---

Rainy looked up from his pew, staring with big eyes upwards towards the large room above the prayer hall. Above him was a solid glass floor with specks of green colour outlining various heroic figures of Silverfield's past. Light shone through from eight windows, passing through the ceiling and casting glorious green lights on the prayer hall below. There were seven shadows sitting above him, each of them moving around and pushing papers across a table made purely of magical energy that had been set up for the meeting.

Several yards above the praying colt was The Father of the church, staring at four of his archbishops, a cardinal visiting from another side of Silverfield, and Lieutenant Malestrom. The Lieutenant would normally not be allowed into such a meeting, but the Captain of Silverfield's Templars had decided he did not feel like going to the meeting, and therefore sent his second in command to handle it for him.

"Can we please skip this verbose?" Maelstrom asked, leaning across the table and pushing a scroll towards the cardinal.

"You have no respect for how we hold meetings." The Cardinal said roughly, frowning as he snatched the scroll.

"Enough, gentlecolts." The Father said, winking at Maelstrom. "I think that Maelstrom is right however, we should come up with a plan of action against these horrible bugs."

"I'm not so sure we need to." Said the Archbishop of the West. "The Western ranges have seen them many times before, I do not think that they are an issue. They're only drones- like bees, sent to gather honey. We've tried tagging them, but they never return. I think something in the plants poisons them."

"It's all very fine for you then." The Archbishop of the North said hastily, "But we don't know that the Grey Plains enjoys such a blessing!"

"Ugh." Maelstrom coughed, putting his hooves on the table. "Look, we have a battalion of Sentinel-Knights ready to march, Why don't we just send them out?"

"That would be your little Reddling Rain problem." The Archbishop of the West said. "Which I do believe we are due to discuss, Father?" Maelstrom shook his head, looking over to The Father.

"Reddling issue? Has he finally been... killed? He didn't- He didn't kill one of the princesses did he?" Maelstrom asked incredulously. The Father waved a hoof, leaning onto the table and looking at each of his fellows individually.

"We're unsure, but Reddling may be collaborating with the enemy." The Father said quietly.

"Horseshit." Maelstrom said, stomping a hoof angrily.

"Maelstrom!" The Father warned, "Control yourself or-"

"Or be damned!" Maelstrom yelled. "Reddling had his issues, but he's not a traitor, he would never betray us."

"Silence!" The Father said, waving his hoof and lighting his horn. A shadow fell over the room instantly, lacing itself around the mouths of all others in the room. After licking his hoof and pushing his mane back, the Father smiled one of his fat smiles before continuing. "Reddling Rain has been gone on his quest for nearly 2 years. We've seen no results, and our spies say that he's dropped off the face of the earth in the last few months. Its been over a season since we last saw any sight of him, and that worries me. Perhaps, he has died, but I do not believe so... Perhaps, he is working with our enemy and found asylum? Yes..."

The shadow released it's grasp on the other stallions in the room, slinking away as quickly as it had come. The archbishops and cardinal began to whisper to each other as Maelstrom, stroked his chin, opening and closing his jaw to ensure it still worked correctly.

"If he's really a traitor, send a few Sentinels to eliminate him." The Cardinal said. His accent was far less pronounced than another Silverfieldian, but still to a degree that he did not sound like any Equestrian.

"I would have all my Sentinels here, in Silverfield's religious capital, should there be a backlash from Equestria." The Father said. "If all else fails, I will consider sending The Templars to kill Reddling- he learned far more than we should have let him."

"The Templars?" The Cardinal said softly. "Father, you do not have the authority to make a holy order against an enemy without consulting with both of the other cardinals- I cannot agree to this."

"You do not have to agree to it." The Father said cruelly, turning and smiling to Maelstrom. "Maelstrom, Reddling grew up here, did he not?"

"Yes, Father." Maelstrom said obediently, not looking him directly in the eye, but instead staring at one of his multiple chins that kept his throat warm.

"Reddling was knighted before he left, as a Templar- a holy knight- this is correct?" The Father asked.

"That was a phony ceremony-" Maelstrom began to retort, but a wave of The Father's hoof silenced him.

"Just answer yes or no, Maelstrom." The father said dangerously.

"Yes, Father." Maelstrom said. The Father nodded happily, turning back to the cardinal.

"So as you can see, I have full authority and power over Reddling... and therefore, have every right to use the Templars to eliminate him if I so choose. The same would go for anypony within the church that questions my authority and divine power." Hastily standing up, the four archbishops excused themselves with nods as they trotted quickly to the door of the room, knocking each other over to get out. Standing up and beginning to wobble away, The Father gave Maelstrom a quick pat on the side.

