The Only Mark That Matters

Radish stood at one end of the palace’s shield training gallery. He held up a buckler in his left forehoof.

“All right,” said his instructor at the other end, “I’m going to shoot at you with a series of very weak lightning blast spells. Your goal is to deflect each one.”

“And this is the standard training?”

“If a villain like Starlight Glimmer invades the castle, do you want to be relying on ‘standard’ training?”

“No, sir.”

“That’s what I thought.”

Radish sat in his palace quarters, rubbing ointment into his left forehoof. There was a knock at his door. He answered it to find Celestia standing in the hall.

“Ma’am?”

“Major, I’m afraid I come bearing bad news. You’ll want to be sitting for this.”

“Uh oh.”

Radish took a seat on his couch. Celestia sat next to him.

“Word just arrived by pigeon post. I wanted you to be the first to know..." She sighed. “Starlight Glimmer has escaped from custody. She’s in the wind.”

Radish gasped, then leapt to his hooves, sputtering. “How!?”

“I’m afraid she immediately got up to her old tricks. She built another cult of personality around herself in prison, drawing followers from fellow prisoners and guards alike. They were all pulled in by her promise of a better world without cutie marks. Eventually she had amassed enough influence among the staff to have her horn freed. From there, it was an easy escape. She didn’t merely teleport out- she blasted her way through the walls, freeing another eight convicts at the same time- three of them are still loose.”

Radish slumped back into the sofa. “This… this is all my fault.”

“It certainly is not. The prison administrators were overconfident. They nullified her magic, and believed her to be neutralized. They didn’t consider that she could wield her philosophy with equal skill.”

“But I should have!” Radish bellowed. Celestia recoiled from the shout, and he hung his head. “Ma’am, I knew her better than anypony! I knew how easily she can get into your head! I should have warned them. I should have written up a whole protocol on how to incarcerate her! I should have recommended Tartarus for her!”

“You are not responsible for this,” Celestia said firmly. “And believe me, I will see to it that everypony who made this outrage possible is punished.”

Radish closed his eyes.

“She was helpless before me,” he muttered. “We’ll never get another shot like that.”

“I know. But this is one setback on a long road to victory. We will reacquire her.”

“I want to be part of the marehunt.”

“I had something else in mind for you.”

“Ma’am?”

“The palace will be hosting a security conference soon. Among the projects that will be discussed is a redesign of our watchtowers. The design team's orders are to fortify them against the likes of Glimmer. And I want you to sit in on their meetings.”

“Me? It’s pretty clear I’ve become incompetent at that.”

“Then you should take this opportunity to watch and learn. See how seasoned professionals in the field really operate.”

“Are you just trying to keep me occupied so I don’t go off on some frenzied hunt for Glimmer?”

“Do I need to?”

“Yes.”

“Then consider yourself occupied.”

Radish shuffled inside Carousel Boutique.

“Oh, Radish!” said Rarity, trotting behind her counter. “I know what you’re here for!” she added in a singsong voice.

She took a ring box from under the counter and passed it to him. He opened it and looked at the ring. He smiled. Then, he frowned, closing and lowering the box with a sigh.

“Oh, dear. Is something the matter?”

“Glimmer’s loose.”

“I heard. But what does that have to do with this?”

“I thought with her behind bars, the world was safe enough to propose. Now that Glimmer’s out there, our wedding will be an easy target.”

“You think? I believe Starlight Glimmer’s more upset at us six than you. She hates Twilight in particular.”

“That’s even worse. I can’t protect you all.”

Rarity smiled and put a hoof to his cheek.

“Now, dear, as much as I am a sucker for a handsome knight swearing to defend me, it’s not necessary. We six can take care of ourselves. We’ve all faced worse than Starlight Glimmer.”

“I know. I just…”

“Feel helpless?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, there is one aspect of your life you do have control over.”

She took his hoof in hers, and held it up between them, opening the ring box so they both could see the ring.

“You can control what you’re going to do with this stunning ring.”

Radish smiled at Rarity.

“Thanks. It’s beautiful. And you still give great advice.”

“Ah, think nothing of it, dear.”

The door swung open, and Spike was standing in the doorway. He looked at Radish. He looked at Rarity. He looked at the engagement ring they held between themselves. He fainted.

“Oh, dear! Spike?” called Rarity.

“I think he was overwhelmed by your ring.”

“So, Fan, what do you think?”

Radish stood in front of Light Fantastic’s bedroom mirror in his major’s dress uniform. She walked up behind him and gave a wolf whistle.

“I never thought I’d be one of those girls who goes for guys in this kind of uniform, but damn. Brand new fetish for me.”

“Thanks Fan. I don’t want to look like an idiot in front of the design team.”

“You’ve saved princesses. I bet you’re a legend to them already. I bet they can’t wait to meet you.”

“I hope so. Fan… can we talk about Glimmer?”

“What about her?”

“Are you afraid she’ll try to hurt you again?”

“Rad, I’m more worried about you.”

“I can handle Glimmer.”

“That’s not what I mean. She may never show her face again. She might be dead in a ditch right now. I’m worried you’ll spend the rest of your life paranoid about her.”

“Not paranoid- she’s real and she’s really dangerous.”

“I know. But promise me, once you’ve got Equestria all Glimmer-proof, you’ll relax about her?”

Radish made a noise in his throat indicating this was unlikely. Light frowned.

