Chapter One: Shady Briefing
Chasing Shadows
Shady Briefing
Canterlot, the ivory, mountain capital stood in all of its glory, bathed in the morning’s rays. From down in the poor Low District up to the noble High District, every citizen greeted the glorious new day with happy smiles and careless attitudes. The city was like a freshly-blossomed rose in the dawn.
Yet the grandeur of the city itself paled in the sight of its crown jewel, Canterlot Castle, home to the splendorous alicorn rulers, Princess Celestia and Luna. Its majestic walls and structures dated back to the age of the Kingdom of Unicornia, whose population built the city of Canterlot after the founding of Equestria. Its tallest tower reached up skyward and even past the tallest of the mountains of the range, which supported the city. Thanks to the everlasting efforts of the princesses to preserve its absolutely pristine condition, no place in the entire world could hope to rival its magnificence. The bustling fortress housed hundreds of workers. From servants to cooks and scholars to diplomats, there was no quiet spot to be found.
That is, unless one did not know their way around the castle; Those who were more familiar with the maze-like structure knew of a very isolated, and hence, very quiet place, the princess' private garden. This haven was filled with exotic plants, all but a very few planted by Her Royal Highness Celestia and her little critter companions. Due to this and the fact her little friends were awfully shy to foreigners, the courtyard wasn’t open to general public except on special occasions.
Word Wise was ever so grateful for that and continued to read his book, while resting against the garden’s fountain. Compared to the pure and clear water the spring pumped out, he looked dirty from the bottom of his hoof to the tip of his horn due to his ash grey coat. Granted, it was a rather bland colour for an unicorn. but when combined with his wavy, snow-white mane and tail, they created a neat, complementary combination, though he was not completely devoid of color. His lush green eyes, even when hidden behind a pair of reading glasses, brought some colour to his face.
Not that it really mattered to the stallion. Word Wise relaxed even more as he sat on the soft grass, turning a new page in the book with his emerald-colored magic. There was nothing to worry about. It was just him and the book he had been waiting a week to receive. Nopony was around to bother him with meaningful tasks. He eagerly rested his eyes on the new passage at top of the page and began to read.
It was nothing like the brave adventurer could have ever hoped for. There it was. At the end of the hal, whichlshe presumed to have been the throne room of the once glorious Azpec Empire, rested the golden banana bundle of the last recorded emperor, Monkeyzuma.
Daring Do gasped in amazement. In all her years of treasure hunting across the globe and exploring where nopony else dared to venture, she had never come across such a beautifully crafted archaeological wonder. In true Azpec style, it was a solid piece of gold. However, the metal hadn’t been merely melted but rather... bundled, yes, that’s a good way to put it, the adventurer thought.
“So beautiful,” she muttered as her eyes met with the gems that formed the symbol of Tartarus on back of the throne. Even though she knew it was the symbol of evil that drove the late emperor insane along with his country, Daring had to raise her hat to whomever had designed the artifactto mark the righteous ruler a millenia ago .
The pegasus took a cautious step toward the stand where it was laying. “Now you’re all mi—”
A solid thump echoed behind her.
She stopped.
Another thump.
Daring turned to look over her shoulder.
“Peek-a-boo!”
Word Wise screamed in surprise and his head rocketed upwards from the book. He heard a faint chuckle, and the shocked expression quickly subsided as his mouth frowned and his brow furrowed. Word Wise turned to look to his side, where he saw an elderly earth pony with a faded brown coat and a dark-grey mane, hidden under a roughly aged top hat.
“Aw, shucks!” The old pony leaned against a rake while squinting his eyes. “Ah should’ve probably kept quiet and let ya fool over with that book of yours.”
Much to the amusement of the old gardener, the unicorn couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “Quirky as usual, Mr. Greenhooves. Are you alluding to last week, when you had that nightingale sing out of tune?”
