Beacon in the Shadows

by Dee Bee Doo-wop Cooper

First published 1st of March, 2012

Cheerilee must use the Paladin's Code to defeat an evil descending upon Equestria.

When what starts as an attempt on Princess Luna's life becomes a mad grab for power, Celestia must call upon her most skilled weapon, the Paladin. Cheerilee is an ordinary school teacher with a very unorthodox side job. Will her training in the ways of justice, and honor be enough to stop the threat against Equestria? Along her journey she will make new allies, gain new strengths, and become more personally involved then she ever would have imagined.

Note: As for the tags it is only slightly dark and only slightly sad, and not grim-dark at all (more light-dark sometimes). It is Adventure first.

Prologue: Many Shades of Black

Beacon in the Shadows

or

Cheerilee's a Paladin

Prologue: Many Shades of Black

A/N: Here is the prologue for my remake. I hope it lives up to every ones expectation.

~~~~~

The room was dimly lit. Only the silhouettes of the gathered ponies could be seen clearly. Each one of them wore a long, black cloak with silver details sewn in. In the dark, however, the designs themselves simple simply melded into shadow. The group had been waiting patiently; a grand event was about to unfold. Their leader had spread word that they were going to have a new member joining them this night. And now, after almost two hours of waiting, the time had come.

The great wooden doors leading into the circular room swung open gently, and in walked a similarly dressed pony. He wore a darksteel crown on his head, and his cloak had gold stitched into it. He walked to the center of the room, and was followed by five more ponies. The four at the corners of the group had the same dress as the rest of the gathered ponies, but the one in the center had been ladened with heavy chains which wrapped around his body and were then pulled outwards, with each of the other four in the cluster holding one in their hidden mouths. The fifth pony stood silent, his mouth had been sealed using the same metal that made up the chains.

The way his coat blended with the gloomy room, it was a light shade of gray, or close to it. His mane seemed to be a dark brown. If one was to look closer, feathers would be seen pushing out from the chains, sticking up at odd and crooked angles. It was clear from the cuts and lacerations on the pony’s body that he had not willingly volunteered for this.

“Hello, my brothers and sisters. I’m so glad you have all joined me for this momentous occasion. Tonight not only will we gain a new member, and his blessing will come with the moon as well.”

The stallion levitated up the crown and pulled off his hood, returning the crown to where it had previously sat on his head. He had a deep blue coat and a graying blue mane, lines of light-blue arcane energy snaked their way across his skin like an ornate tattoo.

“With this crown, the Moon will have a new master, and one less royal sister will be able to stand against us.”

The stallion motioned to the four chain-bearers. Each of them moved away from their captive and fastened their chains to bolts in the floor, while the stallion nonchalantly walked to the back wall and turned around to face the group once more.

“I ask you, brothers and sisters blessed with magic, to lend me your power. Fill the circle so that we may begin.”

Several other ponies in the room dropped their hoods and channeled magic into arcane lines in the floor. With the room finally somewhat illuminated it could be seen that the group’s gathering point was a medium-sized round, stone structure. Arcane lines, similar to the ones on the group leader‘s face, had been carved into the floor and now pulsed a deep crimson.

The magic in the room caused a hole to open in the ceiling, from which the stars could be clearly seen. The stallion with the crown got down on his knees and sent his magic up into the sky. He felt it touch the Moon, which was already in the silvery magical embrace of a certain lunar Princess. Seizing the Moon from her gentle grasp, he blocked the connection it had with Princess Luna. Then, bringing it directly over the building, he began to channel the Moon’s own energy down into their spell.

The captive pegasus struggled against his bonds, but fell silent as red tendrils rose out of the circle and latched on to him.

~~~~~

Luna sat on the balcony of her large bedroom. She looked up in admiration of the beautiful sky that was her’s, and her’s alone to create. That night, she had decided that a change was in order, and had switched two of her constellations to create a kind of frame around the full moon. She had just finished speaking with some of the professors at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns about moving stars, and why she shouldn't. But it was her sky, and she made sure to never move any star that ponies needed to navigate anyways.

She was on her way back inside when fear shot down her spine. She had felt something else touch her moon. Like a slippery, ice-cold tentacle, it had prodded at the magic that subconsciously kept her and the Moon connected. She was about to return outside to investigate, but instead collapsed onto the floor, writhing in pain.It felt to her as if somepony was stabbing a hot knife down her horn and into her head.

The princess let out a scream of agony that immediately brought the guards posted outside her door to her side.

All Luna managed to get out was, “Please...Please, get Celly...” before once again succumbing to the torturous pain in her mind.

The senior guard turned to his partner with a dead serious expression, “Get Celestia, tell her she is needed immediately. After that, go find Shining Armor and bring him too. Now go!”

The other guard, realizing the gravity of the situation disregarded protocol and jumped over the balcony, taking flight towards Celestia’s own quarters.

The senior guard turned back to look at the Lunar Princess. Her face was scrunched in pain and her eyes had glazed over. He may have been Turncoat, General of the Equestrian Expeditionary Forces, but he was no magician and no doctor. Even so, he began to scan the room, try to see if there was anyway he could make himself useful.

He didn't have to wait long, though. With a blinding flash, and a wave of gentle warmth, Celestia teleported into the room. Turncoat began to speak, but he stopped himself when it was apparent that the older of the two sisters had no concern for his speculations on the matter at hand.

Celestia rushed over to her sister and knelt down beside her. It was clear from her lack of royal attire, and the presence of a nightcap she had received from her sister for Hearth‘s Warming Eve that the solar princess had been sleeping. Her action were anything but that of somepony who had just awoken, though.

“Sister! Sister! can you hear me?” Celestia pleaded, panic written upon her face.

“Sis...Sister...They took it...They took my Moon...”

Luna’s eyes glazed over again and she gave out another grunt of pain.

Celestia’s eyes shown with understanding. Her and her sister were not only responsible for the heavenly bodies they each controlled but those heavenly bodies were literally a part of them. If somepony was blocking her sisters connection to the Moon, then she was watching her sister die in front of her eyes.

Celestia shut her eyes and called out to her own heavenly charge. She felt it resting below Equestria, waiting for sunrise. However, sunrise would be too late. With a burst of power, Celestia flung the Sun back into the sky, and set it on a path towards the Moon. The two heavenly sphere’s came together in a beautiful eclipse, and both Celestia and Luna felt a buzz as the to sister’s magic overlapped, and fused together.

Luna gasped and began to breath normally again. Her eyes opened fully and she moved into a sitting position, still too exhausted from the ordeal to try standing.

She looked at her sister and gave a small smile, “Thank you Celly. Once again I owe you my life.”

Celestia sat down next to her sister and draped her white wing over Luna. “Oh my dear Luna, you owe me nothing. I love you more than anything, and I will never let you suffer.”

Luna closed her eyes, and buried herself beneath her sisters wing.

Turncoat was so caught up in the moment, that he failed to notice Shining Armor‘s entrance.

“General,” Shining Armor gave a crisp salute.

“At ease.”

“What is the situation? From Flurry Wing’s report it sounded quite grave.”

General Turncoat turned, and for the first time, gave the captain of the guard his full attention. The stallion’s messy mane, and his knotted coat showed that like Celestia, he too had been asleep when the situation had started.

“Princess Luna was suffering under the attack of an unknown source. It seems that somepony had found a way to steal the Moon from her control.”

Being married to an alicorn, albeit a lesser alicorn, he was fully aware of the gravity of such a thing.

“I see. How is Luna doing?”

Turncoat was about to correct him on his addressing of the Princess but thought against it, being the Princess’s nephew in-law must have some privileges.

“She’s doing better. Celestia eclipsed the sun, and that appears to have broken whatever spell had been used on it.”

Celestia looked up from her sister, and addressed her Captain of the Guard, “Shining Armor, I want you to go down to the school and find Mental Bonds. Have him start looking into some way to safeguard mine, and my sisters celestial connections. Then contact Cheerilee, inform her of tonight‘s events and ask her to meet me as soon as she can.”

“Understood.”

Celestia’s mood brightened a bit, as did her voice, “And tell Cadence I’m sorry for waking her.”

“I will, but I’m sure she’ll understand.”

Shining Armor turned around and exited just as Flurry Wing, Turncoats partner that night, returned.

Celestia acknowledged Flurry Wing’s entrance with a nod, which was greeted by a bow on the part of the pegasus. Celestia then turned to Turncoat.

“General, I want you to gather your forces, and have them on high alert. They will be taken off guard rotation in preparation for emergency deployment, should it be needed. Keep them well fed, well rested, and well trained. And let us hope that they will not be needed.”

“Immediately, your highness.”

Turncoat turned to leave, but was stopped by Celestia voice, “And for the last time, we have been friends for long enough for you to call me Celestia.”

Turncoat smiled a bit and continued out of the room, “We have been friends for quite a long time, haven’t we, Princess?”

~~~~~

The stone room was silent. The chains that had held the unfortunate pegasus lay on the ground, and on top of them stood pony strikingly similar to the one whose position he had replaced. Except, his coat was considerably darker, and his mane was not a dark brown,but a deep crimson hue, and his eyes, being the most striking change, the iris’s were bright red and almost seemed to glow.

The stallion with the crown once again stood near the center.

“Who are you?”

The pegasus looked back and forth as if searching for the answer, “...Your brother.”

“Ah, very good. Yes, we are all brothers and sisters here. And what is it that you do?”

The pegasus’s response came much faster this time, “I serve.”

“Very good. Very good. Rice, Pepper, why don’t you show our new brother his chambers?”

Two of the ponies that had been chain bearers turned,and walked out with their new member in tow.

“And all of you, who have remained faithful to the cause. Join me in the dining hall in half an hour. We will celebrate our new brother, and our one step closer to victory.”

The rest of the ponies shuffled out of the stone room leaving only the stallion behind. He looked up at the eclipse that now hung in the skylight, an obvious marker of his failure to kill the Princess. The artisan who had construct his crown had told him that it would control the Moon, but he had doubted that it could control the Sun and certainly not both.

It seems that Celestia had caught on quicker than I had hoped.

The stallion pulled off the crown and held it in his telekinetic grasp. It had suited him well, and certainly represented his power nicely. The magical aura around the crown turned bright red, and the crown began to turn to slag. He would not, however, get a chance to try that again, and keeping the crown for pure vanity was foalish. To not recycle the darksteel would be a waste, and he was not one that relished wasted materials.

Author's Notes:

A/N: Thank you all for staying with me through this process. Let me know what you think. Also, If you want to read the original, here it is on my DA account:Link. Lastly Thank you to Parakalo for editing this for me, without you my writing would be nothing but spelling errors. Be sure to leave a comment, and let me know what you think.

Chapter 1: Citizen/Soldier

Beacon in the Shadows

or

Cheerilee's a Paladin

Chapter One: Citizen/Soldier

By Digitdaemon

A/N: From this point on, bonus points for every spotted song reference.
~~~~~

Cheerilee awoke to the sound of breaking glass. Sitting up in her modestly-sized bed, she was able to make out the grey and yellow pegasus that was sprawled across the carpet of her bedroom floor.

“Sorry, Cheerilee. I have a urgent message for you. Also, your window is...was very clean and I kind of thought it was open.”

Cheerilee got out of her bed and walked over to where the mailmare was now sitting.

“It’s alright, Derpy. Thank you for bringing this.”

“You’re very welcome. Also, I know a good place to get windows, I do a lot of business with them.”

Cheerilee suppressed the urge to groan. She could definitely imagine the amount of glass that the grey pegasus had broken.

“It’s okay, I’ll just ask Twilight to fix it for me. She is pretty good at cleaning these things up; heavens know how many times she’s made this kind of a mess.”

Derpy rubbed her chin thoughtfully, “You know, thats not a bad idea. Maybe I should ask her to fix my windows.”

“She probably would be happy to. I figured that after the third time you crashed through my window, it was getting too expensive to replace the glass every time.”

“Yep,” was the response Cheerilee received from the wall-eyed pegasus. One eye was now tracking a fly that had come in through the broken window, the other was admiring the Mareitis Colt Escher print on the wall.

“Well, anyways...I need to go to work... and you should probably go...to work,” Cheerilee said to her friend with an awkward smile.

“Yep, Goodbye.”

Derpy walked down the hall saying goodbye to Berry Punch on the way out. To Cheerilee’s severe annoyance, her sisters response was, “I hope Cheerilee didn’t keep you up too late.”

Cheerilee stuffed the message Derpy had given her into her saddlebag and put the light-purple bags on her back. On her way down the stairs she was greeted by Berry Punch, who was holding the most vital part of her morning.

She looked at the mug in Berry Punch’s outstretched hoof, still too asleep to actual show care for anything. “Coffee?”

“Coffee.”

Cheerilee took the mug from her sister, drank all of the dark brown liquid in one go and returned the mug to Berry Punch.

“Feel better?”

Cheerilee’s eyes slowly changed, the gloom in them cleared, and once again they matched the expectations set by their bright green color. She stood up straight, no longer looking hunchbacked and depressed. The most important change though, was that her voice had returned to it’s normally almost musically cheerful tone.

“Definitely! Thank you.”

“Well, somepony’s got to take care of you, Cheer. Face it, you’d be a train wreck without me.”

Cheerilee was about to come back with a witty rebuttal, but stopped when she realized that for once her older sister was being sincere.

Cheerilee closed the distance to Berry Punch and gave her a warm hug. “Thanks, sis.”

“No problem. You should probably get going now, though.”

Cheerilee ended the hug and glanced at the clock.

“Seven thirty!”

Cheerilee raced down the stairs, out the door, and down the street towards the school house.

Berry Punch finished her pilgrimage up the stairs and arrived at her sisters bedroom.

“I guess I’ll have to add a trip to the library to today’s to-do list.”

~~~~~

Cheerilee arrived at school late. Luckily, late for her meant she had less time to grade papers before the day began. Her students wouldn’t arrive for another forty-five minutes.

She walked into the the one room schoolhouse, the walls of which were almost bare due to the short time school had been in session for, and scanned it for anything out of place. Her desk was covered in papers, as if they had been thrown about, the desks were out of place, some even overturned, and pens, pencils, crayons, and rulers were scattered across the floor.

Ah, just as I left it.

Cheerilee walked over to her desk at the front of the room and began to tidy up her things. Within minutes the cluttered mess of papers had been reduced to three neat stacks. Pulling out the papers from her saddlebag, she, for the first time that morning, noticed the letter Derpy Hooves had delivered to her. It was a perfectly rolled scroll with the Equestrian Royal Guard’s purple seal holding it closed. Cursing herself for ignoring it earlier, Cheerilee opened up the letter and began to read.

Dear Cheerilee,

As captain of the Royal Guard, it is my duty to inform you of a possible threat to Equestria’s safety. Last night, a strong spell was used to temporarily gain control of the Moon. This incident almost cost Princess Luna her life. Luckily Princess Celestia was able to break the spell by eclipsing the Sun. We have made great strides in making sure that the Princess’s connections to the Sun and Moon have been safeguarded. However, stay vigilant. Celestia has asked for you to see her at your earliest convenience.

Shining Armor,
Captain of the Equestrian Royal Guard

Cheerilee stared at the scroll for a minute, trying to process the information on it.

Princess Luna almost died?!

She slowly put the scroll down on her mahogany desk , and sat back in her chair, still in a daze from the shocking news. Cheerilee had seen trouble before, she lived in Ponyville for pony sake. But somepony trying to kill one of the Princesses. That she had never experienced before.

Cheerilee was shaken out of her stupor by the opening of the schoolhouse door, which heralded the arrival of a certain yellow coated filly.

“Hello, Miss Cheerilee!”

Cheerilee quickly steeled herself, and adopted her legendary cheerful guise.“Hello there, Applebloom. What can I do for you.”

“Well, mah sister started workin’ early this mornin. She found this big, juicy, golden delicious apple, and told me I should give it to yah.” Applebloom finished by pulling a nice ripe apple out of her bag and placing it on Cheerilee’s desk.

“Thank you very much. Tell your sister I said thank you, too.”

Applebloom walked to her desk and sat down in preparation for class to begin, and the bell rang a minute later. Cheerilee took one last look at her desk, and prepared to face another day of teaching.

I hate apples.
~~~~

Six long, productive, and knowledge-filled hours later, Cheerilee’s class filed carefully out of the room. Missing recess for leaving a mess in the classroom yesterday had ensured that they exited with more care and order.

Cheerilee picked up her belongings, including the letter, took one last look at the beige walls, upon which now hung an art project the children had done today, and walked outside herself. Locking the door was automatic, her mind lost in thought. She had to make a trip to Canterlot, but the Canterlot Express wouldn’t leave till tomorrow at ten. So that meant she would be able to relax with her friends tonight; It was Friday after all, and that meant girls‘ night out. She would have to make an extra effort to enjoy tonight. Cheerilee let out a sigh, It may be the last opportunity I will get to do so for a while.

She had already arrived at her house by the time she had dragged her way out of her thoughts. It wasn’t the first time she had not remembered her trip home due to preoccupation. Hopefully she hadn’t ended up ignoring the mayor all the way home...again.

The entry way led into a small hallway that ended in a flight of stairs. On the right was the door to the modest kitchen and dining room, and on the left was a door to the living room and a door to a seldom used office.

Cheerilee walked down the hall and into the living room and deposited her bag on the coffee table. She then laid down on the couch. If she was going to be out late “relaxing”, she would need a bit of sleep to hold her over.

~~~~~

Cheerilee was standing on a plain white surface. There were craters every few feet or so, and in the sky hung a large, blue, and green orb. She took a look around at her change of scenery, Cheerilee had only dreamt of the Moon twice, and both times-

“Welcome, How art thou Cheerilee?” Luna’s voice interrupted Cheerilee’s thoughts.

Cheerilee turned around and walked up to where her royal visitor was sitting. “I’m doing fine. I think It would be more appropriate for me to ask you, though.”

Luna scowled at the comment, to her it implied weakness. She warmed up, though, when she saw that the expression on her guests face was not one of pity or jest, but of concern. “I appreciate your concern. We are doing much better, thank you.” Her voice wavered, “thou would not be able to understand the pain that I felt last night, and it is not something we would wish upon even our worst enemies.” A tear fell from the Princess’s eye after she finished speaking, and more rested on her lids.

Cheerilee had always been taught to address royalty with professionality and restraint, but watching the Princess in front of her on the verge of tears she knew that Luna did not need a subject, but a friend. Cheerilee walked up to the dark-blue alicorn and gripped her in a tight hug. Luna was surprised at first, but accepted the hug. When Cheerilee broke the embrace Luna carefully dried her eyes with her hoof and a small sniffle.

“Thank you. There are not many ponies we know that would be brave enough to do that,” Luna said, giving a small, but gracious smile.

Cheerilee returned the smile, “Well, I wasn’t going to let a friend cry herself out all alone, whether or not she was royalty.”

“Then, thank you...friend. But look at us, I call you up to discuss security, but end up with a grief counseling instead. We wanted to warn thee. The energies that were left on the moon from whatever happened, contained traces of a mind control spell. The ponies we are after may be adding to their ranks forcibly.”

“So I shouldn’t trust anypony?”

“Oh, heavens no. Anypony under such a spell as the one we detected would show obvious signs of being controlled. Just keep watch for unexplained disappearances.”

“Alright, I’ll keep that in mind. Anything else?”

“We would like to inform our sister when you could visit. When do you plan to arrive?”

“I was going to take the morning train tomorrow, does that work for you?”

Luna looked up in concentration, as if going through a calendar pinned up in the stars, “Yes! That will work perfect for us.”

Cheerilee had only needed a second to recover from the Princess’s exclamation, much faster than the first time they had met, for sure. “Great, I’ll see you then.”

“Good. Sleep well, my little pony, and thank you again.”

Cheerilee fell into a comfortable blankness, one that was warm and soothed her mind of its troubles; peaceful and unending.

~~~~~

Cheerilee

“Cheerilee.”

“Cheerilee Veranda Punch!”

Cheerilee’s lids creeped open and the image of her sister’s face filled her sleepy eyes.

Berry Punch scowled at her, “You know, if you don’t hurry up, we are going to be late.”

Cheerilee blinked a few more times and then jumped off the couch in excitement, “Friday!” She grabbed her bag and slung it over her back. “Okay, I’m ready.”

“You know, if you wear that bag much longer, I think it might actually become attached.”

“I thought we were in a hurry?”

The two sister walked out of their house and began their journey to the Ponyville Pub Bar and Grill, chatting about their days on the way there.

The Ponyville Pub Bar and Grill was a nice little restaurant on the far side of town. It featured a wide array of food, and arguably more important, a wide variety of alcoholic beverages. Regardless, it was a favorite of many Ponyville residents.

Lyra and Bon Bon had already been there when they arrived.They were not, however, the last to arrive. That would be Derpy Hooves, who had been busy scolding her eldest daughter, Sparkler, about her use of household objects for magic training.

“Sorry for being late guys,” the pegasus said with a dopey grin.

Lyra shifted slightly on the bench to make room for the newcomer. “No problem, Berry and Cheer just got here, anyways.”

The Grey mare sat down and they immediately dived into a passionate discussion on the state of each of their lives.

~~~~~

“So then I turned to Sparkler and said, If you tear up another couch that way, we are moving to Cloudsdale. You should have seen the look on her face.”

Derpy fell into a fit of laughter, and the rest of the table soon joined in. Cheerilee, after recovering, got up from the table and placed her portion of the bits on the table.

“Sorry to leave so early, but I need to catch the early train to Canterlot and still need to pack.”

Berry Punch got up from the table and deposited her bits as well. As she walked over to where her sister was standing she said, “I better go with her, wouldn’t want her to forget something like her saddlebag.”

Then, as if to prove her point, Berry Punch pulled Cheerilee’s Bag out from under the table and placed on her sister’s back. The table once again fell into a fit of laughter, and the occupants were only able to wave as the pair left.

~~~~~

The two shared a companionable silence as they walked home; one that was shattered by the sound of breaking glass and a filly’s scream. Cheerilee took of run and turned the corner of the street, coming face to face with a pitch black alleyway. The Royal Solar Seal appeared upon the teachers shoulder and her eyes lit up like lanterns. They bathed the alleyway in light, revealing the form of a cowering light-green pegasus filly and standing above her, a dark-grey pegasus colt wearing a black cloak with silver designs. Attached to his wings were blades that were tinted red and in his mouth was a long, wicked blade.

Berry Punch caught up to her sister and stared in shock as the assailant looked up from his prey at the two onlookers.

“Berry, get the guards.”

Berry Punch ran off down the street. Cheerilee stepped lightly towards the cloaked pony. She could see the evil aura that flowed from him, though something seemed a bit off.

“You shouldn’t be here, pony.” The pegasus said after spitting out his dagger, a grin forming on his mouth. “You know what they say about walking alone at night.”

Despite the colts veiled threat, Cheerilee met his gaze with a glare that would have given a hardened criminal pause.

“Oh well. Besides, more fun for me tonight, right?”

The assassin dashed at Cheerilee with blinding speed, striking out with the blades in his wings. His attack did not hit pony flesh, instead it was met with a blinding flash and fell upon a silver shield held in the fuchsia mare’s left hoof. Cheerilee stood unharmed; her body was now covered in runes, out of which grew shining silver plates.

In full armor, Cheerilee made a motion with her right hoof and drew out of the air a majestic sword of the same design as her shield. The blade seemed to shimmer as if it wasn’t actually solid, but instead a flowing, liquid steel.

The grey colt retreated several steps. He wasn’t stupid, he knew that one-on-one combat with a knight was suicide. There was a reason he had clung to the shadows, preferring to use surprise as his strength. With one more glance out of his crimson eyes he leaped into the sky and flew into the clouds.

Cheerilee ran to where the filly had curled up and sat down next to her.

“It’s okay now, he’s gone, he can’t hurt you.” Cheerilee said as she stroked the filly’s mane.

It appeared that the only injuries that she had sustained were a few cuts from where she had jumped through the window, and some bruises from landing. The light-green pegasus looked up at her protector and let out a shudder.

The runes appeared once more and this time, the silver plates vanished inside them, and they too, vanished.

“He...he...I want my mommy...” Fresh tears fell from her face. Cheerilee lifted the filly into her lap and held her close. She knew that it would calm her down and help her to feel safe.

Cheerilee said in a quiet, soft voice,“It’s okay, everything’s going to be okay. What is your name, sweetie?”

The filly’s crying lessened and she looked up at the schoolteacher, “Symphony.”

“Symphony? That's a beautiful name. Listen, I’m not going to let anything else happen to you tonight, okay.? Do you trust me?”

Symphony nodded slowly before burying her head in Cheerilee’s coat and starting to cry anew.
Cheerilee hugged the filly close as she felt the first few drops of a light summer shower fall on her head. By the time the royal guard arrived, Symphony was sound asleep, protected from the elements in Cheerilee’s firm embrace.

Author's Notes:

I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, especially that ending. It's so cute. Thank you again to Parakalo for editing. Speaking of editing, I'm looking for a secondary editor, If you are interested please PM me. You would need to be able to spot grammar/spelling errors as well as comment on the pacing and flow of the story. Most importantly, thank you readers for sticking with me on this. Please feel free to leave a comment, tell what I'm doing right, or tell me what I need to improve on. Either way, I'd love to hear from you.

Chapter 2: Death and All Her Friends

Beacon in the Shadows

or

Cheerilee's a Paladin

Chapter 2: Death and All her Friends

~~~~~

Cheerilee was sitting in the sterile waiting room of the Ponyville General Hospital. Next to her sat Berry Punch, who was asleep with her head resting on Cheerilee’s shoulder. After the guards had shown up, she had carried the sleeping filly, Symphony, to the hospital. She was followed by the local guard, who had carried two limp forms with them. Cheerilee wasn’t a medical expert, but she had known they weren't in good shape. Symphony’s father had been pronounced dead upon arrival, and her mother had succumbed to her wounds a short time later. Cheerilee had been asked to wait, so she could be debriefed by the sergeant in charge of the local guard, but she had already planned on staying until Symphony had been properly taken care of anyway.

The sergeant entered the waiting room and walked over to where the sisters were seated. “Very sorry to have kept you waiting, Miss Cheerilee. I have just gotten a letter telling me you were meeting the Royal Sisters tomorrow afternoon. They have told me to release you, and that they will debrief you personally. You are free to go, ma’am.”

“That‘s all right, Sergeant. I have to ask, though: what will happen to Symphony now?”

“With both her parents dead, she will have to be sent to an orphanage. The closest one is in Canterlot. We have run into a slight problem, though.”

Cheerilee raised her eyebrow, “And what might that be?”

The sergeant shuffled his hooves nervously, “Well...We can’t get the filly out from under the bed in the examination room. The poor thing is scared out of her mind, and I can’t blame her, but we have to find some way to get her to cooperate.”

Cheerilee gently pushed Berry Punch against the wall on the other side of her, and got to her hooves. “Maybe I can help?”

“I’d be willing to try anything at this point.”

Cheerilee followed the sergeant through the blank hallways lit with halogen tubes to a nondescript examination room. In the room was Nurse Redheart, and two other guards, who had crowded around the table up against the wall.

Cheerilee took a quick look at the room before speaking. “Well, there’s your first problem. No wonder she’s scared with all those ponies crowding around her. Why don’t you take the rest of the guards outside for a minute?”

The sergeant nodded, motioned for his guards to follow and stepped outside. Once all of the guards had left, Nurse Redheart turned to Cheerilee with a relieved sigh.

“Thank you. I know they were just trying to help, but they certainly were not.”

“No problem. Here, let me see if I can do any better.”

Cheerilee walked over to the bed and got down on her knees so she could see under the bed. Sure enough, there was a light-green filly tucked up against the corner.

“Hey, Symphony?”

The filly’s eyes opened when she recognized the voice speaking to her.

“You trust me, don’t you?”

Symphony slowly nodded her head.

“Well, why don’t you come out here and meet a friend of mine She just wants to make sure that you’re not hurt.”

Symphony tilted her head in a questioning manner, but the smile on Cheerilee’s face was enough to calm her fears and she slowly crawled out of her hiding place. Once she was standing, Cheerilee picked her up and sat down on the bed holding the filly in her arms.

“Symphony, I’d like you to meet my friend, Nurse Redheart.”

Nurse Redheart knelt down so she was level with the little pegasus and began her check up with a friendly smile.

After a few minutes of poking, washing, bandaging, and applying ointment, the check-up was complete.

Nurse Redheart stood back up, “There you are Symphony. Good as new.”

Symphony responded to the praise with a little smile, before turning to look at Cheerilee.

“Can I see my mommy now?”

Cheerilee’s smile faltered. She had known that somepony was going to have to tell the filly eventually, but now wasn’t the time. Symphony had already been through quite an ordeal, and Cheerilee was sure that the light-green pegasus would not be able to handle more bad news, right then.

“Your parents aren't going to be around for a while. They were hurt really badly. But, you get to stay in Canterlot for a while. Won’t that be fun?”

Symphony’s eyes started to water and Cheerilee pulled her into a tight hug. The embrace seemed to calm her down some, and Cheerilee loosened her grip. Symphony looked back up at her with sad, pleading eyes. Cheerilee’s heart broke at the sight.

There is no way I can leave her like this, but I certainly couldn't take care of her, now could I? But wait, I am going to Canterlot tomorrow. I guess I could at least drop her off myself, after I meet with the princesses.

“Well, Symphony, you can spend the rest of the night with me. Would that make you feel better?”

The filly nodded excitedly, and Cheerilee picked her up and seated her between her shoulders. With a wave good night to Nurse Redheart, who was trying hard not to collapse due to the amount of cuteness that oozed from the two, and left the room.

Cheerilee walked over to the sergeant, “Don’t worry about Symphony. As you know, I am traveling to Canterlot anyways, and would be happy to deliver her myself.”

“Very well, ma’am, and thank you for your service.”

Cheerilee gave him a mock salute, and walked back into the waiting room. She walked over to the sleeping Berry Punch and prodded her until she woke. Berry Punch blinked several times,, trying to understand why her sister had a green bump on her back.

“Um, Cheer? I know you were upset about forgetting your bag, but you really didn't have to have them actually attach it to you. I was just joking when I said that.”

Cheerilee was about to make a lame and sleep deprived retort, but was beaten to the punch by a filly’s head cautiously looking over her own.

Berry Punch stumbled backwards, “Ahh! It’s alive!”

“Berry, I’d like you to meet Symphony,” Cheerilee said with disdain, as she motioned to her back, “Symphony, this is my sister, Berry Punch.”

Having recovered from her shock, Berry punch picked up Cheerilee’s bag, which had been left on the bench, unattended, and followed her sister out of the hospital.