"Today is the Wedding of Princess Cadance of Equestria. Tomorrow I will have reports on her wedding to read, so take care of this for me, won't you?" The Father lifted his hoof off Maelstrom, shuffling out the door.

"I'm sorry for this." Maelstrom said, drawing his blade. The Cardinal moved to draw his knife, but it was already too late. Maelstrom had magically thrust his blade into the pony's gut and begun twisting it around, watching the pool of blood form on the ground as the poor creature collapsed.

"I-I am ...a priest, how can you?" The Cardinal looked up in pain, his weary eyes shining with agony as Maelstrom pulled his blade clean of his body cavity.

"An order is an order, right?" Maelstrom asked.

"One day, you'll question that." The cardinal said, pushing a hoof onto his wound and trying to hold as much of his blood in as possible. Without another word, Maelstrom turned from the room, leaving the pony to spend his last moments of agony alone.

---

“Ahaha, hell yeah!” Bruiser’s booming laugh and stomping around nearly threw Reddling from his bed to the floor as a hurricane hit the room. It was the morning before the Wedding day and Reddling had been trying to get some quick rest when Bruiser had returned from his shift. The barracks currently looked like a disaster relief warehouse, with little bits of straw, bits of wooden crates, and other similar rubbish having been thrown around all over the place.

All of the other bats in the barracks were awake, currently going over their various equipment. Reddling first noticed Tops, who had fully outfitted himself fully in his medium armor. The plates covered him nicely, but he looked like little more than standard infantry next to Bruiser and Midnight. Bruiser had next thrust himself into Reddling's view with his full armor on. Deadly spikes stuck out at horrifying angles that made him look like some manner of moving siege tower rather than a pony. With a huff Bruiser took off the helmet, grinning around the room.

Midnight strode forward next, sliding a box onto Reddling's bed. Midnight wore heavy armor, but it was not like Bruiser's armor. Instead, his was nothing short of knightly. His sides were covered with heavy chain mail with plates layered over it, all of which pointed inward towards his chestplate. Reddling raised an eyebrow as he admired the work of the Nightguard craftsponies- While he could see some minor weakness at the base of the neck and the joints on the armor, It would be very difficult for somepony to land a blow on Midnight unless he was standing perfectly still.

"Stop gawking at ponies." Nightshade hissed. She was lounging lazily on her bed, wearing simple armor that had plates on the shoulders, chest, and shins. Hers lacked the safety that the other suits afforded, but at least she looked like she could still move around and swing her blade from mouth or hoof, unlike Bruiser in his heavy armor.

"Yeah Reddling, put it on." Tops said eagerly, looking at the unopened box and offering Reddling a crowbar. With a happy sigh, Reddling held out a hoof for the crowbar, which Tops passed over instantly. Lowering the end, Reddling lifted the lid off the box and peeked inside before he began pulling out his armor.

Some of his armor was like the others. All of them had hoofshoes that were blue metal on the start and end, but filled with a mesh-like leather in the middle that allowed for easy gripping of weapons. Choosing to forgo some of the cloth clothing, Reddling instead slid on a steel cuirass that was made of steel a little less thick than Top's breastplate. His armor was not so different from Nightshade's, with the parts being mostly identical. The chain on his sides offered a little more protection than her cloth, but also limited his movement, something that he found distasteful.

"Hah, Reddling, you ever worn armor before?" Bruiser asked as he clapped Reddling on the shoulder, causing the red bat to nearly topple into his bed.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." Reddling said. He had sold his armor in Equestria for some more money to live on while he worked his way into the general army. He felt weird wearing a foreign uniform now, but it also offered him some odd protective blanket.

"Could kind of tell you had- Reddling?" Bruiser turned around as Reddling ducked around him, quickly going to his chest of belongings and pulling out his folded up coat. Giving it a quick toss, Reddling wrapped it around himself and readjusted some of his armor so it fit more properly. The silk in the leg parts felt good against his coat and skin, and the entire ensemble made him feel like he was more than ready to take on all the princesses in Equestria. Belting on his weapons under the coat, Reddling did a quick flourish, showing that he had managed to hide all of his knives and his sword under the shifting coat. Midnight, Tops, and Bruiser gave a few raised eyebrows and a soft hoofclaps.

"Pfft. You act like some silly teenager." Nightshade said, leaning back on her bed and shutting her eyes. Reddling blushed slightly and shrugged.

