equestria itself. Their total force consist of a combination of three separate factions – the Wonderbolts, the original aerial combatants of Equestria for the last thousand years until efforts for modernization were made, relegating them to a legacy group within the Equestrian military.

Another organization consist of a collective involving every single flight-based guard that are stationed across Equestria and within the other branches under centralized union that manages both their placement and orders on a weekly basis.

The third and final faction dubbed as, ‘the Information Cloud of Network Security’ aka ‘ICON Security’, who’s main objective is to keep an always ready and maintained force for both offensive and defensive operations in times of emergency, in a wartime scenario they are the first to respond and act.

The Wonderbolts nowadays don’t hold much responsibilities besides being called during emergencies, or used in operations requiring their specialty for speed and long-distance travel. In the early days, they were responsible with escorting both important individuals and cargo with the use of airships, while also diverting, managing, and stopping any uncontrollable or unnatural weather phenomena that may occur – which they still continue to do today, making them responsible weather-based situations.

The second faction is lesser known and was built when the rapid-number of aerial participants to join the guard increased, as well as varying minority groups that also joined consisting of other flight-based species. Dubbed ‘the United Aerial Forces’, they’re a union for all flight-based creatures who’ve joined the guard in the last thousand years during Equestria’s founding, though the actual union didn’t become official until three centuries ago due to vastly changing times and improvements to the military and public-opinion on other species joining the guard.

The UAE manage distribution of flight-based guards to different parts of Equestria, they also have some control over guards in other branches of the military, but these guards only follow their designated officers or which faction they belong to if they have a permanent post. The only time every flight-based guard – guards who use magic or enchanted items are a separate categorization and are not part of the UAE – ever follows their commands is when times of emergency occurs. The majority of UAE guards are always on the move, being sent to a different posting every few months to maintain constant vigilance across the various lookout outposts; however not everywhere in Equestria is in constant vigilance due to certain areas being too dense with mana or are lacking in guards and proper outposts within the vicinity – efforts are being made to retake ancient facilities from early Equestrian rule, but such plans have been slow going so far.

The final faction – ICON Security – are rarely seen or heard of both in public and within the guard itself, in times of peace they are mostly stationed near both Canterlot and Cloudsdale, and occasionally on a seasonal basis they do mandatory war-games with each other to keep their skills sharpened whenever they’re needed, while doing security detail for important facilities kept hidden from public knowledge – Canterlot Castle and the Cloudsdale’s weather factory are dealt separately by either the Royal Guard stationed in Canterlot and the Wonderbolts for the weather factory.

ICON Security consist of a trio of companies dubbed, ‘the Elite Tri-Companies’ with each company holding a different role in times of war, each company being called, ‘Alpha’, ‘Beta’, ‘Charlie’ Companies within the ETC.

Alpha Company, nicknamed as ‘the Loyal Vanguard’, handle any scenarios and situations in the front-lines of the battlefield, they’re also responsible for reconnaissance in times of battle and war.

Beta Company, nicknamed as ‘the Deliverance of Harmony’ are responsible with the management of resources for medical, food, ammunition, and equipment, while during extensive battles will swap roles with Alpha Company to keep fatigue levels within a manageable state.

Charlie Company, nicknamed as ‘the Protective Wings’, are in charge of guarding the flanks and interior security from espionage and infiltration from enemy forces. Alongside their role of protecting the other companies from ambush, they also deliver and retrieve messages by flight due to limited options to receive information through magic. Unlike the other two companies, they also consist the deadliest trained and selected fliers within the Equestrian military and within the other companies, being chosen for operations involving hit-and-run tactics deep within enemy territories.

ICON Security also assist in any operations with the Department of Internal Security, though this is rare too and these kind of requests are only done with both the confirmation of both Star Generals of Skies and Internal Security, alongside confirmation from Princess Celestia (this document also confirms that confirmation from Princess Luna is acceptable too as an option).”

“So I’m able to make decisions that would normally require my sister’s final decision, as well too,” said Luna, reconfirming what was stated in the document.

“Yes, just as how Celestia has final say in any decisions brought up that are needed for either your or her discretion in the future, however there will be times when an immediate decision must be made, so each Star General always select a representative in operations that create little to no-contact to the rest of Equestria’s control group – for example an area making magical or physical communication impossible, either by distance or environmental obstacles.”