~~~~~

When they had gotten home last night, all three had quickly fallen asleep in their beds, Cheerilee sharing hers with Symphony. After the short night‘s sleep, the three of them now stood on the crowded platform for the Canterlot Express, saying their final goodbyes before boarding the train. Cheerilee managed to get herself and Symphony inside in time to find an empty compartment.

Cheerilee had originally planned on grading work on the way to Canterlot, but that had been before last night; now she was exhausted. She laid down on one of the benches, and as if by some unspoken signal, Symphony curled up next to the fuchsia mare and they both fell into a deep sleep.

~~~~~

Cheerilee looked around herself, taking in the surrounding area. The trees were evenly spaced, and seemed to have whitish bark, and leaves of some shade of green. She looked down at her hooves, and was astonished at how close she was to the ground, and not just that, but she had on what appeared to be wooden boots.

Further wandering was put to a halt by a strong voice that hinted at much wisdom,and a good sense of humor, when it was appropriate. “Cheerilee, my student, you must keep yourself focused. The enemy will not give you time to take in your surroundings.”

“Master Trident!”

Cheerilee spun around and tackled the blue unicorn with a graying green mane. Steel Trident returned the hug, and let out a chuckle.

“I’ve only been gone for a few minutes. Glad to know you missed me, though.”

Cheerilee looked at him in confusion.

~~~~~

Cheerilee stood at the edge of a clearing. In the middle, Symphony was running through sword drills,ones that Cheerilee remembered from her own training.

You’re going to need a student, even if you’re not ready to retire for a long time.

Cheerilee felt the warmth of another pony standing next to her, but knew there was none there. She could smell the hint of ocean that had always followed her mentor. She was not sure if when she heard his voice, it was his or just her own thoughts, making themselves be known.

I will, won’t I? Is she really the one though?

She could be, if that is what you make her.

~~~~~

Cheerilee slowly opened her eyes. At some point Symphony must have woken up. She now stood at the window of the compartment,

“And what are you up to, my little pony?”

“Equestria. Is it really that big?”

Cheerilee stood up and walked over to the window. From the height they were at, she could tell that the were only a few minutes away from Canterlot.

“Absolutely, as far as your eyes can see, and even further.”

Symphony’s jaw dropped, and Cheerilee giggled to herself.

~~~~~

The two had spent the last few minutes of the train ride. When they arrived at the platform, they were greeted not only by the Royal Guard, but Shining Armor himself. With Symphony once again placed securely on her back with head curiously peering over, Cheerilee approached them.

Shining Armor gave her a quick salute, “Welcome to Canterlot, ma’am.”

Cheerilee, not technically holding a military rank, simply presented a hoof and shook his, “I’d be lying if I said it was good to be here, under the circumstances.”

“Of course. I don’t wish to inconvenience you, but I have orders to screen you for either disguise or mind control spells.”

“Not at all.”

Cheerilee picked Symphony up off her shoulders and placed her aside. Shining Armor’s horn lit up and a translucent, purple barrier rose up in front of the school teacher.

“If you would just step through, please.”

Cheerilee walked briskly through the shield without incident.

Shining Armor gestured to the pegasus filly. Cheerilee intervened, however.

“She’s fine, I can vouch for her.”

Shining Armor nodded and dropped the barrier. Cheerilee returned Symphony to her resting place, and the two entered the carriage that had been provided for them. After Shining Armor himself got in the carriage, it began its journey down the pristine roads of Canterlot, flanked by guards.

The trip was made in silence, Symphony stared out the window, amazed by the grandeur of the city. The little filly gasped as they approached the castle. She had never seen something so breathtaking before. The elegant spires reached for the sky, and the building from which they grew out of was a master work of stone carving.

When they arrived at the castle, Cheerilee and Symphony were escorted to one of the balcony spires. When they arrived, They were greeted by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, who had also just arrived. The balcony gave a stunning view of Canterlot, and in the distance, Ponyville as well.

Cheerilee bowed to the two sisters, and after some confusion, Symphony caught on and did the same.

“Welcome, my little ponies. Cheerilee,” Celestia shifted her gaze to the pegasus filly, “and who might this be?”

Symphony, realizing she was being scrutinized, quickly hid behind Cheerilee.

Cheerilee coaxed the filly out from behind her, “This is Symphony. Her parents were the ones that got attacked last night.”

Luna looked at Cheerilee quizzically, “Dost she know?”

Cheerilee shook her head.

Celestia raised her head in thought, “Why don’t you and my sister begin. I will have a discussion with this lovely filly.”

Cheerilee gave the princess a frightened look.

“And don’t worry, Cheerilee, I promise I will be gentle.”

Celestia ushered the nervous filly back into the hallway, and then sat down before her.

“Hello, Symphony. Do you know what happened to your parents?”

Symphony shook her head.

“It pains me to say this, but you will not be able to see them for a very long time.”

Symphony’s eyes began to water, “But, I...I want my mommy.”

Celestia wrapped her wing around the crying filly. “Shhh, it will be alright, Symphony. Even though you won’t be able to see them, they will be watching over you.”

Symphony dried her eyes with her hoof. “Why can’t I see them?”

“They will be watching you, from above.”

Symphony’s eyes lit up, “So I can see them after I learn to fly?”

Celestia chuckled at the filly’s naivety, she had always found a foals boundless hope to be refreshing. “Perhaps, little one, your wings may one day pierce the heavens.”

Symphony smile faded a bit.

“What is wrong?”

“Who will I stay with?”

Celestia thought about this for a bit. She had seen the motherly look in Cheerilee’s eyes when she had introduced the filly. I may not be Cadence, but even I can tell that Cheerilee has fallen in love with the filly.

“Come with me, Symphony.”

The two walked back onto the balcony, where Cheerilee and Luna were seated at the balcony table, discussing a strategy for finding out where the moon control spell had been cast from.

“Cheerilee Punch!” Both of the mares seated at the table turned to face Celestia. “As a royal princess of Equestria, I command that you shall take care of Symphony, until more permanent arrangements can be made.”

Cheerilee wasn’t sure how to react at first. She felt like she should be apologizing for the crime which had required such unorthodox punishment. When she saw the mischievous glimmer in the Princess’s eyes, though, she squealed in delight. Cheerilee ran over to Symphony, picked her up in a hug, and twirled them both around the balcony. The festivities were brought to a halt by a loud throat clearing. The four ponies directed their attention to the door of the balcony. Standing there was a very distraught Lieutenant Flurry Wing.

She hastily bowed to both princesses and gave Cheerilee a nod, “Beg your pardon, but a situation has arisen. The local guard found three more bodies, all of them have wounds identical to those on the first two from last night.”

Celestia walked over to the table and sat down. “Please, everypony sit down.”

Everypony sat down at the table except for Symphony, who Luna placed a light sleeping spell on.

After clearing her throat, Celestia began,“It seem that the situation in Ponyville is more dire than I originally thought. Cheerilee, I was going to assign you to lead an investigation on the recent attempt on my sisters life. However, circumstance seem to have made that impractical at the moment. Flurry Wing, I want you to tell General Turncoat to take enough of his forces to secure a perimeter around Ponyville, and the surrounding area. Until the situation has been resolved, I’m placing the area under martial law. Cheerilee, you are to investigate the murders independently, and find the killer. We will use your preliminary description of the pony you saw as the basis for our search. Are we clear?”

Flurry Wing saluted and then flew off towards the barracks.

Cheerilee nodded and picked up the sleeping filly, once again placing Symphony on her back.

“One more thing Cheerilee, do not tell Twilight about this. I will not have her hurt because she tried to get involved.”

“You have my word.”

Luna finally looked down from the point in space she had been staring at. “Cheerilee, We think thou may be in need of some new equipment, thy will need better night vision to catch an assassin such as this. Please, present us thine armor.”

Princess Luna carefully levitated Symphony off Cheerilee’s back, while she summoned her armor. This time, however, only the glyphs appeared, and floated just above her coat. Luna’s horn brightened and a new rune wrote itself in front of Cheerilee’s face. Unlike most of the other runes, which were mostly gold, some red, and a few white, this one was a dark-blue and gothic looking.

“Huzzah! Now your night vision shall be doubled. Nopony will be able to see as well as you in our domain.” Luna placed Symphony onto Cheerilee’s back once more.

The runes disappeared from Cheerilee’s coat, and she bowed to the princess of the night. “Thank you, Princess Luna.”

“Oh, and Cheerilee?” Celestia, interrupted. “I’m sure you will learn quite a bit from taking care of Symphony, feel free to have Spike send me a letter any time.”

Cheerilee had to work quite hard not to groan, How long before she has everypony in her correspondence?

“But, that’s enough interruption. You have a job to do. I will have the expeditionary force take you back to Ponyville with them. Paladin, find who is responsible, and show them the justice and fury of the Sun.”

Cheerilee bowed to both of the princesses again, and was escorted to the rallying point by one of the two remaining guards.

Celestia turned to her sister, “I’m surprised you have not found your own champion.”

“Why dost that surprise you, sister?”

“I thought for sure that you would want to have your own, personal, influence out there.”

“I am flattered by your concern regarding my waning influence, but I tell you there is nothing to worry about.”

Luna got out of her chair and prepared to take flight.

“You do have a champion? Who?”

Luna simple smiled at her sister and flew off towards her room.

Why does the night have to represent secrets?...

Celestia reached out to pick up a slice of cake left on the table, but it fell over, turning out to be nothing but cardboard.

and mischief.

Author's Notes:

Thanks to Parakalo and RoyalInBlue for editing this chapter. If the relationship between Symphony and Cheerilee seems a bit... Awkward, I would like to explain a little (in case you didn't pick up on the reason why). Symphony is emotionally attached to Cheerilee because of Cheerilee saving her. Cheerilee has a very motherly affection for Symphony. That's all for now, the rest should explain itself in the story. Thank you all for reading, feel free to leave a comment, good or bad.

Chapter 3: The Tip of the Iceberg

Beacon in the Shadows:

or

Cheerilee's a Paladin

Chapter Three: The Tip of the Iceberg

By DigitDaemon

A/N This has only been looked over by one of my two editors. I will make necessary changes after my friend takes a look at it.

~~~~~

It was dark by the time Cheerilee and Symphony reached Ponyville. Their trip had been much shorter due to the fact that they were traveling via chariot. Not just a commuter chariots either, but a high speed chariot from the Equestrian Expeditionary Force. The chariot stopped at Cheerilee’s house, where she dropped off Symphony, shut and locked the windows and doors, and then activated the protective enchantment around the house. With her house locked down almost as tight as Canterlot Castle, Cheerilee set off to where the first body had been found.

She arrived just outside the Everfree Forest, and found the victim undisturbed. Next to the body of a middle aged stallion with a blood stained green coat and rusty red mane, was a group of expeditionary soldiers.

Cheerilee walked up to the officer in charge, “Hello Lieutenant, may I ask what is going on here?”

The officer turned around and gave a salute, “I got a glance of you back at the castle, you must be the paladin. We are preparing to search the forest. We have to go through everything in ten miles of Ponyville, even creepy forests. Name’s Flurry Wing, by the way, the general assigned me to lead the 4th reconnaissance division.”

“Nice to meet you Flurry Wing. I’m Cheerilee Punch, local school teacher. I would appreciate it if you kept that to yourself though, anonymity has its advantages.”

“Certainly.”

Cheerilee looked back at the corpse, “Can you tell me anything about the body?”

“Only that the local guard was here when we got here, and they seemed eager to pass it off to us,” Lieutenant Flurry Wing said with a shrug.

“I suppose it’s as they say, you have to start somewhere. Thank you.”

As Cheerilee walked back over to the dead body, a few runes appeared across her form, and she was enveloped in a brief flash of light, followed by a radiating warmth, not unlike Celestia’s own aura. After the light faded Cheerilee was dressed with several small plates of metal over vulnerable areas, the rest was covered in mixture of chainmail and leather padding. It was clear that the purpose of this armor specifically was mobility, but a dagger strapped to one leg promised that fighting was always an option. She also wore the visor recently given to her by the lunar princess. Its dark blue, and dim steel colorations clashed with the rest of her armor. Its function however, was invaluable.

With the visor, Cheerilee’s vision became a mixture of blues, from bright to dark. She was able to clearly make out all of the soldiers a short distance away, and the outskirts of Ponyville beyond them. As with every other piece of her armor, she could feel a mental link to the visor, and with a thought, her view changed to a scale of blue to red, as the visor’s heat sensor function engaged.

Cheerilee could see that despite the early evening chill, the dead pony’s body had retained much of its internal heat. I suppose he couldn’t have been dead for more than a couple of hours.I don’t see anything else, I should probably move on to the next one.

Cheerilee walked back past the Expeditionary soldiers, and waved, before setting her sights back on Ponyville. Lieutenant Flurry Wing saluted the paladin, and with an crisp gesture led her squad into the forest.

~~~~~

A quick walk through the surprisingly empty streets of Ponyville, she arrived at where the second body had been found in an alleyway near the schoolhouse of all places. When Cheerilee got to the scene, the sergeant of the local guard and a few of his group were standing there.

Cheerilee gave a small smile as she walked up to them, “Hello again. I would say it’s a pleasure to see you, but under the circumstance we keep meeting, I am sure you will understand if I don’t.”

The sergeant chuckled, “I sure do ma’am, and with all these soldiers around, its hard to get away with the usual standing around and doing nothing.”

The other guards were forced to hold their laughter, the sergeant often joked about the care that was taken in training them to stand like statues. Standing around all day was by far his favorite, and most overused pun.

Cheerilee turned her attention from the guards, to the second victim. The body was that of a colt not much younger than herself, he had a silvery coat, marred by trails of blood and a similarly colored mane. There was a single deep wound on his chest, which presumably led to his heart, and a long gash on his right front leg. A quick switch back to the heat mode on her visor told her that this pony had been attacked before the previous victim. It looks like he tried to put up a fight, but with so few defensive wounds, it doesn’t look like he had time to do much more then block the first attack.

Cheerilee turned back to the sergeant, who had taken to unloading a stretcher from a nearby box. “You can clean this up now, and afterwards, be sure to clean up over by the forest as well.”

“Yes ma’am, and good luck.”

Cheerilee gave a grave nod, and walked back out of the alley.

~~~~~

Cheerilee came to the last victim’s body. It had been found in a different alley, closer to the center of town. The scene was this time only guarded by a single pony. His uniform was the same as that of the rest of the local guard. It was apparent that the Expeditionary Forces had forgone investigating, and in true military style went straight to searching.

Cheerilee showed the colt a symbol that adorned the bottom of one of her boots. It was a sun, identical to the one that appeared on Celestia’s flank, on a shield, and crossed by a sword.

The colt stepped to the side and allowed her to view the corpse. A mare somewhere between the ages of the last two victims, with a brown coat and golden yellow mane. The wounds showed that she had been caught off guard, and hadn’t had time to react. Her heat signature was slightly lower than the previous victim.

All of them must have been killed within a short time span. They don’t seem to have any connection other than they were out of public view. It’s safe to assume that they weren’t targeted because of that however, as it would be more efficient to sneak into houses, assuming that the killer is just targeting random ponies. So, the only likely answer is that he was eliminating ponies that saw him sneaking through the back alley. But, what was he sneaking away from?

Cheerilee walked over to the guard, “You can clean this up after they finish with the other two.”

“Yes ma’am. If you don’t mind me asking...What now?”

“I’m going to figure out where he was coming from, and more importantly, where he is going”

Cheerilee walked away. She needed a map. There was one at her house, but seeing as her house was inaccessible, that wasn’t an option. So, town hall it is.

~~~~~

It only took about two minutes for Cheerilee to get to the town hall. When she arrived the lights were still on, though it was a little known secret that Mayor Mare ended up spending most night sleeping at town hall anyways. The doors were flanked by more local guards and there were a few pegasus guards circling the building.

Cheerilee knocked on the door and waited patiently for the mayor to answer. When the door did open, it revealed a bedraggled mare with a pale brown coat and a silver-gray mane, which was falling over her face.

The mayor gave a small smile, “Oh, hello Cheerilee.”

“Sorry to disturb you Mayor.” Cheerilee said sheepishly.

“It’s no disturbance, Celestia knows I can’t sleep with the way things are anyways. How can I help you?”

“I need to use some of the maps, I would get my own, but my house is currently locked down.”

“You may use anything you need, Is there anything I can do?”

Cheerilee was about to say no, but hesitated, “Coffee?”

“Of course, I’ll be right back. You know the way to the city planning room, correct?”

“Yes, thank you very much.”

The mayor retreated back inside and up the stairs to her office. Cheerilee walked in, and down the hall to a sparsely decorated room, filled with maps and other documents. Cheerilee pulled a blue print that had from town hall to the edge of town facing the Everfree Forest. It took her awhile longer to find a map of the same scale that finished from the town to the forest. By the time she had found the right map, there was a steaming mug of coffee sitting on the desk.

I must have been concentrating really hard. Cheerilee picked up the mug and took a sip, Ugh. Coltlumbian, I hate Coltlumbian. She downed the rest of the mug and then placed it on a nearby shelf.

Unrolling the map she overlapped it with the other so it made a single continuous map spanning all three murders. She then picked a pencil up out of a cup on the desk, and plotted the area each murder occurred in. Then, with a ruler she also took from the desk, she made a straight line across the map, roughly fitting in all of the areas. The line could be roughly adhered to if one was trying to stay out of sight. It made full use of the back alleys and side streets. But the real question was sneaking from where, to where.

Cheerilee traced the line back towards the first murder, the only public building it directly intersected was the post office. ...Unless, the library?

Continuing the line, Cheerilee found that it did in fact intersect the library.

“Sorry princess, but I may have no choice, but to involve her. Now, where is that son of a whorse headed?”

Cheerilee followed the line back the other way. It didn’t parallel the Everfree forest long before plunging directly into it.

“But thats where Flurry Wing is headed...Right into a trap.”

Cheerilee burst through the doorway, and ran directly into the mayor.

“I’m sorry Cheerilee, I had just thought I would check, and see if you needed anything else.”

After Cherrilee recovered, she motioned for the mayor to follow her. “Sorry Mayor, but I don’t have time to explain. I need you to send guards to check on Twilight Sparkle, and have them stay outside the library. If you need more ponies, ask General Turncoat, if you tell him I said so, he should oblige you. Then I need you to have medical personnel wait at the edge of the forest, but they must not enter, no matter what they see or hear.”

The Mayor nodded and once outside broke off to talk to the guards. Cheerilee adopted a measured trot, and set off towards the forest.

~~~~~

It took fifteen minutes for Cheerilee to arrive back at the entrance to the Everfree Forest. The walk back had been eventful only in the absences of any eventfulness. The streets of Ponyville, even at the current hour, were usually full of bustling ponies. Tonight however, the streets were empty; except for a few guards, Cheerilee hadn’t seen anypony.

To the naked eye, the forest was as foreboding as ever. Cheerilee once again activated her visor, and the dark depths of the forest opened their secrets to her. Experimentally, she switched to heat vision. On the ground, Cheerilee could now see the faint heat left by the soldiers’ footsteps. She once again set out at the same sustainable pace, following the trail deeper into the Everfree Forest.

Cheerilee had made it about ten minutes into the forest. She noted how much less imposing the forest was when it was viewed not in it’s usual shadow and gloom, but in shades of red through blue. She sequestered any further thought along that lines. It was dangerous to be lost in thought, especially in such hostile terrain.

A few minutes later, Cheerilee heard a voice that sounded distinctly like Lieutenant Flurry Wing’s. She turned and set off through the undergrowth, directly towards the source. She halted again, when she heard the lieutenant’s voice again, this time she could clearly make out what Flurry Wing was saying.

“Crag! Keep an eye on Shimmer’s wounds, let me know if they get any worse. Chainmail! Cover our flank, tell me if anything moves. I’m not going to lie to you, our only hope is that when we don’t return, they send reinforcements. I don’t even know what attacked us, but you all saw what happened to Clover, leaving the clearing is suicide.”

Cheerilee doubled her speed, and drew her dagger. She used the blade to slash her way towards the clearing. After breaking the treeline she put up her dagger in a defensive stance, deflecting a bolt of magic energy. Before the unicorn guard could fire another shot, the Lieutenant called out.

“Stand down, Chainmail! Cheerilee, what are you doing here?”

Cheerilee put her dagger back in it’s sheath, “The same thing you are, looking for the murderer.”

Flurry Wing nodded and Cheerilee walked over to the group at the center of the clearing.

“Forgive me, but weren’t there five of you?”

Flurry Wing nodded, “Three-leaf Clover didn’t make it. I’m not really sure what even happened. He had point, and this shadow jumped out of the shadows. It knocked him into a tree, then it vanished. By the time we got to the body,” Flurry Wing was trying hard to fight off tears, “His...his body...there were two stab wounds in his chest...and his ribcage had caved in.” The lieutenant regained her composure. “Luckily, Shimmer Star got her legs up in time, she isn’t harmed past her shoulders.”

Cheerilee's ear picked up a subtle whistle moments before the bolt struck. Chainmail immediately opened fire on where the crossbow bolt had come from, but the assassin hadn’t even waited to see whether the shot had hit.

Luckily, the joints in Cheerilee’s armor were covered with a magic barrier, one that a regular bolt would not pierce, especially one from such a small crossbow. She picked it up while her armor began to shift and change. It grew to cover her more completely, eventually taking on the form it had the night before.

Cheerilee flipped her visor back down, “Looks like the wait time is over. I wouldn’t suggest following me.”

Lieutenant Flurry Wing nodded. Cheerilee turned and began walking towards the forest.

“Good luck,” Flurry Wing shouted from behind.

“I make my own luck.”

Despite the forest gloom being stripped away, Cheerilee had no doubts as to the danger that hid behind the unassuming rainbow of heat. She donned her shield, but had decided to stick with the dagger. In these close quarters the reach of a sword would do her no good.

She scanned back and forth, but it was her hearing that gave her the warning. She brought her shield around and braced as twin steel blades impacted with tremendous force. Once more she got a glance of her opponent. It was certainly the pegasus she had encountered last night, and once again she noticed how the evil aura seemed to swirl around him, but not truly meld with him.

He must be the one that was mind controlled two nights ago.

Just as soon as he had attacked, in a gust of wind, the assassin was gone again.

Cheerilee continued walking until, once again her shield came up moments before the deadly steel shot forward, before disappearing again.

How can I break the spell?

This time, the blades hit the shield but the assassin threw his weight underneath the shield. He knocked Cheerilee to the ground after sliding beneath her. She did however, managed to bring her dagger around, and parry his follow up attack. Then once again he was gone.

Cheerilee rolled back onto her stomach, and stood up, her journey that night would go on. The next attack started with a bolt fired at her face, the only exposed part of her, and forced her to block with her shield. A well timed side step saved her from a repeat of the last encounter.

As the assassin slid, in an attempt to knock down the paladin who was no longer standing there, Cheerilee brought down her shield pinning him. The pegasus struggled against her.

“Who are you?”

“Part of the brotherhood.”

Cheerilee felt something slip. She jumped back just in time to avoid a parting stab from the assassin as he broke free. No name? I think I might be onto something.”

“Thats great, anything else. A name perhaps?”

She ducked as the pegasus made a mad dash from above. that was a desperate move, not the calculated strikes he’s been dealing so far.

“What about your history, where were you born?”

A leap forward avoid a bull rush from the left.

“Who were your parents?”

This time the attack was almost laughable, the assassin ricocheted off of Cheerilee’s shield, which she hadn’t even moved to block.

“Perhaps there is somepony you love?”

As with the previous strike Cheerilee didn’t even need to move. The shadowy figure bounced off the ground in front of her.

“Your job?”

The cloaked figure shot out of the trees, not to attack, but as if being chased. He ran into a tree nearby, and fell to the ground.

Cheerilee ran to where the pony had crashed. he was curled up in the fetal position up against the tree he had collided with. the cloak that had protected his identity lay in tatters, and the red in his mane seemed to flow out like blood. His coat looked now more like a storm cloud than the almost black it was previously, and his eyes had gone from red to a lite-blue.

As she got closer, she could hear him muttering under his breath.

“...To serve, and...and protect. To serve...protect. To serve and...protect, protect.”

Cheerilee sat down in front of him. Confirming that the evil that had previously haunted him was gone, she began to whisper calmly to him.

“It’s okay now. You’re going to be alright”

He looked up, finally noticing her presence, and as if in a moment of clarity spoke, the stammer gone from his voice, “No. I killed them. Nothing will be alright.”

Author's Notes:

Thank you all for coming back again. Special thanks to RoyalInBlue for editing it. Feel free to leave a comment, and be sure to let me know if there is anything I can do to improve. I am writing for all of you as well as my self.

Chapter 4: Shadow of a Flower

Beacon in the Shadows

or

Cheerilee’s a Paladin

Chapter 4: Shadow of a Flower

By DigitDaemon

~~~~~

High up on an ancient cliff side, there sat the opening to a great cave system. The rock that made up the stony fortress had long since been worn smooth by wind and water. Tonight however, the wind carried not the agents of age, but something arguably more ancient and fearsome. The network of tunnels echoed in ancient song, and the stalagmites deep in the caves whistled back in respect. In the very heart of the mountain, there was a stirring.

On the cavern floor lay a stallion of huge stature. He wasn’t unbelievably large, but one would be hard pressed to find somepony larger. His coat and mane were a slate grey that matched the floor of stone on which he slumbered. That is, until the echoing song reached his ears as well.

He opened his eyes and dutifully rose before the one he had once pledged unending loyalty to.

“Terra, you once again interrupt my peaceful sleep.”

I suppose apologies are in order then. The years have been kind to you.

“Thank you. I doubt you woke me to complement my appearances though.”

