Canterlot Knights

"Is this him?" the sketch artist asked. Rainbow Dash had just finished describing the pony she had just met (and brawled with) just a few hours ago. Rainbow was with her friends in the Canterlot Royal Guard barracks just outside the castle grounds. Since half the guard is devoted to the city's police work while the other half is simply the castle guard, the barracks doubles as a police headquarters with the first floor devoted to the station while the upper levels serve as the guard's quarters. "Yeah, that's him."

"Alright," Shining Armor said, "let's see if we can get a list of suspects going." He handed the sketch off to another guard. Just as he did that a very tall and muscular guard walked up to the group. "Still hunting that vigilante of yours I see, aren't you Armor?"

"Yes I am, and so is most of the Royal Guard Silver. Oh, girls, this is Lieutenant Silver Night. He is the pony in charge of the castle guard, and second in command to Captain Heavy Duty, the pony who I appointed as my replacement when I moved to the Crystal Empire."

"Yes, but he hasn't been working very much lately, since you're here. I still think we are wasting a lot of rescources on a single pony."

"Well, you haven't had to join in the investigation yet, so I guess we're not too desperate." The two ponies laughed.

"I'm actually here for your sister. I have yet to formally meet our new princess, and I must say it's an honor." He bowed and Twilight blushed. "Thank you so much," she said.

"I was at the coronation, but my duties made it so I was unable to talk to you. Shining Armor speaks very highly of you. I knew you were good with magic, but I never imagined you'd become royalty."

"Yeah...me neither..." Twilight said.

Another pony entered the room. He was older and a bit heavier than Silver or Shining but at the same time he seemed just as strong and muscular as the other two guards. "Is our boy done with the sketch yet?" he asked.

"Yes sir," the artist said as he gave him the picture. "What do you think, Captain?" Silver asked.

"I think he's very pretty, for such a nasty son of a bitch," Heavy Duty joked, "so now we have his physical appearance and a rough description of his face. What we don't have is his cutie mark."

"I was already planning on getting a list of potential suspects going," Shining said.

"Great minds think alike sir, but in all honesty, that's only half of why I came down here."

"Let me guess." Shining motioned towards his sister.

"Am I really getting that predictable?"

"No, it's just that its been happening a lot recently. In fact, that's why Silver is here instead of working like he's supposed to be doing." Silver shrugged, and Heavy introduced himself to Twilight and the girls.

"Hello, I don't believe we've met, but it's an honor meeting you now. I'm Heavy Duty, your brother's replacement." Heavy laughed.

"I personally appointed Heavy to be the new captain of the guard here in Canterlot since I'm living in the Crystal Empire now."

"And I thought that I finally got rid of this asshole hogging the limelight, until this guy showed up and Celestia thought we needed all the help we could get in taking him down." Heavy said while waving the sketch around.

"Well," Silver said, "by the looks of it, it won't be long now before we finally catch this guy."

*    *    *    *    *

Splitting Saber was sitting in his house, alone as usual. Saber had waited two days since learning Thunder Flames' name. This was it. He trained, learned his limits and pushed them. He could do things that nopony else could, surely they'd be enough. He was so close. Almost three months of training and he had finally gotten a name. All he needed was the name and everything else would follow.

Thunder was one of the three. He would lead Saber to the others, and that would be the end. So why was he waiting so long? Maybe he didn't want it to end. Saber felt like that when this situation ends he'll have to put everything behind him. Saber wondered what it'd be like with his family not in his life at all, even if only in the form of some kind of revenge scheme. He had tried to cut his parents out as much as possible, but they were still always there, and besides, it was his sister he thought about the most.

*    *    *    *    *

Splitting Saber was looking at the mirror in his room. His brand new tuxedo fit him perfectly and he always thought he looked good in a tux. He had just recently gotten back from a ski trip in the far north, and barely a few days home he was already going to another party. Although, he wasn't looking forward to it. Fancy Pants was throwing it at his penthouse in the city and his parents were dragging him and his sister along. They said the whole family was invited and Saber was going just as to not "embarrass" them. He grew quite sick of it all sometimes.

Saber walked downstairs and saw his little sister Night Light standing in one of her fancy gowns. She seemed to be waiting for their mother and father. "Hey, there's my girl. What's going on?"

"Just waiting for mom and dad. Oh! Saber! Do you wanna see the new spell I just learned?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"Okay, see that painting on the wall?"

"Yeah."

"And do you see that little statue thing?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, stand back." Night Light's horn began to glow, and a spell shot out and onto the portrait. The painting began to give of a bright glow.

"I thought you learned illumination spells awhile ago."

"No, that's not the spell, this is." Her horn glowed again, and the glow coming from the painting condensed into a ball of light, then shot right into the nearby bust, but to what seemed like no effect.

"Wow," Saber said, "I've never seen that before. Those magic lessons are really paying off." Just as he said that the bust began to glow just as the portrait did.

"You see, I've learned how to make a copy of a spell that is affecting an object and apply it to another object. The only problem is the timing. I can't seem to get rid of the delay for the copy to go into affect."

"Well, even with that you're still the best magic user that I know."

"Really? You think so?"

"Obviously."

"I just hope it's enough."

"Are you kidding? You're at the top of your class at that school for gifted ponies, aren't you?"

"Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, and yeah I am. I just don't know if that's enough to become Celestia's personal student."

"Personal student? Like that Twilight girl?"

"Twilight Sparkle. She's an inspiration. The first student Celestia's had in decades. I saw her and knew that I wanted to be the next."

"If anypony can do it, it'd definitely be you. You're very serious about magic and very good at it too. Plus it helps that you're a genius."

"Awwww," she said as she hugged her big brother.

