Clause Chronicles

Shining sat at his desk, chills still running down his spine.
Just a few hours ago, a pony had disappeared from the castle, without a trace.
The only clue they had, was the strange flooding in the room at the time.
Shining looked up and around.
He Couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched.
And these feelings were usually right.
The sound of voices and hoofsteps pierced the silence, growing progressively louder.
The door swung open, and two dreary eyed stallions trotted into the room.
Gold sat opposite Shining, wiping sleep from his eyes.

"Whats up Shiny? Why'd you call us out at 3am?"

Shining looked around.

"Where's Sombra? I called him too."

Gold shrugged.
Braeburn sat himself down.

"Ah couldn't convince him to get out of bed. Sahrry."

Shining rolled his eyes.

"Typical. Well, no matter. We need to focus on the situation at hand."

Gold's ears perked up.
Whenever Shining spoke like this, trouble was sure to follow.
Shining Cleared his throat, putting on his best "professional" voice.

"Earlier this evening, the Earth Pony named Green Flash disappeared from his suite. Naturally, the suite has been searched. The only thing out of the ordinary was water all over the floor. Sea Breeze was the one to discover the flood. He's been taken in for questioning. I need you two to scope out the crime scene a little more. Just in case the guards missed something. I have to meet with the Princesses now, so It's up to you two to gather Intel. Be careful, I don't like this situation one bit. Good luck."

With that, Shining took a deep breath, and trotted from the room, leaving Gold and Braeburn with their directive.

Shining trotted through the darkness.
Every shadow seemed to jump out at him.
Every single movement made him jump.
There was a reason he felt this way; there had to be. But he simply couldn't figure out why.
It was as if the darkness itself was playing some sort of sick game with his mind.
Shining concentrated, and a light began to shine from his horn.
For a moment, he could have sworn he saw something dead ahead of him, staring.
But when he looked twice, it was gone.
Shining closed his eyes.

"Cmon Shining. Pull yourself together. Your mind is just playing tricks on you."

Shining stepped forward, and heard a shuffling, heading away from him.
Perplexed, he shone his magic out further.
But saw nothing.
Shaking his head, he continued on his way to the throne room.

Arriving at the throne room, Shining was met with somber expressions all around.
Cadence was the only one who seemed remotely happy to see him.
His own sister seemed to be too exasperated to notice him.
It stung a little, but Shining ignored it.
He turned his attention to Princess Celestia, ready to receive his orders.
Celestia regarded him with sadness.
Shining instantly knew something was wrong.
Celestia opened her mouth to speak, her voice steady and firm.

"We've received a note. From the attacker."

Princess Celestia enveloped a small roll of parchment in her magic, sending it floating towards Shining.
He took it in his own magic, and unfurled it.
He skimmed through the letter, quickly realizing just what it was.
It was a ransom note.

"Dearest Princess Celestia. As you may well have noticed by now, one of your newest "Heroes" has already been reversed. I can assure you, more will follow. Your only option is to submit to my will entirely, and watch as your kingdom is plunged into reversal."

Shining corrected himself mentally.
It wasn't a ransom note.
It was a threat against Equestria.
But from who?
What Did "Reversing" mean?
Shining opened his mouth to ask questions, but Princess Celestia gave him a forlorn look.

"I don't have any answers for you. I'm sorry."

Shining's ears flopped down.
Celestia spoke once more.

"It isn't safe for anyone to be in the castle under cover of night. Green Flash should have been safe in his room. If he wasn't safe, then nobody will be. I'm having the castle evacuated immediately. We cannot risk any more attacks."

Shining frowned.
Hard as it was, he understood.
Whoever was taking ponies, it was clear that they were capable of circumventing the castle's security enchantments.

Celestia put a hoof on Shining's shoulder.

"I know this may seem like surrendering now, but I can assure you, we will catch the culprit. Now go, get your guards to help evacuate."

The castle was no longer safe.
Shining headed towards the crime scene.
He Had already sent his guards to round up the noble-ponies.
He was more worried about his friends.
He had sent them straight into danger.
A shadow flew around the corner, sending Shining toppling over.
Determined to catch the culprit this time, Shining lit up the hallway with his magic.
To his surprise, the shadow was in fact a tearful Gold.
Shining had a sinking feeling.
Gold attempted to choke words out in between his sobs.
Shining patted him on the back, trying to calm him down.

"What's wrong, buddy?"

Gold hiccuped a little, tears still rolling down his cheeks.

"I-It g-got B-B-Brae... H-hes g-g-gone...

Shining rushed Gold back to the throne room.
As much as he hated to put his friend under even more stress, he may have seen or heard something useful.
He was after all, the first to witness an attack.

