Author's Note

So... In my blog post... I kinda lied. Not Intentionally! I just decided that I want to split the chapters up a bit. (please don't hate me). I did this in order to give you something a little early. Hope you enjoy. More to come soon!

As always, let me know if you see any problems.

Love and peace,
LadyMaria

21 - Shield

A hole opened in the shimmering sphere that covered the capital to make way for our carriage. We were quickly intercepted by a group of pegasi who gathered beside us in formation and proceeded to guide us down onto a short landing strip attached to the side of the palace. Most likely a VIP entrance.

“Where are the Princesses?” I asked as I stepped out, Lyra hopping down behind me.

“Both Princesses Celestia and Luna are in the war room,” A guard said as he gave a short and quick bow. “We were told to take you to her, ma’am.”

I nodded and motioned for him to lead the way. The hallways were busier than usual, as I expected. What was unexpected, however, was what everyone was doing. Creating defensive positions? No. Increasing the number of guards? Also no. Setting out vases of large flowers? Yes. Hanging tapestries of large hearts and shields? Also yes.

“Doesn’t this seem strange to you?” Lyra asked as she struggled to keep up with me.

“Yes.” I said, simply and quietly. “No talking.” It may seem harsh, and I’d apologise to her later, but I’d rather not be talking about the danger in front what could very well be that same danger.

We arrived at an unassuming door. The guard escorting us saluted then left to do whatever it is he does. The room beyond matched the aesthetics of the rest of the palace. Marble and gold were the predominant features. It was large and circular with a wide circular table in the middle. In the middle of that, a topographical map of Equestria with the various cities, villages and settlements highlighted with glowing dots.

A few people were sat at different points on the table, some writing stuff, some in hushed conversations with others. Celestia and Luna were stood off to the side close together and looked to be in a hushed conversation with each other too.

I made my way over to them. “Hey.” I spoke. They stopped and looked to me.

Celestia smiled. “Hello. How was your outing?”

I stepped to the side so they could see Lyra. “See for yourself,” I said with pride in my voice.

Lyra reached to her waist and brought up her newly made focus.

“A wand?” Luna asked as she stepped forward. “Interesting. May I?” She held out her hand. Lyra gave it to her. Luna held the pale wood up in front of her eyes, examining it. The crystalized sap glinted as she turned it. “Megan carried a wand…” She handed it back to Lyra. “Granted, she never used it, it was more of a… ‘badge of office’ if you will.”

“She hated the thing,” I said.

Someone cleared their throat behind us. I turned and a stallion in what looked like a red parade uniform with golden tassels on the shoulders spoke. “Ma’am, it’s not wise to have civilians in here.” His gaze was fixed scornfully on Lyra, but his head was turned to Celestia.

“Now, General Pattern,” Celestia said, patiently. “This is Lyra Heartstrings, apprentice to Princess Artemis.”

He grunted and looked to me. I grinned. His gaze lazily moved to Celestia. He cleared his throat and said, “Be that as it may, I really don’t think-”

“General, tell me.” Luna cut in. “If Miss Twilight Sparkle, my sisters very own student was in this room right now, would you have anything to say about that?”

He gave Luna a flat look. “Yes. Yes, I would. Princess, with all due respect, please don’t insinuate that I have any kind of bias against the people I have sworn to protect.” I like this guy…

Luna smiled through gritted teeth. “Yes… Well, be that as it may, please don’t insinuate that I have any kind of bias towards friends of the crown.”

I raised an eyebrow and asked to no-one. “But… if they’re friends of the crown, doesn’t that already imply a bias towards them?”

Luna’s expression didn’t change. “You are supposed to be on my side, Artemis.”

“I’m just saying-”

Celestia cut in and held out her hands, placatingly. “People, people please, you can’t fight in here, this is the war room.” We all looked at each other. “Now, I’m afraid the General does have a point. While Lyra is the apprentice to Princess Artemis, it may be best if she waits outside.”

I groaned. “But that’s pointless. As soon as we get out of here, I’m just going to have to relay everything to her anyway.”

Celestia thought for minute then nodded. “Another good point.” She looked to Pattern. “General, I’m sure an exception can be made, just this once. These are exceptional circumstances after all.”

The General looked to me, then to Lyra and sighed. “Just… Please stay out of the way, miss.” Lyra nodded. He turned and left towards the round table.