“Not at all. I only told her that ya might be interested in hearing her out. Too bad it also happened to be her bad feather day.” The gardener was referencing the day when the poor unicorn being chased around the garden by the angry bird. Word Wise shuddered at the memory of the obsessed bird demanding to sing to him. “Well, that’s what ya get fer slacking off when yer on duty.” Greenhooves laughed under his breath.
“I am not slacking off! I never have, and never will!” Word Wise retorted.
Greenhooves slyly smirked and wiped the snot from his muzzle with a dirty hoof. “Eh, really? Then how come ya ain’t even wearing yer helmet, boy? Last time I checked, ya still ought to wear it on duty like the other guards”
Word Wise sighed and placed his front leg to his side, where the iron clad helmet rested along with a solid spear. Deep down, he knew what Greenhooves meant by his statement. Therefore, he used his magic to remove his reading glasses and tuck them away in a hidden pocket in his royal armour.
“Well, I’m technically still a novice,” said the unicorn as he slid on his helmet, which was bare of the crest that adorned the helmets of full members of the guard. Whilst Word turned back to Greenhooves, his eye caught the hay bale on the old pony’s flank. “And for that matter, shouldn’t you be... I dunno, raking, feeding animals or whatever you normally do instead of harassing me?”
“Nope. Done all of my work.”
“Then, why are you here?”
Greenhooves shrugged. “Oh, I thought it would be nice to tell ya that ah just heard a bell ring.”
Word Wise cocked his eyebrow “Bell? So you just spooked me to let me know that... the bell rang?!”
“Oh, sure. Was just there and it rang bright and clear as I fed the baby ducklings. Heh, oh, how did the little ones get scared at the sound of—” Greenhooves looked down to the spot where his visitor had been sitting to find only a spear resting on the ground next to the fountain. “Huh, erm... blast it, this pony’s back to whistling.”
Meanwhile, Word Wise had just cantered out of the courtyard and inside one of the many archways leading into the castle. However, instead of entering the castle proper, he took the first turn to the left, towards a narrow set of corridors with a vast array of windows, opening to a breathtaking view of the city below.
He could hear the bell ringing in the distance, its faint sound echoing through his ears as his hooves slipped across the smooth, stone walkway while turning the corner to face a hallway . Although he was wearing his full set of armour, plus the book in his mouth, his speed was not hindered in the slightest. But he didn’t take note of this, or any of the looks the few servants cleaning the palace gave to him as he tramped past.
No, he couldn't bother with anything between him and the bell. That bell signaled his only escape from this existence. It was his only salvation from another excruciating month of castle-guard duty.
The bell had now fallen silent.
The unicorn was anything but calm. “Needtogetout, needtogetout, needtogetout,” he continued to whisper under his breath while galloping down the steps and praying to Celestia that this month’s missions would still be there and he’d be able to finally get out of this place.
Word Wise jumped over the last few steps and fired off like a lightning bolt—
“Ugh!”
—only to crash into somepony else. The whole world turned upside down more than once as he flew through the air. Thankfully, his attempt in flying didn’t last for too long and he made contact with the yard dirt. The air in his lungs quickly escaped and he weakly wheezed in and out, because of his heavy cuirass pressing against his chest.
A shadow fell over him.
“Lad... what do you think you’re doing?” spoke the authoritative voice. It was undoubtedly male. The figure’s bulky frame also supported Word’s assumption, even if it was only a mass of black due to the sun being directly opposite to the unicorn.
Word Wise grunted and clutched his head “Uhh... my head...”
“Are you okay?” the voice asked in the same, stern manner.
The ash grey pony pushed himself up to a sitting position, still supporting his head with a hoof, and rubbed his eyes with an another one. “Y-yeah. No harm done,” Word hastily answered whomever he was speaking to and carefully cracked his eyes open. “Guess wearing helmet on duty does have its benefits after all,” he chuckled weakly.
Nevertheless, the mystery stallion huffed, and Word Wise turned to look towards the source of the voice.