"Hey, hey, watch it with the hugs. You know I hate it when things get all...sappy and stuff. Also, about the whole magic thing, don't worry. You got all the potential out of the two of us." he looked over to his parents who were walking down the steps while talking to each other. "Isn't that right mom and dad?"

His mother looked at him. "What? Oh, sure, whatever you say." Saber rolled his eyes. "Are we ready to go?" he asked.

"Yes we're ready," his father said, "Also Saber, we really appreciate you agreeing to come to the party with us. Just try not to make a fool of yourself."

"I'll try my best dad." They got into their carriage outside and it took off. Not too long after, they arrived at Fancy Pants' new penthouse estate. Almost immediately after walking in their parents decided to ditch Saber and Night Light at the buffet table. The two stood there eating while Saber scanned the room.

"Gotta say, not too many good looking mares here."

"Saber, you really need to stop chasing girls and find that special somepony to settle down with."

"Woah, woah, woah. That comment just came right out of left field, don't you think?"

"You brought it up, besides, you should listen to me more often."

"And why should I get dating advice from a twelve year old?"

"Well, we all know I'm way smarter than you."

"The sad part is that you're right, even if I'm almost ten years older than you."

Night Light finished off a plate of Hors d'œuvres. "Don't you want to leave some for everypony else Night? Slow down a bit."

"I'm hungry. Mom and dad made me skip dinner to come to this party."

"Why did they want all of us to come here anyway?"

"We were all invited."

"That was a rhetorical question smarty pants."

"Maybe it has to do with their friends."

"Their friends are making us come here?"

"I think so, they said that they came here to talk to the friends they told me about, and we all had to come."

"I'm amazed. Mostly by the fact that they have friends and also that you're a little filly and they still tell you more than me. It's kind of insulting how much they don't care."

"Don't talk like that Saber, mom and dad love you, no matter what."

Saber smiled. "You are the smartest pony I've ever met, Night, don't ever forget that, but never question me I'm your brother." Night Light laughed but stopped when their parents walked to them. "Come on, we're leaving," their father said.

"You drag us out here and we're not even staying for thirty minutes?"

"Saber! Listen to your father. We are going home." The four got into the elevator and it began it's descent. Saber's mother whispered into his father's ear. "We can't go out the front door," he said.

"Why not?" Saber asked.

"There's paparazzi outside and we would very much like to avoid them."

"Fine then, we could go out the back. I think there's an alley that we can get to the carriage from," Saber suggested. They exited the elevator and walked to the back door. "I don't really see the point of a party that we only stay at for less than an hour." They walked out into the alley. Two ponies started to walk towards them. "Look, guys, I don't know what kind of story you're looking for, but we're kind of in a hurry so can you ple..." The first pony stabbed Saber in the chest. His mother screamed and tried to run back inside, but a third pony emerged from the door and blocked her path.

Saber looked directly into the face of the pony that stabbed him as the knife was pushed further into him. He fell back and against the wall. The two ponies walked toward's Saber's family as his vision began to darken. He saw his father charge the other pony, but the pony struck him with unnatural strength. His father was flung against a wall. Saber just saw Night Light look at him bleeding out from a knife wound and back at the lead pony. Her horn glowed and a beam of energy blasted at the pony. The energy seemed to then leave him and go to Saber then disappear entirely. Since the spell seemed to have no effect he continued on. Night Light screamed, and Saber lost consciousness.

Saber's brain felt like it was screaming. He woke up and could only see white lights. He stumbled off what seemed like a metal slab and tried to get his bearings. He tried to think of what happened and how he got into this situation, but his head hurt too much. He couldn't think straight and only wanted to go home and sleep. He went out the room and saw stairs at the end of the hallway. He went up them, then into a very big room, then out some doors.

He was outside and could think a bit more clearly now. He recognized street names and made his way home. When he got their he burst inside, went upstairs to his room, and collapsed on his bed. The next morning he woke up feeling better than ever. He walked downstairs, made himself breakfast, and got the morning paper. It was then that everything came back to him.

The paper's front page story said that a millionaire was mugged in an alley last night. He was killed, along with his wife, his son Splitting Saber...and his daughter, Night Light. Saber dropped the paper, sat against the door, and cried. He just sat there and cried for hours.

When he was done he got up and bucked the door in anger. It flew across the room. It turns out that all four of the family members died. Saber had been rushed to the hospital and then declared dead soon after. He had been dead for about two hours when he woke up in the hospital morgue. He was able to leave the hospital without getting noticed. So far, the mystery of who stole Splitting Saber's body has yet to be solved.

Over the next few days Saber noticed his amazing new abilities. He was faster and stronger than it was thought a pony could be. He thought back to what happened that night and the spell his sister cast. Turns out her spell did have an effect, and it was enough to wake him up after his supposed death. He also thought about how she talked about a copy spell with a delayed effect. Over the next few months he toyed with the idea that there may be a pony just as strong as him. A pony he happened to be looking for.

It was because of this that he had to prepare so much. Saber had read enough revenge stories to know basically what to do. He'd experience a tragic event, vow revenge, train for a while, track down the bad guys one by one, kill them, and come out unscathed but with a jaded darkside that mares go crazy for. Saber expected his revenge plan to go about the same way. He just had to make sure that he was ready, and he had to find the guys. He had books to read up on how to fight and he could always go out and find criminals to practice his "skills" on.

Most nights, usually when he got home after a training session that ended in him running from the Royal Guard, he thought about his sister. That little filly who was always practicing magic, who wanted to learn from Celestia herself. She could have too. Saber thought, 'Why did a filly with so much potential like her have to die, while a spoiled brat who's going nowhere in life get's to live. It's not fair.'

*    *    *    *    *

"It's not fair," Saber said aloud. "Okay, no more stalling. Not now. No more stalling."