My sisters face a terrible evil, one growing in the heart of Equestria itself. I know you long ago diverged from the path I had set you on, but now I appeal to your honor. Please, help my sisters defeat the foe they will soon face.

The stallion stood motionless, letting the caverns song wash over him as he thought. It had a grace that had always accompanied Terra. Beneath the melodies, there was a strength however, on that spoke of an unwavering commitment to prosperity, and all that is required to maintain it. Finally, the haunting echoes that played from the deep chasms, told of a darker fury that awaited those that would harm the innocence of nature.

“I will aid Equestria, but in my own way only.”

I would expect nothing less from the one I once loved.

Though he could not actually hear her voice, the pony could feel the sadness that his old betrayal had caused, and to say that the feelings that the ancient goddess of the earth had for him were one sided, would have been lying to himself. He had seen however, no other way, and would have made the decision he had again today, if the need arose.

“I’m sorry my dear, but my destiny never did lie with you.”

I know that now too. Take care, Onyx Lodestone.

The song slowly died away, and once again only silence was Lodestones company.

~~~~~
It had taken Cheerilee half an hour to get back to where the Expeditionary Force had been waiting.

“Lieutenant, I broke the spell on the pony that attacked you, but he can’t move on his own at the moment. I need you to go to the edge of the forest and let the medics waiting there know that the pony is suffering from shock and magic withdrawal. I also need to borrow one of your squad to help me get him out of the forest.”

“Chainmail, you heard her. Help her with the assassin. Crag, help me fly Shimmer out of here.”

The other two soldiers nodded, and Chainmail followed Cheerilee as she walked back to where she had left the catatonic pegasus. When they arrived he had not moved, but was curled up again and shaking.

Cheerilee pointed towards the pegasus, “If you can take some of the weight with your telekinesis, I should be able to carry the rest.”

Chainmail nodded, and lifted the pegasus onto Cheerilee’s back, And they both started back towards the edge of the Everfree Forest.

Cheerilee could hear some of the whispers of the pegasus she carried. Things along the lines of “failure”, “deserve to die”, and “why not leave me”, were all said under his breath. Cheerilee felt sorry for him. It was true that he had no control over his actions, but it was also apparent that he had remembered everything he had done under the enchantments influence.

When they finally pierced through the thick tree line, and onto the trail that ran along the forest, Cheerilee passed her burden onto the medical ponies who had been waiting for them. She went to talk to Lieutenant Flurry Wing, who was sitting nearby, but was interrupted by the familiar voice of the town librarian, Element of Magic, and Celestia’s personal student.

“Cheerilee!” Twilight came running up to the tired school teacher.

Cheerilee gave the bookworm an incredulous stare, “Twilight, what are you doing here?”

“I was thinking the same thing about you.”

Cheerilee looked back and forth nervously, she had never felt very good about revealing her alternate line of work. “Have you ever heard the stories about the champions of the princesses?”

“Of course, but those are just foal’s stories, just like Princess Terra.”

“No, they’re not. I am Celestia’s Champion Warrior, the Paladin.”

Twilight was about to laugh, but when Cheerilee’s expression remained serious she became more concerned. “Really? Isn’t that dangerous? I mean, you're just a teacher.”

Cheerilee gave a snort, “Just a teacher? I only went to college for that. I’ve been training to fight almost since my tenth birthday, and at this point I’ve gotten pretty good at it.”

Twilight was dumbfounded, finding out that a pony she thought was almost as harmless as Fluttershy was actually a trained warrior was not an ordinary occurrence.

“I do have to ask you though; would you mind not telling anypony? I get pretty far remaining anonymous.”

Twilight just nodded in agreement.

“And since you're here already, the pegasus over there is on the verge of a severe mental breakdown, suffering from moderate magic withdrawal, would you mind helping treat him?”

Twilight finally collected herself and stood back up. “Sure...anything else I can do?”

“Actually, one more thing. If you could figure out what enchantment had been placed on him, I would appreciate it.”

“Right. Well, time to work then.”

Cheerilee nodded and they parted ways.

Celestia is so going to kill me now.

As she walked up to the group of soldiers, Lieutenant Flurry Wing had just finished speaking with a fellow officer.

“Hello Flurry Wing,” Cheerilee said with a tired smile.

The lieutenant returned the weak smile, “I see you made it out of the forest alright.”

“Yes. I was reluctant to leave him,” she pointed over to the medical team, “While I came back for help, but he was fine, relatively speaking.”

Flurry Wing’s expression became somber “I know he had no control over his own actions, but part of me still wants to see him burn.”

Cheerilee stared off into the distance, “I know what it’s like to lose somepony, and it’s hard, but we have to move on from our anger.”

The lieutenant only nodded in reply.

“I hope I’m not asking too much, but would you see if General Turncoat would be able to leave a copy of the investigation for me at city hall. I would stick around but I’m already feeling the effects of exhaustion setting in, not to mention slight magic exhaustion as well.”

The lieutenant glanced at Cheerilee’s forehead before giving her a confused look.

“It’s the armor.”

“Ahh. Yeah, I’ll see what I can do. Hopefully we won’t meet again under these circumstances, but I have a feeling that won’t happen. So, until next time.”

Cheerilee was the one to nod this time, before turning and setting her sights back on Ponyville.

[~~~~~]

When Cheerilee arrived back at her house, she lowered the magical enchantments that had been surrounding it walked inside. She found Berry Punch sleeping on the couch with a note lying on the coffee table.

Sis
I normally would have made you sleep on the couch (since Symphony needs a place to sleep), but I figured you would be exhausted, and should at least enjoy the few hours of sleep you are getting. Also, I have a surprise for you, but that will have to wait till tomorrow.

Love Berry Punch

P.S. Don’t look for your alarm clock, or mine. I hid them.

Cheerilee looked back over to where her sister was sleeping. She pulled the blanket back up over Berry Punch, from where it had fallen during her sisters tossing and turning. Heading up the stairs, she found her own bed occupied by Symphony, who had curled into a ball around the pillow. Cheerilee quietly stepped back out and headed to her sister room. It would have been too close to say which came first, sleep, or her head hitting the pillow.

~~~~~

When Cheerilee awoke, her alarm clock had mysteriously appeared on her sister’s bedside table. The hands informed her that it was a little after eleven in the morning. That can’t be right, I’ll have Time Turner take a look at it today. A look out the window informed her that it was in fact almost noon.

“At least it’s only Sunday…Sunday! I have tests to grade!”

Cheerilee shot out of bed, and pounded down the stairs. When she got to the dining room however, she found Berry Punch busily marking her student’s papers with a red pen, and Symphony sorting them into piles.

“Berry? Symphony? What’s going on here?”

Berry Punch casually looked over her shoulder, “Oh, hi sis, and surprise.”

Symphony jumped out of her seat and gave the school teacher a hug, “Good morning Miss Cheerilee.”

“Good morning you two, but seriously, what are you girls doing?”

“I figured you could use the extra sleep. So, I found your tests and started grading them. When Symphony saw, she asked if she could help. Turns out she’s really smart, did you know she already knows her multiplication tables?”

Cheerilee looked down at the filly, who was nodding proudly.

“I asked her the sort the tests out by grade and subject. Honestly sis, being organized doesn’t mean everything is in one pile, no matter how much you’ve straightened the pile out.”

Cheerilee gave the two a huge smile, “Thank you so much girls. Do I have any mail by any chance?”

Berry Punch tossed a letter and a document envelope over her shoulder, and Cheerilee caught them. “I’ll be right back you two.”

Cheerilee walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. She opened the first envelope, in it was a request to attend a meeting at town hall later that day. She opened the the other and found the investigation files that she had requested along with a note.

Cheerilee Punch,
My lieutenant informed me that you had requested a copy of our investigation, which you will find along with this letter. I am glad to have somepony like you aiding in this matter. If you wish to go through everything be my guest, but I thought I might give you the summarized version. None of the victims were related to one another. As I’m sure you deduced they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I will refrain from discussing the matter of the assassin, because that is the matter we wish to discuss tonight. As for the soldier we lost, Three-leaf Clover, his funeral will be next week; you are invited to attend. As for the Children of the Night, we have no leads as of the time of my writing this. I will make sure to keep you in the loop, and I ask that you do the same.

General Turncoat

Cheerilee placed the letter and the rest of the papers on the coffee table and sat back.

Four ponies, killed in cold blood in a single night, as well as Symphony’s parents, and no clues as to who is responsible. How many more innocent ponies are going to die before this is over?

She was no stranger to death, in her line of work, one might almost call death a close acquaintance. However, every now and then, Cheerilee’s work caught up with her. A tear fell from her eye, which was followed by another, and another.

Cheerilee was on the verge of weeping when she felt two hooves wrap around her head and cover her eyes.

“Guess who?” Berry Punch said in a deep scratchy voice.

Cheerilee’s tears slowed. “Thanks sis.”

Berry Punch walked around the couch, and sat next to her sister. “I always remember how, whenever you or I were sad, dad would always sneak up on us with that silly little line.”

“I still miss him Berry, and…I’m afraid that I going to lose you too. How am I supposed to protect everypony?”

Berry Punch pulled Cheerilee into a hug, “The same way you always do, with skill, intelligence, and hard work. And you’re not alone either; almost every soldier in the expeditionary force is looking for the same ponies. You need to give yourself more credit. You’re the best in Equestria, and I don’t feel an ounce of fear, knowing that you are around.”

“Thanks sis.”

“You’re welcome. Now don’t get me wrong, Symphony is a sweet little filly and great company, but weren’t you supposed to turn her over to the orphanage in Canterlot?”

“The princess decreed that I was to take care of her until a suitable home could be found.”

Berry Punch gave a mischievous smile, “It looks like she found one then.”

Cheerilee gave her sister a confused look.

“Oh Cheery, you’re so cute when you're clueless.”

Cheerilee snap out of her confusion, “I should probably get working on my investigation notes, there is a meeting tonight.”

“I will let you get to work then, Symphony and I have the dining room table covered, so feel free to the desk in my office. Don’t you dare touch anything else though; I still haven’t been able to sell all that vodka you made me order by mistake.”

“Thanks,” Cheerilee replied sheepishly.

~~~~~

Other than the mayor, Cheerilee was the first to arrive at town hall. She took a seat at the far end of the large, oak, conference table. General Turncoat and Lieutenant Flurry Wing arrived next, the General sat at the head of the table, and Flurry Wing took a seat next to Cheerilee. Without her armor on, the lieutenant had a light blue mane with white streaks in it, tied up in a bun. Her cutie mark was a swirl of snowflakes. It was clear by the fact that her cutie mark was visibly that white was the natural color of her coat, not a product of the budget dying job that the Equestrian armed forces were notorious for.

“Hello Cheerilee, sleep well?” Flurry Wing asked with a friendly smile.

“Not bad I suppose, how about you?”

“Well it only took us about another hour to wrap everything up, that and the general’s alarm clock mysteriously vanished,” Flurry Wing winked, “I didn’t wake up till probably two thirty.”

Cheerilee gave the lieutenant a mock glare, “Vanished, I wonder how that happened.”

“Certainly you don’t think I had anything to do with it? Cheerilee, you wound me.”

Their conversation ended when the stormy grey pegasus from the previous night walked in, Cheerilee could see that his mane was clearly a rich brown, and his cutie mark was a cloak and dagger. He was followed in by Twilight Sparkle. From the timing of their arrival, it could be assumed that the two walked at least part of the way together.

General Turncoat, after greeting the two new arrivals turned back to the rest of the table. “Ladies, I would like to introduce to you Shadow Fetter, he was the espionage trainer for the Equestrian Clandestine Operations.” Shadow gave the group a small wave. “That is until he was abducted two months ago by the Children of the Night. And I am sure that you already know Twilight Sparkle, the Element of Magic. I asked them both to be here, as each of them have unique insight to offer on the recent events. Mayor, I mean no disrespect, but I ask that you please leave us for now. I will call you back when we reach matters pertaining to Ponyville.”

Mayor Mare gave a single nod and left the conference room.

“I think we will begin with the events of last night. Other than the murders, is there anything important you would like to share with us Cheerilee?.”

Cheerilee nodded, and stood up. “During the course of my investigation, I found that the Assassin-“

“You can use my name, I know what I did,” Shadow interrupted.

“Yes, you were kidnapped, and manipulated using dark sorcery. You were not responsible for the death of any of those ponies, and I will not accept any argument from you as to the contrary. I was saying, I found that his path would have roughly intersected both the Ponyville post office and library. Assuming that the post office was not a point of interest for this group, I believe that it is safe to say that they are targeting the Elements of Harmony, or at least one of them.”

General turncoat turned to look at Shadow Fetter, “Is this correct.”

Shadow shuffled his hooves, “Yes, I remember being told to eliminate one of the Elements of Harmony in order to render them useless. I was scouting out their different homes.”

“Flurry Wing, when this is over, have Willow post guards at all of the Element’s houses.”

“Yes sir.”

Cheerilee continued with her findings, “Following the trail back into the forest was fairly uneventful. While fighting with the assassin, I noticed that his memories seemed to have been repressed. I used that as leverage to break the mind control. That’s all.”

“Twilight, does this match your findings?”

“Yes sir. The enchantment controlling Shadow’s mind was actually several different ones. One of them did suppress the victims memory, another was a suggestion spell, and I haven’t quite figured out the last one yet, but I am working on it.”

“Very good Miss Sparkle, and thank you for providing your services.”

The general turned to Flurry Wing, “Your report lieutenant?”

“Well, we set off into the forest. The plan was to search for tracks or any other signs of disturbance. My squad was about thirty minutes in when we heard a rustling in a bush on the left. Three-leaf Clover had point, so he went over to investigate. When he looked inside, this black...thing jumped out and pinned him to a tree. By the time we got to his body, he was dead... Shimmer was able to get her hooves up before she got attacked, she sustained heavy damage to her front legs but was otherwise untouched. I got the squad to a nearby clearing where we took a defensive position. I figure I could have flown to get help, but I didn’t want to leave my squad alone, and I knew that help would be sent eventually.”

“Actually,” Twilight piped in, “If I may interrupt, your decision to stay probably saved your life as well. Along with the two mind control enchantments and the third unknown enchantment. There were dozens of physically enhancing enchantments. A trained racer might have stood a chance of getting away, but in armor, you didn’t.”

General Turncoat looked troubled, “So not only are they targeting ponies based on their strengths, but enhancing those strengths as well? This doesn’t bode well. Does anypony have anything to add to last nights events?”

The rest of the ponies shook their heads.

“Alright, Shadow, can you give us anything that might point us to the next step?”

Shadow gave the general an apologetic look, “All I know is they mentioned something about Appleoosa, sorry.”

“Don’t be, it’s a start. Cheerilee, I know I don’t technically have any jurisdiction over your actions but I strongly suggest that you take the train tomorrow to Appleoosa, and see what you can find out.”

“I wish I could, but I do have to teach tomorrow.”

Twilight stood up a little too enthusiastically, knocking her chair over, “Hehehe...I could teach for you, I mean other than you I’m probably the most qualified in the town.”

Cheerilee let out a little chuckle, “Twilight, I’m sure you’re probably more qualified than me even. I would be happy to have you fill in while I’m gone.”

Twilights expression looked as if she was on the verge of exploding with excitement.

“Now that that’s settled,” Turncoat said, drawing together everypony’s attention once more, ”A few other matters. I would like Shadow to remain here in Ponyville for the time being.” he turned to the grey pegasus, “I think that helping out the town would be good for you, and on top of that, you can provide extra protection for the Elements of Harmony.” He turned back to the group, “Flurry Wing, you and your squad, once it has been returned to full strength, will be running ghost missions against the Children of Night. The Royal Academy of Military Science is currently developing a way to counter the effects of enchantments on mind controlled ponies.” Lieutenant Flurry Wing saluted the general, “Twilight, you are to serve as substitute teacher for Ponyville in the event of Cheerilee’s absence. Additionally, I ask that you continue your research on the magic used in those enchantments.” Twilight nodded, “Everything for the moment is taken care of, I call this meeting adjourned. I will fill in the mayor.”

Twilight got up first, followed by Shadow, who followed her out. Cheerilee got up at the same time as Flurry Wing and the two walked out together.

Cheerilee turned to her companion as they left town hall, “Looks like the general has everything together.”

“Everything that can be. We still don’t know so much about the enemy we are facing.”

“That’s true, but worrying about what we don’t know won’t help us know it any more.” Cheerilee replied with a reassuring smile.

Flurry Wing giggled at the remark, “I suppose it won’t. It looks like we both are going to be fighting on the front lines now.”

“It sure looks that way, I guess we should hope it’s not a very big line.”

This time Flurry Wing couldn’t hold her laughter, “I was thinking that the military would give us a little support.”

“I would hope so.”

The two came to an intersection in the road.

“It looks like this is where we part ways for now. Good luck, Cheerilee.”

“You too, and if we do meet in battle, you can be sure I have your back”

Cheerilee continued to walk forward, while Flurry Wing took a left. The school teacher spent the rest of the way home thinking of what she would leave for Twilight Sparkle to teach. It’s possible I might be gone quite a while. Perhaps it would just be better to give her an outline and let her make her own lessons? That seems reasonable.

Cheerilee arrived home to find that Symphony had already gone to bed and Berry Punch reading the newspaper. Cheerilee simply waved to her sister before going into the dining room and pulling out some blank paper. She spent the next couple of hours writing an outline for Twilight. At some point her sister had come in and wished her good night.

By eleven, Cheerilee was satisfied with her work. She stacked all of her materials together so that she could deliver them on her way to the station tomorrow, and went into the living room. She curled up on the couch, which was not actually all that uncomfortable, wrapped a blanket over herself, and closed her eyes.

~~~~~

Cheerilee felt a gentle nudge rousing her from her sleep. She mumbled something incoherently and tried to brush it away. She felt it again and finally opened her eyes. It couldn’t have been much later than one in the morning, as she could still see the moon out of the living room window. Much more important to her however, was the light green filly standing by the couch. In the moonlight, Cheerilee could see the wet streaks under Symphony’s eyes, from her crying.

“What’s wrong sweetie?”

Symphony looked down at her hooves “I know Celestia said it would be all right, but I still miss them.”

“That’s perfectly fine dear. I’ll let you in on a little secret, I still miss my dad, and he’s been gone for almost twenty years.”

Symphony nodded, but didn’t look up.

“How about you sleep here with me tonight. Maybe some company will help you sleep.”

Symphony looked up at Cheerilee with pleading eyes, “Please?”

Cheerilee lifted the blanket and patted the spot between her front legs. Symphony happily jumped onto the couch and settle next to the fuchsia mare. Cheerilee wrapped her front hooves around the little pegasus and pulled her in close. The two quickly fell into a deep and peaceful sleep, but Cheerilee could have sworn that the filly had called her mommy before succumbing to the abyss of unconsciousness.

Author's Notes:

Hello again everyone. Thank you for reading and as always, feel free to leave a comment or drop me a thumbs up. Thanks to Womboman666 and RoyalinBlue for editing.

Chapter 5: Hurry Sundown

Beacon in the Shadows

or

Cheerilee’s a Paladin

Chapter 5: Hurry Sundown

By DigitDaemon

~~~~~

Cheerilee woke up early the next morning. At some point in the night she had turned over and now was facing the back of the couch. She began to roll off but stopped when the light pressure on her back reminded her of the episode with Symphony last night. Cheerilee carefully turned herself over, into a sitting position. and quietly stepped over the still sleeping pegasus filly.

She quickly grabbed the lesson material that she had prepared last night, along with her saddle bag, and headed out into the chilly, pre dawn air. She set her hooves on the path to the library, and within a few minutes of brisk trotting arrived.

Cheerilee gave the door a solid knock, which was answered by Twilight.

“Hello Cheerilee, Why don’t you come in for a minute and join me for coffee.”

Cheerilee gave the lavender unicorn an incredulous stare, “What kind?”

Twilight gave the school teacher a nervous smile, “Saddle Arabian?”

“Perfect! Lead the way.”

The two mares walked inside and Cheerilee took a seat at the table while Twilight poured two mugs of steaming hot black coffee.

“I brought my materials over for you. I didn’t know how long or often I would be gone. So, I put together an outline for you. I’m sure you would have no trouble constructing your own lessons.”

“Of course not. Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity. I’ve always wanted to know what it is like to teach young foals.”

“No problem, and thank you for being so helpful despite the circumstances. Also, would you do me another favor? There will be a filly named Symphony in the class. It will be her first day, could you make sure she has a good experience?”

“Sure.”

At that moment, the two mares heard one of the door on the ground floor opened. Shadow walked into the kitchen and gave Cheerilee a nod.

“Good morning ladies. You’re leaving for Appleoosa today, right Cheerilee?”

“Yes. If I might ask. What are you doing here?”

“Well, I had no place to stay, so Twilight offered to provide lodging. I don’t think that the dragon was too happy about giving up his bedroom though.”

Twilight chuckled at the thought of her stubborn assistant, “Oh, don’t worry. Spike will get over it in no time. Don’t tell him I told you two, but he usually gets lonely at night in his room anyways.”

Cheerilee giggled at the revelation.

“I would join you two,” Shadow said as he finished making his own coffee, “But it seems that there isn’t a seat open. So, if anyone needs me, I’ll be in the living room.”

“Hold on.” Cheerilee downed the rest of her coffee, “I need to get going anyways, the train is leaving soon.”

Cheerilee stood up and donned her saddle bag once more.

Twilight rose from her seat as well, “I’ll go with you and see you off. It’s the least I can do for giving me this opportunity.”

“Sure, I would love the company.”

Cheerilee waved to Shadow, and the two mares walked out the front door. It didn’t take them long to get to the Ponyville train station. A few minutes after their arrival, Berry Punch and Symphony arrived as well.

Berry gave her sister a hug, “I better not be reading about you on the back page of the newspaper tomorrow.”

“I promise I’ll come back.”

The two broke the hug and Symphony ran up, giving the fuchsia mare her own hug. “Please be safe miss Cheerilee.”

“I will.”

Cheerilee set the filly down and walked towards the train. Before she boarded she looked over her shoulder at the ponies who had come to see her off. “Goodbye, Take care of yourselves,” and with a wave she entered the wooden carapace of the train car.

It took Twilight about twenty minutes to get back home. She had to stop by Quills and Scrolls, to get extra writing supplies on the way back, and had been stopped by several of her friends, but luckily not Pinkie Pie.

When she arrived home, she was meet by a smirking Spike and a crest fallen Shadow.

“But...How could you have possibly known?”

“Easy. After living with Twilight for so long, I started to pick up on how she thinks. Everything is like a list, or a schedule to her. So with that in mind, the train leaves at seven, give her five minutes for the walk home, plus ten to talk with friends along the way, and another four to buy quills; I had noticed last night that she noticed we were low. And thats nineteen minutes”

Shadow looked at the little dragon in awe, “But down to the minute?”

“I’ve lived with her a loooooonnng time. Now pay up.”

Shadow reluctantly handed over the twenty bit note.”

Twilight gave Spike a scolding glare, “Spike, what have I told you about gambling when you have an unfair advantage?”

“You didn’t pay me my allowance last week,” the little dragon shrugged, “I had to make it up somehow.”

~~~~~

The cloaked pony climbed down from the tree in which she had been hiding. It didn’t take long for Peppermint to get back to the camp she had set up in Whitetail Woods, but what she found when she got there shocked her. All of her gear had been neatly packed and was sitting in a small pile. She walked over to the pile to investigate. Her short walk was interrupted by an even shorter trip to the ground.

She grunted in pain as she tried to stand back up, but she felt like somepony had covered her in lead. She gave a few more attempts to stand before she ceased struggling.

“I’ll make this short,” a deep male voice said from behind her. “I’m going to release my trap. Do not think you have any hope of overpowering me, or escaping. Both would be futile.”

The weight disappeared from Peppermint’s body, and she immediately spun around and attempted to jump on her captor. She was caught in mid air however, by a cluster of stone spikes, which erupted out of the ground to hold her without harming her.

“They never do listen, I suppose. What is your name?”

Peppermint stayed silent.

“Strike one.”

The stone shifted slightly, pulling Peppermint’s front legs out of their joints, and dislocating them. She screamed but other than that, gave no reply.

“Who are you working for?”

Peppermint still didn’t respond.

“Strike two.”

A sliver of stone pushed into the cloak she wore and pierced her right wing. Peppermint screamed again, but still did not reply.

“What are you doing here?”

Peppermint closed her eyes and braced herself for what would obviously be the end of her life. But, the final blow never came. Reluctantly, she opened up one eye and saw that the imposing grey figure just stood there.

“If you're going to kill me, just do it. I won’t tell you anything.”

“But, you will. I don’t intend to kill you, at least not directly, thirst will take care of that. Or maybe, if you get lucky, the timber wolves that prowl these woods at night will get you first, it is a quicker way to die. Enough though, I will now take my leave.”

Loadstone turned and began to walk away.

“Wait!”

Peppermint, tried to squirm into a more comfortable position, only to figure out the genius of the trap she was in. With her front legs immobile, she was unable to provide leverage in front, and if she pushed with her hind legs, the stone splinter in her wing would be forced deeper.

“I don’t know very much.”

Loadstone turned back around. “But, you do know. All information is vital, no matter it’s content.”

“They told me to look for a Paladin. It’s that school teacher.”

“Have you reported back to the rest of the Children?”

“No, I was going to after I got back here.”

“Good, go on.”

“I was supposed to tell them so that they could set a trap in wherever she went next.”

“What do you know about Appleoosa?”

“Silvered Tongue mind controlled one of the deputies.”

“Thank you for your cooperation, I’m afraid this will hurt slightly.”

The stone retracted back into the ground, and Peppermint fell with a grunt of pain.

“It would be better for you if you slept.”

Despite the adrenaline rushing through her, Peppermint’s eye grew heavy and she fell into a deep sleep. Thin vines grew over her and, as gently as possible, reset her front legs. Another vine curled up around her wing and the wound closed itself.

His work done, Loadstone left, moments before Lieutenant Flurry Wing touched down. She had been dispatched to look into a anonymous tip, regarding the whereabouts of a camp belonging to the Children of the Night.

Chainmail emerged from the brush moments later, “What happened?”