"Well, I like it, and that's all that matters." Reddling returned to his bed too, laying down in the darkness as everypony calmed down, looking at putting their own weapons on. Midnight belted his kite shield onto his back, hanging his longsword at his side while Tops reattached his claws. Bruiser was laying next to his maul and staring at it from his bed amusingly, which was quite the contrast from Nightshade, who simply had her longsword laying across her chest.

Ah... I really hope I don't become enemies with any of these ponies someday. I have to keep my operations in the dark, because I wouldn't want to fight them. They're-... well, they're strong, and friends? I can't bear to think of them that way, I wouldn't want to fight them though. They're not my enemy, they're just poor bystanders. Reddling let his thoughts ease him into a gentle few hours of sleep.

---

The morning sun greeted Reddling like a knife to the skull. At one time in his life, it might have been a desirable thing- to feel the sun's warm glow as he trotted into the day. Now it was a blasphemous thing, something he wanted to just paint black and blot out of the sky.

"Sunglasses." Tops said coolly, sliding out his glasses and putting them on. Nightshade and Reddling quickly pulled out their sunglasses, sliding them over their eyes and beginning to walk towards the Palace. Outside, two tired looking guards were lazing around in the early morning mist. Standing up a little straighter at the site of the bats, one of them rushed forward, holding a pike in one hoof, and his other up in the face of Nightshade.

"Halt in the name of Equestria! Ain't no bats are allowed in the palace today!" He squeaked in a southern accent, readjusting his helmet so that it was on straight, instead of crooked. Nightshade looked at Reddling as she twitched her nose, but Reddling just pushed her aside, patting her shoulder.

"Soldier, what is your name." Reddling stated blankly. the other soldier had made his way up now and was sneering, holding his pike at the ready.

"Ah'm Private Snuffleberry." The first soldier quipped.

"And I'm Private First Class Buzzleleaf." The second one chimed with his Trottingham accent, puffing out his chest. They were both pretty sad sacks next the Night Guard, but Reddling knew of their type from general service.

"And as two privates, I'm guessing that you don't know about the Night guard special surprise inspection this morning." Reddling said, gesturing up at the sky. "We're tired, please let us do our job so we can go to bed."

"Buzzle, Nopony told me about any inspection." Snuffleberry said.

"Well he said it was a surprise inspection, you twit." Buzzleleaf responded.

"Hey, don't you call me a twit! Ah don't even know what that is!" Snuffleberry hissed.

"Well you see, a twit is-" Buzzleleaf began, but Reddling waved his hoof between them quickly.

"Privates! We've got a schedule. We're tired. Now, if you'll let us go do our job, and make sure the castle is all nice an proper without any frisk searches, I'd really appreciate that. I'm also very certain that the record of our inspection will reflect how much I appreciate your help." Reddling said. He couldn't quite bring himself to smile at the ponies, but Buzzleleaf quite clearly got the hint.

"Oh- OH! Yeah, yeah... got ya, You three fine bats have a nice morning, go right on ahead..." Buzzleleaf said, grinning at all three of them as Tops, Nightshade, and Reddling made their way past them and into the castle.

"Ya know, ain't we supposed to be frisk searching 'erypony that goes in there?" Snuffleberry asked from behind the three of them.

"Shut up, ya dummy. They're going to pass us with flying colours if we don't mention that we ever saw'em today." Buzzleleaf chided.

"Oh, 'eh do you think that means Ah might make Private First Cl-"

"No, Snuffleberry." Buzzleleaf said, sighing as he returned to his position.

---

The sweep of most of the castle proved to be quite boring. Nightshade spent most of the time hissing about how they should get out of the sunlight, while Tops simply shook his head and helped Reddling ensure that all patrols were traveling in groups. Reddling had been careful to monitor the patrol paths as well as areas where guards tended to linger. So far he had not noted any practice for the wedding, which he found odd. While not an avid wedding attender himself, Reddling was sure they'd need some kind of practice beforehand.

Breaking away from his friends, Reddling had tried to get access to the wedding room to see if he could find easy access routes or anything to rig- something that could be done to kill Princess Cadance and Shining Armor and not make it look as thought his hooves had been directly involved. However, the guards outside had proved to be far smarter than the ones at the gate, and not fallen for any simple tricks. Both had had shockingly green eyes that stared past Reddling, as though he was just a piece of meat before them. After making no progress twice with the ponies, Reddling had decided to give up and retreat to an empty room around the end of the Wedding hallway.

