The Dark Heart of Canterlot

Chapters

Chapter 2: Shining Armour
Chapter 3: The Great Library
Chapter 4: Professor Shimmer Dew
Chapter 5: The Court Gardens
Chapter 6: The Tunnel
Chapter 7: The High Halls
Chapter 8: The Crystal Vault
Chapter 10: Plotting and Planning
Chapter 1: New Arrivals
Chapter 9: The Stone Labyrinth

Chapter 2: Shining Armour

Chapter 2: Shining Armour

"I'm sure the two of you will be the best of friends..."

"It has been a long time, your highness" said Captain Stormswirl as he bowed before his monarch gracefully. He removed his golden helmet, letting his navy blue mane fall around his face. "Too long" he added. "I still see your crown doesn't fit properly."

"Oh be quiet" said Celestia jokily, adding a little giggle on the end, "I'm going to order a new one to be forged."

"Glad to hear it" chuckled the pegasus captain. He looked round to inspect his ornate surroundings and nodded appreciatively. "You've re-decorated I see. Fortune has clearly shone down upon you in our absence my Princess"

"You too, Captain" replied Celestia, nodding at the large scratch mark running down the eye socket of the Captain's helmet. Stormswirl looked at it and laughed.

"Griffon patrols will never get the message: that Equestrian Royal Guards are second to none in the sky." He shook his head. "Mind you, the whole of Equestria's Armed Forces should be on standby. The attacks have been becoming more aggressive and more frequent in recent months. You wouldn't believe the journey here from the Dragonspine Mountains. Storms, gales, blizzards- and then the most almighty sky battle you could possibly imagine! It was us against the Ninth Order of Talon Guards."

Celestia nodded grimly.

"The Ninth..." she murmured. Such matters as sky battles seemed far removed from her life of politics and comfort- yet she had heard of the Ninth Talon Guards. The terrible reputation proceeded the elite of the Griffin Kingdoms' aerial forces. They had a notoriously vicious attitude to war, and not many ponies could go hoof-to-claw with them and survive to tell the tale.

"We were lucky to escape with our lives, eh Shining?" said the Captain, inclining his head to the young unicorn stallion inside the adjoining chamber. Cadence watched as he stepped forward. he looked so horribly sure of himself, and when he spoke his voice was big and confident.

"But we did escape Captain" he said, his blue eyes flashing gleefully. "And without any losses to their eight"

"Well said lad" Stormswirl laughed, patting Shining on the withers with a powerful feathered wing. He turned back to the sun goddess, and winked at her cheekily. "That Claw Commander Razorwing, got more than he bargained for, I tell you. . He'll think twice before trying to ambush Equestria's finest again."

Shining Armour chuckled throatily. "That is, if he ever makes it back to Gryphus at all."

Stormswirl looked back at Princess Celestia. "He attacked me with a poisoned battleclaw, hence the scratch", he inclined his head to the talon marks running down the helmet, "but had a little 'accident' when he next lunged for me. See, young Shining here was on the ground at the time with the rest of the patrol. He saw the feathered fiend and used his magic to send the claw back at its owner" Stormswirl explained, chuckling slightly.

"What type of poison?"

"Nightbloom Petal judging by the smell"

Celestia grimaced. Although the griffins deserved all they got for attacking the royal patrol, she still hated to hear such things. All life was under her care, be it griffin or pony. Despite this, she cracked another smile and embraced the guard captain warmly. Cadence raised an eyebrow. She always suspected that something had happened between her aunt and the strapping captain, mainly due to her talent to detect love, but had never really believed it. Her suspicions were conformed when Celestia's face pulled away, pink as summer roses.

"I see you haven't changed a bit. Welcome back to the Royal Palace- and welcome to you too, Shining Armour" she said gracefully. Cadence watched as the young stallion bowed down respectfully before the Sun Princess. "So Shining, you seem tall for your age, and definitely strong. How old are you? Fourteen? Fifteen?"

The white unicorn raised his head.

"Sixteen at the end of this year, your highness" he announced.

"Looks freakishly older than all the other colts in the training camp. Keep mistaking him for an officer. Won't be long before he'll be able to join the Guard Training Programme fully" said Stormswirl, and patted his young protégé on the back. Shining cleared his throat quietly.

"I'm ready now"

Cadence stifled a snigger.

Celestia and Stormswirl chuckled.

"But it's true", said Shining a little sulkily. "I'm faster and stronger than any of the other colts at camp, I can beat Sergeant Blitz in a hoof wrestle, and I can beat everypony in magical duels. You said yourself, captain, that my magical prowess is equal to that of some members of the Royal G-"

"I see young Shining has quite a wide array of skills" chimed Celestia, amused. She looked the colt up and down. He had potential, that was for sure.

"So tell me, your highness" said the guard captain, his face growing more serious. "Why such an urgent summons, eh? What's on your mind?"

Celestia smiled, making the twilight evening a bit lighter. "All in good time my friend" she said, and called back through the open doors to her unusually shy niece. "Cadence? Are you still there my dear?"

Heart racing, Cadence scampered from the curtain and over to the oaken table where the half-finished painting lay.

"Y...yes, your highness" she called back, hoping she wouldn't hear how breathless she sounded.

"Come here then child!" exclaimed Celestia joyfully, "you haven't yet greeted Uncle Stormy."

This time Shining stifled a snigger.

With her head down, Cadence timidly plodded out of the shadow filled room with her luscious three toned mane falling around her gilded horseshoes. She smiled at Stormswirl.

"Fair Goddess!" the guard captain gasped as she moved towards him. "Who is this tall elegant vision of beauty I see before me? Surely it can't be little Cadence, can it?"

He bowed down to the young Princess, causing her to blush profusely. She hated it when ponies did that- it always made her feel uncomfortable and important. She especially didn't like her Uncle Stormy doing it.

"It's me..." she beamed shyly.

Stormswirl shook his head in disbelief. "But it's not possible" he muttered, then added, "though there's one way to find out. My little Mi Amore always kept a single gold bit behind her ear."

He reached forwards and grazed her cheek with his hoof. "And here it is! It must be Cadence" he announced. He gave an over exaggerated bow and slipped the coin into her hoof.

"Thank you" Cadence whispered shyly. She was beginning to feel self-conscious being the centre of attention, particularly with Stormswirl's new recruit, Shining, staring at her so intently. "I didn't...I mean, I wasn't expecting..." she looked down at the gold piece.

"Oh course you weren't" chuckled Stormswirl.

"Cadence, Stormswirl and I have some important business to attend to. I wonder if you'd also be so good as to entertain our young guest here" Celestia paused, "his name is Shining Armour"

Celestia had already turned away. Internally, Cadence was fuming, and her little tiara barely stayed on her head as she quivered with annoyance. Composing herself quickly, she turned to face her new 'bodyguard'.

"Shining" said Cadence slowly, pretending it was the first time she had heard it. She glanced at him quickly. His eyes she noticed, did not completely match his dark toned mane, but were more of a brighter indigo, like the storm clouds that sometimes could be seen swirling beyond the southern sea. "You'd better come with me then" she muttered.

As the two of them disappeared into the building, Stormswirl turned to the sun goddess. "She is growing up to resemble her mother closely" he said softly. He waved a wing to dismiss the guards behind him. After they had fluttered away, Celestia nodded sadly.

"I confess that sometimes I find it difficult to even look at her. And it isn't just her appearance...the way she purses her lips. The way she chews the tips of her mane. I mean, how is it even possible that she should have the mannerisms of a mother she never even knew?" She shook her head, the aurora mane slowing just a little bit.

Stormswirl set his helmet on the marble balcony.

"Do not forget your highness, I too have had my share of loss." Celestia swallowed guiltily.

"Forgive me dear captain; I've had a lot on my mind recently. I did not intend to be so thoughtless..."

Stormswirl nodded. "It hasn't been easy" he muttered.

Celestia gave him a sympathetic glance. "I'm sure it hasn't dear captain, that's what I want to talk to you about. Please sit." The white alicorn's horn flared brilliantly as she conjured plump cushions from thin air, setting them down on the balcony. The royal guard captain took a place beside the Sun Princess, folding his strong wings against himself as he did so. The shadows of the neighbouring towers fell upon them, deepening the mood.

"Losing your family like that must have been hard Stormswirl" began the Princess, scraping a gilded horseshoe against the stone of the balcony. The pegasus captain ruffled with feathers slightly before looking out across to the setting sun.

"It was, your highness, it was" said the captain wistfully, "but I found a new family, in the Guard. And while my son is gone, Shining has become my new son in a way. I never let the colt out of my sight. The pair of us travel everywhere together"

Celestia quickly interjected during the brief pause.

"I have a great favour to ask of you, old friend" she locked her violet eyes to his blue, grabbing the captain's attention with the same things that grabbed his heart several years ago.

"Anything, your highness. You know that, just ask."

"These attacks from the Griffin Kingdoms have the populace worried. It's brought home to me the fact that I can't keep everypony safe by myself. I have important work. Difficult work. And I need help with it"

"I'm just a guard captain" laughed Stormswirl. "but anything I can do for the great Princess Celestia of fair Equestria, I do willingly"

"You can give up Shining to me" the alicorn muttered quietly.

Stormswirl stood up abruptly. "What?"

"I need somepony to protect Cadence", Celestia continued hurriedly. "Somepony I can trust to help me. You don't know Canterlot like I do, Stormswirl. It's a treacherous place. I cannot keep the ponies of Equestria safe with a council of ministers who would smile to my face and betray me behind my back. I need somepony not born of the Palace. Somepony young, agile, eager to learn. I need a young cadet as my niece's protector should politics take an ugly turn"

"This is quite a shock" gasped Stormswirl, sitting down again. "After losing my family on that terrible night, the thought of losing Shining..."

"You wouldn't be losing him, good captain" said the Princess reassuringly. She smiled comfortingly, and Stormswirl found his steel heart melting. "He'd live here with me, the Princess of Equestria. He'd live with here in the Palace, be educated at the Higher Halls of my School for Gifted Unicorns with Cadence and perform certain simple duties as my assistant and my niece's bodyguard. Why, who knows? A fine colt like Shining- in due course, he might secure himself a strong place in the Royal Guard."

"Yes, well, only when he's ready" replied Stormswirl, who understood the rigorous training an harsh perils of life in the Academy of War in the Royal Barracks. His eyes moistened slightly. "I couldn't bear it if..."

"Stormswirl, my old friend" said the crowned sun pony, taking off both horseshoes on her forehooves and taking both the captain's warmly, "Shining Armour will be safe here. Nowhere in all of Canterlot is safer. While he is in my charge, not a single hair on his pretty little mane will come to harm. I give you my word."

The captain couldn't argue with that. The word of a Princess was second to none, and there was nopony that the pegasus stallion trusted more in all the world.

"A word I trust as well as my own" he finally said before smiling. "You are offering my protégé a fine opportunity, your highness. I won't stand in the colt's way."

Celestia beamed. "Thank you old friend", she leaned forwards and planted a soft kiss on the captain's forehead, rekindling a spark of emotion that burned bright only a few years ago. "You don't know how much this means to me."

She cocked her aurora crested head towards the open balcony doors, from where the low buzz of conversation was coming. "He seems to be making himself at home already."

"Put it back!" Cadence snapped.

Shining Armour turned the curious lilac crystal over and over in his magical hold.

"But what is it?" he persisted.

"It's the last surviving fragment of the Crystal Empire, if you must know" said Cadence impatiently as she snatched it from his magenta coloured magic hold with her own cyan. "My aunt saved it before it vanished from the world"

"What Empire is this?"

"Never mind"

Cadence placed the delicate jewel back under the glass bell jar which covered it usually. As she turned round, her mind lit up in annoyance again as she found the unicorn colt wandering around the room looking at absolutely everything that wasn't bolted down . He eventually stopped at an elegantly curved bookcase, gilded at the edges with golden leaf motifs and silver flowers. Pulling a book out at random, Shining heaved a colossal tome bound in a deep red cover. A golden unicorn head was embossed in the dead centre of the cover.

"What's this?" he asked across the room, much to the pink alicorn's irritation. She gilded over to join him with a single beat of her purple tipped wings and picked up the book with her magic.

"Its 'A Simplified Account of Alicorn Magical Prowess and Celestial Control ', my aunt, Princess Celestia wrote it herself" she sniffed as she slid it back into its designated place in the shelves.

"She must be very clever"

"She is" Cadence huffed proudly, shocked that anypony would say something so dumb. "Recognised by all in Canterlot and Equestria and even beyond as the most brilliant magic wielder of all time. That, after all, is why she is ruler of the fairest land in all the world."

Cadence turned away, flicking her three coloured mane from her eyes as she plodded back over the the painting she was doing. "Please don't touch anything else" she told Shining primly. "I'm making this picture for the Princess. On my own."

Shining shrugged. He didn't like the bossiness in her voice, or the fact that she clearly thought herself superior to him. But he said nothing. Better answer with silence than indignation, as the saying went. Despite the fact she was a Princess, I didn't give her the right to be so condescending towards him.

As Cadence continued to dab in the paints onto the canvas, her back turned pointedly towards him, Shining found his gaze falling onto her flank. Her bright cutie mark portrayed a shiny crystal heart laced with golden swirls. Shining found himself looking at it far longer than he normally would have. Snapping himself out of his teenage desires, he wandered off to look around the rest of the room by himself.

When he'd first come through the double doors to the chamber, he hadn't really paid much attention to the features around him. It wasn't what he had expected it to be. Shining had guessed that a small, cosy room with maybe a fire burning in the corner. However, the young white unicorn found himself standing in a vast hall with tall gilded marble pillars, lofty arches and two magnificent crystal chandeliers. And though there were indeed a few armchairs and hanging sofas clustered around a rug at the far end of the room beside a cavernous fireplace where a tiny stove burned, they looked ridiculously small and out of place, and served only to emphasise the grandeur of the great stately room.

He was about to ask Cadence more about the exact function of the chamber when a voice piped up from a hanging sofa in front of him. "It's rude to stare!" it said.

Shining started back. "I...I'm sorry, I didn't know anypony was there" he said. He peered into the shadows and saw a short, roly-poly pony, and earth one, sitting on a cushion filled seat, his stubby legs sticking out before him. Shining stepped forward and held out a forehoof. "My name is Shining Armour" he said, and added formality, "I am honoured to make your acquaintance"

Professor Shimmer Dew chuckled throatily as she set aside this paperwork and jumped onto the floor. "The honour is mine" he replied, as etiquette demanded, and shook his hoof. "My name is Professor Shimmer Dew." He smiled. "it is a long time since I've met a young colt with such fine manners." he emphasised the last two words lid enough for the pink alicorn at the other end of the room to hear.

Cadence rolled her eyes.

"Then it must be a long time since you came across a Cadet of the Royal Guard" declared Shining proudly, glancing round to see whether Cadence was listening. She should know she wasn't the only one with important aspirations.

"A Cadet of the Royal Guard" said Shimmer Dew, clearly impressed.

"And the strongest, fastest, and cleverest cadet in the Camp" huffed Shining, loathing his false self-pride, but it was worth it just to annoy the young princess

Poised over the canvas with a blob of red paint on the end of her brush, Cadence groaned. It was bad enough having been asked to entertain such an obvious roughneck in the first place, but for her tutor to be impressed by a couple of oily phrases! Couldn't he see how rough he was underneath? How uncouth? How...

"Oh, is that a tree fox?" she heard Shining exclaim, and turned to see Muffins leaping down from the chandelier and onto the back of Shimmer Dew's hanging sofa.

"Why, don't you like them?" the professor asked, "I can tie him up if you'd prefer"

Cadence held her breath. Could this be a chink in the colt's otherwise impenetrable armour? Of course it couldn't!

With a broad grin on his face, Shining reached up a forehoof towards the screeching creature and beckoned it come forward. Instantly soothed, the tree fox jumped up into his forelegs and began purring with pleasure. Her hopes dashed, Cadence turned away petulantly.

"I love tree foxes" Shining was saying, "and this one's an absolute beauty. Does he have a name?"

"Muffins" said Shimmer Dew.

Shining smiled down at the creature and tickled it behind the ears. "You like a good tickle don't you Muffins? Oh yes, that's nice..." The tree fox went helplessly floppy and purred all the louder.

Cadence scowled. First her tutor. Now her pet. She just wished that Stormswirl and Celestia would hurry up their business and the captain would take this horrible unicorn away. At the other end of the room, Shimmer Dew was having other ideas.

"If you're staying, I'll see about some refreshments. What do you fancy?"

Shining looked up.

"Anything at all, except for one thing. Trottingham Cheese. I can't stand the stuff."

"What a coincidence" Shimmer Dew laughed. "Neither can Cadence."

He bustled off, and as he reached the doors, Muffins leapt from Shining's hooves and scampered after him "It's his tea time too" the professor chuckled. "I shan't be long. Just you make yourself at home."

With Shimmer Dew and the pet tree fox gone, the huge hall fell into an awkward silence. Shining paced over to the walls to have a closer look at the inlaid panels. The hoof fall of his horseshoes echoed eerily.

Cadence wanted to abandon her painting work for the day. the fading light was making it difficult for her to see the exact shades of the paint she was mixing. But if she gave up now, she'd have no option but to talk to Shining Armour- and she had no intention of doing that.

Unaware of Cadence's irritation, the blue maned unicorn stopped by the walls and traced his hoof lightly over the intricate marquetry. Each of the panels was decorated with delicate patterns picked out in different coloured woods. Twists and coils and plaits were carved into the timber in great interlocking swirls and raised lattice-work sections, each one cornered with curlicues and containing complicated and unfamiliar emblems. A flower and a coiled rope. Three crossed ladders. A series of concentric circles split up by a seven pointed star...

The panelled wall was quite unlike anything Shining had ever seen before. "Its amazing" he whispered softly to nopony in particular. "It's amazing...amazing...zing..." his echo repeated excitedly.

Cadence could bear it no longer. Spoiling her evening was one thing, but so obviously enjoying himself was another! There he was, all bluster and rough edges. He'd come in, distracted her from her painting, impressed Shimmer Dew, bewitched Muffins...she groaned angrily.

Shining spun round. "Are you all right, your highness?" he asked.

"Yes, I..." she began, embarrassed by the concern in his voice. "Just clearing my throat" she said, and did it again. "The echo makes it sound worse than it is."

Shining nodded. "It's the best echo I've ever HEARD!"

HEARD...heard...heard...he...

Cadence jumped, causing Shining to burst out laughing. Annoyingly, she found he own mouth curling into a smile, and soon joined the young colt in his amusement. Their laughter mingled with all the other noises as Shining crossed the hall to the table where Cadence was still working on the painting. He raised a forehoof defensively.

"I won't touch, promise!"

"I should hope not" said Cadence with mock severity. Shining frowned, making his royal blue eyes seem like they belonged to a fully grown stallion than a young teenage colt.

"Can you actually see anything?" he asked.

"It's a bit dark" Cadence conceded. "The thing is, I promised the Princess I would complete it for her as soon as possible." She looked up at Shining. "You couldn't light a lamp for me could you? Only I'm not allowed to, and I need my magic to levitate the brush"

"Me?" Shining gulped, and for a split second, Cadence saw fear flash across the young cadet's face. The next moment, he was in control once more. "Light your lamp?" he said jauntily. "Yes, I can do that."

Cadence looked at him closely. Even in the shadows, his coat was glistening with sweat. "If its too much trouble, then don't bother" she said meanly. "Shimmer Dew will be back in a moment."

"its fine" said Shining. "Just, I can't cast a fire spell yet, not even a spark. How does Shimmer Dew do it?"

"He usually takes a piece of flaming wood from the stove. The tongs are on the hook."

Shining nodded, grabbed the lamp in his mouth and turned away. Face set grimly, he crossed the floor to the little stove standing in the middle of the huge elegantly carved fireplace. His heart was thumping. his legs felt like lead. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw something glinting scuttle across the floor- though when he looked, there was nothing there.

The firewood was burning well, bright orange and very hot, it bounced around as it crumbled inside the stove. Trembling uneasily, Shining placed the lamp down on the floor. then he unhooked the tongs with his magic, flipping open the stove and moving the tongs simultaneously. The iron and glass door swung open and the white unicorn was struck in the face by a blast of scorching air. "Its all right" he whispered to himself, "the f-f-fire's inside the stove Don't panic. J-just reach in, take the piece, light the lamp. You'll be fine...absolutely fine..."

On the other side of the room, Cadence's brow furrowed with consternation. The curious echoes and acoustics of the vast room being what they were, she had heard every faltering word. For whatever reason, Shining was petrified of fire. Perhaps she'd gone too far. Suddenly, she found herself running towards him. "It doesn't matter" she shouted at him, "Shining, leave it!"

But by then, the blue maned colt was already levitating a length of burning wood from the stove. His horn was shaking so badly he could barely maintain his grip on the tongs. And when Cadence called out, her booming voice gave him such a fright that he let go completely. The tongs clattered to the hearth. The burning log fell with it, but was unlucky enough to land on Shining's right foreleg.

"Bucking horseshit!" Shining screamed as he felt his coat burn off. The blazing log was picked up by Cadence's magic and hurled back into the fire. The pink alicorn raced over to the injured unicorn, her eyes filled with concern and shock.

"Shining! Oh Shining...sweet Goddess, I don't know any healing spells! Um..." she darted off to find a book on the subject, flipping through all kinds of different tomes.

At the same moment, the doors behind them opened. Both Shining and Cadence spun round guiltily. Shimmer Dew was standing in the doorway, a laden tray balancing on his back. Muffins jumped up and down on his shoulder and bounded towards them.

"i thought you could have toasted oakbread with razzleberry jam" he said, as he pushed the door shut with his hind legs. "With some strawberries and syrup for...", his brows lowered, "what have you two been up to?" he asked suspiciously.

"N...Nothing" said Cadence.

Shimmer dew sniffed the air. His nose twitched. "Firewood and...who's burned themselves?" he said sharply, "come on, show me."

Shining held his breath and stuck out his right foreleg. There were angry red sores and frayed blisters on his shins and at the top of his hoof. the fur around his wound was black. Cadence gasped and bit her lower lip. Shimmer Dew put the tray down, seized the pot of razzleberry jam and dolloped a huge spoonful onto Shining's leg. Shining looked at Cadence, his eyes asking her whether the old earth pony had completely mad.

"Jam, professor?"

"Razzleberry jam" said Shimmer dew as he smoothed the sticky pink substance over the burns. "Razzleberries were used by Medieval Pony Knights as healing foodstuffs. A Razzleberry Salve would have been better of course- but I dare say a little sugar won't do any harm. There" he said at least. "Now if we wrap this napkin around it...like so." He looked up. "It'll be as right as rain by the morning."

"I give my heartfelt thanks" said Shining politely. But Shimmer Dew was no longer in any mood for his fancy words.

"And I'll give you a heartfelt kick in the rump if I catch you playing with that stove again!" he said sternly.

"He was only trying to light my lamp for me" muttered Cadence.

"Aye, well, leave things to those who can. Can't you cast a spark spell or something?"

Shining shook his head sulkily.

"I'd better fetch another pot of jam, then I'll-I'll- see to the lamp. Is that understood?"

"Yes professor" Cadence and Shining said unison.

Only when she was out the room did Cadence turn to Shining Armour.

"What happened? Are you scared of fire or something?"