“Looks like somepony else got here first and subdued her magically. There isn’t a scratch on her.”

~~~~~

Cheerilee woke up in the compartment she had claimed in the train . It was early morning, on the second day of her trip, which meant that she would be arriving at Appleoosa in just a few hours.

“Might as well get some work down.”

She pulled out the file she had gotten from Turncoat and began reading.

The Children of the Night pulled their name from a popular book based in a time of political turmoil. We do not yet know the identity of their leader, only that he calls himself Leader. Due to recent events it is assumed that the group has access to powerful magical assets. The Children of the Night’s purpose is unknown at the moment, but it is believed that they have considerably more influence than we currently know of. The Children of the Night have been sighted using mind control and dark magic, both of which are illegal under the Arcane Safety Act. At this time we have no further information.

“Well that is disappointing,” Cheerilee said to herself, “And Shadow wasn’t able to give us much more either...But, I could look into powerful unicorns that have disappeared, I suppose that’s another route if Appleoosa doesn’t pan out.”

Cheerilee spent the next hour reading the latest Daring Do novel, which she had confiscated from a certain orange and purple filly. She would have been overjoyed that Scootaloo had actually been reading for once, except it was in the middle of math. Beside, this copy in particular was three weeks overdue to the library anyways, and Twilight did say she would do anything she could to help. Whether or not she had meant helping fight off boredom was debatable.

The whistle, announcing the trains arrival to Appleoosa, finally sounded. Cheerilee packed up her saddle bag, and started to head towards the door so that she could exit quickly when they opened. Once they did, and she got off the train. She was met by two ponies wearing badges, one badge silver, the other gold.

The gold one sat neatly on the vest of a dark orange mare, with a darker brown mane.

“You must be Cheerilee.”

Cheerilee nodded and shook the outstretched hoof. “That would be me.”

“Good, I got a letter by dragon post last night. General said you would be doin’ some investigative work. Oh, but where are my manners? I’m Sheriff Swift Sundown, It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Cheerilee replied.

“And this stud here,” Sundown gestured towards a young brown stallion, “Is Deputy Braeburn Apple, The finest we have if you ask me.”

Braeburn blushed as Cheerilee shook his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you ma’am.”

Sundown motioned for Cheerilee to step closer, and said in a hushed voice, “Now I don’t mind you doing any investigating around here, but if you find anything, You come to me first. This is my town and I won’t have my authority usurped.”

“Of course.”

“Good. We will get out of your hair then. I hope you enjoy your stay. Oh, the letter also said to fill you in on anything suspicious goin’ on, but I’m afraid that there isn’t any news in that regard. we a had a little shoot out a week ago, lost our previous sheriff, but we rounded up those responsible. They called themselves...Children, I think. All they are now is dead.”

“Thank you, and I’m very sorry for your loss.”

Sundown nodded and the two law ponies walked off and leaving Cheerilee to stand for a moment in contemplation.

So the Children of the Night have been here, but it doesn’t sound like they fared all that well. Those two both seem fairly nice, but I definitely get the feeling that Sheriff Sundown doesn’t want me here. She’s probably just afraid of me stepping on her hooves.

Cheerilee walked off of the station platform contemplating her next move. Before she could get much further she was stopped by an odd sensation in on her right hoof. she picked it up to investigate, and found a piece of paper had been taped to it. The sheriff or deputy must have put it there, I wonder why?”

She opened up the note and read the contents.

Dear Paladin,
Under the fourth clause of chapter three of the Paladin’s code. I summon you to a meeting at the Summer Silk storage house, at eight tonight.

A friend

“Okay, that’s just strange.” A few passing ponies turned to look at the school teacher, who shook her head, indicating that they need not be concerned with her.

Eight o'clock it is then, but what to do until then?

Cheerilee kept walking down the main street, looking for a hotel to stay at. Deciding on a rather charming, rustic building she walked up the steps and entered the establishment. The smell of salt and cider immediately assaulted her senses.

“Welcome to the great horned spoon, can I help you?” came a friendly shout from the bar.

Cheerilee turned and saw the speaker to be a young blue earth pony mare. “Yes. I was wondering if you had any available rooms for tonight?”

“Sure do. Fifteen for a room, twenty if you want hot water in the bath.”

“A regular room would be fine.”

“Sure thing,” the mare took a set of key off the wall behind her, “Follow me if you don’t mind.”

Cheerilee obeyed and followed the blue pony to the second floor.

“This one's yours, hollar if you need anything. Names Windy by the way.”

“Thank you Windy.”

The pony left Cheerilee at the door to a small room. There was a bed, big enough for a single pony, a small night stand, and a door to what Cheerilee assumed would be the bathroom. She quickly made her way in, set down her bag, and headed into the bathroom.

After a quick, cold shower, Cheerilee was ready to head out again. She locked the door to her room and headed back outside. Now what am I going to do? The Sheriff already told me there wasn’t anything strange going on...except for that note, of course. Perhaps ask around the saloons. Cheerilee was knocked out of her contemplation by a rather hard object landing on her and sending her sprawling.

“Ow...Oh, I’m so sorry miss.”

Cheerilee got to her feet and turned to face the cause of her fall. Behind her, sat a draconic creature, about the same size and shape as Spike. Unlike spike however, this creature was leaner and had further bone protruding past his claws. The bone structures were then connected back to his body my a thin membrane of skin creating wings, which lay exposed on the underside, but were covered in feathers on top. Feathers also protruded from his head and back in a manner similar to the spines on a dragon. All of this was a clear indication that he was not a dragon, but a cousin of the species known as wyverns.

The baby wyvern was bluish in color, and his feathers ended in a light grey at the tips. “I was coming down to land at town hall, but I got caught in a thermal and pushed off course. I hope I didn’t hurt you too badly.”

Cheerilee shook her head, “No, I’m fine. You knocked the wind out of me, but otherwise, I’m fine.”

“Whew, thats good. I’m gonna be in enough trouble when my grandpa finds out I stole the mail bag and went on the Eastern mail route alone.”

“I was wondering why someone so young was all alone, especially so far from his own territory.”

“The Draconic Expanse isn’t that far away, just twenty miles west and my cavern is the first over the border.”

“Still won’t your parents be angry?”

“My dad is most likely in some prison somewhere for getting my mom pregnant before marrying her, and my mom is the one who gave me the key to the mail room. No, it’s my grandfather who’s going to have my teeth. He is the village elder, and my misbehaving doesn’t look good for him.”

“Then why do you do it?”

“Cause it’s the only way I can get out of that cave. Grandpa wants me to be a forge master. Now don’t get me wrong, forge master is a great job and all, but I want to fly freely. Like my mom, she’s a messenger, or maybe I could be a scout.”

Cheerilee looked around at the scattered envelopes and scrolls, “How about we get all this cleaned up and then I could get you some lunch. Twenty miles is still a long journey, even by wing, you must be hungry.”

“Sweet! Oh, my names Phox by the way.” He stuck out his right claw.

“I’m Cheerilee,” she replied shaking the outstretched appendage.

The two spent the next few minutes cleaning up the mail and returning it to the mailbag. Cheerilee then escorted the wyvern child to town hall.

“You’re an hour late!” The pony at the desk set down the newspaper he had been reading, ”...Oh, it’s you.”

“Sorry Breaker, I got caught in a thermal and crashed.”

“Phox, how many time have I told you to land in front and walk through the door like everyone else. You are too small to fight that thermal, and when you’re bigger, your weight will prolly collapse the roof.”

“Sorry.” Phox placed the bag on the counter and walked out the door with Cheerilee in tow.

“You seem to be a regular here. I’m kinda new here myself. Do you know anyplace good to eat?” Cheerilee saw the devilish glint in the young wyverns eyes. “Affordable place to eat,” she amended.

“Aww. Well the Chow Line has a pretty good hayburger.”

“Lead the way.”

The two spent the rest of the afternoon chatting over lunch.

“And thats how the wyverns managed to fight off the Cobalt Tribe and earn our independence.”

“Fascinating, I never knew that the Draconic Expanse had so much history.”

“Well, more bloodshed than history, but we’ve got a lot of that too.”

Their conversation was ended by a thump outside, one that made Phox cringe.

“Thats grandpa.”

“We’ll, I guess I better return you then.”

“Are you sure you can’t hide me instead?”

Cheerilee shook her head and picked up Phox, placing him on her back. She walked out into the afternoon sun to be greeted by a large wyvern with a brownish coloration and greying feathers. He wasn’t nearly as big as a full grown dragon, but was big for an adult Wyvern.

“Hello there miss,” he said in a deep booming voice, “I hope my grandson hasn’t been giving you as much trouble as he gives me.” He shot phox a withering glare.

“Oh no, not at all. He was regaling me of the glory of the Wyvern Clans.”

“Ah, good...good. My name is Ghanthorph,elder of the Coal Tribe. Thank you for keeping him out of trouble then, relatively speaking.” He craned his neck and pulled one of the feathers off of his back. “If you should ever need the help of my clan, show them this feather and they will let you speak with me,” He dropped the feather at Cheerilee’s feet and pluck his grandson off of her back. “As for you rascal, you will need to be punished thoroughly. Perhaps I will sentence you to run the north route for the next week.”

Phox let out a joyous shout as his grandfather took to the skies with a mighty beat of his feathered wings.

Right before he was out of sight, Ghanthroph shouted back, “May Celestia light your path, Paladin.” Leaving Cheerilee stumped.

How did he know?

She shook off her confusion and returned to her room, spend the rest of the afternoon sleeping. When she woke, she went down to the saloon on the first floor and had a quick dinner.

“Windy”

“Yes hun?”

“How do I get to,” Cheerilee pulled the note out of her pocket, “The Summer Silk storage house?”

“Oh thats an easy one, you take the main road to the opposite edge of town and it’s the last building on the right. Don’t know why you’d want to go there though.”

“Yeah, I’m meeting a...friend.”

Cheerilee made her way outside and started down the main road. She noticed that despite the arid climate it was infact quite cold at night. Shivering she continued down the empty road. Thought the roads were relatively empty, the town was not quiet. The saloons were quite busy serving to the population of Appaloosa.

When she finally arrived at the warehouse the doors to the massive metal structure had been left open but the interior was completely dark save for the moonlight that shone through the windows. She was about ten feet in when a voice echoed out from the darkness.

“That’s far enough.”

Cheerilee turned to face the speaker as he stepped into a beam of moonlight. It was a ruggedly handsome colt wearing a silver deputy badge and a stetson.

“Braeburn?”

Author's Notes:

Thank you all for reading, Feel free to leave a comment and let me know how I am doing. A special thanks to RoyalInBlue and Womboman666 for editing.

Chapter 6: Gunsmoke

Beacon in the Shadows

Or

Cheerilee’s a Paladin

Chapter Six: Gunsmoke

Written by DigitDaemon

~~~~~

Braeburn squinted at the shadows that hid the figure. Stepping into the light was not one of his better ideas; while dramatic, it had left him temporarily night blind.

“Braeburn?!”

His eyes finally finished adjusting.

“Oh Cheerilee.” he placed his revolver back in its holster, “Sorry, couldn't make you out in the dark at first.”

Cheerilee walked up to the deputy and slapped him square on the face.

“Oww, what was that for?”

“You pointed a gun at me, a slap is the least you deserve.” she said with a huff.

“But I told you, I couldn’t see anything.”

“Then maybe next time you should drop the dramatics,” she said, calling his error, “And stick with being safe.”

Braeburn bowed his head in defeat. “Yeah, okay. You win.”

“Now that that’s settled, what vital information do you have, and more importantly how the hay did you get ahold of the Paladin Code?”

“Well...about that...how bout we deal with the more current issue first?”

“Okay, and what current issue is that?” Cheerilee said with an exasperated sigh, “I was told that all was good in this town.”

“Well, it’s about the sheriff. A couple weeks ago she left on vacation, and when she got back she was...different.”

Cheerilee’s ears perked up at that information, “How?”

Braeburn stroked his chin for a moment, as if gathering his thoughts, “Before she left she was very serious. For example, I am pretty sure she had a crush on me before she left, but she never would have flirted with me so blatantly. Definitely not like she did in front of you. The next thing is, when she got back, she knew exactly where a fugitive that we had been looking for was hiding.”

“None of that sounds very suspicious, maybe she just gained some confidence. And perhaps she had a thought about where the fugitive was hiding,” Cheerilee said with a shrug, “Stuff like that happens all the time for me.”

Braeburn shook his head, “Now let me finish, this is where things start to get weird. Sheriff Silverstar was planning on retiring and had yet to name his successor. After her contribution, he naturally named Sundown as his replacement.”

“Naturally...” Cheerilee motioned for him to keep going.

“The next day he was attacked by the Children of the Night.”

Cheerilee pondered what the deputy had told her so far. “I see you don’t like coincidence as much as I do.”

Braeburn shook his head again, “Afterwards, we gathered up a posse to find them, but she knew exactly where they were. On top of that, she was the only one who was there when Silverstar was supposedly attacked and killed anyways.”

“Okay, you have my attention.” Cheerilee scratched her head for a moment, “I’ve seen first hand that the Children of the Night use mind control, and the Royal Guard believe that that wasn’t an isolated case.”

“I guess that would explain the change but-”

Braeburn was interrupted by the sound of a metal tin falling to the ground, and the two of them turned just in time to see a cloaked figure run from the warehouse with a clatter of hoof steps.

Cheerilee turned to the deputy, “Looks like the game is up. I hope they made you deputy for more than just your hat.”

Cheerilee took a step back as runes gathered all over her, and armor similar to her scouting uniform appeared. This armor did not however radiate light like her other suits, allowing her to better make use of the night’s advantages.

Braeburn pulled the revolvers out of his holsters and checked the cylinders to make sure each had their eight rounds. The two of them slowly made their way to the entrance of the warehouse and exited into the night.

Standing in the street, farther down towards the town square was Sheriff Swift Sundown surrounded by a group of cloaked ponies aiming guns at the pair.

“Howdy there Braeburn, hope you aren’t planning on cheating on me.” The sheriff yelled out to them.

Braeburn locked eyes with the rogue sheriff, “Sundown, I don’t know what's gotten into you, but quit it right now.”

“What, give up my power? We can reshape this town Braeburn, make it better.”

“Is that what you said to Silverstar? I’m sure he was thrilled.”

“He didn’t understand, and I guess you don’t either. It’s a shame, we could have had a great future together.”

Cheerilee and Braeburn jumped behind some crates that had been piled up on the other side of the street just as the hooded ponies began to shoot.

Cheerilee turned to Braeburn, “Got any bright ideas, or just more showmanship?”

“Don’t underestimate the value of a good show,” Braeburn turned and waited for the gunfire to ease up. “Case.”

He leapt out into the open and was immediately obscured by the smoke from the resumed ballistic barrage.

“And point.”

When the smoke cleared again Braeburn stood on his hind legs in the center of the street. His steel revolvers had been replaced by silver, ebony handled ones. The vest he wore was no longer the brown characteristic of western clothing, but midnight blue accented by black and silver. His hat had also changed to match the colors of his vest.

The crowd of cloaked ponies and the sheriff immediately ran for cover as Braeburns guns began to light up the evening air. The shots produced no smoke, suggesting that the guns were inherently magical and the shots looked like slivers of moonlight as they flew through the air. The other amazing feat, every shot the deputy fired found it’s target, whether it was a leg, a torso, or a head. At a ridiculous range, every well timed shot hit it’s mark.

Cheerilee noticed that in the scramble, Sheriff Sundown had escaped down a side alley.

“Braeburn, keep them busy, I’m going after Swift.”

Braeburn nodded and continued his shooting. One of the gunponies had managed to sneak around and charged at the deputy with a knife. Braeburn turned one of his pistols at the charging would be assailant and pulled the trigger. The cylinder of his revolver split open and the remaining rounds fired all at once into the attacker, who was blown away from the impact. He emptied his other gun and then quickly rolled back behind the crates to reload.

~~~~~

Cheerilee turned around another corner and came face to face with a raised pistol. She put up her shield just in time to stop the round, that would have otherwise killed her.

“Sundown, I know what they did to you. You don’t have to be the bad guy.”

Another round hit Cheerilee’s shield, but she held it steady.

“What? That they made me stronger? They helped me learn what I really wanted.”

“This isn’t what you want! This is what they want!”

Having decided that continued shooting at this point was useless, Sundown drew the knife from her belt and jumped on the paladin. Cheerilee’s armor stopped most of the blade, but the point of the knife had cut into her back. She gave a hard kick and sent the Sheriff sprawling.

“I don’t want to fight you Sheriff,” Cheerilee reach behind her back and pulled the knife out of her armor, “But if you want to fight me, you’ll need this.”

Cheerilee threw the knife into the ground in front of the prone pony. Sundown got up and approached her knife wearily. When she realized that the paladin had no intention of tricking her she picked it up in her hoof.

“Why?”

“Because if I have to kill you, I want to do it honorably.”

The sheriff nodded absentmindedly and then took a fighting stance. Cheerilee did the same, drawing her sword into reality, but she was knocked off her feet by Swift suddenly charging her. The enhancement to her strength was clear. Cheerilee was not an easy pony to knock over. Swift Sundown had done it however, with hardly any effort.

The sheriff walked over to where Cheerilee was lying on her back. “If you leave now, I might even let you live, return the favor and all that.”

Cheerilee did a somersault and landed on her feet. She picked her sword back up. “I’m not done yet.”

She made a sweeping strike, but Sundown caught it in the serrations of her knife. They stayed with weapons locked and making an odd buzzing noise for a second before Cheerilee shield bashed the sheriff away. Swift Sundown glanced at her knife blade. The knife had a notch in the blade where the two weapons had been in contact, as if the swirling metal of the paladins sword had ground away the metal.

This time Cheerilee was ready for the surprise charge, what she hadn’t prepared for was what the sheriff charged. She threw her entire weight into the rim of the paladin’s shield. The shield, instead of rotating and tearing Cheerilee’s arm off, shattered like glass into thousands of crystal like fragments.

Sundown pulled her revolver back out and pointed it at the paladin. “Sorry hun, but I already gave you a second chance.”

Before the sheriff was able to fire the killing shot, a bolt of silver flew past Cheerilee’s ear and hit Sundown square in the chest. She dropped the her revolver and fell to the ground.

Cheerilee took a quick glance behind herself to see Braeburn had slung his rifle back around his shoulder and was sprinting to catch up with her. From how fast he was running she could guess that he had been about four hundred yards away when he had taken his shot. She turned back to the sheriff on the ground and ran over to her side.

The wound in Swift Sundown’s chest was dead center, and it was clear she was dying. She was still conscious though and she looked up to meet the eyes of the fuscia mare. “Thank you.”

“Shh, I need to get you to a hospital, we don-”

“Please, I know I am dying. Thank you for stopping me though.”

Braeburn caught up to the two mares and solemnly approach the dying sheriff.

“And you,” Sundown turned to look at the deputy, “Don’t you dare feel bad about what you did. You stopped the monster I had become.” She paused for breath, something that she was quickly running out of. “...Those Children of the Night...It’s their fault, not...not yours.” She coughed up blood violently and drew in a few more ragged breaths. “It’s a shame it had to end like this though...” She smiled wide at Braeburn, “We would have made a great couple you know,” then she closed her eyes and died.

Braeburn slowly kneeled down, pushed Sundown’s mane off her forehead and placed a kiss on it. “I know.”

Cheerilee silently began collecting loose wood and kindling and placing it around the sheriffs dead body until all that was exposed was her head.

Cheerilee turned to the still kneeling deputy, “She deserves a hero’s burial.” He just nodded and backed away. Cheerilee’s armor began to change again. It shifted from her night time garb to a full body plate mail suit. Each plate shown as bright as platinum in the sun, and each silver piece was emblazoned by grand gold designs. On her head sat a helmet that covered her mane but left her face exposed; It too, matched the design of the rest of her armor. The armor overall was too bulky to be useful in combat and from the ornate craftsmanship it was obviously a ceremonial piece.

She silently stepped forward and placed her blade on top of the sheriffs head and the wood sprang alight. However, as the flames began to consume Swift Sundown’s body, they turned from orange and red, to a bright, pure white.

After the blazed died down and finally stopped completely, all that was left was a pile of ash and at the center, a single gemstone. The sapphire had been the centerpiece of a necklace that had been tucked underneath the sheriff’s vest. Cheerilee picked it up as her armor and sword dissolved and walked over to where Braeburn had kept a silent vigil.

“You should have this, if nothing else to remember her by. I’m sorry.”

Braeburn took the sapphire from Cheerilee’s outstretched hoof. “You’re not the one who needs to be sorry.”

“I know you shot her but-”

“But it’s what I had to do. What I had to do because of the Children of the Night.” Braeburn’s feature took on a vicious scowl. “They will be sorry for what they did, and if it’s the last thing I do, I will make sure that every last one of them feels my pain.”

Cheerilee was shocked by the resolution of the deputy. “But won’t you be made sheriff now that she is dead?”

“No. As Luna’s Champion Inquisitor, it is my duty to protect all of Equestria from threats past, present, and future.”

Realization finally struck Cheerilee. She had assumed that the the change of Braeburns clothing had been the effect of the magical weapons he wielded, which was partially true. She hadn’t thought that he was the champion of the Moon just as she was of the Sun. I guess that explains how he knew about the paladin code.

“I’m sure General Turncoat will be very grateful for the added support. I am going to leave for Ponyville in the morning, but you probably want to get things sorted out here first.”

Braeburn nodded and began to walk back down the street towards the Sheriffs office. Cheerilee turned to head back to her room. I guess things got sorted out pretty quick here. I still don’t like how it turned out though. My duty is to protect the innocent from harm, but all that I did was tonight was fight with the victim. I suppose I am going to have to make a trip to Canterlot as well, I’m sure Celestia will be thrilled that I broke my shield.

~~~~~

The next morning Cheerilee packed up her few belongings back into her saddle bag and headed down to the train station. The atmosphere in the town was much more gloomy than the previous day. It was still busy, but the ponies lacked the enthusiasm that they had shown yesterday. No doubt that news of the shootout and the sheriff’s death had already spread throughout the small western town. Cheerilee spent the rest of her time waiting on the platform thinking about the events of last night. She felt bad enough about Sundown’s death, and Cheerilee had given her a huge advantage. Even though he didn’t admit it, the school teacher was sure that Braeburn felt awful about himself for what he had done.

The train finally arrived, and after a short wave of ponies disembarking, Cheerilee entered and found another empty compartment. She pulled out her notebook and began writing down the event of last night. The general would surely get a copy of the official police report Braeburn would no doubt file. But she had dealt with the general enough to know he would want to know her story as well.

~~~~~

Cheerilee watched as a younger version of herself dutifully ran through sword drills in a clearing. At some point she must have fallen asleep while writing her report. She watched and reflected on how her life had used to be so simple. Her training had been structured and rigorous, but she always knew what she could expect.

Steel Trident had first approached her soon after her mother left. He had told her a story about knights and dragons and great adventures. At the time she had been excited about having such an opportunity to train with him. Perhaps it had just been her trying to fill the void in her heart that her mother leaving had caused. Cheerilee had begged her father to let her train. He gave in to her wishes; probably because he was afraid of disappointing his daughters more than his heavy drinking, also a product of his wife leaving him, did.

Steel Trident always told her that things would not always be easy. He had once even said that the hardest part of a fight was what happened when the fight was over. Cheerilee hadn’t understood it at the time, but she had figured it out eventually.

A voice next Cheerilee broke her out of her revery, “It is easy to remember how naive we were back when we were young, is it not?”

Cheerilee turned her metaphorical head to find Princess Luna seated next to her.

“Princess! What are you doing here?”

“The last time we met like this, did thou not say that comforting one another is what friends are for?”

“I guess I did.”

“I assure thou that what was done last night was most noble. Thou need not feel sorry for thy actions.”

“I know, but it’s hard not to anyways.”

“This be the truth. Even now we still feel bad for the incident we caused during our return. But it is imperative that we not linger over the past but fight to do better in our future.”

“Yeah, I suppose so. By the way, why didn’t you tell me before that Braeburn was your champion?”

“Ah, an excellent query. Just as the Sun clears the sky and light a path true and straight. The Moon hides the stars and shades the path of which we walk. Secrecy is nothing but in my nature.”

“I’m sure that makes your sister happy.”

“Do not tell her of what I speak, but for her I act in secret on purpose.”

“Why?”

“Tis most enjoyable.”

Cheerilee chuckled at the thought that, despite their royal obligations, Celestia and Luna stilled found time to tease one another as most siblings do.

“I must be off now, not many of our precious ponies sleep during the day, but some do still, and I must watch over their dreams as I would anypony else.”

“Thank you Princess Luna.”

“You are most welcome.” Luna’s body faded back into the fabric of Cheerilee’s peaceful dream.

Cheerilee laid her metaphysical head down on top of her legs and spent the rest of her dream watching motionless as her younger self endlessly dueled with the wooden training dummy in the center of the clearing.

Author's Notes:

This chapter is a bit more exciting then the others for one reason, It ties up the chapter count with my previous rendition of this story. These chapter are all a lot larger though, so It has far surpassed it in word count. That you everyone for reading. Please feel free to leave a comment letting me know what you think, or should you deem it necessary, what I could improve on. Thanks to Womboman666 and RoyalInBlue for editing.

Chapter 7: If You Only Knew

Beacon in the Shadows

or

Cheerilee’s a Paladin

Chapter 7: If You Only Knew

By DigitDaemon

~~~~~

Cheerilee awoke as the train was pulling into Ponyville station. Because of the way the train ran, the trip to Appleoosa had gone through several different town and cities along the way, but the trip back was a straight line of track directly to Ponyville, thus the trip back had only taken about half a day.

Cheerilee stepped off the train with a few other passengers. No one was there to meet her, but that was to be expected since nopony had known exactly when she would be back. She took her time walking home. Berry Punch would be picking up Symphony from school, and until they got home, There was really no reason for Cheerilee to be home either.

On the way she decided she would stop by the Inn and Suite Hotel, or as the owner pronounced it, “The Inn and Sveet hotel”. The Equestrian Expeditionary Force had commandeered it for logging during their stay, and the soldiers that remained were still lodged there.

She entered the modest lobby and made her way to the desk. The owner, Four Stars, greeted her with his unmistakable eastern accent, “Ah, Cheerilee. How are you my dear?”

“I’m doing alright. Have you figured out what to do yet with all the money that the army paid you?”

“I vas considering adding more rooms, but I do think that the usually traffic I get would varrant it. Perhaps some advertising instead?”

“I can’t help you with that one, unfortunately. Is there a Lieutenant still staying here?”

Four Star rubbed his bearded chin for a moment before responding, “Vy yes, room two o’ four.”

“Thank you very much.”

Cheerilee made her way up to the second floor and knocked on the door for room two hundred and four. About a minute later Lieutenant Flurry Wing opened the door.

“Hey, whats up.” Flurry Wing said with a grin, “Back from Appleoosa already?”

“Yeah, things went pretty quick, I was actually here to ask if you would take my report to General Turncoat next time you see him.” Cheerilee pulled her report out of her bag and presented to the Lieutenant.

“Sure,” Flurry Wing took the report from the school teacher, “But in return, you're going to buy me lunch tomorrow”

“Sure. How about Sugar Cube Corner? One o’clock?”

“I’ll be there.”

Cheerilee left the hotel and continued back home. The trip was short and quiet, most ponies were still at work or at the market, and Cheerilee’s route subverted both the business district of town and said market. She was greeted at the door by an excited Symphony and a relieved Berry Punch.

“I told you two I would make it back.” Cheerilee said while she held the little pegasus filly in a hug. Berry Punch joined the hug and squeezed her little sister tight, causing Cheerilee to wince.

“What’s wrong?” Berry asked with a little concern.

Cheerilee put Symphony back on the ground and turned her side towards her sister, revealing the knife wound on her side.

“Hold on right there” Berry Punch ordered, “What’s that.”

“Just a bit of a scratch, It’s nothing, just a bit sore is all.”

“Looks to me like an infection waiting to happen. Come into the kitchen so I can clean it up.”

“I keep telling you, I can’t get infections.” Cheerilee pouted as she followed her older sister into the kitchen.

“I’ll believe a magical immune system the day Canterlot decides to switch the day and the night.”

Cheerilee ruefully submitted to her sisters care, and to her credit, didn’t even wince at the alcohol swab. After a few minutes of bandaging, Cheerilee finally escaped the attention of her sister.

She returned to the living room, where Symphony was quietly coloring. When Cheerilee sat down on the couch, Symphony picked her paper and crayons off the coffee table and sat down next to the fuchsia mare. She snuggled up against Cheerilee and then continued coloring, the paper sitting in her lap. Cheerilee wrapped her front leg around the filly and looked down at what she had drawn. It was two ponies with oval bodies and stick legs. Cheerilee was able to identify one of them as herself, but it took her a moment to realize that the other was Symphony’s mother.

“That's a very nice picture.”

“Thanks, It’s you and my mom. I wish you could meet her, she’s really nice.”

Cheerilee rested her head on top of the pegasus filly’s, “I’m sure that one day I will” Hopefully not for a long time though.

“So what did Twilight teach you today at school?”

“She taught us about the sun.”

“What did you learn about the sun?”

“That it’s a giant ball of fire.”

“Thats right.”

“If the sun is made out of fire, how does Princess Celestia lift it up? Is she fireproof?”

Cheerilee giggled at the innocence of the filly, “Why don’t you come with me to Canterlot tomorrow, and you can ask her yourself.”

“But I have to go to school, don’t I?”

