"Stallions! Oh, and Cactus Star," Eclipse corrected himself, bowing slightly to the filly, who simply smiled and continued walking. "Welcome to Canterlot! Home of nobles, high fashion and noses so high up in the air, they're practically slicing the cloud layer in two!" Taking a deep breath, Eclipse practically absorbed the air around him. "By Celestia, I hate this city."

Dust Demon gave him a curious look. "Why?"

"I come from a small town. Big cities like this..." Eclipse shuddered. "I don't like leaving the palace."

"Nervous in crowds?"

"I like my space."

Dust Demon rolled his eyes. When Eclipse looked up and fired a chaos blast into the air, Dust Demon tracked the descent of a bird as it fell to the ground, dead.

The pegasus gave Eclipse a questioning look.

"He was in my airspace." The pony shrugged. Faintly noticing a pony gesturing for him to come over, he gave his companions a smile. "Listen, you lot go ahead and get to the palace. I'll catch up."

Before any of the other three said anything, he had already vanished into the crowd.

Making his way to the mare who had tried so hard to get his attention, he made sure to stop with several feet between them.

"You looking for someone?" Eclipse asked, half-smiling.

The mare smiled. "Not anymore. Anyway, we need to talk."

"What would we have to talk about?" Eclipse asked, playing along.

"Let's just say that I'm not afraid of getting my hooves bloody."

Eclipse deadpanned. "You do understand that I fight ponies who typically say stuff like that, right?"

The mare sighed. "Oh relax. I'm not going to ask you to rob a train or anything."

"Why the emphasis on 'rob a train'?"

The mare facehoofed. "You're not the brightest one are you?"

"I'm good with puzzles and contain, in my head, a wide array of knowledge both practical and not so much. However, I balance that out with little to no common sense, and a complete inability to read between the lines." Eclipse smiled to himself. "I'm the energy efficient bulb that puts off half the light of anyone else."

The mare arched an eyebrow. "At least you're honest with yourself... Look, remember when the first time you met that Bloodhoof guy, only it wasn't Bloodhoof?"

"Uh..." Eclipse frowned.

"Right before you stormed that rainbow dust mine but after you hooked up with those rebels?"

The gray stallion shook his head. "Sorry. It's a four-oh-four if I've ever heard one."

One eye twitching, the mare slapped him.

"Ow! Chrissakes, woman!" Eclipse held his jaw with a hoof, stretching the muscles to work out the pain. "Just for that, I'm thinking of actually following Silverstar's advice and screaming everything I know about you into Celestia's ear!"

"Thought that would jog your memory." The mare smiled at him.

"Fuck you. I was trying to see if I could annoy you into leaving me alone before I burst out laughing." Eclipse continued working his jaw, trying to drive out the last of the stinging brought on by the slap.

"Anyway, we should really move this conversation along. Besides, this is only the third time we've met so it's not like we'll discuss much."

"I thought we had only met once before?"

"That was only the more recent of the two. The first go round might actually count twice depending on how you look at it." She paused thoughtfully before regaining her train of thought. "Just listen. Shit's about to hit the fan in this town. I can give you where and when, but you can't let anypony know any of the information and you can't tell anypony what I am or about our meeting back on the train. Capiche?"

Eclipse thought it over. "Alright. I won't tell anypony."

"Even if they're not a pony, smart guy."

"Damn." Eclipse was disappointed. Loopholes only worked when they were obvious. If they weren't, he didn't want to waste the effort to find them.

"SIx weeks. Canterlot department of weapons and research. That building contains all but the most dangerous of Equestria's experiments. Those are reserved for the ponyville library."

"Laugh."

"Did... did you just say the word 'laugh' in place of actual laughter?" The mare waved her hoof. "Forget it. Remember: No guards, no allies, no anything. You want a defense around that place, you damn well better set it up yourself."

The mare backed off, wading into the center of the street. Eclipse was about to call after her, but a cart obscured his vision for several seconds. Once it passed, she was gone.

Eclipse sat on his haunches. "Well, that was cliche." He shrugged. "It worked, though."

Eclipse caught up with his companions in front of the castle doors.

Sagebrush and Cactus Star were off to the side of the area, along with a guard who had taken off his helmet so the filly could try it on. It completely covered her head and blocked her eyes, as expected. As she wandered around aimlessly in a circle, both the guard and Sagebrush smiled and shared a laugh. All in all, that scene was pretty calm.

On the other side of the area, Dust Demon and another guard were in the middle of a heated argument. At first, Eclipse thought that the guards might have refused entry to the trio. As he got closer, however, Dust Demon whirled around and pointed a hoof at him.