It had taken well into the afternoon to finish the castle security checking, and Tops, Nightshade, and Reddling had all retired to have lunch in the abandoned room they were holed up in.

"Even if something does happen, we won't see anything from in here." Nightshade said before taking a sip from her canteen. Reddling waved his hoof however, pointing to the door.

"We don't need eyes- You taught me that. We can just squeak into the hallway from his room and see everything going on around us. There still hasn't been any wedding practice, and that's odd." Reddling said. "Naturally, that's concerning."

"Maybe they did that earlier?" Tops suggested. Reddling shrugged as Nightshade went to the door and let out a squeak testing out his idea before pulling back with her eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Reddling, this is... actually really clever." Nightshade said. Reddling took a bite of his orange and began to suck the life from it as he watched the room. He'd have to lose Tops and Nightshade at some point if he wanted to get at any of the Princesses in the madness of the afterparty. His companions however, were not making themselves easy to lose. Even with the blasted sun glaring at them as they trotted from window to window, both had loyally stayed at his side.

Reddling stared at a clock that had been left in the room to idly tick by.

An hour till the wedding, it seemed so far away...

Forty five minutes to the wedding, Some guests were starting to trickle in.

Thirty minutes, most guests had arrived, and the groom had been announced.

Fifteen minutes. Reddling could feel his skin crawling along the wooden chair he occupied as his heart beat. Surely, something would happen. Something had felt so off and he knew it, how could nothing happen?

Five minutes. Reddling was the one squeaking now as he felt Cadance move into the hall. How could nothing happen?

Five minutes after the start of the wedding, something must-

"Reddling, nothing is going to happen." Tops said, putting a hoof on his friend's shoulder as Reddling gave another squeak. "I'm sorry, I know you're security conscious, but maybe all our worrying was for nothing-"

Reddling suddenly shoved Tops back, his ears quirking up. He motioned for Nightshade and Tops to come quickly to the crack at the door. Reddling let out one more squeak as they all listened together. Somepony was sprinting along the hallway alone. A unicorn standing at about Reddling's height was dashing up the hallway and... crying?

"That's it." Reddling said, opening the door wide. A purple flash went right past them before any of the three could react. As they all hurried to clamber out of the room, The unicorn had made her way around the corner. Rushing to keep up with her, they watched the sobbing unicorn blast the two guards at the door away in a burning explosion of purple magic. Reddling, Tops and Nightshade stared at the guardsponies as they fell backwards- only they were no longer ponies. In their stead lay two black creatures with shiny carapaces covering their bodies. Green wings buzzed idly on their back as compound green eyes stared blankly at the ceiling.

"Weapons." Reddling said, drawing his sword and putting it into his mouth. With a click, Tops unsheathed his claws and Nightshade drew her sword magically and slid it into her mouth. Not wasting a second on the fallen beasts, Reddling lead the charge as the three of them burst into the wedding room. Stunned ponies stood up in chairs or fell sideways to avoid the bat ponies as they made their way to stand by the purple unicorn.

"I SAW WHAT YOU DID, YOU MONSTER!" The purple unicorn screamed, staring directly at Princess Cadance, who was frowning. There were a few seconds of hushed confusion as colourful bridesmaids gawked at the purple Unicorn. An alicorn that Reddling could only assume must be Princess Celestia was standing next to Cadance, looking fiercely at the unicorn first, then the three night guard who quickly fell in beside her. Reddling put his blade in front of the unicorn, letting Tops and Nightshade flank her as every eye in the room locked on Princess Cadance or the wedding crashers standing in the middle of the hall.

Everypony in the hall winced as there was a sudden bright flash of intense green flame enveloping Princess Cadance. The fires spread across her coat, burning and charring her coat until every bit of her beautiful pink hues had been transformed into twisted, gnarled black. Chitinous skin and pocked limbs marred the fleshy carapace that was only broken by a set of translucent wings, a silky tail and mane- which was split by a gnarled horn.

It was the eyes though. Reddling felt himself thrust into her eyes. The feeling was only there for a moment, but in that moment he felt as if he stared at them for too long he would drown in the glowing, brightly intense green pools. At the same time, a horrible sinking feeling kept Reddling firmly grounded in the world. The monsters in the hall had been smaller, not like this one- This monster was like a sister of the blue one he had met. His absolute worst fear had been confirmed with the presence of the monster before him.

...There's more of them.

Next Chapter: Balefly Estimated time remaining: 10 Hours, 49 Minutes