Nodding in agreement, Celestia waved for Shining Armor to continue with the rest of his report, with the next set of documents talking about both the Departments of Internal Security and External Security.

"Equestria is protected by two departments that focuses on defending both its borders and cities from threats that either can’t be handled by localized troops, requiring the reinforcement and prioritization of protection and not aggression.

The Department of Internal Security is led by the head captain of Canterlot’s Royal Guard – General of Internal Security & Captain of the Royal Guard Shining Armor. Unlike other captains across Equestria, role of Captain of the Royal Guard, unlike the regional based guards means they control the entirety of all ground-based guards within Equestria, but rather than deciding what the guards do and go to, the leading Captain simply delegates and communicates with the other captains across Equestria.

Guards that are part of any regional factions or are part of the Border Guard are a separate issue and follow a different set of rules and orders. The main objective of Internal Security is to prioritize safety, protection, and the defense of Equestria’s lands and populace, meaning they themselves can’t be used to send guards outside of Equestria and only act if Equestria and it’s citizens are under threat. Internal Security can request the assistance of other departments forces, if said request is accepted, based off the scenario in question (an example of this is the recent kidnapping of pony citizens and miss Pristine Snow, asking for the assistance of the Wonderbolts, Royal Guard, and a small contingency of the Lunar Guard to help).

Then there is the polar opposite of Internal Security – the Department of External Security – led by ‘the General of External Security’. While Internal Security is responsible for the safety of the capital and all major cities, (ex. Manehattan, Cloudsdale, Las Pegasus, Fillydelphia, and etc), External Security is responsible with defending and securing the frontier towns and smaller villages that dot across Equestria – this includes any settlements near similar areas like the Everfree Forest, Ponyville is listed as a frontier town due to its location being nearby.

The guard posted in External Security call themselves ‘the Equestrian Border Guard’ and other times they refer themselves as Royal Guard in some cases; however, within the furthest borders of Equestira, the Border Guard self proclaim themselves, ‘the Frontier Self-Defense Force’ aka FSDF.

The Border Guard are stationed across all of Equestria’s borders, but are known to mainly stationed within areas that require constant vigilance, from the vast deserts of San Palomino, the canyons and plateaus of Appleloosa, the wastelands of the Badlands, the icy hills of Luna Bay, the treacherous and chilling heights of the Crystal Mountains, and the mysterious and unknown lands of the Undiscovered West. They also assist and check the borders that other departments manage too, posting their own Border Guard outposts near the Forbidden Jungle, both coastlines of east and west Equestria, and any main trade routes taken in and out of Equestria.

Unlike any of the other departments, External Security has the most non-ponies stationed within the guard, with the Frontier Guard consisting of three quarters of non-ponies of their total forces, but unlike the other departments, they only have a sixth of non-ponies within the Equestrian Guard combined.

To join the Equestrian Guard, its separated into three categories; the first category focuses on the three tribes that make-up Equestria, the second category however is mainly consist of sub-ponies (creatures with equine-like traits) – these creatures include, ponies from Prance or Saddle Arabia, or pony-like creatures like the thestrals and kirins. The final and third category has every non-pony creature known to Equestria, from griffons, minotaurs, diamond dogs, dragons – only dragons within a certain height and size (three to five meters at maximum) can join the guard under strict individual checks.”

“Hold one second, I can understand we accept foreigners into joining the guard, but we accept dragons too?” asked Blueblood, finding the idea of a fire-breathing lizard being allowed within the guard.

“Yes, Blueblood, the introduction of allowing any creature to join Equestria’s guard, when the increase in foreigners rose in the past few centuries. Unlike in the past thousand years during Equestria early times, modern day Equestria is more peaceful than back then and not many ponies are that openly joining the guard.”

“To supplement this, it decided to allow any creature to join the guard, with the first foreigner guards being creatures from Prance and Saddle Arabia, then the large minority group of griffons being given the chance to join the guard in later centuries,” said Celestia. “I remember when the first group of non-ponies graduated into full-fledged guards all those centuries ago.”

"The departments each have their own rules and regulations when it comes to non-ponies; the Departments of External Security and Industry allow non-ponies to join due to their wide-reaching responsibilities requiring them to be anywhere across Equestria. The Department of Trade also allow non-ponies, but at a minor quantity and only certain individuals, while the Departments of Skies and Internal Security rarely or never allow non-ponies to join.