Celestia looked apologetically at Lyra. “Sorry about that.”

Lyra smiled slightly, “it’s fine, I get it.”

“So, can we get brought up to speed?” I asked.

The door to the room opened and a few more people filed in. “Quickly,” Luna said. “The meetings about to start.” Then made her way over to the table to greet everyone.

Celestia took a breath. “Princess Cadance and Captain Shining Armor arrived a few hours ago, just as we received an anonymous tip that the city, and more specifically, their wedding, was going to be the target of a terrorist attack. We took this as the citizenry finally becoming aware of the changelings. Myself and Luna counselled them to postpone the wedding, but they were both adamant that they go through with it as a symbol of defiance against whomever made the threat.”

I folded my arms. “This stinks.” Lyra nodded in agreement. “This stinks like… Like… Something…”

“Stinky?” Lyra supplied.

I snapped my fingers and nodded. “That’s the one.”

“I suppose it does,” Celestia said. “From a certain point of view.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.

“Look, you can’t deny that they have a good reason to keep the wedding on.”

“Actually, I can. It’s a terrible reason.”

She shrugged, “The most powerful magic users in the realm will be there, what could possibly go wrong?”

I couldn’t help it, the noise that came from my throat after she said that was like some unholy bat monster, screeching in defiance of the midday sun. “You did not just say those words.” I turned to Lyra. “Did she just say those words?”

“She did.” Lyra replied with wide eyes.

I brought my hand up to my face. “Are you touched in the head? How could you say such a thing?”

Celestia raised an eyebrow “I-”

“Sister!” Luna called.

Celestia gave me a look that said, ‘Don’t embarrass me,’ and started towards the table, then turned back to look at me again. ‘I mean it.’

I looked to Lyra and said, “You should wait over there.” Then pointed to the wall of the room. She nodded and jogged over, her hooves clacking on the marble floor.

“Hello my little ponies.” Celestia greeted the table, warmly. “I’m sure you all know what’s happening now, so let’s get down to business…”

About an hour and a half later of talking about schedules, guard rotations and general security, the meeting was coming to an end. Celestia finished off; “In conclusion, Captain Shining Armor will keep up the force field to the best of his ability, whilst Princess Mi Amore Cadenza will be making the finalizations to the wedding. Any questions?” She was met with silence. “In that case, this meeting is adjourned. Thank you all for coming.” Papers rustled and chairs squeaked as the attendees made to gather their things and return to their duties.

Celestia, Luna and myself moved over to Lyra as she was in an out-of-the-way position. “So,” I said. “Captain Shining Armor is maintaining a city-wide force field? By himself?”

“Indeed,” Said Luna.

“That’s extremely impressive. Still, are you sure we can trust the maintenance of the dome to one person?”

“Shining Armor specializes in shielding spells.” Celestia answered. “It earned him the nickname, ‘The Princesses Paladin.’ I myself couldn’t do much better than him.”

“I want to meet him,” I said.

“You will. He should be on one of the walls at the moment, I’m sure someone can guide you to him.”

“I want to meet Princess Cadance too.”

“Yes, I know. Though I’m not sure where she is at the moment. She’s likely running herself ragged trying to get all the preparations in place, the poor dear.”

Luna spoke up. “The last I heard she was in the palace kitchens checking on the food.”

“Okay,” I said. “We’re off then. Come on, Lyra.”

Myself and my apprentice walked towards the door when Celestia called; “Say hello to Twilight for me!”

I stopped for a moment, then waved back in agreement and carried on. God damnit.

A guard in the hallway was kind enough to guide us to where his Captain was. Outside on a wall surrounding the palace, Shining Armor was stood staring up at the dome he created. A tall stallion, with a pristine white coat and two-tone blue mane, he was built like someone who had the genetics to be naturally handsome without really trying. Enough to make even my barn door think twice before swinging. Meow.

“Captain Shining Armor?” I asked with a big smile on my face. He turned his head towards me and gave me a look that said, ‘yeah, what of it?’

Unf.

His expression turned neutral, then to a smile, and it was at that point I noticed his horn was lit. He held up a finger and scrunched his eyes. Then there was a popping sound and the light from his horn accumulated at the tip before shooting off into the sky towards the dome. Said dome flashed and sparkled with light and became brighter from that point on.