Shining nodded. "I have pyrophobia, I can't stand the stuff. That's why I haven't learned to cast a spark." he shook his head, unable to speak. Whether it was out of stress or embarrassment, Cadence could not say. She sat down next to the white unicorn and draped a beautiful feathered wing round his shoulder.

The young princess tingled uneasily inside.

"I'm sorry" she whispered. A rather alarming thought suddenly struck her: All the things the he'd done, he'd done them for her, despite his fear. With her aunt acting so oddly of late, she already had enough on her plate to contend with. She glanced up at Shining, still shaking from his ordeal, and sighed. The sooner Captain Stormswirl came and took him away the better.

The lamps and torches had all been lit by the time Stormswirl and Princess Celestia finally re-entered the balcony chamber. Night had fallen and a chill, spiralling breeze was giving the four waiting pegasus guards outside difficulty staying stable in the air.

"There's a storm brewing" said Stormswirl broodingly.

"A sleet storm" added Shimmer Dew, pulling a face. "I can feel it in my joints."

Celestia chuckled. "Then we must conclude our business as soon as possible so that Captain Stormswirl can depart" she chimed. "Sit down everypony, please. I have something to announce."

Shining and Cadence sat down on adjacent chairs, with Shining taking care to hide his makeshift bandage underneath his long blue tail. There would be time for explanations later. Shimmer dew sat back on his hanging sofa, the tree fox on his shoulder purring intently. The Royal guard captain stood behind his monarch, who cleared her throat.

"Captain Stormswirl and I have made a decision. Shining Armour is to be appointed as Princess Mi Amore Cadenza's trainee bodyguard and my personal assistant. He will be enrolled into the High Halls of my School for Gifted Unicorns, where he will study alongside my niece. His schooling is to commence tomorrow morning..."

"But, but..." Shining objected, receiving an angry glare from his captain for interrupting the Princess. He leapt to his hooves, red faced and flustered.

"Don't interrupt colt" said Stormswirl sharply.

"Cadence will be responsible for showing him the ropes", Celestia continued, and shot her niece a warning glance that she was not to interrupt either.

"But captain, an academic life isn't what I want, nor what I'm made for"

"You need to have a proper education before you can enlist in the Guard anyway lad. You'll thank me for this one day." His eyes darkened. "By the Sun, if I'd been given the chances I'm giving you..."

"But I don't want-"

"And then, as my assistant, there are the little tasks that I will be asking you to do" Celestia butted in. "Perform them well, and I can guarantee a place for you at the Academy of War."

"But...wait, can't we...?"

"It won't be permanent" said the pegasus captain.

"But we've been good together, haven't we?" Shining persisted, "haven't we? Going on patrols together, fighting griffins, exploring new places..."

The guard captain almost facehoofed with frustration and sympathy.

"Shining Armour, you're to stop this!" He placed an armoured forehoof on his protégé's shoulder and looked him in the eye. "You're shaming us both" he said quietly. Shining spluttered.

"I'm sorry sir, but..."

"Its not going to be easy for me either" Stormswirl continued. "I've come to depend on your cool head, your magical prowess..." he paused, "besides..." he went on, his voice now little more than a whisper, "you're the only one I've got left."

Celestia gave the captain a sad smile, understanding fully what he meant. She doubted Shining did.

"Stormswirl, while Shining is here, I will treat him as if he was my own child. What more can I say?"

"There is nothing more to say, your highness" bowed the captain. He saluted Shining stiffly, bowed to Cadence, and marched quickly out of the balcony doors. His gilded plate caught on one of the lacy curtains as he strode back into the night air. He didn't look back as he took off with his waiting escort.

Cadence shivered unhappily. Things were not working out at all the way she'd hope. By now, Shining should have gone. Instead, he had been left behind in the Palace to act was her bodyguard of all things, take up a place alongside her at the High Hall s- and as if that wasn't bad enough, she had been put in charge of his well being. She snorted with irritation.

It just wasn't fair.

Chapter 3: The Great Library

Chapter 3: The Great Library

"I never liked books - that was Twily's job..."

Shining put down his quill and listened. Yes, there it was again. A howling and shrieking, discordant, distant- but coming closer, and closer, till the air was throbbing with the incredible noise.

"What is that?" he muttered. he glanced over at the tiny window. there was only one way to find out. Scraping his uncomfortable chair back on the wooden floorboards, Shining jumped up, knocking the scrolls he'd been reading to the floor, and hurried across the room. As he flung the window open with his magic, what had been a raucous noise abruptly became a deafening cacophony. What was causing it?

The white unicorn colt thrust his head through the small window as far as it go and craned his neck backwards. A blizzard? he thought, surprised by the sight of the snowy banks of whiteness swirling round in the air. In such warm weather? And making so much noise? Then, catching sight of glinting beaks and gleaming talons, he realised that it was a blizzard not of snow, but feathers.

"Snow Eagles!" he gasped. There were hundreds of them! Of course, when growing up in Canterlot City, Shining had seen the white birds of prey flocking before. their eerie flights brought news to the Royal Palace from all over Equestria. Everypony knew that, but the young colt had never seen so many so close before. Nor heard them so loud.

Even now, as they came spiralling down out of the sky, they were maintaining their ear splitting screech. Easing his rear hooves off the ground, Shining squeezed himself a little further out of the window and twisted round until he was lying flat out on his back across the window sill. He watched in awe as in a great feathery drift, the flock of eagles came in to land on the roof of the Tower of Harmony.

"Incredible...Ouch!"

Something numbing and powerful had taken hold of his tail, and was wrenching at it painfully.

"Ow!" he cried- though nowhere near loud enough to be heard above the din of the eagles. He bucked outwards with his hind legs in an attempt to kick whoever or whatever was pulling him. "Get off me!" Shining wriggled awkwardly backwards. The pair of tufted forehooves suddenly grasped his white rear ones.

"Cadence, if that's you I'll...whooaah" he groaned as he found himself being pulled back into the room. The next moment, the back of his head knocked sharply against the edge oft he sill on its way down to the floor, which it struck with a loud crack!

"Unkhh!" the white unicorn groaned.

His rear hooves were released and crashed down onto the floor. His eyelids fluttered open. The room gradually stopped leaping about. "You!" shouted Shining in surprise. "Why in Celestia's name did you do that?"

"A thousand apologies" said Comet Catcher, bowing stiffly, "I did not mean...that is, I thought you were in danger" he muttered with agitation. Shining Armour rubbed the back of his head and winced theatrically.

"I'll be fine" he said at last.

"That is just as well" said the senior pony, "for I have been requested to convey the following summons of attendance by my mistress, who is also your mistress and Princess, who, as such..."

"What?" interrupted Shining sharply.

The old unicorn stallion solemnly closed the window to muffle the shrieking din of the snow eagles. "Princess Celestia wants to see you"

"Now?" asked Shining, steadily standing up on all four hooves.

"No, fifteen minutes ago. Urgent, she said. Extremely urgent."

Without any further convincing, Shining bolted to the door of his little study chamber. Over the last week he had heard, if not seen, just how angry the Sun Princess could be when kept waiting for something important, so different to her mask of gentle care she usually showed. He was just about to leave the room when Comet catch put a forehoof on his shoulder.

"Just One thing, young assistant"

"Yes?"

"The Princess hates to be kept waiting"

With his poky little garret a narrow staircase up from the vast balcony chamber, and the princess' private study two floors above that, Shining hurtled up the stairs in twos and threes, occasionally teleporting short distances in flashes of magenta coloured light. He didn't want to be more late than he already was.

"Ah, there you are Shining Armour" said Celestia cheerily, looking over her shoulder as a hot and breathless unicorn poked his head around the open doors of the Princess' study. "Come in, come in."

Shining entered the room, and was relieved to find that the Sun Princess, who was seated on a long recliner at a polished white oak desk overflowing with royal documents and scrolls, seemed to be in a better mood than he'd anticipated- although she did look strained and tired.

Shining had yet to discover that Comet Catcher would always lie about the time, so that those he was called to summon were always on time.

"And close the door" Celestia added. her voice suddenly dropped to an urgent whisper. "I don't want a single word of what I'm about to say to go beyond these four walls. Is that understood?"

Shining nodded calmly as he closed the door with his magic. "Yes your highness." His heart was pounding. What was the Princess about to say?

The aurora maned alicorn folded her papers and set her quill down on the desk.

"So Shining, how are you finding the Palace?"

"Um...it...it..." he stuttered, at a loss to know where to start. Everything was so bewilderingly different from what he was used to at the Training Camp, so different to the rest of Canterlot- from the unspoken, yet rigidly upheld, pecking-order of the steamy refectory to the intrigue, whispers and lies that took place in the many hidden courtyards. And then there was the High Halls of the School for Gifted Unicorns: the archaic rules he inadvertently kept breaking in Professor Silver Star's classroom- and the lessons themselves, so long, so repetitive, so tedious...

Just then, the white snow eagles outside, who had been silent for a while, started up again. His words were lost to their raucous clamour.

"What was that?" the Princess shouted back, straining to hear Shining's answer.

"Noisy!" Shining yelled back, "I find the Palace very noisy"

The Princess let out a small laugh. "Yes, I agree" she nodded earnestly. She stood up crossed to the windows and closed them all at once with her golden magic. "Shamefully noisy for a so-called place of Harmony, I would say."

She turned and smiled.

"How would you like to go to the quietest corner in all of Canterlot?

"I think I would like that very much, your highness"

"Very good" beamed Celestia. She folded her wings against herself before ruffling all of the feathers. "It concerns one of those little tasks I mentioned the day your captain dropped you off here. Do you remember?"

Shining nodded warily, remembering that the only thing keeping him through this whole ordeal was a promised place at the Academy of War. He had watched the Royal Guards practising jousting, one-to-one combat, and formation marching. It was probably the noisiest place in all of Canterlot, but that didn't really matter.

"The place I want you to visit, is the Great Library"

Shining's brow furrowed. "The Great..." he paused. "I don't think I know where that is." He had heard of the Royal Canterlot Library, but the Great Library, the young unicorn had no clue.

"Very few ponies do any more. It was the old centre for knowledge before the Royal Library was built. Nopony goes nowadays" Celestia murmured unhappily. "Here I am, Princess of all of Equestria, a land where such a vast centre of knowledge is being ignored."

The Princess' arresting eyes had a faraway look in them. She seemed to be talking to herself.

"Oh, how dreadful that day was, when the Library was forced to be locked away from the world." She glanced around nervously, as if worried that somepony might be listening. "Don't get me wrong, the Royal Library still holds a vast cache of knowledge on almost every subject, but not the subject which I wish you to fetch for me."

Shining's ears perked up. His first official errand for the Princess.

"The problem is Shining, is that the knowledge accumulated in the Great Library over the centuries is being lost. Despite my best efforts to revive it, the old building is being ignored and the inner most archives are crumbling into dust as we speak. And it is knowledge we cannot afford to lose." Celestia sighed.

"Can't we go and tidy the place up a bit? Sort things out?" suggested the blue maned colt. Celestia chuckled slightly and shook her head slowly at the idea.

"Oh Shining, you haven't a clue what you're saying. A hundred librarians could work for a thousand days and barely scratch the surface.

"Then, what do you want me to do?"

Outside, the departing snow eagles flashed past the windows, startling both ponies in the study. Celestia began tracing a gilded horseshoe against the wood of the desk, clearly agitated. "I want you to fetch me a scroll" she breathed.

"Is that all?" said Shining, smiling.

The colour drained from Celestia's already white face, making the sun goddess have the complexion of a spirit.

"This is no laughing matter" she said coldly, "I would go myself, but this situation with the Griffin Kingdoms is keeping more than busy."

"I'm sorry, your highness, I didn't mean..."

"I cannot impress upon you the seriousness and importance of your task" the Princess continued, "if you fail, then...you must not fail" shuddered the white alicorn, her angelic wings ruffling again. Shining nodded solemnly. Celestia stood up and paced over to face the windows. The last of the snow eagle flock hovered around the tower, cawing loudly.

"Listen well", she began, "Comet Catcher will give you the precise directions to the Great Library. Once inside, the layout is complicated to the uninitiated, but not impossible to negotiate. It is set up like any other Library, but the shelves are arranged in massive blocks that one could easily get lost in. Each shelf has a core subject- Anatomy of Ponies, Organisms of the Water, that sort of thing. You'll find the exact academic discipline on a small plaque nailed to the bookcase. The core subject you are to look at is |Aerial Creatures"

"Aerial Creatures..." repeated Shining, committing it to memory.

"You are to climb that shelf. The higher you climb, the more sub sections you will come to. By following the words and symbols carved into the wood, you must climb up to the relevant sections- each one representing a branch of that subject- until you home in on the scroll I need"

"This sounds complicated..." said Shining hesitantly.

"That is why you must listen carefully" declared the sun goddess boldly.

As she spoke, the stragglers of the great white flock flapped past the windows and a plaintive cawing began. "Oh no" she whispered, "I'm going to be late again."

"Late for what your highness?"

"As Princess of Equestria I have to act as ambassador to the other independent pony nations across the world. There are delegates from Neighpon arriving soon. So much to do and so little time" she muttered, and once again, Shining couldn't help but notice just how exhausted the Princess looked.

"Then tell me quickly exactly how to find the scroll"

"You must take what is known as a negative ascent" the Princess explained. "At the first fork you will come to bird and not bird. Take not bird. At the second fork, reptile and non reptile. Take non reptile. At the third fork, mammal and non mammal"

"And I take non mammal" said Shining

"Precisely. Do this so long as the option allows. Then it becomes more difficult- and the scrolls are rather cluttered so be careful. You need to find two shelves, one marked legendary..."

Shining nodded.

"The other marked celestial"

He nodded again.

"Hanging from the point where these two cross, you will find the scroll I need." The monarch breathed out noisily. "Have you got all that?"

Shining beamed proudly, puffing his chest out a little bit as he did so.

"I thin so, Aerial Creatures. Not, not, not, as far as it will go, legendary and celestial."

"Well done, you make it sound so easy. I only hope you don't find it too difficult in reality."

"You can count on me" Shining declared with a low bow. The Princess chuckled warmly, before her mood suddenly darkened again.

"As I said before, you must not fail. So keep your mind on the task at hoof and at all times and do not let yourself be distracted."

She turned and readjusted her ill fitting crown. "now go, and good luck to you", she sighed, "I must go and see to my blessed duties."

Head spinning with Comet Catcher's directions and the Princess' instructions, Shining Armour stepped outside of the Royal Palace for the first time that week. The Court of the Sun and moon greeted him, the marble plaza bathed in the shadow of the two massive statues of Celestia and the legendary Luna. It came, as it always did, as a shock to Shining when he stepped outside to find that it was still in the middle of the afternoon- and sunny. Since the towers of the Palace and neighbouring buildings kept him in the shade, daylight was a constant twilight and even the sunniest day seemed overcast. As he emerged from the wide steps that led to the Court, Shining took a narrow alley to his far left which led onto a broad central concourse opposite the Grand Viaduct. He had to shield his eyes from the dazzling sun with a foreleg.

"Which way?" he muttered, and answered himself in the same breath with Comet Catcher's words, "at the western end of the Viaduct, by Ilinata's Tears"

A week earlier even this would have confused him, and he remembered how Cadence had laughed at him when he'd headed in completely the wrong direction when trying to find the High Halls for his first lesson. Compass points had never been Shining's strong point in school or in the Training Camp. But he had learned that the Canterlot Opera House was located at the southern end of the Viaduct, and so headed towards it.

In the week he'd been in the Royal Palace, Shining had learned a lot about Canterlot High Society as a whole. Although he came from a settled middle class family, Shining had no idea how vast the spaces between classes really were. His school day now started at the unearthly hour of six in the morning, but finished at one, which meant he had his afternoons free. Every one, he had spent walking around, getting to know the various other ponies who attended the High Halls. He had tried familiarising himself with all of the avenues and walkways, the bridges and landing stages, large and small. The Royal Palace itself was so vast it was like a city within a city. However, the Grand Viaduct especially fascinated the young unicorn.

high above, the Grand Viaduct itself was a magnificent structure, gilded in white gold and deep violet tiles. It formed the main thoroughfare between the Opera House and the Northern District. Lined by some two hundred small towers of dozens of apartment blocks- the Viaduct was seen as the cheapest area in Canterlot- it stood astride twenty four mighty pillars of marble. Beneath and between these were the Court Gardens, east and west sloping.

At first, Shining had paid little attention to the shifting groups of clustered academics and politicians that seemed to flock around the green areas beneath the arches. But as the days passed, he started to notice the same characters in the same places doing the same things, and began eavesdropping on their conversations.

The Garden of the Stone Rose, for instance, was the place where young students like himself would furtively swap exam papers and gossip about their professors. The Yellow Glade, in contrast, was a place where students with a grievance would air them out publicly, and often to a huge audience. While on the other side, the Moonrise Grove, hosted various political speeches by charismatic politicians and council members.

On this particular afternoon however, with the urgency of the Princess' instructions still ringing in his ears, Shining Armour did not dawdle- tempted though he was. He hurried on past garden after garden of feverish activity without once pausing, round the base of the elegant and prestigiously decorated Opera House, and stopped dead in his tracks.

How in Celestia' name did I miss that? he wondered, staring at the massive towered building before him. It was made of the same white stone as the rest of Canterlot, but was faded to a light grey. Various cracks ran across the stonework, and ivy was draped over the entirety of the purple roof like a blanket. All but the highest windows were boarded up.

Shining crossed the shadow filled square and disappeared into the still deeper shade beneath the great roof. Nopony noticed him walk round the curving wall or stumble across the concealed door. And nopony saw him enter.

"Wow..."

If the outside of the great Library had surprised Shining, the inside left him utterly breathless. It was vast, yet deserted, cool and silent. It smelled faintly of pine sap with an ominous hint of something Shining could not quite identify. it was like nothing he had ever seen before.

the shelves were massive columns of wood set into the dusty stone floor, with tall ladders on wheels resting against them. The bookcases all had small faded gold plaques nailed to them near the base, and all had smaller ones dotted across the ascending volumes of tomes and scrolls. Gulping, Shining started forwards. His horn flared up to provide some illumination. All of the ruined chandeliers were empty of candles, and the highest windows barely let in any light. As the unicorn moved towards the mighty forest of shelves, his hoof dragged against a piece of parchment scattered on the floor. Levitating it up to his face with his magic, Shining strained his eyes to see what was inscribed on it. As he did so, he thought several shiny things- objects or creatures, it was not clear- gliding across the floor. But when he looked round, there was nothing to be seen.

Returning his attention to the scroll, he smoothed it out against the floor and crouched down to gaze upon the text. The writing was all neatly written in a minute feathery script, and accompanied by annotated sketches and charts. the detail was phenomenal. And this is just one bit of one scroll, in a Library of thousands...Twily would love it here he thought.

"But don't get distracted" he reminded himself, his voice bouncing off the high vaulted ceiling. Shining discarded the piece of paper and continued.

The young unicorn failed to notice the writing on the other side...

...RUN...

He soon discovered that finding this scroll for the Princess was easier said than done. Not only were there more than a hundred shelves to check through, but the plaques which differentiated them were written in a curling script which Shining found almost impossible to decipher.

"S-o-c-i-a-l G-e-s-t- Social Gestures" he said, tracing his forehoof over the unfamiliar letters. He moved on to the next. "G- No, C-a-r-n... Carnivorous Flora." And the next, and the next. Gradually the letters became easier to read. The A's were like S's, the F's were like T's, the C's were like G's. The white unicorn moved more and more quickly from shelf to shelf, searching systematically for the one core subject he had to find.

But as time passed- half and hour, and hour, two hours- Shining became more worried and his searching increasingly frenzied. What if he'd somehow missed the one he was looking for? What if he couldn't find it before sundown? The Princess' doom laden words echoed round his head- You must not fail!- over and over, like the tolling of a bell. But what if he did fail?

"Pull yourself together" he told himself harshly, "it is here. And I will find it." There was were still three bookcases to go. The blue maned pony ran from one to another, reading off the names they bore, but as he feared- not one of them was labelled Aerial Creatures. If his calculations were correct, then he was right back where he'd started from. However, in the pink light of his glowing horn, Shining started towards another bookcase. it was the first one he'd started at.

"Social Gestures...wait..."

He leaned forwards for a closer look. "Bucking hell!" he exclaimed.

He had misread the plaque. 'Social Gestures' was in fact 'Aerial Creatures'. Furious with himself for his mistake, yet relieved beyond words to have finally found the right case, Shining wasted no time in scampering up the rungs of the ladder that rested against it. He was agile, with strong legs that allowed him to zoom up the ladder's length in seconds. His burnt leg had healed well enough for him to climb without discomfort. He was soon at the first fork.

"Bird. Not Bird" he read, the words carved into the plaque in the same floral script. As instructed, he chose Not Bird and continued. Using his magic, Shining shuffled the ladder along the shelves. From this point on, the search went higher and higher, and more than once the white unicorn's heart stopped when he heard the rungs creak. The light outside was also beginning to fade.

Further up the Princess' 'negative ascent', the choices began to get stranger. At first, Shining gave it little thought, simply taking the 'not' option each time, but it wasn't long before he was questioning exactly what sort of aerial creature the scroll dealt with. Pony / Not Pony. Stable / Not Stable. Sane / Not Sane.

"Unstable and insane" murmured the white stallion uneasily, and he found himself wondering why the fair Princess would want information on such an unpleasant sounding creature. Did she have one? Did she want one? What type of pony was the Princess anyway? And more important than any of these questions, where was the next fork to choose from?

Having fumbled about in the near darkness of the vaulting for the previous ten minutes without finding any trace of lettering carved into a plaque, Shining was feeling worried. The ladder had started to become extremely rickety, and he was far, far, above the Library floor. He tried to remain calm.

"Okay, you must have reached the end of the negative ascent" he told himself reassuringly. He looked round awkwardly. In the darkness, he could make out the various shapes of ancient scrolls and dusty old books. The light emanating from his gleaming horn wasn't helping a great deal.

"Legendary and...what?"

Shining's head spun. His hind legs shook. He hadn't come this far to fair now- yet try as he might, he could not remember...

"Dammit" he muttered, and though softly spoken, the word echoed around and around the domed building, desecrating the hushed stillness of the Library before fading away. At the same time, the full moon appeared from behind the clouds and shone down through the windows of the crown like tower above Shining's head. Light- wonderful silver light- flood into the Great Library.

"Celestial..." said Shining happily.

Edging himself along, the young unicorn beamed in delight as he saw, etched into the wood of the shelf, the words Legendary and Celestial. he looked up, and just where the Princess had said- where the two of them crossed, a single scroll was hanging. "There you are!"

All those hours of searching, and Shining had finally found what he was looking for. His horn glowed again as he wrapped his magical grip around the delicate parchment and gently unhooked it from its place.

At that moment, there was a sharp tearing sound below him. Shining's head darted down just in time to see the rung he was standing on snap clean in two. Within seconds, the entire ladder had begun to creak and splinter.

"Buck..."

The white unicorn plummeted from the dizzying heights of the bookcase and hurtled straight for the stone floor below him. Shining screamed as loud as Cadence's damn tree fox as the cold slabs raced quickly upwards to meet his face. he was falling to certain death...when all of a sudden and out of nowhere, a forehoof seized him around his own.

