Chapters “I can’t believe that Canterlot has been here all this time!” A white Pegasus said, flapping her wings as she flew around the room the group had managed to find themselves in. However, it was merely one room of not only an entire city but of a massive castle. What pony hadn’t been told stories about the mythical city of Canterlot when being put to bed as fillies and colts? The place where the alicorns reigned and the most magical artifacts were supposedly held. But it was nothing more than a story, or so everypony thought.
After magically being led to the city months prior by the elder Draconequus Discord and him almost destroying the crystals that supplied magic to the lands the crew had been baffled at what they saw. Though sadly they didn’t have to explore the city as much as they would have liked, needing to stop the magical dragon-like creature from destroying all magic and leaving ponies powerless, again. Then the situation with Opaline, a Fire Alicorn torturous bent on stealing everypony’s cutie marks and hoarding all magic for herself, got worse. But thankfully Sunny Starscout, the orange earth pony that could summon the power of alicorns, managed to beat her with the help of the dragons.
But with things finally calmed down and the world wasn’t threatening to end from that week's big baddie the crew finally managed to get some downtime to go and check out the city and the castle. Well, mostly the castle as there were dozens of buildings knocked down in the town, any food that once existed was expired at best or well persevered and belonged in a museum more than it did in any kitchen. Maybe the library was worth looking at later but the group agreed that the castle was probably more interesting to discover. So they broke up into two teams of three to help make exploring easier.
“Yeah, I can’t believe it! The Canterlot castle, right under our noses!” A nerdy high-pitched voice said, making Zipp frown as she saw a light blue pony with a crystal unicorn horn and glittering silver and purple hair looking at a book he had pulled out of a shelf.
“I wasn’t aware Auroricorns knew about Canterlot, Comet?” The Pegasus said as she continued to zoom around the room. They had managed to stumble into the royal library of the castle so there were hoards of books lining the walls, all with a thick coating of dust blanketing them.
“Oh, we don’t!” Comet said leaning over to a pink Pegasus with purple wavey hair. “She just seemed so excited I wanted to join in.” He said with a suppressed giggle.
“AH!” The pink Pegasus squealed jumping a foot in the air before landing, her phone in her hand.
“No, worse!” The pony’s sister cried, wrapping her space front leg around her sister's neck and shoving a grey phone screen in her sister’s face, a white spinning circle in the center of the screen. “I have like no bars in here!” She cried. “How am I supposed to livestream this like once in a lifetime event to my followers!” She asked before falling backward onto the dusty wooden floor. “WORST DAY EVER!”
“I would say that is just a touch of an exaggeration,” Comet said, her crystal horn shimmering with purple energy as he lowered the book in front of the fallen pony. “Look at these spells. Incantations I’ve yet to ever see, runes probably lost to everypony kind for millennia, and this is all from one book!” He cheered, pouncing in place as he used his magic to flip through the pages as fast as he could, making Pipp's hair wave in the wind.
“That's really cool and all, Comet. But do you see a horn on this head?” She asked, clapping her hooves at her forehead. “If you want to show me how useful these spells are maybe find one that gives us some WIFI?” She asked as she got back up.
“Hm… I’ll do my best… What is a ‘Wifi’?” He asked though, this time getting an eye roll from both Pegasi. Their newest member of their team had come from a place where lights were almost brand new technology so they were patient with his ignorance of things like computers, blenders, and running water. But sometimes it could be a bit much needed to explain everything to him. But thankfully as he shoved his nose into the book the two wouldn’t need to explain anything for the moment.
“Ok so what are we doing here anyways, Detective Zipp?” Pipp asked her sister, sticking her phone under her wing for safekeeping. “It just looks like a bunch of books and not saying that's a bad thing… but I’ve seen words on paper before.” She pointed out.
“Well looking for information mostly,” Zipp said, holding a magnifying glass up to the books.
“Well, anything! Maybe where the alicorns went would be the most important thing. But I’m sure Sunny would appreciate a book on old Canterlot gardening techniques.”
“Boooooriiiiing!” Pipp sighed as she looked up at the different signs that divided the different sections. Mystery, her sister was probably going to be all over that section. Office work, that made Pipp yawn just reading that. Gardening, eh maybe shed swipe a few books to pretend to be helpful. Horror, oh yeah that was something she could get behind. “Oh hey, what's that? I better go off and look at it… alone!” She said before rushing over to the Horror section of the library. And to add to the creepy vibe of the section, the little light that was trickling through the windows of the library didn’t reach that part. Leaving the books in a blanket of shadows. Thankfully she had her phone on her, so brandishing the small piece of tech she turned on the flashlight before starting to trot down the aisle as she looked at the books.
The Pegasus used to have a large collection of horror books that she would read with her mom, the Queen of Zephyr Heights. But they all vanished one day and the pony had just recently found them in the secret library locked away for some reason. So seeing a guard-free horror section was like finding a gold bar. She was hoping to find things like ‘NEIGH ’ or ‘THAT ’, a couple of her favorite books penned by Steven Queen , her favorite author. Though as she pulled out a couple of books she saw a few different authors that she had never heard of. E. F. Bearson , William Hope Hedgehog , and other names like that. However, the castle was ancient so it made sense that the stories on the shelves would have been written by ponies and other creatures lost to time. But the most important thing was, she had unlimited access to the horror books and her mom couldn't get her hooves on them.
“Ah!” The princess yelped as a small black spider skittered across a few books as the phone light exposed it.
“Pipp?!” Her sister called out in response to the squeal, “Everything ok?!”
“Hm… Let's see here.” She muttered as she flapped her wings, the dormant dust springing to life and jumping up to try and choke her, and got to the top of the shelf to pull the first book out. “Canterlot-.” She mumbled the first part of the title of the book out, trying to keep the title to herself as she landed on the ground and grabbed the last issue of the book.
“AH HA!” A voice cried from behind her. “A LOFI SPELL!” Comet cheered as his nose was still in the book.
“CANNIBALS!” Pipp yelled up in surprise as she turned to the pony, his body managing to glitter even in the darkness of the shelves. “Comet, not cool! You just scared like 10 years off my life!” She huffed, her wings flinging out to her side, hitting the star object on the shelves.
“Oh, um… I'm sorry Pipp,” The pony said with a nervous chuckle. “I was just excited because I found you Lofi spell!” He cheered as his crystal horn shimmered with purple energy and the room suddenly filled with a soft sound with a bass that shook the shelves silently, making the dust fall off all the books.
“No, Comet.” Pipp sighed, her voice going soft as she put a hoof on the foreign pony's shoulder. “Wifi spell, not Lofi… But these are some pretty sick beats. So good job with those.” She praised him.
“Where are the cannibals?!” A new voice said from behind them, making the two ponies jump as Pipp spun around with her phone pointed at the voice. Revealing her sister, who recoiled at the beam of light attacking her eyes. “Ah, ow, Pipp!” She whined, covering her face with her hoof.
“Zipp! Don't sneak up on a pony like that!” She huffed, “And there are no cannibals. I was just reading the name of the book.” She explained brandishing the story to her sister to see. “Canterlot Cannibals Issue 31.” She huffed. “I'm guessing it must have been pretty popular since there's a ton of these books over here!” She said, pointing to the bookshelf but as she looked over she frowned seeing that the bookshelf was missing. But in its place was what looked like a pitch-black hallway.
“The books are down there? Wow, this library goes deeper than I had thought!” The eldest princess mused, trying to look through her magnifying glass down the dark hallway.
“No, there was a bookshelf right here!” The purple pony tried to explain, flapping her wings and floating in the air so she could wave her front hooves at the empty space. “You saw it, right, Comet?” She asked the Aurapony, but looking over the pony was too busy bobbing his head to the beat of the music playing.
“Oh…” Zipp said, her jaw-dropping hearing the news. “You know what this means then, right, Pipp?” Her sister asked.
“The bookshelves are trying to make me look like a liar?” She muttered as she landed back on the ground.
“No, that means this was a hidden passage!” The white pony cheered, her eyes basically glowing in the dark as she looked down the hallway. “Who knows what we will find down here? Maybe magical forbidden artifacts? A prison that hid away and held Equestria's most dangerous enemies. A hidden bakery that only Princess Twilight had access to?!” She cheered, sounding like a filly who had just found an extra bit on the ground and could get a cupcake with it.
“Yes, because the one thing you’d want to hide in a library is a bakery?” Pipp scoffed, smirking at her sister's suggestion.
“I mean I do enjoy a cupcake when I’m reading,” Comet added as a golf ball-sized orb of golden light left his horn and started to float down the hallway.
“See, he gets it,” Zipp said, playfully bumping into her sister as she started to head into the tunnel.
“Uh… Yeah, that might be good.” Zipp agreed, her cheeks flushing red as she looked back. “Comet, you want to go and find Sunny and the others!”
“Of course!” The blue pony said, all too eager to help like normal, but Pipp reached a hoof out and held him there.
“No, he’s the one with the magic light powers,” She reminded her sister, “My phone’s battery isn’t going to last forever you know. And I haven’t taken a single picture of anything in the castle!” She whined.
“Ok, Pipp, you go and find the other then. Happy?” The future ruler of Zephyr Heights asked, getting a head shake from her sister.
“Hey, I’m the one who found the weird secret passageway, on accident.” The younger princess said, fake coughing the last part out.
“Ok… then I guess I’ll go and get the others then?” Zipp said, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion at her sister's workaround to get her to find their friends. “I’ll be right back, don’t go in there until I get back!” She ordered, giving a powerful flap with her wings before dashing off.
“Yes, mam!” Pipp said, giving a half-hearted sarcastic salute to her sister before starting to walk down the hallway. “Come on, Comet.” She ordered her friend, who immediately began to follow her.
“Uh, but didn’t Zipp say to-?” He started to ask, trotting up beside the princess, who was quick to butt in.
“Look Zipp can give all the orders she wants, but as her little sister I get a pass to ignore them.” She explained, chuckling at her explanation. “Plus Zipp can’t give orders like she's Queen when she doesn’t even want to be Queen. You can’t play on both sides of the fence.” She said as they continued to march down the hall.
“I think that makes sense… maybe?” Comet mused, frowning as he followed the very thin line of logic that was just thrown at him for why they were ignoring what they were told. “I guess if we fall into a deadly trap then everypony will find our bodies.”
“See, all you got to do is look on the bright side of not listening to Zipp.” She giggled as she went from a trot to a dash. “Now come on!” She called out as she went into the darkness.
“Ah, wait!” Comet called out as he tried to catch up to her. The two ran until they got to the end of the hall, which opened to a room that was probably half the size of the library that had been in.
“Whoa!” Pipp gasped as she immediately stopped her run as they got to the room. Though Comet wasn’t as lucky as his hooves got tangled in between one another as he tried sliding to a stop, sending him flying across the room. “More light please?” She asked the pony, not too concerned about him as he tended to take a dozen falls every day.
“Yes, mam…” The blue pony groaned as a dozen orbs of light started to float across the room. Revealing stained glass windows on the walls that weren’t letting in any light, which made sense since the room was obviously hidden away. So having a way to just enter the room seemed like a bad idea.
But one of the stained glass windows had three ponies on it, a tangerine pegasus with purple hair and teeny wings, a marshmallow white unicorn with purple and pink hair, and a yellow earth pony with red hair and a bow on her head. They all had a similar cutie mark with a different symbol in the center of it, the pegasus having a wing, the unicorn having a musical note, and the earth pony having an apple on it. The next window had a yellow unicorn with red and yellow hair though beside the pony was some creature that stood on two legs and was fully clothed, with a matching body and hair to the pony. The third glass was of a purple unicorn with a long purple mane with a blue stripe down the middle.
Then on the other side of the room, the nearest picture had half a dozen creatures on it. One of a pale green earth pony with dark green hair, and an orange dragon-like creature, though it wasn’t like any dragon Pipp had ever seen, along with a wooly brown creature, a teal creature with bug wings, a pink creature with wings but a frail frame, and a big blue bird creature with a lions tail. Beside it was a buff-looking purple and green dragon that somewhat represented the Dragon Lord Spike but only slightly. Then the last stained glass window showed a white alicorn and a blue alicorn in a circle.
“Hm… seems like a weird place for ice sculptures don’t you think?” Pipp asked, finally going over and helping her friend up to his hooves.
“Yes it is strange,” Comet agreed, going towards the sculptures and tapping her hoof against one of the pegasus, an angry look on their face as they pointed one of their front hooves at the entrance they had gone through. Though instead of cracking the sculpture let off a ringing. “Well, these aren’t ice. They’re pure crystals… which explains why they aren’t melting. It isn’t exactly freezing in here.” The Auracorn mused as he examined them, the orbs of light gravitating towards him. Revealing the front of the room, a throne, and one more stained glass painting. Two pegasi, one yellow with a pink mane holding a bunny and the other cyan with a rainbow mane with a rainbow around them. Two earth ponies, one orange with a yellow mane and a farmer hat on their head and the other pink with frizzy dark pink hair and hugging a canon. Then there was a white unicorn, much like the one in the first picture, but this one had a dark purple mane and hand diamonds surrounding her. Then surrounded by the ponies was a purple alicorn that had a book in her hand, and her cutie mark was exposed, which looked like the star object that had been on the shelf the Canterlot Canniables was waiting on. And on the throne sat a crown golden crown that had a gemstone that looked like the weird star object.
“Princess… Twilight?” Pipp called out, seeing the picture. Not that Pipp had a picture of the alicorn and was purely going off the memory she had of the recording she and her friends saw when magic had almost destroyed the world. Her sister had that entire event on her phone, but Pipp was certain the purple Alicorn was Princess Twilight.
“Princess who?” Comet asked, still pacing around the crystal statues, frowning as if there was something off about them.
“PIPP!” A familiar voice barked, making the pink pony roll her eyes. “I thought I told you two to stay put until we all got here.”
“Did you? I couldn’t hear that over your sassy bossy attitude.” Pipp shot back as she turned to see the rest of her friends and her sister pour into the room. “But anyways look, no bakery, just like I said.” She said.
“No.” An orange earth pony with purple hair that split off into a melody of colors said as she looked around. Her bright green eyes sparkled as she looked around. “What you found was A LOT better, Pipp!” The pony squealed as she started to run around the room. “T-this is Princess Twilight's secret library!” She squealed practically foaming at the mouth as she started glancing through the books. “OH MY CELESTIA!” The earth pony squealed as she pulled a book with a red binding off it. “CANTERLOT CANNIABLES ISSUE 32! YEAH YOU HEARD ME RIGHT 32! THATS WHEN THINGS GET GOOOOOOOD!” She cheered, huffing as if she were getting ready to pass out.
“Well, Sunny seems happy with all this!” A purple unicorn with blue hair said as she bounced over to the crystal ponies. “Hm…. Why am I getting a reddish aurora from this statue?” She asked confused. “I didn’t know crystals could be angry?” She scoffed with a giggle.
“Ok can everypony just stop running around!” A yellow earth pony with a shortcut green mane announced, looking around worried at everypony touching the mysterious objects. “Who knows if any of this stuff is cursed with some ancient Equestrian magic.” He sighed, shaking his head. “It's a good thing I didn’t bring Sparky, he’d have his claws over all this stuff.” He muttered. “Izzy, don’t lick that!” The town sheriff ordered, pointing his hoof at the purple unicorn who currently had her tongue pointed at one of the crystal statues.
“But Chip, they have auras!” Izzy whined like a filly being told it was their bedtime. “You know how weird that is?”
“There is a strange energy coming from these statues.” Comet said, “Like some sort of life force. But I don’t see any entry wholes for bugs or rodents.” He explained, not taking his eyes off the current statue he was examining.