His chuckle died out instantly. He saw a cyan-blue unicorn, a stallion as he had predicted, but this specimen rose a head taller than Word and also bore a more muscular form to complement his stature. This was highlighted by the golden chestplate, a beautifully crafted piece with a large topaz gem in the center, and the helmet, which in turn wasn’t that of regular guard’s pony. This helmet too was golden, but it resembled more of the full helmets born by the highest ranking guards and the officer corps. Word saw that the stallion was carrying some sort of file and also his Daring Do novel.
“Lad, I will ask you again,” the officer said, narrowing his magenta eyes “What do you think you’re doing, bumping into other ponies? And... why you have this book with you? On duty no less!”
It took a moment for Word to form a proper answer. “I-I am truly sorry sir! It was just that the bell rang and I panicked and then I ran and ran and I got down here and—”
“Quiet,” the guard barked and Word Wise fell silent. “The missions have already been allotted, and there isn’t anything left. Even the two month long assignment for the countryside town, the name of which I don’t really care to remember, was picked up.”
The unicorn’s ears fell down as he heard he had been late. However this guard wasn’t done with him yet.
“Now, state your name and rank, soldier!”
He gulped audibly. “N-name’s W-Word Wise, sir, a novice guard pony.” The unicorn felt like shrinking down to the earth in order to escape from underneath the stern gaze.
The guard then looked over his flank, that was currently covered underneath the iron armor “Show me your cutie mark.”
“But...” Word Wise tried to argue, but ultimately gave up as his eyes met with the look of other stallion. The smaller unicorn’s magic soon took over and the iron plates lifted off.
You could say that cutie marks varied a whole lot in sense; however, they could usually be categorized under different talent branches. For instance, musical notes and instruments indicate the ability to perform fine melodies and songs. Screwdrivers and hammers were for repair ponies and so on from farming to weaving cloth. With guards, for instance, one would expect to see something akin to shields, helmets or stars that symbolise their will to defend others in peril.
However, in Word Wise’s case it was not that. His cutie mark was a white jigsaw puzzle piece. Hardly anything befitting a guard.
The guard seemed to share this belief. “Huh, a puzzle piece...” the ash-grey pony heard the stallion mutter and as he placed his armour back on, Word Wise saw the stallion go through the file he had brought with him “Say, does that mean your talent is solving puzzles?”
Word Wise blushed and rubbed back of his head “Umm, I guess you could say so. But—”
“Good, good.” The next thing the unicorn found was that the other stallion forcibly shoved the file to him. “Because I think I’ve got you the assignment you so desperately seek. And I’ll also be keeping this book for further... uh, research.”
* * * * *
Alongside the row of columns, shrouded within the low shadows present in the room, walked two rather odd looking ponies. One was a mare and the other a stallion. Both of them bore the same dark-violet colored coats; however, their manes remained hidden under the violaceous metal of their helms.
Still, they weren't normal ponies. Rather than the feathery wings of a typical pegasus, their wings were webbed like those of a bat. Both also wore full sets of guard armour, the same dark violet as their helmets, that curved to sides. Up front on the chest piece there was blue gemstone with a dark streak crossing in middle. But the mare’s chestplate instead had the gem carved to a shape of crescent moon.
They were members of the Nocturne Guard. When the night falls and everypony, including the pompous Solar Guard, hit their beds; it’s the beginning of their line of duty, for they were responsible in keeping the nights safe for their sleeping cousins.
They weren’t merely the highly guardians of the night. They were the night.
The mare snorted, catching the attention of the other. “Are you sure we’ll find her in here?” the bat winged pony’s voice purred, much like a feline’s, smooth and lustful, like red satin sheets.
A single drop of sweat made its way down the stallion’s forehead as they came to an entrance, one that descended downwards, even deeper into the solid bedrock the castle lie upon.
“Y-yes, mistress! Absolutely sure! She likes to reside here, separated from the rest.”
“Really?” As if on a cue, both of them simultaneously looked back to view the open hall. Even though the place was underground and covered by stone on all sides, it was lit up by an array of chandeliers that bore dim blue flames. The tiny flames provided just enough light to navigate around, whilst leaving shadowy corners on the sides. Even though nopony else could have seen in there, the two nocturnals had no trouble staring into the darker parts, thanks to their cat-like eyes. Wherever they looked, the pair saw doors after doors situated across the rounded room, each with their own symbol. “Strange, how come she doesn’t want to be with her fellow brethren? And what about her squad? Don’t they find this arrangement odd?”