The four princesses stared Gold down, as he stood, stammering, broken, in the middle of the throne room.

"I-it went d-dark all of a s-sudden...and w-we heard a screech... Then Brae went r-really Cold... Cold as ice... Then he just vanished..."

Shining mulled it over in his head.
It was possible that Gold simply went into shock when the attack occured.
But at the same time, something didn't seem right.
Gold was a trained guard. Though he often didn't show it, he wasn't one to break down crying so easily.
Something surreal happened, something very surreal.

When Shining made it back to his office, Gold was already there.

"Hey Shiny."

Gold looked out the window, still clearly hurting.
Shining trotted over, placing a hoof on his shoulder.

"Can I count on you to help me unravel this mystery?"

Gold turned and nodded.

"To the end, buddy."

Shining smiled, before heading over to his desk.
As reassuring as the support of his friend was, it didn't change the harsh truth.
Ponies were disappearing, and they had little to no evidence of who was taking them.
The term "Reversal" floated about in his head.
Maybe Twilight knew something.
She'd been sent back to Ponyville after Green had disappeared.
She may be a princess by title, but she wasn't one by heart.
Not just yet.
Shining trotted out the door, Gold following immediately.
Shining turned and opened his mouth, ready to share his plans as the two stallions walked through the night palace.

Shining explained as they walked.

"There was this one term in the ransom note, "Reversal". I think It might be the key to tracking down our culprit."

Shining went over it again in his mind.
It still made no sense. No matter how many times he went over it, it just made no sense whatsoever.
Gold spoke up, most of the body having returned to his voice.

"So, We're going to meet with one of the most well-read mares in Equestria, am I right?"

Shining grinned.

"You can read me like a book. Some things never change."

Gold chuckled a little.

"Your plans aren't exactly complex."

Shining reached over, whacking Gold on the back of the head.

Whispers rolled through the Canterlot streets, as the two stallions headed towards the train station.
Word had gotten out that two ponies had disappeared from the castle.
And The noble-ponies were clinging to the gossip like foals.
Shining noticed that Gold was silent, glaring at any Noble-ponies that stepped into his path.
Shining could understand how Gold was feeling.
Gold had lost something extremely dear to him.
Shining himself might have felt the same way, had it been Cadance that had disappeared.
All of a sudden, a commotion broke out near one of the stores.
Shining and Gold walked towards the source of the commotion.
A moment of pure shock caught the stallions off guard.
What looked like a silhouette of a pony, was staggering about.
Shining tried to get a closer look, but Gold didn't need to.
Gold could recognize that Hat and Vest anywhere.

"B-Brae...?"

Gold stepped forward, Only to have Shining pull him back.

"I don't think that's Braeburn."

The silhouette melted in on itself, dissipating into a mere shadow on the ground.
Gold stood staring at the remains, whilst Shining cleared the area of noble-ponies.
Eventually, Shining managed to disperse the crowd.
Gold simply sat there, staring.
Shining put a hoof on his shoulder.

"C'mon Buddy. We can't do anything for him right now."

Shining half dragged Gold onwards to the train station, his mind racing.
What just happened?
What was going on?
Who was responsible?
The more he thought about it, the more it all seemed disconnected.

The two stallions stepped onto the platform at Ponyville station.
With little time to spare, they made a beeline towards the library.
The small town was happy and bustling.
It went a long way to lift the Duo's spirits.
They made it to the library with little incident.
The door swung open effortlessly, revealing a mountain of books in the center of the room.
Twilight peered out from the mess.

"I know why you're here boys. And I'm sorry to say, We haven't found anything regarding what's happening at the castle. I'm sorry."

Shining frowned.

"What do you mean, WE?"

Sea Breeze came trotting down the stairs, meeting a glare from Shining Armour.
Gold stepped in, waving a hoof in front of Shining's face.

"Now's not the time to get possessive on us Shiny. We need all the help we can get."

Sea Breeze trotted quickly towards Twilight, passing her several books from the upstairs rooms.
Twilight smiled in a goofy manner.

"Thanks, honey."

Sea Breeze returned the goofy smile.

"You're welcome, Honey."

Shining made an exaggerated retching noise.
Gold looked downtrodden, opening his mouth to speak.

"I hate to rain on your parade, but we really need help here. It got Brae, and we have to get him back."

Twilight nodded.

"I'm reading as quickly as I can. We haven't slept all night, and I'm guessing you two haven't either. Why don't you lie down and get some rest. I'll keep looking."

Gold sighed in relief, to which Shining rolled his eyes.

"Alright, Good night."