“SEE STRAAAAAANGE!” Izzy said, suddenly appearing beside Hitch, making the earth pony jump as the unicorn melted away to the statues.
“Uh… I-I might be able to explain this.” A soft voice said, almost lost to the sound of Sunny furiously flipping through the books she grabbed. But the confession made them all freeze, well all of them past Comet, and turned to the final member of the group. A blue unicorn with frizzy blue and teal hair stood behind Hitch as if she were using him as a meat shield.
“Really, Misty?” Zipp asked, tilting her head confused at the unicorn. She knew unicorns had some supernatural connection to magical stuff, maybe that's what Izzy’s obsession with auras was. But the blue unicorn wasn’t exactly a master of magic.
“Um… yeah.” She said, kicking her hoof against the ground. “Opaline told me about this place and what happened.” She explained, keeping her head down and not wanting to look around the room.
“Well…?!” Sunny asked her front legs on the table she was at, leaning forward and staring at her friend with stars in her eyes. “What happened?! Don’t leave us in suspense!”
“Um… T-this is where Opaline and Princess Twilight's final battle took place.” Misty explained, shuttering as her eyes darted around the room, seeing everypony’s mouths drop open. “Princess Twilight had already separated pony kind at that point and the pony magic was starting to fade away. But Opaline tried to get the gemstones that held the magic from Princess Twilight, unaware that they were already divided amongst the different ponies.” She explained. “Opaline made it sound like she was the hero of the story though. Hunting Princess Twilight to get the magic from the Alicorn that was sealing it away. Standing here against the princess and her royal guard.” She whimpered looking at the statues. “She said that Princess Twilight had turned her guards to crystal in an attempt to draw their magical power from them and fight her. But with how wonderful Opaline had turned out to be I don’t think that's the case.” She sighed, shaking her head as Hitch reached out and put a hoof on her.
“Hey, you don’t need to worry about her now and her lies,” Pipp said, going over and hugging her friend. “We’ll figure out what happened here.” She promised.
“Well, their energy definitely wasn’t drained.” Comet chipped in as he tapped the statue nearest to the throne, this one with large wings unfurled as if it were trying to hide the throne. “If that were the case these would be piles of bones, not crystals.” He mused. “They are very much alive though. Just kind of stuck like this.” He explained.
“Well is there a way to get them unstuck?” Pipp asked as she let go of Misty and faced the rest of the group.
“Pipp, what are wearing?” Zipp sighed, walking over and swiping the crown that the pink princess had put on her head at some point. “Where did you get a crown?” She asked.
“That's not just a crown!” Sunny squealed, jumping over the table and running over to Zipp and taking from her friend. “T-t-t-this is PRINCESS TWILIGHT’S CROWN!” The earth pony cheered. “This is the Magic element from the Elements of Harmony!” She said, “My dad explained this to me as a filly!” She cheered as she went to put the crown on her head before jerking her head away. “No! I can’t! I shouldn’t!” She whined, closing her eyes as she held the crown away. “Maybe for a second, it would be ok?” She asked, peaking at the crown with one eye.
“Oh come on Sunny, you’re the alicorn here!” Pipp said with an eye roll as she zipped beside Sunny, plucking the crown out of her hooves and putting it on the earth pony’s head. “If I wore it and nothing bad happened then what is the worst that can happen?” She asked before looking the pony over. “Eh I don’t think gold is your color but past that it looks good on you.”
“Heh, thanks. But I don’t think I should be wearing another Alicorn’s crown. Who knows what-?” Sunny started to say reaching up to take the crown off but she froze mid-sentence, her pupils growing wide.
“Um… Sunny?” Pipp asked, frowning seeing the pony in front of her freeze, waving her hoof in front of the orange pony's face.
“Pipp don’t tell me you broke Sunny!” Zipp gasped going to the other side of their friend and shaking her.
“SILENCE!” A booming voice ordered as Sunny’s body began to move again. “IT IS TIME TO FIX THIS!” The voice said, Sunny’s mouth moving but the voice wasn’t hers. It was high-pitched and somehow more nerdy than Sunny’s. But not the pony’s eyes started to glow purple as an orange transparent unicorn horn and pegasus wings appeared and the pony. The sight of Sunny’s Alicorn form sent all her friends to their knees like normal. But this time was different. Normally a wave of regal energy came off Sunny when she transformed as if she had suddenly been given five years of royal training. But this time an almost ancient twinge of magic radiated with the girl this time as she confidently walked past everypony to the statues.
“My loyal friends.” The ancient voice said, echoing off the walls, a twinge of sorrow in their tone. “I’m sorry it took so long to free you from my spell.” She said, closing her eyes as she walked past the statue. “I hope you can find joy and peace in this new time.” She announced as she went to the throne and sat on it. “Now… BE FREE!” The voice announced blasting in the room like a canon, making the pony's ears ring as Sunny’s horn shimmered with a purple light before a blinding white light filled the room.
“Protect the-!” A new nasily voice started to order. “Ah… what the… fuck?” It asked before the sound of crashing could be heard, getting everypony’s attention again.
“Whoa!” Comet yelped, jumping back, but his hooves slipped over somepony and sent him crashing to the ground once again with a loud thud. All the ponies that had been nothing but pure crystal statues were now on the ground and normal ponies. “I uh… wasn’t expecting that!” Comet yelped.
“Hey, watch where you’re stepping!” A pink earth pony in a thick grey armor growled, panting as he lay on the ground.
“Princess Twilight?!” A lime green pegasus in a black and yellow tracksuit said, struggling to get up, her legs wobbling as she tried to push herself up. “Gallus?!” She called out.
“Gallus is here!” A voice close to the throne called out, “I can’t move but I am here and alive!”
“Hey, hey don’t push yourself so hard,” Comet said to the pegasus, but it was also met for everyone. “You all have been practically asleep for who knows how long. Your bodies need to regain their strength!” He chided.
“Plus we weren’t with Opaline,” Zipp muttered as she stood in front of her sister, her wings unfurled. “Well uh… not all of us were anyways.” She muttered trying not to look at Misty. “Who are you guys anyways?!”
“Oh my goodness, Zipp?” Pipp huffed as she brushed past her sister. “They need help not to be grilled.” The younger princess said, failing to mention that the older Pegasus was the first one to start throwing out questions. “Don’t worry we aren’t your enemies.” She promised the green Pegasus. “And trust me we are probably just as confused as you are right now.”
“She does kind of have a point, Zipp,” Hitch said, walking past her. “Besides it is not as if any of them are in any condition to cause any trouble right now.” He said. “Sunny, what do you think we should do?” He asked, looking at the thrown where the orange pony was back in her normal form, passed out, and snoring with her mouth open. The crown still sat on her head, the weird symbol in the center of it shimmering. "Ok… never mind. As sheriff, I am taking control of the situation! Izzy- Hey stop trying to lick them!” The yellow pony barked, seeing the purple pony with her tongue back out and trying to lick one of the horses. “Go to the bedrooms we found and get some blankets.” He ordered. “Misty go to the cafeteria and see if you can find anything in cans and jars, those should be preserved and safe to eat.” He said. “Well get you all comfortable while you recover and we trade stories.” He explained to the group, squatting down and helping the Pegasus off the ground. “I’m Sheriff Hitch.”
“Eh… Lightning Dust.” The Pegasus muttered, not meeting the younger pony’s gaze, obviously not pleased with needing help. “Make sure every creature else is taken care of before me.” She ordered the sheriff.
“And me too.” The gruff voice ordered as something stood up in the back of the group. The sight made Hitch freeze and his eyes go wide. There was some sort of blue creature with huge eagle-like wings and face, rubbing his head with talons. “As Captain of the Guard, I can make do without anything if need be.” He assured everyone trying to give them a confident smile, though his pulsing eyes told a different story. But him being on his feet and not instantly toppling over made Comet look at the creature shocked.
“What?” The creature asked them, seeing all the new faces staring at him. “Do I have something on my face?” He asked, scratching at his beak.
“Um… no Mr. Bird creature…” Hitch said shaking his head. “I just wasn’t expecting to see a huh… non-pony here.”
“He's a griffin you fucking degenerate.” Lightning Dust hissed at ‘Mr. Bird’ comment.
“A Griffin?” The Griffin said, raising an eyebrow at the pony. “You know, Ponykinds most trusted and powerful ally?” He explained as if that was going to help things.
“Any of this ringing a bell?” Hitch asked as he leaned back and whispered to his Pegasus friend. But when he didn’t get an answer he looked back at Pipp, who had her eyes locked on the Griffin.
“Uh-huh, yeah that's great, Hitch.” She said, her voice high-pitched and soft. “You got this bro.”
“Gallus,” He introduced, sitting down next to Lightning Dust, who was huffing and puffing as if she had just run a marathon. “Captain of Princess Twilight’s Guard.”
“Like… the Princess Twilight Sparkle?” Hitch asked trying to clarify things and wanting to make sense of the situation.
“Unless you know of a second one.” He groaned at the question. “Where is she anyway? Last I saw she was on her throne and that crazy Alicorn, Opaline I guess, was walking into the room. We were going to try and stop her… but then next thing I knew I was on the ground and you ponies were helping us.” He explained.
“Yeah, I was getting ready to kick some Alicorn ass!” Lighting cheered, “I don’t like it when my fun is interrupted.”
“Hm… Well…” Hitch hummed, sitting with the group, bringing a hoof to his chin as he thought. It was clear these ponies had been with Twilight at her final moments in the room, or her final moments in general, and the voice. It had wished them happiness in this ‘new time ’. “I don’t really know how to say this gently. But I think… you all were… frozen in time and now you’re stuck in a new time that isn’t like the one that you are familiar with!” He said, tapping his hooves on the ground with a squeak leaving his body.
“What?” Lightning Dust asked, glaring at the Sherrif. “What absolute bullshit are you trying to say? We were frozen in time?”
“I think the theory is sound,” Comet said pacing around. “From what I have been told about Opaline. She was trying to drain magic from all ponies. So while you were trying to protect this Princess Twilight, she cast a spell turning you all into crystals to prevent the evil Alicorn from essentially killing you all from draining the magic from you.” He expanded on what Hitch’s idea was.
“Princess Twilight was hurt pretty badly by Opaline,” Hitch muttered remembering what Sunny had told him.
“Wait she was?!” Gallus asked hearing that, reaching over and grabbing Hitch, “What happened to her?”
“We don’t know,” Hitch confessed, “But you being surprised by it tells me it was after you were all turned to statues. Whether it was right after or years after.”
“Ok that's a fine theory, but how did we get free of the spell then?” Lightning Dust asked, “If Princess Twilight was the one who cast the spell then she must’ve undone it!”
“Oh well, our friend was the one who managed it.” He said pointing to the thrown, where Sunny was now on her back on the throne still fast asleep.
“Rrrrright… the earth pony cast magic… sure.” Lightning scoffed, “Wanna try a different lie?”
“Out of all the brain-dead, shitty, moronic-!” The Pegasus started to yell but stopped when Griffin reached over and covered her mouth.
“Calm down Lightning!” He ordered with an eye roll, “Don’t act like stranger things haven't happened in Equestria. Besides… if they were lying where is Princess Twilight? Where is Opaline?” He pressed, staring at her until the Pegasus sighed and relaxed. “Ok good.” He said with a smile and moved his hand before addressing Hitch again. “We’re gonna take you at your word for now. But if it turns out you are lying to us you’re gonna need a lot more than a stone turning us to crystal to stop us.” He promised before looking over to Pipp who was still looking at him. “And can I help you? You’ve been staring at me for a while.”
“Uh, um, what?!” The younger princess yelped as she jumped, her wings sticking straight up. “I mean, nope nothing. Just wanted to introduce myself and say. Princess I Pipp am!” She said, getting a confused look from everyone. “I mean I’m uh… Princess Pipp.” She introduced.
“Uh cool, nice to meet you.” He sighed, glad the awkward staring had stopped. “And can I help you ?!” He asked Pipp, who currently had the griffin’s wing pulled out and was looking at it with her magnifying glass.
“Nope, just looking.” She said as if this were totally normal behavior. “I’ve never met a griffin before. Honestly, I thought you guys were just creatures in stories!” She said.
“Really? You haven’t seen one of us before?” He asked, pulling his wing away. “Have you?” He asked Hitch, who just shook his head no.
“Apparently we have a lot to go over.” Hitch sighed as Izzy hopped in and started to toss old dusty blankets on everyone, including Sunny. “I think… we are all about to be surprised.” He said looking over at Sunny, who would probably be the best one to handle the conversation after they all rested up.
Author's Note
Hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you have any comments, criticisms, or critiques, feel free to leave them below. I am on the never ending journey of becoming a better writer and all the help I can get would be appreciated.
The New Captain of the Guard
This whole new world was so… strange. Was that even the word for it? Maybe completely upside down and backward to the one that he was once a part of. Or at least that's what the Griffin told himself as he walked down the halls of the castle, his talons digging into the endless purple carpet, trying to wrap his head around everything still. It had been a couple of months since he and his guards had been freed from their crystal prison and started to learn what had happened in their crystal slumber.
The pony races breaking up and their magic completely vanishing from the world. The dragons having been put into an endless slumber so the Fire Alicorn Opaline wouldn’t drain them of their magic. Then the fact there was zero communication with the races other than the dragons now. It felt like the progress in the world had taken five large leaps backward from what he once knew.
“Ocellus, Smolder, Silverstream… are you out there?” The blue Griffin asked, stopping at a window and peering out on the city below him, wondering if the friends he had made that could potentially still be alive were out there somewhere. Well almost all his friends, sadly two of his friends not being of a mythical origin they were more than likely gone. But more so for Silverstream who was more than just a friend. He reached up to a silver locket that hung around his neck and sighed, not bothering to open it. But it had been a gift that the Hippogryph had given him on their one-year anniversary over 200 years prior.
“Hey, Gallus?” A voice asked softly from beside him, making the half-bird half-lion creature stand up straight as his head jerked to the side.
“Oh, Princess Pipp,” He said, the front half of his body lowering at the sight of the princess.
“I don’t know, it would be weird for the Captain of the Guard to not do either of those things.” Gallus pointed out as he stood up straight.
“That's true,” Pipp said with a giggle, “Speaking of which. Congrats on the promotion!” She said, standing next to him and looking out the window as well. “That has to be the fastest anypony, or creature has gone from total stranger to leading the Zephyr army!” She pointed out.
“Really?” The Griffin huffed, “With your guy’s security I figured you guys were letting anyone run the army.” He mumbled as he looked down at the ‘armor’ he had on. A simple bronze scarf-like piece of metal hugged around his neck and a helmet with some white puffy stuff coming out of it. It would do very little to protect from any kind of attack. Of course, he understood not every creature had the power to wear a full suit of armor like he did as he could be covered in gold and he could move just fine. But something that would give some sort of illusion of protection would have been nice. Then the ‘battle drills’ almost made him vomit. All the prancing around and giggling like they were all hatchlings/foals/fillies playing games was sad at best and disgraceful at worst.
Honestly with how easy Gallus had been able to take out all the other captains when fighting them at the same time he was surprised it took as long as it did to be put in charge. But he promised the queen that he would do his best to get the guards in shape. It might take 100 years or so but they would have a strong army again. It was a shame that Lightning Dust had decided to retire like the rest of the guard as her help would have been greatly appreciated. As his second in command of Princess Twilight’s army, he knew that the Pegasus could kick some serious butt and wouldn’t put up with any slacking.