“Umm... well...” the stallion mumbled and gulped. “I-I really don’t know. I’ve only heard that they don’t wanna even talk about her.”
The mare put on a smug grin that revealed her fangs, and the stallion felt a new drop of sweat forming. “Well, I cannot really blame them. She has quite the record of hoof fights and disobedience. Anyways, lead the way, dear Mug.”
For what it was worth, the Nocturnal Guard’s barracks could be considered squalid, when compared to the ones the Solar Guard occupied near the castle gates. The nocturnals, meanwhile, used the lower levels of the castle, where none of the daylight shone, and nopony was expected to wander around. The whole staff knew too well not to disturb their daily sleep.
The guard and his superior walked for at least ten minutes, passing by more areas that were set aside for the guards like a dance floor, a small library with padded sofas, the ‘fun room’ that every dungeon should have, and, finally, they arrived to a large canteen area. Sounds of muffled laughter rang out from within the room.
When the two ponies entered into the cafe, they immediately were noted by the few members of the guards settled by the counter, drinking various different strong drinks from metal mugs. Everypony was out of the formal regalia, but still wore various different clothes, just to keep themselves warm in these cold catacombs. But all the activity ceased on the instant one of them saw the approaching pair and alarmed the rest. By the time Mug and the officer moved on past them, nopony laid an eye upon them —especially the smiling mare— instead preferring to stare down on their drinks. Mug would have gladly changed his place with any of them.
Their hooves took them past all of these, and onto the backside of the canteen, where a simple door laid by the end of a corridor next to the main hall. On it simply read a single word: STORAGE
The stallion gave a look back and saw that she still had the same self-righteous smile on, so he wasted no time with opening the door. However as Mug tried to step in, he was pushed aside.
“I’ll take it from here, dear,” the mare said in a chilly tone and passed the whimpering guard without even acknowledging him. As she stepped into the room, her cat eyes saw multiple storage crates and barrels piled all around. Yet, she didn’t pay them any heed as she continued to scan the room for her objective.
Against the back wall, a simple mattress was placed, and over it lie what at least looked to be a mish-mash of sewn cloth. A blanket—most likely sewed together from various used scraps and clothes—the mare thought; her gaze then fell to the side of the bed where a full set of Nocturne armour had been neatly arranged.
Her steps were firm and loud, because of the acoustics of the room and the metallic hoofguards she wore. After all, she didn’t want to wake up the pile of rugs ahead of her, now wouldn’t she? Yet, as she stopped, the hoofguards clanked rather loudly, and a grunt echoed from under the blanket.
The mare leaned towards the patchwork mess. “Lollipops and sunshine, sweet princess,” she whispered with a smug grin still on her face. At first, only more muffled grunts sounded; eventually, the blanket began moving, and a pair of dark-grey hooves appeared from beneath the sides of the makeshift quilt.
“Uuuuhh...” moaned the female voice, still slurring from having been awoken. “Just... gimme a sec, ‘kay? My head’s killing me.”
The mistress let out an innocent giggle. “Not a chance, my dear, Dusk Dancer. It’s time to greet the morning sunlight.”
“Daytime? Dude, you must have screwed up your schedule.” The pair of hooves retreated back under the covers. “Just go away and wake me up when the stars are shining, ‘kay? I seriously ain’t in a mood for jokes and pranks.”
“The sun is but a morning star, dear Dusk, but if I were you, harmless jokes would be the least of my worries. Perhaps of more concern, should be that a Mistress of the Nocturne Guard is standing next to you and her patience is slowly running out.”
Again, nothing happened. However, the mare could have sworn she heard some form of a squeal. It didn't matter, though, as suddenly the rag was kicked away and the frame of a bat winged mare was revealed.