"Tell soldier boy that cupcakes are better than muffins!"

The guard snorted. "Muffins win! Hooves down, they're better!"

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

"Are not!"

Eclipse continued walking past them, his eyes perhaps a bit wider than normal. "Have they been like that long?" He asked the pair of guards who remained at their stations on either side of the palace's entry doors.

The one on the right shook his head. "Not very long." He and Eclipse gave the arguers a short glance.

"Tomatoes are a fruit!"

"Tomatoes are a vegetable!"

The guard sighed. "But they will be."

Eclipse laid a hoof on the door. "Tell me when they've stopped. In the meantime--" He stopped mid-sentence and put his ear up to the door.

"Something wrong?"

Eclipse slowly nodded. "Very."

Activating honesty and slowly creaking the door open, an orange phantom cake splattered onto his face. Ducking his head back, Eclipse watched the real cake fly past, eventually slamming into a column.

Dust Demon laughed victoriously. "If that had been a pie, it wouldn't have been so easy for him to dodge it!"

"And if it was a pie, It would have traveled so slowly that he could have caught it and flung it back!"

Dust Demon gasped. "Ya'll crossed a line there, tin stallion!"

"Bring it, hillbilly!"

Eclipse nabbed the helmet of the guard next to him, despite the surprised "Hey!" of resistance. He held the helmet out with a hoof, but all that came from the door was a shout.

"HOLD THINE FIRE! WE DOST NOT WISH TO COMMENCE A WAR WITH OUR SISTER AS WELL! ECLIPSE IS QUARRY ENOUGH, FOR NOW!"

Eclipse stuck his head into the open doorway. "Luna?"

A moving wall of various cookies came down on him, forcing him back behind cover before he was put into a sugar coma.

"BLAST! HE HAST FOUND TIME TO BEGIN PLANNING! FORWARD, LEST HE GATHER REINFORCEMENTS!"

"Actually, that gives me an idea..." Eclipse handed the helmet back to its owner. "Find me Feather Duster. I've got a plan."

"Already here."

Eclipse turned to find Feather Duster standing with a battalion's worth of the castle staff--mostly maids and cooks, but several smaller corps of the staff as well--behind her.

Eclipse blinked. "Okay! Listen! I need four catapults, three independent squads of food fighters and a whole mess of sugary items!"

"Done." Feather Duster proclaimed proudly, waving her hoof as the group assembled itself into three distinct units as well as showing off four catapults and a whole mess of sugary items.

Eclipse grinned weakly at Feather Duster. "Remind me to marry you sometime."

One of the maids raised her hoof. "Um... aren't we the ones who're gonna have to clean this up after it's over?"

A bowl of ice cream silenced her,

"Any other questions?" Feather Duster announced, tossing another bowl several inches into the air and catching it again.

Eclipse rubbed the back of his head. "So, the wedding may be pushed back a few months due to unforeseen circumstances, but I'm sure that it'll be handled." He forced a nervous smile onto his face when Feather Duster arched an eyebrow. "Please don't hurt me."

"They'll break through those doors any minute! Soap Suds, is that catapult repaired!"

"We're going as fast as we can, but the first wave really did a number on her! You're lucky I took those engineering classes not so long ago!" Soap Suds screamed over the commotion.

"I'll thank Eclipse, since he's the thing that inspired you!" Feather Duster yelled back. Tossing a look over the barricade, she smiled. "Speak of the devil..."

Eclipse sprinted into view, followed by several of Luna's guards. The guards were quickly gunned down, but they were far from the last.

Sliding behind cover, Eclipse fought to regain his breath. "Held 'em off as long as I could, but ran out of donuts the third time they marched on me." Panting, he looked to the catapult. "Still broken?"

"Not anymore!" Soap suds proclaimed proudly.

"A shame we couldn't save the other three when we retreated." Eclipse sighed. "They were our only saving grace."

Feather Duster shook her head. "Don't talk like it's over, already! We're not done yet!" She whistled. "Ready the muffin cannon! Get that peanut brittle to the eastern flank! Will somebody please explain to me why we have crumpets!?"

Several moments later, the only sound was a dull, repeating thud coming from the blocked entrance to the throne room. Luna and her guards were almost through. When the door finally blew open, Feather Duster ordered the muffin cannon to fire.

Blueberry and banana blasted out, tearing a hole where the doorway used to be and disabling the guards that had already come through. Even while stepping over their fallen comrades, Luna's guards charged in. Though they met stiff resistance, victory seemed near...

Author's Notes:

Yep, things that haven't happened since the first several chapters are coming back around. I don't like leaving story elements laying around with no purpose other than to just be forgotten.