Chapter one
‘My lord!’
‘Your lordship!’
‘Lord I-‘
Gabriel abruptly went from laying his head on the desk to sitting up straight startling the pony that was in his office helping him organize his paper work. Gabriel gave the pony, known as Quill a sheepish smile as she rolled her eyes at him and resumed her work. Taking a moment to stretch Gabriel looked around his office, for someone of his rank you’d think it’d be a bit more tidy but no; stacks of paper covered his desk and small table that was off to the side and dust seemed to cover everything where the paperwork wasn’t. Out of everything in his office the only thing that seemed presentable would be his armor sitting on its rack behind his desk.
Taking a glance at his watch Gabriel decided he had taken up enough of Quill’s time.
“Hey Quill? You can go now you’ve done so much already and I’m sure you have more important things to do besides helping me with paper work.”
“Thank you, my lord,” Gabriel cringed at that, he really didn’t like ponies addressing him by his title, “I’ll be just a few more minutes before I’m done.”
“Alright, thanks again Quill.”
Quill just nodded as she got back to her work. With that out of the way Gabriel decided now would be a good time to go visit his employer. Leaving his office Gabriel started down the long corridor heading towards the throne room where Celestia was holding court.
Upon nearing the doors leading to the throne room Gabriel was about to head in before somepony called out to him.
“Hey Gabriel! Gabriel!”
Turning around revealed the pony calling out to him to be none other than his good friend, Good Will.
“Hello Good Will what brings you here? Usually you’re nose deep in those ledgers of yours, how’s the ol’ treasury doing?”
Good will rolled his eyes, “You know very well how the treasury is doing besides I’m here because there are some matters the Princess needs to be addressed on. Anyways, what are YOU doing here? Don’t you have a mountain of paper work to get through?”
Gabriel let loose a sigh, ever since Captain Shining Armor became Prince Shining Armor and with the help of the Elements reclaimed the Crystal Empire Princess Celestia had offered to send troops to help the new Prince and Princess protect their lands which they readily accepted seeing how the Crystal ponies had virtually no military of their own whatsoever. So now Gabriel had to figure out how to send an adequate amount of guard ponies to protect the Crystal Empire as well as keep a standing force here in Equestria to protect his own homeland as well.
“Yes that’s kinda why I’m here.”
Good Will gave a knowing smirk, “Is that the only reason? Are you sure it’s not to get a chance to win over a certain princess I know you’ve had an eye on ever since you got here?”
Gabriel blushed, he tried to keep it on the down low but it wasn’t much of a secret that he had a bit of a thing for Princess Celestia. And Good Will just loved to tease him about it.
Looking away Gabriel said, “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Good Will kept up his smirk, “Heh you’re a terrible liar Gabriel.”
“…Shut up.”
Good Will chuckled, “Come on loverboy let’s go inside, I’ll even hold your hand if that makes you feel better!”
Gabriel responded with a friendly shove and they both laughed. Reaching for the doors Gabriel was about to open them when they suddenly burst open and a very angry Blueblood came trotting out of the throne room.
‘Aww somepony didn’t get their allowance this week.’ Gabriel thought.
Side stepping the spoiled prince Gabriel smirked at him as they passed each other gaining an annoyed glare from Blueblood as he trotted past. Walking into the throne room Gabriel and Good Will walked down the carpet leading to the throne upon which Celestia sat flanked by two guards on either side.
Approaching the Solar princess both man and pony bowed before her as she smiled at them and motioned for them to rise. Rising back up the duo took a few more steps toward the princess before stopping again.
Celestia smiled at the two and said, “Lord Gabriel, Treasurer Good Will, while it’s nice to see you both again seeing you both at the same time is a bit worrying.”
Good Will spoke up, “Indeed it is your highness, might I suggest we speak in a more private setting princess?”
The smile Celestia had quickly vanished as she looked to both her guards and motioned for them to leave which they promptly did. After the doors to the throne room closed the only ones there where the princess, Gabriel, and Good Will.
