“Princess Twilight,” I said as I trotted into the throneroom, “Any news?”

The purple alicorn turned to me, looking somewhat stressed, her dragon sticking close to her side, “Page. No, nothing yet. Luna is indeed missing as well?”

“...She is.” I admitted, “Without a trace so far. I ordered the Night Guard to..”

And I just realized that I'm standing in front of the most powerful mage anywhere. The literal bearer of the element of magic. If someone could pull something like this off, it would be someone like Twilight.

The sky outside was both day and night. Twilight.

“..assist the Day Guard in their search of the castle and city.” I finished, hoping she didn't notice any pause in the middle, “Do you have any clues yet, Princess?” I then asked, my right front hoof lifted of the floor nervously.

I liked to think Twilight was my friend. She was Celestias prized student. The Element of Magic and protector of Equestria as well as the rest of the world. She was one of the smartest ponies I knew.

But... she wanted knowledge more than anything else. What if she found one of Lunas books from when she was Nightmare Moon? She lived close to the Everfree forest and she had been to the old castle before. What if she found some books of Sombras in the Crystal Empire?

Any evidence was circumstantial at best, but... still evidence and it pointed towards the violet alicorn before me. I didn't think she did it. I didn't 'want' to think it.

But I couldn't risk it.

Twilight looked really worried as she shook her head, “No. Nothing yet.” she said a moment before the door slammed open and a guard galloped inside.

“Your Highness! News from Ponyville! The Everfree Forest appears to be... well.. Invading!”

Twilight gasped before she straightened up, “Right.” and turned to me, “Page, I need you to take command in Canterlot. I need to see to Ponyville.”

I just stared at her, “...What?”

“As Princess Luna's representative you speak for her when she is not present and traditionally the consort of a Princess is in command of her personal guard. You are not yet her consort, but your relationship with Princess Luna in combination with your position as Princess Luna's Herald give you authority in this sort of situation just beneath the Princesses.” Twilight explained, “I need to go see to Ponyville and gather the rest of the Elements of Harmony.”

The Princesses would all be unavalible and that effectively put me in charge?

Screamingontheinside.jpg

Why don't anyone ever tell me this kind of thing in advance?!

“I'll do my best.” I finally answered with a nod. No matter if Twilight was responsible or not, Luna was counting on me to keep it together. If Twilight was in fact behind this, the unicorns that were examining the tower would most likely find either unicorn or dark magic traces.

If it was not Twilight, we were still in deep shit, but not as much as before. If it was her... I would be in command of the royal guard and we might be able to get her with a ambush when she returned.

Twilight nodded, “I know you will.” and then forced a small smile, lifting her dragon onto her back, “Don't worry, Page. We will find the Princesses.”

Swallowing, I nodded, “...I know.” before ruthlessly stomping the reminder that Luna was missing and most likely in mortal danger down into the back of my mind before I could dwell on it.

Turning, Twilight galloped out of the Throneroom without a second look back as I watcher her leave.

Luna, when you come home, we are doing two things. One, I'm putting a collar with a bell on around your neck. Two, we are sitting down and you tell me exactly everything that this medallion and my relationship with you mean in the bigger picture. I was getting really tired of being ambushed by this kind of crap.

“Sir?” The guard that delivered the news asked, “Orders, sir?”

“...Continue the search. Report any findings to me at once, I will be...” I wanted to rush back to the tower and find out what the mages found. I wanted to join the search. I wanted to... I wanted to think this was a nightmare.

“...I will be here.” I finally finished, “I want an update on the search pattern and I want a meeting with the captain of the Day Guard as soon as he finds some time over without having it conflict with the search effort.” before I looked back at my Night Guard... well, guards... “And I want the same thing from the Night Guard. One guard and Skitter is enough in the throneroom.” Especially with the current main suspect heading off for Ponyville “Gloom Cloud, carry the message to Captain Cold Skies.”

He nodded once and saluted, “Yes, sir!” before both ponies galloped off with their messages.

I then turned to Skitter, “Skitter, I need you to take a message to Queen Chrysalis.”

Her eyes narrowed slightly at me and she stood up a bit straighter, “Sir, I have been tasked with your protection. I can't do that from halfway across the city.”

“No. No you can't.” I sighed and rubbed between my eyes with my hoof, “But I need you to take a message to your Queen. She will let you through at once, you are one of her changelings. A pony she might have wait around just to prove who is in charge. This is important, more important than the very low risk of me getting attacked in the throneroom.”

Skitter buzzed her wings for a second, looking rebellious before she sighed and nodded, glancing to the side, “...What is the message, sir?”

“Tell her that I would like to remind her that despite what the sky looks like, Equestria still has two Princesses able to act, the royal guards, the Elements of Harmony and a Discord. So she can just sit her chitinous arse back down and stop thinking what she is thinking right now.”

Skitter switched, “Sir...” she started to say, looking uncertain.

I nodded, “I know, Skitter. In those words, please.”

She sighed and shook her head, “...As you wish, sir.” before taking to the air with a buzz of her wings and speeding off.

Right now, I had no patience for Queen Chrysalis so I wanted to be one hundred percent clear. We'll deal with the fallout later.

The sound of her wings died down, leaving it silent for once. Too silent.

I looked around. I said I would remain here for news and for the captains of the guard. I knew nothing about what we needed to do or the tactics of the guard. They would need to let me know what I needed to know... and if the results came back with dark unicorn magic, I needed to brief them on Twilight.

So I was stuck here. With nothing to do. While Luna was...

I swallowed and turned the the remaining Night Guard. The unicorn looked at me steadily as if daring me to order him away to do something as well so he could refuse to leave me alone.

Instead I shook my head, “It appears we are stuck here for now. Please let the guard by the door know that I would like a copy of the plans of the castle and a map of the surrounding city delivered as soon as they can. Including the caves if possible.”

Moonshadow nodded, “Yes, sir.” and trotted over towards the door to deliver the message without leaving the throneroom.

Maybe I might spot something someone else had missed.