"Hold on!" a voice hissed close to his ear. Shining tried in vain to crane his neck round to see who had rescued him. It was all happening to quickly. Yet he was aware of a dry, crackling sound and a ripe juicy odour like the smell of rotting leaves. The next moment, he found himself being swung hard to one side. Terrified, Shining Armour screwed his ocean blue eyes shut, and for an instant he imagined himself flying like a pegasus would. If I was a pegasus, none of this would have happened, he thought angrily.

Then, with a jarring thud, he felt something solid beneath his hooves and looked down to find he was on the stone floor of the Library. But who had got him here? How had he not fallen to his death? Scrambling to get back on his hooves, Shining's horn flared up again to illuminate more of the moonlit room. He scanned the bookcases for any sign of the one who had caught him. There was nopony there.

Shining frowned. "You saved my life" he murmured. Something above him caught the young unicorn's attention. His mouth broke into a grin as he watched the precious scroll gently glide down in front of him. Taking hold of it with his magic, Shining looked back up to the darkness. "In more ways than one."

Although Shining knew he hadn't been quick, he had no idea just how long his task had taken him. By the time he reached the Court of the Sun and Moon, the new day had already broken and the far horizon was blushing pink and red. He turned the great brass handles and pushed the heavy gilded front doors open. The two guards standing duty looked as if they had fallen asleep. An eerie creak echoed around the grand entrance hall. he stepped inside as quietly as he could.

"Where have you been?" came a voice. Shining turned to see Cadence standing in the centre of the hall, wings flared out aggressively and eyes showing a simmering anger. Yet despite that, Shining found them unusually beautiful. Her mane was lusciously curled, and her little tiara glinted in the dawn light streaming through the high windows.

"I...I was on an errand" said Shining, "for the Princess." He hovered the ancient scroll in front of her. "She asked me to fetch this for her" he stepped forwards. "I need to get this too her at once.

"Oh, no you don't. You know how tired she's been looking"

"But..."

"She was up working all night again. She's absolutely not to be disturbed" Cadence insisted firmly. Shining stepped forwards again, until he was a bare few feet away from the young Princess.

"But Cadence, I mean...your highness" he protested. He really couldn't make her out at all. Did she like him, or didn't she? Sometimes it seemed as though he couldn't do a single thing right.

"Just give it to me" she said impatiently, her hoof outstretched. "I'll give it to her the moment she wakes"

Reluctantly, Shining did as he was told.

"Thank you" said Cadence primly. "Now go and get washed. You can't possibly come to class looking like that. Silver Star would throw a purple fit- and anyway, it reflects badly on my aunt and me."

"Class? Silver Star?" said Shining confused beyond measure, "what time is it?"

At that moment, the bell at the top of the Old Bell Tower chimed the three-quarters. "Quarter to six" said Cadence, "we've got fifteen minutes before school starts!"

Chapter 4: Professor Shimmer Dew

Chapter 4: Professor Shimmer Dew

"I can't stand him!"

The kitchen was stiflingly hot. The air above the glowing cooking range shimmered like water while the high vaulted ceiling was thick with swirling clouds of steam. Yet still Shimmer Dew was not satisfied.

"More heat" he wheezed as he pumped up and down on the stove bellows, first with one hoof, then two. Up down, up down. The compressed air hissed through the pipes. The fire roared.

Cadence flicked away the bit of mane which clung to her glistening brow and horn and looked up. Having spent the whole morning cold and shivering in Silver Star's draughty classroom, she was now dizzy with the intense heat coming from the stove. "Does it have to be so hot?" she panted. Her smooth three toned mane was tied up behind her head with a small blue bow.

"If you...don't want your spiced scones to...end up like spiced stones", Shimmer Dew replied breathlessly, "the hotter the fire..."

"The lighter the dough" Cadence finished for him, and laughed. She'd heard the words a thousand times before on her little baking days. It was one of the many earth pony sayings that the funny old professor had brought down with him from Baltimare, passed on through word of mouth down dozens of generations- so Shimmer Dew said, anyway.

The yellow earth pony looked round to see the young Princess sitting on her step-stool at the round white oak table, smirking from ear to ear. He brushed down his hooves with his bushy tail. "Forgive me, but I thought you liked your scones crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside."

"I do" said Cadence.

"And for that, we must do two things" declared Shimmer Dew heartily. "One, ensure the oven is furnace hot. And two...", his gaze fell upon the whisk laying idle by Cadence's forehooves, "we must beat the mixture until it is frothy light." His dark orange eyes narrowed. "Is it frothy light?"

The beautiful pink coated alicorn looked down into the bowl before her. The mixture slopped about in the bottom. "Not quite" she said, a little shame faced.

"Then beat, foal! Beat!" said Shimmer Dew with a laugh. "While I sort out the apples."

Cadence nodded, held the bowl firmly in between her forehooves, and levitated the ivory handled whisk into the mixture before stirring furiously. Ever since she was little, of all the cakes, pastries and other assorted dough-bakes that Shimmer Dew and she had made together, it was the spiced scones that she liked most. Delicious on their own, but with the generous serving of razzleberry jam mixed with honey and topped off with cream, they were sublime. It was Cadence who had suggested they make some for Shining.

Now, with her forehooves aching and her horn growing tired, she was beginning to regret her generosity.

"So, how are you and the young guard cadet getting on, anyway?" asked her professor as he stirred the stewing apples. Cadence started. It wasn't the first she'd wondered whether her old tutor could read minds. If she hadn't already been so red in the face from the heat, she would have blushed with embarrassment.

"We're getting on all right" she muttered.

"More than all right, if you ask me", Shimmer Dew persisted, "after all, why else would we be making him spiced scones?"

Cadence whisked the mixture more vigorously. Slops of it splattered down her front, on the table, on the floor.

"Like I said, we're getting on all right"

"Only you did say you thought he was a little...rough and ready" said the yellow pony has the lid back on the bubbling pot. Cadence snorted.

"Well, he is" she huffed.

"Hmm, your aunt certainly seems to think highly of him"

Cadence's lips pursed. "Does she?"

She began beating the mixture so violently that a huge dollop landed in her face. "Ugh!" she exclaimed, letting go of the bowl whilst still continuing to mix. The bowl slipped from the table and clattered to the stone floor with a loud clang!

"NO! Dammit!" Cadence shouted with a mixture of tears and anger. "I'm sorry professor, I'm hopeless, useless! I can't do anything right!"

"Cadence, my sweet" said Shimmer Dew, his face crinkled up with concern. He trotted across from the stove, wrapped a foreleg around her shoulders and squeezed her tightly. His feather quill cutie mark pressed up against her crystal heart as he hugged her warmly. "There, there" he whispered, "no need to worry, its only a bit of batter"

"But I've ruined it, we're gonna have to start all over again!"

The old earth pony pulled away and glanced at the floor. He shook his head.

"No we won't, look." To her surprise, Cadence saw that the featherwood bowl had landed on its base. None of the mixture - frothy and light as it was - had been spilt. She picked it up with her magic, the pale blue light reflecting off her angry tears. The pink Princess gently put it back on the table and wiped her eyes.

"You see" said Shimmer Dew, taking both of Cadence's forehooves in his own, "things are never so bad as they first seem."

Cadence flinched. Never so bad as they first seem. The words echoed in her head. Never so bad as they first seem. She tore her hooves away from her Professor. "No they're not" she laughed bitterly. "They're worse! Far far worse!"

"Why? How?" said the old earth pony, "what in Goddess' name are you talking about foal? What is worse?"

"Everything!" wailed Cadence angrily. "I mean, I try..." she sobbed. "I try so hard But Aunt Celestia never seems to notice me. Whatever I do. I know it's not her fault. She...she spends so many hours on that 'Great Work' of hers, and - oh, Professor, I worry about her. She never seems to sleep any more..."

The yellow pony nodded sympathetically. He was only too aware of how much the young Princess worried about her aunt.

"And then he comes along. Him! That cocky little know-it-all guard cadet, SHINING!"

"But you said you were getting on all right" said Shimmer Dew, patting her foreleg.

"We are" said Cadence desperately. "But now Aunt Celestia's got even less time for me. Its all 'SHINING, can you do this? SHINING, can you do that?'" She looked away. "It's as if she'd rather have a nephew than a niece..."

"That's enough Cadence!" said Shimmer Dew sharply. He shook his head. "All this carry-on! I mean, I'm not saying that Equestria's Monarch doesn't spend too much time on her work. She does. but this doesn't mean she loves you any the less. Work is work and family is family and-"

"And Shining is both! Work and family"

"He's not" said the old stallion wearily.

"He is!" retorted the triple maned alicorn. Aunt Celestia includes him in everything. Sending him on errands, giving him tasks..." she looked up angrily. "She's never given me a task!"

"She's made him her assistant" said Shimmer Dew gently, "thats what assistants do"

"Yes, but what was it it she told Captain Stormswirl?" thundered Cadence, biting back the tears, "'While Shining is here, I'll treat him like my own son.' Her own son! You see! Work and family. He's both! And where does that leave me?" She turned away and sat down sadly, leaning against one of the white stone pillars of the kitchen.

"Cadence my dear, if you don't mind my saying, you're sounding a bit jealous."

"Jealous?" Cadence stormed. "Don't be ridiculous! Jealous of that mule? I'm not jealous, I'm...I'm..." her lower lip trembled. "Lonely" she whimpered at last, her voice small and wobbly. Shimmer Dew shook his head sadly. He plodded over to her and patted her on the shoulder. He had known the young Princess all of her life. He was at the Palace when she was born, when her mother was snatched away from her. He had seen her grow up to be a beautiful regal Princess. He had seen her mature into one of the most loving ponies he knew.

"I can't help it" she blurted out, "its just how I feel"

"What you feel is what you feel - that's what my mother used to say. And knowing how you feel is the first step to changing how you feel, if you really want to."

Cadence shrugged. She still felt like crying.

"How can I change if nothing else changes? I mean, if Aunt Celestia continues to work so hard and Shining takes all her attention the whole time..."

"Well, you must make things change."

"How?"

Shimmer Dew thought for a moment. "Lets look at this logically" he started, "you feel your Aunt ignores you. You can't seem to get close to her. And you're lonely. Shining, on the other hoof, seems close to her, but is new here. He doesn't have any friends. I would think he's a little lonely himself. He probably needs someone his own age to talk to. So..."

"So I ought to make friends with Shining?"

The old earth pony teacher smiled. "Lets just say that I don't think its any bad thing us preparing delicious spiced scones for tea" he said. "So come on then, young Princess. You dollop out the mixture into the baking trays while I give the oven a final blast of the bellows, and..."

"And when they're in the oven, can I scrape the bowl?"

Shimmer Dew smiled so hard his old eyes shrank into his wrinkles. "Of course you can Cadence."

In the upper gallery of the kitchen, far above the heads of the young Princess and her earth pony tutor, stood a solitary figure, his head swathed in clouds of steam. It was Shining Armour.

Too tired after his long night in the Great Library to even attempt Silver Star's homework, yet far too excited to sleep, the young unicorn stallion had taken to the Palace's corridors again. The whole place fascinated him.

He'd just stumbled on a music chamber. It was amazing. On the platform had stood a grand piano, a beautiful piece of work lovingly polished and varnished. Beside it were three chairs, each with a different instrument on it. One was a peculiar looking wind instrument which Shining guessed to be some form of fancy flute, one had a violin, while the third was a combination of the two, with an enamelled bow leaning up against the back of the chair. It was made from the finest featherwood and ivory from the Deer-Realm of Concordia across the sea. From what Shining could make out, it was designed to be bowed and blown at the same time.

What impressed Shining the most however was the fact that, thanks to the attentions of the faithful old pony Comet Catcher, the room was incredibly clean. And not just clean - but ready. At any moment, that a quartet of musicians could walk through the door, pick up their instruments and play as if nothing had ever happened.

And it was the same with the other rooms he stumbled across as he roamed the corridors, storey after storey, trying door after door. Room after room, each one lovingly tended to - yet so still, so unused.

There was the ground floor Chamber of Lilies - a wood panelled room with faux leather chairs once used by the Sun Princess and senior politicians who, following the death of a minister for whatever reason, would cluster together until they had selected a new one. And on the third floor, the Hall of Gifts, where cavernous glass cabinets housed generations of officially received gifts from every nation across the world - everything from crystal embedded wine goblets from Prance to beautiful Neighponese swords set with rubies and onyx. Further along that corridor was the Portrait Gallery with its many painting of great Equestrian and foreign heroes - each one carefully dusted - stretching back down the centuries. Some were famous to Shining, like Aegis the Defender and Morning Star the Storm-Summoner, whose heroic actions during the legendary War of the Two Sisters were told in stories over a thousand years later.

Others were unknown foreign figures from the Griffin Kingdoms, the Deer-Realm of Concordia, the Zebra homeland of Zevera, and the mythical Crystal Empire that Shining had heard mentioned once or twice. At the far end of that corridor, the young blue maned unicorn had stood looking at the portrait of Princess Celestia for several long moments. It smelt of fresh paint. The likeness was fantastic; the fair snow white coat, the spectacular aurora tempered flowing mane, dancing serenely around her elegant gemmed crown. And as for the eyes, the artist had captured the expression within their violet depths perfectly - that sparkle of foallike eagerness, tempered by a haunted look of...

"What is that look?" Shining murmured to himself. Weariness? Despair? Fear? He shook his head. "Or perhaps a combination of the three?" he sighed, "but you're not going to tell me, are you?" he asked the portrait. "I'll have to find out for myself."

As Shining closed the door to the Portrait Gallery, all thought of the Sun Princess immediately vanished. The smell now filling the corridor was intoxicating. Sweet, fruity, laced with honey and spices - it reminded him so much of the mulled wine his parents used to drink at Hearth's Warming Eve. Head raised and nose up, the strong unicorn followed the scent along the hallway, down the stairs, to the rear of the Palace through a small door...

"Mmmm" he sighed. He had found the source of the mouthwatering aroma. Clouds of it wafted round his head, billowing up from somewhere far below. The white pony walked forward to the polished gold balustrade and peered over the edge. Between the clouds of steam, he could see several massive pieces of machinery. At first he thought he must have stumbled across some kind of workroom, but a closer look revealed that - as the smell of cooking itself suggested - he was standing on the gallery above a vast kitchen. The huge machines were merely ovens, boilers and broilers, on a scale large enough to feed the army of Royal Guards and domestic staff who must have once filled the erstwhile Palace years ago. Now, with the royal abode as it was, the number it housed was down to only about two dozen and, like so much else in this great building, the kitchen apparatus remained carefully tended but unused.

But somepony's cooking on something, Shining mused. He could smell the simmering apples. He could almost taste them. Shining peered down. The steam was coming from directly below him. There must be a stove there, just out of sight - and he was about to move round to the other side of the gallery to check when...

"SHINING!"

Shining jumped.

"SHINING!"

The voice was coming from down in the kitchen. It was Cadence.

"SHINING!"

There it was a third time. What had he done now?

He leaned over the balustrade and strained to hear what was being said. But it was impossible. He could make out she was talking to Shimmer Dew - but the shouting was over now and their conversation no more than a murmured buzz. Shining turned away, left the kitchen gallery and made his way back to his room. The anger and exasperation in Cadence's voice when she had shouted his name was unmistakeable. "She hates me" he told himself flatly. "Its the only answer. She hates me."

He kicked the door to his bedchamber shut and threw himself on his bed.

"Stuck up little prig..."

"The thing is" Shimmer Dew was saying, "as a country pony, I must say that I'm all in favour of what your Aunt is trying to do in Canterlot. Those nobleponies and politicians have grown too big for their horseshoes - what with their bickering and plotting and big towers everywhere. Why, to listen to them you'd think the rest of Equestria didn't exist at all. But it does, and there was a time when the common pony's voice mattered. Old ministers knew that, and so does your Aunt..."

Cadence listened, surprised, as she licked the whisk slowly clean. It was unlike Shimmer Dew to mention the politics of Canterlot, but ever since the trays had gone into the oven, he had talked non stop.

"Oh, I accept that it can be handy to make peace with other nations, but as a citizen from Baltimare I know how important it is to understand the needs of the people" he went on, "to know what life is like in different parts of our seemingly perfect land. We were united once, against the griffins in the War of the Skies, and against Adolf Bitler in the first Pony-War. Somepony needs to remind Equestria of how strong we are when united, especially in these troubled times."

Cadence nodded.

"I just wish that somepony wasn't my Aunt" she said. Shimmer Dew chuckled.

"I know dear, I know. She's taken a great burden upon herself, thats for sure. And she's so determined to succeed that i fear for her"

"What do you mean?"

The old Professor frowned. "Do you remember the old story I used to tell you?" he asked, "The Tree That Said It Could Fly"

A broad smile spread across Cadence's face. "I think so"

"Tell it to me then" quipped her tutor with a raised eyebrow.

Cadence set the whisk down on the table. "Well, its about an ash tree and an oak tree" she said. "The ash tree keeps saying 'I shall fly, I shall fly, if its the last thing I do.' And the oak tree keeps saying, 'Prove it!'" Shimmer Dew smiled and nodded encouragingly.

"The ash flaps its branches but it does not fly. It spins its leaves but it does not fly. it jiggles its roots but it still doesn't fly. Then, just as the oak tree is about to lose its temper with its boastful neighbour, the ash tree is struck by a bolt of lightning. It bursts into flames and its hurled from the ground high into the air. 'I said I would fly' the ash calls down. the oak tree turns and says, 'Yes my friend, you said you would fly if it was the last thing you did. And it is!'"

Cadence looked up and smiled weakly. "I used to think it was a happy ending when I was small, but now that I think about it, it isn't is it?"

"It depends on how you look at it" said her tutor, "the ash tree got its wish in the end"

"Yes, but it would crash into the ground and break into nothing" said Cadence.

"That's right, and do you remember the moral of the story? For in success can lie destruction"

Cadence flinched. "And you think my Aunt is like that ash tree. You think that she..."

At that moment, the heavy double doors to the kitchen flew back on their hinges and crashed against the walls behind them. Cadence and Shimmer Dew spun round to see Princess Celestia standing in the doorway. Her beautiful mane and tail were dishevelled, the normally gentle waves now ragged and violent. Her face was even paler than normal, and her arresting eyes were drawn and puffy - and unmistakably angry.

"Why did no one wake me? Who raised the sun this morning if I was still asleep?" she demanded. "I've already missed most of the day!"

"B-But you were up all night...and the Highlords raised the sun together this morning. You n-needed to sleep" replied Cadence nervously.

"Even if it does mean turning nocturnal" Shimmer Dew added wryly.

"When I want advice about when to sleep, I shall ask you for it!" Celestia snapped. She looked round. "Have either of you seen Shining Armour?"

"No" said cadence, "not since-"

"Oh, by the sun!" Celestia roared, causing both other ponies in the room to shrink back. "Do I have to do everything myself? I send him on an important, not to say urgent, errand - and what happens? He disappears!"

Cadence suddenly felt very uneasy and frowned. "Urgent?" She fumbled around in her tail, so voluminously curled she could store several small things in its multi-toned depths. She pulled out the old scroll. "Is this what you need?"

Her aunt limped across the kitchen, snatched the scroll in her golden magical grip and opened it up.

"Yes" she whispered. "Yes!" she turned on her niece, eyes literally blazing. "But why didn't Shining bring it straight to me?"

"Because...because I told him not to..." the young Princess stammered, rubbing a hoof against her other foreleg. Her face smarted, her eyes stung. "You...you were asleep. I didn't want him to disturb you..."

"When did he arrive back?"

Cadence hung her head.

"This morning" she whimpered at last, and swallowed. "At about six o'clock"

"Six o'clock?!" the Sun Goddess roared. "Cadence, this is absolutely intolerable! You must not interfere with matters you know nothing about..."

"But I only meant to..."

"Stop meddling in my affairs! Do I make myself clear?"

"Y-yes, Your Highness" whispered Cadence, her voice breaking.

Without another word, Princess Celestia marched out of the kitchens, slamming the double doors shut behind her with her magic.

"You see?" Cadence shouted the moment she had gone. "Its always the same. In her eyes, everything I do is wrong"

"Oh she didn't mean it my dear. You could see how tired she looked. How out of sorts..." said Shimmer Dew dismissively.

"Its all Shining's fault" Cadence went on bitterly. "Bringing Celestia that wretched, stupid scroll. That's what upset her. That's what made her sh...sh...shou-" she burst into racking tears. "Shout at me."

Shimmer Dew waddled over to her and placed a forehoof across her withers. "Come on now Cadence."

But the young pink alicorn was inconsolable. She pushed her old tutor away and buried her face in a pink feathered wing. With a slight shrug and a sigh of sympathy, Shimmer Dew trotted over to the oven and opened the door. Cadence heard him gasp, and looked up. Thick, black smoke was billowing from inside.

"We make a fine pair, we do. What with all the fuss and to-do, I forgot all about the scones."

"They're ruined!" Cadence howled in despair.

"I could try scraping them" the old earth pony suggested.

"Throw them away! Shining doesn't deserve them anyway!"

Tears stinging her eyes, she ran from the kitchen and up a flight of stairs. Comet Catcher was plodding towards her, a tray held firmly in his magical grasp - but Cadence ignored his respectful bow and brushed him roughly aside.

"Young Princess?" the old unicorn's creaky voice echoed round he stairwell. Without hesitating, the alicorn rushed on - not to her bedchambers - that would be the first place Shimmer Dew would come looking for her, and she didn't want to be found - but to the balcony chamber.

Across the marble floor she sped, behind the lacy curtains and her half finished painting and out of the glass doors. Panting with exertion, she stepped to the edge of the balcony and breathed in the warm, sticky air. To her right was the greater city of Canterlot with its shining spires and violet tiled roofs, to her left, the tall part of the Palace known as the Cloud Wing, and past it - just visible through the gap between the buildings - the Grand Viaduct, teeming with life.

"Canterlot ponies" she murmured scornfully as she watched them. "Like insects, scurrying here and there. Making business deals, breaking promises; plotting, scheming..." She sniffed and pushed her mane out from her eyes. "My aunt, Princess Celestia, the Sun Goddess and Ruling Monarch of Equestria, is better than the whole lot of you put together..."

Chapter 5: The Court Gardens

Chapter 5: The Court Gardens

"Loud cries, soft whispers..."

The Yellow Glade

As the wind increased, a ridge of ribbed cloud sped in from the far North. The sky darkened ominously. The air chilled. The lone unicorn with the wispy mane and wild crimson eyes paused mid-sentence and wrapped his flapping robe around him. He straightened up and scanned his scanty audience with a dark, penetrating gaze.

"And worse than all that" he repeated, "is the food in the refectory. What exactly is being served from those great stew pipes every day?"

"I dunno, but I'm sure you're going to tell us" shouted a voice from the back of the small crowd and a group of mares began sniggering.

"They tell us its vegetables" the unicorn continued, undaunted, "they tell us its oats. They tell us its hay. But I have it on the highest authority that it is none of these." He paused for effect. "I can tell you now, that we are being served daily are the bodies of slain griffin Talon Guards, fresh from the front lines of war!"