“Okay, how about we take a trip after the conference?”

“That sounds nice,” said Radish. “Someplace she’ll never find us.”

“Yeah… someplace like that.”

Radish sat alone at a conference room table, going over the research papers and notes he brought. He looked at the clock. Every other member of the design team was ten minutes late. He had already checked and rechecked that he had the right room.

Where are they? Did something happen to them? Did Glimmer attack them?

The door swung open. Three unicorns in suits walked in, chattering amongst themselves while carrying coffee cups in their auras. Radish knew them by their reputations- Laurel Gold, Hauberk, and Siege Line. They were all experienced security experts who had been designing Equestria’s forts, watchtowers, and prisons for years. He stood to greet them. Laurel Gold noticed him.

“Oh, right,” she said. “The guard.”

Radish extended a hoof. “Hello! I’m Major Root. I’ve been asked to sit in on the design process.”

“Well,” said Siege Line. “The design process is mostly done.”

Radish dropped his hoof. “But the conference hasn’t started yet."

“We three know each other pretty well, and we’ve been talking about the next generation of bases since we finished the last generations of bases,” he said.

“I’d love to hear about it. Glimmer’s escape-”

“Wasn’t our fault,” chuffed Hauberk. “The personnel got sloppy. They fell under her sway and let her out.”

“But her escape route-”

“She used a higher-level beam spell than the wall’s shielding spells could handle,” sighed Laurel Gold. “New defense spells have already been researched. No one’s going to do that again.”

“But if she had teleported out instead-

“Anti-teleport spells are a crapshoot,” said Siege Line. “There’s a spectrum of teleport frequencies, and you can’t block them all at the same location. Any teleporting unicorn can get through any defense with enough trial and error.”

“It’s been that way for centuries,” said Hauberk. “Even the royal palace can’t guarantee it’s teleport-proof. That’s why there are so many of you… guards.”

“But if you can’t stop her from leaving, there are ways to make it easier to track her down,” Radish said.

“Yeah,” shrugged Laurel Gold, “there are trail-targeting spells, and lock-on spells, and follow-me curses, but all those have easy counter-spells. Not really a reliable way to track someone.”

“Besides, once somecorn escapes from a facility, it’s the REF’s problem,” muttered Siege Line.

Radish frowned. “She broke out eight prisoners. That made it a lot of ponies’ problem.”

“None of the other escapees were mages,” said Siege Line. “They were recaptured within days.”

“Okay, but regarding keeping Glimmer from teleporting into our bases…”

“In or out, it’s still the same problem,” said Laurel Gold, impatiently, “You can’t block someone like her.”

“If you can’t keep someone from getting close, make them want to stay away,” Radish aphorized.

“What is that, a guard saying?”

“No, a Ranger necessity.”

“Yeah, look,” said Laurel Gold, “we’re honored Princess Celestia let her… friend… observe our process. But the tried-and-true methods-”

“-were done-and-false when it came to Glimmer,” finished Radish.

“No, someone took her horn ring off,” she said. “That’s like saying a gate failed because someone bribed the gatekeeper.”

“Then to counter that-”

“We already have.”

“What I’m saying is-”

“Well, look at that,” Siege Line said, looking at his watch. “That’s lunch.”

“It’s 10:15 AM,” said Radish.

“Yeah, but the cafeteria lines fill up early,” said Laurel, heading for the door.

“Then, tomorrow, could we-”

The three unicorns were out the door. It clicked shut. Radish sat back down in his seat and gathered up his papers.

A palace maid, Spot Clean, entered.

“Oh, sorry, major,” she said. “I saw the team leaving and thought everyone was done in here.”

Radish put his papers in his bag.

“Oh, I’m not done by a long shot.”

Radish joined Light Fantastic in a booth at Bold Roast’s. She smiled at him.

“How’d it go?”

“Well, most of what we talked about is classified,” Radish sighed.

“Okay. I understand.”

“But… they don’t respect me.”

“Well, you’re new. It takes time.”

“It’s not that. It’s… well…”

“What?”

“I don’t want to turn this into a tribal thing…”

“Uh oh. When you start a sentence like that, it’s already too late.”

“But they only cared about magic solutions to magic problems. And that’s just what Starlight Glimmer will be expecting.”

“But you’ve got stuff she won’t expect, huh?”

“In the Rangers, they taught us the importance of stealth, flexible thinking, and animal allies. In the Guard, they taught us the importance of teamwork and planning. Those are tools all ponies can use, and there’s no spellbook that can help her around them.”

“Hon, for all of Midlo’s problems- the snobbery, the trend-chasing, the smell- one thing we do right is welcome, respect, and celebrate every kind of creature. If they don’t see the worthiness of your earthiness, you’re not making it a tribal thing, they are.”

“I just thought ponykind was past that these days. Everyone knows the Hearth Warming tale.”

“Yeah? How many believe it?”

“Don’t you?”

“Babe, I never needed magic ice monsters to force me to like non-pegs. I’m friends with every kind of pony. I’ve dated every kind. But not everypony has had that benefit.”

“Any advice?”

“This is your rodeo. What do you want to do about it?”

“Well, I had an idea.”

“I know that tone. I’d hate to be them tomorrow.”

Radish stood in front of the safe in his palace quarters. Its door was open. His cutie mark was sitting inside. He reached out for it.

He stopped his hoof mid-air, then drew it away.

“No. I can do this without you.”