But he also couldn’t blame her for wanting to retire. She was a pony of action and it was crystal clear that working in any army in this world wouldn’t give her any. For a time when ponies weren’t friends with every creature to ever exist, there was a staggering lack of issues and battles going on. No, the seasoned flier decided to help Princess Zipp with training the Pegasi fillies and colts to learn how to fly. That way she might have to save some munchkin from crashing to their doom. It was probably a better role for her anyways, with flying missing from the Pegasi for 200 years they’d need a strong flier to show them what all they were capable of doing.
“Yeah, I guess we have gotten a little lazy in training the guard around here.” Pipp sighed, though until recently there was no need for the guards to do guard things. It wasn’t too long ago that the most important thing a guard could learn to do was to learn how to help her family fake flying with fancy lightwork and wiring. She doubted a fully trained staff of guards would have been able to do much when Opaline was stealing cutie marks from the Togetherness Tree in the courtyard. “But I’m sure our new totally awesome captain of the guard will be able to get us back in shape in no time.” She said, playfully bumping into him.
“Oh, I’ll try,” He promised with a chuckle as he looked at the princess with a small smile and gently bumped her back.
“You got this. But hey! We need to take a picture to commemorate today!” The princess declared, pulling her phone out from her wings and pulling him in close. “Say… ‘First day in charge of all the knights’!” She said snapping the picture before the Captain had a chance to say any of it. “Yep, that one's a keeper!” She said looking at it. “Here give me your number and I’ll text it to you.” She said, clicking on her screen a few times before looking at him in anticipation.
“My number?” Gallus asked, looking at the pony as if she had just asked him the advanced mechanics of unicorn magic. But as the princess gestured her phone with a head nod towards it, the motion snapped in his mind, making him realize what she was talking about. “Oh, right.” He muttered, his cheeks burning red as he dug into his wings to pull out a sleek gray phone. He had been given a phone when he had joined the guard, that way his commander could message him. Though all it had been used for was to be put on silent so he wouldn’t have to listen to the constant high-pitched beep of the ‘Knight’s Group Chat’ that he had been put into. Suppose anything important was ever discussed in the group chat the Captain would have reconsidered. But considering the feed was nothing but cat videos, Princess Pipp’s music performances, and the knights sharing their favorite smoothies, the half-bird half-lion creature was ok with not being notified when messages went off.
“Here,” Gallus said, holding his phone out to the princess. “You’ll probably figure it out faster than I can.” He confessed. 200 years ago they didn’t have phones you could just carry around. Even phones in houses were rare and messages were sent by mail. So a small box that could instantly send messages and pull up videos was like having his own magical box in his talons and he wasn’t used to that.
“Don’t worry I’m sure you’ll get used to using these things.” The pink princess assured him as she opened his phone and after a few clicks she gently tapped their phones together. “Ok and to make sure that my name is in there…” She mused with a sly smile growing at the corners of her mouth. “Annnnnd there!” She said, offering the cell phone back to him.
“Thank you, Princess Pipp.” He said, taking the phone back but as he heard her clear her throat he corrected himself. “Sorry, Pipp.”
“It is no problemo,” She said with a giggle as she typed away on her own phone, a pastime she seemed to really enjoy as far as Gallus saw. But as she gave the phone one final click the screen of Gallus’ light up.
“Princess Glamorqueen sent a text?” He read off the screen before clicking on the white notification box.
“That would be mwah!” She clarified, flapping her wings as she flew into the air with a dramatic spin, holding her front legs out as if a spotlight had suddenly bathed her.
“I thought you were Pipp?” He asked, smirking at the princess’ quirkiness as he saw what she sent him. It was the picture they had just taken where the pink Pegasus had her lips pursed and one eye closed. The pony hadn’t given him any time to get ready so his expression was that of someone trying to force a smile, but not managing it very well.
“Ha ha that's funny,” She spat sarcastically at him as she lowered herself to beside him and hovered there. “But now we have each other's numbers in case something happens and we need to get in contact with each other.”
“Yeah, with all these window places with no actual windows there are security hazards around every corner,” He said, reaching a taloned handout and sticking it through the glorified mile-long hole in the wall. “Anyone could sneak in at any time. So being able to get in contact with me to chase someone off is a great idea.”
“Or, you know, texting each other about other stuff?” The Pegasus said, shrugging her shoulders and giving a nervous laugh.
“Threats to the kingdom from 1,000 winters prior randomly showing up?” He asked her, thinking that was the next important thing.
“Ooooor you know… seeing if we want to get together and get a smoothie or catch a movie?,” Pipp suggested, “How dangerous was Equestria 200 hundred years ago? Was Princess Twilight in, like, constant danger?”
“Eh, more or less,” The griffin sighed, “At least ponies were always trying to get hoof pictures while she slept.” He muttered shuttering at the memory of chasing those weirdos off.
“Oh… ok… interesting. Well, we don’t have to worry about that here.” She promised him. “So we can use our phones for normal talking and stuff like that. But if I need you then I will be sure to give you a ring.” She said starting to tap on her phone once again.
“Ok sounds good,” He said with a head nod as his wings buzzed, making him roll his eyes and pull his phone out again. Though seeing Princess Glamorqueen on the screen he looked up at the pony curiously, but she just gestured for him to look at the message. So he clicked on the notification.
Hey, Pipp here, wanna grab a smoothie sometime?
“You could have just asked me that,” He said, looking up at the girl. “We’re standing right here.”
“I know, but this has my special Pipp flare to it!” She giggled, “Besides it's easier to ask somepony on a date over text than to their face!”
“A date…?” He asked frowning as he looked down at his phone, the smile he had been wearing fading away. It looked as if the Princess had just stabbed him through his incredibly ineffective armor with a rusty knife.
“Oh um… d-don’t feel pressured!” She assured, her heart sinking as she landed on her hooves. “Sorry if I seemed like I was pushing something. I totally understand wanting to keep things professional.”
“No, it's not that.” He sighed as he clenched the phone in his talons. “My uh… My wife asked me out in a very similar way. Though it was with a letter instead of by text.” He said as he looked out the window remembering that day. It was a few days after their professors had beaten their ex-peer Cozy Glow and her band of villainous friends. She had invited him to the chamber where the Tree of Harmony once was, the place where they and their friends spent an entire afternoon fixing. The girl had been a giddy ball of giggles, more so than normal, when giving him the note asking him out on a date.
“Oh, I-I’m sorry,” The princess said, her heart somehow sinking further down to the point she was sure no doctor would ever find it if they needed to. The pony had heard him talk about his wife Silverstream a few times and how she was more than likely gone after 200 years. Even if she wasn't nopony knew where the Hippogryphs were at. Apparently, there were a few things they had no idea about past that. Like a race of pony-looking half-bug and half-plant creatures known as Changelings, they were missing. Yaks were nowhere on the radar for any ponies. Nor were some mysterious creatures known as the Kiren.
“It's whatever,” Gallus sighed as he tucked his phone back into his wings. “I knew the risk of having a wife while serving Princess Twilight. Though I had always expected to be dead and her grieving, not the other way around. “I can only move forward and try to make the best of things. Not really sure what to do besides that.” He said with a somber head nod as he turned and started to march down the hall. “Anyways I got a meeting with Zoom and Thunder, they're supposed to show me what all weapons you ponies have around here.” He said before pausing mid-step and looking back, “You wouldn't want to join me, would you? You probably have some princessy stuff to keep you busy?” He assumed, but at the invitation, the princess zipped beside him almost faster than her sister could have.
“Oh well there's a couple things I need to do, but those can wait for the time being!” She chirped. “What kind of princess would I be if I didn’t assist in making sure the kingdom’s security was good!”
“Uh huh, ok.” The Captain said with an amused head shake as he started to head to the place the two Pegasi under his order told him to be at. Traveling down a dozen or so flights of stairs, passing the castle's insanely comfortable-looking fully furnished dungeons and cells, then passing the ‘forbidden library’, Pipp mentioned how she needed to sneak in and get her horror stories out at some point. Then they finally made it to a pink hallway with a silver vault door at the other end. In front of the door were two Pegasi, one light blue and the other a neon green, both sitting on the ground snoring away.
“Oh my…” Glaus grumbled, slapping his face with his hand, and seeing the two ponies who were regularly standing guard outside the throne room Pipp saw what Gallus was talking about. “ACHEM!” Gallus fake coughed as the two marched forward. “Thunder, Zoom, AAAAAATENTION!” He barked, getting both Pegasi to snort and open their eyes.
“Ah, Captain Gallus.” The green pony said with a yawn as the pair both stretched and stood up. “Good to see you.” He said as they stood up a sleepy smile on both of their faces.
“You two better fix your attitude right now unless you want to be scrubbing the training yard with nothing but your toothbrushes!” Gallus snapped, making two flinches. “I don't know if you mistook this crew as a daycare, but it's not! Now stand up straight and salute!” He ordered the two, his voice hitting them like a bomb and causing the two to do as he said. Their bodies went stiff as they stood up straight and put a hoof over their foreheads. “That's better! Don't you two think so?!” He asked them.
“Not really! This form is really uncomfortable!” The blue pony, Zoom, confessed, already wincing at the pose.
“Oh, it's uncomfortable?!” Gallus asked, his voice pitching up as he gave the two puppy dog eyes. “Good! That's what you're being paid for! Now when you address me this is exactly how you should look, and you will refer to me as sir!”
“Really?” Thunder whined his body slouching, “But this is totally not how we normally do things.” He explained, though as the griffin's electric blue eyes stared at the pony he gulped. “Uh… Which is cool, sir! I think it is a good change of pace!” He said, standing up straight again.
“I'm glad we understand, and don't worry, you two aren't the only ones who get to enjoy this. I'm going to tell everypony in the guard about this personally!” He promised the two ponies as he marched back and forth in front of them before stopping and standing at attention. Now, address your princess!” He ordered. And upon seeing the pink Pegasus the two sighed in relief and waved their hooves at her.
“Sup, Pipp!” Zoom said, though as they heard a low rumble from their captain's throat the two froze like statues.
“Sup, Pipp? SUP, PIPP?!” He roared as he glared at them, “She is the princess and you will address her as so!”
“SUP, PRINCESS PIPP!” Zoom tried, but as Gallus’ glare burned into her she cleared her throat. “Good evening, Princess Zipp. You uh… look extra lovely today!” She said trying to sound more professional.
“Better!” Gallus huffed, “At ease!” He ordered them, though as the two glanced at each other Gallus sighed and wondered what the guards did know. “That means you can relax.” He sighed, rubbing his eyes for a few seconds as he heard them sigh in relief. “Anyways, you two are going to show me what weapons there are? There better be something down here or you two will pay for making us descend into the heart of the mountain.”
“Oh yes!” Thunder said, nodding his head. “Oh er, well there is only one weapon. It's the only weapon that we have ever needed in the history of our kingdom!” He explained while Zoom started to click on a glowing blue keypad.
“Of course,” Gallus sighed. Of course, the kingdom only had one weapon to work with. But one was definitely better than none. “Well let's see what we are working with.” He said as the door started to swing back as it opened. Revealing another room with pink carpet and walls, though it was more like a large closet. Which made sense since there was only one weapon in the entire kingdom. In the center of the fun-sized room was a stand covered in a velvet cloth, hiding away what this weapon was, though a spotlight was shining down onto the object. The pointed corners told Gallus that the item was some sort of square or rectangle. Looking around he saw that the ponies with him were all enamored with the box, Pipp even shifted nervously from one hoof to the other.
“Do we really need to bring it out?” Pipp squeaked out, a nervous chuckle escaping from her as she looked over to the guards. “Like I know we've pulled it out a couple of times in the past year. But it was only for emergencies!”
“Well the Captain did say he wanted to see all the weapons,” Zoom said, wincing as she turned her eyes away from the room. “W-we'll pull it out and put it back as quick as we can!” She promised, taking deep breaths in and out as if he were trying to recover from some sort of traumatic event. “Thunder, are you going to be ok?” He asked his coworker, but the other Pegasus just stared at the box object in the center of the room.
All the weirdness coming from the Pegasi tugged at Gallus’ curiosity. What could be in the box? Some sort of ancient spell book, a contained black hole, maybe a Wendigo encased in some sort of prison? Whatever it was the kingdom was certainly doing its best to keep it from the public's eyes and Pipp didn't seem pleased they were going to show it.
“Careful, Captain,” Zoom said, stepping forward and leaving Thunder to stand there, not blinking. “This cursed relic is powerful! It tries to take over the mind of its wielder. We almost lost Thunder to its magical hold!” She explained, still not looking in the direction of the object as if she were going to lose herself from a mere glance of the weapon.
“I hears its whispers!” Thunder hissed, his eyes wide. He lifted a leg as if he were going to take a step into the room but hesitated. “My… precious… Must haves its!” He muttered, leaning forward,
“Thunder, get a hold of yourself,” Gallus ordered, making the pony stand up straight at being addressed, before walking in.
“B-be careful, Gallus!” Pipp called out, taking a step back and hiding her face with her fuzzy pink wings.
“Don't worry I will, this isn't the first time I've handled a cursed object.” He assured her. He had a class that was all about what to do when you come into contact with a magic and cursed item back in the School of Friendship. So he had some idea of what to do. Reaching up, Zoom plucked the white fuzzy stuff off his helmet, that way he could grab the object without actually touching it.
“I'm ready.” He assured Zoom with a head nod. The blue Pegasus nodded her head as she felt around for the edge of the cloth. Once he found it the Pegasus yanked the cloth off, flying out of the room with a high-pitched shriek, landing on the ground, and covering herself with the cloth, trembling.
“Ah!” Pipp squealed, dropping to the ground and keeping her face covered as she cowered.
“This…” Gallus gasped, his mouth dropping open, taking a step back as the fuzz from his helmet dropped out of his hands. He had been prepared for a lot of things… something that would instantly kill someone. Something that would cause years of pain and anguish. Or something that would put the world into a plague. But nothing could have prepared him for what he saw inside a glass box sealed away from the rest of the world.
“This… IS A FUCKING TENNIS BALL!” He yelled, his voice booming and echoing off the walls. But the yell was enough to send Thunder over the edge and the guard rushed forward in a green blur as he hugged the box.
“Precious, my precious! Gives it to me!” The Pegasus, his voice shrill and raspy, demanded banging his front hooves at the box, even trying to bite down on it. “All the power! It belongs to me!”
“Thunder!” Gallus huffed as he reached over and plucked the flying pony off the box as if he were a bug on a leaf. “Get a hold of yourself!” He huffed, slapping the pony across the face with his spare hand, and dropped the pony. Stepping over Thunder's body as it collapsed to the ground the Griffin used one taloned hand to lift up the glass case and grabbed the neon yellow ball.
“Careful, Gallus!” Pipp squeaked out, keeping her distance as if the ball was going to blow up at any moment. But as the bluebird creature looked at the ball he didn’t see anything impressive about it that gave it the honor of being the only weapon in the entire kingdom. Just a yellow fuzzy ball, though there was a weird hole in the bottom of it as if something had been stabbed in it.
“This is the most powerful weapon in all of Zephyer Heights?! A toy?!” He groaned, tossing the ball against the wall and catching it with ease. “How has this kingdom not been invaded?” He muttered to himself as he squeezed the tennis ball in his hand. The ball tried to fight the Griffin’s might, for a second, before a loud POP rang into the halls, getting a yelp from everypony there.
“The precious!” Thunder cried, trying to jump to the plastic shards that rained from Gallus’ hand. But a sharp look coming from his Captain caused the pony to sulk away.
“Ok well, this was a complete waste of time,” Gallus muttered, tossing the broken tennis ball bits off to the side. Along with getting the guards functioning properly now I have to figure out what to do for weapons.” He said as he walked out of the vault though as he looked at the ponies that hadn't tried stealing the tennis ball Gallus was surprised by the shocked looks. “What?”
