Captain Barrel Roller stood on the balcony of the palace’s main tower. She looked determinedly at the masses of guards in formation below.
“Guards, we have a crisis on our hooves. Discord has betrayed Equestria and joined Tirek.”
The assembled guards muttered. Spats leaned over to Bunker Buster next to him and whispered, “Don’t worry. The princesses have a plan. And it will involve AG1 saving the day.”
“Some of you are probably thinking that the princesses have a plan, and it will involve AG1 saving the day,” said Barrel Roller. “Put that out of your mind, then toss it in a trash bin. You are the last line of defense for your princesses. If the day is going to be saved, it will be through you.
"Each of you is in the Guard because you belong in the Guard. Because I or another officer knew you could live up to the oath you took. That oath was that you would defend Equestria, its leaders, and its peoples from its enemies. Its enemies are almost at the gate.”
Bunker Buster whispered to Spats, “This is all a ploy. She’s using us as a smokescreen to cover whatever Twilight and her friends are doing. We’re the distraction. The fodder.”
Spats shook his head. “I can’t be a fodder, I’m not even married.”
"Prince Armor,” said Barrel Roller, “they're ready."
Shining Armor stepped up from behind her wearing his old purple captain’s armor. He thrust his horn at the sky, and a beam shot out and exploded, forming a bright pink bubble around the palace.
He's only shielding the palace, thought Spats. The rest of the city is on its own.
Barrel Roller took a hovering position and called out division assignments. Spats was assigned to patrol a parapet in the southwest corner of the palace.
He scanned the horizon, first with his eyes, then with his spyglass. Though it was difficult to see through Shining Armor's shield bubble, Ponyville looked normal.
Alrighty. No sign of our monsters so far. Maybe they've already turned on each other. Maybe they've already killed each other.
A huge shadow was cast over the palace. All looked skyward. Discord was outside the shield, looming larger than the mountain and grinning gleefully. He pulled an enormous decorative hatpin from behind his body, and pricked Shining Armor’s shield. It popped like a balloon. The sound was deafening.
Spats held his ears in pain. I hate that jerk.
He looked up and saw that Discord was gone from the sky. A horn blew. Spats knew that signal- all guards were to rush to defend the throne room. Spats ran at full gallop across the palace's walls.
Spats reached the main tower and cut through its vast laundry facilities in its rear. The launderers were huddling in a corner. He gave them a reassuring wink as he passed them.
He made it to the floor below the throne room, and heard clanging outside the window. He looked out and gasped at what he saw.
A massive creature- Tirek, he presumed- was standing on the skybridge to the throne room. Barrel Roller and Saguaro Shade were engaging him in combat.
The captain and the commander in full battle mode!
Barrel Roller whirled tight circles around the beast, pelting him with lightning, rainbows, and cyclones. Tirek roared and swatted uselessly at her. Saguaro Shade hacked away at his lower body with his sword, dodging and weaving the creature's four kicking legs. Each time Tirek tried to focus on devouring one of his opponents' power, a blow from the other would cause him to cry out and stymie his attempt. Spats watched in awe.
Then, Discord appeared in the air above Tirek with a flash. He grinningly stretched out his arms, and grabbed Barrel Roller and Saguaro Shade by the scruffs of their necks. He dangled the two officers in front of Tirek, who wickedly smiled and opened his maw, gobbling up the strength of the guard leadership. He tossed them over his shoulder like spent soda cans.
They were caught by two pegasi guards. They and the rest of the full force of the Royal Guard were swarming the skybridge now. Spats needed to join them.
"Spats!" called a mare's voice. It was Shoofly, hovering outside the window.
Spats nodded. He leapt out the window, and Shoofly grabbed him, joining a dozen other pegasi carrying earth and unicorn guards into the air.
“How do you wanna play this?” asked Shoofly.
“Aim me down the middle. This is for the brute,” said Spats, whipping out his spear. “And this is for the dirty traitor,” he said, lighting up his horn.
She released Spats. He flew straight as an arrow at the monsters. His horn crackled with lightning and he aimed his spear.