To say the least, Dusk Dancer was scared down to her living soul.
“M-m-m-mistr-mistress...” Her belligerent attitude quickly disappeared as the officer mare looked down on her.
Overall, the just awoken mare didn’t appear different from her kind in the slightest: a dark-grey coat, dark-purple leather wings and light-yellow cat eyes. She even had the titular indigo mane and tail —a trait that, sadly, had started to become rare amongst them— both of which were in quite rugged condition due to her having been abruptly awoken. Although, her appearance still gave out an air of athleticism.
It was what was on her flank that garnered most of the attention, though.
“I must say, you’ve got an absolutely beautiful cutie mark.” the eyes of the mistress continued to stare at the stars which formed the shape of a magnifying glass and at the place of the glass crystal there was a crescent moon. Just like she had read from the files. “But oh, my dear, sadly I come bearing ill news.”
Dusk Dancer’s eyes popped open and looked pleadingly at the other mare. “News? What news?”
The mare let out a dramatic sigh and put on a saddened expression. “It pains me to be the one to inform you that we have to let you go.”
“Let... go?” Dusk Dancer whispered, but the mare continued on with her speech.
“You see, our budget nowadays is very tight, and the fellows at the top decided to cut out even more of what very little we have. So we looked over the balance sheets to find where we could possibly get some of the lost money back, and well, we sadly need to cut back our staff.”
“What the—How... how many others are gonna be fired?” Dusk Dancer carefully inquired.
“Let’s see... one, plus three, minus two, plus negative one... only one, and that’s you.”
“What?!” Dusk Dancer shot up from sitting and up on all fours “Only me?! Why?!”
“Cause you’re a waste of money.” The mistress put on a smile and placed her hoof over Dusk’s shoulder, an act that sent shivers down the mare’s spine and made her feel light headed beyond belief. She fought hard to not scream out and run far away from touch of the cold hoof. “Why do you expect us to keep you when you cannot get along with others and... well dear, it was a choice between you and a barrel of moonshine. The choice was obvious, of course. At least according to the secret ballot we had.”
Dusk Dancer’s face dropped. “You... You can’t do this to me! You need me! You need my skills!”
But the mistress merely smiled back at the outburst. “Oh, your skills? Well that’s odd, considering that you haven’t attended a single mission in such a loooong time. Or do you dare to disagree, dear Dusk?” She pampered Dusk and her hoof trailed up to the mare’s cheek.
Dusk tried to ignore the hoof .“Please, ma’am, I... I...”
The hoof stopped underneath her chin and the mistress revealed her fangs. “Yes? What does our little pony has to say in her defence, hmm?”
“I...”
Suddenly, Dusk Dancer dropped down on the floor, onto her knees, and wrapped her two front legs around the mistress's leg. “Please, I beg you, don’t let them kick me out!”
The mare merely squinted her eyes at the groveling pony. “I’m afraid there isn’t much I can do. All of the paperwork has already been done. Your squad mates cleaned out your stuff for you, and I didn’t even have to order them to do it.”
Dusk Dancer growled . “Lousy bricks, I shoulda never helped them cheat in poker... But please, this is my whole life! I have nowhere else to go.”
Dusk Dancer felt a hoof fall over her head and slowly patted her mane. “There, there, my dear. I’m sure things will workout for you just fine. After all, I heard there’s an open spot for a maid in the Madame Flora’s Tea Palace.”
A gasp escaped Dusk’s mouth. “No...nonononononno, please ma’am, I’ll do anything! Please!”
Now the mistress lowered closer towards the lying mare. “Anything?” she whispered into ear of the mare, who turned her pleading eyes at the mistress. “Well, there is something that you could do for me. A favour, to put it shortly. The question is, are you up for it?”
Dusk Dancer blinked couple of times, but then she assumed a confident expression and stood back up.
“Oh yes, mistress. I am.”
* * * * *
“Umm... sir,” Word Wise cautiously started as he followed after the larger stallion’s hasty steps and tried to avoid random sidewalkers. “Could you please tell me exactly where we are headed?”