He turned towards myself and Lyra, but stopped and winced. He gripped his head and bent over double. I ran over to him and gripped his shoulders, supporting his rock-hard frame. “Are you okay?” I asked.

“Y- yeah.” He said through gritted teeth. “Sorry about that, maintaining this barrier is harder than it looks.” He stared up into my eyes.

I’m married. I’m married. I’m married. I’m married.

“Yeah, don’t worry about it.” I said letting him go and stepping back. I held out my hand. “Princess Artemis Everfree. Pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

He smiled, took my hand and shook it. “Likewise. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Likewise.” Still shaking.

“Ahem.” Lyra cleared her throat.

I let go of his hand and stepped back even further. “Oh, sorry. Captain, this is my apprentice, Lyra Heartstrings.”

They shook hands. “Pleasure.” “Hello.”

I put my hands in my cloak pockets. “So, Captain. Your big day’s coming up. Nervous?”

“Honestly? I’ve never been more scared in my entire life.”

I waved him off. “Nah, you’ll be fine. You’re only marrying a Princess.”

“You’re married to Princess Celestia aren’t you?” he asked. It’s not like he didn’t know, he was likely just confirming it. I nodded. “You got any advice?”

“You’re gonna have to be more specific.”

“Well… What was your wedding like?”

I thought back to that day.

Me and Celestia had been together for ten years before we decided to finally get hitched. It was also a spur of the moment thing. At the time, we both thought marriage was rather pointless. I loved her, she loved me, everyone knew it, what good would a big kerfuffle and a piece of paper saying so do?

The summer that year was especially hot. When I say ‘especially hot’, I mean that it was so hot the landscape turned into a permanent desert. Back then, the Badlands weren’t always ‘bad,’ they were just an unremarkable part of the landscape. A place we thought would make a good position for the new capital city. ‘The Plateau.’ A vast area of mostly flat ground. An easily defensible position where the enemy couldn’t sneak up on us. Needless to say, we were quite paranoid after Dream Valley.

It was always hot there. Not desert hot like it is now, but it got very warm. The settlement we built there was mostly underground, this would provide natural cooling for all of the people, as well as acting to make supplies last longer. It was a good design. Very good.

So good in fact that when a strange being appeared, claiming to be the ‘God of Chaos,’ the subterranean design served to save our lives.

He appeared out of nowhere, claimed that we had trespassed on his favourite playset, and as punishment for our ignorance, raised the temperature of The Plateau a couple of hundred degrees. Everything outside burst into flames. Needless to say, we were trapped. Months without seeing the sky, supplies were running low and so was morale. Well, not much could be done about the first two, but the last?

The ceremony was conducted with Luna presiding and of course, everyone was invited. Despite the circumstances, it was one of the happiest days of my life.

The supplies were gone. People were starving. The morale boost of a wedding only lasted so long. So, with little choice, we ventured outdoors. The heat was unbearable. Yet, there was no fire. We could survive up there. The landscape of The Plateau had completely changed. Gone were the lush, expansive grassy fields. Now only scorching sand. Gone where the occasional hills, now dunes that would change with the wind.

Gone was the creature claiming to be a ‘God.’

He had doled out his punishment, and we had served our sentence. More people had died. Now all that was left was to find a new home. A place that would be named ‘The Everfree Forrest’. In honour of myself and Celestia’s wedding. The event that kept people going during that hard time. The name ‘Everfree’ became one synonymous with hope. Little did we know, that the forest named for hope would not be our final home either…

“More or less the same as this, believe it or not.” I answered Shining as I looked up to the roof of the dome above our heads.

“So, advice?” he asked with a hopeful look in his eyes.

I answered him with a sigh. “It’s going to be different for you, obviously. But I’m willing to bet that the emotions you’re feeling will be the same as I felt. Mainly fear.” He nodded. “You may be feeling that now, but trust me when I say you’ll be looking back on the moment you see your love enter the room for the first time wearing that dress, and she walks towards you slowly, and Celestia declares you stallion and mare and you feel your lips on hers and… Yeah.” I chuckled. “You’ll be fine. Don’t overthink it. Let your mind go blank and enjoy yourself.”

“Okay,” He said, nodding. “Yeah, yeah I can do that.”

“Good.” I held out my hand again. “It was good to meet you, Captain.”

He shook it. “Likewise, Princess.”

Lyra said her goodbyes too, and then we were off to find the bride-to-be.