Tirek raised his hands and froze all the guards in mid-air. Spats struggled. Tirek opened his mouth and sucked down the strength of Spats and the other guards. Tirek dropped his hands.
Spats and the rest of the guards fell.
He felt a tingling all over. He saw his body enveloped by a blue aura, and looked to see a group of unicorn guards catching and safely lowering other guards who had been sapped.
Discord appeared behind the unicorn guards, rolled them into a ball in an oversized baseball glove, and threw them to Tirek. Tirek devoured their magic.
Spats fell again.
Water rushed into his mouth, nostrils, and ears. He had fallen into the stream running through palace grounds.
He tried to sit up, but could not. His armor was too heavy for his muscles now. He tried to work off his saddle plate, but found the buckles slick with mud.
Drowned in a foot of water by my own armor. It’s undignified, is what it is.
Another guard fell next to him. It was Shoofly. She had also been robbed of her strength, and she had hit the water with less breath in her lungs than he did.
Spats crawled over to Shoofly and undid the strap on her armor. It slipped off her, and she breached the surface, taking in two lungfuls of air. Then, she took two more, held them, and plunged back down into the water.
She put her lips around Spats's mouth and breathed air into him. His burning lungs devoured it. The two worked his armor off and crawled out of the stream, clinging to each other, and gasping in exhaustion. Around them, other guards were helping their colleagues out of the stream as well.
"Thanks," Shoofly croaked hoarsely.
"Back at you," Spats said. He squinted at her flank. “Whoa.”
"What?" she asked.
"Shoofly... you're a blank flank."
She looked at her side. Her cutie mark was gone.
"Spats... so are you."
He looked at his side. “Wow. Too bad Radish isn’t here. He would have loved this.” He looked up at the throne room entrance of the main tower. He couldn’t see Tirek, Discord, or any guards. “Come on, we’re still needed in the throne room.”
“We can’t even stand.”
“Then we’ll fight prone.”
She laughed. “That’s like something Radish would say.”
“I hope he’s okay.”
“I’m… sure… he’s… hnn…”
Shoofly had passed out. Spats held on for a few more seconds, then did the same.
“Well, sister, this is another fine mess you have gotten us into,” said Princess Luna, tugging on her chains. Even if she hadn’t given up her power, she doubted that she could break them.
Luna, Celestia, and Cadance now occupied a spot of honor in Tartarus, on a bare raised platform intended for highly dangerous prisoners.
“We all knew this would happen. It was the only way to keep our magic away from Tirek,” noted Cadance.
“Besides, this works out fine,” said Celestia. “Radish is here in Tartarus on an official inspection. He will find us, free us, and then we can all leave in the sky skiff.”
Luna winced. “Oooh. About that…”
Celestia scowled. “What? What have you done?”
“Radish is… not here.”
“And why not?”
“I may have… redirected him.”
“To where?” Celestia demanded through her teeth.
“To Midnight Castle, to stop Tirek.”
“LUNA! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!?”
“I was thinking of Tirek’s defeat, sister.”
“First you sent him to face Discord, now this! Why do you insist on pitting Radish against supermonsters!?”
“Why do you continuously underestimate his abilities!? Has he not proven himself? He defeated you, after all!”
“Tirek isn’t going to be fighting by Canterby Rules, Luna! You’ve sent Radish to his death!”
“You think I choose my Champion lightly!?”
“Oh, enough of this ‘Champion’ nonsense! We both know you just made that up as an excuse to spend more time with him!”
“HOW DARE YOU!”
“That’s enough bickering, you two!” scolded Cadance. “Tirek is on the loose, Equestria is in danger, we’re imprisoned in Tartarus, and yet all you can do is fight over Radish!”
“Oh, quit trying to turn this into some kind of three-bit melodrama, Cadance,” scoffed Celestia. “This is about Luna ordering my guards around behind my back.”
“That is precisely the problem! They’re all your guards!” said Luna. “Who does that leave me to command, the chambermaid?”
“Maybe you’d have more responsibility over the guards if you didn’t send them on solo missions to Midnight Castle!”