The cyan unicorn, who had introduced himself as Silver Spear, gave a look over his shoulder. “It’s a subject we cannot discuss in public. So be a good lad and shut your trap until I speak, you got that?” said Silver Spear in low-tone before turning back.
Word Wise cocked his eyebrow; however, he was smart enough to keep his mouth shut. Ever since they had left the castle grounds and descended into the main town, all of his attempts at conversation were quickly shut down. For the longest while, they had simply walked down the streets of Canterlot, descending deeper into the city. They passed the luxurious manors of High District, the shops of Middle District, and then Silver Spear led Word Wise down to unknown parts of the city. All of the buildings remained very much the same, yet they had an odd feel to them, especially as they started to approach the outermost edges of the city.
Word’s eyes met with the white marble city walls, and he could see a black dot, probably a guard on watch duty. He felt some sympathy for the pony, as it was a warm summer day and the poor bastard had to wear the plated helmet and armor. Word did as well but at least he had been able to ditch his helmet back at the barracks before leaving with Silver Spear.
Ahead of him, Silver had stopped to allow somepony to pull a cart across the street. The stallion gave Word another glance as the recruit stopped next to him. Once again, neither of them uttered a single word, and soon they resumed walking. Now the two headed towards a set of steps that led to an alleyway, although it was barely wide enough to allow a cart passage.
Near the entrance to this alley, Silver Spear made a sudden stop and Word was barely able to halt himself before crashing into the stallion. He had already made that mistake once, and by Celestia, he didn’t even want to think of the horrors a second one would cause. The stallion then pushed Word Wise to the alleyway, knocking him to the ground, and re-checked the streets once again, like he was afraid somepony might be listening to them
In the end, Silver Spear seemed satisfied enough, so he turned back to Word Wise, who was laying on the cobblestone path. “Now listen lad, what I’m about to tell you is important, so you better have your ears clean and set on listening. You got that?”
The ash grey unicorn nodded and watched as Silver Spear slowly walked past him, but the stallion quickly got back to his feet and ran after him.
“For starters, how much do you know about CCF?” the stallion asked, but was met with a blank expression from the recruit “Nothing... I see. I suppose I cannot blame you, nopony really even wants to talk about it, even if it’s so close to them. To be fair, its appearance is deceiving.”
Silver spear then pointed his hoof forward, and Word Wise followed it with his eyes. A breath escaped from his mouth.
“That, my boy, is CCF.”
It was a tower, unlike anything Word Wise had ever seen. Although, that was likely due to him not being a native citizen of Canterlot. It was shaped in the form of a square and it rose up to the same level as the wall it was attached to. Yet it was built from grey, eerie looking stone compared to the pure white walls nearby that shone in sunlight. On all sides, wide, red banners hung down and the letters ‘CCF’ were branded onto themin gold, against the emblem of a combined moon and sun. Even with those colours, the unicorn felt unease as the two of them approached the end of the alley.
“It’s... Sir, what does CCF stand for?” Word turned his gaze away from the tower and saw that they had arrived to a small square. But he heard no response from his officer “Umm... sir? What is—”
“What are they doing here?!” Silver Spear boomed.
Word Wise was caught off guard by the sudden outburst from the cyan unicorn who had his eyes locked forward. They were nothing but black spots as far as Word noted. He too turned to stare at what had alarmed the cyan unicorn.
What he saw was a bigger shock than the gloomy tower. On the opposite side of the yard from them, around the bulky metal gates of the CCF, stood two ponies. However, these ponies were like none he had ever seen walking on the streets; these two were nocturnals. Due to their odd nightly habits, Word had only once seen them in the castle, but that experience had been from a safe distance. Still, Word was able to make out that both of them wore the dark purple regalia of the Nocturne Guard, which begged questions itself, however one of them had discarded her helmet much like himself. The pony’s pure indigo mane flowed in the weak breeze. It was then that he realized they were mares.