“Y-you destroyed the tennis ball!” Pipp said, lifting her mouth up from the ground. “That ball had protected us from our enemies for as long as I can remember!” She said.
“Really? That thing? It actually protected you?” Gallus asked, frowning at the princess not believing what he was hearing. What did the fate of the kingdom depend on a game of tennis at some point? “What enemies?”
“Well, before we all became friends again, it was to be used if a stray unicorn came to the kingdom.” She said, sticking her leg out at him as if she had made a point. But as she continued her thought her leg dropped down. “But then uh… we learned that the unicorns didn't have any magic. So I guess it didn't do anything really."
“But then we used it when the Fire Alicorn attacked us and stole our cutie marks!” Zoom added in before cringing. “And it didn't help us in that. We couldn't even find the alicorn to try and put the ball on her horn.”
“Ok… Thank you for proving my point” Gallus said looking between two Pegasi to see if there were going to be any more attempts to support the claim that the tennis ball was some powerful thing that he should have felt bad about destroying. “So again, I have to figure out what we are going to do about weapons.”
“Dude,” Zoom said, though as Gallus flashed a glare the guard stiffened like a board. “I mean… Captain! Do we really need weapons? Like, aren't actual weapons pointy, sharp, and scary?”
“Yes we do and yes they are,” Gallus growled, reaching up and covering his face with a hand. “That's the whole point of weapons. To scare away anyone who wants to try and cause problems. Whether it's someone thinking they can start a war, break a law in the city, or try to sneak into the castle. And them being sharp is an extra deterrent because who wants to get poked?!”
“I mean we haven't ever had that happen.” Pipp scoffed as she flapped her wings and launched herself beside the Captain. “Well I mean I guess Sunny and Izzy did sneak around the castle after breaking out of their cell and stole Mom's crown.” She said, but before Gallus could use that to his advantage her wings shot up and she put a hoof on her chest. “But they had Zipp's help!” She said.
“And no one noticed that the prisoners were out of their cell?” He pressed her, making the princess’ wings drop.
“No…..?” She squeaked, sounding as if she was unsure what was the correct answer. “Ok point taken. But I am just a little worried that you might be taking the security and Captain thing a bit too seriously.” She admitted to him. But that whole situation wasn’t as bad as he wanted it to be. That event did lead to magic returning to Pony-kind and to his freedom from being a crystal. "Like, I know things were different in Princess Twilight's time but we just don't have to worry about things like ponies trying to hurt each other or breaking the law.” She said to him, getting a grumble from the bird creature.
The pink pony did have a point. He had been there for a few months and the most exciting thing that had happened was the queen's flying white ball of fluff she called a dog managed to fly to the roof of the castle and had been too scared to get down. But that didn't mean they shouldn't be prepared. Look at what happened with Opaline and Princess Twilight! He and the royal guard had been trained and prepared to fight and she managed to defeat them. Well, more like Twilight had turned them into statues because she knew they would fall to her.
So the Griffin couldn't imagine how easily the kingdom he currently was serving would just fold to a minor threat or some other power-hungry alicorn. The statue that held Tirek, a weird goat creature that could eat magic, Chrysalis, a changeling that had once ruled over all changeling kind until she was defeated, and Cozy Glow, Gallus’ ex-peer who had tried to destroy magic in Equestria and take over the world, was gone. There had been an enemy of Equestria that had been sealed in stone, a creature of chaos named Discord, that had broken free after 1,000 winters. Who was to say that one of those three wasn't breaking away from their stoney prison as they spoke? What if there was some other threat lurking in the dark and was just waiting for their opportunity to strike?
“I get it, you guys live a peaceful life,” Gallus said, rolling his eyes. “And that's great. But times of peace don't last forever. And if you're not ready for the tough times when they swoop in, then you may never see peaceful days again.” He sighed as he shook his head. This place really needed to be worked on.
“I mean I guess that's true,” Pipp conceded, thinking that the captain's words were solid, “But if you don't enjoy the peaceful times then can you even say they happened? Like when a beautiful amazing stunning pony with an amazing singing voice offered to go get a smoothie and you just left her on read with no answer.” She said, smirking as she bumped into him, earning another eye roll from Gallus, but an amused smile growing on his face. Of course, the princess had a way to turn the situation around in her favor.
“Ok, I see your point.” He said, shaking his head as he dug his phone from his wings and started to click on the screen. And though the princess wanted to peek at what he was doing, she was also a huge fan of screen privacy. “Ok, there.” He sighed as he slipped his phone away and Pipp's phone vibrated.
Quickly the princess yanked her phone out and squealed in delight seeing a text from him saying Yes .
“Ohmycelstiaohmycelestiaohmycelestia!” She cheered, her voice going so high Gallus was sure Cloudpuff was barking somewhere.
“You two!” Gallus barked as he turned to the other two in the room. At that point, Zoom had gone over and yanked Thunder up from the ground. The green pony trying to grab at the shattered tennis ball pieces off the ground. But upon hearing the captain's voice he dropped Thunder and stood up straight again.
“Sir!” Zoom said turning to Gallus.
“Clean up in here, Thunder, get a hold of yourself, and tell the rest of the guards that changes are on their way!” He ordered them. “I guess I have something else to do tonight.” He said, looking over and winking at Pipp, whose cheeks instantly flushed red as her heart started to flutter like the wings on her back, causing her to float a bit.
“Ok!” She said as she flew up a bit higher. “I'm going to get ready and I'll let you know when you can come to my room so I can show you where the best smoothie shop in all of Zephyr Heights is!” She said, darting forward in a pink flash towards the stairs.
“Lalalala hmhmhm laaaaa!” The princess sang, letting some possible new song melodies bounce around in her head and exit her mouth. Much like other artists being in a hot steamy shower, white foamy soap dropping off her, helped the pop star come up with ideas. Lyrics, melodies, and other ideas hit her like the hot water covering her body. She wanted to make sure that she was fresh for the date she had kind of forcefully hinted she wanted to have with Gallus. So she smiled as the scent of roses floated around her.
CRASH!
The sound of glass shattering in the room connected to her bathroom, and her bedroom, cut through the sound of water, and her improved song. Making her frown and sticking her head out of the pink shower curtain, which was decorated with different purple music notes. She was pretty certain that noise wasn't supposed to be coming from her room which meant her Cloudpuff had managed to sneak into the room again.
“Cloudpuff! Get out before I tell the cooks not to give you your doggy dessert!” The princess threatened. She didn't mind the dog coming into her room at night to snuggle while she slept. But coming in to just start breaking her stuff was definitely not allowed.
“Ah! Shhh!” A high-pitched voice said from the other room, making the princess’ eyes grow wide. Cloudpuff could do a few tricks, ‘speak ’ being one of them, but the dog could not say actual words. “Move over, let's just wait here!” The voice hissed, sending a chill up the princess’ back. What was she supposed to do in this situation?! How was there anyone in her room? The guards weren’t supposed to be in there, the voice sounded vaguely familiar, maybe a couple of fans had managed to sneak into her room? No that was crazy, why would fans sneak into the bedroom of the #1 pop star in the world who also happened to be a princess? What would they gain from that? Kidnap her and force her to perform or hold her for ransom… Oh…
“Maybe Gallus was onto something.” The pony whimpered, her heart pounding in her chest as she reached over to her phone that had been resting on a shelf. “Ok well, I guess that was a dog and totally not some pony who shouldn’t be in my room!” She called out, trying to sound like she hadn’t heard anything.
“See she didn’t hear us!” A new high-pitched voice giggled as the princess clicked on her screen, not worrying about her soaked hooves touching the screen. She first blasted some of her newest albums to make it seem like she was just enjoying music in the shower. But with the high-energy pop music blasting she started to text Gallus.
OMC OMC OMC OMC INU RN!!!! SOS ASAP!!!
She looked at her screen, a hundred-pound weight lifted from her heart as she saw a green speech bubble appear with pulsing dots in it. Meaning that the Griffin was messaging her back. It was a good thing she got his phone number that day. But when she saw his message back she almost groaned.
What does any of that mean?
She was going to have to teach him texter lingo if anything was going to work out between them. But for the moment she just took a deep breath in and typed out every word she wanted to say, like some sort of cave pony.
Nevermind. There are ponies in my room! I don’t know who they are! Can you do something about them?!
Is this a weird joke?
No! I swear on Zipp’s future throne! They broke something in my room, I thought it was Cloudpuff, and then they said something! Please help!
She nervously bit the bottom of her lip as she looked at her screen waiting for a response. But she didn’t see the text bubble popping up again making her heart sink again. Were there other intruders in the castle? Was Gallus currently fighting for his life?
“We should have listened to him!” The pony whimpered as she pranced in place trying to find some place to hide. But sadly there weren’t any hiding places built into the pink bathroom. Other than closing the curtain to the shower and hoping nopony opened it there was… maybe her trying to flush herself down the toilet? Though that sounded really gross and like it wouldn’t work as well as she would want it to.
“What's taking herrrrrrrr?” The first voice whined over the sound of the music.eep .
“No!” The other two huffed as the first voice added. “Then we won’t be able to take her by surprise!”
“What to do, what to do, what to do?!” Pipp asked looking around for something to try and defend herself. But past a bunch of purple bottles of soaps, shampoos, and conditioners, there wasn’t much. A pink hair dryer and a brown wooden brush were about it. So taking a deep breath in she reached over and grabbed the hair brush, it was better than nothing. But thankfully the singer didn’t have to use it as a loud WOOSH was heard with a gust of wind blowing into the bathroom and a booming ROOOOOOAR completely drowned out her music.
“What do you three think you’re doing?!” Gallus asked, making Pipp’s heart skip a beat as she sighed in relief. She was ready to let the captain take care of the situation as she hid away with her lavender-scented essential oils. But as she heard the three call out it clicked in her mind who they were.
“AH PRINCESS PIIIIIIIPP!” The three voices called out in unison, the mixture of the three crying out for her hit her head like a brick. The image of a trio of fillies consisting of an orange unicorn, a light blue pegasus, and a grey earth pony flashed in her mind. Or the Pipsqueaks as the trio called themselves.
“Wait!” Pipp yelped, diving out of the shower water raining off of her as her wet wings let her glide to her bedroom. The large room was filled with fuzzy purple carpet, a queen-sized bed with a white sheet with music notes on it, dozens of different posters with her face on it, shelves with different rewards, and a desk with thousands of bits worth of different recordings equipment surround four things that weren’t normally there. A giant blue lion bird creature and three fillies.
“He’s gonna eat us!” The unicorn, Peach Fizz, cried as she saw Pipp.
“What, no he’s not going to eat you three?” Pipp said in a mix of a laugh and scoff. “He's the new captain of the royal guard. He was just protecting me!?” She tried to explain.
“Protect you from what?” Seashell asked, the fear out of her voice as she looked up at the pop star.
“From nosey ponies trying to sneak into her room!” Gallus hissed, lowering his head to be on the same level as the fillies, making Seashell squeak and hide behind Pipp again.
“Ok at ease,” Pipp sighed as she looked at Gallus. “Gallus, these are the Pipsqueaks my biggest, despite being tiny, fans. Pipsqueaks these is Gallus.”
“He’s scary!” The Pegasus child said, her cheeks puffing out as she looked at Pipp. “Are you sure he won’t eat us?” She asked making the princess roll her eyes.
“What are you three doing in here anyways?” She asked, suddenly remembering the freight the three had just given her. “I don’t remember telling you about any performances happening in my room.”
“Oh, we wanted you to sign something!” Peach Fizz said, her horn shimmering with blue energy as a figure floated in front of Pipp’s face.
“Oh, it's um… lovely? What am I looking at exactly?” The princess asked as she examined the object in her hoof. It looked like a pony, sort of. It had skinny legs, a fat torso, and a long snout-like nose and mouth. The creature had a pink body, a short purple mane, and plastic pink wings that didn’t look too flexible and would probably snap if she tried to move them.
“Yeah, Glory,” Seashell said, gently pushing her friend off of the Princess’ leg, “Tell her what it is.”
“Oh um… it uh… you, Princess Pipp!” The filly said silently, not meeting the princess’ eyes. “We bought it from some pony at your last concert.” She explained.
“Oh me?” Pipp said, holding the figurine out at leg length as if it were getting ready to attack her. “Ew, knock off merch! I take back the lovely comment! Why do you three even have this? I’ve given you three free, real, merch!” She huffed, glaring down at the three, looking more mad about the knock of merchandise than the fact the three had snuck into her room.
“We wanted you to sign it!” The three said in unison, making the princess jump back in shock.
“That way we’ll have this super rare thing signed by the Princess Pipp!” Peach Fizz cheered bouncing in the air.
“Ok well… Next time bring me a T-Shirt,” Pipp said with an eye roll as she gave the orange pipsqueak the figurine back. “There's no way I’m signing that… thing , girls, sorry.” She said to them.
“Aw…” The three pouted upon hearing the news.
“You heard the princess,” Gallus said, walking over and using his massive taloned hands to shove the girls out. “Now out!” He ordered, tempted to toss the three through the window beside Pipp's bed. The three had more than likely gotten in that way since the end table that was by the window had a picture frame knocked over with shattered glass everywhere. But he decided to be nice to the trip since they were first-time offenders. “And don’t break in again! Princess Pipp won’t be there to stop me from having a snack!” He threatened, making the color of the three pale as they took a deep gulp. But Gallus didn’t tell the trio that he was kidding as he opened the door and shoved them out. “Make sure these three are escorted out!” Gallus ordered the grey Pegasus who had been standing by the princess’ door, her eyes wide with shock as she looked at her captain. “And we will be talking about how these three managed to get in on your watch!” He informed the guard before shutting the door.
“Ok, whew wow, that was scary!” Pipp sighed in relief, her wings dropping to her side. “I wasn’t sure what was going to happen! I thought I was on my own there. Looks like you were right about me texting you for emergencies.”
“I know.” The Griffin said with a sigh as he stuck his head out the window to see another guard pony, sitting with their head dropped down as the evening sun hit them. “Every time I think the guard situation couldn’t get worse I’m proven wrong.” He sighed, not even bothering to call out to the sleeping guard, they would get their earful soon enough.”
“Eh…” It was all the pink pony could manage. She really hated to say that Gallus was right, but she was starting to see what the captain was talking about. Thankfully all she had to deal with that night was three young ponies. But what if it had been somepony with more malice ambitions? “I wish we could show the guards how important their jobs are and how they need to be taking their jobs more seriously!” She huffed. “What if next time I actually get kidnapped?!” She asked.
“Yeah, then we’d all be in serious trouble.” Gallus huffed as he rubbed his chin. “Though… That actually does give me an idea. Of course, I would need to get the queen's permission and your permission.” He muttered.
“Oh? Sounds like we have something to discuss over smoothies!” Pipp said, not having forgotten about their smoothie date. “After I finish getting ready. Now it’s time for you to leave. But thank you for the save, my hero.” She giggled as she motioned to the door.
“Yes, Pipp.” He said before marching out, still thinking about the idea. Maybe it would take an actual emergency to get the guards to realize they need to change. But if a real emergency was to happen then it would probably be too late. If only there were some sort of middle ground, ground the Captain intended to find.
As Gallus walked around the courtyard of the castle a small smirk stayed on his face. The cool bracing wind of the even running his dark blue feathers and the tan fur on his chest. Maybe there was an upside to the little piece of metal that was called armor in the kingdom. He wouldn’t have been able to feel the clean cool mountain air in a full suit of armor. Though his old armor was currently being worked on and was soon going to be back on him. Pipp had insisted that he let her take a look at it and try to spruce it up. That way he would not only have his armor back but it would also fit in with the rest of the kingdom. So these cool evenings had their days numbered.