As one, the audience groaned. They'd heard it all before! If it wasn't slain griffins, it was the carcasses of timberwolves from the Everfree, or manticore tails - or some other creature considered equally inedible by all but the most insane of ponies. Once there had been a rumour that even recently deceased politicians were ending up in the stew pot. Disappointed that the speaker's revelations hadn't been more original, the ponies in his audience began to drift away until only the heckling mares were left.

"I work in the kitchens" one called out. "I see the vegetables coming in. Huge and green they are..."

"Have you seen a griffin after it dies, the colour it goes when rotting?"

"Cabbages don't have wings, neither" countered another.

"In the fires of battle, it is a tactic of our forces to clip the wings from the griffin soldiers to rob them of their advantage!" the unicorn shouted back, and added triumphantly, "so they wouldn't have wings."

The mares looked at one another and shrugged before laughing. One of them tapped the side of her head with a forehoof. "Not stable..." she muttered.

"As crazy as a square circle" another added. "The quality of speakers you get in the Court Gardens these days is really going downhill." They turned as one and trooped off together, ignoring the cries of the lunatic unicorn.

"Stop! Wait a minute! I haven't told you about the scandal of the Sanctum of the Moon, or how the disappearance of seven students from the High Halls was covered up - or what really goes on at the Convocation of Highlords on Midsummer's Eve..!"

The Grove of the Crimson Willow

Cursing the ranting buffoon behind him, an earth pony stallion by the name of Cinnamon Hooves moved away from the top of the Yellow Glade and headed down towards the raucous crowd before him. He needed to hear the odds and the form being called before finally placing a bet on one of the four fighting tree foxes.

"...and in the east corner, Bruto the Brave" the fight master - a swarthy earth pony with a missing eye - was announcing as he scribbled on the blackboard. "Four to One. In the west corner, Smarg the Mighty. Six to One. And finally, in the south corner, the current favourite, Magno the Claw. Three to One"

All around the fight master, a sea of hooves reached towards him, gold bits flying everywhere.

"Two on Bruto" shouted one. "Three on Magno!" demanded another. Cinnamon Hooves smirked. If his insider information was to be trusted - and woe betide Lemon Tail, his personal servant, if it was not - then the tree fox to bet on was Wilbus the Sly in the north corner. Although untried and untested in Canterlot, it had apparently won several vicious tree fox fights in the taverns of Trottingham. And at eighteen to one, the odds were the best on offer.

With a brief flutter of his forehooves, he checked that his silver muzzle-mask was on straight. The ancient ceremonial object with its ornate curlicues and fine filigree mesh had formally been used by ancient noblepony knights to protect their muzzle during jousting tournaments before full face helmets had been invented. these days they were usually 'acquired' by ponies you wished to conceal their identity. Cinnamon Hooves certainly did not anypony to recognise him. After all, an illegal tree fox fight was not the place for the Sub-Dean of the High Halls to be caught spending his time and money. But then, old habits die hard.

He readjusted the silver mask, raised the hood of his gown and pushed his way through the crowd.

"Twenty on north" he announced. The heavily made up pegasus mare looked up at him from lowered lids.

"Twenty, eh?" she said. For a moment she hesitated; she did not as a rule conduct business with those whose faces she could not see. But then again, bits were bits. Her hoof darted forwards and seized the pouch of gold pieces being held out to her. She scribbled out a docket, returned it and turned back to the blackboard, where her business partner continued to take in more bets. The odds on the tree fox in the north corner had shortened to twelve to one.

When the bell at the top of the Canterlot Opera House chimed six times, the pegasus closed the betting. The crowd fell silent. Cinnamon hooves, who had remained near the front of the crowd, watched thoughtfully as the four tree foxes were uncaged. Although Wilbus the Sly looked younger than the others, what it lacked in size it more than made up for in naked aggression as it leapt about the end of its leash - spitting, screeching, frothing at the mouth, trying desperately to get at the others.

"You do looked fierce" Cinnamon murmured to himself happily. "And just as well, since its too late to change my bet now."

All four tree foxes were put on tethers, long enough for each of them to reach the fight ring in the centre below the crimson leaves of the ancient willow at the centre of the garden - but not so long that the creatures could get tangled up with one another. On their ankles now were razor sharp spurs; on their prehensile tails, vicious spikes. Hunger and cruelty had turned normally affable creatures into vicious killers and the fight would last as long as it took for one of the tree foxes to triumph over the other three.

"LET THE FIGHT COMMENCE!" the pegasus mare roared, and lowered a raised foreleg.

immediately, the air was filled with a cacophony of noise - wailing, screeching, howling. And that was just the spectators. Bruto the Brave from the east corner was the first to succumb as Magno the Claw's left spur sliced across its neck. the next moment, Magno's own neck was cut as Wilbus the Sly's tail spike found its mark.

"Come on, Wilbus" Cinnamon Hooves whispered as the vicious tree fox turned its attentions on Smarg the Mighty from the west corner and the two of them flew at one another in a blur of bloodied fur and glinting blades. The pegasus mare scowled as Wilbus the Sly got the upper hoof and glanced round furtively, as if she was preparing to bolt.

"Oh no you don't" said Cinnamon, seizing the pegasus by her axillary wingpit feathers. "You're not going anywhere." The pair of them watched the conclusion of the fight. It didn't take long. Within seconds, there was a howl of pain from the vanquished and a triumphant squeal from the victor. Wilbus the Sly had done it. Cinnamon Hooves brought his leering face up close to the mare's.

"Its pay up time" he hissed.

The Fire Blossom Terrace

A slanting light fell across the ninth garden of the east facing parks beneath the Viaduct, known as the Fire Blossom Terrace. A ring of six beautiful and extremely rare Fire Blossom trees stood resolutely in the centre of the park, littering the grass with petals of creamy orange, white and red. This was the place where the almighty Highlords of Canterlot gathered together to discuss matters - for, with the complexities of their job, they had far more in common with one another than with others from their own Houses.

"I see Cinnamon has decided not to attend once again" the Highlord of the Operatic District commented.

"Too good for the likes of us" said the Highlord of the Grand Observatory.

"Like all those other confounded Sun-Deans of the High Halls" the Highlord of the Lower District announced, and sniffed. "Ever since Princess Celestia decided to take matter into her own hooves regarding the relations between Equestria and the Griffin Kingdoms, they've been insufferable"

"And they've been even worse since the Princess declared that the Council of Ministers should be moved into the Palace itself rather than the White Court" another noblepony added.

"Lording over the rest of us the whole time" another Highlord complained. "And the Princess does nothing to stop it, despite all her fine words about how equal we all are."

"Equal?" snorted yet another. "That's a good one. The Council get all the best preferments. They're all she cares about. The rest of us never get a look in."

"Its iniquitous!" said the Highlord of the Lower District

"Invidious!" said the Highlord of the Operatic District.

"Something" said the Highlord of the Moon Court, "must be done."

The Garden of the Stone Rose

"Fifty gold bits, and thats my final offer" said the tall, long horned unicorn.

"But Night Fire" said the second unicorn, "I told you, I haven't got fifty gold bits."

"Then stop wasting my time, Virgin" Night Fire sneered, and turned away.

Virgin Snow winced. He hated his nickname. However, this was not, he realised, the time to complain about its use. With the important Unicorn History examination only two days away - and himself so ill prepared - he needed all the help he could get. Night Fire, he'd overheard, had come by a copy of the examination paper. If her could just get his hooves on it, then he'd be able to prepare the answers - and pass. if her didn't, he'd be thrown out on his rump. And if that happened, his father - a big name in the Irrigation League - would disown him.

Virgin Snow lunged forwards after the departing student. "Don't go!" he cried, clinging onto Night Fire's purple fur.

"Get off me!" the taller purple unicorn said, twisting round and swatting the young student away like a bug.

"You must let me have it" Virgin persisted. "You must..." he dragged a pouch from his robe pocket and jangled it loudly. "Thirty eight gold bits, and i can get you the rest next week."

"The rest?" asked Night Fire.

"The other twelve bits" said Virgin, "I'll..."

"Call it twenty and I might be interested" Night Fire interrupted.

Virgin Snow's jaw dropped. "Twenty? but you said...I can't...it's too much!"

"As you please" said night Fire, and turned away again. This time Virgin Snow did not try to stop him. His eagerness to but the paper had alerted Night Fire to its value. They both knew that there were several students in the High Halls - students with far more generous fathers - who would pay twice as much for the question paper once word got round that it was available. And, Virgin thought bitterly, word would get round.

"Dammit" he muttered miserably, and held his head in his hooves as he sat down limply on a bench. "What in Celestia's name am I going to do now?"

"So far as I can see, you have two choices" came a deep throaty voice from behind him.

The young white unicorn turned round to see a tall earth pony standing in front of him. He was dressed in an ill fitting academic's robe/ A silver muzzle mask could be seen glinting from within the folds of the baggy hood.

"Are you talking to me?" asked Virgin.

The earth pony glanced quickly over both shoulders, then nodded. "I am" he confirmed gruffly. "I couldn't help overhearing all about your little...difficulty" he said, "and...that is...I am in a position to help you out."

"You are?" said Virgin Snow suspiciously. Nopony did anything for anypony in Canterlot without seeking something in return. He looked the academic up and down but, thanks to the muzzle mask, was unable to place him, although there was something faintly familiar about the smell of lemon and tallow coming from his robes.

"You are interested in the Unicorn History examination, are you not?"

The young unicorn nodded. "The final one" he said.

"The very same" said the earth pony, patting a pocket at his side.

Virgin Snow gasped. "You've got a copy of the question paper?"

"Better than that, I've got the answers"

The young unicorn was speechless. The answers If he hadn't been able to afford the questions, then he certainly wouldn't have enough to buy the answers. If only he could...he looked up at the cloaked pony. "H-How much are you asking for them?"

"Thirty eight gold bits" came the reply.

"Thirty eight?" said Virgin excitedly, "yes, I can afford that! Its..."

The academic raised a forehoof. "Thirty eight gold bits..." he said, eyes narrowing, "...and a small favour"

The Dawntree Plaza

As the shadows grew longer and the lamps lining the Grand Viaduct far above their heads were lit, the group of unicorn mares in the Dawntree Plaza huddled closer together. Most of them were students at the High Halls of Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, who like students and pupils from all schools across Canterlot, would gather to carp and complain about their teachers. However, the presence of a Sub-Dean, professor, and various readers, both senior and junior, lent an extra weight to this evening's criticisms.

"She's so intent on appearing fair that she's forgotten all about the students" one of the mares complained, her purple curled mane hiding one side of her face.

"Yeah" another agreed, nodding vigorously. "Its like she's going out of her war to prove that everypony is equal. Why, even that little mule, Peppermint - you know, that Ponyville character - has been made a prefect."

"And since she's started dealing with the griffins directly instead of leaving it to the Council, she's been getting even worse!" added a third.

"You're right" said a fourth. "I've even heard rumours that she's preparing to increase the power and influence of Captain Stormswirl. And at our expense!" She glared around her. "It's we students - the future! - who should be up for preferments, not him!"

Virgin Snow listened as a ripple of angry agreement went round. A tall senior with an elegantly brushed mane and tail raised her forehoof to her red painted lips and whispered to her shorter neighbour conspiratorially, "They're right of course. Not that we'll ever be able to prove anything until it's too late..."

"No, that's the problem" came the hushed reply.

Virgin turned towards them and tentatively held out a piece of folded parchment. "I don't know if this counts as proof" he muttered.

The short, stocky mare to his right leaned forwards and seized the paper in her magical hold. She opened it up. The senior reader peered over her shoulder, chewing the tips of her mane as she scanned the words upon the parchment.

"By the Sun!" she exclaimed.

"Sacred Sky!" gasped the professor.

The students broke off mid gossip and looked round.

"Its in her writing" the professor was saying. "Definitely. In my position, I get to see enough of it." She turned to Virgin. "Who gave you this?"

"I...I found it" said the young unicorn stallion, his cheeks reddening.

"But how could she?" the senior reader broke in. She shook her head. "Cinnamon Hooves isn't going to be happy"

"About what?" the students chorused as they clustered round, each one trying to see for herself what was written on the piece of parchment.

"Yes" came a voice. "What exactly is it that I won't be happy about?"

"Cinnamon my dear" said the professor. "We were just..." she frowned, and handed him the piece of paper. "You'd better red this."

As the others watched, the expression on the face of the earth pony went through various changes - from bemusement, through horror, to utter outrage. "I...I don't know what to say!" he spluttered.

"Don't you worry" said the senior reader. "We won't allow that to happen."

"What? What? What?" the students were clamouring. "What's happened?"

The professor puffed out her chest, pulled herself up to her full height and turned to address them. "According to this letter - written by Princess Celestia herself - she is proposing to make Captain Stormswirl of the Royal Guard our new Headmaster when he finishes his military service." She shook her head darkly. "Its the thin end of the wedge, you mark my words."

"And what of Cinnamon Hooves?" asked Virgin Snow, just as he had been instructed to do by the character with the silver muzzle mask. "We won't stand idly by while he's dismissed."

A murmur of rebellious agreement rumbled round the group of students and junior readers.

"He's to become" the professor shuddered, "a librarian."

"Can you believe it?" said the senior reader, her mane shrivelling slightly with indignation. "Our so-called Ruling Monarch is planning on reviving the Great Library."

There was a gasp of amazement. The Great Library, with its dusty scrolls full of outdated and disproved knowledge, belonged to the past; it had no place in the Canterlot education system these days.

Virgin spoke for all of them when he cried out indignantly, "What's the world coming to when our Princess tries to use a Library to unite us instead of strong leadership?"

Another ripple of anger went round the group of students, and before long all of them were demanding that justice be done and action be taken.

"Perhaps before she gets rid of our Highlord, we should get rid of her" said one - half seriously, half tongue-in-cheek.

"Yeah" said another, warming to the theme. "After all, what use is she to any of us now? We can raise the sun and moon together now!"

"No use at all" another chipped in. "In fact quite the opposite. Actual harm, she's doing to the High Halls."

"And not just the High Halls" said another. "Every student, professor, politician and minister will suffer if her half-baked plans should go ahead."

"We've got to stop her."

"Yeah, well, if she was ever to suffer from an unfortunate accident" said a young mare with a slick red mane, "I know just where it would be."

"That mysterious tunnel of hers" said another student.

"Precisely" said the red maned unicorn with a smirk. "Walls can buckle. Pillars can crack..."

Virgin Snow looked round at his fellow students gratefully. The character in the Garden of the Stone Rose had promised him the examination answers if he could stir up trouble amongst those in the Dawntree Plaza. It had been easier than he'd hoped. These academics were a treacherous lot, he thought with a smile.

His task complete, Virgin turned and made his way down the Gardens. Now all he had to do was pick up the examination answers from the mysterious professor, and learn them. Up in the sky, the East Star began to twinkle. And as a following breeze began to blow, he caught a whiff of something familiar - lemons. And tallow...

Chapter 6: The Tunnel

Chapter 6: The Tunnel

"Into the Darkness we go..."

It was approaching midnight, yet as tired as he was, Shining couldn't sleep. He was up and pacing back and forth, his head spinning with question after unanswered question.

"Why does Cadence hate me?" he muttered as he approached the door. "What exactly does the Princess want from me? What is so important about the scroll I fetched for her?" He twisted round on his hooves and marched back to the window. "Who was it that broke my fall in the Great Library?"

So many questions! And the young unicorn had started talking to himself again, a particularly annoying habit that he had only recently restarted. He shook his head. Once life had seemed so simple. Out, small drifted across the face of the waning moon - which had apparently been raised once again by the Highlords instead of Celestia. Small clouds and...Shining paused and squinted.

"A squad of Royal Guards" he whispered. "Oh Captain, why did you leave me here in Canterlot with its horrible schools of Gossip, Rumour and Treachery, surrounded by shiftless students - not to mention Miss High- and- Mighty Cadence? Why can't I be out there with you and the others, far far away?"

He sighed, and was closing the window when there came a sharp rap at the door. "Its not locked" the young white unicorn called, and turned to see the handle turning. "You again" he said, surprised to see the ancient unicorn standing there so late.

"Indeed" said Comet Catcher, nodding dolefully. "I'd turned in for the night, only to be summoned by Her Royal Highness' bell the moment my head touched the pillow" he sniffed. "She wants to see you again."

"Me?" asked Shining.

"At once" said the old wizened unicorn, his eyes quivering with agitation. "If not sooner. And take your coat" he added. Shining immediately turned to the luxuriously made linguist that Princess Celestia had given him, now hanging in the beautiful white oak wardrobe. Plodding over to it, Shining turned to the old unicorn.

"Will I be going outside then?" He asked

"I wouldn't know" said Comet. "I'm just passing on Her Highness' instructions." He spotted that Shining's coat was not in fact in the wardrobe and was actually laying in a heap beside the varnished desk and picked it up with his magic. "Here" he said.

"Thanks" replied the blue maned pony. He slipped the coat over his shoulders and made his way out of the door. As he passed Comet Catcher he paused. A loud grumbling sound groaned from the old pony's stomach, followed by an almost silent burp. "Eating late?" Shining asked.

"The young Princess baked them especially for me" said Comet proudly.

"That was kind of her..."

"Spiced scones" he explained, "a trifle over done, but delicious nevertheless"

Shining smiled. "Rather you than me" he muttered.

"Yes, well, the young Princess appreciates my work around..." Comet began. But Shining had already left. "...the Palace." He shook his head. "Unlike some" he grumbled.

Princess Celestia, the great Sun Goddess of Equestria, was already pacing the white carpeted floor of her personal study at the summit of the Tower of the Sun by the time Shining arrived. She herself was wrapped in a splendid cloak of cloth-of-gold and star diamonds, and her magical hold bore a small lantern.

"There you are, colt!" she exclaimed and, pushing him with one of her expansive wings, all but shoved him back along the corridor. "Come, come, come, we have urgent work to do."

"Is it another task?" asked Shining eagerly.

"It is" confirmed the alicorn, "but let us wait until we're outside before we discuss the details. I'm all too aware that there is a whispering campaign against me. The last thing I want to do is fuel it with any ill-chosen remarks that might be overheard."

"Even here?"

"Even here" the Princess confirmed darkly.

They continued along the vaulted corridor, down the stairs and across the ornately decorated Entrance Hall in silence. Outside, they went down the marble staircase that led out onto the magnificent Court of the Sun and Moon. Shining gasped as he followed his monarch, gazing up in wonder at the beautiful one hundred hoof high statues of Celestia and the legendary Luna, their horns shining against the silver moonlight. Having checked was no one lurking in the shadows, Celestia turned left. Ahead of the two ponies stood a small archway which led onto the rear portions of the Palace. The Palace Gardens.

Shining shivered. "It's cold" he muttered.

"The Weather Pegasi predict snow clouds to start being produced in Cloudsdale" came the rather gloomy reply. Celestia increased her pace. "Which is why we must act as soon as possible."

"I...I don't understand, Your Highness" said Shining, wrapping his coat around him as he trotted to keep up with the Princess.

"Elevators and machinery are difficult to operate at the best of times, but with snow and ice in the dark, they can be positively dangerous."

"Elevators and machinery? We're going down an elevator? I didn't think anyone used them after what happened in Manehattan a few years ago."

"I do" said the Princess simply, and added, "I take it Captain Stormswirl has instructed you in the rudiments of operating such a machine."

"Um, no not really" said Shining, a little confused.

"That's a shame, for that was the whole reason I brought you along tonight" sighed the Princess. "These days, of course, the trainee Guards simply use levitation and flight to get down into low places, but once upon a time they learnt the basics of pulleys and ropes."

Shining nodded, but did not comment. Since he had no intention of staying in the Palace a moment longer than necessary, he was unwilling to discuss further duties of the Royal Guards, leaving that talk to be with his Captain and friends. Celestia did not seem to notice his silence.

"I love Canterlot by night" she was saying, "without all the hustle and bustle of daytime activity, ponies constantly arriving and leaving, the constant noise." She turned to the young stallion beside her. "I mean, I know that this fair city depends on the good ponies from all of Equestria for our survival but, oh my, how loud they can! Squabbling, shouting, touting for trade. Every day, I long for midnight, when the last of them go back to wherever they came from and Canterlot returns to what it should be - a place of peace, quiet, and high luxury..."

The two ponies finally entered the Palace Gardens proper. Shining couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in surprise. The green terraced gardens were lovingly tended, lined with trimmed hedgerows and neatly cut trees. Rows upon rows of night blooming flowers like Moon Lilies and Twilight Snapdragons glimmered in the silvery moonlight. White stone paths wove everywhere like the web of a giant spider, and various fountains littered the serene outdoor area. Celestia immediately forked down one of the paths, veering off into the night towards the famous Statue Gardens.

The silence returned, heavy and impenetrable. The princess may have loved it, but Shining did not. It felt eerie to him; unnatural - and perhaps because he found it hard to believe that the place he'd always seen thronging with ponies could be so empty, Shining started imagining faces in the shadows, eyes peeking out from every nook and cranny. When he looked closer, there was never anypony there - yet he couldn't shake off the feeling that they were being observed.

The ominous statues didn't help either. While the rest of the Gardens were calmly lit up by the wonderful moonlight, the silver glow only caused the tall stone statues to look even more sinister. Shadows streaked across otherwise fair carvings of mares and foals, making them look evil and demonic. By far the worst statue was the one of the mythical Draconequus, Discord. While unnerving in the daytime, the primal spirit's statue looked like something out of nightmare in the dark. Shining shuddered and trotted on.

Finally after many twists and turns through the maze of pathways, the white alicorn and her companion stopped before a particularly intricate statue. It portrayed a beautiful alicorn Princess, her wings spread wide and a forehoof raised against her breastplate. The crown she wore was almost identical to Celestia's, only the mane surrounding it reminded Shining of heavy spiralling clouds as opposed to auroras. Emblazoned on the statue's flanks was a triple pointed leaf...

The Sun Goddess set the lantern down on the grass and began scanning the carved marble plinth for something. As Celestia traced her hoof round the spirals and leaf motifs, Shining's eyes caught glimpse of a faded gold plaque. The lantern light reflected off it, giving the black letters written on it a clear bright background.

"Princess Vivianne..."

A loud creaking sound forced Shining to jump a little in surprise as the Princess found what she was looking for. A button was pressed beneath her forehoof as the pathway behind the two ponies began to retract into the ground. The stone paving slid away, leaving an ominous eerie black gap gaping hole in the ground.

"After you" said Celestia.

The young blue maned unicorn stared with trepidation at the void before him, but followed the princess' invitation nonetheless. it was cold below the earth, very cold. The light from Celestia's lantern barely penetrated the darkness. The two ponies were descending an ancient flight of stairs, riddled with dust and cobwebs. The steps curved round in the spiral, and Shining was unsure of how far he and the Princess had journeyed down. The hallway abruptly stopped however when the pair came to a hideous looking contraption.

"The elevator" chimed the Sun Goddess as she stepped in front of her companion, the cloth-of-gold cloak flowing behind her. The device was ancient, many of the old gears and cogs were rusted and deathly cold, in addition to the chains being un-oiled and strain. The wooden platform that Celestia trotted onto was worn and tired looking, and Shining could smell the scent of rot in the air.

"Come on colt, the night is falling away."

Regaining his composure, Shining joined his monarch on the treacherous machine. His heart stopped as the wooden boards creaked at his touch. Once satisfied that he would not fall through the wood to his certain death, Shining looked at the rusty operating system of the platform. Three dusty levers jutted out from a control box of some kind. Wrapping his magical hold around the right hoof side lever, Shining tugged at it carefully.