These nocturnals must have noticed the two stallions, as they turned towards them. Even from a distance, Word saw the helmet-wearing nocturne flash a smile, revealing her fanged canines. Although he hated to admit it, Word found it unsettling and didn’t want to be anywhere near her.
Sadly, she did meander over to them, along with the other mare. There was not much difference between the two of them, but the one that was missing her helmet had a bored look to her, as if she didn’t really care what was happening or was going to happen.
“Well, well, well. Look at who we have here. If it isn’t the Solar boys,” the helmet wearing mare said while approaching them, aiming her words to Silver Spear.
He replied with a snort. “Just what the heck is the Nocturne Guard doing here, Sabrine? CCF is under the command of us, not you daysleepers! So why don’t you just sneak back to your cellar and let the real guards do their—”
A hoof of the mare’s landed on the stallions mouth and cut him short “Teehee, that might be true; however, the convict supposedly has escaped in middle of the night, so therefore, jurisdiction falls upon us. Or do you dare defy the law, hmm?”
“A... convict?” Word Wise muttered and the nocturnal stared back at him, in which he responded by taking a step back. Silver Spear’s eye twitched at this movement.
Sabrine examined him for a bit, occasionally looking back at Silver, until she let out a stifled giggle. “Oh Silver, handing the trash duties to somepony else?” The cyan unicorn’s eye continued to dangerously flicker, yet the nocturnal didn’t seem worried the least as she turned to look back at Word. “Tell you what kid, why don’t you go there with Dusk and get introduced while us old-timers have a friendly chat. Hmm?” she said in a friendly way and tilted her head over to where the other nocturne was standing in place.
Word felt hesitant and he turned to his still enraged officer, who gave him a nod of acknowledgement. “Just don’t let your guard down, lad,” Silver warned the leaving unicorn as he narrowed his eyes. The helmeted nocturnal smiled smugly as the two officers descended further into their argument.
The rest of their words went unheard for Word, who was now walking carefully over to the other nocturnal, still bearing the same overall disinterested look of hers. Her features didn’t change in the slightest as the stallion stopped next to her and he presented a weak smile.
“Uhh, so my name’s Word Wise. Nice to meet you...Dusk. I mean, if that’s your name.”
"You don't have to lie, ‘kay? I don't like this any better than you do," Dusk replied with no more emotion than she had previously shown. The mare kept her eyes fixed at the ongoing argument, as though she could hear what they said, which would not have been a surprise to him. He knew next to nothing about nocturnal anatomy. For all he knew, she could even read his mind.
So he took a different approach and coughed in an attempt to catch her attention. “So, do you have any idea what’s all this about? I’ve kinda been kept in the dark.”
Now the mare turned her golden cat eyes at him. “Then you’re not alone, pal.” She then stretched her neck as the sound of snapping vertebral joints burst forth. “And my full name’s Dusk Dancer. You better learn it, ‘cause we’ll be working together for now.”
Her comment made Word curious and he eyed over to where Silver Spear was shouting away like an awry fog horn. “Umm... I hate to ask, but what makes you say that?”
Dusk Dancer smiled in mysterious manner. “Oh, let’s just say that when the mistress wants something to happen, it will happen. Sadly, your guy’s tough pony act isn’t gonna make a difference.”
“I—Uhm... to be honest, I don’t really know what sense to make out of this. Being dragged to a place like this,” the unicorn paused to point at the gloomy tower behind them, “for a job that I’ve been told nothing about. Sounds a bit fishy, if you ask me.”
Dusk nodded in agreement. “It really does.” The nocturnal then reached to a front pocket in her cuirassier and pulled out a thin metal box. “Say, do you want one?”
The unicorn looked at what she was holding, and he felt his stomach drop instantly. From inside the otherwise beautifully engraved box, she had pulled out one finely rolled piece of paper and placed it in her mouth. She then presented the box to Word.
“Uhh, thanks, but I don’t smoke Pixie Sticks. The smell, you know,” he hastily said. Dusk shrugged and put the box away whilst taking out a crystal. She brought it close to the tip of her Pixie Stick and a spark from the crystal lit the thing up.