The Department of Skies only allow non-ponies that have natural ability to fly, but once they do, they normally send them into the other departments directive with only exception. The UAF have representatives for all minority groups within the guard, allowing any non-pony guard to join to some extent, but this doesn’t extend to ICON Security, as the Elite Tri-Companies are a pegasi-only force, not allowing any non-pony whether a sub-pony or creature to join.

As for the Department of Internal Security, it rarely allows non-ponies to join, with ponies no of the three tribes going through a rigorous screening test in being accepted, this is slightly different for the Lunar Guard as it has some leeway in allowing sub-ponies in joining. The two royal elite guard forces, the Solar Guard and Lunar Guard also consist within Internal Security, both forces kept within important facilities in Equestria, rarely seen in public view.”

With that said and done, Shining finished his summarized presentation for the departments connected with the guard, but there was still two other departments left. “Thank you for your report captain, next I would like to bring up the departments I’ve been helping build since my return,” said Luna.

Bringing forth her own documents, Luna brought out a chalkboard that showed images and writing about the two new departments – one showed an image of an eye with a feather and telescope behind it, while the other was a bit more ambiguous, showing a black swirl with several tiny twinkling stars and six colored gems surrounding the swirl.

"While the five departments led by the Harmony Star Generals have been around for the last eight-hundred years, there were originally three organizations that protected Equestria in the early days. The progenitor of the Royal Guard, Wonderbolts, and the Departments of Industry, Trade, and Skies, was ‘the Hooven Coalition’ which consisted of the three tribes military forces after the unification of the tribes and founding of Equestria.

Along with the Coalition, was two organizations led by myself and my sister – the Solar Legion and the Night’s Gaze – the legion was Celestia’s personal army that faced off various threats that deemed to challenge the safety and independence of Equestria in the early days, however, they were not a peace-keeping force at initial creation.

The legion’s only goal was to defeat and face-off against threats to Equestria at a time when threats could come from anywhere. They were the progenitor to the Solar Guard, but unlike their modern counterpart, the legion was much more violent and uncontrollable, they consist of individuals either loyal to Celestia or individuals that held a zealous view to her. As time went by, the legion soon fell apart during my… fall, as the legion did actions against Celestia’s decisions… which led to the creation of the Solar Guard as they soon brought a swift end to their rebellious actions.

The Night’s Gaze on the other hoof were my personal force, but unlike the legion were more like protective guardians within Equestria. Their role was to oversee and protect Equestria during the night, facing off against threats both unseen and hidden from the common eye; they assisted me in facing against creatures of the mind and corruptive forces, defeating nightmares and cultists that threatened pony-kind.

Sadly, when my fall as Nightmare Moon came, the Night’s Gaze was split on who’s side to take, but after my fight against my sister, regardless of which side was taken, the legion didn’t see it that way. Taking advantage of the split between myself and Celestia, the legion made their move into causing as much mayhem to my force and those who had the slightest interest and sympathy to myself and the night.

The legion was left unstopped for decades until they were brought to a swift end, but the damage was done and it took two centuries until any remnant to the legion and any followers of Nightmare Moon were defeated. Prejudice still shrouds much of Equestria afterwards still, and many independent forces such as the Church of the Holy Sun spread their own twisted sense of justice, bringing dread and misery to all.

After much planning, funding, and support from various nobles and the other Star Generals, I’m planning to reinstate a modern version of the Night’s Gaze and another new department.

Inheritors to the Night’s Gaze, is ‘the Department of Surveillance’, whose job is to gather information, archive knowledge, and is to become a logistical hub toward the other departments. They also now are responsible with managing public and private mail across Equestria for citizens, the governing body, and foreign nations with ties with Equestria – this responsibility was originally done by the Department of Skies.

This department held control in overseeing Equestria information network, but due to their relative newness, they are limited still on both individuals and resources, so far they only have outposts within Canterlot, Baltimare, and Las Pegasus.

The second new department I’m creating has a more specialized role than the other departments; dubbed ‘the Department of Anomalies’, are given the sole goal in finding, containing, and cataloging mysterious magical objects and individuals that can be found both within and near Equestria’s borders.

Searching for artifacts of immense power and influence, their job in scouring across Equestria for such items is a counter to any future scenarios involving dark magic in play. Alongside magical artifacts, this also includes magically-attuned individuals, specifically those classified under five-tiers.