“I think Twilight will understand if you miss a day of school to go and see the princess.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course, I’ll tell her that it’s a field trip.” I should probably go see her anyways

Cheerilee spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on the couch and watching Symphony draw.

~~~~~

Onyx Loadstone finished cleaning up what had previously been a training camp for the Children of the Night. Now it was a few pieces of broken wood, a few fires, and a lot of rock sticking up at random jagged angles.

He had already rounded up all the surviving trainees and tied them to one of the boulders in the center, after which he had given them a strong lecture on the incompetence of their former night watching, and how it had ultimately led to their capture. Of course, how could they have known they were fighting against one of the few ponies for whom the Earth itself sang out.

Loadstone made his way over to the edge of the camp and sat down underneath one of the stone pillars of his own making and waited. Soon enough, he spotted the golden armor of the EEF on the horizon. He got up and silently walked away.

Lieutenant Flurry Wing touched down in the remains of the training camp. This was the third time in the same number of days that she had been given an assignment, only to find that her task had been completed by an unknown force. Two other soldiers landed beside the lieutenant and began to take stock of the situation.

“ Siphon, Firestorm, you know the drill. Find the prisoners. I’m going to take a closer look at these rock formations.”

The two nodded simultaneously and walked off.

“Who the hay is screwing with my missions?”

~~~~~

Cheerilee and Symphony’s quiet relaxation was finally ended by Berry Punch calling them to eat. Dinner passed quickly and soon Cheerilee found herself in front of the town library, knocking on the door.

The door opened up to reveal the form of a baggy-eyed and slightly singed Twilight Sparkle. “Cheerilee, good thing you showed up. Please come inside.”

Cheerilee cautiously stepped inside the library tree.

“You would not believe the day I have had,” Twilight said with a groan.

“I’m sorry about asking you to teach, I could get somepony else.”

Twilight quickly shook her head, “No, no, it wasn’t that. You have a great class, they are very well behaved, and Symphony is a very smart filly.”

“So, what happened then?”

“Here, come on in and have seat,” Twilight gestured to the dining room table. ”Would you like some tea?”
Cheerilee nodded and sat down on one of the oak chairs.

“You remember how I was trying to identify the last part of the mind control enchantment?” Twilight asked, while she put the kettle on the stove.

“Yes.”

“Well I figured it out. Well, sort of figured it out. More accurately, I figured out why I couldn't figure it out.”

“And why is that, if anypony knows complex magic, it’s you.”

Twilight blushed slightly at the compliment, “Thank you, and for the most part you are right. If you show me any spell in Equestria, even some changeling and griffon spells, and I could probably tell you at least something about them.”

“So why can’t you figure this spell out?”

“Well, that's just it, the magic isn't Equestrian, or Griffon, or Changeling. It isn’t even draconic magic. I had to take books from the archive of the Royal Canterlot Library to figure it out. It’s Demon magic.”

“Demon magic? I thought that demons were a myth?”

“And I thought Paladins were a myth. No, according to the books I looked in, demons live in a separate dimension that is linked to our own. It also said that the demons have tried to invade and conquer our world twice.”

“So you think that they are coming back?”

Twilight shook her head, “Thankfully, no. Most of the enchantment in the mind control spell are common to the Equestrian magical vocabulary. Definitely not something that a demon could have done. But the problem is, that only a demon could have used the magic the formed the last enchantment.”

“So you think that the demons are helping the Children of the Night?”

“Possibly.”

“Wait, so if you’ve spent all this time doing research, why does it look like you set yourself on fire.”

“Oh that? I was helping Spike floss his teeth and I got a letter from the Princess.”

Twilight took the now whistling tea pot and poured it out into two cups she levitated on to the table. “Enough of that for now though, what did you come to see me about?”

“First, I wanted to make sure that you were doing alright, and second I wanted to let you know that I am taking Symphony to Canterlot with me tomorrow.”

“Like I said, I’m doing alright. And I think it’s a great idea taking her to Canterlot, there is so much to learn about Equestria there. Did you know that the Canterlot library is the largest in the world?”

Cheerilee mentally facehoofed. “You don’t say? Honestly, I was just thinking that some fresh scenery might help her keep her mind off her parents.”

“Oh,” Twilight’s face fell, “That works too, I guess.”

“But I’ll be sure to take her to the library, she does like to read after all.”

Twilight’s expression brightened, “They have a great foal’s section, I can send a message to the princess and get you a private reading room.”

“I don’t think that will be necessary, but thank you.” Cheerilee finished her tea and stood. “I should probably get going now, I’m gonna have another early train to catch.”

Twilight nodded and walked Cheerilee to the door, “Thanks for coming to check on me, and... Good luck.”

“Thanks.“ Cheerilee smiled and walked out into the night.

~~~~~

Silvered Tongue sat down in front of a silver tray that his personal attendants had prepared for him. He picked up a zucchini stalk in his magic and twirled it a bit before setting it back down.

Not hungry?

The unicorn jumped out of his seat. “Who’s there?”

I would assume you knew it was me, you locked me in here.

“No... No you should be dead.”

Tsk tsk, did no pony ever tell you that it takes a lot more than draining a demons magic to kill it?

“What do you want” Silvered Tongue asked, trying to contain his shivering.

Your soul. Your army. Your country. You've already practically handed me two of them.

“You, I sealed you up. You can’t hurt me.” The unicorn said regaining his composure.

That won’t be a problem, I’ll just wait till you’re weak, or dead. Doesn’t matter to me. You can’t hold me forever you know.

“Hmph” SIlvered Tongue sat back down in front of his food and began to eat in earnest, as if to take his mind off the previous conversation.

~~~~~

Braeburn finished signing the last of the paperwork on his former desk. “It’s all yours Gritting Sands, take good care of this town, ya hear?”

The pony in question nodded gravely.

“Good.” Braeburns expression turned from serious to a wide grin, “I got a pretty young mare wait’n for me.”

Braeburn pick up his bag and slung it over his shoulder before walking out of the Sheriff’s office. He made it to the platform just as the Ponyville express was pulling in and hopped aboard. He immediately made his way to the dining car and began stuffing himself on the exotic foods that were only available on longer train rides.

Author's Notes:

This ones a bit short, but I didn't want to get into the events of the next chapter and then leave you all literally in the middle of things, just to boost the word count. Thank you all for taking the time to read this, feel free to leave a comment. Thanks to my editors, Womboman666 and RoyalInBlue for wading through a mess of misused grammar. Also, I hope the the hotel keepers accent wasn't to weird to read, I couldn't think of any other way to portray a German accent, without saying German since there is in fact (as far as I know) no Germany in Equestria. Poor Braeburn, those of you familiar with the paladin code (I'm going with the one popularized by D&D) know what awkwardness awaits him.

Chapter 8: Fight For You

Beacon in the Shadows

Or

Cheerilee’s a Paladin

Chapter 8: Fight for You

By DigitDaemon

~~~~~

Cheerilee and Symphony stepped off the train and on to the Canterlot Station platform. It had been an early morning for both of them, which was made apparent by the mare’s yawning and the filly’s mane pointed more up than down in most places. As with the last visit, the pair was greeted by guards, but the magical inspection was left undone and the two were quickly hurried into a waiting chariot and on to Canterlot Castle.

The ride was much more brief than the previous one; the guards had halted traffic in front of them in order to hasten their journey. Symphony watched with delight as the many colors of the city buzzed by them. Cheerilee on the other hoof, sat in worry over what had necessitated such an urgent trip.

Once they arrived at the castle, the guards that had met them at the train station quickly opened the huge wooden doors to the throne room and ushered them in, before closing the doors behind themselves. Cheerilee and Symphony were then led down a side passage, up three flights of stairs, down a hallway, and then asked to wait at a plain wooden door.

The lead guard knocked on the door.

“You may enter,” Celestia’s voice clearly carried through the heavy oak,

The guard opened the door and waved the pair in.

“Dost thou really believe that it would be him?” Luna was finishing as Cheerilee walked in.

“I do not know sister, I wish he would contact us every now and then, but that is just wishful thinking. Good morning Cheerilee,” Celestia looked down towards Cheerilee’s right, where the sound of small hooves followed quietly, “And good morning to you too, Symphony.”

Cheerilee and Symphony both bowed to the two princesses as they entered the relatively plain room. It lacked the banners and grand, flashy jewels that hung about the rest of the castle. From the more homely feel, Cheerilee guessed that it was a personal room of one of the two princesses, or perhaps both.

“Hello your majesties, I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

“Not at all, my sister and I were just discussing an old friend of ours.”

“Friend of yours dear sister, I never did much care for him.” Luna interjected.

“Old friend of mine,” Celestia continued, “I hear that you were quick in taking care of the troubles in Appleoosa.”

Cheerilee shuffled her front legs a bit, “Yes...I encountered another mind controlled pony. I wasn’t able to break the mind control this time, though. It seems that after she had been fatally wounded, that the mind control broke on its own.”

Celestia gave Cheerilee a sympathetic smile, “I’m sorry. I know that this isn’t what you want to hear, but you did what you had to.”

Cheerilee nodded sullenly, “I know, but that never makes it easier.”

Celestia looked back out the door, which hadn’t yet been shut, “Sergeant,” the guard peered in through the doorway, “Why don’t you take this young filly for a tour of the gardens? I’m sure that Cheerilee is more than capable of keeping me and my sister safe.”

The guard nodded and motioned for Symphony to follow, which she did after a reassuring smile from Cheerilee.

Luna silently shut the door to the small room and then cleared her throat, “I do believe thou ist aware of Twilight’s news, correct?”

Cheerilee nodded, “Yes, she told me yesterday when I went to check up on her.”

“Then thou ist also aware of the current danger we face?”

“I assumed that demons were bad news, but I’m not really familiar enough with them to accurately assess the threat they pose.”

“Very well, let us explain it to thee, in that case. The demon realm lies in a separate dimension, not far from our own. It hath on several occasion collided with ours and spilled its wretched spawn into this fair world.”

“So those are the demon wars then, right?”

“Correct. Additionally, the link that binds ours and their world together causes some of their influence to leak over. It is their energy’s that give us a desire for power, or the want to inflict pain, the compulsion to lie, cheat and steal.”

“If we managed to fight them back twice before, why should they be a problem now? Especially if Twilight thinks that they are only helping the Children of the Night?”

“Thou ist correct again, we did manage to break their assaults twice before, but not without help.”

Celestia took this opportunity to switch out with her sister, “Just as my sister explained that demons provide us with influences of evil, there are creatures who provide good influence as well. Unlike the demons, they are not sealed away and barred from our world, but seldom do they choose to enter either.”

Cheerilee gave the princess of the sun a quizzical look, “Who are they?”

“They are angels, their realm is just a dimension away from ours, like their evil counterparts. During the demon wars, they rallied to our call for help and assisted us in driving back the demons, but not without cost. In the last demon war, the angels took a single casualty, the angel of justice. Without her, the influence of crime began to spread, and eventually necessitated the creation of hero’s, of who’s boots you now fill.”

“And like Braeburn.”

Luna returned to the conversation at the mention of her own champion, “Ah, so thou hast met my new Inquisitor.”

Celestia gave her sister an incredulous look, “Applejack’s cousin?”

“Verily.”

“So you gave him the Paladin’s Code then?” Cheerilee asked the midnight blue alicorn.

“Only a passage, so that he might catch thy attention.”

“I suppose that makes sense, I was wonder why he would have wanted to speak with me about the tending to of wild beast in preparation for use as a companion.”

“We apologize, his request was most hasty, and we had little time to choose.”

Celestia returned her teacup to the table, “Regardless, Luna, Terra and I, all chose a pony to act as their own champion of justice, and the solution worked. It worked so well in fact, that it is still the system we use, of which you are living proof.”

“So you are afraid that we may have to fight another demon war, without one of the most powerful angels to help us.”

“Precisely. There is an old legend that says on Justice’s dying breath, she formed a weapon with which one could drive back all evil. Unfortunately, that is all of the legend that I know, there is somepony that would know it better, but he has the annoying habit of making himself scarce.”

“The old friend of yours?”

“Indeed.”

Luna was about to speak when one of the royal guards burst through the wooden door.

“Pardon me your majesties,but there has been an attack in the royal gardens.”

Cheerilee spun around to face the guard, “Where’s Symphony?”

The guard swallowed hard, “They took her. I think they were heading towards the train station.”

Cheerilee looked back at the two princesses.

Celestia gave Cheerilee a nod, “Do what you have to.”

Cheerilee ran out the door before stopping to look back at the guard. It was just her luck that he was a pegasus. “Take me there.”

The guard nodded and followed her down the hall to a nearby balcony. When they reached it, he scooped her up and flew full tilt towards the train station.

When they arrived, he gently lowered Cheerilee to the ground, followed her up the stairs and past the ticket booth to the platform. Cheerilee ran up to one of the station managers.

“Did you see a train leave with a light green pegasus filly?”

“Yeah, it was a fancy private train, her poor father had to drag her on board, she kept screaming about them not being her parents. Must have really not wanted to go home.”

Cheerilee’s blood ran hot with anger, “You saw a foal being dragged on board a train against it’s will and you just pass it off? For your information, her name is Symphony, she was just kidnapped from the royal gardens, and I personally saw her almost murdered by the same pony who killed her parents in cold blood. And I swear, after I get her back, that I will make sure that you are charged with anything I can find if you don’t do everything in your power to help me.”

The stallion whimpered and gave a tiny nod.

“Now which way did they go?”

The attendant pointed at the track leading to Manehattan.

Cheerilee turned to the guard, who had followed her onto the platform, “Have them contact Manehattan station and let them know that no car is to leave until I fix this.

She turned back to the attendant, “Are any trains about to leave in that direction?”

He nodded and pointed to a passenger train that had just finished taking on water. Cheerilee ran over to the first car behind the coal car and swiftly undid the latch holding the two together. The engineer who had been look back to check the coal supply began yelling at her, but a quick change into her armor silenced him. Cheerilee climbed into the engine and turned to the engineer.

“As Royal Paladin to Princess Celestia, I am hereby commandeering this train.”

The engineer nodded and gave a salute, “The Equestrian Transportation Guild is at your service, ma’am”

“Good. I need you to get me to a train further up the track, it has probably a ten minute advantage, but with no car we should be able to catch up.”

The engineer nodded and pulled the whistle, signaling their imminent departure. He then threw the break lever and the the locomotive began to roll away from the station. The first couple of miles were agonizingly slow; the locomotive was unable to get to a high speed due to the treterose mountain track. As soon as the locomotive hit the flat plains of to the east of the Canterlot Mountain Range, it began to pick up speed, and before much longer, the other train appeared in the distance.

~~~~~

The middle car of the luxury train, was anything but luxurious. In the center of it was a stone circle that had been cut into thirds and covered the both sides and a large part of the floor. Two member of The Children of the Night were now standing in the car, on “watch”. At least thats what they had been told.

“I realize we had to move out of the base, but do you really think the circle will work all fold up and stuff.”

The other guard took a look around the room, “Yeah, I don’t know, I saw Silvered Tongue casting some sort of magic on the stone, It still seems kind of sketchy to me though.”

The guards conversation was cut short when Silvered Tongue entered with two more guards, the guards were dragging behind them a small, light green pegasus filly.

“You two, prepare the crystal,” the two guards that had originally been in the car nodded and hastily began position a large, ornate dais into a dock on the side of the stone circle. In the center of the dais was a large magic focusing gem. “You two,” Silvered tongue pointed at the two that had followed him in, “Tie her to the circle” The two nodded and dragged Symphony onto the stone circle.

“I want you all to be aware, we are about to be boarded by the great paladin herself. I think that it would be rude not to give her some...entertainment.”

The four nodded silently and continued their work, Symphony began to cry once more, as chains were affixed to her legs.

Silvered Tongue placed a spell in front of the door and then quickly placed a disguising spell on top of it. After all of the tasks had been completed, the four guards spread themselves about the car. Silvered Tongue walked over the stone circle and took a place next to the ornate dais.

The five in the room did not have to wait long. About three minutes later, they heard shouts and muffled screams as their brethren in the car behind theirs were cut down without a chance. The door was knocked back off its hinges and flew across the car, Silvered Tongue calmly lowered his head as it flew over him.

Cheerilee quickly followed the door into the car but only managed to make it two steps before the trap spell took effect and bound her legs to the floor.

“How good of you to join us miss Cheerilee, I was afraid that you might find your stay aboard my train...boring. So, I prepared some entertainment for you.” The large grey blue stallion made a sweeping gesture across the stone circle where Symphony was chained up.

“You let her go you monster, she has nothing to do with this.”

“Oh, but thats where you are wrong, she has everything to do with this, at least she will soon.”

Cheerilee grunted and pulled against the magical restraints, but the trap held her still.

“I thought I would also provide an opportunity for you to do some first hoof research. I will now demonstrate the process by which I will soon gain the support of all Equestria.”

Silvered tongue began to charge energy in his horn and then let loose into the focusing crystal. “Now if you'll excuse me, I haven’t eaten yet, and I am famished.” he said before calmly walking out into the next car ahead.

The energy in the focusing crystal grew and soon was close to blindingly bright. The radiation of magic began to seep into the stone circle and the runes lit up. Line of arcane power began to reach up out of the circle and latch onto symphony, who was quietly whimpering as she had no more tears left to cry. Cheerilee began to openly weep as she watched her adopted daughter fill with the black magic carved into the stone. A bright black light shot out of the young filly, temporarily leaving the audience unable to see.

As their eyesight returned, they were finally able to behold the figure that stood on the stone circle. The young mare who now stood before them had bright crimson eyes and the lanky figure of an older, athletic teenager. Symphony’s coat was now a darker green and covered in triangular black stripes. her mane looked much the same, just a little bit longer and slightly yellow instead of it’s normal bluish white. The chains that had bound Symphony to the stone circle were gone.

“Hello miss Cheerilee.” she said in a sing song voice as she stepped off the stone, towards the paladin.

Cheerilee was too heartbroken to respond. She just shook her head, as if in a dream.

“Why don’t one of you get me a sword, of maybe an axe?” Symphony rubbed her chin in thought, “No, bring me that hammer from the coal car.”

One of the guards left and made his way up through the train cars. Symphony then pointed to the only unicorn guard in the car. “Let her out of the trap, but hold on to her. I want to have some fun with her.”

The unicorn nodded and proceeded to grip Cheerilee tightly in his magic before releasing the trap spell. Just then the first guard returned and handed the giant hammer that the engineer used to break up coal chunks, to Symphony.

“Great, now what do you say, miss Cheerilee, shall we play?”

Cheerilee looked up from the floor, at Symphony and the predator expression on the former filly’s face made her blood run cold, “Please, you don’t have to do this.”

“Oh but I want to do this, we will have so much fun together,” Symphony gave Cheerilee a wink, and Cheerilee swore that her eyes changed back to their soft golden color for a second. “Watch out, here I come.”

Cheerilee braced herself for a blow that never came, instead she heard the sickening crunch of breaking bone as Symphony’s hammer smashed into the unicorn holding Cheerilee down.

Symphony, capitalizing on the other guards shock, jump on the next closest guard with an overhead swing. Cheerilee, realizing what was happening, shook herself out of her stupor, and tackled one of the two remaining guards while the other one fled. Cheerilee pinned him to the ground and turned away as another sickening crack was heard and she felt a gentle spray of warm, thick liquid hit the side of her face.

When Cheerilee got up off the dead guard, turned to see Symphony licking the blood off her hoofs and face. It wasn’t necessarily an odd sight, it was pony instinct to wash of their coat by tongue, but it chilled Cheerilee nonetheless.

“I told you we would have fun.”

Cheerilee gave the young mare a sad expression, “I never enjoy having to kill other ponies.”

“Well, not the killing, but you must enjoy the thrill of battle somewhat.”

“I do, on occasion, find the thrill of a fight enjoyable. This however, this was a slaughter.”

Symphony looked down at the ground in sadness at disappointing her caretaker. Her head was lifted back up by a hoof under her chin and she found herself looking straight into the paladins eyes’s. Cheerilee saw that Symphony’s eyes had once again returned to their natural golden shade. “It’s not your fault, they delivered themselves to us and reaped the what they had sown.”

Symphony nodded and then grabbed Cheerilee in a crushing hug, “I’m so sorry. I heard voices, they tried to make me hurt you. And...and...I wanted to do what they said. But I...but”

Cheerilee felt Symphony’s tear run down in between the seams of her armor as she gently stroke the younger mares mane. “But you didn’t, you saved me instead.” Cheerilee pushed symphony back so that she could make eye contact with her, “And I am so very proud of you.” Cheerilee drew her back into a tight hug, “Thank you.”

Cheerilee finally broke the hug and turned towards the door leading to the forward car and the engine. “We should get going, we might still be able to catch that son of a whorse.”

Symphony nodded and gave Cheerilee a smirk, “It would be a shame for him to miss the whole show.”

The two mares trotted into the next car, but they did not find Silvered Tongue there. Instead, in the middle of the room, was a broken teleportation pedestal. The wall of the car were lined with bookshelves and there was a writing desk at the far end by the other door.

“Twilight could probably trace the teleporter, but we will just have to let him go for now.”

The pair galloped through the door and into the engine. The engineer started to reach for a dagger on his side but Cheerilee was quicker, she gave the stallion a mighty buck and sent him tumbling off the side of Ghastly Gorge. The two worked swiftly to bring the train to a halt and the engine that Cheerilee had commandeered came crawling down the track a while later.

About fifteen minutes after the engineer had the two trains connected and on their way, a flying chariot came flying above the tracks from Manehattan. Cheerilee and Symphony climbed aboard from the slow moving train and were met by General Turncoat and Lieutenant Flurry Wing.

The two soldier started a bit at the sight of the former pegasus filly, but Cheerilee offered her reassurance. “She’s alright. The Children of the Night tried their mind control spell on her, but it seemed to have backfired. I want to get her to Twilight Sparkle as soon as possible though, so that she can remove the enchantments.”

The general nodded, “Certainly, and the train will be rerouted to Ponyville from Manehattan as well, that should make thing a bit easier for you.”

Cheerilee and Symphony sat down together in the second row of seats, and were joined by Flurry Wing a short time later.

“You missed lunch.”

Cheerilee gave the Lieutenant an apologetic look, “Sorry, something came up, I had to see the Princesses about the whole demon thing, and I didn’t even get my shield fixed.”

“Don’t worry, its fine. Turns out we had to take care of a security breach at the castle.”

Cheerilee looked at the floor of the chariot and shuffled her hooves a bit, “Yeah, about that.”

“Wait, that was your fault?”

“Well, kinda.”

Lieutenant Flurry Wing burst out laughing. “Oh course, who else would be running around, causing so much trouble? Other than Ol’ Rocky McRocks’a’lot”

Cheerilee gave the lieutenant a confused look.

“My nickname for whomever keeps beating me to my missions. I mean whoever it is, is helping. It’s still pretty frustrating though.”

Cheerilee looked to her left when she felt a slight dampness on her shoulder. Symphony had fallen asleep on Cheerilee’s shoulder and was drooling slightly. Even all grown up, she’s still so cute. Cheerilee wrapped her left leg around Symphony and sighed as the chariot flew off into the sunset.

Author's Notes:

Hello again everyone, this update is a bit behind schedule because one of my editors was having some technical difficulties. As always, feel free to let me know what you think, good or bad. A special thanks to RoyalInBlue and Womboman666 for editing. And a special thanks to all of you for reading.