Sighing Celestia said, “Alright we’re alone now so what seems to be the matter?”
This time it was Gabriel who spoke, “Princess I’m sure you’re well aware of the increase in recruits we’ve been getting ever since the Crystal empire was reclaimed by Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor,” Celestia nodded, “Well recently the amount of recruits we’ve been getting has slowed to a crawl and I fear we may be spreading ourselves too thin, we barely have enough guards to protect both the empire and our own kingdom.”
Good Will chuckled, “Well Gabriel it seems we’re here about the same thing,” turning to address the princess he continued, “due to the increase in troops we’ve been getting the royal treasury can barely support it. Simply put, we have too many troops and not enough funds to pay them.”
Celestia raised a hoof to her chin in thought as she considered the problem laid before her. She and her sister had promised the Crystal Empire that they would send troops to help protect the reclaimed empire, yet if they could barely afford to pay the increased number of guards ponies they’d either have to start recalling troops from the empire or find some way to help pay all of their guards and who knows how long that would take. With a sigh Celestia knew what she had to do.
“Very well, though I loathe to do so, to prevent the royal treasury from buckling under the weight of having to pay so many troops I hereby decree that Equestria will begin recalling troops from the Crystal Empire.”
Gabriel glanced at Good Will who seemed very happy about the princess’s decision, he himself however was not. While it had to be done Gabriel didn’t like the idea of leaving the defenseless to fend for themselves.
Bowing before the princess the pair turned and left the throne room, leaving Celestia to finish up whatever other business she may have during day court. As the doors closed behind them Gabriel sighed, he hated that they had to pull troops back; it just didn’t sit right with him leaving a friend and ally to fend for themselves. Good Will on the other hand seemed to have a bit of a skip in his step, Gabriel at first thought it odd but dismissed it quickly having no reason to doubt his friend.
As they continued walking they eventually made their way back to Gabriel’s office, saying their farewells the two parted ways. Gabriel was about to enter his office and resume his dull paper work but stopped when hearing someone yelling.
Gabriel turned to look down the hall as a guard came running down the hall toward him. As he got closer the guard, whom Gabriel could tell was an earth pony guard as he got nearer he came skidding to a halt right in front of him. It seemed the guard had been searching for a while trying to find the Lord Protector. Trying to catch his breath the guard gave a quick salute which Gabriel returned in kind.
“L-Lord Protector! P-private,” he paused to taking in a lungful of air, “Spear Tip reporting sir!”
Gabriel kneeled down so as to be eye level with the guardpony, “Relax private, catch your breath first then tell me what was so important that it required you to run around the castle looking for me.”
Spear Tip gave a nod as he continued to suck in air as he dropped to his haunches in the middle of the hall catching his breath. After a minute or so his heavy breathing had calmed down as was able to properly talk.
“Thank you sir! You have no idea how long I was searching for you.”
“I can imagine, now tell me what this is all about?”
“An assembly has been called and your presence is required as soon as possible.”
“An assembly hmm? Whose all going to be there do you know?”
“Umm I’m not sure sir, well besides the Lord Treasurer and a few Lords who’ve come to Canterlot recently.”
Gabriel cursed under his breath if there’s one thing he hated more than the snobbish elite of Canterlot it was the snobbish elite from other cities or towns. Taking a moment to think about it however he knew something big must have happened if the leaders of other cities and towns had been summoned to capitol.
Turning to look at private Spear Tip he said, “Alright well guess I shouldn’t waste any more time. Thank you for informing me private you can return to your usual duties.”
Spear Tip gave a salute before turning and trotting back the way he came.
Once he left his sight Gabriel went the opposite way Spear Tip went and headed straight for the Assembly chamber. Not that much of a walk for him since it was just down the hall and to the left of where his office was located. Upon nearing the double doors the two guards standing sentinel spotted the Lord Protector and gave him a salute while opening the doors for him. Gabriel returned the salute in kind and entered the chamber.