The entire contraption jutted, startling the poor unicorn half to death. Celestia let out a tiny chuckle and nodded for him to continue. Gripping the stick again, Shining eased it downwards. The elevator followed suit.

Down, down down into the darkness they journeyed, the light from the lantern seemingly growing dimmer and dimmer. The two ponies remained in silence as the air grew colder and colder, their breath coming out in ragged clouds. Finally after what seemed like an eternity, the wooden platform touched solid ground again. Shining let out a sigh of relief.

"See? Its safer than it looks" Celestia assured him as she picked up the lantern once more. "But then again, as i said, there's always an element of danger in using one as old as this - especially with ice in the air."

Shining swallowed. Above his head, a cave bat soared up the shaft they had descended.

"it's time I discovered how well I translated the scroll you brought me. The Old Script can be difficult at times. I just hope I haven't made too many mistakes..." the Princess paused as an expression of utter weariness passed over her face, "Heavens willing it will be accurate enough."

As his eyes became more accustomed to the darkness, Shining noticed that they were now standing in a long, scarily dark tunnel.

"Right" declared the alicorn, "there is something I must now do. Alone. You will wait for for me until I return. You will not move from here, is that understood?"

"Yes" said Shining, "but..."

"There is no time for questions now" the Princess said, picking up the lantern and levitating it high. "I shall be back as quickly as possible." With that, she ducked down and disappeared into the inky blackness. Shining watched the yellow light and listened to the Princess' scurrying hoofsteps as she hurried along the tunnel. The light faded and vanished. A moment later, the sound of hoofsteps was also gone.

If it hadn't been for the bell chiming the hour atop the Palace Clock Tower, Shining would have had no idea of the time. As is was, shortly after the Princess had disappeared, a single muffled chime echoed through the air. It was one o'clock. By the time it chimed two, Shining had had enough.

For a start, he was bitterly cold. As forecasted by the Weather Pegasi, the air grew icily chilly until frost had begun to settle of the chains and cogs of the elevator. Despite his coat, Shining was chilled to the bone. He tried flapping his forelegs about, hugging himself, kicking his rear legs up and down - but no amount of movement in the tunnel could warm his body or stop his teeth from chattering. And as he trembled, tiny vibrations amplified themselves through the chains of the elevator until the whole lot rippled with movement.

"Don't break" he muttered miserably, "D...don't even...th...th...think about it!" he stuttered. To take his mind off the rusty chains to which he'd entrusted himself, he tried thinking about his old life...

He imagined his father, Orion, sinking a glass of wine with his mother, Dazzle, in front of a warm fire in their house. he thought of Twilight, his wonderful little sister. Shining smiled as he wondered what book she was reading with Smarty Pants now, what spell she was attempting.

He thought of Captain Stormswirl, his role model and friend. He wondered where in Equestria he was flying, over Canterlot or across the Grey Guardians which marked the border with the Griffin Kingdoms. Shining smiled as he thought of hoofball games with his friends at the Guard Training Camp, how happy they all were when a few of the officers joined in with them.

"I'm so cold!" he grumbled.

He turned his attention to the pitted rockface around him. it was the first time he'd been this close to it, and the young unicorn was shocked to see minute carvings decorating the rock. The tunnel wasn't natural - somepony had carved it, many many years ago in some long lost era. The carvings portrayed galloping ponies of all three races, running together side by side. They galloped into the dark void of the tunnel.

"If only I could go back to bed" Shining whispered, his thick breath pouring from his lips. But the Princess had told him to stay here. She had been very clear on those instructions. He was not to move. And why would he? The tunnel looked like the gaping maw of some colossal dragon or some other terrifying creature. Shining thought himself mad to even consider following his charge. More importantly, was the Princess mad?

The Palace Clock Tower bell chimed three o'clock.

The snow had begun to fall outside above ground. Shining's hooves were numb. His temples throbbed. If it hadn't been for his magic, he might have frozen solid. His thoughts wandered so far, he was no longer thinking of anything at all. it was as if - like some of the hibernating creatures from the least hospitable depths of the Everfree Forest - his body and mind had been switched off.

Shining didn't notice the bell chime four o'clock. He didn't register the flickering light in the tunnel, or her the sound of approaching hoofsteps. It was only when the Princess appeared before him that Shining stirred. he blinked once or twice. His long cold wait was finally over.

Your Highness" he said, "I'm glad to see you. I was beginning to think that..." he paused. Even by the flickering shadowy light cast by her failing lamp, it was clear that something was wrong. Ashen faced and trembling, Celestia looked dazed, drained. Her beautiful cloak was dirty and ripped.

"Princess?" asked Shining quietly.

"Over...its all over" Celestia rasped. Her voice, like her face, seemed to have aged during the time she'd been gone. Shining unlatched the chains and helped the princess back onto the wooden platform. As the light from the lantern fell across her face, Shining gasped and recoiled with horror. Celestia's mouth was pinched, her expression desperate and her fur bore the waxy pallor of the dead. Her eyes - usually so animated and sparkling - stared straight ahead, dull and unseeing. They registered nothing - neither her surroundings nor shining's helpless concern.

The young unicorn knew he had to get the Princess back to the Royal Palace as quickly as possible and get help. Comet Catcher would know what to do. Shimmer Dew would have potions and medicines, he was sure. And Cadence would...Shining winced. Cadence! What would Cadence say? he could only hope she did not blame him for her aunt's condition.

Shining tried to think clearly. he must move fast, but carefully. He knew he could not simply turn the handle and zoom back up to the Palace. He would need to do this with tact.

"You can do it" he muttered to himself through clenched teeth as he slipped the knots of the tolley rope. "We can do it" he added. Princess Celestia neither stirred or spoke, and her mane and tail fell limp beside her body.

All at once the ancient elevator lurched upwards as Shining pulled the other left hoof side lever. The Princess clung on tightly. Praying as the creaking platform finally came back to the spiralling staircase, Shining beamed as the lantern light revealed the steps. Shining wanted to yell for joy, but he fought to remain calm. He had to concentrate. If the unicorn had been cold before, now he was too hot. However, he waited until he had led the Princess back up the flight of stairs before wiping the sweat from his eyes.

"Come on then, Your Highness" he said, helping Celestia from the open gap in the stone path before the statue of this unknown Princess. he pushed the traumatised Princess' almost rigid foreleg over his own withers and supported her weight, and the pair of them made their way back along the winding paths of the Statue Gardens. A scraping of stone on stone caused Shining to look behind as he watched the secret passageway seal itself.

"Not far to go" he whispered, "soon be there."

But what could have possibly happened down there in the tunnel to leave the Princess in such a terrible state? Shining wasn't the only one wondering what was wrong with the Ruling Monarch. For as the pair of them stumbled past the archway, one of the Royal Guards on night duty watched silently from the shadows. The poor Princess. Something is wrong, very very wrong, he thought. He stepped back the way he came.

"Help her young colt, help her!"

Chapter 7: The High Halls

Chapter 7: The High Halls

"Friends...?"

In the event, neither Cadence nor Shimmer Dew appeared when Shining and Celestia made it back to the Royal Palace. Only Comet Catcher - whose acute hearing woke him up the moment they stepped into the grand Entrance Hall - came down to greet them.

"Oh mistress" he moaned when he clapped eyes on the ragged looking Princess. His hooves quivered wildly. "What in the Stars' name happened to you this time? You look dreadful"

Shining frowned. "You mean this has happened before?"

"I've never seen her looking this bad" said Comet, "but yes." He nodded his old head slowly. "Yes, she has returned from her night-time jaunts in a sorry state on more than one occasion." He tutted. "Accursed elevators, she's going to kill herself one of these nights. I keep telling her to stop using that damned contraption but she won't listen..."

Shining said nothing. Perhaps was better if Comet thought that the Princess' condition was in some way connected to the elevator. It spared him all sorts of awkward questions, like why an assistant had allowed his ruler to go into the eerie catacombs on her own - and then stood for hours in the freezing depths without going in to look for her.

The old unicorn tutted sympathetically as he inspected the Princess' trembling body.

"Curious, what do you know about this?"

"Nothing" said Shining truthfully enough. "I..."

Celestia stirred. "Over" she murmured. "And its all my fault..."

"Aye, well, I'll have to get one of my most efficacious cordials out of the larder. Razzleberry perhaps, or healwort...and then get her to bed. She looks totally exhausted." The old pony's eyes narrowed. "So do you, Shining."

"I am, shattered!" exclaimed the white unicorn, and rubbed his eyes with a forehoof. "What is the time?"

"Approaching five o'clock."

Shining groaned. "And school at six" he said wearily.

"Look, I'll take care of the Princess for now, you go and grab yourself a bit of shut-eye. After all, one hour's sleep is better than none" said Comet considerately.

"True" muttered the young colt. What with the night in the Great Library and the night in the mysterious tunnel, snatched naps were all the sleep he was getting. He turned to go. As he did so, the old unicorn beside him reached out and patted him on the shoulder.

"By the way, not a word of this to anypony outside the Royal Palace. Is that understood?"

Shining nodded. He'd been in Canterlot long enough now to know the importance of minding what one said. Rumours, however unfounded, could potentially prove perilous - even fatal. As Shimmer Dew had so neatly put it: One loose tongue can still many a beating heart.

"My lips shall remain sealed" the white pony promised.

Not bothering to remove his jacket, Shining collapsed onto his bed and fell into a deep yet troubled sleep the moment his head touched the pillow. Time and again, he dreamt he was falling - from the top of the Grand Viaduct; from the ladder ways high up in the vaulted ceiling of the Great Library; off bridges, out of towers, from the secret elevator - legs flailing, voice screaming. Yet not once did he land. Every time, just before the moment of impact, the dream would shift to a new location as if, even in his sleep, Shining knew that once he struck the ground, his heart would stop.

it was during the fall from the Cloud Wing balcony that Shining realised - as dreamers sometimes do - that he was in the middle of a recurring nightmare. He'd been peering into the shadows, convinced that somepony was there, when all of a sudden and without any warning a hulking timberwolf had sprung at him. It's green eyes glinted, it's wooden claws sparked.

"No" he groaned as he stepped back, lost his hoofing and began the long, tumbled fall to the ground far, far below him. "It's not happening" he gasped. "Wake up, Shining. Wake up!"

He opened his eyes.

A grey light was streaming through the un-shuttered windows. The bell at the top of the Palace Clock Tower was chiming noisily. Shining looked round with bleary eyes. It was seven o'clock, and he was late for school. Silver Star would be furious.

"Dammit Cadence!" he exclaimed as he leapt out of bed. "Why didn't you wake me?"

Having quickly splashed his face with water from the golden taps in his en suite bathroom and run his hooves through his mane, Shining dashed off. He skidded down the flights of stairs, across the marble hallway and out through the tall front doors. To his surprise, the weather had changed completely. The temperature had risen, and the snowfall had given way to torrential rain. Preparing himself for a drenching, Shining barrelled past the Court of the Sun and Moon and on towards a narrow pathway leading up to the school building. And as he rounded the Glass Fountain, there they were standing before him:

The High Halls of Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns.

Shining gasped in amazement. Despite attending the college for well over a week now, Shining still found the High Halls a magnificent sight. Incredible.

The gloriously elaborate academy made up almost the entirety of the South-Eastern Wing of the Royal Palace, its high pointed roofs jutting into the sky. Thirteen onion domed towers stood like guards over the four great halls that surrounded a central courtyard paved with stone and silver. A massive statue stood at the centre of the courtyard, depicting the legendary magician, Starswirl the Bearded, water spouting from his stone horn. Along the edges of the slanted hall roofs were set innumerable white snow-diamonds and violet twilight-sapphires, making the academy glisten in the lightning as it flashed across the stormy sky.

Cursing, Shining made a dash for the front entrance, a pair of twin oaken doors flanked by statues of rearing unicorn mares. The white unicorn burst in, his form being smashed with a wave of warmth and light. The entrance hall was a fairly large room with an overhanging balcony looking down upon visitors from the second floor. Four light grey pillars supported the carved ceiling, below which was a wide fireplace surrounded by cushioned sofas and recliners. At the far end of the room, a portly unicorn mare sat at a huge carved oak stable. Her right forehoof drummed on it's polished surface with brittle clicks. Her eyes narrowed.

"Student?" she demanded.

"Yes, I..."

"Name?" She picked up a pen with her magic and smoothed out a yellowing scroll before her.

"Shining Armour, and I..."

"Class?"

"Professor Silver Star, but..."

The grumpy old mare made a note on the register and tutted as she looked up.

"You're late Shining Armour" she said. "Professor Silver Star doesn't like students who are late."

"I know, but..."

"You'd better save your excuses for him" she said, and her withered forehoof resumed their rhythmic tapping.

Shining nodded glumly. he turned and made his way across the entrance hall. The vaulted ceiling echoed with the sound of drumming raindrops. It was like being in the middle of a waterfall. As he passed the dark varnished doors of the Lower Halls, Shining heard the foal's voices coming from inside. They were reciting the different aspects of unicorn magic in expressionless sing-song voices - "fire, water, earth and sky, nether, aether, storm and ice"

"Pay attention Lavender Spark!" shouted Professor Feathermoon, her strident voice ringing throughout the building. Shining sighed wearily as he climbed the central circular staircase to the Upper Halls. The landing there was panelled and decorated with paintings of ancient Headmasters and Mistresses. Unlike the Palace Portrait Gallery where, thanks to Comet Catcher's efforts had remained clean, the elaborate frames were covered in a thick layer of dust.

The oldest, high up in the shadows, were Shining's favourites. They looked impossibly wise with their long wide beards and simple black sorcerer hats. All except Starswirl the Bearded, who was dressed in a flowing robe decorated with dozens of constellations, his magnificent if somewhat comical point hat lined with golden bells.

The most recent paintings were down at eye-level. The ponies they depicted looked an unpleasant bunch: fussy and over-dressed, with sly faces that stared back at the young pony mockingly. Canterlot Highborn! Sun-Dean Cinnamon Hooves, Mistress Summer Fire. And there, smug and prim, was Professor Silver Star himself. Shining stopped momentarily beside the portrait. It was a good likeness - the ferret-eyes, the pointed muzzle tilted up as if smelling something bad, the thin sarcastic mouth...

Shining looked back and forth to check that the coast was clear. There was nopony about.

He stealthily sneaked back into an empty downstairs classroom, returning with a piece of charcoal. Cheeky grin beaming proud, the young stallion leaned forwards, and meeting the portrait's stare, drew a small arrow pointing into Silver Star's left ear. Then, with a flourish, he wrote Uttermost Aether. He stepped back to admire his handiwork.

Tap, tap,tap,tap...

Somepony was coming! Shining rushed upstairs until he found the foreboding double doors to Silver Star's classroom. He knocked three times hastily.

"Enter!" came a thin, reedy voice.

Shining took a deep breath and pushed the doors open.

The room he entered was as high as it was narrow. Ledges rose up on three sides, on which bored students slumped, their heads lolling, their hind legs dangling, while around their necks hung trays upon which scrolls, inkpots and pens sat untouched. They looked like sleeping puff-puff birds, roosting in some Everfree tree. The air in the room was stale and stifling.

At a high lectern, suspended on silver chains hanging from the tall ceiling, sat a fussy little unicorn in ornate robes and a tasselled cap. It was Professor Silver Star. Eyebrows raised, he peered over the top of his half-moon spectacles at the latecomer.

"Master Shining" he said with a little sniff. "So good of you to spare some of your precious time for out humble little gathering." He gave a short, high-pitched laugh.

"Yes Professor" said Shining, feeling his cheeks redden. The other students gazed down at him with dull, uninterested eyes. Nothing, it seemed, could rouse them from the mind numbing torpor of the class. What is it this morning?, Shining wondered as he made his way up the wooden ladder to the upper ledge. Theory of Enchanting? Unicorn History? Storm Bending? He sighed. before he'd started at the school, Shining had imagined that he would be spending his days immersed in fascinating studies. Instead, every lesson was filled with the constant repetition of text that Silver Star would recite from the gargantuan and ancient Great Tome of Unicorn Magic and Enchantments.

When the white unicorn reached the top of the ladder, several heavy-set colts and fillies with dull faces moved aside for him grumpily. A bottle of ink slipped from a tray and fell with a dull thud onto the floor below. Aether Studies! Of course. Today was Aether Studies: endless lists of measurements to be memorised and repeated, and accompanied by just the right nods of head, movements of hoof, occasional levitation and eye-blinks.

What was the point?

"The point of Aether Studies - when you're quite ready Master Shining!" said Silver Star, his thin, reedy voice piercing the classroom's thick gloom, "is not what the Aether is but how it is. The Aether is everywhere around us, there is no disproving it. The magical heavenly force surrounds all in the world. It is not a matter of what for it is always there. And we unicorns accept that. But the invisible force has moods as it were, days when the winds of the Aether whirl round in storms or are at surreal calms. And it is these conditions that help us cast our enchantments and spells..."

To demonstrate this, Silver Star's horn glowed a pale lilac colour as he summoned a glass of water to his side from thin air before tipping the water all over his desk. But the unicorn stopped the water before it fell and froze it in mid air. He looked like an overenthusiastic foal experimenting with magic for the first time.

Shining looked across at the opposite ledges and tried to catch Cadence's eye. He still wanted to know why she hadn't woken him. Had she simply forgotten? Or was she angry with him? Did she know he had been out with Princess Celestia last night? It was impossible to tell. Gilded Fan - a quiet Neighponese student - was snoring gently next to him. Spring Breeze, he noticed was passing notes to Autumn Blaze and grinning nastily, while Moontide looked as if she'd been crying. Cadence turned her head and stared at him. Her face was expressionless, yet to Shining it seemed to brighten the room up just a little bit. The white unicorn then turned back to his professor.

"...balancing my own magical spark with the Aether wind, I can manipulate the water currents easily as if I was simply levitating it from the glass."

His hoof jabbed at his right ear as if pointing to the invisible winds, and his right eye winked as he became caught up in his own knowledge. Shining thought of the portrait outside and smiled.

"Uttermost Aether" he murmured.

"Master Shining?" Silver Star was looking straight at him with a nasty glint in his eyes. "You wish to share something with us?"

"N...No, professor" said Shining, staring down at his desk tray and fidgeting with a quill.

"No?" spluttered Silver Star, his voice higher and thinner than ever. "No? Come, come, Master Shining. An exalted Royal Guard like you?" Uttermost Aether you said."

"Yes sir" Shining said miserably.

"I am attempting to teach the finer points of Aether Studies and you interrupt me, Master Shining, with talk of Uttermost Aether. Uttermost Aether, Master Shining!"

"I...I..." stammered the blue maned unicorn, stumbling to find the words.

"Uttermost Aether, indeed! We are all magic wielders here, Master Shining. Unicorns study the winds of magic from the glorious spires of our beautiful city. We study High Aether, Master Shining, while those of us less - how shall I put it? - less gifted, study the lower aspects of the Elements and telekinesis. But Uttermost Aether, Master Shining. Uttermost! The audacity of it all. The presumption. Only in death do we return to the Uttermost, to the Aether Aurora Lights of the far North."

"But..." Shining began, only to be airily dismissed by a wave of the professor's hoof. He turned to the others in the room.

"We do not study the highest of the high Aether Winds because it is out there, while we are in here! The Aether comes to us, my dear students, never forget that." The professor was shaking with excitement, the tassels on his cap fluttering uncontrollably. "I fear Master Shining, that you are fit only for the lowest of the low Basic Spell study. Why, you might as well find a hole in the ground and squat there right now. I obviously have nothing to teach you!"

"But sir! I didn't mean..."

"Get out" squeaked Silver Star, his voice high, almost hysterical. "Get out!"

"Professor Silver Star!"

All heads turned. Cadence stood, eyes blazing down at the ignorant teacher from the high ledge, wings unfurled and feathers ruffled. "Professor Silver Star, you forget yourself" she said coldly. There were titters and shushes from behind her.

"My Aunt has let it be known that all study - regular and advanced, Elemental to Uttermost Aether-" There were gasps astonishment. "Elemental and Uttermost Aether" Cadence repeated, "is to be welcomed in the High Halls. Your outburst would sadden her, professor, should she..." Cadence paused for effect, "should she ever get to hear of it."

Silver Star was speechless. His hooves were white as his grip tightened on the lectern. "Why, why, why..." he blustered, "why should she get to hear of it, my dear young Princess?"

"Master Shining Armour can be trusted to be discreet, professor" Cadence smiled across to Shining - and the young stallion felt his heart flutter a little bit inside. "If you can" she finished.

Silver Star was sweating.

"Of course, of course. I was hasty, Master Shining. Hasty. When I said 'get out' I meant in fact...errm...I meant...class dismissed!"

A cheer went up from the ledges as the students scrambled down the ladders and made for the heavy black doors. Only two of the students did not join the riotous exodus: Shining and Cadence. They turned towards each other and their eyes met, magenta against indigo. Cadence raised an eyebrow and jerked her head towards the door. Shining nodded. The pair of them climbed to their hooves.

Outside, there were cries of laughter as a crowd gathered around the professor's portrait. "Uttermost!" the chant went up. "Uttermost! Uttermost!"

"Thanks" said Shining simply.

"What for?" said Cadence, with an icy calmness.

"For helping me out back there."

"That's all right. Anyway, I didn't do it for you. I was defending Princess Celestia's honour."

"I know that, but you helped me out too."

Cadence nodded. "I did, didn't I?" She turned to face him. "We need to talk Shining."

"Talk? About what?"

"i think you know" said Cadence pointedly. Her voice was harsh.

Shining swallowed nervously. "All right, but not here."

They - along with several others - were standing under the covered vestibule area outside of the Hall of Elements, waiting for the rain to ease off. The birdfish were splashing in the fountain pool beneath the stone Starswirl, twittering for food. The rain was heavier than ever, and no pegasi or City Watchponies flew overhead.

"You wanna walk back in that?" asked Cadence.

"If you want to talk about what you want to talk about, then we'll have too."

He glanced round at the others meaningfully. Cadence looked over too and sighed. "All right then. Let's go back to the Palace."

The pair of them went down the steps and across one of the bridges which spanned the central courtyard. Anypony watching them, huddled together against the rain, would have assumed they were close friends. Yet as he hurried after the pink alicorn, Shining was still confused. Did Cadence hold him to blame for her Aunt's condition?

As they reached the archway leading to the Court of the Sun and Moon, Cadence abruptly spun round, unable to contain herself any longer.

"I hate you!" she screamed, hammering against his strong athletic coat. "Hate you! Hate you! Hate you!"

Shining froze, refusing to retaliate. Cadence's blows became weaker and weaker until her forelegs fell limply to the pavement. Tears welled up in her eyes and mingled with the raindrops on her cheeks. Her beautiful mane was sagging down one side of her head. She looked up, and Shining stared back.

"How could you have let it happen?" she said at last, her voice low and quavering.

Quint turned away. "You saw the Princess this morning, I take it."

Cadence nodded. "It was the worst I've ever seen her. Pale, grey...trembling. She could barely speak! And then Comet Catcher told me that you were with her." She sniffed, and pushed the lank wet mane from her face. "That's why I didn't bother to wake you this morning. I wanted to get you in trouble..."