The lowest tier is called, Titan-Class – those under this tier are individuals who have unnatural strength and physical power, also classified with bodies of nigh-indestructibility and abilities that affect one’s own physical form. Some centuries-old dragons are classified as Titan-Class, but one example of a Titan-Class entity in recorded history is crimson centaur, Lord Tirek, who was capable of absorbing the magic of other creatures to both increase his physical state and magical power.

The next tier, Celestial-Class, classify individuals who hold great magical power, capable of manipulating vast objects and attuning with magic in the environment. Any alicorns and creatures of equivalent power are classified under this tier.

The third tier, Chronos-Class, those under this tier are capable of manipulating the reality around them at will, whether it be changing the matter of an object, shifting the spatial area around them, or even traversing time itself. The recently returning Discord is a prime example of this classification, however these three tiers do not classify who is stronger, but rather their range of abilities and capabilities, but the next two tiers are under a classification of their own – Alpha-Class and Omega-Class – but both these classes are under strict need-to-know basis for now.

The Department of Anomalies isn’t only limited to the gathering of magical artifacts and observation of powerful individuals, as through this process, they are also responsible in researching the properties of said artifacts and individuals with the inventions they build improving both the guard and citizenry livelihoods.”

After finishing her presentation Luna sat down and teleported the chalkboard away, this led to the next individual to bring up their report. “Thank you for the update auntie, now then, my recent observations and review on the aristocracy, has brought some interesting developments ever since the incident back in Ponyville with those sun-zealous cultists-”

“Nephew, remember about your anger-issues,” said Celestia, seeing Blueblood angered gaze.

Taking a breath, Blueblood gave his aunt a nod and went back to his report on Canterlot’s nobility.

"While the public’s personal views and information on the nobility may see them in a… unflattering perspective, but they’re not wholly united, as they are split between three groups vying for control for their own personal objectives.

First we have, ‘the Moneymakers’, these ponies are group consisting of Equestria’s business-ponies and traders, who rose in the ranks of the nobility through their business acumen and wealth alone, led by sir Fancypants. With his long ties with the nobility already, his business skills made him an excellent tradespony, and due to his morale view, the likely chance of him or ‘the Moneymakers’ funding any ambiguous and unlawful projects in the future is nil with him as their leader.

The next group is ‘the Conservatives’, a group that are rooted in both their historical and familial ties of old Equestria, led by myself, Prince Blueblood. The Conservatives hold a deep loyalty and trust in Celestia and the royalty, making certain that ancient Equestrian traditions aren’t forgotten or die out in the passing of time.

This leaves the final group and the most troublesome of them all, ‘the Revolutionists’, with their leadership being mostly unknown, they consist largely of ponies of the younger generations and those who feel desensitized to auntie’s past decisions throughout her centuries of rule. Their goal is to bring great change to Equestria and to have it solely ruled by ponies for ponies; they plan on doing this by removing the centuries old monarchy system and replace it with a democratic one, in which case selecting a pony representative to stand at a same seat of power as the princesses.

The issue with this action isn’t their end goal, rather their methods toward it as evidence of both radical and corruptive nature have been found within this group. Sadly, no action can be taken by them, as some powerful individuals are members of ‘the Revolutionists’, making it difficult to pinpoint areas of value for the group, leaving their current actions and movements widely unknown. The only thing keeping them at bay is their relative fresh appearance has made it clear the group themselves hold no tight cohesion with one another, and simply work together out of shared dislike for the royalty alone leaving them predictable at a close range – but this means while their activities in Canterlot are easily monitored, beyond the city leaves them hugely non-tethered and unbound.

To keep this unpredictable group’s actions limited as best as possible, both the Moneymakers and Conservatives have equally agreed to keep any decisions made by the nobility in the future, to be directed only for the benefit of Equestria. This however has kept majority of dangerous ideas and plans shut down immediately, some ideas are inevitable, leaving both Blueblood and Fancypants to go into full damage-control whenever any ideas from the Revolutionists passes through.”

“With that, this is the end of my report on the aristocracy, no then, is there anything else that needs to be brought up?” asked Blueblood, setting his papers down.

“Now that you have asked nephew there is, I was hoping to have some members of the Department of Anomalies to investigate the wave of murders and deaths in Manehattan. Alongside them I wish they receive the assistance of the Department of Surveillance, Manehattan’s stationed Urban Safety Force, and as back-up ICON Security’s Charlie Company for emergencies,” said Luna, bringing forth her suggestion.