“At least when I send Radish on a mission, he doesn’t join with the enemy!”
The sisters glared at each other.
“Okay, that’s it!” announced Cadance. “If Radish is such a major source of contention between you, then I'll just have to remove him from the equation.”
“Meaning what, exactly?” Luna demanded.
“Shining Armor once suggested we offer Radish a position in the Crystal Empire. It’s clear to me now that it would be best for everyone if I went ahead and extended that offer.”
“He would never accept it, Cadance,” scoffed Celestia. “His girlfriend lives in Canterlot.”
“I know. I’ll just make her an offer she can’t refuse,” Cadance said, shrugging. “Artist Laureate of the entire Crystal Empire, perhaps.”
“You wouldn’t dare!” growled Luna.
“Try me, dear aunties,” Cadance said defiantly.
The princesses stared each other down. After a moment, Celestia looked aside.
“Perhaps Luna is right. Perhaps she deserves more authority when it comes to Guard orders.”
Luna rubbed the back of her head. “And perhaps I’ve held an overly-heroicized view of Major Root.”
“And there’s one other thing we can agree on,” said Celestia.
“What’s that?” asked Luna.
“Discord sucks.”
The two sisters hugged.
“Aunts… I think we have company,” warned Cadance.
A heavy, clanking series of footfalls approached from one of the side caves. A metallic creature in the shape of a tiger slinked into the room. Its skin was made of golden plates which shifted over each other as it moved. A red glow shone from its eyes and mouth. Celestia stood up to greet it.
“Superintendent,” called Celestia. “I am Princess Celestia of Equestria. My fellow princesses and I have been wrongfully imprisoned by the escaped prisoner Tirek.”
“The superintendent is a machine?” whispered Cadance to Luna.
“Not quite,” whispered Luna. “He is a magical-mechanical construct, assembled and animated by the Dell Dwellers, the beings who established Tartarus in an ancient age.”
The superintendent stared at the three princesses. “There is no ‘Tirek’ listed on the prisoner manifest.” it said in a windy, hollow voice.
“What are you talking about?” Celestia asked. “He was a prisoner here for a thousand years!”
“That is not possible. Tartarus was founded merely five years ago,” he said matter-of-factly. He turned and walked off.
“Well,” scoffed Luna. “I am starting to see the problem around here.”
“What’s wrong with him?” asked Cadance.
Celestia squinted at the superintendent. “Tirek must have sabotaged him.”
“Then, what do we do?”
“We can only hope that Twilight and her friends come through once again,” said Luna. “After all, they are well-experienced in saving the day.”
“And if they don’t, perhaps Major Root will,” Celestia offered. “He has a habit of overcoming long odds.”
Cadance smiled.
Minor point:
There's a quotation mark missing at the beginning of Luna's second sentence.
Ah, I'm assuming it refers to the start of Gen 4.
Very tense chapter! Hopefully Celestia learns her lesson about her treatment of Radish for real this and doesn't return to her old ways after the events of this arc like she has previously in this story. Radish isn't even actively perusing her anymore and she STILL refuses to see the error of her ways or treat him as an actual pony. It's nice to see Luna put her hoof down on her actions this time.
As for Cadence, Don't you dare. He has a happy life with his girlfriend and the last thing he needs is to be put under Shining's command again, a stallion who is still incapable of seeing past his cutie mark and treats Radish like the scum of the earth. Now you want to send him north to go back through hell? You were the ONLY pony other than Light to give love and support to Radish and act like a functional adult around him after the Celestia fight and now you want to ruin all that trust?
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Thanks
how many chapters one after the other what a wonderful Monday, I'm really curious, will everything follow canon or will root take any more action against tirek, will he be mentioned? After all he foiled his plan, and Celestia was once again acting strange, I don't think she would mind giving her sister night guards, but it seems like Cadence said, when root is in the equation they fight, waiting for more, good health author
Are the Dell Dwellers supposed to be a reference to the Dwemer or something?