But that didn’t stop the Griffin as he marched forward, trying to make sure that the perimeter of the castle. Considering the incident with the princess' tiny fans, the ‘pipsqueaks ’, he had been trying to take care of the more serious security stuff. Thankfully there hadn’t been any security breaches since that that he wasn’t aware of. As his talons stepped on the smooth stoney pathway that looped around the entire outside of the castle he quickly was reminded why he needed to take the duty upon himself. In the distance, he saw a half dozen Pegasi all sitting on the dark green grass. Their faces were illuminated in the darkness by the phones they were obsessively tapping on. Different voices came from the tiny boxes, and game sounds sounded from a couple of the phones, even one of the guards had their phone to their ear taking a phone call.
“We’ll be talking about this in the morning,” Gallus said as he walked by them, all the guards jumping into the air, most of them dropping phones.
“Sir!” They all said, bringing their hooves to their heads in a salute, well all but the pony who was on the phone as she let out a MOMMY as she saluted.
But Gallus continued to march forward, it was getting to be too late in the evening for him to try and come up with any creative punishments. The barricades were spots and minty fresh from being scrubbed with the toothbrushes. The lawn around the cast was perfectly cut from the guards taking scissors and trimming each blade by hand. Maybe their next punishment would involve them clearing the mountain the kingdom sat on of the loose rocks and boulders. Having to carry them to a specific place so they could watch him knock them down.
“In the morning,” He reminded them with a head shake as he pushed forward, getting to the large stoney entrance to the castle. Much like the windowless windows the entrance had no door to open and close but was just a giant hole that stretched a mile or so high into the air. But with that, he had his track around the castle completely. Thankfully nothing seemed to be out of place so he could rest easy with that. So taking a deep breath in Griffin decided to take a little break himself and sat down as he looked into the sky and drank in the beauty of the night sky. The blackness was decorated with more shining white sparkling lights than he could count and a giant pale circle in the middle of it all. Once upon a time, the imprint of a pony was scarred on the moon. It had been the aftermath after Princess Luna the Princess of the Moon and Night had been trapped on the rock for 1,000 winters. But now looking up at it there was no sign that the alicorn had ever been to the moon. Though it made the blue creature wonder how the sun and moon rose and fell. The alicorn sisters from his time had been in charge of taking care of the threat, before them Starswirl the Bearded shouldered the burden on his own, and before that, it was up to the strongest unicorns in Equestria to handle it. But with all magic gone the sun and moon seemed to cycle just fine.
“AH!” A high-pitched screech pierced through the quiet of the night, making the captain’s fur on his back stick up as he got back up to his feet. With a powerful flap of his wings, dusting the entire front of the castle, Gallus zoomed back around the corner to where the guards were at. Thankfully a few of the guards had chosen the smart thing and had broken away from the group. But that still left a good number of the guards still where he had found them. “Report?!” Gallus ordered, landing in front of them, looking between the guards, who all just stared at him in confusion. But before he could get a chance to bark something at the guards he felt his phone start to vibrate. Reaching under his wing he pulled out his phone, half expecting to see Pipp’s name on it since they two had been talking a lot, but he frowned seeing the name ‘Glory’ instead. “What’s going on?” Gallus asked, flapping his wings as he floated into the air.
“Gallus, I mean dude, I mean man, I mean sir!” The pegasus spat into the phone, panic thick in her voice. “Room! Bam! Gone!” She stammered into the phone, making Gallus roll his eyes.
“In a language I can understand?!” He barked at her, floating higher and higher as he tried to hear an explanation.
“Gallus, sir!” Thunder's voice said from the phone next. “Princess Pipp’s door has been knocked down and we can’t find her!”
“Did you try calling her?” The Griffon asked next, giving a powerful flap as he went towards Pipp’s room.
“We did, but her phone was left on her bed!” Zoom said, finding her voice again, “And she wouldn’t go anywhere without that!”
“Er…. I’m on my way,” Gallus growled into the phone before hanging up. The first time one of the guards was contacting him for something other than a sick day or asking to leave their station early it just had to be because they lost one of the Kingdom’s Princesses. But the Captain of the Guard knew what to do as he flapped his wings and flew straight to Pipp’s room, soaring maybe 20 feet into the air. The distance made him wonder how the Pipsqueaks managed to get up to the Princess’s room so easily. Only one of them had wings and he doubted the little filly unicorn had the magic power to lift her and the earth pony up. But he would have to figure that out later as she landed in the open window. “What are you doing?” Gallus asked, his eyes immediately growing wide as he saw Pipp’s room.
The room looked as if it had been completely trashed with the pink pegasus’ trophies on the ground, her bedsheets torn off, and her white tap stretched out in the vague shape of a pony on the ground. Yellow caution tape had been stretched across the open door to prevent other ponies from coming in.
“Uh… preserving the crime scene?” Thunder asked from around the window, making Gallus peek his head around to see the green Pegasus with the roll of yellow tape, spreading it across the room and getting ready to cover the window.
“Crime scene?” Gallus asked, unamusement dripping off his words. “The Princess was kidnapped, not murdered! Why is there a body outline? Was there a struggle, why is the room trashed?” He pressed as he crawled into the window. If Pipp had been fighting and nopony had heard it the Griffin might finally fire his first guard.
“Oh no we uh… kind of did this to match the vibe of the situation,” Zoom said, nervously stamping her hooves on the ground.
“What-? You know what, we’ll talk about how stupid that is later.” The captain huffed as he reached over and jerked the tape out of Thunder's hands. He might have to go into an early retirement, well he was technically over 200 years old so it wasn’t really early, if those two continued to hang around him. “Ok, we don’t need aaaaaany of this.” He said, pointing the tape around the entire room. “I need a report.”
“Oh well, Zoom and I were guarding the door outside of Princess Pipp’s room,” Thunder started to explain, bringing a hoof to his chin as if he were thinking of a distant memory. “Nothing was going on so I was checking my Cloudpuffs on Cloudpuff Go. Making sure they had enough food and were bathed when all of a sudden the Princess screamed and the door to her room flew open. A black figure zoomed out of the room with the princess trying to scream through a rag.”
“And you gave chase?” Gallus asked, expecting the answer to be obvious, but as the two looked down to the ground the Captain groaned again. “So what I’m hearing is-. Somepony PONYNAPPED YOUR PRINCESS . And you two did NOTHING to stop it from happening or trying to save the princess?” He hissed at them, making the two ponies' heads drop down to the ground.
“W-we didn’t know what to do in a situation like this.” Thunder muttered, kicking at a trophy that was at his feet.
“Ok, answer me this then. What situation are you two ready for?” The Griffon barked, marching back and forth, “Cuz it seems as if the Queen needed you to protect her with your lives it would be a very quick battle to get through you or anyone!” He said, slamming a talon against the ground. “This is the second time! Not first, but the second time, somepony managed to get into the room without anypony noticing!” He said, his eye twitching as he saw Zoom’s grey frame start to bounce up and down as she sniffled as if she were a filly being chided for breaking a window with a baseball. “And the worst part, by far, is instead of doing SOMETHING to try and find the pony who kidnapped her, you two were goofing off in here!” He said, turning and marching out of the room, clawing at the tape at the door and cutting through it like a hot knife through butter.
As the bluebird creature got into the hallway he was greeted by the sight of the rest of the guard standing in the hallway. For the first time since he became a guard none of them had a phone in their hooves and didn’t have some sort of goofy grin on their face. Their faces were a mix of fear, confusion, worry, and sorrow. As he shot them each a gaze their heads dropped down, not wanting to meet his gaze. They probably showed up after hearing all the commotion and had heard their Captain’s speech to Thunder and Zoom.
“Guards, ha!” Gallus spat as he started to march down the hallway, “I’ve seen children show more gumption!” He said as he walked past the Pegasi, who lined up to the side of the hall, accepting their punishment. Not letting off any but ’s or this is how we normally do things . “Pipp’s fans climbed up the castle to find her! Yes climbed as only one had wings. I’d trust those three to try and protect the princess more than I would you lot!” He said, stopping and turning around to see if anypony had anything to say. But the group had their heads hanging so close to the ground they were almost kissing it.
“Leave finding the Princess to me.” He spat before moving forward, “Since there seems to only be one creature here who is willing to try and protect his princess and kingdom!”
“Wait, Sir!” A soft but firm voice called out, making the Griffin pause and sigh, recognizing the voice immediately.
“Zoom, are you willing to gamble wasting more of my time while the princess is-.” Gallus started to say before he was cut off.
“No!” The gray Pegasus shouted before the sound of her armor clanking got closer to him, making Gallus turn. “I-I… I don’t know what I’m doing!” She admitted as her violet eyes stuffy and red from her cry session in the princess’ room, but let them lock with his. “But I know I need to learn! T-this is my fault and I want to make it right!” She said, standing up straight before giving him a salute. “Zoom, Knight of Zephyr Heights, reporting for duty, Captain!” She said, not blinking as the Griffin turned his body to face the Pegasus. The pony’s co-workers had their eyes set on the two as if this was a scene in the kingdom's newest hit movie. But as Gallus raised a taloned hand up the crew gasped, some looking away expecting the worst, but as a gentle clank was heard with no cry everypony looked back up and gasped.
“I’m glad to have you here then, Zoom,” Gallus said, smirking as he returned the salute to the young pegasus.
“Thunder, Knight of Zephyr Heights, reporting for duty as well, Captain!” The green Pegasus said, marching up beside his friend and saluting his Captain. Then following the lead of the two Pegasi the rest of the guards filed in behind them and saluted their Captain.
“Ok, looks like I finally have something to work with here,” Gallus said smiling as he dropped his hand to the ground before flapping his wings to get in the air, that way all his troops could see him with no issue. “Ok listen up, we all know what's going on. Princess Pipp is missing. We don’t know who has taken her, why they have, or where they have gone. It’s not a great situation to be in. But we need to find her!” He said.
“H-how are we going to do that?” A pony asked, their voice barely above a whisper as if they didn’t want to be seen asking the question.
“Good question,” Gallus said, drilling his talons on his chin. “We can’t have the entire kingdom in a panic right now. I doubt the kidnapper could have gotten far. Even this late at night I’m sure a screaming princess would draw plenty of unwanted attention. So we’ll split up into three groups. A small group will stay in the castle and look around, a bigger group to check the grounds, and everypony else go to the city and keep an eye out for anypony suspicious.” The Griffin ordered, landing on the ground, and started splitting up the groups. The first group consisted of him, Zoom, Thunder, and three other ponies. He sent nine Pegasi outside to check the grounds of the castle, and the rest flew off to the city to start watching there.
“Ok, you three.” He ordered the three Pegasi, “You are a team, stick together and search the castle’s upper floors and we’ll search the lower floors. Leave no stone unturned.” He said turning to head to his destination but figured he better specify before the group was found flipping rocks over. “And by that I mean check everywhere!” He corrected himself before nodding his head to Zoom and Thunder and rushing forward.
“Gallus sir,” Thunder said, galloping after the Griffon. “I’m sorry for being on my phone instead of doing my job."
“Me too. I was watching funny uni-rabbit videos.” Zoom admitted, running on the other side of Gallus. Though the Captain didn’t need to be told that the gray pony was goofing off at the time of the ponynapping.
“If we had been doing our jobs this might not have happened.” Thunder admitted, “But we’re going to find her and make things right!” He promised as the crew flapped their wings and glided down the stairwell.
“I’m glad to see a change of attitude, just a shame it took the princess being taken for it to happen,” Gallus said, gently getting a jab in about the two letting the princess be taken. But better late than never. But the conversation was quickly cut to its end as they landed on the bottom floor of the castle.
Off in the distance that seemed only a few miles away, the large entrance to the castle waited. It would have been easy for somepony to slip through there. Gallus was sure that there had been some ponies stationed there but sadly they hadn’t been too keen on actually doing their jobs at that point. But there were ponies outside looking so there wasn’t any point in them going out and trying to find the princess there.
“Ok, so what’s next?” Zoom asked, the two ponies looking at Gallus as if this were their first day at filly school and he was their teacher.
“Well, how about you two tell me?” Gallus asked, turning his attention to them. “I know there hasn’t been a situation like this before. But tell me what you think we should do in this situation.” He ordered them. “Focus, the princess is kidnapped. She hasn't been murdered so we don’t need any tape or preserving a crime scene. Nothing like that. What should we be looking for?”
The question made the two ponies pause as they looked around. The Griffin could swear that he actually saw smoke coming out of their ears and heard old rusty gears turning as they tried to figure out what they needed to do. The first time they had to think about something in a long while apparently.
“We should… look… for something out of place!” Zoom said, jumping as she gave an excited look. “If the pony is still in the castle they probably don’t know their way around that well!”
“But they knew where the princess was.” Thunder reminded her. “So they might know the layout of the castle. But that doesn’t mean there might not be a clue as to where the princess is! Princess Pipp was struggling when we last saw her so her pony napper would have time for an easy simple escape!” He said as he met Zoom’s gaze.
“Right! Plus they were fast so they might have been clumsy and knocked something over or maybe the princess did!” Zoom cheered.
“There might be hope for you two yet,” Gallus said with an amused scoff as he reached over and patted their heads. “Ok well let's look for something suspicious.” He said, rushing down the hall. They had that floor and the basement floors to check so they had plenty of ground to cover. But it wasn’t as if there were a thousand hiding places on each floor so they weren’t going to need to spend hours on each floor. “Well, go!” He ordered them, getting a salute from the two before they ran off to find anything to help in their search.
Thankfully it didn’t take too long to spot something that was out of place, a door leading to the lower floors of the castle had been left open. The knights were normally good at making sure to shut doors as they went through them. Plus there wasn’t any reason a pony would be heading lower into the castle at that hour.
“Looks like our culprit might have decided to hang around.” Gallus mused, walking to the open door after Thunder had called for him and pointed at it like a dog finding something it had been tracking.
“It was dumb for them to go down there,” Zoom pointed out as she joined them and peered down the staircase. “There's no escape route down there. Just the cells, some storage units, and the vault that once held the tennis ball.” She listed the different rooms below them. “And the shipping room where packages once came through.”
“And is there a way for people to escape in that room?” The Captain asked, getting a shoulder shrug from both of the ponies.
“The doors haven’t been open in decades and I think only the Queen has the key to open anything down there.” Thunder thought though his eyes shot open after that. “Except Princess Zipp swiped the key and has been using it to sneak in and out of the castle! She usually leaves it open so we can’t hear her coming!” He said before his wings shot open and lept down the stairs, becoming a green blur as he rocketed down further.
“Thunder, wait!” Gallus tried to order the green pony, not wanting their group to split up. He had no idea where the package room was. “Zoom, lead the way.” He ordered the gray pony, who nodded her head and much like her coworker jumped down the passageway with her wings unfurled. Though she went at a peace that the Griffin could keep up.
Getting down a few flights of the purple steps, passing the well-furnished cells that looked as if they never held anypony in them, the two shot out of a door and rushed down the hallway to where a large metal door was open. A chilly wind poured out of it, ruffing Gallus’ feathers as they got closer.