At the notion of this idea, Blueblood swiftly places his hoof down on the table, giving a disagreeing shake of his head. “I’m against this idea, as such an action might bring the wrong message to not only the citizens in Manehattan, but all of Equestria too.”

“I agree with Blueblood, it’s one thing to send the DOA to investigate, but to also supplement this investigation with the help of another department, including the forces from two different departments two is excessive. I believe that this responsibility should be given to the DOIS instead under my supervision.”

At the mention that her idea be denied by Blueblood and given control to Shining Armor, Luna slowly turned her gaze at both her so called nephew-in-law and nephew, giving them both a leering gaze. Both stallions gave their respective reactions, with Blueblood coughing awkwardly and bringing up the newspaper he was reading back to hide his face, while Shining began sweating and gulping at her intense gaze.

“Auntie, please don’t hurt Shining, while it makes sense this would be under his jurisdiction, I don’t think its the best choice either,” said Cadance. Hearing this, Shining pouted in disappointment that his fiancee wasn’t on his side, but Cadance wasn’t done yet.

“Not only that, Shining, your forces are still monitoring the Church, especially with how these murders in Manehattan are connected with them. Recent murders have brought up groups of Church members being slaughtered in areas with little to noponies within the area at the time of death. The murders which were originally done at night, are now appearing broad daylight.”

Everypony agreed that having Shining get involved wasn’t a good choice with him having to monitor the Church and with the death in Manehattan having something to do with the Church, especially since the deaths have been occurring long before the Church’s actions in Ponyville that happened nearly a year ago.

“Alright, you make a good point niece… but I still wish that we send in a skeleton crew from the DOA, DOSu, DOIS, and the Urban Guard to investigate, and make certain that news of this operation be kept from public view. It has been almost a year and no progress to finding the killer’s whereabouts, besides a physical description of them by one off-duty guard by the name of Watcher.”

Celestia agreed with Luna that an investigation absolutely now than ever and to limit into a simple skeleton crew was alright adjustment. After this, Luna brings up more news prior to Discord’s release from an informant in Ponyville, bringing the attention of everypony.

“I would like to mention some interest news I just received from an informant of mine at Ponyville, relevant to Eclipse Light,” said Luna.

“Oh, and what might that be sister?”

“Well from the report, apparently, two acquaintances of Eclipse have given him a visit just some a few days before Discord’s seal weakened for him to free himself. The information I was given about these individuals was this; one is a dragon that wore a suit, while the other was an abyssian wearing Neiponese-style armor, in which shortly after their visit, they simply vanished afterwards.”

Hearing this brought some surprise, as having both a dragon and creature that was given the description of being armed was some serious alarms to the council, especially them being deep in Equestrian territory. “I had sent requests for both the DOSu and DOES to be on lookout for the duo ever since, but none have sighted either having left Equestria at all, and them using the assistance of magic to leave is also unlikely too, as not signs of any magical spatial manipulation has been made outside beyond Equestria’s borders.”

Hearing the update on these situation has brought intrigue – to Blueblood and Celestia respectively – and worry – to the young couple – about Eclipse recent house-guests that came from outside of Equestria.

“How come I wasn’t told that such individuals were sighted entering Equestria in the first place?” asked Celestia, a concern gaze directed at Luna.

“Of course, but when I heard this information myself too, I had the same question and when I investigated into not hearing about this either, the departments responsible for monitoring from such a situation like occurring, reported to never detect that such individuals had crossed the border to enter Equestria in the first place,” said Luna, equally befuddled.

“Prior to their arrival to Ponyville, no sightings by the physical or magical kind were made were found… as if their appearance and soon disappearance was instantaneous. The most likely possibility is they used a combination of an artifact that allowed instantaneous teleportation, and another artifact that hid their presence, which would explain the suddenness of their arrival and our lack of evidence being found.”

Hearing this, everypony agreed this was plausibility, but even Luna who brought up the explanation still skeptical as the initial investigation by both DOA and DOSu, still brought too much mystery towards the duo… and only increased her skepticism towards Eclipse and whatever secrets he’s still holding.

“Well, thank you all for given your reports and the update on recent news, with this, we’ll adjourn this meeting for now until next month or an update has been made on any of these situations has come to light. Have good day everypony, and sleep well sister,” said Celestia, making her exit.