Where the hallway was relatively quiet the assembly chamber was a shouting match where everypony was trying to be heard over the others, quite hectic really.
As the doors closed behind him Gabriel took a quick look at the lords in attendance. A few he recognized easily enough, kinda hard to miss Count from Manehattan who’s chair looked like it would break at any second due to his weight, or the Baroness from Fillyadelphia that mare always gave Gabriel the creeps, what with her snow white mane and coat. And of course who didn’t know Blueblood? He was by far one of the more arrogant lords in the chamber.
Walking over to his customary seat next to Good Will Gabriel sat down and waited for things to settle down. Looking over at his friend he saw that Good Will looked rather bored as he was messing with a pencil pushing it back and forth between his hooves.
Leaning over so Good will could hear him Gabriel spoke, “So, anything interesting happen yet?”
Good Will looked up with a smirk, “Somepony, couple minutes before you got here, threw a horseshoe at Blueblood…I owe them 5 bits now.”
Gabriel chuckled before handing a small pouch to Good Will, “Here give him 5 from me as well.”
Good Will smiled and placed the pouch by his side then resumed messing with his pencil.
Just as the shouting between the various lords and ladies seemed to be getting really heated a guard came running in and announced (more like shouted) that both princesses had arrived. Then like a classroom finding out the teacher was returning everypony quieted down and sat up straight acting like nothing had happened. Except Blueblood who was giving a certain lord a rather mean glare.
As the doors opened everyone stood up and bowed as both Celestia and Luna entered. Making their way to their own seats at the front both princesses sat down followed by everyone else sitting down.
Taking a moment to concentrate Celestia cast a spell ensuring everypony could hear her before speaking, “Hello my little ponies, I understand there’s been some rather…unsettling news as of late,”
The sound of creaking was heard as the Count from Manehattan stood up from his chair and spoke, “Forgive me your highness but somepony threatens to assassinate you and you call it unsettling?! I would think you’d be more concerned with this news then that!”
Celestia gave the Count a look that said, ‘be quiet’ before continuing, “…as I was saying, I understand you all have your concerns considering this recent threat but rest assured that Luna, myself and our commander of the royal guard will be working on resolving this issue.”
There was a murmur of satisfaction from some of the lords but there was still a few of them that wanted to hear more than ‘we’ll fix it, don’t worry’.
Celestia cleared her throat and everyone quieted down again, “Now let us talk about the complaints some of you’ve had about the recent troop withdrawal from the Crystal Empire…”
I won’t bore you with the details but suffice it to say a lot of nobles weren’t pleased with the sudden decrease in troops many said it made Equestria look weak, others said it meant Equestria would lose influence over the crystal ponies, but Celestia being the wise leader she is was able to reassure them that all would be fine.
So after a few hours of bickering from the nobles and a few more voicing concerns about the assassination threat the assembly was called to end for the day and resume the following morning.
Walking out of the chamber Gabriel stretched as he made his was back towards his office with Good Will close behind.
Groaning Good Will complained, “By Celestia! I thought that would never end!”
Gabriel chuckled, “Come on it wasn’t that bad.”
Good Will snorted.
“Alright fine it was pretty boring.”
Good Will gave a nod, “Hmph glad you agree.”
Once they arrived at Gabriel’s office he offered, “Hey want to hang for a bit? Got some Sweet apple acres cider stashed in here somewhere.”
Good Will said, “Tempting…but I’ll have to pass, got some more work to do and I’m sure you do too with all those troops now coming back home.”
Gabriel let out a groan, “Don’t remind me I still got mountains of paper work to sort through.”
Good Will was about to respond but was interrupted by a flash of light and a scroll landing at Gabriel’s feet.
“Hmm wonder what this could be,” Gabriel said bending down to pick up the scroll.
Opening it up to read what it said it read,
Dear Gabriel,
I request you come to the throne room, immediately. We have matters to discuss (I think you know what I mean). As well as something I have only recently been informed about. Please come with due haste.