“Halt! The Knights of Zephyr Heights orders you to do so!” Zoom commanded someone from the other side of the door. “Release the Princess this instant!” He said as Zoom and Gallus entered the room. It wasn’t like any of the other rooms in the castle from what Gallus could tell. Instead of the dark purple carpets and paint the room was made of stone with the scent of mildew burned in his nose. Old rusted pieces of metal littered the floor, packages in brown stained packages long forgotten about sat on long wooden tables, and a broken stained glass window with the pony races looked down at them. But, and probably the most important part was a large hatch that was open leading to the outside world. The clear night sky was visible through it and the dim moonlight revealed two ponies at the edge. A pony in a black tracksuit with lime green lines decorating it, a helmet over their head completely hiding their face. Only the pony’s teal wings were visible. Then next to her was Princess Pipp, who had her legs tied with rope, a white sheet wrapped around her body to prevent the pony from flying, and a bandana over her mouth to stop her from talking. The mysterious Pegasi looked at the three of them before reaching over, grabbing Pipp’s binding and pulling the princess closer to the edge. Giving them the silent message of ‘Don’t move or the Princess goes ’.
“Dammit,” Thunder spat, taking Gallus by surprise as he had just assumed this new wave of Pegasi didn’t know how to curse. “Don’t drop her, trust me that will not end well for you!” He assured the Pegasus, making Pipp’s eyes grow wide. Probably did not appreciate any talk about her being dropped. Considering the ground was a nice four-mile drop it wasn’t something any pony was living through.
“What is it that you want?” Zoom asked, trying to figure out what the ponynapper’s goal was in all of that. “Who are you?”
All the pony responded with was a head shake. The strong silent type apparently. But it was clear they didn’t want to talk to the trio at all.
“Sir, is she really going to drop the princess?” Thunder whispered to his captain, making the Captain look over confused. The threat didn’t exactly seem empty with the pink Pegasi a few inches from a free fall. “I mean if they went through the effort of kidnapping her it doesn’t seem like it would make sense to kill her.” He said making Gallus bounce his head from side to side. It wasn’t the worst train of thought he had heard from the pony.
“Are you really wanting to risk the princess’ life on that hunch?” Gallus asked, not taking his eyes off the mysterious pony.
“Not really,” The green pony muttered as he stayed frozen, it didn’t seem like there was much that they could all do. But as a soft veeer was heard all eyes shot to the Griffin.
“Um… Sorry, phone call?” Gallus said, slowly reaching towards his wing to grab his phone. But when the Pegasus moved the princess closer to the ledge. “Hey hey, look if that's one of my knights and if I don’t answer, they'll know something is up and come looking for us!” Gallus explained as he froze, a silence that felt like it lasted for years followed. But as the ponynapper pulled the Princess back he sighed and grabbed his phone. “Hello?” He answered the phone.
“Sir, we’ve scoured the courtyards,” The pony on the other end informed him. “We couldn’t find anypony. Do you want us to move and help search the city?”
“NO!” Gallus yelped, making everypony around him jump before he cleared his throat, trying to recover from the explosion and not make the mysterious pony suspicious. He couldn’t have the nearest backup getting further away from them. “Just stay where you are in case something else comes up.” He ordered.
“Alright sir, I’ll call you and let you know if anything else comes up.” The pony assured him, sounding like the end of the conversation, making Gallus grind his teeth. He had to let the knight know where they were without saying it.
“Alright sounds good,” He said, giving a slow nod, “Also I just wanted to say that the video of the Princess dog playing with packages was… cute. Keep it a secret though. I’d hate for the princess to see that the dog dropped the package off that ledge. Since nopony is supposed to be there.” He said.
“Um… Ok?” The pony said confused, Thunder and Zoom even looked at their Captain confused at the ramblings. “Are you ok Captain? You don’t watch the videos we send and I don’t think any pony has-!”
“Yes, it was adorable!” The Captain said, “It will be an emergency pick me up if I’m ever feeling down! Now goodbye.” He said hanging up and slipping his phone back into his wings. “Sorry, this lot never wants to shut up.” He said shrugging his shoulders as if to say "What can you do silently?" “So what is it that you are wanting? Riches? Rare ancient artifacts?” He asked.
“We’re fresh out of those since the inventory incident.” Thunder mumbled, shuttering as he relived the moment Gallus had shattered the tennis ball. “I think a bit of me died that day.” He whimpered to himself, kicking the ground.
“Ok, money, that's really all we got,” Gallus sighed, “Unless you have something more devious planned?” He tried pressing. But the mysterious figure just stood there, as still as a statue. “Well, we can’t just stay here for the rest of time. Eventually, somepony will realize we’re missing and come looking for us. So do you have some kind of demands before you’re completely surrounded?”
“Ok, what about it?” He asked, making the pony point at each of them before going back to the cart. “Oh… you want us in there?” He asked, getting a confirming head nod. The pony would probably get them in there and make her escape with Pipp. But there was no other choice unless they really wanted to test and see if the pony would drop Pipp.
“Ok, Knights.” Gallus sighed, walking backward to the cart, “Follow my lead.” He ordered, not taking his eyes off the pony.
“Fuck,” Zoom hissed as she started to walk backward as well.
“Is it a bad time to say you’re right?” Gallus asked as the pony got further and further away. “That and not having any weapons. I’d even take that tennis ball to chuck at them.” The Griffin sighed.
“Wait…” Zoom gasped, her eyes going wide and her wings spreading out. She got an idea, and a lightbulb practically appeared above her helmet.
“Knight Zoom what are you-?” Her captain started to ask. But he didn’t get to get the question out as he saw the gray Pegasus reaching into her wing and chucking something.
“Say cheese, b-bitch!” Zoom yelled, stuttering the curse word out clearly not used to using such language. But as a black rectangle flew through the air it crashed into the pony’s helmet with a loud CRASH banging through the room.
“Ah!” The ponynapper yelped, finally making some sort of noise after everything that had happened. Though the sudden wireless attack made the pony stumble backward, her hoof was still on Pipp.
“MMPH!” The pacified pony cried out, her bound hooves reaching forward to try and grab onto someone.
“No!” Gallus yelled, lunging for the princess as the mysterious pony fell off the ledge, dragging the pink pony with her.
“PRINCESS PIPP!” The two knights beside him cried as they flew forward, their front hooves out in an attempt to save their princess. But as all three of them swiped an inch in front of the princess they watched her go over the ledge.
“NO!” All three of them said, looking over the edge, expecting to see a Pipp-sized hole in the clouds that surrounded the mountainside below them.
“Zephyr Heights Knights, reporting for duty!” A blue Pegasus said he and another Pegasus floated in the air with Pipp in their arms, making Gallus sigh in relief as the Princess was lifted up. Once she was sat on the ground Gallus used a talon and tore through all the pink Pegasus’ bondage. “Thanks for the hidden message, Captain. It took us a minute to realize what you were talking about. But it looks like we got here just in time!” He said.
“Are you alright, Pipp?” He asked her silently as he met her gaze before helping her up to her feet.
“Eh, I’m fine. But you guys were cutting it a little close, don’t you think?” She asked with a sheepish giggle, turning her head and looking down at the long trip she took to the ground.
“Yeah,” He said, reaching up and scratching the back of his neck, “We might want to go over what to do in a hostage situation.” He admitted, “But it all worked out in the end.” He said before looking around, the empty room now filled with a dozen or so Knights. “An hour ago I was getting ready to fire all of you and try running the castle security by myself. You all were trying my patience with being on your phones, slacking at your jobs, and a hundred other things.” He said, making all the Knights wince and cringe, some going back to not looking at their captain. “And when I learned that someponies had been watching videos instead of their jobs I almost lost it.” He pressed on, shooting a glare at Zoom and Thunder. “BUT … Instead of running away and leaving finding the Princess to me, like I thought you would. You all stepped up and genuinely impressed me.” He praised the group, getting shy smiles and a couple of cheers from the ponies. “I hope you all see why us being prepared is such a serious and important matter.”
“Yes,” Zoom said, stepping forward. “And… I’m sorry for not taking what you said seriously, Sir. I thought you were just a mean and cranky creature that was overreacting.” She admitted, reaching down and lifting her phone up, black shards of glass sprinkling off the shattered screen. “But if I had been ready this might not have happened.”
“Same for me,” Thunder said, stepping up with his chest puffed out and his cheeks inflated. “A-and I’m ready for whatever punishment you have for me. But know, Sir, I am ready to start taking my duties seriously!” He promised Gallus, the rest of the Knights in the room stepping forward with murmurs of agreement, making the Captain smile.
“We’ll worry about punishments later,” He promised them with a head nod, “But for now I need everypony to do a lap around the kingdom and the mountain to see if they can find the ponynapper! Now go!” He ordered, pointing to the open hatch. Immediately the knights rushed forward and jumped out to do what the Captain said with no questions, for the first time.
“Ok whew, that was iiiiintense ,” Pipp sighed, crashing her head against Gallus’ side, using his fuzzy body like a pillow. “And I’m a little surprised it worked.” She said with a giggle looking up at him, making the Griffin blush as he looked away.
“Oh well, I just figured either an actual emergency would make them realize that they needed the shape up or it would weed out who really needed to leave.” He explained.
“I’m glad it was the first choice,” She sighed, standing up straight. “Though you could have been a bit more gentle with the rope and stuff, Lightning Dust.” The Princess whined, looking back at a black silhouette flew back into the room. The mysterious pony took their helmet off revealing Lightning Dust as she shook her mane.
“Hey you wanted it to be believable didn’t you?” The teal Pegasus asked with a scoff. “I gotta say that was some damn good acting, Princess. All that screaming made me think I was actually kidnapping somepony!” She laughed, reaching over and slapping Pipp on the back. “But I gotta thank Zipp for the map to the castle. I almost flew right into the Queen’s room. That barking cloud almost blew my cover right off the bat.” The Washout said.
“Well you did a great job either way,” Gallus said, giving a half-hearted salute to his friend. “I don’t think that any pony is going to forget this night for a long time.” He promised
“I hope not, I might not get away so easily next time if you can actually train these bird-brains. I might have to worry more about a phone being thrown at me!” She said, walking past Gallus, “I’m gonna take a long way home, just in case some pony manages to figure out it was me who stole the princess by appearances alone.” She said, walking out the door, leaving Pipp and Gallus alone.
“Er… we’re gonna have to replace Zoom's phone… again” The Princess sighed. The royalty phone plan was the biggest perk the ponies got working as knights. Getting new phones, accessories, and the best protection ever. The replacement part had been put to the test with Gallus chucking and breaking the knight's phones multiple times throughout training. But the princess shook it off and addressed Gallus. Ok, well congratulations Mr. Captain,” Pipp giggled, “Your mission was successful and I think that deserves to be celebrated.” She declared trotting forward.
“Oh?” Gallus asked following her.
“Oh are we finally using the B and G words?” He teased her as he climbed the steps behind her. After a few months of plotting this little endeavor, the two had definitely grown closer over countless smoothies and meals.
“I think it’s time, but we might want to wait until we say it in front of my mom.” She advised the Griffin, not wanting to put his job on the line. If things got more serious then they would see. But who knew where things would end up between them, the Princess and her Royal Captain.
Author's Note
And we're back to this story after the Christmas story being posted in its entirety. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! There is one more chapter left so look forward to that. But like usual if there are any comments of feedback please feel free to leave a comment down below.
“I need troupes in the hallway!” Thunder ordered, pointing to his green arm off to the side. “Are the windows secure? I don’t even want a bee coming in here without an invitation in its arms!” The Pegasus said as a half dozen Pegasi of different colors flew past him. The black cape on his back, connected to the silver chest plate that hugged his chest and underbelly, flapped. “If Captain Gallus tells me one thing is off with our performance today you are all rebricking the paths in the courtyard!” He threatened before some pony gently bumped into him.
“Careful there, you’re starting to sound like the Captain.” A grey Pegasus teased playfully, smirking at him. She was in a similar set of armor, though she was missing the cape on her outfit and she wore a silver helmet on her head. The face guard latched open, three spiked points on it, letting her see freely.
“I know,” The Pegasus said, his voice suddenly shifting from being strict and serious to light and giddy. “I just want to make sure this day is perfect!” The knight said, hoping in place. “It's not every day a member of royalty gets married! So we have to make sure that everything is perfect. You know it’ll be our flanks if it isn’t!” Thunder reminded Zoom, who sheepishly wheezed out a laugh.
“You can say that again, imagine if Princess Pipp was kidnapped on her wedding day!” The grey pony gasped, remembering the night that the pink princess had been taken. It had been a couple of years since that event and how awful that night had been, it did help them all get whipped into shape. Overnight the guards and knights went from a group of grown ponies avoiding their responsibilities as knights like they were fillies and colts trying to get out of chores to a fleet of Knights to be reckoned with. Even though they hadn’t gotten any weapons, with the strict instruction of Lightning Dust all the Knights were elite fliers, and with Captain Gallus’ training they could kick some pony to the point they would rethink doing anything wrong again. Plus with their new armor, they were actually protected if the time to fight ever came. And none of it their Captain Gallus complained about.
“Don’t even joke about such things!” Thunder ordered, standing up straight, remembering himself and his position.
“Ok, Mr. Second is in charge!” Zoom giggled, playfully bumping into him again, their armor clinking as it crashed together.
“Yes, Miss Third in charge!” He shot back, raising an eyebrow as he smirked, getting an eye roll from his friend and she stood up straight, remembering her position as well. Saluting the green pony she asked, “What do you have for me to do, sir?”
“Patrol Princess Pipp’s room,” He ordered her, “Take a couple of knights to help if you need it. But no one is to bother the princess while she is getting ready!” He explained to her, returning the salute.
“Yes, sir!” She said, flapping her wings and lifting off the ground before flying off, leaving Thunder by himself, who exhaled and let his body relax. It was hard work having to be that strict all the time, considering he still wanted to just look at Cloudpuff videos. But after being promoted to his new position the green pony knew he had to be an example of what to be. And with him calling all the shots that day he was really trying to put his best hoof forward, hoping the captain would be proud of him. But it did make the Pegasus wonder how the captain managed to stay in control of everything every day. It seemed like the captain knew about everything that was going on in the castle. Every time something broke, every time the pipsqueaks were getting ready to cross the gate, or whenever somepony needed help.
But Thunder couldn’t be worried about that. No, just what he could do for the day to make sure everything went off without a hitch. So turning he started to march towards the kitchen. With Princess Pipp covered he had to make sure the second most important part of the day was protected, the wedding cake.
Zoom marched back and forth across the purple carpet, taking five steps to the left, turning to the gold door that held her princess, and walking five steps to the right. Outside of the room she had a few knights flying around the window to make sure no pony could try to sneak in or out through there. Of course, as the entire castle staff rushed around getting last-minute decorations set up in the castle, making sure the speakers in the halls were working, and making sure everything was clean up, Zoom marching seemed like the easiest job in the world. Even when a white Pegasus with a short pink main and tail tried to sneak past her to get to the doorknob.
“Halt!” Zoom ordered, suddenly appearing in front of the doorway, blocking the pony from going any further. The gray Pegasus stood up straight with her chest puffed out, looking up at the ceiling and not at the pony. “No one is allowed in there!” She said to the pony, who shook her head in shock in response.
“Ah-um! Excuse you,” The pony huffed, spreading out her white, the blue, purple, and pink tips almost glittering in the light. “It's me, Zipp!” The other princess of Zephyer Heights huffed in shock. “You know. Princess Zipp!” She clarified for the pony in front of her.
“Sorry, Princess Zipp, I am under strict orders not to let any pony through these doors without prior permission!” She said, saluting the princess. “Sorry, nothing personal. Just doing my duty!”
“Really?” Zipp sighed, pulling her phone and clicking on the screen. She was glad that the staff of the castle had shaped up in the past couple of years. But now Zipp felt like they were taking their duties a bit too seriously. But as she went through her contacts she found her sister's name and clicked on it, letting the phone ring.
“Zipp, is everything ok?!” Pipp asked, panic in her voice as she answered the phone, making Zipp stand up straight.
