Welcome to Equestria, a glorious kingdom ruled by the Princess Celestia, and inhabited by ponies, griffins, dragons and many other creatures. Equestria has known peace above all else, however, that doesn't mean there aren't problems every now and then. The Royal Guard is tasked with handling most of the problems that kingdom sees, but sometimes, there are problems that the royal guard can't handle.
My name is Gallant Heart, but in this story, I go by Styxen Stones. I am not an ordinary unicorn, in fact, I couldn't be any less normal. I have worked as the royal adviser since Equestria's founding, an event that happened thousands of years ago. I appear as a skeleton, but that is just a form I use. But enough about me, I should get on with the story. This story happened a couple years before Twilight Sparkle and five other ponies stopped Nightmare Moon and became the Elements of Harmony.
Before the Elements of Harmony returned, seven individuals banded together to stop a deranged mad pony who was determined to get revenge on Celestia. I was the first of these individuals to stand against him, although at that point in time, I didn't know who I was standing against. In fact, I had no idea it would become so dangerous.
Perhaps I should start at the beginning...
The story started during one of my normal days, with me relaxing after hours of filling out documents or filing reports. I work and also live in a small, three room, living quarters in one of the oldest parts of the castle. Although I'm usually in my skeletal form, I still feel pain and exhaustion like normal ponies. I was certainly feeling it now. I didn't have the energy to leave my desk, so my eyes just looked at all the things I've collected over the years. In a glass case was an ivory tusk with a story carved into it's brilliant white shell, given to me as a gift by the elder of a tribe of elephants. That was an interesting trip to Zebrica, one that involved tropical griffins and carnivorous zebras. Hanging on my wall was a dragon tooth necklace that I collected from an ogre I was tasked with slaying. Beside that was an intricate flute, carved from a piece of a timber wolf. My eyes kept wandering my faded, treasure filled, lavender painted walls until my eyes fell upon my prized possession: a framed photograph of my old team standing with me and Celestia's mother, Queen Faust. Celestia was there too, being only a few weeks old. Her mane was solid pink back then, and during the party we discovered her love of cake after she fell into it and began eating happily. sigh It's a shame that she became ill during her pregnancy with Luna. She died only hours after Luna was born. Celestia wasn't old enough to understand what happened, and Discord; he wasn't even her actual son. She found him when he was a baby and raised him like he was her own child. I think he took it the hardest.
I probably would have kept on dreaming about the past, but I was interrupted by a knocking at my door. I got up and trotted over to the door. If it's a new royal guard cadet again, I'm going to show Shining armor what one century of war can teach a stallion.
"Yes, what is it," I said as politely as I could.
"G-G-Gallant H-Heart s-sir. C-captain Shining Arm-m-mor said ah-I should g-g-give these rep-p-ports on the investigation t-to y-y-you," the pony replied with a horrible stutter.
It was one of the cadets, a unicorn to be exact. He had a light gray coat, with a mane color resembling gold, but more orange than yellow. Guess I'd be paying Shining Armor a visit later that day. Oh well, I was wondering how the investigation was going. Perhaps they've made some progress.
"Thank you cadet. What's your name anyway?"
"S-Sparta Shield sir."
"Well Sparta, please tell Captain Shining Armor that I'll be coming to talk about him making the new recruits bring reports to me. I'm tired of scaring new recruits half to death."
"Yes sir."
"Oh, and stop calling me sir. I go by Styxen Stones. I'm not a general anymore. Your dismissed."
He dashed off in a hurry, almost tripping at one point. Why are they so scared of a talking skeleton? When Commando was Captain, although we called him Captain Crazy, if you could make it through the entire obstacle course alive, an angry dragon would look like a fuzzy kitten. The scariest moment of my life was telling Commando he was being forced to retire. Back on task, I need to read this report. I closed my door and began reading the report. The more I read, the more I feared came true. Seven more ponies have gone missing. Sixty-three ponies total have gone missing over the last six months. I'm afraid I'm going to have to tell Celestia. I have gone out of my way to keep Celestia from learning about the issue. I was sure the problem would be solved before I had to tell her. I'll go and tell her immediately, but first, I'm going to pay Shining Armor a visit. Before I walked out my door, I turned to look at the picture of Queen Faust.
"Faust, give me strength."