"I'm sorry" Shining admitted. "It was one of those tasks..."

Cadence saw the confusion in those dark indigo eyes of his and swallowed. "I'm sorry too. I love her. L want to look after her. And instead, she chooses some...some assistant to confide in, to share her work with." Her eyes blazed. "An assistant who brings her back to the Palace half-dead! I mean what did happen down there in the Statue Gardens? And don't try and pretend you didn't go down there. I know where she goes at night!"

Shining shook his head. "I don't know what happened to her" he said.

"Don't know?" Cadence thundered incredulously. Shining looked round furtively in case any passers-by were listening. With all the rain still lashing down, however, the streets were deserted. "What do you mean you don't know?" she went on. "You were both in the same garden, weren't you? How could you not know?"

"We...we wasn't in the gardens the whole time" said Shining quietly.

Cadence's jaw dropped. "We weren't?" she said. "Did you go all the way out into the city? Did something happen in Canterlot?"

Shining shook his head.

"Then, where?" Cadence demanded.

Shining frowned. "She told me not to breath a word of this to anypony" he said, "so you mustn't tell..."

"By the Sun, Shining!" Cadence shouted indignantly. "I was born and raised in the Royal Palace. You've hardly been here any time at all and yet you presume to tell me about the dangers of watching what one says?"

"I promised Princess Celestia" Shining butted in irritably, "the Ruling Monarch of Equestria, your aunt..."

Cadence looked at him. Her anger melted away and her eyes brimmed with tears. "I'm sorry Shining" she said quietly. "I'm just so worried about her" she hesitated, "please, tell me what you know. Tell me everything."

"Whatever happened to the Princess, took place inside a tunnel beneath the Gardens. There is a statue in a hidden grove, and underneath it is a secret passageway" said the unicorn, voiced hushed. "She disappeared into the tunnel at the bottom for almost half the night. When she came back, she was like she was this morning."

"A tunnel? But...why?"

"She didn't say why. Though I think it had something to do with that scroll I fetched for her. What about the Crystal Vaults? Perhaps she went there, isn't that somewhere beneath the Palace?"

Cadence was shaking her head. "There is only one entrance to the Crystal Vaults, and that's deep in the heart of the Palace. What in Goddess' name could have possibly made her go into that tunnel? The only tunnels beneath the Palace are those leading to the Mirrored Caverns of Canterlot."

Shining shuddered. "Are they really as dangerous as they say?"

Cadence shrugged. "I've heard many stories."

"Stories?"

"Stories of those who, when sent down below in ancient times for crimes of greed, would lose their way and become trapped forever in the caves. Stories of blind, translucent creatures that haunt the shadowy depths waiting to prey on those who venture into the heart of Mount Everwhite. And stories of terrible monsters."

Shining peered absent mindedly at the great peak that Canterlot was built on.

"What monsters?"

"Nopony is really sure. Apparently, they inhabit the deepest, darkest part of the Caverns, living off whatever scraps of food come through. And they apparently glow. They come up to the surface sometimes."

"They do?"

"Yes, though they're impossible to see straight on. But sometimes you kind of catch glimpses of them - sudden darting flashes of light out of the corner of your eye..."

"Yes" said Shining excitedly, "yes, I've seen them. In the Great Library." He didn't tell Cadence of the fact he had seen them inside the Palace the day that they met in the Balcony Chamber.

"For some reason they prefer the older buildings."

"Could these monsters have attacked the Princess?"

"I don't know, but if the tales the Royal Guards tell are true, then it's certainly possible" the pink alicorn shuddered. "I would hate to go down into those caves."

"And yet, although she must have known all the dangers herself, Princess Celestia decided to go there."

"Yeah..." mused Cadence thoughtfully, "she must have had a very good reason." She turned to face the young stallion head on. She felt a little tingly inside..."Promise me that you'll tell me of any future tasks she tells you to do."

"I promise."

"And I'll tell you if she lets anything slip when we're talking. She's up to something - something dangerous - that much is clear. We have to find out what it is, for her sake." She paused, and reached out for Shining's forelegs. The golden horseshoes rubbed tenderly against his fur for a heartbeat. "If she takes you down into the tunnel again, you have to follow her in. I'm begging you."

Trying hard to conceal his own unease, Shining smiled. "I'll do my best" he said. "If it's any consolation, when Celestia came back to the passageway, she did say it - whatever it might mean - was over. I...what is that?" he asked, as a roar of jubilant voices filled the air. he looked round. "It's coming from over there" he said, pointing to the grand golden gates of the Palace outside the Court of the Sun and Moon, where a great crowd of ponies of all races had gathered, waving flags and cheering despite the miserable weather.

All at once, the puzzled expression on Cadence's face melted away. "Of course!" she cried. "Today is Renewal Day." She smiled bravely. "Come on Shining, You'll enjoy this."

Chapter 8: The Crystal Vault

Chapter 8: The Crystal Vault

"Something moves against us..."

Renewal Day occurred annually on the first day of the second moon when in it's third quarter. It was a significant day in the Canterlot calender since it marked the day of the renewing of Harmony across Equestria since the Elements were lost over a millennium ago. The shining of hope and love was instead radiated by using a single perfect crystal. Stories told that the crystal came from the mythical, long forgotten Crystal Empire - a glittering magical kingdom taken away from the world at the dawn of time.

Nopony knew how the crystal came to be, or whether the stories had any morsel of truth in them. But what everypony did know was that upon this day, Princess Celestia would descend deep into the fabled Crystal Vault of Canterlot, and ignite the sparkling gem with the power of Harmony, bringing light and joy to the world for another year. A special company of guards was left to ensure the safety of the shard for the rest of the year, the much revered Harmony Wardens.

Renewal Day was a holiday marked with many message-sending and gift-swapping, and was celebrated in many Canterlot High Society venues with a seven-course banquet. More relevantly, it was also the day when the Harmony Wardens and the Crystal Vault were ceremoniously inspected by the next most powerful ponies below the Princess: the highest of the Highlords, the Sky Ministers. From early morning, crowds would gather outside the entrance to the Royal Palace - festooned for the occasion with flags and bunting - to watch and cheer on the spectacle.

"An excellent turnout this year" said the Dawn Minister, a middle aged unicorn mare dressed in regal robes of cloth-of-gold and white velvet studded with snow-diamonds and fire rubies. Both her and her counterpart, the Dusk Minister, sat in a beautifully crafted chariot decorated with silver plating and sapphires. The stallion beside her smiled.

"Excellent indeed" he replied as the Royal Guards pulling the carriage wheeled round the Grand Viaduct. He was dressed in stately robes of starsilk and moon-wool, studded with onyx and dusk-amethysts. He waved to the crowd regally. "And perfect weather for it too now that the Weather Pegasi have kindly removed those rain clouds."

The carriage continued beneath the intricate and mighty Viaduct and on towards the majestic gates of the Royal Palace. The spectators fell back excitedly as it clattered towards them. Seven strides from the wrought gold gates, the Royal Guards halted and the two Ministers stepped down onto the red and gold carpet awaiting them. The gates opened, revealing the great set of marble stairs that led to the Court of the Sun and Moon.

From his viewpoint on the steps of the South Eastern Wing, Shining was enthralled. He had never witnessed such pomp and splendour before.

"Those look like real star-pearls and rainbow-gems on that pony's necklace!"

"I'm sure they are" said Cadence.

"And the Minister's robes! Is that really real starsilk?"

"Of course, a rich violet dye for the Dusk Minister, and a soft sky blue for the Dawn."

Shining nodded and fell silent - though not for long.

"I don't get this highest of the Highlords business" he said. "Why doesn't Princess Celestia perform this ritual herself? And why are there two of them?"

"You've so much to learn" said Cadence in a rather superior voice, "but if you keep on talking, you'll miss the ceremony. Shh, here they come now."

"Sorry" said the white colt sullenly. "I'll be quiet."

"Good" Cadence chimed primly, patting her damp mane with a forehoof and straightening her little gold tiara with a soft magic glow. "It's Renewal Day and I have to keep up appearances." She acknowledged a wave from the Ambassador from Flankfurt with a dignified nod. "After all, I am the niece of Equestria's Ruling Monarch..."

A stooped figure with a hooded cape and a silver muzzle mask who was standing in the shadows behind them stepped outwards as if to rejoin the crowds below, but instead stopped at the pair of young ponies and turned to the Princess.

"Forgive me for interrupting" he said, his voice deep and gruff, "but the lad does have a point. We accept what's going on so blindly these days. Perhaps one ought to question a little more."

Cadence snorted and turned away, but Shining drew closer.

"Do you have any answers?" he asked the stranger.

"Some" he said. "For a start, the Ministers of the Sky were only chosen as Highest of the Highlords for their wealth - nothing more. They are not special in any other way save for their higher-than-average magical skills. There's been a great deal of controversy of the election of the Ministers, especially when there are so many others who actually care about the ponies of Equestria. The Crystal Vault was originally part of the ancient underground dungeons that the Palace kept prisoners during the War of Eternal Night nearly a thousand years ago, but was converted into the chamber it is now in the months following the conflict. The Harmony Crystal itself remains something of a mystery, and the roles of the Ministers are little more than theatre."

Down at the entrance to the Palace, the two Ministers were hammering the ground with their regal horseshoes, slowly and simultaneously. Once, twice, thrice. As the loud, resonant thuds fells away, the crowds gathered at the gates fell still. Then out of the silence, came a muffled voice.

"Who goes there, in the name of the Sun, Moon and Stars?" it demanded.

"A friend of Canterlot" the two ponies shouted back in unison.

There was a creak as the grand double doors of the Royal palace swung open to reveal a shining column of the most elite of the Royal Guards - The Dawn Shields. Their sunsteel armour glimmered in the light of day, and the long high plumes on their helmets blew gracefully behind them as they cantered down the flight of marble stairs to greet the twin Ministers. At their head strode Captain Stormswirl. Shining felt a sudden urge to call out to his mentor, but was quickly stopped by Cadence with a stern glare and a shush.

The imposing pegasus stepped forwards to inspect the pair of regally dressed unicorns before him, a spear clutched in his right forehoof. The crowd remained still, hardly daring to breathe. Then the guard captain lowered his weapon and spoke up.

"Enter, friend!" he proclaimed, and a roar of approval and celebration echoed round the Court of the Sun and Moon. The two unicorns disappeared inside the Palace, the doors slamming shut behind them, and the cheering grew louder still. But Shining Armour was puzzled.

"A friend of Canterlot" he repeated. "That's what the greeting said. Friend, not friends. So, how come there are two of them?"

"Simple" answered the stranger, "they're twins. The Dawn Minister's name is Solar Rose, and the Dusk's is Eventide. Both were born into the wealthy Lightheart Family, the ones who own half the shops down Gold-Bit Avenue and the new Millennial Shopping Mall in Manehatten. It's rumoured that the two were very close as foals, and they remained close through their years all through the University of Canterlot - where they excelled in Aether Studies"

Shining rolled his eyes.

"The two were inseparable, and still are - like two sides of the same coin. Dawn and Dusk. It was impossible to appoint one as a Sky Minister without appointing the other."

"I see" said the white unicorn. By now, the crowd was beginning to disperse. Shining was about to depart himself when the stranger gripped his right foreleg.

"But it is worth noting, although they are twins, there is evidence to suggest that they are much closer than everypony sees. Much closer..." he hissed.

"W-What?" said Shining stiffly as he tried to shake his leg free. But the stranger's grip only tightened.

"there are many" he said, his eyes darting around him, "who are suspicious on their relationship, as it were. Despite being brother and sister, there have been whispers that they share a bed together every night...and do things unnatural for any sibling to do on one anot-"

"Come on Shining" Cadence said sharply and suddenly, seizing him by his other leg. "We should be getting back." And with that, she dragged him away. As they joined the crowds - now spilling out of the Court and going their separate ways - the blue maned unicorn glanced round.

"What was the rush?"

Cadence turned to him. "He was starting rumours and spreading gossip, that's why I wanted to leave" she replied. "I've heard it all a hundred times before. the whispers. The intrigue. The lies. The question is, what did he want?"

As the door slammed shut behind them, the Ministers of Dusk and Dawn relaxed. Since the rest of the annual ceremony would be performed out of sight of the excited spectators of Canterlot, they had no need for further pomp and ceremony. Solar Rose removed her ridiculously intricate nets binding her mane in place, letting the fiery cream hair fall around her shoulders.

"So Stormswirl" she said, "have you any fresh news on the matter we were speaking about yesterday?"

The Royal Guard Captain turned and trotted towards the concealed entrance to the Crystal Vault, the Ministers trailing behind him.

"I have, madam" he said, and looked around furtively. Walking over to a grandly decorated archway set into the wall at the end of a seemingly dead-end corridor, and Guard Captain raised his gilded spear - the bottom end fashioned into the shape of a white gold key. With a strong push, the spear slotted perfectly into the small keyhole located in the dead centre of the moulded wall. With a click and the grinding of gears, the diamond set wall separated to reveal an eerie black tunnel.

"Two new developments" he whispered. "Firstly, the Highlords are definitely up to something - and they may be in league with some from the High Halls. And not just the teachers. This goes right to the top. The Dean. The Sun-Dean. One, two, or possibly all three of the High Professors. All of them may be involved."

The regal mare shook her head as she and her twin followed the captain into the Vault Tunnels. Her horn flared a brilliant orange to provide light for their trek through the darkness.

"Celestia should have noticed..."

"And would have" Eventide broke in, "were she not so preoccupied. Poor Princess. She started into this year so well - yet recently, she's been looking appalling..."

"She never sleeps. She never eats" agreed his sister. "And though I hate to say it of so old and valued a companion, she has been neglecting the duties of high office..."

"That's because she spends so much time in those Statue Gardens every night" said Eventide hotly. "I just don't understand it."

"Neither do I" replied Solar Rose. "But as her two closest friends, we must persuade her to face up to her responsibilities."

"Ministers, you must also warm her, she will not listen to me right now" Stormswirl suddenly sighed.

"Warn her?" they both said in unison.

"That was my second bit of information" the guard captain said urgently. "Somepony was been trying to bribe the Statue Tenders and Masons..."

At that moment, a grating sound came from the shadowy crevices of the tunnel, far to their right. Stormswirl raised his spear, cocked his head to one side and listened. He turned back to the unicorns.

"We must be discreet" he hissed. "Even here in in the Vault Tunnels, there are those who would not hesitate to make capital from an ill-chosen remark."

Eventide frowned. "Are you suggesting that the Harmony Wardens are not now to be trusted?" he whispered.

Stormswirl's voice dropped further. "I'm afraid I am, sir. The Princess' curious behaviour is affecting all of Canterlot. Morale among the Harmony Wardens and Royal Guards is lower than I have ever known it."

They continued down in the silence, the tunnel cut through the solid rock of Mount Everwhite and on to the Crystal Vault at it's centre. When it was first constructed, the tunnel had branched off in many directions to form the underground dungeons of old. Since then, many of the other passages had collapsed or been sealed off. With time's steps going on and on however, the job of tunnel maintenance had a never ending task.

"I swear this tunnel gets longer each year" complained Eventide.

Solar Rose nodded. "It's high time we a new Vault Tunnel built" she said. "Direct from the Lightheart Estate - save us the walking. It would be difficult and expensive, but well worth it."

The shifting expanse of the mountain rock was as porous as a ball of brittle sponge. Filled with cracks and cavities which linked up to form a sprawling intricate warren of tunnels and holes, it hummed and hissed endlessly. Some of the tunnels were large enough for a pony to proceed comfortably through the rock; others were too small for even cave spiders - of which there were many - to squeeze into. It was a vast, confusing maze, everchanging, full of echoes and whispers, shadows and strange beings which glowed in the darkness. Some were ghostlike, some half-formed - and some predatory.

Ahead of them came the sound of muffled voices. At the same time, the tunnel gave way to the place known as the Heart of the Mountain - a rock within the rock which housed the Crystal Vault.

"Thank Stars for that" said Eventide as he continued down the long, straight passageway, running his hooves along the smooth solid rock. "The tunnels outside of the Heart always give me jitters" he chuckled.

The voices ahead of them grew louder and, as they neared the end, a great studded door opened to their right and yellow light fanned out over the floor. A heavily built unicorn guard stepped out and blocked the passage.

"Halt! Who comes this way?"

Stormswirl stepped forward. "It's me Sparkbolt" he said angrily. "Have you forgotten what day it is?"

"No, sir...I..." said Sparkbolt, his voice heavy and gruff with the rich ponderous accent of a pony from the Far Provinces. He looked at the Sky Ministers and jutted his chin out to them.

"Who are they?"

Stormswirl sighed and turned to the aged ponies. "Excuse him, he's new to the Guard." He turned back to the unicorn. "Today is Renewal day, Sparkbolt. The day of the year when the Princess - or the Sky Ministers in this case - ceremoniously tends the Harmony Crystal."

Sparkbolt looked down. "How was I supposed to know?" he muttered.

"Because" sighed Stormswirl, "I reminded you only this morning. Now step aside and let us pass." The guard pony fell back, and as Stormswirl strode past, he cuffed him around the head. "Imbecile..." he muttered, and turned to the Ministers. "Like I said, he's new to the Guard, but I don't have the patience today. He's fresh from the Outer Reaches. Strong in hoof and magic, but soft in the head, But he'll learn."

He continued down the corridor, past a huge carved door, half open. The Ministers hurried after him, their gowns flapping. As they passed the door, they glanced in to see a long rounded chamber carved out of the solid rock. This was the guard room, home to a company of hoof-picked Royal Guards and Harmony Wardens who divided their duties into three shifts. Some guards were snoring in bunk beds cut into the walls of the chamber, some were at a table playing cards, while the others - of whom Sparkbolt was one - were on duty. Like Stormswirl, all of them were fiercely strong.

They reached the end of the corridor. Stormswirl raised his key-ended spear again and slotted it into the Vault door. As the lock clicked, the solid stone door began to spin and twist on a series of rings, the intricate patterns plated in silver on it aligning to form an image of the symbol of Harmony - the Sun and Moon set in the same way as the Yin Yang symbol used in Neighpon and Shanghay. The door creaked open, and the captain stood aside for the Ministers.

"It never fails to impress me" Solar Rose whispered as they walked into the vast Crystal Vault.

"Absolutely awe-inspiring" Eventide agreed.

Across the floor they went, their hoofsteps echoing round the great domed ceiling. Beneath their hooves, carved into the rock itself, was an enormous circular design of calibrated triangles, concentric rings and a fanned circle of sun flames. It was identical in design to Celestia's Personal Banner. The two unicorns stepped forward to the very centre of the great room, and standing opposite each other, they pressed their hooves into two concealed loose stones. The entire chamber was lit up instantly as a multitude of multi coloured light exploded from the small crystal had rose from the ground upon a stone podium. Rainbow coloured flames licked the edges of the chamber to reveal a ceiling made from pure, solid diamond.

Without a second's delay, the two Sky Ministers' horns flared brilliantly with a wonderful spectrum hued magic that seemed to both dance serenely and rage powerfully along the length of their horns. As one, the two unicorn simply touched the flawless, perfect crystal before them, and whispered quietly.

"Light in the Darkness" whispered the Dawn Minister.

"Darkness in the Light" whispered the Dusk Minister.

Then as one, they simply declared : "Harmony"

And with those words, Renewal Day was completed.

Solar Rose lowered the podium by letting her hoof off the hidden stone, plunging the Vault once again into darkness. Outside the tunnel, Stormswirl had fetched a lamp and attached it on to the end of his spear. When the great Vault door was sealed shit once again, the captain turned to the unicorns.

"Takes my breath away, that crystal. Every year. It really does. Never have I seen anything so beautiful."

"It truly is the most precious thing on this earth" agreed Eventide.

"It's all beyond me" Stormswirl continued, "I'll leave such matters of magic to you unicorns. I'm just a simple pegasus."

"Pfff! You are being too modest, Stormswirl" said Solar Rose, "you're our eyes and ears."

"Without you we would know neither about the treacherous Highlords, nor about the attempted bribery of the Statue Tenders - although Stars know why anypony would try to bribe them."

"But forewarned is forearmed, as the saying goes" said Solar Rose. "We will alert Princess Celestia at the earliest opportunity. She must be told of the great danger she is in."

Chapter 10: Plotting and Planning

Chapter 10: Plotting and Planning

"We have to do something...fast..."

"She what?" Cadence cried.

Shining looked round anxiously. A couple of young students approaching the Glimmering Spire of the High Halls had paused and were staring back. Shining took Cadence by the leg and led her round the nearby pillars.

"Keep your voice down" he hissed. "The last thing we want to do is draw attention to ourselves now."

"I'm sorry, but...I just can't believe..." Cadence drifted off guiltily.

"I'm just telling you what I saw and heard" Shining said brusquely. "She's got a creature locked up down there."

Cadence shook her head, her lusciously curled three toned mane bouncing. "What sort of creature?" she asked. "A pet, like Muffins? Or a guard animal? Or..."

"It spoke" Shining broke in.

The pink alicorn gasped. "Spoke?" she whispered. "Just repeated words? Like a parrot or a mimic-bird, maybe?"

Shining shook his head. "It pleaded. It reasoned"

"An intelligent creature then" Cadence sighed. "Some kind of sprite or pixie perhaps...and certainly a vicious one, judging by Celestia's wounds. I'm frightened, Shining, she was nearly killed."

"I know, I am too" said the white unicorn, as he remembered the sight of the Princess returning to him after his terrifying night in the underground maze. She had been limping badly, blood soaking the expensive starsilk robe, which was torn in many places. Then, as she raised her head, Shining had cried out as he saw the Princess' ear, hanging on by a thread as though something had tried to slice it off completely.

For a creature that had sounded so weak, so abject, so pitiful, it had certainly put up a ferocious fight. The Princess' harrowing words came back to Shining; words he hadn't taken quite seriously enough when he first heard them.

"Celestia called it an evil creature" he said softly.

"It must be, to cut her so badly. She's the greatest magic wielder in all of the Seven Realms...and yet..." she fell still. Shining waited expectantly for her to continue.

The only noise was the soft flupp flupp of the long and heavy banners that flew far above their heads on the summit of the Glimmering Spire, their purple fields emblazoned with a silver unicorn head. Although the air was almost still, the banners were high enough to catch the slightest of breezes.

"Yet what?" said Shining.

The young Princess looked up. Goddess...she's beautiful...

"I don't know" she said, her voice snapping Shining out of his daydream. "I was just imagining how I might behave if I'd been locked up against my will."

The blue maned unicorn nodded sympathetically. He knew how hard it must be for Cadence to conceive that her aunt might be in the wrong. It was heartening to see that she was not beyond putting herself in the place of the captive creature.

"We must go down there" she said abruptly. "You must take me down there, Shining. I must see for myself what's going on. And if we find that..." she hesitated. "If Princess Celestia has..." she stopped, her voice choking up in her throat.

"We'll do the right thing" said Shining earnestly. "I..."

All at once, there was a sharp grating noise above him. He looked up to see the same two students pulling their heads back inside an upstairs window in an effort not to be seen. "We're being spied on, Cadence" he hissed. "Let's get out of here."