“No, no. Everything is fine. Well, maybe not fine. Tell Zoom to let me into the room!” The princess huffed.
“Why do I need to tell her that? You’re the princess and my sister!” The other princess said, sounding more confused about the situation than anything.
“Oh wait, I didn’t try that yet!” Zipp said, holding her phone away and covering the microphone end with a hoof, flapping her wings to float in the air. “I’m her sister!” She tried, but her attempt just got a head shake from the knight. “Ok, you speak to Zoom.” Zipp groaned into her phone before holding it up to Zoom’s ear.
“Zoom,” Pipp said, trying to sound as sweet as she could. “You know I think you’re doing a great job right now, making sure I’m protected. But you can let my sister into the room.” She said.
“How do I know this isn’t some pre-recorded message to make me lower my guard,” Zoom said, not changing her posture. “And there is an inside job with Princess Zipp trying to usurp the thrown!” She pointed out, getting a high-pitched groan from the other end of the phone. Soon the door to the room the pink princess was in popped open.
“Zipp get in here!” Pipp ordered, popping her head out from behind the doorway, making Zoom step aside, allowing the older princess to pass and enter the room.
“I’m next in line for the throne,” Zipp said, popping the door open, sticking her head out, and glaring at Zoom, “I don’t have to steal it!” She huffed, slinking back into the room and shutting the door. “That was uncalled for.” The white Pegasus muttered as she turned to face her sister, her eyes growing wide as her mouth dropped open. Pipp had always been the pony to look more fancy, especially compared to herself. But seeing what her sister was wearing it was clear her little sister had been hiding her talent for dressing up for a special occasion.
The pink pony was in a clean white dress that covered her neck and flowed down her back legs, though keeping the front two legs exposed. A golden sash was tied around the middle of the pink pony's body, a golden necklace with dark purple gems hung tightly around Pipp's neck, and the pony wore gold-colored shoes that wrapped up her legs like vines on a tree. She wore a tiara that had six similar purple gemstones in it, lined up neatly from one side of the silver tiara to the other. The pony’s mane sparkled in the light from glitter being put into her neatly brushed mane.
“Whoa,” Zipp managed to get out before shaking her head. “Felt like dressing up a bit for today?” She joked.
“Ha ha, funny Zipp,” Pipp said, looking at herself in a mirror with glowing light bulbs on its sides almost twice her size, trying to apply mascara to her eyelashes. “What is it, though? Is everything ok?” She asked her sister.
“Yeah, just figured I’d come and see if you needed some help.” Her sister confessed, “Not like they wanted a princess helping with the set up of the wedding anyways. So I’m pretty bored.”
“Glad I can be your backup plan to be entertained.” The pink Pegasus giggled, turning her head to make sure that her makeup was on right. “Are the Pipsqueaks handled?” She asked her sister, not needing her fans coming and bothering her. Not that she didn’t want to see her fans, but she only had a limited amount of time to make sure she was ready to walk down the aisle. She didn’t have a tiny entertain or even tinier ponies following her around trying to get pictures of her, telling her how amazing she looked, and being bugged about show tickets and whatnot. Maybe tomorrow she could handle it, but not that day. Besides those three had their own job to do that day and they had to be ready themselves.
“I think so,” Zipp said, scratching the back of her neck as she looked up at the ceiling thinking. “Thankfully the sweets at the snack table set up for every pony seemed to have them distracted. And don’t worry I made sure nothing wet or really ‘stainy’ wasn't on the table for them.” The eldest princess assured her sister. Knowing if the Pipsqueaks got something on their dresses Pipp might have a panic attack.
“Ok, good,” Pipp said, applying some red lipstick to her lips, making Zipp think she wasn’t actually hearing anything that was being said.
“Halt, I’m under-!” Zoom’s muffled voice said from the other side of the door. But as a yelp and crash came from the hallway whoever she was talking to clearly didn’t care about the Pegasus’ guard duty.
“Where's my baby girl at?” A regal voice asked as the door flew open, the Queen of the kingdom standing in the doorway. Making it so Zipp had to lean over to see Zoom on the ground groaning, which impressed the royal Pegasus. Who knew her mom had some fight in her.
“I’m right here, Mom,” Pipp said, a smirk growing on her face as she rolled her eyes. “Where I’ve been all morning.”
“Oh look how stunning you look dear,” The lilac-colored queen gasped, rushing past her eldest daughter to get to Pipp. The Queen instantly went for a hug but was able to stop herself, though her body shook like a leaf as she did so. But she knew wrinkling her daughter's dress might lead to a new ruler on the throne sooner than expected. “I can’t believe my baby girl is all grown up and getting married!” Queen Haven squealed, sitting down and clapping her hooves together, her light blue eyes sparkled in excitement. “Oh, I just knew it was just a matter of time before this day came!” She squealed, fanning herself with one hoof and clearing nonexistent tears out of her eyes. “Now for Zipp, who knows,” The Queen jabbed, looking over at her oldest daughter.
“Moooom.” Zipp blushed, turning her head away, and getting a giggle from the rest of her family. “I’m too much of a free spirit to be tied down by marriage.” The Pegasus princess insisted, spreading her wings out before giving a mighty flap, flying in the air, doing a backflip, and landing on the ground. The sudden burst of wind made Pipp squeak out before shooting her sister a glare. “Heh, ah, sorry Pipp,” Zipp said sheepishly.
“I wonder what your green friend thinks of you ‘free spirit’ during your dates,” Pipp said, giggling as she looked over at their mom, whose eyes went wide.
“Zephyrina Storm!” Their mom squealed, reaching over and grabbing her eldest, “Have you been hiding something from me!” The queen gasped, shaking her daughter, who looked at her sister not amused.
“Mooooom!” She whined, grabbing her mom's hoof to stop the shaking. “Please before I lose my breakfast. And they’re not dates, they're business meetings. Lightning Dust and I run a school together, we need to talk about things.”
“Uh huh, like Gallus and I smoothie meetings,” Pipp said, making Zipp growl in response, “Though we definitely didn’t have as many movie theater meetings as you and her have.” She said, sticking her tongue out at her sister, their mom sharply inhaling,
“Mom it's not like that!” The white princess said, her cheeks cherry red as she started to pace. “Besides, how do you know about that, Pipp?!”
“Please, it's all you quack about on Quacker!” The pink princess said, referring to one of the social media apps she followed her sister on before deepening her voice to mimic her sister. “Just saw an awesome movie with an awesome Pegasus hashtag, the greatest movie hashtag awesome pony!”
“Ok, you made those hashtags up!” Zipp snapped, turning and pointing a hoof at her sister as if that proved something.
“So you admit that the rest of it is real!” Pipp said, suddenly dropping her makeup and turning to her sister, and pointing a hoof back at her. A silence so thick you could cut it with a knife filled the room.
“A-anyways! This is your day sis, let's not worry about my relationship-!” She said but grimaced as her mom gasped. “My totally 100% professional relationship!” She corrected before groaning and slapping her hoof on her forehead. “I better make sure the Pipsqueaks are ok. Those girls can get into trouble with a couple of sticks and an eraser.” She muttered, quickly flapping her wings and flying out of the room before any pony could question her further.
“I don’t know what I’m gonna do with that pony.” Queen Haven chuckled as she returned her attention to her youngest daughter. “Is there anything I can do for you, darling?”
“No, I don’t think so Mom… I’m almost done here,” Pipp said, “Maybe make sure Cloudpuff stays away from me until after the wedding… Not that I don’t love him. But I don’t need him slobbering over me.” She said with a sheepish chuckle.
“You can count on me!” The Queen assured the bride-to-be, “But I just want to know you look beautiful sweetie.” She said, making Pipp smile from ear to ear before turning and giving her mom a hug.
“Thanks Mom.” She whispered into her mom’s ear before letting her go, “Now go, I gotta finish up!” She ordered, waving her hooves to shoo her mom away so she could focus on getting ready.
“Peachfizz! Seashell!” Zipp hissed, sticking her head under a tablecloth, “Glory! Where are you three?” Zipp asked, looking around the empty space beneath the table. The one time she needed the fillies of course they would be missing. Any other time the three would be at her legs asking for a personal meeting with Pipp, even though they had gotten a dozen of them, or to get something signed. But the moment she needed the trio they were nowhere to be seen. “Uuuurrrg!” She spat, removing her head, and looked around, getting some confused looks from the ponies around her, most of which had a cup or red punch in their hooves or a small plate of sandwiches. “Uh… Princess duties! Please continue on with whatever you are doing!” She ordered, giving everyone a quick salute, and dashing off.
She had gone to the place where she had last seen the three fillies, the room where the snack tables were set up. The three had been busy shoveling brownies and cookies into their mouths as if they had never tasted sweets before. She figured that would be where she found them, but sadly her hunch was wrong.
“Looks like it's up to Detective Zipp to find them!” She said, a smug smirk growing on her face as she pulled out her trusted magnifying glass and pointed it towards the ground. “Uh huh interesting…” The pony said, spotting what looked like a brown hoof print on the purple carpet, though from the size of it, the princess probably didn’t need a magnifying glass to spot it. “And it smells like… chocolate?” The princess said sniffing the air as she sat her magnifying glass. Judging from the size of the hoof print it was from a filly, and it was pointing out into the hallway.
“Urg…” She groaned, figuring the three were probably heading to Pipps changing room. It would have only been a matter of time until that happened. So hanging her head down the princess attempted to march forward to try and stop the three. But as she moved forward she immediately collided with someone.
“Hey watch where your fucking going!” A gruff voice said, making Zipp's ears perk up before looking up. “Oh, sup Zipp.” Lightning Dust said, looking at the princess. However instead of her flight outfit Zipp was used to seeing her in her coworker had on a fancy black tux, white button shirt, a black bow tie, and a red rose sticking in the tux. “Sorry, I didn’t know it was you. But now that I do. Hey, fucking watch it, asshole.” She shot, smirking at Zipp, making her princess’ heart flutter.
“Oh um… sorry,” Zipp said, straightening up. “I can’t believe I didn’t hear your loud mouth coming through the door!” She shot back at her coworker. “Wait, we can’t be doing this right now! Have you seen the Pipsqueaks?” Zipp asked the teal Pegasi, glazing around the pony.
“Uh… gotta jog my memory?” Lightning Dust asked, rubbing the back of her head wondering who the Pipsqueaks were. In her defense, she taught an entire class of ponies, so pinning down just three without their name probably didn't help.
“You know, Peachfizz, Glory, and Seashell,” The princess explained, but seeing the blank look on her friend's face she sighed. “Maybe this will help. OH MY CELESTIA! IT'S PIPP SHE LOOKED AT ME AAAAAH!” Zipp cried out, trying her best to sound like one of her sister's fans, even stamping her hooves as she pitched the voice up.
“Oh, the three goofballs!” Lightning Dust said, covering her mouth with her hoof to hide her mouth at Zipp's performance. “I usually have to chase the two off since they distract Glory during class.” She said, “But no, I haven't seen them around. Why do you need someone to maul your sister on her wedding day?”
“No, actually I'm trying to prevent that from happening,” Zipp muttered as she looked at the ground. Sadly her chocolate hoof print trail had ended with the one clean hoof and a huge smug. The culprit probably quickly realized that her hoof was dirty and used the royal carpet as a tablecloth. The royal washers probably weren’t gonna enjoy cleaning up the mess, but that wasn’t exactly the Princess’ problem. “Let's split up. We have a better chance of finding them before they get to Pipp. If they stain her dress with chocolate hooves the wedding might turn into a murder investigation.” She ordered, pointing her hoof off towards the front of the castle.
“And here I thought the wedding was going to be boring.” Lightning said with a smirk as she flapped her wings and dashed down in the direction Zipp ordered. “Yo princess if anything happens give me a heads up!” She yelled from the end of the hall, wanting to be kept up to date. As a member of the Washout she wasn’t a stranger to a bit of blood, but being warned about it usually saved a lot on cleaning.
“Will do!” Zipp assured her before going off in the opposite direction. The Pegasus’ first thought was to head back to her sister's changing room figuring that's where the three would be heading. She didn’t exactly trust Zoom’s guarding ability if her mom managed to get past her. But as the princess zoomed down the hall, she poked her head into the dozen rooms she started to pass. The kitchen, just the chefs freaking out about the wedding cake, the stainless steel room covered with flour, cake batter, and chocolate. The storage room had nothing but dust bunnies rushing across the floor. The dusty fuzzy creatures squealed at being spotted and rushed to hide in their hiding spaces. Then the grand hall where the actual wedding was going to be taking place. White chairs, purple and blue ribbons connecting the chairs together, an orchestra of instruments off to the side, and three fillies on the stand, all three in purple dressed with blue bows on their backs. Though one had a helmet on her head, completely hiding it. Nothing strange there.
“Wait!” Zipp said, sliding in the air as she tried to stop herself, making a 180 and going back to the hall.
“We all gather here at this wedding!” Peachfizz said, her voice deeper as she closed her eyes and motioned to her friends with one hoof.
“The most magical wedding of all time!” Glory said, looking at a grey pony that wore the mask. “Don’t you think Pookie?” She asked, her voice high-pitched in a clear attempt to mimic Pipp.
“Of course Shnookums,” Seashell said, her voice echoing slightly from the helmet covering her head, it in a super deep tone probably trying to speak as low as she could. The nicknames made Zipp's stomach twist in a knot as her breakfast tried to ask permission to leave her stomach. She was sure she hadn’t heard Pipp ever call the groom ‘Pookie ’. Though now that she thought about it, that wasn’t out of the realm of possibility for the younger princess. But seeing her chance, with the trio distracted, Zipp stealthily floated up to the roof, fluttering above the two.
“If any pony sees any reason to object to this marriage, speak now or forever hold your peace!” Peachfizz declared, holding her hoof in the air.
“I OBJECT!” Zipp announced, crashing to the ground behind the three, making the fillies squeal out in shock and jump. The helmet fell off Seashell and clattered to the ground as she looked at Zipp with wide eyes. Without her face covered by the armor Zipp could see dark brown chocolate on the young Pegasus’ face, probably making her the pony who vandalized the carpet. “For one these two are too young to get married, two you aren’t able to ordain this wedding, and lastly, neither of you is the princess or her bride!” She said, smirking down at them.
“Princess Zipp!” The three cheered before giggling, seeing they weren’t in trouble at the moment.
“Ok, what are we doing here?” Zipp asked them, unfurling her wings and using them to start to herd the young ponies out. “You three shouldn’t be playing here.”
“We were bored. Some big gray unicorn said we couldn’t have any more sweets.” Glory huffed, puffing her cheeks out in a pout.
“Alphabittle,” Peachfizz corrected, “And yeah he said after our fourth cupcake we’ve had more sugar than he had in the past ten years.”
“Knowing you three, you probably ate more sugar than any pony will for the rest of their lives,” Zipp mumbled to herself. “Anyways you three need to get into position. The wedding is gonna be starting soon and I don't need to be hunting you three down again. Plus now I have to find the suit of armor that's missing a helmet.” She huffed as she got the fillies to the open doorway. “Go eat a carrot!” She ordered them, making Glory stick her tongue out as she looked at the princess with pleading. “Or an apple?” She tried again, making the blue Pegasus’s eyes brighten as she nodded.
“Hey, Princess Zipp,” Peachfizz said, holding a hoof out to stop the princess as she started to turn.
“I’m on kind of a tight schedule here, Fizzbizz,” Zipp said, calling the pony by a random nickname she thought of on the spot.
“I was just curious,” The filly said, rubbing her front leg with the other as she looked to the side. “With Princess Pipp getting married, do you think she's gonna have time for us?” The pony asked, making her friends look away. Clearly, it had been a subject of sore conversation.