Sincerely,
Princess Celestia
Rolling the scroll back up Gabriel looked to Good Will and sighed.
“Guess that cider is going to have to wait; I’ve just been summoned to the throne room.”
Good Will raised an eyebrow, “What for? That is if you don’t mind me asking.”
Gabriel merely said, “My job.”
Good Will frowned not happy with the answer but accepted it regardless, “Well ok then, see you around Gabriel.”
With that Good Will left to do his own thing leaving Gabriel to make the journey to the throne room by himself.
Walking to the throne room was odd for Gabriel since it was unusually quiet in the halls leading from his office to the throne room. Opening the double doors he walked in as the doors closed behind him. At the other end of the room sat Celestia and not far from her Luna was pacing back and forth, a frown upon her face.
Coming to a halt right before them Gabriel bowed, to which Celestia gave him a smile yet Luna didn’t seem to notice, too busy pacing. When she finally did notice her frowned deepened.
Stopping mid-step she turned and spoke, “And just where hath thou been?! Thou art late!”
Gabriel bowed again before saying, “Apologies princesses I had a few things to wrap up with Good Will, it took a bit longer than expected.”
Luna stared at him for a moment before returning to her pacing. Celestia gave Gabriel an apologetic look and said, “I am sorry for my sister’s behavior she’s just worried about recent events is all.”
Luna barked a laugh, “Worried? Thou think us merely worried?! Sister some unknown pony has threatened to harm thou!”
Celestia let out a tired sigh, “I know Luna, I know. But worrying about it will not help matters any! Besides Gabriel is here now so we can finally get down to business and find out who issued this threat and apprehend them.”
“We shall do more than apprehend them…” Luna muttered.
Unsure of what to make of this Gabriel asked, “Your Grace why is it only recently that I learned about this? And during the assembly for that matter! As both yours and Luna’s personal body guard and Commander of the guard one would think I’d be informed of this as soon as you have.”
Celestia nodded understandingly, “I am sorry about that Gabriel. We were going to inform you before the assembly but we could not get a hold of you that soon so that’s why you learned of it when you did.”
Standing up Celestia nodded to Luna before speaking again, “Now if you have any more questions I ask you wait until after we are finished showing you what we know.”
Gabriel nodded and followed the two regal sisters as they walked over to a nearby pillar and pulled down on the banner hanging there. After a brief moment the rack holding the banner lowered itself and a door way made itself known as the marble flooring shifted and revealed a rather old looking door. The door was wide enough that both Alicorns could stand side by side without being cramped. Approaching the door both sisters lowered their heads and proceeded to insert their horns into two holes in the door. Turning their heads slightly a click was heard followed by the groaning of gears as the door opened revealing a stairwell heading down into darkness.
Removing their horns both princesses looked over their backs and motioned for Gabriel to follow them into the darkness. Curious to see that was at the end of the stairs Gabriel followed without a second thought. Heading down the trio made their way deep into the belly of the castle, as soon as the natural light from the throne room faded to nothing Celestia ignited her horn illuminating the stairwell as they went down and down.
After following the stairs for what seemed an hour maybe to at most for Gabriel they finally reached another door, this one guarded by Luna’s own night guard.
Approaching the door both guards seemed to stand even more rigid as their princesses walked pass. Entering the door reveal a sort of board room with ponies already awaiting the princesses arrival. Immediately Gabriel noticed several of the ponies in the room, starting on his left there was the general of the night guard, Midnight Flight, next to him the leader of Cloudsdale’s air forces Gale Wind, further down was the Baroness of Fillyadelphia and finally at the end of the table was Good Will. To his right surprisingly was Blueblood, next to him was even more surprising a buffalo war chief, and next to him was pony he wasn’t expecting to see for some time still, Shining Armor.
Clearing her throat Celestia said, “Now please Lord Protector, have a seat we have much to discuss.”