Chapter 9: Here Without You

Beacon in the Shadows

or

Cheerilee’s a Paladin

Chapter 9: Here Without You

By DigitDaemon

~~~~~

Cheerilee and Symphony stood patiently in the center of the main room of the library. At several points ducking had actually been required, to avoid the books that Twilight was levitating around the room. They whipped and swirled as if caught by some tropical storm. The vortex of greens, reds, and browns, were occasionally highlighted by a dash of lavender, when Twilight decided that she was better off moving to a books location rather than waiting for it to circle back around. The silence of the two still mares was broken only by the quiet muttering of the purple unicorn coupled by the soft whooshing created by the tornado of paper.

Cheerilee looked over at Symphony, who was staring intently at the ground in front of her. The older of the two wrapped her front leg around the other and pulled her against her shoulder.

“It will be okay.”

“I know, I’m sure Miss Twilight can fix this, that’s not what is bothering me though.”

“What is bothering you?”

“Miss Cheerilee, my parents...” Symphony looked up off the floor and into Cheerilee’s eyes, “They’re dead, aren’t they?”

Cheerilee pulled Symphony up against her, “Yes, your parents are dead...I’m sorry.”

The two of them sat there awhile and Cheerilee felt tears fall onto her coat. Symphony finally broke away and looked back down at the floor.

“Miss Cheerilee?”

“Yes sweety?”

“Will...” Symphony returned her tear filled gaze to Cheerilee’s eyes, “Will, you be my mother now?”

She’s met royalty, heck Berry’s been around her more than I have, but she wants me to be her mother?

A single tear fell from Cheerilee’s eye and a smile crept onto her face, “Yes Symphony, I would love to be your mother.”

The two launched into another tight hug, and were only reminded of what they were at the library for, by the echoing thud of the floating books being returned to the control of gravity once more. The two separated and looked over at Twilight, who had a huge grin on her face.

“You two are adorable.”

Cheerilee blushed and Symphony hid her face.

“Oh, sorry.” Twilight said shyly, as she blushed a bit as well, “I didn’t mean to interrupt your family bonding...but I figured it out! I know how to fix this now.”

Symphony uncovered her face and gave the unicorn her full attention, “Really, how?”

Cheerilee mentally face hoofed as Twilight Sparkle’s face brightened, no doubt excitement at the prospect of lecturing.

“Well, the biggest problem with simply removing the enchantments is a common magical malady called mana withdrawal or occasionally mana starvation. Even though you would be able to, with some treatment, survive the effect at your current age, which I estimate to be around seventeen. It would probably kill you at the age of seven. And since the point of this is to return you to your actual age, that is a huge problem. So thats when I realised, I don’t actually need to remove the enchantments, I just need to choke their mana looping and cause a magical overload that would initiate Clover’s principle of...” Twilight reminded herself that she was effectively talking to a seven year old, “Basically, I’m going to turn them off. They won’t be gone, but they won’t affect you either.”

Cheerilee looked at the librarian skeptical, “So, wouldn’t that still lower the amount of magic in her system by almost the same amount?”

“No, you misunderstand. I would block the enchantment from their energy source. Both parts would stay in her system.”

“And then you could remove them when she is older?”

“If the enchantment are still whole and separate. More than likely, the magic will grow along with her and become a part of her own innate magic.”

“Isn’t that a bad thing?, There’s some really dark magic in those enchantments.”

“It will all be about how you raise her, if she were to grow up in a corrupt environment, it’s possible that the enchantments would push her towards evil.” Twilight said with a nod, “But if she grows up in a good environment, she will learn to harness her magic for the good of herself and others.”

“Okay Twilight, I know that the Princesses trust you completely, and I will too.” Cheerilee gave the unicorn a pleading look, “But please don’t take my daughter away from me on my first day with her.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Twilight turned to Symphony, “Ready?”

Symphony gave Cheerilee a nervous glance. Cheerilee in turn gave her a reassuring nod and a quick kiss on her forehead. “Twilight knows what she is doing, you’ll be fine.”

Symphony turned back to Twilight as Cheerilee walked over to the side of the room, leaving a nice open space around the young pegasus.

“Will it hurt?”

“It’s not supposed to, but it might tickle.”

Symphony nodded and shut her eyes tight as Twilight’s horn lit up. Tendrils of reddish purple magic crept out in front of the unicorn and began to coil themselves around Symphony. They crept around her body until she was completely encased in magic. Twilight strained as she began to pour more magic into the spell. Symphony began to glow a bright white and then with a final burst of magic from Twilight, the glow turned into a blinding flashing.

Cheerilee was unable to see because of the bright flash, but she definitely could hear something. The spell had not been deafening, but it had been loud, and it was hard for the mare to hear what was going on. She couldn’t shake the feeling though, that she heard laughter. As her vision cleared she saw a little, mint green, pegasus filly rolling around on the library floor, unable to control her giggling.

Cheerilee rushed over to the filly and picked her up with her front hooves, she hugged Symphony tight to her chest and twirled her about.

“Thank you so much Twilight, if there is ever anything I can do to repay you...”

Twilight gave a small chuckle, “Last time I checked, you were saving everypony’s life. I think that’s enough.”

A masculine voice chimed in from the hallway, “You could teach her how to cook something other than hay fries.”

A much younger voice pitched in as well, “Especially things with gems in it.”

Cheerilee looked back from the hallway to Twilight. “Shadow is still living here? You know the guards vacated the hotel, he could stay there.”

Twilight blushed and dragged her front hoof on the floor, “Well, not that Spike isn’t a great friend, but I enjoy having some older... Company, around.”

Cheerilee‘s smile was much like the ones she would see on the faces of her students when they learned a secret or figured out something embarrassing about somepony.

“Well, we should probably head home, the engineers will be moving the train car onto a side rail in about an hour.”

“Of course, I wouldn’t want to hold you up.”

Cheerilee lifted Symphony onto her back and Twilight walked them to the door. The trip home for Cheerilee was rather pleasant, she was fairly popular among the residents of Ponyville, but that wasn’t surprising since she met pretty much every single parent and foal in the town on a regular basis. The towns ponies waved as she passed. A lot of those ponies had yet to discover where Symphony had come from, and seeing her riding on the school teacher’s back caused quite the stir of gossip as the two passed.

Cheerilee visibly relaxed as she walked across the porch to her front door. Her relaxation didn’t last long though, when she opened the door she was greeted by the sight of her sister conversing with Braeburn Apple.

“Well howdy again Miss Cheerilee, and who’s that on yer back, there?”

“Oh Symphony? She’s...” Cheerilee gave Berry Punch a nervous glance, “Hehe, well she’s my daughter.”

Surprisingly, Berry Punch shrugged. She had, after all, realized what Cheerilee’s and Symphony’s relationship was developing into, and was unsurprised that Cheerilee had decided to adopt the filly.

“You daughter?” Braeburn looked slightly crestfallen, “So, who’s the father?”

Cheerilee practically fell over and Berry Punch busted out laughing.

Braeburn switched his gaze back and forth between the two mares, “What am I missing.”

Cheerilee shook herself out of her stupor, “No, it’s not like that, I adopted Symphony, her parents...”

Braeburn nodded in understanding and as soon as he thought nopony was paying attention he let out a sigh of relief.

“Berry, would you mind entertaining Symphony in the living room?”

“Of course not,” Berry Punch turned to the filly, “Why don’t you come and play with aunty Punch?”

The filly nodded eagerly and followed the dark purple mare into the next room.

“So, do they have the train off the rails yet?”

“Sure do, one of the guards just came here to tell you and me.”

“Well, we probably shouldn't waste any more time here then.”

Braeburn gave the teacher a questioning glare, “I don’t suppose you stopped to eat something on the way back from the library?”

“No?”

“And you were gone before you sister made breakfast.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I ate your waffles. I don’t think you should be out investigating on an empty stomach. Come with me, Applejack keeps pestering me to try out this Sugar Cube Corner place, and it would be a shame for me to be stuck there, unable to decide what to eat.”

Cheerilee looked nervously at the clock, which treacherously informed her that there was in fact time for lunch and plenty of daylight after for investigation.

“Fine, why not?”

“Great!”

The two walked silently to the local bakery. Braeburn romanticising their quick detour, and Cheerilee hoping beyond hope that Braeburn wasn’t trying to take her out on a date.

When they arrived, Cheerilee ordered a muffin and Braeburn decided that a plate of toast was an appropriate meal after the large amount of waffles he consumed that morning. The two ate in relative silence, the bakery was always noisy at this time of day. Neither pony was bothered by the noise, but they still chose not to add to the ruckus.

After they finished, Braeburn attempted to pay for both of them, but Cheerilee insisted that teaching did pay well enough to afford her lunch.

As the two walked out and began heading to the train station Braeburn gave Cheerilee a pouty glare, “You know, I was just trying to be nice.”

Cheerilee shook her head slowly, “Not <u>just</u> nice.” She looked over at him and gave him a contemplative stare. “Are you attracted to me?”

“No!... Yes? Is that a trick question?”

“No it isn’t. Are you attracted to me?”

“Kind of.”

“Well, we need to get something cleared up then. I cannot and never will be able to have a relationship with you.”

“Not into colts?”

Cheerilee actually did facehoof. “No I’m not, I’m also not into mares. The Paladin Code requires strict celibacy.”

Braeburn gave the teacher a doubting glare, “The inquisitors code doesn’t say anything about celibacy.”

“Why would it?”

“Well, why would the Paladin Code say anything about it?”

“Because the Paladin is a warrior of the Sun: bright, hopeful, and singular. The Inquisitor is a warrior of the moon, a symbol of secrets, passion, and not nearly as lonely in the sky.”

Braeburn gave the ground a sullen kick, “Oh...”

“It doesn't mean I can’t be friends with you, and I certainly don’t hate you for being attracted to me. I just didn’t want to lead you on, and then have to tell you somewhere down the road.”

“Yeah, I guess thats fine,” Braeburn gave Cheerilee a warm smile, “Not like I can do anything about it anyhow.” His smile turned into a thoughtful expression, “What about your sister?”

Cheerilee thought for a moment, her sister was quite a gossip, perhaps it would finally be time for her to be on the other end of it. Cheerilee gave Braeburn a wicked grin, “Go right ahead.”

The two found themselves at the railroad depot moments later. The fancy train car was sitting out on an empty piece of track. The cars themselves were swarming with various military ponies. Cheerilee searched for a moment before finding General Turncoat in the crowd. The two champions made their way up to the general.

“General.”

“Ah, Cheerilee, I was wondering when you would get here,” The general turned to Braeburn, “And you must be Braeburn Apple, a pleasure to meet you.”

Braeburn shook the generals outstretched hoof. “Mighty fine to meet you too.”

“Sorry about the crowd, I wanted to have my boys go through the train and make sure there weren’t any nasty surprises waiting for you.” The general whistled loudly and a young sergeant rushed forward. “Tell everypony to clear out and give these two some space to work.”

The sergeant hurried over to the train as Cheerilee and Braeburn followed slowly behind. The two managed to time it just perfectly, they hopped aboard just as the last bomb technician was leaving through another door.

Braeburn took a quick glance through the car and found that it empty. Everything had been left in place, but despite that there were a number of strips of red tape covering various parts of the train car. Most likely, the techs had been marking their progress as they had searched for traps.

“This was the sleeper car. There won’t be anything too valuable in here.”

Was?Braeburn took another look around as Cheerilee made her way to the next car. There were pools of dried blood and splintered wood everywhere. The guards had already removed the bodies from the car.

When they reached the next car, Cheerilee stared straight at the door on the other side of the car, and crossed at a brisk pace. Berry Punch had told him that morning what had happened on the train, and he couldn’t blame the fuschia mare for rushing past all of it. He did however take great care to examine the room himself.

There were more blood stains on the floor and some of the walls. A few holes littered the floor where something heavy had hit it. When he got to the stone circle in the middle of the car, he found that several lines had been painstaking carved across the stone. That way, it could still be studied, but was otherwise rendered useless. As he made his way across the circle and reached the magical gem on the other side, he saw that the same had been done with it.

When he finally reached the forward car, Cheerilee was already pulling books off the shelves and flipping through them. The train car seemed to be some kind of mobile study, It was complete with a desk, bookshelves and even a couch. Braeburn took note of the teleportation pedestal in the corner. It appeared that the pedestal had been blown up, likely to ensure that after the owner of the study escaped that he wouldn’t be followed.

“Anything good to read?”

Cheerilee looked up from the old leather bound journal that she had been reading, “I think I have a name, Silvered Tongue, Grand Magus of The Children of the Night.”

“Interesting name, doesn't ring any bells though.”

Cheerilee continued flipping through the journal until she reached a page that had been bookmarked with a rather large feather.

“Hey Braeburn, come over and take a look at this entry.”

The gunslinger walked over to where Cheerilee was standing and began to read over her shoulder.

This will be the final attempt at using the demon circle, perhaps the added shock of who we use it on will give us the advantage over the paladin. A few of our sleeper agents still remain undetected, and they will prove invaluable in the coming attack. My hope is that I can first spark an attack by the Wyverns to draw forces away from Canterlot. Blurred Sight is already on his way to the Coal tribe as we speak, and once his “business” there is concluded, our attack can begin.

Cheerilee picked up the feather and then in a rush, pulled the feather she had gotten from Ghanthorph. She held them side by side, and sure enough, they were a match.

“Oh no. He’s going to try and start a war with the Wyvern Clans by killing their elder and pinning it on Equestria.”

Braeburn gave a nod of agreement.

“There’s no way to get a message there in time at this point.”

Braeburn scratched his chin in thought. “Maybe there is.” He snatched one of the feathers from Cheerilee and hopped out of the train car. Cheerilee followed him out of the car and watched as he placed the feather between his teeth. Then he pulled out a lighter and lit the end of the feather on fire. Braeburn sucked and the feather dissolved at an unnatural pace into his mouth. He then let out a tiny trail of smoke that despite the slight breeze spiraled straight up. Braeburn finished exhaling and then proceed to start wheezing for air.

For a few moments nothing happened, and then, as if from thin air, a larged pink shape slammed into the ground a few feet away. As the dust settled, the figure of a female wyvern became visible. She had soft pink feathers and snow white scales.

“Hello there ponies, how can I help you?” she said in a sing song voice.

Cheerilee turned to Braeburn and thrust the old journal into his hooves, “Take this to Canterlot. have them get ready for an attack.”

He nodded and ran off.

“Hello, my name is Cheerilee. I have something very important to tell you.”

“I’m Illiesia, you must be the one who found my son in Appleoosa.”

“Oh, your Phox’s mother? Then this affects you more directly than ever. Somepony is going to try to kill your father.”

“I find that hard to believe, your own Captain of the guard is meeting with my father this evening to discuss war plans.”

Cheerilee gave the wyverness a confused look, “But our Captain of the Guard is on permanent station in Canterlot Castle until our crisis is over. Unless...Can you take me to your clan?”

Illiesia nodded, “I won’t be able to fast travel carrying you, but we can get there in a few hours.”

“Please you have to take me, there is more at stake then I have time to explain.”

Illiesia hunched over so the Cheerilee could get on her back. Once she was secure, The wyverness took to the sky with a single mighty beat of her wings.

Author's Notes:

First of all, I know what you are thinking (you know who you are), "Gee, he just went with the, its all fixed now route with Symphony, boring." Or maybe you didn't...But if you did, take another look at Twilight's lecturing, and keep it in mind. Because there is more.

Anyways, on with the show. Thank you to each and every one of you that took time out of their busy day to read this. Feel free to leave a comment or suggestion. A special thanks to RoyalInBlue and Womboman666 for editing. A special not thank you to Google, which for some reason is telling me doesn't isn't spelled d-o-e-s-n-'-t but is actually spelled d-o-e-s-n-'-t. If anyone know how to fix this, please let me know.

Chapter 10: Away from the Sun

Beacon in the Shadows

Or

Cheerilee’s a Paladin

Chapter 10: Away from the Sun

By DigitDaemon

~~~~~

Cheerilee held on tight as Illiesia expertly navigated the many thermals and downdrafts created by the desert night. They had been in flight for almost two hours now and finally Cheerilee was able to make out the caldera in which the Coal tribe made their home. It was a great basalt crater with a narrow shaft in the center for the heat and smoke of the forges to escape. The caldera itself was surrounded by various siege weaponry. It reminded Cheerilee of a history lecture she had heard in college, the professor had said that though the Wyvern clans are peaceful with each other, they build a great many weapons as sort of a competition. Sometimes they would even go so far as to hold test of their machines capabilities, also in competition with one another. Cheerilee had thought at the time that they would be small cannons and what not, but she could easily tell from here that the Coal clan would be well prepared if war ever came knocking.

Illiesia looked over her shoulder at the fuschia mare, “Hold on tight, I’m going to take us straight to the great hall.”

Cheerilee immediately clutched as tight as she could to the wyverness and moments later the pink feathered reptile fell into a straight dive, passing perfectly into the center shaft. As they continued to plummet Cheerilee could see, along with her life, an extensive network of caves whizz past. Illiesia finally pulled up from the dive and and began soaring through one of the larger tunnels. Finally they came to a stop in front of two great stone doors.

Illiesia strided up to the guards at the door, “We need to speak with my father, it is of the utmost importance.”

The guard shook his head, “Your father ordered that no one interrupt him, even you.”

Illiesia turned back to Cheerilee and shook her head. The wyverness was built for speed, it was clear that she was unmatched when it came to the size and stature of the guards. With a flick of her head, Cheerilee’s paladin armor appeared around her.

“I am Cheerilee Punch, Paladin to Princess Celestia, and as such I am taking command over the Equestrian forces within that hall. As their commanding officer I demand entrance.”

The two guards looked at each other and then reluctantly opened up the stone doors.

Wasting no time, Cheerilee rushed inside and quickly taking stock of the situation, ran inside and tackled the guard nearest to Ghanthorph to the ground.

“Paladin,” the wyvern elder roared, “What is the meaning of this intrusion?”

Cheerilee looked up at the grey figure towering over her. “Sir, these are not Equestrian guard, this style of plating hasn’t been used since the Griffon wars.”

Cheerilee’s explanation was reward by a hard kick from underneath, that knocked her onto her side.

“Guards, seize these imposters.”

The two large wyverns at the room entrance moved with haste to combat the now present threat. The would be assassins were now wielding their daggers in hopes that they could use them to fight against the guards. Cheerilee swiftly recovered and rolled back onto her hooves, she drew her sword and paused to grab her shield before remembering the piece of Magi-Metal’s untimely demise.

Before anyone could act though, a young voice called out from up on one of the lateral supports high above the rooms dusty floor. “Mark.”

A loud crack sounded out and one of the assassins literally dissolved. Cheerilee looked up and saw Phox sitting on one of the beams, holding a large contraption to his shoulder. It looked as if someone had taken Braeburn’s rifle, doubled the length of the barrel, added a scope the same length as the gun, and then decided that it needed a rocket slung beneath the fore grip. And if that wasn’t enough the whole thing looked like it had been held together with scrap metal and scotch tape.

“Illusions,” one of the guards stated, and sure enough, all it took was walking up to the other three images and touching them to make them go away.

Ghanthorph swept his gaze around the room, he said in a troubled manner, “Then who made-”

Cheerilee heard and felt the shock wave of breaking rock just as she also felt a sliver of steel beginning to slide through one of the seems in her armor and in between two of her vertebrae. The pressure on the knife let up though and then vanish altogether, leaving the mare with a burning pain in her neck. She slowly crawled forward and then turned around. Behind her, suspend by an obelisk of stone, was her would be attacker. His body was limply hanging from the formation that now made up the majority of his midsection.

One of the guards walked over to the Paladin, and while steadying her with one hand, carefully removed the knife. She turned to him and gave him a smile and nod of thanks. As the shock of what had just occurred wore off, the people in the room noticed the presence of a new pony. He was casually leaning against the far wall, wearing a cloak that covered his head but left his face exposed. He had ash grey fur and a similarly grey mane.

Ghanthorph was the first to address the new comer, “Who are you?”

“A friend, one almost as old as the earth itself.”

“I’m not one who enjoys these games.”

“My name is Onyx Loadstone, Rogue Knight of the Earth. I have business with my fellow pony here.”

“You have saved her life, since she is a trusted ally, I will give you the same respect. But I want answers. What is going on here?”

“I believe the Paladin can explain that better than I.”

Ghanthorph turned to Cheerilee and raised an eyebrow.

Cheerilee, still shaken by what had just occurred, began to explain, “There is a faction, The Children of The Night, who wish to gain control of the Equestrian government. In order to weaken our defences, their leader sent this assassin to kill you and blame it on us, and by doing so, hopefully start a war between us. I fear that without confirmation on whether the plan worked or not, they will attack Canterlot soon. And we know for a fact that they have had some contact with the demons of myth, but we are unsure of their involvement. Just one of those demons would be too much for the entirety of our guard.”

Ghanthorph nodded gravely, “I see. They got more than they bargained for when they involved us. Illiesia, inform the war flight, we will send half our forces to the Equestrian capitol, On this day they have saved my life, and a great many casualties of senseless slaughter. It is time we repay them in kind.”

Illiesia nodded and took off through the door.

Onyx walked over to where Cheerilee was standing and tapped her lightly on the shoulder, “Please, remove your armor. I need to get a good look at that wound.”

Cheerilee nodded and complied, she hissed in pain as the wound was shifted by the absence of her armor. The gash in her neck was bleeding quite a bit, Cheerilee figured that she must not have noticed with all the excitement. Onyx Loadstone gently pawed at the ground as if trying to make a hole in the stone floor, and sure enough, he succeeded. He dropped a seed into the hole and then covered it back up.

“Please, place your hoof on top.”

Cheerilee did as she was asked and before long, a little green vine erupted from the soil and began to snake it’s way up her foreleg. When the vine reached the stab wound on her neck, it circled around the injury and gently pulled the wound closed. Cheerilee grunted as she felt the familiar stinging of healing magic working it’s way through the back of her neck. After a short wait, the pain dissipated, and Cheerilee was fit to fight once more.

Cheerilee turned to her healer and gave him a warm smile, “Thank you very much, for everything. I don’t think I have properly introduced myself, I’m Cheerilee Punch.”

Onyx Shook her outstretched hoof, “As I said, I am Onyx Loadstone, one of your legendary comrades, or I was.” Onyx scratched his chin in thought, “Tell me Cheerilee, have you heard of the Angel’s Blade?”

“The one that Justice created as it died?”

“Ah, the very same, I see I will not need to explain everything to you then. With haste however, we must find you this weapon, and I know where to look.”

“Celestia said you would.”

“Oh, so the sisters still remember me! That is a pleasant surprise, perhaps I should pay them a visit when this is all over. Regardless...” Onyx turned back to Ghanthorph, who was currently scolding the young, light blue Wyvernling.

“But grandpa, I actually helped-”

“Indeed you did little one, and now you can help by shoveling out the furnaces for the next week. It will be good for you to get a little upper body exercise anyways.”

“Yes Grandpa.”

Onyx cleared his throat to get the elders attention, “You have provided my people with a great gift. Your added defences will be a great help, but I fear I must prey upon your generosity once more. Would it be a possibility for the two of us,” He gestured to Cheerilee and himself, “To get transport to the Fire Rock Mountains?”

Ghanthorph nodded, “These two are not my fastest flyers,” he motioned towards the two guards, “But they have more than enough endurance to get you there.” The elder turned to the two guards, “See that they reach their destination safely.”

The guards nodded in unison and hunched over to allow the two passengers to climb on. Though the two guards were almost identical in size, it was apparent that the one carrying Onyx had noticeably more trouble bearing his load. Apparently Onyx’s attitude was not the only thing about him that was a hard and heavy as stone.

The two guards leapt up with large, powerful wing beats and flew out the door of the large hall. Before long they had cleared the mouth of the caldera completely and the two passengers watched from above as Wyvern warriors were beginning to hoist up the great war machines that lined the rim of the crater.

~~~~~

Braeburn restlessly paced back and forth on the ramparts of Canterlot Castle. It was close to midnight now, and he had spent the better part of the day helping to prepare the city for the coming battle. The city’s occupants had been making there way into the crystal mine below in a long orderly line, but from his vantage point, Braeburn could see that the fleeing ponies had gone from a great rush to little more than a trickle.

“Inquisitor.”

Braeburn turned and saluted Shining Armor, “Sir.”

“I am ordering you to go get some rest, you have helped immensely, moments ago our scouts confirmed that the city has been completely emptied, and that every resident is safe within the caves.”

“Sir, the attack could occur at any moment, I need to be ready.”

“From the looks of it you are ready, now I need you rested. I swear upon my honor that we will wake you up when the battle starts.”

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of heavy wing beats as Illiesia landed on the edge of the rampart.

“You are the pony from earlier,” the Wyverness turned to the captain of the guard, “I am afraid I do not recognize you however.”

“I’m Shining Armor, Captain of the Equestrian Guard. If you will excuse me however, I have many things to attend to. This city is about to erupt in war.”

“Indeed, it is for that matter that I seek you out. I would like to give you advanced notice that the Coal Tribe Warriors will soon be arriving with our machine of war.”

Shining Armor became even more white, if it was possible. Noticing his look of despair, Illiesia spoke quickly to alleviate his fears of a second attacking army.

“You misunderstand our motives, your paladin saved our elder’s life, and as thanks he has sent warriors to aid your own in the coming battle.”

The captain let out a sigh of relief.

“Now if you two will excuse me, I must return to my own forces, I only pray that we arrive in time for us to make a difference.”

And with that, the pink Wyverness was gone, but her presence was soon replaced by another winged creature.

“Captain.” Lieutenant Flurry Wing gave Shining Armor a crisp salute, one that was returned in kind. “You had wished to be informed when the Elements of Harmony arrived. I just saw to their smooth landing myself.”

“Good, I’ll head down there myself, no doubt that my sister is asking for me anyways. Inquisitor, I trust that you will see yourself to one of the guest quarters?”

Braeburn gave a weary salute, “Sure will.”

“Good.”

~~~~~

The Fire Rock mountains were not located far from the Canterlot mountain range. In fact, it was only a small valley that separated the two. The mountain range got it’s name from the sedimentary rock that peeked out from under the granite surface, which in the olden days looked like flames from afar. Legend attributed the flipped rock patterns to Terra’s anger setting them ablaze, and while they were infact flipped by the ancient goddess in anger, it was water and wind that had done it and not fire.

The two wyvern guards landed on top of a cliff side that led into a deep cave. The two ponies dismounted and the lead guard turned to Onyx.

“Here is one of my feathers,” he handed it to the rogue knight, “Burn it when you are done and it will will take you to Canterlot.”

“Thank you.”

With a nod, the two departed in the direction, leaving the two ponies alone. From the cliff they could see part of Canterlot around the mountain, and just before following Onyx into the cave, Cheerilee saw what at first she thought was a signal flare, until it began to arc back down striking the walls of the castle. The explosion was immediately followed by small bolts of magic raining back down from the ramparts on the ground below, which was obscured from the paladins vision by another mountain. The bolt’s of magic were not in reality small at all, but where the projectile of the MK7 Arcana Recoilless Gun, and each one carried the power of an average unicorn’s entire spell reserve.

Cheerilee hasted her pace to catch up with her cloaked guide. The two didn’t travel much farther before they reached the mouth of a small room carved into the wall of the tunnel. Onyx motioned for Cheerilee to enter, which she did, only to find the room empty. It was just a singular curved wall and ceiling carved into the granite. The Paladin turned in confusion to her guide who had yet to enter.

“Is it hidden?”

Onyx shook his head, “No, the blade is not within this room.”

“Then why did you take me here?”

“Because, you need to train if you wish to win the coming fight.”

“I don’t need to train, I need to fight, my comrades are putting their lives on the line out there. I can’t afford to spend valuable time in here, training! I’m leaving, I’ll find the Angel’s Blade on my own.”

“I was not lying to you, the blade truly does reside within these mountains. As for your training, well more of a test, all I ask is that you successfully leave this room.”

“So, I’m going to have to fight you or whatever?”

“No, I will make no effort to stop you leaving physically.”

Cheerilee gave an annoyed huff and began to walk out the exit, but she was immediately halted and brought face first into the ground. Her body felt as if it was thousands of pounds heavier. After a moment of labored breathing, the weight lifted slightly.

“Please back up, I would hate for you to just get recaught in it when I extend the field again.”

Cheerilee took a few steps back, “Thats not fair...Wait, so there is a secret way out?”

“Absolutely not, I fully intend that you exit the way you entered.”

Cheerilee gave the space in front of her a warning glare before running at jumping over the space. She was once again rewarded with a swift trip to the ground. As she walked back out of the field after Onyx shifted it she growled in frustration.

“It’s impossible. I’m not a unicorn, I can’t just dispel the bucking thing.”

“Cheerilee, you are familiar with Equestrian innate magical theory, correct?”

“Yes. All three races contain innate magic, Unicorns having the most, Earth ponies the least, yadayadayah.”

Onyx shook his head, “You are incorrect. Unicorns have the greatest potential to manipulate magic, but, not including the Element of magic, unicorns have the weakest internal magic. They rely on the currents of magic flowing around them to cast their spells. Pegasi are the next weakest, or strongest. They have innate magic that allows them to fly and makes them unnaturally light, but they to have to rely on outside magic when shaping weather. That leaves us with earth ponies,” Onyx Loadstone swept the hood off of his head, revealing much to Cheerilee’s surprise, that he was not a unicorn, but an earth pony like her. “Earth ponies have the greatest internal magic, it makes us hardy and strong. Surely you have heard tales of great warriors reaching the edge of their strength but being able to fight on? This is our magic.”

Cheerilee looked around at the cave walls in confusion, “But how are you able to cast spells then?”

“Perhaps you have heard a turn of phrase singing to the Earth? It originated with old farmers who would sing to their crops while they worked, this would weave their own magic into the plants and help them grow. I, like them simply sing to the Earth, the only difference is that for me, the Earth sings back.”

“So if you just wanted to give me a lesson on magic, why did you lock me in here?”

“The lesson you must learn is not by speech, I want you to find your inner strength. Only with it, will you be able to protect the kingdom in this coming war.”

Author's Notes:

Thank you all for continue to read. the story is beginning to spiral down, or more accurately beginning to spiral up to its conclusion. A special thanks to Womboman666 and RoyalInBlue for editing. Feel free to drop a fave or a comment. Please let me know how I have done so far, or if there is anything I can do to improve.

Chapter 11: Through the Fire and the Flames

Beacon in the Shadows

or

Cheerilee’s a Paladin

Chapter 11: Through the Fire and the Flames

By: DigitDaemon

~~~~~

Braeburn steadied himself against the next break in the ramparts, and with a deep breath, fired again. That was his thirtieth kill in half as many minutes. The pegasi running resupply runs were have difficulty keeping him stocked with ammunition. He took another shot at the swarms of ponies and constructs below, and scored another hit, this time, it was one of the unicorns that were tirelessly funnelling The Children of the Night’s army from the rocky hills below up to the city. The marksman was about to take another shot when his attention was interrupted by the sound of wings behind him.

Lieutenant Flurry Wing gave Braeburn a salute, “Sir, your presence is requested by the princesses in the war room.”

Braeburn gave her an exasperated sigh, “And how am I supposed to get there? It’s almost a twenty minute trip from here.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that, Celestia will be taking care of that in... Four, three, two, one.”

Braeburn vision blurred as he was torn across the fabric of space time, before abruptly landing beside Captain Shining Armor in the war room.

Celestia’s horn dimmed and then flickered out, “Sorry for the abrupt change of scenery, but there is an issue of the utmost importance to cover.”

Braeburn rubbed his eyes and waited a second for the ringing in his ears to stop, “Eh, I’m fine. What’s going on?”

Celestia turned to her sister and gave a nod.

“Dost thou recall the book that thou brought with thee to Canterlot?”

“Yes, what about it?”
“It contains most disturbing news. The demon energy that our enemy hath made use of comes from their leader, the one that is called Silvered Tongue.”

“He’s a demon?”

“Neigh, but he hath done a horrible thing. He summoned the demon of lies and currently traps the demon within his own body.”

Braeburn looked at the lunar princess in confusion, “So, do you want me to go stop him myself?”

“Also neigh. ‘Twood be too dangerous. His power now may rival that of even mine and my sister’s. We wish to draw him out in battle.”

Celestia cut in, “Indeed, we plan to feign a retreat to the walls of the castle, and then use the arcane cannons to level the walls of the city, trapping the forces already here, inside.”

“Can’t their unicorns just teleport inside?”

“Yes, that is where you come in, along with the archer squadron. We need you to pin down their forces by take out the unicorn sorcerers. Perhaps it will be enough to draw out their heathen leader. If not, the Wyverns arriving from behind will force him to take refuge inside the city walls regardless.”

Braeburn nodded in acknowledgement.

“I need you, Captain, to prepare your force to retreat, as well as alert General Turncoat of the plan.”

Shining Armor saluted. “I will soon join in the battle.”

Luna stepped forward, “As will I.”

Celestia shook her head softly, “No Luna, not yet.”

“But sister, hath you forgotten that of the two of us it is I that--”

“Dear sister, though I appreciate your concern, it is better if in the end we do not have to show all our cards, than tipping our hoof too early.”

Luna pondered her sisters words for a moment, “Very well. I shall wait within the Sanctuary.”

“Then it is decided.”

With another flash of magic and rush of space around him, Braeburn was once again sitting on the rampart wall.