As usual, rumours and gossip, whispered plots and lies filled the Court Gardens, so that the air above them hissed like the pressurised steam which was currently spurting from the ventilation vents on the roof of the opulently decorated Skyship Construction Docks. Like the steam, the words were heated, poisonous; sometimes opaque, sometimes crystal clear - and indicated that something dramatic was about to take place.

In the open sky, the Canterlot Weather Squadrons were preparing for the scheduled thunderstorm. In Canterlot itself - if half the rumours were true - an even greater storm was about to break. The Yellow Glade was more crowded than usual. As well as the habitual sprinkling of ranters and ravers with their conspiracy theories and apocalyptic warnings, there were other, less frequent visitors who were holding court in the tree lined park. They were the fortune tellers, the soothsayers, the prognosticators.

These sad individuals were said to be the last of the once proud White Council, members of the government that ruled Equestria during the years of the Great Pony War against the Pferdereich of Germaneigh, dispossessed when Celestia returned with the might of Equestria's Armed Forces. Now these poor unfortunate ponies of all races were little more than carnival performers, their knowledge of Canterlot's secrets reduced to myth and superstition.

The true, uncorrupted Canterlot Highlords despised them, but tolerated them as evidence of how inferior a conclave of politicians was in comparison to Celestia's rule. Each of the shabby soothsayers was armed with the tools of his or her trade: fate-stones, Everfree vines, fire roots. One - a gangly, wall eyed stallion with grizzled jowls - had amassed a particularly sizeable crowd around him.

"The bones cannot lie" he bellowed, his voice breaking with excitement as he waved the bleached rainfish skeletons at those standing closest to him. "I have seen death and despair in the Royal Palace. I have seen the great Princess Celestia ringed with blue flames and dancing with the dead." His voice voice grew hushed. "I have seen our mighty city - beloved Canterlot - being swallowed up..." His voice grew louder. "Chewed to pieces..." And louder still. "And spat out by a fiend..." He was shouting now. "A fiend unleashed by ignorance and desperation. A fiend no prison bars can contain. A fiend so fearsome that none will escape its terrible wrath!"

The crowd gasped as one. Fortune tellers were seldom as gory as this character.

"And how will we know this fiend?" somepony shouted.

"With great difficulty" came the reply. "For it is a shapeshifter. It will speak with a familiar voice and bear the face of a nearest and dearest. It is a deceiver. A seducer. The most terrible creature in all of the world!"

"Sounds like a changeling!" a high pitched voice came from the back of the crowd, and a ripple of laughter went all round.

Though feared by foals throughout the world, whose mothers, fathers and nannies would tell them blood-curdling tales about the treacherous creatures, among adults it was only the more primitive ponies from the Outer Reaches and Far Realms who believed in the changelings. Those who had left the far flung lands for Equestria had abandoned not only their families and villages, but also their superstitions, while those born in the shining city of Canterlot or the surrounding settlements like Ponyville had never considered the stories of the evil creatures might be anything more than ancient myths and legends.

The fortune teller brandished his fish bones furiously.

"You can scoff!" he roared.

"Thank you kindly, sir!" somepony shouted back sarcastically, and the laughter became louder.

Undaunted, the fortune teller turned round slowly and surveyed the crowd darkly. With his eyes pointing in different directions at the same time, it was impossible to tell where his gaze fell. A hush descended.

"So you don't believe in changelings, eh?" he said, his voice an icy whisper. Nopony spoke. Nopony moved. "I know of those who didn't believe in trees that grow by themselves either, yet that didn't stop them from becoming lost in the Everfree Forest. Your lack of belief , my friends, is the changelings' strength." his voice became louder, sharper. "Mark my words and mark them well, the changelings are coming! The earth shall shake in pain and Canterlot will fall into dust! For so it is written in the bones!"

A derisory laugh went up.

"What do you take us for?" a voice called out.

"Ignorant foals" another shouted, and the crowd began to disperse.

Rumours of impending doom and gloom were nothing new in the Court Gardens. Before the fortune teller with the rainfish bones had even arrived on the scene, feverish gambling activity was already taking place up and down the Grove of the Crimson Willow. Despite their scepticism, news of the latest prognostications soon led to a fresh bout of wagers and bets. The tally-outs were besieged.

"Ten gold bits say the Royal Palace will be struck by lightning" said a tall mare in an extravagant dress.

"Fifteen gold bits says the Princess will be gone by the next full moon" said her companion.

The tally-outs noted the wagers and exchanged the gold coins for slips of paper bearing a record of both the bets and its odds. Further into the garden, the odds were shortening on whether the changelings really existed. A week, a day - even an hour earlier, you could have placed a bet at a thousand to one that the creatures were no more than the stuff of foal stores and nightmares. But now the rumours had firmed up, the gossip had turned to gospel truth, and already there were several who were claiming that friends of friends had witnessed the terrible creatures firsthoof.

Further along the Court Gardens, an unusual cluster of nobleponies had assembled in the Garden of the Twilight Equinox. Situated beneath the middle of the Great Viaduct, this garden was considered neutral ground, a kind of no-pony's land where academics, politicians, nobleponies and ordinary Canterlot citizens could meet with one another anonymously.

Although they had all arrived without the characteristic outfits and insignias of their positions in the intricate hierarchy of Canterlot, those who knew their faces would have spotted a dozens or so Sun-Deans from the High Halls deep in conversation with a group of fresh faced young politicians and Professors. Everypony, it seemed, was trying talk at once.

"But aren't the proposals a little extreme?" somepony asked.

"A drastic situation calls for drastic measures" came the reply.

"The behaviour of the Princess has been reprehensible. Intolerable. Unacceptable..."

"And now she must go!"

"And since she won't leave of her own free will..."

"Those who will not jump must be pushed..."

Moving unnoticed through the increasingly agitated crowd was a tall robed unicorn, his hood down low over his head. As he turned to his companion, the light glinted on his protruding silver muzzle mask.

"You see how easy it is to set rumours rolling, Thorn Sprout" he whispered. "To plot, to scheme, to sow dissent..."

The old earth pony, also dressed in a long cape with the hood up, nodded enthusiastically.

"It's all going better than I imagined" he whispered back. "But what of the deed itself?"

"It's all set" came the reply. The pair of them looked round furtively. "When the Princess uses her elevator tonight, she will find the chains cut..."

Still deep in whispered conversation, Shining Armour and Cadence continued slowly along the bank of the central canal which led from the roaring Twin Falls of Everwhite. The water, it was aid, where the tears wept by the First Mare when her children grew up and left her alone on the summit of Mount Everwhite. The water coursed along the narrow canal and into the pipes which would deliver it to all but the very oldest and run-down buildings of Canterlot. As she listened to Shining, Cadence absent mindedly tossed a small stone into the foaming stream. She turned away.

"It sounds horrible" she breathed.

"It was" said Shining. "Snuffling, snorting, slurping - and there was this glow. Green, Cadence. Like...deathly green!"

The alicorn shuddered. "As if the underground caverns weren't treacherous enough already" she said, "now you're telling me that they're full of...of...well, what exactly?"

"I don/t know" said the white unicorn, shaking his head. "I've never seen or heard anything like it before. But I'll tell you what - I count myself lucky to have escaped with my life."

Cadence smiled weakly. Shining turned to her.

"Cadence" he said, "are you sure you still want to go down there?"

"What?" said Cadence, her eyes blazing.

"I...I just wondered" said Shining. "I mean, what with the rickety elevator and the dark maze of tunnels, not to mention the great deathly green whatever it is down there...it's still not too late to change your mind."

The young Princess snorted. "Change my mind?" she said. "Of course I'm not going to change my mind. Wild manticores couldn't keep me away." And with that, she turned and hurried off. "Meet me in the Statue Gardens an hour after sunset" her voice floated back.

Shining stood there watching Cadence's body bustling away into the distance, a look of bemusement playing around his lips. He didn't think he would ever be able to make her out.

Or make out with her...

"Shut up..." Shining told his brain.

Chapter 1: New Arrivals

Chapter 1: New Arrivals

"But I don't need protecting!"

The grand vaulted entrance hall to the prestigious and majestic Royal Palace of Canterlot was silent save for the hiss of the wind outside and the soft, yet echoing, hoofsteps of an old wizened unicorn stallion who teetered unsteadily across the polished marble floor. High up above, beams of bright sunlight streamed through a circle of arched windows and criss-crossed the air. The old pony waddled up the vast staircase that led up into the main structure of the Princesses' royal abode. Rich stained glass windows stood before him, silently watching as he managed to make it to the first landing.

The unicorn paused for a moment at the foot of the next sweeping staircase and looked up. His horn was lit up with a soft yellow light, the sunlight glinting on the crystal goblet and oval shaped platter of rich fruits and vegetables on the white gold tray clutched in the pony's magical hold. The unicorn listened intently.

"Where are you, your highness? Where are you?" he murmured to himself. He cocked his wrinkled head to one side, his tufted ears twitching as he picked up the soft murmur of voices throughout the Palace. Though many things had passed with his age, his hearing had most certainly not. He could hear the inconsequential chatter of the old Court Physician, the frantic shrieks of the Palace Chef, and the moans of pleasure coming from an amorous guard and maid somewhere in the upper corridors. And there, unmistakable, from up at the top of the Tower of the Sun, the soft humming of a young mare.

"Ah, there you are", the stallion muttered. "I'm sure you could use a little pick-me-up to go with the news I bring" he said cheerily to himself. And with the goblet clinking against the platter, he began to long climb up the staircase.

The unicorn's name was Comet Catcher, once the personal astronomer to the venerable Princess Celestia. Ever since that fateful day a thousand years ago, the sun goddess had been forced to treat the night with the same care as the day. But being inexperienced in these matters, had needed the knowledge of one who had studied the night sky. The monarch had needed somepony to categorise and organise every single star, comet, constellation and meteor. And that's where a young, fresh faced and eager stargazer had offered up his services.

Comet smirked to himself as he remembered his first few years working for the great ruler of Equestria. Even after a thousand years, stars and celestial bodies of the night sky seemed to be beyond the reach of Celestia's mind. Not that he would ever say such a thing to her face. The Princess was an extraordinary pony, the most powerful magic wielder in all of Equestria, the Sun-Bringer. But the night was something she always had difficulty with. Must be the same as some ponies are with words or numbers, the old stallion mused to himself.

His green eyes scanned the beautifully sewn tapestries hanging from the walls of the great flight of stairs. It was a staircase that Comet Catcher knew well - but then he knew every single nook and cranny of the sprawling Royal Palace: its well hidden chambers, the medieval murder holes, the corridors that led to nowhere, and the great balcony which, for centuries, the Princess had stood to address her adoring subjects. What was more, the old unicorn knew all of the Palace's secrets, his incredibly sharp hearing picking up whispers, the gossip, the rumours and the cries.

He stopped at the next landing, wheezing heavily. He was breathlessly aware that he wasn't getting any younger. Indeed, even for a unicorn he was old. Eighty-eight years had passed since he was born in Canterlot City Hospital. Comet smiled again as he strolled down memory lane. He had a happy foalhood, two loving parents and two loving sisters. Aurora and Dawn Dancer.

Then came the fire.

It had been when he was no older than ten years old when those drunken stallions had waddled past his house, so intoxicated they couldn't tell a tree from a lamppost. One of them thought it would be funny to light a small bundle of rubbish from one of the nearby bins. Their laughing had almost woken up Comet's parents. He wish it had.

The stallions had shoved the burning pile of trash through his house's letterbox, the flaming ball landing on the welcome mat. It didn't take long to spread.

They had destroyed his precious home, his refuge from the world. They had destroyed all of his memories as entire rooms were consumed by the blaze in a matter of minutes. They had destroyed his family. The one painful memory Comet bore from that terrible night was the painful sight of his family huddled together underneath the roaring inferno that had once been the staircase. Comet, being a quick young colt, had managed to leap under the flames and billowing smoke into the street beyond, where a great crowd of panicked ponies had watched in horror.

There they were, the ones he loved most. His father had conjured up a magical barrier to protect his mother and sisters from the wicked flames, but it could do not to protect against the smoke. Aurora was crying, so was Dawn Dancer. His mother held them both in her forehooves, wrapping them in a protective embrace as his father's horn had blazed almost as bright was the flames around him as he struggled to keep the shield stable. But the black tendrils of smoke creeped through the blue barrier, and soon into the lungs of his family.

Comet remembered weeping uncontrollably as he watched his sisters fall unconscious together, swiftly followed by his loving mother, the one who had carried him into the world. But his father- the brave selfless pony who loved his family with every fibre of his being- had turned to look his son in the eyes. Through the fiery whirlwind, Comet remembered as his father smiled at him comfortingly. He remembered his horn lighting up further as he spoke to his son telepathically for the final time.

"Don't worry son, everything will be fine, you'll see. We have to go now, we all do. We wish so much that it didn't have to end like this, but life is unpredictable, ya know? Just remember always...we love you, I love you. Never forget that, my dear Comet Catcher...my son"

The telepathic link had abruptly ceased as the young foal tried the run back to his father, only to be stopped by a blast of searing fire. Through the hellish haze, Comet had watched as his father wrapped his foreleg around his sleeping wife and children, closing his eyes as he kissed his lover for the final time on the head.

The staircase collapsed.

Comet Catcher shook his head from the painful memory. His father had been right. Things did get better from then on.

Comet arrived at the third landing and smiled. It was here that he had first set his eyes upon his new mistress, Princess Celestia- the most beautiful and regal pony he had ever seen- and somepony else. Gods, who was she? What was her name...

Comet cursed his senile mind. She was beautiful, that was certain, almost like the sun goddess. But there was something special about her. Her coat was the colour of golden autumn leaves, and her mane billowed like gentle clouds lit by sunlight. She was only one of three alicorns that Comet had ever gazed on. But her cutie mark, that had been clear. Comet remembered gazing upon the rich golden leaf as it glinted off the sunlight streaming in through the windows.

But one distinct thing about this other Princess was the fact she was heavy with child. The old unicorn remembered as she giggled at the sight of Celestia's new ill fitting crown and great reforged breastplate. So pretty and full of life, she had seemed out of place in the harsh world of Canterlot Politics. As Comet moved forward to walk down the next corridor, he stopped.

But soon after that had come that terrible night, when her cries of joy became cries of pain. He didn't like to think about it: the Court Physician running back and forth, the terrible screams coming from the birthing stable, the sobs of Celestia. Pitiful sounds. Terrible sounds. And then, silence.

Comet shook his head and climbed to the fourth landing. He still remembered how long the silence had seemed to last and how impenetrable it had been. Despite his sensitive hearing and magic, he had had no idea what had happened. The seconds had ticked past, one after the other...And then all at once, shattering the deathly silence, had come the most wonderful sound of all- the sound of a young filly crying. The sound of the young Princess.

The world had suffered a terrible tragedy. Equestria had lost one of its Princesses in the throes of foalbirth, yet a new life had been brought into the world. It had been, Comet thought, almost like the old days when he'd first come to the magnificent Royal Palace, where it had been a noisy bustling place filled with foreign visitors and laughing foals. Back then, the Palace had been open to all of Canterlot, allowing ponies of all classes to mingle together and to laugh together under the protective embrace of their monarch.

In fact, Comet's astronomy skills were spotted by an old professor of the University of Canterlot right here in the Palace. He had found him teaching a young group of foals about the different constellations and where they could be found in the sky during each time of year. The professor had been so impressed that he had written a letter to Celestia herself recommending Comet's valuable skills and knowledge. Oh, happy, happy memories!

The ancient unicorn reached the fourth landing and paused to catch his breath. But times had changed. The events occurring in the independent pony nation of Germaneigh had been causing unease and uncertainty within the borders of Equestria. A new leader had come to power- Adolf Bitler- a charismatic and powerful earth pony with a vision of creating a Thousand Year Empire, one to rival Celestia's influence. Soon afterwards the Great Purges had begun. Never in the likes of pony history had so many ponies been discriminated against- Settler Ponies especially. However, Equestria was forced the declare war for the first time after forces from Bitler's army invaded neighbouring Prance.

Comet sighed. What followed had been lonely years. The Palace had been shut from the ponies of Equestria, its bright colourful halls now host to military strategy meetings instead of joyful celebrations. Celestia had been away leading the armies of Equestria and freedom personally, leaving poor old Comet Catcher to look after the Palace as best he could. But the Palace had taken care of him, and so he could take care of the Palace. He had stayed, and listened, and waited.

And then- some six years later- Celestia, the majestic sun goddess and Princess of all Ponykind, returned home from the blazing ruins of Marelin. In her absence however, bickering politicians had assumed rule over Canterlot, and were hesitant to relinquish their new found power. But one look at their true ruler brought them to their knees. Celestia had declared joyfully on the grand balcony overlooking the Court of the Sun and Moon that the great war had ended. Comet remembered watching the plotting politicians whisper behind curtains and pillars as she spoke. But what could they do, really? Celestia was the Princess after all.

After a painful final push up the last flight of stairs, Comet Catcher was greeted by a long hallway, decorated with stunning stained glass windows. Deep red curtains hung beside each, matching the gold lined carpet that ran down the corridor's length. At the end stood a pair of grand oaken doors gilded with sparkling white gold leaves. the old unicorn stopped before them and knocked three times with a forehoof.

"Come in, Comet Catcher" came a melodic voice.

"I bring news of Captain Stormswirl, you highness" said Comet, entering the sumptuous and lavishly decorated bed chambers to Celestia. The Princess herself lay laying down on a luxurious sofa, her pristine white form draped over a multitude of plump cushions and pillows. A cosy fire crackled in the hearth in front of her.

"He sends word of his estimated time of arrival" he continued, setting the gold tray down on a small table before the Princess.

"Which is?"

"Three hours, your highness"

"Wherever are you taking me, Cadence?" Celestia giggled as, still blind folded, she found herself being steered across the floor by her niece, her expansive angelic wings brushing against various bits of furniture as she went.

"Stop!" her niece commanded, and Celestia felt her delicate hooves teasing at the knot behind her head. The silken purple scarf fell away. "All right", she said proudly, "you can open your eyes now."

Celestia did as she was told, rubbing her violet eyes as she looked down to see a half finished painting spread out before her. She rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

A soft beam of muted yellow light swept across the elegant room as the clouds parted to reveal the setting sun. Cadence held her breath. Would she like the painting she had started of herself with her dream stallion, or would she had preferred something more original?

When she'd first started out, making a beautiful picture of herself in her perfect dream, it seemed like such a good idea, and Cadence had spent many hours the previous day looking through her old fairy tale books for images of handsome Princes and beautiful poses for the Princess - which was her, naturally. Getting the facial expressions right had been tricky, especially on her own face. It had taken over two hours in front of a mirror to get the perfect look she wanted, and even then it was still not quite good enough. But it would have to do.

Later, she had turned the figures into a sketch, which she was now using to make the painting accurate and realistic. Celestia picked up the sketch with her magic, glanced at it, laid it beside the canvas, and turned her attention to the incomplete painting.

"Its..." she hesitated, her brow furrowed.

Cadence swallowed anxiously. She should have done something for original. A dragon perhaps. Or a luxury yacht - no, a racing blimp, soaring high over the Canterlot spires. Or maybe the Wonderbolts zooming over the Cloudsdale Cloudesium...

"Its wonderful!" she breathed. The sun goddess leaned across over the paint splattered red oak table and nuzzled her niece's mane. "You're a clever filly Cadence"

The pink alicorn beamed. It was all she could do not to purr out loud and her hoof trembled as she tried to decide where she would dab a spot of bright pink paint on the end of the brush he was levitating.

"What about over there?" Celestia suggested, and pointed her hoof at a gap in one of the highlighted regions of Cadence's painted face. Cadence swept the brush over the area as a bell in the distance tolled six. She looked up and smiled shyly - but Celestia had turned away, her violet gaze now staring out of the tall glass balcony doors, a puzzled frown decorating her delicate face.

"It looks perfect", Cadence chimed, "thanks."

"What? I..." Celestia muttered absent mindedly. Then turning back, she noticed the completed face of her niece.

"Oh, I see." She paused. "Tell me Cadence, why did you decide to paint yourself like this?"

"Like this?" she replied, surprised.

"Yes child", a little harsher than she meant it too. She inclined her head to the open storybook lying open beside the canvas, depicting a handsome young stallion crossing horns with a beautiful Princess, there heads pressed against each other lovingly.

"Oh that" said Cadence. "Yes it does look a bit similar. But my picture is off my dream stallion."

That being said, Cadence had left that half of the picture blank. She hadn't been able to decide what exactly her dream lover should look like. "That's just inspiration. I've looked at other books too on how to draw myself and...him" she said waving her hoof at the blank canvas of her stallion.

"I can vouch for that", a voice piped up from the other side of the great room. "Three hours we spent in the Library yesterday. My word, I felt as if my legs would crack from all the standing and walking we did!"

Celestia turned round and peered into the shadows.

"Professor Shimmer Dew, is that you?"

"No, its the long lost Prince of Gallopfrey" the voice replied sarcastically.

Celestia smiled. How different from the politicians these country ponies were. No airs, no graces, no false compliments that became whispered insults the moment your back was turned. With this wizened old Professor from Baltimare, what you saw was what you got.

"Mind you", Shimmer Dew went on, "far be it from me to complain. If three hours searching through the largest Library in Equestria is what it takes for a niece to get her aunt's attention, then so be it." he cleared his throat quietly. "No offence intended, your highness"

"None taken" said Celestia. She knew there was truth to his words. The time consuming responsibilities of high office had driven a wedge between an aunt and niece who, before, had always enjoyed such a close relationship. The evening clouds once again obscured the sun, sending shadows darting round the vast room. Professor Shimmer Dew was briefly bathed in the dim yellow light. He was seated on a hanging sofa with his academic papers spread before him on a small table. Being private tutor to Cadence had its fair share of paperwork to mark. Cadence's pet tree fox was seated on his shoulder.

"Of course, the painting will look even better when it's finished" he said without looking up from his papers. The shadows swallowed him up once more. "And since Cadence has promised to complete it as soon as possible, it would be nice if you didn't leave it too long before your next visit."

"Quite, quite" said Celestia, who hadn't heard a word. Her horn lit up briefly to readjust her tiara, and she turned her violet gaze over to the balcony doors. the long lace curtains fluttered in the breeze. "Curious" she muttered to herself, "I could have sworn Comet catcher said three..."

At that moment the tree fox on Shimmer Dew's should began jumping about on its leash and shrieking furiously: a high piercing cry followed by a staccato cough which- had it been back in the Everfree Forest rather than in the magnificent Palace- would have alerted others of its kind to imminent danger.

Waa-iiiii- kha-kha-kha-kha-kha

"Calm yourself, Muffins" ordered Shimmer dew, tugging it closer and stroking its trembling neck and shoulders. "Come on now, quieten down."

But the tree fox would not quieten down, and when the old professor tried to hold it in his lap, it scratched at his hind legs and slapped his face with its prehensile tail, so hard that it left an angry white weal on his cheek.

"Aargh!" he cried out in frustration more than pain, and let go of the end of the leash.

The tree fox leapt onto the floor and bounded towards the door, its large eyes narrowed and soft white fur bristling. "Muffins!" called Cadence, dashing after it. "You naughty thing, you. Come back here!"

Waa-iiiii- kha-kha-kha-kha-kha , the tree fox shrieked back.

"Come back!" Cadence demanded again, angry now, "at once!"