Soon everypony else soon left, with Blueblood leaving to head another meeting with the other aristocracy under his group, while both Shining and Cadance left together, the two talking jovially with one another about future plans in the coming year. This left Luna by herself as she soon left and headed to her room to rest, but as soon she left the dining hall, a pony from DOSu comes running, nearly crashing into the monarch.

Sensing the pony’s approach, she swiftly stops them with her telekensis, the pony stopping in place suddenly, while the stack of papers she was carrying on her back, suddenly spills off and scatters on the carpeted castle’s hallways. “Oh dear oh dear oh dear, I am terribly sorry your highness, I should had watched where I was running.”

“Oh do not fret Keen Time, you never make an appearance from your office unless it is of utmost importance, though you must keep that bad habit of you tunnel-visioning into whatever has your current interest, your brother, Paced Trot always warned that you might run into somepony someday,” said Luna.

“Oh please don’t mention my brother, it takes him forever involving anything with movement, as least I get things done in a swift and timely order… though I’ll try to keep my pace… on a more manageable and safer… pace,” said Keen.

Keen Time and her older brother, Pace Trot, are members of the Department of Surveillance, helping manage DOSu Canterlot-branch workload… that is whenever neither are either distracted by their latest hobby project, or still archiving on last week’s information report.

“So, what brings you directly to me this fine morning?” asked Luna, curious.

Immediately remembering why she’s here and not her desk, Keen swiftly searching for a particular document among the pile of documents splayed on the ground. Soon finding what’s she’s searching for, she hoof’s said document to Luna, who quickly reads what’s on it.

Report from Department of Industry - First Battalion, Natural Wilderness Guard Battalion

Sightings of strange movement from within the Forbidden Jungle, cause and source of movement is suspected to be a currently unregistered and unknown force of Church of the Holy Sun. Currently, their activities as to why they are here is unknown as to how long they’ve been stationed here for, as their discovery was made on accident when a standard patrol route of the planned route was made, when said patrol squad entered some sort of anti-detection bubble that hid a hidden Church outpost camp by both physical and magical means.

Currently monitoring Church activities in secret and require immediate orders as current nearby posted guards do not have clearance to make an immediate decision. Require the active orders from both a Harmony Star General-level clearance and royal-level clearance, ASAP.

Addendum One:

Additional observation, detects malicious magical energies coming from the camp, scans indicate, that magical energies are related if not connected with Celestial-Class individual anomaly – Nightmare Moon.

Finishing reading the given report, Luna’s curious gave changes to one of deep concern, as she frowns at the mention of her darker tendencies being involved. Not only is my dark self involved by the Church too, if they have the capable to hide their presence from us, who knows how many of these outposts might be in, if not beyond Equestria.

“Keen, I need you to send copies of this report to my sister, the Star Generals of both Industry and Internal Security, asap,” said Luna, passing the document back to her. “After you’re done with that, I also want you – and say this word-by-word – to tell the Star General for the Department of Anomalies this…”

“And, that would be your highness?”

“To prepare a strike-force as soon as I given them the go to, and that this operation is to be done swiftly… and without mercy.”

After saying that, Keen soon left with the documents that were on the ground after scooping them up and dashing away. Once Luna was now alone again, she headed off to her room, but not to rest, instead to prep for turbulent future that’s ahead of her – ready to make her next move in this game with lives at stake.

Author's Note

Reports from Equestria's military and aristocracy has brought a steady change soon, the ever-increasing murders in Manehattan has forced the royalty's hoof in sending in a specialized skeleton team into investigating the cause of this mysterious murder-spree.

A hidden Holy Sun Church outpost has been discovered deep in the jungles with a familiar, ominous magical energy seeping forth. What outcome will come with this sudden change?

How will those that defy against Equestria’s protectors respond?

What other secrets is Eclipse Light keeping hidden from everyone's sights?

Next Time: The Sisterhooves Social holiday is arriving and all of Ponyville is celebrating it, alongside with the guard; however, the guard are still vigilant and aware... and somebody needs to be in guard duty at such hectic and busy time...

Even if it involves the quote-on-quote troublemakers of Ponyville's Guard Platoon.

Thoughts:
Celestia
Luna

Narration/Dialogue:
Shining Armor
Luna
Blueblood