~~~~~

Cheerilee lay collapsed in the center of Onyx’s gravity well. Her vision was fading from the blood pooling in her hoofs. Her head pounded, and she could no longer feel her muscle’s fatigue. She painstakingly managed to shift her head so she could speak.

“I...I can’t go...further,” she managed to force out before her eyes closed.

“Good, now stand.”

Cheerilee didn’t move.

“I said, Stand!”

The paladin’s eyes shot back open.

“Good, I was afraid you had given up, now do as I say and stand.”

Cheerilee tried to voice her inability to do so but she lacked the energy.

“What are you waiting for?”

Realising that the only way to get him to be quiet was to do as he said, Cheerilee shakily got to her hooves.

“You can’t go on...Is that right? You were crawling across to get to this point, yet here you are now, standing on all four hooves.”

Cheerilee looked down at the floor. The gravity well wasn’t any weaker, she could still feel it tugging her down, but she was, for the moment, stronger. Cheerilee carefully walked the rest of the way across the gravity well and past Onyx Loadstone, before collapsing in exhaustion.

Onyx walked up to the semi conscious mare. “I can’t have you going out to fight like this, please excuse me but this next part is going to be a bit...intimate.”

Cheerilee could barely hear the stallion’s words, let alone understand what he meant. That however, changed when suddenly she felt new energy flowing through her. It was as if something immaterial was pressing itself up against her, and it felt wonderful. The fuschia mare laid still, letting out small grunts and sighs of euphoria, as her own strength replenished itself from this foreign source. When the process finally ended, not fully conscious yet of the world around her, Cheerilee let out a whimper of sadness.

“Wake Paladin, we still have much to do.”

The high from what she had just experience finally faded from the mare and she shook off the last remnants of disorientation.

“What was that?”

Onyx actually blushed a bit at the question, “That was my soul, feeding into yours. It is not something normally done except between the closest of ponies, but in my many years, I have found other uses for such an act.”

Cheerilee’s mouth formed a small circle in understanding and her cheeks grew red as well.

“But come, as I said, we still have much to do.”

~~~~~

The princess’s plan had yet to bear fruit as Silvered Tongue remained hidden. The secondary purpose of the false retreat had worked fairly well however. With only scattered resistance inside the city walls, the day guards now had the opportunity to switch out with the night guards and get some rest.

Illiesia had returned almost an hour ago to announce that the wyvern army would be ready to begin their assault in an hour and a half. This meant the Braeburn got the first chance he had had all night to eat. A problem he attacked with gusto, especially since the royal chef had stayed behind to provide food.

The guard’s mess hall had been transformed into a sort of gourmet soup kitchen. A long line of guards and other essential castle staff snaked it’s way across the floor. The gunslinger watched with idle amusement as small bickering matches broke out in the line. Having eaten already and simply resting his tired hooves, it wasn’t something he had to deal with.

Another fifteen minutes of relaxation over, Braeburn returned to his post on the castle wall, and he didn’t have to wait long for the action to start. The Coal tribe began by firing their long range cannons over the tops of the nearby mountains, and into the rebels camped below Canterlot. They then followed up by making runs over the camp and dropping all kind of bombs and rockets into the surviving fighters.

Braeburn didn’t have to wait much longer before unicorns began to appear on the city’s own terrace, but he held his fire as he had been ordered to do. As the clusters of soldiers swelled, earth ponies and pegasi joined the unicorns on the terrace. Then finally the army stopped growing and it was apparent that the original rebel army had been torn to threads, not even a fraction of it’s original size.

Suddenly, Celestia’s voice rang out over the shattered army, “Children of the Night, you have made a grave mistake in turning yourselves against Equestria. However, I am willing to forgive anypony who surrendered themselves now and approaches the castle unarmed. Do not fear the reactions of your comrades, for if anypony tries to stop somepony else who wishes to save their own life, they will feel the full extent of this great nation’s wrath.”

Braeburn watched patiently as groups of ponies broke off from the horde of battle weary fighters and approached the castle gates. After about fifteen minutes, they stopped surrendering and all was silent again, until once more Celestia’s voice rang out.

“Does anypony wish to represent your interest?”

Suddenly a circle formed in the mass of ponies, and standing in the center was a large silver stallion with blue runes and line of power scattered all across his body. Braeburn raised his rifle up and took aim. Finally, we can end this.

A single shot left the barrel of his gun and struck dead center in the unicorn chest...at least it would have, except its course was interrupted by a wall of solid invisible magic.

“Hiding behind your guards Celestia?” Silvered Tongue’s voice was heard just as loud as Celestia’s had, “Why don’t you come and face me yourself, you damned tyrant?”

Cheers rose up from the crowd around the rogue sorcerer, but immediately died down as the princess of the Sun stepped out of the open castle gate, adorned in golden armor. As she began the short journey to face Silvered Tongue, the Sun rose up from the horizon as if to mark her progress. When finally, the yellow sphere was positioned behind it’s counterpart the moon. Celestia’s mane was no longer the blues and pinks of sunrise, but a more ominous combination of purples and oranges.

Very softly this time, Celestia spoke out against the leader of the failed revolution, “Murderer, kidnapper, liar, and fiend...It would be my pleasure to end you personally.”

~~~~~

It had started as a relatively quiet day in ponyville, that had all changed however, when the attack on Canterlot had begun. The local residents had no trouble seeing the city on the mountain or the exchange of fire between the capital city and the army below. By the time the Sun was eclipsed in the sky, a kind of quiet panic had overtaken the city. The problem was exacerbated by the fact that the elements of harmony had seemingly gone missing. A fear that Shadow Fetters had worked tirelessly to put to rest, but nopony really wanted to be told everything was fine, panicking was sort of a unofficial town sport.

Berry Punch and Symphony’s house had taken on a kind of pregnant silence. Berry knew that Cheerilee would soon be a part of the fighting in Canterlot, if she was wasn’t already. Symphony however, did not understand what exactly was happening, but the worried look on her aunt’s face and the vague answers she got when she asked about her mother, told her that something was going on.

In order to get her mind off of what was happening, Symphony had been outside playing with three of the other fillies from school. They had even made her the fourth Ponyville Cutie Mark Crusader. But even though the other three’s sisters were gone, they had still finally been called away to go to bed. Now the little pegasus filly was idly bouncing a small, blue, rubber ball against the wall and trying her best to catch it. Just as she thought she was finally going to get it, a shout from behind distracted her and broke her concentration.

Symphony turned and saw three large ponies stood in her way. There was a red earth pony, a blue unicorn, and a blue pegasus stallion. They stood in a delta formation with the pegasus in the front.

“So, you’re the little filly that took out our train?”

Symphony just gulped and backed up against the wall, not knowing what they were talking about.

“Boss says we have to kill you now...and your aunt. Don’t worry though, I have a lot of respect for somepony so brave, so I’ll make your death quick and painless.”

The pegasus nodded to the unicorn, and after a short delay, a bolt of pitch black energy shot towards Symphony. The filly screamed as it sped towards her and then cut her off; the impact causing an explosion of dark energies, partially burning the side of the house and leaving it obscured in smoke.

The pegasus once again turned to address the unicorn, “Think you might have put a bit too much into that one, Piper.”

The unicorn just shrugged and turned to walk away.;

“Aw, leaving already?” came a young female voice from within the cloud of smoke. “But we haven’t even gotten to play.”

The pegasus turned just in time to see a dark green blur leap from the smoke. He reached to grab his dagger, but found the sheath empty. Turning he had just enough time to see his unicorn partner get stabbed through the ribs and die, the body falling away to reveal the assailant. It was a young pegasus mare with a dark green coat covered in black markings. As the two made eye contact, Symphony’s eyes changed from golden to blood red.

The pegasus only just managed to get his hooves up in time to block the blade. and after a quick struggle managed to get a hold of Symphony’s hoof. They pushed back and forth, but as time went on Symphony’s strength began to fade. Just as the dagger was about to be forced against her own neck, she bucked the pegasus stallion above her in between the legs and he fell right onto the now upturned blade.

As Symphony struggled out from under the body, the blood lust drained away from her. The small bit of magic from the arcane bolt was wearing off quickly, and she now was only as big as a ten year old child. She turned and came face to face with the red earth pony.

“You’re going to pay for killing them.”

Symphony tried to run but he caught her back hoof and sent her sprawling.

“I’m going to enjoy this” he said with a sadistic smile.

*crash*

The earth pony looked down at the shards of glass around his feet and winced as another glass bottle sailed into the back of his head. He turned and found a dark purple mare standing ten feet away.

“That trick might work in a bar, against drunks, but you’re going to have to do better than that if you want to stop me.” He said as he started to pull out his own dagger.

Berry Punch gave him a solid glare, “It’s not the glass, it’s what’s in the glass.”

The earth pony stallion took a strong sniff, “Cheap vodka?”

“Indeed.” Berry punch pulled a long thin object out of the box in her hoof and slid it against the side. The match sparked and sputtered to life.

The earth ponies eyes went wide in terror and without a second thought he turned and ran. As he passed The Golden Oaks Library, a shadow dropped down from the second story and landed squarely on the red pony’s back. The would be assassin was pulled into a roll and by the time his body was vertical again, his life was over.

Shadow Fetter stood up off of the dead pony and gave Berry Punch a single nod, before walking back towards the library, wiping off the bloody kitchen knife with his wing.

~~~~~

Silvered Tongue cringed as another beam of solar energy impacted his shield. So far he was able to evenly match Celestia’s power level, the problem however was that her mana reserves were literally as large as the sun itself, and he was at about half of his own.

Celestia had been slowly making progress on SIlvered Tongue’s shield, but she was afraid that he would just run when he realised he could not win. Time to set up plan B.

“The darkness in your own heart has made you weak sorcerer. I will see that you are never able to hurt Equestria or my sister again.”

Silvered Tongue cringed as another solar flare accentuated the determination in the solar princesses voice. I can’t win this fight, I need an advantage...Of course, If I take out the weaker link, the whole chain will fall.

Silvered Tongue gave Celestia a smirk, “Speaking of your sister, it’s a shame she couldn’t join the fun. Too scared that I’ll take away the moon from her again?”

Celestia answered with another bolt of energy.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Silvered Tongue fired the death mark spell he had been charging for several minutes now. The black sigil flew forward, and as all the previous had, disintegrated in the dense magic cloud around the princess.

“My sister is not afraid of you, but you will never reach her sanctuary.”

“How poetic of you, please don’t go anywhere.” Silvered Tongue sneered, and then vanished.

He’s all your sis, make it count

~~~~~

Luna paced back and forth across the plainly decorated hall. She had been wait for hours as the sound of fighting had died down. When the Sun rose up in eclipse, she was sure that it meant the her sister was now fighting the rogue sorcerer, but all she could do is wait and worry. Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the soft sound of teleportation and the smell of arcane particles in the air.

Luna turned to face the sudden intruder and found the cause of all her worrying standing on the other side of the hall. She gave him a sullen glance, “Is she dead?”

“You sister fought well, but I am truly the strongest. She died fighting if it means anything to you.”

Luna’s frown turned into a bright grin, “Truly, you must speak in jest. One as ‘strong’ as you certainly must know of the connection my sister and I share.”

“Then why did you ask?”

“Why did you lie? To gain the upper hoof, for the same reason, I asked.”

Silvered Tongue scowled at the younger princess. “Enough talk.”

“Of course.”

Before Luna could react, a massive lance of arcane energy shot across the room and into her, sending up a cloud of debri in it’s wake.

“A few minutes rest before I tell Celestia the bad news probably won’t hurt” Silvered Tongue spoke out loud to himself.”

“Leaving so soon my little criminal?” a smooth feminine voice said from behind the settling dust.

Silvered Tongue whipped around to find a large, pitch black alicorn standing in the crater that Princess Luna had previously occupied.

“So suprised?”

“You should be dead,” the sorcerer accused.

“Should I now? You were unable to win against my sister. What on earth made you think,” Nightmare Moon scrutinised her enemy and then let out small chuckle, “Let me get this straight, you actually thought that Celly was stronger than me?”

“But, she’s-”

“Bigger? Perhaps normally. Older? Not by much. Let me tell you something, the spell my sister used to exile me those many eons before, it is not hard to cast by any means. Sure, it takes a large amount of energy, but the sun has more than enough. So why do you think she needed the Elements of Harmony? I’ll tell you why, because my sister may have beaten me at everything from chess to royal debate, but there is one thing she has never been able to beat me at, by her self, Combat.”

Nightmare Moon rose up on on her back legs and with a thunderous strike to the ground, the roof of the sanctuary crumbled above them. After the dust cleared, the stars and the solar eclipse showed brightly down upon where the two ponies stood.

Silvered Tongue was frozen in shock by what he had just seen, “But..But how...I” He continued to mutter to himself, even as he saw the magic gathering around the dark mare’s horn.

“Die!”

I guess it is death after all. That army of yours will make a great first meal.

Silvered Tongue screamed as the column of Lunar energy tore through his body, overloading his nervous system and stopping his heart. His misery was short lived however, as the energies soon fried his mind.

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the joke chapter yesterday, please forgive me. Thank you all again for being loyal readers. A special thanks to RoyalInBlue and Womboman666 for editing. Feel free to leave a comment or critique.

Chapter 12: Cry Thunder

Beacon in the Shadows

or

Cheerilee’s a Paladin

Chapter 12: Cry Thunder

By DigitDaemon

~~~~~

At the end of a journey
And the start of a war
Our hero’s lie weary
Of the ending before

The black knight has fallen
Yet one pawn remains
It has crossed over the board
And reached undetained

It’s conversions beginning
But rises not a queen
The black wings unfurl
To reveal the unseen

A terrible shadow
Now crosses the game
And smothers the light
And burns it in flame

But out on the field
A single tower stands
It’s light a beacon
It’s hope not unfound

And now we must watch
As the last match begins
And either Equestria prevails
Or falls before sin

This battle is not ending
But only starting to unfold

~~~~~

Luna, in the form of Nightmare Moon, stood above the lifeless corpse of her opponent. After a moment's contemplation she snaked her magic up into the sky and gently nudged the celestial objects back into their proper place. Not long after there was another burst of powerful magic as she was joined by her sister.

“Lulu, you know that form scares me.”

“I am aware of this sister, but intimidation is important in fighting, and I am not yet sure that the fighting is over.”

Celestia walked up to her sisters side to inspect the result of the duel. “He appears dead to me.”

“Indeed, he is, but I can’t help feeling that as I struck him down, there was a whisper, from the edge of reality.”

The two were interrupted by Shining Armor and Braeburn entering the sanctuary. Both of them immediately took defensive stances upon the sight of what appeared to be Nightmare Moon.

Luna turned absentmindedly towards the two and gave them an exasperated sigh. “Please my loyal subjects, be not afraid of my form, ‘tis simply a...kind of armor.”

The two looked at Celestia for reassurance.

“She’s fine.”

Braeburn and Shining Armor let out a collective sigh of relief. Though as they walked up to join the sisters overlooking the crater in the center of the floor, it was clear that they still weren’t too comfortable with being in such close proximity with a being, or at least the image of a being that was synonymous with nightmares and misfortune.

“As I was telling my sister,” Celestia continued, “This is finally over.”

“Celestia, dear friend, what has made somepony as wise as you, so bold to assume.”

The echoing voice bounced among the ruins. making the speaker hard to pinpoint. The loud clopping of hooves however gave away the speakers location.

The group of four ponies turned towards one of the many holes in the sanctuary walls and found a slate grey earth pony entering, followed by Cheerilee, who was carrying a wrapped package upon her back.

“Onyx, perhaps I should ask what makes you so bold as to steal from me a valuable fighter?” Celestia replied matching his mock surprise with her own disdain.

“She had training to do, very important train if we all wish to survive this next fight.”

“But the fight is over, my sister saw to that.”

“Yes, but did your sister not also hear a voice? one at ‘the edge of reality’?”

Celestia’s own confidence began to crumble under the persistence of the argument. Two ponies she trusted with not only her own life but everypony else’s were convinced that there was more going on, and she knew she would be a fool not to listen.

“So, what next.”

“This pony you both just fought, he said he had captured a demon within himself?”

Luna nodded excitedly, “Indeed, in the end twas no help though, his weakness was obvious.”

“Exactly. according to what your paladin tells me, he captured the demon of lies and deceit. The three of us are well aware that a Demon of the Greater Hells Court, is not nearly so weak. In fact the only thing that would be able to stop such a beast is an angel, and seeing as how Deceit killed Justice in the last Demon war, even that is hard.”

Luna and Celestia both pondered Onyx’s words, but Shining Armor got to speaking first.

“So he was just faking it.”

Onyx shook his head, “No, this fool really did bring Deceit over from the Abyssal Plains but he did not truly trap the demon within himself. He placed Deceit in a small dimension of his own creation and has been using the magic that slowly permeates into our realm. Unfortunately, the draw strings on this dimensional bag of sorts are the lay lines that cover his body and as many of you can see, they are weakening.

The group looked back down at the body, and sure enough, the lines were fading.

Luna and Celestia suddenly became spooked at this turn of events, the rest turned to Onyx for answers as to what frightened the two most powerful beings on the planet.

“When they break, the beast will be free. In his hunger, he could consume the entire population of canterlot before truly taking shape.”

Cheerilee took the initiative and suggested the next course of action. ”We need to throw the body off the side of the city. it’s empty on the plains below he will rise weak and easily stopped.”

Onyx gave the paladin an impressed nod, “Indeed, but time is of the essence, we must move quickly.”

Shining Armor nodded, and before anypony could react, he grabbed the corpse in his magic and teleported away. Luna and Celestia both turned to Cheerilee.

“Thou doth have the means to fight it, correct?” Luna asked.

“Yes, I can...fight it.”

“You hesitate, art though unsure of yourself.”

Cheerilee shook her head vigorously, “No, it’s nothing.”

“Very well, I shall bring you to the walls of the castle, brace thyself.”

In a flash, both Luna and Cheerilee vanished from the room.

Celestia turned to the gunfighter and with a small, dismissive gesture, he left the room.

“Onyx, it has been a long time, I assume my sister summoned you.”

“That she did, I am a little surprised she still sings to me,” Onyx gave the princess a sad smile.

“I am not, you know that you did what you had to, and she understands that, and more over she loves you.” Celestia walked up to the grey stallion, and gave him a hug.

“You two will be together soon enough, I think we both know that.”

Onyx simply nodded in confirmation.

~~~~~

From up on the castle walls, Luna and Cheerilee watched as Shining Armor had an animated conversation with one of the ponies that had not surrendered during the fight. After a minute, the guard captain turned around and with a pop of magic joined the two on the wall.

“Pray thee, tell us what hath transpired.”

Shining Armor shook his head in anger, “The fools, they say that he deserves a proper burial. I tried to warn them, but they said I was just trying to deface his body by dropping it from the city.”

“We see.”

Luna looked around nervously for a moment unsure of what to do.

“Captain, I believe that this would be a good time for the use of thy shield, if you would please, cover the castle.”

He nodded and after a few second of charging magic on his horn, a translucent purple bubble rose up around the defending forces, leaving the edge of the city where the ponies still loyal to the Children of the Night were located, unprotected.

The three on the wall, and the many other soldiers still at their posts watched in morbid fascination for something to happen. It was deathly quiet, in fact it took many of the guards a moment to realise that their own voices were being suppressed, as if they were talking underwater. A few panicked, but many were reassured by the lunar princesses presence up on the wall with them.

The sight down in the city below quickly went from muted fear to panic as the wind began to blow around them, it pushed the rebel ponies towards a central location, the place were Silvered Tongue’s body had been set. The vacuum force steadily grew in strength, becoming so strong that the shield around the castle was bending towards the source and Shining Armor had to strain to hold it together.

As the group of ponies closest to the center point lost the strength to fight to every growing anomaly they were dragged one by one into something that looked like a small black sports ball. The sphere grew as more and more ponies were dragged in and along with the increase in size came an increase in pull. The gravity well grew and grew until it had consumed the entirety of the remaining rebel forces and then, the inward pressure collapsed, letting out a huge burst of wind, so strong that it tore apart the shield surrounding the castle. The ponies up on the wall were saved only by the quick reflex to duck behind the parapet.

The guards slowly recovered from the physical onslaught of what had just occurred, but many of them would never fully recover from the massacre that they had just witnessed.

Shining Armor stood mouth agape, “They’re all...dead?”

Luna gave the walls a quick sweep of her gaze, insuring that the defences still held. “Indeed Captain, thou hast witnessed just now a great tragedy. The events unfolding now hath not only slain many defenseless, but hath also consumed their souls and eternally damned them.”

When Princess Luna finished, the first real implication of the current situation began to sink in with those in earshot. This was no longer a conventional war. Death did not just mean the end of life anymore, it meant the end of everything. No chance of reaching the realm of angels, instead, there souls consumed to fuel an demonic rampage.

The settling dust gave away the first sighting of what became of the murderous black hole. In the center of the city stood an impossibly large ape like figure. It’s head appeared to be a skull only thinly covered in a layer of dark grey, diseased flesh. It stood on two legs, feet covered in mangled scales. The creatures chest was made up of bones, held together and molded by old cobwebs. Its arms appeared to be exposed muscle, just as rotten as its face. At the end of each of it’s grotesque arms were two huge hands, ending in sharp, ragged claws.

“Ponies of Equestria...” the demons booming voice was accompanied by the stench of bloodshed and rot, “It is a dark night for you, and I am so happy to be here to see it. I always assumed that it would be my brothers who broke the seal into your world, but instead, one of your own kind so foolishly brought armageddon here. I would describe his ego as contemptible, thinking he could command my strength, but he has provided such a great first meal that I must thank him for his sacrifice.”

The guards up on the wall were only a pin drop away from crumbling in fear. They had fought everything from manticores to their own dark princess of the night, but never had they been given the possibility of total and absolute destruction and never from a creature so powerful and gruesome as the one that stood before them now.

“It is quite the buffet laid out before me, but I would hate to indulge and leave my soldiers hungry...Rise, beasts of the nether!” With an upraised motion of Deceits palms, spectral forms began to climb through the fabric of space. Several guards took the initiative and began to try and fight them, but they’re sword strokes did nothing to the ghostly forms. “Feast upon the weak!”

Upon the demon’s command, the spectral warrior suddenly took form and without hesitation, set about tearing the pony army to pieces. Within the few moments of surprise, the guard stationed on the wall had been reduced to less than half its number. Seeing no chance for holding off the new attackers, Luna rose up and called out, “Everypony, fall back to the castle.”

Shining Armor, Cheerilee and Luna did there best to fight off the lesser demons pursuing the retreating forces, but their combined efforts only managed to save a small number of ponies, and soon it was necessary for Luna to teleport the three of them to the castle themselves.

~~~~~

Cheerilee and Onyx came to a halt as they reached the end of the tunnel. The passage opened up into a massive chasm that had at some point filled with water. in the center of the underground lake was a small island. at the islands center was an object that was actually generating enough light to give the two a dim awareness of their surroundings.

Onyx sat up against the side of the tunnel and once again began whispering to himself, Cheerilee didn’t know why but it seemed like the air current that ran through the cave would answer him with a haunting, windswept melody. She disregarded her guide, he had warned her earlier that he could only take her so far anyways. She walked up to the edge of the crystal clear pool and saw in little bits of debris beneath the surface, that despite the placid look, there was a strikingly fast current underneath, definitely too fast to swim through.

As she drew her hoof back she noticed that there was something cut into edge of the rock, she recognized it as an ancient form of Abyssal, regardless, she couldn’t read it.

“Onyx? can you translate this for me?”

Onyx looked up at her, “Translate what?”

“It’s something written in Ancient Abyssal.”

“I can’t read Abyssal, are you sure you're not mistaken?”

Cheerilee looked back to the writing while mentally preparing a response along the line of “of course, I’m not stupid,” but the words died on her lips, the writing was in clear, modern Equish.

“Nevermind”

The text was only a short sentence, “The depths belong to those weighed with sin.”

Cheerilee pondered this for a moment, if the paladin code was any measure of sin, she should be fine, but she certainly couldn’t just walk across, could she? The purple mare tentatively placed a hoof out in front of her and found that the waters surface did not part or yield to it. She more confidently placed her other front hoof on the glassy surface and was soon walking carefully across to the island at the center.

When Cheerilee got to the shore of the underground island, to her surprise, she found it covered in green grass and white lilies. At the very center of the small patch of earth was the object that had been lighting the cave, an old rusted blade, covered in corrosion and barely holding its simplistic form. The paladin walked up and touched it, but to her dismay, the rusted blade shattered at the touch of her hoof.

“What is going on here? That can’t be the sword, it must be a trick.”

Cheerilee turned away from the spot where the blade had rested and nearly jumped out of her skin. Before her stood a ghostly ethereal figure. It had the wings and head of an eagle but slender, pale arms coming off of a sort of barrel like upper body that ended not in legs but in the serpentine body of a snake. It was clear by the graceful curves of the creatures upper body that it was female and there was an almost palpable aura of calm emanating from her.

The creature spoke in soft, musical tone, “Cheerilee, do not be afraid, for it is I that you have come here seeking.”

Cheerilee took a moment to catch her breath before speaking, “You mean...You’re Justice?”

The figure smiled, “That is, or rather, was my title, yes. You may call me by my name, Vesper.”

“Nice to meet you...uh Vesper,” Though she was no longer scared, being in the presence of an angel, even a dead one, was still very imposing, “I don’t want you to think I am rude, but I am in a bit of a rush, is there any chance I could borrow your sword.”

“It is true, you are running out of time,” Vesper raised her hand up to her beak and scratched it in thought, “I am afraid however that as you just saw, my sword has not aged well.”

“That was yours?”

“Indeed it was, and I doubt it will do you much good as it was nothing but iron and leather, but let me lend you my wings instead, so that they may carry you in the name of justice and salvation.”

The chamber lit up in a much brighter glow then had previously hung in the air. Air spun around the cave in a strong, but not unbearable vortex around the two on the island. The light pouring from Vesper was actually so bright that Cheerilee was unable to see the angels form, but unlike the harsh light of the Sun that would cause her to squint, her eyes were instead pulled towards it. When the commotion finally ended and the light faded as well, Vesper’s ghost was gone and instead a new sword rested were the angel had previously floated.

The blade was inscribed with intricate symbols that radiated a soft blue energy and the guard was a pair of wings with a serpent's tail that coiled and twisted around the handle. As Cheerilee walked up to it, she found the the blade extended out past the length of a normal broadsword but as she lifted it up, it was no heavier than the much shorter longsword she normally wielded. The purple mare placed the sword on her back, sliding it into the scabbard on her armor that had adjusted to fit the swords size. As she sheathed it, a voice whispered in her ear, Vespers voice.

“This blade will grant you the strength you need to fight the darkness that is soon to arrive, but should you truly need my powers in your battle, they will come at a cost.”

Cheerilee grunted and tried pulling the non-existent covers back over her, not quite conscious enough to register the white mare prodding her in an attempt to wake her up. Another gentle shake however and the blanket of sleep finally slipped away from the paladin’s mind.

“Ugh...Flurry? What's going on?”

Lieutenant Flurry Wing playfully rolled her eyes and sighed “Well, after you refused to rest after the third insistence from Princess Celestia, Luna placed a sleeping spell on you to ensure that you would be ready and rested when they needed you. Now they need you, things have gotten...” the pegasus’s smile faltered, “Bad.”

Cheerilee nodded solemnly, “Where are they?”

“They are holding conference in the front atrium, they figure that way if the demons break through, the strongest warriors will already be there to fight them.”

“But what about the princesses? They are in danger there.”

“I’m not sure you understood what I was saying, as far as we can tell, The princesses magic is the only thing that can fight those demons, they are our strongest warriors.”

“But how can that be, while we were retreating, I was able kill them with only my sword.”

“And you sword is made of?”

Cheerilee thought for a moment, “Steel? Well, magic steel I guess.”

“And whose magic?”

Cheerilee’s face fell, “...Celestia’s”

Flurry Wing nodded grimly, “See?”

“Yeah, we better get going.”