Her horn lit up with a calming blue light as she attempted to snare the little creature by the tail. The cyan light darted down towards the tree fox, but hit nothing but the golden carpeted floor as Muffins zoomed away. Cadence looked at her aunt anxiously. She'd never approved of her keeping a pet in the Palace, and the last thing she wanted to do was give her another excuse to get rid of it. But oddly, the sun goddess didn't seem to mind what was going on- in fact, it didn't even look like she notice what was happening.

And then Cadence saw why. Far down below them in the magnificent Court of the Sun and Moon, a gleaming column of armoured Royal Guards galloped towards the main arched gateway to the Palace. And up above, another cadre of the elite protectors soared towards them, pegasi all. At the head of the aerial group, gilded armour blazing brightly in the light of the dying day, glided Captain Stormswirl, leader and commander of the Royal Canterlot Guard. His proud blue streak crest marked him as the order's leader, and sky blue sapphires studded his helmet. As the imposing commander landed gracefully onto the marble balcony outside, Cadence's heart sank.

Not that she had anything against the good captain - in fact out of all the courtiers within the Solaris Court, Stormswirl was perhaps her favourite. Uncle Stormy, she'd once called him when she was a little filly. He was funny, and would sometimes perform magic tricks for her. No, it wasn't Stormswirl she was disappointed with, but Princess Celestia- and herself of course, for being so stupid.

When Celestia had entered the room earlier that day, her beautiful aurora mane flowing before her - unannounced and out of the blue, Cadence had been so happy to see her that she hadn't once questioned her reasons for coming. She'd simply assumed she wanted to spend time with her niece.

She now knew that she'd been wrong, and she remembered how distracted the Sun Princess had been; forever checking the clock and glancing out of the windows. She hadn't come to see her at all. She's simply been waiting to keep an appointment with one of her royal friends.

WAA-iiiii- kha-kha-kha...

"Muffins!" Cadence cried with a sudden fury. "Will you be quiet!"

...kha-kha...

Shimmer Dew lunged forwards and swiped the screeching, scratching creature, knocking it firmly away from the door. Cadence's horn flared as she seized the end of the leash firmly in her magical grip. At the same instant, the door opened to reveal the old unicorn Comet Catcher.

"I've brought the young Princess' dinner" he began, "together with..."

YAAOOOW!, the tree fox howled with a mixture of pain, rage and frustration. Comet paused. "Wh-where is the young Princess' little pet?" he asked breathlessly.

"You're quite safe said Shimmer Dew. The aged unicorn at the door noticed the furious tree fox writhing in Cadence's grasp and winced. Shimmer Dew smiled.

"Shame on you, a great big unicorn frightened by a little tree fox"

"I...that is..." Comet's ears twitched uneasily. "A new message came for the Sun Princess, the Ruler of Cante-"

"Yes, yes, get on with it!" said Shimmer Dew impatiently. The old astronomer could be painfully slow at times.

"The message comes from Captain Stormswirl, commander of the Royal Canterlot Guard". Comet cleared his throat. "He regrets that unforeseen circumstances have delayed him, but hopes to arrive no later than two hours after the time I originally informed her royal highness would be the time of his official appointment..."

Shimmer Dew facehoofed.

"As usual, you're too late" he said, interrupting him for a second time. He nodded towards the now open balcony doors, where Princess Celestia was warmly greeting Stormswirl behind the flapping white curtains. "I dare say the captain will be able to deliver his own message" he added with a slight chuckle.

"This is most irregular" Comet Catcher muttered miserably, "I haven't announced him yet..."

"Oh well, never mind" said Shimmer Dew, who had always found the older unicorn's behavior and mannerisms anything less than bizarre. "But I'd go if I were you" he added, "before Muffins breaks free again." The tree fox screeched, louder than ever. Comet drew back his head and Shimmer Dew closed the door.

"Funny pony" he laughed. "Haven't announced him indeed! Why, Stormswirl is one of the Princess' best friends. Now, Cadence" he said, turning to the young pink alicorn, "hurry up and clear everything away. Your aunt's got work to attend to"

But Cadence wasn't listening. Just after Comet left, the door had been thrust open again. This time, in strode in six golden armoured unicorn guards, the same she had spotted galloping across the entrance courtyard. Idly stroking the purring tree fox under its chin, she was staring at the young stallion who had come in with them, now walking up to Princess Celestia. His mane was two shades of blue, one as dark as a summer storm, the other as cold as ice. His eyes matched the darker shade, and his coat was of a pristine white.

He was a mere colt compared to the guards with him, and he was dressed in a light brown harness which signified his low rank of Cadet. By Cadence's guess, he was little older than fifteen, only a year older than Cadence herself, judging by his height and build. Yet when he caught her gazing at him, those storm blue eyes locked her magenta ones within them - if briefly.

To her horror, Cadence realised she was blushing.

Chapter 9: The Stone Labyrinth

The Stone Labyrinth

"The Shadows Stir...

For the third time in as many nights, Shining's dreams were disturbed. It was at four o'clock when the soft tap-tap-tap on the door of his bed chamber roused him from sleep. He rolled over and across the gloomy, yet well furnished room.

"Who is it?" he mumbled sleepily.

The tapping grew louder, more insistent.

"I said, who is it?" Shining called back, louder.

"Shining? Shining Armour, are you in there?" came an urgent, sweetly feminine voice.

"Is-is that you, Your Highness?" said the white unicorn, sitting up. "Come in."

"Shining!" Celestia barked, "I must speak with you!"

"The door isn't locked, Your Highness!"

"Shining!"

"Oh, for Stars' sake" Shining muttered as he climbed out of bed and trotted to the door, the lack of warmth from his covers suddenly making his coat feel very cold. "I said it's not...unkkh!"

As he reached for the handle, the door burst open and sent him sprawling to the floor. The Sun Princess appeared in the doorway, a lantern levitating beside her. Her face was drawn, yet flushed. Her gleaming red rimmed eyes looked feverishly around the room.

"Shining, this is urgent. I need you to come with me. Immediately."

All the young stallion could do at this point was nod and climbed unsteadily to his hooves. The door had dealt him a sharp blow to the side of the head. "Just let me get a few things on. It's cold outside."

"Quite, quite" came the distracted reply and, as Shining got ready, the Princess hung her lantern on the wall and began pacing backwards and forwards around the room. She herself was wrapped in another expensive cloak, made from starsilk and laced with fine thread made from spun gold studded with tiny blaze pearls.

"I haven't been able to sleep all night" she muttered agitatedly. "I doubt I shall ever sleep again, unless...unless I give it one more try."

Her words got faster, louder, and more breathless. She paused and clutched her crown-less head in a forehoof. Shining watched her uneasily out of the corner of his eye as he laced up a thick black cloak around his body. His magenta magical hold tightened all the strings, lace and buckles with skill. There was no way he'd have a repeat of the last time the pair of ponies went outside at night. The venerable Princess was quite clearly at the end of her tether.

"Oh, forgive me for what I have done" she trembled. "For what I have unleashed..."

Shining said nothing. He knew the words were not intended for him. The Princess resumed her pacing back and forwards, her expansive wings snapped in close to her body.

"It's so clever. So cunning. This is my last hope. Stars willing, I'll succeed this time. For if I fail..." She turned to the blue maned colt and focused on his concerned face, as if seeing him for the first time. "I must succeed."

"Your highness?"

The aurora maned alicorn retrieved her lantern. "Come, colt. We have work to do."

It was dark outside, very dark; that darkest hour of the night just before the dawn. Apart from the Princess' tallow lantern, there wasn't a light to be seen. The Palace slept with the rest of Canterlot, and no light came from the Moon due to the black clouds. Shining felt very alone as he and Princess meandered through the winding pathways of the Statue Gardens.

Yet Shining dared a glance up to the sky. It was the first time since his arrival in the Palace that the stars above were not black and cold, and now shone brightly in the vast expansive sky. The entire starry host above the young unicorn as like a sheet of inky blue velvet sprinkled with powder snow and crushed diamonds. It was stunning...and Shining immediately thought of Cadence. There, to the South was the constellation of the Great Whale. And there, the Griffin's Talon. And further to the East was Nightroar the Dragon, with the constant East Star forming his piercing eye.

Shining sighed. When the lights of Canterlot and nearby Ponyville were ablaze, the stars were all but invisible. He had badly missed their reassuringly familiar shapes. Yet now, seeing them once again, he realised that he missed both his parents and his Captain even more.

"Stop dawdling Shining" the Princess snapped from before him. The white unicorn was surprised to see that they had arrived at the imposing statue of the mysterious Princess. Celestia pressed the secret button on the statue's plinth to reveal the hidden staircase that led to the ancient elevator. "We haven't a minute to spare."

Shining trotted to catch up. This was neither the time nor the place for homesickness. His parents were living comfortably in Greater Canterlot with little Twilight Sparkle, and his Captain had left him the Princess, and it was to her that Shining now owed his loyalty - at least for the time being.

"I'm sorry, Your Highness" he said, "it won't happen again."

"I should hope not" Celestia's voice echoed as she strode down the curving stairs into the eerie gloom. After the spiralling descent, both were greeted by the familiar sight of the rickety contraption that was the way into the mysterious tunnel. Celestia stepped boldly onto the elevator and tapped her hoof impatiently as Shining joined her. "If you get me down to the entrance of the tunnel as efficiently as you did last time, we'll say no more about it."

Shining nodded, wishing he had had the time to tell Cadence of this new expedition. He took up his position at the three levers.

"Release the winch-chain when I say, Your High...aaaagh!" he cried out as the rickety platform abruptly plummeted. Struggling to remain upright, Shining applied the brake lever with his magic while feverishly pushing and pulling the weight levers with his hooves. Nothing happened. Had the elevator broken away from its moorings completely? The chain rattled as it unwound; the framework creaked. Then suddenly, with a loud grinding jangle - the ancient machine gave an almighty lurch and began to slow down.

"Thank the Stars" Shining breathed. "I thought we were in trouble then. You really should consider a new way of getting down here, Your Highness."

With Shining back in full control, the descent had continued smoothly. Once again, the elevator had come down to rest on the ground at the entrance of the tunnel. Once again, the Princess picked up her lantern and started into the darkness. And once again, Shining had been left on his own as the alicorn scrambled into the gloom.

This time however, Shining did not stay at the elevator.

As the oily yellow of Celestia's lantern glow and the tap-tap-tap of her hooves both faded away, he stepped out into the cold, foreboding tunnel and - a little uneasily - cast a simple illumination spell. The vast cavernous entrance was bathed in a bright magenta glow, revealing to Shining fully the extend of the tunnel's construction. The minute carvings of ponies he had discovered on the walls of the tunnel previously appeared to run all the way round up to the rough ceiling. Four pillars held up the mammoth weight of the ground above.

As the young unicorn trotted hesitantly into the darkness, he noticed that the walls of the underground shaft were not entirely smooth. Dozens - no, hundreds of cracks ran across the rock, small tiny, others large enough for a pony to walk through. An icy breeze from an unknown source murmured and groaned as it passed through, and the tunnel glowed in the bright light of his horn.

Shining shivered uneasily. The mountain of Canterlot seemed almost alive. Silver Star's emphatic words came back to him once more. Any sane pony doesn't go down there.

And neither to trainee Royal Guards, though Shining. At least they shouldn't. Yet here he was standing at the mouth of a treacherous labyrinth of narrow tunnels, any one of which could squeeze him to death or seal him up forever if his luck deserted him inside the magical peak. Heart in his mouth, Shining set off.

He hadn't gone more than a dozen strides when he came not to one, but three narrow passages fanning out in front of him. It was only the faint yellow lamplight glowing from the left hoof one that told him which to take. He hurried along it gratefully, but the incident was unnerving. It brought home to him just how easy it would be to become lost inside the unnatural maze, and he hastily scratched in an arrow into the stone with his magic to mark his route.

Centuries of unchecked and random shifts in the rock had left the tunnel twisting and turning through the great mountain peak of Mount Everwhite like a worm hole in an apple. Deeper and deeper Shining went, pausing every few paces to mark the walls with rough arrows. Each time he stopped, Shining had the horrible feeling that he was being observed - yet when he looked, there was never anything there. Nothing but the hissing and humming of the wind drifting through the dark and porous rock.

Shining tried hard to keep up with the Princess, marking the walls as quickly as he could and hurrying on. But the tunnel was difficult to negotiate. The ceiling was low; the floor was pitted and marked with countless protrusions which tripped him and grazed his coat; while the walls were, in places, so close together that it was only by squeezing sideways on his hind legs that he was able to go on at all.

The Princess, Shining realised, must have removed the worst obstructions on earlier trips, because every so often he would come to sections where the rock was scarred by recent magical blasts and the ground was strewn with rubble and dust. All the while, the stone labyrinth echoed with curious groans and breathy murmurs. Could they really be caused by the wind alone?, Shining found himself wondering as he scratched in another arrow on the uneven surface of the rock.

It was at the end of a relatively clear stretch of tunnel that Shining caught a glimpse of the Princess' flapping gown. He hesitated, fell back and held his breath. He didn't want Celestia to know she was being followed. Above the constant hum and hiss of the breeze came the sound of impatient cursing. The Princess' gown had become snagged on a jagged spur of rock.

"Calm yourself, Celestia" Shining heard the Princess mutter as she tore the material free. "It'll be the worse for you if you arrive with your emotions in turmoil. Control yourself...or it'll control you..."

Shining frowned. What could she mean? There was only one way to find out.

With shivers running up and down his spine, Shining hurried after the Princess. The atmosphere in the tunnels grew warmer, stuffier. The humming grew louder while the hissing faded. The air glowed a deeper, darker reddish colour. All at once Shining rounded a bend to find that the princess had stopped in front of a colossal stone door set into the solid rock, no more than a few strides away. He fell back and waited silently.

The door was round in shape and seemed to have constructed from the outer edge of the Heart of the Mountain itself. If it hadn't been for the innumerable silver creatures carved into its surface the door would not have been visible at all. The Princess approached the door. She removed the great heavy breastplate that usually hung from her neck with her magic and leant towards the carved stone. As she did s, Shining's view was obstructed by her expansive white wings. The next instant, there was a low, grinding noise followed by a soft click - and the door slid open to reveal a vast, dimly lit cavern.

Craning his neck, Shining caught a glimpse of the curious sight within. There were countless gleaming flagons and glass spheres, all swaying at the ends of long, glowing stem-like tubes that protruded from the curved walls, and at the very centre of the chamber, a huge glistening sphere, seemingly woven from light, hovered in mid air.

"What in Goddess' name...?" Shining breathed, crouching down and edging forwards for a closer look.

And then he heard it: a low pitiful sound that sent shivers scampering up his spine, like the sobbing of a foal in pain. He shifted forwards, but the Princess was still blocking his view. Whatever was in there sounded small, vulnerable.

"Be still you evil creature" the Princess snapped.

As if in response, the plaintive cries turned into a hysterical high pitched wail. And through the obvious distress, Shining thought he could hear words. Pleading. Imploring.

"No more" it howled. "I beg you, no more..."

Shining scrambled back to all four hooves and was about to take a step forward when the door abruptly slammed shut. The unhappy voice was instantly silenced and Shining was left staring at the circular design on the rock once more. He crept towards the door and pressed his ear against it, but the rock was too thick for any but the most muffled of sounds to penetrate.

The white stallion turned away. The Princess had something - or somepony - locked up in this underground chamber. It was the last thing he'd expected and he shuddered uneasily, his head in a whirl. He had trusted Princess Celestia, admired her even. Now he was unsure of what to think. What had the Princess got imprisoned inside the chamber? And what terrible terrible things could she have done for it to cry out so desperately? And what, it occurred to him with a jolt, was he going to tell Cadence - that her aunt was a mad pony who tormented luckless creatures in an underground torture chamber?

One thing was certain. He had to get back to the elevator before the Princess. On no account must the Sun Goddess discover, or even suspect that he had followed her. Turning his back on the sealed chamber, Shining set off back along the corridor, vowing to return as soon as he could.

He took turning after turning, sweating with a mixture of exertion and nerves. The rocks hummed all round him as he followed the scratched arrows down the endless passages until...

"Oh, horseshit!" the young stallion cursed as the familiar carved door in the rock face loomed up in front of him. "How did that happen?"

Somewhere, somehow, he'd gone wrong and ended up back where he started. It was his own fault, he told himself angrily. He'd been so wrapped up in his thoughts of what was going on inside the chamber that he hadn't been paying proper attention to the trail he'd laid out. He set off once more. This time he'd have to concentrate. The Princess could appear at any moment. He could not afford to mess up twice.

Shining's heart began to race as he discovered how he'd gone wrong. Although he thought he'd marked the entire route from the entrance of the tunnel to the door of the chamber with small etched arrows, in his haste and nervousness, he'd drawn some so haphazardly that they hardly looked like arrows at all, while some others were so faint that he could barely make them out. Moreover, in places the labyrinth was covered with marks of its own; dark stains, blots and smudges, black sooty blotches...

Which were the marks he made? Which were there before?

"Which way do I go?" he whispered, his voice low and tremulous as he came to a fork in the tunnel with identical black smudges apparently singling out both of them as the correct way to proceed. "I can only was drawn one of you..." he groaned.

He reached across, rubbed his forehoof over the first of the scratches. It was fresh, that was for sure, and Shining judged that as the way to go. But then he tried the second mark as well, just to be sure. It felt identical.

"No!" he cried out, and the explosion of fear and frustration echoed down the intricate catacomb of tubes, tunnels and galleries all around him - No No No No - before fading away, only to be replaced a moment later by a different sound entirely. It was the sound of scratching and scurrying.

And it was coming closer.

For a moment, Shining thought it must be Celestia hurrying back to the elevator. But only for a moment. The noise wasn't coming from behind him at all, but from one of the two tunnels in front of him. Which one though? The echoing acoustics were so confusing.

He stepped into the first tunnel, cocked his head to one side and listened. He frowned. It was impossible to be sure. He stepped back and was just about to inspect the left hoof tunnel when he saw a light approaching from the other end. The unicorn's heart missed a beat. Bright green and pulsating rhythmically, the light was speeding down the tunnel towards him. The sniffing and snuffling grew louder and louder.

Without a second thought, Shining turned tail and dashed down the right hoof tunnel. The scurrying quickened and the air echoed with slobbery snuffling and leathery flapping. The creature - whatever it was - was giving chase. Glancing back over his shoulder, Shining stumbled, fell and gashed his right foreleg on a jagged rock where he landed. Thankfully, his fall did not break his magical illumination spell. The noises got closer still. The light behind him had intensified.

Heart in his mouth Shining scrambled to his hooves and, despite the searing pain in his leg, dashed off once more.

"Faster" he urged himself as he squeezed through a long, narrow stretch of tunnel and hobbled on. "Faster!"

Behind him, the creature had paused. The blue maned pony heard sniffing, followed by a loud slurping. He shuddered with disgust. It had found the place where he had cut his leg.

Whiii-whiii-whiiiii!

The excited high pitched squeal resounded down the passage, filling the young stallion with absolute terror. Not only had the creature tasted his blood, but it had liked it! Shining tore his cloak from his shoulders and, wincing with pain, tied it tightly round his shin with his magic to staunch the blood. He had to stop the trail of tell-tale red drops that he was leaving behind him, leading the creature on.

Straightening up again, he limped off as fast as he could. His blood thudded in his temples. His heart hammered in his ribcage. All around him, above the sound of the mysteriously humming mountain, came the hissing of the wind once more. It was only now that it had returned that Shining realised it had been absent before. Something else was different too. The atmosphere was freshening, cooling. It could only mean one thing: he must be nearing the surface of the labyrinth.

"Goddess protect me" he murmured. "Please, please, please guide me to the entrance and not some dead end."

A moment later, he saw it.

At first, his brain refused to accept what his eyes were telling him. He leant forwards and nudged the scrap of tattered material clinging to the jagged piece of rock with a hoof. There was no doubt. This was where the Princess had snagged her gown. Only starsilk could shimmer like that in the light of his horn. He was following the right path. it was the first piece of good news Shining had had since entering the terrible dark, claustrophobic system of tunnels.

What was more, behind him the throbbing green light and the disgusting slurping noises both seemed to be fading away. Had he given the creature the slip? The next moment he saw the light glowing ahead of him - and froze. Of course he hadn't! How could he have even considered it? Somehow, the fearsome creature had managed to get ahead of him. Staring fearfully at the light, he stepped slowly backwards. Noises behind him stopped in his tracks.

Flapping, snuffling, groaning...he spun round to see a second light, brighter than before. There must be two of them!

"Trapped" Shining breathed. His coat was clammy with sweat, and his breath came out in ragged gasps. Should he go forwards? Should he go back? The flapping grew louder. He had to go forwards. Brow furrowed, Shining channelled his magical power into a charged force at the end of his long horn, and then continued. He remembered the lessons Captain Stormswirl had given him in self defence.

"In such a situation, attack can be the best, if not the only means of self defence."

At the first sign of movement, he would lunge and fire a highly charged energy blast. Shining approached a narrow bend in the tunnel. He hesitated and listened before going any further. Behind him, the snuffling was getting louder again. The creature was so close. With his heart pounding and his muscles tensed, Shining edged forwards. The light seemed brighter than ever. He took a deep breath, turned the corner and...

"Thank Celestia!" he murmured.

The sickly green glow suddenly melted away. The light that stood in it's place was neither green nor pulsing. It was the intense pink'blue brightness of the new morning, a single shaft of light streaming down through the elevator shaft. Almost sobbing with relief and delight, Shining limped those last few strides towards the glittering circle and stepped onto the platform. At last, he was free of the terrifying stone labyrinth.

As he stepped onto the ancient wood, the hinges creaked and the chains screamed in protest.

"Do you think I'm afraid of you - after I've been chased by...things?" he roared at the elevator. Shining laughed and sat himself down on his haunches until he heard another sound coming from the tunnel. He look round, and gasped.

"Princess!" he cried. "But what...what's happened to you now?"

As he helped the white alicorn onto the wooden platform, Shining's gaze fell upon the bright gold breastplate of high office which hung round the Sun Goddess' neck. The violet diamond encrusted in its centre shone in the early dawn light. The bright sunlight glinted upon the floral filigree on it, throwing the beautiful design into sharp relief. A thoughtful look played over the young unicorn's face.

"Shining Armour..." the stricken Princess groaned.

The unicorn dragged himself from his reveries.

"Sorry, Your Highness" he said, "hold tight now. We'll you back in no time."

As the two ponies hobbled from the hidden passage in the Statue Gardens, a single pony looked down from the West Promenade. The old earth pony frowned. The Princess and her assistant had survived. No, no, that would not do at all.

For Thorn Sprout was ready and more than willing to tamper with the elevator mechanism to bring about the death of Equestria's Ruling Monarch - but it to be soon. He had to have received payment for his task before the next full moon - for that was when his contact had given the deadline, lest he find somepony else to slay the Princess. Two hundred thousand gold bits he'd mentioned, and though the hooded character with the silver muzzle mask had not exactly agreed, neither had he refused.

It wouldn't do for the Princess to survive after the deadline. No, that way would not do at all. Otherwise he would end up with nothing. He peered down as the stone pathway sealed itself up as the two ponies departed. The elevator was so old, so fragile. Chuckling unpleasantly, Thorn Sprout turned and strode away. He had important business to attend to.