“Too bad. That’s one thing you’re gonna need to get used to when hanging around with me,” she warned and inhaled the sweet relaxing smoke from the cigarette. However, the stallion next to her grimaced at the awful smell. “And it looks like they’ve had enough for now.”
At first, Word didn’t understand what she meant, being too dazzled by the powerful stench, but then he turned to see that the two officers had stopped their argument and were instead locked in a staring contest.
Silver Spear looked exhausted, but surprisingly snorted loudly and turned, beginning to walk away from the scene. It was a shock for Word, who also saw that the mare, the one Dusk had referenced as mistress, looked otherwise fine except for the lone sweat drop on her burrow.
Said mare turned to look at the pair and grinned. “Well, at least you two seem to be getting along. Or what do you say, dear Dusk?”
Dusk Dancer shrugged. “Would you have expected anything else?”
“In fact I did,” Sabrine said at the exact moment Dusk accidentally inhaled too much and ended up nearly coughing her living lungs out. “But I’m glad I was wrong this time. Anyways, here’s how it’s going to work. You two will —at least for the moment— work on this together. I assume dear Silver gave you a file, kiddo?”
It took a moment for Word to understand what she meant, and as he finally did, he grabbed the closed paper pouch. To which the odd pony replied with a nod.
“You should have everything you need in there to get started on this case. Don’t be worried, this isn't really an important one, but... well, to be honest, even I only know as much as those files say and that we’re just required to have somepony working on this.” She then gave a look over her shoulder and saw that Silver had already walked away. “Aww, wait for me, dear Silver,” her voice purred in a comfortable manner.
With that, the mare shot up in the air and flew after the unicorn officer. Both Word and Dusk watched her until she disappeared over the rooftops. Without further ado, Dusk tore open her portfolio and she let out a cloud of light blue smoke as first of the papers came out.
But with it came something else.
At the same time, Word Wise too had opened up his papers, however he didn’t need to tear the envelope due to Silver Spear having opened it earlier. He too got several pages neatly written papers, but it was not the pages that caught his attention.
Sticking between the first few pages was a piece of golden metal, shaped in the form of the sun. As Word carefully took a closer look at it. He first saw that it was not just metal coloured like gold—it wasn’t even gold-gilded iron—it was solid gold.
In the centre of the badge was a small topaz, dark-orange in colour, and expertly engraved into the brilliant metal around the gem, the Old Equenish words: Semper fidelis. Word Wise was far beyond belief with what he was holding in his hooves.
Neither was Dusk Dancer left unamazed by the piece of metal that fell out of her envelope. Her badge was crafted of pure silver shaped like a crescent moon with a star between the points. Inlaid within the silver star was a beautifully cut dark-violet topaz, the colour of the night sky, and engraved across the crescent were two words.
“Semper paratus,” Dusk Dancer read out-loud the ancient language that she didn't understand, while inhaling more of the smoke from the Pixie Stick. “Wonder what that means?”
“Always ready...”
Dusk stared at Word, who still had his eyes on his badge. “Eh, what? What do you mean?”
The stallion snapped back to reality. “Oh, umm... well, semper paratus is Old Equenish for always ready. On mine it says semper fidelis; always faithful... Dusk, do you know what these are? These are official badges of Royal Criminal Intelligence!”
The nocturnal mare turned to look back at her badge. For a minute, she simply stood there, staring down at the silver piece. She took a deep breath and let out from her nostrils thin trails of the blue smoke.
“Well, that sure does up the ante, doesn't it?" She sighed and Word couldn’t help but to agree even though he didn’t understand what she meant.
The unicorn tried to put on a grin, but it came out badly “So... I doubt this’ll takes us too long to solve. I mean, she said it won't be difficult and there are two of us, right?”
Dusk took one last breath of smoke, savouring its calming taste, before letting the cigarette drop down on the stone road. “At least you didn’t lie this time.”
The badges shined underneath shadow of the Canterlot Correctional Facility and the smoke of burned Pixie Stick trailed towards the open Equestrian sky.