The pair made their way down a flight of stairs and entered into the main atrium. The overall atmosphere was grim, in one corner was a makeshift triage center for those that were wounded but not so much as they could not fight at all. The entire remaining standing force was grouped up in the atrium as well, except for the archers and sharpshooters who were stationed in the upper story windows and towers. The entire group in the room didn’t number more than three hundred.

The two approached the command group in the center of the room; Luna was issuing orders to the head of the ranged squads while Celestia was having a hushed conversation with Onyx.

“Uhm, princesses,” Flurry Wing said quietly, nervous about interrupting them, “I brought her.”

Celestia looked over her shoulder and gave a soft smile, “Thank you. You look exhausted, I would ask you to get some rest,” her smile faltered, “But I’m afraid we need every pony here.”

“It’s alright princess, I know what must be done.”

Luna finished her own conversation and turned to meet the newcomers. “Ah, thank you for joining us paladin, we must discuss strategy.”

Cheerilee nodded and Onyx and Celestia moved around to form a circle with them.

“The situation of present is most dire,” the lunar princess continued, “We have only one chance to still claim victory, and we all agree that defense will only kill us in the long term.”

Cheerilee nodded again in consent.

“Thus, a counter attack is all that is left. You hath successfully retrieved the means of this demon’s end, correct?”

“Yes Princess.”

“Good...If thou wouldn’t mind, may we see it?” Luna asked in an almost embarrassed manner.

Cheerilee pulled the wrapped object off of her back and with a sort of half flourish, unwrapped it. The blade glowed noticeable, despite that it was almost midday, in fact, it almost glowed brighter because of the bright sunlight. Cheerilee held the sword above her head, and the glow wrapped around the confines of the large room. As it reached the soldier, each and every one of them seemed to stand a bit straighter, the wounded, who were limping before, now stood sturdy on the floor, and walked with seamless gait. The thoughts of fear and lost hope were washed away with a desire for justice, peace and strongest, a feeling of hope. Pain and tiredness were forgotten as all of the ponies seemed to take a collective breath of fresh air.

“Hazzah! Thou hast not only retrieved thy weapon, but hath returned with justice as well. With this we can now fight.”

Celestia gentle cleared her throat, “Luna dear, perhaps we should inform Cheerilee of the plan before we jump out of the gate.”

“Ah, forgive me. Our plan is quite simple, The fourth cavalry will charge out followed by thyself and the remaining guard. They will clear a path to Deceit and the guard will hold it for as long as they can, thou must slay the beast as soon as possible as the demon army is still too great to hold off for long. Thy will have the archers covering thyself as well as my sister and I. Do not hesitate.”

“Okay,” Cheerilee took a deep breath, “I’m ready when you are.”

Luna turned and addressed the rest of the room, “Form up, get into position. We charge in one minute.”

There was a quiet scramble as the different ranks formed and Cheerilee took her place behind the cavalry. She had faced death before in the name of righteousness, but never had she felt that her own abilities had so much weight in a situation. If she failed now, nopony would step up and take her place. She knew she had a chance to win, but she was also Equestrias only chance to win.

As the seconds counted down towards zero, both princesses teleported away, getting into position above the castle and Shining Armor took over the count down. At zero, the unicorns manning the doors shot them open and the entire column raced out into the ruined city. The initial shock for the demon soldiers near the doors was not great, as they had probably been expecting a counter attack, but as they casually lined up to head off the assault they were quickly struck down under the coupled forces of the desperate charge and Justice’s resurgent magic. Swords and lances of steel, that had previously not even touched their shadowy flesh, now tore through them with unhindered savagery and arrows and bolts of magic forced them to run or hide beneath the scant cover.

The charge continued farther from the castle and as it did, the concentration of shadowy creatures grew. The regular guard was forced to break off to prevent the column from being attacked from behind while the archers and gun ponies continued to focus fire ahead of the column to weaken the demon’s ranks.

Soon after the regular guard broke off, the fourth cavalry began to run out of momentum and finally were forced to hold their ground as they burst from the wreckage of the outer wall. On the open ground before them all the way to the edge of the city’s balcony was a sea of demons. Deceit stood at the edge of the city, looking on at the spectacle with mild amusement.

Cheerilee drew her blade and ran to the front of the column and began to fight her way forward on her own. The demon soldiers were now weary of her and attacked not with the ferocity she had seen before but with more tact. Unfortunately for them, they were still out of Cheerilee’s league and they fell by the dozens to her blade. One would leap at her while another one dashed at her legs, only to find a blade which had just finished cleaving its brother in half, with the same swing, was there to meet it as well.

The one advantage they did have however, was numbers, and though the sword had boosted her own strength, Cheerilee was running out of energy fast. With one final push she came to the feet of the demon lord. The push came at a cost however, she was panting hard and no longer had the energy to hold her two hoofed fighting stance,. She gripped the blade in her mouth and stared at the ground as she tried to catch her breath.

“Look at you little pony,” Deceits booming voice rang out, shaking the edge of the city platform, “You are faced with certain death and yet you still fight with such courage and selflessness, quite admirable. Unfortunately for you, you are spent and now, like the rest of your people, will die like the annoying little insect you are. Any last words?”

”The lesson you must learn is not by speech, I want you to find your inner strength. Only with it, will you be able to protect the kingdom in this coming war.”

Cheerilee took a few more ragged breaths and then spat her sword out, “You have come into our world,” her words were almost a whisper, but with each syllable her voice grew a little stronger, “Destroy our homes, take from us the things we need to survive,” her voice was now a quiet yell, “and kill the ponies we love! And you expect me to just die?!” Motes of light began to form around the paladins body, she looked straight into the demon lords eyes, her glare focused and filled with righteous fury. She finished with a roar loud enough to to be heard back at the castle.

A blinding wall of light exploded out from Cheerilee and swept away the lesser demons leaving most of them in pieces while the guards ponies still fighting were left unharmed. The force was so powerful in fact that even deceit had been knocked off of the balcony, and was now supported by his grotesk leathery wings.

As light faded and the paladins form became more clear, it was apparent that more had changed. The figure that stood at the edge of the city was not a deep purple but instead radiated a warm white light and her eyes were a solid glowing green. The armor on the figure was not the hefty steel that had once adorned her, but instead a flowing white cloak with gold and silver and bronze stitched into the seams and in an elaborate pattern of symbols in the shape of an eagle. In the apparitions hooves was not a sword, but instead a long pole ending with an elegant blade.

Deceits mouth curled into a frown and his brow scrunched up, “How?! I killed you once, and yet you stand before me.”

“As long as there is injustice in this world, there will be those who seek to correct it,” Cheerilee's voice came forth in calm and steadfast manner, but each word was accompanied by an echo, as if someone else was speaking with her, “Now I will be able to finally correct the damage you did so many aeons ago.”

Deceit hovered, reactionless for a moment before speaking again, “You may have returned as I have, but I killed you once, and I will do so again. Your arrival changes nothing, this world will still fall!”

Without warning, Deceit swung his massive hand down onto the city’s platform, shaking the entire city in massive tremors. When he lifted his first however, there was no remnant of the holy warrior that had been standing there moments ago. Before he could recover and find his target, he screamed out in pain as the paladins halberd sliced down his back. He spun around and found his opponent flying in front of him, carried by great feathered wings that were not quite real, but not just illusion either.

~~~~~

The two royal sisters hovered above the castle walls and watched as the battle between Justice and Deceit raged on before them.

Luna looked nervously back and forth between her sister and the fight, “Sis, will she succeed?”

“I don’t know, she is much stronger than him right now, but-”

“She is burning out fast, yes I doth see it as well. Does she know what she is paying?”

Celestia nodded her head slowly, “We both know that justice does not hide nor lie. If she is sacrificing her own life force in exchange for the power to fight him, she does it by choice.”

“Will she survive it though?”

“I don’t know.”

“But her daughter, what will happen to her?”

“If the worst happens, she will not have to suffer for long, but will suffer forever,” Celestia let out a long sigh, “If Cheerilee succeeds but doesn’t survive, she will have to be told, but I will do so myself and be sure that Symphony knows that her mom didn’t just die a hero, but she died saving every other creature on this planet.”

Celestia wrapped her wing around her younger sister to comfort her. Luna accepted the gesture and pressed herself up against her sister.

~~~~~

Cheerilee collided head on with Deceit’s curled fist and was thrown back shedding feathers in a trail behind her. She recovered quickly though, no signs of the hit on her body. She felt the damage however; someponies describe a feeling before they finally pass away, a kind of calm tiredness that eventually creeped up on them and let them know that it was their time. Cheerilee was beginning to feel the way she imagined they had felt, except the feeling wasn’t creeping up on her, it was barreling towards her faster than she had ever seen any pegasus fly.

She dodged another punch and the sudden blast of energy that followed behind it and dashed in for another hit, this time slicing through his upper eye lid, his reflexes saving him his eye by only a hair. He flew backwards and threw another wild punch and this time a jet of fire from his mouth.

In the trading of blows, Cheerilee was beginning to see a pattern, when she would dash in for an attack he would move back because she was inside his defense and hard to physically attack, on top of this, his wings were powerful but slow.

After dodging another attack, the paladin dove back in for a hit, this time though, instead of taking a mighty swing, she made short slashes that took virtually no time to recover from and was able to do a lot more damage before his clawed hand finally forced her to jump away. Continuing with this strategy, she was able to wear him down to the point that he was noticeably more sluggish and his response time to her attacks was too long to be of any danger to her. Despite this however, Cheerilee knew that the beast was far from dead and if she waited to much longer he would just slip back into the nether from which he came.

She summoned up the last of her strength and the last of her life and manifested it into a towering blade of light. Deceit watched in horror as the blinding white sword grew higher and higher, he tried to run but the spiritual pressure given off by the paladin was far too great and it held him in place like the very bug he had once mentioned, caught in a fine silken web. The remaining ponies in Canterlot were frozen in awe at the sight of the blade, which shone like a beacon to all of Equestria. And as any good beacon it was not just admired in Canterlot, but all of the nation on that side of the mountain range as well as some of the lands farther out.

With one final look over all the land she had saved, Cheerilee let the blade fall...and with it she fell too.

Author's Notes:

Here is my second to last chapter. I found it extremely sad to write and I hope that I managed to convey those feeling to all of you. Rest assured however that this story has a completely happy ending. So please bear with me for one more chapter. Thank you all for reading, as always feel free to leave a comment for me (in fact I insist :P). Special thank to RoyalInBlue for editing. Have a great day and I will see(metaphorically speaking) you all again soon.

Chapter 13: Sleepless + Epilogue

Beacon in the Shadows

Or

Cheerilee’s a Paladin

Chapter 13: Sleepless

By DigitDaemon

~~~~~

After the paladins sword had silenced Deceit once and for all, Celestia had rushed out to catch the falling mare, but Cheerilee had returned to her regular state and was already unconscious when the solar princess had caught her. The motionless form had been rushed to the castle medical wing, where doctors hypothesised and Onyx Loadstone confirmed that she was dying. Berry Punch and Symphony had been rushed in from Ponyville and were informed of the situation. Berry Punch had kept hope for a while but what she didn’t know is that Cheerilee’s biological functions were only still working because of left over nutrition and that the source of energy for her soul is what had been drained to nothing, and now, a few days later, the rest of Cheerilee’s family sat around her bed as her faint pulse grew ever weaker and closer to nothing.

Symphony was lying up against the fuschia mare, who was already almost as cold as death, while Berry punch had her hoof in a tight grip. Both princesses as well as Onyx and Braeburn watched from just inside the doorway. They respected the family’s close bond, but felt all the same that the courageous paladin deserved their respects as well.

The volume on the EKG machine had been muted as there was no hope of resuscitating the mare once she slipped away and the machine showed just that happening. The small hills on the magical screen finally smoothed out into one continuous line and a single tear fell from the lunar princess’s eyes. But her sad expression did not last long; first she gave a confused scowl, she could swear she felt something else watching, but before Celestia could ask what was troubling her sister, the Lunar princess broke out in a huge grin.

~~~~~

Cheerilee distinctly remembered fighting with Deceit and then, well... dying. But her current surrounding were giving her quite a bit of confusion. There were grass covered hills all around, with a small river running through. In the distance to one side was a large mountain range while the other side had prairies that ran into the horizon. This certainly wasn’t any part of Equestria she knew.

“Confused?” a male voice came from behind her, laced with subtle amusement.

Cheerilee turned around and found a light brown pegasus seated upon the blade of a scythe that had been driven into the ground by the handle. His eyes were an almost translucent white and his mane was a shade just above his coat and cut short. He wore an ebony cloak that was tattered, full of holes and had he not such a light coat color would have seemed ominous, but to Cheerilee the whole get up seemed pretty comical.

“So you're supposed to be the Grim Reaper, right?” Cheerilee said with a chuckle.

The colt hopped down onto the ground and flashed a cocky smile, “Do I look grim?”

“No.”

“Good. So I guess you can call me The Reaper, actually now that I think about it I am significantly older than you, how about Mister Reaper?”

Cheerilee shook her head “Definitely not happening, so where am I anyways?”

“Well, you are in whatever your idea of purgatory would look like. Yeah, this is the tough part, but I’m gonna need you to follow me.”

“So, I’m dead?”

“‘Fraid so, but boy did you go out with a bang. You saved a whole lot of ponies out there.”

Cherrilee just nodded.

“Come on, we should really get going, but I think you will find a pleasant surprise waiting for you.”

Cheerilee brightened up a bit at the thought, “Dad! Trident! Oh how I’ve missed them...”

“Well there is family too, I suppose.” The Reaper said in a cryptic tone.

The discussion was ended when a third voice joined the conversation,“Indeed there is, but don’t you get the faintest feeling this is all a bit rushed?”

Both ponies turned to see a tall graceful alicorn walk up to join them. She was not quite as big as Celestia but still larger than Luna. Her mane was a wispy green, flowing as if caught in a brisk zephyr and her coat was an earthy brown.

“Hello Cheerilee, we haven’t been properly introduced but I am Terra, spirit of the Earth and sister to your two princesses. And hello again Death.”

“Sup?”

Cheerilee blinked a few times, not immediately following what was happening. “So it is true? The stories?”

“About me being real?” the alicorn said with a chuckle, “Yes, they are indeed.”

“So why are you here? Isn’t this still like my mind or something.”

“Technically it’s a soulscape.” Death chimed in.

“Yes this is a place of your creation, within yourself, which is why I am here.” Terra turned to Death and gave him a regal stare, “You wouldn’t mind giving us a minute would you?”

Death shook his head and then vanished from sight.

“Cheerilee, I want you to close your eyes and let go of your senses.”

Cheerilee did as she was asked and closed her eyes, but as soon as she started to relax she felt like she was falling away and opened them again.

“You must trust me dear,” Terra walked up next the the purple mare and rested a wing on her shoulder, “You will be perfectly safe.”

Cheerilee nodded and closed her eyes again. The sensation returned but the wing on her shoulder kept her calm.

“Good, now slowly open your eyes.”

As Cheerilee did so, her senses became attuned to the changes around her. The first thing she noticed was the soft pounding of the rain and the warm trails of moisture it left on her coat. The sky was dark now and full of clouds that were in turn filled with stars. The ground beneath her hooves were filled with white and black flowers mixed together and covered in thorns.

“What is this?”

“This is your metaphysical subconscious. Unlike the previous setting, which was a construct of your expectations, the scene around you now is made up of the senses you still have grasp of.”

Cheerilee nodded and slowly turned around, trying to take it all in.

“So what about the stars in the clouds?”

“Each of those points of light is a single wish or prayer for your well being, you touched many lives and they want to thank you for it.”

Cheerilee nodded again and looked down at the ground.

“And the flowers?”

“The white ones are life, that you have so valiantly protected, the black ones are your comrades who like you have fallen in battle.” Terra returned her wing to Cheerilee’s shoulder and pulled her closer, “I would explain the other things, but I think you can figure them out.”

Cheerilee stretched out her hoof and collected some of the falling water, only to find that it was a transparent purple color and smelled of grapes. “Tears, Berry Punch’s tears.”

“Yes, your faithful sister sits beside you even now trying to grasp whatever may remain of you.”

Tears formed in Cheerilee’s eyes, but she knew that the alicorn was still expecting more.

“And the sound of the rain, it is faint and rhythmic, like a symphony... Her heart?”

“Indeed, she is curled up next to you afraid of losing her mother again.”

Small lines of water now travelled down the paladins cheeks and fell into the flowers before her and she was sniffing significantly.

“And the thorns on the flowers.” Cheerilee looked up at Terra, “Pain, my pain. The pain of loss, and of saying goodbye. Why have you shown me this?”

“Because, it is only within loss that we can truly understand how much we have; and only in understanding do we truly deserve what we have.”

There was a sudden flash of thunder and the two were back in the grassy field, joined again by Death.

“Are you done here?”

Cheerilee looked at the colt with pleading eyes, “Please don’t take me, I don’t want to leave them.”

“I’m sorry Cheerilee, but I don’t get to decide who lives and dies, I can only guide them on afterwards.”

Cheerilee turned to Terra, hoping that she would say something to contradict him.

“I am afraid he is right, he doesn’t have control over the nature of dying, but it does so happen that dying is nature, and I may just have a thing or two to say on that subject.”

Death grunted it disapproval, “It’s a shame, I know a really great coffee place, I was going to show you it.”

Terra smiled and chuckled, “Please say hello to my sisters for me.”

Cheerilee hadn’t stopped crying, but now the tears that fell from her eyes were joyful, not sad.

“Of course!” She paused, “Wait!”

“Yes my little pony?”

“There is a stallion, I think you know him better than I do, but he seems sad. Is there anything I can do to help him?”

“Yes, my dear Onyx. He took the burden of immortality upon himself many eons ago and carries it still, but he made me a promise that he would move one day. No, there is nothing you can do to help, I am sorry.”

Cheerilee nodded, “And Death?”

“Yes ma’am.” He gave a mock salute.

“I’ll take you up on that offer for coffee one day.”

He gave her another cocky grin, “I look forward to it.”

A moment later, the whole world faded into a comfortable warmth and Cheerilee heard the rain again, but this time it was different. It was stronger and came from within.

~~~~~

Celestia was resting her face in her hooves while the other ponies in the room glared at the princess of the night. Luna was currently resetting the EKG machine for the third time.

“Sister... Please, there is no need for-”

The EKG, being reconnected gave a small blip on the read out. The grin appeared on Luna’s face and Cheerilee’s family adopted a hopeful look as well.

Celestia shook her head sadly though, “I know her death is hard to accept Luna, but I am sure that that was just a-”

There was another blip on the EKG and then another and another. Soon, the pattern of a heart beat could be seen forming on the EKG and; Celestia had to look to ensure that Luna had not accidentally stepped on one of the sensory patches. It was not so however, Cheerilee had really come back from the grave.

The revelation set off another round of crying from Berry Punch and Symphony as they once again grabbed on to the still feeble mare in the hospital bed.

Do not be so quick to doubt in miracles sister. But I suppose the moon is the one that gives hope afterall.

Celestia turned to an empty corner and whispered to Terra’s spirit, “Thank you sister, but I don’t follow your logic.”

While the sun is bright and warm, when it is gone, what shows us that it hasn’t vanished on the other side of the earth and that it is only till tomorrow that we must wait?

“The Moon.”

Tell Lulu I love her too, there is more I must do now.

“Very well,” She paused, “I miss you, when will you return to us?”

When it is time.

~~~~~

Onyx waited atop one of the mountains adjacent to the one that held Canterlot. After witnessing what had happened at the hospital he felt it was time to be alone or at least by himself than with company.

“Why did you do it?”

Because it was the right thing to do.

“Was it? Doesn’t that mean that the rest of the guard deserve another chance too?”

As much as I want to say yes, they died doing what they had sworn to.

“And the paladin did not?”

She was asked to do so much more and you know it. She swore to give her life in the line of battle, she never made a promise to stand in for an angel. She did something that not a single other pony, not even I or my sisters could have done. She more than deserved this small gift.

“It’s coming, I feel it.”

Indeed, this world is growing stronger and soon it will not need you.

“And then I will see you again?”

Of course, I have waited centuries unseen by your side, I cannot live much longer so far away.

Onyx Loadstone looked up at the sunset, and sighed.

~~~~~

It took another three days for Cheerilee to wake up, but when she did she was flanked by Symphony and Berry Punch on either side.

“Mommy!”

Cheerilee groggily shook her head and then turned to her side where the filly had been sitting and drawing on some paper. She was too tired however to prepare for the powerful hug she received from behind.

“Sis, I’m so happy to see you alive.”

Cheerilee placed her hoof on Symphony’s and smiled brightly, “I’m so happy to see you two again too.”

The three of them stayed like that for a minute before Berry Punch finally released her younger sister and returned to the chair next to her. They spent the rest of the day talking and receiving orders from the doctor. Unfortunately it looked like Cheerilee would be in the hospital wing for at least another couple of months and likely still bedridden for the most part after she returned home for a few months afterwards.

The time that followed, spent recovering was long and boring, but Cheerilee had many visitors to keep her company including her students, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Applebloom, as well as the Elements of Harmony and the princesses, even Princess Cadance and rarely Terra in her dreams. Onyx came for the first few weeks but then had to leave on an existential journey of his own. Braeburn came frequently as well, but after he disappeared for the third time for lunch with Berry Punch. Cheerilee was dubious that she was the real reason he kept showing up.

It was also during this time that Celestia discovered that the paladin armor that had been bound to Cheerilee had vanished, along with the paladins summoning runes, likely destroyed in the battle. It was not till a few years later the Cheerilee discovered that she could still call the sword that she had wielded in Canterlot that day. Apparently the price for an angels gift was a life of the same purity, but once paid, the gift was permanent.

~~~~~
Epilogue: Flawed Legacy
~~~~~

Several years after the end of the Children of the Night’s insurrection, Canterlot was now fully rebuilt, with some improvements. The walls had been reinforced and many new battlements had been constructed under the city along with a network of tunnels. But the most striking change was a memorial garden out in front of the castle with all the names of the fallen guards as well as a smaller shrine dedicated to all of the rebels who had been identified. The princess had made it clear that they had done a horrible thing but that they had died in a manner much worse than anything they had ever committed, and that they still deserved sympathy for that.

By some fancy political work by the princesses it just so happened that the opening of the garden was on the same day as the opening of a much smaller, private garden which had been dedicated to all of the champions that had served under the princesses.

A few days after the opening of the two gardens a ceremony was held in the castle. A small private affair, but not one of mourning or remembering that had almost become a staple of the city’s last two years. This one had bells, flowers and a bride and groom.

It was the wedding of Berry Punch and Braeburn. Symphony was supposed to be the flower girl, but when Luna had heard her play the piano during the preparations, the princess had insisted she do the music.

If asked how she played so well, her answer was that it was easier than learning the strokes of a sword, but that was almost second nature to her now too. Amazingly enough, Cheerilee had not actually insisted on Symphony learning how to fight but, the filly had picked it up herself.

The ceremony went on without any problems, not even a single changeling showed up, which was a bit strange since Equestria was now at peace and actively trading with the Hive.

Cheerilee was originally planning on moving out of the house she shared with her sister after the marriage, but Berry Punch insisted that she stay. Pointing out that if she were ever needed for defending Equestria, even though official speaking she had retired from fighting, that somepony would need to look after Symphony and it would just be easier if they already lived there. Plus it was a big house so not much changed...

...Except for the addition of a noise canceling spell around the master bedroom.

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Two years after being married, Berry Punch gave birth to a unicorn filly, whom she and Braeburn named Nightshade. Even though Nightshade and Symphony were cousins, they grew up in the same house and were as close as even two sisters could be, and often referred to each other as such. Being the children of two very highly esteemed ponies did often however have it’s advantages. Both Symphony and Nightshade were watched closely by the princesses, often have one or the other attend their birthdays and other events. It helped that they lived in Ponyville though, the way if anypony asked, the princesses were usually just “stopping by” after meeting with Twilight Sparkle, who they both now affectionately called the Princess of Books.

Living together in a house with two very skilled warriors meant that both fillies grew up practicing fighting themselves. Even though none of the three adult occupants insisted upon it, Symphony and Nightshade worked diligently to master the respective trades of their parents. Symphony became good enough to even almost rival her mother in swordsmanship, though she still preferred the weight of a battle hammer, and Nightshade was well on her way to becoming a master archer. The fact that she was seven and still too small for a full sized bow was a bit of a let down for her, but her magic was beginning to develop as well and she was almost as accurate with her short bow when using magic as she was with her hooves.

Symphony had excelled at her school work and was soon at the front of her own class helping her mother teach, but she was still restless and often spent much of her free time practicing with a sword or racing Scootaloo to get rid of her pent up energy. Just about the only thing she could actually do comfortably sitting down was play the piano, but she had to go to the library to do that and now that Twilight Sparkle was a princess she found it harder to concentrate. It was pretty nerve-wracking to sit down and listen to the endless line of requests and complaints that Twilight had to deal with.

For Cheerilee however, Symphony’s childhood was all too quick, today was the day of her daughter’s graduation. Symphony was now sixteen and had to face a big dilemma, what was she going to do with the rest of her life? There was piano, but she felt little creative spirit and would likely end up confined to some ballroom playing the same songs over and over again. While she had done well with academic work, she felt no desire to pursue that as a career. For a little while she had contemplated racing, but since she still hadn’t beaten Scootaloo in a fair sprint that seemed like a bad choice.

Symphony sat up a little straighter in the chair she sat on. She had taken all of the envelopes she had received from various workplaces and colleges and stacked them up, but after carefully considering each one, they had been crumpled up and thrown on the floor. Now just one letter was still present on the table before her, a letter from Princess Celestia herself.

Dear Symphony Alto Punch,

First of all, both me and my sister would like to offer our most sincere congratulations, we are both so proud of the young mare you have grown into. I am sending you this letter to inform you of the following. I have decided to open a special branch of the guard, the Paladin Corp instead of naming a single champion. I would be honored if you would join the initial class. I have heard from your mother that you are an exceptional fighter, and I can think of no one that I would trust more to defend this nation. The decision is ultimately yours of course, and I would take no offence if you chose to pursue a different route. But please, do consider this opportunity thoroughly.

Sincerely Yours,
Princess Celestia

Nightshade had gone out with her father for target practice, and Cheerilee and Berry Punch were both at work. That left her alone in the house with her thoughts. She had been handed a once in a lifetime opportunity, but did she want to devote her life to others? Was she willing to make that sacrifice? Every time she picked up her quill to right her respectful refusal, something stopped her. She sat wondering what part of her would not let her pursue her life independently, and she kept coming back to those few days nine years ago. Her mother had fought not for herself, but for all of Equestria, and had actually sacrificed her life to that end. It was a miracle that Terra had revived her, but Cheerilee’s life had been given willingly for those she loved. And then, after all this thought, Symphony finally came to a realisation, she picked up her quill and cleared the table of everything but a blank piece of parchment.

Dear Princess Celestia,

These last seven years have been the greatest of my life. I have learned so much about so many things. I would like to thank you for the diligence with which you have watched over my sister and I. Many years ago, you asked that I would inform you when I learned something new about friendship and family. I have performed this duty without error ever since. But today I must ask your forgiveness, for I have not learned anything today about friendship and family. Today, I have learned something about freedom, though. Freedom comes at a high cost. It is an ideal that can only be achieved through cooperation, intelligence, wisdom and strength. But out of these four, it is mostly strength. We must fight for our right to live a free life, to live without the shackles of tyranny nor under the shadow of death. My mother, uncle and countless others demonstrated that during the great battle, and upon my most thorough considerations, I have decided to accept your invitation. It is time for me to have the opportunity to fight for myself and fight for those around me. I will not fail you.

Your Humble Servant,
Symphony Harmonic Alto Punch

Author's Notes:

Thank you all so much for sticking with me on this, I have had so much fun writing this and I hope you all have had just as much fun reading. A huge thank you to both RoyalInBlue and Womboman666 on DeviantArt for editing this for me, you two have been such a great help. Yes there is a sequel in the works but I don't think I am going to start on it immediately, I have a kind of Slice of Life/Comedy alternate universe story idea. When I do start on the sequel though I will leave a link here though so don't click that unfavorite button quite yet. Lastly, I would love it if you would all let me know how I did and what you thought of the story as a whole.