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Not quite, no. It's a callback to Gen 1.
https://hero.fandom.com/wiki/The_Dell_Dwellers
Root, after taking on Tirek and destroying the Rainbow of Darkness, "That hurts, Luna."
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Don’t forget, he also destroyed the Rainbow of Darkness, helped bring the bat ponies back into Luna’s service and protected Princess Luna from the Changelings during the Royal wedding.
And that’s the takeaway from all this. We know what will happen involving the canon events. However, we don’t know what happens in the background, nor do we know about what event’s happened in-between canon events. This is open to interpretation and allows room for the writer’s creativity.
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Yeah, it might be it, but... That's that. He might as well just... Not exist, in a grand scale of things. That's the thing, the story weaves into canon so good that the whole story feels pointless, because it has been told already. I mean, I do appreciate the attempt at storytelling, but here it feels like the bicycle is being invented. Except it already has been invented a couple centuries ago.
awesome chapter.
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that's it. and this makes it even worse when root is an incredible character, he is hilarious, and determined, I almost have the feeling that the real story will begin when perhaps the canon comes to an end, because from then on the author will have a free pass to.
While Radish didn't completely stop Tirek, he did everything that could have been asked of him considering the circumstances. Tirek would be much more of a threat with Dark Rainbow powers, thus putting things more in Twilight's favor in the battle to come.
As a side note, I liked the sequence with the guards almost drowning. It shows how truly weak ponies are without magic and how absolutely fucked the world would be if Tirek succeeded.
Cadance was funny in this chapter.
"Aunties, if you two can't stop bickering like foals, then Shining and I are taking my brother and going home!"
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I just hope raddish will understand his mark soon as he has sufferd enough because destiny decided to be a d***. perhaps the author could have raddish understanding his destiny go parrallel to cannon becoming a looser thing in the story, you know symblisum or sumthing idk
Nice
Do the Princesses know about the Rainbow of Darkness? It seems weird to me that they didn't question why Tirek never used it.
I love how every seemingly important arcs, you've used different moods of Celestia as your cover
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Now that you say...
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Uhm...Amen? Gesundheit? ...Good...good job?
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The mystery of Moonlight Mist's masterful messaging must once more manipulate the mind and muster a meaningful melody of merriment and melancholy.
Interesting, I hope Radish goes with Cadence and Shining. It'd be nice to see them shifting up the dynamic a bit more and maybe have Radish spend time with the two of them more and bond.
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No, open side down is misfortune.
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Ahem.
"Screw the rules, I make them."
NOOOOOOOOO IM CAUGHT UP! THE HORROR, THE HORROR! (Excellent fic btw)
Ngl I think that Celestia definitely has feelings for radish, and her reoccurring dream is keeping her from moving on to realize it. Or she's suppressing it out of guilt.
Something tells me this is either the truth and Luna has a crush, or Luna's follow-up is correct and not a deflection. Tbh, I have no clue here, it could even be both.... Either way both princesses need either friends or therapy.
edit: i just had a terrible thought while thinking about the guards situation. What if light gets caught in a bad situation somehow... and DIES because of it.... (more likely she gets injured and Radish blames himself or something, leading to her snapping him out of it in a lovely dovely scene.) this would give celestia and him something more to relate over and might start to crack the prison around her heart or something... (can you tell i still ship them?)
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It was a brief glance, and was in the dark, it might have been an Alicorn, after all if you dont know they exist then you dont know what they look like. I can toataly see the result of glim-glam's machinations resulting in poor radish winding up WAY in the past. It might tie into the obedience stamp subplot too.
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Also I was half expecting the cage scene to result in an "because I love him" declaration from one of the two sisters because DRAMA. Would have been entertaining, but might not be the best for the story considering the theme it seems to be going for.
A game of kiss marry kill would be interesting at the end too between all three princesses, with radish being one of the options as a funny callback.
Edit: was it kiss marry kill or was it kiss marry hug? Or was it f word, kiss, marry?
So I can say this is my favorite story on this site right now, I'm on the edge of my seat awaiting the next chapter! Also trying to convince my friends to read it and failing.