I was making my way towards the throne room to speak with Celestia, having previously come from the guard barracks so I could speak with Shining Armor. He knew why I was there and I could even hear his armor shaking with him. He agreed to stop sending the new recruits to give me the reports. Now, as I said before, I was making my way towards the throne room. I was not looking forward to telling Celestia the news. As I made it to the throne room door, I found no guards outside. Twilight must be inside practicing with Celestia. The guards move inside when she's practicing magic so they can stop any spell that might go wrong. I stood in front of the door for about five minutes before I worked up the courage to enter. Faust give me strength. I pushed open the door and just as I thought, Twilight Sparkle was inside practicing a new spell. Spike, the baby dragon that acts as her assistant, was standing on the other side of the room, placing a wooden pony on a stand. Celestia noticed me but I decided to wait until Twilight was finished before I said anything.
"Thanks Spike. This toy will be perfect for practicing ranged object manipulation," she stated with her usual sense of confidence.
Twilight positioned herself and began channeling her magic into her horn, which soon lit up with her purplish-pink aura. After a few seconds, she fired a beam at the wooden pony, which then began glowing with Twilight's aura.
"Time for the real show to begin," said Twilight with her horn still glowing.
The spell that Twilight was trying to perform, for those who don't quite understand, is a spell that turns any object into a puppet that the caster can control with a thought. In other words, if Twilight wanted the affected toy to dance, it would dance, which, as a fact, was exactly what Twilight was making the toy do. She made the toy dance, if random twitching can be considered dancing, for around five minutes. When she was done and her horn had ceased glowing, the toy stopped moving and returned to its normal position. I was impressed. A spell like that, even in its simplest form, is very difficult to accomplish. After a few seconds of silence, Celestia broke the silence to congratulate her star pupil.
"Excellent work Twilight, she said proudly, your skills only continue grow, don't you agree Styxen?"
"Oh! Styxen? You saw my demonstration?" she asked. " Were you impressed?"
"Yes, I was impressed. A spell like that is difficult for even the most skilled unicorns to cast. You're skills have improved so much since you started."
"Do you think that one day, you could teach me your skeletal transformation spell?"
"Maybe. Isis was hesitant to even teach me the spell. Maybe one day but for now, I'd like to speak with Celestia. Alone."
"Yes Styxen. See you tomorrow Princess!"
After Twilight, Spike and the guards had left the room, I turned back to the princess. She had already stopped smiling. She could tell something was wrong the second I entered the room in my skeletal form. If I wanted to talk to Celestia, I'd talk to her in my normal form, but that's only in private. When I talk to Celestia in my skeletal form, it's only to deliver grim news. It's easier in my skeletal form. I can't show any emotions in my skeletal form.
"What news do you bring me, Styxen?" she asked, the previous happiness having been replaced with a look of seriousness.
"I'm afraid that we have failed to solve an issue that has been going on the past six months."
"And what is this issue?"
"In the last six months, sixty-three ponies have gone missing. We can't find any clues as to how they've disappeared and we can't find any connections between the missing ponies. I'm afraid the royal guard aren't skilled enough to solve a case like this. I'm going to take over the investigation."
"Styxen, while it's true that you're the best detective at Equestria's disposal, I can't allow you to do this on your own."
"Then I guess I need a partner. Was there anypony you had in mind? I can think of one pony."
"I hardly think Twilight is interested in her brother's line of work."
"No, I don't want your star pupil put in danger. I was thinking of a certain hot headed stallion."
Now I had her attention. She knew exactly who I was speaking of now. She tensed up when I said the phrase hot headed. In truth, I wasn't too eager to ask him either.
"Styxen," she began slowly, "I don't think Shadow is ready to handle being part of an investigation like this. His magic isn't like yours. He needs to learn how to better control it."
"And he'll never be able to control it better unless he can practice in appropriate conditions. However, it's still your decision of whether or not he does it. So Celestia, will you allow it?"
Celestia remained silent for almost a minute before she sighed and gave her answer.
"Styxen, I will allow Shadow to join you," speaking in a calmer tone, "but you will be responsible for any trouble he causes."
"I understand. I will speak with Shadow, and as of this moment, I am in charge of the investigation."
"Then you are dismissed."
I bowed to the princess and exited the throne room. Just before I exited, I glanced back at Celestia. She looked a lot like her mother, but Rosetta couldn't do what Celestia does with her mane. Back to the point, as I was going to speak with Shadow, I kept thinking about the disappearances. The only thing I know about the ponies who've disappeared, is that they're still alive. I'd have known if they were killed, that kind of knowledge is something I have access to. Whoever this kidnapper is, they want to be certain that NOTHING knows where they are, even Death. This is going to be a challenge, even for me, but I've handled worse. One problem, I've always had my team to back me up, but they're busy elsewhere. A single partner doesn't qualify as a team. Then I guess it's settled, I need to find some more allies.
Starting with Shadow Flare, the stallion of fire, born on the summer solstice. He will be the leader.
To be continued...