“Er… uh…” Was all the princess could manage at first. Why was she the one who had to deal with her sister's fans? Shouldn’t there be some sort of manager to handle this? “I don’t know,” Zipp muttered, looking back at the three who looked at her with shimmering eyes. “I mean they might start a family, and then there's the topic of who is gonna take the throne after our mom steps down. Maybe Pipp might decide to stop performing altogether!” She said, a smirk growing on her face as the three gasped and took a step back. As if Pipp not performing was the end of the world.
“B-but who would we watch?!” Glory asked, her pink wings unfurling in panic as she looked at her friends.
“Or buy merch!” Seashell said, her eyes rolling in her head as if she were getting ready to pass out.
“Or by knock-off march of and get her to sign!” Peachfizz screeched, tugging on her mane, and started to breathe in and out rapidly.
“Ok calm down, I was joking about that last part.” The princess chuckled, sitting down on the ground to be closer to their height. “Honestly if Pipp became Queen I’m sure there would be like a 24/7 livestream of the castle.” She scoffed, making the three sigh. “But the other stuff wasn’t a joke, fillies.” She was quick to tact on, making the three look at the ground in disappointment. “But this will make Pipp really happy and don’t you want her to be happy with some pony, or someone, she loves?” She pressed them.
“Yeah…” They all said at the same time. “I just want us, the Pipsqueaks, to be a part of what makes her happy,” Seashell muttered, kicking at the ground with a hoof.
“What do you mean?” The Princess scoffed and chuckled. “You three are like Pipp's biggest fans, of course, you’ll continue to make her happy no matter how busy she gets!” She promised them. “Yeah she might not have time to do so many personal meetings or autographs, and showing up in her room will really have to stop with Gallus in there. But you three scaled a building to get her attention. That either makes you three really dedicated fans since two of you can’t fly... or crazy fans!” Zipp told them, deciding not to say which one they were. But any pony else doing something like that probably would have been thrown in the dungeon.
“Really?!” Seashell asked, all three of their bodies lifting up. “We’ll still be able to see her?!”
“YES MAM!” The three said, saluting her before dashing in the direction of the dining hall.
“Uh… I’ll tell you later,” Zipp lied, hoping to not have to give a filly that conversation. She would let the young pony’s parents deal with it. “Now go eat that apple or you’ll be doing drills for the first half of flight practice!” They threatened, making the green Pegasus squeak before rushing to the dining hall. Giving Zipp a moment to sigh in relief before darting her eyes up. “Ok… you can come down now!” Zipp said, lifting her head to see the teal body of Lightning Dust floating down.
“Nicely done dealing with those three,” The Pegasus praised, clapping her hooves together to the princess.
“Thanks, I’m glad to have made you happy. You know I’m constantly seeking your approval.” Zipp said sarcastically as a smile forced its way on her face.
“I know, it is a coveted prize. I don’t think any pony has ever gotten it. Not even Gallus.” She scoffed landing on the ground. “Anyways is that it for the excitement for today? As much as I’d like to wrestle some sort of monster attacking the castle this is a rental.” She said, gesturing to her outfit.
“I figured as much, considering your normal idea of dressing fancy is brushing your hair.” Zipp shot.
“Hey, it’s already hard to improve on perfection!” Lighting Dust insisted.
“Oh I sent those three here,” She said, making the princess’ head whip around. “They were trying to get chocolate on my clothes! It’s a rental, remember!”
“Well, then why didn’t you tell me where they were?” Zipp huffed as she reached the front of the room and grabbed the helmet.
“I don’t know. Sometimes I like to fuck with you. You ponies make it so easy sometimes.” The teal pony scoffed, holding a hood up as the helmet went soaring.
“Ok fine, then you can put this back,” Zipp said flying by the other pony and shoving the helmet against her chest, “I gotta make sure everything is ready.”
“Fine go ahead and order me around like always,” Lighting fake whined as she started to fly in the air to complete her task. “This is my day off, you know!”
“I’m busy!” Zipp yelled back as she entered the hallways, a smile on her face as she started to zoom around to make sure things were ready for the wedding.
As the music started to play, the talking immediately died as every pony stood up and turned to the entrance of the grand hall. After hours of prep and making sure everything was just right it was finally time for the wedding to start. Zipp stayed back to make sure that the Pipsqueaks were ready.
“Gloria!” Zipp hissed, hiding behind a velvet curtain off to the doorway that led into the grand hall. She glared at the blue tiny Pegasus, who still had half of a bright red apple in her hooves. “It's time!” She whispered to the filly, who looked at her with confusion as if she couldn't hear the princess. But as Zipp waved a hoof in the air and motioned down the center aisle the young's ponies eyes lit up.
Shoving the rest of the apple in her mouth before proudly marching forward, ducking her head down, and grabbing a white basket with blue and purple flower petals resting in it. Peachfizz and Seashell followed after their friend, dawning their baskets of petals and all three of them holding their heads up high. Each step the three took had a bounce to it as all eyes fell on them, many aws filled the room as the trio gently shook their heads from side to side, making the petals fly out and gently land on the ground. The trio didn't stop until they got to the front and moved off to the side, to not distract any pony from the main event.
Then with the Pipsqueaks out of the way, a new creature walked through the door. A Griffin with light blue fur and dark blue wings at his side walked through. He was dressed in a thick chest plate that had tiny Pegasi and roses designed onto it and a Golden helmet on his head, that plate that would cover his face was latched up, and a purple cape flowed from his back. The site of the groom made everyone shift from hoof to hoof anxiously. At the groom's side was Lightning Dust, presumably his best-mare, and the two started to walk down the hall. But Zipp could swear she heard Lightning mutter something along the lines of ‘You better not fuck this up’. And seeing a smirk and head shake from the Griffon told Zipp she was right. But motioned down the aisle and the two started to head down to the front. But instead of walking off to the side, the two walked up the steps, Lightning Dust stopping at the steps, leaving the groom to walk onto the platform himself. A light blue Unicorn with a beret stood in the middle of the platform and looked up at Gallus with almost a sleepy look.
“Whoa, tall.” The pony said in what Zipp assumed was supposed to be amazement, but the poet pony named Onyx was almost famous for her ‘chill-laxed ’ nature. But the green Unicorn in a brown scarf looked at the groom nervously, clearly a bit intimidated by the giant bird creature. Unlike most of the Pegasi who lived in the Zephyr Heights and were able to get used to the towering Griffin, the other pony races hadn't gotten the chance to get used to him, past the Pipsqueaks and Pipp and Zipp's friends.
Then lastly Pipp stepped up into the doorway, making every pony gasp seeing the youngest princess. Of course, Zipp had already seen her sister in her wedding outfit, minus a veil that seemingly floated in the air and glittered in the light of the room. A smile going from ear to ear was on the pink pony's face as she took a deep breath in. A gray unicorn stood at the other side of her, Alphabittle. Zipp wasn't sure how the entire conversation of Pipp asking Alphabittle to walk her down the aisle but she knew the conversation had happened. The old gray unicorn was the closest thing the two had to a father so it made sense that he would be asked. Much like Lightning Dust the unicorn had on a tux, white button-up shirt, and a bow tie. However, he was missing the green flower Pegasus had. Probably in a tea kettle somewhere being prepped for a hot beverage later on.
But as Zipp motioned for them to go the pair didn't hesitate and made their way down the aisle. However, Zipp noticed the two were going down the aisle faster than the other ponies. But the princess just assumed Pipp was ready for the wedding and Alphabittle was doing his best to keep up with her. But they managed to get to the front and Alaphabittle guided the bride up the steps and to her spot in front of the groom before taking a step back, a proud smile on his face. He did turn and give someone in the crowd a wink, making Zipp's breakfast ask to leave again, knowing it was to her mom.
But with every pony else up the princess sighed and stepped out into the entrance to the room, the crowd looked at her and gasped. Zipp had managed to get into her outfit, a purple dress that shimmered in the light, her mane had a few flowers in it and also sparkled. It wasn't something that the Pegasus would be wearing out in public. But she did want to look nice for her sister's wedding and apparently, she succeeded. But as a bright orange Earth Pony stepped next to her, in a simple yellow dress, her purple mane in its usual braid, and its multi-colored ends prominent like they always were.
“Ok whew, finally.” Zipp sighed looking at her friend, Sunny, who smiled brightly at her and nodded her head.
“You look amazing Zipp, I didn't know you knew what a dress was!” The Earth Pony giggled as they started to walk down the aisle, making the princess blush and her eyes shot up to the ceiling.
“Of course, I know about dresses, have you seen how my mom dresses?” She asked as they started to walk forward, “I was forced into them more than once as a filly.” She said, getting a giggle from Sunny as they got to the front, standing on the steps as well.
Looking out at the sea of ponies that started to find their seats her mom was in the front row, her seat had thick purple cushions on it and a pillow sat on the white seat beside her with a white ball of fluff lying on it, better known as Cloudpuff. Her mom was waving a hoof to her face as she started to sniffle, trying to hold back tears. But Zipp knew that eventually that dam would break and her mom would be a sobbing mess.
“Love,” Onyx said, getting everyone's attention. With how soft-spoken the pony was every pony needed to be silent for a chance to hear what the poet had to say. “It's like a river.” She continued on, giving a dramatic pause as her friend lightly tapped on a bongo set for her. “In some places, the water is calm and smooth, you can see your reflection perfectly on it.” She sighed, slowly moving her arm from one side to the other. “And then at times it's rough, uncontrollable, and destroys everything in its path.” She announced, slamming her hoof on the platform, making a loud BANG and causing a few ponies to yelp. “But much like the flow of water it does not have a beginning and it does not have an end, love is ever lasting.” She said, bowing her head to signify the ending of her poem, the green pony behind her quickly tapping on the bongos to signify the end of the poem.
In the awkward silence, a few ponies gave an awkward clap before Onyx stood up straight. Though Pipp shot the poet pony a dirty look, for either the unsanctioned poem or the long silence. But Onyx let the glare bounce off her with no issue.
“Today we are here to see these two, Princess Philomena Petals and Gallus uh… Gallus the Griffin, in marriage.” Onyx continued, motioning to Gallus and Pipp, “Normally Queen Haven would oversee the marriage. But as this is her daughter I was graciously asked to oversee this today, for those wondering why she isn't up here. But I do believe you two have prepared vows for today?” She asked, taking a step back and Pipp walked up first.
“Well, we better have. If you out speak us on our wedding day, Onyx, it's gonna be a rough start to the marriage.” She announced with a giggle getting a couple of other chuckles from the crowd. “But anyways, Gallus. When I first met you it was under some strange circumstances. My friends and I were exploring the abandoned city of Canterlot, and Sunny did some weird Sunny thing, freeing you and your friends from being crystal statues for 1,000.” She said, shooting a look at Sunny, making the orange Earth Pony blush. “And then, wow, it turns out you're like over 1,000 years old. I don't think that's what my mom meant when she told me to marry a mature pony who could take care of me.” She sighed, looking at her mom who gave a snort and laugh, the entire room filling with laughter. “But I don't mind the strange circumstances anymore. At first, they were, you know, strange. But some of the best things in my life came from them being a part of strange circumstances. When Sunny and Izzy broke into the castle to steal the gem, my family was outed for our fake flying, it led to an adventure I had never been on before and making friendships that before that day would have seemed impossible. Meeting you in the hidden room of the castle led to me meeting you. And now, Onyx is up here instead of my mom, which will lead us to start our lives together. And I can't wait to see what the next weird strange circumstance will lead us, together.” She said, her purple eyes shimmering with tears threatening to jump out of her eyes and ruin her makeup.
“Whoa,” Gallus said, his eyes wide with shock as he looked at his bride before looking down at a small stack of notecards in his talons. “Not sure if I can top that.” He said, probably a bit louder than he wanted. But it made everypony there burst out in laughter, making his cheeks tint red. “But here we go…” He said, clearing his throat. “Pipp, when I first woke up in this strange new world I was almost completely lost with almost no idea what to do. A world where pony kind had been ripped apart from each other and in the beginning mending their relationships. The other races were gone besides the dragons. And probably the hardest part, all my friends were gone.” He said, a silence filling the room as every pony watched with bated breath. “But you were a shining light in this, my darkest hour. I came to this kingdom and immediately started to bury myself in my work here. And we both know that there was plenty of work for me to get buried in.” He said, making Pipp and the rest of the knights let out a laugh. “But then you were so insistent on hanging out so at first I was with you, going on a date, getting smoothies, and then you reminded me of someone I once knew, so I continued to hang out with you. But I quickly learned that you weren't just that creature and you could make me laugh and smile on your own merits. Soon you were no longer a ray of light in the darkness. But a blazing sun got rid of all the darkness that plagued my life. I can not wait to see what our life will bring and no longer defend you as just my princess but as my wife and the Queen of my life.” He finished, looking up at Pipp, her mascara smudged across her face as tears finally ran down. Looking around and saw almost all the ponies were sniffling and crying. Minus Lightning Dust who gave him a head nod, silently telling him ‘That'll do ’.
“Ok wow,” Onyx said, her voice almost sounding something other than its normal mildly interested tone. “Well with those out of the way… If anypony sees any reason to object to the marriage of these two, speak now or forever.” She said, the knights standing up and glaring at the crowd, making the crowd give out a final, but nervous, chuckle. “Then vested in me by the limited power Queen Haven has given me for the day, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.” Onyx said to Gallus, though the Griffin didn't have a chance to even attempt to kiss his wife as Pipp shoved her face into him, kissing him. Making every pony in the room stand and cheer.
“What a day,” Zipp groaned as she walked up to her bedroom door, slamming her head against it and sighing. After the wedding the entire group had been led to the dining room for the meal afterward and the slicing of the wedding cake. Thankfully nothing bad happened for the rest of the day. Well, minus the Pipsqueaks dunking their heads into one of the chocolate fountains and ‘ruining’ their dresses according to Pipp. But it just had been a long day, trying to make everything ok and her sister had a magical wedding.
So opening the door she stumbled into her bedroom, not bothering to take her dress off, and slammed her body into the soft mattress. The welcoming warmth of the blanket on her bed instantly made her relax. So taking a deep breath in, the eldest princess tried to let herself fall asleep.
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG
The noise hitting her wall made Zipp jump up, her head whipping around. But as her eyes landed on the wall that separated her and Pipp’s room the Princess' eyes went wide in horror as she realized what was happening.
“Ah…. Fuuuuuck!” Zipp groaned, crashing back down onto her bed, and covered her head with her pillow. Trying to block out the noise and not think about what her sister was doing in the other room with her husband.
“Ok!” Pipp squealed, her head against the wall, hearing Zipp's bedroom door slam shut, and jumped on her bed, putting her bottom legs on the headboard of her bed, and smirked at Gallus. “Ready? Our first act as a married couple?” She asked Gallus, his blue body almost not visible in the dark. But she knew that Griffin had his lion's feet on the board as well.
“Whenever you're ready, Pookie,” Gallus said with a smirk.BANG BANG BANG BANG filling the room. As a soft Fuuuuuuck came from the other side of the wall the married couple laughed. They would have to move the bed away from the wall before they actually did anything, but for now, on their wedding night, they would have some fun.
Author's Note
Here it is, the last part of the story! This entire project was super fun to work on and I think this was a great way to wrap up the story. I do plan on doing more MLP 5 stuff eventually. I actually gave the commissioner a discount on Part 1 and got permission to use it as a springboard of sorts for my projects for Gen 5. Anyways I hope you all enjoyed this story and if you have anything you'd like to say feel free to leave a comment!
